Species' traits predict phenological responses to climate change in butterflies

How do species' traits help identify which species will respond most strongly to future climate change? We examine the relationship between species' traits and phenology in a well-established model system for climate change, the U.K. Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS). Most resident U.K. butterfly species have significantly advanced their dates of first appearance during the past 30 years. We show that species with narrower larval diet breadth and more advanced overwintering stages have experienced relatively greater advances in their date of first appearance. In addition, species with smaller range sizes have experienced greater phenological advancement. Our results demonstrate that species' traits can be important predictors of responses to climate change, and they suggest that further investigation of the mechanisms by which these traits influence phenology may aid in understanding species' responses to current and future climate change.     

Signaling effort does not predict aggressiveness in male spring field crickets

The relationship between signaling and aggression is still unclear despite several decades of research. However, there is a growing interest in studying signals that predict aggressive behavior or fighting ability. The goals of our study were threefold: we investigated the relationship between signaling effort and aggression, the relationship between body condition and aggression, and the effect of fighting experience on subsequent signaling behavior in wild-caught and laboratory-reared male spring field crickets (Gryllus veletis). We found that aggressive behavior was not related to signaling effort, body size, or body condition. For contest winners, wild-captured males were more aggressive than laboratory-reared males. Signaling effort was highly repeatable within individuals, but aggressive behavior had low repeatability. We found no evidence for a winner or loser effect on signaling; there was no change in signaling effort when we compared contest winners and losers before and after they participated in aggressive contests. Long-distance acoustic signaling and aggressive behavior appear to be independent of one another in spring field crickets, perhaps serving different functions in female attraction and male–male competition, respectively.     

Population-level compensation impedes biological control of an invasive forb and indirect release of a native grass

The intentional introduction of specialist insect herbivores for biological control of exotic weeds provides ideal but understudied systems for evaluating important ecological concepts related to top-down control, plant compensatory responses, indirect effects, and the influence of environmental context on these processes. Centaurea stoebe (spotted knapweed) is a notorious rangeland weed that exhibited regional declines in the early 2000s, attributed to drought by some and to successful biocontrol by others. We initiated an experiment to quantify the effects of the biocontrol agent, Cyphocleonus achates, on Ce. stoebe and its interaction with a dominant native grass competitor, Pseudoroegneria spicata, under contrasting precipitation conditions. Plots containing monocultures of each plant species or equal mixtures of the two received factorial combinations of Cy. achates herbivory (exclusion or addition) and precipitation (May-June drought or "normal," defined by the 50-year average) for three years. Cy. achates herbivory reduced survival of adult Ce. stoebe plants by 9% overall, but this effect was stronger under normal precipitation compared to drought conditions, and stronger in mixed-species plots compared to monocultures. Herbivory had no effect on Ce. stoebe per capita seed production or on recruitment of seedlings or juveniles. In normal-precipitation plots of mixed composition, greater adult mortality due to Cy. achates herbivory resulted in increased recruitment of new adult Ce. stoebe. Due to this compensatory response to adult mortality, final Ce. stoebe densities did not differ between herbivory treatments regardless of context. Experimental drought reduced adult Ce. stoebe survival in mixed-species plots but did not impede recruitment of new adults or reduce final Ce. stoebe densities, perhaps due to the limited duration of the treatment. Ce. stoebe strongly depressed P. spicata reproduction and recruitment, but these impacts were not substantively alleviated by herbivory on Ce. stoebe. Population-level compensation by dominant plants may be an important factor inhibiting top-down effects in herbivore-driven and predator-driven cascades.     

