Long-term Stewardship Research Articles

Osteo Preparation Lab: Preserving the Smithsonian Tradition of Collections Access and Collections-based Research

The National Museum of Natural History is committed to long-term stewardship of collections and to supporting their use by scientists and the general public. Smithsonian’s Osteo Preparation Lab (OPL), in particular, maintains a long-standing tradition of collections access and collections-based research. This tradition of preparing and cataloging osteological specimens traces its origin to the beginning of the Smithsonian Institution itself. In the mid 1800's, James Smithson's legacy called for an Institution with a mission to pursue the “increase and diffusion of knowledge.” Under Spencer Baird, that mission later evolved into a system called collections-based research. This system involved preparing and curating animal specimens for scientific research, which was particularly important for the emerging field of comparative anatomy of vertebrate skeletons. Today, OPL staff work to catalogue and document vertebrate specimens, which contributes greatly to continuing the historic tradition of collections-based research done at Smithsonian Institution. The preparation and curation procedures of vertebrate specimens relies on the commitment of the OPL staff, as well as the use of dermestid colonies, composting, and other maceration techniques. The lab’s sizeable space and state of the art necropsy equipment for large animal dissections are used on a regular basis by visiting scientists studying vertebrate anatomy. Additionally, the OPL is integrally involved in tissue collection from animal remains, which are held by the museum for research purposes in both collections spaces at the museum and our unique biorepository at the museum support center (MSC). In terms of collections access, the osteology specimens in the museum’s research collections draw scientists from around the world. The research done on the specimens has resulted in many intriguing discoveries. In terms of public engagement and access, the Smithsonian Institution can boast maintaining a three hundred year old exhibition on vertebrate osteology, which began in 1881. The “Osteology: Hall of Bones” provides visitors with an opportunity to examine the skeletons of a vast array of vertebrate species, ranging from minute birds to giant mammals. The display, while mirroring the selection of species found in the original exhibit from the nineteenth century, enhances the user experience through the integration of modern technologies, like the app “Skin and Bones.” And so, despite the rather unpleasant smell and macabre nature of the work, the Osteo Prep Lab's activities are integral to both the public outreach and research activities of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History.

Socioeconomic Constraints to Biomass Removal from Forest Lands for Fire Risk Reduction in the Western U.S.

Many socioeconomic constraints exist for biomass removals from federal lands in the western U.S. We examine several issues of importance, including biomass supply chains and harvesting costs, innovative new uses for bioenergy products, and the policy framework in place to provide incentives for biomass use. Western states vary greatly in the extent and utilization of forest resources, the proportion of land under federal ownership, and community and stakeholder structure and dynamics. Our research—which focused on the socioeconomic factors associated with biomass removal, production, and use—identified several important trends. Long-term stewardship projects could play a role in influencing project economics while being conducive to private investment. State policies are likely to help guide the growth of biomass utilization for energy products. New markets and technologies, such as biofuels, for use in the aviation industry, torrefied wood, mobile pyrolysis, and wood coal cofiring could greatly change the landscape of biomass use. Social needs of residents in wildland urban interfaces will play an important role, especially in an era of megafires. All of these trends—including significant unknowns, like the volatile prices of fossil energy—are likely to affect the economics of biomass removal and use in western forests.

New Zealand: New futures, new thinking?

The development of futures studies in New Zealand over several decades is reviewed. As in other jurisdictions, early futures studies in New Zealand were predominantly problem-oriented using trend analysis and scenarios. More recently it is heading towards developing more long-term perspectives including crowd-sourcing possibilities through social media. This is supported by the strong sense of stewardship embedded in its indigenous culture and an increasing use of participatory processes in environmental decision-making around highly complex issues. The potential to address complexity through technologies for wicked problems and futures literacy is discussed in detail. While the potential for wider relevance appears to move in disconnected phases of activity, there is a movement towards forms of long-term stewardship, albeit tempered by presentism. One highlight is the 2017 Act providing the Whanganui River with legal status equal to that of a person. Another is the use of collaborative environmental governance such as the Land and Water Forum and the Canterbury Water Management Strategy. Observations are made on how futures studies might develop in New Zealand and may be of significance more broadly. In particular the most significant elements of change may well be inspired through indigenous Māori culture which links, to developments in philosophy such as Dark Ecology which propose a shift in the current anthropogenic perspective.

