Our Moment of Truth: The Social Contract Realized?

Much has changed in the two decades since I (JL) proposed that scientists should re-examine their obligations to society in order to serve society better. Today, more environmental scientists are actively sharing their science broadly, conducting use-inspired science (sensu Stokes) in addition to basic science, engaging with society, and crafting solutions to problems not just diagnosing them—all very welcome and exciting developments. For the most part, however, environmental scientists have taken on these extra duties because they believed it was the right thing to do and despite the considerable impediments that exist within academia. But make no mistake, the culture of academia continues to impede progress. As a result, although the above actions have had demonstrable effect, their collective impact falls far short of what is needed if society is to tackle effectively the disruption underway due to climate change, ocean acidification, biodiversity loss, pandemics, and more. Actions by individuals can take us only so far. To truly help society meet its grand challenges, environmental scientists must now make a quantum leap in engagement with society. It is time for strategic, collective action to change the culture of academia and create the enabling conditions for science to serve society better

Ecological criteria for evaluation candidate sites for marine reserves

Several schemes have been developed to help select the locations of marine reserves. All of them combine social, economic, and biological criteria, and few offer any guidance as to how to prioritize among the criteria identified. This can imply that the relative weights given to different criteria are unimportant. Where two sites are of equal value ecologically, then socioeconomic criteria should dominate the choice of which should be protected. However, in many cases, socioeconomic criteria are given equal or greater weight than ecological considerations in the choice of sites. This can lead to selection of reserves with little biological value that fail to meet many of the desired objectives. To avoid such a possibility, we develop a series of criteria that allow preliminary evaluation of candidate sites according to their relative biological values in advance of the application of socioeconomic criteria. We include criteria that, while not strictly biological, have a strong influence on the species present or ecological processes. Our scheme enables sites to be assessed according to their biodiversity, the processes which underpin that diversity, and the processes that support fisheries and provide a spectrum of other services important to people. Criteria that capture biodiversity values include biogeographic representation, habitat representation and heterogeneity, and presence of species or populations of special interest (e.g., threatened species). Criteria that capture sustainability of biodiversity and fishery values include the size of reserves necessary to protect viable habitats, presence of exploitable species, vulnerable life stages, connectivity among reserves, links among ecosystems, and provision of ecosystem services to people. Criteria measuring human and natural threats enable candidate sites to be eliminated from consideration if risks are too great, but also help prioritize among sites where threats can be mitigated by protection. While our criteria can be applied to the design of reserve networks, they also enable choice of single reserves to be made in the context of the attributes of existing protected areas. The overall goal of our scheme is to promote the development of reserve networks that will maintain biodiversity and ecosystem functioning at large scales. The values of ecosystem goods and services for people ultimately depend on meeting this objective

A call for inclusive conservation

An age-old conflict around a seemingly simple question has resurfaced: why do we conserve nature? Contention around this issue has come and gone many times, but in the past several years we believe that it has reappeared as an increasingly acrimonious debate between, in essence, those who argue that nature should be protected for its own sake (intrinsic value)1, 2 and those who argue that we must also save nature to help ourselves (instrumental value)

The emergence and evolution of Earth System Science

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Nature Research via the DOI in this recordEarth System Science (ESS) is a rapidly emerging transdisciplinary endeavour aimed at understanding the structure and functioning of the Earth as a complex, adaptive system. Here, we discuss the emergence and evolution of ESS, outlining the importance of these developments in advancing our understanding of global change. Inspired by early work on biosphere–geosphere interactions and by novel perspectives such as the Gaia hypothesis, ESS emerged in the 1980s following demands for a new ‘science of the Earth’. The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme soon followed, leading to an unprecedented level of international commitment and disciplinary integration. ESS has produced new concepts and frameworks central to the global-change discourse, including the Anthropocene, tipping elements and planetary boundaries. Moving forward, the grand challenge for ESS is to achieve a deep integration of biophysical processes and human dynamics to build a truly unified understanding of the Earth System

Pregnancy after liver transplantation under tacrolimus

Background. The maternal and fetal risk of pregnancy after organ transplantation under tacrolimus has not been reported. This was prospectively studied in 27 pregnancies by 21 female liver recipients who were treated with tacrolimus before and throughout gestation. Method. Twenty- seven babies were born between October 1990 and April 1996. In 15 cases, samples were obtained at or after delivery and stored (-40°C) for comparison of tacrolimus concentration in the maternal blood with different combinations of cord and infant venous blood, breast milk, or a section of the placenta. Results. The 21 mothers had surprisingly few serious complications of pregnancy and no mortality. Two infants with 23 and 24 weeks gestation died shortly after birth. The mean birth weight of the other 25 was 2638±781 g after a gestational period of 36.0±3.3 weeks. Mean birth weight percentile for gestational age was 50.2±26.2 (median 40). On the day of delivery, the mean tacrolimus concentrations (ng/ml) were 4.3 in placenta versus 1.5, 0.7, and 0.5 in maternal, cord, and child plasma, and 0.6 in the first breast milk specimens. The infants had a 36% incidence of transient perinatal hyperkalemia (K+>7.0 meq/L) and a mild reversible renal impairment, which were thought to reflect in part maternal homeostasis. One newborn had unilateral polycystic renal disease (the only anomaly). All 25 babies have had satisfactory postnatal growth and development with a current mean weight percentile of 62±37 (median 80). Conclusions. Pregnancy by postliver transplant mothers under tacrolimus was possible with a surprisingly low incidence of the hypertension, preeclampsia, and other maternal complications historically associated with such gestations. As in previous experience with other immunosuppressive regimens, preterm deliveries were common. However, prenatal growth for gestational age and postnatal infant growth for post- partum age were normal

