Evaluation of a denitrification wall to reduce surface water nitrogen loads

Denitrification walls have significantly reduced nitrogen concentrations in groundwater for at least 15 yr. This has spurred interest in developing methods to efficiently increase capture volume to reduce N loads in larger watersheds. The objective of this study was to maximize treatment volume by locating a wall where a large groundwatershed was funneled toward seepage slope headwaters. Nitrogen concentration and load were measured before and after wall installation in paired treatment and control streams. Beginning 2 d after installation, nitrogen concentration in the treatment stream declined from 6.7 ± 1.2 to 3.9 ± 0.78 mg L and total N loading rate declined by 65% (391 kg yr) with no corresponding decline in the control watershed. This wall, which only comprised 10 to 11% of the edge of field area that contributed to the treatment watershed, treated approximately 60% of the stream discharge, which confirmed the targeted approach. The total load reduction measured in the stream 155 m downstream from the wall (340 kg yr) was higher than that found in another study that measured load reductions in groundwater wells immediately around the wall (228 kg yr). This indicated the possibility of an extended impact on denitrification from carbon exported beyond the wall. This extended impact was inauspiciously confirmed when oxygen levels at the stream headwaters temporarily declined for 50 d. This research indicates that targeting walls adjacent to streams can effectively reduce N loading in receiving waters, although with a potentially short-term impact on water quality.     

Characterization of fine primary biogenic organic aerosol in an urban area in the northeastern United States

Scanning electron microscopy coupled to energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDX) was used to quantify individual bioparticles in PM_2.5 samples collected during the Pittsburgh Air Quality Study. Microscopy-based estimates of primary biogenic organic aerosol (PBOA) mass were compared to carbohydrate mass associated with PM_2.5. Carbohydrates show substantial seasonal variations, with higher concentrations in the spring and the fall. During the summer, carbohydrates were about 30% of the estimated PBOA concentrations, but in the winter carbohydrate concentrations often greatly exceeded the PBOA mass estimate. Spores and insect detritus were the most abundant PBOA types in the summer samples, while winter samples were comprised predominantly of a mixture of microorganisms, insect and vegetative detritus. During the summer PBOA contributed on average 6.9 ± 5.4% by mass of the PM_2.5 versus 3.3 ± 1.4% of the PM_2.5 mass during the winter.     

An empirical examination of the role of attributions in psychological entitlement and its outcomes

Psychological entitlement refers to the phenomenon in which individuals consistently believe that they deserve preferential rewards and treatment, often with little consideration of actual qualities or performance levels. This study examines the influence of psychological entitlement on workplace outcomes, using attribution theory to explain its effects. Results suggested that entitlement perceptions are positively associated with self‐serving attribution styles and that diminished need for cognition mediates this relationship. Self‐serving attribution styles, in turn, were associated with reduced job satisfaction and increased levels of conflict with supervisors. A direct positive relationship between psychological entitlement and turnover intent was also observed. Overall, results suggest that an attributional perspective is useful in explaining and understanding the influence of entitlement perceptions on workplace outcomes. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Finding Common Ground: How Advocacy Coalitions Succeed in Protecting Environmental Flows1

Abstract: This paper reviews several recent case studies in which states or countries have strengthened their protection of environmental flows to explore the key policy, stakeholder, and scientific elements that contributed to these advances in water management. A conceptual framework is developed to describe the actions of interest groups and individuals, how environmental flow issues get onto the formal agenda of decision makers, the events and conditions which precipitate this attention, the role of science and scientific uncertainty, and how interactions and dialog among individuals and groups with different interests lead to changes in state and national statutes. In general, the review found that changing policies is a result of actions of informed groups of interested parties using science and information to inform both the public and decision makers about the need for action and about the specific action needed. In almost all cases, environmental flow issues make it onto the formal agenda of institutions through one or more precipitating events, often legal challenges that call into question the existing legal framework for water management. Significantly, in almost all cases the engagement between advocacy coalitions with different and often opposing views results in reframing the issues to provide a common approach or solution upon which the competing coalitions can agree.     

