scholarly journals The First Political-Ecological Database and Its Use in Episode Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy C. Haas
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Management ◽  
Ecological Theory ◽  
Online News ◽  
The Political ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Ecological Data ◽  
Conservation Science ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Acinonyx Jubatus ◽  
Management Policies

Biodiversity loss is a consequence of socio-ecological processes. Observations on anthropogenic actions toward ecosystems coupled to observations on ecosystem metrics are needed to help understand these processes so that ecosystem management policies can be derived and implemented to curb such destruction. Such data needs to be maintained in searchable data portals. To this end, this article delivers a first-of-its-kind relational database of observations on coupled anthropogenic and ecosystem actions. This Ecosystem Management Actions Taxonomy (EMAT) database is founded on a taxonomy designed to support models of political-ecological processes. Structured query language scripts for building and querying these databases are described. The use of episodes in the construction of political-ecological theory is also introduced. These are frequently occurring sequences of political-ecological actions. Those episodes that test positive for causality can aid in improving a political-ecological theory by driving modifications to an attendant computational model so that it generates them. Two relational databases of political-ecological actions are described that are built from online news articles and published data on species abundance. The first concerns the management of the East African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) population, and the second is focused on the management of rhinoceroses (Ceratotherium simum) in South Africa. The cheetah database is used to study the political drivers of cheetah habitat loss, and the rhino database is used study the political drivers of rhino poaching. An EMAT database is a fundamental breakthrough because is provides a language for conservation science to identify the objects and phenomena that it is about. Therefore, maintaining political-ecological data in EMAT databases will advance conservation science and consequently, improve management policies that are based on that science.

scholarly journals Infrastructural nature

2021 ◽  
pp. 030913252199391
Author(s):  
Sara H Nelson ◽  
Patrick Bigger
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Strategic Management ◽  
Ecosystem Management ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Political ◽  
Conservation Science ◽  
Conservation Investment

The assertion that ‘ecosystems are infrastructure’ is now common in conservation science and ecosystem management. This article interrogates this infrastructural ontology, which we argue underpins diverse practices of conservation investment and ecosystem management focused on the strategic management of ecosystem functions to sustain and secure human life. We trace the genealogies and geographies of infrastructural nature as an ontology and paradigm of investment that coexists (sometimes in tension) with extractivist commodity regimes. We draw links between literatures on the political economy of ecosystem services and infrastructure and highlight three themes that hold promise for future research: labor, territory, and finance.

Is the END (emulation of natural disturbance) a new beginning? A critical analysis of the use of fire regimes as the basis of forest ecosystem management with examples from the Canadian western Cordillera

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Stockdale ◽  
Mike Flannigan ◽  
Ellen Macdonald
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Ecosystem Management ◽  
Forest Structure ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Natural Disturbance ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Disturbance Regime ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
High Severity ◽  
Management Actions

As our view of disturbances such as wildfire has shifted from prevention to recognizing their ecological necessity, so too forest management has evolved from timber-focused even-aged management to more holistic paradigms like ecosystem-based management. Emulation of natural disturbance (END) is a variant of ecosystem management that recognizes the importance of disturbance for maintaining ecological integrity. For END to be a successful model for forest management we need to describe disturbance regimes and implement management actions that emulate them, in turn achieving our objectives for forest structure and function. We review the different components of fire regimes (cause, frequency, extent, timing, and magnitude), we describe low-, mixed-, and high-severity fire regimes, and we discuss key issues related to describing these regimes. When characterizing fire regimes, different methods and spatial and temporal extents result in wide variation of estimates for different fire regime components. Comparing studies is difficult as few measure the same components; some methods are based on the assumption of a high-severity fire regime and are not suited to detecting mixed- or low-severity regimes, which are critical to END management, as this would affect retention in harvested areas. We outline some difficulties with using fire regimes as coarse filters for forest management, including (i) not fully understanding the interactions between fire and other disturbance agents, (ii) assuming that fire is strictly an exogenous disturbance agent that exerts top-down control of forest structure while ignoring numerous endogenous and bottom-up feedbacks on fire effects, and (iii) assuming by only replicating natural disturbance patterns we preserve ecological processes and vital ecosystem components. Even with a good understanding of a fire regime, we would still be challenged with choosing the temporal and spatial scope for the disturbance regime we are trying to emulate. We cannot yet define forest conditions that will arise from variations in disturbance regime; this then limits our ability to implement management actions that will achieve those conditions. We end by highlighting some important knowledge gaps about fire regimes and how the END model could be strengthened to achieve a more sustainable form of forest management.

