Influences on Attitudes to a Personal Carbon Trading System

There are mixed attitudes to the affect Personal Carbon Trading (PCT) can have on global warming and carbon emissions. The NICHE (Norfolk Island Carbon Health Evaluation) project has been developed to explore attitudes towards PCT. The researchers have designed the project to investigate links between health, obesity and an individual’s carbon footprint. The first stages of the project undertaken in 2012 involve development of point-of-sale applications, personal carbon consumption web site and collection of data to establish a baseline measuring key health indicators and attitudes to climate change and PCT. This paper reports the findings from the correlation analysis of the key variables from the baseline survey. Correlation analysis was used to examine relationships among the variables. The significant relationships identified from the baseline survey will be re-examined in the latter stages of the project during 2014

Optimal Placement of Off-Stream Water Sources for Ephemeral Stream Recovery

Uneven and/or inefficient livestock distribution is often a product of an inadequate number and distribution of watering points.Placement of off-stream water practices (OSWP) in pastures is a key consideration in rangeland management plans and is criticalto achieving riparian recovery by improving grazing evenness, while improving livestock performance. Effective OSWPplacement also minimizes the impacts of livestock use radiating from OSWP, known as the ‘‘piosphere.’’ The objective of thisstudy was to provide land managers with recommendations for the optimum placement of OSWP. Specifically, we aimed toprovide minimum offset distances of OSWP to streams and assess the effective range of OSWP using Normalized DifferenceVegetation Index (NDVI) values, an indicator of live standing crop. NDVI values were determined from a time-series of SatellitePour l’Observation de la Terre (SPOT) 20-m images of western South Dakota mixed-grass prairie. The NDVI values inephemeral stream channels (in-channel) and uplands were extracted from pre- and post-OSWP images taken in 1989 and 2010,respectively. NDVI values were normalized to a reference imagine and subsequently by ecological site to produce nNDVI. Ourresults demonstrate a significant (P,0.05) increase in the nNDVI values of in-channel vegetation within 1 250 m of OSWPfollowing their implementation. The area of piospheres (n¼9) increased with pasture size (R2¼0.49,P¼0.05) and increasedwith average distance to OSWP in a pasture (R2¼0.43,P¼0.07). Piospheric reduction in nNDVI was observed within 200 m ofOSWP, occasionally overlapping in-channel areas. The findings of this study suggest placement of OSWP 200 to 1 250 m fromstreams to achieve optimal results. These results can be used to increase grazing efficiency by effectively placing OSWP andinsure that piospheres do not overlap ecologically important in-channel areas

User Satisfaction: An Evaluation of a Carbon Credit Information System

This paper presents the analysis of user satisfaction with a web-based system that enables users to calculate the value of carbon credits for landholdings based on user-defined parameters including size of landholding, monoculture species, site quality, management & perpetration etc. For the purposes of this project, User Satisfaction was evaluated using questions based on the User Information Satisfaction (UIS) surveys demonstrated to validate the DeLone and McLean (1992, 2003) model of information systems success. The items in the survey used to test the UIS for this study were modified to suit the nature of the system under investigation, that is, a public, web-based information system. This differs from most previous UIS surveys which have been primarily used to examine proprietary, in-house applications. The paper reports the structural validity of the instrument using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM)

Detecting the Influence of Best Management Practices on Vegetation Near Ephemeral Streams With Landsat Data

Various best management practices (BMPs) have been implemented on rangelands with the goals of controlling nonpoint sourcepollution, reducing the impact of livestock in ecologically important riparian areas, and improving grazing distribution.Providing off-stream water sources to livestock in pastures, cross-fencing, and rotational grazing are common rangeland BMPsthat have demonstrated success in drawing livestock grazing pressure away from streams. We evaluated the effects of rangelandBMP implementation with six commercial-scale pastures in the northern mixed-grass prairie. Four pastures received a BMPsuite consisting of off-stream water, cross-fencing, and deferred-rotation grazing, and two pastures did not receive BMPs. Wehypothesized that the BMPs increased the quantity of riparian vegetation cover relative to the conditions in these pasturesduring the pre-BMP period and to the two pastures that did not receive BMPs. We used a series of 30-m Landsat normalizeddifference vegetation index (NDVI) images to track the spatial and temporal changes (1984–2010,n¼24) in vegetation cover, towhich NDVI has been well correlated. Validation indicated that the remotely sensed signal from in-channel vegetation wasrepresentative of ground conditions. The BMP suite was associated with a 15% increase in the in-channel NDVI (0–30 m fromstream centerline) and 18% increase in the riparian NDVI (30–180 m from stream center line). Conversely, the in-channel andriparian NDVI of non-BMP pastures declined 30% and 18% over the study period. The majority of change occurred within 2 yrof BMP implementation. The patterns of in-channel NDVI among pastures suggested that BMP implementation likely alteredgrazing distribution by decreasing the preferential use of riparian and in-channel areas. We demonstrated that satellite imagerytime series are useful in retrospectively evaluating the efficacy of conservation practices, providing critical information to guideadaptive management and decision makers

