A Model for Landscape Planning Under Complex Spatial Conditions

We present a new mathematical programming framework that is adaptable to a variety of spatially explicit landscape problems in environmental investment, conservation, and land-use planning, transport planning, and agriculture. As part of capturing spatial interdependencies, the framework considers decision variables at two levels, finely spaced grid cells and landholdings. We applied the framework to an environmental investment problem using objective functions representing biodiversity and carbon sequestration. We also tested the model to optimize the path of a road through part of the landscape. Using the Nambucca case study in eastern Australia, we applied a hybrid greedy randomised adaptive search procedure (GRASP) to find solutions to the model.     

Dissolved antimony concentrations in contrasted watersheds: the importance of lithogenic origin

A large series of data on dissolved antimony concentrations (900 values) from the hydrological network of Canton Geneva, Switzerland, has been statistically analysed. Data were collected from 90 sampling sites over 12 years. The watercourses surveyed (178 km) accounted for 73% of the total network. Previous studies have classified these rivers as belonging to three clearly-differentiated lithogenic zones: Alps (rivers draining crystalline regions), Jura (rivers draining carbonate-rich zones) and Plain (rivers draining molasses derived from the Alps). Antimony concentrations in the different river waters have been found to be significantly dependent on the geological characteristics of the drainage basins (median values: 0.13, 0.08 and 0.16 microg L(-1) for Alps, Jura and Plain, respectively). For antimony, it is thus possible to define background levels of the element adapted to the lithogenic characteristics for a system of interest. Since establishing background levels is an unavoidable preliminary step in any study aiming to identify and evaluate the various sources of pollution, the behaviour described here has undeniable implications for environmental surveys.     

Identifikation der kfz-bürtigen Schadstoffbelastung mit Hilfe der Verhältnisse der stabilen Isotope von Kohlenstoff und Schwefel

Different sources of traffic immissions (tyres, soot, oil, asphalt, plastic, paint) were analysed for stable carbon and sulphur isotope ratios. The aim of this study is to investigate whether these isotope ratios can be used to evaluate the environmental impact of traffic immitted harmful substances in roadside soils. The δ¹³C values of technical materials are between -30‰ and -18‰ (PDB). They can be distinguished by their δ¹³C value because of specific production methods. The δ¹³C value of asphalt is between -23 and -18‰, soot shows values from -27 to-22‰ Moreover, soot of different fuel have different carbon isotope ratios. Plastic, paint and oil have similar δ¹³C from -30 to -27‰ Carbon isotope ratios of automobile tyres are around -26‰ Traffic impact on the carbon isotope composition is reflected in δ¹³C values of various carbon spezies found in street sediments and road side soils. These δ¹³C values correlate to concentrations of lead and platinum. Although δ³⁴S values of technical materials are between -6 and +8‰ it was not possible to characterise samples according to their Sulphur isotopic compostion.     

Policy relevance of three integrated assessment tools—A comparison with specific reference to agricultural policies

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), a system of market support instruments, direct income transfers, and rural development measures, has been put through an ongoing reform process in recent decades. This paper introduces three policy impact assessment tools (SIAT, SEAMLESS-IF, MEA-Scope tool) and analyses how these tools have responded to a number of challenges for integrated assessment modelling as reported in the international literature. Significant progress has been made with regard to modelling linkages whereas other challenges, particularly those related to issues of scale and uncertainty management, require further efforts. It is also analysed which CAP instruments are represented and what kinds of effects can be analysed at different scales. Market instruments and direct payments are comparatively well represented, while the ability to model rural development measures is mostly beyond the scope of these tools. Because each tool has found a different solution for coping with the common challenges of integrated assessment modelling, the choice of one of the tools for a particular application depends strongly on the policy questions being asked. The SIAT provides the big picture via its ability to represent broad changes in policy instruments with EU-wide cross-sector impacts. The most comprehensive analysis of agricultural policy instruments can be obtained with SEAMLESS-IF. The MEA-Scope tool complements the other two approaches with detailed regional profiles.     

Desert pastoralists’ negative and positive effects on rare wildlife in the Gobi

In arid regions of the developing world, pastoralists and livestock commonly inhabit protected areas, resulting in human–wildlife conflict. Conflict is inextricably linked to the ecological processes shaping relationships between pastoralists and native herbivores and carnivores. To elucidate relationships underpinning human–wildlife conflict, we synthesized 15 years of ecological and ethnographic data from Ikh Nart Nature Reserve in Mongolia's Gobi steppe. The density of argali (Ovis ammon), the world's largest wild sheep, at Ikh Nart was among the highest in Mongolia, yet livestock were >90% of ungulate biomass and dogs >90% of large‐carnivore biomass. For argali, pastoral activities decreased food availability, increased mortality from dog predation, and potentially increased disease risk. Isotope analyses indicated that livestock accounted for >50% of the diet of the majority of gray wolves (Canis lupus) and up to 90% of diet in 25% of sampled wolves (n = 8). Livestock composed at least 96% of ungulate prey in the single wolf pack for which we collected species‐specific prey data. Interviews with pastoralists indicated that wolves annually killed 1–4% of Ikh Nart's livestock, and pastoralists killed wolves in retribution. Pastoralists reduced wolf survival by killing them, but their livestock were an abundant food source for wolves. Consequently, wolf density appeared to be largely decoupled from argali density, and pastoralists had indirect effects on argali that could be negative if pastoralists increased wolf density (apparent competition) or positive if pastoralists decreased wolf predation (apparent facilitation). Ikh Nart's argali population was stable despite these threats, but livestock are increasingly dominant numerically and functionally relative to argali. To support both native wildlife and pastoral livelihoods, we suggest training dogs to not kill argali, community insurance against livestock losses to wolves, reintroducing key native prey species to hotspots of human–wolf conflict, and developing incentives for pastoralists to reduce livestock density.     

