Opportunity to Improve Public Perceptions of Arthropods and Arthropod-Related Benefits

The general public may not recognize the value of conserving insects and spiders in home landscapes. We surveyed individuals to assess public perceptions of 10 arthropods—nine common insects and one common spider species—and to determine whether arthropod-related attitudes could be altered. Additionally, we collected data on survey respondent gender, age, and level of entomology education and found that level of entomology education was strongly associated with respondents\u27 perceptions about arthropods. Moreover, 60% of respondents were willing to change their attitudes after learning about an arthropod\u27s benefits. By promoting arthropods at outreach events, Extension educators could alter arthropod-related attitudes among the general public

Reducing Environmental Risks From Pesticides in Urban Landscapes: Metro-Atlanta as a Case Study

Proceedings of the 1997 Georgia Water Resources Conference, March 20-22, 1997, Athens, Georgia.Little definitive data is available on pesticide use in metropolitan areas. Questionnaires on pesticide use and pest management practices were mailed to landscape maintenance lawn care firms in the metro Atlanta area; 350 firms responded. Of these firms 159 provide pest management services for turf grass or ornamentals or both. Responding professionals purchased 13,210 kg AI of insecticides, 93,447 kg AI herbicide, and 3,867 kg AI of fungicides during 1993. Total area serviced by these firms was 14,770 ha. Insecticides were most frequently applied to ornamentals (65%), while herbicides were primarily used on turf (93% pre emergence, 790/0 post emergence). Fungicides were more evenly distributed. Prescheduled applications determined timing of application for 32% of respondents. While 46% report that monitoring of pest populations influences treatment decisions. Only 8% of respondents incorporate monitoring of beneficial arthropods into this decision-making process. Although practices reported by the industry include many principles of integrated pest management, more education of maintenance professionals and consumers to include greater incorporation of pest resistant plant materials and biological control agents is warranted.Sponsored and Organized by: U.S. Geological Survey, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, The University of Georgia, Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of TechnologyThis book was published by the Institute of Ecology, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602 with partial funding provided by the U.S. Department of Interior, Geological Survey, through the Georgia Water Research Institutes Authorization Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-397). The views and statements advanced in this publication are solely those of the authors and do not represent official views or policies of the University of Georgia or the U.S. Geological Survey or the conference sponsors

Harnessing behavioral psychology to encourage individuals' adoption of pollinator conservation behaviors

The economic and ecological importance of pollinators and the increasingly evident decline of their populations have drawn concern from scientists, governments, and individuals alike. While research has focused on the ecological causes and solutions to pollinator declines, it is less understood how to motivate actual behavior changes to help conserve pollinators. Behavioral psychologists have developed many theories to explain how human behavioral drivers affect the adoption of pro-environmental behaviors such as recycling and other sustainability actions. A comprehensive model incorporating norm activation theory, the new ecological paradigm, values-belief-norm theory, and the theory of planned behavior suggests various psychological determinants that drive changes in pro-environmental behaviors. A survey was constructed using Qualtrics software to measure and analyze >1,500 individuals' responses to questions designed to test the relationships between different types of pollinator conservation behaviors and the sociopsychological determinants of an individual's intention to perform said behaviors. Previous behaviors, issue awareness, and positive attitudes toward pollinators consistently predict increased intention to perform pollinator conservation behaviors, which supports related research on pro-environmental behaviors. Other determinants, such as ascription of responsibility and perceived behavioral control, had positive effects on the intention to perform some of the tested pollinator conservation behaviors. Understanding these relationships could help improve efforts to educate and increase the adoption of these pollinator conservation behaviors. Finally, many determinants had mixed and fewer significant relationships with the intention to perform conservation behaviors, which suggests the need for revisions to the specific wording of the survey tools and additional testing of these psychological determinants

Homeowners and Their Choice of Information Sources About Gardening

The Georgia Cooperative Extension Service increases its involvement in educating homeowners in fertilizer and pesticide use to reduce nonpoint source pollution from residential landscapes. A survey of homeowners revealed their current and preferred sources of gardening information. By dividing information sources according to the degree of their accessibility and cost, we determined the differences in the use of various sources according to homeowner gender, age, and education. Females, young homeowners, and those with a high level of education used and preferred more information sources. The Georgia Cooperative Extension Service will use a combination of sources to effectively disseminate best management practices to homeowners

