The Cost-effectiveness of Biodiversity Management: A Comparison of Farm Types in Extensively Farmed Areas of Scotland

The cost-effectiveness of biodiversity management of heather, herb-rich grassland and wetland habitats is compared between different farm types in the context of the Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) scheme in Scotland. Biodiversity is measured at two spatial levels. Costs to the public exchequer of habitat management are compared with private costs to the farmer. Biodiversity and cost are combined in cost-effectiveness ratios. Biodiversity, cost and cost-effectiveness differentials are found between farm types for all three habitats. Farms incur negligible opportunity costs in the management of all three habitats, implying farmer retention of compensating ESA management payments. It is concluded that greater account of biodiversity and cost characteristics of entrants to agri-environmental schemes would increase the costeffectiveness and transparency of schemes, and assist towards scheme assessment at the individual farm level.     

Identifying the land use and land cover change drivers: methods and case studies of two forest reserves in Northern Benin

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Land use and land cover change (LULCC) is one of the problems that the world has been facing for the last few decades despite political attention....     

USE OF STAGE DATA TO CHARACTERIZE HYDROLOGIC CONDITIONS IN AN URBANIZING ENVIRONMENT1

ABSTRACT: This paper presents the results of a study on the use of continuous stage data to describe the relation between urban development and three aspects of hydrologic condition that are thought to influence stream ecosystems—overall stage variability, stream flashiness, and the duration of extreme‐stage conditions. This relation is examined using data from more than 70 watersheds in three contrasting environmental settings—the humid Northeast (the metropolitan Boston, Massachusetts, area); the very humid Southeast (the metropolitan Birmingham, Alabama, area); and the semiarid West (the metropolitan Salt Lake City, Utah, area). Results from the Birmingham and Boston studies provide evidence linking increased urbanization with stream flashiness. Fragmentation of developed land cover patches appears to ameliorate the effects of urbanization on overall variability and flashiness. There was less success in relating urbanization and streamflow conditions in the Salt Lake City study. A related investigation of six North Carolina sites with long term discharge and stage data indicated that hydrologic condition metrics developed using continuous stage data are comparable to flow based metrics, particularly for stream flashiness measures.     

A comparative study on the raw chitin and chitosan yields of common bio-waste from Philippine seafood

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Bio-waste materials from aquatic species are alternative sources of chitin and chitosan—high-value natural biodegradable and biocompatible...     

Multi-stage sampling for large scale natural resources surveys: a case study of rice and waterfowl

Large-scale sample surveys to estimate abundance and distribution of organisms and their habitats are increasingly important in ecological studies. Multi-stage sampling (MSS) is especially suited to large-scale surveys because of the natural clustering of resources. To illustrate an application, we: (1) designed a stratified MSS to estimate late autumn abundance (kg/ha) of rice seeds in harvested fields as food for waterfowl wintering in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV); (2) investigated options for improving the MSS design; and (3) compared statistical and cost efficiency of MSS to simulated simple random sampling (SRS). During 2000-2002, we sampled 25-35 landowners per year, 1 or 2 fields per landowner per year, and measured seed mass in 10 soil cores collected within each field. Analysis of variance components and costs for each stage of the survey design indicated that collecting 10 soil cores per field was near the optimum of 11-15, whereas sampling >1 field per landowner provided few benefits because data from fields within landowners were highly correlated. Coefficients of variation (CV) of annual estimates of rice abundance ranged from 0.23 to 0.31 and were limited by variation among landowners and the number of landowners sampled. Design effects representing the statistical efficiency of MSS relative to SRS ranged from 3.2 to 9.0, and simulations indicated SRS would cost, on average, 1.4 times more than MSS because clustering of sample units in MSS decreased travel costs. We recommend MSS as a potential sampling strategy for large-scale natural resource surveys and specifically for future surveys of the availability of rice as food for waterfowl in the MAV and similar areas.     

Emerging Tools for Continuous Nutrient Monitoring Networks: Sensors Advancing Science and Water Resources Protection

Sensors and enabling technologies are becoming increasingly important tools for water quality monitoring and associated water resource management decisions. In particular, nutrient sensors are of interest because of the well‐known adverse effects of nutrient enrichment on coastal hypoxia, harmful algal blooms, and impacts to human health. Accurate and timely information on nutrient concentrations and loads is integral to strategies designed to minimize risk to humans and manage the underlying drivers of water quality impairment. Using nitrate sensors as the primary example, we highlight the types of applications in freshwater and coastal environments that are likely to benefit from continuous, real‐time nutrient data. The concurrent emergence of new tools to integrate, manage, and share large datasets is critical to the successful use of nutrient sensors and has made it possible for the field of continuous monitoring to rapidly move forward. We highlight several near‐term opportunities for federal agencies, as well as the broader scientific and management community, that will help accelerate sensor development, build and leverage sites within a national network, and develop open data standards and data management protocols that are key to realizing the benefits of a large‐scale, integrated monitoring network. Investing in these opportunities will provide new information to guide management and policies designed to protect and restore our nation's water resources.     