“Science is Everywhere,but No One Knows It”: Assessing the Cultural Distance to Science of Rural South African Publics

ABSTRACT

In science communication, a prerequisite for reaching different parts of a society is to find out how these publics experience and interpret science. Since rural South African publics are perceived to exhibit a large cultural distance to science, the present exploratory study aimed to know in more detail how rural South Africans perceive and understand science in their local and social contexts. Theoretical notions on cultural distance and the methodological approach of segmentation studies were considered. Semi-structured interviews with rural South Africans were carried out in four towns (n?=?52) that differ with respect to having a large scientific installation in their vicinity, or not. Sensitively comparing local and social contexts helped identifying three different publics who differed regarding their perceptions of science; however, the large scientific installations only made a difference in perceptions for those publics who were generally less exposed to and less knowledgeable about science.     

Aufnahme von Cyanid in Pflanzen

Zusammenfassung  Cyanide entstehen bei der Pyrolyse von Kohle, und bei der Gasreinigung wird Blaus?ure als Berliner Blau gef?llt. Diese Abf?lle sind heute h?ufig Bestandteil von innerst?dtischen Altlasten. Cyanwasserstoff HCN (Blaus?ure) ist ein schnell wirksames und starkes Gift; eisenkomplexierte Cyanide im Boden sind jedoch weit weniger giftig. Die Phytotoxizit?t von freiem Cyanid wurde für Korbweiden (Sálix viminális) mit dem Baum-Transpirationstest bestimmt. Der EC₁₀ liegt für t=72 h bei 0,76 mg KCN (0,3 mg CN) je Liter, der EC₅₀ bei 4,47 mg/l KCN. Langfristig sind 5 mg/l KCN t?dlich. Balsampappeln (Pópulus trichocárpa) k?nnen in bis zu 2500 mg/l Ferroferricyanid (Berliner Blau) überleben, wenn auch mit Wachstumsst?rungen. Weiden überlebten in einem Gaswerksboden mit bis zu 452 mg/kg Gesamt-CN. Aus der N?hrl?sung wurde mehr freies CN aufgenommen als aus dem Boden. M?glicherweise wird auch komplexiertes Cyanid in die Bl?tter verlagert. In Erlenmeyern mit Pflanzen wurde freies Cyanid bei sublethaler Dosis rasch aus der N?hrl?sung eliminiert. Die Bepflanzung mit geeigneter Vegetation k?nnte eine L?sung für viele cyanid-kontaminierte Gaswerks- und Minengel?nde sein. OnlineFirst: 09. 01. 2001     

Long-term effects on nitrogen and benthic fauna of extreme weather events: Examples from two Swedish headwater streams

Climate change is expected to cause an increased frequency of extreme events such as heavy floods and major storms. Such stochastic events have an immediate impact on surface water quality, but the long-term effects are largely unknown. In this study, we assess long-term monitoring data from two Swedish headwater catchments affected by extreme weather events. At one site, where nitrogen effects in soil water, groundwater, and stream water were studied after storm-felling and subsequent forest dieback from bark beetle attack, long-term (>5 years) but relatively modest (generally <1 mg L^?1) increases in ammonium (NH₄-N) and nitrate (NO₃-N) concentrations were observed in the various aqueous media. At the other site, where effects on benthic fauna were studied in a stream impacted by extreme geophysical disturbances caused by rainstorm-induced flashflood, only short-term (1 year) effects were revealed both regarding diversity and composition of species.     

Applying the zoo model to conservation of threatened exceptional plant species

Maintaining a living plant collection is the most common method of ex situ conservation for plant species that cannot be seed banked (i.e., exceptional species). Viability of living collections, and their value for future conservation efforts, can be limited without coordinated efforts to track and manage individuals across institutions. Using a pedigree-focused approach, the zoological community has established an inter-institutional infrastructure to support long-term viability of captive animal populations. We assessed the ability of this coordinated metacollection infrastructure to support the conservation of 4 plant species curated in living collections at multiple botanic gardens around the world. Limitations in current practices include the inability to compile, share, and analyze plant collections data at the individual level, as well as difficulty in tracking original provenance of ex situ material. The coordinated metacollection framework used by zoos can be adopted by the botanical community to improve conservation outcomes by minimizing the loss of genetic diversity in collections. We suggest actions to improve ex situ conservation of exceptional plant species, including developing a central database to aggregate data and track unique individuals of priority threatened species among institutions and adapting a pedigree-based population management tool that incorporates life-history aspects unique to plants. If approached collaboratively across regional, national, and global scales, these actions could transform ex situ conservation of threatened plant species.