Science Metadata Management, Interoperability and Data Citations of the National Institute of Polar Research, Japan

The Polar Data Centre (PDC) of the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) has a responsibility to manage polar science data as part of the National Antarctic Data Centre and the Science Committee on Antarctic Research. During the International Polar Year (IPY 2007–2008), a remarkable number of data/metadata involving multi-disciplinary science activities were compiled. Although the long-term stewardship of the accumulation of metadata falls to the data center of NIPR, the work has been in collaboration with the Global Change Master Directory, the Polar Information Commons, the World Data System and other data science bodies/communities under the International Council for Science. In addition, links with other data centers, such as the Data Integration and Analysis System Program of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems and the Polar Data Catalogue of Canada were initiated in 2014 using the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting. The metadata compiled by the PDC were recently modified using an automatic attributing system and DataCite through the Japan Link Center.

Leveraging big data: How acoustic archives facilitate ecosystem research

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) has developed archives for the long-term stewardship of active and passive acoustic data. Water column sonar data have been collected for fisheries and habitat characterization over large spatial and temporal scales around the world, and archived at NCEI since 2013. Protocols for archiving passive acoustic data are currently being established in support of the NOAA Ocean Noise Reference Station Network project, and monitoring marine mammals and fish. Archives maintain data, but access to these data is a core mission of NCEI that allows users to discover, query, and analyze the data in new and innovative ways. Visualization products continue to be developed and integrated into the data access portal so that researchers of varying backgrounds can easily understand the quality and content of these complex data. Spatially and temporally contemporary oceanographic and bathymetric data are also linked to provide an ecosystem-wide understanding of the region. Providing access and facilitating the utility of these data for ecoacoustics research are ongoing efforts at NCEI, and would benefit from input from the acoustics community.

Ecological restoration and the law: recovering nature’s past for the future

Environmental law worldwide dwells on nature’s future, not its past. The plethora of environmental regulations and policies orients society, ostensibly, to avoid impending threats and nurture long-term stewardship of natural resources. The ‘past’, in the sense of the natural world’s historic condition before the human onslaught, is relegated for protection in discrete enclaves we commonly call national parks while the much larger, remaining spaces have been left open for dramatic transformation for anthropocentric needs. With each successive human generation, our memories of nature’s former riches are dissipated. Incremental, attritional environmental decline unfolds mostly too gradually to be observed by individuals within their own lives, thereby rendering most insouciant about their degrading surroundings. We see congested roads, sprawling housing, busy shopping malls and so on, as the environment’s ‘normal’ condition, oblivious to the biodiversity riches that once graced the landscape. To the extent that environmental law looks to the past, to undo some of our mischief, it tends to intervene only in spatially and temporally narrow parameters such as to rehabilitate former mining sites or to remediate pollution contamination. Rarely does the law seek to repair holistically the ubiquitous degraded landscapes and ecosystems in our midst despite emerging duties on states to do so in transnational environmental law.1 The challenges for environmental governance are thus particularly onerous in a world infatuated with its future.2

An Analysis of Factors Driving Success in Ecological Restoration Projects by a University-Community Partnership

Every year since 2000, five to ten ecological restoration projects have been implemented on public and private lands in the Puget Sound region of Washington State by the University of Washington Restoration Ecology Network (UW-REN) capstone program. Students, faculty, and community partners have collaborated to implement these restoration projects, improve ecological function at the sites, and build site stewardship. Approximately twenty-nine, 2,000 m2 projects from the first ten years of the capstone projects were retrospectively evaluated using a variety of response variables that could reflect ecological “success”, including native species cover, richness, and diversity in the restoration plant community. We hypothesized that certain elements of restoration design and implementation, such as selected techniques for invasive vegetation management and the resulting degree of site stewardship, would strongly contribute to the success of these restoration projects. Stewardship was found to contribute to native species cover, richness, and diversity. Native plant species richness and diversity responded to initial invasive control techniques; stem-only removal did not work as well as root system removal for native species richness or diversity. The use of wood chip and cardboard-with-wood chip sheet mulches had less clear effects on species richness. An interaction between mulch and control technique was found to contribute to species diversity evenness. Overall, this study of restoration projects led by university students in cooperation with community partners highlights the importance of specific elements of restoration design and implementation and due diligence in the form of long-term stewardship.

