A time‐lagged investigation of the impact of coworker behavior on the effects of demographic dissimilarity

Although it is clear that coworker absenteeism, tardiness, and turnover can influence an employee's actions, scholars have yet to consider the impact of relational demography on the adoption of these behavioral norms. Inspired by social identity, situational strength, and attraction‐selection‐attrition theories, we proposed that individuals who differ from their coworkers in age, sex, or racioethnicity would feel threatened by their outnumbered status and subsequently motivated to be absent, tardy, or more likely to turnover. However, we expected coworker withdrawal behavior to moderate whether or not dissimilar personnel act on these desires. Results from hierarchical multilevel modeling analyses of data from 470 U.S. call center workers nested in 51 work groups revealed that racioethnic dissimilarity was positively related to time‐lagged changes in absenteeism and tardiness as well as heightened turnover likelihood. These effects emerged only among employees whose coworkers engaged in greater withdrawal behavior. Importantly, racioethnically dissimilar employees working in more permissive climates (i.e., those with high levels of coworker absenteeism, tardiness, or turnover) exhibited the greatest increases in absenteeism and tardiness over three months and had the highest supervisor‐rated turnover likelihood. Implications for diversity management are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Are we counting what counts? A closer look at environmental concern,pro-environmental behaviour,and carbon footprint

Three parallel lines of inquiry regarding individuals' support for the environment have developed within the environmental social sciences. These include individuals' concern for the environment, research on private sphere pro-environmental behaviour (PEB), i.e. household actions seeking to improve the environment (e.g. buying better light bulbs), and more recently, ecological and carbon footprints. Researchers have noted that the correlates of this third form of support for the environment are not necessarily the same as the predictors of the first two forms. Using Canadian survey data, this study examines the relationships among, and predictors of, all three forms. Evidence that there is not a link between private sphere PEB and household carbon footprints, and that measures of socio-economic status (education and income) have different effects on different types of support for the environment, invites a discussion of whether environmental social scientists are really counting what counts.     

Characterizing a Major Urban Stream Restoration Project: Nine Mile Run (Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania, USA)

Urban stream restoration continues to be used as an ecological management tool, despite uncertainty about the long‐term sustainability and resilience of restored systems. Evaluations of restoration success often focus on specific instream indicators, with limited attention to the wider basin or parallel hydrologic and geomorphic process. A comprehensive understanding of urban stream restoration progress is particularly important for comparisons with nonurban sites as urban streams can provide substantial secondary benefits to urban residents. Here, we utilize a wide range of indicators to retrospectively examine the restoration of Nine Mile Run, a multi‐million dollar stream restoration project in eastern Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania, USA). Examination of available continuous hydrological data illustrates the high cost of failures to incorporate the data into planning and adaptive management. For example, persistent extreme flows drive geomorphic degradation threatening to reverse hydrologic connections created by the restoration and impact the improved instream biotic communities. In addition, human activities associated with restoration efforts suggest a positive feedback as the stream restoration has focused effort on the basin beyond the reach. Ultimately, urban stream restoration remains a potentially useful management tool, but continued improvements in post‐project assessment should include examination of a wider range of indicators.     

Fitness benefits of coalitionary aggression in male chimpanzees

Coalitionary aggression occurs when at least two individuals jointly direct aggression at one or more conspecific targets. Scientists have long argued that this common form of cooperation has positive fitness consequences. Nevertheless, despite evidence that social bond strength (which is thought to promote coalition formation) is correlated with fitness in primates, cetaceans, and ungulates, few studies have directly examined whether coalitionary aggression improves reproductive success. We tested the hypothesis that among free-ranging chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii), participation in coalitionary aggression increases reproductive output. Using 14 years of genetic and behavioral data from Gombe National Park, Tanzania, we found that coalitionary aggression increased a male’s chances of (A) siring offspring, compared to other males of similar dominance rank, and (B) ascending in rank, a correlate of future reproductive output. Because male chimpanzees form coalitions with many others within a complex network, we used social network analysis to identify the types of connections correlated with these fitness benefits. The beneficiaries of coalitionary aggression were males with the highest “betweenness”—that is, those who tended to have coalition partners who themselves did not form coalitions with each other. This suggests that beyond simply recognizing third-party relationships, chimpanzees may use this knowledge to choose coalition partners. If so, this is a significant step forward in our knowledge of the adaptive value of social intelligence. Regardless of mechanism, however, this is the first evidence of genetic benefits of coalitionary aggression in this species, and therefore has important implications for understanding the evolution of cooperation.     

