Ecological Actions Research Articles

Reexamining the Measurement of Pro-Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors to Promote Sustainable Development: A Systematic Review

An increasing trend of environmental problems is largely associated with human interaction with nature. While individual attitudes and behavior play a pivotal role in attaining sustainable ecological actions, this article questions whether there is adequate coverage of the current environmental issues in the existing scales measuring environmental attitudes and behaviors. To achieve the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs), sustainable efforts need to be invested to shape human interaction with nature. Nonetheless, the question of whether an effective change in attitudinal and behavioral constructs can translate into objective ecological actions requires sound measurements. Based on an analysis of 54 scales, the present article reveals that some critical environmental issues such as climate change and inclusiveness of science and technology have largely been neglected. It further brings out a conclusion that proposes a transitional approach for environmental psychologists to rethink the measurement approaches that broadly enhances sustainable development in global terms.

Why Bother? On Whether Individual Eco-Actions Count

This article considers the possibility that certain types of individual ecological actions have a place within the range of possible responses to the climate crisis and related issues of biodiversi...

Oral peroxidases: From antimicrobial agents to ecological actors (Review).

Sialoperoxidase and myeloperoxidase are the two main peroxidase enzymes found in the oral cavity. Sialoperoxidase is present in salivary secretions and in the biofilms that line the oral surfaces, while myeloperoxidase is abundant in the dento-gingival sulcus area. In the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), oral peroxidases catalyze the oxidation of the pseudohalide anion thiocyanate (SCN−) to hypothiocyanite (OSCN−), a strong oxidant that serves an antimicrobial role. Furthermore, oral peroxidases consume bacteria-produced H2O2 and could help inactivate toxic carcinogenic and genotoxic substances. Numerous in vitro studies have reported the antibacterial, antimycotic and antiviral role of peroxidases, suggesting possible applications in oral therapy. However, the use of oral hygiene products incorporating peroxidase systems has not yet been shown to be beneficial for the treatment or prevention of oral infections. This paradox reflects our incomplete knowledge of the physiological role of peroxidases in a complex environment, such as the oral region. While hygiene is crucial for restoring oral microbiota to a symbiotic state, there are no data to suggest that the addition of a peroxidase per se can create a dysbiotic state. Recent investigations have associated the presence of peroxidase activity with gram-positive cocci microbial flora, and its insufficiency with dysbiosis has been linked to pathologies, such as caries, periodontitis or infections of the oral mucosa. Therefore, oxidants generated by oral peroxidases appear to be an essential ecological determinant for oral health through the selection of a symbiotic microbiota capable of resisting oxidative stress. The objective of the present review was to update the current knowledge of the physiological aspects and applications of oral peroxidases in clinical practice.

Quantification of the environmental and economic benefits of the electrification of lawn mowers on the US residential market

Gasoline-powered lawn mowers and garden equipment are emitting 30 million tons of pollutants yearly in the USA, accounting for a quarter of all non-road gasoline emissions. While the US market is dominated by gasoline-powered lawn mowers, this study offers an assessment of the environmental implication and cost of electrifying the lawn mower industry. First, the lifecycle environmental footprint and total cost of ownership of electric-powered mowers are calculated and compared to those of conventional gasoline-powered counterparts, using life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) methodologies. A multi-indicator impact assessment is notably conducted, using the SimaPro software (v8.5), the ReCiPe methodology (H), and the ecoinvent database (v3.4) completed with data from the GREET model for the use phase. Second, an extrapolation model is computed to interpret the results at a national and regional scale, considering the proper energy mix in each US state. The combination of LCA and LCC results, mapped out in a two-dimensional chart, allows a clear visual representation of the environmental and economic trade-offs between the gasoline and electric solutions. The findings indicate a reduction of 49.9% and 32.3% of CO2 emissions, respectively, for push and riding mowers, by using the electric solution instead of the conventional one over their lifecycle. Yet, the total cost of ownership is slightly higher (4.7–10.6%) for the electric solutions, even if the operating costs are lower. And as the initial buying price of the electric solution is more expensive than the gasoline solution of the same category, this could be a real hindrance for consumers who do not systematically consider the overall lifecycle cost when comparing mowers. In this line, the quantification of a suitable financial incentive to support the electrification of the lawn mower market is of utmost importance and appears as a promising line for future work. The present results are significant in at least two major respects for the potential electrification of lawn mowing equipment. First, they show how an increased market share of electric mowers can contribute to cutting down greenhouse gas emissions. Second, such quantitative results can be useful for decision-makers in businesses and state governments to take appropriate ecological actions, e.g., in the development of adequate financial incentives or green policy to support the energy transition in this sector, and thus tackle global warming.

