Is software sustainability considered in the CSR of software industry?

Software is a key factor in the functioning of today’s world. Software is supposed to have some characteristics such as: reliability, security, etc., but it is not at all easy to find energy efficiency considered as being one of software’s most important features. Aspects related to Green Software have begun to be considered vital and basic, due to pressure from a society which is becoming more and more aware of environmental problems. In this paper we want to explore whether software companies, responsible for developing software, are aligning their strategies with environmental concerns. To do so, we have checked the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies of the ten most important software companies and looked at these documents with reference to the UN’s sustainable development goals. A well-defined method for carrying out the analysis of the CSR policies led the authors to identify which of the sustainability actions proposed can be classified within any of the software sustainability dimensions. The analysis of these actions shows that sustainability is considered in most of the companies; nonetheless, most attention is currently devoted to hardware-based initiatives intended to reduce the carbon footprint of the hardware resources of the companies. In addition, green software initiatives are still not the priority, despite the influence of software on energy consumption, and in spite of its impact on the environment. Using the set of actions selected, a set of specific actions for software sustainability, to be included in the CSR of software companies, has been defined.     

Is kin cooperation going on undetected in marine bird colonies?

In multitudinous breeding colonies, kin interactions could go unnoticed because we are unaware of the kinship among adults we observe. Evidence of cooperation and competition between close adult kin in a blue-footed booby colony was sought by analyzing patterns of natal dispersal and proximity of nests. Male and female recruits nested closer to their own natal sites than to their parents’ current sites. Males (only) dispersed less far when both parents were present than when no parent or one parent was present, but not selectively close to fathers versus mothers when these were divorced. Neither parental presence nor parental proximity affected breeding success of recruits of either sex. Although distances between the nests of simultaneously recruiting broodmates were unrelated to their sex, males dispersed 13.1 m less when a sister was present than when a brother was present. Neither sex was affected in its dispersal distance by the presence or hatching order/dominance of a broodmate. Neither sex was affected in its breeding success by the presence versus absence of a broodmate, although female success increased with proximity of their brothers. Parents and sisters may actively or passively help males establish their first territories near their natal sites and nearby brothers may help females in their first breeding attempts; otherwise, boobies do not influence each other’s natal dispersal and first breeding success. It appears that boobies do not nest selectively close to or far from their parents, offspring, or broodmates. Why there is apparently so little cooperation and altruism between close adult relatives in booby colonies is puzzling.     

Feeding in dominant Antarctic copepods—does the morphology of the mandibular gnathobases relate to diet?

This study should clarify the importance of morphology and stability of the mandibular gnathobases for the diet of Antarctic copepod species. The gnathobase morphology of the dominant copepod species Calanoides acutus, Calanus propinquus, Ctenocalanus citer, Rhincalanus gigas, Metridia gerlachei, Stephos longipes, Microcalanus pygmaeus and Paraeuchaeta antarctica from the Southern Ocean was investigated in detail by means of a scanning electron microscope. The mandibular gnathobases of C. acutus, C. propinquus and C. citer have relatively short and compact teeth. These species feed mainly on diatoms and are able to crack the silicious diatom frustules with their mandibular gnathobases by directed pressure. In contrast the teeth of the mandibular gnathobases of P. antarctica are very long and pointed. The nutrition of this species consists predominantly of other smaller copepod species. The motile prey can be held by skewering, using the gnathobases, and then eventually minced. The mandibular gnathobases of P. antarctica have notably more small bristles than those of the other investigated copepod species. These bristles are probably associated with receptors and could serve to locate the prey. The morphology of the gnathobases of R. gigas and M. gerlachei is between that of P. antarctica on the one side and that of C. acutus, C. propinquus and C. citer on the other. Based on the morphology of its gnathobases the copepod species S. longipes, which has to date been found to feed primarily on phytoplankton, mainly ice algae, must also be considered a zooplankton feeder. The investigation showed that M. pygmaeus has gnathobases with surprisingly long and pointed teeth, indicating that this species very probably feeds both on phyto- and on zooplankton organisms. While the mandibular gnathobases of the males of C. propinquus, R. gigas, M. gerlachei and S. longipes have the same morphology as the females of the respective species, in the other four investigated copepod species the males have reduced (C. acutus, C. citer and M. pygmaeus) or completely missing mandibular gnathobases (P. antarctica). The teeth of the gnathobases of all studied species with the exception of M. gerlachei consist of a different material than the remaining parts of the gnathobases. This material seems to be silicate, which probably enhances the stability of the gnathobase teeth.Communicated by O. Kinne, Oldendorf/Luhe     

Is aridity restricting deforestation and land uses in the South American Dry Chaco?

