Marine Protected Areas: A Governance System Analysis

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are promoted as an important marine ecosystem management tool. However, they are complex systems that, from a governance perspective, raise serious challenges with regard to their effectiveness. In this paper, drawing on recent contributions to the so-called “interactive governance theory,” we argue that marine and coastal governance is basically a relationship between two systems, a “governing system” and a “system-to-be-governed.” The former system is social: it is made up of institutions and steering mechanisms. The latter system is partly natural, partly social: it consists of an ecosystem, and the resources that this harbours, as well as a system of users and stakeholders who, among themselves, form political coalitions and institutions. We need to be concerned with the relationship and the interaction between the governing system and the system-to-be governed, which forms a system in its own right. Governance theory argues that both systems and their interactions share similar attributes—they are diverse, complex, dynamic and vulnerable. This raises serious concerns as to their governability. There may be limits to what the governing system can do, limits attributed to one or all three systems. But such limits are themselves issues and concerns for planning and institutional design. In this paper we present, in the form of a governance matrix, the relevant issues and concerns with regard to the governability of MPAs.

Lessons from snail tentacles

The olfactory system of the snail is functionally capable andstructurally complex. The morphology of the olfactory epitheliumand the glomeruli are similar to analogous structures in vertebrates.However, the snail system differs markedly from the vertebratesystem in its lack of a mucus secretion and the apparent absenceof spatial patterning. Such similarities and differences teachus about the limitations and options governing the evolutionof olfactory systems. The comparative approach leads to thefollowing conclusions, or ‘lessons’: (1) Death andreplacement is normal for olfactory receptors. (2) Olfactionrequires large numbers of receptors and other neurons. (3) Glomerularstructures in the olfactory neuropil aid sensory processing.(4) Local interactions are important in the early stages ofolfactory processing. (5) The role of mucus in olfaction ispeculiar to the vertebrate nose. (6) The spatial patterningof odor responses is not necessary for effective odor processing.     

Eliminating the mystery from the concept of emergence

While some branches of complexity theory are advancing rapidly, the same cannot be said for our understanding of emergence. Despite a complete knowledge of the rules underlying the interactions between the parts of many systems, we are often baffled by their sudden transitions from simple to complex. Here I propose a solution to this conceptual problem. Given that emergence is often the result of many interactions occurring simultaneously in time and space, an ability to intuitively grasp it would require the ability to consciously think in parallel. A simple exercise is used to demonstrate that we do not possess this ability. Our surprise at the behaviour of cellular automata models, and the natural cases of pattern formation they mimic, is then explained from this perspective. This work suggests that the cognitive limitations of the mind can be as significant a barrier to scientific progress as the limitations of our senses.     

Application of selected partial order tools to analyze fate and toxicity indicators of environmentally hazardous chemicals

Studies on fate and toxicity are important aspects in environmental impact assessments of chemicals. In order to elucidate “what is worst” a ranking of the chemicals under investigation is of significant interest, which obviously constitutes a multi-indicator system (MIS). Partial order methodologies turn out to be advantageous tools for analyses of such systems.In the present paper we focus on QSAR generated fate and toxicity indicators of 30 chemicals, comprising of a variety of chemical structures. In many risk assessment studies the level of a multi-indicator system is abandoned and the data are aggregated in order to obtain a composite index. However, such aggregation techniques are far from being trivial. The present paper describes an alternative strategy to handle MIS, i.e., applying partial order methodology leading to useful information. The paper demonstrate how partial order techniques lead to a weak order of the 30 chemicals as well as to the relative importance of the single indicators included in the study. Specifically, the paper addresses the topics on the “relations between the indicators” and “do chemical structures constitute a valid basis for ranking chemicals according to their environmental impact?”.     

Modelling and simulation of DNA-mediated self-assembly for superlattice design

ABSTRACT

Functionalisation of colloidal particles with DNA provides a powerful and flexible path towards self-assembly of ordered materials. Given the nearly limitless possibilities for constructing DNA-functionalised particles, and the wide range of conditions under which they can be assembled, it is crucial to gain an understanding of the principles governing self-assembly of these particles and how their properties affect the structures produced. A number of computational models for DNA-functionalised systems have successfully described their properties, and molecular simulation techniques have provided a unique insight into the factors underlying their assembly. Here, we discuss a variety of efforts using simulations to solve an important design problem in DNA-mediated assembly: how the properties of individual DNA-functionalised particles affect their interactions with each other, and ultimately how these interactions determine what structures can be produced.     