Modern Concepts of Energy-Efficient Civil and Residential Buildings. Case Study: Analysis of a Residential Building According to Nzeb Criteria

Abstract The oil crisis, the measures taken because of global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions, the ecological actions carried out globally and the technical progress in the fields of electronics, energy, IT and telecommunications have led to the emergence Passive House concepts in the construction sector, of Passive Solar Building (passive construction based on solar energy), of Net Zero-Energy Building NZEB, of Plus Energy Building, of nearly Zero Energy Building nZEB, of Low-Energy Building, of Green House, of Zero Carbon House, of Smart House, of Healthy buildings and other equivalents or derivatives. In this paper, these concepts will be cross-debated and the measures adopted at EU level and the influences exerted on the Romanian legislation on the field of civil and residential constructions will be presented. Based on a case study, a residential construction will be characterized, representative of the current housing stock, in order to assess the degree of compliance with the minimum requirements of a house with low energy consumption, imposed by Romanian legislation in the field.

Short-term effects of passive restoration in springs habitats in Southern Brazil

ABSTRACT: This study analyzed natural regeneration floristic patterns in spring habitats submitted to different ecological restoration actions in the seasonal forest in Atlantic Forest biome, Rio Grande do Sul. We assessed floristic composition in six springs before restoration actions and 12 months later. We identified and counted all regenerating individuals with height greater than or equal to 30 cm and diameter at breast height less than or equal to 5 cm in eight plots in each spring. The richness and abundance of each spring and assessment were compared by the Kruskal-Wallis test (P<0.05). Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) was performed to verify floristic patterns and association between species. Results showed an increase in richness and abundance after ecological restoration implementation. The DCA showed a distinct floristic composition between springs. The springs remaining natural vegetation and the successional stage of these vegetation influenced the natural regeneration floristic composition pattern. Passive restoration, which was effective by enclosure, favored natural regeneration recruitment.

Economic security in the management system of environmental sustainability of investment processes

The article is devoted to current issues of economic security of economic entities in strengthening environmental sustainability in the implementation of investment activities. The generalized experience of global and local ecological problems demands careful planning and introduction of ecological actions which are formed at a design stage. The author discusses the basic contents of the section “Environment protection” of the design documentation allowing to level threats to ecological safety during construction and operation of an object of investments. The author reviews methods to assess the environmental and economic efficiency of investment projects, the main complexity of which is the allocation of the influx of funds as a result of increased environmental responsibility of business entities. The author justifies the inclusion of the environmental goodwill indicator in the balanced scorecard used to comprehensively assess the activities of enterprises, which will more fully disclose information about the company environmental policy, having a direct impact on financial performance, the improvement of which will ensure economic security and sustainable development.

Category Classification of Tree States Using Visual Data Based on Fuzzy Logic

Introduction: A reliable assessment of tree condition directly affects the planning of economic indicators for the use of forest resources and ecological actions for forest protection. Therefore, the correct evaluation of the sanitary state of forest is very important. At present, the decisions that forest pathologists make about classifying trees or forest areas are based on visual inspection and their subjective knowledge about the tree features. Purpose: Development of a method for classifying the condition of a tree in terms of its crown density degree and other features, based on fuzzy logic with characteristic functions for linguistic variables such as “Crown density”, “Annual branch growth”, “Bark falling off” or “Shrinking branches”. Results: The proposed method classifies the tree condition using pine as an example. The method consists in preliminary image processing, including the removal of background objects, extraction of texture features as extended binary patterns, and application of a specially designed controller based on fuzzy logic. We propose four types of linguistic variables, with their respective terms. For these variables, characteristic functions are specified in tabular form and then approximated by smooth functions. A fuzzy logic controller allows you to obtain an objective assessment of the tree crown condition. Experimental studies confirm the effectiveness of the developed method. Practical relevance: The intelligent system of classifying the tree condition according to visual data can provide a significant support to plantation survey specialists. The proposed method allows you to improve the quality of forest monitoring, minimize the influence of human factor, and organize the forest protection in the best possible way.

