The effects on welfare of the imposition of individual transferable quotas on a heterogeneous fishing fleet

This paper examines the determination of effort levels, the rental price of quotas and the number of participants in a fishery managed with a total allowable catch and individual transferable quotas. How these variables change is determined for three phases of the management process. Potential participants in the fishery are assumed to be heterogeneous in their catching capabilities so that almost all active fishers earn positive net profits from fishing activities. It is shown that these quasirents are reduced during any of the management phases considered here. The impact of free allocations of permanent quota rights on fishers’ welfare is also considered. This may increase the welfare of all fishers if the allocation is based on catch history. However, an example is provided where the welfare of some highliners is reduced when the allocation is based on effort history.     

Fitness consequences of body-size-dependent host species selection in a generalist ectoparasitoid

In insect parasitoids, offspring fitness is strongly influenced by the adult females choice of host, particularly in ectoparasitoids that attack non-growing host stages. We quantified the fitness consequences of size-dependent host species selection in Dirhinus giffardii, a solitary ectoparasitoid of tephritid fruit fly pupae. We first showed a positive correlation between the size of emerged D. giffardii wasps and the size of their host fruit fly species (in order of decreasing size): Bactrocera latifrons, B. cucurbitae, B. dorsalis or Ceratitis capitata. We then manipulated individual wasps to show that the parasitoid preferred to attack the largest (B. latifrons) to the smallest (C. capitata) host species when provided with a choice, and laid a greater proportion of female eggs in B. latifrons than in C. capitata. There were no differences in developmental time or offspring survival between individuals reared from these two host species. Finally, we compared the foraging efficiency of large versus small wasps (reared from B. latifrons vs C. capitata) under two different laboratory conditions: high versus low host habitat quality, given that realized fecundity in parasitoids may be influenced by either egg-limited or time-limited factors. Under both conditions, large wasps parasitized more hosts than did small ones as a consequence of high searching efficiency in the host-poor habitat, and high capacity for adjusting egg maturation in response to host availability in the host-rich habitat. Considering the flexibility of body growth, the apparent lack of cost of achieving large body size in either development or survival, and the strong dependence of realized reproductive success on a females size, we argue that body size may be a key to understanding evolution of host species selection in ectoparasitoids. We also discuss constraints upon the evolution of size-dependent host species selection in parasitoids.Communicated by D. Gwynne     

Within-brood patterns of paternity and paternal behavior in red-winged blackbirds

We video-taped male and female red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) feeding individual chicks in order to test the hypothesis that food might be differently allocated to within-pair offspring and extra-pair young. We found no evidence that paternity influenced the allocation of food by either males or females. Both males and females fed male offspring significantly more, but there was no tendency for paternity to be skewed by gender. Females fed older offspring significantly more, whereas males did not; extra-pair fertilizations, however, were not associated with lay or hatch order of the chicks. Given that males do not appear to discriminate within-pair from extra-pair offspring directly, these results are consistent with current theory on the effect of paternity on paternal behavior. We discuss briefly some of the possible reasons why discrimination might be lacking in red-winged blackbirds and in other species in which the possibility of discrimination of paternity and allocation of paternal behavior has been studied.     

海洲香薷种群微量金属元素的累积分布特征

分析了大冶铜绿山铜矿区海洲香薷种群几种微量金属元素的吸收累积和分布特征、生殖分配( RA)特征及植物与土壤元素的关系 ,并就该植物对铜等金属元素的耐受性进行了初步探讨。结果显示 ,该植物生长的土壤重金属元素含量很高 ,其中 Cu的含量 (平均 5 843μg/ g)是背景值的 2 0 0多倍。 Cu、Mn、Zn、Cd、Pb几种微量金属元素的含量 ,以 Cu最高 ,Cd最低。几种元素的大小顺序表现为 :Cu>Mn>Zn>Pb>Cd。不同元素在植物不同构件的含量为 :Cu,根 >花 >叶 >茎 ;Mn,叶 >根 >花 >茎 ;Zn,叶 >花 >茎 >根 ;Cd,叶 >花 >根 >茎 ;Pb,根 >叶 >茎 >花。这几种元素的 RA范围为 10 %～ 40 % ,平均为 2 4.97% ;生物量 RA为 2 6.5 %。植物铜元素与土壤显著正相关。海洲香薷对铜等金属具有很强的耐受性。     

Federal Decentralization and Adaptive Management of Water Resources: Reservoir Reallocation by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Reservoir operations must respond to changing conditions, such as climate, water demand, regulations, and sedimentation. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) can reallocate reservoir storage to respond to such changes. We assembled and analyzed a database of reservoir reallocations implemented and proposed by the Corps. While only a small portion of total reservoir storage nationwide has been reallocated, there are substantial differences in reallocation frequency and magnitude across the nation: some Corps Districts and Divisions use reallocation while others do not, relying more on discretion and small‐scale adaptation of operations. This difference illustrates how water resource agencies like the Corps decentralize management decisions to allow responding to disparate conditions. Decentralized decision‐making provides a responsive approach to water management, while centralized and hierarchical decision‐making is a slower, more deliberative approach. Decentralized decision‐making may lead to the accumulation of short‐term, local decisions over time to the point that the system is managed differently than anticipated. Reallocation, which is a form of planned adaptive management, can be accommodating of multiple competing demands and different stakeholders, yet expensive and less temporally responsive. The challenge for any large water resource management agency is to balance between local‐level, responsive discretion vs. centralized, planned decision‐making.     

