Ten ways remote sensing can contribute to conservation

In an effort to increase conservation effectiveness through the use of Earth observation technologies, a group of remote sensing scientists affiliated with government and academic institutions and conservation organizations identified 10 questions in conservation for which the potential to be answered would be greatly increased by use of remotely sensed data and analyses of those data. Our goals were to increase conservation practitioners' use of remote sensing to support their work, increase collaboration between the conservation science and remote sensing communities, identify and develop new and innovative uses of remote sensing for advancing conservation science, provide guidance to space agencies on how future satellite missions can support conservation science, and generate support from the public and private sector in the use of remote sensing data to address the 10 conservation questions. We identified a broad initial list of questions on the basis of an email chain-referral survey. We then used a workshop-based iterative and collaborative approach to whittle the list down to these final questions (which represent 10 major themes in conservation): How can global Earth observation data be used to model species distributions and abundances? How can remote sensing improve the understanding of animal movements? How can remotely sensed ecosystem variables be used to understand, monitor, and predict ecosystem response and resilience to multiple stressors? How can remote sensing be used to monitor the effects of climate on ecosystems? How can near real-time ecosystem monitoring catalyze threat reduction, governance and regulation compliance, and resource management decisions? How can remote sensing inform configuration of protected area networks at spatial extents relevant to populations of target species and ecosystem services? How can remote sensing-derived products be used to value and monitor changes in ecosystem services? How can remote sensing be used to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of conservation efforts? How does the expansion and intensification of agriculture and aquaculture alter ecosystems and the services they provide? How can remote sensing be used to determine the degree to which ecosystems are being disturbed or degraded and the effects of these changes on species and ecosystem functions?

Pediatric residency as preparation for primary care practice

OBJECTIVES

To assess the effectiveness of pediatric residency training as preparation for primary care and make recommendations for improving residency training.

METHOD

Two surveys were sent to graduate of the pediatric residency at the University of Colorado from 1984 to 1991. The first survey requested information about practice patterns and ratings of preparedness in 45 areas important for primary care. The second survey requested ratings of importance for increasing training time in 25 areas judged as inadequate in the first survey.

RESULTS

Of 147 surveys mailed, 103 graduates responded and rated themselves as less than adequately trained in 25 of 45 areas selected for relevance to primary care. Graduates of the primary care track rated themselves as significantly better trained than graduates of nonprimary care tracks in 10 of 45 areas; nonprimary care graduates had higher ratings in 2 of 45 areas. The second survey (completed by 70 of the 103 initial responders) indicated that the top 5 areas needing increased time in residency training were, in descending order, orthopedics, developmental and behavioral problems, learning disability, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and school difficulty. Graduates of the primary care track rated themselves as adequately trained in developmental and behavioral problems and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, but they and nonprimary care graduates felt inadequately prepared in the other 3 areas.

CONCLUSION

Implications of these results change with different content areas, suggesting the need to improve training for all residents in some areas and extending to all residents some of the curriculum already implemented in the primary care track.