Ecological Paradigm Research Articles

Reducing consumption of electricity: A field experiment in Monaco with boosts and goal setting

We investigate the complementarity among different treatments which involved “boosts” (provision of information) and “goals” (ambitious or modest goals) by means of a field experiment conducted in the Principality of Monaco between December 2018 and May 2019. We collected data from 77 households in four groups: ambitious electricity reduction goal combined with information (Treatment 1), modest electricity reduction goal combined with information (Treatment 2), only information (Treatment 3), and a control group (CG). Treatments 1 and 2 increased the chances of reduced electricity consumption. We show that a modest, more realistic electricity saving goal when combined with a “boost” generates better electricity conservation performance (T2). We explore the link between behavioral strategies and the household's concern for the environment in the context of the new ecological paradigm (NEP). Our results show that treatments T1 and T2 are efficient for reducing electricity consumption only in households with high levels of environmental concern; those whose level of concern about the environment is low will not respond to any of the behavioral interventions. We provide some recommendations for the implementation of behavioral tools and “boosts”.

Re-emphasizing mechanism in the community ecology of disease.

1. Hosts and their parasites exist within complex ecological communities. However, the role that non-focal community members, species which cannot be infected by a focal pathogen, may play in altering parasite transmission is often only studied in the lens of the "diversity-disease" relationship by focusing on species richness. This approach largely ignores mechanistic species interactions and risks collapsing our understanding of the community ecology of disease down to defining the prominence of "amplification" vs. "dilution" effects. 2. However, non-focal species vary in their traits, densities, and types of interactions with focal hosts and parasites. Therefore, a community ecology approach based on the mechanisms underlying parasite transmission, host harm, and dynamic species interactions may better advance our understanding of parasite transmission in complex communities. 3. Using the concept of the parasite's basic reproductive ratio, R0, as a generalizable framework, we examine several critical mechanisms by which interactions among hosts, parasites, and non-focal species modulate transmission and provide examples from relevant literature. 4. By focusing on the mechanism by which non-focal species impact transmission, we can emphasize the similarities among classic paradigms in the community ecology of disease, gain new insights into parasite invasion and persistence, community traits correlated with disease dilution or amplification, and the feasibility of biocontrol for parasites of conservation, agricultural, or human health concern.

Detecting the historical roots of education for sustainable development (ESD): a bibliometric analysis

PurposeAlthough several researchers have statistically analyzed references associated with education for sustainable development based on the co-citation frequency, evolutionary analysis based on high-citation references omits literature with low citation frequency, which has a significant impact on the evolution of a discipline. The purpose of this study is to understand and explore the historical processes and roots of the field of education for sustainable development and to understand the theoretical grounding of the field.Design/methodology/approachBased on education for sustainable development publications in the science citation index expanded and social sciences citation index databases from 1992 to August 2020, a new bibliometric method, reference publication year spectroscopy, was adopted to conduct a bibliometric analysis of the 58,588 cited references in 1,778 publications.FindingsThe earliest reference in the field of education for sustainable development traces back to 1732. There were 21 peaks in this field between 1732 and August 2020. Dewey’s “new three-center theory”; Bloom’s “taxonomy”; Freire’s “conscientization theory”; the “theory of planned behavior”; Kolb’s “experiential learning theory”; Wittgenstein’s theoretical concepts of “language-games,” “forms of life” and “rule-following” and Leopold’s “land ethics” laid an early theoretical grounding of educational philosophy and environmental ethics for research into education for sustainable development. The new environmental paradigm and the new ecological paradigm have become the most widely used methodological tools for understanding the values and attitudes of people toward the natural environment. Among the 50 most cited references, Lozano and Wals have published the most publications, contributing to promoting the development of research into education for sustainable development. The Journal of Cleaner Production, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education and Environmental Education Research have published the most publications related to the field of education for sustainable development.Originality/valueThe findings of this study are helpful for scholars and practitioners to understand the academic ideological roots, theoretical grounding and important influential literature in the field of education for sustainable development.

Coupling beach ecology and macroplastics litter studies: Current trends and the way ahead

As sites of floating marine material deposition, sandy beaches accumulate marine litter. While research and assessment on beach litter is increasing and involves various actors (scientists, society and NGOs), there is the need to assess current and future dominant trends, directions and priorities in that research. As such, a textural co-occurrence analysis was applied to published scientific literature. Words were considered both singly and as part of compound terms related to concepts relevant to sandy beach ecology: morphodynamic state; Littoral Active Zone; indicator fauna. Litter as a compound term was also included. The main co-occurrences were found within compounds, with scarce interaction of “morphodynamic state” with the others, indicating the need for further integration of beach ecology paradigms into beached plastics studies. Three approaches are proposed to overcome the research limits highlighted: the unequivocation of terms, the consideration of adequate scales, and the attention to dynamics rather than just patterns.

