High levels of fluctuating asymmetry in populations of Apodemus flavicollis from the most contaminated areas in Chornobyl

Random deviations from the perfect symmetry of normally bilaterally symmetrical characters for an individual with a given genotype occur during individual development due to the influence of multiple environmental factors. Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) is often used as a measure of developmental instability, and can be estimated as the variance of the distribution of differences between the left and right sides. We addressed the question of whether levels of FA were elevated in radioactively contaminated populations living around Chornobyl compared to those in reference populations of the yellow-necked mouse (Apodemus flavicollis). In addition, we studied amounts of directional asymmetry (DA) when one side is larger than the other on average. There was a significant difference among populations, including reference populations, in the amount of both FA and DA. A higher level of FA was documented for the contaminated populations in close proximity to the failed Chornobyl reactor for both the asymmetry of size and shape. The FAs of size and shape were highest in populations from the most contaminated locations in the Chornobyl exclusion zone. Although the directional asymmetry of shape was also highest in the contaminated populations, it was not significantly different from those in most of the reference populations. Populations from less contaminated areas inside the Chornobyl exclusion zone did not express FA values different from those of the reference populations outside the affected area. FA of skulls of A. flavicollis may indicate the degree to which the level of radioactive contamination affects the development of animals at Chornobyl. However, the mechanisms leading to these effects are not clear and probably vary from population to population. There were significant correlations between the overall right to left differences for the Procrustes aligned shape configurations, centroid sizes, and intramuscular (137)Cs. Detectable effects of radiation on developmental stability probably start to occur between 0.132 and 0.297 microGy/h.     

Ken Burns and American Mythology in The National Parks: America's Best Idea

Ken Burns' series on the national parks reveals the evolving values of the American nation, particularly in relation to nature. Through both the beauty and the history of these set apart spaces, Burns presents and to some extent critiques America's mythic dreams of nature. Nature as new world garden and as frontier shapes the story that is told. This essay focuses on two themes, science and pluralism, and argues the presentation of each (the former with less depth, the latter with more) is constrained by the mythic narrative of pristine America that seems unable to evolve, either in the face of ecological values of interrelationships or pluralistic values that re-shape understandings of democracy. More attention to the problematic of the notion of preservation of pristine America would have enabled the film to speak more powerfully not only of the history of the parks, but also of their future.     

Remarks on fair wealth accumulation in Russia

The paper addresses the topic of wealth accumulation in Russia. This phenomenon plays an important role for the understanding and forecasting the future economic and social development of the country. The “westernized” paradigm calls for hard honest work during the life and approves getting a reward in a form of wealth in the end. When brought to Russia, this paradigm faces the orthodox traditions and rules together with the post-soviet mental patterns. In this paper, we consider how the pattern “first accumulate wealth, then consume it” competes with its opposition, the pattern “first consume wealth, then accumulate it” in Russia. We base our discussion on the consumers’ simple optimization problem, which exhibits a bifurcation between those two patterns depending on the relation between the consumption “impatience” and the wealth growth rate. We also suggest a framework to model the phenomenon of unfair wealth through impulse type of wealth development.     

Differences in responses of herpetobionts and geobionts to impact from the Kosogorsky Metallurgical Plant (Tula region,Russia)

The influence of the Kosogorsky Metallurgical Plant (KMP; Tula region, Russia) on the abundance and biodiversity of carabid beetles and soil macrofauna and on the trophic activity of soil biota was studied. Metal concentrations in the impact plot were many times higher than those in the control plot located on the same transect. As the transect approached KMP, both the abundance of soil invertebrates (geobionts) and trophic activity of the soil biota remained unchanged, whereas the abundance and diversity of carabids (herpetobionts) decreased drastically. It is suggested that the impact of the KMP on herpetobionts is accounted for by modification of the structure of ecosystems and that herpetobiontic and geobiontic groups of the macrofauna respond differently to this impact because of differences in the ecological mechanisms of population response.     

Blogging about Climate Change in Russia: Activism,Scepticism and Conspiracies

The article explores the new media’s role in climate change communication in Russia. By providing an open space for the expression of very diverse points of view, the internet creates a substitute media reality where both climate activists and climate sceptics can question the established discourse. Analysis of 374 entries published on the LiveJournal blogging platform has resulted in the identification of four discursive categories: “conspiracies of climate change,” “climate change impact,” “political games of climate change” and “online (anti-)environmentalism.” Each category demonstrates how the same topic can be framed in very different ways depending on bloggers’ worldview rather than the nature of the discussed environmental problem. The findings also show that the blogs act as “echo-chambers” for both climate deniers and climate activists reinforcing their behold beliefs. Finally, the analysis discovers some parallels with the traditional media coverage in their minimal critique of Russian state policy on climate.     

