Why keep lions instead of livestock? Assessing wildlife tourism‐based payment for ecosystem services involving herders in the Maasai Mara,Kenya

This paper examines the effects of wildlife tourism‐based payments for ecosystem services (PES) on poverty, wealth inequality and the livelihoods of herders in the Maasai Mara Ecosystem in south‐western Kenya. It uses the case of Olare Orok Conservancy PES programme in which pastoral landowners have agreed to voluntary resettlement and exclusion of livestock grazing from their sub‐divided lands. These lands are set aside for wildlife tourism, in return for direct monetary payments by a coalition of five commercial tourism operators. Results show that, on the positive side, PES is the most equitable income source that promotes income diversification and buffers households from the livestock income declines during periods of severe drought, such as in 2008‐2009. Without accounting for the opportunity costs, the magnitude of the PES cash transfer to households is, on average, sufficient to close the poverty gap. The co‐benefits of PES implementation include the creation of employment opportunities in the conservancy and provision of social services. There is however a need to mitigate the negative effects of PES, including the widening inequality in income between PES and non‐PES households and the leakages resulting from the displacement of settlements and livestock to currently un‐subdivided pastoral commons.     

Simulating solute transport in a structured field soil: uncertainty in parameter identification and predictions

Dual-permeability models have been developed to account for the significant effects of macropore flow on contaminant transport, but their use is hampered by difficulties in estimating the additional parameters required. Therefore, our objective was to evaluate data requirements for parameter identification for predictive modeling with the dual-permeability model MACRO. Two different approaches were compared: sequential uncertainty fitting (SUFI) and generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation (GLUE). We investigated six parameters controlling macropore flow and pesticide sorption and degradation, applying MACRO to a comprehensive field data set of bromide andbentazone [3-isopropyl-1H-2,1,3-benzothiadiazin-4(3H)-one-2,2dioxide] transport in a structured soil. The GLUE analyses of parameter conditioning for different combinations of observations showed that both resident and flux concentrations were needed to obtain highly conditioned and unbiased parameters and that observations of tracer transport generally improved the conditioning of macropore flow parameters. The GLUE "behavioral" parameter sets covered wider parameter ranges than the SUFI posterior uncertainty domains. Nevertheless, estimation uncertainty ranges defined by the 5th and 95th percentiles were similar and many simulations randomly sampled from the SUFI posterior uncertainty domains had negative model efficiencies (minimum of -3.2). This is because parameter correlations are neglected in SUFI and the posterior uncertainty domains were not always determined correctly. For the same reasons, uncertainty ranges for predictions of bentazone losses through drainflow for good agricultural practice in southern Sweden were 27% larger for SUFI compared with GLUE. Although SUFI proved to be an efficient parameter estimation tool, GLUE seems better suited as a method of uncertainty estimation for predictions.     

WATER SHORTAGES,DEVELOPMENT, AND DROUGHT IN ROCKLAND COUNTY,NEW YORK1

Knowledge of the historical variability of regional climate is an essential element of successful water resource planning. Lacking such perspective, planners and managers can be deceived as to the severity of a recent climate extreme, such as drought, and place a disproportionate blame on the climate, not the integrity of the supply system should water restrictions become necessary to avoid shortages. Presented here is a vivid example of how development, a lack of adequate planning, and climate variability have converged to produce three water emergencies in Rockland County, New York, since 1995. An examination of climate data over the past century indicates that the severity of the recent droughts was well within the range of past variability. Rather than climate alone, the recent water emergencies have highlighted a significant mismatch between supply and demand that has been developing in Rockland County over the past three decades. Substantial development, largely in the form of single‐family homes, has not been matched with a corresponding enhancement of the county's water system. Realistic plans for meeting current water demand will require cooperation among all stakeholders, beginning with an acknowledgement that climate variations are inevitable, not the sole source of blame when water shortages arise.     

