Public Participation and Local Environmental Planning: the collective action problem and the potential of social capital

Expanding the opportunities for public participation in environmental planning is not always the best option. Starting from an institutional public choice analysis of public participation in terms of the collective action problem, this paper emphasises the roots of participatory activities in the incentive structures facing potential participants. It then goes on to consider the strategies that may be adopted for encouraging greater public involvement and looks particularly to the social capital literature for suggestions of how institutional redesign may alter these incentive structures. The paper concludes by distinguishing three different modes of environmental planning, in terms of the rationale for participation, the severity of the collective action problem and the associated participatory strategy that can be adopted.     

METHOD TO IDENTIFY EFFECTWE RIPARIAN BUFFER WIDTHS FOR ATLANTIC SALMON HABITAT PROTECTION1

ABSTRACT: Successful restoration of declining anadromous species is dependent upon effective riparian buffer zone management. Natural resource managers, policy developers and local conservation groups require science‐based information concerning the width at which a given buffer will be effective for its stated purpose. This paper summarizes a method developed in 1999 to determine effective riparian buffer widths for Atlantic salmon habitat protection as part of the Atlantic Salmon Conservation Plan for Seven Maine Rivers. A major assumption of the method is that no two buffers are alike with respect to their effectiveness and that various buffer characteristics dictate the required width for a given level of effectiveness. The method uses a predictive model that generates suggested riparian buffer widths as a function of specific, measurable buffer characteristics (such as slope, soil characteristics, and plant community structure and density) that affect buffer function. The method utilizes a variable‐width, two‐zone approach and specifies land uses that are consistent with desired buffer function within the two zones.     

The predictive and interactive effects of equity sensitivity in teamwork‐oriented organizations

Many studies have investigated the relationship between equity sensitivity and other variables of organizational importance. Although theoretical grounds support a link between equity sensitivity and job performance, to date no studies have found equity sensitivity to be a valid predictor of non self‐reported job performance in field research. The two field studies reported here empirically support this link and demonstrate that equity sensitivity may also interact with personality traits in predicting job performance. Limitations of the current investigations and future research are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Job satisfaction and teamwork: the role of supervisor support

The link between teamwork and job satisfaction was investigated in a sample of 48 manufacturing companies comprising 4708 employees. Two separate research questions were addressed. First, it was proposed that supervisor support would be a weaker source of job satisfaction in companies with higher levels of teamworking. Multilevel analysis indicated that the extent of teamwork at the company level of analysis moderated the relationship between individual perceptions of supervisor support and job satisfaction. Second, it was proposed that the extent of teamwork would be positively related to perceptions of job autonomy but negatively related to perceptions of supervisor support. Further, it was proposed that the link between teamwork and job autonomy would be explained by job enrichment practices associated with teamwork. Analyses of aggregated company data supported these propositions and provided evidence for a complex mediational path between teamwork and job satisfaction. Implications for implementing teamwork in organizations are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Understanding and predicting ecological dynamics: are major surprises inevitable?

Ecological surprises, substantial and unanticipated changes in the abundance of one or more species that result from previously unsuspected processes, are a common outcome of both experiments and observations in community and population ecology. Here, we give examples of such surprises along with the results of a survey of well-established field ecologists, most of whom have encountered one or more surprises over the course of their careers. Truly surprising results are common enough to require their consideration in any reasonable effort to characterize nature and manage natural resources. We classify surprises as dynamic-, pattern-, or intervention-based, and we speculate on the common processes that cause ecological systems to so often surprise us. A long-standing and still growing concern in the ecological literature is how best to make predictions of future population and community dynamics. Although most work on this subject involves statistical aspects of data analysis and modeling, the frequency and nature of ecological surprises imply that uncertainty cannot be easily tamed through improved analytical procedures, and that prudent management of both exploited and conserved communities will require precautionary and adaptive management approaches.     

Longevity can buffer plant and animal populations against changing climatic variability

Both means and year-to-year variances of climate variables such as temperature and precipitation are predicted to change. However, the potential impact of changing climatic variability on the fate of populations has been largely unexamined. We analyzed multiyear demographic data for 36 plant and animal species with a broad range of life histories and types of environment to ask how sensitive their long-term stochastic population growth rates are likely to be to changes in the means and standard deviations of vital rates (survival, reproduction, growth) in response to changing climate. We quantified responsiveness using elasticities of the long-term population growth rate predicted by stochastic projection matrix models. Short-lived species (insects and annual plants and algae) are predicted to be more strongly (and negatively) affected by increasing vital rate variability relative to longer-lived species (perennial plants, birds, ungulates). Taxonomic affiliation has little power to explain sensitivity to increasing variability once longevity has been taken into account. Our results highlight the potential vulnerability of short-lived species to an increasingly variable climate, but also suggest that problems associated with short-lived undesirable species (agricultural pests, disease vectors, invasive weedy plants) may be exacerbated in regions where climate variability decreases.     

