Understanding implications of consumer behavior for wildlife farming and sustainable wildlife trade

Unsustainable wildlife trade affects biodiversity and the livelihoods of communities dependent upon those resources. Wildlife farming has been proposed to promote sustainable trade, but characterizing markets and understanding consumer behavior remain neglected but essential steps in the design and evaluation of such operations. We used sea turtle trade in the Cayman Islands, where turtles have been farm raised for human consumption for almost 50 years, as a case study to explore consumer preferences toward wild‐sourced (illegal) and farmed (legal) products and potential conservation implications. Combining methods innovatively (including indirect questioning and choice experiments), we conducted a nationwide trade assessment through in‐person interviews from September to December 2014. Households were randomly selected using disproportionate stratified sampling, and responses were weighted based on district population size. We approached 597 individuals, of which 37 (6.2%) refused to participate. Although 30% of households had consumed turtle in the previous 12 months, the purchase and consumption of wild products was rare (e.g., 64–742 resident households consumed wild turtle meat [i.e., 0.3–3.5% of households] but represented a large threat to wild turtles in the area due to their reduced populations). Differences among groups of consumers were marked, as identified through choice experiments, and price and source of product played important roles in their decisions. Despite the long‐term practice of farming turtles, 13.5% of consumers showed a strong preference for wild products, which demonstrates the limitations of wildlife farming as a single tool for sustainable wildlife trade. By using a combination of indirect questioning, choice experiments, and sales data to investigate demand for wildlife products, we obtained insights about consumer behavior that can be used to develop conservation‐demand‐focused initiatives. Lack of data from long‐term social–ecological assessments hinders the evaluation of and learning from wildlife farming. This information is key to understanding under which conditions different interventions (e.g., bans, wildlife farming, social marketing) are likely to succeed.     

Seasonal dynamics of phytoplankton in response to environmental variables in contrasting coastal ecosystems

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Seasonal distribution of phytoplankton community and size structure was assessed in three different tropical ecosystems of the western Bay of Bengal...     

冻融循环作用下尾矿砂抗剪强度和变形特性研究

为探究冻融循环后尾矿物理力学特性的变化特征,使用高低温试验箱和应变控制式三轴剪力仪对处于不同初始条件下的尾矿砂进行不排水不固结试验,揭示了尾矿砂的抗剪强度参数、不同围压条件下的变形模量与冻融循环次数、含水率之间的关系。结果表明:相同含水率条件下,随冻融循环次数增加,尾矿砂黏聚力先减小后趋于稳定,内摩擦角先增大后减小,围压100 k Pa和200 k Pa时变形模量逐渐减小,围压300 k Pa时变形模量呈现先减小后缓慢增大的趋势;相同冻融循环次数条件下,随尾矿砂含水率增加,其黏聚力先增加后减小、内摩擦角不断减小;不同围压条件下变形模量在总体上均呈现出不断减小的变化趋势,围压200 k Pa时变形模量总的衰减量最大,100k Pa次之,300 k Pa最小。     

Fishing‐gear restrictions and biomass gains for coral reef fishes in marine protected areas

Considerable empirical evidence supports recovery of reef fish populations with fishery closures. In countries where full exclusion of people from fishing may be perceived as inequitable, fishing‐gear restrictions on nonselective and destructive gears may offer socially relevant management alternatives to build recovery of fish biomass. Even so, few researchers have statistically compared the responses of tropical reef fisheries to alternative management strategies. We tested for the effects of fishery closures and fishing gear restrictions on tropical reef fish biomass at the community and family level. We conducted 1,396 underwater surveys at 617 unique sites across a spatial hierarchy within 22 global marine ecoregions that represented 5 realms. We compared total biomass across local fish assemblages and among 20 families of reef fishes inside marine protected areas (MPAs) with different fishing restrictions: no‐take, hook‐and‐line fishing only, several fishing gears allowed, and sites open to all fishing gears. We included a further category representing remote sites, where fishing pressure is low. As expected, full fishery closures, (i.e., no‐take zones) most benefited community‐ and family‐level fish biomass in comparison with restrictions on fishing gears and openly fished sites. Although biomass responses to fishery closures were highly variable across families, some fishery targets (e.g., Carcharhinidae and Lutjanidae) responded positively to multiple restrictions on fishing gears (i.e., where gears other than hook and line were not permitted). Remoteness also positively affected the response of community‐level fish biomass and many fish families. Our findings provide strong support for the role of fishing restrictions in building recovery of fish biomass and indicate important interactions among fishing‐gear types that affect biomass of a diverse set of reef fish families.     

Modeling the decline of labor-sharing in the semi-desert region of Chile

Regional Environmental Change - The rapid environmental changes currently underway in many dry regions of the world, and the deep uncertainty about their consequences, underscore a critical...     

