Assessing the “Short Mental Distance” in Eco‐Industrial Networks

Like many economic exchanges, industrial symbiosis (IS) is thought to be influenced by social relationships and shared norms among actors in a network. While many implicit references to social characteristics exist throughout the literature, there have been few explicit attempts to operationalize and measure the concepts. The “short mental distance,”“trust,”“openness,” and “communication” recorded among managers in Kalundborg, Denmark, set a precedent for examining and encouraging social interactions among key personnel in the dozens of eco‐industrial networks around the world. In this article we explore the relationships among various aspects of social embeddedness, social capital, and IS. We develop a conceptual framework and an approach using quantitative and qualitative methods to identify and measure these social characteristics, including social network structure, communication, and similarities in norms and conceptions of waste, and apply them in an industrial network in Nanjangud, South India. The findings suggest that there is a fairly high level of shared norms about dealing with waste—the “short mental distance”—in this network, but by‐product transactions are only weakly correlated with the structure and content of communication among managers. Replication of this approach can increase the understanding and comparability of the role of social characteristics in eco‐industrial activities around the world.     

Transgene flow in Mexican maize revisited: Socio‐biological analysis across two contrasting farmer communities and seed management systems

The flow of transgenes into landraces and wild relatives is an important biosafety concern. The case of transgene flow into local maize varieties in Mexico (the center of origin of maize) has been intensively debated over the past 15 years, including legal, political, and environmental disputes fanned by the existence of a significant scientific controversy over the methods used for the detection of transgenes. The use of diverse approaches and a lack of harmonized methods specific to the detection and monitoring of transgenes in landraces have generated both positive and negative results regarding contamination of Mexican maize with genetically modified material over the years. In this paper, we revisit the case of transgene contamination in Mexican maize and present a novel research approach based on socio‐biological analysis of contrasting communities and seed management systems. Two communities were used to investigate how different social and biological factors can affect transgene flow and impact transgene spread in Mexico. Our results show the presence of transgenes in one community and thus support the position that transgenes are highly likely to be present in Mexican maize landraces. However, our work also demonstrates that the extent and frequency with which transgenes can be found will significantly depend on the societal characteristics and seed management systems of the local communities. Therefore, we argue that future analysis of transgene presence should include social research on the seed management practices in the sampling area so that more robust and comprehensive understandings and conclusions can be drawn.     

Plant Species Redundancy and the Restoration of Faunal Habitat: Lessons from Plant‐Dwelling Bugs

Restoring disturbed lands is essential for conserving biodiversity. In floristically diverse regions, restoring all plant species following anthropogenic disturbance is financially costly and it is unknown if this can be achieved. However, re‐creating faunal habitat may not require reinstating all plant species if there is a high degree of redundancy. Here, we assess whether there is redundancy among a subset of native plant species chosen to restore fauna habitat following a severe disturbance. Additionally, we determine if reestablished plants support similar faunal assemblages as the same plant species in less disturbed forest. We sampled plant‐dwelling Hemiptera from 1,800 plants across 16 species. We found 190 species of Hemiptera, with most plant species in the forest having distinct hemipteran assemblages. Returning these plant species to areas undergoing restoration reinstated 145 hemipteran species, including the dominant species. Recalcitrant plant species (difficult to propagate and reestablish in restored areas) had different hemipteran assemblages from all other species. There was only one plant species that did not have a distinct assemblage and thus was considered redundant. We conclude that there is little redundancy in this study. For plant‐dwelling Hemiptera (with good powers of dispersal) to recolonize restored areas, restoration efforts will need to reinstate at least 13 of the 16 species of host plant of appropriate age and structure. Consequently, to meet the goal of restoring fauna habitat when there is no knowledge of which plant species are redundant, restoration projects should aim to reinstate all plant species present in less disturbed reference areas.     