The City in a Glass of Water: Circulating Water, Circulating Power

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Swyngedouw
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Urban Sustainability ◽  
The Political ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Urbanization Process ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Ecological Criteria ◽  
The City

In recent years, an impressive body of work has emerged in the wake of the resurgence of the environmental question on the political agenda, addressing the environmental implications of urban change or issues related to urban sustainability (Haughton and Hunter 1994; Satterthwaite 1999). In many, if not all, of these cases, the environment is defined in terms of a set of ecological criteria pertaining to the physical milieu. Both urban sustainability and the environmental impacts of the urban process are primarily understood in terms of physical environmental conditions and characteristics. We start from a different position. As explored in Chapter 1, urban water circulation and the urban hydrosocial cycle are the vantage points from which the urbanization process will be analysed in this book. In this Chapter, a glass of water will be my symbolic and material entry point into an—admittedly somewhat sketchy—attempt to excavate the political ecology of the urbanization process. If I were to capture some urban water in a glass, retrace the networks that brought it there and follow Ariadne’s thread through the water, ‘I would pass with continuity from the local to the global, from the human to the nonhuman’ (Latour 1993: 121). These flows would narrate many interrelated tales: of social and political actors and the powerful socio-ecological processes that produce urban and regional spaces; of participation and exclusion; of rats and bankers; of water-borne disease and speculation in water industry related futures and options; of chemical, physical, and biological reactions and transformations; of the global hydrological cycle and global warming; of uneven geographical development; of the political lobbying and investment strategies of dam builders; of urban land developers; of the knowledge of engineers; of the passage from river to urban reservoir. In sum, my glass of water embodies multiple tales of the ‘city as a hybrid’. The rhizome of underground and surface water flows, of streams, pipes and networks is a powerful metaphor for processes that are both social and ecological (Kaïka and Swyngedouw 2000). Water is a ‘hybrid’ thing that captures and embodies processes that are simultaneously material, discursive, and symbolic.

Non-equilibrium dynamics and stochastic processes

2020 ◽  
pp. 40-52
Author(s):  
Karen C. Abbott
Keyword(s):  
Stochastic Processes ◽  
Density Dependence ◽  
Classical Theory ◽  
Ecological Theory ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Transient Phenomena ◽  
Equilibrium Dynamics ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Ecological Understanding

Most standard theoretical approaches emphasize the role of deterministic density dependence in creating and maintaining equilibrium dynamics. At the same time, it is widely recognized that ecological processes are inherently stochastic, and that disturbances and variation in the environment and in the fates of individuals prevent many ecological systems from resting at their theoretical equilibrium. A developing body of stochastic ecological theory aims to bridge the gap between the deterministic tools of classical theory and the stochastic, non-equilibrial questions that real systems present to us. This chapter provides an overview of this developing theory, with an emphasis on approaches that confront the complex interplay between deterministic density dependence, and perturbations. Although intuition may suggest that stochasticity and transient phenomena should obscure ecological understanding, they can actually strengthen it when viewed through the appropriate lens, as illustrated in this chapter.

scholarly journals Remote sensing and the future of landscape ecology

2009 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 528-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian C. Newton ◽  
Ross A. Hill ◽  
Cristian Echeverría ◽  
Duncan Golicher ◽  
José M. Rey Benayas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Landscape Ecology ◽  
Remote Sensing Data ◽  
Scientific Discipline ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
Ecological Data ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Sensing Data ◽  
Landsat Satellite ◽  
The Uk

Landscape ecology focuses on the analysis of spatial pattern and its relationship to ecological processes. As a scientific discipline, landscape ecology has grown rapidly in recent years, supported by developments in GIS and spatial analysis techniques. Although remote sensing data are widely employed in landscape ecology research, their current and potential roles have not been evaluated critically. To provide an overview of current practice, 438 research papers published in the journal Landscape Ecology for the years 2004—2008 were examined for information about use of remote sensing. Results indicated that only 36% of studies explicitly mentioned remote sensing. Of those that did so, aerial photographs and Landsat satellite sensor images were most commonly used, accounting for 46% and 42% of studies, respectively. The predominant application of remote sensing data across these studies was for thematic mapping purposes. This suggests that landscape ecologists have been relatively slow to recognize the potential value of recent developments in remote sensing technologies and methods. The review also provided evidence of a frequent lack of key detail in studies recently published in Landscape Ecology , with 75% failing to provide any assessment of uncertainty or error relating to image classification and mapping. It is suggested that the role of remote sensing in landscape ecology might be strengthened by closer collaboration between researchers in the two disciplines, by greater integration of diverse remote sensing data with ecological data, and by increased recognition of the value of remote sensing beyond land-cover mapping and pattern description. This is illustrated by case studies drawn from Latin America (focusing on forest loss and fragmentation) and the UK (focusing on habitat quality for woodland birds). Such approaches might improve the analytical and theoretical rigour of landscape ecology, and be applied usefully to issues of outstanding societal interest, such as the impacts of environmental change on biodiversity and ecosystem services.

scholarly journals Analytical Look - Transparency in Online Informative Technology

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 364-366
Keyword(s):  
Online News ◽  
Classification Model ◽  
The Political ◽  
Online Media ◽  
Neural Net ◽  
Online Journalism ◽  
Political Bias

