Historical perspectives on contemporary human–environment dynamics in southeast Africa

The human communities and ecosystems of island and coastal southeast Africa face significant and linked ecological threats. Socioecological conditions of concern to communities, governments, nongovernmental organizations, and researchers include declining agricultural productivity, deforestation, introductions of non-native flora and fauna, coastal erosion and sedimentation, damage to marine environments, illegal fishing, overfishing, waste pollution, salinization of freshwater supplies, and rising energy demands, among others. Human–environment challenges are connected to longer, often ignored, histories of social and ecological dynamics in the region. We argue that these challenges are more effectively understood and addressed within a longer-term historical ecology framework. We reviewed cases from Madagascar, coastal Kenya, and the Zanzibar Archipelago of fisheries, deforestation, and management of human waste to encourage increased engagement among historical ecologists, conservation scientists, and policy makers. These case studies demonstrate that by widening the types and time depths of data sets we used to investigate and address current socioecological challenges, our interpretations of their causes and strategies for their mitigation varied significantly.     

The Anthropocene: From Global Change to Planetary Stewardship

Over the past century, the total material wealth of humanity has been enhanced. However, in the twenty-first century, we face scarcity in critical resources, the degradation of ecosystem services, and the erosion of the planet's capability to absorb our wastes. Equity issues remain stubbornly difficult to solve. This situation is novel in its speed, its global scale and its threat to the resilience of the Earth System. The advent of the Anthropence, the time interval in which human activities now rival global geophysical processes, suggests that we need to fundamentally alter our relationship with the planet we inhabit. Many approaches could be adopted, ranging from geoengineering solutions that purposefully manipulate parts of the Earth System to becoming active stewards of our own life support system. The Anthropocene is a reminder that the Holocene, during which complex human societies have developed, has been a stable, accommodating environment and is the only state of the Earth System that we know for sure can support contemporary society. The need to achieve effective planetary stewardship is urgent. As we go further into the Anthropocene, we risk driving the Earth System onto a trajectory toward more hostile states from which we cannot easily return.     

Vegetative buffers for fan emissions from poultry farms: 1. temperature and foliar nitrogen

This study sought to evaluate the potential of trees planted around commercial poultry farms to trap ammonia (NH(3)), the gas of greatest environmental concern to the poultry industry. Four plant species (Norway spruce, Spike hybrid poplar, Streamco willow, and hybrid willow) were planted on eight commercial farms from 2003 to 2004. Because temperature (T) can be a stressor for trees, T was monitored in 2005 with data loggers among the trees in front of the exhaust fans (11.4 to 17.7 m) and at a control distance away from the fans (48 m) during all four seasons in Pennsylvania. Norway spruce (Picea abies) foliage samples were taken in August 2005 from one turkey and two layer farms for dry matter (DM) and nitrogen (N) analysis. The two layer farms had both Norway spruce and Spike hybrid poplar (Populus deltoides x Populus nigra) plantings sampled as well allowing comparisons of species and the effect of plant location near the fans versus a control distance away. Proximity to the fans had a clear effect on spruce foliar N with greater concentrations downwind of the fans than at control distances (3.03 vs. 1.88%; P < or = 0.0005). Plant location was again a significant factor for foliar N of both poplar and spruce on the two farms with both species showing greater N adjacent to the fans compared to the controls (3.75 vs. 2.32%; P < or = 0.0001). Pooled foliar DM of both plants was also greater among those near the fans (56.17, fan vs. 44.67%, control; P < or = 0.005). Species differences were also significant showing the potential of poplar to retain greater foliar N than spruce (3.52 vs. 2.55%; P < or = 0.001) with less DM (46.00 vs. 54.83%; P < or = 0.05) in a vegetative buffer setting. The results indicated plants were not stressed by the T near exhaust fans with mean seasonal T (13.04 vs. 13.03 degrees C, respectively) not significantly different from controls. This suggested poultry house exhaust air among the trees near the fans would not result in dormancy stressors on the plants compared to controls away from the fans.     

The effect of the number of counted traverses on the estimation of the total spore count sampled on a non-cultivable slit impactor

Various counting rules are used for spore trap analysis. Partial count can lead to concentration errors. This paper demonstrates that the number of traverses counted affects the final results.     

Conservation of Biodiversity: How Are We Doing?

A question rarely raised in discussions on biodiversity conservation, but surely the biggest question of all, is “How much time do we have left before the mass extinction underway surpasses our best efforts to contain it?” This prompts a further prime question because—and unlike all other problems, whether environmental or otherwise—the biotic crisis threatens to leave a severely impoverished planet for millions of years ahead; “Why do we not undertake the necessary actions to get on top of the problem before it gets on top of us?”