Predation rate on artificial nests increases with human housing density in suburban habitats
The authors investigated how predation of birds changes along a gradient from native habitat to fully urban environment.
Environmental Field Research
Environmental influence on reproductive health
A rise in industrialization and the consequent environmental pollution, an increase in the use of synthetic chemicals and repeated exposure to hazardous compounds at the workplace and at home adversely affects reproductive health. Biohazardous compounds, some of which act as endocrine disrupters, are being increasingly implicated in infertility, menstrual irregularities, spontaneous abortions, birth defects, endometriosis and breast cancer. In some cases, women are at a greater risk than men, especially with the rise in environmental estrogens.
Health conditions and residential concentration of poverty: A study in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
This study aimed to establish the geographical relation of health conditions to socioeconomic status in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. All reported deaths in the municipality from 1987 to 1995 were considered. The 24 administrative regions that composed the city served as the geographical units. A geographical information system (GIS) was used to link mortality data and population census data and to establish the geographical pattern of the following health indicators: infant mortality rate, standardized mortality rate, life expectancy, and homicide rate.
Challenges of data integration in the study of a complex system: A case study of Lake Atitlán in Guatemala.
The watershed of Lake Atitlán on the Highlands of Guatemala is presented as an example of the high level of complexity found in a system that involves natural, social, and economic forces interacting in a small but extremely diverse geographical area. This paper describes our efforts to use a multidisciplinary approach to study the two main forces of natural and social change in the area: coffee production and tourism, as well as to understand how these interact with a highly intertwined system of institutions.
People and ecosystems: The fraying web of life
This is the online (PDF) version of the latest in WRI's series of books about the state of the global environment. This focuses on key ecosystems: agroecosystems, coastal ecosystems, freshwater ecosystems, and grassland ecosystems. Additional short case studies focus on specific geographic regions. The book is organized into chapters (with text, sidebars and illustrations) for each ecosystem, and a compilation of data tables at the end.
Human-Climate-Environment Interactions in the Maya Lowlands.
A sediment core collected in 1993 from Lake Chichancanab, Yucatan, Mexico, contained evidence of a protracted drought that coincided with the Classic Maya collapse in the 9th century A.D. Cores retrieved from Lake Chichancanab in summer 2000 are better dated and have higher sedimentation rates, providing new, higher-resolution records of climatic events in northern Yucatan. We have also extended our paleoclimate studies into the Peten Lake District, Guatemala, permitting comparison of long-term climate change between the northern and southern Maya lowlands.
Land use dynamics in peri-urban areas and their implications on the urban growth and form: The case of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
The author argues that unregulated peri-urban development in Dar es Salaam is likely to continue for the foreseeable future due to increased rural-urban migration.
Fighting an uphill battle: population pressure and declining land productivity in Rwanda
Clay describes landholding structures through which demographic change has affected the environment in Rwanda.
Biodiversity as a product of smallholder's strategies for overcoming changes in their natural and social landscapes: A Report prepared by the UNU/Plec Amazonia Cluster.
The PLEC objective to measure biodiversity levels within the landholdings of smallholders emerges as an opportunity to look beyond the superficial environmental ideologies that impel many biodiversity researchers to ignore land ï''tarnishedï'' by humans and to search for ï''pristineï'' ecosystems. In contrast, reporting the biodiversity that is produced, managed or conserved by smallholders, we aim to illustrate the valuable role of smallholders in the formation and transformation of biodiversity within the estuarine varzea floodplain.
Long-term changes in Serengeti-Mara wildebeest and land cover: Pastoralism, population, or policies?
This paper explores the roles of subsistence cultivation and human and livestock population growth on habitat and wildlife declines in semiarid African savannas. Private landowners investing in mechanized agriculture are determined to be likely drivers.
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