Generating Revenues from WTP for Ecosystem Restoration: An Auction Experiment on Public Goods

Research on public good auctions is intended to initiate development on new approaches to finance public goods, beyond government and philanthropic efforts. The researchers evaluate the potential to identify economic value for a subset of ecosystem services and markets that have the potential to provide for them. Empirical analysis focuses on public valuation for three specific types of ecosystem activities (bird habitat, sea grass restoration and shellfish restoration) in coastal Virginia. Data was collected using a field experiment employing an experimental auction approach with mechanisms to reduce free riding often seen in the experimental economics literature. These incentive mechanisms are applied to individual restoration activities and willingness to pay estimates are compared to a baseline choice experiment that employs an incentive compatible, majority vote mechanism and actual (not hypothetical) money payments. A conditional logit model, rooted in McFadden’s choice theory, is used to examine the trade-offs between ecosystem restoration activities to estimate willingness to pay, while interval regressions are applied to individualized price auctions. Linear and nonlinear models are estimated to check for validity and sensitivity to scope.experimental economics, valuation, public goods, ecosystem services, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Is greater decisionmaking power of women associated with reduced gender discrimination in South Asia?

"Recent research has shown that improving women's decisionmaking power relative to men's within households leads to improvements in a variety of well-being outcomes for children. In South Asia, where the influence of women's power is particularly strong, these outcomes include children's nutritional status and the quality of feeding and health care practices. Focusing on nutritional status, this paper presents the results of a study investigating whether increases in women's power have a stronger positive influence on the nutritional status of their daughters than their sons. If so, then increasing women's power not only improves the well-being of children as a group, but also serves as a force to reduce long-standing discrimination that undermines female capabilities in many important areas of life as well as human and economic development in general. To investigate this issue, the study draws on Demographic and Health Survey data collected during the 1990s in four countries: Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. The main empirical technique employed is multivariate regression analysis with statistical tests for significant differences in effects for girl and boy children. A total of 30,334 women and 33,316 children under three years old are included in the analysis. The study concludes that, for the South Asia region as a whole, an increase in women's decisionmaking power relative to men's, if substantial, would be an effective force for reducing discrimination against girl children. However, this finding is not applicable in all countries and for all areas and age groups of children. Indeed the study finds evidence that in some areas, for instance the northern and western states of India as a group, increasing women's power would lead to a worsening of gender discrimination against girls. This is likely the result of deeply embedded son preference associated with highly patriarchal social systems. The lesson for policymakers and development practitioners is that while increasing women's power is likely to improve the well-being of children, in some geographical areas it will not necessarily diminish discrimination against girls, which violates human rights and undermines the region's economic development and the health of its population. In these areas, to overcome son preference, economic returns to girls will have to be increased and efforts to change customs regarding marriage and inheritance associated with patriarchal kinship systems, which favor males, will have to be made." Authors' AbstractGender discrimination ,Women Social conditions ,Children Nutrition ,Economic development ,

Ecosystem Services Beyond Valuation, Regulation and Philanthropy: Integrating Consumer Values into the Economy

Environmental Markets, Ecosystem Service Markets, Payment For Ecosystem Services, Incentives, Nature's Services, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q20, Q57, C93, H41,

EFFECT OF RECREATIONAL TRAIL TRAFFIC LEVEL ON EASTERN RED-BACKED SALAMANDER (PLETHODON CINEREUS) RELATIVE ABUNDANCE

The effects of roads and trails on terrestrial salamanders, primarily plethodontids, can be important. The abundance of terrestrial salamanders often increases with distance from roads. Less is known about the effects of recreational or hiking trails on terrestrial salamanders than is known about the effects of roads. We explored how low and high traffic trails in a suburban biological reserve affect the relative abundance of Eastern Red-backed Salamanders (Plethodon cinereus). We found more salamanders under cover objects next to low traffic trails compared to either high traffic trails or wooded areas without trails. At wooded sites, we found only striped morphs whereas at high traffic sites we found only unstriped morphs. Low traffic sites included a range of color morph frequencies. The proportion of females found in each site did not differ, nor did the mean size of the salamanders. Our results suggest that the impact of recreational walking trails needs to be examined more closely to see how and why the distributions of P. cinereus, and potentially other woodland salamanders, are affected and what trail characteristics are important in driving the apparent effects. Such information will contribute to the design and maintenance of walking trails in natural areas that minimize effects on terrestrial salamanders, and likely other organisms

Downscaling extremes: A comparison of extreme value distributions in point-source and gridded precipitation data

There is substantial empirical and climatological evidence that precipitation extremes have become more extreme during the twentieth century, and that this trend is likely to continue as global warming becomes more intense. However, understanding these issues is limited by a fundamental issue of spatial scaling: most evidence of past trends comes from rain gauge data, whereas trends into the future are produced by climate models, which rely on gridded aggregates. To study this further, we fit the Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) distribution to the right tail of the distribution of both rain gauge and gridded events. The results of this modeling exercise confirm that return values computed from rain gauge data are typically higher than those computed from gridded data; however, the size of the difference is somewhat surprising, with the rain gauge data exhibiting return values sometimes two or three times that of the gridded data. The main contribution of this paper is the development of a family of regression relationships between the two sets of return values that also take spatial variations into account. Based on these results, we now believe it is possible to project future changes in precipitation extremes at the point-location level based on results from climate models.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/09-AOAS287 the Annals of Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Make Yours an Imaginative Spread

For sure success, have a party well organized and distinctive says Pat Garberso

Molecular immunophenotyping of lungs and spleens in naive and vaccinated chickens early after pulmonary avian influenza A (H9N2) virus infection

