Ethics and governance for internet-based conservation science research

Internet-based research is increasingly important for conservation science and has wide-ranging applications and contexts, including culturomics, illegal wildlife trade, and citizen science. However, online research methods pose a range of ethical and legal challenges. Online data may be protected by copyright, database rights, or contract law. Privacy rights may also restrict the use and access of data, as well as ethical requirements from institutions. Online data have real-world meaning, and the ethical treatment of individuals and communities must not be marginalized when conducting internet-based research. As ethics frameworks originally developed for biomedical applications are inadequate for these methods, we propose that research activities involving the analysis of preexisting online data be treated analogous to offline social science methods, in particular, nondeceptive covert observation. By treating internet users and their data with respect and due consideration, conservationists can uphold the public trust needed to effectively address real-world issues.     

Fire resistance of passive fire protection coatings after long-term weathering

Passive fire protection (PFP) systems are widely used by the oil, gas and chemical industries to protect offshore and onshore facilities against the effects of fire. However, there are concerns that the performance of PFP systems in a fire may have deteriorated because of weathering and/or that corrosion of the protected item may be taking place beneath the PFP systems. In May 1987, Shell UK began a long-term PFP weathering programme at a maritime test site using furnace tests to assess the fire performance of the materials. The programme was handed over to the Health and Safety Executive in October 1999 and was continued and extended to include the more severe jet fire testing of weathered specimens. This paper describes the effects of weathering on six epoxy intumescent PFP products and one cementitious PFP product in common use. The results are discussed in relation to alterations in physical form, corrosion of the substrate and changes in fire resistance.     

Linking linear programming and spatial simulation models to predict landscape effects of forest management alternatives

Forest management planners require analytical tools to assess the effects of alternative strategies on the sometimes disparate benefits from forests such as timber production and wildlife habitat. We assessed the spatial patterns of alternative management strategies by linking two models that were developed for different purposes. We used a linear programming model (Spectrum) to optimize timber harvest schedules, then a simulation model (HARVEST) to project those schedules in a spatially explicit way and produce maps from which the spatial pattern of habitat could be calculated. We demonstrated the power of this approach by evaluating alternative plans developed for a national forest plan revision in Wisconsin, USA. The amount of forest interior habitat was inversely related to the amount of timber cut, and increased under the alternatives compared to the current plan. The amount of edge habitat was positively related to the amount of timber cut, and increased under all alternatives. The amount of mature northern hardwood interior and edge habitat increased for all alternatives, but mature pine habitat area varied. Mature age classes of all forest types increased, and young classes decreased under all alternatives. The average size of patches (defined by age class) generally decreased. These results are consistent with the design goals of each of the alternatives, but reveal that the spatial differences among the alternatives are modest. These complementary models are valuable for quantifying and comparing the spatial effects of alternative management strategies.     

Effects of high temperature and CO2 on intracellular DMSP in the cold-water coral Lophelia pertusa

Significant warming and acidification of the oceans is projected to occur by the end of the century. CO₂ vents, areas of upwelling and downwelling, and potential leaks from carbon capture and storage facilities may also cause localised environmental changes, enhancing or depressing the effect of global climate change. Cold-water coral ecosystems are threatened by future changes in carbonate chemistry, yet our knowledge of the response of these corals to high temperature and high CO₂ conditions is limited. Dimethylsulphoniopropionate (DMSP), and its breakdown product dimethylsulphide (DMS), are putative antioxidants that may be accumulated by invertebrates via their food or symbionts, although recent research suggests that some invertebrates may also be able to synthesise DMSP. This study provides the first information on the impact of high temperature (12 °C) and high CO₂ (817 ppm) on intracellular DMSP in the cold-water coral Lophelia pertusa from the Mingulay Reef Complex, Scotland (56°49′N, 07°23′W), where in situ environmental conditions are meditated by tidally induced downwellings. An increase in intracellular DMSP under high CO₂ conditions was observed, whilst water column particulate DMS + DMSP was reduced. In both high temperature treatments, intracellular DMSP was similar to the control treatment, whilst dissolved DMSP + DMS was not significantly different between any of the treatments. These results suggest that L. pertusa accumulates DMSP from the surrounding water column; uptake may be up-regulated under high CO₂ conditions, but mediated by high temperature. These results provide new insight into the biotic control of deep-sea biogeochemistry and may impact our understanding of the global sulphur cycle, and the survival of cold-water corals under projected global change.     

Lack of sampling site variation in chorion villus biopsy as assessed by DNA,enzymatic, morphological and cytogenetical analyses

A study of villus samples from eight random sites on five electively aborted chorion sacs was performed to determine any significant differences in yield, quality and composition of DNA, iduronate sulphate sulphatase activity and karyoptype status. The villi were also examined for their histological characteristics (e.g. stem, intermediate or terminal villi) and for HCG and BGP immuno-reactivities. The overall findings indicated no significant site to site variations in any of the parameters studied. It is therefore proposed that any villus should be equally suitable for prenatal diagnosis.     

