The environmental aspects of conventional and clean energy policy in sub-Saharan Africa: is N-shaped hypothesis valid?

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In the energy-environment literature, a handful of the advanced economies, mostly the European Union countries, have met some of the national...     

The contribution of the anthropogenic impact of biomass utilization on ecological degradation: revisiting the G7 economies

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The debate on ecological matters that relate to the biomass emissions nexus has gained prominence and different scholars have suggested various forms...     

Toward sustainable use of natural resources: Nexus between resource rents,affluence, energy intensity and carbon emissions in developing and transition economies

Sustainable use of natural resources would entail ensuring that derived economic benefits today do not undermine the welfare of generations to come. On this basis, this study examines the nexus between natural resource rents and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions disaggregated into production and consumption-based (i.e., trade-adjusted) CO₂ emissions for a selected panel of 45 developing and transition economies over the period 1995–2017. The empirical model also incorporates the impacts of population, affluence, and energy intensity. The results show that affluence increases production-based CO₂ emissions by 1.407%, with the EKC's predicted inverted U-shaped curve only explaining consumption-based CO₂ emissions. Economic reliance on natural resource rents and energy intensification contribute 0.022% and 0.766%, respectively, to CO₂ emissions embedded in territorial production inventories and 0.035% and 0.583%, respectively, to CO₂ emissions embedded in consumption inventories. The bootstrap non-causality test shows that historical data on each variable has significant predictive power for future CO₂ emissions from both sources. The historical information about natural resource rents has significant predictive power over the future levels of affluence and energy intensity. Clearly, the results show that the environmental impact of natural resource rents is stronger when CO₂ emissions are adjusted for trade and varies among the countries, with Bangladesh, Guinea, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe among the most affected countries. Overall, this study provides motivation for policies to keep the use of natural resources within sustainable limits.     

The changing sociocultural context of wildlife conservation

We introduced a multilevel model of value shift to describe the changing social context of wildlife conservation. Our model depicts how cultural-level processes driven by modernization (e.g., increased wealth, education, and urbanization) affect changes in individual-level cognition that prompt a shift from domination to mutualism wildlife values. Domination values promote beliefs that wildlife should be used primarily to benefit humans, whereas mutualism values adopt a view that wildlife are part of one's social network and worthy of care and compassion. Such shifts create emergent effects (e.g., new interest groups) and challenges to wildlife management organizations (e.g., increased conflict) and dramatically alter the sociopolitical context of conservation decisions. Although this model is likely applicable to many modernized countries, we tested it with data from a 2017–2018 nationwide survey (mail and email panel) of 43,949 residents in the United States. We conducted hierarchical linear modeling and correlational analysis to examine relationships. Modernization variables had strong state-level effects on domination and mutualism. Higher levels of education, income, and urbanization were associated with higher percentages of mutualists and lower percentages of traditionalists, who have strong domination values. Values affected attitudes toward wildlife management challenges; for example, states with higher proportions of mutualists were less supportive of lethal control of wolves (Canis lupus) and had lower percentages of active hunters, who represent the traditional clientele of state wildlife agencies in the United States. We contend that agencies will need to embrace new strategies to engage and represent a growing segment of the public with mutualism values. Our model merits testing for application in other countries.     

Attitudes Toward Water Allocation: Segmenting the Public on Beliefs toward Water Conservation

Environmental Management - The population in the American West has been increasing at a rapid rate and is predicted to continue growing. As a result, the availability, use, and allocation of water...     

Does agricultural development induce environmental pollution in E7? A myth or reality

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Environmental degradation caused by various human activities has been a subject of attention over the globe. There is a concern on how to maintain a...     

How do trade and economic growth impact environmental degradation? New evidence and policy implications from the ARDL approach

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Due to various environmental degradation and natural resource depletion around the world, researchers’ and policymakers’ attention has...     

Concentration and Recovery of Viruses from Water: A Comprehensive Review

Enteric viruses are a cause of waterborne disease worldwide, and low numbers in drinking water can present a significant risk of infection. Because the numbers are often quite low, large volumes (100–1,000 L) of water are usually processed. The VIRADEL method using microporous filters is most commonly used today for this purpose. Negatively charged filters require the addition of multivalent salts and acidification of the water sample to effect virus adsorption, which can make large-volume sampling difficult. Positively charged filters require no preconditioning of samples, and are able to concentrate viruses from water over a greater pH range than electronegative filters. The most widely used electropositive filter is the Virosorb 1MDS; however, the Environmental Protection Agency has added the positively charged NanoCeram filters to their proposed Method 1615. Ultrafilters concentrate viruses based on size exclusion rather than electrokinetics, but are impractical for field sampling or processing of turbid water. Elution (recovery) of viruses from filters following concentration is performed with organic (e.g., beef extract) or inorganic solutions (e.g., sodium polyphosphates). Eluates are then reconcentrated to decrease the sample volume to enhance detection methods (e.g., cell culture infectivity assays and molecular detection techniques). While the majority of available filters have demonstrated high virus retention efficiencies, the methods to elute and reconcentrate viruses have met with varying degrees of success due to the biological variability of viruses present in water.     

An autoradiographic examination of carbon fixation, transfer and utilization in the Riftia pachyptila symbiosis

Riftia pachyptila, the giant vestimentiferan tubeworm from the East Pacific Rise, harbors abundant chemolithoautotrophic, sulfide-oxidizing bacteria in an internal organ, the trophosome. Several facts, such as the lack of a digestive system in the host, stable carbon isotope values and net carbon dioxide uptake all suggest that the tubeworms obtain the bulk of their nutrition from their symbionts. Using tissue autoradiography, we investigated the mode of nutritional transfer between symbionts and host, and the site of early incorporation of symbiont fixed-carbon in the host. Fast labeling in the trophosome clearly demonstrates that the symbionts are the primary site of carbon fixation. Appearance of label in some symbiont-free host tissues in as little as 15 min indicates that the symbionts release a significant amount of organic carbon immediately after fixation. The organic carbon is largely incorporated into specific, metabolically active host tissues such as fast-growing body regions in the trunk and plume, and into tube-secreting glands. In addition to immediate release of fixed carbon by the symbionts, there is evidence of a second possible nutritional mode, digestion of the symbionts, which is consistent with previous suggestions based on trophosome ultrastructure. Results suggest that symbiont-containing host cells migrate in a predictable pattern within trophosome lobules and that symbiont division occurs predominately in the center of a lobule, followed eventually by autolysis/digestion at the periphery of the lobule. Received: 1 July 1999 / Accepted: 30 December 1999     

How population dynamics shape the functional response in a one-predator-two-prey system

The type III functional response has historically been associated with switching predators; when there is a choice of prey the predator favors the more abundant prey type. Although this functional response has been found in experiments where both prey densities are manipulated, in real world studies the type II functional response is more commonly found. In modeling, the type III functional response is often used in systems where the second prey type is, implicitly, assumed to be constant. Here we define a functional response that takes into account both prey densities. This causes the functional response to show both type II and type III behavior, dependent on the interaction between the two prey densities. If we take into account population dynamics, we find a type II functional response in most cases, because predation regulates the relative prey densities. This explains why type III functional responses are found in experiments where both prey densities are manipulated, but type II functional responses occur when the feedback of population dynamics on the functional response is important. Furthermore, the results show that switching can have a stabilizing or destabilizing effect and can even lead to predator extinction.