Participant perceptions of different forms of deliberative monetary valuation : Comparing democratic monetary valuation and deliberative democratic monetary valuation in the context of regional marine planning

As conceptual and theoretical discussions on environmental valuation approaches have advanced there is growing interest in the impact that valuation has on decision making. The perceived legitimacy of the outputs of valuation studies is seen as one factor influencing their impact on policy decisions. One element of this is ensuring that participants of valuation processes see the results as legitimate and would be willing to accept decisions based on these findings. Here, we test the perceived legitimacy to participants of two approaches to deliberative monetary valuation, deliberated preferences and Deliberative Democratic Monetary Valuation, in the context of marine planning in the Clyde estuary in Scotland. We compare and contrast deliberated preference and deliberative democratic monetary valuation and track their emergence as responses to critiques of conventional stated preference approaches. We then present the results of our case study where we found that deliberative democratic monetary valuation produced valuations that were perceived as more legitimate that deliberated preference as the basis for decision making by those involved in the valuation process. </jats:p

Anthropogenic nitrogen pollution threats and challenges to the health of South Asian coral reefs

Nitrogen pollution is a widespread and growing problem in the coastal waters of South Asia yet the ecological impacts on the region’s coral ecosystems are currently poorly known and understood. South Asia hosts just under 7% of global coral reef coverage but has experienced significant and widespread coral loss in recent decades. The extent to which this coral ecosystem decline at the regional scale can be attributed to the multiple threats posed by nitrogen pollution has been largely overlooked in the literature. Here, we assess the evidence for nitrogen pollution impacts on corals in the central Indian Ocean waters of India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. We find that there is currently limited evidence with which to clearly demonstrate widespread impacts on coral reefs from nitrogen pollution, including from its interactions with other stressors such as seawater warming. However, this does not prove there are no significant impacts, but rather it reflects the paucity of appropriate observations and related understanding of the range of potential impacts of nitrogen pollution at individual, species and ecosystem levels. This situation presents significant research, management and conservation challenges given the wide acceptance that such pollution is problematic. Following from this, we recommend more systematic collection and sharing of robust observations, modelling and experimentation to provide the baseline on which to base prescient pollution control action

Identifying the physical features of marina infrastructure associated with the presence of non-native species in the UK

Marine invasive non-native species (NNS) are one of the greatest threats to global marine biodiversity, causing significant economic and social impacts. Marinas are increasingly recognised as key reservoirs for invasive NNS. They provide submersed artificial habitat that unintentionally supports the establishment of NNS introduced from visiting recreational vessels. While ballast water and shipping vectors have been well documented, the role of recreational vessels in spreading NNS has been relatively poorly studied. Identification of the main physical features found within marinas, which relate to the presence of NNS, is important to inform the development of effective biosecurity measures and prevent further spread. Towards this aim, physical features that could influence the presence of NNS were assessed for marinas throughout the UK in July 2013. Thirty-three marine and brackish NNS have been recorded in UK marinas, and of the 88 marinas studied in detail, 83 contained between 1 and 13 NNS. Significant differences in freshwater input, marina entrance width and seawall length were associated with the presence of NNS. Additionally, questionnaires were distributed to marina managers and recreational vessel owners to understand current biosecurity practices and attitudes to recreational vessel biosecurity. The main barriers to biosecurity compliance were cited as cost and time. Further work identifying easily distinguished features of marinas could be used as a proxy to assess risk of invasion. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00227-016-2941-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Dynamics and Transport in the Middle Atmosphere Using Remote Sensing Techniques from Ground and Space

International audienceThe middle atmosphere is generally defined as the region of the atmosphere located between the tropopause (8–17 km) and the mesopause (85–90 km). It includes the stratosphere, where the ozone layer takes place, and the mesosphere. The temperature and wind structure of this region is mainly driven by radiative processes (mainly on of solar radiation by ozone and infrared cooling by CO2) and dynamic processes (propagation and breaking of planetary and gravity waves, meridional circulation from equator to poles in the stratosphere, and from summer pole to winter pole in the mesosphere). A good knowledge of these processes is required to understand the transport of constituents playing a role in the photochemistry of stratospheric ozone and the heat budget of the middle atmosphere determining its thermal structure. In-situ measurements at these high altitudes are not easy to perform and several remote sensing techniques have been developed to observe these regions from the ground and from space, among them infrasound measurement is a promising one. This article presents the main characteristics of dynamics and transport in the middle atmosphere and gives a review of the remote sensing techniques used to observe this region in complement to infrasound detection: lidars, radars, infrared and microwave sounders, and GNSS radio-occultation