The darker side of green : plantation forestry and carbon violence in Uganda

In recent years, there has been a significant trend toward land acquisition in developing countries, establishing forestry plantations for offsetting carbon pollution generated in the Global North. Badged as “green economic development,” global carbon markets are often championed not only as solutions to climate change, but as drivers of positive development outcomes for local communities. But there is mounting evidence that these corporate land acquisitions for climate change mitigation—including forestry plantations—severely compromise not only local ecologies but also the livelihoods of the some of the world’s most vulnerable people living at subsistence level in rural areas in developing countries.

The importance of exotic plantation forest for the New Zealand long-tailed bat (Chalinolobus tuberculatus)

Environmental certification schemes have stimulated increasing interest in biodiversity and its management within exotic plantation forests. These schemes expect management to be scientifically-based, even though little is known about how often, or which, native species use exotic plantation forests. Greater knowledge of the ecology of native species within exotic plantation forests is required to advise management and reduce risks to native species, particularly those that are rare, such as the New Zealand long-tailed bat (Chalinolobus tuberculatus). Long-tailed bats use exotic plantation forests throughout New Zealand but need protection from the impacts of forest management, and particularly clear-fell harvest, that is achievable only through a better understanding of their biology. The consequences of the current reduced re-planting, and the conversion of plantation forests into pasture resulting in smaller forested areas, should not be ignored because they may be associated with reductions in long-tailed bat populations. We review the current knowledge of long-tailed bats' use of exotic plantation forests, and report for the first time which exotic plantations long-tailed bats are known to use. We make recommendations for the design of monitoring programmes to detect long-tailed bats within plantation forests, and for research into the effects of forest management, especially logging, and comment on the likely impacts of reductions in forested areas on long-tailed bats.

Long-tailed bats' use of a Pinus radiata stand in Kinleith Forest : Recommendations for monitoring

Targeted monitoring of threatened species within plantations is becoming more important due to forest certification programmes’ requirement to consider protection of threatened species, and to increase knowledge of the distribution of species. To determine patterns of long-tailed bat (Chalinolobus tuberculatus) activity in different habitat structures, with the aim of improving the likelihood of detection by targeting monitoring, we monitored one stand of 26 year-old Pinus radiata over seven months between December 2007 and June 2008 in Kinleith Forest, an exotic plantation forest centred around Tokoroa, South Waikato, New Zealand. Activity was determined by acoustic recording equipment, which is able to detect and record bats’ echolocation calls. We monitored activity from sunset to sunrise along a road through the stand, along stand edges, and in the interior of the stand. Bats were recorded on 80% of the 35 nights monitored. All activity throughout the monitoring period was detected on the edge of the stand or along the road. No bats were detected within the interior of the stand. Bat activity was highest along the road through the stand (40.4% of all passes), followed by an edge with stream running alongside (35.2%), along the road within a skidsite (19.8%), and along an edge without a stream (4.6%). There was a significant positive relationship between bat pass rate (bat passes h-1) and the feeding buzz rate (feeding buzzes h-1) indicating that bat activity was associated with feeding and not just commuting. Bat feeding activity was also highest along the road through the stand (59.2% of feeding buzzes), followed by the road within the skidsite (30.6%), and along the stream-side edge (10.2%). No feeding buzzes were recorded in either the interior or along the edge without the stream. Differences in overall feeding activity were significant only between the road and edge and between edges with and without a stream. Bat activity was detected each month and always by the second night of monitoring, and in this stand was highest during April. We recommend targeted monitoring for long-tailed bats be focused on road-side and stand edge habitat, and along streams, and that monitoring take place for at least three nights to maximise probability of detection.

Re/membering Pedagogical Spaces

Educational spaces across the world largely continue to be designed with little variance from the traditional industrial classroom model, and pedagogies seem stuck somewhere between the Sage-on-the-Stage, lecture-dominated paradigm, and the Guide-on-the-Side, in which the instructor acts primarily as an aide watching, encouraging, and monitoring students working on projects individually or in groups. Rather than “reinventing the wheel,” the authors argue for an academic environment based on the British coffee house or French café of the 18th and 19th centuries. Not only should this 21st-century classroom offer an innovative melding of space and technology but also introduce a new pedagogical model. The Meddler-in-the-Middle model repositions the teacher and students as co-facilitators in the creation and use of knowledge in an environment where bodies move seamlessly in and out of collegial collaborations filled with free-to-fail open debate.

