Adaptation in a multi-stressor environment: perceptions and responses to climatic and economic risks by coffee growers in Mesoamerica

While climate change adaptation policy has tended to focus on planned adaptation interventions, in many vulnerable communities, adaptation will consist of autonomous, “unplanned” actions by individuals who are responding to multiple simultaneous sources of change. Their actions are likely not only to affect their own future vulnerability, but, through changes in livelihoods and resource use, the vulnerability of their community and resource base. In this paper, we document the autonomous changes to livelihood strategies adopted by smallholder coffee farmers in four Mesoamerican countries (Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Costa Rica). Our aim is to gain insight into the process of autonomous adaptation by proxy: through an assessment of how farmers explain their choices in relation to distinct stressors; and an understanding of the set of choices available to farmers. We find that climatic stress is a feature in decision making, but not the dominant driver. Nevertheless, the farmers in our sample are evidently flexible, adaptive, and experimental in relation to changing circumstances. Whether their autonomous responses to diverse stressors will result in a reduction in risk over time may well depend on the extent to which policy, agricultural research, and rural investments build on the inherent logic of these strategies.     

Thirty years of land-cover change in Bolivia

Land-cover change in eastern lowland Bolivia was documented using Landsat images from five epochs for all landscapes situated below the montane tree line at approximately 3000 m, including humid forest, inundated forest, seasonally dry forest, and cloud forest, as well as scrublands and grasslands. Deforestation in eastern Bolivia in 2004 covered 45,411 km2, representing approximately 9% of the original forest cover, with an additional conversion of 9042 km2 of scrub and savanna habitats representing 17% of total historical land-cover change. Annual rates of land-cover change increased from approximately 400 km2 y(-1) in the 1960s to approximately 2900 km2 y(-1) in the last epoch spanning 2001 to 2004. This study provides Bolivia with a spatially explicit information resource to monitor future land-cover change, a prerequisite for proposed mechanisms to compensate countries for reducing carbon emissions as a result of deforestation. A comparison of the most recent epoch with previous periods shows that policies enacted in the late 1990s to promote forest conservation had no observable impact on reducing deforestation and that deforestation actually increased in some protected areas. The rate of land-cover change continues to increase linearly nationwide, but is growing faster in the Santa Cruz department because of the expansion of mechanized agriculture and cattle farms.     

A Conceptual Nitrate Transport Model and Its Application at Different Scales

Groundwater and surface water pollution from nonpoint sources are problems of increasing concern. Nitrate transport is a crucial part in the whole process of nitrate loss. Previous methods for simulating the nitrate transport process usually involved solving complex advection–dispersion equations and required large amount of parameters and input data, which makes a model application expensive or invalid in terms of computation and data availability. The aim of this research is to develop a simple conceptual method to simulate the nitrate transport. In this paper, a simple conceptual method utilizing the distribution of nitrate loss against cumulative drainage to simulate the nitrate transport process is introduced. The concept and construction of this method are presented, and its applicability at different spatial scales is demonstrated. Results of model application at laboratory, pilot, and catchment scales show that this method has a good capability to simulate the transport of nitrate. Impact of spatial scales on parameters’ values is also discussed. Compared to conventional methods, this method requires fewer parameters, less computing time, and less input data.     

Treatment of waste containing EDTA by chemical oxidation

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) is a chelating agent that has been extensively used to enhance the solubilization of heavy metal cations and release of EDTA contributes to environmental problems. EDTA is recalcitrant to microbial metabolism and chemical oxidation is considered a possible method of remedial treatment. The use of the commercially available process of MIOX Corporation generates mixed oxidants on site and this solution is markedly effective in the destruction of the chelating characteristic and the decarboxylation of EDTA. When measuring the release of C-14 from carboxyl labeled EDTA, the mixed oxidant solution was comparable to the Fenton's reaction over a broad pH range. The presence of Mn²⁺, Cr³⁺, or Fe³⁺ at levels equal to that of EDTA stimulated the rate of EDTA decomposition; however, the rate of EDTA breakdown was inhibited when the concentration of Cr³⁺ or Mn²⁺ exceeded the concentration of EDTA. The treatment of Co²⁺–EDTA or Cu²⁺–EDTA with mixed oxidants in the presence of ultra violet light resulted in the loss of chelation ability of EDTA. In the absence of chelated metals, over 75% of the chelation property of a 70 mM EDTA solution was destroyed in 45 min. The reaction products resulting from the use of mixed oxidants added to EDTA were non-toxic to bacteria and should not contribute to additional environmental problems.     

