Limitation of African Wild Dogs by Competition with Larger Carnivores

African wild dogs ( Lycaon pictus ) are endangered largely because their population-density is low under all conditions. Interspecific competition with larger carnivores may be a factor limiting wild dog density. The density of wild dogs on a 2600-km² area of the Selous Game Reserve (Tanzania) was 0.04 adults/km². Spotted hyaena ( Crocuta crocuta ) density for the same area was estimated by audio playbacks as 0.32 hyaenas/km². Lion ( Panthera leo ) density, determined from the ratio of hyaenas to lions, was 0.11 lions/km². Across six ecosystems including Selous, there were strong negative correlations between wild dog and hyaena densities (r = −0.92; p = 0.01) and between wild dog and lion densities (r = −0.91; p = 0.03). Hyaenas out-numbered wild dogs by ratios ranging from 8:1 to 122:1. Ratios of lions to wild dogs ranged from 3:1 to 21:1. The diets of hyaenas and wild dogs overlap extensively; those of wild dogs and lions show less overlap. Where hyaenas are common and visibility is good, interference competition from hyaenas at wild dog kills is common and reduces wild dogs' feeding time. Where hyaena density is lower and visibility is poor, interference competition at wild dog kills is rare. Wild dogs are commonly killed by lions and occasionally by hyaenas. These data suggest that competition with spotted hyaenas may limit or exclude wild dogs when hyaena density is high. Competition with lions appears less intense, but direct predation by lions on wild dogs is important. Competition and predation by larger carnivores may be of broad importance to the conservation of wild dogs and other medium-sized carnivores.     

Effects of Disturbance on Nitrogen Export from Forested Lands of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

The objective of this research project is to develop, test, validate, and demonstrate an analytical framework for assessing regional-scale forest disturbance in the mid-Atlantic region by linking forest disturbance and forest nitrogen export to surface waters at multiple spatial scales. It is hypothesized that excessive nitrogen (N) leakage (export) from forested watersheds is a potentially useful, integrative "indicator" of a negative change in forest function which occurs in synchrony with changes in forest structure and species composition. Our research focuses mainly on forest disturbance associated with recent defoliations by the gypsy moth larva (Lymantria dispar) at spatial scales ranging from small watersheds to the entire Chesapeake Bay watershed. An approach for assessing the magnitude of forest disturbance and its impact on surface water quality will be based on an empirical model relating forest N leakage and gypsy moth defoliation that will be calibrated using data from 25 intensively-monitored forested watersheds in the region and tested using data from more than 60 other forested watersheds in Virginia. Ultimately, the model will be extended to the region using spatially-extensive data describing: 1) the spatial distribution of dominant forest types in the mid-Atlantic region based on both remote sensing imagery and plot-scale vegetation data; 2) the spatial pattern of gypsy moth defoliation of forested areas from aerial mapping; and 3) measurements of dissolved N concentrations in streams from synoptic water quality surveys.     

Improving communication resilience for effective disaster relief operations

The objective of this paper is to identify strategies to improve the resilience of interagency communication between relief organizations and the community when dealing with an emergency. This research draws from frameworks including information theory, organization design, and how the private sector has learned and evolved from the challenges of information flow to provide guidance to disaster relief agencies. During times of emergency, private organizations as well as public authorities must coordinate in real time to create an effective response. When coordination is absent, failure results, as was seen after Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti Earthquake. Using data that the authors collected immediately after these disasters, two case studies of systemic failure are presented to extract lessons that might be used to improve communication resilience through coordination between parties in humanitarian relief operations. Recent emergency response trends are identified, and the paper argues that the persistence of response failures is not surprising, in part because response organizations normally operate independently, and their operations evolve at different rates. As a result, the organizational interfaces that enable rapid integration during a disaster naturally degrade and may be weak or absent. Integrating the literature on information processing theory and organization design with the data from the two case studies, the paper proposes that increasing the resilience of disaster response systems can be achieved by (1) improving the interoperability and information flow across organizational boundaries; (2) increasing the synergies between organizations on adapting new technology such as social media for the coordination of structured and unstructured data for use in decision-making, and (3) increasing the flexibility of relief organizations to use external resources from areas not affected by disasters on an opportunistic basis. The paper concludes by discussing resilience enhancing solutions including boundary spanning investments and argues that effective emergency response does not result from sporadic or intermittent efforts but rather requires sustained investment, continuous monitoring, and data collection.     

Impact of Georgia's teenage and adult driver responsibility act: 15-year follow-up

Objective: This study was designed to investigate the 15-year impact of Georgia's graduated drivers' licensing (GDL) law, the “Teenage and Adult Driver Responsibility Act” (TADRA), on fatality crashes among young drivers.

Methods: Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data for Georgia and Census denominators were used to determine fatal crash rates (FCRs) of drivers ages 16 through 19 who passed through the Georgia GDL system during the 5.5 years prior to through 15.5 years after TADRA's implementation. FCRs of younger drivers were compared to those of drivers ages 20–54 and 55–75 and compared by gender. Attention was given to speeding- and alcohol-related crashes, 2 foci of TADRA.

Results: The decline in FCRs has been maintained and even increased through 15.5 years after passage of the law. Extending the curfew and further limiting passengers (passed in 2001) and driver's education and supervised driving requirements (added in 2007) may have contributed. The greatest declines were among 16- and 17-year-olds; most of the gains were among male drivers. The changes were greatest for alcohol- and speeding-related crashes. Those 18 and 19 years old did not demonstrate an increase in FCR over the period studied.

