Femoral secretions and copulatory plugs convey chemical information about male identity and dominance status in Iberian rock lizards (Lacerta monticola)

Socially dominant males often signal their status to rival males and/or females. We tested the hypotheses that Lacerta monticola femoral gland secretions and copulatory plugs convey chemical information about male identity and dominance status. We estimated male dominance status by staging male–male agonistic encounters in a neutral arena. We then conducted two experiments to compare male tongue-flick behavior toward chemical stimuli consisting of cotton swabs bearing (1) deionized water (control), the lizard’s own femoral secretions, and the femoral secretions of another male and (2) phosphate-buffered saline solution (control), the lizard’s own plug products, and the plug products of another male. Results indicate that males discriminated their own femoral secretions and plugs from those of other males. They also discriminated morphological attributes of other males that were associated with dominance status based on chemical cues arising from femoral secretions and discriminated the dominance status of other males based on chemical cues arising from the plugs. Femoral secretions that convey information about male identity and dominance status may be hypothesized to function in the establishment of L. monticola dominance hierarchies through scent-marking of territories. We suggest that copulatory plugs and femoral secretions may allow males to scent-mark the female body and postulate that this behavior may influence male and female reproductive decisions under selective pressures of sperm competition.     

SOCPROG programs: analysing animal social structures

SOCPROG is a set of programs which analyses data on animal associations. Data usually come from observations of the social behaviour of individually identifiable animals. Associations among animals, sampling periods, restrictions on the data and association indices can be defined very flexibly. SOCPROG can analyse data sets including 1,000 or more individuals. Association matrices are displayed using sociograms, principal coordinates analysis, multidimensional scaling and cluster analyses. Permutation tests, Mantel and related tests and matrix correlation methods examine hypotheses about preferred associations among individuals and classes of individual. Weighted network statistics are calculated and can be tested against null hypotheses. Temporal analyses include displays of lagged association rates (rates of reassociation following an association). Models can be fitted to lagged association rates. Multiple association measures, including measures produced by other programs such as genetic or range use data, may be analysed using Mantel tests and principal components analysis. SOCPROG also performs mark-recapture population analyses and movement analyses. SOCPROG is written in the programming language MATLAB and may be downloaded free from the World Wide Web.     

More than just linking the nodes: civil society actors as intermediaries in the design and implementation of payments for ecosystem services–the case of a blue carbon project in Costa Rica

While in many cases the benefits of ecosystem services (ES) can be enjoyed on different scales, the provision of ES requires engagement and commitment at the local scale. Therefore, the local level becomes important when thinking about compensation schemes or payments for ecosystem services (PES) as an approach to managing ES. The difficult task of bringing together different actors and institutions at different scales for specific conservation projects at the local level often remains in the hands of intermediaries. In this paper, we investigate the role of a civil society organisation (CSO) as an intermediary organisation in a PES scheme, the Community Blue Carbon Project (CBCP) in Costa Rica. To assess the role of intermediaries in a PES scheme, we rely on social network analysis and examine the position and role of the intermediary organisation. Based on Net-Map interviews, which is an interview-based mapping tool that helps people understand, visualise, discuss and improve situations in which many different actors influence outcomes, we find that the intermediary organisation in the CBCP is composed of several institutional and individual intermediaries who create both formal networks for connecting the international to the local level and informal networks for creating trusting relationships among the actors. Different spatial levels are reflected within the CSO’s organisational structure, and the CSO mitigates the distributional, procedural, recognition and contextual aspects of environmental justice.     

Facilitating (?) urban agriculture in Philadelphia: sustainability narratives in the inequitable city

In 2008, the city of Philadelphia made increasing healthy food access a priority for sustainable development. Recognising that almost 25% of the population are considered food insecure, government agencies, non-governmental organisations and community leaders sought to increase food access through increasing food production and access to land in the city. Urban agriculture has gradually been incorporated in sustainability narratives in the past decade, both providing a platform for advocates to inform on policymaking, and potentially stripping away the political and activist origins of gaining access to food, land and green spaces in the city. In this paper, we argue that the depoliticising of urban agriculture advocacy through its incorporation in sustainability planning may serve to increase existing inequities in the city. Focusing on the policy-making scale, we examine measures enacted under the Philadelphia Greenworks Sustainability Plan to facilitate urban agriculture in the city. Our preliminary findings suggest that the processes by which urban agriculture gains acceptance demonstrate a disconnect in urban agriculture advocacy and policymaking and further work is needed to understand the impacts of the formalising of urban agriculture in Philadelphia.     

