Shared ways of thinking in Brazil about the science–practice interface in ecology and conservation

The debate in the literature on the science–practice interface suggests a diversity of opinions on how to link science and practice to improve conservation. Understanding this diversity is key to addressing unequal power relations, avoiding the consideration of only dominant views, and identifying strategies to link science and practice. In turn, linking science and practice should promote conservation decisions that are socially robust and scientifically informed. To identify and describe the viewpoints of scientists and decision makers on how the science–practice interface should work in order to improve conservation decisions, we interviewed Brazilian scientists (ecologists and conservation scientists, n = 11) and decision makers (n = 11). We used Q methodology and asked participants to rank their agreement with 48 statements on how the science–practice interface should work in order to improve conservation decisions. We used principal component analysis to identify shared viewpoints. The predominant viewpoint, shared by scientists and decision makers, was characterized by valuing the integration of scientific and strategic knowledge to address environmental problems. The second viewpoint, held mostly by decision makers, was distinguished by assigning great importance to science in the decision-making process and calling for problem-relevant research. The third viewpoint, shared only by scientists, was characterized by an unwillingness to collaborate and a perception of scientists as producers of knowledge that may help decision makers. Most participants agreed organizations should promote collaboration and that actors and knowledge from both science and practice are relevant. Disagreements concerned specific roles assigned to actors, willingness to collaborate, and organizational and institutional arrangements considered effective to link science and practice. Our results suggest there is ample room for collaborations and that impediments lie mainly in existing organizations and formal institutional arrangements rather than in negative attitudes between scientists and decision makers.     

Biofluorescence as a survey tool for cryptic marine species

As ecosystems come under increasing anthropogenic pressure, rare species face the highest risk of extinction. Paradoxically, data necessary to evaluate the conservation status of rare species are often lacking because of the challenges of detecting species with low abundance. One group of fishes subject to this undersampling bias are those with cryptic body patterns. Twenty‐one percent of cryptic fish species assessed for their extinction risk (International Union for Conservation of Nature [IUCN]) are data deficient. We developed a nondestructive method for surveying cryptically patterned marine fishes based on the presence of biofluorescence (underwater biofluorescence census, UBC). Blue LED torches were used to investigate how widespread biofluorescence was in cryptic reef fishes in the Coral Triangle region. The effectiveness of UBC to generate abundance data was tested on a data‐deficient pygmy seahorse species (Hippocampus bargibanti) and compared with data obtained from standard underwater visual census (UVC) surveys. We recorded 95 reef fish species displaying biofluorescence, 73 of which had not been previously described as biofluorescent. Of those fish with cryptic patterns, 87% were biofluorescent compared with 9% for noncryptic fishes. The probability of species displaying biofluorescence was 70.9 times greater for cryptic species than for noncryptic species. Almost twice the number of H. bargibanti was counted using the UBC compared with UVC. For 2 triplefin species (Ucla xenogrammus, Enneapterygius tutuilae), the abundance detected with UBC was triple that detected with UVC. The UBC method was effective at finding cryptic species that would otherwise be difficult to detect and thus will reduce interobserver variability inherent to UVC surveys. Biofluorescence is ubiquitous in cryptic fishes, making this method applicable across a wide range of species. Data collected using UBC could be used with multiple IUCN criteria to assess the extinction risk of cryptic species. Adopting this technique will enhance researchers’ ability to survey cryptic species and facilitate management and conservation of cryptic marine species.     

Decentralized mechanisms for river sharing

We study decentralized implementation of efficient outcomes through multilateral bargaining in the river sharing problem. We introduce a class of mechanisms in the form of two-stage games in which agents first announce consumption levels and then bargain over monetary compensations. The defining characteristic of a mechanism is the way it assigns bargaining power to agents as a consequence of their locations, inflows, and consumption decisions. We first determine which mechanisms give incentives to always allocate the water efficiently, in the sense that, regardless of the agents' benefit functions, equilibrium play always yields an efficient outcome. Among these, we take an axiomatic approach to single out three mechanisms that guarantee a fair division of the welfare gain obtained through cooperation along the river.     

Estimating the direct and indirect impact of typhoons on plant performance: Evidence from Chinese manufacturers

We quantify the impact of typhoons on manufacturing plants in China. To this end we construct a panel data set of precisely geo-located plants and a plant-level measure of typhoon damage derived from storm track data and a wind field model. Our econometric results reveal that the impact on plant sales can be considerable, although the effects are relatively short-lived. Annual total costs to Chinese plants from typhoons are estimated to be in the range of US$ 3.2 billion (2017 prices), or about 1 per cent of average turnover. When we examine the channels by which plants react to a storm event we find that there is some buffering through an increase in debt and a reduction in liquidity. In terms of propagating the shock through foreign or domestic channels, our estimates suggest that plants prefer to reduce sales to domestic buyers more than foreign buyers and purchases from foreign rather than domestic suppliers. We also find some evidence of a negative indirect effect on turnover through spillovers from customers and a positive effect through damage to very nearby competitors.     