What is the available evidence concerning relative performance of different designs of mixed-species plantings for smallholder and community forestry in the tropics? A systematic map protocol

Background There has been growing interest in mixed species plantation systems because of their potential to provide a range of socio-economic and bio-physical benefits which can be matched to the diverse needs of smallholders and communities. Potential benefits include the production of a range of forest products for home and commercial use; improved soil fertility especially when nitrogen fixing species are included; improved survival rates and greater productivity of species; a reduction in the amount of damage from pests or disease; and improved biodiversity and wildlife habitats. Despite these documented services and growing interest in mixed species plantation systems, the actual planting areas in the tropics are low, and monocultures are still preferred for industrial plantings and many reforestation programs because of perceived higher economic returns and readily available information about the species and their silviculture. In contrast, there are few guidelines for the design and management of mixed-species systems, including the social and ecological factors of successful mixed species plantings. Methods This protocol explains the methodology used to investigate the following question: What is the available evidence for the relative performance of different designs of mixed-species plantings for smallholder and community forestry in the tropics? This study will systematically search, identify and describe studies related to mixed species plantings across tropical and temperate zones to identify the social and ecological factors that affect polyculture systems. The objectives of this study are first to identify the evidence of biophysical or socio-economic factors that have been considered when designing mixed species systems for community and smallholder forestry in the tropics; and second, to identify gaps in research of mixed species plantations. Results of the study will help create guidelines that can assist practitioners, scientists and farmers to better design mixed species plantation systems for smallholders in the tropics.

Adoption of alternative habitats by a threatened, "obligate" forest-dwelling bat in a fragmented landscape

While they are among the most ecologically important animals within forest ecosystems, little is known about how bats respond to habitat loss and fragmentation. The threatened lesser short-tailed bat (Mystacina tuberculata), considered to be an obligate deep-forest species, is one of only 2 extant land mammals endemic to New Zealand; it plays a number of important roles within native forests, including pollination and seed dispersal, and rarely occurs in modified forests. We used radiotelemetry to study the movements, roosting behavior, and habitat use of M. tuberculata within a fragmented landscape comprised of 3 main habitat types: open space (harvested forest and pastoral land), native forests, and exotic pine plantations. We found that the bats had smaller home-range areas and travelled shorter nightly distances than populations investigated previously from contiguous native forest. Furthermore, M. tuberculata occupied all 3 habitat types, with native forest being preferred overall. However, individual variation in habitat selection was high, with some bats preferring exotic plantation and open space over native forest. Roosting patterns were similar to those previously observed in contiguous forest; individual bats often switched between communal and solitary roosts. Our findings indicate that M. tuberculata exhibit some degree of behavioral plasticity that allows them to adapt to different landscape mosaics and exploit alternative habitats. To our knowledge, this is the first such documentation of plasticity in habitat use for a bat species believed to be an obligate forest-dweller.

Spatially explicit perceptions of ecosystem services and land cover change in forested regions of Borneo

Spatially explicit information on local perceptions of ecosystem services is needed to inform land use planning within rapidly changing landscapes. In this paper we spatially modelled local people's use and perceptions of benefits from forest ecosystem services in Borneo, from interviews of 1837 people in 185 villages. Questions related to provisioning, cultural/spiritual, regulating and supporting ecosystem services derived from forest, and attitudes towards forest conversion. We used boosted regression trees (BRTs) to combine interview data with social and environmental predictors to understand spatial variation of perceptions across Borneo. Our results show that people use a variety of products from intact and highly degraded forests. Perceptions of benefits from forests were strongest: in human-altered forest landscapes for cultural and spiritual benefits; in human-altered and intact forests landscapes for health benefits; intact forest for direct health benefits, such as medicinal plants; and in regions with little forest and extensive plantations, for environmental benefits, such as climatic impacts from deforestation. Forest clearing for small scale agriculture was predicted to be widely supported yet less so for large-scale agriculture. Understanding perceptions of rural communities in dynamic, multi-use landscapes is important where people are often directly affected by the decline in ecosystem services.

Constrained Linear Spectral Unmixing Technique for Regional Land Cover Mapping Using MODIS Data

Over the last few decades, there has been a significant land cover (LC) change across the globe due to the increasing demand of the burgeoning population and urban sprawl. In order to take account of the change, there is a need for accurate and up-to-date LC maps. Mapping and monitoring of LC in India is being carried out at national level using multi-temporal IRS AWiFS data. Multispectral data such as IKONOS, Landsat-TM/ETM+, IRS-ICID LISS-III/IV, AWiFS and SPOT-5, etc. have adequate spatial resolution (similar to 1m to 56m) for LC mapping to generate 1:50,000 maps. However, for developing countries and those with large geographical extent, seasonal LC mapping is prohibitive with data from commercial sensors of limited spatial coverage. Superspectral data from the MODIS sensor are freely available, have better temporal (8 day composites) and spectral information. MODIS pixels typically contain a mixture of various LC types (due to coarse spatial resolution of 250, 500 and 1000 in), especially in more fragmented landscapes. In this context, linear spectral unmixing would be useful for mapping patchy land covers, such as those that characterise much of the Indian subcontinent. This work evaluates the existing unmixing technique for LC mapping using MODIS data, using end-members that are extracted through Pixel Purity Index (PPI), Scatter plot and N-dimensional visualisation. The abundance maps were generated for agriculture, built up, forest, plantations, waste land/others and water bodies. The assessment of the results using ground truth and a LISS-III classified map shows 86% overall accuracy, suggesting the potential for broad-scale applicability of the technique with superspectral data for natural resource planning and inventory applications. Index Terms-Remote sensing, digital

