Brazil has committed to reducing deforestation in the Amazon and has identified target goals for 2020. A variety of environmental policies and tools are used to reduce deforestation in the region, including payments for ecosystems services (PES). This report analyzes whether payments for ecosystem services are a viable option for supporting conservation and socio-economic goals in the Amazon. PES schemes provide economic incentives in exchange for meeting an environmental goal. They have been relatively successful in developed countries but have had limited applications or success in developing contexts. This report identifies the agents and activities that drive deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon and determines which of these may be suitable for PES applications. It also provides a framework for analyzing current PES schemes in order to draw out best practices and lessons learned which may be applied to future program. PES schemes do have a role to play as one of the tools used in addressing deforestation in the Amazon. They can be cheaper than indirect approaches but do face some challenges in evaluation. Future PES applications may benefit from the lessons learned in the early applications of these programs. / text

Ecosystem-based adaptation as a concept of adapting to the adverse effects of climate change has become a popular approach that enjoys a good reputation. However, the evidence base for it is rather thin. This thesis sets out to explore the challenges and limitations linked to projects that engage in the concept, in order to estimate the potential threat that may lie in the ignorance of them. Timescales of projects related to the concept shall be the second major focus of this thesis as it has not been sufficiently examined yet by the literature. Empirical material has been gathered and analyzed in the form of interviews with people who have been and are currently working in projects related to ecosystem-based adaptation. The results allow recommendations for the implementation of future projects, as lessons learned were identified.

The availability of iron within the surface waters of the broad, oligotrophic West Florida shelf (WFS) controls periodic blooms of the pelagic marine cyanobacterium Trichodesmium. Summer delivery of iron (Fe), in the form of Saharan dust, alleviates this growth constraint, shifting limitation to the efficiency of phosphorus (P) cycles. Florida's rivers drain Miocene phosphorus deposits to supply the WFS with freshwater nutrient supplies at molar dissolved inorganic nitrogen/phosphate (DIN/PO4) ratios of less than 6. These diazotrophs draw upon ubiquitous stocks of dissolved nitrogen gas, once stimulated by Fe-deposition within P-replete waters of the West Florida shelf. An extensive in situ data set collected between 1998-2001 (NEGOM / ECOHAB / HyCODE) provided plankton taxonomy, hydrographic, nutrient, DOM, pigment, and optical properties on the shelf. A three-dimensional numerical model was constructed to analyze the impact of iron fertilization of the diazotroph Trichodesmium and the resultant effect upon the elemental cycles of N, P, and Fe. Based on the results of the coupled physical and ecological models, wet deposition of Fe-rich Saharan dust was necessary to stimulate enough nitrogen fixation to support the toxic red tide (Karenia brevis) of ~20 micrograms chl per liter found in October 1999. Ultimately, the magnitude and longevity of the Trichodesmium population, and therefore 'new' nitrogen production, was controlled by both phosphorus and iron availability.

This thesis compares the Swedish and the French social entrepreneurship ecosystems. After an examination of the definitions and current legal frameworks around social enterprises in each country, their levels of social entrepreneurship activity are compared. The existing support structures providing non-financial help to social entrepreneurs (i.e. incubators, accelerators, co-working spaces and networks) are identified in Paris and in Stockholm, while perceptions from social entrepreneurs benefiting from such support were gathered through interviews. Findings show that the concept of social enterprise is more recognized and legally defined in France than in Sweden. Social entrepreneurship activity seems to be hard to quantify and compare, due to a lack of data available. Support structures appear to be well developed both in Paris and in Stockholm, while the support provided is overall quite appreciated by social entrepreneurs. Furthermore, many of them perceive their support needs as rather different from those of traditional entrepreneurs. Results tend to show that although developing in practice, social entrepreneurship remains a young academic field. Stakeholders from the field have much to gain from extended research on the topic.

