Catalyzing sustainable fisheries management through behavior change interventions

Small-scale fisheries are an important livelihood and primary protein source for coastal communities in many of the poorest regions in the world, yet many are overfished and thus require effective and scalable management solutions. Positive ecological and socioeconomic responses to management typically lag behind immediate costs borne by fishers from fishing pressure reductions necessary for fisheries recovery. These short-term costs challenge the long-term success of these interventions. However, social marketing may increase perceptions of management benefits before ecological and socioeconomic benefits are fully realized, driving new social norms and ultimately long-term sustainable behavior change. By conducting underwater visual surveys to quantify ecological conditions and by conducting household surveys with community members to quantify their perceptions of management support and socioeconomic conditions, we assessed the impact of a standardized small-scale fisheries management intervention that was implemented across 41 sites in Brazil, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The intervention combines TURF reserves (community-based territorial use rights for fishing coupled with no-take marine reserves) with locally tailored social-marketing behavior change campaigns. Leveraging data across 22 indicators and 4 survey types, along with data from 3 control sites, we found that ecological and socioeconomic impacts varied and that communities supported the intervention and were already changing their fishing practices. These results suggest that communities were developing new social norms and fishing more sustainably before long-term ecological and socioeconomic benefits of fisheries management materialized.     

Chinese resource security policies and the restructuring of the Asia-Pacific iron ore market

This paper reviews the restructuring of the Asia-Pacific iron ore market in the wake of the rise of the Chinese steel industry. Prior to the 2000s, this market was characterised by two key features—high firm-level concentration on both the producer and consumer sides, and price determination through annually negotiated benchmark pricing between Australian mining and Japanese steel firms. However, owing to rapid growth in the Chinese steel industry and its emergence as the region's principal iron ore consumer, the Asia-Pacific iron ore market has been dramatically restructured during the last decade. This process has been accelerated since 2005 by Chinese governmental resource security policies, which have sought to address current record high iron ore prices through the use of foreign investment to sponsor new market entrants and the formation of an import cartel amongst the Chinese steel firms. This paper evaluates how these policies have driven restructuring in the Asia-Pacific iron ore market, through an analysis of the growth of China's steel industry, Chinese resource security policies aimed at lowering iron ore import costs, and their effects upon the regional market's ownership structure and price determination mechanisms. It argues that while Chinese investment and cartelisation policies have catalysed significant changes to the ownership and pricing structures of the Asia-Pacific iron ore market, they have carried only mixed benefits for the Chinese steel industry's resource security.     

The Adaptation for Conservation Targets (ACT) Framework: A Tool for Incorporating Climate Change into Natural Resource Management

As natural resource management agencies and conservation organizations seek guidance on responding to climate change, myriad potential actions and strategies have been proposed for increasing the long-term viability of some attributes of natural systems. Managers need practical tools for selecting among these actions and strategies to develop a tailored management approach for specific targets at a given location. We developed and present one such tool, the participatory Adaptation for Conservation Targets (ACT) framework, which considers the effects of climate change in the development of management actions for particular species, ecosystems and ecological functions. Our framework is based on the premise that effective adaptation of management to climate change can rely on local knowledge of an ecosystem and does not necessarily require detailed projections of climate change or its effects. We illustrate the ACT framework by applying it to an ecological function in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, USA)-water flows in the upper Yellowstone River. We suggest that the ACT framework is a practical tool for initiating adaptation planning, and for generating and communicating specific management interventions given an increasingly altered, yet uncertain, climate.     

Secondary organic aerosol formation from ozone-initiated reactions with nicotine and secondhand tobacco smoke

We used controlled laboratory experiments to evaluate the aerosol-forming potential of ozone reactions with nicotine and secondhand smoke. Special attention was devoted to real-time monitoring of the particle size distribution and chemical composition of SOA as they are believed to be key factors determining the toxicity of SOA. The experimental approach was based on using a vacuum ultraviolet photon ionization time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (VUV-AMS), a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) and off-line thermal desorption coupled to mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS) for gas-phase byproducts analysis. Results showed that exposure of SHS to ozone induced the formation of ultrafine particles (<100 nm) that contained high molecular weight nitrogenated species (m/z 400–500), which can be due to accretion/acid–base reactions and formation of oligomers. In addition, nicotine was found to contribute significantly (with yields 4–9%) to the formation of secondary organic aerosol through reaction with ozone. The main constituents of the resulting SOA were tentatively identified and a reaction mechanism was proposed to elucidate their formation. These findings identify a new component of thirdhand smoke that is associated with the formation of ultrafine particles (UFP) through oxidative aging of secondhand smoke. The significance of this chemistry for indoor exposure and health effects is highlighted.     