Accelerating Computation of Eigenvectors in the Dense Nonsymmetric Eigenvalue Problem

Abstract. In the dense nonsymmetric eigenvalue problem, work has focused on the Hessenberg reduction and QR iteration, using efficient al-gorithms and fast, Level 3 BLAS. Comparatively, computation of eigen-vectors performs poorly, limited to slow, Level 2 BLAS performance with little speedup on multi-core systems. It has thus become a dominant cost in the solution of the eigenvalue problem. To address this, we present im-provements for the eigenvector computation to use Level 3 BLAS and parallelize the triangular solves, achieving good parallel scaling and ac-celerating the overall eigenvalue problem more than three-fold.

Making data flow for the climate risk market

In 2011, the U.K. government announced that the national meteorological agency would be releasing a significant volume of data as part of its Open Data policy agenda. This article explores the interrelationship between this announcement and efforts to boost the competitiveness of the United Kingdom’s weather derivatives industry. Primary qualitative data are analyzed to produce a genealogical account of these policy developments, and Braman’s concept of “informational power” is used to frame a critical narrative of the broader dynamics of power at play. We argue that although there have been significant tensions around efforts to open the United Kingdom’s weather data, these have largely been absorbed by and, ultimately, contained within the hegemonic structures of the United Kingdom’s neoliberal state. We conclude by arguing that this struggle needs to be broadened and externalized beyond the state so that critical questions about the deepening data-driven financialization of climate change can be addressed

Local factors influence the wild bee functional community at the urban-forest interface

IntroductionUrban forests provide necessary habitat for many forest-associated bee species amidst development and fragmentation. These forest fragments provide a variety of important floral and non-floral resources for bees that encompass a diversity of functional guilds characterized by size, diet breadth, nesting, sociality, origin, and seasonality. The relative importance of forest edge vs. interior habitats to these organisms is not well understood.MethodsHere, we compare bee communities between forest edge and interior locations at eight locations in Athens, GA, USA. We also explore the effects of stand structure, tree composition, ground cover type, and the presence of snags and downed wood on these organisms.ResultsWe found bee abundance and richness to be higher at the forest edge than interior with distinct community compositions at both locations. Canopy cover, invasive shrub cover, ground cover, and tree diversity influenced the observed community composition. We also determined that the most impactful functional traits influencing bee community structure in urban forest fragments were nesting substrate, origin (native or exotic to North America), sociality, and diet breadth.DiscussionOur findings will help establish the effects of local forest characteristics on the community composition, diversity, and abundance of wild bees and further our knowledge of the conservation value of urban forests for preserving wild bee communities

Crystal structure of a thermostable Bacillus DNA polymerase l large fragment at 2.1 Å resolution

AbstractBackground: The study of DNA polymerases in the Pol l family is central to the understanding of DNA replication and repair. DNA polymerases are used in many molecular biology techniques, including PCR, which require a thermostable polymerase. In order to learn about Pol l function and the basis of thermostability, we undertook structural studies of a new thermostable DNA polymerase.Results: A DNA polymerase large, Klenow-like, fragment from a recently identified thermostable strain of Bacillus stearothermophilus (BF) was cloned, sequenced, overexpressed and characterized. Its crystal structure was determined to 2.1 Å resolution by the method of multiple isomorphous replacement.Conclusions: This structure represents the highest resolution view of a Pol l enzyme obtained to date. Comparison of the three Pol l structures reveals no compelling evidence for many of the specific interactions that have been proposed to induce thermostability, but suggests that thermostability arises from innumerable small changes distributed throughout the protein structure. The polymerase domain is highly conserved in all three proteins. The N-terminal domains are highly divergent in sequence, but retain a common fold. When present, the 3′-5′ proofreading exonuclease activity is associated with this domain. Its absence is associated with changes in catalytic residues that coordinate the divalent ions required for activity and in loops connecting homologous secondary structural elements. In BF, these changes result in a blockage of the DNA-binding cleft