Incorporating social preferences into the ecological limits of hydrologic alteration (ELOHA): a case study in the Yampa‐White River basin,Colorado

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High‐Resolution Insight into Materials Criticality: Quantifying Risk for By‐Product Metals from Primary Production

Many advanced energy and environmentally relevant technologies rely on metals that have been identified as critical, or whose availability may be limited. Several of these elements are produced mostly as by‐products of mining other base metals (carriers). This by‐product dependence has been proposed as a significant supply‐risk indicator by the materials criticality community. This article provides new quantitative evidence that, in several cases, by‐product metals’ availability may not be directly limited by carrier supply. We perform an assessment based on characteristics essential to by‐product metals, including physical concentration, market value of metals, and extraction technology efficiency. We analyze 40 carrier/by‐product pairs and identify five ‘high‐by‐product’ pairs. We assess the supply responsiveness of these metals. Our analysis suggests that rather than limited primary production of carrier, lack of incentive for improving recovery efficiency may limit availability of the by‐product. This behavior is found in the zinc‐indium and copper‐selenium systems. For germanium, on the other hand, we instead propose influence from the by‐product market itself leading to price inelasticity of supply. As a complement to other quantitative methods developed for material systems, such as material flow analysis, we provide an essential technoeconomic analysis of the by‐product metals problem by employing cluster analysis and econometric modeling. This approach provides insight into supply‐risk mitigation strategies related to extraction efficiency and supply‐chain structure.     

Predicting socio‐economic and biodiversity impacts of invasive species: Red Imported Fire Ant in the developing western Pacific

Effective biosecurity and pest management are fundamental to sustainable development. Invasive ants pose significant risks to the environment and economy, which are well‐managed by biosecurity agencies in developed countries. However, a comprehensive view of the potential impacts of invasive ants in developing Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) is lacking. We quantified the potential costs of the Red Imported Fire Ant (Solenopsis invicta Buren) across multiple sectors using an extrapolation analysis. Overall, we estimated that the impacts of Red Imported Fire Ant on developing PICTs could amount to over USD 329 million annually, corresponding to approximately 0.7% of combined GDP. Over half of the costs were predicted to result from impacts on the agriculture sector, a major source of employment and subsistence. We found that over 350 highly threatened species could be at risk from Red Imported Fire Ant. We would expect countries with Least Developed Country status and relatively low GDP to be least able to respond to an incursion of these ants, and as a result the costs could be higher than we have extrapolated. Red Imported Fire Ant could therefore potentially have considerable impact on the on‐going development of the region.     

Integrated two‐liquid phase bioconversion and product‐recovery processes for the oxidation of alkanes: Process design and economic evaluation

Pseudomonas oleovorans and recombinant strains containing the alkane oxidation genes can produce alkane oxidation products in two‐liquid phase bioreactor systems. In these bioprocesses the cells, which grow in the aqueous phase, oxidize apolar, non‐water soluble substrates. The apolar products typically accumulate in the emulsified apolar phase. We have studied both the bioconversion systems and several downstream processing systems to separate and purify alkanols from these two‐liquid phase media. Based on the information generated in these studies, we have now designed bioconversion and downstream processing systems for the production of 1‐alkanols from n‐alkanes on a 10 kiloton/yr scale, taking the conversion of n‐octane to 1‐octanol as a model system. Here, we describe overall designs of fed‐batch and continuous‐fermentation processes for the oxidation of octane to 1‐octanol by Pseudomonas oleovorans, and we discuss the economics of these processes. In both systems the two‐liquid phase system consists of an apolar phase with hexadecene as the apolar carrier solvent into which n‐octane is dissolved, while the cells are present in the aqueous phase. In one system, multiple‐batch fermentations are followed by continuous processing of the product from the separated apolar phase. The second system is based on alkane oxidation by continuously growing cultures, again followed by continuous processing of the product. Fewer fermentors were required and a higher space‐time‐yield was possible for production of 1‐octanol in a continuous process. The overall performance of each of these two systems has been modeled with Aspen software. Investment and operating costs were estimated with input from equipment manufacturers and bulk‐material suppliers. Based on this study, the production cost of 1‐octanol is about 7 US$kg⁻¹ when produced in the fed‐batch process, and 8 US$kg⁻¹ when produced continuously. The comparison of upstream and downstream capital costs and production costs showed significantly higher upstream costs for the fed‐batch process and slightly higher upstream costs for continuous fermentation. The largest cost contribution was due to variable production costs, mainly resulting from media costs. The organisms used in these systems are P. putida alk+ recombinants which oxidize alkanes, but cannot oxidize the resulting alkanols further. Hence, such cells need a second carbon source, which in these systems is glucose. Although the continuous process is about 10% more expensive than the fed‐batch process, improvements to reduce overall cost can be achieved more easily for continuous than for fed‐batch fermentation by decreasing the dilution rate while maintaining near constant productivity. Improvements relevant to both processes can be achieved by increasing the biocatalyst performance, which results in improved overall efficiency, decreased capital investment, and hence, decreased production cost. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 84: 459–477, 1999.     