Talking green: From Oz to Oz

This paper is an extension of Talking Green in Red States: Stories from the Great Plains (Gibson et al., 2014) that examined the communication strategies of planners involved in sustainability planning initiatives in the U.S. Great Plains. We expand these narratives beyond the Great Plains to Queensland, Australia by interviewing planners about their experiences when communicating and deliberating about issues of sustainability. Using a semi-formal structure, interviews are conducted as casual “coffee talks” (Maynard-Moody & Musheno, 2003). Together, these collected stories help us to understand how planners are “talking green” in conservative political atmospheres, across vastly differing geographies using an international comparative framework described by Reimer et al. (2014). The paper presents comparisons between the collected narratives, concerning similarities and differences in regard to the nuances of sustainability planning dialog. We relate the lessons learned about communication strategies of planners working in sustainability in Kansas and Queensland to the broader discourse of planning and politics, communicative planning and planning as storytelling, as they relate to sustainability planning in challenging situations. From this paper, the audience will better understand how: 1) to discuss environmental and sustainable planning in communities that have varying levels of distrust and suspicion towards these concepts; 2) to develop strategies to work around these planning communication issues, and; 3) international context affects these communication challenges.

Biomethanation of herbaceous biomass residues using 3-zone plug flow like digesters - A case study from India

Biomethanation of herbaceous biomass feedstock has the potential to provide clean energy source for cooking and other activities in areas where such biomass availability predominates. A biomethanation concept that involves fermentation of biomass residues in three steps, occurring in three zones of the fermentor is described. This approach while attempting take advantage of multistage reactors simplifies the reactor operation and obviates the need for a high degree of process control or complex reactor design. Typical herbaceous biomass decompose with a rapid VFA flux initially (with a tendency to float) followed by a slower decomposition showing balanced process of VFA generation and its utilization by methanogens that colonize biomass slowly. The tendency to float at the initial stages is suppressed by allowing previous days feed to hold it below digester liquid which permits VFA to disperse into the digester liquid without causing process inhibition. This approach has been used to build and operate simple biomass digesters to provide cooking gas in rural areas with weed and agro-residues. With appropriate modifications, the same concept has been used for digesting municipal solid wastes in small towns where large fermentors are not viable. With further modifications this concept has been used for solid-liquid feed fermentors. Methanogen colonized leaf biomass has been used as biofilm support to treat coffee processing wastewater as well as crop litter alternately in a year. During summer it functions as a biomass based biogas plants operating in the three-zone mode while in winter, feeding biomass is suspended and high strength coffee processing wastewater is let into the fermentor achieving over 90% BOD reduction. The early field experience of these fermentors is presented.

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) autotetraploids with improved processing quality produced by an in vitro colchicine treatment

Ginger autotetraploids were produced by immersing shoot tips in a 0.5% w/v colchicine, 2% v/v dimethyl sulfoxide solution for 2 h. Stomatal measurements were used as an early indicator of ploidy differences in culture with mean stomata length of tetraploids (49.2 μm) being significantly larger than the diploid (38.8 µm). Of the 500 shoot tips treated, 2% were characterised as stable autotetraploid lines following field evaluation over several seasons. Results were confirmed with flow cytometry and, of the 7 lines evaluated for distinctness and uniformity, 6 were solid tetraploid mutants and 1 was a periclinal chimera. Significant differences were noted between individual tetraploid lines in terms of shoot length, leaf length, leaf width, size of rhizome sections (knob weight) and fibre content. The solid autotetraploid lines had significantly wider, greener leaves than the diploids, they had significantly fewer but thicker shoots and, although ‘Queensland’ (the diploid parent from which the tetraploids were derived) had a greater total rhizome mass at harvest, its knob size was significantly smaller. From the autotetraploid lines, one line was selected for commercial release as ‘Buderim Gold’. It compared the most favourably with ‘Queensland’ in terms of the aroma/flavour profile and fibre content at early harvest, and had consistently good rhizome yield. More importantly it produced large rhizome sections, resulting in a higher recovery of premium grade confectionery ginger and a more attractive fresh market product.

