Changes in sediment methanogenic archaea community structure and methane production potential following conversion of coastal marsh to aquaculture ponds.

Widespread conversion of coastal wetlands into aquaculture ponds in coastal region often results in degradation of the wetland ecosystems, but its effects on sediment's potential to produce greenhouse gases remain unclear. Using field sampling, incubation experiments and molecular analysis, we studied the sediment CH4 production potential and the relevant microbial communities in a brackish marsh and the nearby aquaculture ponds in the Min River Estuary in southeastern China. Sediment CH4 production potential was higher in the summer and autumn months than in spring and winter months, and it was significantly correlated with sediment carbon content among all environmental variables. The mean sediment CH4 production potential in the aquaculture ponds (20.1 ng g-1 d-1) was significantly lower than that in the marsh (45.2 ng g-1 d-1). While Methanobacterium dominated in both habitats (41-59%), the overall composition of sediment methanogenic archaea communities differed significantly between the two habitats (p < 0.05) and methanogenic archaea alpha diversity was lower in the aquaculture ponds (p < 0.01). Network analysis revealed that interactions between sediment methanogenic archaea were much weaker in the ponds than in the marsh. Overall, these findings suggest that conversion of marsh land to aquaculture ponds significantly altered the sediment methanogenic archaea community structure and diversity and lowered the sediment's capacity to produce CH4.

Statewide Ambulance Coverage of a Mixed Region of Urban, Rural and Frontier under Travel Time Catchment Areas.

This study examines the statewide service coverage of emergency medical services (EMS) in view of public health planners, policy makers, and ambulance service managers. The study investigates the statewide service coverage in a mixed region of urban, rural, and frontier regions to address the importance of ambulance service coverage at a large scale. The study incorporated statewide road networks for ambulance travel time, census blocks for population, and backup service coverage using geographic information systems (GIS). The catchment areas were delineated by the travel time after subtracting chute time for each Census Block as an analysis zone. Using the catchment areas from the ambulance base to the centroid of Census Block, the population and land coverage were calculated. The service shortage and multiple coverage areas were identified by the catchment areas. The study found that both reducing chute time and increasing the speed of emergency vehicles at the same time was significantly more effective than improving only one of two factors. The study shows that the service is improved significantly in frontier and urban areas by increasing driving time and chute time. However, in rural areas, the improvement is marginal owing to wider distribution than urban areas and shorter threshold response time than frontier areas. The public health planners and EMS managers benefit from the study to identify underserved areas and redistribute limited public resources.

Aerial Imagery Based on Commercial Flights as Remote Sensing Platform.

Remote sensing is commonly performed via airborne platforms such as satellites, specialized aircraft, and unmanned aerial systems (UASs), which perform airborne photography using mounted cameras. However, they are limited by their coverage (UASs), irregular flyover frequency (aircraft), and/or low spatial resolution (satellites) due to their high altitude. In this paper, we examine the utilization of commercial flights as an airborne platform for remote sensing. Namely, we simulate a situation where all aircraft on commercial flights are equipped with a mounted camera used for airborne photography. The simulation is used to estimate coverage, the temporal and spatial resolution of aerial imagery acquired this way, as well as the storage capacity required for storing all imagery data. The results show that Europe is 83.28 percent covered with an average of one aerial photography every half an hour and a ground sampling distance of 0.96 meters per pixel. Capturing such imagery results in 20 million images or four petabytes of image data per day. More detailed results are given in the paper for separate countries/territories in Europe, individual commercial airlines and alliances, as well as three different cameras.

A Cartographic Tool for Managing African Swine Fever in Eurasia: Mapping Wild Boar Distribution Based on the Quality of Available Habitats.

The current African swine fever (ASF) epidemic in Eurasia represents a risk for the swine industry with devastating socio-economic and political consequences. Wild boar appears to be a key factor in maintaining the disease in endemic areas (mainly the Russian Federation) and spreading the disease across borders, including within the European Union. To help predict and interpret the dynamics of ASF infection, we developed a standardized distribution map based on global land cover vegetation (GLOBCOVER) that quantifies the quality of available habitats (QAH) for wild boar across Eurasia as an indirect index for quantifying numbers of wild boar. QAHs were estimated using a seven-level scale based on expert opinion and found to correlate closely with georeferenced presence of wild boar (n = 22 362): the highest wild boar densities (74.47%) were found in areas at the two highest QAH levels, while the lowest densities (5.66%) were found in areas at the lowest QAH levels. Mapping notifications from 2007 to 2016 onto the QAH map showed that in endemic areas, 60% of ASF notifications occurred in domestic pigs, mostly in agricultural landscapes (QAHs 1.75 and 1) containing low-biosecurity domestic pig farms. In the EU, in contrast, 95% of ASF notifications occurred in wild boar, within natural landscapes (QAH 2). These results suggest that the QAH map can be a useful epi-tool for defining risk scenarios and identifying potential travel corridors for ASF. This tool will help inform resource allocation decisions and improve prevention, control and surveillance of ASF and potentially of other diseases affecting swine and wild boar in Eurasia.

