Integrators: An outcome of environmental education

Summary People working in the environmental field may refer to themselves as environmentalists, but this does not indicate how they approach their work. The term environmental integrator has been used to describe people who are specialists with breadth, in comparison to generalists with no speciality. The training of integrators involves the integration of knowledge with the teaching of problem solving and ways of dealing with people and complex organisations. A recent evaluation of the Master of Environmental Science programme at Monash University, which has an interdisciplinary focus, provided an opportunity to see if the training of environmental integrators was feasible. A questionnaire survey of graduates, and interviews with a sample of their employers, indicated that the majority of graduates worked as integrators, and valued the broad perspectives and integrative team work opportunities gained through the programme. While it is difficult to define and measure the qualities of integrators, it is apparent that the Monash programme contributed to the training of such people, and that other tertiary programmes could do likewise.Dr Ian G. Thomas graduated as a Civil Engineer and worked with a State government authority and consultants in traffic and transportation, before moving into the area of environmental assessment at State government level. The environmental area was the focus of his position at Monash University where he undertook his PhD and the research into the Monash course. Since 1990, Ian has been lecturing in the BSocSc (Socio-Environmental Assessment and Policy) course at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology where he is researching energy conservation and education, environmental policies for tertiary institutions, and environmental education in the Department of Planning, Policy and Landscape.     

Observed activation status of lane departure warning and forward collision warning of Honda vehicles at dealership service centers

Objective: There are little objective data on whether drivers with lane departure warning and forward collision warning systems actually use them, but self-report data indicate that lane departure warning may be used less and viewed less favorably than forward collision warning. The current study assessed whether the systems were turned on when drivers brought their vehicles to dealership service stations and whether the observational protocol is a feasible method for collecting similar data on various manufacturers' systems.

Methods: Observations of 2013–2015 Honda Accords, 2014–2015 Odysseys, and 2015 CR-Vs occurred at 2 U.S. Honda dealerships for approximately 4 weeks during Summer 2015.

Results: Of the 265 vehicles observed to have the 2 systems, 87 (32.8%) had lane departure warning turned on. Accords were associated with a 66% increase in the likelihood that lane departure warning was turned on compared with Odysseys, but the rate was still only about 40% in Accords. In contrast, forward collision warning was turned on in all but one of the observed vehicles.

Conclusions: Observations found that the activation rate was much higher for forward collision warning than lane departure warning. The observation method worked well and appears feasible for extending to other manufacturers.     

Quantifying the relative irreplaceability of important bird and biodiversity areas

World governments have committed to increase the global protected areas coverage by 2020, but the effectiveness of this commitment for protecting biodiversity depends on where new protected areas are located. Threshold‐ and complementarity‐based approaches have been independently used to identify important sites for biodiversity. We brought together these approaches by performing a complementarity‐based analysis of irreplaceability in important bird and biodiversity areas (IBAs), which are sites identified using a threshold‐based approach. We determined whether irreplaceability values are higher inside than outside IBAs and whether any observed difference depends on known characteristics of the IBAs. We focused on 3 regions with comprehensive IBA inventories and bird distribution atlases: Australia, southern Africa, and Europe. Irreplaceability values were significantly higher inside than outside IBAs, although differences were much smaller in Europe than elsewhere. Higher irreplaceability values in IBAs were associated with the presence and number of restricted‐range species; number of criteria under which the site was identified; and mean geographic range size of the species for which the site was identified (trigger species). In addition, IBAs were characterized by higher irreplaceability values when using proportional species representation targets, rather than fixed targets. There were broadly comparable results when measuring irreplaceability for trigger species and when considering all bird species, which indicates a good surrogacy effect of the former. Recently, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has convened a consultation to consolidate global standards for the identification of key biodiversity areas (KBAs), building from existing approaches such as IBAs. Our results informed this consultation, and in particular a proposed irreplaceability criterion that will allow the new KBA standard to draw on the strengths of both threshold‐ and complementarity‐based approaches.     