Cadmium phytoextraction using short-rotation coppice Salix: the evidence trail

A substantial body of evidence has now accumulated that raises expectations that clean-up of Cd-contaminated land can be achieved through cultivation and harvest of selected clones of short-rotation coppice willow within a realistic crop lifecycle. Cd uptake rates into Salix are high compared to other trace elements and to other plant species. Effective phytoextraction would require (i) careful targeting of hotspots, (ii) repeated harvest prior to leaf fall and (iii) final removal of the root bole.     

Field investigation of child restraints in side impact crashes

OBJECTIVE: Various test procedures have been suggested for assessing the protection afforded by child restraints (CRS) in lateral collisions. Analyses of real world crashes can be used to identify relevant characteristics of the child, restraint, collision, and injury mechanisms that should be incorporated into the design of the test procedures as well as in the design of related ATDs and injury metrics. The objective of this work is to use in-depth crash investigations of children restrained in CRS in side impacts to elucidate specific sources and mechanisms of injuries and explore the role of crash severity variables such as magnitude and location of intrusion and specific impact angle. METHODS: Real world crashes involving children restrained in forward facing CRS in side impacts were analyzed from Partners for Child Passenger Safety, an on-going child specific crash surveillance system in which insurance claims are used to identify cases. In-depth crash investigations using standardized protocols were used to calculate the crash severity and determine the mechanisms and sources of the injuries sustained. RESULTS: Cases of 32 children restrained in CRS in 30 side impact crashes were examined. Twenty-five percent sustained AIS 2+ injuries. The most common injuries sustained by children restrained in CRS in side impact crashes were to the face, head, and lower extremity. Characteristics of the crashes that appeared related to injury were intrusion that entered the child's occupant space or caused an interior part of the vehicle to enter the child's occupant space, forward component of the crash, and the rotation of the CRS, restrained by a seat belt, towards the side of the impact. CONCLUSIONS: The ability to assess the injury potential in a laboratory setting for the body regions of common injury, the head, face, and lower extremity, must be explored. Characteristics of a regulatory-based test procedure to assess injury risk should include a frontal component to the crash and intrusion into the occupant's seating position. Design enhancements of the CRS should address rotation during lateral impacts. These results provide guidance to current efforts to design and regulate these restraints for the safety of child passengers in side impacts.     

NUTRIENT LOADS TO WISCONSIN LAKES: PART II. RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF NUTRIENT SOURCES1

ABSTRACT: A comparison of municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and nonpoint source nutrient loads to Wisconsin's 14,927 inland lakes was performed. Only 65 of the 2,925 Wisconsin lakes having surface areas of at least eight ha and a maximum depth of at least 2.4 m had one or more WWTP's located within 40 km upstream; 99 of Wisconsin's 477 WWTP's were identified to be upstream of these 65 lakes. WWTP total nitrogen and total phosphorus loads to these 65 lakes were estimated using per capita influent loads and removal efficiencies based on wastewater treatment types. Nonpoint source nutrient loads were calculated utilizing nutrient export coefficients derived specifically for Wisconsin. Total nitrogen inputs to the lakes were dominated by nonpoint sources. The effectiveness of various phosphorus control programs to produce water quality improvements visible to the public was estimated to be as follows (going from most to least effective): municipal phosphorus removal and agricultural reductions, municipal phosphorus removal alone, agricultural reduction plus phosphate detergent ban, agricultural reductions alone, and phosphate detergent ban alone. The last option would not be expected to produce water quality improvement visible to the public in any Wisconsin lakes. The differences between the distributions in Wisconsin of population and inland lakes highlights the need to consider regional characteristics in any statewide water quality management plan.     

