Digital Preservation and Access of Natural Resources Documents

Digitization and preservation of natural resource documents were reviewed and the current status of digitization presented for a North American university. It is important to present the status of the digitation process for natural resources and to advocate for increased collections of digital material for ease of reference and exchange of information. Digital collections need to include both published documents and ancillary material for research projects and data for future use and interpretation. The methods in this paper can be applied to other natural resource collections increasing their use and distribution. The process of decision making for documents and their preservation and inclusion in ScholarWorks is presented as a part of the Forest Sciences Commons as a subset of the Life Sciences Commons of the Digital Commons Open Network launched and maintained by bepress. Digitization has increased the roles and skillsets needed for librarians and from libraries. This creates new challenges and opportunities for the library as publisher and as an advocate for open access. Digital curation melds together digitization and knowledge management and enhances community engagement. Digitization of collections are reviewed and natural resource documentation presented for faculty publications, Research Projects and Centers, eBooks, Journals, Galleries and electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs). Recommendations are made to increase the digital curation of the collection by encouraging community participation and use. Digital archives are important to natural resource professionals as society-ready natural resource graduates need to deal effectively with complex ecological, economic and social issues of current natural resources management. Natural resource research for the future needs to ensure that professionals have a greater breath of knowledge as they interpret and apply new knowledge, understanding, and technology to complex, transdisciplinary social and biological issues and challenges

Blended Value Investing: Innovations in Real Estate

In March 2006, The World Economic Forum published Blended Value Investing: Capital Opportunities for Social and Environmental Impact. That paper, written by Jed Emerson and Joshua Spitzer, presented and explored the notion that between market-rate financial investments and philanthropy lie investment opportunities that intentionally create both financial returns and environmental and social value. These investment instruments seek not simply to balance extra-financial value with financial value, to avoid doing harm, or to add token social responsibility to financial investing (as is true of many 'double bottom line' funds); rather they pursue a sustained blending of value creation -- in financial, environmental and other dimensions. That paper presented 12 case studies of funds and investment instruments in this blended value investing category with a focus on global economic and social value creation more than environmental value creation.In the autumn of 2006, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation funded a new exploration of blended value, this time focused more specifically on the area of environmental and conservation finance. Many innovations are advancing the field of environmental finance, many of these strategies have been well documented in a variety of articles, books and websites. Nevertheless, for many asset owners and managers, creating blended financial and environmental returns still remains a difficult goal to attain. These actors continue to ask questions regarding the types of investment option before them, the degree (if any) to which they carry a financial penalty, and the nature of the environmental value created (among other questions). Accordingly, this paper offers a broad overview of various real estate-based investment instruments and funds that are structured to generate financial returns while simultaneously advancing environmental value. The specific audience for this paper includes foundation executives seeking to move beyond traditional grantmaking, as well as high-net-worth individuals and other asset trustees working to understand options for pursuing full, blended value investments -- namely, those that create a defined level of economic value combined with environmental impact.This inquiry introduces frameworks for approaching blended value investments, and it raises a series of questions potential investors will probably ask. While the authors believe these investments will ultimately prove viable and efficient, this inquiry stops short of comparing these blended value investments to more traditional alternatives. In the absence of further data, the authors cannot assert that these investments are superior to traditional strategies. The inquiry's conclusion suggests future studies that might bring more data to the ongoing discussion

Ranking forestry journals using the h-index

An expert ranking of forestry journals was compared with journal impact factors and h-indices computed from the ISI Web of Science and internet-based data. Citations reported by Google Scholar appear to offer the most efficient way to rank all journals objectively, in a manner consistent with other indicators. This h-index exhibited a high correlation with the journal impact factor (r=0.92), but is not confined to journals selected by any particular commercial provider. A ranking of 180 forestry journals is presented, on the basis of this index.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures, 5 tables. New table added in response to reviewer comment

Examining the Tragedy of the Commons Dilemma: Looking at the New Hampshire Fishing Industry

The Tragedy of the Commons is a widely known problem debated amongst economists for years. Even the topic of the Tragedy of the Commons when applied to fishing has been debated several times. The fishing industry is a major part of the culture and economy here in New Hampshire and the conversation how to properly tax and regulate it to combat this problem is one that has been taking place and will continue to take place for several years. The purpose of this project was to examine this problem at a state level and look at the relationship between State Tax Collections from fishing licenses, the number of Paid Fishing License Holders in New Hampshire and the GDP of the fishing industry. I overall had mixed results with some datasets representing significant statistical relationships, while others had marginal results. More research would need to be done in this area to make any certain conclusions. There are several areas in this topic that I couldn’t analyze for a variety of reasons, and this project merely scratches the surface of the amount of research left to be done