What makes ecological systems reactive?

Although perturbations from a stable equilibrium must ultimately vanish, they can grow initially, and the maximum initial growth rate is called reactivity. Reactivity thus identifies systems that may undergo transient population surges or drops in response to perturbations; however, we lack biological and mathematical intuition about what makes a system reactive. This paper presents upper and lower bounds on reactivity for an arbitrary linearized model, explores their strictness, and discusses their biological implications. I find that less stable systems (i.e. systems with long transients) have a smaller possible range of reactivities for which no perturbations grow. Systems with more species have a higher capacity to be reactive, assuming species interactions do not weaken too rapidly as the number of species increases. Finally, I find that in discrete time, reactivity is determined largely by mean interaction strength and neither discrete nor continuous time reactivity are sensitive to food web topology.     

Governing fisheries through the critical decade: the role and utility of polycentric systems

The next 10 years are considered a critical decade for fisheries. Declining fish stocks in combination with mounting climate pressure are likely to lead to significant and adverse socio-ecological impacts, threatening sustainability. Responding to these challenges requires modes of governance that are capable of dealing with the complexity and uncertainty associated with the world’s fisheries and their ecosystems. While a range of governance frameworks exist, the concept of polycentric governance has gained prominence in the environmental sector and is posited as a key principle underpinning the resilience of complex socio-ecological systems. However, the application of polycentric governance to fisheries management has been seldom explored. To examine this prospect, we review the literature on polycentric governance to elucidate its potential value in improving the outlook for fisheries and their associated ecosystems. We highlight a number of unique characteristics that overcome known limitations in other forms of governance—polycentric systems are highly participatory and promote the broadest levels of stakeholder involvement, they increase policy freedom at the local level, and they improve the spatial fit between knowledge, action and socio-ecological contexts to ensure that governance responses are implemented at the most appropriate scale. Through fisheries case-studies, we demonstrate that these characteristics are important in helping fisheries respond to complex challenges. Finally, we articulate key knowledge gaps that should be addressed through future research to understand the conditions under which polycentric governance systems are most suited, and the ways in which they can be operationalised most effectively.     

Structural asymmetry in biotic interactions as a tool to understand and predict ecological persistence

A universal feature of ecological systems is that species do not interact with others with the same sign and strength. Yet, the consequences of this asymmetry in biotic interactions for the short- and long-term persistence of individual species and entire communities remains unclear. Here, we develop a set of metrics to evaluate how asymmetric interactions among species translate to asymmetries in their individual vulnerability to extinction under changing environmental conditions. These metrics, which solve previous limitations of how to independently quantify the size from the shape of the so-called feasibility domain, provide rigorous advances to understand simultaneously why some species and communities present more opportunities to persist than others. We further demonstrate that our shape-related metrics are useful to predict short-term changes in species' relative abundances during 7 years in a Mediterranean grassland. Our approach is designed to be applied to any ecological system regardless of the number of species and type of interactions. With it, we show that is possible to obtain both mechanistic and predictive information on ecological persistence for individual species and entire communities, paving the way for a stronger integration of theoretical and empirical research.     

A two-hybrid dual bait system to discriminate specificity of protein interactions.

Biological regulatory systems require the specific organization of proteins into multicomponent complexes. Two hybrid systems have been used to identify novel components of signaling networks based on interactions with defined partner proteins. An important issue in the use of two-hybrid systems has been the degree to which interacting proteins distinguish their biological partner from evolutionarily conserved related proteins and the degree to which observed interactions are specific. We adapted the basic two-hybrid strategy to create a novel dual bait system designed to allow single-step screening of libraries for proteins that interact with protein 1 of interest, fused to DNA binding domain A (LexA), but do not interact with protein 2, fused to DNA binding domain B (lambda cI). Using the selective interactions of Ras and Krev-1(Rap1A) with Raf, RalGDS, and Krit1 as a model, we systematically compared LexA- and cI-fused baits and reporters. The LexA and cI baitr reporter systems are well matched for level of bait expression and sensitivity range for interaction detection and allow effective isolation of specifically interacting protein pairs against a nonspecific background. These reagents should prove useful to refine the selectivity of library screens, to reduce the isolation of false positives in such screens, and to perform directed analyses of sequence elements governing the interaction of a single protein with multiple partners.     

