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Objective: This study explores whether variability in the implementation of an undergraduate course on human flourishing is differentially associated with student outcomes. Participants: 101 students in the "Art and Science of Human Flourishing" course across three large, public, R1 universities in Fall 2018 participated in the study. Methods: Formative course data included researcher observations of weekly class pedagogy, students' weekly meditation practice logs and end-of-course assessments, and pre/post surveys measuring changes in participating students' outcomes related to flourishing (e.g., attentional skills, social-emotional skills, perspectives on flourishing, mental and physical health). Results: Although course pedagogy and student engagement varied across the three universities, students' outcomes were nonetheless similar. Conclusions: Variability in course implementation did not appear to differentially affect students' outcomes. We tentatively conclude that other institutions interested in offering the flourishing course may make limited adaptations to fit their pedagogical preferences without concern for altering its impact on students.

A recent global trend toward retirement of farmland presents opportunities to reclaim habitat for threatened and endangered species. We examine habitat restoration opportunities in one of the world's most converted landscapes, California's San Joaquin Desert (SJD). Despite the presence of 35 threatened and endangered species, agricultural expansion continues to drive habitat loss in the SJD, even as marginal farmland is retired. Over the next decades a combination of factors, including salinization, climate change, and historical groundwater overdraft, are projected to lead to the retirement of more than 2,000 km2 of farmland in the SJD. To promote strategic habitat protection and restoration, we conducted a quantitative assessment of habitat loss and fragmentation, habitat suitability, climatic niche stability, climate change impacts, habitat protection, and reintroduction opportunities for an umbrella species of the SJD, the endangered blunt-nosed leopard lizard (Gambelia sila). We use our suitability models, in conjunction with modern and historical land use maps, to estimate the historical and modern rate of habitat loss to development. The estimated amount of habitat lost since the species became protected under endangered species law in 1967 is greater than the total amount of habitat currently protected through public ownership and conservation easement. We document climatic niche contraction and associated range contraction away from the more mesic margins of the species' historical distribution, driven by the anthropogenic introduction of exotic grasses and forbs. The impact of exotic species on G. sila range dynamics appears to be still unfolding. Finally, we use NASA fallowed area maps to identify 610 km2 of fallowed or retired agricultural land with high potential to again serve as habitat. We discuss conservation strategies in light of the potential for habitat restoration and multiple drivers of ongoing and historical habitat loss.

Extraction of oil and gas occurs around the world and associated worksite activity can affect native species, even when some good habitat remains. Understanding the possible negative effects is important for management of protected species. Blunt-nosed Leopard Lizards (Gambelia sila) are a state- and federally listed endangered species in the San Joaquin Desert of California, and part of their remaining range coincides with oil field operations. In 2015 and 2016, we used radiotelemetry to study home ranges and movements of G. sila living in an oil field with limited infrastructure and roads (a light-density oil field constructed from 2011 to 2014) and at a control site of native habitat about 3 km away. We did not find significant differences between the oil field and control site in either home-range size or daily distances moved. We did, however, find that the number of predation events was significantly greater at the oil field site, assuming that known predation occurrences represented all predation. Predation by birds was greater at the oil field site and likely was facilitated by predator perching locations provided by power poles, transmission lines, and other tall vertical structures associated with the oil field. No similar structures or other perching locations for large predatory birds existed at the control site. Only a twin-pole, three-wire transmission line existed adjacent to the oil field prior to its development. Given that G. sila are endangered largely because of habitat loss, their recovery may benefit from minimizing these hazards in oil fields that currently support the species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores whether variability in the implementation of an undergraduate course on human flourishing is differentially associated with student outcomes. 101 students in the "Art and Science of Human Flourishing" course across three large, public, R1 universities in Fall 2018 participated in the study. Formative course data included researcher observations of weekly class pedagogy, students' weekly meditation practice logs and end-of-course assessments, and pre/post surveys measuring changes in participating students' outcomes related to flourishing (e.g., attentional skills, social-emotional skills, perspectives on flourishing, mental and physical health). Although course pedagogy and student engagement varied across the three universities, students' outcomes were nonetheless similar. Variability in course implementation did not appear to differentially affect students' outcomes. We tentatively conclude that other institutions interested in offering the flourishing course may make limited adaptations to fit their pedagogical preferences without concern for altering its impact on students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]