Watershed development in India. 2. New approaches for managing externalities and meeting sustainability requirements

This paper recognises the need for a revision of watershed development policy in India in relation to the planning of development interventions involving agricultural intensification and rainwater harvesting and the need for new approaches to assist the planning process. Building on, and using as an example, the results of biophysical and societal impact studies carried out on two watershed development projects in Karnataka three new management/dissemination tools, are suggested. These are (1) the web-based geographical information systems exploratory, climate land assessment and impact management tool dissemination tool for disseminating to policymakers and non-specialist stakeholders the downstream impacts of watershed interventions, (2) the ‘quadrant’ approach for ensuring that sustainability criteria are met and (3) Bayesian networks to investigate the biophysical and societal impacts of interventions. Readers should send their comments on this paper to BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue     

The impact of climate-induced distributional changes on the validity of biological water quality metrics

We present data on the distributional changes within an order of macroinvertebrates used in biological water quality monitoring. The British Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) have been shown to be expanding their range northwards and this could potentially affect the use of water quality metrics. The results show that the families of Odonata that are used in monitoring are shifting their ranges poleward and that species richness is increasing through time at most UK latitudes. These past distributional shifts have had negligible effects on water quality indicators. However, variation in Odonata species richness (particularly in species-poor regions) has a significant effect on water quality metrics. We conclude with a brief review of current and predicted responses of aquatic macroinvertebrates to environmental warming and maintain that caution is warranted in the use of such dynamic biological indicators.     

Assessing the demand of solid waste disposal in urban region by urban dynamics modelling in a GIS environment

The twentieth century saw a dramatic increase in the production of urban solid waste, reflecting unprecedented global levels of economic activity. Despite some efforts to reduce and recover the waste, disposal in landfills is still the most usual destination. However, landfill has become more difficult to implement because of its increasing cost, community opposition to landfill siting, and more restrictive environmental regulations regarding the siting and operation of landfills. Moreover, disposal in landfill is the waste destination method with the largest demand for land, while land is a resource whose availability has been decreasing in urban systems. Shortage of land for landfills is a problem frequently cited in the literature as a physical constraint. Nonetheless, the shortage of land for waste disposal has not been fully studied and, in particular, quantified. This paper presents a method to quantify the relationship between the demand and supply of suitable land for waste disposal over time using a geographic information system and modelling techniques. Based on projections of population growth, urban sprawl and waste generation the method can allow policy and decision-makers to measure the dimension of the problem of shortage of land into the future. The procedure can provide information to guide the design and schedule of programs to reduce and recover waste, and can potentially lead to a better use of the land resource. Porto Alegre City, Brazil was used as the case study to illustrate and analyse the approach. By testing different waste management scenarios, the results indicated that the demand for land for waste disposal overcomes the supply of suitable land for this use in the study area before the year 2050.     

Temporal variability in nutrient concentrations and loads in the River Tamar and its catchment (SW England) between 1974 and 2004

