Using local experts as benchmarks for household local ecological knowledge: Scoring in South African savannas

It is well recognised that local ecological knowledge is an important facet of natural resource management in rural regions of the developing world. However, techniques to assess levels and to integrate it into formal or informal management approaches require further development. In particular, quantitative tools are missing, which would allow more robust analysis of the factors that positively or negatively affect local ecological knowledge and vice versa. This paper reports on a quick assessment approach that provides a quantitative score of generalist local ecological knowledge at the household level. It does so by comparing responses to the knowledge of local people identified as experts within the community. In this way it is both locally constructed and contextualized, and thereby avoids pitfalls of trying to score local ecological knowledge relative to conventional scientific knowledge which frequently cannot account for local constructs. The approach is applied at eight villages throughout the savanna biome in South Africa.     

The role of predation in ecosystem models

Ecosystem models must convert a naturally open system into a theoretically closed one. For phytoplankton-herbivore models the form for the parameterization of predation on the herbivores can have a significant effect on the remainder of the model.     

X-ray absorption spectroscopy studies of reactions of technetium, uranium and neptunium with mackinawite

Technetium, uranium and neptunium may all occur in the environment in more than one oxidation state (IV or VII, IV or VI and IV or V respectively). The surface of mackinawite, the first-formed iron sulfide phase in anoxic conditions, can promote redox changes so a series of laboratory experiments were carried out to explore the interactions of Tc, U and Np with this mineral. The products of reaction were characterised using X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Technetium, added as TcO4(-), is reduced to oxidation state IV and forms a TcS(2)-like species. On oxidation of the mackinawite in air to form goethite, Tc remains in oxidation state IV but in an oxide, rather than a sulfide environment. At low concentrations, uranium forms uranyl surface complexes on oxidised regions of the mackinawite surface but at higher concentrations, the uranium promotes surface oxidation and forms a mixed oxidation state oxide phase. Neptunium is reduced to oxidation IV and forms a surface complex with surface sulfide ions. The remainder of the Np coordination sphere is filled with water molecules or hydroxide ions.     

Monitoring, assessment and modelling using water quality data in the Saale River Basin, Germany

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) is the overall driver for this environmental study and currently requires the identification of patterns and sources of pollution (monitoring) to support objective ecological sound decision making and specific measures to enhance river water quality (modelling). The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate in a case study the interrelationship between (1) hydrologic and water quality monitoring data for river basin characterization and (2) modelling applications to assess resources management alternatives. The study deals with monitoring assessment and modelling of river water quality data of the main stem Saale River and its principal tributaries. For a period of 6 years the data, which was sampled by Environmental Agencies of the German states of Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, was investigated to assess sources and indicators of pollution. In addition to the assessment a modelling exercise of the routing of different pollutants was carried out in the lower part of the test basin. The modelling is a tool to facilitate the evaluation of alternative measures to reduce contaminant loadings and improve ecological status of a water body as required by WFD. The transport of suspended solids, salts and heavy metals was modelled along a selected Saale reach under strong anthropogenic influence in terms of contaminants and river morphology between the city of Halle and the confluence with the Elbe River. The simulations were carried out with the model WASP5 which is a dynamic flood-routing and water quality model package developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency.     

Distribution and variability of redox zones controlling spatial variability of arsenic in the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer, southeastern Arkansas

