The Long and Short of Groundwater Education for Michigan Farmers

The Michigan Groundwater Stewardship Program (MGSP) has pursued a variety of educational strategies to educate farmers about groundwater risks associated with pesticide and fertilizer use. This article describes a 4-year study investigating program effectiveness. The results suggest that Farm*A*Syst has been a successful intervention for promoting farm management practices. Yet, despite the apparent changes in some farm management practices, little impact on groundwater literacy has been achieved. We suspect adoption of these practices may be driven by financial incentives, rather than an improved understanding of the need to assess and evaluate risks to their local groundwater supplies

Bienvenidos a la universidad: ¿cómo reciben los profesores de primer año a los estudiantes en “los inicios” a la vida universitaria? / Welcome to university: how professors receive first-year students in “the beginnigs” of university life?

En el presente estudio, partimos del supuesto de concebir al profesor comoun actor clave en las trayectorias de los estudiantes en la universidad.Particularmente en primer año, las acciones de los profesores puedenresultar obstaculizadoras o facilitadoras para los estudiantes en la comprensióny aprehensión de la vida universitaria. En este sentido, optamos por inscribir nuestra investigación dentro del interaccionismo simbólico, ya que nos permite analizar la experiencia universitaria desde la interacción entre los actores implicados en las situaciones que se desarrollan cotidianamente.Nuestro interés estuvo centrado en realizar un análisis comprensivo del puntode vista de los profesores para reflexionar acerca de su relación con los estudiantes de primer año, describir los avatares de su práctica como docentes en “los  inicios” y comprender el sentido atribuido al aprender de los estudiantes de primer año de la universidad. Nos proponemos específicamente: indagar el punto de vista de los docentes sobre los estudiantes de primer año. Mediante la realización de entrevistas en profundidad, recuperamos el relato de cuatro profesores del primer año de dos carreras de la Escuela de Humanidades: la Licenciatura en Filosofía y la Licenciatura en Historia de la Universidad Nacional de San Martin (UNSAM)

Climate change impacts on polar marine ecosystems: Toward robust approaches for managing risks and uncertainties

The Polar Regions chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) provides a comprehensive assessment of climate change impacts on polar marine ecosystems and associated consequences for humans. It also includes identification of confidence for major findings based on agreement across studies and weight of evidence. Sources of uncertainty, from the extent of available datasets, to resolution of projection models, to the complexity and understanding of underlying social-ecological linkages and dynamics, can influence confidence. Here we, marine ecosystem scientists all having experience as lead authors of IPCC reports, examine the evolution of confidence in observed and projected climate-linked changes in polar ecosystems since SROCC. Further synthesis of literature on polar marine ecosystems has been undertaken, especially within IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) Working Group II; for the Southern Ocean also the Marine Ecosystem Assessment for the Southern Ocean (MEASO). These publications incorporate new scientific findings that address some of the knowledge gaps identified in SROCC. While knowledge gaps have been narrowed, we still find that polar region assessments reflect pronounced geographical skewness in knowledge regarding the responses of marine life to changing climate and associated literature. There is also an imbalance in scientific focus; especially research in Antarctica is dominated by physical oceanography and cryosphere science with highly fragmented approaches and only short-term funding to ecology. There are clear indications that the scientific community has made substantial progress in its ability to project ecosystem responses to future climate change through the development of coupled biophysical models of the region facilitated by increased computer power allowing for improved resolution in space and time. Lastly, we point forward—providing recommendations for future advances for IPCC assessments.publishedVersio

Multiple stakeholders’ perspectives of marine social ecological systems, a case study on the Barents Sea

The Barents Sea ecosystem components and services are under pressure from climate change and other anthropogenic impacts. Following an Ecosystem-based management approach, multiple simultaneous pressures are addressed by using integrative strategies, but regular prioritization of key issues is needed. Identification of such priorities is typically done in a ‘scoping’ phase, where the characterization of the social-ecological system is defined and discussed. We performed a scoping exercise using an open and flexible multi-stakeholder approach to build conceptual models of the Barents Sea social-ecological system. After standardizing vocabulary, a com plex hierarchical model structure containing 155 elements was condensed to a simpler model structure con taining a maximum of 36 elements. To capture a common understanding across stakeholder groups, inputs from the individual group models were compiled into a collective model. Stakeholders’ representation of the Barents Sea social-ecological system is complex and often group specific, emphasizing the need to include social scientific methods to ensure the identification and inclusion of key stakeholders in the process. Any summary or simpli fication of the stakeholders’ representation neglects important information. Some commonalities are highlighted in the collective model, and additional information from the hierarchical model is provided by multicriteria analysis. The collective conceptual stakeholder model provides input to an integrated overview and strengthens prioritization in Ecosystem-based management by supporting the development of qualitative network models. Such models allow for exploration of perturbations and can inform cross-sectoral management trade-offs and prioritiespublishedVersio