Assessing the value of pastoral farming in the Alps using choice experiments: evidence for public policies and management

Alpine livestock farms consist of pastures, buildings, people and animals, and are a key element for the economy in the Alps. Pastures and huts are often owned by the local municipalities, who lease them to private tenants. However, this activity is often no longer profitable, and thus pastures and huts remain unused and abandoned. This research provides an economic estimate of pastoral farming using the choice experiment (CE) method, also assessing the willingness to pay (WTP) for pastoral farming functions. The study examines different scenarios of upland farm management in order to provide recommendations for public owners on how to better manage these assets. The case study is located in an alpine area in northern Italy. Our results show a higher WTP for the attributes related to the traditional Alpine agricultural economy, with an emphasis on grazing. Several policy implications regarding agricultural renewal and support for mountain livelihoods are highlighted in the conclusions.     

Is this trail too crowded? A choice experiment to evaluate tradeoffs and preferences of park visitors in Garibaldi Park,British Columbia

Large crowds in parks can be a problem for park managers and visitors. However, perceptions of crowding are difficult to measure due to coping mechanisms deployed by park visitors. Furthermore, perceptions of crowding should not be measured in isolation, but rather as part of a suite of conditions that comprise the visitors’ outdoor experience. We used a dichotomous choice experiment with visual images and eight attributes to estimate park users’ utilities associated with their visitor experience in Garibaldi Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada. Our visual method allowed us to control for background view and compare user preferences on hiking trails with preferences at final destinations. We find that utilities are more sensitive to crowding at viewpoints than to other aspects of the outdoor experience. Thus, visitor satisfaction and crowding perceptions are more likely to be defined by where visitors have these encounters rather than the total number of encounters.     

Mating system evolution in response to search costs in the speckled wood butterfly, Pararge aegeria

A general and intuitive prediction from models of mate preference is that when the cost of searching for mates increases, individuals should become less choosy. Here, we test this prediction by comparing the mating propensity of females in two populations of the butterfly Pararge aegeria. The populations originated from southern Sweden and Madeira and due to different adult emergence patterns throughout the year, the average density of males per female is likely to be lower on Madeira. Therefore, we expected that the cost of searching should be greater on Madeira and, consequently, that the Madeiran females should be less choosy. In line with predictions, the Madeiran females mated significantly sooner after the first interaction with males than did females from southern Sweden. This difference may reflect a weaker preference for territorial males over non-territorial patrollers in the Madeiran population, because of the greater costs of searching. The Madeiran females also showed a shorter time lag between mating and the start of oviposition. We discuss this unexpected result and propose that the same mechanism could also explain this population difference, i.e. different costs of searching for suitable host plants. Both search processes are fundamental for female reproductive success and we find it plausible that they can be generalised into the same theory of optimal search behaviour. Received: 14 May 1998 / Accepted after revision: 13 December 1998     

Determinants of male mating success in the red bishop (Euplectes orix)

We studied sexual selection in the red bishop, Euplectes orix, a colonial, polygynous weaverbird widely distributed over sub-Saharan Africa. Male reproductive success measured in terms of the number of nests accepted by females and the number of eggs and nestlings in all the nests on a male's territory varied considerably. The standardized variance (variance/mean²) in male reproductive success ranged from 0.505 to 1.737 in different years, indicating a high potential for sexual selection in this species. An analysis of genetic parentage for 432 nestlings by non-radioactive, multilocus DNA fingerprinting confirmed that male reproductive success (number of young sired on the territory) in this species can be reliably estimated by the measures introduced above. In all 4 study years there was a strong positive correlation between male mating success and the total number of nests that males built in their territories. The number of nests built can be partitioned into the number of weeks a male held a territory and his nest-building performance. Both factors exert a significant positive effect on male mating success and in combination explained between 53.3 and 86.3% of the variation in male reproductive success. Male morphological characters were found to be of no importance. Males that established a territory in the following season built more nests and held their territories for longer than males that did not establish a territory in the following season, suggesting that these measures might be indicators of male condition and quality. Male nest-building performance (number of nests built per week) seems to be unrelated to male condition or quality. Received: 8 January 1999 / Received in revised form: 7 June 1999 / Accepted: 13 June 1999     

Female choice in the opportunistic mating of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) at Mahale

For female chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in the Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania, the most common mating pattern is opportunistic. In such opportunistic matings, females copulated promiscuously but not randomly. This study describes female mate choice during 1-year observation of six females who exhibited regular genital-swelling cycles. During the study period, 169 opportunistic matings and four restrictive matings were recorded over the course of 51 days. As female estrus progressed, mating frequency and the number of adult male mating partners increased, although the number of potential mating partners did not change. Criteria of female choice examined were the direction and consent/rejection of courtship, proximity maintenance, and female grooming. Adult-male courtships were successful more often than those of adolescent males. During the earlier phase of estrus, females copulated rather promiscuously with many males. But during the later phase of estrus when the likelihood of conception is expected to be highest, they copulated repeatedly with high-ranking adult males. There was a positive correlation between female grooming frequency and mating frequency when the likelihood of conception was greatest. Female chimpanzees are thought to choose high-ranking males as fathers of their offspring. Moreover, female chimpanzees may adopt one or both of two mating strategies, i.e., a many-male strategy and a best-male strategy. Received: 23 November 1998 / Received in revised form: 12 April 1999 / Accepted: 26 April 1999     