Miscanthus for Renewable Energy Generation: European Union Experience and Projections for Illinois

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change -     

Sand-swimming behaviour reduces ectoparasitism in an iguanian lizard

Social interactions may shape brain development. In primitively eusocial insects, the mushroom body (MB), an area of the brain associated with sensory integration and learning, is larger in queens than in workers. This may reflect a strategy of neural investment in queens or it may be a plastic response to social interactions in the nest. Here, we show that nest foundresses—the reproductive females who will become queens but are solitary until their first workers are born—have larger MBs than workers in the primitively eusocial sweat bee Augochlorella aurata. Whole brain size and optic lobe size do not differ between the two groups, but foundresses also have larger antennal lobes than workers. This shows that increased neural investment in MBs precedes social group formation. Larger MBs among foundresses may reflect the increased larval nutrition provisioned to future queens and the lack of social aggression from a dominant queen upon adult emergence.

     

Demography and disappearing merchandise: How older workforces influence retail shrinkage

Prior research on retail shrinkage has taken a largely individual‐level approach to theorizing about why it occurs, showing that older employees are less prone to theft and more vigilant in preventing customer shoplifting than younger personnel. However, given the influence of organizational contexts on organizational behavior, theorizing about shrinkage may be enhanced by the consideration of business‐unit level contextual variables. The present study addressed this concern by examining the relationship between store‐level age composition, whistle‐blowing (WB) climate, and shrinkage in 726 retail stores. Results indicated that the negative mean age–shrinkage relationship was stronger when there was less age diversity or a climate more supportive of WB. Moreover, the negative WB climate–shrinkage linkage was stronger when the mean age was higher. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of restoration and reflooding on soil denitrification in a leveed Midwestern floodplain.

River floodplains have the potential to remove nitrate from water through denitrification, the anaerobic microbial conversion of nitrate to nitrogen gas. An important factor in this process is the interaction of river water with floodplain soil; however, many rivers have been disconnected from their historic floodplains by levees. To test the effect of reflooding a degraded floodplain on nitrate removal, we studied changes in soil denitrification rates on the Baraboo River floodplain in Wisconsin, USA, as it underwent restoration. Prior to this study, the site had been leveed, drained, and farmed for more than 50 years. In late fall 2002, the field drainage system was removed, and a gate structure was installed to allow controlled flooding of this site with river water. Soil moisture was extremely variable among zones and months and reflected local weather. Soil organic matter was stable over the study period with differences occurring along the elevation gradient. High soil nitrate concentrations occurred in dry, relatively organic-poor soil samples and, conversely, all samples with high moisture soils characterized by low nitrate. We measured denitrification in static cores and potential denitrification in bulk samples amended with carbon and nitrogen, one year before and two years following the manipulation. Denitrification rates showed high temporal and spatial variability. Static core rates of individual sites ranged widely (from 0.00 to 16.7 microg N2O-N x [kg soil](-1) x h(-1), mean +/- SD = 1.10 +/- 3.02), and denitrification enzyme activity (DEA) rates were similar with a slightly higher mean (from 0.00 to 15.0 microg N2O-N x [kg soil](-1) x h(-1), 1.41 +/- 1.98). Denitrification was not well-correlated with soil nitrate, organic matter content, or moisture levels, the three parameters typically thought to control denitrification. Static core denitrification rates were not significantly different across years, and DEA rates decreased slightly the second year after restoration. These results demonstrate that restored agricultural soil has the potential for denitrification, but that floodplain restoration did not immediately improve this potential. Future floodplain restorations should be designed to test alternative methods of increasing denitrification.