In Massachusetts both human and beaver population levels are rising, beaver damage complaints are escalating, and beaver management options are restricted by the 1996 Wildlife Protection Act. Employing the Cognitive Value Hierarchy, this study enhances understanding of the public's value orientations, attitudes, and norms regarding human-beaver conflicts in Massachusetts. A mailback questionnaire was sent to a random sample of 5,563 residents in three geographic regions in Massachusetts and to residents who submitted a beaver complaint to MassWildlife in 1999/2000 (47.3% overall response rate). Results indicate that respondents believe beaver are an important part of the natural environment and they have a right to exist. Respondents also support some form of beaver management. Most respondents believe that beaver-related damage in Massachusetts has either increased or remained the same over the past five years, and indicated a preference for fewer beaver, regardless of experience with beaver damage. Respondents' attitudes are influenced by their experience with beaver damage, perceptions of extent of beaver damage, and tolerance of beaver. As severity of beaver damage was perceived to increase, respondents were more willing to accept lethal management/control of beaver. Respondents characterized by a “wildlife-use” orientation expressed a greater willingness to accept lethal action in response to beaver activity than respondents characterized by a “wildlife-protection” orientation. This relationship was partially mediated when respondents believed beaver damage had increased and/or they preferred to see fewer beaver in Massachusetts. Value orientations proved to be predictive of both attitudes and norms, thus validating the propositions of the Cognitive Value Hierarchy. Results confirm the importance of understanding and monitoring public attitudes, norms, perceptions, and tolerance in a longitudinal framework and coupling this information with biological data to determine trends in relation to increases in beaver populations and human-beaver conflicts. The concepts and causal relationships posed by the Cognitive Value Hierarchy can provide information to link attitudes, norms, and values of wildlife stakeholder groups with socially acceptable management strategies. Replicating, expanding, and applying this framework to other wildlife species, and in different socio-political environments, can enhance the effectiveness and applicability of this theoretical perspective in understanding and resolving complex human-wildlife conflicts.

Pleistocene glaciation of New England excluded both terrestrial and aquatic herpetofauna from the region until the retreat of the ice began approximately 22,500 years ago. Three general dispersal routes appear to dominate the post-Pleistocene re-colonization of New England by reptiles and amphibians. (1) As the ice sheet receded beyond the St. Lawrence River, immigration from refugia in the Mississippi Valley was facilitated by the newly formed Prairie Peninsula corridor which channeled organisms north and east into New York and the Champlain Basin. (2) The Coastal Lowlands Corridor, connecting the southern coastal regions and the southern Appalachian refugia with coastal New England. (3) Exposed regions of Coastal Plain off the coast of New England allowed regional re-colonization. The mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus) a wholly aquatic, perennibranchiate salamander, is the largest salamander found in New England (20–33 cm TL). Annual samples of Necturus were collected from 1990–1998, during the draw-down of a canal adjacent to the Connecticut River. Snout vent lengths were taken and animals were allotted to year class based on length. Skeletochronology confirmed the age/length correlation. The location of a subset of animals was marked and the depth at which they were found was calculated. The age of the animals was correlated with bottom structure and depth. The four-toed salamander (Hemidactylium scutatum), is the smallest and rarest of New England's salamanders. As adults, four-toed salamanders are terrestrial. Observations show that female four-toed salamanders migrate in early spring into wetland breeding sites where they nest colonially. Embryonic development is temperature dependent with hatching occurring in late spring. The pond-type larvae wriggle from the nest chamber into the water where, after six or seven weeks, they metamorphose into small terrestrial juveniles. Massachusetts populations of the eastern spadefoot (Scaphiopus holbrookii) are at the extreme northern limits of the species' range. Breeding sites and upland habitat are frequently destroyed by development. A survey of historic sightings and major museum collections shows the historical distribution of spadefoots. New collections and records were made of existing populations in Massachusetts. The habitat and other ecological requirements to maintain a viable population are characterized.

A biologically-based secondary ambient air quality standard for vegetation in the U.S. is presently lacking. Analyses sensitive to the physiological conductivity of exposed plants as well as atmospheric and soil conditions were used here to predict the signature response of plants to ozone, foliar injury. Bel-W3 tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv. Bel-W3) was used as an acute-response model while Asclepias syriaca L. was used as a chronic-response model to identify important controlling factors involved in foliar injury response to ambient ozone. Temperature, RH, PAR, wind velocity, soil moisture, soil matric potential, and vapor pressure deficit were investigated relative to their influence on injury development during simultaneous exposure to ozone. Several important factors were found to lead to overestimation of vegetation exposure to ambient ozone. These included use of a standard ozone measurement height, soil moisture deficits, asynchrony between diurnal stomatal conductance and peak ozone concentration, episodic exposures to elevated ozone concentrations during late-day weak sunlight (PAR < 500), and seasonal decline of gas exchange and ozone uptake in herbaceous plants. These results indicate the need for refinement of current indices to protect vegetation, which, if based solely on ozone concentration, e.g. AOT40, SUM06, W126, will continue to lead to overestimation of ozone exposure.

Though ample evidence supports the detrimental effects of residual chlorine to many aquatic biota, the on-site response of macroinvertebrates has hitherto been little documented. Accordingly, year-long in-stream collections were undertaken to assess and characterize the response of the macroinvertebrate community inhabiting Lampson Brook, Belchertown, Massachusetts. Artificial substrates (limestone chips) were used in the data gathering and a new methodology, Wrona's, was applied to the data analysis. One control station and four downstream stations extending for 3000 meters along the stream were established. All the macroinvertebrates captured at these stations were counted and identified to their lowest taxonomic group. These data were employed to evaluate several diversity indices as well as qualitative and quantitative community comparison indices. The implications of the respective mathematical formulae applied to biological collections were examined and revisions of certain of the formulae are proposed. The combination of density estimates, species richness, EPT value (a value derived from total identified species of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Tricoptera), and a number of selected indices was chosen to describe the impact of chlorinated/non-chlorinated sewage. A list of macroinvertebrate species has been designated as chlorine sensitive/tolerant with the respective total residual chlorine (TRC) concentration. The results indicate that community comparison indices are more sensitive than diversity indices in measuring pollution effects. Community comparison indices, however, showed considerable variations in assessing the severity of the impact. The macroinvertebrate community structures of all the downstream stations were altered due to changes in environmental conditions with regard to all aspects of community parameters. The suspected causes of such disruption in aquatic macroinvertebrate community may be attributed to either the immediate impact of TRC in the water column at station 2 or the chronic effects of stable chlorinated by-products associated with the sediments at stations 3, 4, and 5. The level of impact with regard to each station is a matter of subjective definition as to which are the most important parameters in describing community structure. Different aspects of change in relation to water quality need to be further tested before imposing any judgement on the extent of impact at each station.