94 research outputs found
Conflicts about water in Lake Chad: are environmental, vulnerability and security issues linked?
This paper builds on the growing literature that explores the relations between environmental change and non-traditional security, defined as non-military threats that challenge the survival and well-being of peoples and states. The Lake Chad basin in Africa is used as a case study for analysis. Focusing on a set of questions that has dominated recent theoretical debates, the paper investigates if conflicts resulting from water scarcity are as much about the broader vulnerability of the Lake Chad region as they are about changes in the Lake system and its environment. It argues that conflict is a probable outcome only in locations that are already challenged by a multitude of other context-specific factors beside resource scarcity. In the Lake Chad context, the likelihood of scarcity-driven conflict depends on whether vulnerability increases or decreases in the face of a declining water supply. The paper provides perspectives for a nuanced understanding of how the receding Lake Chad has led to conflict and outlines an integrated, forward-looking research agenda for linking environmental change, vulnerability and security issues in integrated human-environment systems
Ants visit nectaries of Epidendrum denticulatum (Orchidaceae) in a Brazilian rainforest: effects on herbivory and pollination
Bringing analysis of gender and social–ecological resilience together in small-scale fisheries research: Challenges and opportunities
The demand for gender analysis is now increasingly orthodox in natural resource programming, including that for small-scale fisheries. Whilst the analysis of social–ecological resilience has made valuable contributions to integrating social dimensions into research and policy-making on natural resource management, it has so far demonstrated limited success in effectively integrating considerations of gender equity. This paper reviews the challenges in, and opportunities for, bringing a gender analysis together with social–ecological resilience analysis in the context of small-scale fisheries research in developing countries. We conclude that rather than searching for a single unifying framework for gender and resilience analysis, it will be more effective to pursue a plural solution in which closer engagement is fostered between analysis of gender and social-ecological resilience whilst preserving the strengths of each approach. This approach can make an important contribution to developing a better evidence base for small-scale fisheries management and policy
Capturing Ecosystem Services, Stakeholders' Preferences and Trade-Offs in Coastal Aquaculture Decisions : A Bayesian Belief Network Application
Aquaculture activities are embedded in complex social-ecological systems. However, aquaculture development decisions have tended to be driven by revenue generation, failing to account for interactions with the environment and the full value of the benefits derived from services provided by local ecosystems. Trade-offs resulting from changes in ecosystem services provision and associated impacts on livelihoods are also often overlooked. This paper proposes an innovative application of Bayesian belief networks - influence diagrams - as a decision support system for mediating trade-offs arising from the development of shrimp aquaculture in Thailand. Senior experts were consulted (n = 12) and primary farm data on the economics of shrimp farming (n = 20) were collected alongside secondary information on ecosystem services, in order to construct and populate the network. Trade-offs were quantitatively assessed through the generation of a probabilistic impact matrix. This matrix captures nonlinearity and uncertainty and describes the relative performance and impacts of shrimp farming management scenarios on local livelihoods. It also incorporates export revenues and provision and value of ecosystem services such as coastal protection and biodiversity. This research shows that Bayesian belief modeling can support complex decision-making on pathways for sustainable coastal aquaculture development and thus contributes to the debate on the role of aquaculture in social-ecological resilience and economic development
Studies on the ultrastructure of a three-spurred fumeauxiana form of Anacamptis pyramidalis
Is shrimp farming a successful adaptation to salinity intrusion? A geospatial associative analysis of poverty in the populous Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna Delta of Bangladesh
Are food-deceptive orchid species really functionally specialized for pollinators?
Food-deceptive orchid species have traditionally been considered pollination specialized to bees or butterflies. However, it is unclear to which concept of specialization this assumption is related; if to that of phenotypic specialization or of functional specialization. The main aim of this work was to verify if pollinators of five widespread food-deceptive orchid species (Anacamptis morio (L.) R.M. Bateman, Pridgeon & M.W. Chase, Anacamptis pyramidalis (L.) Rich., Himantoglossum adriaticum H. Baumann, Orchis purpurea Huds. and Orchis simia Lam.) predicted from the phenotypic point of view matched with the observed ones. We addressed the question by defining target orchids phenotypic specialization on the basis of their floral traits, and we compared the expected guilds of pollinators with the observed ones. Target orchid pollinators were collected by conducting a meta-analysis of the available literature and adding unpublished field observations, carried out in temperate dry grasslands in NE Italy. Pollinator species were subsequently grouped into guilds and differences in the guild spectra among orchid species grouped according to their phenotype were tested. In contradiction to expectations derived from the phenotypic point of view, food-deceptive orchid species were found to be highly functionally generalized for pollinators, and no differences in the pollinator guild spectra could be revealed among orchid groups. Our results may lead to reconsider food-deceptive orchid pollination ecology by revaluating the traditional equation orchid-pollination specialization
The proximate composition of three marine pelagic fish: blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou), boarfish (Capros aper) and Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus)
peer reviewedThis study presents data from an in-depth proximate compositional analysis of three marine fish species: blue
whiting (Micromesistius poutassou), boarfish (Capros aper) and Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus). These fish
contained significant amounts of protein (16–17%), lipids (4–11%) and minerals (2–6% ash). The proteins, particularly
from boarfish, had close to optimum amino acid profiles for human and fish nutrition. They compared favourably
with other fish species in terms of total lipids and relative concentration of the omega-3 fatty acids docosahexaenoic
acid and eicosapentaenoic acid (11.8–13.3% and 5.9–8.1% in triacylglycerols [TG] and 24.6–35.4% and 5.8–12.0% in
phospholipids [PL]). Atlantic herring had the highest lipid content among the three fish and was found to contain
high levels of PL poly-unsaturated fatty acids, including omega-3 fatty acids. Minerals detected in the fish included
calcium (272–1,520 mg/100 g), phosphorus (363–789 mg/100 g), iron (1.07–2.83 mg/100 g), magnesium (40.70–62.10
mg/100 g), potassium (112.00–267.00 mg/100 g), selenium (0.04–0.06 mg/100 g), sodium (218.00–282.00 mg/100 g)
and zinc (1.29–5.57 mg/100 g). Boarfish had the highest ash fraction and also the highest levels of all the minerals,
except potassium. Atlantic herring had considerably lower mineral content compared with the other two species
and, levels detected were also lower than those reported in previously published studies. Heavy metals contents
were quantified, and levels were significantly below the maximum allowable limits for all elements except arsenic,
which ranged from 1.34 to 2.44 mg/kg in the three fish species. Data outlined here will be useful for guiding product
development. Future studies would benefit from considering catch season, sex and developmental stage of the fish
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