Potential Economic Consequences of Local Nonconformity to Regional Land Use and Transportation Plans Using a Spatial Economic Model

To achieve the greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets that are required by California’s global warming legislation (AB32), the state of California has determined that recent growth trends in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) must be curtailed. In recognition of this, Senate Bill 375 (SB375) requires regional governments to develop land use and transportation plans or Sustainable Community Strategies (SCSs) that will achieve regional GHG targets largely though reduced VMT. Although the bill requires such a plan, it does not require local governments to adopt general plans that conform to this plan. In California, it is local, not regional, governments that have authority over land development decisions. Instead, SB375 relies on democratic participatory processes and relatively modest financial and regulatory incentives for SCS implementation. As a result, it is quite possible that some local governments within a region may decide not to conform to their SCS. In this study, a spatial economic model (PECAS) is applied in the Sacramento region (California, U.S.) to understand what the economic and equity consequences might be to jurisdictions that do and do not implement SCS land use plans in a region. An understanding of these consequences provides insight into jurisdictions’ motivations for compliance and thus, strategies for more effective implementation of SB375

The Influence of Information Signs on Visitor Distribution and Use

Lack of information is a primary factor accounting for visitors jamming recreation sites, overflowing onto highway rights-of-way and blocking facilities [5, p. 95]. In attempting to attain an even distribution of visitors, the importance of information signing as a management tool is often overlooked. Oxenfeldt indicates that advertising (information) alters behavior most efficiently when it supplies information customers are seeking [4, p. 471]. Tocher and Kearns noted in visitor characteristic studies that travelers seek different experiences when touring than when at home or work [6]. Information signs may lead the visitor to these different experiences. Hypothesizing that signs can influence facility use patterns, researchers at Utah State University in 1964 and 1965 conducted a visitor use and motivation study in the Logan Canyon Recreation Complex, Utah. (The original study from which portions of these data were obtained was initiated by S. Ross Tocher, Instructor, University of Michigan while he was a member of the College of Natural Resources Faculty at Utah State University.) This report focuses on two questions: (1) do information signs help distribute visitors more evenly? and (2) do information signs stimulate greater use of a previously unsigned roadside rest area

Sexual signaling and immune function in the black field cricket Teleogryllus commodus

The immunocompetence handicap hypothesis predicts that male sexual trait expression should be positively correlated with immunocompetence. Here we investigate if immune function in the cricket, Teleogryllus commodus, is related to specific individual components of male sexual signals, as well as to certain multivariate combinations of these components that females most strongly prefer. Male T. commodus produce both advertisement and courtship calls prior to mating. We measured fine-scale structural parameters of both call types and also recorded nightly advertisement calling effort. We then measured two standard indices of immune function: lysozyme-like activity of the haemolymph and haemocyte counts. We found a weak, positive relationship between advertisement calling effort and lysozyme-like activity. There was, however, little evidence that individual structural call components or the net multivariate attractiveness of either call type signalled immune function. The relationships between immunity and sexual signaling did not differ between inbred and outbred males. Our data suggest that it is unlikely that females assess overall male immune function using male calls.This work was supported by the Australian Research Council (DP0555943 to M.D.J.). J.H. was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council and a Royal Society Fellowship. J.M.D. was supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award

Sexual conflict and cryptic female choice in the black field cricket, Teleogryllus commodus

The prevalence and evolutionary consequences of cryptic female choice (CFC) remain highly controversial, not least because the processes underlying its expression are often concealed within the female reproductive tract. However, even when female discrimination is relatively easy to observe, as in numerous insect species with externally attached spermatophores, it is often difficult to demonstrate directional CFC for certain male phenotypes over others. Using a biological assay to separate male crickets into attractive or unattractive categories, we demonstrate that females strongly discriminate against unattractive males by removing their spermatophores before insemination can be completed. This results in significantly more sperm being transferred by attractive males than unattractive males. Males respond to CFC by mate-guarding females after copulation, which increases the spermatophore retention of both attractive and unattractive males. Interestingly, unattractive males who suffered earlier interruption of sperm transfer benefited more from mate guarding and guarded females more vigilantly than attractive males. Our results suggest that post-copulatory mate guarding has evolved via sexual conflict over insemination times rather than through genetic benefits of biasing paternity toward vigorous males, as has been previously suggested

Relating Groundwater to Seasonal Wetlands in Southeastern Wisconsin, USA

Historically, drier types of wetlands have been difficult to characterize and are not well researched. Nonetheless, they are considered to reflect the precipitation history with little, if any, regard for possible relation to groundwater. Two seasonal coastal wetland types (wet prairie, sedge meadow) were investigated during three growing seasons at three sites in the Lake Michigan Basin, Wisconsin, USA. The six seasonal wetlands were characterized using standard soil and vegetation techniques and groundwater measurements from the shallow and deep systems. They all met wetland hydrology criteria (e.g., water within 30 cm of land surface for 5% of the growing season) during the early portion of the growing season despite the lack of appreciable regional groundwater discharge into the wetland root zones. Although root-zone duration analyses did not fit a lognormal distribution previously noted in groundwater-dominated wetlands, they were able to discriminate between the plant communities and showed that wet prairie communities had shorter durations of continuous soil saturation than sedge meadow communities. These results demonstrate that the relative rates of groundwater outflows can be important for wetland hydrology and resulting wetland type. Thus, regional stresses to the shallow groundwater system such as pumping or low Great Lake levels can be expected to affect even drier wetland types

Long-term change in a North Sea inshore fish assemblage between 1899-1913 and 2018-2019

GLH was supported by a Newcastle University SAgE DTA studentship with additional funding to GHE and JKP from a Cefas Seedcorn grant (DP371T). Special thanks to Neil Armstrong and Barry Pearson, skippers of the RV The Princess Royal, for their assistance in collecting fish samples at sea. We also thank Imogen Dent for her help processing samples at sea. We would also like to thank Alex Aitken at Northumberland Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authority (NIFCA) who gave input on management measures and byelaws for the study region. We are also grateful for the constructive comments provided by the anonymous reviewers.Peer reviewe