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Food loss at the retail and consumer levels in the United States includes 14.8 billion pounds of fruit and 23.4 billion pounds of vegetables, valued at $15.1 billion and $27.7 [...]

Migratory animals provide unique spectacles of cultural, ecological, and economic importance. However, the process of migration is a source of risk for migratory species as human actions increasingly destroy and fragment habitat, create obstacles to migration, and increase mortality along the migration corridor. As a result, many migratory species are declining in numbers. In the United States, the Endangered Species Act provides some protection against extinction for such species, but no protection until numbers are severely reduced, and no guarantee of recovery to population levels associated with cultural, ecological, or economic significance. Although groups of species receive some protection from statutes such as the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act, there is no coordinated system for conservation of migratory species. In addition, information needed to protect migratory species is often lacking, limiting options for land and wildlife managers who seek to support these species. In this Article, we outline the existing scientific, legal, and management information and approaches to migratory species. Our objective is to assess present capacity to protect the species and the phenomenon of migration, and we argue that all three disciplines are necessary for effective conservation. We find significant capacity to support conservation in all three disciplines, but no organization around conservation of migration within any discipline or among the three disciplines. Areas of synergy exist among the disciplines but not as a result of any attempt for coordination. As a result, significant gaps in information and capacity exist that must be addressed if effective conservation of migratory species is to be undertaken. We suggest that all three disciplines cooperate to identity the most pressing research needs, so that these can become targets for relevant funding sources. We identify areas of current risk to migratory species that represent gaps in current legal protections: protective legislation that provides no guidelines for desirable population sizes or best management practices for migratory species, taxonomic groups, particularly those including long-distance migrants, for which no agency has oversight, and gaps in policies to address impacts of fragmentation and obstacles such as power lines and wind turbines that curtail migration or cause mortality. Finally, we suggest that state-level programs provide either a foundation to augment with, or a model on which to build, conservation efforts targeting migratory species. Problems will arise due to lack of funds, difficulties in securing a landscape that will support abundant migrations, lack of adequate standards and best management practices, and an insufficient culture of collaboration among the three main relevant disciplines. However, we view these problems as entirely soluble and see evidence of support in society at large for conservation of migratory species., I. Introduction II. Existing Ecological Typologies of Migration A. What Is Migration? B. Why Migrate? C. The Geography of Migration D. Who Migrates? E. The Timing of Migration F. Genetics, [...]

Animal migrations capture the human mind and heart like few other natural phenomena. Migrations provide ecological, psychological (e.g., aesthetic), cultural, and economic benefits. Increasingly, though, migrations are being recognized as threatened phenomena--that is, spectacular aspects of the life history of animal species often involving large numbers of individuals, but which are threatened with impoverishment or demise, even though the species per se may not be in peril. Migration phenomena are themselves worthy of protection, as a category of biodiversity. Yet, conserving migratory populations and their migrations is particularly problematic. Migratory animals are especially vulnerable to a variety of threats because they come into contact with multiple ecosystems and jurisdictions, tend to congregate in large numbers in discrete and often vulnerable areas, and require considerable fuel for their long-distance journeys. In addition, migration is essentially a phenomenon of abundance--the benefits and values of migrations depend on an abundance of animals taking part--and conserving species' populations before they become rare has always been an uphill battle. This Article presents an idea for a new federal law that reflects the perspective that conserving migratory behaviors and processes as phenomena of value in and of themselves, and not only of value for species persistence, can provide unique and important benefits. Current conservation laws generally serve the species-based conservation perspective and, with a few exceptions, are not designed or implemented to protect benefits of abundant animal migrations. The existing fragmented framework of laws and authorities also is insufficient to protect most migratory populations against a diversity of threats across multiple jurisdictions and broad geographic scales. Our proposed federal law would offer a unified framework, require abundance targets, and authorize a comprehensive set of legal tools, including both carrots and sticks, for conserving a limited set of nationally or regionally 'significant' migrations. Such a law would likely improve the current situation for the nation's most notable migratory populations and generally promote the conservation of all migrations as phenomena of abundance., I. Introduction II. The Need for Law Reform to Protect Migrations as Phenomena of Abundance A. Three Case Studies of Migration 1. Red Knot 2. Pronghom Antelope 3. Monarch Butterfly [...]

The role of epidemiological findings in helping to understand the relation between periodontal and systemic diseases is discussed.

A study examining the disparities in the Healthy People (HP) 2010, a national health promotion and disease preventive initiative, by the Department of Health and Human Services, with respect to the military population and compare with the civilian population is presented.

Your article about the problems that some practices experience with their electronic records ["IT Implementation: Why EHRs falter," April 7] emphasizes the importance of selecting the right system and implementing [...]