Twenty one of 118 irrigation water wells in the shallow (25-30 m thick) Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer in the Bayou Bartholomew watershed, southeastern Arkansas had arsenic (As) concentrations (<0.5 to 77 microg/L) exceeding 10 microg/L. Sediment and groundwater samples were collected and analyzed from the sites of the highest, median, and lowest concentrations of As in groundwater in the alluvial aquifers located at Jefferson County, Arkansas. A traditional five-step sequential extraction was performed to differentiate the exchangeable, carbonate, amorphous Fe and Mn oxide, organic, and hot HNO(3)-leachable fraction of As and other compounds in sediments. The Chao reagent (0.25 M hydroxylamine hydrochloride in 0.25 M HCl) removes amorphous Fe and Mn oxides and oxyhydroxides (present as coatings on grains and amorphous minerals) by reductive dissolution and is a measure of reducible Fe and Mn in sediments. The hot HNO(3) extraction removes mostly crystalline metal oxides and all other labile forms of As. Significant total As (20%) is complexed with amorphous Fe and Mn oxides in sediments. Arsenic abundance is not significant in carbonates or organic matter. Significant (40-70 microg/kg) exchangeable As is only present at shallow depth (0-1 m below ground surface). Arsenic is positively correlated to Fe extracted by Chao reagent (r=0.83) and hot HNO(3) (r=0.85). Arsenic extracted by Chao reagent decreases significantly with depth as compared to As extracted by hot HNO(3). Fe (II)/Fe (the ratio of Fe concentration in the extracts of Chao reagent and hot HNO(3)) is positively correlated (r=0.76) to As extracted from Chao reagent. Although Fe (II)/Fe increases with depth, the relative abundance of reducible Fe decreases noticeably with depth. The amount of reducible Fe, as well as As complexed to amorphous Fe and Mn oxides and oxyhydroxides decreases with depth. Possible explanations for the decrease in reducible Fe and its complexed As with depth include historic flushing of As and Fe from hydrous ferric oxides (HFO) by microbially-mediated reductive dissolution and aging of HFO to crystalline phases. Hydrogeochemical data suggests that the groundwater in the area falls in the mildly reducing (suboxic) to relatively highly reducing (anoxic) zone, and points to reductive dissolution of HFO as the dominant As release mechanism. Spatial variability of gypsum solubility and simultaneous SO(4)(2-) reduction with co-precipitation of As and sulfide is an important limiting process controlling the concentration of As in groundwater in the area.     

A meta‐analytic evaluation of diversity training outcomes

The purpose of this meta‐analysis was to use theory and research on diversity, attitudes, and training to examine potential differential effects on affective‐based, cognitive‐based, and skill‐based outcomes, to examine potential moderators of those effects with a focus on affective‐based outcomes, and finally, to provide quantitative estimates of these posited relationships. Results from 65 studies (N = 8465) revealed sizable effects on affective‐based, cognitive‐based, and skill‐based outcomes as well as interesting boundary conditions for these effects on affective‐based outcomes. This study provides practical value to human resources managers and trainers wishing to implement diversity training within organizations as well as interesting theoretical advances for researchers. Practitioners have quantitative evidence that diversity training changes affective‐based, cognitive‐based, and skill‐based trainee outcomes. This study also supports and addresses future research needs. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Broad and narrow measures on both sides of the personality–job performance relationship

Two studies compared specific versus broad measures in linking personality with work behavior. In Study 1, 100 university students completed the 20 subscales of the Personality Research Form and an in‐basket exercise scored on 16 distinct managerial behaviors. In Study 2, 335 market research field representatives completed the Hogan Personality Inventory, containing 41 specific trait scales organized into seven primary scales, and were rated by their supervisors on seven performance dimensions. In both studies, significant linkages between broad personality and criterion variables (e.g., factors) were explained by stronger relations among relatively few specific variables. Moreover, consistent with prior research, weak relations among broad measures obscured important linkages at the specific level, including several cases of cancellation (i.e., specific traits loading the same factor in the same direction correlated with criteria in opposite directions). Canonical correlations with appropriate shrinkage correction revealed notable improvements in criterion validity over inter‐factor correlations and helped summarize the data while retaining the diagnostic advantages of specificity. Our findings are unique by demonstrating the value of specificity on both sides of the prediction equation. Implications for personnel selection are discussed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sediment filled fractures in the Permo-Triassic sandstones of the Cheshire basin: observations and implications for pollutant transport

Fracture mapping in a tunnel system and at nearby outcrop on the Runcorn Penninsula, UK, suggests the need for a review of the potential pathways for pollutant transport in Permo-Triassic sandstone aquifers. Sediment infilling is pervasive in the largest sub-vertical multi-layer fractures in the study area, both at the surface and to a depth of about 40 m below ground level. Sediment infill is inferred to have formed in situ. The conventional models of pollutant transport in fracture networks assume that they comprise open fractures, with pollutant mobility depending on fracture connectivity (a function of density, length, orientation and intersection) and aperture. The presence of extensive sediment fills in fractures will materially change their permeability, thereby reducing pollutant flux, and be of significance in the assessment of risks arising from chemical spillages. There has been little or no substantive evidence for such fills in Permo-Triassic sandstones in the UK, apart from observations at outcrop and anecdotes of sand being pumped from boreholes. Here, we report surface and rare, but complementary, subsurface observations of extensive fills in the Cheshire basin, and argue that they will only act as preferential pathways where they crosscut low-permeability horizons such as mudstones.     

