Human–carnivore conflict: ecological and economical sustainability of predation on livestock by snow leopard and other carnivores in the Himalaya

Human communities in the Trans-Himalayan region depend on the dynamics of the agro-pastoral system for survival. Humans, livestock and wild predators share common resources in the region, and this leads to human–wildlife interactions that have the potential to threaten the continued viability of this fragile ecosystem and impact the local economy. This study explored the interaction between livestock and predators in the upper Mustang region of Nepal in terms of economic and ecological impacts. A total of 1,347 km² of pasture land were grazed by 30,217 livestock belonging to local people from six village development committees. It was found that the seasonal movement patterns of livestock, from higher to lower elevations (closer to villages), coincided with elevation movements of wild ungulate prey and snow leopards into this smaller land area. The number of livestock reported to have been killed by predators during the study period was 706, 75 % of which was attributed to snow leopards. An estimated US$ 44,213 was lost between October 2009 and June 2011 due to livestock predation. These losses of livestock to snow leopards and other carnivores provoked retaliatory killings by villagers, and this in turn may significantly affect the viability of predator populations in this region. We suggest four approaches to mitigate human–carnivore conflict in the region: (a) introduce a livestock insurance policy, (b) promote the use of predator-proof livestock corrals and sheds, (c) involve local people in alternative income generating activities, and (d) increase conservation education in these regions.     

Oxidation of acid-volatile sulfide in surface sediments increases the release and toxicity of copper to the benthic amphipod Melita plumulosa

Acid-volatile sulfides (AVS) are an important metal-binding phase in sediments. For sediments that contain an excess of AVS over simultaneously extracted metal (SEM) concentrations, acute or chronic effects should not result from the metals Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn. While AVS phases may exist in surface sediments, the exposure to dissolved oxygen may oxidize the AVS and release metals to more bioavailable forms. We investigated the role of oxidation of AVS, and specifically copper sulfide phases, in surface sediments, in the toxicity to juveniles of the epibenthic amphipod, Melita plumulosa. Sediments containing known amounts of copper sulfide were prepared either in situ by reacting dissolved copper with AVS that had formed in field sediments or created in sediments within the laboratory, or by addition of synthesised CuS to sediments. Regardless of the form of the copper sulfide, considerable oxidation of AVS occurred during the 10-d tests. Sediments that had a molar excess of AVS compared to SEM at the start of the tests, did not always have an excess at the end of the tests. Consistent with the AVS-SEM model, no toxicity was observed for sediments with an excess of AVS throughout the tests. However, the study highlights the need to carefully consider the changes in AVS concentrations during tests, and that measurements of AVS and SEM concentrations should carefully target the materials to which the organisms are being exposed throughout tests, which in the case of juvenile M. plumulosa is the top few mm of the sediments.     

The decision gym: decision insurance for organizations

Conducting decision calisthenics can help an organization win competitive advantage through harnessing its tremendous knowledge, imagination, and staff experience. The paper explores how knowledge and experience mined and refined through innovative approaches like scenarios and war gaming can turn visionary ideas into successful, working realities. To fully appreciate the value of novel frameworks requires contextualizing their utility in what can be called the decision gym. The decision gym offers a way to build powerful consensus and commitment to decisions, methods to optimize processes, and a way to create, evaluate, and execute critical strategies in the face of heuristics and biases that can distort decision making.     

Effects of acid mist on needles from mature Sitka spruce grafts. Part II. Influence of developmental stage, age and needle morphology on visible damage

Mature grafts of five Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.) clones were exposed to simulated acid mist comprising an equimolar mixture of H(2)SO(4) and NH(4)NO(3) (1.6 and 0.01 mol m(-3)) at pH 2.5 and 5.0. Mist was applied to potted plants growing in open-top chambers on consecutive days, four times a week, at a precipitation equivalent of 1 mm per day. The total exposure to polluted mist was equivalent to three times that measured at an upland forest in SE Scotland. The aim of the experiment was to characterize the response of juvenile foliage produced by physiologically mature grafts (on seedling root stock) and compare it with the behaviour of juvenile foliage on seedlings. Development of visible foliar damage was followed through the growing season. Measurements of needle length, diameter, weight, surface area, surface was weight and wettability were made on current year needles to determine whether particular foliar characteristics increased susceptibility to injury. Significant amounts (> 10%) of visible needle damage was observed on only one of the five clones. Damage was most severe on the clone with the most horizontal branch and needle habit, but over the five clones there was no relationship between angle of branch display and damage. Likewise no combination of needle characteristics (length, width, area, amount of wax) was indicative of potential susceptibility. A comparison with previous acid misting experiments using seedlings suggests that juvenile foliage on physiologically mature trees is equally susceptible to visible injury as juvenile seedling foliage. Data of budburst differed among clones, and in this experiment exerted the over-riding influence on development of injury symptoms. Foliage exposed to a combination of strong acidity and high sulphate concentrations over the few weeks immediately following budburst suffered most visible injury. The absence of significant amounts of visible damage in UK forests probably reflects the general low susceptibility to visible injury of Sitka spruce exposed to acid mist.     