The influence of ethnicity and other socio-demographic characteristics on pro-environmental attitudes: a Malaysian perspective

ABSTRACT Alarming global environmental problems have created urgency for educating the general public on pro-environmental attitudes. Previous studies indicated that the formation of pro-environmental attitudes significantly depended on society's cultural background and socio-demographic characteristics. Malaysia is a multicultural country with multi-ethnic groups residing in the country. Malaysian multicultural society is typified by three major ethnic groups, namely Malays, Chinese, and Indians. The study investigated how pro-environmental attitudes, using the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale, change with cultural background and socio-demographic characteristics. The NEP scale provided one reliable dimension (Cronbach’s α = 0.73). The Malay, in general, appeared to exhibit more favourable pro-environmental attitudes as measured by the NEP than what has been reported. Malays with post-secondary education exhibited lower pro-environmental attitudes than most other ethnicities, ages, and levels of education subgroups. Females and males did not significantly differ in their pro-environmental attitudes. Findings from this study would be useful for designing environmental education programmes.

Non‐random dispersal in sympatric stream fishes: Influences of natural disturbance and body size

AbstractAlthough the prevailing paradigms in spatial ecology have treated dispersal as a stochastic process, there is an increasing awareness that spatial processes are non‐random such that individual characteristics and ecological contexts influence dispersal. Natural disturbance, such as river flooding, is known to stimulate dispersal behaviour, but its interactive effects with individual‐level characteristics (e.g. body size) of potential dispersers remain elusive. It is critical to fill this knowledge gap because anthropogenic impacts (including climate change) alter both disturbance regimes and population structures.Here, we examined how extreme high flows and individual body size combined to influence dispersal of three fishes (creek chubSemotilus atromaculatus, bluehead chubNocomis leptocephalus, and striped jumprockMoxostoma rupicartes) in two streams (740 and 520 m long) in South Carolina, U.S.A. We focused on extreme high flows as a natural disturbance, whereas body size was used as an individual‐level characteristic of dispersers. A total of 5,604 individuals were uniquely marked in the two streams over a >2‐year study period, during which sampling occurred every 2 months.The intensive capture–recapture study revealed differential effects of disturbance and body size among sympatric stream fishes. Extreme high flows increased dispersal of striped jumprock and creek chub, whereas body size influenced dispersal of striped jumprock with larger individuals traveling longer distances. Bluehead chub showed a complex dispersal response. That is, size‐dependence in dispersal emerged only during high‐flow periods.The results of this study build upon previous efforts by providing field‐based evidence of how disturbance and individual characteristics (body size) combine to drive non‐random dispersal and how it varies among sympatric species. This finding is important because metapopulations that are maintained by different non‐random dispersal (i.e. externally or internally driven) may show varied sensitivities to human‐induced environmental changes.

From Fiqh to Political Advocacy: Muhammadiyah’s Ecological Movement in the Post New Order Indonesia

This paper investigates how Indonesia’s Islamic modernist movement, Muhammadiyah, is responding to issues such as environment degradation, global warming and climate change. Muhammadiyah has not adopted the ecology paradigm used by Islamic environmentalism group, focusing instead on theological reform and social and economic welfare and justice, but members of its elite have begun inserting ecological concerns into the organisation’s programmatic orientation. This paper argues that, although these efforts are not well organized and maintained, they have enormous potential to transform Muhammadiyah into a right-green organization, as demonstrated through its progressive initiative on the environment and its efforts institutional and theological reform (fiqh of water) and in its involvement in judicial review of state policy (known as ‘jihad konstitusi’/judicial review) as political advocacy practice. However, the main feature of Muhammadiyah’s environmental activism is its continued emphasis on economic justice rather than on building ecological security and conservation movement.

Circular economy and cultural heritage conservation: a proposal for integrating Level(s) evaluation tool

The paradigm shift towards a more humanistic and ecological paradigm evoked by United Nations and the Green Deal is increasingly required in this period of growing unsustainability, especially during ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The challenge today is to reduce poverty and inequalities, while preserving the vitality of natural ecosystems and ensuring inclusive economic growth and wellbeing, both now and in the future, thus including future generations. To this end, new models for city development and new tools for operationalizing them are necessary. This paper is focused on the circular economy model and, in particular, on the functional reuse of cultural heritage as the entry point for triggering circular processes in the cities. The attention is focused on the evaluation tools and a methodological proposal is presented starting from the Level(s) tool (developed by European Commission) for assessing the multidimensional impacts of cultural heritage functional reuse projects in the circular economy perspective.