A longevity cost of re-mating but no benefits of polyandry in the almond moth, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cadra cautella</Emphasis>

Species where most but not all females mate monandrously can provide insight into the potential factors both promoting and restricting polyandry. Polyandry is typically explained by direct and/or indirect benefits models; however, polyandry may also confer costs via sexually antagonistic processes. The fitness of polyandrous and monandrous females may also vary with environmental conditions, such as availability of water. For some lepidopterans, water is a vital resource that increases fecundity and may be a direct benefit of multiple mating. Male lepidopterans transfer large spermatophores that may be an important water source for females, particularly for species living in water-depauperate environments. In such species, multiple-mating females may increase their reproductive output. We examined the fitness consequences of multiple mating in the almond moth, Cadra cautella. Males transfer substantial spermatophores; these have a large chitinous process attached, which decrease female longevity. To assess the impact of female mating treatment and water availability on female fitness, females mated once or twice, either with the same or different males, with half the females in each treatment receiving water. Water-fed females had dramatically increased fecundity, but we found no fitness benefits of multiple mating. Male longevity decreased with increased mating frequency and potentially his level of reproductive investment. Water-deprived females that mated twice died sooner than once-mated females, while multiple-mating females that received water lived longer than their water-deprived counterparts. It is interesting to note that the male’s spermatophore process did not affect female fitness or longevity. Why polyandry is maintained in this species is discussed.     

Participatory indicator development: what can ecologists and local communities learn from each other?

Given the growing popularity of indicators among policy-makers to measure progress toward conservation and sustainability goals, there is an urgent need to develop indicators that can be used accurately by both specialists and nonspecialists, drawing from the knowledge possessed by each group. This paper uses a case study from the Kalahari, Botswana to show how participatory and ecological methods can be combined to develop robust indicators that are accessible to a range of users to monitor and enhance the sustainability of land management. First, potential environmental sustainability indicators were elicited from pastoralists in three study sites. This knowledge was then evaluated by pastoralists, before being tested empirically using ecological and soil-based techniques. Despite the wealth of local knowledge about indicators, this knowledge was thinly spread. The knowledge was more holistic than published indicator lists for monitoring rangelands, encompassing vegetation, soil, livestock, wild animal, and socioeconomic indicators. Pastoralist preferences for vegetation and livestock indicators match recent shifts in ecological theory suggesting that livestock populations reach equilibrium with key forage resources in semiarid environments. Although most indicators suggested by pastoralists were validated through empirical work (e.g., decreased grass cover and soil organic matter content, and increased abundance of Acacia mellifera and thatching grass), they were not always sufficiently accurate or reliable for objective degradation assessment, showing that local knowledge cannot be accepted unquestioningly. We suggest that, by combining participatory and ecological approaches, it is possible to derive more accurate and relevant indicators than either approach could achieve alone.     

Direct and interactive effects of enemies and mutualists on plant performance: a meta-analysis

Plants engage in multiple, simultaneous interactions with other species; some (enemies) reduce and others (mutualists) enhance plant performance. Moreover, effects of different species may not be independent of one another; for example, enemies may compete, reducing their negative impact on a plant. The magnitudes of positive and negative effects, as well as the frequency of interactive effects and whether they tend to enhance or depress plant performance, have never been comprehensively assessed across the many published studies on plant-enemy and plant-mutualist interactions. We performed a meta-analysis of experiments in which two enemies, two mutualists, or an enemy and a mutualist were manipulated factorially. Specifically, we performed a factorial meta-analysis using the log response ratio. We found that the magnitude of (negative) enemy effects was greater than that of (positive) mutualist effects in isolation, but in the presence of other species, the two effects were of comparable magnitude. Hence studies evaluating single-species effects of mutualists may underestimate the true effects found in natural settings, where multiple interactions are the norm and indirect effects are possible. Enemies did not on average influence the effects on plant performance of other enemies, nor did mutualists influence the effects of mutualists. However, these averages mask significant and large, but positive or negative, interactions in individual studies. In contrast, mutualists ameliorated the negative effects of enemies in a manner that benefited plants; this overall effect was driven by interactions between pathogens and belowground mutualists (bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi). The high frequency of significant interactive effects suggests a widespread potential for diffuse rather than pairwise coevolutionary interactions between plants and their enemies and mutualists. Pollinators and mycorrhizal fungi enhanced plant performance more than did bacterial mutualists. In the greenhouse (but not the field), pathogens reduced plant performance more than did herbivores, pathogens were more damaging to herbaceous than to woody plants, and herbivores were more damaging to crop than to non-crop plants (suggesting evolutionary change in plants or herbivores following crop domestication). We discuss how observed differences in effect size might be confounded with methodological differences among studies.     

Climate, hydrologic disturbance, and succession: drivers of floodplain pattern

Floodplains are among the world's most threatened ecosystems due to the pervasiveness of dams, levee systems, and other modifications to rivers. Few unaltered floodplains remain where we may examine their dynamics over decadal time scales. Our study provides a detailed examination of landscape change over a 60-year period (1945-2004) on the Nyack floodplain of the Middle Fork of the Flathead River, a free-flowing, gravel-bed river in northwest Montana, USA. We used historical aerial photographs and airborne and satellite imagery to delineate habitats (i.e., mature forest, regenerative forest, water, cobble) within the floodplain. We related changes in the distribution and size of these habitats to hydrologic disturbance and regional climate. Results show a relationship between changes in floodplain habitats and annual flood magnitude, as well as between hydrology and the cooling and warming phases of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). Large magnitude floods and greater frequency of moderate floods were associated with the cooling phases of the PDO, resulting in a floodplain environment dominated by extensive restructuring and regeneration of floodplain habitats. Conversely, warming phases of the PDO corresponded with decreases in magnitude, duration, and frequency of critical flows, creating a floodplain environment dominated by late successional vegetation and low levels of physical restructuring. Over the 60-year time series, habitat change was widespread throughout the floodplain, though the relative abundances of the habitats did not change greatly. We conclude that the long- and short-term interactions of climate, floods, and plant succession produce a shifting habitat mosaic that is a fundamental attribute of natural floodplain ecosystems.