Animal agency in wildlife conservation and management

Wildlife conservation and management (WCM) practices have been historically drawn from a wide variety of academic fields, yet practitioners have been slow to engage with emerging conversations about animals as complex beings, whose individuality and sociality influence their relationships with humans. We propose an explicit acknowledgement of wild, nonhuman animals as active participants in WCM. We examined 190 studies of WCM interventions and outcomes to highlight 3 common assumptions that underpin many present approaches to WCM: animal behaviors are rigid and homogeneous; wildlife exhibit idealized wild behavior and prefer pristine habitats; and human–wildlife relationships are of marginal or secondary importance relative to nonhuman interactions. We found that these management interventions insufficiently considered animal learning, decision-making, individuality, sociality, and relationships with humans and led to unanticipated detrimental outcomes. To address these shortcomings, we synthesized theoretical advances in animal behavioral sciences, animal geographies, and animal legal theory that may help conservation professionals reconceptualize animals and their relationships with humans. Based on advances in these fields, we constructed the concept of animal agency, which we define as the ability of animals to actively influence conservation and management outcomes through their adaptive, context-specific, and complex behaviors that are predicated on their sentience, individuality, lived experiences, cognition, sociality, and cultures in ways that shape and reshape shared human–wildlife cultures, spaces, and histories. Conservation practices, such as compassionate conservation, convivial conservation, and ecological justice, incorporate facets of animal agency. Animal agency can be incorporated in conservation problem-solving by assessing the ways in which agency contributes to species’ survival and by encouraging more adaptive and collaborative decision-making among human and nonhuman stakeholders.     

Effects of Amazonian flying rivers on frog biodiversity and populations in the Atlantic rainforest

Given the speed at which humans are changing the climate, species with high degrees of endemism may not have time to avoid extinction through adaptation. We investigated through teleconnection analysis the origin of rainfall that determines the phylogenetic diversity of rainforest frogs and the effects of microclimate differences in shaping the morphological traits of isolated populations (which contribute to greater phylogenetic diversity and speciation). We also investigated through teleconnection analysis how deforestation in Amazonia can affect ecosystem services that are fundamental to maintaining the climate of the Atlantic rainforest biodiversity hotspot. Seasonal winds known as flying rivers carry water vapor from Amazonia to the Atlantic Forest, and the breaking of this ecosystem service could lead Atlantic Forest species to population decline and extinction in the short term. Our results suggest that the selection of morphological traits that shape Atlantic Forest frog diversity and their population dynamics are influenced by the Amazonian flying rivers. Our results also suggest that the increases of temperature anomalies in the Atlantic Ocean due to global warming and in the Amazon forest due to deforestation are already breaking this cycle and threaten the biodiversity of the Atlantic Forest hotspot.     

The research of market structures for remanufactured products

The rapid development of technology has made it easier to distribute products directly, and many enterprises excel at executing a multi-channel strategy to distribute products. The introduction of direct channel adds a new competition dimension to the enterprises. This paper considers three market channel structures: R-Channel, D-Channel and H-Channel. In R-Channel, both new products and remanufactured products are sold through a retailer. In D-Channel, new products are sold through retailers and remanufactured products are sold directly to consumers. In H-Channel, new products are sold through retailers, while remanufactured products through dual channel. Using the game theory, we obtain and analyse the equilibrium prices, market demands and the profits gain under these three settings. At the same time, the influence of consumers’ willingness to pay on the environment performance is researched. Our results show that the manufacturer prefers H-Channel. By introducing the direct channel the manufacturer is always economically better off, but it is not for the retailer. The numerical simulation also confirms the theoretical analysis and shows that H-Channel has advantages of economic benefit and environmental performance. It is feasible for practical application.     

On the search for mimetic patterns in environmental disclosure: an international perspective

In this paper, we assert and test the proposition that environmental disclosure (ED) is structured by institutionalised myths and that is why ED is decoupled from environmental performance and media pressures. Focusing on firms from Canada, France and Germany, findings show that ED mimetic isomorphism for different topics varies among countries and by industry sensitiveness to the environment. The results corroborate the institutional presumption that institutionalised myths vary among different contexts. Our findings also suggest that institutionalised ED structures may not reflect environmental performance, mimetic patterns being affected by environmental performance. However, the decoupling between ED mimetic isomorphism and environmental performance decrease when firms’ ED credibility is questioned by the media.     