New Ecological Paradigm meets behavioral economics: On the relationship between environmental values and economic preferences

This paper empirically examines whether environmental values are correlated with economic preferences from behavioral economics and considers possible consequences when independence is assumed. The data for this analysis stem from a large-scale computer-based survey among more than 3700 German citizens. Our indicators for environmental values are based on the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP), which is a standard instrument in social and behavioral sciences and increasingly common in economic studies. The econometric analysis with Generalized Poisson regression models reveals strong correlations between two NEP scales and several economic preferences, which are based on established experimental measures. While our variables for altruism (measured in an incentivized dictator game) and positive reciprocity are significantly positively correlated, the indicators for trust and (less robust) negative reciprocity are significantly negatively correlated with the NEP scales, respectively. Only the variables for risk and time preferences (also measured in an incentivized experiment) are not robustly significantly correlated with the NEP scales. These estimation results recommend the additional inclusion of economic preferences in econometric analyses that use a NEP scale as explanatory factor of main interest for environmentally relevant behavior. Based on two empirical examples on stated and revealed environmental donations, it is shown that not considering social preferences, i.e. altruism, trust, and positive and negative reciprocity can lead to strong distortions due to omitted variable biases. The biased estimation of the effect of a NEP scale in this case is additionally illustrated in systematic Monte Carlo experiments with data generation processes from the empirical example with realized environmental donation activities.

The green-based school and the creation of student’s environmental attitude and behavior

This study examines the relationship between the green-based school with students’ environmental attitudes and behavior. Sustainable development has become the solution and commitment to save the earth from destruction due to human behavior. Environmental education plays an important role in creating an environmentally literate society. Adiwiyata School, an official form of environmental education, is one of the efforts to increase sustainable development through education as a way to improve student's environmental attitude and behavior. The research design used multiple case studies utilizing the observation method and questionnaire distribution to Adiwiyata and non-Adiwiyata schools. A New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale and a General Ecological Behavior (GEB) scale are used to measure student's environmental attitudes and behavior change. As a result, the green-based school creates influences in student's environmental attitudes (9.3%) and environmental behavior (12.3%).

Deontological Guilt and Disgust Sensitivity Modulate Moral Behaviour.

ObjectiveDeontological Guilt (DG), and Altruistic Guilt (AG) emerge from the appraisal of violating an internalized rule or an altruistic principle, respectively. DG is strictly connected with Disgust Sensitivity and plays a key role in the development and maintenance of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Previous studies investigated how DG affects responses to hypothetical moral dilemmas, however how DG and Disgust Sensitivity interact modulating moral behavior is still unknown.MethodsSTUDY 1. 46 healthy participants performed an ecological paradigm in which people can spontaneously decide to lie to obtain a reward (egoistic lie) or give it away (altruistic lie) after three emotional inductions: DG, AG or neutral. Furthermore, OCD traits, Morality, Guilt Propensity and Disgust Sensitivity were assessed by means of questionnaires. STUDY 2. 27 participants from the original sample were retested during the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy to ascertain whether the pandemic modified traits related to morality, disgust, guilt or OCD symptoms and whether these changes modulated moral behavior (measured by a task in which cheating was associated to higher pay-offs).ResultsSTUDY 1. Compared to the neutral, after the DG induction participants produced less altruistic and more egoistic lies. This effect was stronger in participants with high Disgust Sensitivity. STUDY 2. During the COVID-19 lockdown participants became more sensitive to the Authority pillar of the Moral Foundations and more sensitive to Disgust: this increment in deontological morality affected (im) moral behavior depending on changes in Disgust Sensitivity.ConclusionsOur data suggest that people with high Disgust Sensitivity are more affected by deontological inductions which translate to higher immorality, supposedly by lowering their moral self-image. These results might have important clinical implications as they suggest that addressing Disgust Sensitivity in therapy, might also decrease the effect of guilt on patients’ behavior.

Do predators have a role to play in wetland ecosystem functioning? An experimental study in New England salt marshes.

