The Marcellus Shale in Maryland and Twitter: A Mixed Methods Analysis of Tweets from November 2016

Recent research shows about 75% of US adults are on social networking sites. Social media platforms like Twitter, provide potential new modes of networked public participation around contested technologies while affording communities a space for identity development and expression. During 2016, Maryland saw increasing interest in and debate around opening the State to hydraulic fracturing. To understand public perception of hydraulic fracturing, researchers collected tweets associated with relevant hashtags. Data collection occurred during the month of November 2016 which included the 2016 General Election and the release of proposed regulations in Maryland. The final sample of tweets for this period was n=638 stratified across thirteen hashtags. The timing, actors involved and central themes of the discussion around hydraulic fracturing in Maryland were analyzed using qualitative methods. The frequency of tweets by date showed three peaks – November 14, November 18 and November 22. November 14, 2016 was when the Maryland Department of the Environment released the proposed regulations, November 18 was a day of action referred to as #frackfreefriday and the content of tweets from November 22 focused on the regulations. Additional analysis showed individual actors and the hashtag #dontfrackmd contributed the most to the final. Additional stratification by hashtag, content and stance towards fracking further described the Twitter discourse around hydraulic fracturing in Maryland during the study period. Additional analysis is recommended to understand the public perception expressed on Twitter for the entire Marcellus Shale region as it pertains to hydraulic fracturing

Contrasting tree-cover loss and subsequent land cover in two neotropical forest regions: sample-based assessment of the Mexican Yucatán and Argentine Chaco

The neotropical-forest’s northern and southern extremes, covering the Mexican Yucatán and the Argentine Chaco, have among the highest rates of recent tree-cover loss in the biome. This study contrasts the character of loss in these regions, estimating proportions of types of loss and subsequent land cover. It is based on two-stage probability sampling design and field and satellite-image surveys. All estimates include uncertainties, which could be further reduced via model-assisted estimation or additional sampling. This approach can be replicated in other regions to estimate types of loss and associated land cover from a definitive, in-situ perspective. The character of loss in the two areas differed greatly. That in the Yucatán was 54% temporary, mostly under fallow or selectively logged, while that in the Chaco was 85% permanent, split nearly equally between crops and pasture. These data contribute to a quantitative basis for studies of socio-economic drivers of neotropical deforestation.Fil: Krylov, Alexander. University of Maryland; Estados UnidosFil: Steininger, Marc K.. University of Maryland; Estados UnidosFil: Hansen, Matthew C.. University of Maryland; Estados UnidosFil: Potapov, Peter V.. University of Maryland; Estados UnidosFil: Stehman, Stephen V.. State University of New York; Estados UnidosFil: Gost, Allison. University of Maryland; Estados UnidosFil: Noel, Jacob. University of Maryland; Estados UnidosFil: Talero Ramirez, Yamile. University of Maryland; Estados UnidosFil: Tyukavina, Alexandra. University of Maryland; Estados UnidosFil: Di Bella, Carlos Marcelo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Ellis, Edward A.. Universidad Veracruzana; MéxicoFil: Ellis, Peter. The Nature Conservancy. Global Lands; Estados Unido