Analysis of the uncertainty in the monetary valuation of ecosystem services - a case study at the river basin scale

Ecosystem services provide multiple benefits to human wellbeing and are increasingly considered by 18 policy-makers in environmental management. However, the uncertainty related with the monetary 19 valuation of these benefits is not yet adequately defined or integrated by policy-makers. Given this 20 background, our aim was to quantify different sources of uncertainty when performing monetary 21 valuation of ecosystem services, in order to provide a series of guidelines to reduce them. With an 22 example of 4 ecosystem services (i.e., water provisioning, waste treatment, erosion protection, and 23 habitat for species) provided at the river basin scale, we quantified the uncertainty associated with 24 the following sources: (1) the number of services considered, (2) the number of benefits considered 25 for each service, (3) the valuation metrics (i.e. valuation methods) used to value benefits, and (4) the 26 uncertainty of the parameters included in the valuation metrics. Results indicate that the highest 27 uncertainty was caused by the number of services considered, as well as by the number of benefits 28 considered for each service, whereas the parametric uncertainty was similar to the one related to the 29 selection of valuation metric, thus suggesting that the parametric uncertainty, which is the only 30 uncertainty type commonly considered, was less critical than the structural uncertainty, which is in 31 turn mainly dependent on the decision-making context. Given the uncertainty associated to the 32 valuation structure, special attention should be given to the selection of services, benefits and 33 metrics according to a given context

Empirical validation of the InVEST water yield ecosystem service model at a national scale

A variety of tools have emerged with the goal of mapping the current delivery of ecosystem services and quantifying the impact of environmental changes. An important and often overlooked question is how accurate the outputs of these models are in relation to empirical observations. In this paper we validate a hydrological ecosystem service model (InVEST Water Yield Model) using widely available data. We modelled annual water yield in 22 UK catchments with widely varying land cover, population and geology, and compared model outputs with gauged river flow data from the UK National River Flow Archive. Values for input parameters were selected from existing literature to reflect conditions in the UK and were subjected to sensitivity analyses. We also compared model performance between precipitation and potential evapotranspiration data sourced from global- and UK-scale datasets. We then tested the transferability of the results within the UK by additional validation in a further 20 catchments. Whilst the model performed only moderately with global-scale data (linear regression of modelled total water yield against empirical data; slope = 0.763, intercept = 54.45, R2 = 0.963) with wide variation in performance between catchments, the model performed much better when using UK-scale input data, with closer fit to the observed data (slope = 1.07, intercept = 3.07, R2 = 0.990). With UK data the majority of catchments showed less than 10% difference between measured and modelled water yield but there was a minor but consistent overestimate per hectare (86 m3/ha/year). Additional validation on a further 20 UK catchments was similarly robust, indicating that these results are transferable within the UK. These results suggest that relatively simple models can give accurate measures of ecosystem services. However, the choice of input data is critical and there is a need for further validation in other parts of the worl

From Sea to Sea: Canada's Three Oceans of Biodiversity

Evaluating and understanding biodiversity in marine ecosystems are both necessary and challenging for conservation. This paper compiles and summarizes current knowledge of the diversity of marine taxa in Canada's three oceans while recognizing that this compilation is incomplete and will change in the future. That Canada has the longest coastline in the world and incorporates distinctly different biogeographic provinces and ecoregions (e.g., temperate through ice-covered areas) constrains this analysis. The taxonomic groups presented here include microbes, phytoplankton, macroalgae, zooplankton, benthic infauna, fishes, and marine mammals. The minimum number of species or taxa compiled here is 15,988 for the three Canadian oceans. However, this number clearly underestimates in several ways the total number of taxa present. First, there are significant gaps in the published literature. Second, the diversity of many habitats has not been compiled for all taxonomic groups (e.g., intertidal rocky shores, deep sea), and data compilations are based on short-term, directed research programs or longer-term monitoring activities with limited spatial resolution. Third, the biodiversity of large organisms is well known, but this is not true of smaller organisms. Finally, the greatest constraint on this summary is the willingness and capacity of those who collected the data to make it available to those interested in biodiversity meta-analyses. Confirmation of identities and intercomparison of studies are also constrained by the disturbing rate of decline in the number of taxonomists and systematists specializing on marine taxa in Canada. This decline is mostly the result of retirements of current specialists and to a lack of training and employment opportunities for new ones. Considering the difficulties encountered in compiling an overview of biogeographic data and the diversity of species or taxa in Canada's three oceans, this synthesis is intended to serve as a biodiversity baseline for a new program on marine biodiversity, the Canadian Healthy Ocean Network. A major effort needs to be undertaken to establish a complete baseline of Canadian marine biodiversity of all taxonomic groups, especially if we are to understand and conserve this part of Canada's natural heritage