Impacts of TURFs and marine reserves on fisheries and conservation goals: theory, empirical evidence, and modeling

Unsustainable fishing in marine systems creates fisheries management and conservation challenges, with implications for ecosystem health, livelihoods, economies, and seafood supply. Thus there is a need for management approaches that can support productive fisheries and healthy ecosystems. Property rights, and particularly spatial rights or territorial use rights in fisheries (TURFs), are increasingly proposed as a solution. It has been suggested that TURFs may align fishers' incentives with long-term stewardship, resulting in improved yields and positive conservation outcomes. Here we examined this idea by reviewing existing theoretical and empirical evidence for TURF performance in achieving both fisheries and conservation goals, and find equivocal evidence that TURFs can consistently deliver on this promise. We then explored the potential to improve outcomes by implementing no-take marine reserves with TURFs (TURF-reserves). We evaluated theoretical and empirical evidence in the literature and develop a simulation model to examine tradeoffs for achieving conservation and fishery objectives. With our model, we examined different management regimes (e.g., open access vs TURFs), harvest controls within the TURF (e.g., selectivity and harvest rate restrictions), and varying reserve sizes. We found that combining reserves with TURFs does not eliminate the tradeoff between fisheries and conservation goals if the TURF already effectively controls fishing pressure. However, given the results from our literature review, many TURFs may not achieve effective fisheries management. Thus, TURF-reserves may be better able to balance fisheries and conservation goals relative to TURF-only systems, but outcomes will depend on target species mobility, TURF size, and fishing intensity outside the TURF-reserve.

In situ porewater uranium concentrations in a contaminated wetland: Effect of seasons and sediment depth

Previous studies have shown that Tims Branch wetlands on the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, USA is an effective environmental sink for sequestering the 44 tons of uranium (U) released into the system. The objective of this study was to evaluate over the course of a year, the fluctuations in sediment porewater U concentrations as a function of sediment depth, and the conditions and the extent that the contaminated wetlands acted as an environmental source for U. Sediment desorption tests indicated that U was strongly bound (Kd values were 2100–6900 L/kg), and sequential extraction experiments indicated that a majority of the U was associated with the readily oxidizable fraction (presumably, organic matter fraction). In situ porewater samples were collected using diffusion samplers that were placed in the contaminated wetlands and their uranium concentrations indicated that as much as 3 × 10−5 wt-% of the system U was in the mobile aqueous phase (federal maximum contaminant levels (MCL) = 0.03 μg/L U). Aqueous U concentrations were correlated to Eh (r = 0.422; n = 113; p ≤ 0.001). These data also suggested that there may be a critical Eh at ∼400 mV, above which aqueous U concentrations increased significantly (p ≤ 0.01) by more than an order of magnitude. These results have implications on the long-term stewardship of this contaminated system; sediment organic matter concentrations and wetland hydrology and plant vegetation need to be maintained in a manner that does not permit strong reoxidation of the system. This could be achieved by minimizing land-use changes or the occurrences of forest fires and ensuring that the system's hydrology is not greatly altered.

Government stewardship of the for-profit private health sector in Afghanistan.

Background: Since 2003, Afghanistan's largely unregulated for-profit private health sector has grown at a rapid pace. In 2008, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) launched a long-term stewardship initiative to oversee and regulate private providers and align the sector with national health goals.Aim: We examine the progress the MoPH has made towards more effective stewardship, consider the challenges and assess the early impacts on for-profit performance.Methods: We reviewed publicly available documents, publications and the grey literature to analyse the development, adoption and implementation of strategies, policies and regulations. We carried out a series of key informant/participant interviews, organizational capacity assessments and analyses of hospital standards checklists. Using a literature review of health systems strengthening, we proposed an Afghan-specific definition of six key stewardship functions to assess progress towards MoPH stewardship objectives.Results: The MoPH and its partners have achieved positive results in strengthening its private sector stewardship functions especially in generating actionable intelligence and establishing strategic policy directions, administrative structures and a legal and regulatory framework. Progress has also been made on improving accountability and transparency, building partnerships and applying minimum required standards to private hospitals. Procedural and operational issues still need resolution and the MoPH is establishing mechanisms for resolving them.Conclusions: The MoPH stewardship initiative is notable for its achievements to date under challenging circumstances. Its success is due to the focus on developing a solid policy framework and building institutions and systems aimed at ensuring higher quality private services, and a rational long-term and sustainable role for the private sector. Although the MoPH stewardship initiative is still at an early stage, the evidence suggests that enhanced stewardship functions in the MoPH are leading to a more efficient and effective for-profit private sector. These successful early efforts offer high-leverage potential to rapidly scale up going forward.

