BioTIME: A database of biodiversity time series for the Anthropocene.

MotivationThe BioTIME database contains raw data on species identities and abundances in ecological assemblages through time. These data enable users to calculate temporal trends in biodiversity within and amongst assemblages using a broad range of metrics. BioTIME is being developed as a community-led open-source database of biodiversity time series. Our goal is to accelerate and facilitate quantitative analysis of temporal patterns of biodiversity in the Anthropocene.Main types of variables includedThe database contains 8,777,413 species abundance records, from assemblages consistently sampled for a minimum of 2 years, which need not necessarily be consecutive. In addition, the database contains metadata relating to sampling methodology and contextual information about each record.Spatial location and grainBioTIME is a global database of 547,161 unique sampling locations spanning the marine, freshwater and terrestrial realms. Grain size varies across datasets from 0.0000000158 km2 (158 cm2) to 100 km2 (1,000,000,000,000 cm2).Time period and grainBioTIME records span from 1874 to 2016. The minimal temporal grain across all datasets in BioTIME is a year.Major taxa and level of measurementBioTIME includes data from 44,440 species across the plant and animal kingdoms, ranging from plants, plankton and terrestrial invertebrates to small and large vertebrates.Software format.csv and .SQL

Watershed development restrictions and land prices: Empirical evidence from southern Appalachia

The State of North Carolina's Water Supply Watershed Protection Act of 1989 required local governments to adopt land use measures in watersheds to protect the water supply emanating from the watersheds. We examine vacant land prices in the Ivy River watershed of Buncombe County, NC, at the time such regulation took effect. Our results suggest that costs of watershed development restrictions are borne primarily by those vacant land owners in the watershed for whom the development restrictions make land subdivision infeasible. We find benefits accruing to land owners on the public water supply or who are adjacent to creeks.Water supply protection Land use restrictions Environmental regulation Watershed ecosystems

Water Contamination, Land Prices, and the Statute of Repose

We examine how water contamination risk from an inactive hazardous waste site is capitalized into surrounding vacant land prices. After public knowledge of the first instance of off-site contamination, we find that shallow groundwater contamination potential is negatively capitalized into land prices, as is proximity to a known contaminated well. Public knowledge of off-site contamination and associated land price changes occur after the North Carolina’s 10-year statute of repose. Our findings raise questions concerning such statutes when environmental contamination has a long latency period, especially given a recent Supreme Court ruling that Superfund law does not preempt state statutes of repose

Using structured decision making with landowners to address private forest management and parcelization: balancing multiple objectives and incorporating uncertainty

Parcelization and forest fragmentation are of concern for ecological, economic, and social reasons. Efforts to keep large, private forests intact may be supported by a decision-making process that incorporates landowners' objectives and uncertainty. We used structured decision making (SDM) with owners of large, private forests in Macon County, North Carolina. Macon County has little land use regulation and a history of discordant, ineffective attempts to address land use and development. We worked with landowners to define their objectives, identify decision options for forest management, build a Bayesian decision network to predict the outcomes of decisions, and determine the optimal and least-desirable decision options. The optimal forest management options for an average, large, forested property (30 ha property with 22 ha of forest) in Macon County was crown-thinning timber harvest under the Present-Use Value program, in which enrolled property is taxed at the present-use value (growing timber for commercial harvest) rather than full market value. The least-desirable forest management actions were selling 1 ha and personal use of the forest (e.g., trails, firewood) with or without a conservation easement. Landowners reported that they enjoyed participating in the project (85%) and would reconsider what they are currently doing to manage their forest (69%). The decision that landowners initially thought would best meet their objectives did not match results from the decision network. This highlights the usefulness of SDM, which typically has been applied to decision problems involving public resources

The Effect of Conservation Activity on Surrounding Land Prices

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the structure of land prices both before and after land conservation occurs. Using data describing 12 years of vacant land transactions in Buncombe County, North Carolina, we find that fee simple conservations, as opposed to conservation easements, occur in higher-priced areas, but that lower-valued parcels within these areas are selected for conservation. We find positive price effects from land conservation of 46%. This premium declines with distance from the conserved parcel but does so to a lesser extent with easements, perhaps suggesting the market’s perception that conservation easements are more permanent than parcels conserved in fee.

Variability in Collection and Use of Race/Ethnicity and Language Data in 93 Pediatric Hospitals

To describe how pediatric hospitals across the USA and Canada collect race/ethnicity and language preference (REaL) data and how they stratify quality and safety metrics using such data. Pediatric hospitals from the Solutions for Patient Safety network (125 US, 6 Canadian) were surveyed between January and March 2018 on collection and use of patient/family race/ethnicity data and patient/family language preference data. The study team created the survey using a formal process including pre-testing. Responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Ninety-three of 131 (71%) hospitals completed the survey (87/125 [70%] US, 6/6 [100%] Canadian). Patient race/ethnicity was collected by 95%, parent/guardian race/ethnicity was collected by 31%, and 5/6 Canadian hospitals collected neither. Minimum government race/ethnicity categories were used without modification/addition by 68% of US hospitals. Eleven hospitals (13%) offered a multiracial/multiethnic option. Most hospitals reported collecting language preferences of parent/guardian (81%) and/or patient (87%). A majority provided formal training on data collection for race/ethnicity (70%) and language preferences (70%); fewer had a written policy (41%, 51%). Few hospitals stratified hospital quality and safety measures by race/ethnicity (20% readmissions, 20% patient/family experience, 16% other) or language preference (21% readmissions, 21% patient/family experience, 8% other). The variability of REaL data collection practices among pediatric hospitals highlights the importance of examining the validity and reliability of such data, especially when combined from multiple hospitals. Nevertheless, while improvements in data accuracy and standardization are sought, efforts to identify and eliminate disparities should be developed concurrently using existing data

Origins of the Ñuu: archaeology in the Mixteca Alta, Mexico

Includes bibliographical references and index.Regional study of ancient societies in the Mixteca Alto -- The Western Nochixtlán Valley -- Greater Teposcolula -- Greater Huamelulpan -- The inner basin -- Greater Tlaxiaco -- The polities of the early and middle formative -- The emergence of urbanism and the state -- The classic Ñuu -- The postclassic Ñuu -- The Ñuu in the anthropological perspective -- Resumen en Español