Why do municipalities accept disaster waste? Evidence from the great east Japan earthquake

Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - Municipalities’ cooperation is critical for successful policy interventions for disaster recovery. Using a spatial econometric model, we...     

Implications of genetics and current protected areas for conservation of 5 endangered primates in China

Most of China's 24–28 primate species are threatened with extinction. Habitat reduction and fragmentation are perhaps the greatest threats. We used published data from a conservation genetics study of 5 endangered primates in China (Rhinopithecus roxellana, R. bieti, R. brelichi, Trachypithecus francoisi, and T. leucocephalus); distribution data on these species; and the distribution, area, and location of protected areas to inform conservation strategies for these primates. All 5 species were separated into subpopulations with unique genetic components. Gene flow appeared to be strongly impeded by agricultural land, meadows used for grazing, highways, and humans dwellings. Most species declined severely or diverged concurrently as human population and crop land cover increased. Nature reserves were not evenly distributed across subpopulations with unique genetic backgrounds. Certain small subpopulations were severely fragmented and had higher extinction risk than others. Primate mobility is limited and their genetic structure is strong and susceptible to substantial loss of diversity due to local extinction. Thus, to maximize preservation of genetic diversity in all these primate species, our results suggest protection is required for all sub‐populations. Key priorities for their conservation include maintaining R. roxellana in Shennongjia national reserve, subpopulations S4 and S5 of R. bieti and of R. brelichi in Fanjingshan national reserve, subpopulation CGX of T. francoisi in central Guangxi Province, and all 3 T. leucocephalus sub‐populations in central Guangxi Province.     

Investment in territorial defence depends on rearing environment in brown trout (Salmo trutta)

In many animals, territoriality will arise or cease depending on environmental factors such as intruder rate and resource availability. We investigated the effect of rearing environment on territorial behaviour in ~1.5-month-old brown trout. In the laboratory, wild-caught (reared at a low density) and hatchery-reared (high density) trout were allowed to defend a territory against a size-matched intruder reared in the same or the other environment. Because territorial behaviour should be relaxed at high-rearing densities, we hypothesized that hatchery-reared trout should value their territories less and therefore invest less in defence compared with wild-caught trout. However, in all cases, territory owners were more likely to win the contest and hatchery-reared trout were just as likely as wild-reared to win mixed contests. Furthermore, pairs of hatchery-reared trout initiated contests sooner, fought longer and were more aggressive during the contest compared with pairs of wild trout. When hatchery-reared owners met wild intruders, the contest ended sooner compared with when the roles were reversed. We conclude that territorial behaviour in brown trout is largely innate, but that the hatchery environment has promoted more aggressive individuals. These results suggest that hatchery-reared trout invest more time and energy to obtain the same contest success as wild trout. In conclusion, the lack of experience of territorial defence in a high-density rearing environment seems to reduce the efficiency of territorial behaviour. In turn, this may have negative consequences for the performance of released hatchery fish in the wild.     

Benefits of protected areas for nonbreeding waterbirds adjusting their distributions under climate warming

Climate warming is driving changes in species distributions and community composition. Many species have a so-called climatic debt, that is, shifts in range lag behind shifts in temperature isoclines. Inside protected areas (PAs), community changes in response to climate warming can be facilitated by greater colonization rates by warm-dwelling species, but also mitigated by lowering extirpation rates of cold-dwelling species. An evaluation of the relative importance of colonization-extirpation processes is important to inform conservation strategies that aim for both climate debt reduction and species conservation. We assessed the colonization-extirpation dynamics involved in community changes in response to climate inside and outside PAs. To do so, we used 25 years of occurrence data of nonbreeding waterbirds in the western Palearctic (97 species, 7071 sites, 39 countries, 1993–2017). We used a community temperature index (CTI) framework based on species thermal affinities to investigate species turnover induced by temperature increase. We determined whether thermal community adjustment was associated with colonization by warm-dwelling species or extirpation of cold-dwelling species by modeling change in standard deviation of the CTI (CTI_SD). Using linear mixed-effects models, we investigated whether communities in PAs had lower climatic debt and different patterns of community change than communities outside PAs. For CTI and CTI_SD combined, communities inside PAs had more species, higher colonization, lower extirpation, and lower climatic debt (16%) than communities outside PAs. Thus, our results suggest that PAs facilitate 2 independent processes that shape community dynamics and maintain biodiversity. The community adjustment was, however, not sufficiently fast to keep pace with the large temperature increases in the central and northeastern western Palearctic. Our results underline the potential of combining CTI and CTI_SD metrics to improve understanding of the colonization-extirpation patterns driven by climate warming.     

鹗(Pandion haliaetus L.)幼雏尾羽可以指示瑞典南部汞载荷状况(1969～1998):一项结合硒吸收量记录的实例研究

来自瑞典南部Asnen湖的104只鹗(Pandion haliaetus)幼雏的尾羽被用来分析全汞和硒的含量.当来自工业汞的污染程度下降和一个位于湖上游的造纸厂于1979年关闭时,在1969～1998年期间来自湖的西部的羽毛中的汞含量下降了.刚开始时来自湖东部的幼鸟羽毛中汞的含量较低,且主要来自大气沉降,在研究期间,汞含量一直没有下降.呈现这种差异的原因看起来是东部湖水和西部水流交换量较小所致.硒的含量一直保持固定,且湖的两部分相差不大.湖泊西部的总Hg/Se比率为2.94,这稍微高于11摩尔比常数(2.54).硒的生物积累量被认为是用来保护有机体免受汞毒害,研究表明该区域生物积累的硒的数量不足以全部束缚体内的汞.     