Algorithmic Reflexive Governance for Socio-Techno-Ecological Systems

This position paper develops an algorithmic approach to deliberation as the basis for institutional reflexivity. We propose the idea of algorithmic reflexive governance for socio- techno-ecological systems, bringing together interdisciplinary ideas from Artificial Intelligence and Democratic Theory in systems that recognize the interactions between social, technological, and ecological actors and processes. We argue that this innovative approach to conservation and sustainability can make a significant contribution to mitigating the climate emergency.

Specialization of fishers leads to greater impact of external disturbance: Evidence from a social-ecological network modelling exercise for Sechura Bay, northern Peru

Coastal marine resources provide livelihoods to human communities around the world. The interactions in respective social-ecological systems are usually of complex nature, due to a wide range of different fisheries interacting with the ecosystem. Understanding connectivity within these systems (i.e. among social and ecological actors) helps in establishing meaningful management strategies for sustainable use of marine resources. This work uses the value chain analysis of different fisheries sectors to construct a qualitative social-ecological network (SEN) model of the Sechura Bay in North Peru. Here, a diverse ensemble of small-scale fisheries co-exists with a flourishing mariculture sector, though the respective production chains partially overlap. Directed and unweighted links between actors were defined based on the transfer of biomass (trophic interactions) and money (economic interactions). Several analytical network tools were applied (e.g. degree centrality, dominator tree) to identify the most important nodes of the social-ecological network and to understand interdependencies. Results of the network analysis suggest position of system's components being related to their vulnerability in the face of external disturbances. Fisher groups with a high specialization with respect to fisheries target species were stronger impacted by the last strong El Niño event (the Coastal El Niño 2017), with drastic consequences for actors of the respective production chains. The present approach is envisioned to be applicable beyond this particular case study and to nourish on-going scientific discussions on the use of social-ecological network analysis to describe human-nature interactions. This study allows (i) estimating node (actor) susceptibilities to natural and anthropogenic disturbances, and (ii) reconciling sustainable resource use and nature conservation by enhancing the understanding of the functionality of the respective social-ecological system.

"Science Manipulates the Things and Lives in Them": Reconsidering Approach-Avoidance Operationalization Through a Grounded Cognition Perspective.

Approach and avoidance orientations are key elements of adaptive regulation at the evaluation-behavior interface. On the one hand, continuous evaluations of the world fuel approach-avoidance reactions as a function of the individual’s immediate environment. On the other hand, in turn these individual-environment adjustments influence evaluations. A grounded perspective of social cognition, placing the sensorimotor aspects of individual-environment interactions at the core of cognition, has much to offer for the understanding of evaluative processes. Despite the growing enthusiasm for a grounded view of cognition and action in the approach-avoidance literature, its core principles are seldom reflected at the operationalization level. In this paper, we relied on the insights of a grounded perspective to propose more encompassing operationalizations of approach-avoidance orientations and investigate their influence on evaluations. Across six studies, we varied the approach-avoidance operationalizations (upper-body incline, upper-body posture and walking steps) and incrementally considered the grounded assumptions. We failed to obtain the theorized positive effect of approach (as compared to avoidance) on evaluations. Interestingly, further exploratory analyses on two studies conducted in Virtual Reality suggested that the more participants felt being present in the situation, the more the approach-avoidance ecological actions activated the corresponding neuropsychological systems. We discuss these emergent findings in light of grounded cognition and the notion of feeling of presence.

