Search

An initial and comprehensive map of ecological regions across the conterminous United States was provided by Omernik in 1987. Because that paper was the most-cited published by the Annals of the American Association of Geographers, we sought to assess and quantify its contribution to science. To do so, we conducted a scientometric analysis to address the following main questions: 1) What are the temporal and spatial citation trends? We expected that Omernik's paper would still be employed 36 years after its publication, and mostly in the United States of America. 2) For what types of environments and organisms has it been applied? Based on its generality, we expected that it had been applied to both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. 3) What are the main applications of Omernik's article? We predicted that it would mostly be used for describing and delineating study sites and management areas, as well as for selecting regional reference sites. The number of citations presented a positive temporal increase, indicating its continued applicability. Most papers dealt with aquatic environments, mainly in streams carried out predominantly in the United States of America, as was one of its earliest applications. The usefulness of ecoregions for assessing and managing biotic and abiotic patterns and distributions were the main topics addressed by scientists. Ecoregions have offered a general framework for developing regional expectations and rational regional management policies across large areas, as was their original intent. In addition, ecoregion maps were used for communicating patterns—or the lack of them—to interested scientists, citizens, and decision-makers. That comprehensiveness of Omernik's ecoregion approach has led to its widespread applicability and continued usefulness to a diverse set of scientific and management disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many scholars believe that it is procedurally undemocratic for the judiciary to have an active role in shaping the law. These scholars believe either that such practices as judicial review and creative statutory interpretation are unjustified, or that they are justified only because they improve the law substantively. This Article argues instead that the judiciary can play an important procedurally democratic role in the development of the law. Majority rule by legislatures is not the only defining feature of democracy; rather, a government is democratic to the extent to which it provides egalitarian forms of political participation. One such form of participation can be the opportunity to influence the law through the courts, either directly by participating in a case or indirectly by advocating litigation. Arguing from several examples, this Article shows that judicial decision-making allows different voices to be heard that may not necessarily have influence or power in majoritarian legislative structures or popular initiatives. Giving citizens the opportunity to change, to preserve, and to obtain authoritative clarification of the law through the courts can thus make a government procedurally more democratic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author presents his views on the comments by sport sociologist John J. MacAloon on sport sociology in the U.S. According to the author MacAloon's comments are scholarly objective, positive, and programmatic. But in the face of MacAloon's clear explanation of the problems created when people join and follow leaders in academic traditions or paradigms, this approach is not taken in this article. Instead, an attempt is made to draw out the implications of his comments as they relate to the professional activities and roles of social scientists concerned with sport. Starting from a general acceptance of MacAloon's main ideas. The authors remarks that perhaps the ugly secret that undermines much of the study of sport is that most people who engage in sport value it, while those who study them believe it unacceptable that persons actually find meaning in mere games. In the sociology of sport is the often unacknowledged assumption that people ought not place so much emphasis on sport, either personally or socially, because sport is alleged to have no redeeming personal or social value.

