More aid, better institutions, or both?

It has been nearly 20 years since a working definition for “sustainable development” was put forward by the World Commission on Environment and Development. The concept endures in the mission statements and frameworks of action of various societal actors, including those of neighborhood associations, metropolitan development authorities, environmental ministries, and United Nations (UN) specialized organizations, to name a few. Yet many observers doubt that sustainable development is occurring in poor countries. This failure, the critics contend, stems from miserly transfers of foreign aid. The extent to which inadequate aid is to blame for poor environmental/developmental outcomes is an open question. But vocal demands for increasing aid to meet sustainable development goals come from many parts of society and are persistent. Exhortations for more aid to help poor countries are noble, perhaps even justifiable, but there are understandable doubts about the wisdom of transferring large capital and technical resources to countries that are slow to adopt needed institutional reforms. Aid without institutional reform is a recipe for wasted resources and donor fatigue. Worse, it may enhance inequities of wealth and power in recipient countries. There are few illustrations to draw on demonstrating how institutionally impoverished societies are affected when they are compelled to absorb massive aid inputs over a short period––a remedy suggested by some prominent aid experts. As a proxy, it is valuable to examine instances where swift macroeconomic changes, spurred by external investment and export-led growth, has occurred without significant institutional development. The case of Equatorial Guinea and its sudden oil riches is examined to discern whether, in the absence of meaningful institutional reform, rapid and profound increases in foreign direct investment and export income enable poverty alleviation and sustainable development.

Dynamic catch trends in the history of recreational spearfishing in Australia

The sustained decline in marine fisheries worldwide underscores the need to understand and monitor fisheries trends and fisher behavior. Recreational fisheries are unique in that they are not subject to the typical drivers that influence commercial and artisanal fisheries (e.g., markets or food security). Nevertheless, although exposed to a different set of drivers (i.e., interest or relaxation), recreational fisheries can contribute to fishery declines. Recreational fisheries are also difficult to assess due to an absence of past monitoring and traditional fisheries data. Therefore, we utilized a nontraditional data source (a chronology of spearfishing publications) to document historical trends in recreational spearfishing in Australia between 1952 and 2009. We extracted data on reported fish captures, advertising, and spearfisher commentary and used regression models and ordination analyses to assess historical change. The proportion of coastal fish captures reported declined approximately 80%, whereas the proportion of coral reef and pelagic fish reports increased 1750% and 560%, respectively. Catch composition shifted markedly from coastal temperate or subtropical fishes during the 1950s to 1970s to coral reef and pelagic species in the 1990s to 2000s. Advertising data and commentary by spearfishers indicated that pelagic fish species became desired targets. The mean weight of trophy coral reef fishes also declined significantly over the study period (from approximately 30–8 kg). Recreational fishing presents a highly dynamic social–ecological interface and a challenge for management. Our results emphasize the need for regulatory agencies to work closely with recreational fishing bodies to observe fisher behavior, detect shifts in target species or fishing intensity, and adapt regulatory measures. Tendencias Dinámicas de Captura en la Historia de la Pesca Recreativa con Arpón en Australia     

Problems with mitigation translocation of herpetofauna

Mitigation translocation of nuisance animals is a commonly used management practice aimed at resolution of human–animal conflict by removal and release of an individual animal. Long considered a reasonable undertaking, especially by the general public, it is now known that translocated subjects are negatively affected by the practice. Mitigation translocation is typically undertaken with individual adult organisms and has a much lower success rate than the more widely practiced conservation translocation of threatened and endangered species. Nonetheless, the public and many conservation practitioners believe that because population‐level conservation translocations have been successful that mitigation translocation can be satisfactorily applied to a wide variety of human‐wildlife conflict situations. We reviewed mitigation translocations of reptiles, including our own work with 3 long‐lived species (Gila monsters [Heloderma suspectum], Sonoran desert tortoises [Gopherus morafkai], and western diamond‐backed rattlesnakes [Crotalus atrox]). Overall, mitigation translocation had a low success rate when judged either by effects on individuals (in all studies reviewed they exhibited increased movement or increased mortality) or by the success of the resolution of the human–animal conflict (translocated individuals often returned to the capture site). Careful planning and identification of knowledge gaps are critical to increasing success rates in mitigation translocations in the face of increasing pressure to find solutions for species threatened by diverse anthropogenic factors, including climate change and exurban and energy development. Problemas con la Mitigación por Traslocación de Herpetofauna     

Dietary constraints on reproductive periodicity in two sympatric deep-sea astropectinid seastars

