Olfactory host finding, intermediate memory and its potential ecological adaptation in Nasonia vitripennis

Associative learning of host-associated chemical cues was studied in Nasonia vitripennis, a parasitoid of fly pupae in nests of hole-nesting birds. When females encountered a fly pupa and performed one sequence of host recognition behaviour including drilling the ovipositor into the host in the presence of the artificial odour furfurylheptanoate (FFH), they were afterwards arrested by FFH in olfactometer experiments. The response vanished after 4 days and could be blocked after 3 days by feeding wasps with ethacrynic acid prior and after the training. This indicates the formation of an intermediate form of memory by one host experience in N. vitripennis. Interestingly, the trained wasps avoided odours that were not present during the host encounter, although naive wasps did not react to these odours. This unique behaviour probably causes wasps to focus during host searching on those chemical cues they have experienced in the host environment. Studies in nests of hole-nesting birds revealed that about 30% of all nests contained only one fly pupa, and laboratory studies showed that N. vitripennis females are able to parasitise around 100 fly pupae in their life. It is discussed that under these conditions, the formation of a non-permanent intermediate memory for host-associated odours after one host encounter is adaptive to avoid costs involved with formation and maintenance of memory for misleading cues. The demonstration of associative olfactory learning in N. vitripennis, the first parasitoid species with sequenced genome, opens the gate to study molecular mechanisms of memory formation and its ecological adaptation in parasitoids.     

Estimating Sediment and Nutrient Loads in Four Western Lake Superior Streams

Total suspended solids (TSS) and total phosphorus (TP) have been shown to be strongly correlated with turbidity in watersheds. High‐frequency in situ turbidity can provide estimates of these potential pollutants over a wide range of hydrologic conditions. Concentrations and loads were estimated in four western Lake Superior trout streams from 2005 to 2010 using regression models relating continuous turbidity data to grab sample measures of TSS and TP during differing flow regimes. TSS loads estimated using the turbidity surrogate were compared with those made using FLUX software, a standard assessment technique based on discharge and grab sampling for TSS. More traditional rating curve methodology was not suitable because of the high variability in the particulates vs. discharge relationship. Stream‐specific turbidity and TSS data were strongly correlated (r² = 0.5 to 0.8; p < 0.05) and less so for TP (r² = 0.3 to 0.7; p < 0.05). Near‐continuous turbidity monitoring (every 15 min) provided a good method for estimating both TSS and TP concentration, providing information when manual sample collection was unlikely, and allowing for detailed analyses of short‐term responses of flashy Lake Superior tributaries to highly variable weather and hydrologic conditions while the FLUX model typically resulted in load estimates greater than those determined using the turbidity surrogate, with 17/23 stream years having greater FLUX estimates for TSS and 18/23 for TP.     

Assessing the impact of household participation on satisfaction and safe design in humanitarian shelter projects

Participation has long been considered important for post‐disaster recovery. Establishing what constitutes participation in post‐disaster shelter projects, however, has remained elusive, and the links between different types of participation and shelter programme outcomes are not well understood. Furthermore, recent case studies suggest that misguided participation strategies may be to blame for failures. This study analysed 19 shelter projects implemented in the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013 to identify the forms of participation employed. Using fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis, it assessed how household participation in the planning, design, and construction phases of shelter reconstruction led to outcomes of household satisfaction and safe shelter design. Participation was operationalised via eight central project tasks, revealing that the involvement of households in the early planning stages of projects and in construction activities were important for satisfaction and design outcomes, whereas engagement during the design phase of projects had little impact on the selected outcomes.     

The net ecosystem carbon exchange of human-modified environments in the Australian Capital Region

As part of a larger study to quantify and map ecosystem services in southeast Australia, we estimated carbon stored in biomass and soils and the net ecosystem carbon exchange between the land surface and the atmosphere in the Australian Capital Region (ACR). Our aim was to understand and quantify how different human-modified landscapes provide an essential ecosystem service: the exchange and storage of carbon in the landscape. Using a remote sensing based modelling methodology, we obtained values of Net Primary Productivity (NPP), total carbon in soil and biomass and carbon turnover from meteorological and terrain inputs and vegetation attributes. We obtained a set of maps of NPP, total carbon (C) storage and C-turnover for the ACR. We superimposed a land use/cover map to assign the uptake, storage and release of carbon to different land use/cover types. Our results support the hypothesis that human-intensive land uses significantly affect the ability of terrestrial ecosystems to provide an important ecosystem service in the form of carbon storage.     