Incorporating functional dissimilarities into sample‐based rarefaction curves: from taxon resampling to functional resampling

Question: Indices of functional diversity have been seen as the key for integrating information on species richness with measures that focus on those components of community composition related to ecosystem functioning. For comparing species richness among habitats on an equal‐effort basis, so‐called sample‐based rarefaction curves may be used. Given a study area that is sampled for species presence and absence in N plots, sample‐based rarefaction generates the expected number of accumulated species as the number of sampled plots increases from 1 to N. Accordingly, the question for this study is: can we construct a ‘functional rarefaction curve’ that summarizes the expected functional dissimilarity between species when n plots are drawn at random from a larger pool of N plots? Methods: In this paper, we propose a parametric measure of functional diversity that is obtained by combining sample‐based rarefaction techniques that are usually applied to species richness with Rao's quadratic diversity. For a given set of N presence/absence plots, the resulting measure summarizes the expected functional dissimilarity at an increasingly larger cumulative number of plots n (n≤N). Results and Conclusions: Due to its parametric nature, the proposed measure is progressively more sensitive to rare species with increasing plot number, thus rendering this measure adequate for comparing the functional diversity of species assemblages that have been sampled with variable effort.     

The role of small ground‐foraging mammals in topsoil health and biodiversity: Implications to management and restoration

Summary Many early Australian records indicate that at the time of European settlement there were extensive tracts of highly productive, and species‐rich, grassy communities and chenopod shrublands. Topsoils in many areas were soft and friable. The rapid development of livestock industries led to most changes to the environment being simplistically ascribed to domestic stock grazing, land clearance, introduced pests (such as rabbits) or changed burning practices. It has also commonly been assumed that the hoof action of domestic stock was the principal cause of the compaction and surface sealing of soils in many areas. However, the rapid soil deterioration also coincided with the dramatic decline or complete extinction of many small native ground‐foraging mammals and the consequent cessation of the soil disturbances and interactions that they created. This paper reviews the role of small mammals in disturbing soils, and implications for incorporation of organic matter, aeration, improvement in infiltration and the provision of suitable sites for seed germination and seedling establishment. This can aid topsoil formation and health by providing substrate for microorganisms, improved water balance and mineral cycles and enhanced soil structure. Seeds and mycorrhizal fungi, that are integral to the establishment and growth of many plants, are spread. Such intermittent disturbance may be an important driving force in determining the pathway of succession and lead to greater biodiversity. Further ongoing research on Australia's small mammals is needed, especially in areas where they are able to move freely in a natural environment and are protected from introduced predators.     

Income inequality and depression: a systematic review and meta‐analysis of the association and a scoping review of mechanisms

Most countries have witnessed a dramatic increase of income inequality in the past three decades. This paper addresses the question of whether income inequality is associated with the population prevalence of depression and, if so, the potential mechanisms and pathways which may explain this association. Our systematic review included 26 studies, mostly from high‐income countries. Nearly two‐thirds of all studies and five out of six longitudinal studies reported a statistically significant positive relationship between income inequality and risk of depression; only one study reported a statistically significant negative relationship. Twelve studies were included in a meta‐analysis with dichotomized inequality groupings. The pooled risk ratio was 1.19 (95% CI: 1.07‐1.31), demonstrating greater risk of depression in populations with higher income inequality relative to populations with lower inequality. Multiple studies reported subgroup effects, including greater impacts of income inequality among women and low‐income populations. We propose an ecological framework, with mechanisms operating at the national level (the neo‐material hypothesis), neighbourhood level (the social capital and the social comparison hypotheses) and individual level (psychological stress and social defeat hypotheses) to explain this association. We conclude that policy makers should actively promote actions to reduce income inequality, such as progressive taxation policies and a basic universal income. Mental health professionals should champion such policies, as well as promote the delivery of interventions which target the pathways and proximal determinants, such as building life skills in adolescents and provision of psychological therapies and packages of care with demonstrated effectiveness for settings of poverty and high income inequality.     

