Convergence of Culture, Ecology, and Ethics: Management of Feral Swamp Buffalo in Northern Australia

This paper examines the identity of Asian swamp buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) from different value orientations. Buffalo were introduced into Northern (Top End) Australia in the early nineteenth century. A team of transdisciplinary researchers, including an ethicist, has been engaged in field research on feral buffalo in Arnhem Land over the past three years. Using historical documents, literature review, field observations, interviews with key informants, and interaction with the Indigenous land owners, an understanding of the diverse views on the scientific, cultural, and economic significance of buffalo was obtained. While the diverse stakeholders in buffalo exploitation and management have historically delivered divergent value orientations on the nature of the human–buffalo relationship, we argue that over time there is the possibility of values and ethical convergence. Such convergence is possible via transdisciplinary and transcultural agreement on the value stances that constitute the construction of the being or identity of buffalo in the face of the overwhelming need to manage population density and gross numbers.     

Components of the Total Water Balance of an Urban Catchment

A daily model was used to quantify the components of the total urban water balance of the Curtin catchment, Canberra, Australia. For this catchment, the mean annual rainfall was found to be three times greater than imported potable water, and the sum of the output from the separate stormwater and wastewater systems exceeded the input of imported potable water by some 50%. Seasonal and annual variations in climate exert a very strong influence over the relative magnitude of the water balance components; this needs to be accounted for when assessing the potential for utilizing stormwater and wastewater within an urban catchment.     

USE OF STAGE DATA TO CHARACTERIZE HYDROLOGIC CONDITIONS IN AN URBANIZING ENVIRONMENT1

ABSTRACT: This paper presents the results of a study on the use of continuous stage data to describe the relation between urban development and three aspects of hydrologic condition that are thought to influence stream ecosystems—overall stage variability, stream flashiness, and the duration of extreme‐stage conditions. This relation is examined using data from more than 70 watersheds in three contrasting environmental settings—the humid Northeast (the metropolitan Boston, Massachusetts, area); the very humid Southeast (the metropolitan Birmingham, Alabama, area); and the semiarid West (the metropolitan Salt Lake City, Utah, area). Results from the Birmingham and Boston studies provide evidence linking increased urbanization with stream flashiness. Fragmentation of developed land cover patches appears to ameliorate the effects of urbanization on overall variability and flashiness. There was less success in relating urbanization and streamflow conditions in the Salt Lake City study. A related investigation of six North Carolina sites with long term discharge and stage data indicated that hydrologic condition metrics developed using continuous stage data are comparable to flow based metrics, particularly for stream flashiness measures.     

Attitudes and Perceptions about Ecological Resources and Hazards of People Living Aroung the Savannah River Site

Although considerable attention is devoted to environmental monitoring and assessment with respect to both pollutants and the status of particular plant or animal populations, less attention is devoted to assessing people's attitudes about the relative importance of ecological resources. In this paper we examine the attitudes and perceptions about ecological resources of people living around the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site (SRS), in South Carolina. Our overall hypothesis is that people who are directly affected by the possible outcomes and consequences of a particular hazard (i.e., those people employed at SRS) will undervalue the risks and overvalue the potential benefits from future land uses that favor continued site activity, compared to people who live near but are not employed at SRS. We interviewed 286 people attending the Aiken Trials horse show on 14 March 1997. There were few gender differences, although men hunted and fished more than women, women ranked three environmental concerns as more severe than did men, and women were more concerned about the effect of SRS on property values. Maintenance of SRS as a National Environmental Research Park ranked first as a future land use; nuclear production ranked second, followed by hunting and hiking. Only residential development ranked very low as a future land use. There were many differences as a function of employment history at SRS: 1) people who work at SRS think that the federal government should spend funds to clean up all nuclear facilities, and they think less money should be spent on other environmental problems than did non-employees, 2) people who work at SRS ranked continued current uses of SRS higher than did people who never worked at SRS, and 3) people who work at SRS are less concerned about the storage of nuclear material or accidents at the site than are people who never worked at the site.     

Handling intensity and the short- and long-term survival of elephant seals: addressing and quantifying research effects on wild animals

This study addresses the consequences of repeated human handling on the survival of an endangered phocid, the southern elephant seal and the implications for wildlife research. Southern elephant seal pups were repeatedly handled during the first six weeks of their lives. The possibility that such anthropogenic research may have altered the very parameters that were being investigated is a topical and relevant study area that we address here. Our results show that there were no measurable effects on pups that were repeatedly handled and subjected to invasive research methods with respect to survivorship in the short term (the 24-day nursing period) nor in the long term (the first year of life and beyond) and hence fitness one year after handling. In support of this conclusion we were unable to detect any significant differences in the survival rates of the most intensively handled seals and the least intensively handled seals.     

Temperature acclimation of upper and lower thermal limits and freeze resistance in the nonindigenous brown mussel, Perna perna (L.), from the Gulf of Mexico

Acute and chronic upper and lower thermal limits and freeze resistance were investigated in the nonindigenous brown mussel, Perna perna, from the Texas Gulf of Mexico coast in order to assess its potential distribution in North American coastal waters. This species' long-term, incipient lower and upper thermal limits were 7.5°C and 30°C, congruent with the seasonal ambient water temperature range of 10-30°C reported for other populations worldwide. Effects of temperature acclimation and individual size on survival time were most pronounced on chronic exposures to lethal temperatures approaching incipient lower or upper thermal limits. When exposed to temperature increasing at 0.1°C min^-1, the acute upper lethal limit was 44°C regardless of acclimation temperature or individual size. P. perna had a limited freeze resistance, being intolerant of emersion at -2.5°C. This species' narrow incipient thermal limits, limited capacity for temperature acclimation and poor freeze resistance may account for its restriction to subtidal and lower eulittoral zones of cooler subtropical rocky shores. Near extinction of P. perna from Texas Gulf of Mexico waters occurred in the summer of 1997 when mean surface-water temperatures approached its incipient upper limit of 30°C.     

