The mandatory reading is Andelman & Fagan (2000). However, a
great deal of important background information is found in Simberloff (1998) and it provides a worthwhile
introduction to the concepts and controversies involved in implementing various
single-species management schemes. We will review this document (which certainly
merits discussion on its own, but we have to choose one) at the start of
seminar, then dive into discussion of Andelman & Fagan. It is not required
if you are too busy, but would be a good one to at least skim.
1. In the most beneficial
cases (urban or agricultural landscapes) are golf courses something that
can be introduced economically? How viable of a tool is it for
conservation/restoration?
2. Is biodiversity alone a
good measure of ecosystem health, or does increased biodiversity in some
cases indicate increased invasion by non-natives, or quantity over quality
of species?
3. Do possible environmentally detrimental practices in the golf course/turf
grass industry outweigh benefits outlined in these papers?
We suggest people read Brush first and then Groffman and think about
how the two papers relate. We would be interested to know what people
think is actually useful information that could inform urban or
watershed planning/landscaping/horticulture decisions they might make
in their future work, and what they think is incorrect, highly flawed,
or not so useful.
Read Mueller & Hellmann (2008); McLachlan et al (2007) is the background article that triggered research for
assessing Assisted Migration.
Questions to consider: 1. What immediate risks/benefits of Assisted
Migration (AM) come to mind after reading these papers?
2. Is the data analysis
paper written by Mueller (2008) strong enough to convince opponents to Assisted
Migration that there are some situations where AM may be appropriate for species
conservation?
After these introductory questions the class will be broken into
groups and asked a brief list of questions from the differing perspectives of
policymakers and scientists on AM.