The historical ecological paradigm of wetland ecosystems emphasized the role of physical or “bottom‐up” factors in maintaining functions and services. However, recent studies have shown that the loss of predators in coastal salt marshes can lead to a significant reduction in wetland extent due to overgrazing of vegetation by herbivores. Such studies indicate that consumers or “top‐down” factors may play a much larger role in the maintenance of wetland ecosystems than was previously thought. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether altering top‐down control by manipulating the presence of predators can lead to measurable changes in salt marsh ecosystem properties. Between May and August of 2015 and 2016, we established exclosure and enclosure cages within three New England coastal wetland areas and manipulated the presence of green crab predators to assess how they and their fiddler and purple marsh crab prey affect changes in ecosystem properties. Predator presence was associated with changes in soil nitrogen and aboveground biomass at two of the three field sites, though the magnitude and direction of these effects varied from site to site. Further, path analysis results indicate that across field sites, a combination of bottom‐up and top‐down factors influenced changes in measured variables. These results challenge the growing consensus that consumers have strong effects, indicating instead that predator impacts may be highly context‐dependent.

Understanding the behavioural gap between perceived and actual environmental behaviour: Investigating the clam-harvesting pattern in Hong Kong SAR, China

At every given site with conservation value, there is a dilemma between conservation and the use of natural resources. Here we describe the first in-depth investigation of the differences between perceived and actual behaviour in clam harvesting, with a view to determine a more sustainable approach to conserve a previously unprotected tourist and clam-harvesting site, Shui Hau, in Hong Kong. We assessed harvesting pressure by conducting a clam-harvest photographic survey and collected self-reported questionnaires in 2018. More than 90% of visitors per sampling day were assessed for the survey, resulting in 86 sets of completed questionnaires and clam harvest photographs, in which we counted the number of clams harvested and recorded the shell length of each clam. We found that the clam-diggers had high self-reported environmental attitudes and behaviour, and a higher new ecological paradigm score was associated with a better clam-digging related attitude and perceived clam-digging behaviour. The low correlation between self-reported behaviour and actual behaviour indicated that most clam-diggers had different concepts or definitions of the appropriate size of the clam harvest and the size of a mature clam, even though each digger reported that he/she had the highest level of environmental attitudes and behaviour. This differentiation may imply a transition problem between environmental attitudes and actual environmental behaviour. An effective management approach is needed to foster clam-diggers’ sense of biodiversity to embrace the long-term sustainable use of coastal resources.

THE “BODY OF THE EARTH” PARADIGM IN THE CONTEXT OF MODERN PROCESSES OF GLOBALIZATION

The article is devoted to the paradigm “body of the Earth”, which acquires a new meaning in the context of globalization and technologicalization of modernity. It is noted that the application of this paradigm provides a new idea of the problem of coexistence of man and the Earth. it is emphasized that the realization of the unity of man and the Earth is connected with the creation of new meanings and symbols. It is substantiated that this situation opens up new opportunities for the formation of an ecological paradigm capable of responding to the challenges of the XXI century.Keywords: “body of the Earth”, man, ecology, space, globalization.

Studying seed dispersal through the lens of movement ecology

Frugivore movement plays a critical role in animal‐mediated seed dispersal. Frugivores utilize resources that are heterogeneously distributed in the landscape and execute complex movement to exploit these resources. Employing the ‘movement ecology paradigm', we discuss the drivers behind frugivore movement, categorize movement into canonical activity modes and explore the potential impacts on seed dispersal effectiveness via removal and deposition of seeds. Among the movement drivers, frugivore physiology determines the goals, motion capacities determine how frugivores move across their heterogenous landscape, navigation capabilities determine how frugivores acquire and process both internal and external information that set them in motion, and biotic interactions further modulate frugivore movement. The movement process that emerges from the interactions of these drivers can be classified into different canonical activity modes that determine levels of seed removal and generate clumped, even or other spatial distributions of seed deposition. We provide a novel framework to integrate movement drivers, frugivore activities and seed dispersal services. We provide future directions utilizing advances in animal movement research to better understand the role of animal movement in the effectiveness of seed dispersal, highlighting potential impacts of increased anthropogenic activities. To advance a mechanistic understanding of animal‐mediated seed dispersal, we encourage increased collaboration between animal movement and plant ecologists.

Impact of the implementation of carbon emission trading on corporate financial performance: Evidence from listed companies in China.

With the development of ecological paradigm coupled with the relentless implementation of myriad environmental policies in China, the rapid development of carbon emission trading and carbon trading market has had a vital impact on the financial performance of enterprises at the microlevel. This study has sampled the A-share listed companies in China, from 2009 to 2018, and adopted the difference-in-difference (DID) method to investigate the effect of the carbon emission trading on corporate financial performance from the microlevel. Evidence showed that the implementation of carbon emission trading effectively improved the total asset-liability ratio of enterprises, though it reduced the value of the current capital market. Moreover, in the regions under strict legal environment, the enhancement effect of the total asset-liability ratio was more obvious, whereas in the regions under loose legal environment, the reduction effect of the value of the capital market was more obvious. Further analysis showed that the implementation of carbon emission trading could not promote Chinese enterprises to increase R&D investment. Hence the implementation of carbon emission trading has improved the level of non-business income of enterprises incorporated into the trading system, but its impact on the investment income of enterprises was not significant.