Impacts of swine manure pits on groundwater quality

Manure deep-pits are commonly used to store manure at confined animal feeding operations. However, previous to this study little information had been collected on the impacts of deep-pits on groundwater quality to provide science-based guidance in formulating regulations and waste management strategies that address risks to human health and the environment. Groundwater quality has been monitored since January 1999 at two hog finishing facilities in Illinois that use deep-pit systems for manure storage. Groundwater samples were collected on a monthly basis and analyzed for inorganic and bacteriological constituent concentrations. The two sites are located in areas with geologic environments representing different vulnerabilities for local groundwater contamination. One site is underlain by more than 6 m of clayey silt, and 7-36 m of shale. Concentrations of chloride, ammonium, phosphate, and potassium indicated that local groundwater quality had not been significantly impacted by pit leakage from this facility. Nitrate concentrations were elevated near the pit, often exceeding the 10 mg N/l drinking water standard. Isotopic nitrate signatures suggested that the nitrate was likely derived from soil organic matter and fertilizer applied to adjacent crop fields. At the other site, sandstone is located 4.6-6.1 m below land surface. Chloride concentrations and delta15N and delta15O values of dissolved nitrate indicated that this facility may have limited and localized impacts on groundwater. Other constituents, including ammonia, potassium, phosphate, and sodium were generally at or less than background concentrations. Trace- and heavy-metal concentrations in groundwater samples collected from both facilities were at concentrations less than drinking water standards. The concentration of inorganic constituents in the groundwater would not likely impact human health. Fecal streptococcus bacteria were detected at least once in groundwater from all monitoring wells at both sites. Fecal streptococcus was more common and at greater concentrations than fecal coliform. The microbiological data suggest that filtration of bacteria by soils may not be as effective as commonly assumed. The presence of fecal bacteria in the shallow groundwater may pose a significant threat to human health if the ground water is used for drinking. Both facilities are less than 4 years old and the short-term impacts of these manure storage facilities on groundwater quality have been limited. Continued monitoring of these facilities will determine if they have a long-term impact on groundwater resources.     

Ability of chestnut oak to tolerate acorn pruning by rodents

Acorns of many white oak species germinate soon after autumn seed fall, a characteristic widely interpreted as a general adaptation to escape predation by small rodents. However, the mechanism by which early, rapid germination allows escape and/or tolerance of seed damage remains unclear. Here we reported how specific germination traits of chestnut oak (Quercus montana) acorns, and those of other white oak species, allow successful escape from acorn pruning by rodents. During germination, chestnut oak acorns develop elongated cotyledonary petioles, which extend beyond the distal end of the acorn (1–2 cm) to the point at which the epicotyl and radicle diverge. However, granivorous rodents often prune the taproots above or below the plumule when eating or caching these germinated acorns in autumn. Hence, we hypothesized elongation of cotyledonary petioles allows chestnut oaks to escape acorn pruning by rodents. We simulated pruning by rodents by cutting the taproot at different stages of germination (radicle length) to evaluate the regeneration capacity of four resulting seedling remnants following taproot pruning: acorns with the plumule (remnant I), acorns without the plumule (remnant II), and pruned taproots with (remnant III) or without the plumule (remnant IV). Our results showed that remnant I germinated into seedlings regardless of the length of the taproot previously pruned and removed. Remnant III successfully germinated and survived provided that taproots were ≥6 cm in length, whereas remnant IV was unable to produce seedlings. Remnant II only developed adventitious roots near the severed ends of the cotyledonary petioles. Field experiments also showed that pruned taproots with the plumule successfully regenerated into seedlings. We suggest that the elongated cotyledonary petioles, typical of most white oak species in North America, represent a key adaptation that allows frequent escape from rodent damage and predation. The ability of pruned taproots to produce seedlings suggests a far greater resilience of white oaks to seed predation than previously anticipated.