Linking Phenology and Biomass Productivity in South Dakota Mixed-Grass Prairie

Assessing the health of rangeland ecosystems based solely on annual biomass production does not fully describe the condition of the plant community; the phenology of production can provide inferences about species composition, successional stage, and grazing impacts. We evaluated the productivity and phenology of western South Dakota mixed-grass prairie in the period from 2000 to 2008 using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). The NDVI is based on 250-m spatial resolution Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite imagery. Growing-season NDVI images were integrated weekly to produce time-integrated NDVI (TIN), a proxy of total annual biomass production, and integrated seasonally to represent annual production by cool- and warm-season species (C3 and C4, respectively). Additionally, a variety of phenological indicators including cool-season percentage of TIN were derived from the seasonal profiles of NDVI. Cool-season percentage and TIN were combined to generate vegetation classes, which served as proxies of the conditions of plant communities. TIN decreased with precipitation from east to west across the study area. However, the cool-season percentage increased from east to west, following patterns related to the reliability (interannual coefficient of variation [CV]) and quantity of midsummer precipitation. Cool-season TIN averaged 76.8% of the total TIN. Seasonal accumulation of TIN corresponded closely (R2 . 0.90) to that of gross photosynthesis data from a carbon flux tower. Field-collected biomass and community composition data were strongly related to TIN and cool-season percentage. The patterns of vegetation classes were responsive to topographic, edaphic, and land management influences on plant communities. Accurate maps of biomass production, cool- and warm-season composition, and vegetation classes can improve the efficiency of land management by facilitating the adjustment of stocking rates and season of use to maximize rangeland productivity and achieve conservation objectives. Further, our results clarify the spatial and temporal dynamics of phenology and TIN in mixed-grass prairie

Detecting Channel Riparian Vegetation Response to BMP Implementation in Western South Dakota Ephemeral Streams Using Spot Imagery

Heavily grazed riparian areas are commonly subject to channel incision, a lower water table, and reduced vegetation. Riparian vegetation dissipates flow energy which is critical to maintaining stable channel geometry. Occurrences of prairie cord grass (Spartina pectinata) stands were used as evidence of improved riparian health during post best management practice (BMP) assessment within a watershed frequented by ephemeral gullies. Presence/absence of S. pectinata was recorded during 2010 assessments of ephemeral channels with drainage areas ranging from .54 to 692 hectares. Reach locations (n = 115) were delineated using 2010 National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) imagery resulting in 8-39 sample points per reach subsequently used to extract Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values from a series of Satellite Pour l\u27Observation de la Terre (SPOT) satellite imagery. Normalized NDVI values from 1,981 sample points were determined from pre (1987, 1994, and 1997) and post-BMP (2010) imagery. Mean normalized NDVI values calculated for each reach ranged from -1.33 to 3.16. ANOVA revealed no mean difference in normalized NDVI among S. pectinata classes for pre-BMP years (P = 0.85, 0.74, 0.82), respectively. However, in 2010 (post-BMP), S. pectinata sites had significantly higher normalized NDVI (1.23) compared to non-S. pectinata sites (0.89) (P = 0.01). Reappearance of S. pectinata due to changes in grazing regimes along with construction of off-stream watering sources was successfully detected remotely. Establishment of S. pectinata provides habitat heterogeneity and functions in reducing flow energy which is responsible for the current state of severely incised channels

Understanding power, social capital and trust alongside near real-time water quality monitoring and technological development collaboration

