Choosing the Right Policy Tools to Encourage Watershed Stewardship through the Study of Attitude

Recently, a number of “Payment for Watershed Services” programs have aimed to engage private landowners in watershed stewardship initiatives by offering financial incentives for adopting watershed best management practices. However, a growing field of research suggests that financial incentives alone may be of limited utility to encourage widespread and long-standing behavior change, and other policy tools may be required. This research examines how attitudes may influence enrollment in watershed stewardship programs to shed light the application of incentive, capacity building, and symbolic policy tools. We distributed a questionnaire to rural landowners in the Clackamas River watershed, OR, and received 281 valid responses (29% response rate). We found that attitudes associated with trust, ecological understanding, and technical capacity played more fundamental roles compared with financial considerations. We interpret these findings by evaluating the likely efficacy of various policy tools, and stress the importance of engaging landowners by building capacity and trust.     

On counting the number of data pairs for semivariogram estimation

In planning spatial sampling studies for the purpose of estimating the semivariogram, the number of data pairs separated by a given distance is sometimes used as a comparative index of the precision which can be expected from a given sampling design. Because spatial data are correlated, this index can be unreliable. An alternative index which partially corrects for this correlation, themaximum equivalent uncorrelated pairs, is proposed for comparing spatial designs. The index is developed under the assumption that the underlying stochastic process is Gaussian and is appropriate when the (population) semivariogram is to be estimated by the sample semivariogram.     

Zur Approximation von Laufzeitfunktionen aus diskreten Messwerten mit abgebrochenen Potenzreihen

Zusammenfassung Es wird eine Approximation von Laufzeitfunktionen aus diskreten Messwerten mit abgebrochenen Potenzreihen behandelt. Zur bequemen Anwendung werden Tabellen berechnet. Der Beitrag schliesst mit einem Beispiel aus der Praxis.

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Summary An approximation to travel-time functions by restriced power series is treated. For numerical computations convenient tables are calculated and an example is given.

     

III. Bücher- und Zeitschriftenschau

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Zur Morphologie von Westgriqualand (Südafrika)

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Streiflichter Ein Holzschnitt von Hans Holbein d. J. (?) aus dem Jahre 1523, frei umgedeutet als Sinnbild des Geologenwahlspruches „Mente et Malleo“

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Bioaccumulation and depuration of Zn and Cd in mangrove oysters (Crassostrea rhizophorae, Guilding, 1828) transplanted to and from a contaminated tropical coastal lagoon

In order to study Zn and Cd accumulation and depuration, a set of oysters, Crassostrea rhizophorae, were transplanted to a metal contaminated coastal lagoon and another one was harvested there and transplanted to a non-polluted site. C. rhizophorae oysters and Perna perna mussels native from both sites were collected in order to monitor variability of metal concentration in resident populations. After three months exposure, oysters transplanted to the polluted site accumulated fourfold Zn (307-1319 microgg(-1)) without reaching the concentration level of resident oysters (9770 microgg(-1)). Cadmium concentrations had a slight but significant decrease during the same period (1.25-0.54 microgg(-1)). Oysters transplanted to the non-polluted site, showed threefold Zn depuration (6727-2404 microgg(-1)), while Cd had no significant variation (0.90-1.45 microgg(-1)). Results showed that transplanted oysters do not reach heavy metal concentrations in indigenous populations suggesting transplanted organisms would be better used to evaluate bioavailability instead of environmental concentrations.