美国在环境议题上的分歧及对中国的启示

美国曾经在环境保护和治理污染上做出了卓越的成绩,但是如今环境议题成为撕裂美国的重要议题。美国的共和党和民主党在环境议题上互相牵制,难以达成共识。最近,美国特朗普总统宣布退出应对气候变化的《巴黎协定》就是这种分歧的表现。但当美国1970年代开始环境立法治理污染的时候,美国社会上下和两大党之间高度一致。在此后,因为环境思想上的差异和代际转变,政党斗争、选举体制、利益集团等多方面原因,美国不同政治势力在环境议题上越发分裂。美国在环境议题上的分歧对中国如今解决环境问题有重要的启示意义:首先,现在我国社会上下一致应对环境问题的广泛共识很宝贵,应该抓住难得的机遇期,为未来环境治理积极立法,留下宝贵法治遗产。另一方面,随着人们在环境议题上的利益变得多元,中国应该在环境治理上整合各方面利益,防止中国未来的环保事业被利益集团绑架。最后,中国应该明确环境议题的概念远远大于治理污染,为未来环境事业扩展空间。     

落实《水污染防治行动计划》投融资思路与建议——对《水污染防治行动计划》的解读

创新、拓宽水环境保护领域投融资渠道,是落实水污染防治行动计划、保障国家水安全的关键环节。研究结论表明,水污染防治领域成熟稳定的财政资金投入机制匮乏、中小环保企业水环境治理项目融资存在制约瓶颈、社会资本水污染治理投入盈利机制不健全等是关键制约因素。鉴于此,文章提出了落实《水污染防治行动计划》的投融资思路和具体建议:整合设立水污染防治专项资金以建立政府常态化投入机制,设立政府主导的环境保护基金以发挥财政资金引导作用,建立社会资本水污染防治项目资金投入回报机制以吸引社会资本投入,创新环境金融服务、发挥市场融资作用以提升水污染治理企业或项目融资能力。     

On sustainability and social welfare

This paper proposes to define sustainability in terms of leaving it possible for future generations to sustain certain defined targets. It is shown that variants of genuine savings and the ecological footprint can then serve as indicators of sustainability. The link between sustainability and intergenerational welfare is examined, and it is shown how to incorporate indicators of sustainability into a social welfare measure, including risk in the analysis.     

Local energy generation projects: assessing equity and risks

Micro- and small-scale low-carbon energy generators embedded within villages, towns and cities can provide a valuable income stream for local communities among other potential benefits. There are a range of social, political, technical and environmental factors that may impact upon the success of a planned energy generation project; however, these factors are rarely considered in unison. The aim of this research is to investigate and understand the concerns relating to equity and distributional justice that impact upon local groups interested in developing energy projects and to determine whether a whole systems approach can be used to draw out perceived issues. This has been achieved by working with two small village groups to test a newly developed energy equity assessment tool. This paper reports research findings from two villages in the UK both planning energy projects that intended to benefit their respective villages and examines perceived issues relating to equity and distributional justice associated with the proposed schemes. The research highlights some challenges facing community groups when planning micro- and small-scale energy projects and demonstrates the commitment, tenacity and high levels of personal risk that these groups have to bear in order to bring their projects to fruition and comments as to the type of actions that may be required to more wholly consider equity issues while developing future energy policy.     

Integrated dynamic risk assessment of buried gas pipeline leakages in urban areas

In urban areas, buried gas pipeline leakages could potentially cause numerous casualties and massive damage. Traditional static analysis and dynamic probability-based quantitative risk assessment (QRA) methods have been widely used in various industries. However, dynamic QRA methods combined with probability and consequence are rarely used to evaluate gas pipelines buried in urban areas. Therefore, an integrated dynamic risk assessment approach was proposed. First, a failure rate calculation of buried gas pipelines was performed, where the corrosion failure rate dependent on time was calculated by integrating the subset simulation method. The relationship between failure probability and failure rate was considered, and a mechanical analysis model considering the corrosion growth model and multiple loads was used. The time-independent failure rates were calculated by the modification factor methods. Next, the overall evolution process from pipeline failures to accidents was proposed, with the accident rates subsequently updated. Then, the consequences of buried gas pipeline accidents corresponding to the accident types in the evolution process were modeled and analyzed. Finally, based on the above research, dynamic calculation and assessment methods for evaluating individual and social risks were established, and an overall application example was provided to demonstrate the capacity of the proposed approach. A reliable and practical theoretical basis and supporting information are provided for the integrity and emergency management of buried gas pipelines in urban areas, considering actual operational conditions.     

Clonal structure affects the assembling behavior in the Japanese queenless ant <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pristomyrmex punctatus</Emphasis>

The queenless ant Pristomyrmex punctatus (Hymenoptera: Myrmicinae) has a unique society that differs from those of other typical ants. This species does not have a queen, and the workers lay eggs and produce their clones parthenogenetically. However, a colony of these ants does not always comprise members derived from a single clonal line. In this study, we examined whether P. punctatus changes its “assembling behavior” based on colony genetic structure. We prepared two subcolonies—a larger one comprising 200 individuals and a smaller one comprising 100 individuals; these subcolonies were established from a single stock colony. We investigated whether these subcolonies assemble into a single nest. The genetically monomorphic subcolonies (single clonal line) always fused into a single nest; however, the genetically polymorphic subcolonies (multiple clonal lines) did not tend to form a single colony. The present study is the first to demonstrate that the colony genetic structure significantly affects social viscosity in social insects.