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Exploring the effects of traditional media, social media, and foreign media on hierarchical levels of political trust in China
Get PDFAlthough there is a consensus that mass media play an important role in the rise and fall of political trust in Western democracies, existing research on media use and political trust in China achieved relatively inconclusive findings. By using two surveys conducted in China in 2013 and 2018, we examine the effects of media use, including traditional media, social media, and foreign media, on Chinese citizens’ trust in their central and local governments. Our research shows that traditional media usage such as watching TV and reading newspapers is positively associated with citizens’ trust in the central government but is not related to their trust in local governments. Social media usage is negatively associated with trust in local governments but not with trust in the central government. Using VPNs to access foreign media is negatively associated with Chinese citizens’ trust in the central government but does not affect their trust in local governments. We explain why different types of media have such contrasting effects on political trust in central versus local Chinese governments and discuss the theoretical and empirical implications of these findings
Water Quality Observations from Space: A Review of Critical Issues and Challenges
Get PDFWater is the basis of all life on this planet. Yet, approximately one in seven people in the world do not have access to safe water. Water can become unsafe due to contamination by various organic and inorganic compounds due to various natural and anthropogenic processes. Identifying and monitoring water quality changes in space and time remains a challenge, especially when contamination events occur over large geographic areas. This study investigates recent advances in remote sensing that allow us to detect and monitor the unique spectral characteristics of water quality events over large areas. Based on an extensive literature review, we focus on three critical water quality problems as part of this study: algal blooms, acid mine drainage, and suspended solids. We review the advances made in applications of remote sensing in each of these issues, identify the knowledge gaps and limitations of current studies, analyze the existing approaches in the context of global environmental changes, and discuss potential ways to combine multi-sensor methods and different wavelengths to develop improved approaches. Synthesizing the findings of these studies in the context of the three specific tracks will help stakeholders to utilize, share, and embed satellite-derived earth observations for monitoring and tracking the ever-evolving water quality in the earth’s limited freshwater reserves
Online sale of small turtles circumvents public health regulations in the United States
Get PDFIn the United States (U.S.), pet turtles have been associated with outbreaks of salmonellosis, a serious and sometimes-fatal intestinal illness caused by Salmonella bacteria, with nearly 300,000 people being infected in some years. Children are particularly susceptible because of their propensity to put items, including small turtles, in their mouths. In 1975, a U.S. federal regulation prohibited the sale of turtles \u3c4 inches (101.6 mm) in size, except for the purposes of export, scientific, or educational purposes. This regulation was established to reduce the incidence of salmonellosis, particularly in small children. Previous research has not evaluated the availability of turtles \u3c4 inches in size on websites selling wildlife. We monitored 16 websites in 2021 and quantified listings of small turtles. We determined whether information on Salmonella, the 1975 federal regulation, or related state regulations were provided on the websites and determined legality of sales of small turtles by state regulations. We found that all 16 websites openly advertised and sold turtles \u3c4 inches in size, but only half of these websites provided information about Salmonella and/or the federal regulation. These websites required buyers to confirm that they were not purchasing a turtle as a pet, thereby putting the onus on the consumer to adhere to the regulation. We documented 515 listings of turtles \u3c4 inches in size, including 47 species and one hybrid. Our study has demonstrated that internet sales of small turtles currently represent part of the thriving online pet trade in the U.S. Enforcement of the federal regulation faces jurisdictional challenges in most states. Therefore, we recommend continued public education campaigns by public health agencies in the U.S. to help reduce the risk that pet turtle ownership presents
A Geospatial Hub to Support Wind Energy and Maritime Activity Spaces near Hampton Roads, Virginia, U.S.A.
