Poaching, habitat loss and the decline of neotropical parrots: a comparative spatial analysis

Objective

To evaluate the relative contributions of poaching and habitat loss to the endangerment of neotropical parrots

Method

A matched case-control design was employed. Using NatureServe digitized range maps for birds in the Americas, 145 neotropical parrot species were individually matched with 145 control species, from similar ranges and, by proxy, from similar habitats. The control species were taxonomically similar, mid-sized, forest-dwelling birds that, like parrots, use holes and cavities for breeding and roosting. The conservation status of the parrots and control birds was established through the IUCN Red List of endangered species.

Results

Nearly five times as many parrot species (59 out of 145) as non-parrots (13 out of 145) are threatened with extinction to some degree. In 54 out of 65 pairs with unequal conservation status, the parrot species is at greater risk of extinction.

Conclusions

Subject to limitations of the matching employed and the use of range data as a proxy for habitat, it is concluded that poaching is a strong threat to the conservation of neotropical parrots—perhaps stronger than habitat loss. Criminologists therefore have an important part to play in conservation of parrots, and perhaps also in conservation of other endangered species, through identification and implementation of measures to control poaching.     

“I Won't Back Down?” Complexity and Courage in Government Executive Decision Making

Senior government executives make many difficult decisions, but research suggests that individual cognitive limitations and the pathologies of “groupthink” impede their ability to make value‐maximizing choices. From this literature has emerged a normative model that Irving Janis calls “vigilant problem solving,” a process intended for the most complex decisions. To explore its use by senior public officials, the authors interviewed 20 heads of subcabinet‐level organizations in the U.S. federal government, asking how they made their most difficult decisions. The initial focus was on whether they employed a vigilant approach to making decisions that were informationally, technically, or politically complex. Most executives identified their single most‐difficult decision as one that required courage; they often made such courageous decisions after personal reflection and/or consultation with a small number of trusted advisors rather in ways that could be described as vigilant. The different approaches for making complex decisions, compared with those involving courage, are discussed and a contingency model of effective executive decision making is proposed that requires leaders (and their advisors) to be “ambidextrous” in their approach.     

Trends and pattern of drug abuse deaths in Maryland teenagers

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Maryland recorded a total of 149 drug abuse deaths of teenagers aged 13-19 years between 1991 and 2006. Of these deaths, 96 (64.4%) were caused by the use of narcotic drugs only, 29 (19.5%) by both narcotics and cocaine, four (2.7%) by both narcotics and methylenedioxymethamphetamine, six (4.0%) by cocaine only, and 14 (9.4%) by volatile substances (e.g., butane, Freon, nitrous oxide, and propane). The annual death rate from drug abuse for teenagers increased from 1.4 deaths per 100,000 population in 1991 to 2.7 deaths per 100,000 population in 2006 (chi-square test for time trend, p<0.01). The increase in teenager drug abuse deaths occurred in 1999 and since has remained at a higher rate. Further analysis revealed that the increase in drug abuse deaths was attributable to a large degree to narcotic drugs, particularly heroin/morphine and methadone, and was confined to teenagers residing in the suburban and rural areas.