In a respiratory-infection-model with the avian influenza A H9N2 virus we studied lung and splenic immune reactions in chickens using a recently developed 5K chicken immuno-microarray. Groups of chickens were either mock-immunized (referred to as non-immune), vaccinated with inactivated viral antigen only (immune) or with viral antigen in a water-in-oil (W/O) immunopotentiator (immune potentiated). Three weeks after vaccination all animals were given a respiratory infection. Immune potentiated birds developed inhibitory antiviral antibodies, showed minimal lung histopathology and no detectable viral sequences, while non-immune animals showed microscopic immunopathology and detectable virus. Immune birds, receiving antigen in saline only, showed minimal microscopic histopathology, and intermediate levels of virus detection. These classical features in the different groups were mirrored by overlapping or specific mRNA gene expression profiles in lungs and spleen using microarray analysis. To our knowledge this is the first study demonstrating pneumonia-associated lung pathology of the low pathogenic avian influenza H9N2 virus. Our data provide insights into the molecular interaction of this virus with its natural host when naive or primed by vaccination

Testing the salinity tolerance levels of similar invasive species found in the San Francisco Bay

Testing the salinity tolerance levels of similar invasive species found in the San Francisco Bay Julia Smith1,2, Elizabeth Sheets2, and C. Sarah Cohen2 1Department of Teacher Education, California State University, Sacramento 2Department of Biology and Romberg Tiburon Center, San Francisco State University Three non-indigenous colonial ascidian species, Botrylloides violaceus, Botrylloides diegensis, and Botryllus schlosseri, have become well established in San Francisco Bay. Two species, B. violaceous and B. schlosseri, are globally distributed, and understanding the salinity ranges and tolerances of these successful invaders in their introduced habitats is important for predicting their spread. We tested the tolerance of these three morphologically similar species to salinity ranges that they may encounter locally in San Francisco Bay, and globally, in their broad distributions, including a freshwater transit experiment designed to simulate conditions for ships transiting through the Panama Canal. Botrylloides violaceus, B. diegensis, and Botryllus schlosseri were exposed to various salinities (10, 15, 18, and 20 ppt) for a period of 14 hours, and then assessed for two signs of vitality immediately after each treatment, and were monitored for survival after a week. Our preliminary results showed survival of Botrylloides diegensis, and B. violaceus at the lowest (10 ppt) salinity treatment after 1 week, but no colonies of Botryllus schlosseri survived this salinity treatment in a preliminary trial. The three species all showed survival at our higher (15, 18, and 20 ppt) salinity treatments. In a separate trial, the three target species were also exposed to a drastic salinity decrease to 0 ppt for 7 hours, related to conditions in the Panama Canal. There were no signs of immediate survival in colonies that experienced very low salinity conditions. However, small vascular fragments appear to remain in many colonies three weeks later, and are currently being monitored in the event that they may regenerate, as local colonies of each of these speceis have successfully carried out whole body regeneration from vascular fragments as small as 3.9 mm (Benson Chow, unpub. data)

Anxiety Levels, Problem Solving Abilities and Social Support in Military Spouses Experiencing Spousal Separation Prior to a Military Confrontation

The effects of spousal separation on military dependents were investigated. Thirty-four female spouses of active duty United States Air Force personnel responded to a mail-out questionnaire following deployment of troops to the Persian Gulf, yet prior to the beginning of the Desert Storm military confrontation. The study examined the state anxiety levels (Spielberger state-Trait Anxiety Inventory), the problem solving abilities (Problem Solving Inventory), and the social support levels (Provision of Social Relations scale) of the subjects. The results of this investigation revealed that the subjects without children perceived themselves to be stronger problem solvers than those subjects with children, that the subjects experienced higher levels of social support from their friends rather than family, and subjects not attending a support group viewed themselves to be receiving more social support than those subjects attending a support group. These results were significant at the E \u3c .05 level or lower. These findings are important in that they provide direction for future research with this population, yet, due to the small sample size, they cannot be construed as representative of the population as a whole

Physical behaviors and fundamental movement skills in British and Iranian children: an isotemporal substitution analysis

Although the relationship between fundamental movement skills (FMS) and physical behaviours has been established; differences between countries are scarcely explored. The impact of the whole physical behaviour composition, in relation to FMS, has yet to be investigated in 9‐11y children. The aims were, to investigate the associations of substitution of physical behaviours with FMS score, to compare traditional linear regression and compositional data analysis and compare between England and Iran. Measures included accelerometer‐derived activity (sleep (SL), sedentary behaviour (SB), light physical activity (LPA), and moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and FMS, using the TGMD‐2, in 119 children (64 boys) from Iran (mean (±SD) age: 9.8±0.3y; BMI of 18.2 ±3.3kg/m2) and 139 (61 boys) children from England (mean (±SD) age: 9.5±0.6y; BMI of 17.7 ±3.1kg/m2). Isometric log‐ratio multiple linear regression models were used to discern the association between FMS and the mean activity composition, and for new compositions where fixed durations of time were reallocated from one behaviour to another, while the remaining behaviours were unchanged. In physical behaviours as a composition, FMS was significantly associated in both ethnicities. English children responded significantly positively to adding 5 or more minutes LPA at the expense of SB (FMS unit change from 0.05 [0.01,0.09] at 5 min to 0.72 [0.01, 1.34] at 60min). Adding 10 minutes or more of SL, at the expense of SB, was associated with a significant, positive change in FMS in all children. Investigation is needed to understand the composition of SB and its potential influence on FMS development