Conclusion: Georgia's graduated licensing law, TADRA, has maintained and in some instances increased in effectiveness over the 15.5 years since its inception. Though national research suggests that GDL laws are associated with increased crash rates among 18- to 19-year-old drivers, this has not occurred in Georgia; 18- and 19-year-olds demonstrated no change or reductions in FCR over the 20.5-year period evaluated. Declines were greatest for those driving behaviors targeted by the law.     

Railroad injury: Causes, costs, and comparisons with other transport modes

Safety regulators in the railroad industry need comprehensive injury costs by cause, and cost comparisons to other modes of transport to gain policy insights. This study links case-level data from the Federal Railroad Administration to monetary costs and consequences of specific injuries. Lost quality of life was estimated from physicians' ratings of injury impairment and the value of fatal risk reduction. Railroad injuries and illnesses cause an average of $3 billion in fatality costs and $650 million in nonfatal incident costs annually. Impacts at rail-highway crossings impose three times as much cost as the next highest cause. Commercial air travel is the safest per passenger mile. Trains, second lowest, have injury costs six times higher, but only one-fifth as high as cars. The relative safety of trains and airplanes in transport means highway modes enjoy implicit price subsidies. Better injury cost recovery through taxation or insurance would make the subsidies explicit. More informed modal choices and thus enhanced economic efficiency would result.     

The influence of science on Canada's foreign policy on persistent organic pollutants (1985–2001)

The role of science in environmental foreign policymaking has received little attention in the international environmental politics literature, and systematic, in-depth case studies of the influence of science on environmental foreign policy with respect to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are entirely missing. We present a case study of the influence of science on Canada's foreign policy on POPs from the discovery of the transboundary nature of the POPs problem around 1985 to the signing of the United Nations Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in 2001. Influence was analyzed in terms of a knowledge–action methodology that focused on the types of scientific knowledge and the actions taken by scientists that were influential. Data were collected through interviews and extensive document analysis. We conclude that, while individual knowledge types and actions were influential during various periods (single-factor explanations), it was an increasingly layered and integrated “package” of knowledge types and actions, with human health impacts as its touchstone and partnering between scientists and non-scientists as its watchword, that propelled and sustained Canada's foreign policy on the POPs issue.     

Conflict and Engagement: An Empirical Study of a Farmer-Extension Partnership in a Sustainable Agriculture Program

Stakeholder engagement is a crucial conceptof extension education. Engagement expressesdemocratic values of the land-grant mission byproviding opportunities for stakeholders to influenceprogram planning, including setting the agenda andnegotiating resource allocations. In practice, theconcept of engagement guides the formation ofpartnerships among extension, communities, industry,and government. In the area of sustainableagriculture, however, stakeholders may conflict,presenting challenges to the engagement process.Results from a study of a Canadian sustainableagriculture program, produced using culturalanthropology and participatory action research, detailchallenges of the engagement process that led toreconstruction of a farmer-extension partnership.Notable in the early phase of the reconstructionprocess were critical reflection, stakeholder forums,exclusion through caucusing, and coalition building.An argument for a neo-pragmatist view provides atheoretical basis for understanding counterintuitivedimensions of engagement revealed by the study.     

Bioventing of No. 2 Fuel Oil: Effects of Air Flowrate,Temperature, Nutrient Amendment,and Acclimation

A 14‐month pilot‐scale bioventing study, sponsored by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, was conducted by the University of New Hampshire to determine the effects of the time between the contamination event and the onset of bioventing, as well as air flowrate, temperature, and nutrient amendments. Freshly contaminated soil was not readily amenable to bioventing. Bioventing was effective (82–92.5 percent removal) for acclimated soil amended with nutrients at 10 °C and 20 °C for the 275 cm³/min and 140 cm³/min air flowrates, respectively. First order degradation rates after nutrient addition were ?6.11 ± 0.83 (×10^?3)/day and ?6.57 ± 1.71 (×10^?3)/day, respectively. The results indicate that bioventing will be best applied when the contamination has occurred at least two years before the onset of treatment. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Inhalation of two putative Gulf War toxins by mice

We employed our inhalation methodology to examine whether biomarkers of inflammation and oxidative stress would be produced in mice following inhalation of aerosols containing carbonaceous particles or the vapor of pesticides prevalent during the first Gulf War. Exposure to two putative Gulf War Illness toxins, fine airborne particles and the pesticide malathion, increased biomarkers of inflammation and oxidative stress in Friend virus B (FVB) female mice. Mice inhaling particles 24 h before had increased lung lavage and plasma Leukotriene B4 (LTB₄) (a biomarker of inflammation) and PGF_2α (a biomarker of oxidative stress) levels, lung lavage protein and lung lavage lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) levels. These changes were a function of particle density and exposure time. Compared to particle inhalation, mice inhaling malathion 24 h before had small increase in plasma LTB₄ and PGF_2α levels but no increase in lung lavage LTB₄, lung lavage protein, lung lavage LDH, and lung lavage alveolar macrophage (AM) levels compared to unexposed control mice. AM from particle-exposed mice contained phagocytosed particles, while AM from malathion-exposed mice showed no abnormalities. Our results indicate that inhaling particles or malathion can alter inflammatory and oxidative biomarkers in mice and raise the possibility that these toxins may have altered inflammation and oxidative stress biomarkers in Gulf War-exposed individuals.