Recognizing the recency of establishment of the conservation principles in Article II of the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, and that no current analysis can be definitive or should pretend to be, the following preliminary conclusions stem from this paper:

1. The three principles of Article II of the Convention should be read as complementary guides in pursuing the overall goal of preserving the natural marine ecosystems of the Antarctic while also allowing some degree of harvest.

2. Sound implementation of the principles requires subdivision of the Convention area. The six baleen whale Areas designated by the International Whaling Commission are one possibility, but poorly justified ecologically. Priority should be given to identifying geographic divisions that rest upon a more sound and more finely-constructed ecological foundation.

3. Management indicator species and depleted species should be identified as soon as possible, and sampled periodically for appropriate life-history statistics in each agreed-upon subdivision of the Antarctic marine complex of ecosystems. The statistics appropriate for such monitoring are likely to vary with different species, and should generally be those parameters that are least sensitive to environmental fluctuations in general and most sensitive to changes in resource availability.

4. A substantial portion of each ecologically differentiated area should be completely protected from harvest and associated activities.

5. Harvest effort in portions of such areas open to exploitation should be regulated differentially, in order to facilitate assessment of the effects of harvest pursuant to an agreed-upon experimental design.

6. Harvest of krill and other species should be so regulated in any open area that the harvest is consistent with the maintenance or restoration of the harvested species, indicator species, and depleted species to levels of greatest net annual increment or above, defined with respect to initial population size.

7. Article II's principle of reversibility should address adaptive change resulting from artificial selection as well as ecological change. A methodology for correlating harvest practices with rates of reversal of the effects of harvest should be developed for harvested species, indicator species, and depleted species. No alien species should be introduced into Antarctica unless its existence there can be easily terminated.

8. As soon as possible, a limit should be placed on the allowable annual rate of increase of krill harvest by Man.

9. Basic research on Antarctic marine ecosystems should be enhanced, even though the research may have no obvious application to stable recruitment or to reversibility of change.

The hydroelectric developments portended in South-West Tasmania would inundate tracts having major wilderness and archaeological values as well as threaten a much larger area of wilderness. The development of the region is ‘justified’ by the construction authority, in terms of an expected high rate of electricity demand towards the year 2000. However, a range of independent demand analyses suggest that the demand for electricity in Tasmania will not approach the Hydro-Electric Commission's expectations. Thus a lag in demand may be identified which should provide time for a rigorous evaluation of the wilderness value of the region together with an appraisal of the alternative electricity-generation options.

Currently, it appears that a cost advantage exists for the favoured ‘Gordon-below-Franklin’ project. However, the opportunity-cost differential of this project relative to several less-damaging alternatives is slight, at least when the growth in wilderness and electricity demands are considered. The opportunity-cost tradeoff appears quite trivial when current tourist and recreational impacts are accounted for.

The Bitterbrush-Sagebrush/Cheatgrass vegetation-type occupies about 300 km2 on the US Department of Energy's Hanford Site in the shrub-steppe region of southeastern Washington State. Prior to 1943, part of the land was used for irrigated agriculture and the remainder as grazing land for domestic livestock. In 1943, farming and livestock grazing were terminated and the resident human population was relocated. Use of the land since 1943 has been industrial, mostly for nuclear energy development. The land is not available for public use and shooting of wildlife is prohibited.

Nuclear energy development on the Hanford Site consists of a few large buildings that are widely separated, with undeveloped land in between which supports native plants and animals. This undeveloped land provides habitats for native species that are not adapted to intensive irrigated agriculture—a potential use of almost all of the land in the Bitterbrush-Sagebrush vegetation type. The primary disturbance to vegetation is wildfire. Fire destroys Bitterbrush and Sagebrush and these plants are slow to recolonize the burns. Other species are less affected by burning and are capable of quick recovery. The industrial use of the land provides a potential for the ecological study of self-revegetation of abandoned ploughed ground and the response of biota to wildfire.

In the Maowusu Desert—which in the south-east encompasses part of the Yulin Region, Shaanxi Province, and in the north-west the Ih Ju League, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region—desertification trends in relation to the impact of droughts and land-use changes were investigated. Data derived from Earth resources technology satellites (LANDSAT I and LANDSAT II, 1974–1978), and Chinese documentary sources, were used for the analysis. It was found that desert ‘expansion’ occurred during 1953–76, but the rates of expansion varied over time and space, relatively rapid desertification being observed for 1959–63 and 1971–76. The bulk of the expansion was located in the more arid Ih Ju League. The mean annual rate of areal expansion was 6.4% during 1958–71. By comparing the desertification rates with precipitation and land-use information, it was established that droughts have only accentuated the desertification process. The primary cause of desert expansion is the excessive clearing of land for rain-fed agriculture as well, of course, as overgrazing. Another contributory factor was culling of vegetation for fuel and raw materials for handicraft industries.

Efforts have been expended on desert control since the mid-1950s, resulting in the arresting of desertification in some local areas. The individual success stories demonstrate that, with mass participation, effective desert control can be achieved by using low-level technology. However, the Chinese programme of desert control was not conceived as a comprehensive programme. Control activities relied almost exclusively on vegetational methods, and they were seldom coordinated with land-use policies as well as with the planning of energy supplies. The negligence of the fundamental conflict between expanding agricultural activities and desert control has led to a net desert expansion in the last 30 years. Recognition of this fundamental conflict and implementation of mitigative land-use policies, would be a major step towards resolving the desertification problem in the Maowusu Desert.