Modeling the Spatially Varying Water Balance Processes in a Semiarid Mountainous Watershed of Idaho1

Stratton, Benjamin T., Venakataramana Sridhar, Molly M. Gribb, James P. McNamara, and Balaji Narasimhan, 2009. Modeling the Spatially Varying Water Balance Processes in a Semiarid Mountainous Watershed of Idaho. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 45(6):1390‐1408. Abstract: The distributed Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrologic model was applied to a research watershed, the Dry Creek Experimental Watershed, near Boise Idaho to investigate its water balance components both temporally and spatially. Calibrating and validating SWAT is necessary to enable our understanding of the water balance components in this semiarid watershed. Daily streamflow data from four streamflow gages were used for calibration and validation of the model. Monthly estimates of streamflow during the calibration phase by SWAT produced satisfactory results with a Nash Sutcliffe coefficient of model efficiency 0.79. Since it is a continuous simulation model, as opposed to an event‐based model, it demonstrated the limited ability in capturing both streamflow and soil moisture for selected rain‐on‐snow (ROS) events during the validation period between 2005 and 2007. Especially, soil moisture was generally underestimated compared with observations from two monitoring pits. However, our implementation of SWAT showed that seasonal and annual water balance partitioning of precipitation into evapotranspiration, streamflow, soil moisture, and drainage was not only possible but closely followed the trends of a typical semiarid watershed in the intermountain west. This study highlights the necessity for better techniques to precisely identify and drive the model with commonly observed climatic inversion‐related snowmelt or ROS weather events. Estimation of key parameters pertaining to soil (e.g., available water content and saturated hydraulic conductivity), snow (e.g., lapse rates, melting), and vegetation (e.g., leaf area index and maximum canopy index) using additional field observations in the watershed is critical for better prediction.     

Moving beyond the conceptual: specificity in regional climate change adaptation actions for biodiversity in South East Queensland,Australia

While many scientific assessments have been recommending general strategies for biodiversity conservation under climate change, translation of these recommendations into specific actions and practice has been limited. Focusing on two biomes, rainforest and wetlands in biodiverse South East Queensland, Australia, we demonstrate how general principles can be translated into specific actions for stakeholders and responsible agencies. We synthesize research that is contextualizing protection of refugia and habitat connectivity, establishing baseline data sets to detect change and developing strategic conservation planning scenarios to adjust reserve boundaries or situate new reserves. This has been achieved by coupling spatial information on biological assets (i.e. ecosystems and species) with future climate scenarios and process models to anticipate movement of critical habitats. Conservation planning software is also being used to prioritize investment to meet specific objectives. This approach is enabling us to identify at-risk biological assets, opportunities to ameliorate threats and obstacles to delivering regional adaptation actions. A larger total reserved area is needed, with proactive planning to capture areas further inland and along watercourses. Major obstacles include conflict between urbanization and priorities for habitat conservation and the need for greater levels of investment for monitoring programmes and to protect landward shifted wetlands on private land.     

Towards the selection of a produced water enrichment for biological gas hydrate inhibitors

Economic concerns associated with the recovery of non-conventional hydrocarbon reserves include unexpected ice as well as ice-like gas hydrate formation. Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) inhibit ice growth, and experiments with fish, plant, and insect AFPs have shown promise of effective gas hydrate inhibition in lab-scale experiments. If produced on an industrial scale, AFPs could provide a more environmentally friendly alternative to kinetic inhibitors, but a large-scale production of these AFPs is not currently feasible. We believe that these difficulties could be surmounted by the production of microbial AFPs, but to date, only a few such proteins have been identified and purified, and none of these are associated with hydrocarbon reserves. Here, we have used ice-affinity and freeze-thaw stress to select microbes derived from oil and gas formation water, or produced water, as a source of anaerobic microbial communities. Ice-affinity successfully incorporated anaerobic bacteria under aerobic conditions, and the mixed culture had ice-associating properties. Under these conditions, ice-affinity selection does not result in cultivatable isolates, but similar, cultivable microbes were obtained following freeze-thaw selection under anaerobic conditions. Since these mixed cultures inhibited the growth of ice crystals, they also have the potential to inhibit hydrate growth. Overall, freeze-thaw selection provides a promising first step towards the isolation of microbes capable of the inhibition of ice and gas hydrate growth, for possible application for energy exploration and recovery at high-latitudes and in-deep, cold waters.     