Field evaluation of micropropagated and conventionally propagated ginger in subtropical Queensland

The growth and performance of micropropagated ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) was compared with 'seed'-derived plants in field trials conducted in south-eastern Queensland. In the first generation ex vitro, micropropagated plants had significantly (P<0.01) reduced rhizome yield with smaller knobs and more roots. Micropropagated plants had a greater (P<0.01) shoot: root (rhizome) ratio compared with seed-derived plants. Shoots from micropropagated plants were also significantly (P<0.01) smaller with a greater number of shoots per plant. The unusual shoot morphology of the micropropagated plants did not appear to be related to the presence of benzylaminopurine, a plant growth hormone added to the multiplication medium, as plants subcultured for 3 cycles on a hormone-free medium also exhibited similar characteristics. Seed collected from the micropropagated plants and seed-derived plants was harvested and, despite the micropropagated seed being significantly (P<0.01) smaller, by the second generation ex vitro there were no significant differences between the treatments. Factors that can improve rhizome size, while reducing production costs, need to be identified before micropropagated plants can be recommended for routine use in the ginger industry as a source of disease and pest-free planting material.

Kirramyces viscidus sp. nov., a new eucalypt pathogen from tropical Australia closely related to the serious leaf pathogen, Kirramyces destructans

Kirramyces destructans is a serious pathogen causing a leaf, bud and shoot blight disease of Eucalyptus plantations in the subtropics and tropics of South-East Asia. During surveillance of eucalypt taxa trials in northern Queensland, symptoms resembling those of K. destructans were observed on Eucalyptus grandis and E. grandis × E. camaldulensis. Phylogenetic and morphological studies revealed that the Kirramyces sp. associated with these symptoms represents a new taxon described here as K. viscidus sp. nov., which is closely related to K. destructans. Plantation assessments revealed that while E. grandis from the Copperload provenance, collected in northern Queensland, recovered from disease, E. grandis × E. camaldulensis hybrids from South America were highly susceptible to infection by K. viscidus and are not recommended for planting in northern Queensland. Preliminary results suggest the fungus probably originates from Australia. K. viscidus is closely related to K. destructans and causes a disease with similar symptoms, suggesting that it could seriously damage Australian eucalypt plantations, especially those planted off-site.

Growth and species interactions of Eucalyptus pellita in a mixed and monoculture plantation in the humid tropics of north Queensland

This study investigated whether mixed-species designs can increase the growth of a tropical eucalypt when compared to monocultures. Monocultures of Eucalyptus pellita (E) and Acacia peregrina (A) and mixtures in various proportions (75E:25A, 50E:50A, 25E:75A) were planted in a replacement series design on the Atherton Tablelands of north Queensland, Australia. High mortality in the establishment phase due to repeated damage by tropical cyclones altered the trial design. Effects of experimental designs on tree growth were estimated using a linear mixed-effects model with restricted maximum likelihood analysis (REML). Volume growth of individual eucalypt trees were positively affected by the presence of acacia trees at age 5 years and this effect generally increased with time up to age 10 years. However, the stand volume and basal area increased with increasing proportions of E. pellita, due to its larger individual tree size. Conventional analysis did not offer convincing support for mixed-species designs. Preliminary individual-based modelling using a modified Hegyi competition index offered a solution and an equation that indicates acacias have positive ecological interactions (facilitation or competitive reduction) and definitely do not cause competition like a eucalypt. These results suggest that significantly increased in growth rates could be achieved with mixed-species designs. This statistical methodology could enable a better understanding of species interactions in similarly altered experiments, or undesigned mixed-species plantations.

Three new Lasiodiplodia spp. from the tropics, recognized based on DNA sequence comparisons and morphology

Botryosphaeria rhodina (anamorph Lasiodiplodia theobromae) is a common endophyte and opportunistic pathogen on more than 500 tree species in the tropics and subtropics. During routine disease surveys of plantations in Australia and Venezuela several isolates differing from L. theobromae were identified and subsequently characterized based upon morphology and ITS and EF1-a nucleotide sequences. These isolates grouped into three strongly supported clades related to but different from the known taxa, B. rhodina and L. gonubiensis, These have been described here as three new species L. venezuelensis sp. nov., L. crassispora sp. nov. and L. rubropurpurea sp. nov. The three could be distinguished easily from each other and the two described species of Lasiodiplodia, thus confirming phylogenetic separations. Furthermore all five Lasiodiplodia spp. now recognized separated from Diplodia spp. and Dothiorella spp. with 100% bootstrap support.