Paradoxical persistence through mixed-system dynamics: towards a unified perspective of reversal behaviours in evolutionary ecology

Counterintuitive dynamics of various biological phenomena occur when composite system dynamics differ qualitatively from that of their component systems. Such composite systems typically arise when modelling situations with time-varying biotic or abiotic conditions, and examples range from metapopulation dynamics to population genetic models. These biological, and related physical, phenomena can often be modelled as simple financial games, wherein capital is gained and lost through gambling. Such games have been developed and used as heuristic devices to elucidate the processes at work in generating seemingly paradoxical outcomes across a spectrum of disciplines, albeit in a field-specific, ad hoc fashion. Here, we propose that studying these simple games can provide a much deeper understanding of the fundamental principles governing paradoxical behaviours in models from a diversity of topics in evolution and ecology in which fluctuating environmental effects, whether deterministic or stochastic, are an essential aspect of the phenomenon of interest. Of particular note, we find that, for a broad class of models, the ecological concept of equilibrium reactivity provides an intuitive necessary condition that must be satisfied in order for environmental variability to promote population persistence. We contend that further investigations along these lines promise to unify aspects of the study of a range of topics, bringing questions from genetics, species persistence and coexistence and the evolution of bet-hedging strategies, under a common theoretical purview.     

Which objectively assessed limitations in health status, activities of daily living, or in psychological and social spheres are decisive for referral to a nursing home or to a home for the aged

Which type of limitation is most decisive for a positive indication for a residential home or a somatic or psycho-geriatric nursing home, and to what extent do data on living situation (independent, adapted or intramural) and the social situation (alone or living together) influence this qualification? To obtain an answer to this question three experiments with an integrated, objective and independent assessment-for-care system were set up in the Netherlands. We studied one of them, in the town of Meppel, started in 1996. The study population consisted of all older people living in and around Meppel who had a positive indication for either a residential home, or a somatic or psycho-geriatric nursing home (N = 206 in 1998). Differences in limitations were computed by means of analysis of variance and the types of limitation and their impact on the type of allocated institutions were computed by logistic regression. The limitations only partially explain the types of indication. Indication for a residential home is based on physical limitations. When these increase they become a contra-indication for a residential home and a somatic nursing home indication is given. Mental limitations primarily yield indications for psycho-geriatric nursing homes. Social limitations have a higher incidence among persons with an indication for a somatic nursing home but cannot fully explain this indication. Persons with a residential home indication were significantly more often from an adapted living situation background. The living situation -alone or together-does not have an impact on the indication. We may not conclude that the assessment took place objectively, for, based on the registration it is impossible to conclude for what criteria a person was indicated for a specific type of institution. The objective of assessment, the allocation and distribution of collectively financed care in residential homes and nursing homes based on verifiable assessment methodology could not be realised.     

Analysing ecological networks of species interactions

Network approaches to ecological questions have been increasingly used, particularly in recent decades. The abstraction of ecological systems – such as communities – through networks of interactions between their components indeed provides a way to summarize this information with single objects. The methodological framework derived from graph theory also provides numerous approaches and measures to analyze these objects and can offer new perspectives on established ecological theories as well as tools to address new challenges. However, prior to using these methods to test ecological hypotheses, it is necessary that we understand, adapt, and use them in ways that both allow us to deliver their full potential and account for their limitations. Here, we attempt to increase the accessibility of network approaches by providing a review of the tools that have been developed so far, with – what we believe to be – their appropriate uses and potential limitations. This is not an exhaustive review of all methods and metrics, but rather, an overview of tools that are robust, informative, and ecologically sound. After providing a brief presentation of species interaction networks and how to build them in order to summarize ecological information of different types, we then classify methods and metrics by the types of ecological questions that they can be used to answer from global to local scales, including methods for hypothesis testing and future perspectives. Specifically, we show how the organization of species interactions in a community yields different network structures (e.g., more or less dense, modular or nested), how different measures can be used to describe and quantify these emerging structures, and how to compare communities based on these differences in structures. Within networks, we illustrate metrics that can be used to describe and compare the functional and dynamic roles of species based on their position in the network and the organization of their interactions as well as associated new methods to test the significance of these results. Lastly, we describe potential fruitful avenues for new methodological developments to address novel ecological questions.     

