Is Public Participation Public Inclusion? The Role of Comments in US Forest Service Decision-Making

Environmental Management - In the United States, forest governance practices have utilized a variety of public participation mechanisms to improve decision-making and instill public legitimacy....     

Cash transfers' effect on government support: the case of Fiji

While some scholars have found that government post-disaster assistance supports the incumbent, others have shown that incumbent effects among beneficiaries are imperceptible or negative. This article contributes to this debate by using a regression discontinuity design of households affected by Tropical Cyclone Winston in Fiji to show that the type of assistance provided is an important variable in understanding the effects of aid on perceptions of the government. Residents of Fiji who received a post-disaster cash transfer are up to 20 per cent more likely to be very satisfied with the government than are those who did not. The probability further increases if the cash transfer was provided along with in-kind benefits or vouchers, but it is not affected if beneficiaries were also encouraged to use their own pension savings. This paper provides evidence in favour of the ‘attentive citizen’ theory by demonstrating that beneficiaries actively appraise government responses; it also reveals possible effects of elite capture on the relationship between the government and beneficiaries.     

Relationship between body zinc concentration and allometric growth measurements in the mussel Mytilus edulis

The frequency distribution of shell lengths in the mussels Mytilus edulis (L.) taken from a site in the Tyne Estuary (UK) in summer, 1980, typically displayed a bimodal shape, with a small peak in the 8 to 20 mm size range and a much broader peak in the 22 to 50 mm region. A collection of mussels was made consisting of two groups, one from each of the above size peaks. The group of larger mussels had a significantly higher mean zinc concentration than the group of smaller mussels, mainly because a few large individuals had very high zinc concentrations. The ratios of shell width:height, width:length and length:height were also significantly higher in larger mussels. However, the ratio of flesh dry wt:shell dry wt (flesh condition) was lower in larger individuals. The whole soft tissue zinc concentration was positively correlated with width:height and width:length, but negatively correlated with flesh wt:shell wt. It was concluded that allometric ratios may provide an attractive alternative to simple size characteristics as a basis for trace metal determinations, particularly in a comparison of metal levels in mussel populations from widely differing habitats where absolute size is a poor indicator of age or growth rate.Contribution No. 1221 of the Center for Estuarine and Environmental Studies of the University of Maryland     

Nonparametric Ranked-set Sampling Confidence Intervals for Quantiles of a Finite Population

Ranked-set sampling from a finite population is considered in this paper. Three sampling protocols are described, and procedures for constructing nonparametric confidence intervals for a population quantile are developed. Algorithms for computing coverage probabilities for these confidence intervals are presented, and the use of interpolated confidence intervals is recommended as a means to approximately achieve coverage probabilities that cannot be achieved exactly. A simulation study based on finite populations of sizes 20, 30, 40, and 50 shows that the three sampling protocols follow a strict ordering in terms of the average lengths of the confidence intervals they produce. This study also shows that all three ranked-set sampling protocols tend to produce confidence intervals shorter than those produced by simple random sampling, with the difference being substantial for two of the protocols. The interpolated confidence intervals are shown to achieve coverage probabilities quite close to their nominal levels. Rankings done according to a highly correlated concomitant variable are shown to reduce the level of the confidence intervals only minimally. An example to illustrate the construction of confidence intervals according to this methodology is provided.     

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) dispersion and deposition to vegetation and soil following a large scale chemical fire

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were determined in soil and vegetation following a large scale chemical fire involving 10,000 ton of polypropylene. In comparison with sites outside the plume from the fire, PAH concentrations were elevated in grass shoots (by up to 70-fold) and in soil (by up to 370-fold). The pattern of PAH dispersion under the plume was dependent on the physical-chemical properties of individual PAHs. The lighter, least hydrophobic PAHs were dispersed into the environment at greater distances than heavier, more hydrophobic PAHs. At the most distant sampling point (4.5 km) under the plume, the low molecular weight PAHs were still considerably elevated in vegetation samples compared to control sites. Dispersion appeared to be regulated by the compounds partitioning between the vapour and particulate phase, with dry particulate deposition occurring closer to the fire source than gaseous deposition. For all PAHs, the fire resulted in greater contamination of soils compared to grasses, with the relative ratio of plant/soil contamination decreasing as hydrophobicity increased.     