Exploring the Crowding–Satisfaction Relationship in Recreational Boating

Along with the growing boating population and the number of boats in use on limited inland waterways, boater expectations of setting density, safety perceptions, and the associated impacts on their experience (e.g., satisfaction) are becoming increasingly important. The primary purpose of this article was to explore a recreational boating crowding–satisfaction model derived from previous work using safety and enjoyment as mediating variables. We also tested our crowding–satisfaction model among day and overnight users. Our analysis revealed no significant difference between day and overnight users for any of the relationships tested in our model. Our final model indicated as respondents’ expectations for seeing people increased along with their feelings of being crowded, they were more inclined to consider the conditions on the lake as being unsafe. They were also more inclined to indicate that the number of people they had seen on the lake detracted from their boating experience. Respondents’ satisfaction was tied to their perceptions of crowding. Mediating variables illustrated that the relationship was conditioned by perceptions of safety and enjoyment. Analysis of the indirect effect observed in our study illustrate that when the number of people seen on the lake exceed respondents’ expectations, their perceptions of safety and enjoyment both decline, resulting in lower satisfaction. These findings have implications for managing recreational boating use on inland lake systems. Given the role played by expectations in our model, efforts to communicate with boaters about conditions on these waterways is important for helping them plan their boating experience and avoid situations they consider unsafe or unsatisfactory.     

Diffusion of PAH and PCB from contaminated sediments with and without mineral capping; measurement and modelling

A novel laboratory microcosm test was developed to measure the diffusion of native PAHs and PCBs from sediments in the presence and absence of a capping layer. Diffusive flux of 15 PAHs and 7 PCBs from uncapped sediment from Oslo harbour was 3.8+/-0.9 microg m(-2)d(-1) and 0.010+/-0.003 microg m(-2)d(-1), respectively. The flux from sediments capped with 1cm mineral cap (crushed limestone or crushed gneiss (0-2mm)), observed during the first 410 d, was 3.5-7.3% of the flux from uncapped sediments. By measuring freely dissolved pore water concentrations of 10 PAHs the flux in the microcosm was modelled with steady state and transient diffusion models. The measured flux from uncapped sediment was 27-290% of modelled steady state flux. Good agreement was also found between the measured flux of pyrene from capped sediment and the flux modelled with the transient model when fitting only with the distribution coefficients for pyrene between the cap material and water (Kd_pyr). Fitted Kd_pyr, (210 and 23 l kg(-1) for limestone and gneiss, respectively) was in the same order of magnitude as K(d) calculated from organic carbon content in the cap materials (68 and 14 l kg(-1) respectively). Calculation of the efficiency of a hypothetical cap with 10 cm diffusion path shows that the increased diffusion path length alone can yield a flux reduction >99% through a strong increase in the stagnant diffusive boundary layer from <1 to 100mm.     

Sorption of native polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) to black carbon and amended activated carbon in soil

Organic pollutants (e.g. polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH)) strongly sorb to carbonaceous sorbents such as black carbon and activated carbon (BC and AC, respectively). For a creosote-contaminated soil (Sigma15PAH 5500 mg kg(dry weight(dw))(-1)) and an urban soil with moderate PAH content (Sigma15PAH 38 mg kg(dw)(-1)), total organic carbon-water distribution coefficients (K(TOC)) were up to a factor of 100 above values for amorphous (humic) organic carbon obtained by a frequently used Linear-Free-Energy Relationship. This increase could be explained by inclusion of BC (urban soil) or oil (creosote-contaminated soil) into the sorption model. AC is a manufactured sorbent for organic pollutants with similar strong sorption properties as the combustion by-product BC. AC has the potential to be used for in situ remediation of contaminated soils and sediments. The addition of small amounts of powdered AC (2%) to the moderately contaminated urban soil reduced the freely dissolved aqueous concentration of native PAH in soil/water suspensions up to 99%. For granulated AC amended to the urban soil, the reduction in freely dissolved concentrations was not as strong (median 64%), especially for the heavier PAH. This is probably due to blockage of the pore system of granulated AC resulting in AC deactivation by soil components. For powdered and granulated AC amended to the heavily contaminated creosote soil, median reductions were 63% and 4%, respectively, probably due to saturation of AC sorption sites by the high PAH concentrations and/or blockage of sorption sites and pores by oil.     

Reducing external costs of nitrogen pollution by relocation of pig production between regions in the European Union

This paper tests the hypothesis that relocation of pig production within the EU27 can reduce the external costs of nitrogen (N) pollution. The external cost of pollution by ammonia and nitrate from agriculture in the European Union (EU27) in 2008 was estimated at 61–215 billion € (0.5 to 1.8% of the GDP). Per capita it ranged from more than 1000 € in north-west EU27 to 50 € in Romania. The average contribution of pig production was 15%. Using provincial data (224 NUTS2 regions in EU27), the potential reduction of external N cost by relocation of pig production was estimated at 14 billion € (10% of the total). Regions most eligible for decreasing the pig stock were in western Germany, Flemish region, Denmark, the Netherlands and Bretagne, while Romania is most eligible for increasing pig production. Relocating 20 million pigs (13% of the total EU stock) decreased average external costs per capita from 900 to 785 € in the 13 NUTS2 regions where pigs were removed and increased from 69 to 107 € in 11 regions receiving pigs. A second alternative configuration of pig production was targeted at reducing exceedance of critical N deposition and closing regional nutrient cycles. This configuration relocates pigs within Germany and France, for example from Bretagne to Northern France and from Weser-Ems to Oberbayern. However, total external cost increases due to an increase of health impacts, unless when combined with implementation of best N management practices. Relocation of the pig industry in the EU27 will meet many socio-economic barriers and realisation requires new policy incentives.