Local hegemonies resisting a green shift and what to do about it: the introduction of a regional park in southern Norway

In the Lister region in the southern part of Norway, attempts are currently being made to facilitate for a green shift. The paper discusses two different approaches towards such a challenge. The first is procedural, where success or failure hinges on the methods applied in the effort to convince locals to incorporate climate considerations. The alternative is to reflect upon how a green ideology blends into pre-existing ideological elements in the region. It is claimed that an important reason for the failure so far to place the environment at the core of regional development, is that too much emphasis has been put on the first approach, on procedure and dialogue, whereas few efforts have been made to understand the structure of the discursive terrain in the region. What prevents a green shift has less to do with methods and is more connected to the dominance of a logic of economic growth and the fact that locals are confident that nature is already dealt with in a sensible manner. The conclusion is that we need to understand what people are concerned about and what prevents them to change, before we start telling them how to think and do development.     

农地整治权属调整中农户认知对行为响应的作用机制--基于改进TPB及多群组SEM

农地整治权属调整是实现农业规模化和现代化的重要手段,而农户有效参与是推动权属调整的内在动力,研究农地整治权属调整中农户认知对其行为响应的作用机制,有助于高效引导农户参与权属调整,并为制定农地整治权属调整的政策提供科学依据。基于改进计划行为理论和湖北省11个县(市、区)1044份农户抽样调查数据,采用多群组结构方程模型探究了农地整治权属调整中不同类型农户认知对其行为响应的作用机制。结果表明:农地整治权属调整中农户行为逻辑符合改进计划行为理论,农户的行为态度、主观规范、知觉行为控制交互影响行为意愿,进而转换为行为响应,政府支持在行为意愿和行为响应之间起到部分中介作用。总体上,农户行为响应是"自发性""诱发性"和"约束性"三重行动逻辑的结合,且"自发性"占主导地位。多群组结构方程估计结果表明,纯农型与兼业Ⅰ型农户的行为响应受到"自发性""诱发性"和"约束性"三重影响,兼业Ⅱ型农户受到"自发性"和"诱发性"双重影响,非农型农户仅受到"诱发性"单一影响。因此,为引导农户积极参与农地整治权属调整,应该分别针对各类农户相应地提高其参与的"自发性"和"诱发性",降低"约束性",充分发挥农村社会经济组织的作用,将四种不同类型农户的利益需求统筹考虑,降低权属调整过程中利益协调难度。     

考虑后悔与失望心理的应急救援任务匹配方法*

为研究区间犹豫模糊信息下的应急救援任务匹配问题,提出考虑救援人员与受灾群众后悔与失望心理的决策方法以及确定双边主体效用值的方法,基于后悔理论与失望理论获得双边主体的后悔值与失望值,确定双边主体的综合感知效用值,并构建最大化综合感知效用值的多目标匹配优化模型,以得到最优匹配结果。研究结果表明:后悔与失望心理对双边主体的心理感知具有重要影响,但不影响最优匹配结果。研究结果可为应急救援任务匹配提供理论支持。     

基于灰色系统理论的军机维修性定性要求评价

目的综合考虑军用飞机维修性定性要求,系统地研究其评价方法。方法构建军用飞机维修性定性要求评价指标体系,基于灰色系统理论,建立灰色聚类评价模型。结果运用模型对某型军用飞机维修性定性要求进行了评价应用,结果为"良"。结论可为客观评价军机满足维修性定性要求的程度评价提供技术方法支持。     

土地集约利用空间分异研究中指标标准化方法研究

土地集约利用空间分异研究中指标标准化通常采用极差标准化等方法,这类方法默认各区域集约临界值相同,从而使得评价中区位好的区域土地集约水平高于区位差的区域。基于级差地租Ⅰ和级差地租Ⅱ理论提出新的指标标准化方法,指出传统指标标准化方法的问题,并以重庆市耕地集约利用空间分异为例进行实证比较。研究充分考虑了不同区域因禀赋差异造成的单项指标理想值(临界值)的差异,弥补了传统指标标准化方法的不足,有助于完善土地集约利用空间分异的研究。研究表明:土地利用集约度是一个相对概念,其参照物为区域土地集约临界点,理论基础是级差地租Ⅱ;区位不同导致区域间土地利用强度存在差异,它是级差地租Ⅰ的一类现象,这类差异可称为"禀赋差异";每个区位点适度指标标准化值Y与该区位指标现状值x₁₁和集约临界点x₁有关,与其他区位指标现状值无关;传统标准化方法将指标现状值或现状平均值设为集约临界值,没有考虑不同区位集约临界点差异,因而空间分异结果更符合土地收益空间分异规律;重庆市耕地集约利用度空间分异研究表明该方法在空间分异、集约度绝对值和区县集约度比较等方面优于传统方法,更符合不同区县耕地利用实际。