Challenges in the Quest for Keystones

Identifying keystone species is difficult-but essential to understanding bow loss of species will affect ecosystems

The Dynamics and Impact of Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia: Insights from Sustained Investigations in the Northern California Current Large Marine Ecosystem

Coastal upwelling ecosystems around the world are defined by wind-generated currents that bring deep, nutrient-rich waters to the surface ocean where they fuel exceptionally productive food webs. These ecosystems are also now understood to share a common vulnerability to ocean acidification and hypoxia (OAH). In the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME), reports of marine life die-offs by fishers and resource managers triggered research that led to an understanding of the risks posed by hypoxia. Similarly, unprecedented losses from shellfish hatcheries led to novel insights into the coastal expression of ocean acidification. Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO) scientists and other researchers in the CCLME responded to the rise of OAH with new ocean observations and experiments. This work revealed insights into the expression of OAH as coupled environmental stressors, their temporal and spatial variability, and impacts on species, ecological communities, and fisheries. Sustained investigations also deepened the understanding of connections between climate change and the intensification of hypoxia, and are beginning to inform the ecological and eco-evolutionary processes that can structure responses to the progression of ocean acidification and other pathways of global change. Moreover, because the severity of the die-offs and hatchery failures and the subsequent scientific understanding combined to galvanize public attention, these scientific advances have fostered policy advances. Across the CCLME, policymakers are now translating the evolving scientific understanding of OAH into new management actions

Reflections: Academia's Emerging Crisis of Relevance and the Consequent Role of the Engaged Scholar

Universities are facing a crisis of relevance. While there are multiple reasons for this to be happening, one that deserves particular attention is the extent to which academic scholars do not see it as their role to engage in public and political discourse. However, increased engagement is unavoidable in an emerging educational context where the caliber of public discourse has become so degraded and social media is changing the nature of science and scientific discourse within society. Further, there is a demographic shift in play, where young scholars are seeking more impact from their work than their more senior colleagues. In this article, I begin the process of articulating what we know and what we don’t know about the evolving role of the engaged scholar by breaking the conversation into two parts. First, why should academic scholars engage in public and political discourse? Second, how can we structure a set of ground rules that could form what might be considered a handbook for public engagement? In the end, this article is about a reexamination of how we practice our craft, to what purpose and to which audiences.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/136168/1/1343_Hoffman.pd

Delayed upwelling alters nearshore coastal ocean ecosystems in the northern California current

Wind-driven coastal ocean upwelling supplies nutrients to the euphotic zone near the coast. Nutrients fuel the growth of phytoplankton, the base of a very productive coastal marine ecosystem [Pauly D, Christensen V (1995) Nature 374:255–257]. Because nutrient supply and phytoplankton biomass in shelf waters are highly sensitive to variation in upwelling-driven circulation, shifts in the timing and strength of upwelling may alter basic nutrient and carbon fluxes through marine food webs. We show how a 1-month delay in the 2005 spring transition to upwelling-favorable wind stress in the northern California Current Large Marine Ecosystem resulted in numerous anomalies: warm water, low nutrient levels, low primary productivity, and an unprecedented low recruitment of rocky intertidal organisms. The delay was associated with 20- to 40-day wind oscillations accompanying a southward shift of the jet stream. Early in the upwelling season (May–July) off Oregon, the cumulative upwelling-favorable wind stress was the lowest in 20 years, nearshore surface waters averaged 2°C warmer than normal, surf-zone chlorophyll-a and nutrients were 50% and 30% less than normal, respectively, and densities of recruits of mussels and barnacles were reduced by 83% and 66%, respectively. Delayed early-season upwelling and stronger late-season upwelling are consistent with predictions of the influence of global warming on coastal upwelling regions

Curves of Placental Weights of Live-Born Twins

The purpose of this study is to present curves of estimated placental growth in twins and to evaluate the relative contribution of gestational age, zygosity, chorionicity, fusion of the placentas, sex of the individual and of the twin pair, site of the umbilical cord insertion, birth order, maternal age, and parity. Perinatal data and placental data were obtained from 6315 live-born twin pairs from the East Flanders Prospective Twin Survey. Of 4318 twin pairs, with no missing values, the placental weights of different gestational ages were analyzed using a nonlinear multivariate Gaussian regression. Two groups were distinguished: (1) twins with two separate placentas, and (2) twins with only one placental mass (one placenta in case of monochorionic twins or two fused placentas in case of dichorionic placentas). Overall, placental weight was influenced by gestational age, fusion of the placentas, and parity. In the case of one placental mass, monozygotic dichorionic twins had the lowest weights. If two separate placentas were present, birth order played a role in favor of the first-born twin. For parity and zygosity, the differences were most pronounced between 27 and 29 weeks, whereas the difference for birth order was most pronounced between 33 and 37 weeks. In conclusion, basic physiological characteristics, routinely examined at birth, influence placental weight. Taking these covariates into account allows a better evaluation of the placental weight given a gestational age, as an indicator of growth