Enhancing the effectiveness of biological control programs of invasive species through a more comprehensive pest management approach.

Invasive species are one of the greatest economic and ecological threats to agriculture and natural areas in the US and the world. Among the available management tools, biological control provides one of the most economical and long-term effective strategies for managing widespread and damaging invasive species populations of nearly all taxa. However, integrating biological control programs in a more complete integrated pest management approach that utilizes increased information and communication, post-release monitoring, adaptive management practices, long-term stewardship strategies, and new and innovative ecological and genetic technologies can greatly improve the effectiveness of biological control. In addition, expanding partnerships among relevant national, regional, and local agencies, as well as academic scientists and land managers, offers far greater opportunities for long-term success in the suppression of established invasive species. In this paper we direct our recommendations to federal agencies that oversee, fund, conduct research, and develop classical biological control programs for invasive species. By incorporating these recommendations into adaptive management strategies, private and public land managers will have far greater opportunities for long-term success in suppression of established invasive species. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Trusting in the future: The re-emergence of state trust funds in the shale era

Energy-producing states confront numerous challenges related to the boom-and-bust of resource extraction, including substantial fluctuation in revenue produced by severance taxes. Revenues surge as drilling expands during booms, creating many pressures for immediate expenditure. This often sets up enormous strain during bust periods when revenues plunge as longer-term needs emerge. This paper, however, examines the small set of states that have devised unique mechanisms to prepare for future busts. It reviews two periods (1970s and 2010s) in which six oil and gas-producing states amended their state constitutions to place severance tax revenues into permanent trust funds for long-term stewardship. It examines the key political factors that prompted the formation of these funds while also considering their resilience and performance to date.

Role of natural organic matter on iodine and 239,240Pu distribution and mobility in environmental samples from the northwestern Fukushima Prefecture, Japan

In order to assess how environmental factors are affecting the distribution and migration of radioiodine and plutonium that were emitted from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident, we quantified iodine and 239,240Pu concentration changes in soil samples with different land uses (urban, paddy, deciduous forest and coniferous forest), as well as iodine speciation in surface water and rainwater. Sampling locations were 53–63 km northwest of the FDNPP within a 75-km radius, in close proximity of each other. A ranking of the land uses by their surface soil (<4 cm) stable 127I concentrations was coniferous forest > deciduous forest > urban > paddy, and 239,240Pu concentrations ranked as deciduous forest > coniferous forest > paddy ≥ urban. Both were quite distinct from that of 134Cs and 137Cs: urban > coniferous forest > deciduous forest > paddy, indicating differences in their sources, deposition phases, and biogeochemical behavior in these soil systems. Although stable 127I might not have fully equilibrated with Fukushima-derived 129I, it likely still works as a proxy for the long-term fate of 129I. Surficial soil 127I content was well correlated to soil organic matter (SOM) content, regardless of land use type, suggesting that SOM might be an important factor affecting iodine biogeochemistry. Other soil chemical properties, such as Eh and pH, had strong correlations to soil 127I content, but only within a given land use (e.g., within urban soils). Organic carbon (OC) concentrations and Eh were positively, and pH was negatively correlated to 127I concentrations in surface water and rain samples. It is also noticeable that 127I in the wet deposition was concentrated in both the deciduous and coniferous forest throughfall and stemfall water, respectively, comparing to the bulk rainwater. Further, both forest throughfall and stemflow water consisted exclusively of organo-iodine, suggesting all inorganic iodine in the original bulk deposition (∼28.6% of total iodine) have been completely converted to organo-iodine. Fukushima-derived 239,240Pu was detectable at a distance ∼61 km away, NW of FDNPP. However, it is confined to the litter layer, even three years after the FDNPP accident-derived emissions. Plutonium-239,240 activities were significantly correlated with soil OC and nitrogen contents, indicating Pu may be associated with nitrogen-containing SOM, similar to what has been observed at other locations in the United States. Together, these finding suggest that natural organic matter (NOM) plays a key role in affecting the fate and transport of I and Pu and may warrant greater consideration for predicting long-term stewardship of contaminated areas and evaluating various remediation options in Japan.