Building a stakeholder-led common vision increases the expected cost-effectiveness of biodiversity conservation.

Uniting diverse stakeholders through communication, education or building a collaborative ‘common vision’ for biodiversity management is a recommended approach for enabling effective conservation in regions with multiple uses. However, socially focused strategies such as building a collaborative vision can require sharing scarce resources (time and financial resources) with the on-ground management actions needed to achieve conservation outcomes. Here we adapt current prioritisation tools to predict the likely return on the financial investment of building a stakeholder-led vision along with a portfolio of on-ground management strategies. Our approach brings together and analyses expert knowledge to estimate the cost-effectiveness of a common vision strategy and on-ground management strategies, before any investments in these strategies are made. We test our approach in an intensively-used Australian biodiversity hotspot with 179 threatened or at-risk species. Experts predicted that an effective stakeholder vision for the region would have a relatively low cost and would significantly increase the feasibility of on-ground management strategies. As a result, our analysis indicates that a common vision is likely to be a cost-effective investment, increasing the expected persistence of threatened species in the region by 9 to 52%, depending upon the strategies implemented. Our approach can provide the maximum budget that is worth investing in building a common vision or another socially focused strategy for building support for on-ground conservation actions. The approach can assist with decisions about whether and how to allocate scarce resources amongst social and ecological actions for biodiversity conservation in other regions worldwide.

I green, you green, we all green: Testing the extended environmental theory of planned behavior among the university students of Pakistan

To bring about a change in the complex environmental degradation problems caused by humans, a continued commitment to counteracting these problems is necessary. This study aims to extend and validate the environmental theory of planned behavior by incorporating the cognitive-perceptual beliefs about the outcome of ecological actions. We collected the data via a self-administered questionnaire from 285 systematically selected urban university students of Pakistan. The study employs structural equation modeling (SEM) with maximum likelihood method (MLE). Extended environmental theory of planned behavior explained a considerable amount of variance in green purchase intentions. Results revealed that the perceived seriousness of environmental problems and independent self-construal were the most formative determinants of green purchase intentions. Marketers should associate green consumption with personal goals and achievements in their promotional campaigns. Furthermore, practitioners and policymakers should initiate awareness programs regarding the seriousness of environmental degradation to encourage pro-environmental consumption.

Assessment and distribution of the hydropower rent

The paper considers the problems of rent distribution peculiar for modern society. Based on the existing external reports of companies-users of natural resources, information technology and the algorithm for calculating the differential rent, the calculations of the annual rent and its current distribution are presented. It is shown that the lack of transparent statistical and reporting information of the companies of tenants/owners of unique hydropower objects does not allow to determine unambiguously the size of a nature-resource rent, in this case a hydropower rent, and, respectively, to create the fair mechanism of its distribution between the company using natural resources (waterways, rivers), and society for the purpose of formation of sustainable ecologic and economic development of the territory. It is shown that faire distribution of a hydropower rent of the Krasnoyarsk hydroelectric power station will allow to provide sharp decrease in deficit of the consolidated budget of Krasnoyarsk Region and increase in financing of ecological actions.

