Introduction – humans, nature and human nature - Ecological Applications: Toward a Sustainable World - page 27

to the ticks, but most are much less effi cient than the mice at passing on the bacterium. This means
that disease risk to humans is lower where the biodiversity of squirrels, birds and lizards is high -
providing a compelling reason to conserve biodiversity (Section 9.2).
4 Applications at the regional and global scales
A marine zoning plan for sustainability
Source: Chad Ehlers/Alamy.
Maori, recreational and commercial fi shers, tourism operators, marine scientists and environmen-
talists got over their differences, learnt from each other and produced a comprehensive ecosystem
management plan for the large Fiordland region of New Zealand. A signifi cant feature of the pro-
posal was the concept of gifts and gains by the various groups. Thus the plan called for new fi shing
behavior: a reduction in bag limits for recreational fi shers, the withdrawal of commercial fi shers
from the inner fi ords and a voluntary suspension of certain customary fi shing rights by Maori. In
addition, a number of marine reserves and protected areas were identifi ed to protect representative
ecosystems and china shops - areas with outstanding but vulnerable natural values. These gains
in sustainability and conservation were balanced by the gift from environmentalists to refrain from
pursuing their original goal of a much more extensive marine reserve program. The New Zealand
government agreed to implement the plan in its entirety and has passed the new legislation neces-
sary (Section 10.7.2).
Global climate change - predicting future invasions
© MARK MOFFETT/Minden Pictures/FLPA.
The Argentine ant is now established on every continent except Antarctica. It can achieve extremely
high densities, with adverse effects on biodiversity and unpleasant consequences for domestic life
- the ants tend to swarm over human foodstuffs and even sleeping babies. A niche model was
developed for the ant, according to current distributions in its native and invaded ranges. Then,