Development and Testing of Diglycolamide Functionalized Mesoporous Silica for Sorption of Trivalent Actinides and Lanthanides.

Sequestration of trivalent actinides and lanthanides present in used nuclear fuel and legacy wastes is necessary for appropriate long-term stewardship of these metals, particularly to prevent their release into the environment. Organically modified mesoporous silica is an efficient material for recovery and potential subsequent separation of actinides and lanthanides because of its high surface area, tunable ligand selection, and chemically robust substrate. We have synthesized the first novel hybrid material composed of SBA-15 type mesoporous silica functionalized with diglycolamide ligands (DGA-SBA). Because of the high surface area substrate, the DGA-SBA was found to have the highest Eu capacity reported so far in the literature of all DGA solid-phase extractants. The sorption behavior of europium and americium on DGA-SBA in nitric and hydrochloric acid media was tested in batch contact experiments. DGA-SBA was found to have high sorption of Am and Eu in pH 1, 1 M, and 3 M nitric and hydrochloric acid concentrations, which makes it promising for sequestration of these metals from used nuclear fuel or legacy waste. The kinetics of Eu sorption were found to be two times slower than that for Am in 1 M HNO3. Additionally, the short-term susceptibility of DGA-SBA to degradation in the presence of acid was probed using (29)Si and (13)C solid-state NMR spectroscopy. The material was found to be relatively stable under these conditions, with the ligand remaining intact after 24 h of contact with 1 M HNO3, an important consideration in use of the DGA-SBA as an extractant from acidic media.

Sense of place: A process for identifying and negotiating potentially contested visions of sustainability

This article identifies opportunities and challenges to using sense of place as motivation for long-term stewardship at multiple spatial scales in a rapidly changing world. Sense of place reflects processes by which individuals or groups identify, attach to, depend on, and modify places, as well as the meanings, values, and feelings that individuals or groups associate with a place. These associations with place are fluid through time as they are felt, imagined, interpreted, and understood. Sense of place appears to most strongly motivate stewardship actions at local scales under circumstances where people value a place for the same reasons, and the conditions of the place are deteriorating. We suggest that well-recognized actions that build place attachment could create a reservoir of potential stewardship, if locally valued places were to deteriorate, as, for example, in response to climate change. Sense of place does not always promote stewardship, however, because attitudes may not lead to actions, some actions do not promote sustainability, and different place identities in the same place may lead to different stewardship goals (e.g., conservation vs. development). In situations where sense of place is deeply contested, we suggest that stewardship is best fostered by transparent and respectful dialogue to identify shared values and concerns and negotiate areas of disagreement. As a result of increased human mobility and globalization, individuals interact with many places to satisfy their desires and needs. We suggest that this opens new opportunities to motivate stewardship of types of places at regional, national, and global scales. Approaches such as discourse analysis, boundary concepts, incompletely theorized agreement, and common property theory that explicitly address contested concepts might contribute significantly to fostering sustainability in a rapidly changing and deeply divided world.