Following a four-year period of writing, member comment, and multiple revisions, the AFS Position Paper and Policy on Mining and Fossil Fuel Extraction was approved unanimously by the membership at the Society's annual business meeting August 19, 2015, in Portland, Oregon. The entire document can be read atfisheries.org/policy_statements; a brief summary follows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Variables for predicting assemblage differences change as the geographic extent of studies change, hindering development of useful predictive models where study data are limited, or where the chief predictive variables available are fish zones, river size, physiographic regions, ecoregions, hydrologic units, and river basins. In addition, some studies have shown that site-scale predictor metrics have accounted for more of the variation in fish assemblage response metrics than catchment-scale metrics and other studies have shown the reverse. We used cluster analysis on a 780-site database to determine 12–15 aquatic vertebrate clusters at three geographic extents (all 12 conterminous western U.S. states, all western mountain ecoregions, Pacific Northwest mountain ecoregions). Next, we determined predictor variables for those assemblage clusters through use of stepwise discriminant function analysis. Site longitude, site latitude, and catchment dam count were the most significant predictors at the three geographic extents. Site-scale variables represented most of the significant predictors for all three geographic extents, but explained only slightly more aquatic vertebrate assemblage variance than catchment or pure spatial variables. Catchment- and site-scale classification variables accounted for less than half the mean within-cluster similarity demonstrated by the aquatic vertebrate assemblage clusters. We conclude that (a) the large geographic extent of the analysis did not result in catchment-scale predictor variables being more important than site-scale predictors, (b) both catchment- and site-scale variables are important predictors, and (c) existing river basin and ecoregion classifications are useful but insufficient predictors of aquatic vertebrate assemblages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recreational fishing has a long history in the USA, developing from the subsistence fisheries of Native Americans together with a partial subsistence fishery of later immigrants. Marine, diadromous, and aquatic taxa are targeted, including both vertebrates and macroinvertebrates. This paper defines recreational fishing, describes the main fishing techniques, identifies target taxa by region, summarizes the socio-economic values of recreational fishing, and discusses management strategies and major ecological threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hughes, Robert M., Alan T. Herlihy, and Philip R. Kaufmann, 2010. An Evaluation of Qualitative Indexes of Physical Habitat Applied to Agricultural Streams in Ten U.S. States. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(4): 792-806. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00455.x Assessment of stream physical habitat condition is important for evaluating stream quality globally. However, the diversity of metrics and methods for assessing physical habitat condition confounds comparisons among practitioners. We surveyed 51 previously sampled stream sites (0.0-6.3 m wide) located in regions of row-crop agriculture in Oregon, California, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia to evaluate the comparability of four indexes of physical habitat condition relative to each other. We also compared the indexes to previously calculated indexes of fish and macroinvertebrate condition. The physical habitat indexes included the Stream Visual Assessment Protocol Version 2 of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the qualitative habitat evaluation index of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, the rapid bioassessment protocol of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), and a qualitative physical habitat index based on USEPA quantitative physical habitat measurements. All four indexes were highly correlated with each other, but low-to-moderately correlated with biotic index scores for fish and macroinvertebrate assemblages. Moderately high correlations occurred between some macroinvertebrate biotic index scores and quantitative metrics. We conclude that additional research is needed to increase the predictive and diagnostic capabilities of qualitative physical habitat indexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hardrock mining for metals has been, and is, an economically important land use in all western U.S. states. However, metals contamination associated with mining can be highly toxic to aquatic life, the composition of metal-bearing rock often leads to acid mine drainage and increased concentrations of dissolved metals, and mine-related disruptions to soil and water often produce excess fine sediments and altered stream flows. Such environmental degradation leads to large numbers of perpetually polluted streams and impaired aquatic life and fisheries. The primary U.S. law governing mining, the General Mining Law of 1872, was passed during the pick-and-shovel era to encourage economic growth; however, modern mining processes are massive in extent, highly mechanized, and incorporate additional toxic chemicals for leaching metals from ores. We provide an overview of hardrock mining impacts to aquatic life, a set of mining case studies, and suggestions for amending U.S. mining law. Our hope is that this article will lead to improved management and rehabilitation of existing mine sites and sufficient protections for the aquatic life and fisheries likely to be disturbed by future mines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the role of American Creed, market preference and individual responsibility on voter turnout in the U.S. The author utilizes data from the 1996, 2000 and 2004 American National Election Surveys in developing a unified vote choice model and test it utilizing multinomial logistic regression. He found out the significant role of the American Creed in influencing turnout by limiting the "acceptable" motivations to vote. Meanwhile, he observes that equality tend to increase Democratic turnout and market preference improve Republican turnout.

