Triggering transformative change: a development path approach to climate change response in communities     

Sarah Burch  Alison Shaw  Ann Dale  John Robinson 《Climate Policy》2013,13(4):467-487

While climate change action plans are becoming more common, it is still unclear whether communities have the capacity, tools, and targets in place to trigger the transformative levels of change required to build fundamentally low-carbon, resilient, healthy communities. Evidence increasingly supports the finding that this transformation is not triggered by climate policy alone, but rather is shaped by a broad array of decisions and practices that are rooted in underlying patterns of development. Even so, these findings have rarely penetrated the domain of practice, which often remains squarely focused on a relatively narrow set of climate-specific policies. This article builds a conceptual framework for understanding the dynamics of community-level development path transformations that may both dramatically reduce GHG emissions and significantly enhance community resilience. This framework illuminates eight critical enablers of innovation on climate change, each of which is illustrated by compelling examples of community-level experimentation on climate change across the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is concluded that community-based climate (or sustainability) policy might be more likely to trigger development path shifts if it employs a longer time horizon, recognition of adaptability and feedbacks, integrated decision making, and systems thinking.  相似文献   

Tracer mass recovery in fractured aquifers estimated from multiple well tests     

Sanford WE  Cook PG  Robinson NI  Weatherill D 《Ground water》2006,44(4):564-573

Forced-gradient tracer tests in fractured aquifers often report low mass recoveries. In fractured aquifers, fractures intersected by one borehole may not be intersected by another. As a result (1) injected tracer can follow pathways away from the withdrawal well causing low mass recovery and (2) recovered water can follow pathways not connected to the injection well causing significant tracer dilution. These two effects occur along with other forms of apparent mass loss. If the strength of the connection between wells and the amount of dilution can be predicted ahead of time, tracer tests can be designed to optimize mass recovery and dilution. A technique is developed to use hydraulic tests in fractured aquifers to calculate the conductance (strength of connection) between well pairs and to predict mass recovery and amount of dilution during forced gradient tracer tests. Flow is considered to take place through conduits, which connect the wells to each other and to distant sources or sinks. Mass recovery is related to the proportion of flow leaving the injection well and arriving at the withdrawal well, and dilution is related to the proportion of the flow from the withdrawal well that is derived from the injection well. The technique can be used to choose well pairs for tracer tests, what injection and withdrawal rates to use, and which direction to establish the hydraulic gradient to maximize mass recovery and/or minimize dilution. The method is applied to several tracer tests in fractured aquifers in the Clare Valley, South Australia.  相似文献   

Can industrial pollution cause intersexuality in the amphipod, Echinogammarus marinus?     

Ford AT  Fernandes TF  Robinson CD  Davies IM  Read PA 《Marine pollution bulletin》2006,53(1-4):100-106

Following recent studies, in which intersex and/or reproductive abnormalities have been observed in a number of crustaceans in association with pollution, the prevalence of intersexuality in the amphipod, Echinogammarus marinus was monitored at sites receiving industrial discharges for one year in 2002/2003. Based upon reports of intersexuality occurring in amphipods due to feminising microsporidian parasites, the occurrence, and role of microsporidian parasites in causing intersex was investigated through histological examination. Results demonstrate a significantly higher prevalence of intersex organisms was found at sites receiving industrial discharges throughout the year when compared to a reference site, with the phenotype of intersex (intersex male and intersex female) varying in its dominance between impacted sites. Intersex specimens were significantly more likely to be infected with microsporidian parasites at sites receiving discharges than reference sites, however relatively few specimens (normal or intersex) were infected at reference sites suggesting parasitism is not the only cause of intersex. The direct/indirect role of pollution in the observed intersexuality is discussed.  相似文献   

Spatial and temporal variability in the responses of Arctic terrestrial ecosystems to environmental change     

Terry V. Callaghan  Malcolm C. Press  John A. Lee  David L. Robinson  Clive W. Anderson 《Polar research》1999,18(2):191-197