Insights from a Cross‐Disciplinary Seminar: 10 Pivotal Papers for Ecological Restoration

Restoration ecology is a deepening and diversifying field with current research incorporating multiple disciplines and infusing long‐standing ideas with fresh perspectives. We present a list of 10 recent pivotal papers exemplifying new directions in ecological restoration that were selected by students in a cross‐disciplinary graduate seminar at the University of California, Berkeley. We highlight research that applies ecological theory to improve restoration practice in the context of global change (e.g. climate modeling, evaluation of novel ecosystems) and discuss remaining knowledge gaps. We also discuss papers that recognize the social context of restoration and the coupled nature of social and ecological systems, ranging from the incorporation of cultural values and Traditional Ecological Knowledge into restoration, to the consideration of the broader impacts of markets on restoration practices. In addition, we include perspectives that focus on improving communication between social and natural scientists as well as between scientists and practitioners, developing effective ecological monitoring, and applying more integrated, whole‐landscape approaches to restoration. We conclude with insights on recurrent themes in the papers regarding planning restoration in human‐modified landscapes, application of ecological theory, improvements to restoration practice, and the social contexts of restoration. We share lessons from our cross‐disciplinary endeavor, and invite further discussion on the future directions of restoration ecology through contributions to our seminar blog site http://restecology.blogspot.com .     

The Shifting of Ecological Restoration Benchmarks and Their Social Impacts: Digging Deeper into Pleistocene Re‐wilding

Current and projected rates of species loss prompt us to look for innovative conservation efforts. One such proposal is that large areas of North America be re‐wilded with old world species that descended from Pleistocene mega‐fauna. We argue that this approach overlooks many important ecological, evolutionary, cultural, and economic issues and detracts from conservation efforts by adding another arbitrary restoration benchmark. Our objectives are to specifically address the shifting benchmark for ecological restoration, explore the social dimensions of Pleistocene re‐wilding, which have been largely overlooked, and discuss why we think Pleistocene re‐wilding is not a proactive approach for conservation. This is not intended as a critique of innovative approaches. Instead it is an argument that human and ecological factors need to be considered in depth before any restoration initiative can be practically implemented. Proactive approaches should consider historical conditions while managing based on the present, should plan for the future, and should allow adaptation to changing conditions. We support the strategy to restore ecological interactions using species that coevolved with these interactions, bearing in mind the complexities of the socio‐ecological dimensions of any management action.     

Insights into wolf presence in human‐dominated landscapes: the relative role of food availability,humans and landscape attributes

Aim Understanding which human or environmental factors interact to enable or to limit the occurrence and persistence of large carnivores in human‐dominated landscapes is an important issue for their effective conservation, especially under the current scenario of global change where most of their former habitat is being transformed by humans. Location NW Iberian Peninsula. Methods We combine data on the distribution of Iberian wolves (Canis lupus signatus) living in a human‐dominated landscape in NW Spain and variation and partitioning methods to investigate the relative importance of three groups of predictors: food availability, humans and landscape attributes – each group expected to have unequal effects on wolf reproduction and survival – and their interactions on the occurrence of this species. Results We found that the group of predictors related with landscape attributes (altitude, roughness and refuge) strongly determined wolf occurrence, followed by humans and food availability. Variance partitioning analysis revealed that the three most important components determining wolf occurrence were related with landscape attributes: (1) the joint effects of the three predictor groups, (2) the joint effect of humans and landscape attributes and (3) the pure effect of landscape attributes. Altitude had the main independent contribution to explain the probability of wolf occurrence. Main conclusions In human‐dominated landscapes, the occurrence of wolves is the result of a complex interaction among several environmental and human factors. Our results suggest that the characteristics of the landscape (spatial context) – factors associated with the security of wolves facilitating that animals go unnoticed by humans, wolf movements, dispersal events and short‐time colonization – become more important in human‐dominated landscapes and may have played a key role in the occurrence and persistence of this species throughout decades modulating the relationship between humans and wolf distribution.     

