Being trusted: How team generational age diversity promotes and undermines trust in cross‐boundary relationships

We examine how demographic context influences the trust that boundary spanners experience in their dyadic relationships with clients. Because of the salience of age as a demographic characteristic as well as the increasing prevalence of age diversity and intergenerational conflict in the workplace, we focus on team age diversity as a demographic social context that affects trust between boundary spanners and their clients. Using social categorization theory and theories of social capital, we develop and test our contextual argument that a boundary spanner's experience of being trusted is influenced by the social categorization processes that occur in dyadic interactions with a specific client and, simultaneously, by similar social categorization processes that influence the degree to which the client team as a whole serves as a cooperative resource for demographically similar versus dissimilar boundary spanner–client dyads. Using a sample of 168 senior boundary spanners from the consulting industry, we find that generational diversity among client team members from a client organization undermines the perception of being trusted within homogeneous boundary spanner–client dyads while it enhances the perception of being trusted within heterogeneous dyads. The perception of being trusted is an important aspect of cross‐boundary relationships because it influences coordination and the costs associated with coordination. © 2015 The Author Journal of Organizational Behavior Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd     

Antipoaching standards in onshore hydrocarbon concessions drawn from a Central African case study

Unsustainable hunting outside protected areas is threatening tropical biodiversity worldwide and requires conservationists to engage increasingly in antipoaching activities. Following the example of ecocertified logging companies, we argue that other extractive industries managing large concessions should engage in antipoaching activities as part of their environmental management plans. Onshore hydrocarbon concessions should also adopt antipoaching protocols as a standard because they represent a biodiversity threat comparable to logging. We examined the spatiotemporal patterns of small‐ and large‐mammal poaching in an onshore oil concession in Gabon, Central Africa, with a Bayesian occupancy model based on signs of poaching collected from 2010 to 2015 on antipoaching patrols. Patrol locations were initially determined based on local intelligence and past patrol successes (adaptive management) and subsequently with a systematic sampling of the concession. We generated maps of poaching probability in the concession and determined the temporal trends of this threat over 5 years. The spatiotemporal patterns of large‐ and small‐mammal poaching differed throughout the concession, and likely these groups will need different management strategies. By elucidating the relationship between site‐specific sampling effort and detection probability, the Bayesian method allowed us to set goals for future antipoaching patrols. Our results indicate that a combination of systematic sampling and adaptive management data is necessary to infer spatiotemporal patterns with the statistical method we used. On the basis of our case study, we recommend hydrocarbon companies interested in implementing efficient antipoaching activities in their onshore concessions to lay the foundation of long‐needed industry standards by: adequately measuring antipoaching effort; mixing adaptive management and balanced sampling; setting goals for antipoaching effort; pairing patrols with large‐mammal monitoring; supporting antipoaching patrols across the landscape; restricting access to their concessions; performing random searches for bushmeat and mammal products at points of entry; controlling urban and agricultural expansion; supporting bushmeat alternatives; and supporting land‐use planning.     

Invasion and eradication of a competitively superior species in heterogeneous landscapes

The effect of heterogeneous environments upon the dynamics of invasion and the eradication or control of invasive species is poorly understood, although it is a major challenge for biodiversity conservation. Here, we first investigate how the probability and time for invasion are affected by spatial heterogeneity. Then, we study the effect of control program strategies (e.g. species specificity, spatial scale of action, detection and eradication efficiency) on the success and time of eradication. We find that heterogeneity increases both the invasion probability and the time to invasion. Heterogeneity also reduces the probability of eradication but does not change the time taken for successful eradication. We confirm that early detection of invasive species reduces the time until eradication, but we also demonstrate that this is true only if the local control action is sufficiently efficient. The criterion of removal efficiency is even more important for an eradication program than simply ensuring control effort when the invasive species is not abundant.     

