A framework for sustainable invasive species management: Environmental,social, and economic objectives

Applying the concept of sustainability to invasive species management (ISM) is challenging but necessary, given the increasing rates of invasion and the high costs of invasion impacts and control. To be sustainable, ISM must address environmental, social, and economic factors (or “pillars”) that influence the causes, impacts, and control of invasive species across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Although these pillars are generally acknowledged, their implementation is often limited by insufficient control options and significant economic and political constraints. In this paper, we outline specific objectives in each of these three “pillars” that, if incorporated into a management plan, will improve the plan’s likelihood of sustainability. We then examine three case studies that illustrate how these objectives can be effectively implemented. Each pillar reinforces the others, such that the inclusion of even a few of the outlined objectives will lead to more effective management that achieves ecological goals, while generating social support and long-term funding to maintain projects to completion. We encourage agency directors and policy-makers to consider sustainability principles when developing funding schemes, management agendas, and policy.     

Mercury in flounder (Platichthys flesus L.) from estuaries and coastal waters of the north-east Irish Sea

This paper reports concentrations of mercury in muscle tissue of flounder (Platichthys flesus L.) from various estuaries and coastal waters of north Wales and north-west England that encompass the north-east Irish Sea. Mercury concentrations were highest within and offshore the Ribble Estuary (0.476 +/- 0.037 mg kg(-1)) but were also high within the Mersey (0.389+/-0.042 mg kg(-1)) and Dee Estuaries (0.295+/-0.065) and at coastal sites in the vicinity. Values for all three estuaries and their near coastal sites were significantly higher than for sites in the north and central sectors of the study area. Regressions of mercury concentration against fish length showed significant relationships and age accumulation for the majority of sites, particularly within or in close proximity to the Mersey, Dee and Ribble Estuaries.     

Trail following in ants: individual properties determine population behaviour

This paper deals with the purposeful marking of trails as a mechanism for coordinating movement. Patterns of motion are adapted to the environmental conditions, the functions to be carried out, and the condition of the organism; therefore, the networks of trails must change both quantitatively and qualitatively over time. The nature of such changes, and how they are controlled at the individual level are discussed. In particular, we show that slight modulations in individual traits, in the trail marker, or in the size of the group can account for major changes in movement patterns at the population level such as abrupt transitions from diffuse area-covering networks to focused trunk trails. Using a mathematical model and computer (cellular automata) simulation we show that trunk trails carrying a high density of traffic can form spontaneously under suitable conditions from an initially randomly distributed group. The key to this self-organizing property stems from interactions between individuals that lead to a collective effect in recruitment to trails: the influence of small groups of individuals increases rapidly with group size. The dichotomy between high traffic (strong) trunk trails versus diffuse (weak) networks is discussed.     

Umbilical cord haemangioma associated with an eruptive cutaneous haemangioma in a female infant

We report a female infant noted prenatally to have an umbilical cord mass. At birth, a labial strawberry haemangioma was noted. She subsequently developed an abdominal mass which was discovered to be a proliferating haemangioma, continuous with both the labial and the umbilical stump lesions.     

More dams,more violence? A global analysis on resistances and repression around conflictive dams through co-produced knowledge

The present article analyses a unique database of 220 dam-related environmental conflicts, retrieved from the Global Atlas on Environmental Justice (EJAtlas), and based on knowledge co-production between academics and activists. Despite well-known controversial, social, and environmental impacts of dams, efforts to increase renewable energy generation have reinstated the interest into hydropower development globally. People affected by dams have largely denounced such ‘unsustainabilities’ through collective non-violent actions. Nevertheless, we found that repression, criminalization, violent targeting of activists and assassinations are recurrent features of conflictive dams. Violent repression is particularly high when indigenous people are involved. Indirect forms of violence are also analysed through socio-economic, environmental, and health impacts. We argue that increasing repression of the opposition against unwanted energy infrastructures does not only serve to curb specific protest actions, but also aims to delegitimize and undermine differing understanding of sustainability, epistemologies, and world views. This analysis cautions that allegedly sustainable renewables such as hydropower often replicates patterns of violence within a frame of an ‘extractivism of renewables’. We finally suggest that co-production of knowledge between scientists, activists, and communities should be largely encouraged to investigate sensitive and contentious topics in sustainability studies.     

