The effectiveness of coastal management web portals – a critical analysis

Effective and efficient information dissemination is crucial for a successful management of coasts and beaches. Almost all coastal management activities use Internet portals to provide electronic accessibility of data and information. In this respect, we have analyzed web tracking data and costs to investigate the effectiveness and efficiency of two coastal management web portals. Indicators for the visiting quality, the volume and characteristics of the information flow and the associated costs were combined. The results show that mainly professional users were attracted by the two investigated online coastal management information offers. Furthermore, the coastal management contents were mainly relevant on regional scale. The results indicate that it is not enough to provide various information, instead it further needs also efforts to disseminate this information to a broader public. Specific preparation and presentation of information for the target groups would lead to an active dissemination process. The investigation of the costs shows that an increasing efficiency of information dissemination via the Internet goes together with the long term use of the information infrastructure. Therefore large coastal management web portals need runtimes of several years. The applied method combined and simplified actual used web analytic methods to allow valuable insights into the information dissemination of coastal management web portals. In this way the method can be used to help coastal decision makers or other practitioners to screen their web presence in the background of information supply and demand for all visitor groups they want to reach.     

Anaerobic transformation of four abundant organochlorine pesticide residues (B8-1413, B9-1679, oxychlordane,p,p‵-DDE) in extracts of Antarctic skua eggs by the isolated bacterium Sulfurospirillum multivorans

Residues of halogenated pollutants bioaccumulated in eggs of the south polar skua (Catharacta maccormicki) from the Antarctic were extracted, purified, and fractionated. The target fraction which contained the bulk of the chloropesticides was concentrated and incubated with cell suspensions of the isolated bacterium Sulfurospirillum multivorans (formerly Dehalospirillum multivorans). S. multivorans was previously identified as a good anoxic transformer of several halogenated compounds. The compounds of technical toxaphene 2-endo,3-exo,5-endo,6-exo,8,8,10,10-octachlorobornane (B8-1413, also known as P-26) and 2-endo,3-exo,5-endo,6-exo,8,8,9,10,10-nonachlorobornane (B9-1679, also known as P-50) as well as 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethene (p,p′-DDE) and 1-exo,2-exo,4,5,6,7,8,8-octachloro-2,3-exo-epoxy-3a,4,7,7a-tetrahydro-4,7-methanoindene (oxychlordane) were present at a sufficiently high concentration and hence useful for studying the anaerobic transformation by the bacterium. When treated with S. multivorans, B8-1413 and B9-1679 were almost quantitatively transformed within 1 day. For B9-1679, the major metabolite was found to be 2-endo,3-exo,5-endo,6-exo,8,9,10-heptachlorobornane (B7-1001). Compared to the toxaphenes, transformation of oxychlordane and p,p′-DDE was significantly slower. Even after seven days, about 10% of the initial pool was detected in the extracts. 1-chloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethene (p,p′-DDMU) was identified as a transformation product of p,p′-DDE. The four compounds in this study comprise some of the most persistent chloropesticide residues found in marine birds. In case there is sufficient transformation before they reach the top predators, the bioaccumulative potential can be significantly reduced.     

Wasserrahmenrichtlinie — Fortschritte und Defizite

Background

The water protection policy of the European Union sits on new footings since the end of 2000: The Water FrameworkDirective (WFD). By replacing, merging and renewing all parts of the European water protection policy from the 1970s, the WFD provides a consistent, transparent and comprehensive concept of what water management should be in the Europe of the coming decades. The new directive is aimed at a holistic approach towards integrated water protection. It sets ambitious high-quality goals to achieve a good status for European lakes and rivers primarily in ecological terms, gives details about the essential processes as well as instruments, and includes everything into a strict time schedule.

Aim

This article adresses progress and shortcomings at the implementation of the WFD in general and with reference to two selected case studies (Rivers Elbe and Upper Danube).

Results and Discussion

After introducing the WFD, its aims and exceptions, a policy summary and background document ‘Environmental objectives und the Water Framework Directive’ and the use of Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) for single ‘priority substances’ as well as ‘hazardous priority components’ is discussed. The initial characterization undertaken by the German states revealed that only about 14% of all surface waters are considered to meet the WFD objectives by the year of 2015. Approximately 60% of the water bodies assessed are at risk of failing the WFD objectives, if not systematic efforts are made to improve the quality. Screenings of sources and paths of exposure for ‘priority substances’ and ‘priority hazardous substances’ according WFD identified one distinct pollution source for surface waters: ‘Historical pollution from sediments’. Because of industrial emissions in the past several river catchment areas are expected to fail the standards demanded by the WFD, due to a risk of remobilization of contaminants from sediments. This holds true for the Rhine river with high loads of hexachlorobenzene (HCB) as well as for Elbe river, where contaminated sediments can be a severe problem. Therefore, integration of sediments into the holistic river basin management approach and their consideration within the ‘programmes of measures’ scheduled for 2009 is highly recommended. At present, a comprehensive weight-of-evidence study verifies whether the observed fish decline at the Upper Danube. River is caused by ecotoxicological hazard potentials of contaminated sediments.

Outlook

Combined investigations of sediment contamination and mobility as well as acute and mechanism specific biotests in effect directed analyses/weight-of-evidence studies show grent potential for the assessment of chemically polluted rivers and should be included into the ‘programmes of measures’ within future management concepts.