The Anthropocene: From Global Change to Planetary Stewardship

Over the past century, the total material wealth of humanity has been enhanced. However, in the twenty-first century, we face scarcity in critical resources, the degradation of ecosystem services, and the erosion of the planet's capability to absorb our wastes. Equity issues remain stubbornly difficult to solve. This situation is novel in its speed, its global scale and its threat to the resilience of the Earth System. The advent of the Anthropence, the time interval in which human activities now rival global geophysical processes, suggests that we need to fundamentally alter our relationship with the planet we inhabit. Many approaches could be adopted, ranging from geoengineering solutions that purposefully manipulate parts of the Earth System to becoming active stewards of our own life support system. The Anthropocene is a reminder that the Holocene, during which complex human societies have developed, has been a stable, accommodating environment and is the only state of the Earth System that we know for sure can support contemporary society. The need to achieve effective planetary stewardship is urgent. As we go further into the Anthropocene, we risk driving the Earth System onto a trajectory toward more hostile states from which we cannot easily return.     

Putting the “Ecology” into Environmental Flows: Ecological Dynamics and Demographic Modelling

There have been significant diversions of water from rivers and streams around the world; natural flow regimes have been perturbed by dams, barriers and excessive extractions. Many aspects of the ecological 'health' of riverine systems have declined due to changes in water flows, which has stimulated the development of thinking about the maintenance and restoration of these systems, which we refer to as environmental flow methodologies (EFMs). Most existing EFMs cannot deliver information on the population viability of species because they: (1) use habitat suitability as a proxy for population status; (2) use historical time series (usually of short duration) to forecast future conditions and flow sequences; (3) cannot, or do not, handle extreme flow events associated with climate variability; and (4) assume process stationarity for flow sequences, which means the past sequences are treated as good indicators of the future. These assumptions undermine the capacity of EFMs to properly represent risks associated with different flow management options; assumption (4) is untenable given most climate-change predictions. We discuss these concerns and advocate the use of demographic modelling as a more appropriate tool for linking population dynamics to flow regime change. A 'meta-species' approach to demographic modelling is discussed as a useful step from habitat based models towards modelling strategies grounded in ecological theory when limited data are available on flow-demographic relationships. Data requirements of demographic models will undoubtedly expose gaps in existing knowledge, but, in so doing, will strengthen future efforts to link changes in river flows with their ecological consequences.     

Planetary Stewardship in an Urbanizing World: Beyond City Limits

Cities are rapidly increasing in importance as a major factor shaping the Earth system, and therefore, must take corresponding responsibility. With currently over half the world’s population, cities are supported by resources originating from primarily rural regions often located around the world far distant from the urban loci of use. The sustainability of a city can no longer be considered in isolation from the sustainability of human and natural resources it uses from proximal or distant regions, or the combined resource use and impacts of cities globally. The world’s multiple and complex environmental and social challenges require interconnected solutions and coordinated governance approaches to planetary stewardship. We suggest that a key component of planetary stewardship is a global system of cities that develop sustainable processes and policies in concert with its non-urban areas. The potential for cities to cooperate as a system and with rural connectivity could increase their capacity to effect change and foster stewardship at the planetary scale and also increase their resource security.     

Prioritizing islands for the eradication of invasive vertebrates in the United Kingdom overseas territories

Invasive alien species are one of the primary threats to native biodiversity on islands worldwide. Consequently, eradicating invasive species from islands has become a mainstream conservation practice. Deciding which islands have the highest priority for eradication is of strategic importance to allocate limited resources to achieve maximum conservation benefit. Previous island prioritizations focused either on a narrow set of native species or on a small geographic area. We devised a prioritization approach that incorporates all threatened native terrestrial vertebrates and all invasive terrestrial vertebrates occurring on 11 U.K. overseas territories, which comprise over 2000 islands ranging from the sub‐Antarctic to the tropics. Our approach includes eradication feasibility and distinguishes between the potential and realistic conservation value of an eradication, which reflects the benefit that would accrue following eradication of either all invasive species or only those species for which eradication techniques currently exist. We identified the top 25 priority islands for invasive species eradication that together would benefit extant populations of 155 native species including 45 globally threatened species. The 5 most valuable islands included the 2 World Heritage islands Gough (South Atlantic) and Henderson (South Pacific) that feature unique seabird colonies, and Anegada, Little Cayman, and Guana Island in the Caribbean that feature a unique reptile fauna. This prioritization can be rapidly repeated if new information or techniques become available, and the approach could be replicated elsewhere in the world. Priorización de Islas para la Erradicación de Vertebrados Invasores en los Territorios Exteriores del Reino Unido