The perpetual state of emergency that sacrifices protected areas in a changing climate

A modern challenge for conservation biology is to assess the consequences of policies that adhere to assumptions of stationarity (e.g., historic norms) in an era of global environmental change. Such policies may result in unexpected and surprising levels of mitigation given future climate‐change trajectories, especially as agriculture looks to protected areas to buffer against production losses during periods of environmental extremes. We assessed the potential impact of climate‐change scenarios on the rates at which grasslands enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) are authorized for emergency harvesting (i.e., biomass removal) for agricultural use, which can occur when precipitation for the previous 4 months is below 40% of the normal or historical mean precipitation for that 4‐month period. We developed and analyzed scenarios under the condition that policy will continue to operate under assumptions of stationarity, thereby authorizing emergency biomass harvesting solely as a function of precipitation departure from historic norms. Model projections showed the historical likelihood of authorizing emergency biomass harvesting in any given year in the northern Great Plains was 33.28% based on long‐term weather records. Emergency biomass harvesting became the norm (>50% of years) in the scenario that reflected continued increases in emissions and a decrease in growing‐season precipitation, and areas in the Great Plains with higher historical mean annual rainfall were disproportionately affected and were subject to a greater increase in emergency biomass removal. Emergency biomass harvesting decreased only in the scenario with rapid reductions in emissions. Our scenario‐impact analysis indicated that biomass from lands enrolled in the CRP would be used primarily as a buffer for agriculture in an era of climatic change unless policy guidelines are adapted or climate‐change projections significantly depart from the current consensus.     

Metalliferous sediments in the Atlantis II Deep—Assessing the geological and economic resource potential and legal constraints

Projected increases in demand and thus increasing metal prices have brought the exploration and exploitation of marine mineral resources back into focus. The Atlantis II Deep, located in the central Red Sea between Saudi Arabia and Sudan, is one of the largest marine sulfide deposits known, with high concentrations of metals such as zinc, copper, silver and gold. However, little is known about the economic potential of marine minerals as well as the legal constraints. Our geological assessment shows that the deep is similar in grades and scale to large land-based deposits. Its economic potential is far from negligible. The total present value of possible gross revenues for the four metals zinc, copper, silver and gold ranges from 3.03 to 5.29 billion US$, depending on the assumptions made concerning future price development, mass calculation and discount rate. From a legal perspective, a general duty to cooperate in the exploration and exploitation of non-living resources located in disputed maritime areas is identified in both customary international law and in UNCLOS. It is submitted that a joint development agreement is one means of ensuring compliance with this duty in general and in the case of the Atlantis II Deep in particular.     

Impact of harmful algal blooms on wild and cultured animals in the Gulf of California

Historical documents and classic works together with recent specialized literature have described Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) in the Gulf of California. This is a review of HABs impact (qualitative and quantitative) during the last decades in the Gulf of California on wild (mammals, birds, fishes, and invertebrates) and cultured animals (shrimps and fishes). Microalgal species responsible of noxious effects are Noctiluca scintillans, Cochlodinium polykrikoides, Gymnodinium catenatum, Prorocentrum minimum, Akashiwo sanguinea, Chattonella subsalsa Ch. marina, Chattonella sp., Heterocapsa sp., Dinophysis sp., Fibrocapsa japonica, Heterosigma akashiwo, Thalassiosira sp., Chaetoceros spp., Pseudo-nitzschia australis, P fraudulenta, Pseudo-nitzschia sp., Trichodesmium erythraeum and ScSchizotrix calcicola. Emphasis is given to the necessity to continue with interdisciplinary studies in oceanography, ecology, toxicology and toxinology interrelated with biomedical sciences such as physiology, pathology, epidemiology and animal health.     

Mapping eucalypt forest susceptible to dieback associated with bell miners (Manorina melanophys) using laser scanning, SPOT 5 and ancillary topographical data

Mapping the location and extent of forest at risk from damaging agents or processes assists forest managers in prioritizing their planning and operational mitigation activities. In Australia, Bell Miner Associated Dieback (BMAD) refers to a form of canopy decline observed in eucalypt crowns occupied by colonies of bell miners (Manorina melanophrys). High densities of bell miners are associated with decreased avian abundance and diversity and an increase in psyllid abundance on crown foliage. BMAD has recently been nominated as a key threatening process in New South Wales (NSW). Consequently, a modelling system for predicting bell miner distribution in coastal eucalypt forests of NSW has been developed. The presence or absence of bell miners was recorded in 130 plots located within a 12,800 ha catchment study area containing a range of eucalypt forest types. The modelling system was produced by integrating a machine learning software suite (WEKA), and the statistical software R within the geographic resources analysis support system (GRASS) geographical information system (GIS). The variable modelled was the binary variable: presence or absence of bell minors. Six modelling techniques (Logistic regression; generalised additive models; two tree-based ensemble classification algorithms, random forest and Adaboost and Neural Networks) were integrated with airborne laser scanning; SPOT 5 and topographic derived variables. Model evaluation and parameter selection were measured by three threshold dependent measures (sensitivity, specificity and kappa) and the threshold independent Receiver Operator Curve (ROC) analysis. The final presence and absence maps were obtained through maximisation of the kappa statistic and applied at a resolution of 10 m across the entire catchment study area. For this data set, the most accurate algorithm for predicting the distribution of bell miner colonies was random forest (kappa = 0.84; ROC area under curve = 0.97). Variables most commonly selected in the six models were the laser scanning metrics; coefficient of variation, skewness, and the 10th and 90th percentiles derived from the shape of the height frequency distribution which, in turn, is directly influenced by vertical structure of the forest. An image textural statistic based on the shortwave infrared (SWIR) band of SPOT 5 was also commonly selected by the models. The SWIR band is sensitive to vegetation and soil moisture content. These models predicted that forest stands with a sparse eucalypt canopy over a moist, dense understorey were susceptible to being colonised by bell miners and hence BMAD.     