Shifts within ecological modernization in South Africa: Deliberation, innovation and institutional opportunities

Sustainable development is now widely accepted as a policy framework in planning and development both internationally and in South Africa. Within this framework, technocentric scientific approaches to environmental management, which are reflective of weak ecological modernization, have dominated environmental practice both in the developed and developing world. South Africa is a country in transition and as a result environmental law and policy have undergone significant reform. However, implementation and practice remains embedded within a weak ecological modernization approach. Through the lens of two case studies reflecting changing approaches and practices within state institutions, this paper explores the shifts taking place in the construction, adaptation and application of policy frameworks and tools used in the drive towards sustainability in South Africa. The research uses critical approaches to ecological modernization (Hajer, 1995; Christoff, 1996) and deliberative policy analysis (Hajer and Wagenaar, 2003; Hajer, 2003, 2003; Hajer, 2004) to explore these shifts. It suggests that the shift towards strong ecological modernization has taken place as a result of the adaptation of international practice to the South Africa context, the global acceptance of more integrated approaches, the opportunities for change that 'institutional ambiguity' and 'multi-signification' create, and pockets of innovation that have developed when intellectual actors shift the boundaries of environmental practice.     

Diagnostic indicators of elevated nitrogen deposition

Tissue N content of mosses, which has been shown to be an indicator of enhanced N, was studied at a range of locations dominated either by wet or dry deposited and oxidised and reduced forms of N. Tissue N responded differently to wet and dry deposited N. For a 1 kg ha(-1) y(-1) increase in N deposition, tissue N increased by 0.01% at wet deposition sites but by 0.03% at sites dominated by dry deposited NH3. Tissue N at wet deposition sites responded more to concentrations of NO3- and NH4+ in precipitation (r(2) 0.63) than to total N deposition (r(2) 0.27), concentration explaining 66% of the variation in tissue N, wet deposition 33%. The study clearly concludes that tissue N concentration in mosses provides a good indication of N deposition at sites where deposition is dominated by NH3, and is also valuable in identifying vegetation exposed to large concentrations of NH4+ or NO3-, in wet deposition dominated areas, such as hilltops and wind exposed woodland edges.     

Erosion vs. recovery of coral reefs after 1998 El Niño: Chagos reefs, Indian Ocean

Three years after most corals died on the central Indian Ocean reefs of Chagos, erosion and recovery were studied to 30 m depth. Mortality was near-total to 15 m deep in northern atolls, and to > 35 m in central and southern atolls. Some reef surfaces have 'dropped' 1.5 m due to the loss of dense coral thickets. Coral bioerosion is substantial, reducing 3-D reef 'structure' and forming unconsolidated rubble. Juvenile corals are abundant, though mostly on eroding or unstable substrates, and are of less robust species. Reef fish abundance and diversity at 15 m depth remains high; species dependent on corals have diminished, while some herbivores and detritivores have increased. A new sea surface temperature (SST) data set shows that mean SST has risen 0.65 degree C since 1950. The critical SST causing the mortality in Chagos was 29.9 degrees C.     

Stem growth reduction in mature Sitka spruce trees exposed to acid mist

An eighteen-year-old clone of Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr) growing in the field was used to evaluate the whole tree response of 'mature' Sitka spruce to acid mist treatment. The mist, an equimolar mixture of H(2)SO(4) and NH(4)NO(3) at pH 2.5 with or without particles (soda glass ballotini < 20 microm diameter), was applied twice weekly (equivalent to 4 mm precipitation week(-1)) throughout the growing season, May-November 1990-1992. The annual dose of S, N, H applied as mist (at 51, 48 and 3.3 kg ha(-1), respectively) was 2.5 times that measured in the Scottish uplands. Throughout the experiment there was no evidence of visible injury symptoms, yet there was a highly significant reduction (p < 0.02) in the stem-area increment relative to the stem area at the start, measured using vernier dendrometer bands. There was no significant difference between the (acid mist + particle) and the acid mist only treatments. The mean relative stem-area increment over two complete growing seasons (1991-1992) was 65% for control trees, but only 53% for acid-misted trees.     

Early effects of atmospheric ammonia deposition on Calluna vulgaris (L.) hull growing on an ombrotrophic peat bog

This paper reports data from a field study investigating the impacts of elevated ammonia (NH₃) deposition on Calluna vulgaris growing on an ombrotrophic peat bog in S.E. Scotland. Shoot extension, foliar N concentrations, chlorophyll concentration and chlorophyll fluorescence were measured during the second growing season of exposure to a gradient of ammonia concentrations. Results indicate that NH₃ increases growth between 150–200 kg N ha^?1y^?1 cumulative deposition. Foliar N content increased significantly in response to NH₃ cumulative deposition up to 400 kg N ha^?1 y^?1 whereas chlorophyll a content significantly decreased. Measurements of Fv/Fm suggest that although NH₃ exposure altered the growth and reduced chlorophyll a, the efficiency of photosystem II was insensitive to NH₃–N deposition at this stage.