Assessing groundwater quality and its sustainability in Joypurhat district of Bangladesh using GIS and multivariate statistical approaches

Sustainable groundwater quality is a key global concern and has become a major issue of disquiets in most parts of the world including Bangladesh. Hence, the assessment of groundwater quality is an important study to ensure its sustainability for various uses. In this study, a combination of multivariate statistics, geographical information system (GIS) and geochemical approaches was employed to evaluate the groundwater quality and its sustainability in Joypurhat district of Bangladesh. The results showed that the groundwater samples are mainly Ca–Mg–HCO₃ type. Principal component analysis (PCA) results revealed that geogenic sources (rock weathering and cation exchange) followed by anthropogenic activities (domestic sewage and agro-chemicals) were the major factors governing the groundwater quality of the study area. Furthermore, the results of PCA are validated using the cluster analysis and correlation matrix analysis. Based on the groundwater quality index (GWQI), it is found that all the groundwater samples belong to excellent to good water quality domains for human consumption, although iron, fluoride and iodide contaminated to the groundwater, which do not pose any significant health hazard according to World Health Organization’s and Bangladesh’s guideline values. The results of irrigation water quality index including sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), permeability index and sodium percentage (Na %) suggested that most of the groundwater samples are good quality water for agricultural uses. The spatial distribution of the measured values of GWQI, SAR, Fe (iron), EC (electrical conductivity) and TH (total hardness) were spatially mapped using the GIS tool in the study area.     

Correction to: Opportunities to reduce nutrient inputs to the Baltic Sea by improving manure use efficiency in agriculture

While progress has been made in reducing external nutrient inputs to the Baltic Sea, further actions are needed to meet the goals of the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP), especially for the Baltic Proper, Gulf of Finland, and Gulf of Riga sub-basins. We used the net anthropogenic nitrogen and phosphorus inputs (NANI and NAPI, respectively) nutrient accounting approach to construct three scenarios of reduced NANI-NAPI. Reductions assumed that manure nutrients were redistributed from areas with intense animal production to areas that focus on crop production and would otherwise import synthetic and mineral fertilizers. We also used the Simple as Necessary Baltic Long Term Large Scale (SANBALTS) model to compare eutrophication conditions for the scenarios to current and BSAP-target conditions. The scenarios suggest that reducing NANI-NAPI by redistributing manure nutrients, together with improving agronomic practices, could meet 54–82% of the N reductions targets (28–43 kt N reduction) and 38–64% P reduction targets (4–6.6 kt P reduction), depending on scenario. SANBALTS output showed that even partial fulfillment of nutrient reduction targets could have ameliorating effects on eutrophication conditions. Meeting BSAP targets will require addressing additional sources, such as sewage. A common approach to apportioning sources to external nutrients loads could enable further assessment of the feasibility of eutrophication management targets.

     

Carbon and nitrogen mineralization in Vertisol as mediated by type and placement method of residue

Selection of appropriate residue application method is essential for better use of biomass for soil and environmental health improvement. A laboratory incubation experiment was conducted for 75 days to investigate C and N mineralization of residues of soybean (Glycine max L.), chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), maize (Zea mays L.), and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) placed on the soil surface and incorporated into the soil. The residue of soybean and chickpea had a greater decomposition rate than that of maize and wheat, despite of their placements. Higher rate of decomposition of the residue of soybean and chickpea was recorded when it was kept on the soil surface while soil incorporation of residue of wheat and maize resulted in faster decomposition. Therefore, these findings could be used as guidelines for management of crop residue application in farmland to improve soil and environmental quality.     

An integrated approach for assessing the migration behavior of chlorpyrifos and carbaryl in the unsaturated soil zone

Chlorpyrifos (O, O-diethyl O-3,5,6-trichloropyridin-2-yl phosphorothioate) and carbaryl (1-naphthyl methylcarbamate) are often applied concurrently as insecticides in food production. The aim of this study was to research their migration behavior in a real environment. We researched the leaching of both pesticides by setting up field lysimeters on a farm with the typical soil used in fruit production today. In order to analyze the variables involved in this process, we performed complementary adsorption studies, we performed complementary adsorption studies using batches and undisturbed soil laboratory columns for both compounds. The results for pesticide transport through the lysimeters showed that less than 1% of chlorpyrifos was recovered in the leachates, while almost 17% was recovered for carbaryl. Having completed the experiment in undisturbed laboratory columns, soil analysis showed that chlorpyrifos mainly remained in the first 5 cm, while carbaryl moved down to the lower sections. These results can be explained in view of the sorption coefficient values (K_D) obtained in horizons A and B for chlorpyrifos (393 and 184 L kg^?1) and carbaryl (3.1 and 4.2 L kg^?1), respectively. By integrating the results obtained in the different approaches, we were able to characterize the percolation modes of these pesticides in the soil matrix, thus contributing to the sustainable use of resources.