The tail feathers of osprey nestlings (Pandion haliaetus L.) as indicators of change in mercury load in the environment of southern Sweden (1969-1998): a case study with a note on the simultaneous intake of selenium

The tail feathers of 104 osprey nestlings (Pandion haliaetus) from Lake Asnen, southern Sweden, were analyzed for total mercury and selenium content. Concentrations of mercury in feathers from the western part of the lake fell during the period 1969-1998, when pollution from industrial mercury had decreased and a paper mill upstream of the lake was closed down in 1979. Nestlings from the eastern part of the lake had initially lower levels of mercury, predominantly from atmospheric fallout. The levels did not decrease during the period. The reason for the differences seems to be the limited water flow between the western and the eastern part of the lake. The selenium concentrations were constant over time and approximately the same in both parts of the lake. The total-Hg/Se ratio in the western part of the lake was 2.94, which is somewhat higher than the 1:1 molar ratio constant (2.54). This indicates that the bioaccumulated quantity of selenium which is thought to be protective for the organisms against the toxic effects of mercury, is somewhat insufficient to bind all body mercury.     

Local environmental monitoring in Sweden: The need for a new strategy?

This paper discusses the present character of environmental monitoring in Swedish municipalities. We have found that local environmental monitoring in Sweden is insufficient. There is very little connection between monitoring activities and local environmental goals, and environmental goals have been established without considering information from the environmental monitoring. In practice, this means that local environmental monitoring has only a limited influence on political decisions and priorities in the municipalities. Our study also showed that local environmental monitoring was almost entirely focused on monitoring the state of the environment and showed a lack of flow-oriented information. There is a strong need to develop a unified strategy for local environmental monitoring to avoid sub-optimisations in local environmental management. A new strategy would, to a much higher degree, have to focus on monitoring diffuse sources of pollution and personal lifestyles. In this case, monitoring only the state of the environment would not be sufficient. It would have to include also the flows of materials through society, i.e. the whole metabolism of society, including biogeochemical as well as anthropogenic material flows.     

Rapid changes in growth,condition, size and age of small pelagic fish in the Mediterranean

Since 2007, the ecosystem of the Gulf of Lions has shifted to a different regime, characterised by a low anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) and sardine (Sardina pilchardus) biomass and a remarkably high sprat (Sprattus sprattus) biomass. Surprisingly, the abundance and recruitment of anchovy and sardine remained high. To understand which processes (bottom-up or top-down control, etc.) could have caused this shift, we studied the changes in body condition, growth and size and age of anchovy, sardine and sprat over 1984–1985 and 1992–2012, using data from scientific surveys. The annual age structure of anchovy and sardine was estimated using Bayesian mixture models based on size frequency data with priors on the age–length relationship derived from independent otolith readings. The results indicated periods during which anchovy and sardine were in an average (1992–2004), good (2005–2007) or poor (2008–2012) overall state of condition. For sardine, the shift towards smaller fish observed during these past 4 years was explained by a combination of slower growth and the disappearance of older individuals (ages 2+). Despite the increase in biomass of sprat since 2008, indications were found that sprat was also smaller than in the past. As growth and condition decreased and overexploitation has not been documented or suspected for those three species in this area, we propose that the current decline in sardine and anchovy biomass could be due to qualitative and/or quantitative modifications in the planktonic production (i.e. a bottom-up control) or mass mortalities of adults due to an epidemic disease.     

Utilisation of a coastal grassland by geese after managed re-alignment

In this study we evaluate the effect of coastal re-alignment on the utilisation of coastal grasslands by staging geese. We assessed vegetation change and utilisation by geese using repeated mapping and regular dropping counts in both the restored marsh and adjacent reference sites. All measurements were started well before the actual re-alignment. In addition, we studied the effects of livestock grazing on vegetation and geese, using exclosures. The vegetation transformed from fresh grassland into salt-marsh vegetation. A relatively large proportion of the de-embanked area became covered with secondary pioneer vegetation, and the overall cover of potential food plants for geese declined. Goose utilisation had initially dropped to low levels, both in autumn and in spring, but it recovered to a level comparable to the reference marsh after ten years. Exclosure experiments revealed that livestock grazing prevented the establishment of closed swards of grass in the poorly drained lower area of the restored marsh, and thereby negatively affected goose utilisation of these areas during spring staging. Goose grazing in the restored marsh during spring showed a positive numerical response to grass cover found during the preceding growing season. (1) The value of restored salt marsh as foraging habitat for geese initially decreased after managed re-alignment but recovered after ten years. (2) Our findings support the idea that the value of foraging habitats depends largely on the cover of forage plants and that this can be manipulated by adjusting both grazing and drainage.     

Polarographic investigations on the complexation of cadmium and zinc by thiol peptides

Complex formation of Cd²⁺ and Zn²⁺ with thiol derivatives has been investigated by differential pulse polarography. The binding of Cd²⁺ and Zn²⁺ with cysteine (CySH), glutathione (GSH) and the model peptide N‐acetyl‐cysteine‐methylamide (ASH) reveals different stoichiometry. Thus, Cd²⁺ forms 1:1 and 1:2 complexes with CySH while 1:2 and 1:4 complexes have been observed with GSH and ASH, respectively. Overall formation constants of Cd²⁺ with CySH (Iogβ ₂ 15.3) and with GSH (Iogβ5₂ 14.4) have been estimated using competitive complexation with nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA). Investigation of competition between Zn²⁺ and Cd²⁺ for the thiol complexation has underlined the role played by the amino group in CySH for the stabilization of Zn complexes in contrary to Cd complexes.