A facebook health information campaign plan for Psoriasis Philippines

In partnership with Psoriasis Philippines (PsorPhil), this thesis discusses the association of level of knowledge to the level of misconceptions, and will address misconceptions of college students within Metro Manila about psoriasis through the intervention of a Facebook health information campaign. PsorPhil, which was founded by Mr. Josef de Guzman in 2005, is a non-profit and non-government organization (NGO), that caters to Filipinos with psoriasis. PsorPhil advocates to help patients live their lives best way they can despite their skin condition. Furthermore, PsorPhil takes importance into voicing out to as many Filipinos their advocacy and as well as, educate the community with knowledge about psoriasis. The organizational communication problem of the study is PsorPhil\u27s lack of efforts in disseminating information on psoriasis, specifically to college students. With that said, the study is going to assess level of knowledge and misconception of college students within Metro Manila. A facebook heath information campaign was implemented for the whole duration of the month of October to the first week of November, also in anticipation of World Psorias Day on October 29. Using the Knowledge, Attitudes, Perceptions, Misconceptions and Views model (KAP-MV) as the overall framework, it was tailored to assess the level of knowledge and misconceptions. A survey questionnaire was distributed among 100 college students within Metro Manila. Divided into two groups: Group A, with 50 participants, was exposed to the campaign while Group B, also with 50 participants, was not exposed to the campaign. The mean scores of each group were taken and categorized on the level of misconceptions of their scores. Analysis was based on the comparative scores of the group\u27s pre-test and post-test scores. Group A (exposed to the campaign) had a pre-test mean score of 3.86 out of 8 and a post-test score of 6.16 out of 8, categorized from moderate to low level of misconceptions. Group B (unexposed to campaign) had a pre-test mean score of 4.42 out of 8 and a post-test score of 4.3 out of 8, categorized from moderate to still moderate in level of misconceptions. Overall, the results conveyed that the increase of Group A\u27s score proves that as the level of knowledge increases, the level of misconceptions decreases. Similarly, the decrease of Group B\u27s score proved that as the level of knowledge decreases, the level of misconceptions increases. The research study concludes that there is an association between knowledge and misconceptions as knowledge levels rose while misconception levels dropped after individuals gained new knowledge about psoriasis. Although an implication during the research study was that there was an unexpected hacking of the Facebook page during the third week of the campaign, the researchers were able to gain access to the website in a short amount of time and was able to resume the intervention

Motoneuron survival is enhanced in the absence of neuromuscular junction formation in embryos.

Approximately half of the motoneurons produced during development die before birth or shortly after birth. Although it is believed that survival depends on a restricted supply of a trophic sustenance produced by the synaptic target tissue (i.e., muscle), it is unclear whether synapse formation per se is involved in motoneuron survival. To address this issue, we counted cranial motoneurons in a set of mutant mice in which formation of neuromuscular junctions is dramatically impaired (i.e., null mutants for agrin, nerve-derived agrin, rapsyn, and MuSK). We demonstrate that in the absence of synaptogenesis, there is an 18-34% increase in motoneuron survival in the facial, trochlear, trigeminal motor, and hypoglossal nuclei; the highest survival occurred in the MuSK-deficient animals in which synapse formation is most severely compromised. There was no change in the size of the mutant motoneurons as compared with control animals, and the morphology of the mutant motoneurons appeared normal. We postulate that the increased axonal branching observed in these mutants leads to a facilitated access of the motoneurons to muscle-derived trophic factors at sites other than synapses or that inactivity increases the production of such factors. Finally, we examined motoneurons in double mutants of CNTFRalpha(-/-) (in which there is a partial loss of motoneurons) and MuSK(-/-) (in which there is an increased survival of motoneurons). The motoneuron numbers in the double mutants parallel those of the single MuSK-deficient mice, indicating that synapse disruption can even overcome the deleterious effect of CNTFRalpha ablation

The effects of social media feedback to individuals with low self-esteem and their feelings

The internet is a vast and powerful tool. Social media can serve as an outlet for people who want to express themselves through internet. An individual\u27s self-esteem can be swayed by feedback, and social media acts as an avenue for that. The research focus on individuals with low self-esteem. The importance of study is to discover more about the correlation of the effects of social media feedback among college students with low self-esteem. Feedback on social media can be categorized as either positive or negative. The researchers believe that feedback can have a more complex role on the feelings of individuals with low elf-esteem especially when interpersonal relationship is factored in. This research is a descriptive qualitative research design that is detailed to look for the associations between variables. Participants with low self-esteem are to be interviewed about feedback they would get on social media. The types of social media feedback involved in the study are Facebook\u27s like , sad , comment , and private messages as well as Twitter\u27s quote retweets , replies and direct messages. The feedback received are categorized as either positive or negative feedback. The information gathered were analyzed through thematic and categorized into themes