Transforming urban gardeners into land stewards

This qualitative study explores how urban gardeners were supported to become land stewards through a wildlife gardening program in Melbourne Australia, and how this process occurred. From interviews of 16 program members in their gardens, the effects of program participation on reported gardening purpose and practice, and attachments to place, nature, and community, were investigated. Using inductive analysis, a stewardship development model was posited and compared to PEB change models. A first phase introduces participants to the purpose, activities, and support for land stewardship, and their potential role. A development phase follows where connections to place deepen; stewardship knowledge, competencies and activities strengthen; and commitment to stewardship increases through learning by doing, supported by rewarding results, validation, community involvement, and accessible resources. Private land stewardship values and practice can develop from wildlife gardening, a means to foster urban biodiversity while strengthening connections between residents and nature, place, and community

Yes! In my backyard: caring for native biodiversity in the city

As urban populations continue to grow, cities face the inter-related challenges of fostering community wellbeing and conserving biodiversity. These are usually addressed through disconnected strategies and policies. Biodiversity conservation policies focus on supporting dwindling native species and communities in new ecological assemblages. However many urban land types and land managers are undervalued as conservation spaces and actors, including residential land and residents. Community wellbeing policies look to support physical, mental, and social dimensions of quality of life. While the physical wellbeing benefits provided by nature are often considered, less is understood in terms of psychological or social wellbeing benefits associated with actively caring for nature. How conservation and human wellbeing outcomes might be pursued concomitantly by urban communities is a pressing research and policy question. In this research I ask ‘How can an urban community foster both its native biodiversity and human wellbeing by involving residents in gardening to conserve municipal biodiversity?’ I address this question through an exploratory case study of Knox Gardens for Wildlife (G4W), a program run by a local government (Knox City) and community group (Knox Environment Society - KES) collaboration that involves residents in gardening to help conserve the municipality’s indigenous biodiversity. I employ a qualitative research strategy to examine how the program engages and supports residents in this gardening, how a land stewardship ethic and practice develops, and the effects involvement has on participants’ subjective wellbeing and connections with nature, place, and community. Primary data were gathered through group or individual interviews with thirty-two individuals involved in or associated with G4W, including members, garden assessors, founders, and KES and Knox City officers. This was supplemented with demographic data from G4W members, observations of their gardens, an unpublished Knox City survey of members, and an open-ended questionnaire of garden assessors. I analysed and interpreted the data using inductive, iterative analysis to identify patterns and relationships for further testing. I also developed an assessment framework to explore the program’s impact on Knox community’s capacity to foster biodiversity and wellbeing. I find that urban residents with diverse gardening styles and demographic backgrounds can be engaged to foster indigenous biodiversity in their gardens through the program, showing opportunity to harness the conservation potential of residential land by engaging residents in municipal conservation collaboration. Yet urban conservation activities have been directed largely to public land, with residential opportunities focused on volunteering on public land, donations, or political support. The program also facilitates urban residents to adopt private land stewardship values and practice, in contrast with speculation that rural environmental place and place meanings are required. Stewardship development occurs over time through a complex interplay between performing stewardship activities, improving competency and confidence, increasing stewardship knowledge, growing stewardship beliefs and values, and deepening attachments to place and community. I posit a conceptual model for this process and contrast it with linearly depicted pro-environmental behaviour change models, noting their limitations in highlighting how performing pro-environmental behaviour affects its own development and that of other variables. Social factors were as important as ecological ones in affecting how and why urban residents were engaged in conservation and what benefits were achieved. Instrumental program factors include a face-to-face garden assessment, access to advice and support, locally sited communication hubs, a framework that fosters experiential learning and community linkages, involvement of community and local government, endorsement of each garden’s potential conservation contribution, and an indigenous plant nursery. Program participation strengthens wellbeing and social connections amongst involved actors. Feelings of wellbeing come from experiencing nature, sharing learning, developing skills, and making a meaningful contribution to community and nature, catalysts for further action. These findings demonstrate that social as well as ecological benefits can be gained from involving urban residents in municipal conservation through gardening, using an approach that has been poorly understood or targeted previously. They also demonstrate the value of using community capacity to assess and develop integrated approaches to foster biodiversity and wellbeing. I provide a community capacity assessment framework that highlights both social and ecological issues; aids recognition of how human, social, ecological, and economic capital is interactively developed by a program; and helps identify areas for improvement

