Household preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for freshwater quality improvement in Pakistan’s Swat River Valley

This two-part study investigates household preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for water quality improvement of the Swat River in Pakistan. First, a four-point Likert scale was used to rank preferences for water quality benefits without using any financial metric. Results show that households have comparatively strong preferences for non-use benefits. Second, a contingent valuation question was designed to determine WTP for adopting a management plan developed exclusively for water quality improvement in the Swat River. The estimated annual mean WTP per household for water quality improvement is $2.40 when donating to an NGO. Generalizing this value to households living in Swat Valley would generate up to $544,000 per year. The present value aggregate benefit for 15 years would be sufficient to cover the present value of aggregate costs to adopt the management plan. A mandatory program that would require paying for the management plan generates half the WTP compared to the voluntary plan, but is still sufficient to cover costs and may be more feasible than a voluntary program because payment is assured.     

Epigenetic variation in the American mink, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Neovison vison</Emphasis>, from eastern Europe: A search for factors of polymorphism

A comparative analysis of epigenetic variation has been performed in nine European populations and population groups of the American mink. It has been shown that differentiation of samples in nonmetric characters is due mainly to endogenous processes that have occurred in introduced populations in the course of colonization of new territory by the invasive species. Environmental factors have played a secondary role, with the influence of the geographic (latitudinal) origin of a given sample being considerable and stronger than that of macroclimatic factors.     

Characteristics of stone moroko population dynamics at different stages of naturalization in lake- and steam-type Dnieper reservoirs

The probable source of stone moroko, Pseudorasbora parva (Temminck & Schlegel, 1846), populations in lake- and stream-type Dnieper reservoirs was revealed. The dynamics and specific growth rates of these populations over 20 years were analyzed. The dynamic phase portrait method was used to determine the timing of stages in the process of invader naturalization and the periods when its populations were in equilibrium. The potential growth rates of P. parva populations in the Kremenchug and Dneprodzerzhinsk reservoirs were estimated.     

Fluctuating asymmetry of rodent cranial structures in an industrial pollution gradient

Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) of the mandible shape has been analyzed in bank voles from the zones affected by pollution from three copper smelters in the Urals. It has been shown that there is the necessity for a detailed analysis of the material, since the level of FA may depend on population parameters. Regardless of the pollution level, FA of the mandible region including the lower part of the mandibular body, ramus and processes is higher than in the diastema region. A gradient effect of toxic exposure on FA has been revealed: an increase in its level under increasing technogenic impact is clearly manifested along local pollution gradients.     

Long-term dynamics and correlations of ecophysiological parameters in murine rodent communities

The dynamics and correlations of ecophysiological parameters have been studied in two spatially separated multispecies communities of murine rodents and ixodid tick larvae and nymphs that parasitize them. It has been shown that all the processes under consideration have nonstationary, oscillatory dynamics. The long-term dynamics of connectivity of ecophysiological characteristics within communities and their synchronization by weather–climatic factors are, by nature, wavelike processes of transitions between the states with stronger and weaker linkage between parameters, which, along with nonstationarity, can contribute to the maintenance of stability and integrity of communities.     

The ecology of the red fox (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Vulpes vulpes</Emphasis> L.) in the middle Lena River basin

The population of foxes in the central regions of Yakutia has grown by a factor of four to five during the period from 2000 to 2011–2012, following an increase in the abundance of voles from the genus Microtus. A total of 130 carcasses of foxes taken in 2007–2012 have been examined. Age- and sex-related variation in morphological features has been described. The demographic structure of the population has been studied by estimating animal age from annual layers in the recording structures. Changes in female fertility and involvement in reproduction depending on age and feeding conditions have been analyzed. Changes in the composition of fox diet caused by long-term population depression in the mountain hare and their effect on the dynamics of fox abundance have been revealed. Age- and sex-related characteristics of the condition factor in foxes and sex-related differences in their dietary preferences have been demonstrated.     

Larch forests of Middle Siberia: long-term trends in fire return intervals

Fire history within the northern larch forests of Central Siberia was studied (65 + °N). Fires within this area are predominantly caused by lightning strikes rather than human activity. Mean fire return intervals (FRIs) were found to be 112 ± 49 years (based on firescars) and 106 ± 36 years (based on firescars and tree natality dates). FRIs were increased with latitude increase and observed to be about 80 years at 64°N, about 200 years near the Arctic Circle and about 300 years nearby the northern range limit of larch stands (~71° + N). Northward FRIs increase correlated with incoming solar radiation (r = ?0.95). Post-Little Ice Age (LIA) warming (after 1850) caused approximately a doubling of fire events (in comparison with a similar period during LIA). The data obtained support a hypothesis of climate-induced fire frequency increase.     

Drilling Is Just the Beginning: Romanticizing Rust Belt identities in the campaign for shale gas

ABSTRACT

Public apprehension over the environmental, social, and health impacts of unconventional gas drilling, or fracking, prompts various responses from oil and gas industries. Natural gas discourses operating in the Marcellus Shale Region, USA, for example, counter claims of environmental harm by emphasizing the economic growth that industry spurs. This article argues that corporate narratives operating in the Marcellus renew the jobs versus environment dichotomy by romanticizing labor identities in the region, binding Rust Belt identities to extraction in the past, present, and future of the region. The danger of this discursive move is the exclusion of alternative possibilities for working, living, and being without fossil fuel industries. I employ a critical analysis of one corporate advertising campaign, “Drilling Is Just the Beginning,” produced by the natural gas drilling company Range Resources, to demonstrate how extraction discourses construct futures that depend on shale gas development, thereby marginalizing possibilities for ecologically sensible alternatives.     

Ecosystem services in coupled social–ecological systems: Closing the cycle of service provision and societal feedback

Both the ‘cascade model’ of ecosystem service provision and the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response framework individually contribute to the understanding of human–nature interactions in social–ecological systems (SES). Yet, as several points of criticism show, they are limited analytical tools when it comes to reproducing complex cause–effect relationships in such systems. However, in this paper, we point out that by merging the two models, they can mutually enhance their comprehensiveness and overcome their individual conceptual deficits. Therefore we closed a cycle of ecosystem service provision and societal feedback by rethinking and reassembling the core elements of both models. That way, we established a causal sequence apt to describe the causes of change to SES, their effects and their consequences. Finally, to illustrate its functioning we exemplified and discussed our approach based on a case study conducted in the Alpujarra de la Sierra in southern Spain.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-015-0651-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Nitrogen fixation by cyanobacteria stimulates production in Baltic food webs

Filamentous, nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria form extensive summer blooms in the Baltic Sea. Their ability to fix dissolved N₂ allows cyanobacteria to circumvent the general summer nitrogen limitation, while also generating a supply of novel bioavailable nitrogen for the food web. However, the fate of the nitrogen fixed by cyanobacteria remains unresolved, as does its importance for secondary production in the Baltic Sea. Here, we synthesize recent experimental and field studies providing strong empirical evidence that cyanobacterial nitrogen is efficiently assimilated and transferred in Baltic food webs via two major pathways: directly by grazing on fresh or decaying cyanobacteria and indirectly through the uptake by other phytoplankton and microbes of bioavailable nitrogen exuded from cyanobacterial cells. This information is an essential step toward guiding nutrient management to minimize noxious blooms without overly reducing secondary production, and ultimately most probably fish production in the Baltic Sea.