In this paper, we explored how aridity influences the regional deforestation and land-use patterns (i.e. crops/pastures) in South American Dry Chaco. To do this, we contrasted land use during last decade (2001–2012) with a spatially explicit aridity index, which we complemented with a crop water balance model. Land-use classifications were performed by considering the temporal variability of NDVI from MODIS satellites, showing that 40 and 60% of deforested land was assigned to crops and pastures, respectively. Results indicate that although the regional deforestation pattern was not associated with the aridity gradient, with drier areas similarly deforested as wetter areas, contrasting differences were observed in the use of this land, with crops mostly located (90%) in wetter areas and pastures evenly distributed across the whole aridity gradient. This research highlighted the strong effect of water limitations on the land-use option after deforestation and may help to set the basis for future land-use planning policies.     

Resource allocation in two species systems: Is it worth acknowledging species interactions?

It is becoming increasingly popular to consider species interactions when managing ecological foodwebs. Such an approach is useful in determining how management can affect multiple species, with either beneficial or detrimental consequences. Identifying such actions is particularly valuable in the context of conservation decision making as funding is severely limited. This paper outlines a new approach that simplifies the resource allocation problem in a two species system for a range of species interactions: independent, mutualism, predator-prey, and competitive exclusion. We assume that both species are endangered and we do not account for decisions over time. We find that optimal funding allocation is to the conservation of the species with the highest marginal gain in expected probability of survival and that, across all except mutualist interaction types, optimal conservation funding allocation differs between species. Loss in efficiency from ignoring species interactions was most severe in predator-prey systems. The funding problem we address, where an ecosystem includes multiple threatened species, will only become more commonplace as increasing numbers of species worldwide become threatened.     

Is catchment productivity a useful predictor of taxa richness in lake plankton communities?

The influence of catchment variables on lake organisms is understudied. The terrestrial zone in the vicinity of lakes is, however, probably highly important for biota due to the effects on water chemistry and to various processes operating across ecosystem boundaries. We examined the relative importance of lake and catchment variables, as well as large-scale geographical factors, on the taxa richness of phyto- and zooplankton in 100 small lakes in Finland. In variation partitioning, the variability of phytoplankton richness was most strongly related to the effects of lake variables, the joint effects of lake and catchment variables, and the joint effects of all three groups of variables. Zooplankton richness, in turn, was most strongly related to the effects of lake and catchment variables and the joint effect of lake and catchment variables. The exact results of the variation partitioning depended on the catchment sizes considered in the regression models. Among lake variables, planktonic richness was strongly related to variables indicating productivity. Among catchment variables, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), indicating catchment productivity, showed a relatively strong association with planktonic richness. These results provide evidence that catchment variables such as the NDVI may be efficient predictors of planktonic richness in small lakes. It is possible that individual lakes embedded in a highly productive landscape have higher taxa richness than solitary, potentially productive lakes because of the high influx of dispersing propagules from the regional pool. We also suggest that catchment variables may respond to environmental changes at different scales than the lake variables, and explicit consideration of catchment productivity would therefore be useful when planning research and monitoring programs for freshwater organisms.     

Is atmospheric oxidation capacity better in indicating tropospheric O3 formation?

● This study summarizes and evaluates different approaches that indicate O₃ formation. ● Isopleth and sensitivity methods are useful but have many prerequisites. ● AOC is a better indicator of photochemical reactions leading to O₃ formation. Tropospheric ozone (O₃) concentration is increasing in China along with dramatic changes in precursor emissions and meteorological conditions, adversely affecting human health and ecosystems. O₃ is formed from the complex nonlinear photochemical reactions from nitrogen oxides (NO_x = NO + NO₂) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Although the mechanism of O₃ formation is rather clear, describing and analyzing its changes and formation potential at fine spatial and temporal resolution is still a challenge today. In this study, we briefly summarized and evaluated different approaches that indicate O₃ formation regimes. We identify that atmospheric oxidation capacity (AOC) is a better indicator of photochemical reactions leading to the formation of O₃ and other secondary pollutants. Results show that AOC has a prominent positive relationship to O₃ in the major city clusters in China, with a goodness of fit (R²) up to 0.6. This outcome provides a novel perspective in characterizing O₃ formation and has significant implications for formulating control strategies of secondary pollutants.     

