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...     

Larvicidal and pupicidal activities of eco-friendly phenolic lipid products from Anacardium occidentale nutshell against arbovirus vectors

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus are vectors of diseases that constitute public health problems. The discovery of products capable of...     

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.     

Ecophysiology of Steppe Mouse Subspecies <Emphasis Type="Italic">Mus spicilegius spicilegus</Emphasis>, Peteni, 1883 (Rodentia,Mammalia) at the South Boundary of its Distribution

Diet, food preferences and main ecophysiological characteristics such like energy requirements and thermoregulation characteristics of Mus spicilegus spicilegus (Petenyi, 1882) were studied. The most preferred foods for the mice were seeds of weed species that composed more than 85% of their diet. The results of food selection experiments shows that the total daily consumption by mice is 2.77 ± 0.76 g/animal/day or 5.5 kJ/g/day or 84.9 kJ/animal/day. From the total daily energy consumption 16.4% go back to nature in the form of feces and urine and the rest 83.6% animals utilized for assimilation. The results of the temperature preferences for Mus s. spicilegus shows preferred temperature zone from around 26 to 36°C where mice spent about 72% of the experimental time. The lowest value of oxygen consumption for resting metabolism rate (RMR) was registered at 30°C–3.20 ± 0.71 cm³ O₂/g/h. It is possible to consider that the thermoneutral zone is around these temperature values. The obtained results give reason to conclude that from an ecophysiologycal point of view the climate in the south boundary of distribution provides optimal conditions for species development. The main cause for population decreasing probably is the loss of open habitats including natural steppe grasslands.     

Improvement of Impact Toughness of Biodegradable Poly(butylene succinate) by Melt Blending with Sustainable Biobased Glycerol Elastomers

Poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) was melt blended with glycerol based polyesters (PGS) synthesized from pure and technical glycerol aiming to improve the impact strength of PBS. It was found that after addition of 30 wt% PGS to PBS its impact strength was significantly increased by 344% (from 31.9 to 110 J/m) and its elongation at break was maintained at 220%. Infrared spectra of the blends showed the presence of hydroxyl groups from the PGS phase suggesting that hydrogen bonding between the phases could be responsible for a good stress transfer and an efficient toughening in the PBS/PGS blends. Scanning electron microscopy imaging showed a good dispersion of PGS phase into PBS with a PGS particle size of 10 μm and less and no agglomeration. Addition of PGS to PBS was shown to be an effective strategy for improvement of PBS impact resistance without serious detrimental effects on its thermal and rheological properties.     

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.