No full textThe urgent need for clean, sustainable energy development prompts the Commonwealth of Virginia (U.S.A.) to support the development of wind energy in state and federal waters. The port of Hampton Roads is a vital region for maritime commerce, recreation, and national defense, and the state also aims to avert wind development impacts on national security. This project assessed the state of marine geodata portals and decisionsupport methods for wind energy siting and developed a solution to inform energy developers, military stakeholders, and state and local government. An interdisciplinary team developed a user experience (UX) design approach to the problem, gathering persona-driven requirements and designing, prototyping, and testing a solution. Extensive geospatial wind resource data, energy infrastructure, shore and maritime air and vessel activity, protected lands, energy grid connections, and administrative processes are integrated in a web-based solution to screen and assess compatibility. This paper highlights Geographic Information Systems (GIS) used to provide decision support for site suitability analysis of offshore wind energy potential. With a focus on military use spaces, the project sought to gather publicly available activity spaces and areas of critical concern to military siting. We also integrated the newest available maritime vessel traffic activity from AIS data. A user-driven design is applied with GIS data that incorporates the diverse variability of energy, jurisdictional, and potential activity use space conflicts of an increasingly busy maritime environment. The approach taken in this project demonstrates that UX can support the range of developers, regulators, and maritime space users. The WindsiteVA hub spans onshore as well as offshore and nearshore (state waters and the Chesapeake Bay). Spatial analyses include several webmap capabilities, a library of basemaps, site exploration and coordinate conversion tools, reporting tools, and metadata and external data resources. Users are guided through pathways unique to personas: Developers, government agency personnel, or military personnel. As a \u27one-stop tool\u27 the webbased site is accessible publicly and utilizes Esri ArcGIS Hub technology. The site steps users through critical processes and data elements, such as informal queries, Notice of Proposed Construction for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), VA Department of Environmental Quality Permit by Rule (PBR), the US Department of Defense siting clearinghouse, and other procedures. Results suggest improved spatial decision-making and marine spatial planning can be achieved at minimal cost by combining UX design and geospatial hub technology. Wind resource development around seaports can be optimized and spatial conflicts reduced, costs lowered, and cumulative impacts identified. WindSiteVA captures complex processes and major concerns for wind energy availability and military concerns, yet it is not redundant with other policies or rules nor does it reflect sitescale reviews such as environmental impact assessments. Early results of WindSiteVA show that a screening-level approach can assist wind energy developers in coastal inshore and offshore waters, where relatively abundant wind energy resources exist, and reduce impacts to military and national defense and other maritime activities
Forest structure and seasonally inundated grassland shape tropical mammal communities under moderate disturbance
Get PDFTropical biodiversity is threatened globally by anthropogenic disturbances, particularly forest degradation and overhunting. Where large mammals have been extirpated, smaller bodied “mesomammals” may play an important ecological role (e.g., as seed dispersers). However, these species are disproportionally affected by overhunting for wildlife trade markets and are routinely understudied as they tend to be rare, cryptic, and nocturnal. Few studies have examined spatiotemporal responses to anthropogenic disturbance by mesomammals at the community level, which may identify imbalances within an ecosystem that could threaten species persistence. We deployed camera traps throughout Cat Tien National Park (i.e., Nam Cat Tien area), southern Vietnam, to (1) identify long-term changes in terrestrial mesomammal richness and (2) evaluate the effects of forest structure and anthropogenic disturbance on an 18-species mesomammal community within a historically disturbed tropical forest using hierarchical Bayesian community occupancy models. We found that site occupancy was driven by the interaction between distance to seasonally inundated grassland and absolute forest cover (basal area per hectare). This may be due to the combination of intact forest benefits (refuge from predators and hunters, denning sites) and early successional grassland resources (forage quality), as well as high levels of tolerance for disturbed forest among the largely generalist mesomammal community of Nam Cat Tien. We found no negative effects of current anthropogenic factors at the community level. However, we did find that four disturbance-tolerant small carnivores have been extirpated since the 1990s and continued human presence in the park suggests that hunting and snaring remain an acute threat to native mesomammals. Without continued efforts to address the unsustainable harvest of wildlife, Southeast Asian\u27s remaining mesomammals are at risk of extirpation despite resilience to moderate levels of disturbance
Rethinking Habitat Occupancy Modeling and the Role of Diel Activity in an Anthropogenic World
Get PDFCurrent methods to model species habitat use through space and diel time are limited. Development of such models is critical when considering rapidly changing habitats where species are forced to adapt to anthropogenic change, often by shifting their diel activity across space. We use an occupancy modeling framework to specify the multistate diel occupancy model (MSDOM), which can evaluate species diel activity against continuous response variables that may impact diel activity within and across seasons or years. We used two case studies, fosas in Madagascar and coyotes in Chicago, Illinois, to conceptualize the application of this model and to quantify the impacts of human activity on species spatial use in diel time. We found support that both species varied their habitat use by diel states—in and across years and by human disturbance. Our results exemplify the importance of understanding animal diel activity patterns and how human disturbance can lead to temporal habitat loss. The MSDOM will allow more focused attention in ecology and evolution studies on the importance of the short temporal scale of diel time in animal-habitat relationships and lead to improved habitat conservation and management
