The role of social values in the management of ecological systems

The concept of value is central to the practice and science of ecological management and conservation. There is a well-developed body of theory and evidence that explores concepts of value in different ways across different disciplines including philosophy, economics, sociology and psychology. Insight from these disciplines provides a robust and sophisticated platform for considering the role of social values in ecological conservation, management and research. This paper reviews theories of value from these disciplines and discusses practical tools and instruments that can be utilised by researchers and practitioners. A distinction is highlighted between underlying values that shape people's perception of the world (e.g. altruistic or biospheric value orientations), and the values that people assign to things in the world (e.g. natural heritage, money). Evidence from numerous studies has shown that there are multiple pathways between these values and attitudes, beliefs and behaviours relevant to ecological management and conservation. In an age of increasing anthropogenic impacts on natural systems, recognising how and why people value different aspects of ecological systems can allow ecological managers to act to minimise conflict between stakeholders and promote the social acceptability of management activities. A series of practical guidelines are provided to enable social values to be better considered in ecosystem management and research

Phylogenetic analysis and protein structure modelling identifies distinct Ca2+/Cation antiporters and conservation of gene family structure within Arabidopsis and rice species

BACKGROUND: The Ca(2+)/Cation Antiporter (CaCA) superfamily is an ancient and widespread family of ion-coupled cation transporters found in nearly all kingdoms of life. In animals, K(+)-dependent and K(+)-indendent Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchangers (NCKX and NCX) are important CaCA members. Recently it was proposed that all rice and Arabidopsis CaCA proteins should be classified as NCX proteins. Here we performed phylogenetic analysis of CaCA genes and protein structure homology modelling to further characterise members of this transporter superfamily. FINDINGS: Phylogenetic analysis of rice and Arabidopsis CaCAs in comparison with selected CaCA members from non-plant species demonstrated that these genes form clearly distinct families, with the H(+)/Cation exchanger (CAX) and cation/Ca(2+) exchanger (CCX) families dominant in higher plants but the NCKX and NCX families absent. NCX-related Mg(2+)/H(+) exchanger (MHX) and CAX-related Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger-like (NCL) proteins are instead present. Analysis of genomes of ten closely-related rice species and four Arabidopsis-related species found that CaCA gene family structures are highly conserved within related plants, apart from minor variation. Protein structures were modelled for OsCAX1a and OsMHX1. Despite exhibiting broad structural conservation, there are clear structural differences observed between the different CaCA types. CONCLUSIONS: Members of the CaCA superfamily form clearly distinct families with different phylogenetic, structural and functional characteristics, and therefore should not be simply classified as NCX proteins, which should remain as a separate gene family. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12284-016-0075-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Marijuana Legalization Policy and Federal Drug Task Force Programs: A Study of Drug Control Federalism

The purpose of this multiple case study was to examine and understand the influence of state cannabis legalization measures on the drug enforcement function of federal and state-local investigators working in the DEA Task Force Program operating in states that have legalized marijuana. Since America is experiencing an ongoing drug epidemic, phenomena like state cannabis legalization measures may impact the efficacy of national drug control policy and worsen the crisis. This study and its findings are therefore important because federal drug task force programs underpin the conduct of America’s national drug control policy. Federalism and intergovernmental relations are used in this study as the conceptual frameworks to examine state marijuana control laws and the enforcement function of federal drug task force programs. This dissertation analyzed six case studies comprising the DEA Task Force Program operating in four states that have legalized marijuana and two states with comprehensive cannabis prohibition laws. This study tested the hypothesis that states which are early adopters of marijuana legalization (Colorado and Washington) will have greater issues with drug enforcement than states that are later adopters (Virginia and Missouri) and non-adopters (Idaho and Nebraska). Testing this hypothesis involved measuring the effect of state marijuana laws on the drug enforcement function of each DEA Task Force Program in this study by analyzing their drug enforcement output data (drug seizures, drug arrests, drug convictions, and asset forfeitures) to develop comparable thematic concepts among the cases and identify directional trends in the datasets following enactment of cannabis control measures. These datasets were collected from various public databases and involved undertaking thematic within-case analyses followed by cross-case and across-group comparisons of the findings. This study’s findings suggest early adopters do not have greater issues with drug enforcement than late adopters and non-adopters

Role and Rationale for Hybrid Coronary Artery Revascularization

The optimal revascularization strategy for patients with multi-vessel coronary artery disease remains controversial. The advent of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has challenged the superiority of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery for multi-vessel disease. In the late 1990s, an integrated approach, now referred to as “hybrid coronary revascularization” (HCR), was pioneered combining CABG and PCI to offer appropriate patients a less invasive option for revascularization while still capitalizing on the superior patency rates of the left internal mammary artery (LIMA) to the left anterior descending (LAD) artery bypass . The operative techniques continue to evolve as well as the timing strategies for intervention and use of anti-platelet therapy. While more research is needed, current data supports hybrid coronary revascularization as a promising technique to optimize outcomes in patients with multi-vessel coronary artery disease

