Effects of payments for ecosystem services on wildlife habitat recovery

Conflicts between local people's livelihoods and conservation have led to many unsuccessful conservation efforts and have stimulated debates on policies that might simultaneously promote sustainable management of protected areas and improve the living conditions of local people. Many government‐sponsored payments‐for‐ecosystem‐services (PES) schemes have been implemented around the world. However, few empirical assessments of their effectiveness have been conducted, and even fewer assessments have directly measured their effects on ecosystem services. We conducted an empirical and spatially explicit assessment of the conservation effectiveness of one of the world's largest PES programs through the use of a long‐term empirical data set, a satellite‐based habitat model, and spatial autoregressive analyses on direct measures of change in an ecosystem service (i.e., the provision of wildlife species habitat). Giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) habitat improved in Wolong Nature Reserve of China after the implementation of the Natural Forest Conservation Program. The improvement was more pronounced in areas monitored by local residents than those monitored by the local government, but only when a higher payment was provided. Our results suggest that the effectiveness of a PES program depends on who receives the payment and on whether the payment provides sufficient incentives. As engagement of local residents has not been incorporated in many conservation strategies elsewhere in China or around the world, our results also suggest that using an incentive‐based strategy as a complement to command‐and‐control, community‐ and norm‐based strategies may help achieve greater conservation effectiveness and provide a potential solution for the park versus people conflict.     

Characterization of As and trace metals embedded in PM10 particles in Puebla City, México

Forty-eight air-filter samples (PM₁₀) were analysed to identify the concentration level of partially leached metals (PLMs; As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and V) from Puebla City, México. Samples were collected during 2008 from four monitoring sites: (1) Tecnológico (TEC), (2) Ninfas (NIN), (3) Hermanos Serdán (HS) and (4) Agua Santa (AS). The results indicate that in TEC, As (avg. 424 ng m^?3), V (avg. 19.2 ng m^?3), Fe (avg. 1,202 ng m^?3), Cu (avg. 86.6 ng m^?3), Cr (41.9 ng m^?3) and Ni (18.6 ng m^?3) are on the higher side than other populated regions around the world. The enrichment of PLMs is due to the industrial complexes generating huge dust particles involving various operations. The results are supported by the correlation of metals (Mn, Cd and Co) with Fe indicating its anthropogenic origin and likewise, As with Cd, Co, Fe, Mn, Pb and V. The separate cluster of As, Fe and Mn clearly signifies that it is due to continuous eruption of fumaroles from the active volcano Popocatépetl in the region.     

Sand as a relevant fraction in geochemical studies in intertidal environments

Soil and sediment samples from several intertidal environment exposed to different types of contamination were studied to investigate the importance of grain size in relation to the capacity of the substrates to retain trace metals. The unfractionated samples (referred to as bulk samples) were separated into the following grain/size fractions: fine–coarse sand (2?0.100 mm), very fine sand (0.100?0.050 mm), silt (0.050?0.002 mm), and clay (0.002 mm). The sample into its fractions was carried out was in a glove box under high-purity N₂ atmosphere in order to minimize any alterations to the samples. The bulk samples were characterized in terms of physicochemical properties such as pH, redox potential, and grain size. The total organic carbon (TOC), total sulfur (S), iron (Fe) pyrite, Fe, and manganese (Mn), and trace metals lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), chromium (Cr), and nickel (Ni) were analyzed in the bulk samples and in each fraction. The sand fractions were also examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Comparisons of the above parameters were made between fractions and between each fraction and the corresponding bulk sample. The fine–coarse sand fraction contained high levels of the primary elements of the geochemical processes that occur in marine sedimentary environments such as TOC, total Fe, Mn, and S. The net concentrations of these four elements were higher in the fine-coarse sand fraction than in the very fine sand fraction and were similar to the net concentrations in the silt and clay fractions. Detailed SEM analysis of the sand coarse fraction revealed the presence of Fe and aluminum oxyhydroxide coatings in the oxic layers, whereas the framboidal pyrites and coatings observed in the anoxic layers were Fe sulfides. The presence of the various coatings explains why the trace metal concentrations in the sand fine–coarse fraction were similar to those in the clay fraction and higher than those in the very fine sand fraction. The present results highlight the importance of the sand fraction, which is generally disregarded in geochemical and environmental studies of sedimentary layers.     

The role of digital data entry in participatory environmental monitoring

Many argue that monitoring conducted exclusively by scientists is insufficient to address ongoing environmental challenges. One solution entails the use of mobile digital devices in participatory monitoring (PM) programs. But how digital data entry affects programs with varying levels of stakeholder participation, from nonscientists collecting field data to nonscientists administering every step of a monitoring program, remains unclear. We reviewed the successes, in terms of management interventions and sustainability, of 107 monitoring programs described in the literature (hereafter programs) and compared these with case studies from our PM experiences in Australia, Canada, Ethiopia, Ghana, Greenland, and Vietnam (hereafter cases). Our literature review showed that participatory programs were less likely to use digital devices, and 2 of our 3 more participatory cases were also slow to adopt digital data entry. Programs that were participatory and used digital devices were more likely to report management actions, which was consistent with cases in Ethiopia, Greenland, and Australia. Programs engaging volunteers were more frequently reported as ongoing, but those involving digital data entry were less often sustained when data collectors were volunteers. For the Vietnamese and Canadian cases, sustainability was undermined by a mismatch in stakeholder objectives. In the Ghanaian case, complex field protocols diminished monitoring sustainability. Innovative technologies attract interest, but the foundation of effective participatory adaptive monitoring depends more on collaboratively defined questions, objectives, conceptual models, and monitoring approaches. When this foundation is built through effective partnerships, digital data entry can enable the collection of more data of higher quality. Without this foundation, or when implemented ineffectively or unnecessarily, digital data entry can be an additional expense that distracts from core monitoring objectives and undermines project sustainability. The appropriate role of digital data entry in PM likely depends more on the context in which it is used and less on the technology itself.     