Moving Toward Global Strategies for Managing Invasive Alien Species
No full textAs human communities become increasingly interconnected through transport and trade, there has been a concomitant rise in both accidental and intentional species introductions, resulting in biological invasions. A warming global climate and the rapid movement of people and vessels across the globe have opened new air and sea routes, accelerated propagule pressure, and altered habitat disturbance regimes, all of which act synergistically to trigger and sustain invasions. The complexity and interconnectedness of biological invasions with commerce, culture, and human-mediated natural disturbances make prevention and management of invasive alien species (IAS) particularly challenging. Voluntary actions by single countries have proven to be insufficient in addressing biological invasions. Large gaps between science, management, and policy at various geopolitical scales still exist and necessitate an urgent need for more integrative approach across multiple scales and multiple stakeholder groups to bridge those gaps and reduce the impacts of biological invasions on biodiversity and human well-being. An evidence-based global strategy is therefore needed to predict, prevent, and manage the impacts of IAS. Here we define global strategies as frameworks for evidence-based visions, policy agreements, and commitments that address the patterns, mechanisms, and impact of biological invasions. Many existing global, regional, and thematic initiatives provide a strong foundation to inform a global IAS strategy. We propose five recommendations to progress these toward global strategies against biological invasions, including better standards and tools for long-term monitoring, techniques for evaluation of impacts across taxa and regions, modular regulatory frameworks that integrate incentives and compliance mechanisms with respect to diverse transcultural needs, biosecurity awareness and measures, and synergies with other conservation strategies. This proposed approach for IAS is inclusive, adaptive, and flexible and moves toward global strategies for better preventing and managing biological invasions. As existing research-policy-management networks mature and others emerge, the accelerating need for effective global strategies against biological invasions can finally be met
CO2 Uptake Offsets Other Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Salt Marshes with Chronic Nitrogen Loading
No full textCoastal wetlands are known for exceptional productivity, but they also receive intense land-based nitrogen (N) loading. In Narragansett Bay, RI (USA), coastal ecosystems have received anthropogenic N inputs from wastewater for more than two centuries. Greenhouse gas fluxes were studied throughout a growing season (2016) in three coastal wetlands with contrasting histories of nitrogen loading. The wetland with the highest historic N load (Mary’s Creek, Warwick, RI) had significantly greater nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) emissions than the other two sites. However, the two marshes with historic N loads (Mary’s Creek and Mary Donovan, Little Compton, RI) also had greater rates of CO2 uptake than the reference site (Nag Marsh, Prudence Island, RI). Their CO2 uptake rates far outpaced their other greenhouse gas emissions. Mary’s Creek had the greatest above- and below-ground plant biomass, vertical accretion rates, and carbon content of soils. Spartina alterniflora height was greatest at Mary’s Creek and Mary Donovan marsh. The following growing season (2017), greenhouse gases were compared across four plant-defined ecological zones in Mary’s Creek. Higher rates of CO2 uptake and CH4 emissions were found in the S. alterniflora-vegetated creekbank compared to high marsh zones or bare mudflats. Potential denitrifying enzyme activity did not significantly differ across the four zones nor between Mary’s Creek and Nag Marsh, suggesting a consistently high capacity to completely reduce N loads. These results support efforts to protect and restore these coastal ecosystems for their carbon sequestration function even despite prevalence of anthropogenic N loading
Generation of high-frequency topographic Rossby waves in the Gulf of Mexico
Get PDFThe Loop Current Eddy (LCE) separation cycle energizes deep circulation in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, transferring energy from the surface intensified Loop Current (LC) to the typically quiescent lower layers. To document the generation and radiation of deep energy during this cycle, an array of 24 current and pressure recording inverted echo sounders (CPIES) is deployed in the region 89°W to 86°W, 25°N to 27.5°N with the intent to capture circulation near bathymetric features thought to be important for current-topographic interactions: Campeche Bank, Mississippi Fan, and West Florida Shelf. During the nearly two-year deployment, June 2019 to May 2021, three LCE separation events are observed, during which energy injected into the deep Gulf organizes into two distinct frequency bands (1/100 – 1/20 days–1 and 1/20 – 1/10 days–1). High-frequency variability dominates the array’s northwest corner in the vicinity of the Mississippi Fan. Wave properties are consistent with topographic Rossby Waves (TRWs) with wavelengths of 150 – 300 km. Their generation coincides with each LCE separation and is attributed to an upper-lower layer resonant coupling between surface meanders and the sloping topography of the Mississippi Fan. TRWs captured by the CPIES array will likely intensify as wavelengths shorten in steeper topography along propagation pathways towards the Sigsbee Escarpment, generating hazardous currents with the potential to disrupt oil and gas operations in the region