The influence of social relationships on pro-environment behaviors

We examine how social relationships are related to pro-environment behaviors. We use new data from a nationally representative US sample to estimate latent cluster models in which we describe individuals' profiles of social ties with family, neighbor, and coworkers along two dimensions: intensity of connections and pro-environment norms. While our results confirm the link between social ties and economic behaviors, we show that ties among relatives, neighbors, and coworkers are not perfect substitutes. In particular, we observe consistent relationships between green family profiles and altruistic and community-based behaviors. We also find that the effect of coworker ties is visible for cost-saving activities and altruistic behaviors, and that neighbors matter for working with others in the community to solve a local problem, volunteering, and recycling.     

Scientific collectives in region-building processes

During the last 30 years, growing demand for science-based policy making has contributed to the mobilization of scientific cooperation alongside transnational political arrangements for addressing environmental issues. Following the contemporary trend toward regionalizing environmental policy and practice, many of these scientific joint efforts have focused on a regional scale. This article examines regional scientific cooperation in the context of the institutionalization of mountain regions in Europe. Such cooperation can be observed from the Pyrenees to Central Asia, albeit with a degree of variation that largely remains unexplored in scientific research. Sometimes scientific cooperation served to lay the groundwork of a mountain policy initiative, other times it appeared in its wake; some examples appear as loose networks of individual scientists, others are set up as formalized monitoring and observation centers; finally, some scientific joint efforts are formally linked to, or incorporated in a mountain policy initiative, while others are largely independent. The article proposes a new typology for understanding the interactions between regional scientific mobilization and regional policy making and provides up-to-date portraits of six main cases.     

Predation affects the susceptibility of hard clam Meretrix lusoria to Hg-stressed birnavirus

Predator–prey interaction in aquatic ecosystem is one of the simplest drivers affecting the species population dynamics. Predation controls are recognized as important aspects of ecosystem husbandry and management. In this paper we investigated how predation control cause an increase in host growth in the abundance of hard clam (Meretrix lusoria) populations subject to mercury (Hg)-stressed birnavirus. Here we linked predator–prey relationships with a bioenergetic matrix population model (MPM) associated with a susceptible–infectious–mortality (SIM) model based on a host–pathogen–predator framework to quantify the predator effects on population dynamics of disease in hard clam populations. Our results indicated that relative high predation rates could promote the hard clam abundances in relation to predators that selectively captured the infected hard clam, by which the disease transmission was suppressed. The results also demonstrated that predator-induced modifications in host behavior could have potential negative or positive effects on host growth depending on relative species density and resource dynamics. The most immediate implication of this study for the management of aquatic ecosystem is that, beyond the potential for causing a growth in abundance, predation might provoke greater predictability in aquatic ecosystem species populations and thereby increase the safety of ecosystem production from stochastic environmental events.     

PREDICTABILITY OF SURFACE WATER POLLUTION LOADING IN PENNSYLVANIA USING WATERSHED‐BASED LANDSCAPE MEASUREMENTS1

ABSTRACT: We formally evaluated the relationship between landscape characteristics and surface water quality in the state of Pennsylvania (USA) by regressing two different types of pollutant responses on landscape variables that were measured for whole watersheds. One response was the monthly exported mass of nitrogen estimated from field measurements, while the other response was a GIS‐modeled pollution potential index. Regression models were built by the stepwise selection protocol, choosing an optimal set of landscape predictors. After factoring out the effect of physiography, the dominant predictors were the proportion of “annual herbaceous” land and “total herbaceous” land for the nitrogen loading and pollution potential index, respectively. The strength of these single predictors is encouraging because the marginal land cover proportions are the simplest landscape measurements to obtain once a land cover map is in hand; however, the optimal set of predictors also included several measurements of spatial pattern. Thus, for watersheds at this general hierarchical scale, gross landscape pattern may be an important influence on instream pollution loading. Overall, there is strong evidence that using landscape measurements alone, obtained solely from remotely sensed data, can explain most of the water quality variability (R²= approx. 0.75) within these watersheds.     

A performance comparison between nonlinear similarity functions in bulk parameterization for very stable conditions

Three sets of nonlinear similarity functions for strong stability are selected to compare their performance in bulk parameterization. To uncover their advantages and disadvantages, theoretical and measurement analyses are made with four profile metrics and the Deacon number technique. Main disadvantages include the negligence of the different transfer efficiency between momentum and heat, the flux cutoff due to the upper limit in gradient Richardson number (Ri) and the ignorance of limited stability range where the dimensionless gradient functions ( and ) approach constants. Accordingly, three suggestions are made for future improvement. First, the functions for wind velocity and potential temperature should have the same function form, but with different coefficients. Second, and should approach constants only within a certain stability range. Third, the limit value in Ri should be avoided to widen their applicability in flux modeling. Furthermore, quantitative comparisons in transfer coefficients for moment and sensible heat (C _D and C _H) are made among the similarity functions in the bulk Richardson number (Ri _B) range 0 < Ri _B < 1. Generally, significant discrepancy is found, which may approach a factor of two and three at large Ri _B in C _D and C _H, respectively. Finally, a new recommendation is made to one of the three sets, mainly because of its ability to predict C _D and C _H that decrease rather slowly in very stable conditions.     

氯代芳香族化合物对羊角月牙藻的毒性及QSAR分析

根据氯代芳香族化合物对羊角月牙藻（Selenastrum carpricornutum）的急性毒性实验结果,运用量于化学参数分析了16种氯代芳香族化合物的结构与活性之间的关系,用逐步回归法建立了相关方程,并经逐一抽取法检验证明该方程的稳定性很好．结果表明,分子总能量TE是决定该组化合物对羊角月牙藻毒性的关键参数;另外,这组化合物对羊角月牙藻的致毒关键步骤包括传输分配过程和生化反应过程     

Ecological network and emergy analysis of urban metabolic systems: Model development,and a case study of four Chinese cities

Analysis of the structure and function of urban metabolic systems is an important goal of urban research. We used network pathways and network utility analysis to analyze the basic network structure of the urban metabolic system and the complex ecological relationships within the system, providing a new way to perform such research. Using four Chinese cities as examples, we developed an ecological network model of the urban metabolic system. By using network pathway analysis, we studied the changing relationships between metabolic length and the number of metabolic pathways, and between metabolic length and reachability. Based on the distribution of the number of metabolic pathways, we describe the basic structure and intercompartment relationships of the system. By using the sign distribution in the network utility matrix, we determined the ecological relationships and degree of mutualism between the compartments of the system. The basic components of the system consisted of the internal environment, the external environment, and the agricultural, industrial, and domestic sectors. With increasing metabolic length, the ecological relationships among the components of the system became more diverse, and the numbers of metabolic paths and their reachability improved. Although the basic network structure of the four cities was identical, the mutualism index differed. Beijing's mutualism index was superior to that of Shanghai, and much higher than those of Tianjin and Chongqing. By analyzing the structure and function of the urban metabolic system, we provide suggestions for optimizing the structure and adjusting the relationships, and propose methods for the application of ecological network analysis in future urban system research.