The Optimal Allocation of Conservation Funds

This paper presents a framework to evaluate alternative designs of conservation programs and their implications for the allocation of conservation funds. We show that the efficient allocation of conservation funds must consider two important “pooling” effects—cumulative effects and interrelationships among alternative environmental benefits. Ignoring the cumulative effects of environmental benefits may cause conservation funds to be overly dispersed geographically and, as a result, may result in minimum environmental benefits when the budget is small. Ignoring the interrelationships among alternative environmental benefits may result in not only misallocation of conservation funds among geographical areas, but also incorrect resources being targeted for conservation practices. Implications of these results for the design of conservation programs are discussed.     

A criterion validity test of the contingent valuation method: comparing hypothetical and actual voting behavior for a public referendum

This study pursues external validation of contingent valuation by comparing survey results with the voting outcome of a Corvallis, Oregon, referendum to fund a riverfront improvement project through increased property taxes. Survey respondents hypothetically make a voting decision—with no financial consequences—on the upcoming referendum. The survey sample consists of respondents verified to have voted in the election. We use available precinct-level election data to compare the proportion of “yes” survey and referendum votes as well as estimate voting models and mean willingness to pay (WTP) based on the two sets of data. We find that survey responses match the actual voting outcome and WTP estimates based on the two are not statistically different. Contrary to similar studies, our statistical results do not depend on re-coding the majority of “undecided” survey responses to “no.” Furthermore, such a re-coding of responses may be inappropriate for our data set.     

Exploring fisheries strategies for the western English Channel using an ecosystem model

An ecosystem model of the western English Channel ecosystem in 1994 was used to explore the effects of the use of a fishing policy optimization routine on profits, number of jobs and ecosystem structure. The optimization for single objective led to the specialization of the fishing fleet, with some fleet types being almost excluded. The profits and mainly the job optimizations led to big changes in the ecosystem structure, with loss of diversity, but the overall biomass of all vertebrate groups represented in the model increased considerably. For the objective focusing on ecosystem structure, there was an increase in biodiversity, with many long-lived groups predicted to increase, although the overall vertebrate biomass suffered just a small increase. An “ideal” mixed policy configuration was found when slightly greater weight was given to ecosystem structure than was given to profits and jobs. This scenario led to an overall reduction in effort but also to increased profits and biodiversity, while keeping the number of jobs at the same level as the baseline estimates. The results of the optimizations showed that the average trophic level of the catches is quite resistant to changes in the underlying system structure. On the other hand, despite the high level of aggregation of the model structure, a biodiversity index estimated by the model presented large changes as a function of the weights placed on the single policy functions, reflecting the changes in the system structure. The output of the application of the fishing optimization presented here should be considered in qualitative rather than in quantitative terms as an aid and part contribution to the complicated discussions on future long term management actions. Nonetheless it points to an overall reduction in fishing capacity, an objective widely accepted within the scientific community, while keeping the fishery in a profitable state.     

Do energy prices affect employment? Decomposed international evidence

This paper analyzes the energy price-employment nexus and contributes to the literature by showing that it is important to decompose the regulatory effect into demand, cost, and factor-shift effects. This is done by means of a cross-country multi-sectoral dataset. The results show that both rising energy prices and shadow prices of energy have no significant effect on net employment when the manufacturing sectors only are analyzed. While finding significant variations across countries, the average employment effects become significantly positive once jobs in the economy as a whole are considered. This change is driven mainly by larger positive cost effects, which more than offset the negative demand effects and reductions in the positive factor-shift effects. Moreover, the paper reveals that the often implemented approach of using a simple regulation regressor, instead of decomposing the employment effect, can result in biased estimates.     

The effects of larval experience with a complex plant latex on subsequent feeding and oviposition by the cabbage looper moth: Trichoplusia ni (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Summary. Leaf disc choice and oviposition bioassays were used to examine the effects of larval experience with a Hoodia gordonii latex on subsequent behaviors. The latex deterred feeding and oviposition by “naïve” cabbage looper (Trichoplusia ni, Noctuidae) larvae and moths with no previous exposure to the material. “Experienced” insects, reared on a diet with the H. gordonii latex (1000 ppm), exhibited lesser feeding deterrence relative to naïve insects. Experienced female moths actually preferred to lay eggs on treated rather than control leaves. There was no observed transfer of behavioral preferences from experienced parents to their offspring. Our results suggest that moths may be acquiring oviposition preferences from larval feeding experience as described by Hopkins’ host selection principal (HHSP) or through chemical legacy.     