Undergraduate students in the United States who major in an interdisciplinary environmental studies curriculum are at a competitive disadvantage in securing entry-level environmental employment as compared with those majoring in disciplinary or specialized curricula. Major factors that separate these two types of curricula and hence affect the employability of their graduates include: a) Programme Diversity: Interdisciplinary programmes significantly vary in emphasis, course offerings, teacher strengths, and physical facilities, whereas the many specialized programmes tend to be more uniformly defined; b) Linkage: Interdisciplinary programme objectives are not clearly tied to employment needs in the public and private sectors, whereas the goals of the many specialized programmes are based e.g. on congressional mandates, personnel needs, or well-defined occupational categories; c) Federal Support: The US Environmental Protection Agency's funding for manpower-related programmes is negligible in comparison with total pollution-control expenditures—the few million dollars allocated for manpower development in the 1970s were mainly used to support targeted specialized programmes instead of general interdisciplinary programmes; and d) Occupational Definitions: Both long- and short-term environmental employment opportunities are almost always pigeonholed and defined in terms of a disciplinary background with an associated set of skills. This favours specialized-programme graduates over interdisciplinary majors for entry-level positions.

This situation can be changed with a concerted effort by faculty members, administrators, students, and employers, to become interested in fully tapping the potentials of interdisciplinary environmental majors. Towards this end, it is recommended that the faculty members (teachers) and administrators of environmental studies programmes form a national organization to promote their programmes' welfare, that students explore a double major, graduate education, or other specialized educational opportunities, and that employers investigate innovative short-courses, workshops, and intensive laboratory programmes, for retraining environmental studies majors.

The United States Biosphere Reserve network was begun in 1974, and currently numbers 38 sites. An investigation into the status of scientific activities in US Biosphere Reserves was conducted in 1981 to determine how well the network was meeting the multiple objectives of the Man and the Biosphere Programme. A survey questionnaire was administered to all US Biosphere Reserves, covering the adequacy of available data-bases, the types of research conducted, the perceived anthropogenic threats, funding, support, facilities, and educational programmes. Based on predominant management emphasis, Biosphere Reserves were designated as experimental or observational (i.e. conservational) for the purpose of analysis of the data.

The results of our survey indicate that baseline scientific data, such as aerial photography, bibliographies, weather data, flora and fauna checklists and keys, and topographic maps, are generally available for most of the US Biosphere Reserves; environmental monitoring activities are more comprehensive than ecological research activities, but topic emphasis varies with the management's orientation of the Reserves. Experimentally-oriented Reserves tend to emphasize biological productivity, succession, silviculture, and forest restoration and management, while observationally-oriented Reserves tend towards descriptive studies.

In almost all scientific activities, experimental Reserves were scored higher than observational (‘conservation’) Reserves in terms of general value; they have also received significantly more funding for scientific research. In all Reserves, most natural resources are considered to be effectively protected. Observational Reserves report a greater number of anthropogenic threats, including air and water pollution, exotic species, operations problems, resource removal, and visitor impacts; but they are addressing a greater proportion of these threats than are experimental Reserves. Most Reserves communicate natural history and other scientific information to the public, but many do not discuss MAB or its goals. Almost all the 38 US Biosphere Reserves are used for professional training and have basic support-facilities for field-work.

Recommendations made for improving the effectiveness of US Biosphere Reserves include: strengthening communications among Reserves within the network; initiating more cooperative studies at all geographic levels; intensifying scientific research in observational (‘conservation’) Reserves; improving the status of ecological research on aquatic systems and soils, and at the ecosystem level in all Reserves; also designing studies which focus on Man as an integral part of the system and how Mankind might exist in improved concert with The Biosphere. The designation of a multiple-site Biosphere Reserve bearing the name of the biogeographic region in which it occurs, is now being used both to conserve a region's representative ecosystems and to foster cooperation among sites. We believe this is a workable approach and an important first step in implementing these recommendations regionally and, so far as they prove practicable, ultimately globally.

The development of much-needed grazing reserves and pastures in the Kainji Lake Basin area of Nigeria is being initiated by the Kainji Lake Research Institute with generous support from the States' and Federal Governments. However, there is a continuous overlap of interest which results in conflict among land-users such as the nomadic Fulanis, peasant farmers, and wildlife/forestry conservation authorities. Currently the Kainji Lake Basin is a major ‘food basket’ for agricultural crop production in Nigeria. The Basin is also an attractive big-game tourist centre and a traditional source of dry-season water and green grass for the migratory livestock.

Suggestions are made for a rational resource-management approach within the Basin, with establishment of rangeland reserves. Regular meetings between the representative of the Niger River Basin Development Authority, Kainji Lake National Park, States' Departments of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the local Governments in the Basin area, should go a long way towards eliminating the sources of conflict.

Quarterly sampling of animals in a restored seagrass (Thalassia) area in south Biscayne Bay, Florida, was undertaken to determine whether the recolonizing animal community would be similar in structure to a Thalassia community that had never been impacted by thermal effluents or restored. Samplings by 1 m bottom trawl (⅛ inch = 3.2 mm stretch-mesh), 3 replicates at each of 9 stations, and a 15-cm2 grab (5 replicates at 9 stations) were sorted as to species for most groups and quantified. Strong seasonal differences were found. The results were compared with data from previous work in the area which had been done during thermal emissions from a power-plant.

Significant differences were found between the abundance and species of animals in restored areas and a nearby barren area that had never recovered from impact, though differences in species and abundances between the restored Thalassia sites and an unaffected control site were not statistically different. Populations of certain groups such as the commercial Pink Shrimp (Penaeus duorarum), caridean shrimps, and juvenile fishes, were numerically far higher in the restored area than in control or naturally reestablishing successional seagrasses, and at least an order of magnitude higher than in barren areas that had never recovered from impact.