Критический анализ зарубежных теорий экологического поведения

На основе метаанализа более 100 статей авторы предприняли попытку критического анализа, сравнения и систематизации основных подходов и теорий, объясняющих изменения в экологическом поведении субъектов, которые слабо представлены в российской социально-экологической литературе. Для объяснения мотивов экологического поведения субъектов рассматриваются: теория активации нормы, теория запланированного действия, теория «ценности — убеждения — нормы», теория самовосприятия, подход «установки — поведение — контекст». Авторы пришли к выводу, что данные теории базируются на анализе схожих компонентов: установок, ценностей и поведения субъектов. Большинство этих теорий фокусируются на какой-то одной независимой переменной, через которую объясняются сложные процессы экологического поведения субъекта. Теория активации нормы объясняет, как на основе первичных экологических знаний и ценностей формируется норма, а далее — трансформируется в проэкологические практики. В отличие от нее, теория запланированного действия анализирует общественные формы контроля и взаимоотношения индивидов и социальных институтов в процессе формирования практик. Обе теории показывают, как общество оценивает действия субъектов, что впоследствии становится решающим фактором при формировании экопрактик. Теория «ценности — убеждения — нормы» направлена на анализ установок и норм субъекта, в зависимости от которых формируются разные модели экологической деятельности: экологический активизм, инвайронментализм в частной сфере, проэкологическое поведение на организационном уровне. Теория самовосприятия фокусируется на опыте участия субъекта в экологических практиках. Теория «установки — поведение — контекст» позволяет ученым строить многомерные модели по оценке уровня сформированности экологических практик субъектов на основе анализа множества переменных: инфраструктурных, институциональных, социально-экономических, демографических, ситуационных. В отличие от более ранних теорий, данный подход удачно интегрирует контекстуальные факторы в анализ разнообразной палитры экологических действий, объясняет причины, по которым субъекты с высоким уровнем экологических ценностей и установок имеют низкий уровень экологических практик.
 Благодарность. Статья написана при поддержке гранта Президента РФ № МК-3338.2019.6 на тему «Построение качественной модели по оценке освоения россиянами новых форм цифрового городского участия в решении социально-экологических проблем и конфликтов».

The urboecological factors of Kharkiv Urban space (1654 – 1785)

This article is devoted to the significant topic, however, unfortunately, still remains outside the field of the view of researchers - the history of the green space of the Kharkiv city. Using sources of the late XVII - late XVIII century an attempt is made to analyze the anthropogenic pressure on the territory of the city and determine the limit of the population that could live on it. The article is written on the basis of the actor-network theory, which calls to analyze the influence of human and natural actors as symmetrical. This approach allowed us to analyze the collected material from the point of view of the idea of ​​co-evolution of the city and the natural environment. The author analyzed the main urban ecological actors and proved that most of the environmental problems were pestering the inhabitants of the city in the 19th century. Nevertheless, they were unknown in the previous century. The residents' need for water supply was fully provided thanks to the well system; they existed in almost every yard, and Kharkiv rivers were also full-flowing. A sufficient number of trees protected the city from dust. However, with the development of the city, including through the drainage of significant areas and their subsequent development, the city was exposed to the devastating consequences of the deterioration of its natural condition. All this could have been avoided, as if the officials responsible for the improvement were competent in this matter. Thus, the article calls for further research on the history of green spaces of the city with the aim of formulating the principles of co-evolution of green and man-made spaces.

A Conceptual Framework for Heuristic Progress in Exploring Management Regime Shifts in Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Change Adaptation of Coastal Areas

Social conflicts related to biodiversity conservation and adaptation policy to climate change in coastal areas illustrate the need to reinforce understanding of the “matters of concern” as well as the “matters of fact”. In this paper, we argue that we must rethink adaptation from a new perspective, considering that humans together function as both ecological actors and social actors. Using international examples from the UNESCO world biosphere reserve network, we show that an ontological perspective may provide a simple and compact way to think about coupled infrastructure systems and systematic formalism, allowing for understanding of the relational matrix between actors, institutions and ecosystems. We contend that our formalism responds to three challenges. First, it encompasses the different regional contexts and policies that rely on the same ontology. Second, it provides a method to relate any local adaptation plan to the conservation paradigms that originate from the ecological modernization of policies. Third, it facilitates the discovery of drivers and processes involved in adaptation and management regime shifts by highlighting the way contextual factors configure, determine the structure of the action situation of the Institutional Analysis and Development framework (IAD) (Ostrom 2005), and how it operates.