Políticas de acceso a la tierra rural y sostenibilidad ambiental comunidades agrarias sechina, la ensenada y cerro San Gil, Izabal, Guatemala / Rural land access policies and environmental sustainability agrarian communities sechina, la ensenada and cerro San Gil, Izabal, Guatemala

En Guatemala pocas temáticas son abordadas con tanta vehemencia, como el acceso, uso de la tierra y susimplicaciones sobre las relaciones sociales, laborales y recientemente ambientales. Las políticas agrarias delacceso a la tierra de los últimos 50 años, propiciadas por la Ley de Transformación Agraria y Ley del Fondo deTierras, si bien mitigaron la pobreza en el agro rural, en su conjunto conllevaron daños ambientales irreversiblesy deudas agrarias, comprometiendo la sostenibilidad ambiental de los procesos de producción agropecuarios enel país. Este estudio mediante técnicas de fotointerpretación analiza los cambios de uso de la tierra y coberturaboscosa, como expresión del desarrollo agropecuario en las comunidades agrarias Sechina, La Ensenada y CerroSan Gil, ubicadas en el departamento de Izabal y beneficiarias de la Ley de Transformación Agraria entre 1960hasta1999 y sus implicaciones al 2010, bajo la Ley del Fondo de Tierras. Se concluyó que bajo la premisa de“mejora a la tierra” de actividades agropecuarias, se produjo cambio de uso de la tierra, de forestal a agropecuarioen la comunidad Sechina 42%, La Ensenada 46.2% y Cerro San Gil 48.6%. Lo anterior conllevó al sobreuso delas tierras en 42, 78 y 30%, respectivamente; lo que comprometió la sostenibilidad del proceso agropecuario,generando degradación ambiental de carácter irreversible.

In Guatemala few themes are dealt with such strength, such as land use and access, and its implications on labor,social and environmental relations. Agricultural policies of access to rural land of the last 50 years, were propiciatedby Agrarian Transformation Law and the Land Fund Law, although mitigated poverty in the rural agro,entailed irreversible environmental damage compromising the environmental sustainability of agriculture productionprocesses in the country. This study by photointerpretation techniques analyzes the changes in land use and forestcover, as an expression of agricultural development in farming communities Sechina, La Ensenada and Cerro SanGil, located in the department of Izabal, and beneficiaries of the Agrarian Reform Law, between 1960 and 1999 andits implications to 2010, under the Land Fund Law. It was concluded that under the premise of “land improvement”of agricultural activities occurred change on land use from forestry to agriculture in the community Sechina 42%,La Ensenada 46.2% and Cerro San Gil 48.6%. This led to overuse of land in 42, 78 and 30%, respectively. Thisundermined the sustainability of the farming process, producing irreversible environmental degradation.

Ecosistemas estratégicos y disponibilidad de hábitat de la avifauna del piedemonte llanero (Colombia), como posible peligro aviar / Strategic ecossttems and avifana habitat availability in the plains piedmont (Colombia) as possible avian danger

Dada la diversidad y oferta de áreas naturales o artificiales en el piedemonte Llanero y cuenca del Orinoco para la avifauna, se hace necesario llevar a cabo inspecciones y monitoreos de focos de concentración de aves como posible peligro para la aeronavegación. Para este propósito se tomó como referencia al municipio de Villavicencio (Meta, Colombia) estableciendo dos niveles diferentes de evaluación, incluyendo las áreas de aeropuertos y el Parque Ecológico Reciclante. En cada nivel identificado se realizaron visitas de inducción, ajuste de categorías de hábitats, caracterización de la cobertura y uso del suelo y la identificación de los ecosistemas estratégicos partiendo del concepto de servicios ambientales prestados, especialmente la oferta de hábitat. Las observaciones permitieron la categorización de hábitats de influencia de los niveles 1 y 2, en ecosistemas boscosos, pastizales, ecosistemas acuáticos, agroecosistemas y la presencia de infraestructura urbana y productiva, focos importantes para aves de importancia potencial en el peligro aviario.

Given the diversity and range of natural or artificial areas for avifauna in the Plains piedmont and the Orinoco river basin, it is necessary to carry out inspections and monitoring of concentration of bird outbreaks as a potential hazard to air navigation. For this purpose, the municipality of Villavicencio (Meta, Colombia) was made reference to establish two different levels of evaluation, including the areas of airports and the Reciclante Ecological Park. At each level identified induction visits, adjustment of habitat categories, coverage characterization and land use, and identification of strategic ecosystems based on the concept of environmental services, especially habitat supply were performed. The observations allowed the categorization of level 1 and 2, habitats influence in forest ecosystems, grasslands, aquatic ecosystems, agro ecosystems and the presence of urban and productive infrastructure, central focus for birds of potential importance in aviary hazard.