Biorefinery for combined production of jet fuel and ethanol from lipid‐producing sugarcane: a techno‐economic evaluation

Replacing fossil fuels with an economically viable green alternative at scale has proved most challenging in the aviation sector. Recently sugarcane, the most productive crop on the planet, has been engineered to accumulate lipids. This opens the way for production of far more industrial vegetable oil per acre than previously possible. This study performs techno‐economic feasibility analysis of jet fuel production from this new cost efficient and high yield feedstock. A comprehensive process model for biorefinery producing hydrotreated jet fuel (from lipids) and ethanol (from sugars), with 1 600 000 MT yr^?1 lipid‐cane processing capacity, was developed in SuperPro Designer. Considering lipid‐cane development is continuing for higher oil concentrations, analysis was performed with lipid‐cane containing 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% lipids. Capital investments for the biorefinery ranged from 238.1 to 351.2 million USD, with jet fuel capacities of 12.6–50.5 million liters (correspondingly ethanol production of nil to 102.6 million liters). The production cost of jet fuel for different scenarios was estimated Replacing fossil fuels with an economically viable green alternative at scale has proved most challenging in the aviation sector. Recently sugarcane, the most productive crop on the planet, has been engineered to accumulate lipids. This opens the way for production of far more industrial vegetable oil per acre than previously possible. This study performs techno‐economic feasibility analysis of jet fuel production from this new cost efficient and high yield feedstock. A comprehensive process model for biorefinery producing hydrotreated jet fuel (from lipids) and ethanol (from sugars), with 1 600 000 MT yr^?1 lipid‐cane processing capacity, was developed in SuperPro Designer. Considering lipid‐cane development is continuing for higher oil concentrations, analysis was performed with lipid‐cane containing 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% lipids. Capital investments for the biorefinery ranged from 238.1 to 351.2 million USD, with jet fuel capacities of 12.6–50.5 million liters (correspondingly ethanol production of nil to 102.6 million liters). The production cost of jet fuel for different scenarios was estimated $0.73 to $1.79 per liter ($2.74 to $6.76 per gal) of jet fuel. In all cases, the cost of raw materials accounted for more than 70% of total operational cost. Biorefinery was observed self‐sustainable for steam and electricity requirement, because of in‐house steam and electricity generation from burning of bagasse. Minimum fuel selling prices with a 10% discount rate for 20% lipid case was estimated $1.40/L ($5.31/gal), which was lower than most of the reported prices of renewable jet fuel produced from other oil crops and algae. Along with lower production costs, lipid‐cane could produce as high as 16 times the jet fuel (6307 L ha^?1) per unit land than that of other oil crops and do so using low‐value land unsuited to most other crops, while being highly water and nitrogen use efficient.     

Rapid one‐step purification of single‐cells encapsulated in alginate microcapsules from oil to aqueous phase using a hydrophobic filter paper: Implications for single‐cell experiments

By virtue of the biocompatibility and physical properties of hydrogel, picoliter‐sized hydrogel microcapsules have been considered to be a biometric signature containing several features similar to that of encapsulated single cells, including phenotype, viability, and intracellular content. To maximize the experimental potential of encapsulating cells in hydrogel microcapsules, a method that enables efficient hydrogel microcapsule purification from oil is necessary. Current methods based on centrifugation for the conventional stepwise rinsing of oil, are slow and laborious and decrease the monodispersity and yield of the recovered hydrogel microcapsules. To remedy these shortcomings we have developed a simple one‐step method to purify alginate microcapsules, containing a single live cell, from oil to aqueous phase. This method employs oil impregnation using a commercially available hydrophobic filter paper without multistep centrifugal purification and complicated microchannel networks. The oil‐suspended alginate microcapsules encapsulating single cells from mammalian cancer cell lines (MCF–7, HepG2, and U937) and microorganisms (Chlorella vulgaris) were successfully exchanged to cell culture media by quick (～10 min) depletion of the surrounding oil phase without coalescence of neighboring microcapsules. Cell proliferation and high integrity of the microcapsules were also demonstrated by long‐term incubation of microcapsules containing a single live cell. We expect that this method for the simple and rapid purification of encapsulated single‐cell microcapsules will attain widespread adoption, assisting cell biologists and clinicians in the development of single‐cell experiments.     