This paper compares the responses of two contrasting Arctic ecosystems to climate change simulations: a polar semi-desert (in Svalbard) and a dwarf shrub heath (at Abisko, northern Sweden). These ecosystems are located close to the northern-and southernmost extremes of the Arctic region, respectively. Inmacts of simulated climatic changes were determined through factorial perturbation experiments, where growing season temperature, nutrient availability and water supply were manipulated. The results are compared with the impact of interannual variation in climate on the growth of a keystone moss species, Hylocomium splendens , from the wider circumpolar area. The perturbation studies revealed that current interannual variability in temperature and the temperate tolerance of many species may exceed predicted changes in mean summer temperature over the next century. Arctic ecosystems differed in their responses to environmental manipulations, with the structure of the dwarf shrub health being affected through shifts in competitive hierarchy, potentially leading to lower biodiversity, and the polar semi-desert being affected through invasion, potentially leading to higher diversity. H. splendens showed negative responses to perturbation at the sub-Arctic site, in contrast to the positive relationship between temperature and growth observed in the natural environment. This apparent discrepancy may result from: (i) artefacts arising from the perturbations, such as lower atmospheric relative humidity; (ii) non-equilibrium responses during the relatively short-term perturbation studies and/or (iii) ecotypic variation in the moss population. Thus, caution should be employed when extrapolating from perturbations studies to both longer time-scales and different ecosystems within the Arctic.  相似文献   

A Model of Ground Water Discharge from an Unconfined Coastal Aquifer   总被引：5，自引：1，他引：4  

Michael A. Robinson  Daniel L. Gallagher 《Ground water》1999,37(1):80-87

  相似文献   

Measurements of the 44-μm band of H₂O ice deposited on amorphous carbon and amorphous silicate substrates     

Marco M. Maldoni  Garry Robinson  R. G. Smith  W. W. Duley  A. Scott 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》1999,309(2):325-331

We present 20–110 µm absorbance spectra of H₂O ice, deposited on amorphous carbon and silicate substrates, obtained over the 10–140 K temperature range. The measurements have been carried out in a manner that simulates the deposition, warming and cooling of H₂O ice mantles on interstellar and circumstellar grains. For H₂O ice films deposited on these substrates we find (i) similar 44-µm-band peak wavelength temperature dependences, (ii) no bandshape differences in the respective spectra, and (iii) a structural phase transition occurring between 120 and 130 K. In comparison with published data obtained using a polyethylene substrate, the 52-µm feature (the longitudinal optical mode) observed in our spectra is less prominent. This suggests the presence of material-dependent substrate effects that can alter the appearance of the H₂O far-infrared spectrum. The crystallization temperature of H₂O ice films deposited on our amorphous silicate substrate is significantly different from that reported by Moore et al. (1994) , who found crystallization temperatures down to < 20 K for ice also deposited on an amorphous silicate substrate. This is attributed to differences in the surface structures of the respective substrates. This may indicate that, at least in the context of laboratory measurements, substrate material composition is not as significant as substrate surface structure.  相似文献   

Late Middle Pleistocene deposits at Norton Farm on the West Sussex coastal plain,southern England     

Martin R. Bates  C. Richard Bates  Philip L. Gibbard  Richard I. Macphail  Frederick J. Owen  Simon A. Parfitt  Richard C. Preece  Mark B. Roberts  J. Eric Robinson  John E. Whittaker  Keith N. Wilkinson 《第四纪科学杂志》2000,15(1):61-89

The coastal plain of West Sussex, southern England, is internationally important because of the sequence of discrete high‐sea‐level events preserved at various elevations across it. New evidence is presented from a site at Norton Farm, near Chichester, on the Lower Coastal Plain, where Pleistocene marine sands, fining upwards into silts, occur between 5.3 m and 9.1 m OD. The sequence reflects a regressive tendency at the transition from an interglacial to a cold stage. The marine sands have yielded foraminifera, ostracods and molluscs that indicate a declining marine influence through the sequence, culminating in a tidal mudflat, strongly weathered in places. Cool‐climate foraminifera (including Elphidium clavatum, Cassidulina reniformis and Elphidium albiumbilicatum) and ostracods have been recovered from the marine sands. Some species with an apparent preference for warmer water conditions, however, are also present. Freshwater taxa washed into the terminal marine sediments include some cold climate indicators, such as Pisidium stewarti and P. obtusale lapponicum. Additional evidence for cool climatic conditions during the deposition of the upper part of the marine sequence is provided by the lack of tree taxa in the pollen record and by features of the micromorphology. The marine sediments probably began accumulating during OIS 7, a conclusion based on their elevation, on amino acid ratios from shells, but especially on vertebrate evidence, particularly the presence of a small form of horse, together with a large, distinctive, form of northern vole (Microtus oeconomus). The occurrence of cool climate indicators in these marine sediments may demonstrate a lag between the climatic deterioration and the expected glacio‐eustatic fall in relative sea‐level. This evidence appears to support the conclusions drawn from the study of coral terraces in Barbados. Such a scenario would provide the conditions necessary for the emplacement of the large erratic boulders reported from the Lower Coastal Plain of West Sussex. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