Application of the coastal ecosystem complex concept toward integrated management for sustainable coastal fisheries under oligotrophication

Harmonizing coastal fisheries with water-quality improvement has become an essential factor for the sustainable use of coastal ecosystem services. Here, we present the scope of our study based on an interdisciplinary approach including ecological actions, socio-economic actions and socio-psychological actions. We chose to focus on the interaction between oyster aquaculture and seagrass vegetation as a typical ecological action using the coastal ecosystem complex (CEC) concept. Coastal organisms have adapted their traits to the environment over a long period of time, so that restoration of the CEC represents reconstruction of the original process of coastal production. Subtidal seagrass vegetation with intertidal oyster reefs is the original CEC in Japan, which would be expected to enhance coastal production by improving the production efficiency without adding nutrients. A simple field experiment examining carbon and nitrogen contents and stable isotope ratios revealed that oyster spats cultivated on a tidal flat adjacent to seagrass beds had higher nitrogen contents and higher δ13C ratios than spats cultivated in an offshore area using only pelagic production. This result suggests that utilization of the CEC, which enables oysters to use both pelagic and benthic production, has potential to sustain a food provisioning service for humans, even in oligotrophic conditions.

The Plight of Reptiles as Ecological Actors in the Tropics

Earth’s tropical ecosystems have witnessed several extinctions and a dramatic reduction of the range and abundance of large reptile species, which is directly related to the rise of early and modern humans. The ocurrence of such extinctions, range reduction, species loss and the consequences for several paramount ecosystem processes are poorly documented compared to other large vertebrate species. Here, I reviewed the literature on the ecological processes performed by large tropical reptile species and their human-induced widespread demise in order to determine knowledge gaps and encourage a paradigm shift in understanding on the interactiveness of such species. The interactions and species involved indicate that large abundant reptiles in the tropics are important in ecological processes, and can consequently have an important role in ecosystem function through gene dispersal, nutrient cycling, trophic action and ecosystem engineering. These important interactions performed by reptiles are not solely performed by few species, or geographically restricted to islands, but instead present a pattern that repeatedly occurs in large reptiles distributed over tropical ecosystems. The observed tendency of reptiles to be tightly involved in these ecological interactions has important implications for the ecology of tropical ecosystems. Lost and current ecological processes performed by large reptiles may be orders of magnitude higher than what is currently perceived, and the misleading baseline of those processes must be addressed otherwise we risk losing species and services that are dependent of such interactions. To fix this bias I suggest: (a) Increase information spreading about Pleistocene-Holocene reptile extinctions using popular media; (b) Improved exchange between the research field of megafauna effects in ecosystems and herpetologists working with large reptiles; (c) Increase research effort on anthropogenic reptile extinctions and their potential to predict future losses; (d) Address the knowledge gaps, as human-reptile conflict, chelonian seed dispersal and nutrient movement; (e) Increase quantitative research on large reptile population ecology, density, and abundance. (f) address the potentially present or lost ecosystem effects of extant and extinct reptile species. Although the importance of reptiles in most tropical ecosystems has been perceived as negligible, this study shows that this may be a misleading paradigm.

Neural effects of environmental advertising: An fMRI analysis of voice age and temporal framing

Ecological information offered to society through advertising enhances awareness of environmental issues, encourages development of sustainable attitudes and intentions, and can even alter behavior. This paper, by means of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and self-reports, explores the underlying mechanisms of processing ecological messages. The study specifically examines brain and behavioral responses to persuasive ecological messages that differ in temporal framing and in the age of the voice pronouncing them. The findings reveal that attitudes are more positive toward future-framed messages presented by young voices. The whole-brain analysis reveals that future-framed (FF) ecological messages trigger activation in brain areas related to imagery, prospective memories and episodic events, thus reflecting the involvement of past behaviors in future ecological actions. Past-framed messages (PF), in turn, elicit brain activations within the episodic system. Young voices (YV), in addition to triggering stronger activation in areas involved with the processing of high-timbre, high-pitched and high-intensity voices, are perceived as more emotional and motivational than old voices (OV) as activations in anterior cingulate cortex and amygdala. Messages expressed by older voices, in turn, exhibit stronger activation in areas formerly linked to low-pitched voices and voice gender perception. Interestingly, a link is identified between neural and self-report responses indicating that certain brain activations in response to future-framed messages and young voices predicted higher attitudes toward future-framed and young voice advertisements, respectively. The results of this study provide invaluable insight into the unconscious origin of attitudes toward environmental messages and indicate which voice and temporal frame of a message generate the greatest subconscious value.