Adaptive capacity determinants in developed states: examples from the Nordic countries and Russia

Adaptive capacity in a community context has so far mainly been studied in developing countries as well as indigenous communities in the industrialised world. This article adds to that literature through reviewing studies undertaken in the Nordic countries and Russia, highlighting the ways in which general determinants of adaptive capacity play out in Northern, industrialised contexts. The paper illustrates that the determinants of adaptive capacity in industrialised states exhibit systematic differences from mixed subsistence-cash based communities such as those found in Arctic Canada. We discuss in particular the importance of economic resources in a market-based system, technological competition, and infrastructure, in determining adaptive capacity of natural resource-dependent communities in the Nordic countries and Russia. The paper also illustrates differences in adaptive capacity within the case study region, including between peripheral and central locations with regard to economic resources and diversification possibilities, and between Nordic and Russian cases with regard to infrastructure and technology access. The findings indicate that understanding of determinants of adaptive capacity in resource-dependent communities would benefit from both further contextualisation and broad comparison, across different types of political and administrative systems.     

Ecomodernization and prospects for hunting and game management in Russia

The political decision concerning modernization of Russian economy is impossible to implement without ecomodernization. The development of more efficient industrial, transportation, and agricultural technologies should be coordinated with measures to support natural self-regulation in ecosystems. Consideration is given to errors and misjudgments made in the course of modernization and possible measures to optimize and scientifically support this process in the interests of advancement in hunting and game management.     

Pesticide exposure and lung cancer mortality in Leningrad province in Russia

This study was carried out to examine the association between pesticide exposure and lung cancer mortality. We conducted an autopsy based case-control study in Leningrad Province in Russia. A total of 540 lung cancer cases and 582 controls were identified among subjects who had died in the hospitals of the Leningrad province between 1993 and 1998. Using work history records, we assessed exposure to pesticide at the level of industry and job title. Unconditional logistic regression was used to calculate adjusted odds ratio for pesticide exposure and lung cancer mortality. There was no association between ever exposure to pesticide and lung cancer mortality overall (odds ratio=1.06, 95% confidence interval=0.82-1.36) and in both men (odds ratio=1.11, 95% confidence interval=0.84-1.46) and women (odds ratio=0.74, 95% confidence interval=0.37-1.46). We observed no statistically significant odds ratio by duration of pesticide exposure, intensity of pesticide exposure, and cumulative pesticide exposures with lung cancer mortality in both smokers and nonsmokers. Odds ratio also did not differ when the analysis was restricted to individuals who had exposure data with high confidence scores. Our findings suggest no associations between pesticide exposures and mortality of lung cancer in the population of the Leningrad province in Russia that deserves further evaluation.     

The WTO,ecology, and Russia: The time to make decisions

The relationship between the principle of free trade and nature conservation is one of the most acute and multifaceted problems in international business. The diversity of WTO activities implies the necessity of interdisciplinary studies utilizing the expertise and experience of specialists in international law and ecologists. In this paper, provisions of the WTO set of agreements and procedures for dispute settlement within the WTO framework are considered as applied to environmental protection.     

Climate change,food stress,and security in Russia

Farming in higher latitudes is generally believed to benefit from a warmer climate due to extended growing season, reduced risk of frost, availability of more productive cultivars, and an opening potential of farming in northern locations. We analyzed the impact of climate change on production of cereals in Russia and found that this general perception of beneficiary effect of a warmer climate is unlikely to hold, primarily due to increasing risk of droughts in the most important agricultural areas of the country. Past impacts of droughts on food security throughout the twentieth century suggest that a number of adaptation options are available to mitigate the increasing risks of crop failure. We analyze the effectiveness of these measures in connection with a set of climate change projections, under two contrasting scenarios of interregional grain trade: “Fortress Market” and “Open Market.”     

Social and environmental trade-offs in tree species selection: a methodology for identifying niche incompatibilities in agroforestry

Natural resource degradation in highland regions is of increasing concern to the global community due to its role in aggravating poverty and the loss of environmental services to local and downstream users. The integration of trees into smallholder farming systems has been promoted as a means to enhance rural livelihoods while reversing the degradation of soil, water, biodiversity and related environmental services. Yet in addition to these benefits, negative impacts of trees on certain stakeholders or system components have also accompanied such efforts—suggesting that important trade-offs accompany afforestation. This paper presents a methodology for diagnosing problems stemming from cultivation of certain tree species in specific landscape niches. Data derived from the application of this methodology in two sites in the eastern African highlands are presented. Participatory diagnoses of landscape-level problems suggest that the negative impact of trees on water resource availability and crop yield are of critical concern to smallholder farmers. Ethnoecological data highlight the properties of different tree species that determine their suitability to specific farm and landscape niches. These data point to important opportunities for more socially- and environmentally-optimal integration of indigenous and exotic tree species into agricultural landscapes, and highlight the critical importance of local knowledge in forging solutions appropriate to contemporary realities.     