Flesh or bone? Quantifying small-scale coral morphology using with-tissue and without-tissue techniques

The quantification of small-scale coral morphology using tissue-free skeletons often requires colonies, or colony sections, to be removed from the reef. This undesirable destruction can be reduced by using a with-tissue technique based on photographic images of living corals. The results of this study indicate that with-tissue multivariate morphometric data contain similar information to skeleton-derived data and can help identify phenotypic plasticity in the massive coral Favia speciosa. With-tissue data can also be used to discern changes with time in individual polyps exposed to new environments.Communicated by O. Kinne, Oldendorf/Luhe     

Is obligate siblicidal aggression food sensitive?

In avian species whose chicks show facultative siblicide, attacks increase with food deprivation. In species that show obligate siblicide, this causal relationship is not expected, but no test has been made. When we composed artificial pairs of young brown boobies, Sula leucogaster (an obligately siblicidal species), and supplied variable amounts of food to the older nestlings in each pair, food ingestion was related to the most intense form of attack, pushes, which can cause death by expelling the broodmate from the nest. The less food an older nestling ingested, the more time it spent active and the greater its rate and absolute frequency of pushes, and the more often it expelled its nestmate. Hence, deficient food provision to older nestlings could precipitate siblicidal expulsion of broodmates. Younger nestmates were aggressive too, and the more they were pushed and expelled, the more they pecked. Aggression of senior brown-booby broodmates may be flexible and food sensitive in order to optimize the timing of siblicide or to make siblicide weakly facultative.Communicated by R. Gibson     

Is there really a green paradox?

In the absence of a CO₂ tax, the anticipation of a cheaper renewable backstop increases current emissions of CO₂. Since the date at which renewables are phased in is brought forward and more generally future emissions of CO₂ will decrease, the effect on global warming is unclear. Green welfare falls if the backstop is relatively expensive and full exhaustion of fossil fuels is optimal, but may increase if the backstop is sufficiently cheap relative to the cost of extracting the last drop of fossil fuels plus marginal global warming damages as then it is attractive to leave more fossil fuels unexploited and thus limit CO₂ emissions. We establish these results by analyzing depletion of non-renewable fossil fuels followed by a switch to a clean renewable backstop, paying attention to timing of the switch and the amount of fossil fuels remaining unexploited. We also discuss the potential for limit pricing when the non-renewable resource is owned by a monopolist. Finally, we show that if backstops are already used and more backstops become economically viable as the price of fossil fuels rises, a lower cost of the backstop will either postpone fossil fuel exhaustion or leave more fossil fuel in situ, thus boosting green welfare. However, if a market economy does not internalize global warming externalities and renewables have not kicked in yet, full exhaustion of fossil fuel will occur in finite time and a backstop subsidy always curbs green welfare.     

Differences in abalone growth and morphology between locations with high and low food availability: morphologically fixed or plastic traits?

Many species of sedentary marine invertebrates exhibit large spatial variation in their morphology, which allow them to occupy a broad geographic distribution and range of environmental conditions. However, the detection of differences in morphology amongst variable environments cannot determine whether these differences represent a plastic response to the local environment, or whether morphology is genetically fixed. We used a reciprocal transplant experiment to test whether ‘stunted’ blacklip abalone (Haliotis rubra) are the result of a plastic response to the environment or fixed genetic trait. Furthermore, we related environmental factors, that affect food availability (density of abalone, water movement, algal cover and reef topography), to differences in growth and morphology. Morphological plasticity was confirmed as the mechanism causing morphological variation in H. rubra. Individuals transplanted to sites with ‘non-stunted’ H. rubra grew significantly faster when compared to stunted controls, whilst individuals transplanted to stunted sites grew significantly slower compared to non-stunted controls. The growth response was greater for individuals transplanted from ‘non-stunted’ to ‘stunted’ sites, suggesting that the environmental stressors in morphologically ‘stunted’ habitat are stronger compared to locations of faster growing morphology. We propose that these differences are related to resource availability whereby low algal cover and topographic simplicity results in stunted populations, whereas high algal abundance and topographic complexity results in non-stunted populations.     

Is there really a green paradox?

