Narratives can motivate environmental action : the Whiskey Creek ocean acidification story

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2014. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Springer for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Ambio 43 (2014): 592-599, doi:10.1007/s13280-013-0442-2.Even when environmental data quantify the risks and benefits of delayed responses to rapid anthropogenic change, institutions rarely respond promptly. We propose that narratives complementing environmental datasets can motivate responsive environmental policy. To explore this idea, we relate a case study in which a narrative of economic loss due to regionally rapid ocean acidification—an anthropogenic change—helped connect knowledge with action. We pose three hypotheses to explain why narratives might be particularly effective in linking science to environmental policy, drawing from the literature of economics, environmental policy, and cognitive psychology. It seems that yet-untold narratives may hold similar potential for strengthening the feedback between environmental data and policy and motivating regional responses to other environmental problems.2015-09-0

The effect of photobleaching on bee (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) setae color and its implications for studying aging and behavior

Historically, bee age has been estimated using measurements of wing wear and integument color change.  These measurements have been useful in studies of foraging ecology and plant-pollinator interactions.  Wing wear is speculated to be affected by the behaviors associated with foraging, nesting, and mating activities.  Setal color change may be an additional parameter used to measure bee age if it is affected by sun exposure during these same activities.  The objectives of this study were to experimentally assess the effect of direct sun exposure on setal color, unicellular hair-like processes of the integument, and determine whether wing wear and integument photobleaching are correlated.  To quantify photobleaching of setae, we measured changes in hue of lab-reared Bombus huntii Greene (Apidae) exposed to natural sunlight.  We found that sun exposure was a significant variable in determining setal bleaching.  To assess the relationship between wing wear and setal photobleaching, we scored wing wear and measured setal hue of B. huntii, Melecta pacifica fulvida Cresson (Apidae), and Osmia integra Cresson (Megachilidae) from museum specimens.  Wing wear and setal hue values were positively correlated for all three species; however, the strength of the relationship varies across bee species as indicated by correlation coefficient estimates.  Our results suggest that setal color change is affected by sun exposure, and is likely an accurate estimate of bee age.  We suggest that future investigations of bee aging consider a suite of morphometric characteristics due to differences in natural history and sociobiology that may be confounded by the use of a single characteristic

Modifications of comet materials by the sublimation process: Results from simulation experiments

An active comet like comet Halley loses by sublimation a surface layer of the order of 1 m thickness per perihelion passage. In situ measurements show that water ice is the main constituent which contributes to the gas emission although even more volatile species (CO, NH3, CH4, CO2 etc.) have been identified. Dust particles which were embedded in the ices are carried by the sublimating gases. Measurements of the chemical composition of cometary grains indicate that they are composed of silicates of approximate chondritic composition and refractory carbonaceous material. Comet simulation experiments show that significant modifications of cometary materials occur due to sublimation process in near surface layers which have to be taken into account in order to derive the original state of the material

Self-Referential Noise and the Synthesis of Three-Dimensional Space

Generalising results from Godel and Chaitin in mathematics suggests that self-referential systems contain intrinsic randomness. We argue that this is relevant to modelling the universe and show how three-dimensional space may arise from a non-geometric order-disorder model driven by self-referential noise.Comment: Figure labels correcte