Climate models forecast lower and less frequent precipitation in the next 50 years. This is especially pronounced in the central United States, where Texas is expected to lose a week’s worth of rain every summer. Water availability is a primary driver of carbon flux in terrestrial ecosystems – controlling photosynthesis and organic matter decomposition. Thus, under proposed rainfall shifts, understanding the potential ecosystem response is key to predicting the future of terrestrial productivity. Terrestrial nutrient cycling is also driven by microbial saprotrophs, which are the chief decomposers of organic matter. Understanding the microbial response to rain shifts is key in predicting the ecosystem response. Research supports both microbial community specialization to local environment, and that the microbial communities may have the ability to rapidly acclimate to environmental change. To address this question of microbial response, we used a steep natural rainfall gradient along the Edwards Plateau in central Texas. The Edwards Plateau is an ideal field site in which to test these ideas because nearly identical grassland habitat and soils are found across its entirety, while mean annual precipitation ranges from 45 cm to 91 cm. To understand how soil microbial communities varied as a result of historical rainfall differences, we divided the gradient into four isoclines based on precipitation (46-56 cm, 56-66 cm, 66-76 cm, and 76-86 cm), and examined soil and soil microbial community characteristics at three sites in each isocline. We further used soils from the same sites for a reciprocal soil moisture experiment, where we asked how soil microbial communities responded to altered moisture conditions. Using a full factorial design, soils from each site in each isocline were exposed to one of four soil moisture treatments: soil moisture from the ‘home’ isocline and the three other ‘away’ isoclines. The moisture treatments were maintained for one year. Microbial respiration was measured at regular intervals throughout the experiment; fungal hyphal abundance and inorganic nitrogen were measured at the final harvest. The soils collected from the gradient decreased in both soil moisture and hyphal abundance from the wet to the dry end of the gradient, but there was no trend in inorganic nitrogen. In the reciprocal moisture experiment, microbial CO2 respiration was affected by both home isocline and soil moisture treatment. Drier sites had a narrower response to wetter treatments and did not achieve the same activity as wetter sites regardless of soil moisture treatment. In contrast, soils from the wettest isocline experienced severe reductions in activity with drying, with activity at the driest moisture treatment below that found in soils that were from the driest isocline. These patterns are consistent with some degree of local specialization, which may constrain the ability of microbial communities to rapidly acclimate to altered precipitation regimes. This experiment did not include immigration, however, and shifts in community composition in the presence of dispersal may be able to counteract local specialization. Given expected future increases in drought intensity microbial decomposition activity is likely to decrease and local specialization may create a lag in acclimation to the new condition. Thus, local specialization of microbial communities should be considered when predicting ecosystem responses to future climate change and their potential feedbacks to ecosystem productivity and carbon storage. / text

This is an assessment of the social and cultural factors that potentially will influence the transfer of Caribbean King Crab or Mithrax mariculture as it has been developed in two West Indian project sites. The projects are located in Nonsuch Bay, Antigua, and Buen Hombre,Dominican Republic. The projects derive from an original proposal entitled "A New Mariculture Project for the Lesser Antilles," which was submitted by the Smithsonian Institution, Marine Systems Laboratory (MSL), to the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID). That project was funded as AID Project No. 598 -065. This anthropological and sociological assessment was contracted by the Smithsonian Institution as specified in P.O. No. ST5080090000 on July 10, 1985.

This presentation was created to supplement the Mithrax Crab culture technical report Caribbean Fishermen Farmers and provide images that can further convey an understanding of the analysis and findings presented in the Antigua portion of the report.

This presentation was created to supplement the Mithrax Crab culture technical report Caribbean Fishermen Farmers and provide images that can further convey an understanding of the analysis and findings presented in the Dominican Republic portion of the report.

No description available.

The Wilderness Act of 1964 states the purpose of the National Wilderness Preservation System is "to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness." But, how to accomplish this mandate is a complex task. The application of the Ecosystem Services model is ideal for facilitating the complex duel goals of securing benefits and preserving wilderness resources. Ecosystem Services directly addresses benefits derived from a landscape, even if the specifics of the benefits change over time. This dissertation employs Ecosystem Services as a framework to provide a more complete understanding of wilderness values. In three separate studies conducted in wilderness areas in Southern Arizona, (Assessing Border-Related Human Impacts at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Linking Visitor Flows and Patterns of Use with General Management Planning in Saguaro National Park and Monitoring and Estimating Visitor Use at the Madrona Ranger Station and Surrounding Landscape) elements of Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) are illuminated.I found that the more holistic epistemology of Ecosystem Services allowed for the inclusion of better scientific data in the management process. The inclusion of quantitative, repeatable, defensible studies of user behavior in wildlands allows for dynamic management options that are rooted in real conditions (mutable, undesirable or unique). Specifically Cultural Ecosystem Services address the value and significance of the unique landscape of wilderness. Previous models for wildland management sought specific metrics of carrying capacity to limit use and control impact. Ecosystem Services combines diverse scientific fields to provide real understanding of the landscape. The addition of ES to manager's decision processes allows for better understanding of real conditions.