Nature-based tourism's impact on environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behavior: a review and analysis of the literature and potential future research

Although nature-based tourism is often promoted as benefiting local destinations through income generation, employment, and direct conservation support, it is also believed to influence tourists’ environmentally friendly attitudes, knowledge, and ultimately their behavior. Yet, few studies have empirically documented these outcomes, and those that do are inconsistent in the variables measured and the time frame analyzed. This paper examines the empirical research on nature-based tourism's ability to foster long-term stewardship behavior among travelers by conducting a systematic review of peer-reviewed tourism research published between 1995 and 2013. This search, focused on literature addressing changes in tourists’ environmentally related knowledge, attitudes, intentions, and actual behaviors, yielded just 30 empirical studies. Outcomes related to new environmental knowledge were commonly reported in these studies, but findings related to environmental attitudes and behaviors were inconsistent. Few studies measured environmental behavior directly, and fewer still include longitudinal assessments of persistent changes in attitudes or behaviors. We suggest potential future areas for research as well as programmatic strategies that may facilitate favorable outcomes from nature-based tourism, particularly those related to tourists’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Key areas include understanding visitors’ prior experiences and background, designing and delivering more effective interpretive messages, and using social media.

Linking place-based science to people through spatial narratives of coastal stewardship

Stressor gradients and spatial narratives of the St. Louis River Estuary, a joint Minnesota and Wisconsin Sea Grant study, connected aquatic science research with spatially-explicit stories of local resource issues and place-based geo-quests to enhance spatial awareness and stewardship of the estuary. The goal of this paper is to report and reflect on an integrated study that combined environmental humanities and technology with aquatic science in a spatial context. Our study was organized into three objectives around research, outreach, and evaluation. First, we summarized anthropogenic stressors within high resolution watersheds and linked the watershed stress estimates to aquatic habitats within the estuary. Second, we designed tools to deliver place-based environmental science and technology to targeted users to increase awareness, learning, and the potential for long-term stewardship. And third, we evaluated the responses of targeted end users to their interaction with the project’s integrated science and innovative delivery methods. Finally, central to all three objectives, we created a dynamic website to facilitate regional to national coastal outreach and education goals. We found significant correlations between the stressor index and the water quality and biotic data, along with variability attributed to landscape elements. Connecting this science with the place-based experiences we collected is expected to expand the scope and reach of state, bi-national and non-governmental outreach programs. The project also has direct applications to classroom science education. Developing this integrated project contributed to our shared knowledge of environmental and cultural aspects of the estuary for place-based education, and offers several lessons for future work of this nature.

Evaluation on Forest Management Plan with Participatory Following Collective Forest Tenure Reform ----A Case Study of Sanming, China

Forest management planning on private forestland is a cornerstone practice for promoting long-term stewardship. It can effectively guide forestry farmers to engage in forestry management. Formulation of forest management plan after collective forest tenure reform by applying participatory method on case village. Based on integration the knowledge of different stakeholders about forest management, analysis of the situation of forest management and problem on case village, we formulated an effective forest management plan and improved the knowledge and ability of different participants. Some suggestions was put forward on the process of formulation included forest resources investigation, forest cultivation and forest management effect monitoring and assessment. In addition, the government policies, investment subsidies and technical support should therefore be enhanced to implement forest management plan.

Spectroscopic evidence of uranium immobilization in acidic wetlands by natural organic matter and plant roots.

Biogeochemistry of uranium in wetlands plays important roles in U immobilization in storage ponds of U mining and processing facilities but has not been well understood. The objective of this work was to study molecular mechanisms responsible for high U retention by Savannah River Site (SRS) wetland sediments under varying redox and acidic (pH = 2.6-5.8) conditions using U L3-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Uranium in the SRS wetland sediments existed primarily as U(VI) bonded as a bidentate to carboxylic sites (U-C bond distance at ∼2.88 Å), rather than phenolic or other sites of natural organic matter (NOM). In microcosms simulating the SRS wetland processes, U immobilization on roots was 2 orders of magnitude higher than on the adjacent brown or more distant white sands in which U was U(VI). Uranium on the roots were both U(IV) and U(VI), which were bonded as a bidentate to carbon, but the U(VI) may also form a U phosphate mineral. After 140 days of air exposure, all U(IV) was reoxidized to U(VI) but remained as a bidentate bonding to carbon. This study demonstrated NOM and plant roots can highly immobilize U(VI) in the SRS acidic sediments, which has significant implication for the long-term stewardship of U-contaminated wetlands.

Long-term environmental studies and stewardship in Alaska: A case study from Port Valdez

Long-term environmental studies and stewardship in Alaska: A case study from Port Valdez