We are predicting the bias (left leaning or right leaning) in online news articles based on text of online articles collected and the publication. The rating (either Left or Right) was assigned by looking at the leaning of the publication as found on mediabiasfactcheck.com. As we know the importance of online news has evolved with the advancement in technology. In order to understand the biasness in online journalism related to text of an article, we used a deep Neural Net to make classifications based on the labeling assigned according to publication. If the political bias of the publisher creeps in and such a correlation is there the AI will be able to learn it. Our training produced a very accurate classification model. This shows that online media is not as transparent when presenting news. The methodology is described ahead.

scholarly journals Provoking a Cultural Shift in Data Quality

BioScience ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah E McCord ◽  
Nicholas P Webb ◽  
Justin W Van Zee ◽  
Sarah H Burnett ◽  
Erica M Christensen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Quality ◽  
Data Access ◽  
Cultural Practice ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Ecosystem Change ◽  
Ecological Studies ◽  
Ecological Data ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Cultural Shift ◽  
Quality Framework

Abstract Ecological studies require quality data to describe the nature of ecological processes and to advance understanding of ecosystem change. Increasing access to big data has magnified both the burden and the complexity of ensuring quality data. The costs of errors in ecology include low use of data, increased time spent cleaning data, and poor reproducibility that can result in a misunderstanding of ecosystem processes and dynamics, all of which can erode the efficacy of and trust in ecological research. Although conceptual and technological advances have improved ecological data access and management, a cultural shift is needed to embed data quality as a cultural practice. We present a comprehensive data quality framework to evoke this cultural shift. The data quality framework flexibly supports different collaboration models, supports all types of ecological data, and can be used to describe data quality within both short- and long-term ecological studies.

scholarly journals Will the Conversion from Sanatorium Medical Facilities into New Facilities Progress in Japan?

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Yuka Mine ◽  
Masayuki Yokoi ◽  
Takao Tashiro
Keyword(s):  
Health Services ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
Care Service ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Medical Facilities ◽  
Long Term Care Insurance ◽  
Management Policies ◽  
Geriatric Health Services

In Japan, under the Long-Term Care Insurance Act of 2018, the Integrated Facility for Medical and Long-Term Care was established as a new long-term care insurance facility into which Sanatorium Medical Facilities could be converted, and this conversion has taken place gradually; in this study, we compared the management policies between existing Sanatorium Medical Facilities and Integrated Facilities. We also examined the management policies of Geriatric Health Services Facilities. For the management policies of individual facilities, published data on the “Long-Term Care Service Information Publication System” website were used; the study included 142 Integrated Facilities, 245 Sanatorium Medical Facilities, and 237 Geriatric Health Services Facilities. The percentage of facilities in each facility group that included specific keywords was compared. There were no significant differences in the percentage of facilities including “Return,” “Long-term,” “Management,” “Care,” and “Coordination” in their management policies between Sanatorium Medical Facilities and Integrated Facilities. Compared with Geriatric Health Services Facilities, Sanatorium Medical Facilities had a significantly lower rate of including “Return” and a significantly higher rate of including “Long-term,” “Management,” “Care,” and “Coordination.” As seen from the above, the management policies of Sanatorium Medical Facilities were similar to those of Integrated Facilities, rather than Geriatric Health Services Facilities. When Geriatric Health Services Facilities and Integrated Facilities were compared as candidates for conversion from Sanatorium Medical Facilities, it was suggested that the barrier to entry is lower for the Integrated Facilities than for Geriatric Health Services Facilities in terms of necessity of major change in management policies.

Political and Cultural Islam: A Historical Phenomenon in Indonesia

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 345-360
Author(s):  
Azis Arifin ◽  
Didin Saepudin
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Data ◽  
Political Islam ◽  
Online News ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
The Political ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Nahdlatul Ulama ◽  
Historical Phenomenon ◽  
Islamic Parties

This article aimed to reveal the periodization of political  and cultural Islam in Indonesia from time to time. In its development, political and cultural Islam had become an entity that hadattracted the attention of academics in Indonesia. Both types of Islam have always been part of the history of this nation. Therefore, the periodization of the rounds needs to be disclosed in a neat and measurable manner. This research was qualitative using a historical approach, and the existing data were presented in a descriptive analytical manner. The primary data of the research covered the statutes and bylaw of Islamic parties, such as Partai Syarikat Islam Indonesia (PSII), Masyumi Party, Partai Persatuan Pembangunan (PPP), Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS) and Partai Bulan Bintang (PBB), while the secondary data were documents of works of Indonesian authors, journals, and online news or articles. The results revealed that the periodization of Indonesian political and cultural Islam started from pre-independence to post-reformation. PSII, Masyumi Party, PPP, PKS and PBB respectively were examples of political Islam that were established in their era. Meanwhile, cultural Islam was patronized by Jam'iyyat al-Khair, Al-Irsyad, Muhammadiyah, Persis and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU). Both types and groups of the Islam basically had the same goal, namely to carry out Sharia. Therefore, for the political and cultural Islam, the power and sympathy of the people seemed to support the realization of this goal.

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