A Systematic Test of an Enterprise Strategy for Community-Based Biodiversity Conservation

Abstract: A commonly held belief is that if people can benefit financially from enterprises that depend on nearby forests, reefs, and other natural habitats, then they will take action to conserve and sustainably use them. The Biodiversity Conservation Network brought together conservation and development organizations and local communities to systematically test this hypothesis across 39 conservation project sites in Asia and the Pacific. Each project implemented one or more community-based enterprises such as setting up an ecotourism lodge, distilling essential oils from wild plant roots, producing jams and jellies from forest fruits, harvesting timber, or collecting marine samples to test for pharmaceutical compounds. Each project team collected the biological, enterprise, and social data necessary to test the network's hypothesis. We present the results of this test. We found that a community-based enterprise strategy can lead to conservation, but only under limited conditions and never on its own. We summarize the specific conditions under which an enterprise strategy will and will not work in a decision chart that can be used by project managers to determine whether this strategy might make sense at their site. We also found that an enterprise strategy can be subsidized and still create a net gain that pays for conservation. Based on our experiences, we recommend developing "learning portfolios" that combine action and research to test other conservation strategies.     

Regulation of ovary activation in worker honey-bees (Apis mellifera): larval signal production and adult response thresholds differ between anarchistic and wild-type bees

One-day-old anarchistic (selected for successful worker reproduction) and wild-type honey-bee workers were introduced into queenright colonies of honey-bees of two treatments. In treatment 1, all eggs and larvae were offspring of queens from an anarchistic line. In treatment 2, all eggs and larvae were offspring of wild-type queens. In both treatments, adult workers were wild type. This experimental arrangement was used to test the importance of larval genotype on ovary activation in young adult workers. After 12 days, the introduced bees were dissected to determine the frequency of ovary activation. In those colonies provided with wild-type brood, 0% of introduced wild-type bees and 16% of anarchistic bees had activated ovaries. In those colonies provided with anarchistic brood, 13% of introduced wild-type bees and 41% of anarchistic bees had activated ovaries. These results strongly support the hypothesis that selection for high levels of worker reproduction in anarchistic stocks has reduced the amount or composition of brood pheromones produced by larvae that normally signal workers to refrain from reproduction. They also suggest that anarchistic workers have a higher threshold for these signals than wild-type bees.     

Worker policing in the bee Apis florea

Apis florea is a single-combed, open-nesting, dwarf honeybee indigenous to Asia. In common with other species of this genus, A. florea is highly polyandrous, and is therefore predicted to curtail worker reproduction by mutual policing mechanisms that keep worker reproduction at an extremely low level. Policing mechanisms could involve destruction of workers' eggs or offspring, or aggression toward those workers that are reproductively active. We show that in A. florea, worker-laid eggs are eliminated approximately twice as fast as queen-laid eggs, indicating that A. florea uses oophagy of worker-laid eggs as a mechanism of worker policing. Genetic analysis of four colonies indicated that all males produced were sons of queens, not workers. Dissections of 800 workers, from four colonies, did not reveal any significant levels of ovary activation. These results suggest that worker policing is an effective component of the mechanisms that maintain worker sterility in this species. Furthermore, they suggest that worker policing via oophagy of worker-laid eggs is pleisiomorphic for the genus.     

Role of Genetic Background in the Success of Reintroduced Peregrine Falcons

Abstract: Peregrine Falcons (    Falco peregrinus ) of seven subspecies from four continents were bred in captivity, and approximately 1173 of their progeny were released in the midwestern United States and adjacent regions of Ontario and Manitoba in an attempt to replace the original population that was extirpated by chlorinated hydrocarbon poisoning in the 1950s. We analyzed the success of individuals of the different subspecies introduced to the Midwest. Five of the seven subspecies released have contributed to the current breeding population. Subspecies of breeding Peregrine Falcons were equally represented when breeding birds of high productivity were compared with less prolific breeders. The subspecific makeup of the breeding population did not differ significantly from that of the released population, suggesting that adaptability in this species was sufficient to override genetic differences between subspecies. Peregrines of widely different genetic stocks have thrived after release, making substantial genetic contributions to the new population.     