     

Connectivity between countries established by landbirds and raptors migrating along the African–Eurasian flyway

The conservation of long-distance migratory birds requires coordination between the multiple countries connected by the movements of these species. The recent expansion of tracking studies is shedding new light on these movements, but much of this information is fragmented and inaccessible to conservation practitioners and policy makers. We synthesized current knowledge on the connectivity established between countries by landbirds and raptors migrating along the African–Eurasian flyway. We reviewed tracking studies to compile migration records for 1229 individual birds, from which we derived 544 migratory links, each link corresponding to a species’ connection between a breeding country in Europe and a nonbreeding country in sub-Saharan Africa. We used these migratory links to analyze trends in knowledge over time and spatial patterns of connectivity per country (across species), per species (across countries), and at the flyway scale (across all countries and all species). The number of tracking studies available increased steadily since 2010 (particularly for landbirds), but the coverage of existing tracking data was highly incomplete. An average of 7.5% of migratory landbird species and 14.6% of raptor species were tracked per country. More data existed from central and western European countries, and it was biased toward larger bodied species. We provide species- and country-level syntheses of the migratory links we identified from the reviewed studies, involving 123 populations of 43 species, migrating between 28 European and 43 African countries. Several countries (e.g., Spain, Poland, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo) are strategic priorities for future tracking studies to complement existing data, particularly on landbirds. Despite the limitations in existing tracking data, our data and results can inform discussions under 2 key policy instruments at the flyway scale: the African–Eurasian Migratory Landbirds Action Plan and the Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Birds of Prey in Africa and Eurasia.     

On the preconditions for large-scale collective action

Ambio - The phenomenon of collective action and the origin of collective action problems have been extensively and systematically studied in the social sciences. Yet, while we have substantial...     

When the going gets tough: Employee reactions to large-scale organizational change and the role of employee Machiavellianism

Large-scale, long-term change initiatives take time to unfold, which can be a source of uncertainty and strain. Investigating the initial 19 months of a large-scale change, we argue that during these stages, employees' change-related beliefs become more negative over time, which negatively affects their work engagement and, ultimately, increases their turnover intentions. Furthermore, we investigate the impact of a trait, Machiavellianism, on change reactions and propose that employees high in Machiavellianism react more negatively during change processes as they are especially susceptible to uncertainty and stress. We test our (cross-level) moderated mediation model in a three-wave longitudinal study among employees undergoing a large-scale change (T1: n = 1,602; T2: n = 1,113; T3: n = 759). We find that employees' beliefs about the impact and value of the change are indeed negatively related to change duration and that decreases in these perceptions come with a decline in engagement and increases in turnover intentions. Moreover, employees high in Machiavellianism react more strongly to a deterioration in change-related beliefs, showing stronger reductions in engagement and stronger increases in turnover intentions than employees low in Machiavellianism. Our study offers explanations for the negative effects of large-scale changes including an explanatory factor for disparate employee reactions to change over time.     

Establishing A Earth Observation Product Service For The Terrestrial Carbon Community: The Globcarbon Initiative

'Greenhouse gases', especially carbon dioxide, are intimately connected to climate change. To understand the future evolution of the climate system and find ways to manage the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the processes and feedbacks that drive the carbon cycle must first be understood. However, our current knowledge of spatial and temporal patterns is uncertain, particularly over land and in regions of potentially high sensitivity to change like the boreal zone. The European Space Agency (ESA) GLOBCARBON project aims to generate fully calibrated estimates of at-land products quasi-independent of the original Earth Observation source for use primarily in Dynamic Global Vegetation Models, but also as a contribution to the Global Carbon Project, a cooperation between the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme, International Human Dimensions Programme and the World Climate Research Programme to aid understanding of global carbon cycling. The service will feature estimation of global burned area, the fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (f_APAR), leaf area index (LAI) and Vegetation Growth Cycle. The demonstrator will focus on ten complete years, from 1998 to 2007 when overlap exists between ESA Earth Observation sensors and others that are synergistic. However, the system will be flexible so that it is not dependent on any single satellite sensor and therefore can be retrospectively applied to existing archives and used with future satellite sensors.     

Vorschl?ge zur Charakterisierung und quantifizierung pfadübergreifender Schadstoffexpositionen

Zusammenfassung  Um zu einer sachgerechten und nachvollziehbar quantifizierbaren Beurteilung der m?glichen Gesundheitsbelastungen des Menschen durch Schadstoffe zu gelangen, ist es von grundlegender Bedeutung dessen ?u?ere Schadstoffexposition absch?tzen zu k?nnen. Um die Durchführung derartiger Absch?tzungen zu erm?glichen, werden nutzergruppen- und expositionsszenariospezifisch orale, inhalative und dermale Aufnahmeraten für die Kontaktmedien Boden, Pflanzen aus Haus- und Schreberg?rten, Trinkwasser, Staub, Hausstaub und Innenraumluft vorgeschlagen. Diese Aufnahmeraten dienen, gemeinsam mit gemessenen oder berechneten Schadstoffkonzentrationen in den entsprechenden Kontaktmedien, zur Absch?tzung der von Menschen aufgenommenen Schadstoffdosen und erm?glichen durch einen Vergleich mit tolerierbaren Schadstoffdosen eine stoff-, nutzungs- und standortbezogene Beurteilung von Schadstoffexpositionen, auch für komplexe Nutzungen.