The Gathering Storm: managing adaptation to environmental change in coastal communities and small islands

Small island communities are inherently coastal communities, sharing many of the attributes and challenges faced by cities, towns and villages situated on the shores of larger islands and continents. In the context of rapidly changing climates, all coastal communities are challenged by their exposure to changing sea levels, to increasingly frequent and severe storms, and to the cumulative effects of higher storm surges. Across the globe, small island developing states, and small islands in larger states, are part of a distinctive set of stakeholders threatened, not only by climate change but also by shifting social, economic, and cultural conditions. C-Change is a collaborative International Community–University Research Alliance (ICURA) project whose goal is to assist participating coastal communities in Canada and the Caribbean region to share experiences and tools that aid adaptation to changes in their physical environment, including sea-level rise and the increasing frequency of extreme weather events associated with climate change. C-Change researchers have been working with eight partner communities to identify threats, vulnerabilities, and risks, to improve understanding of the ramifications of climate change to local conditions and local assets, and to increase capacity for planning for adaptation to their changing world. This paper reports on the knowledge gained and shared and the challenges to date in this ongoing collaboration between science and society.     

Mechanosensitivity in the model sea anemone <Emphasis Type="Italic">Nematostella vectensis</Emphasis>

Tentacles of the sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis, are covered with hair bundles. Hair bundles were deflected by water jets to test whether they are mechanoreceptors. Electrophysiological recordings confirm that deflections of hair bundles induce transients in membrane current. In a different species of anemone, hair bundle mechanoreceptors are known to change shape and responsiveness according to the activity of chemoreceptors that bind prey-derived compounds including N-acetylated sugars. In Nematostella, hair bundles significantly elongate upon exposure to NANA, an N-acetylated sugar. Based on a bioassay in which discharged nematocysts are counted in gelatin-coated test probes touched to tentacles, we find that NANA shifts vibration dependent discharge of basitrich nematocysts to lower frequencies overlapping those produced during swimming by known prey including planktonic crustaceans. Furthermore, we find for the first time that vibration detection extends at least 2.5 cm beyond the tentacle tips. Thus, Nematostella likely employs its hair bundles to detect swimming movements of nearby prey.     

Provisional drivers' perceptions of the impact of displaying P plates

Objective: P plates (or decals) identify a driver's license status to other road users. They are a compulsory part of the graduated driver licensing system in Queensland, Australia, for drivers on a P1 (provisional 1) or P2 (provisional 2) license. This study explored the perceptions of young drivers regarding the display of P plates (decals) in Queensland, Australia.

Methods: In this study, 226 young drivers with a provisional (intermediate/restricted) license completed a 30-min online survey between October 2013 and June 2014. t Tests were used to compare the opinions of people who displayed their plates nearly always with those who displayed them less frequently.

Results: Participants approved of the requirement to display P plates with 69% of those on a P1 license and 79% on a P2 license supporting the condition to display P1 (red) plates. Participants on a P1 license (62%) and a P2 license (68%) also approved the requirement to display P2 (green) plates. However, young drivers also perceived that the display of P plates (measured from 1 = never to 5 = nearly all the time) enabled newly licensed drivers to be targeted by police and other drivers (those who do not always display P plates: M = 3.72, SD = 0.94; those who nearly always display P plates: M = 3.43, SD = 1.09).

Conclusions: The study findings suggest that participants who nearly always display their P plates are more likely to report that having to display their plates resulted in them driving more carefully.     

Increase in phosphorus losses from grassland in response to Olsen-P accumulation

The Olsen-P status of grazed grassland (Lolium perenne L.) swards in Northern Ireland was increased over a 5-yr period (March 2000 to February 2005) by applying different rates of P fertilizer (0, 10, 20, 40, or 80 kg P ha(-1) yr(-1)) to assess the relationship between soil P status and P losses in land drainage water and overland flow. Plots (0.2 ha) were hydrologically isolated and artificially drained to v-notch weirs, with flow proportional monitoring of drainage water and overland flow. Annually, the collectors for overland flow intercepted between 11 and 35% of the surplus rainfall. Single flow events accounted for up to 52% of the annual dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP) load. The Olsen-P status of the soil influenced DRP and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations in land drainage water and overland flow. Annual TP loss was highly variable and ranged from 0.19 to 1.55 kg P ha(-1) yr(-1) for the plot receiving no P fertilizer and from 0.35 to 2.94 kg P ha(-1) yr(-1) for the plot receiving 80 kg P ha(-1) yr(-1). Despite the Olsen-P status in the soils ranging from 22 to 99 mg P kg(-1), after 5 yr of fertilizer P applications it was difficult to identify a clear Olsen-P concentration at which P losses increased. Any relationship was confounded by annual variability of hydrologic events and flows and by hydrologic differences between plots. Withholding P fertilizer for over 5 yr was not long enough to lower P losses or to have an adverse effect on herbage P concentrations.     