Optimising carbon storage by land-management

As the UK’s largest non-government land-owner, the National Trust is committed to reducing its impact on climate change, recognising the importance of soil organic carbon (SOC), and its need for preservation. To establish if land-management could be optimised to increase carbon storage, ‘The Wallington Carbon Footprint Project’ was implemented. This study aimed to measure the Wallington Estate’s carbon stock, establish what controls SOC, identify carbon under-saturated soils, and make land-management change to increase SOC. To achieve these objectives a soil sampling campaign and land-use survey were undertaken at Wallington, with further sampling at a verification site in Cambridgeshire. Land-use intervention trials measuring carbon fluxes and SOC change were combined with computer modelling and questionnaires, to assess the impacts of land-use and management change on SOC. A land carbon stock of 845 Kt (60 Kt within biomass, and 785 Kt within soils) was estimated for Wallington, with the greatest control on SOC identified as grassland landmanagement. Other controls on SOC were: land-use, soil series, altitude, soil pH and landuse history, indicating that these should be used in all estimates of SOC distribution and stock. A possible link between phosphate fertilisation and SOC accumulation under grassland was identified; however this was not confirmed in a year long field trial. Incorporation of charcoal into soils was identified as a method of carbon sequestration, with a simultaneous reduction in nitrate loss from soil. Surface application to grasslands revealed no detrimental effects on soils, grassland productivity or water quality. Further trials investigated the impacts of arable conversion to short rotation coppice willow, and of peatland afforestation, both indentifying losses of SOC following the land-use change. Measurement of biomass carbon gains, full life cycle assessment of the each landuse, and the impacts of varying types of biochar are required before firm conclusions regarding land-use change and carbon sequestration can be made

Forest Land Ownership Changes in Portugal

Publisher PD

A Directory of Policies on Arthropod Collecting on Public Lands

There are many local, state, and federal agencies with responsibilities for managing public lands. The availability of these lands for entomological research and collecting is determined in great part by the specific governmental charges for the management and use of the area; for example: preservation, recreation, or multiple-use resource management

Global influences and local environments: Forestry and forest conservation in New Zealand, 1850s-1925.

This article examines the multiple factors that shaped the establishment of forest conservation and tree-planting in the colony of New Zealand. It presents a new perspective on forest history in New Zealand from the 1850s to the 1920s by examining the interplay of local and global factors in the development of forestry, while also suggesting future research topics in this area. Using the case-study of New Zealand, as an ancillary focus the article presents new interpretations of the exchange and introduction of forestry ideas, suggesting a need to re-examine the importance of locality in the period leading up to the emergence of ‘empire forestry’ in the twentieth century. With this in mind, it takes as one of its perspectives the work of historian of science David Livingstone, who has emphasised the importance of local factors in shaping the spread of scientific ideas. In light of Livingstone’s ideas, we demonstrate that while it makes sense to consider New Zealand forest policy both nationally and internationally, there were also significant local variations in policy according to geography, politics and other factors. These included uneven forest distribution throughout the country, slower growth-rates of indigenous trees and the impact of geography on forest removal and conservation. As well, long-standing political aversion to government interference in society restricted the role of the state in active forest management, giving greater latitude to private tree-planters. Meanwhile, New Zealand’ smaller government and population offered greater power to individuals than perhaps would be open to those living in larger societies with bigger government bureaucracies

Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi in historic tick samples and its relevance to the white-tailed deer population in New Hampshire

The cases of Lyme disease in New Hampshire have increased over time. There are speculations that increasing number of Lyme disease cases in New Hampshire are due to environmental factors, such as warmer climate, white-footed mouse population, white-tailed deer population, opossum population, and forestation coverage. In this study, we processed whole tick samples from 2000, 2001, and 2003 for Borrelia burgdorferi by Real-Time TaqMan PCR. In addition, we also processed homogenized tick samples from 2010, that previously tested positive for B. burgdorferi and had been stored at -80°C since 2010, for repeat B. burgdorferi testing by Real-Time TaqMan PCR. Then, the number of reported positive tick samples from the years 2000, 2001, 2003, 2009, 2010, and 2011 were correlated with white-tailed deer population and Lyme disease cases. Based on our analysis, there was an indirect relationship noted between white-tailed deer population, which is highly suggestive of the relationship between host diversity and Lyme disease cases. On the other hand, the rate of positive tick samples exhibited similar trend as Lyme disease cases. Due to poor staffing and funding issues, the NH Department of Human and Health Services were not able to obtain any tick samples in 2002, from 2004 to 2008, and from 2012 to 2017. We were unable to correlate Lyme disease cases to neither white-footed mouse population nor opossum population, since the NH Fish and Game do not keep track of these two populations. Of the 141 ticks collected in 2000, 2001, and 2003, 44 ticks tested positive for B. burgdorferi. These sample became the oldest, documented tick samples in the state of New Hampshire, which tested positive for B. burgdorferi. In addition, there were insignificant deviations noted between Ct values of the 2010 samples, which were processed in 2010 and 2018. Therefore, the unremarkable difference in Ct values suggest that cryopreservation seems to be the most optimal method of preserving DNA. It was also noted in this study, historic samples had significantly lower DNA concentration than the 2010 samples. We attributed the significant difference to time of storage and method of DNA preservation. We attempted to sequence tick samples for Next Generation Sequencing. DNA of tick samples from 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2010 were quantified in Qubit Fluorometer. However, DNA concentration of individual tick samples were insufficient for prokaryotic enrichment, thus the DNA from positive tick samples in 2010 were pooled together. The pooled DNA was reprecipitated and quantified, but the DNA concentration was still insufficient to proceed with enrichment and sequencing