A comparison of catches of fishes and invertebrates by two light trap designs, in tropical NW Australia

Light traps were deployed in two sampling programs. In the first, small and large traps were released to drift with the current at stations along a cross-shelf transect on the NW Shelf off the coast of Western Australia. In the second program, pairs of small and large traps were deployed on moorings 150 m off the coastline. The composition and size-frequency distributions of catches of fishes in small and large traps were similar for both modes of deployment. In drifting traps, nearly 78% of this catch was composed of reef fishes, and these were collected in significantly greater numbers by the small design than by large traps (9.51 vs. 5.84 individuals h^-1, respectively). Nine taxa (amphipods, mysids, crab megalopae, copepods, cumaceans, isopods, caridean shrimps, polychaetes and the euphausiid, Pseudeuphausia latifrons) accounted for 99% of the total catch of invertebrates by drifting traps. Of these, catches of amphipods, copepods, cumaceans and P. latifrons were greater in large traps than in small traps (3,134 vs. 1,687 h^-1, 1,018 vs. 214 h^-1, 551 vs. 165 h^-1 and 74 vs. 9 individuals h^-1, respectively). In contrast, crab megalopae were more abundant in catches by small traps than by large traps (3,134 vs. 1,687 individuals h^-1, respectively). The catch rate of fishes in moored traps was higher than in drifting traps (105 vs. 20 fishes h^-1) and was dominated by baitfishes (86% of total catch). Reef fishes were also captured in greater numbers by small traps than by the large design (10.17 vs. 4.4 individuals h^-1) in this mode of deployment. Despite these differences in catch rates, multivariate analysis showed that cross-shelf patterns in catches of fishes and invertebrates were mapped equally well by both trap designs. Variation in the efficiency of trap designs thus appears to be small when compared to changes in the composition and abundance of zooplankton assemblages that occur at scales of tens of kilometers.     

A small subsurface ion mobility spectrometer sensor for detecting environmental soil-gas contaminants

A small subsurface ion mobility spectrometer (SS-IMS) was constructed and tested with several environmental contaminants to determine its potential for monitoring gaseous volatile organic compounds in the vadose zone. Trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE) were detected and separated in IMS for the first time. Detection limits as low as 1 part per billion volume-to-volume (ppb(v)) were observed. Reduced mobility (K(0)) values were reported for 11 environmental contaminants. These data demonstrated the potential of ion mobility spectrometry as a viable technology for detecting and separating environmental soil-gas contaminants in the field, which may lead to a practical and simple approach for long-term monitoring of contaminated soils.     

Fuel consumption, emissions estimation, and emissions cost estimates using global positioning data

The methodology laid out in this paper shows that typical operational data from vehicle fleets monitored by a global positioning system (GPS) can be used to estimate heavy-duty diesel vehicle (HDDV) emissions, thereby enabling waste managers and governing bodies to internalize the responsibility for socioenvironmental costs traditionally absorbed by external parties. Although municipal solid waste (MSW) collection vehicles are the subjects of this particular study, the methodology presented here can be applied to any fleet of vehicles monitored by GPS. This study indicates that MSW collection trucks may be considerably less fuel efficient in the field than published values for HDDV fuel efficiency suggest. The average fuel efficiency of one MSW collection truck was estimated as 0.90 +/- 0.44 km/L (2.12 +/- 1.03 mi/gal). This same truck would generate approximately 42 metric tons of CO2 equivalents/yr, which is comparable to the greenhouse gas emissions of a large sport utility vehicle driving six times the distance, in town, for a year. In terms of the impacts such emissions have, projections for the monetary cost of emissions are available but highly variable. They suggest that the external monetary costs of emissions range between 6 and 39% of the annual fuel costs for the studied MSW collection truck. The results of this study indicate a need for further research into valuation of the hidden, external costs of emissions, borne by local and global socioecological communities. The possible implications of this result include poorly advised fleet procurement decisions and underestimation of MSW collection fleet emissions.