Injury and loss concentration by sinkings in fishing fleets

Sinkings of fishing vessels, when accompanied by human loss, are accidents which lead to a great social upheaval, especially in the local area where they occur. In order to avoid or reduce these accidents, national governments must include in their legislation for this sector the appropriate safety measures. These resources and their distribution must be assigned in accordance with the needs of the accidentality, this requiring a detailed knowledge of the concentration of accidentality of a country’s fishing sector. In this context, the aim of the present work is twofold: first, to formulate a methodology for the fishing sector of a country, allowing the inequalities in the concentration of sinking accidents to be analysed; and second, to apply this methodology to the Spanish fishing fleet. Thus, two indices are constructed per region and type of fishing, for two variables: fishermen and vessels. Results are obtained both for the concentration of accidents and the associated Lorenz curves. An increase in the inequality in the spatial and functional distribution of these accidents is verified.     

Advances in the recycling of plastic wastes for metallurgical coke production

This paper aims to provide useful knowledge on the use of plastic wastes as additives to coking blends for the production of metallurgical coke. It focuses on the influence that the composition of plastic wastes has upon the development of coal fluidity, the generation of pressure during the coking process and the quality of the cokes produced in a semipilot oven. Several plastic mixtures of two types of thermoplastics, polyolefins (HDPE, LDPE and PP) and aromatic polymers such as PET, were used. The overall addition rate of plastics to a medium-fluid coal blend was 2 wt%. It is shown that polyolefins, weaker modifiers of coal fluidity, may be employed to maintain coke quality but that they have a negative effect on the generation of coking pressure, while plastics of the aromatic type such as PET, a strong modifier of coal fluidity, can be used to counteract the generation of coking pressure. From the results, it is deduced that the protocol developed is useful for determining the optimum amount of each type of polymer (polyolefins and aromatic polymers) that is needed in order to counteract the generation of pressure during the coking process and to maintain the quality of the cokes.     

Does intensity of change matter? Factors affecting adoption of agri-environmental schemes in Spain

Agri-environmental schemes (AES) are the main policy instrument currently available in the EU to promote environmentally-friendly farming practices. However, the rate of adoption of these measures is still relatively low in southern Europe, and understanding how these rates can be increased is still an open issue. The goal of this paper is to increase that understanding by testing whether the factors which determine AES sign-up decisions are influenced by the intensity of change in farming practices that are brought about by adopting the scheme. A micro-economic model reflecting farmer AES sign-up decisions is proposed and applied to two schemes in Spain respectively requiring major or minor intensity of change in practices by surveying farmers eligible for both schemes. The results show that farm structural factors play a role when major practice change is required by the scheme, yet when dealing with minor change, individual farmer characteristics play a more determining role. Social capital and farmer attitude are important factors in both the AES surveyed. Therefore, it may be concluded that improving agronomic design would be an important tool to improve farmer participation in AES where major change is involved, whereas improved targeting and extension would help uptake for AES involving a lesser degree of change.     

Acute toxicity and ecotoxicological risk assessment of rice pesticides to Lithobates catesbeianus tadpoles

The objective of this study was to determine the acute toxicity of some pesticides used in irrigated rice farming to Lithobates catesbeianus tadpoles. The LC_50-96h for commercial formulations containing bentazon, penoxsulam, vegetable oil, permethrin and carbofuran, separately and their mixtures, were determined at the proportions commonly used in the field. The limits of risk concentrations of these products for the studied species were also established. The LC_50-96h for tadpoles was 4,530 mg L^?1 for bentazon; 7.52 mg L^?1 for penoxsulam + 145.66 mg L^?1 of vegetable oil; 81.57 mg L^?1 for vegetable oil; 0.10 mg L^?1 for permethrin; 29.90 mg L^?1 for carbofuran (active ingredients), and 38.79 times the dose used in the field for the mixture of these products. The environmental risk was determined only for permethrin, and care should be taken when using the vegetable oil.     

The Properties of Poly(<Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">l</Emphasis>-Lactide) Prepared by Different Synthesis Procedure

Different synthesis methods were applied to determine optimal conditions for polymerization of (3S)-cis-3,6-dimethyl-1,4-dioxane-2,5-dione (l-lactide), in order to obtain poly(l-lactide) (PLLA). Bulk polymerizations (in vacuum sealed vessel, high pressure reactor and in microwave field) were performed with tin(II) 2-ethylhexanoate as the initiator. Synthesis in the vacuum sealed vessel was carried out at the temperature of 150 °C. To reduce the reaction time second polymerization process was carried out in the high pressure reactor at 100 °C and at the pressure of 138 kPa. The third type of rapid synthesis was done in the microwave reactor at 100 °C, using frequency of 2.45 GHz and power of 150 W at the temperature of 100 °C. The temperature in this method was controlled via infrared system for in-bulk measuring. The solution polymerization (with trifluoromethanesulfonic acid as initiator) was possible even at the temperature of 40 °C, yielding PLLA with narrow molecular weight distribution in a very short period of time (less than 6 h). The obtained polymers had the number-average molecular weights ranging from 43,000 to 178,000 g mol⁻¹ (polydispersity index ranging from 1 to 3) according to the gel permeation chromatography measurements. The polymer structure was characterized by Fourier transform infrared and NMR spectroscopy. Thermal properties of the obtained polymers were investigated using thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry.