Betriebliche Umweltinformationssysteme (BUIS) Anforderungen und struktureller Aufbau

Appropriate organization structures, environmental controlling systems, and corporate environmental information systems (CEIS) are generally considered to be the essential instruments of a modern environmental management. Frequently, acceptance problems have been observed with respect to the installation of a CEIS due to the facts that there are no legal demands to implement such a system and, on the other hand, that theoretically based definitions of standards and structural principles of an CEIS are not yet available. As a consequence, different isolated solutions with rather low efficiency were hurriedly implemented by various companies. Regarding more precise request profiles for CEI systems, the present paper deals with the structural environment and the priority targets of an enterprise and with the organizational integration of environmental tasks. The operationalization into typical function fields yields tools to derive rough enterprise models, to analyze information streams and to select enviromentally relevant information as well as the routes which they tend to go. Based on these fundamental instruments, a CEIS architecture (structure and organization) can be developed whose realization is eventually supported by a ten-step plan. Existing EDP solutions are deliberately excluded in order to verify the general validity of the system architecture and to encourage creative potentials. The CEIS concept presented here, however, requires a transformation into operative practices, i.e. adjustment, completion, and combination of the elements concerning the detailed conditions of the enterprise under study.     

Design for Sustainability (DfS): the interface of sustainable production and consumption

Nowadays design is faced with the challenge to contribute to the transition towards a sustainable society. Design for Sustainability (DfS) is the response to this challenge. It includes but goes beyond what Design for the Environment or ecodesign provides, by integrating social, economic, environmental and institutional aspects and by offering opportunities to get involved, express one’s own identity beyond consuming standardised mass products.DEEDS, a Leonardo research project, had the mission to embed sustainability in design and design in sustainability. For this behalf, the project partners approached the issue from the angles of design, sustainability science and sustainable consumption analysis, developing tools and rules (the SCALES principles) to support DfS and to incorporate it into design education and practice.The paper describes the framework conditions as explored by sustainable consumption research, the obstacles identified by DEEDS and gives hints how to overcome them based in the lessons learnt in the course of the project.     

Nestmate recognition in social wasps: manipulation of hydrocarbon profiles induces aggression in the European hornet

The influence of individual cuticular hydrocarbons on nestmate recognition in the European hornet, Vespa crabro L., was investigated. We observed the behavioural response of workers towards differently treated dead conspecifics in a bioassay. Dummies were extracted with dichloromethane and extracts were spiked with microgram amounts of synthetic hydrocarbons naturally occurring on the cuticle of V. crabro. These modified extracts were reapplied to extracted workers that were subsequently tested in the bioassay. Non-spiked nestmate dummies (negative control) and untreated non-nestmate dummies (positive control) were tested in control experiments. The addition of only heneicosane or a mixture of heneicosane, tricosane, and (Z)-9-tricosene to the extracts led to a significant increase of agonistic behaviour in workers leaving the nest for foraging flights. Returning workers reacted much less aggressively than those leaving. This is one of the first behavioural proofs that manipulation of cuticular hydrocarbon profiles can be perceived by a social insect species. The results support the hypothesis that colony-specific cuticular hydrocarbon profiles are involved in the phenomenon of nestmate recognition among social insects.     

Transdisciplinary research in support of land and water management in China and Southeast Asia: evaluation of four research projects

Transdisciplinary research (TDR) aims at identifying implementable solutions to difficult sustainability problems and at fostering social learning. It requires a well-managed collaboration among multidisciplinary scientists and multisectoral stakeholders. Performing TDR is challenging, particularly for foreign researchers working in countries with different institutional and socio-cultural conditions. There is a need to synthesize and share experience among researchers as well as practitioners regarding how TDR can be conducted under specific contexts. In this paper, we aim to evaluate and synthesize our unique experience in conducting TDR projects in Asia. We applied guiding principles of TDR to conduct a formative evaluation of four consortium projects on sustainable land and water management in China, the Philippines, and Vietnam. In all projects, local political conditions restricted the set of stakeholders that could be involved in the research processes. The set of involved stakeholders was also affected by the fact that stakeholders in most cases only participate if they belong to the personal network of the project leaders. Language barriers hampered effective communication between foreign researchers and stakeholders in all projects and thus knowledge integration. The TDR approach and its specific methods were adapted to respond to the specific cultural, social, and political conditions in the research areas, also with the aim to promote trust and interest of the stakeholders throughout the project. Additionally, various measures were implemented to promote collaboration among disciplinary scientists. Based on lessons learned, we provide specific recommendations for the design and implementation of TDR projects in particular in Asia.     

M?glichkeiten und Grenzen verschiedener Methoden der Sonderabfallverbrennung

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

The effect of patch constellation on the exchange of individuals between habitat-islands

Metapopulation models assume that inter-patch dispersal dominantly depends on distance between patches and the dispersal capability of organisms in question. We used a spatially explicit, individual-based model to investigate the potential effect of patch constellation on the exchange of individuals between patches. We simulated migration of individuals from a start- into a target-patch with both patches having the same size and shape. Simulation experiments were carried out for four patch constellations and two different movement patterns. Our results demonstrate a substantial effect of patch constellation on the exchange of individuals. They also show that the magnitude and even the direction of this effect crucially depends on their movement pattern. We conclude that particularly for highly correlated movement patterns patch shape and constellation can not readily be ignored when modelling inter-patch dispersal between habitat-islands.