Influence of soil-applied coal combustion by-products on growth and elemental composition of annual ryegrass

The total annual production of coal combustion by-products in the USA is expected to exceed 150 million Mg by the year 2000. Agricultural utilisation may offer a partial solution to disposal problems, but the benefits and risks associated with using these materials must be assessed. Four coal combustion by-products, bed ash (BA) and fly ash (FA) from a fluidised-bed combustion furnace and stabilised scrubber sludge (SS) and a high gypsum content by-product (G) from flue gas desulphurisation processes were added to two soils at rates of 0, 20, 40 and 80 g kg-1. The growth and elemental composition of Gulf annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum L.) were evaluated in the treated soils. Adding FA, SS and G to both soils at application rates of up to 80 g kg-1 was not detrimental to the growth of ryegrass and resulted in higher yields than controls in some instances. Adding BA created a high alkalinity, high soluble-salt environment that initially inhibited seedling germination and significantly reduced (p<0.05) yields of dry matter, so it will probably need to be restricted to rates of lime requirement. Ryegrass concentrations of Cu, Zn, Ni, Pb, Cd and Cr were similar in control and treated soils, but levels of B, Se, As and Mo were raised in treatments. Based on low trace-element concentrations in ryegrass shoots and in soil solution, Se from FA application may be the only potential food-chain risk associated with application of the four coal combustion by-products used in this investigation.     

Diel variation and seasonal consistency in the fish assemblage of the non-estuarine Sulaibikhat Bay,Kuwait

In the period between September 1986 and August 1988, using an otter trawl, a total of 50 species from 30 families were captured in Sulaibikhat Bay, Kuwait. The dominant species were Liza carinata (Valenciennes), Pomadasys stridens (Forrskal) and Leiognathus brevirostris (Valenciennes). Although the total number of fishes captured in 1986–1987 and 1987–1988 differed by an order of magnitude, the seasonal changes in numbers, biomass and number of species in the intertidal and subtidal zones were consistent. Unbalanced three-way analysis of variance showed that significantly larger numbers of fishes and number of species, but not biomass, were captured in the intertidal at night compared to the intertidal during the day. This difference may be due to both increased net efficiency and movement of fishes into the intertidal zone at night to avoid piscivorous fishes that move from deep water into shallower water. During the day few fish are present in the intertidal zone and this may be to avoid predation by piscivorous birds. Several species of fishes were shown to have different patterns of behaviour during the diel period.     

Allocation of reproductive effort in Mus domesticus: responses of offspring sex ratio and quality to social density and food availability

Summary Female mammals in good condition can maximize their inclusive fitness by investing more in male offspring than in female offspring during periods of poor environmental quality. To test this hypothesis, we measured the effects of undernutrition and crowding before and during gestation on the sex ratio and weight of offspring at parturition and at weaning in Mus domesticus. Sex ratio was not significantly affected by density. Dams altered the sex ratio of their offspring in response to food availability, but only if variance in competitive success within the experimental subpopulation was evident. Thus ad lib fed females produced litters with an unbiased sex ratio, competitively successful females under moderate food availability produced a male-biased sex ratio, and severely food deprived females produced litters with a female-biased sex ratio. In groups that experienced competition for food, successful dams favoured male offspring during lactation. These results are consistent with the predictions of Trivers and Willard (1973). Analysis of within-cell variance and covariance suggests that the interaction of social structure and food availability provides specific cues for the dams' tactical reproductive choices.     

Total body zinc concentration and allometric growth ratios in Mytilus edulis collected from different shore levels

Body zinc concentrations (on a soft parts dry weight basis) in 18 composite collections of mussels (Mytilus edulis) taken from different shore levels within a single mussel bed on the north shore of the Tyne estuary at Tynemouth, on 25 October, 1980, showed highly significant correlations with 4 allometric, size-related factors. A negative correlation was found between body zinc concentration and a flesh condition (FC) index defined as mg dry flesh wt per g dry shell wt. Positive correlations were found between body zinc concentration and width: height ratio, width: length ratio and shell valve inequality index (SVI) defined as the weight of heavier shell valve/weight of lighter shell valve. Unlike earlier observations on a single population taken from a single habitat, this heterogeneous collection showed no significant relationship between body zinc concentration and body size as determined by soft-parts dry weight. Body zinc concentration and allometric ratios were, however, related to position on the shoreline. It is suggested that, where mussels are collected from different habitats, environmental factors probably have a greater influence on body size than age. Therefore, normalization of trace metal concentrations to a standard body weight may not be appropriate where specimens are collected from a variety of habitats. Allometric ratios are related to age, but are independent of absolute size, and may therefore provide a more suitable basis for normalization of trace metal concentration within a monitoring programme.Contribution No. 1222 of the Center for Estuarine and Environmental Studies of the University of Maryland