基于配额指标重要性视角的中国碳排放配额再分配

提出用与碳排放“同步变化程度”来衡量配额指标重要性的思想,对中国各省份碳排放配额进行再分配.首先在公平和效率原则基础上选取碳排放的影响因素作为分配指标,其次采用灰色关联分析法分别测算出各地区各指标与碳排放量的同步变动程度,以得到各地区各指标在配额分配中的比重.最后测算出我国29个省区2020~2030年的碳排放配额与排放空间.结果表明,人口基数及经济发展指标对各地碳排放有较强的同步变动关联性,因此应该被赋予更高的权重;配额最多的地区包括广东、北京、江苏、山东、上海,最少的地区则包括宁夏、贵州、青海、吉林、新疆.盈余分析发现,北京地区的碳排放空间有较多盈余;浙江等5个省区已达较饱和状态;山东等4个省区则处于较严重的溢出状态,在未来10年内需承担较重的减排压力.     

Male moths undertake both pre- and in-copulation mate choice based on female age and weight

Variation in reproductive potential usually occurs among individuals of both sexes; for example, some individuals may carry more gametes or be able to continue to generate more gametes in their reproductive life than others. Therefore, to maximize their reproductive success, both sexes are expected to show adaptations for mate choice. However, most authors concentrated on how females choose their mates with the belief that females invest more in reproduction than males, and males are generally eager to pair with any female. In this paper, we report our work on a polygamous moth, Ephestia kuehniella Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), with special emphasis on male pre- and in-copulation mate choice in relation to the reproductive quality and re-copulation potential of females. We show that in E. kuehniella, younger and heavier females have significantly higher reproductive value than older and lighter ones, and male sperm supply significantly decreases over successive copulations. Males exercise pre-copulation mate choice by selecting females with higher reproductive potential for copulation and in-copulation mate choice by allocating more sperm to females with higher reproductive potential. However, high-quality females are more likely to re-copulate than low-quality ones, and allocation of more sperm to females by males does not increase female reproductive outputs. It is suggested that the allocation of more sperm to high-quality females functions to increase sperm competitiveness against rivals.     

基于居民视角的应急避难所优化配置研究

以虚拟区域和哈尔滨市道里区经纬街为研究区，以满足居民避难需求为目标，分别构建居民避难行动效率模型与应急避难所服务范围模型，并将二者进行耦合。先以虚拟区域说明利用耦合模型的适用性与可行性，再以研究区探讨居民避难所效率与应急避难所优化配置。研究结果表明:研究区现状应急避难所配置，在研究区有2处是应急避难所服务无法覆盖的范围。以耦合模型为基础，确定需要增加2个应急避难所，才能满足居民避难需求。该研究方法不仅为我国应急避难所优化配置理论与方法作了补充，其结果也为研究区及其他地区应急避难所优化配置提供了参考依据。     

不确定性流域污染负荷优化分配模型及其应用

流域优化决策模型以最优化建模方法指导流域管理决策过程,然而流域系统的不确定性会导致决策存在一定风险.本研究通过建立区间参数机会约束线性规划(ICILP)模型来处理流域决策过程中的不确定性,并将该模型运用于太滆运河流域优化决策中,探讨在不同违反概率下系统最优解.结果表明,随着允许入湖量约束违反概率增加,系统对污染物削减量和削减成本有所降低.由于受到经济成本和削减量约束,系统优先减小环境代价较大、削减效率较低的工程项目规模.但受到最低处理率约束,违反概率增加到一定水平时各工程项目趋于定值.虽然较高的违反概率使系统成本降低,但也会导致削减效率降低,不利于流域保护.因此,在实际管理中应根据管理需求选择合适的削减方案以达到保护流域水质的目标.     

A double‐edged sword: The moderating role of conscientiousness in the relationships between work stressors,psychological strain,and job performance

Although conscientiousness was commonly viewed as a type of personal resource to help individuals reduce strain or mitigate the impacts of stressors, empirical research demonstrated mixed results. Based on the personal resource allocation perspective, we posited that rather than functioning as personal resource per se, conscientiousness may act as a key factor influencing how individuals allocate their personal resources. The current study examined the moderating roles of conscientiousness in the relationships that work stressors (i.e., challenge stressors and hindrance stressors) have with employee psychological strain and job performance by using multi‐source, time‐lagged data collected from 250 employees working at two companies. The results showed that both challenge stressors and hindrance stressors were positively related to psychological strain. Conscientiousness moderated the relationships between both stressors and psychological strain, such that the positive relationships were stronger for individuals with high conscientiousness. Conscientiousness also moderated the relationship between challenge stressors and performance, such that the relationship was positive for individuals with high conscientiousness but negative for those with low conscientiousness. Altogether, the findings suggest that conscientiousness acts as a double‐edged sword that both promotes performance and exacerbates the stress reaction of employees when they are confronted with stressful situations. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.