The models of niche and their application

Having studied the definitions of niche proposed by different ecologists, I have proposed a quantitative method of niche which can be applied to plants. Accordingly, the niche of an operational taxonomic unit (OTU) has been described by a mapping from its environmental set to the unit interval [0, 1], which enables a model of niche to be mathematically operational. The concepts of fundamental niche, realized niche, time niche, etc., may be described by using mathematical models related to each other, and the geometrical relationships between them can be revealed by a multi-dimensional surface. The uni-factor models are built upon the condition that the other factors are optimal for OTU, which are particular cases of the multi-factor models. The establishment of the quantitative relationship between these two kinds of models makes it possible to find out the plants' fundamental niche by doing uni-factor experiments. This may simplify the experiments in which the parameters in a practically applied model are to be estimated. The niche index introduced in this paper is related to average level and aftereffect of plant responses to the effects of its environment (i.e. “inertia”), thus it should be the basis of the simulation of plant seed yield and of its environmental evaluation. Accordingly, models of niche index, of plant seed yield, of plant growth and of environmental evaluation have been built which can be applied to the environmental evaluation or the prediction and management of plant (crop) production, etc.As an example of application, the models of wheat yield and its environmental assessment have been established and practically tested. The results of testing the model of wheat yield showed that the relative errors are 8% and 7.2%, respectively, in 1984 and 1986. The results of the environmental assessment of wheat reveal the fact that the insufficiency of the soil moisture at the 2th and 3th stages is the main restriction of the production of the wheat in Dinxi, Gansu Province, China.     

Creation and preservation of vegetation patterns by grazing

Structural patterns of tall stands (“tussock”) and short stands (“lawn”) are observed in grazed vegetation throughout the world. Such structural vegetation diversity influences plant and animal diversity. A possible mechanism for the creation and preservation of such patterns is a positive feedback between grazing and plant palatability. Although some theoretical studies have addressed this point in a non-spatial setting, the spatial consequences of this feedback mechanism on the stability and spatial characteristics of vegetation structure patterns have not been studied.We addressed this issue by analyzing a spatially explicit individual-based plant-grazer simulation model, based on published empirical relations and the assumption of optimal foraging.In the model, the selection by the grazer of short stands (that have a higher energy content and are more palatable) is affected by traveling costs and the spatial organization of swards. Nevertheless, the most selected biomass in this type of short stands was the optimal biomass predicted by cropping and digestion constraints. As a result of the optimal foraging strategy, the grazers displayed Lévy-flight traveling behavior during the simulations with characteristic exponent μ ≈ 2.Patterns of short and tall stands created by grazing were preserved for at least a decade. Even in seasonal habitat, the spatial organization of the patterns remained relatively constant, despite fluctuations in the area of short stands. Heterogeneity of initial vegetation increased heterogeneity of the grazing-induced pattern, but did not affect its stability.The area of short stands that was preserved by grazing scaled with the herbivore mass to the power 0.4 and with the carrying capacity of the vegetation to the power −0.75.Patterns of tall and short stands can be created and perpetuated by optimally grazing ruminants, irrespective of possible underlying soil patterns. The simulations generate predictions for the stability and spatial characteristics of such structural vegetation patterns.     

Genetic population structure of a species' complex of blue mussels (Mytilus spp.)

Blue mussels representing two nominal species (Mytilus trossulus Gould, 1850 and Mytilus galloprovincialis Lamarck, 1819 were collected from 28 intertidal locations along the Pacific coast of the USA in 1990–1991 (total N=1255) and examined for variation at 15 allozyme loci. Twelve samples, mostly from a region of suspected hybridization, were analyzed for variation in seven shell characters. Principal-components analysis of allozyme data revealed three groups based on first principal-component scores, which were identified as M. trossulus, M. galloprovincialis, and hybrids. Canonical discriminant analysis of shell characters was less successful in separating mussels into discrete groups. Each location was characterized for four environmental variables: (1) temperature, (2) salinity, (3) tidal height and (4) degree of exposure to wave action, which were then used as independent variables in a series of multiple-regression analyses, with the proportions of the two species as dependent variables. Temperature and salinity had significant (P<0.05) effects on the macrogeographic distribution of the two species, whereas the effects of height in the tidal zone and degree of wave exposure were not statistically significant. Salinity was found to have a greater influence than temperature on the microgeographic distribution of the two species. M. trossulus was more abundant at locations with lower temperatures and greater salinity variation than M. galloprovincialis. The two species appear to be ecologically distinct, and their genetic integrity is at least partly the result of environmental heterogeneity.     