Effects of Using Heterogeneous Prices on the Allocation of Impacts from Electricity Use: A Mixed‐Unit Input‐Output Approach

Economic input‐output life cycle assessment (IO‐LCA) models allow for quick estimation of economy‐wide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with goods and services. IO‐LCA models are usually built using economic accounts and differ from most process‐based models in their use of economic transactions, rather than physical flows, as the drivers of supply‐chain GHG emissions. GHG emissions estimates associated with input supply chains are influenced by the price paid by consumers when the relative prices between individual consumers are different. We investigate the significance of the allocation of GHG emissions based on monetary versus physical units by carrying out a case study of the U.S. electricity sector. We create parallel monetary and mixed‐unit IO‐LCA models using the 2007 Benchmark Accounts of the U.S. economy and sector specific prices for different end users of electricity. This approach is well suited for electricity generation because electricity consumption contributes a significant share of emissions for most processes, and the range of prices paid by electricity consumers allows us to explore the effects of price on allocation of emissions. We find that, in general, monetary input‐output models assign fewer emissions per kilowatt to electricity used by industrial sectors than to electricity used by households and service sectors, attributable to the relatively higher prices paid by households and service sectors. This fact introduces a challenging question of what is the best basis for allocating the emissions from electricity generation given the different uses of electricity by consumers and the wide variability of electricity pricing.     

Conformational dynamics of xylanase a from Streptomyces lividans: Implications for TIM‐barrel enzyme thermostability

The conformational dynamics of xylanase A from Streptomyces lividans (Sl‐XlnA) were studied using Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation to identify the thermally sensitive regions. Sl‐XlnA begins to unfold at loop4 and this unfolding expands to the loops near the N‐terminus. The high flexibility of loop6 during the 300 K simulation is related to its function. The intense movements of the 3₁₀‐helices also affect the structural stability. The interaction between the α4β5‐loop and the neighboring α5β6‐loop plays a crucial role in stabilizing the region from the α4β5‐loop to α6. The most thermally sensitive region is from β3 to loop4. The high mobility of the long loop4 easily transfers to the adjacent β4 and α4 and causes β4 and α4 to fluctuate. And, salt bridges ASP124‐ARG79, ASP200‐ARG159, and ASP231‐LYS166 formed a “clamp” to stabilize the region including α4, β4, β5, β6, and β7. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers 99: 594–604, 2013.     

Sex‐specific responses to territorial intrusions in a communication network: Evidence from radio‐tagged great tits

Signals play a key role in the ecology and evolution of animal populations, influencing processes such as sexual selection and conflict resolution. In many species, sexually selected signals have a dual function: attracting mates and repelling rivals. Yet, to what extent males and females under natural conditions differentially respond to such signals remains poorly understood, due to a lack of field studies that simultaneously track both sexes. Using a novel spatial tracking system, we tested whether or not the spatial behavior of male and female great tits (Parus major) changes in relation to the vocal response of a territorial male neighbor to an intruder. We tracked the spatial behavior of male and female great tits (N = 44), 1 hr before and 1 hr after simulating territory intrusions, employing automatized Encounternet radio‐tracking technology. We recorded the spatial and vocal response of the challenged males and quantified attraction and repulsion of neighboring males and females to the intrusion site. We additionally quantified the direct proximity network of the challenged male. The strength of a male's vocal response to an intruder induced sex‐dependent movements in the neighborhood, via female attraction and male repulsion. Stronger vocal responders were older and in better body condition. The proximity networks of the male vocal responders, including the number of sex‐dependent connections and average time spent with connections, however, did not change directly following the intrusion. The effects on neighbor movements suggest that the strength of a male's vocal response can provide relevant social information to both the males and the females in the neighborhood, resulting in both sexes adjusting their spatial behavior in contrasting ways, while the social proximity network remained stable. This study underlines the importance of “silent” eavesdroppers within communication networks for studying the dual functioning and evolution of sexually selected signals.     

The use of cattle Bos taurus for restoring and maintaining holarctic landscapes: Conclusions from a long‐term study (1946–2017) in northern England

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