Form structure and geographic differentiation of spruce populations in northwestern Russia

Discriminant analysis has been used to analyze the composition of phenotypic forms and geographic differentiation of spruce populations in northwestern Russia in comparison with those of “standard” Norway spruce and Siberian spruce populations. The absolute prevalence of trees with an intermediate Norway-Siberian spruce phenotype has been revealed in almost all populations, except for the northernmost ones. Spruce populations in northwestern Russia may be divided into at least three groups, with the southern group being closer to the Norway spruce, and all other groups, to the Siberian spruce.     

Estimation of critical loads for radiocaesium in Fennoscandia and Northwest Russia

The application of the critical loads methodology for radioactive contamination of Arctic and sub-arctic ecosystems, where natural and semi-natural food products are important components of the diet of many people, is proposed and discussed. The critical load is herein defined as the amount of radionuclide deposition necessary to produce radionuclide activity concentrations in food products exceeding intervention limits. The high transfer of radiocaesium to reindeer meat gives this product the lowest critical load, even though the intervention limit is relatively high compared with other products. Ecological half-lives of radiocaesium in natural and semi-natural products are often very long, and it is therefore important to take account of contamination already present in the event of an accident affecting areas where such products are important. In particular, the long ecological half-life for radiocaesium in moose meat means that the critical load is highly sensitive to prior deposition. An example of the potential application of the method for emergency preparedness is given for the Chernobyl accident.     

Integration and implementation of sustainable ICT-based education in developing countries: low-cost,en masse methodology in Kenya

The quality of education in Kenya’s public elementary schools has continued to drop, which is an ironic outcome in the wake of the introduction of tuition-exempt primary education. This removal of tuition costs led to a surge in primary education enrollment that overwhelmed the existing educational infrastructure. Overcapacity in classrooms led to frustrated teachers and mediocre delivery of content amid the overstretched resources and limited education budget. To remedy this situation, the government has begun introducing various information and communication technologies (ICTs) in schools to supplement current resources. This comes with mixed results. This paper aims to demonstrate effective strategies for integrating low-cost ICT-based materials in schools in developing countries through a community of practice. Three schools were used to illustrate integration of sustainable ICT-based education in a style of classroom characteristic in developing schools. Development and use of prerecorded DVD-based content was proposed as an effective solution. A comparative study was undertaken to evaluate the differences in student comprehension and educator delivery of education involving a digital, ICT-integrated classroom and a traditional, analog-type teaching method classroom to underscore the empirical evidence of the effectiveness of introducing a low-cost ICT-based program. This study also shows that teachers are better positioned to lead the design and development of appropriate and innovative materials. Furthermore, to cope with the immense amount of materials that need developing to correspond with the curriculum, it shows that with the emergence of a community of practice of teachers, many suitable low-cost materials can be developed. This takes place through an iterative collaboration as opposed to traditional top-down approaches, which have a proven record of failure.     

Effects on non-human species inhabiting areas with enhanced level of natural radioactivity in the north of Russia: a review

Results of long-term radioecological investigations in areas with an enhanced level of natural radioactivity in the north of Russia are summarized. Deleterious changes within animal and plant populations inhabiting areas with an enhanced level of natural radioactivity in the Komi Republic were revealed. These changes are expressed in enhanced levels of mutagenesis, destructive processes in the tissues of animals, disturbances of reproductive functions and reduced offspring viability. Compensatory processes, resulting in animal and plant survival under extremely adverse conditions of radium and uranium-radium contamination, were observed as well. However, obvious signs of adaptation failed to be detected. The findings suggest that adverse somatic and genetic effects are possible in plants and animals in the dose range observed at sites with an enhanced level of natural radioactivity. In contrast, different plant species inhabiting an area with an enhanced level of natural radioactivity in the taiga zone of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) reveal a stimulation of growth processes, photosynthesis, endogenous low molecular weight antioxidant synthesis as well as adaptive response. It is apparent from the data presented that naturally occurring differences in terrestrial radiation level could be of genetic and ecological consequence.     

Intellectual Property Rights on Plant Genetic Resources： Perspective from Economics

Given the existence of transaction costs, the location of property rights is an important factor in determining the incentives for efficient levels of investment at various levels of the industry. This...