Examination of the diet of two sympatric species of seastar, Bathybiaster vexillifer and Plutonaster bifrons from 2200 m depth in the Rockall Trough, NE Atlantic Ocean (57°18'N; 10°28'W), suggested that diet may determine the different reproductive patterns found between these two species. In the non-seasonally breeding B. vexillifier, the diet showed a high Shannon-Wiener prey diversity index, the dominant prey being the irregular echinoid Hemiaster expergitus together with a variety of prosobranch gastropods and protobranch bivalves. By contrast, the prey diversity in the seasonally breeding P. bifrons was significantly lower than that of B. vexillifer. In addition, organic carbon content in the sediment residue in the stomachs of P. bifrons displayed a seasonal cycle, while no such seasonality was detected in B. vexillifer. The stomachs of P. bifrons also contained a higher proportion of scavenged material, including the seasonally available remains of mesopelagic blue whiting. These data, together with Bathysnap (time-lapse camera) observations of feeding behaviour in both species, suggest that B. vexillifer is a predator feeding deep in the sediment, whereas P. bifrons feeds close to the sediment surface where it is affected by the seasonal availability of phytodetritus and fish carcasses.     

Fugacity models of indoor exposure to volatile chemicals

A method of calculating the atmospheric concentration of a volatile chemical in confined volumes is presented and illustrated which uses the fugacity concept to simplify the manipulation of the various transport and reaction terms. The method is particularly suitable for estimating exposure to chemicals which may be released by evaporation into a house, work place, or partially confined outdoor environment in which there are several volumes (eg. rooms) with known ventilation characteristics. Illustrative calculations are presented.     

Aerially guided leak detection and repair: A pilot field study for evaluating the potential of methane emission detection and cost-effectiveness

Novel aerial methane (CH₄) detection technologies were used in this study to identify anomalously high-emitting oil and gas (O&G) facilities and to guide ground-based “leak detection and repair” (LDAR) teams. This approach has the potential to enable a rapid and effective inspection of O&G facilities under voluntary or regulatory LDAR programs to identify and mitigate anomalously large CH₄ emissions from a disproportionately small number of facilities. This is the first study of which the authors are aware to deploy, evaluate, and compare the CH₄ detection volumes and cost-effectiveness of aerially guided and purely ground-based LDAR techniques. Two aerial methods, the Kairos Aerospace infrared CH₄ column imaging and the Scientific Aviation in situ aircraft CH₄ mole fraction measurements, were tested during a 2-week period in the Fayetteville Shale region contemporaneously with conventional ground-based LDAR. We show that aerially guided LDAR can be at least as cost-effective as ground-based LDAR, but several variable parameters were identified that strongly affect cost-effectiveness and which require field research and improvements beyond this pilot study. These parameters include (i) CH₄ minimum dectectable limit of aerial technologies, (ii) emission rate size distributions of sources, (iii) remote distinction of fixable versus nonfixable CH₄ sources (“leaks” vs. CH₄ emissions occurring by design), and (iv) the fraction of fixable sources to total CH₄ emissions. Suggestions for future study design are provided.

Implications: Mitigation of methane leaks from existing oil and gas operations currently relies on on-site inspections of all applicable facilities at a prescribed frequency. This approach is labor- and cost-intensive, especially because a majority of oil and gas–related methane emissions originate from a disproportionately small number of facilities and components. We show for the first time in real-world conditions how aerial methane measurements can identify anomalously high-emitting facilities to enable a rapid, focused, and directed ground inspection of these facilities. The aerially guided approach can be more cost-effective than current practices, especially when implementing the aircraft deployment improvements discussed here.     

Distribution of chromium contamination and microbial activity in soil aggregates

Biogeochemical transformations of redox-sensitive chemicals in soils can be strongly transport-controlled and localized. This was tested through experiments on chromium diffusion and reduction in soil aggregates that were exposed to chromate solutions. Reduction of soluble Cr(VI) to insoluble Cr(II) occurred only within the surface layer of aggregates with higher available organic carbon and higher microbial respiration. Sharply terminated Cr diffusion fronts develop when the reduction rate increases rapidly with depth. The final state of such aggregates consists of a Cr-contaminated exterior, and an uncontaminated core, each having different microbial community compositions and activity. Microbial activity was significantly higher in the more reducing soils, while total microbial biomass was similar in all of the soils. The small fraction of Cr(VI) remaining unreduced resides along external surfaces of aggregates, leaving it potentially available to future transport down the soil profile. Using the Thiele modulus, Cr(VI) reduction in soil aggregates is shown to be diffusion rate- and reaction rate-limited in anaerobic and aerobic aggregates, respectively. Thus, spatially resolved chemical and microbiological measurements are necessary within anaerobic soil aggregates to characterize and predict the fate of Cr contamination. Typical methods of soil sampling and analyses that average over redox gradients within aggregates can erase important biogeochemical spatial relations necessary for understanding these environments.