Wildlife gardening for collaborative public-private biodiversity conservation

Complementary public and private conservation action is required to sustain native biodiversity in cities. Residents can contribute by wildlife gardening - removing environmental weeds, cultivating indigenous flora, and improving habitat in their gardens. There is currently little guidance about how best to involve residents in wildlife gardening and align their work with public land management. We explored how a purposively chosen wildlife gardening program in Melbourne, Australia engaged and supported residents to augment local government efforts to conserve indigenous biota. Sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with program members to understand the program's impact on their gardening and their connections with their council and community. Unpublished Council survey data were used to position interview findings on wildlife gardening activities and the value of program features. Interviewees detailed how they modified their gardening to assist their council to conserve indigenous biota. Five program features were implicated in this change: (1) on-site garden assessment; (2) indigenous community nursery; (3) communication hubs; (4) a framework that fosters experiential learning and community linkages; and (5) endorsement of each garden's potential conservation contribution. Collaborative wildlife gardening programs can engage residents to manage their land to achieve landscape-focused conservation goals while building relationships with council and community

Chlorpyrifos Oxon Primes Microglia: Enhanced LPS-Induced TNFα Production

poster abstractMicroglia, the resident innate immune cells of the brain, respond to various environmental stimuli, including factors from surrounding tissue and from systemic inputs. These stimuli impact microglial function in both health and disease. Increasing evidence implicates microglia and neuroinflammation in Gulf War illness (GWI) pathology. Gulf War illness is an untreatable chronic multi symptomatic disorder that affects about 30% of Gulf War veterans. It has been proposed that “multiple hits” from exposure to various environmental neurotoxicants such as Chlorpyrifos (CPF), an organophosphate pesticide, combined with low inflammation may initiate exaggerated and persistent central nervous system (CNS) pathology to drive GWI. CPF oxon, an active metabolite of CPF, is associated with deleterious CNS effects, but the role of microglia behind this phenomenon is not fully understood.To investigate the effects of CPF oxon on microglia, we assessed microglial ROS, pro-inflammatory cytokine factors, and NF-κB p50 DNA binding activity in the presence of CPF oxon. HAPI microglia cells were treated with CPF oxon (1μM-1nM), which resulted in a dose dependent increase in H2O2 production at 3 hours and elevated superoxide at 30 minutes. CPF oxon failed to initiate TNFα and nitric oxide from microglia cultures. However, CPF oxon significantly decreased NF-κB p50 binding to DNA in microglia, a key redox signaling mechanism linked to microglial priming. Consistent with this premise, pre-treatment with CPF oxon (0.5μM) amplified LPSinduced TNFα production in microglia and neuron-glia cultures. Moreover, when CPF oxon and LPS challenged cells were pre-treated with DPI, a NOX2 inhibitor, we found a significant reduction in TNFα response when compared to non-treated cells, supporting that NOX2 may regulate CPF oxon priming in microglia. These data suggest that CPF oxon may induce ROS production in microglia to reprogram these cells to become more sensitive to pro-inflammatory stimuli (priming)

Objective Evaluation of the Somatogravic Illusion from Flight Data of an Airplane Accident

(1) Background: It is difficult for accident investigators to objectively determine whether spatial disorientation may have contributed to a fatal airplane accident. In this paper, we evaluate three methods to reconstruct the possible occurrence of the somatogravic illusion based on flight data recordings from an airplane accident. (2) Methods: The outputs of two vestibular models were compared with the “standard” method, which uses the unprocessed gravito-inertial acceleration (GIA). (3) Results: All three methods predicted that the changing orientation of the GIA would lead to a somatogravic illusion when no visual references were available. However, the methods were not able to explain the first pitch-down control input by the pilot flying, which may have been triggered by the inadvertent activation of the go-around mode and a corresponding pitch-up moment. Both vestibular models predicted a few seconds delay in the illusory tilt from GIA due to central processing and sensory integration. (4) Conclusions: While it is difficult to determine which method best predicted the somatogravic illusion perceived during the accident without data on the pilot’s pitch perception, both vestibular models go beyond the GIA analysis in taking into account validated vestibular dynamics, and they also account for other vestibular illusions. In that respect, accident investigators would benefit from a unified and validated vestibular model to better explain pilot actions in accidents related to spatial disorientation

Soybean varieties for Illinois

Caption title

Jumping Off the treadmill: transforming NRM to systemic governing with systemic co-inquiry

While there is continued interest in Deliberative Policy Analysis (DPA) its practice element appears to have been underappreciated. We reflect on our experience of using a systemic co-inquiry to provide new insights into operationalising DPA that may assist it to speak more immediately to issues related to governing in the Anthropocene. Natural resource management (NRM) in Australia embraced the global turn to governance, but demonstrated how difficult it is to achieve systemic, collaborative approaches to management policy. The treadmill of our title symbolises the experience of community and organizational stakeholders in the case area, who were constantly in motion but achieving no forward movement in collaborative governance. A systemic coinquiry into how decision making and action taking in NRM could be improved began in 2015. Systemic co-inquiry is a facilitated process that enables emergence of ideas and opportunities for transforming a situation. We describe this process, present how it was used in the case area, then critically reflect on its contributions for governance and practice, and its theoretical and political implications. Describing and critiquing our use of systemic co-inquiry provides new insights to address challenges for future DPA