Shark personalities? Repeatability of social network traits in a widely distributed predatory fish

Interest in animal personalities has generated a burgeoning literature on repeatability in individual traits such as boldness or exploration through time or across different contexts. Yet, repeatability can be influenced by the interactive social strategies of individuals, for example, consistent inter-individual variation in aggression is well documented. Previous work has largely focused on the social aspects of repeatability in animal behaviour by testing individuals in dyadic pairings. Under natural conditions, individuals interact in a heterogeneous polyadic network. However, the extent to which there is repeatability of social traits at this higher order network level remains unknown. Here, we provide the first empirical evidence of consistent and repeatable animal social networks. Using a model species of shark, a taxonomic group in which repeatability in behaviour has yet to be described, we repeatedly quantified the social networks of ten independent shark groups across different habitats, testing repeatability in individual network position under changing environments. To understand better the mechanisms behind repeatable social behaviour, we also explored the coupling between individual preferences for specific group sizes and social network position. We quantify repeatability in sharks by demonstrating that despite changes in aggregation measured at the group level, the social network position of individuals is consistent across treatments. Group size preferences were found to influence the social network position of individuals in small groups but less so for larger groups suggesting network structure, and thus, repeatability was driven by social preference over aggregation tendency.     

Large carnivore hunting and the social license to hunt

The social license to operate framework considers how society grants or withholds informal permission for resource extractors to exploit publicly owned resources. We developed a modified model, which we refer to as the social license to hunt (SLH). In it we similarly consider hunters as operators, given that wildlife are legally considered public resources in North America and Europe. We applied the SLH model to examine the controversial hunting of large carnivores, which are frequently killed for trophies. Killing for trophies is widespread, but undertaken by a minority of hunters, and can pose threats to the SLH for trophy-seeking carnivore hunters and potentially beyond. Societal opposition to large carnivore hunting relates not only to conservation concerns but also to misalignment between killing for trophies and dominant public values and attitudes concerning the treatment of animals. We summarized cases related to the killing of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos), wolves (Canis lupus), and other large carnivores in Canada, the United States, and Europe to illustrate how opposition to large carnivore hunting, now expressed primarily on social media, can exert rapid and significant pressure on policy makers and politicians. Evidence of the potential for transformative change to wildlife management and conservation includes proposed and realized changes to legislation, business practice, and wildlife policy, including the banning of some large carnivore hunts. Given that policy is ultimately shaped by societal values and attitudes, research gaps include developing increased insight into public support of various hunting policies beyond that derived from monitoring of social media and public polling. Informed by increased evidence, the SLH model can provide a conceptual foundation for predicting the likelihood of transient versus enduring changes to wildlife conservation policy and practice for a wide variety of taxa and contexts.     

Refugees,water balance,and water stress: Lessons learned from Lebanon

Ambio - The Syrian crisis caused a massive influx of displaced people into neighboring countries, with Lebanon hosting the highest per capita number of refugees (3:10). Water remains the most...     

Estimating Remediation Costs at Contaminated Sites With Varying Amounts of Available Information

Environmental professionals are often tasked with projecting the cost to bring a contaminated site or portfolio of sites to regulatory closure. Fortunately, there are a number of useful guidance documents and industry publications available to assist in such cost projections. However, the usefulness of such tools is limited when adequate costing information is lacking, such as (a) the nature and extent of contamination; (b) regulatory requirements; (c) the remedial approach to be implemented; and/or (d) the duration of operation, maintenance, and monitoring activities. Despite the lack of such information, cost‐to‐closure estimates are nevertheless routinely needed and generated for internal assessments or audits, regulatory disclosures, property acquisitions, insurance claims, litigation, and other business transactions. Cost estimates are also often needed in bankruptcy proceedings where the trier of fact must estimate the total future costs associated with an environmental legacy portfolio to determine the overall value (or solvency in the case of evaluating the potential bankruptcy) of a company. This article presents a solution for developing cleanup costs for single sites or a portfolio of sites using a comprehensive, three‐tiered method that is effective over a wide range of site information. Real‐world examples of the successful application of this method are then provided, based on detailed environmental analyses that were completed for a recent bankruptcy proceeding and a case in which an estimated cleanup cost was needed in a legal proceeding. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Use of Packed Beds for Separation of Entrained Particles and Fumes from An Air Stream

This paper deals with packed beds in discussion of separation of entrained particles and fumes from an air stream. Packed beds develop between the gas and liquid a maximum of contact in order to get maximum mass transfer from a gas to a liquid phase, and they are considered to be one of the better methods of scrubbing contaminants from a gas stream.