The structures of letters and symbols throughout human history are selected to match those found in objects in natural scenes

Are there empirical regularities in the shapes of letters and other human visual signs, and if so, what are the selection pressures underlying these regularities? To examine this, we determined a wide variety of topologically distinct contour configurations and examined the relative frequency of these configuration types across writing systems, Chinese writing, and nonlinguistic symbols. Our first result is that these three classes of human visual sign possess a similar signature in their configuration distribution, suggesting that there are underlying principles governing the shapes of human visual signs. Second, we provide evidence that the shapes of visual signs are selected to be easily seen at the expense of the motor system. Finally, we provide evidence to support an ecological hypothesis that visual signs have been culturally selected to match the kinds of conglomeration of contours found in natural scenes because that is what we have evolved to be good at visually processing.     

Toward a universal measure of robustness across model organs and systems

The development of an individual must be capable of resisting the harmful effects of internal and external perturbations. This capacity, called robustness, can make the difference between normal variation and disease. Some systems and organs are more resilient in their capacity to correct the effects of internal disturbances such as mutations. Similarly, organs and organisms differ in their capacity to be resilient against external disturbances, such as changes in temperature. Furthermore, all developmental systems must be somewhat flexible to permit evolutionary change, and understanding robustness requires a comparative framework. Over the last decades, most research on developmental robustness has been focusing on specific model systems and organs. Hence, we lack tools that would allow cross-species and cross-organ comparisons. Here, we emphasize the need for a uniform framework to experimentally test and quantify robustness across study systems and suggest that the analysis of fluctuating asymmetry might be a powerful proxy to do so. Such a comparative framework will ultimately help to resolve why and how organs of the same and different species differ in their sensitivity to internal (e.g., mutations) and external (e.g., temperature) perturbations and at what level of biological organization buffering capacities exist and therefore create robustness of the developmental system.     

The stability of ecosystems

Stability criteria and phase boundaries for complex ecosystems are obtained and contrasted with previously studied scenarios. The stability of such systems is determined by the behaviour of the largest eigenvalue of matrices governing the response of the system to small perturbations. As a result we show that ecosystems with unstructured cooperative interactions between arbitary species can be less stable than had been previously determined. We also examine hierarchical ecologies, and demonstrate their increased stability under certain conditions.     

Complexity, Self-Organization and Selection

Recent work on self organization promises an explanation of complex order which is independent of adaptation. Self-organizing systems are complex systems of simple units, projecting order as a consequence of localized and generally nonlinear interactions between these units. Stuart Kauffman offers one variation on the theme of self-organization, offering what he calls a ``statistical mechanics' for complex systems. This paper explores the explanatory strategies deployed in this ``statistical mechanics,' initially focusing on the autonomy of statistical explanation as it applies in evolutionary settings and then turning to Kauffman's analysis. Two primary morals emerge as a consequence of this examination: first, the view that adaptation and self-organization should be seen as competing theories or models is misleading and simplistic; and second, while we need a synthesis treating self-organization and adaptation as geared toward different problems, at different levels of organization, and deploying different methods, we do not yet have such a synthesis.     

A MASTER CLASS IN UNDERSTANDING VARIATIONS IN HEALTHCARE

That there is wide-spread variation in healthcare outcomes cannot be denied. The question is what does the variation mean and what can we do about it? Using a series of well-known case-studies, which include data from the Bristol and Shipman Inquiries, fundamental limitations of traditional methods of understanding variation will be highlighted. These methods, which include comparison with standards, league tables and statistical testing, have flaws and they offer little or no guidance on how to re-act to the variation. Fortunately, there is a theory of variation that overcomes these limitations and provides useful guidance on re-acting to variation, which was developed by Walter Shewhart in the 1920s in an industrial setting. Shewhart's theory of variation found widespread application and won him the accolade 'Father of modern quality control'. His work is central to philosophies of continual improvement. Application of Shewhart's theory of variation, also known as Statistical Process Control (SPC), to case-studies from healthcare will be demonstrated, whilst highlighting the implications and challenges for performance management/monitoring and continual improvement in the healthcare.
References:  1. M A Mohammed, KK Cheng, A Rouse, T Marshall. "Bristol, Shipman and clinical governance: Shewhart's forgotten lessons" The Lancet 2001; 357: 463–7.
2. P Adab, A Rouse, M A Mohammed, T Marshall. "Performance league tables: the NHS deserves better" British Medical Journal 2002; 324: 95–98