Biodiversity conservation and sustainable urban development

Urbanization is a major driver of environmental change and is closely linked to the future of biodiversity. Cities can host a high richness of plants and animals, and this urban biodiversity supports multiple regulating, provisioning and cultural ecosystem services. Developing biodiversity-friendly cities is thus inextricably linked to sustainable urban development and human wellbeing. The contributions to this Special Issue on “Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Urban Development” in the journal Sustainability illustrate the role of urban environments as pressures on biodiversity, and envision pathways towards developing more biodiverse urban environments that are accepted and supported by people. Contributions reveal promising opportunities for conserving biodiversity within many urban landscapes. The insights from this Special Issue can support urban conservation policies and their implementation in the development of sustainable cities

Social network analysis shows direct evidence for social transmission of tool use in wild chimpanzees

The authors are grateful to the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland for providing core funding for the Budongo Conservation Field Station. The fieldwork of CH was funded by the Leverhulme Trust, the Lucie Burgers Stichting, and the British Academy. TP was funded by the Canadian Research Chair in Continental Ecosystem Ecology, and received computational support from the Theoretical Ecosystem Ecology group at UQAR. The research leading to these results has received funding from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) and from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) REA grant agreement n°329197 awarded to TG, ERC grant agreement n° 283871 awarded to KZ. WH was funded by a BBSRC grant (BB/I007997/1).Social network analysis methods have made it possible to test whether novel behaviors in animals spread through individual or social learning. To date, however, social network analysis of wild populations has been limited to static models that cannot precisely reflect the dynamics of learning, for instance, the impact of multiple observations across time. Here, we present a novel dynamic version of network analysis that is capable of capturing temporal aspects of acquisition-that is, how successive observations by an individual influence its acquisition of the novel behavior. We apply this model to studying the spread of two novel tool-use variants, "moss-sponging'' and "leaf-sponge re-use,'' in the Sonso chimpanzee community of Budongo Forest, Uganda. Chimpanzees are widely considered the most "cultural'' of all animal species, with 39 behaviors suspected as socially acquired, most of them in the domain of tool-use. The cultural hypothesis is supported by experimental data from captive chimpanzees and a range of observational data. However, for wild groups, there is still no direct experimental evidence for social learning, nor has there been any direct observation of social diffusion of behavioral innovations. Here, we tested both a static and a dynamic network model and found strong evidence that diffusion patterns of moss-sponging, but not leaf-sponge re-use, were significantly better explained by social than individual learning. The most conservative estimate of social transmission accounted for 85% of observed events, with an estimated 15-fold increase in learning rate for each time a novice observed an informed individual moss-sponging. We conclude that group-specific behavioral variants in wild chimpanzees can be socially learned, adding to the evidence that this prerequisite for culture originated in a common ancestor of great apes and humans, long before the advent of modern humans.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Human–nature connection: a multidisciplinary review

In sustainability science calls are increasing for humanity to (re-)connect with nature, yet no systematic synthesis of the empirical literature on human–nature connection (HNC) exists. We reviewed 475 publications on HNC and found that most research has concentrated on individuals at local scales, often leaving ‘nature’ undefined. Cluster analysis identified three subgroups of publications: first, HNC as mind, dominated by the use of psychometric scales, second, HNC as experience, characterised by observation and qualitative analysis; and third, HNC as place, emphasising place attachment and reserve visitation. To address the challenge of connecting humanity with nature, future HNC scholarship must pursue cross-fertilization of methods and approaches, extend research beyond individuals, local scales, and Western societies, and increase guidance for sustainability transformations

Social and ecological dimensions of urban conservation grasslands and their management through prescribed burning and woody vegetation removal

Natural grasslands are threatened globally. In south-eastern Australia, remnants of critically endangered natural grasslands are increasingly being isolated in urban areas. Urbanisation has led to reduced fire frequency and woody plant encroachment in some patches. Grasslands are currently being managed under the assumption that desirable management actions to address these threats (prescribed burning and removing woody vegetation) (1) lead to improved conservation outcomes and (2) are restricted by negative public attitudes. In this study, we tested these two assumptions in the context of native grassland conservation reserves in Melbourne, Australia. Firstly, we investigated differences in species and functional trait composition between patches that had been recently burnt, patches that were unburnt and patches subject to woody vegetation encroachment. We found that the functional traits of species converged in areas subject to woody plant encroachment and areas frequently disturbed by fire. Burning promoted native species, and patches of woody plants supressed the dominant grass, providing a wider range of habitat conditions. Secondly, we surveyed 477 residents living adjacent to these grassland conservation reserves to measure values, beliefs and attitudes and the acceptance of prescribed burning and removing woody vegetation. We found conflict in people's attitudes to grasslands, with both strongly positive and strongly negative attitudes expressed. The majority of residents found prescribed burning an acceptable management practice (contrary to expectations) and removing trees and shrubs from grasslands to be unacceptable. Both cognitive factors (values and beliefs) and landscape features were important in influencing these opinions. This research provides some guidance for managing urban grassland reserves as a social-ecological system, showing that ecological management, community education and engagement and landscape design features can be integrated to influence social and ecological outcomes