Imperfect female choice and male mating skew on leks of different sizes

We present a model of error-prone female choice on leks, and investigate the effects of different degrees of error on the distribution of mating success among males present at leks of different sizes. At higher levels of error, the best male is predicted to gain a smaller share of matings, while low-ranking males gain a larger share. Males who are of high rank but not the most desirable on the lek do best at intermediate levels of error, since the top-ranked male does not then claim all the matings, but assessment is still sufficiently accurate for females to discriminate between high-ranking and low-ranking competitors. The effects of error are shown to be more pronounced on larger leks, due to smaller expected differences in mating value between males of adjacent ranks. This interaction between lek size and error suggests that observed negative relationships between lek size and mating skew need not be attributed solely to intrasexual competition, as previously suggested, but could also be a result of imperfect choice. Received: 20 February 1998 / Accepted after revision: 25 October 1998     

Variance in female quality, operational sex ratio and male mate choice in a bushcricket

Male bushcrickets, Kawanaphila nartee, exercise mate choice when nutrients are limited. Male mate choice is associated with a female-biased operational sex ratio (OSR) that arises from an increased relative paternal investment under nutrient limitation. However, increased male choosiness could be attributable to the fact that females vary more in fecundity, and consequently in mate quality, when nutrient limited. Our objective was to experimentally partition the influences of OSR (male or female bias) and variance in mate quality (high or low) and to assess their relative influence on the intensity of mate choice by male bushcrickets. Female quality was manipulated by controlled feeding regimes that directly affected female fecundity. We found that males and females engaged in sexual interactions sooner under a male-biased than a female-biased OSR. Males were more likely to reject females on their first encounter when variance in female quality was high. However, the effect of quality variance on the total number of rejections during a 4-h observation period was dependent on the perceived OSR. A male's prior experience of variance in female quality did not influence male choosiness. Our observed rates of mate rejection conformed well with those predicted from recent theoretical models of sexual differences in choosiness. In conclusion, our results show that the opportunity for selection via male mate choice is influenced by an interaction between OSR and the variance in mate quality that arises within nutrient-limited populations of females. Received: 5 January 1998 / Accepted after revision: 25 October 1998     

基于选择实验法的城市生态系统服务价值评估——以四川温江为例

对城市生态系统服务价值的全面认知是实现城市生态系统可持续发展的基础。论文以四川温江为例,首先,基于选择实验法,构建城市生态系统服务功能属性指标和设置属性水平,了解温江居民对不同状态水平的选择偏好;然后,采用Mixed Logit模型对居民城市生态系统服务效用函数进行拟合,探讨生态系统服务各属性隐含价格和居民补偿剩余;最后,对温江城市生态系统服务价值进行评估。结果表明：1）温江居民对于城市生态系统服务功能偏好由高到低分别为城市小气候、水环境、空气质量、城市噪声污染和休闲娱乐文化。2）各生态系统服务功能属性指标隐含价格分别为：为了在5 a内实现温江城市生态系统服务功能各指标预设目标,空气质量达标天数比率每提高1%,当地居民支付意愿为399.45元/(人·a);河流综合污染指数每下降1%,当地居民支付意愿为564.03元/(人·a);一类地区环境噪声比每降低1%,当地居民支付意愿为295.25元/(人·a);夏季最高温度比每提高1%,当地居民支付意愿为630.81元/(人·a);人均公共绿地面积比重每提高1%,当地居民支付意愿为219.29元/(人·a)。3）为在5 a内实现目标,温江居民的整体人均意愿支付成本为113.59元/(人·a),据此可以计算得出目前温江城市生态系统服务全价值为3 733.08万元/a。     

Time delay,complexity and support for taxation

People often experience the benefits of taxation over time. We design an intertemporal market experiment with negative externalities to examine how delaying the benefits of taxation affects support for taxes. We find that when negative externalities occur immediately, people learn to adopt Pigouvian taxes, which are aimed at reducing negative externalities and restoring market efficiency. By contrast, when negative externalities are delayed, people are less receptive to taxation. This effect persists over time. Our data reveal that the strong negative delay effect can be explained in large part by narrow bracketing and the increased perceived complexity of the environment, rather than by time discounting per-se. We argue and demonstrate that increasing the transparency of intertemporal tradeoffs can effectively promote support for taxation.     

吸收塔浆液起泡原因分析及消泡剂的选择

针对在多个湿法脱硫项目中出现的吸收塔浆液起泡现象,分析了引起塔内浆液起泡的原因,提出了相应的处理措施,探讨脱硫吸收塔浆液起泡专用消泡剂的作用原理及选择原则。