In the absence of a CO₂ tax, the anticipation of a cheaper renewable backstop increases current emissions of CO₂. Since the date at which renewables are phased in is brought forward and more generally future emissions of CO₂ will decrease, the effect on global warming is unclear. Green welfare falls if the backstop is relatively expensive and full exhaustion of fossil fuels is optimal, but may increase if the backstop is sufficiently cheap relative to the cost of extracting the last drop of fossil fuels plus marginal global warming damages as then it is attractive to leave more fossil fuels unexploited and thus limit CO₂ emissions. We establish these results by analyzing depletion of non-renewable fossil fuels followed by a switch to a clean renewable backstop, paying attention to timing of the switch and the amount of fossil fuels remaining unexploited. We also discuss the potential for limit pricing when the non-renewable resource is owned by a monopolist. Finally, we show that if backstops are already used and more backstops become economically viable as the price of fossil fuels rises, a lower cost of the backstop will either postpone fossil fuel exhaustion or leave more fossil fuel in situ, thus boosting green welfare. However, if a market economy does not internalize global warming externalities and renewables have not kicked in yet, full exhaustion of fossil fuel will occur in finite time and a backstop subsidy always curbs green welfare.     

Conservation of Mammals in Eastern North American Wildlife Reserves: How Small Is Too Small?

Abstract: A common objective of methods of systematic reserve selection has been to maximize conservation benefits—frequently current species richness—while reducing the costs of acquiring and maintaining reserves. But the probability that a reserve will lose species in the future is frequently not known because the minimum area requirements for most species have not been estimated empirically. For reserves within the Alleghenian-Illinoian mammal province of eastern North America, we empirically estimated the minimum area requirement of terrestrial mammals such that reserves should not lose species because of insularization. We compared this estimate to the actual size of 2355 reserves and reserve assemblages within the mammal province. The estimated minimum area requirement was 5037 km² (95% CI: 2700–13,296 km²). Fourteen reserves and reserve assemblages were> 2700 km², 9 were> 5037 km², and 3 were> 13,296 km². These 14 reserves accounted for 73% of the total area of reserves and 10% of the total area of the mammal province. Few reserves appear large enough to avoid loss of some mammal species without the additional cost of active management of habitat or populations. Immigration corridors and buffer zones that combine small reserves into assemblages totaling at least 2700 km² may be the most efficient means of conserving mammals in these reserves.     

Is there an inverted U-shaped curve? Empirical analysis of the Environmental Kuznets Curve in agrochemicals

As the largest contributor to water impairment, agriculture-related pollution has attracted the attention of scientists as well as policy makers, and quantitative information is being sought to focus and advance the policy debate. This study applies the panel unit root, heterogeneous panel cointegration, and panel-based dynamic ordinary least squares to investigate the Environmental Kuznets Curve on environmental issues resulting from use of agricultural synthetic fertilizer, pesticide, and film for 31 provincial economies in mainland China from 1989 to 2009. The empirical results indicate a positive long-run co-integrated relationship between the environmental index and real GDP per capita. This relationship takes on the inverted U-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve, and the value of the turning point is approximately 10,000–13,000, 85,000–89,000 and over 160,000 CNY, for synthetic fertilizer nitrogen indicator, fertilizer phosphorus indicator and pesticide indicator, respectively. At present, China is subject to tremendous environmental pressure and should assign more importance to special agriculture-related environmental issues.     

Is the Mantel correlogram powerful enough to be useful in ecological analysis? A simulation study

The Mantel correlogram is an elegant way to compute a correlogram for multivariate data. However, recent papers raised concerns about the power of the Mantel test itself. Hence the question: Is the Mantel correlogram powerful enough to be useful? To explore this issue, we compared the performances of the Mantel correlogram to those of other methods, using numerical simulations based on random, normally distributed data. For a single response variable, we compared it to the Moran and Geary correlograms. Type I error rates of the three methods were correct. Power of the Mantel correlogram was nearly as high as that of the univariate methods. For the multivariate case, the test of the multivariate variogram developed in the context of multiscale ordination is in fact a Mantel test, so that the power of the two methods is the same by definition. We devised an alternative permutation test based on the variance, which yielded similar results. Overall, the power of the Mantel test was high, the method successfully detecting spatial correlation at rates similar to the permutation test of the variance statistic in multivariate variograms. We conclude that the Mantel correlogram deserves its place in the ecologist's toolbox.     

Is avian humoral immunocompetence suppressed by testosterone?