We report on qualitative social research conducted with stakeholders in a local agricultural knowledge and advice network associated with a collaborative water quality monitoring project. These farmers, advisors and researchers allude to existing social dynamics, technological developments, and (more general) social evolution which is analysed against a novel analytical framework. This framework considers notions of power, social capital, and trust as related and dynamic, forming the basis of our contribution to knowledge. We then probe the data to understand perceived impacts of the collaborative project and social interaction associated with this research project, which involved cutting edge automated and frequent water quality monitoring that allowed for near real-time access to data visualisation displayed via a bespoke mobile or web ‘app’ (1622WQ). Our findings indicate that a multi-faceted approach to assessing and intervening based on consideration of multiple social dimensions holds promise in terms of creating conditions that allow for individual and group learning to encourage changes in thinking required to result in improved land management practice

Electrophysiological and behavioral responses of female African rice gall midge, Orseolia oryzivora Harris and Gagné, to host plant volatiles

African rice gall midge, Orseolia oryzivora Harris and Gagné, is a major pest of rice in Africa. Depsite its economic importance, its chemical ecology is not well understood. Here, we assessed behavioral and electrophysiological responses of O. oryzivora to host plant volatiles. In olfactometer bioassays, mated female O. oryzivora were attracted to volatiles emitted from intact rice plants but were repelled by volatiles collected from plants infested by conspecifics. In a choice test, there was a preference for volatiles from uninfested plants over those from infested plants. Coupled gas chromatography-electroantennography analyses of panicle volatiles isolated four electrophysiologically active components: (S)-linalool, 4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene, (E)-caryophyllene, and (R/S)-(E)-nerolidol. A synthetic blend of volatiles at the same concentration and ratio as that from an intact plant was attractive to mated females, whereas a blend based on the ratio of volatiles from an infested plant was repellent. This suggests that O. oryzivora uses olfaction for host plant recognition. The identification of blends of volatiles emitted by plants that can both attract and repel O. oryzivora may aid the development of sustainable control measures

Prospects for plant defence activators and biocontrol in IPM - Concepts and lessons learnt so far

There is an urgent need to develop new interventions to manage pests because evolution of pesticide resistance and changes in legislation are limiting conventional control options for farmers. We investigated β-aminobutyric acid (BABA), jasmonic acid (JA) and fructose as possible plant defence activators against grey mould disease, . Botrytis cinerea, and root knot nematode, . Meloidogyne incognita. We also tested . Trichogramma achaeae parasitoid wasps and an antifeedant plant extract for biocontrol of the invasive tomato leafminer, . Tuta absoluta. BABA and JA enhanced resistance of tomato plants to . B. cinerea but neither treatment provided complete protection and the efficacy of treatment varied over time with BABA being more durable than JA. Efficacy was partly dependent on tomato cultivar, with some cultivars responding better to BABA treatment than others. Furthermore, treatment of tomato with BABA, JA and fructose led to partial suppression of . M. incognita egg mass development. Biocontrol agent, . T. achaeae, performance against . T. absoluta could be enhanced by adjusting the rearing conditions. Both attack rate and longevity were improved by rearing the parasitoids on . T. absoluta rather than on other insects. Finally, . Ajuga chamaepitys extract was shown to have significant antifeedant activity against . T. absoluta. Our findings suggest that there are potential new solutions for protection of crops but they are more complicated to deploy, more variable and require more biological knowledge than conventional pesticides. In isolation, they may not provide the same level of protection as pesticides but are likely to be more potent when deployed in combination in IPM strategies

Push-pull farming systems

Farming systems for pest control, based on the stimulo-deterrent diversionary strategy or push–pull system, have become an important target for sustainable intensification of food production. A prominent example is push–pull developed in sub-Saharan Africa using a combination of companion plants delivering semiochemicals, as plant secondary metabolites, for smallholder farming cereal production, initially against lepidopterous stem borers. Opportunities are being developed for other regions and farming ecosystems. New semiochemical tools and delivery systems, including GM, are being incorporated to exploit further opportunities for mainstream arable farming systems. By delivering the push and pull effects as secondary metabolites, for example, (E)-4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene repelling pests and attracting beneficial insects, problems of high volatility and instability are overcome and compounds are produced when and where required