Effect of Small‐Scale Heterogeneity of Prey and Hunter Distributions on the Sustainability of Bushmeat Hunting

Abstract: Bushmeat is the main source of protein and the most important source of income for rural people in the Congo Basin, but intensive hunting of bushmeat species is also a major concern for conservationists. Although spatial heterogeneity in hunting effort and in prey populations at the landscape level plays a key role in the sustainability of hunted populations, the role of small‐scale heterogeneity within a village hunting territory in the sustainability of hunting has remained understudied. We built a spatially explicit multiagent model to capture the dynamics of a system in which hunters and preys interact within a village hunting territory. We examined the case of hunting of bay duikers (Cephalophus dorsalis) in the village of Ntsiété, northeastern Gabon. The impact of hunting on prey populations depended on the spatial heterogeneity of hunting and prey distribution at small scales within a hunting area. Within a village territory, the existence of areas hunted throughout the year, areas hunted only during certain seasons, and unhunted areas contributed to the sustainability of the system. Prey abundance and offtake per hunter were particularly sensitive to the frequency and length of hunting sessions and to the number of hunters sharing an area. Some biological parameters of the prey species, such as dispersal rate and territory size, determined their spatial distribution in a hunting area, which in turn influenced the sustainability of hunting. Detailed knowledge of species ecology and behavior, and of hunting practices are crucial to understanding the distribution of potential sinks and sources in space and time. Given the recognized failure of simple biological models to assess maximum sustainable yields, multiagent models provide an innovative path toward new approaches for the assessment of hunting sustainability, provided further research is conducted to increase knowledge of prey species’ and hunter behavior.     

喀斯特坡地土壤稳渗率空间分布变化特征研究

为查明高异质性背景条件下喀斯特坡地土壤稳渗率空间分布变化特征,在6类典型人为活动方式石灰岩坡地针对4类主要生境类型(土面、土石面、石沟、石缝)开展生境空间分布调查和土壤理化性质分析,并利用Guelph入渗仪进行稳渗率实验。通过对比分析各生境土壤性质和土壤稳渗率关系,结合人为作用方式探讨各生境土壤性质和稳渗率空间变化特征及其演化规律。结果表明:1)喀斯特坡地土壤稳渗率普遍高于非喀斯特地区,喀斯特坡地土壤稳渗率受土壤孔隙和岩石裂隙耦合作用影响。2)各生境条件下土壤稳渗率具有高度的空间异质性,呈现"斑块状"空间分布特征。3)坡地人为作用方式变化将改变原有生境的土壤性质,进而导致各生境土壤稳渗率随人为活动进程发生相应变化。人为踩踏作用影响较小的原生林、次生林和乔灌林坡地土面和土石面生境土壤稳渗率普遍高于石沟和石缝生境,但转变为人为踩踏作用强烈的放牧灌草地或火烧人为干扰地后,土面和土石面生境土壤退化严重,土壤容重和粘粒含量增大,稳渗率显著降低。而石沟和石缝生境土壤性质和稳渗率受影响程度明显小于土面和土石面生境,土壤稳渗率仍可维持较高水平。     

Upscaling heterogeneity in aquifer reactivity via exposure-time concept: forward model

Reactive properties of aquifer solid phase materials play an important role in solute fate and transport in the natural subsurface on time scales ranging from years in contaminant remediation to millennia in dynamics of aqueous geochemistry. Quantitative tools for dealing with the impact of natural heterogeneity in solid phase reactivity on solute fate and transport are limited. Here we describe the use of a structural variable to keep track of solute flux exposure to reactive surfaces. With this approach, we develop a non-reactive tracer model that is useful for determining the signature of multi-scale reactive solid heterogeneity in terms of solute flux distributions at the field scale, given realizations of three-dimensional reactive site density fields. First, a governing Eulerian equation for the non-reactive tracer model is determined by an upscaling technique in which it is found that the exposure time of solution to reactive surface areas evolves via both a macroscopic velocity and a macroscopic dispersion in the artificial dimension of exposure time. Second, we focus on the Lagrangian approach in the context of a streamtube ensemble and demonstrate the use of the distribution of solute flux over the exposure time dimension in modeling two-dimensional transport of a solute undergoing simplified linear reversible reactions, in hypothetical conditions following prior laboratory experiments. The distribution of solute flux over exposure time in a given case is a signature of the impact of heterogeneous aquifer reactivity coupled with a particular physical heterogeneity, boundary conditions, and hydraulic gradient. Rigorous application of this approach in a simulation sense is limited here to linear kinetically controlled reactions.     