A perspective on radical transformations to sustainability: resistances,movements and alternatives

A transformation to sustainability calls for radical and systemic societal shifts. Yet what this entails in practice and who the agents of this radical transformation are require further elaboration. This article recenters the role of environmental justice movements in transformations, arguing that the systemic, multi-dimensional and intersectional approach inherent in EJ activism is uniquely placed to contribute to the realization of equitable sustainable futures. Based on a perspective of conflict as productive, and a “conflict transformation” approach that can address the root issues of ecological conflicts and promote the emergence of alternatives, we lay out a conceptual framework for understanding transformations through a power analysis that aims to confront and subvert hegemonic power relations; that is, multi-dimensional and intersectional; balancing ecological concerns with social, economic, cultural and democratic spheres; and is multi-scalar, and mindful of impacts across place and space. Such a framework can help analyze and recognize the contribution of grassroots EJ movements to societal transformations to sustainability and support and aid radical transformation processes. While transitions literature tends to focus on artifacts and technologies, we suggest that a resistance-centred perspective focuses on the creation of new subjectivities, power relations, values and institutions. This recenters the agency of those who are engaged in the creation and recuperation of ecological and new ways of being in the world in the needed transformation.     

Ecological distribution conflicts as forces for sustainability: an overview and conceptual framework

Can ecological distribution conflicts turn into forces for sustainability? This overview paper addresses in a systematic conceptual manner the question of why, through whom, how, and when conflicts over the use of the environment may take an active role in shaping transitions toward sustainability. It presents a conceptual framework that schematically maps out the linkages between (a) patterns of (unsustainable) social metabolism, (b) the emergence of ecological distribution conflicts, (c) the rise of environmental justice movements, and (d) their potential contributions for sustainability transitions. The ways how these four processes can influence each other are multi-faceted and often not a foretold story. Yet, ecological distribution conflicts can have an important role for sustainability, because they relentlessly bring to light conflicting values over the environment as well as unsustainable resource uses affecting people and the planet. Environmental justice movements, born out of such conflicts, become key actors in politicizing such unsustainable resource uses, but moreover, they take sometimes also radical actions to stop them. By drawing on creative forms of mobilizations and diverse repertoires of action to effectively reduce unsustainabilities, they can turn from ‘victims’ of environmental injustices into ‘warriors’ for sustainability. But when will improvements in sustainability be lasting? By looking at the overall dynamics between the four processes, we aim to foster a more systematic understanding of the dynamics and roles of ecological distribution conflicts within sustainability processes.     

The causes and consequences of partial prey consumption by wolves preying on moose

For a wide range of taxa, partial prey consumption (PPC) is a frequent occurrence. PPC may arise from physiological constraints to gut capacity or digestive rate. Alternatively, PPC may represent an optimal foraging strategy. Assessments that clearly distinguish between these causes are rare and have been conducted only for invertebrate species that are ambush predators with extra-intestinal digestion (e.g., wolf spiders). We present the first strong test for the cause of PPC in a cursorial vertebrate predator with intestinal digestion: wolves (Canis lupus) feeding on moose (Alces alces). Previous theoretical assessments indicate that if PPC represents an optimal foraging strategy and is not caused by physiological limitations, then mean carcass utilization is negatively correlated with mean kill rate and the utilization of individual carcasses is uncorrelated with time between kills. Wolves exhibit exactly this pattern. We explore how the typical portrayal of PPC by wolves has been not only misleading but also detrimental to conservation by promoting negative attitudes toward wolves.     

Coordination in theory,coordination in practice: the case of the Clusters

The atomised nature of the humanitarian system has led to frequent and repeated attempts to coordinate humanitarian activity. Since 2005, some of the best resourced, and arguably most successful, coordination mechanisms have been the humanitarian Clusters, groups of UN (United Nations) and non‐UN actors that engage in sectoral coordination of humanitarian response (such as the provision of healthcare and water) at the global and country level. Nevertheless, it is not clear exactly what ‘coordination’ means in the context of a Cluster. Formal guidance suggests that they should be aiming to create a single, joint strategy to guide the activities of members. Actual experience of the Clusters, however, indicates that looser forms of coordination are more effective. This finding resonates with organisational theory, and with the experience of emergency management professionals beyond the international humanitarian sector. To capitalise fully on the success of the Clusters, policymakers may need to rethink their attitudes to, and expectations of, coordination.