The Effect of New Ecological Paradigm on Pro-Environmental Behaviors: Mediating Role of Environmental Attitudes

Acquiring a better understanding of what drives pro-environmental behaviors is important for human. This study explores the underlying mechanism between New Ecological Paradigm and pro-environmental behaviors. Based on cognitive dissonance theory and identity theory, a questionnaire, including New Ecological Paradigm scale, pro-environmental attitude scale and pro-environmental behaviors scales, was used to investigate 1352 university students. The results indicated that: (1) There were significant correlations among New Ecological Paradigm, pro-environmental attitude and pro-environmental behaviors; (2) pro-environmental attitude played mediating role between New Ecological Paradigm and pro-environmental behaviors. In summary, this study uncovered the mechanism underlying the relationship between New Ecological Paradigm and pro-environmental behaviors, which contributes to the understanding of the complex mechanism that influence people s pro-environmental behaviors.</br></br> Key Words: New Ecological Paradigm, environmental attitude, pro-environmental behaviors, mediating effect

Beta and Theta Oscillations Correlate With Subjective Time During Musical Improvisation in Ecological and Controlled Settings: A Single Subject Study.

In this paper, we describe the results of a single subject study attempting at a better understanding of the subjective mental state during musical improvisation. In a first experiment, we setup an ecological paradigm measuring EEG on a musician in free improvised concerts with an audience, followed by retrospective rating of the mental state of the improviser. We introduce Subjective Temporal Resolution (STR), a retrospective rating assessing the instantaneous quantization of subjective timing of the improviser. We identified high and low STR states using Hidden Markov Models in two performances, and were able to decode those states using supervised learning on instantaneous EEG power spectrum, showing increases in theta and alpha power with high STR values. In a second experiment, we found an increase of theta and beta power when experimentally manipulating STR in a musical improvisation imagery experiment. These results are interpreted with respect to previous research on flow state in creativity, as well as with the temporal processing literature. We suggest that a component of the subjective state of musical improvisation may be reflected in an underlying mechanism related to the subjective quantization of time. We also demonstrate the feasibility of single case studies of musical improvisation using brain activity measurements and retrospective reports, by obtaining consistent results across multiple sessions.

Towards Degrowth? Making Peace with Mortality to Reconnect with (One's) Nature: An Ecopsychological Proposition for a Paradigm Shift

This article explores the existential conditions for a transition towards socioeconomic degrowth through an analysis of a paradigm shift between two extreme polarities of socio-ecological positioning: the Dominant Social Paradigm (DSP) and the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP). It is suggested that the transition from one to the other – understood as the first collective step towards degrowth – requires a transformation in the way we, in western capitalist society, define ourselves in relation to nature. This identity transformation corresponds with the reconnection between humans and nature that ecopsychology has been calling for since its emergence in the 1970s. However, according to recent empirical studies in existential psychology, such a transformation contains potentially disquieting aspects, since it implies recognising and accepting the idea of our own mortality. Staging a dialogue between ecopsychology and critical degrowth theories, this article argues that the necessary transition towards degrowth requires new ways of dealing with these existential fears – namely, confronting them in a ‘reflexive’ rather than ‘defensive’ way – so as to develop relationships with nature that respect the limits of the biosphere.

Developing the paradigm of environmental management in agriculture (to the 175-th anniversary of V.V. Dokuchaev)

The main stages of the formation of ecological paradigms of environmental management are considered, the fundamental role of V.V. Dokuchaev ideas and the importance of following V.I. Vernadskiy works in their development are shown. The role of scientists of the Club of Rome in the development of the ideology of sustainable development and its controversial perception by the world scientific community is reflected. The analysis of the existing paradigms, in particular of the co-evolutionary paradigm, and its implementation in the theory and practice of adaptive-landscape farming systems is given. The priority tasks for its improvement are defined. Further prospects for its development are considered in the framework of the proposed constructive-biospheric paradigm of environmental management, which implies the creation of a network of agricultural landscapes (agricultural, water, land reclamation, agro-industrial, rural forestry, livestock, residential) in compliance with the ecological status of the territory. The grouping of ecological functions of the landscape and mechanisms of their transformation into socio-economic functions are considered as tools for landscape-ecological planning and design.