A critical review of the precautionary approach of the IUCN impact classification for non-native taxa

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) proposes the use of the Environmental Impact Classification for Alien Taxa to standardize the classification of introduced species (IS) based on their environmental impact. The IUCN invoked the precautionary principle (PP) via 2 rules: the impact assigned to a taxon must be the maximum recorded impact across different impact assessments, and when the main driver of environmental damage is unclear, it must be assumed to be caused by the IS. The validity of PP is conditioned on the degree of emergency that warrants urgent decisions and on the scientific evidence demonstrating the advantages of applying a preventive measure. The application of an impact classification system does not arise in the context of an emergency that requires management; it occurs before the decision-making phase. Thus, PP should not be used in early steps of the risk analysis process. The IUCN also did not provide enough scientific basis to justify the use of PP. Instead, the PP rules appear to be rooted primarily in the ethical value system underlying conservation science. Conservationists assign intrinsic value to native species by virtue of their roles and relationships within ecological and evolutionary systems and processes; thus, individuals introduced in new environments not only cease to have value because they are no longer part of that natural diversity and lack those links with the rest of the ecosystem, but they become a threat to what conservationists value most. The consequence of this belief is that all introduced taxa will have an impact at some level, suggesting that values justify the PP rules.     

Correction to: Can preferential credit programs speed up the adoption of low-carbon agricultural systems in Mato Grosso,Brazil? Results from bioeconomic microsimulation

Regional Environmental Change - The published online version contains incorrect data in Figure 7.     

Use of multicriteria decision aid methods in the context of sustainable innovations: bibliometrics,applications and trends

Environment Systems and Decisions - Sustainable innovation has gained prominence in recent years, due to the demands imposed by global competition, social pressures and the needs of consumers and...     

Global distribution of a key trophic guild contrasts with common latitudinal diversity patterns

Most hypotheses explaining the general gradient of higher diversity toward the equator are implicit or explicit about greater species packing in the tropics. However, global patterns of diversity within guilds, including trophic guilds (i.e., groups of organisms that use similar food resources), are poorly known. We explored global diversity patterns of a key trophic guild in stream ecosystems, the detritivore shredders. This was motivated by the fundamental ecological role of shredders as decomposers of leaf litter and by some records pointing to low shredder diversity and abundance in the tropics, which contrasts with diversity patterns of most major taxa for which broad-scale latitudinal patterns haven been examined. Given this evidence, we hypothesized that shredders are more abundant and diverse in temperate than in tropical streams, and that this pattern is related to the higher temperatures and lower availability of high-quality leaf litter in the tropics. Our comprehensive global survey (129 stream sites from 14 regions on six continents) corroborated the expected latitudinal pattern and showed that shredder distribution (abundance, diversity and assemblage composition) was explained by a combination of factors, including water temperature (some taxa were restricted to cool waters) and biogeography (some taxa were more diverse in particular biogeographic realms). In contrast to our hypothesis, shredder diversity was unrelated to leaf toughness, but it was inversely related to litter diversity. Our findings markedly contrast with global trends of diversity for most taxa, and with the general rule of higher consumer diversity at higher levels of resource diversity. Moreover, they highlight the emerging role of temperature in understanding global patterns of diversity, which is of great relevance in the face of projected global warming.     

Anaerobic treatment of sulfate-rich wastewater in an anaerobic sequential batch reactor (AnSBR) using butanol as the carbon source

Biological sulfate reduction was studied in a laboratory-scale anaerobic sequential batch reactor (14 L) containing mineral coal for biomass attachment. The reactor was fed industrial wastewater with increasingly high sulfate concentrations to establish its application limits. Special attention was paid to the use of butanol in the sulfate reduction that originated from melamine resin production. This product was used as the main organic amendment to support the biological process. The reactor was operated for 65 cycles (48 h each) at sulfate loading rates ranging from 2.2 to 23.8 g SO(4)(2-)/cycle, which corresponds to sulfate concentrations of 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 g SO(4)(2-) L(-1). The sulfate removal efficiency reached 99% at concentrations of 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0 g SO(4)(2-) L(-1). At higher sulfate concentrations (2.0 and 3.0 g SO(4)(2-) L(-1)), the sulfate conversion remained in the range of 71-95%. The results demonstrate the potential applicability of butanol as the carbon source for the biological treatment of sulfate in an anaerobic batch reactor.     

Effects of fluvial instability on the bed morphology in vegetated channels

Environmental Fluid Mechanics - Flume experiments are conducted to investigate the effect of streambed instability in channels with randomly-distributed vegetation, varying vegetation density and...     

Biomonitoring of element contamination in bees and beehive products in the Rome province (Italy)

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this study, we determined the levels of elements (i.e. As, Be, Cd, Cr, Hg, Ni, Pb, U, and Zn) in bees and edible beehive products (honey, wax,...     

Dynamics of medicinal plants knowledge and commerce in an urban ecosystem (Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil)

Given the importance of markets and fairs for the commerce of medicinal plants, an ethnobotanical study was undertaken at the Caruaru Fair (Pernambuco, northeastern Brazil) to compare the richness of species sold and their values of relative importance (RI) using two datasets collected with a 4-year interval. The seasonality of these plants?? supplies was also analyzed. The Caruaru Fair is located in the 18 de Maio Park. It covers an area 40,000?m² and is used by merchants who sell several types of products, such as supplies, handicrafts, clay and aluminum utensils, shoes, clothes and medicinal plants. Semistructured interviews were carried out with the vendors who agreed to take part in the study in order to record which plants were sold and their respective indications. The plants were collected, and the species were determined. The information was analyzed with quantitative tools. A total of 169 plants were identified from both surveys, which were significantly different with regard to species richness (p?<?0.05) but did not vary in relation to species?? Relative Importance (p?>?0.05). In relation to the seasonality of the plant supply, habit may explain the lack of some species during certain periods of the year, as most of the absent plants are herbaceous. In terms of the species most sold locally, it was found that spontaneous tree species are well known and extensively commercialized.