Mutagenesis, Environmental

Abstract

Environmetric methods are discussed for analyzing data from mutagenicity bioassays. Emphasis is placed on the “gold‐standard” microbial test system in environmental mutagenesis: the Ames/ Salmonella microsome assay. The assay produces count data to quantify the mutational response; statistical issues of interest when analyzing such data include testing for extra‐Poisson variability, trend testing for a dose response, and trend testing under a nonmonotone dose response.

Four conservation challenges and a synthesis

“…Managing in such a way as to trade off immediate and future returns is a significant challenge with ecological systems. Even a cursory look at the ecological record reveals a propensity to talk about the future, but little follow‐up that includes the design and implementation of conservation strategies over time (Nichols & Williams, 2012 ).…”

“…It is the updating of model state from q to in the course of making decisions that represents learning. Decision‐making that simultaneously targets both learning and management in this way is often described as “active adaptive management” (Nichols & Williams, 2012 ).…”

“…This change means that decisions at each point are informed by future consequences only through the system response , but not by learning per se; learning occurs after management action is taken, and q is updated to . The restricted focus of decision‐making on system responses, with learning delayed until after a decision is selected, identifies this treatment as “passive” (Nichols & Williams, 2012 ). Though the strategy optimization in Equations ( 3 ) and ( 4 ) describes active adaptive management, both passive and active approaches to structural uncertainty are well represented in the ecological literature (Williams, 2011b ).…”