Browsing by Subject "SMALL-SCALE"
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(2021)Microplastics are ubiquitous in the marine environment, however, the mechanisms governing their uptake by, and burial within, seabed habitats are poorly understood. In this study, microplastic burial and its impact on fauna-mediated sedimentary processes was quantified at three coastal sites, and the potential contribution of burrowing faunal communities to this process assessed via functional trait diversity analysis of field data. In addition, laboratory exposures were used to assess whether sediment-processing undertaken by the brittlestar Amphiura filiformis, a key species in the sampled area, could explain the burial of microplastic fibres. Field observations confirmed broad-scale burial of microplastics across the coastal seabed, consistent across sites and seasons, with microplastic sequestration linked to benthic-pelagic exchange pathways, driven by burrowing fauna. Brittlestars were observed to bury and line their burrow walls with microfibres during experiments, and their burial activity was also modified following exposure to nylon fibres, relative to controls. Collectively, these results indicate that biodiverse and functionally important seabed habitats act as microplastic sinks, with burrowing fauna contributing to this process via well-known benthic-pelagic pathways, the rates of which are modified by plastic exposure.
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(2022)Biodiversity conservation and mining activities are increasingly overlapping throughout the world. While conservation has conventionally been seen as a strategy to oppose the negative environmental impacts of extractivism, the experiences of local communities especially in the Global South reveal similar dynamics in the ways in which mining and conservation actors seek to gain control over land and resources, often resulting in land grabbing. Furthermore, literature on neoliberal conservation has portrayed conservation as an increasingly prevalent strategy of capital accumulation. This study looks at the commodity frontiers of neoliberal conservation and mining – at the spectrum ranging from artisanal and small-scale mining to large-scale corporate mining – and focuses on the competing territorialisations at these heterogeneous ‘double’ frontiers. Analysed by means of an integrative literature review and illustrated with cases from across the Global South, this study asks just what institutional settings enable the mining and conservation frontiers to co-exist and what kinds of interactions can be expected at their intersections. The study finds three different types of double frontier interactions, competing, synergistic and co-ignorant, resulting alternatively from deepened cooperation between international mining and conservation actors, a fragmented state structure or legal pluralism at the local level. These findings provide a first attempt to create a theoretical framework for analysing the intersections of the expanding mining and conservation frontiers. They highlight the need for further empirical research to focus on double frontier contexts and particularly on the roles played by local actors between the frontiers in order to address, understand and manage the increasing competition between mining and conservation across the rural landscapes of the Global South.