Fish ecologists often use species-discharge relationships (SDRs) to understand how species richness varies with aquatic habitat availability, but few SDR studies have considered whether the reported SDRs are scale-dependent, or attributed the SDR to a specific causal mechanism. Here, we assessed whether the SDR is scale-dependent by using individual river reaches, rather than complete river basins, as sampling units in a SDR analysis. We also determined whether the SDR is a function of among-reach habitat diversity. To do so, we first tested for longitudinal zonation along three major Pacific Northwest (U.S.A.) rivers. Our zonation tests consistently detected 'lower,' 'middle,' and 'upper' river fish assemblages, each of which was characterized by common patterns in adult habitat use, feeding guild structure, and reproductive behavior, and was associated with predictable habitat conditions. When these longitudinal zones were used as sampling units in a SDR analysis (i.e., total discharge and species richness within each zone), we detected strong linear relationships between discharge and species richness (log10 data). Because individual zones predicted species richness more effectively than complete basins, we conclude that the SDR is scale-dependent. And we infer that among-zone habitat shifts are an important determinant of the SDR, as the slope of the SDR is a function of the differential richness found in each zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonnative aquatic vertebrates have been widely introduced across the western United States. We analyzed data from the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program's western pilot study to determine the occurrence of nonnative fish and amphibians and the proportion of stream length they occupied in streams of 12 conterminous western states. A total of 1,361 sites (including both probability sites and candidate reference sites) were sampled from 2000 to 2004. Of these, 711 probability sites had sufficient sampling effort and vertebrates present, representing a total assessed stream length of 213,600 kin. Native and nonnative species numbers and proportionate abundances based on this stream length are reported for the entire study area, for three large-scale ecoregions (Mountains, Xeric, and Plains), and for each state in the survey area. Sites with insufficient sampling effort or collection permit restrictions or in which no vertebrates were collected could not be assessed and represented an additional 90,000 km of stream length. An estimated 52 ± 4% (mean and 95% confidence interval) of the assessed stream length contained nonnative vertebrates. Nonnatives represented more than 50% of the individuals in 22 ± 3% of the assessed stream length. Nonnative vertebrates were present in 59 ± 10% of the assessed length represented by fourth-order rivers and in 83 ± 6% of the assessed length represented by fifth-order and larger rivers. From 30 to 33 nonnative species were found in each of the three ecoregions. Brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis, brown trout Salmo trutta, and rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss were the most common nonnative aquatic vertebrates found in the study area based on the proportion of assessed stream length occupied. Of the 12 states surveyed, California accounted for the greatest number of nonnative taxa we collected (26) and Idaho the fewest (4). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Respondents from 1200 randomly selected households in Colorado reported via telephone on victimization, fear of crime, and attitudes toward police. Women, older respondents, and whites expressed more favorable attitudes toward police than men, younger respondents, and non-whites. Fear of being hurt during victimization for a personal crime moderated the relation between the seriousness of victimization and attitudes toward police. We discuss these results within a community policing perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the results of a survey in the United States which reveals that Americans are positive about changes in their personal access to and quality of health care. Negative reaction to changes in the cost of care; Optimism about trends toward managed care; High rates of concern about health system issues by uninsured persons or persons with health problems.

Opinion. Discusses health care coverage and costs for children and pregnant women in the United States. Financial impact of a Medicare-like system of health insurance for children and pregnant women; Advantages and disadvantages of the program.

Gives information on census data which provides the growing number of stepfamilies in the United States. Comparison of growth between 1980 and 1990; Information on the nature of the formation of a stepfamily; Strategies used by the stepfamilies who see difficulty with the help of family life educators.

This article focuses on public hospitals in the U.S. Approximately one-third of the 5,500 general acute care hospitals in the U.S. are public hospitals. These hospitals collectively represent a vital part of health care delivery system, yet many of them, are being adversely affected by a number of factors. Some public hospitals have closed. On average, public hospitals are more likely to offer primary medical care services than other hospitals, and they serve people who are poor, less educated, and have less access to physicians than people served by voluntary or proprietary hospitals. Rural public hospitals fill geographic gaps and make services accessible in many sparsely populated areas that would otherwise be acutely underserved.