The Bureau of Land Management, the land agency that administers much of the federal rangeland in the American West, has frequently been characterized as excessively responsive to the desires of ranchers, with resulting land deterioration and loss of resource values. Both the generally poor condition of the public domain, and the Bureau's attempt to maintain stocking levels while improving the range, support this characterization.

Several policies and programmes over the last decade, however, suggest that the Bureau today is less strongly tied to the livestock industry, and certainly its lands are being increasingly coveted by groups other than grazers. This recent trend towards a more ‘multiple use’ agency has been strengthened by Congressional passage of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act in 1976. Whether or not diversification of land policies will continue into the future is, however, at present unclear.

Successful management of marine turtles in Seychelles will depend on the solution of a variety of general problems as follows:

1 Availability of information—basic biological data, particularly on the status and distribution of the two common species, must be gathered, so that up-to-date information is available for decision-makers and Government. It is essential that the information gathering programme be recurrent, in order to monitor changes in the populations and their habitats. The Republic of Seychelles has neither the finances nor the expertise to execute such programmes, so that international support is essential.

Few studies have been reported of the effects of power-plant discharges on tropical and semi-tropical marine environments where plants and animals in non-stressed conditions live close to their upper lethal thermal limits. This paper describes a multidisciplinary three-years' study made in Card Sound, Florida, before, during, and after, thermal effluents were released from a power-plant. Biomass, growth, and production, of Thalassia and macroalgae, were estimated. Animals were collected by trawl, drop-net, suction dredge, in artifical habitats, and on mesh-panels. Except in an area of 2–3 ha adjacent to the canal mouth, little damage to the benthic community was observed. This was very different from the effect of the first canal emanating from the same power-plant at Turkey Point, where a large area had been affected by heated effluents.

The machair coastal areas of the Outer Hebrides form one of the more distinctive coastal environments in Britain and owe their origin to an apparently unique, as yet not clearly understood, combination of factors which operated in the late postglacial period. A further distinguishing characteristic is the often quite extensive level machair grassland plain, which is suggested here as being the last of a series of evolutionary phases which took place from the time of initial sand deposition (ca 6000 B.P.) until ca 2000 B.P. There is evidence that, in a modified form, these processes may have continued right through to the present time.

The aquatic weed Salvinia molesta (syn. S. auriculata) has spread to many parts of the tropics and subtropics. In Kerala, it has become established as a dreadful weed occupying large areas of open water, causing navigational problems, interfering with irrigation and fishing, rendering the water unfit for human consumption, and facilitating mosquito breeding, etc. The H2S generated in the decaying weed-mass in the water is destructive of generative equipment in hydroelectric installations, blocks intake apertures of ships, and damages engines of small motor-boats. In addition, the weeds cause reduction in the stored water of reservoirs, owing to excessive evapotranspiration, while thick mats of Salvinia, which later form large floating islands supporting secondary and tertiary colonizers, may be instrumental in the gradual drying up of natural and man-made water-bodies. These are very serious matters which have to be tackled effectively.

The term ecosystem integrity may be defined as the maintenance of the community structure and function that is characteristic of a particular locality or habitat. The study of aquatic ecosystem integrity in the rivers and lakes of India holds a bright prospect for the evaluation and management of the quality of our water.

The dynamics of a Pinyon Pine-Utah Juniper woodlands community were studied to determine the baseline conditions and the annual variation in the major plant components. Understanding the normal baseline community status and its annual variation is paramount to evaluating the possible impact of an air pollutant on the system. Environmental impact assessments rarely concern data from more than one or two years, yet results of the present study show that annual variation is such that data from several years are necessary to establish a valid baseline for community structure.

The possibility of persistent pollutants playing an adverse role in the reproductive success of Audouin's Gull in the western Mediterranean was examined through chemical analyses of 7 eggs of this species that did not hatch. Residues of organochlorine compounds and mercury were found.

The conclusion has been reached that a further increase of present levels of DDE may well lead to a decline of the reproductive success of the species in the western Mediterranean, especially in the northern part. These observations, although limited, could have implications for further species as is already indicated by other work cited.

From early in August 1976 to late in July 1977, monthly surveys were carried out of the total recreational use of an area comprising 42 km2 of unenclosed moorland in the North York Moors National Park, England. Data were recorded on the following five variables for every person who was not either in or on a moving vehicle, with the exception of pedal cyclists and motor-cycle scramblers: location, age and sex, recreational activity, site type, and distance from the nearest road. A total of 2,506 individuals were recorded. Data from the surveys were grouped to represent the four seasons.