Human bronchial epithelial cell injuries induced by fine particulate matter from sandstorm and non-sandstorm periods: Association with particle constituents

Epidemiological studies have demonstrated the exacerbation of respiratory diseases following sandstorm-derived particulate matter(PM) exposure.The presence of anthropogenic and biological agents on the sandstorm PM and the escalation of PM 2.5 μm(PM2.5)pollution in China have led to serious concerns regarding the health effects of PM2.5during Asian sandstorms.We investigated how changes in PM2.5composition,as the weather transitioned towards a sandstorm,affected human airway epithelial cells.Six PM2.5samples covering two sandstorm events and their respective background and transition periods were collected in Baotou,an industrial city near the Gobi Desert in China.PM samples from all three periods had mild cytotoxicity in human bronchial epithelial cell line BEAS-2B,which was positively correlated with the contents of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and several metals.All PM samples potently increased the release of interleukin-6(IL-6) and interleukin-8(IL-8).Endotoxin in all samples contributed significantly to the IL-6 response,with only a minor effect on IL-8.Cr was positively correlated with both IL-6 and IL-8 release,while Si was only associated with the increase of IL-6.Our study suggests that local agricultural and industrial surroundings in addition to the sandstorm play important roles in the respiratory effects of sandstorm-derived PM.     

The effects of feeding by the black bean aphidAphis fabae Scop. (Homoptera: Aphididae) on copper and cadmium accumulation in broad bean (Vicia faba L.)

Broad beans (Vicia faba L.), cultured hydroponically were supplied with 100 g mL^–1 copper or 50 g mL^–1 cadmium in nutrient solution. Samples of plant material from both nutrient regimes were analysed before and after infestation by the black bean aphid (Aphis fabae Scop.). Heavy aphid infestation resulted in a significant reduction in copper content of shoots in comparison with uninfested plants. A similar, but less well- defined, situation occurred in the case of cadmium.Further investigations examined the effects of different levels of aphid infestation on the above phenomena. In all cases the presence of feeding aphids reduced elemental accumulation in plant shoots. Long term infestation with population densities as low as three adult aphids showed a reduction in shoot copper and cadmium content.     

Forecasting extinction risk with nonstationary matrix models.

Matrix population growth models are standard tools for forecasting population change and for managing rare species, but they are less useful for predicting extinction risk in the face of changing environmental conditions. Deterministic models provide point estimates of lambda, the finite rate of increase, as well as measures of matrix sensitivity and elasticity. Stationary matrix models can be used to estimate extinction risk in a variable environment, but they assume that the matrix elements are randomly sampled from a stationary (i.e., non-changing) distribution. Here we outline a method for using nonstationary matrix models to construct realistic forecasts of population fluctuation in changing environments. Our method requires three pieces of data: (1) field estimates of transition matrix elements, (2) experimental data on the demographic responses of populations to altered environmental conditions, and (3) forecasting data on environmental drivers. These three pieces of data are combined to generate a series of sequential transition matrices that emulate a pattern of long-term change in environmental drivers. Realistic estimates of population persistence and extinction risk can be derived from stochastic permutations of such a model. We illustrate the steps of this analysis with data from two populations of Sarracenia purpurea growing in northern New England. Sarracenia purpurea is a perennial carnivorous plant that is potentially at risk of local extinction because of increased nitrogen deposition. Long-term monitoring records or models of environmental change can be used to generate time series of driver variables under different scenarios of changing environments. Both manipulative and natural experiments can be used to construct a linking function that describes how matrix parameters change as a function of the environmental driver. This synthetic modeling approach provides quantitative estimates of extinction probability that have an explicit mechanistic basis.     

内在安全的生产,对清洁生产的一种正常的补充

内在的安全性,是一种利用没有毒性、可燃性或不稳定性的工艺与材料的方法,它通常被认为是化工厂设计的一个重要概念.受到清洁生产成功发展的鼓舞,进行了一项类似的有关内在安全生产的发展可行性研究.在1997-1998年进行的初步试验案例中,发展并检验了一个产生内在安全的技术选择的方法论.该研究表明,大部分选择的偿还时间少于两年,而且内在安全的生产是一个可行的概念,有可能同时产生巨大的安全与经济成效的改善,并且可以结合进清洁生产计划.