Atypical microglial response to biodiesel exhaust in healthy and hypertensive rats

Accumulating evidence suggests a deleterious role for urban air pollution in central nervous system (CNS) diseases and neurodevelopmental disorders. Microglia, the resident innate immune cells and sentinels in the brain, are a common source of neuroinflammation and are implicated in how air pollution may exert CNS effects. While renewable energy, such as soy-based biofuel, is of increasing public interest, there is little information on how soy biofuel may affect the brain. To address this, male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and normotensive Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats were exposed to 100% Soy Biodiesel Exhaust (100SBDE; 0, 50, 150 and 500 μg/m3) by inhalation for 4 h/day for 4 weeks (5 days/week). IBA-1 staining of microglia in the substantia nigra revealed significant changes in morphology with 100SBDE exposure in rats from both genotypes, where the SHR were less sensitive. Further analysis failed to show consistent changes in pro-inflammatory cytokine expression, nitrated protein, and arginase1 expression in brain tissue from either rat strain exposed to 100SBDE. CX3CR1 and fractalkine mRNA expression were lower in the striatum of all 100SBDE exposed rats, but greater SBDE exposure was required for loss of fractalkine expression in the SHR. Together, these data support that month-long 100SBDE exposure impacts the basal ganglia with changes in microglia morphology, an impaired fractalkine axis, and an atypical activation response without traditional markers of M1 or M2 activation, where the SHR may be less sensitive to these effects

Prognostic Biomarkers for Acute Graft-versus-Host Disease Risk after Cyclophosphamide–Fludarabine Nonmyeloablative Allotransplantation

AbstractFive candidate plasma biomarkers (suppression of tumorogenesis 2 [ST2], regenerating islet-derived-3α [REG3α], elafin, tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 [TNFR1], and soluble IL-2 receptor-alpha [sIL2Rα]) were measured at specific time points after cyclophosphamide/fludarabine-based nonmyeloablative allotransplantation (NMAT) in patients who did or did not develop acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD). Plasma samples from 34 patients were analyzed at days +7, +14, +21, and +30. At a median follow-up of 358 days, 17 patients had experienced aGVHD with a median time to onset at day +36. Risk of aGVHD was associated with elevated plasma ST2 concentrations at day +7 (c-statistic = .72, P = .03), day +14 (c-statistic = .74, P = .02), and day +21 (c-statistic = .75, P = .02); elevated plasma REG3α concentrations at day +14 (c-statistic = .73, P = .03), day +21 (c-statistic = .76, P = .01), and day +30 (c-statistic = .73, P = .03); and elevated elafin at day +14 (c-statistic = .71, P = .04). Plasma concentrations of TNFR1 and sIL2Rα were not associated with aGVHD risk at any of the time points studied. This study identified ST2, REG3α, and elafin as prognostic biomarkers to evaluate risk of aGVHD after cyclophosphamide/fludarabine-based NMAT. These results need to be confirmed in an independent validation cohort

Human neural progenitors express functional lysophospholipid receptors that regulate cell growth and morphology

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Lysophospholipids regulate the morphology and growth of neurons, neural cell lines, and neural progenitors. A stable human neural progenitor cell line is not currently available in which to study the role of lysophospholipids in human neural development. We recently established a stable, adherent human embryonic stem cell-derived neuroepithelial (hES-NEP) cell line which recapitulates morphological and phenotypic features of neural progenitor cells isolated from fetal tissue. The goal of this study was to determine if hES-NEP cells express functional lysophospholipid receptors, and if activation of these receptors mediates cellular responses critical for neural development.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our results demonstrate that Lysophosphatidic Acid (LPA) and Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptors are functionally expressed in hES-NEP cells and are coupled to multiple cellular signaling pathways. We have shown that transcript levels for S1P1 receptor increased significantly in the transition from embryonic stem cell to hES-NEP. hES-NEP cells express LPA and S1P receptors coupled to G_i/oG-proteins that inhibit adenylyl cyclase and to G_q-like phospholipase C activity. LPA and S1P also induce p44/42 ERK MAP kinase phosphorylation in these cells and stimulate cell proliferation via G_i/ocoupled receptors in an Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR)- and ERK-dependent pathway. In contrast, LPA and S1P stimulate transient cell rounding and aggregation that is independent of EGFR and ERK, but dependent on the Rho effector p160 ROCK.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Thus, lysophospholipids regulate neural progenitor growth and morphology through distinct mechanisms. These findings establish human ES cell-derived NEP cells as a model system for studying the role of lysophospholipids in neural progenitors.</p