Measuring Protected‐Area Isolation and Correlations of Isolation with Land‐Use Intensity and Protection Status

Abstract: Protected areas cover over 12% of the terrestrial surface of Earth, and yet many fail to protect species and ecological processes as originally envisioned. Results of recent studies suggest that a critical reason for this failure is an increasing contrast between the protected lands and the surrounding matrix of often highly altered land cover. We measured the isolation of 114 protected areas distributed worldwide by comparing vegetation‐cover heterogeneity inside protected areas with heterogeneity outside the protected areas. We quantified heterogeneity as the contagion of greenness on the basis of NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) values, for which a higher value of contagion indicates less heterogeneous land cover. We then measured isolation as the difference between mean contagion inside the protected area and mean contagion in 3 buffer areas of increasing distance from the protected‐area border. The isolation of protected areas was significantly positive in 110 of the 114 areas, indicating that vegetation cover was consistently more heterogeneous 10–20 km outside protected areas than inside their borders. Unlike previous researchers, we found that protected areas in which low levels of human activity are allowed were more isolated than areas in which high levels are allowed. Our method is a novel way to assess the isolation of protected areas in different environmental contexts and regions.     

地震复杂性成因的数值模拟

以最简单的弹簧滑块模型为理论基础,由完全确定性的动力学公式出发,采用细胞自动机技术,研究模拟地震序列时、空、强复杂性的成因。当模型中仅有非线性动力学因素时,模拟序列的时空强特征十分复杂,当引入弹性结构的不均匀性,模拟大事件的空间和强度特征明显受控于断层的不均匀性。由模拟结果推测认为地震的复杂性是由于地球的不均匀性和断层破裂的非线性动力学相互作用而引起的。     

广州市主要地质灾害成灾机制与时空分布

广州经济高速发展,人口、资源和环境的矛盾日益突出,地质环境渐趋恶化,地质灾害频繁发生,崩塌、滑坡和地面塌陷等严重阻碍了城市的可持续发展.就这些地质灾害而言,活动断裂纵横交错是其地质构造基础,强烈风化与疏松地表是其物质来源,降水与径流量丰沛是其动力条件,暴雨、洪水则是其诱发因素.人类活动,如过量抽取地下水、乱采滥伐森林植被等增加了地质环境的压力,破坏了生态平衡,成为重要的致灾因子.广州城市地质灾害在过去10年里呈波浪状上升态势,1998年以来尤为严重;空间上主要集中在老城区、广花盆地和低山丘陵区.     

AN EVALUATION OF PHYSICAL STREAM HABITAT ATTRIBUTES USED TO MONITOR STREAMS1

ABSTRACT: The last few decades have seen an increased reliance on the use of stream attributes to monitor stream conditions. The use of stream attributes has been criticized because of variation in how observers evaluate them, inconsistent protocol application, lack of consistent training, and the difficulty in using them to detect change caused by management activity. In this paper, we evaluate the effect of environmental heterogeneity and observer variation on the use of physical stream attributes as monitoring tools. For most stream habitat attributes evaluated, difference among streams accounted for greater than 80 percent of the total survey variation. To minimize the effect that variation among streams has on evaluating stream conditions, it may be necessary to design survey protocols and analysis that include stratification, permanent sites, and/or analysis of covariance. Although total variation was primarily due to differences among streams, observers also differed in their evaluation of stream attributes. This study suggests that if trained observers conducting a study that is designed to account for environmental heterogeneity can objectively evaluate defined stream attributes, results should prove valuable in monitoring differences in reach scale stream conditions. The failure to address any of these factors will likely lead to the failure of stream attributes as effective monitoring tools.