Negotiating housing deal on a polluted day: Consequences and possible explanations

The topic of air pollution has drawn considerable attention globally. In this paper, we examine the immediate effect of air pollution on a substantial decision, that is, a housing purchase. By linking housing purchasing behavior with the air quality in Beijing, we document market participants' behaviors unexplained by rational economic theories. Our main result suggests that the transaction prices on a severely polluted day are 0.65% higher than those of the days without pollution, other things being equal. This translates into approximately 3.51 million yuan daily increase based on the average transaction volume and price on a typical day in Beijing. The heterogeneity analysis further suggests that this effect is mostly driven by non-local and low income buyers. After ruling out rational explanations, we demonstrate that our empirical results are consistent with salience theory under weak assumptions.     

Could a public ecology approach help resolve the mountaintop mining controversy?

In recent years, controversy has grown around decisions related to mountaintop removal mining of coal in Central Appalachia, USA. While this mining method can be particularly efficient, it necessitates removal and relocation of huge volumes of earth—permanently altering the natural landform and potentially impacting local environments and communities. Current decision-making systems and regulatory frameworks have been largely ineffective at incorporating the values and concerns of stakeholders. This is due, in part, to contradicting policies, a legacy of distrust, and problems related to scale. Further, the lack of good civic science related to mountaintop mining and meaningful routes for public involvement have also hampered effective decision-making. We propose that the fundamental concepts of public ecology may provide a progressive approach to resolving these complex issues, and examine the challenges that must be met along the way.     

“Horizontal” and “vertical” diffusion: The cumulative influence of Impact and Benefit Agreements (IBAs) on mining policy-production in New Caledonia

The scale, duration and intensity of conflicts over mineral resources vary greatly. However, they always involve, in varying proportions, the triad stakeholder model—corporation, state, community—each element of which is internally heterogeneous. Increasingly, new players are entering the scene: international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), environmental grassroots groups, indigenous transnational networks, international aid and development agencies. Nevertheless, conflicts and arrangements around access to and control over mineral resources can take the apparent form of dyadic relationships between companies and local communities, resulting in negotiated company-community agreements, often called “Impact and Benefit Agreements” (IBAs). In our analysis, local agreements on mineral resource governance are seen as building blocks in the production of mining policy “from below”, even though they seem at first sight to exclude the state. This paper argues that these agreements, and the negotiations surrounding them, inform debates around mining through both “horizontal diffusion” (influence on other localities facing similar situations) and “vertical diffusion” (influence on policy design and implementation at upper political and administrative levels). This diffusion may occur in a “positive” sense, effecting further change in line with the intent of the original agreement, or in a “negative” one, actually making substantive change less likely, whether at a community or policy level. We build this argument through two case studies from New Caledonia, in the south-west Pacific, where mining has long been a key issue, especially in the current context of “negotiated decolonization” launched by the 1998 Nouméa Accord.     

Oil windfalls in Brazil and their long-run social impacts

In 1997, Brazil changed the regulatory framework of its oil and gas sector. After this change, a restrict subset of localities started to receive large amounts of oil rents. The goal of this paper is to evaluate whether such rents distributed under this law contributed to improving some social indicators relative to the national average in the eligible municipalities. We used a “difference-in-differences” measurement to compare changes in selected social indicators within affected Municipalities in the last two decades, taking the unaffected districts as control group. The Municipal data on social indicators were collected from three National Censuses, conducted in 1991, 2000 and 2010. Results show that royalties had a positive and statistically significant impact on household’s access to electric wiring, piped water and waste collection, as well as in the decrease of illiteracy rate. This means the eligible districts were able to improve some of their social indicators in the long-run.     

The tragedy of the commons and socialization: Theory and policy

We revisit the Tragedy of the Commons in a dynamic overlapping generations economy populated of shepherds who decide how many sheep they let graze on a common parcel of land, while relying on different forms of rationality (Nash players and Kantian players). We examine the dynamics of moral behaviors and land congestion when the prevalence of different types evolves over time following a vertical/oblique socialization process à la Bisin and Verdier (2001). We study the impact of a quota and of a tax on the congestion of land, and we show that introducing a quota may, in some cases, reduce the proportion of Kantians, and worsen the Tragedy of the Commons with respect to the laissez-faire. Ignoring the dynamics of moral traits may lead governments to implement policies that make the Tragedy worse than at the laissez-faire, even though such policies would work well for a fixed population composition.     

Photocatalytic degradation of C. I. Reactive Red 24 solution with K6SiW11O39SnII

Environmental friendly materials, K₆SiW₁₁O₃₉Sn (SiWSn), was synthesized. SiWSn photocatalytic decomposition of C. I. Reactive Red 24 (RR24) with the UV-lamp (253.7 nm, 20 W), Xenon lamp filtered less than 390 nm light (500 W) and sun light was investigated. The results showed that RR24 solution could be effectively decolorized with the SiWSn photocatalyst. The photocatalytic degradation efficiency of RR24 with SiWSn was affected by the initial concentration of RR2 solution, the amount of SiWSn and the photolysis time. It is demonstrated that the process of photodegradation of RR24 with SiWSn is a pesudo first-order reaction, which can be described by Langmuir-Hinshelwood equation. Hydroxyl radicals and holes are both the main oxidants in the photocatalytic reaction of RR24 with SiWSn.