Integrated Resource Management: Institutional Arrangements Regarding Nitrate Pollution in England

The emergence of problems such as nitrate pollution has drawn attention to the need for integrated management of land and water resources. Integrated management approaches require appropriate institutional arrangements. Unfortunately, in many countries, land and water resources are managed on a sectoral basis and institutions were not designed to deal with complex environmental problems. Institutional arrangements for management of nitrate pollution are evaluated on the basis of seven criteria. Results indicate that some progress was made after 1985 regarding inter-agency co-ordination, public participation, the mix of strategies and adaptive capacity. Nevertheless, key substantive issues involving equity, efficiency and effectiveness were not adequately resolved. Policy referral, catchment management planning, bargaining and negotiation are recommended as key processes and mechanisms for improved management of the nitrate problem.     

On the evaluation of biological hazards and competing risks

After some general remarks, and a brief explanation of Clifford's non-identifiability results for illness-death models, an attempt is made to view the competing-risk problem more biologically. The cause and time of death vary from individual to individual because they have different genetically determined susceptibilities and different life histories. Although one could define potential lifetimes associated with causes of death, averaging over different genetic susceptibilities means that from population data one cannot estimate the distribution of cause specific life spans in individuals with the same genetic susceptibility. In particular, the hazard curves for different genetic states cannot be resolved from population data.     

Indigenous Studies Speaks to Environmental Management

This article describes the increasing connections between the fields of Indigenous studies and environmental management and examines some of the ways that an Indigenous studies perspective can guide thinking about environmental management. Indigenous groups have been involved in the management of environmental and natural resources on their lands since time immemorial. Indigenous groups have also become increasingly involved in Western practices of environmental management with the advent of co-management institutions, subsistence boards, traditional ecological knowledge forums, and environmental issues affecting Indigenous resources. Thus, it is an important time for scholarship that explores how Indigenous groups are both shaping and being affected by processes of environmental management. This article summarizes key findings and themes from eight papers situated at the intersection of these two fields of study and identify means by which environmental managers can better accommodate Indigenous rights and perspectives. It is the authors’ hope that increased dialog between Indigenous studies and environmental management can contribute to the building of sustainable and socially just environmental management practices.     

WILLOW POSTS BANK STABILIZATION1

ABSTRACT: Harland Creek, in east-central Mississippi, is a rapidly migrating, meandering stream that is experiencing severe bank erosion. More than 9,000 willow (Salix nigra) posts were emplaced in February 1994 by the U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers in an effort to stabilize eroding stream banks using an experimental bioengi-neering technique. Monitoring of this stream reach and the willow post bank stabilization has resulted in a data base to assess willow mortality as related to bank aspect, post diameter, cover, and base elevation above low water. Monitoring has also resulted in the development of revised construction guidelines. Survivability of the posts, a necessary condition for long-term success, was found to average 81 percent in May 1994, 43 percent in October 1994, and 41 percent in August 1995. Even with survivability as low as 29 percent to 34 percent at specific bend reaches, willow posts are documented to be successful in bank stabilization for the period of monitoring, in comparison with more traditional riprap stabilization methods. Guidelines for improved survivability and recommended site selection are presented. Cost of willow post bank stabilization is less than traditional riprap, and willow posts can be emplaced using readily available equipment and materials.     

Receptor modeling application framework for particle source apportionment

Receptor models infer contributions from particulate matter (PM) source types using multivariate measurements of particle chemical and physical properties. Receptor models complement source models that estimate concentrations from emissions inventories and transport meteorology. Enrichment factor, chemical mass balance, multiple linear regression, eigenvector. edge detection, neural network, aerosol evolution, and aerosol equilibrium models have all been used to solve particulate air quality problems, and more than 500 citations of their theory and application document these uses. While elements, ions, and carbons were often used to apportion TSP, PM10, and PM2.5 among many source types, many of these components have been reduced in source emissions such that more complex measurements of carbon fractions, specific organic compounds, single particle characteristics, and isotopic abundances now need to be measured in source and receptor samples. Compliance monitoring networks are not usually designed to obtain data for the observables, locations, and time periods that allow receptor models to be applied. Measurements from existing networks can be used to form conceptual models that allow the needed monitoring network to be optimized. The framework for using receptor models to solve air quality problems consists of: (1) formulating a conceptual model; (2) identifying potential sources; (3) characterizing source emissions; (4) obtaining and analyzing ambient PM samples for major components and source markers; (5) confirming source types with multivariate receptor models; (6) quantifying source contributions with the chemical mass balance; (7) estimating profile changes and the limiting precursor gases for secondary aerosols; and (8) reconciling receptor modeling results with source models, emissions inventories, and receptor data analyses.