Plant vintage, technology, and environmental regulation

We use data on productivity and pollution abatement costs at individual pulp and paper mills to test whether the impact of environmental regulation on productivity differs by plant vintage and technology. Plants with higher pollution abatement costs have significantly lower productivity levels. This relationship differs greatly based on a plant's technology, with productivity at integrated mills being greatly affected by abatement costs, while the impact at non-integrated mills is negligible. Plant vintage does not seem to matter, with older and newer plants showing similar impacts. Reported abatement costs appear to substantially understate the true costs of abatement. Accounting for the impact of technology differences makes some difference in the estimated overall impact of environmental regulation.     

A laboratory study of auctions for reducing non-point source pollution

Non-point source pollution, such as nutrient runoff to waterways from agricultural production, is an environmental problem that typically involves asymmetric information. Land use changes to reduce pollution incur opportunity costs that are privately known to landholders, but these changes provide environmental benefits that may be more accurately estimated by regulators. This paper reports a testbed laboratory experiment in which landholder/sellers in sealed-offer auctions compete to obtain part of a fixed budget allocated by the regulator to subsidize abatement. In one treatment the regulator reveals to landholders the environmental benefits estimated for their projects, and in another treatment the regulator conceals the potential projects’ “environmental quality.” The results show that sellers’ offers misrepresent their costs more for high-quality projects when quality is revealed, so total abatement is lower and seller profits are higher when landholders know their projects’ environmental benefits. This suggests that concealing this information may improve regulatory efficiency.     

Assessment of the contribution of land use pattern and intensity to landscape quality: use of a landscape indicator

The objective of this research work is the evaluation of the impact of landuse pattern and intensity on landscape by means of an indicator. The method used to calculate a ‘landscape indicator’ (I_land) allows to take into account the objective as well as the subjective approach of landscape. I_land corresponds to the degree of agreement between landscape supply by farmers and landscape demand by the social groups. The supply and the demand are evaluated through four criteria: ‘diversity’, ‘upkeep’, ‘openness’ and ‘heritage’. The landscape supply is calculated from data of landscape objects (punctual, linear and spatial) for each criterion recorded at the field level. The values of the four criteria for the landscape demand are allocated by the user(s) of the indicator (decision makers, regional council, social groups…) into five classes (0–4). The value of the landscape indicator is the least favourable difference between supply and demand for the four criteria. An example of calculation of the ‘landscape indicator’ for an arable farm is given. The collection of data needs 2 h with the farmer and 2 h for a survey of the farm land.     

Strategic environmental policy; eco-dumping or a green strategy?

The Porter hypothesis claims that a strong environmental policy best serves the interests of a nation's export industry. While this hypothesis seems to be based on some form of bounded rationality, this paper argues that governments may have good reasons for setting an especially strong environmental policy even though firms are fully rational. If the available abatement technology turns the environment into an “inferior input”, competitiveness is spurred by a strong environmental policy. The government should take advantage of this, and set an especially strict emission quota or an especially high emission tax. The findings in the paper also has consequences for the desirability of international cooperation with respect to national environmental policy. If a strict environmental policy spurs competitiveness, the environment is better protected without cooperation.     

Spatial and temporal trends in heavy metal concentrations in mussels from Northern Ireland coastal waters

Data are presented on the heavy metal concentrations in mussels, Mytilus edulis (L), sampled over a 1 yr period (August 1980–August 1981) from Northern Ireland coastal waters. The study was aimed at investigating the spatial extent and temporal trends in heavy metal contamination and highlighting any areas with exceptionally high levels of toxic metals. With the exception of two sites with high values for mercury and chromium, respectively, contamination by metals was relatively low. Significant spatial and temporal differences in the concentrations of several metals were found. There were also significant spatial x temporal interactions for all the metals studied. Significant negative correlations between the percentage dry matter content of mussels and the concentrations of several metals were found. There were also significant positive correlations between certain pairs of metals. It is proposed that small variations in contamination of the marine environment can be detected by subtle differences in the concentration of metals in mussels and that mussel condition may be adversely affected by metal contamination.     

Theory of equity in pricing for resource conservation

This paper seeks to construct some theoretical tools that can be used to examine formally the equity issues raised in the use of pricing as a means to conserve scarce resources, in particular, the criteria that can be used to judge the equity of such a price change and the special problem raised by differences in elasticity of demand of different customer groups are considered. Toward this end the concept of a “superfair” distribution (a distribution under which each and every participant obtains a share of the total which is equal to or greater than that individuars pro-rata share, in his own estimation) is introduced and discussed.     

