Stakeholders on Meat Production, Meat Consumption and Mitigation of Climate Change: Sweden as a Case

In this paper we analyse and discuss the views of Swedish stakeholders on how to mitigate climate change to the extent it is caused by meat production. The stakeholders include meat producer organisations, governmental agencies with direct influence on meat production, political parties as well as non-governmental organisations. Representatives of twelve organisations were interviewed. Several organisations argued against the mitigation option of reducing beef production despite the higher greenhouse gas intensity of beef compared to pork and chicken meat (according to life cycle analysis). Regarding feed production some organisations proposed use of the best available industrial fertilizers, others were against all use of such fertilizers. Several organizations suggested domestic production of more protein-rich fodder and use of manure for biogas production. Regarding meat consumption the focus was on throwing away less food as waste and on eating less meat but the best (most climate friendly) meat, which was considered to be Swedish meat in contrast to imported meat. There was agreement on many issues. Most disagreement was found regarding political steering. We find many of the stakeholders’ mitigation proposals regarding meat production and consumption acceptable. However, we are to some extent critical to their defence of Swedish beef production. We also point out certain problems with the suggestion to reduce consumption of imported meat but not of domestically produced meat.     

Factors influencing survival in case of shipwreck and other maritime disasters in the Danish merchant fleet since 1970

During the last 40 years, merchant ships have become safer and a number of new safety measures have been introduced. The purpose of the first part of this study was to investigate the trend of fatalities due to maritime disasters in the Danish merchant fleet over a 40-year period from 1970 to 2009, during which a total of 146 seafarers lost their lives. The relative risk of fatal accidents in the period 1990–2009 compared with the period 1970–1989 was 0.81 (CI: 0.58–1.14).The second part of the study focuses on seafarers who abandoned a merchant ship in the period from 1990 to 2009. The purpose was to investigate factors influencing survival. During the 20-year period 44 incidents were identified involving a total of 267 seafarers. Among these, 51 did not survive. The fatality risk for seafarers on small and large ships was 3.68 and 0.64 per 1000 years at risk, respectively. Among the 171 seafarers who were rescued dry, one was injured and did not survive (0.6%). Out of 64 seafarers ending up in the water, 18 (28%) did not survive. Among the remaining 32 seafarers, 23 were with great certainty inside the vessel when it sank and another nine may have remained inside the sinking vessel. None of these survived. Suboptimal organisation of the evacuation process was of importance in some cases. Survival suits and automatic emergency transmitters (EPIRB’s) have been shown to work in practice but their introduction has had limited influence on survival statistics.     

Sexual selection and the tail ornaments of North American barn swallows

Summary In this study conducted in southeastern Ontario, Canada, we manipulated the length of outer tail feathers (streamers) of male barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) shortly after they returned to four small breeding colonies in the spring. Both streamers on most males in these colonies were experimentally either lengthened or shortened by 20 mm and as a result 10 randomly chosen males of each category had their streamer lengths manipulated before the fertile period of their mate. Males with elongated streamers had a significantly shorter pre-laying period (from arrival until first egg date) than those with shortened streamers and we interpret this as indicating that they obtained their mates more rapidly. Females mated to elongated males had significantly longer tails and laid their first egg significantly earlier than those mated to shortened males; no other indices of reproductive success differed between these two experimental groups. These results provide some support for previous work suggesting that females prefer males with longer streamers and thus that streamer length in this species is under the influence of sexual selection. We also found that males with longer natural streamers were significantly more likely to break them and that males were much more likely to break their streamers than were females. Since males participate in incubation in North America but not in Europe, we suggest that the aerodynamic disadvantages of streamer breakage that result from incubation attentiveness are at least partly responsible for the shorter streamer length of males in North America. Offprint requests to: R. Montgomerie     

Dominance,prior occupancy,and winter residency in the great tit (Parus major)

Summary This study reports an aviary experiment aimed at determining what affects social dominance in the great tit (Parus major), especially why older birds (adults) in nature normally dominate younger ones (juveniles). When birds were matched with respect to age, prior residency determined dominance. Without a difference in prior residency older birds dominated younger ones. However, when juvenile birds had a prior residency advantage over adult birds, they often became dominant. This was especially so when the juvenile bird was large relative to the adult bird. When a resident juvenile male was also consorted by a female, he became dominant over an adult male on most occasions. An experiment where the dominant bird was removed and later returned to the aviary failed to produce more than one shift in dominance. However, the proportion of reversals in dominance interactions increased with separation time. It is argued that the fact that dominance depends on prior residency selects for winter residency in the great tit.Offprint requests to: H.G. Smith     

Organochlorine pollutants in Scots pine needles--biological and site related variation within a forest stand

To study the biological variation in the content of some persistent organic pollutants, viz hexachlorobenzene (HCB), alpha- and gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane (alpha- and gamma-HCH), and 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis-(4-chlorophenyl)-ethane (DDT) were analysed in needles from Scots pine trees growing at an isolated peninsula south of Stockholm, Sweden. The concentration variations of each compound was evaluated by a nested analysis of variance (ANOVA) with sampling site specific compass direction, individual tree, and sampling height as factors. Two pair-wise post hoc tests were used to test significant results from the ANOVA. The hexachlorocyclohexanes showed no significant differences between sampling site, trees or sampling height. DDT concentration was significantly lower at the sampling site with the densest vegetation compared to at least three of the other sampling sites. HCB was significantly lower at the lowest sampling height (0.5 m).     

A net loss: policy instruments for commercial cod fishing in Sweden

This paper describes the overfishing of the seas, in particular for cod in Sweden. It discusses policy instruments such as individual quotas, labelling and marine reserves. A tentative conclusion is that something needs to be done to the very structure of the policy instruments used. Information on stock depletion is available but goes unheeded and is counteracted by fishermen who want to fish more and who are routinely supported by "the political establishment" who appear to be most concerned about (short-term) employment. The whole debate is taking place before the eyes of a general public that does not care sufficiently and difficult international bureaucracy. In this situation, the most important changes may be to strengthen both the rights and the duties of the fishermen. The integrity of fish stocks must be given absolute priority, but it is also important to motivate the fishermen with a greater stake and interest in the stock by giving them quotas that have, as far as possible, the characteristics of property.