A key issue in sexual selection theory is how a correlation between male secondary sexual characters and male genetic quality can be maintained. The immunocompetence-handicap hypothesis proposes that testosterone-dependent male characters remain honest signals because of the immunosuppressive effect of elevated steroid hormone levels. The hypothesis requires that physiological levels of testosterone depress immune system function. We quantified testosterone titers and humoral immunocompetence of captive male and female red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) at three points in the annual cycle (autumn, prebreeding, and breeding). We also conducted an implant experiment on the males to assess the effects of prolonged, above-normal testosterone titers on humoral immune responses. Humoral immunocompetence was measured as secondary antibody production to a non-pathogenic protein antigen, keyhole limpet hemocyanin, using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay we developed for A. phoeniceus. Secondary antibody responses of individuals were highly repeatable between sampling periods. Neither physiological nor above-normal levels of plasma testosterone suppressed secondary antibody production. In paired tests of the same individuals between prebreeding and breeding, and between breeding and implant, plasma testosterone increased significantly but secondary antibody responses were unaffected. We are confident in these results because with 80% power, an 11–14% difference in antibody titers would have been detected. There was no relationship between plasma testosterone levels and humoral immunocompetence in free-ranging males tested at the peak of breeding. These results cast doubt on a key assumption of the immunocompetence-handicap hypothesis. Received: 13 April 1998 / Accepted after revision: 7 October 1998     

Is there a double-dividend from anti-sprawl policies?

This paper examines the welfare effects of anti-sprawl policies, such as development tax, in a simple spatial explicit urban model with two market failures - urban decline at the city core and underprovision of open space amenities at the urban fringe - and pre-existing distortionary property tax, used to fund public services and improvements to mitigate urban decline. Consistent with prior double-dividend literature, there is a tax interaction effect that occurs between the development tax and the pre-existing property tax. However, there are two fundamental differences between the tax interaction effect identified here and that of prior literature. Ours one has two components: First, there is a cost-side tax interaction effect that is ‘spatially’ concentrated at the urban fringe, as only agents at the urban fringe alter their behavior in response to the development tax. Second, there is also a benefit-side tax interaction effect, as increases in open space at the urban fringe are capitalized into housing prices throughout the city. In contrast to prior literature, we find that the empirical importance of the combined tax interaction effect is of substantially less importance and, as a consequence, the likelihood of a ‘double-dividend’ is higher than in prior studies. Further, we show that the development tax should be part of the local tax system, even in the absence of open space benefits.     

Is the bat os penis sexually selected?

. The mammalian os penis or baculum is an extremely diverse bone but our understanding of the selective forces behind this diversity remains poor. While genital morphology is generally assumed to be sexually selected, there have been relatively few attempts to test this hypothesis. Here we investigate associations between baculum length and two measures of sexual selection intensity (mating system and testis mass) across bats. Analyses were conducted using both species-level data and phylogenetic comparative techniques. Controlling for the effect of male body mass, baculum length was positively associated with relative testis mass in all cross-species analyses. Additionally, in an analysis that also included mating system, there was an interaction between testis mass, body mass and mating system that significantly influenced baculum length. However, after using independent contrasts to control for phylogenetic inertia in these data, baculum length was not significantly associated with mating system, testis mass or body mass. Thus, increased length of the baculum in bats appears not to be associated with increased sperm competition risk or sexual selection intensity.     

Is natural hatching asynchrony optimal? An experimental investigation of sibling competition patterns in a facultatively siblicidal seabird

In unpredictable environments, any tactic that enables avian parents to adjust brood size and, thus, energy expenditure to environmental conditions should be favoured. Hatching asynchrony (HA), which occurs whenever incubation commences before clutch completion, may comprise such a tactic. For instance, the sibling rivalry hypothesis states that the hierarchy among chicks, concomitant to HA, should both facilitate the adjustment of brood size to environmental conditions and reduce several components of sibling competition as compared to synchronous hatching, at both brood and individual levels. We thus predicted that brood aggression, begging and feeding rates should decrease and that older chick superiority should increase with HA increasing, leading to higher growth and survival rates. Accordingly, we investigated the effects of an experimental upward and downward manipulation of HA magnitude on behaviour, growth and survival of black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) chicks. In line with the sibling rivalry hypothesis, synchronous hatching increased aggression and tended to increase feeding rates by parents at the brood level. Begging rates, however, increased with HA contrary to our expectations. At the individual level, as HA magnitude increased, the younger chick was attacked and begged proportionally more often, experienced a slower growth and a higher mortality than its sibling. Overall, the occurrence of energetic costs triggered by synchronous hatching both for parents and chicks, together with the lower growth rate and increased mortality of the younger chick in highly asynchronous broods suggest that natural HA magnitude may be optimal.