Impact of coal industries on the quality of Damodar river water

Increasing demand for water in domestic, agricultural, and industrial sectors necessitates exploitation of water either in the form of groundwater or from natural resources. To safeguard the long-term sustainability of water resources and their utilization, the quality of water has to be periodically monitored and determined for various characteristics, especially when the sources are polluted, such as Damodar river. Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR), Dhanbad, is carrying out research work on coal and its utilization and associated environmental concerns. The blood stream of life for the whole Jharia Coalfield is none other than the river Damodar. CIMFR's campus also depends exclusively on river Damodar for meeting its demand of drinking water. This study is a general survey toward the characteristics of Damodar river water, with special emphasis on the pollutant parameters, and evaluation of the treatment process being carried out at the institute for potability. Damodar river water is indeed affected by the disposal of the wastes without any pre-treatment by different coal-based industries established in its basin. The quantity of dissolved and suspended solids, total hardness, chemical oxygen demand, and coliform bacterial count are higher in Damodar water due to the disposal of the waste/effluents from coal-washing plants, coke ovens, cement, and other industries, but well within the permissible limit which is probably attributable to the high-carrying capacity of the river. The river is still not that much affected as it is usually apprehended, and it can be well utilized for potable and domestic purposes after simple treatment.     

Incentive compatibility tests of choice experiment value elicitation questions

This paper uses laboratory experiments with induced values to address fundamental issues related to the incentive compatibility of choice experiment value elicitation questions. In particular, we compare two- versus three-option choice sets and the effect of using alternative provision rules, including one where the outcome is influenced by both participant and “regulator” votes. We find the overall proportion of choices that are inconsistent with induced preferences is rather low. However, there are more deviations from induced preferences for two-option choice sets, and for alternatives to a simple plurality vote implementation rule. A multinomial probit analysis of choices in tandem with a mixed logit welfare analysis suggests there is a statistically significant but modest degree of bias towards selecting the status quo option.     

Modelling the effect of planktivorous fish removal in a reservoir on the biomass of cyanobacteria

In 2002, a “top-down” biomanipulation (reduction of biomass of planktivorous fish Carassius auratus) had been successfully carried out in a small reservoir of the river Bugach (Krasnoyarsk, Russia), after which the cyanobacterial blooming ceased. However, the reservoir ecosystem was absolutely free of Daphnia – the main link of trophic cascade. As supposed, the reduction of blooming was the result of suppression of a direct stimulation effect of planktivorous fish on cyanobacteria, revealed earlier in laboratory experiments. The question arose as to whether the effect of stimulation of cyanobacteria revealed in laboratory may lead to the changes in biomass of cyanobacteria in the reservoir, observed after the biomanipulation.To test this supposition, a mathematical model describing growth of cyanobacteria in the reservoir was developed. The modelling results and field data on biomass of cyanobacteria in summer closely coincided. Modelling calculations showed that direct influence of planktivorous fish could cause the second summer peak of water blooming by Microcystis. On the contrary, removal of crucian carp from the reservoir will not affect the level of water blooming caused by cyanobacteria Anabaena, as this species’ growth is not stimulated by fish.     

Averting expenditure and the cost of pollution

The paper considers the relationship between the willingness to pay for environmental quality and averting expenditures—that is, the costs of measures undertaken in efforts to counteract the consequences of pollution. The models used assume perfect mobility among locations with different levels of environmental quality. The major results are: (1) Averting expenditures are not in general a good measure of willingness to pay; (2) averting expenditures are not always even a lower bound on willingness to pay; (3) even when averting expenditures are a lower bound, the difference between the level of such expenditures and willingness to pay cannot be attributed to the unavertible “aesthetic” consequences of pollution.     

Decentralized regulation of a common property renewable resource industry with irreversible investment

The effectiveness of output controls for rationalizing a common property renewable resource has been called into question by the theoretical work of J. R. Gould [Economica, Nov., 383–402 (1972)]. A proper examination of this question requires an intertemporal analysis, one that takes into account that asymmetries between persistent factors of production (“immaleable capital”) and factors that are instantaneously consumed (“labor” or ldharvest effort”). We present here a nonlinear intertemporal model of a renewable resource industry, under conditions of irreversible capital investment, and undertake to analyze its dynamics, both at open access and under centralized optimal management. We then examine the theoretical possibility of decentralized regulation by Pigouvian taxes, and reconsider the proposition of Gould.