A method for the detection of non-random associations among flocking birds and its application to sanderlings Calidris alba wintering in N.E. England

Summary Indices of association are frequently used in studies of social behaviour. Observed association indices may be compared with those obtained from computer randomizations of the data in order to test whether any two individuals in a population tend to occur together more than would be expected by chance. Data for individually-identifiable colour-ringed sanderlings Calidris alba are presented to illustrate the importance of the assumptions on which such null models are built. When each individual was given an equal chance of appearing in each flock associations differed from those expected by chance. But when the different numbers of times that each individual occurred at the study site were taken into account associations were not different from those expected by chance. Hypotheses relating association levels to a number of factors were tested. None of the factors examined had significant and appreciable effects on association levels. In particular, there was no evidence for sanderlings moving around in stable groups. Taking into account the different distributions of different individuals, the population of birds present on any day represented a random sample from the population of birds seen during the winter. Correspondence to: G. Roberts     

On the functional extinction of the Passenger Pigeon

The Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) was a social breeder, and it has been suggested that the species experienced functional extinction, defined as a total reproductive failure, prior to its actual extinction in the early years of the 20th century. We applied a novel randomization test based on the relative times of the most recent egg‐ and skin‐specimen sightings (i.e., recorded date of specimen collection) to test for functional extinction. For a total of 6 eggs and 27 skins, the observed significance level was 0.38, which indicated that the species did not become functionally extinct. Thus, proposals to reverse its rapid decline in the late 19th century could have been successful.     

Changes in air quality at near-roadway schools after a major freeway expansion in Las Vegas,Nevada

Near-roadway ambient black carbon (BC) and carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations were measured at two schools adjacent to a freeway and at an urban background school 2 km from the freeway to determine the change in concentrations attributable to vehicle emissions after the three-lane expansion of U.S. Highway 95 (US 95) in Las Vegas, Nevada. Between summer 2007 and summer 2008, average weekday small-vehicle volume increased by 40% ± 2% (standard error). Average weekday large-vehicle volume decreased by 17% ± 5%, due to a downturn in the economy and an associated decline in goods movement. Average vehicle speed increased from 58 to 69 mph, a 16% ± 1% increase. The authors compared BC and CO concentrations in summer 2007 with those in summer 2008 to understand what effect the expansion of the freeway may have had on ambient concentrations: BC and CO were measured 17 m north of the freeway sound wall, CO was measured 20 m south of the sound wall, and BC was measured at an urban background site 2 km south of the freeway. Between summer 2007 and summer 2008, median BC decreased at the near-road site by 40% ± 2% and also decreased at the urban background site by 24% ± 4%, suggesting that much of the change was due to decreases in emissions throughout Las Vegas, rather than only on US 95. CO concentrations decreased by 14% ± 2% and 10% ± 3% at the two near-road sites. The decrease in BC concentrations after the expansion is likely due to the decrease in medium- and heavy-duty-vehicle traffic resulting from the economic recession. The decrease in CO concentrations may be a result of improved traffic flow, despite the increase in light-duty-vehicle traffic.

ImplicationsMonitoring of BC and CO at near-road locations in Las Vegas demonstrated the impacts of changes in traffic volume and vehicle speed on near-road concentrations. However, urban-scale declines in concentrations were larger than near-road changes due to the impacts of the economic recession that occurred contemporaneously with the freeway expansion.     

Agrochemical spray drift; assessment and mitigation--a review

During application of agrochemicals spray droplets can drift beyond the intended target to non-target receptors, including water, plants and animals. Factors affecting this spray drift include mode of application, droplet size, which can be modified by the nozzle types, formulation adjuvants, wind direction, wind speed, air stability, relative humidity, temperature and height of released spray relative to the crop canopy. The rate of fall of spray droplets depends upon the size of the droplets but is modified by entrainment in a mobile air mass and is also influenced by the rate of evaporation of the liquid constituting the aerosol. The longer the aerosol remains in the air before falling to the ground (or alternatively striking an object above ground) the greater the opportunity for it to be carried away from its intended target. In general, all size classes of droplets are capable of movement off target, but the smallest are likely to move the farthest before depositing on the ground or a non-target receptor. It is not possible to avoid spray drift completely but it can be minimized by using best-management practices. These include using appropriate nozzle types, shields, spray pressure, volumes per area sprayed, tractor speed and only spraying when climatic conditions are suitable. Field layout can also influence spray drift, whilst crop-free and spray-free buffer zones and windbreak crops can also have a mitigating effect. Various models are available to estimate the environmental exposure from spray drift at the time of application.