Extending wipe sampling methodologies to elements other than lead

Wipe sampling is the USA regulatory protocol for determination of "dust lead loadings" in residential environments. Few studies have applied the wipe sampling method to metals other than lead (Pb) for the purpose of residential exposure assessments. This study was undertaken to develop and expand the wipe method for quantifying additional metal(loid)s including arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), and antimony (Sb); and to provide information on typical background loadings for these metals in urban Canadian homes. A total of 932 wipe samples, 220 field blanks, and 220 duplicate wipes were collected from 222 homes located in three cities in Ontario, Canada using the ASTM 1728 standard. The wipes were digested using a modified version of the ASTM 1644 standard for Pb, which prescribes a hot nitric acid/hydrogen peroxide digestion. The key modification was the addition of hydrofluoric acid to improve recoveries of the target elements, and determination using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). Generally, a large proportion of the results fell below the limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ). To distinguish "elevated" metal loadings from loadings characterized as "urban background", an upper background threshold for each element was derived using a normality (Q-Q) plot. LOQ was determined to be the appropriate minimum threshold based on quality assurance criteria. It is concluded that wipes are a useful sampling option to investigate multi-element loadings in residential environments.     

A case for recognizing distinctions among constructs that capture interpersonal mistreatment in work organizations

Leading organizational behavior scholars have argued that construct proliferation threatens the interpretability of interpersonal mistreatment research and have argued that researchers should employ the same terminology to refer to constructs that have been studied under distinct labels (e.g., bullying, deviance, retaliation, abuse, undermining). We argue that most of the construct labels researchers regularly employ capture meaningful theoretical differences, although the corresponding measures often fail to capture the distinctive features of mistreatment constructs. We further argue that a more immediate threat to the interpretability of research in this area is that scholars have overlooked the distinctions among the individual forms of mistreatment that comprise extant operational definitions. We offer recommendations for addressing what we perceive to be the major limitations of current interpersonal mistreatment research. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Issues associated with possible implementation of Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT) in first-tier screening: A rapid scoping review

In recent years, as the implementation and use of Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT) have increased, the cost of the test has been decreasing. The cost of NIPT is expected to fall further in the upcoming years. As a result of the decreasing cost of NIPT, many jurisdictions may change their prenatal screening policies toward abandoning serum-based screening and instead, implement and support NIPT as the first-tier screening for all women. There are several concerns in replacing first-trimester screening with NIPT. In this scoping review, we aimed to map the existing knowledge about possible issues in the systematic implementation of NIPT as the primary method of first-tier screening and to assess if any jurisdiction has altered its policy and discontinued serum-based prenatal screening in exchange for NIPT. The Medline database (Ovid) and Google Scholar was searched and all the studies discussing, investigating, or reporting on the systematic implementation of NIPT as the primary method of first-tier screening were included. All the studies went through a two-stage screening process and included full-text articles were reviewed. We did not find any articles indicating a country or region that replaced traditional prenatal screening by NIPT. The included articles were charted, and the data about the possible issues in the systematic implementation of NIPT as the primary method of first-tier screening are summarized narratively and presented in tables in four categories. The findings of this scoping review may be informative for stakeholders and policymakers regarding recent changes in NIPT implementation policies around the world and may aid with developing policy for NIPT implementation with a broader perspective.     

Comparison of Extraction Methods for the Detection of Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus RNA in Goat Raw Milk and Cream Cheese

Food and Environmental Virology - Infection with the tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) can cause meningitis, meningoencephalitis and myelitis in humans. TBEV is an enveloped RNA virus of the...     

Assessing the sustainability of water governance systems: the sustainability wheel

We present and test a conceptual and methodological approach for interdisciplinary sustainability assessments of water governance systems based on what we call the sustainability wheel. The approach combines transparent identification of sustainability principles, their regional contextualization through sub-principles (indicators), and the scoring of these indicators through deliberative dialogue within an interdisciplinary team of researchers, taking into account their various qualitative and quantitative research results. The approach was applied to a sustainability assessment of a complex water governance system in the Swiss Alps. We conclude that the applied approach is advantageous for structuring complex and heterogeneous knowledge, gaining a holistic and comprehensive perspective on water sustainability, and communicating this perspective to stakeholders.