Pleistocene deposits at Stoke Goldington,in the valley of the Great Ouse,UK     

C. P. Green  G. R. Coope  R. L. Jones  D. H. Keen  D. Q. Bowen  A. P. Currant  D. T. Holyoak  M. Ivanovich  J. E. Robinson  R. J. Rogerson  R. C. Young 《第四纪科学杂志》1996,11(1):59-87

At Stoke Goldington in the valley of the Great Ouse in Buckinghamshire a river terrace at a height of about 7 m above the floodplain is underlain by fluvial sediments representing climatic fluctuations in the late Middle Pleistocene. Near the base of the succession, at a level only 1 m above the modern floodplain, a fossil assemblage, including pollen, plant macrofossils, molluscs, insects and ostracods, provides evidence for the local development of herb-rich grassland under temperate climatic conditions. The fossil record, amino-acid racemisation ratios and uranium disequilibrium dating all suggest deposition of this material during Oxygen Isotope Stage 7. The deposits containing the temperate assemblage are immediately overlain by typical cold-climate gravels of the Great Ouse. These have been subjected to a later cut-and-fill episode, with the fill accumulating in cool climatic conditions. The cut-and-fill episode was succeeded by aggradation, forming the overlying terrace surface. Amino-acid racemisation ratios indicate that the fill was emplaced, and the terrace surface created, during or after Oxygen Isotope Stage 5. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

Tidally driven pore water exchange within offshore intertidal sandbanks: Part II numerical simulations   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

B. Gibbes  C. Robinson  L. Li  D. Lockington  H. Li 《Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science》2008,80(4):472-482

Field measurements presented by [Gibbes, B., Robinson, C., Li, L., Lockington, D.A., Carey, H., 2008. Tidally driven pore water exchange within offshore intertidal sandbanks: Part I Field measurements. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 79, pp. 121–132.] revealed a tidally driven pore water flow system within an offshore intertidal sandbank in Moreton Bay, Australia. The field data suggested that this flow system might be capable of delivering nutrients, and in particular bio-available iron, across the sediment–water interface. Bio-available iron has been implicated as a key nutrient in the growth of the toxic marine cyanobacteria Lyngbya majuscula and therefore this pore water exchange process is of interest at sites where L. majuscula blooms have been observed. In this study two-dimensional numerical simulations were used in conjunction with hydraulic data from field measurements to further investigate the tidally induced pore water flow patterns. Simulation results generally showed good agreement with the field data and revealed a more complex residual pore water flow system in the sandbank than shown by the field data. The flow system, strongly influenced by the geometry of the sandbank, was characterized by two circulation cells which resulted in pore water discharge at the bank edge and also to a permanently ponded area within the sandbank interior. Simulated discharge volumes in these two zones were in the order of 0.813 m³ and 0.143 m³ per meter width (along shore) of sandbank per tidal cycle at the bank edge and sandbank interior respectively. Transit times of pore water circulating through these cells were found to range from ≈ 17 days to > 60 years with an average time of 780 days. The results suggest that the tidally driven flow systems might provide a mechanism for transport of bio-available iron across the sediment–water interface. This flow could constitute a previously unrecognized source of bio-available iron for L. majuscula blooms in the Bay.  相似文献   

Book review: Wind blown sediments in the Quaternary record,edited by E. Derbyshire. Wiley, 1995. No. of pages: 96. Price: £25 (paperback). ISBN 0 471 95860 3     

Simon G. Robinson 《Geological Journal》1996,31(4):421-421

  相似文献