The role of periodic boundary forcing in plankton pattern formation

We consider one and two-dimensional minimal models in plankton dynamics. The influence of oscillating boundary forcing functions as agents for triggering pattern formation is discussed. In particular it is found that in these conditions population waves arise for one dimensional models, while for two dimensional models, different amplitudes and frequencies in the boundary forcing generate definite patterns, mimicking the boundary term. This happens even though the model we investigate is very simple. The emergence of these features is an interesting metaphor for the fundamental biological problem of how pattern formation processes may be inevitable in natural heterogeneous ecosystems.     

聚焦ISO 14001标准 创建生态旅游岛

结合鼓浪屿区实施ISO14001标准,探讨了其意义,实施步骤和特点,可为其它风景名胜区建立环境管理体系所借鉴。     

侧流FNA抑制的CANON颗粒-絮体复合系统参数优化

为探究侧流游离亚硝酸(FNA)处理抑制亚硝酸盐氧化菌(NOB)策略相关工艺参数的最佳组合,在颗粒-絮体复合系统的全程自养脱氮(CANON)工艺中,采用批次试验探讨污泥沉降时间、FNA处理浓度及处理时间对相关功能菌活性的影响,针对性抑制NOB活性,降低FNA对功能菌活性影响.结果显示,沉降时间影响处理污泥中功能菌群活性,随着沉降时间的延长,排出污泥中厌氧氨氧化菌(AnAOB)活性逐渐减弱.沉降1min后进行排泥排出了大部分NOB并且反应器内保留了尽可能多的AnAOB,此时排出的污泥中AnAOB、氨氧化菌(AOB)和NOB的相对活性分别为15.79%、54.55%和68.63%.综合FNA对NOB和AOB活性的影响,采用0.6mg/L的FNA抑制12h后AOB活性为38.71%,而NOB活性仅为12.5%.响应曲面分析结果显示,FNA处理时间、处理浓度是影响NOB、AOB活性的关键因素.     

Mean Vehicle Speed Distributions for the Spatiotemporal Estimation of Exhaust Emissions

Link Emissions Models estimate traffic-related air pollution emissions at the individual road link level and inform governmental policies for air quality management. The current South Australian Link Emissions Model (CLEM) assumes constant spatiotemporal traffic flow at a single fixed mean speed, a potential limitation as the variability of exhaust emissions with vehicle speed has been established in the literature.We extend CLEM to eliminate the assumption of constant traffic flow, through the derivation of mean Australian vehicle speed distributions for different road types. Specifically, we successfully model the vehicle speed profile data from the second National In-Service Emissions study using Nearest Neighbour Kernel Density Estimation. We propose a mean speed Distribution Link Emissions Model (DLEM) for exhaust emission estimation based on the derived mean speed distributions. DLEM is an augmented, enhanced version of CLEM, accommodating a range of vehicle speeds and road types. The performance of the extended model, DLEM, is analysed in comparison to the current model, CLEM, through a case study analysis of vehicle exhaust emissions on a typical arterial road in Adelaide, South Australia. Results indicate use of DLEM and, by extension, mean vehicle speed distributions, has a strong impact on emission estimation. In particular, the fixed speed model, CLEM, may be substantially underestimating exhaust emissions of carbon monoxide, non-methane volatile organic compounds and particulate matter less than 2.5 μm in diameter. These are common exhaust pollutants that have been extensively linked with adverse health effects including respiratory morbidity and premature mortality.     

Earth-tide-induced fluctuations in the salinity of an inland river,New South Wales,Australia: a short-term study

Wybong Creek discharges salts into the agriculturally and industrially important Hunter River in New South Wales, Australia. Abrupt increases in salinity occur periodically in the mid-Wybong Creek catchment. In order to understand the processes which cause these abrupt increases, changes in surface and groundwater were investigated. It is shown that salinity increases can be attributed to highly discrete groundwater discharge directly into the river from below. Hourly electrical conductivity data measured in the river showed regular, diurnal electrical conductivity fluctuations of up to 350 μS cm^?1. These fluctuations could not be attributed to barometric pressure, temperature, or evapotranspiration. Instead, a similar periodicity in surface water electrical conductivity and groundwater height in nearby groundwater wells was found. Fluctuations were of similar periodicity to the orthotides which cause fluctuations in surface water height and are induced by Earth tides. The geology in the mid-catchment area indicates conditions are optimal for Earth tides to impact groundwater. The reporting of orthotidal changes in water chemistry in this article is believed to be the first of its kind in the scientific literature, with the large fluctuations noted having important implications for water monitoring and management in the catchment. Further research investigating Earth-tide-induced phases of groundwater heights will better constrain the relationships between surface water chemistry and groundwater height.