Perceptions of Species Abundance,Distribution, and Diversity: Lessons from Four Decades of Sampling on a Government-Managed Reserve

/ We examined data relative to species abundance, distribution, anddiversity patterns of reptiles and amphibians to determine how perceptionschange over time and with level of sampling effort. Location data werecompiled on more than one million individual captures or observations of 98species during a 44-year study period on the US Department of Energy's(DOE) Savannah River Site National Environmental Research Park (SRS-NERP) inSouth Carolina. We suggest that perceptions of herpetofaunal speciesdiversity are strongly dependent on level of effort and that land managementdecisions based on short-term data bases for some faunal groups could resultin serious errors in environmental management. We provide evidence thatacquiring information on biodiversity distribution patterns is compatiblewith multiyear spatially extensive research programs and also provide aperspective of what might be achieved if long-term, coordinated researchefforts were instituted nationwide.To conduct biotic surveys on government-managed lands, we recommend revisionsin the methods used by government agencies to acquire and report biodiversitydata. We suggest that government and industry employees engaged inbiodiversity survey efforts develop proficiency in field identification forone or more major taxonomic groups and be encouraged to measure the status ofpopulations quantitatively with consistent and reliable methodologies. Wealso suggest that widespread academic cooperation in the dissemination ofinformation on regional patterns of biodiversity could result byestablishment of a peer-reviewed, scientifically rigorous journal concernedwith status and trends of the biota of the United States. KEY WORDS: Abundance; Amphibian; Biodiversity; Distribution; Landmanagement; Reptile     

Factors Affecting Take-up of and Drop-out from Home Composting Schemes

This paper reports survey results from Scotland and north-west England into home composting attitudes and behaviours. The results concentrate on: the take-up of home composting through promotional campaigns; and the reasons for drop-out. Motivations for take-up were balanced between environmental and gardening reasons, although capital cost was an important issue for some. Drop-outs occurred mainly through participants moving house or because of lack of success in producing compost. Few of those experiencing problems sought help. Those that did favoured official or professional sources. Neighbourhood social pressures to compost were relatively weak. The results are discussed in terms of the sustainability of home composting behaviour and the manage ment interventions that might be required in sustaining that behaviour.     

Post-nesting migrations of loggerhead sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico: dispersal in highly dynamic conditions

This study is the first report of post-nesting migrations of loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) nesting in Sarasota County (Florida, USA), their most important rookery in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). In total, 28 females (curved carapace length CCL between 82.2 and 112.0 cm) were satellite-tracked between May 2005 and December 2007. Post-nesting migrations were completed in 3–68 days (mean ± SD = 23 ± 16 days). Five different migration patterns were observed: six turtles remained in the vicinity of their nesting site while the other individuals moved either to the south-western part of the Florida Shelf (n = 9 turtles), the Northeast GOM (n = 2 turtles), the South GOM (Yucatán Shelf and Campeche Bay, Mexico, and Cuba; n = 5 turtles) or the Bahamas (n = 6 turtles). In average, turtles moved along rather straight routes over the continental shelf but showed more indirect paths in oceanic waters. Path analyses coupled with remote sensing oceanographic data suggest that most of long-distance migrants reached their intended foraging destinations but did not compensate for the deflecting action of ocean currents. While six out of seven small individuals (CCL < 90 cm) remained on the Florida Shelf, larger individuals showed various migration strategies, staying on the Florida Shelf or moving to long-distance foraging grounds. This study highlights the primary importance the Western Florida Shelf in the management of the Florida Nesting Subpopulation, as well as the need of multi-national effort to promote the conservation of the loggerhead turtle in the Western Atlantic. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

The uses and implications of avian vocalizations for conservation planning

There is a growing recognition that animal behavior can affect wildlife conservation, but there have been few direct studies of animal behavior in conservation programs. However, a great deal of existing behavioral research can be applied in the context of conservation. Research on avian vocalizations provides an excellent example. The conspicuous nature of the vocal behavior of birds makes it a useful tool for monitoring populations and measuring biodiversity, but the importance of vocalizations in conservation goes beyond monitoring. Geographic song variants with population-specific signatures, or dialects, can affect territory formation and mate choice. Dialects are influenced by cultural evolution and natural selection and changes can accumulate even during the timescale of conservation interventions, such as translocations, reintroductions, and ex situ breeding. Information from existing research into avian vocalizations can be used to improve conservation planning and increase the success of interventions. Vocalizations can confer a number of benefits for conservation practitioners through monitoring, providing baseline data on populations and individuals. However, the influence of cultural variation on territory formation, mate choice, and gene flow should be taken into account because cultural differences could create obstacles for conservation programs that bring birds from multiple populations together and so reduce the success of interventions.