Anticipating public attitudes toward underground CO2 storage

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) may play a central role in managing carbon emissions from the power sector and industry, but public support for the technology is unclear. To address this knowledge gap, and to test the use of discrete choice analysis for determining public attitudes, two focus groups and a national survey were conducted in Canada to investigate the public's perceptions of the benefits and risks of CCS, the likely determinants of public opinion, and overall support for the use of CCS.The results showed slight support for CCS development in Canada, and a belief that CCS is less risky than normal oil and gas industry operations, nuclear power, or coal-burning power plants. A majority of respondents indicate that they would support the use of CCS as part of a greenhouse gas reduction strategy, although it would likely have to be used in combination with energy efficiency and alternative energy technologies in order to retain public support.     

Policy networks,stakeholder interactions and climate adaptation in the region of South East Queensland,Australia

The strategic use of science in regional policy-making forums often assumes collaborative interactions between stakeholders. However, other types of stakeholder interactions are possible. This paper uses the ecology of games to frame an investigation into stakeholder participation in the policy networks for regional climate change planning for South East Queensland, Australia. We tracked organisational participation in policy forums between 2008 and 2012. We then used a novel bipartite network theoretical approach to identify participation by different types of organisations across shared multiple forums, which we argue prefaces: cooperation, collaboration, support or advocacy. Network analysis was then combined with semi-structured interviews to access how scientific information was utilised across the regional network. Our results suggest that stakeholder interactions were predominately used to advocate for organisational agendas. Advocacy artificially narrows the scope of possible policy options and represents a biased, selective use of information. While advocacy is an important part of policy process, as a counter balance, explicit efforts are needed to recurrently expand the scope of policy options.     

Focusing Ecological Research for Conservation

Ecologists are increasingly actively involved in conservation. We identify five key topics from a broad sweep of ecology that merit research attention to meet conservation needs. We examine questions from landscape ecology, behavioral ecology, ecosystem dynamics, community ecology, and nutrient cycling related to key topics. Based on literature review and publication trend assessment, consultation with colleagues, and roundtable discussions at the 24th International Congress for Conservation Biology, focused research on the following topics could benefit conservation while advancing ecological understanding: 1. Carbon sequestration, requiring increased linkages to biodiversity conservation; 2. Ecological invasiveness, challenging our ability to find solutions to ecological aliens; 3. Individual variation, having applications in the conservation of rare species; 4. Movement of organisms, integrating ecological processes across landscapes and scales and addressing habitat fragmentation; and 5. Trophic-level interactions, driving ecological dynamics at the ecosystem-level. Addressing these will require cross-disciplinary research under the overarching framework of conservation ecology.     

A Method for Setting the Size of Plant Conservation Target Areas

Abstract: Realistic time frames in which management decisions are made often preclude the completion of the detailed analyses necessary for conservation planning. Under these circumstances, efficient alternatives may assist in approximating the results of more thorough studies that require extensive resources and time. We outline a set of concepts and formulas that may be used in lieu of detailed population viability analyses and habitat modeling exercises to estimate the protected areas required to provide desirable conservation outcomes for a suite of threatened plant species. We used expert judgment of parameters and assessment of a population size that results in a specified quasiextinction risk based on simple dynamic models. The area required to support a population of this size is adjusted to take into account deterministic and stochastic human influences, including small-scale disturbance, deterministic trends such as habitat loss, and changes in population density through processes such as predation and competition. We set targets for different disturbance regimes and geographic regions. We applied our methods to Banksia cuneata, Boronia keysii, and Parsonsia dorrigoensis, resulting in target areas for conservation of 1102, 733, and 1084 ha, respectively. These results provide guidance on target areas and priorities for conservation strategies.     

Learning from others: the scope and challenges for participatory disaster risk assessment

This paper develops a framework based on procedural, methodological and ideological elements of participatory vulnerability and risk assessment tools for placing individual approaches within the wide range of work that claims a participatory, local or community orientation. In so doing it draws on relevant experience from other areas of development practice from which the disasters field can learn. Participatory disaster risk assessments are examined for their potential to be empowering, to generate knowledge, to be scaled up, to be a vehicle for negotiating local change and as part of multiple-methods approaches to disaster risk identification and reduction. The paper is a response to an international workshop on Community Risk Assessment organised by ProVention Consortium and the Disaster Mitigation for Sustainable Livelihoods Programme, University of Cape Town. The workshop brought together practitioners and academics to review the challenges and opportunities for participatory methodologies in the field of disaster risk reduction. In conclusion the contribution made by participatory methodologies to global disaster risk reduction assessment and policy is discussed.