This study reports the results from the analyses of a 30-year (1974–2004) river water quality monitoring dataset for NO _x –N (NO₃–N?+?NO₂–N), NH₄–N, PO₄–P and SiO₂–Si at the tidal limit of the River Tamar (SW England), an agriculturally dominated and sparsely populated catchment. Annual mean concentrations of NH₄–N, PO₄–P and SiO₂–Si were similar to other rural UK rivers, while annual mean concentrations of NO _x –N were clearly lower. Estimated values for the 1940s were much lower than for those of post-1974, at least for NO₃–N and PO₄–P. Flow-weighted mean concentrations of PO₄–P decreased by approximately 60 % between 1974 and 2004, although this change cannot be unequivocally ascribed to either PO₄–P stripping from sewage treatment work effluents or reductions in phosphate fertiliser applications. Lower-resolution sampling (to once per month) in the late 1990s may also have led to the apparent decline; a similar trend was also seen for NH₄–N. There were no temporal trends in the mean concentrations of NO _x –N, emphasising the continuing difficulty in controlling diffuse pollution from agriculture. Concentrations of SiO₂–Si and NO _x –N were significantly and positively correlated with river flows ≤15 m³?s^?1, showing that diffuse inputs from the catchment were important, particularly during the wet winter periods. In contrast, concentrations of PO₄–P and NH₄–N did not correlate across any flow window, despite the apparent importance of diffuse inputs for these constituents. This observation, coupled with the absence of a seasonal (monthly) cycle for these nutrients, indicates that, for PO₄–P and NH₄–N, there were no dominant sources and/or both undergo extensive within-catchment processing. Analyses of nutrient fluxes reveal net losses for NO₃–N and SiO₂–Si during the non-winter months; for NO₃–N, this may be due to denitrification. Areal fluxes of NO _x –N from the catchment were towards the higher end of the range for the UK, while NH₄–N and PO₄–P were closer to the lower end of the ranges for these nutrients. These data, taken together with information on sestonic chlorophyll a, suggest that water quality in the lower River Tamar is satisfactory with respect to nutrients. Analyses of these monitoring data, which were collected at considerable logistical and monetary cost, have revealed unique insights into the environmental behaviour of key nutrients within the Tamar catchment over a 30-year period.     

Effects of H2O2 on growth,metabolic activity and membrane integrity in three strains of Microcystis aeruginosa

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The application of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as a management tool to control Microcystis blooms has become increasingly popular due to its short...     

Attribute-based analysis of hunters’ lease preferences

Understanding of hunter preferences for hunting lease attributes is important to landowners because such knowledge provides key information for managing and marketing fee-hunting in order to maximize revenues. Premised on this insight, we used attribute based modeling to investigate how hunter preferences for potential leases were influenced by lease and hunter-specific attributes. A mail survey of Mississippi licensed hunters provided the necessary data. Estimation results based on McFadden conditional logit regression suggested that lease attributes including game diversity, lease location relative to hunter residence, lease size, lease duration and lease rate influenced willingness to pay for additional units of lease attributes. Depending on the specific levels of these attributes, WTP could vary as much as $5.70 per acre. Of the hunter-specific attributes, age and income significantly influenced hunter decision to buy a lease or opt for status quo. Results of this study should assist landowners in increasing financial returns from fee-hunting endeavors through appropriate changes to their hunting access policies and wildlife management activities in response to hunter preferences regarding lease attributes.     

Combining qualitative and quantitative understanding for exploring cross-sectoral climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability in Europe

Climate change will affect all sectors of society and the environment at all scales, ranging from the continental to the national and local. Decision-makers and other interested citizens need to be able to access reliable science-based information to help them respond to the risks of climate change impacts and assess opportunities for adaptation. Participatory integrated assessment (IA) tools combine knowledge from diverse scientific disciplines, take account of the value and importance of stakeholder ‘lay insight’ and facilitate a two-way iterative process of exploration of ‘what if’s’ to enable decision-makers to test ideas and improve their understanding of the complex issues surrounding adaptation to climate change. This paper describes the conceptual design of a participatory IA tool, the CLIMSAVE IA Platform, based on a professionally facilitated stakeholder engagement process. The CLIMSAVE (climate change integrated methodology for cross-sectoral adaptation and vulnerability in Europe) Platform is a user-friendly, interactive web-based tool that allows stakeholders to assess climate change impacts and vulnerabilities for a range of sectors, including agriculture, forests, biodiversity, coasts, water resources and urban development. The linking of models for the different sectors enables stakeholders to see how their interactions could affect European landscape change. The relationship between choice, uncertainty and constraints is a key cross-cutting theme in the conduct of past participatory IA. Integrating scenario development processes with an interactive modelling platform is shown to allow the exploration of future uncertainty as a structural feature of such complex problems, encouraging stakeholders to explore adaptation choices within real-world constraints of future resource availability and environmental and institutional capacities, rather than seeking the ‘right’ answers.