Introducing urine-enriched biochar-based fertilizer for vegetable production: acceptability and results from rural Bangladesh

Improved agricultural practices that increase yields and preserve soils are critical to addressing food insecurity and undernutrition among smallholder farmer families. Urine-enriched biochar has been shown to be an accessible and effective fertilization option in various subtropical countries; however, it is new to Bangladesh. To better understand attitudes and experiences preparing and using urine-enriched biochar fertilizer, mixed-methods research was undertaken among smallholder farmers in northeastern Bangladesh in 2016/2017. In-depth interviews were conducted with 25 respondents who had compared the production of crops grown with biochar-based fertilizer to usual practice. In addition, in areas where trainings on biochar-based fertilization had been offered, 845 farmers were asked about their experience through a quantitative survey. Interview results indicated that cow urine-enriched biochar was favored over human urine because cow urine was perceived as clean and socially acceptable, whereas human urine was considered impure and disgusting. Respondents praised biochar-based fertilizer because it increased yields, cost little, was convenient to prepare with readily available natural materials, produced tastier crops, and allowed families to share their larger yields which in turn enhanced social and financial capital. Comparative field trials indicated a 60% yield benefit in both cabbage and kohlrabi crops. Challenges included uneven access to ingredients, with some respondents having difficulty procuring cow urine and biomass feedstock. The low social, health, and financial risk of adoption and the perceived benefits motivated farmers to produce and apply biochar-based fertilizer in their gardens, demonstrating strong potential for scale-up of this technology in Bangladesh.

     

发展一种估算石油工业温室气体排放的一致的方法

要获得有意义的温室气体清单,重要的是清单中包括的内容的方法论和定义应该是一致的.国际石油工业环境保护协会(IPIECA)、国际石油和天然气生产者协会(OGP)以及美国石油学会(API)已经制定了温室气体排放计算和报告的准则.国际石油工业环境保护协会(IPITCA)报告温室气体排放的石油工业指南的重点是放在石油工业温室气体排放的计算和报告上.为了提供排放估算一致的方法论,美国石油工业协会制定了石油和天然气工业温室气体排放估算方法论概要.从美国石油学会可以得到一个估算排放的工具--SANGEATM能源和排放估算系统.     

Attitudes and Perceptions about Ecological Resources, Hazards, and Future Land Use of People Living near the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory

This paper examines the attitudes and perceptions of local people about ecological resources, environmental hazards, and future land use of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). Such monitoring of attitudes is an important aspect of environmental assessment. We interviewed 262 people who attended the 42nd Annual Free Fishermen's Breakfast at St. Anthony, Idaho, on 23 March 1997. We tested the null hypotheses that there were no differences in perceptions about ecological resources, hazards and future land use of INEEL as a function of gender, age, education, and place of residence. Dumping trash in the ocean and cutting rainforests rated as the environmental problems of highest concern, and ozone, radon and high voltage lines rated the lowest; cleaning up Department of Energy sites rated intermediate. Respondents were most willing to expend government funds to make drinking water clean. Three significant differences were found: 1) women rated environmental problems as more severe than did men, and women were more willing to expend federal funds to solve these problems, 2) respondents under 30 years of age rated environmental problems as more severe than older people, and they were more willing to spend money to solve them, and, 3) respondents who had not finished high school were more concerned with environmental problems and were more willing to spend money to solve them than respondents with a high school education. Maintaining INEEL as a National Environmental Research Park (NERP) rated as the most preferred future land use, followed by continued reprocessing of nuclear materials and hunting. Using INEEL for housing and additional nuclear waste storage rated the lowest. Men rated grazing livestock and additional nuclear waste storage higher than did women. In general, respondents from 30 – 49 rated several economic uses (hunting, grazing livestock, growing crops) higher than did people in other age groups. Respondents with some college rated these economic uses higher than did respondents who had not graduated from high school. These results indicate that respondents living around INEEL believe that INEEL should continue with a reprocessing and NERP mission, but that other peripheral uses, such as hunting, hiking and grazing, should be allowed on some of the land. These views should aid in environmental assessment of the site, and in developing further management plans for INEEL.     

Microbial diversity and dynamics during methane production from municipal solid waste

The objectives of this study were to characterize development of bacterial and archaeal populations during biodegradation of municipal solid waste (MSW) and to link specific methanogens to methane generation. Experiments were conducted in three 0.61-m-diameter by 0.90-m-tall laboratory reactors to simulate MSW bioreactor landfills. Pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA genes was used to characterize microbial communities in both leachate and solid waste. Microbial assemblages in effluent leachate were similar between reactors during peak methane generation. Specific groups within the Bacteroidetes and Thermatogae phyla were present in all samples and were particularly abundant during peak methane generation. Microbial communities were not similar in leachate and solid fractions assayed at the end of reactor operation; solid waste contained a more abundant bacterial community of cellulose-degrading organisms (e.g., Firmicutes). Specific methanogen populations were assessed using quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Methanomicrobiales, Methanosarcinaceae, and Methanobacteriales were the predominant methanogens in all reactors, with Methanomicrobiales consistently the most abundant. Methanogen growth phases coincided with accelerated methane production, and cumulative methane yield increased with increasing total methanogen abundance. The difference in methanogen populations and corresponding methane yield is attributed to different initial cellulose and hemicellulose contents of the MSW. Higher initial cellulose and hemicellulose contents supported growth of larger methanogen populations that resulted in higher methane yield.