Alan W. Hodges

Conservation technology adoption decisions and the theory of planned behavior

Abstract This study of water saving technology adoption and technology investment behavior for Florida strawberry farmers represents an application of the Theory of Planned Behavior. It is compared with the Theory of Reasoned Action, and the Theory of Derived Demand. The focus is on perceived control in the decisions, first, to become an adopter of conservation technology, and, second, to invest more capital in the technology. The results lend credence to the Planned Behavior Theory but also support Derived Demand Theory, in that actual financial capability (actual control) is found important. To predict technology adoption we may need to account for both perceived and actual control. Unfettered government control of farmer technology decisions could be counterproductive, suggesting technology policy may need to include a mix of moral suasion and incentives with more modest controls.

El Niño–Southern Oscillation Impacts on Winter Vegetable Production in Florida*

Abstract Florida’s mild winters allow the state to play a vital role in supplying fresh vegetables for U.S. consumers. Producers also benefit from premium prices when low temperatures prevent production in most of the country. This study characterizes the influence of the El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on the Florida vegetable industry using statistical analysis of the response of historical crop (yield, prices, production, and value) and weather variables (freeze hazard, temperatures, rainfall, and solar radiation) to ENSO phase and its interaction with location and time of year. Annual mean yields showed little evidence of response to ENSO phase and its interaction with location. ENSO phase and season interacted to influence quarterly yields, prices, production, and value. Yields (tomato, bell pepper, sweet corn, and snap bean) were lower and prices (bell pepper and snap bean) were higher in El Nino than in neutral or La Nina winters. Production and value of tomatoes were higher in La Nina winters....

SOUTH FLORIDA: THE REALITY OF CHANGE AND THE PROSPECTS FOR SUSTAINABILITY: Adaptive learning for science-based policy: the Everglades restoration☆

Abstract The Everglades ecosystem restoration is totally unprecedented. The spatial scale involves all of southern Florida and the temporal scale is decades. Although it is one of the most studied ecosystems in the world, much additional knowledge will have to be acquired for the restoration to ultimately reestablish a naturally functioning ecosystem. Additionally, political support will have to be maintained throughout the endeavor, and this will require a different form of understanding, a form useful to decision-makers and political representatives. Adaptive ecological learning embedded in an adaptive ecosystem assessment and management structure is offered as a possible supplement to the ongoing scientific learning. The goal of such an adaptive ecological learning approach is to facilitate more holistic understanding useful to decision-makers and political representatives.

Behavioral patterns of Djungarian hamsters: An adaptive profile

Djungarian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus) were observed in a series of laboratory tests, including home cage activity, wheel running, open-field behavior, sexual dimorphism for body mass, copulatory behavior, tonic and dorsal immobility, climbing, digging, nest building, and parental behavior. Fourteen resulting measures were compared with previous results from this laboratory from a variety of muroid species. A cluster of behavioral adaptations emerged with several marked similarities to the behaviors of a group of North American Microtus species, whereas other behaviors appeared to more closely reflect the classification of the hamsters as cricetines. It is suggested thatPhodopus andMicrotus species may have evolved many similar adaptive characteristics in response to shared environmental variables.

Copulatory Behavior and Related Phenomena in Spiny Mice (Acomys cahirinus) and Hopping Mice (Notomys alexis)

Spiny mice, Acomys cahirinus , are unusual muroid rodents in that females produce spontaneously active corpora lutea during estrous cycles. Their copulatory behavior is characterized by an incipient lock, no intravaginal thrusting, multiple intromissions preceding ejaculation, and multiple ejaculations, but with a low number of ejaculations per test. Hopping mice, Notomys alexis , are unusual with respect to the small testis size, reduced complement of accessory glands, and large penile spines, all of which combine to predict a locking pattern of copulation. As predicted, hopping mice display a true lock. They also display a lack of both intravaginal thrusting and multiple intromissions, and generally cease copulating with the occurrence of the first lock. These and supplementary data can be combined to generate a prediction of monogamy in the field for hopping mice and a similar, but much weaker, tendency for spiny mice.

Local and Regional Food Systems in Florida: Values and Economic Impacts

A survey of 1599 randomly selected Florida households was conducted in 2012 to evaluate the consumer characteristics and economic impacts of local food purchases through retail stores, restaurants, and direct-to-consumer market channels. The total annual value of local food purchases averaged

Research Article: Multiattribute Choice Analysis in Ecosystem Restoration Planning

1114 per household and represented 20.1% of food purchased for at-home consumption. The total economic impacts of local food purchases in Florida were estimated at 183,625 jobs and

Volume reduction outweighs biogeochemical processes in controlling phosphorus treatment in aged detention systems

10.47 billion in value-added, including regional multiplier effects for agricultural production and wholesale and retail distribution. These values are significantly higher than found in previous studies in other states.

The Economic Impact of the Florida Cultured Hard Clam Industry

Ecosystem restoration planning poses many challenges in deciding what the objectives of restoration will be and how to achieve them. Multiattribute utility choice analysis was used in this study to identify public preferences in Florida for restoration of the Everglades/South Florida ecosystem. The analysis utilized both structural (species populations) and functional (water levels and timing) attributes to represent states of the ecosystem in conjunction with other attributes to represent social tradeoffs in restoration planning. Statistical results on the relative weighting of different attributes indicated strong preferences for Everglades restoration were tempered by concern for the consequences of restoration decisions on municipal water users and agricultural landowners. Multiattribute choice approaches provide a framework to integrate the work of natural and social scientists in adaptive management of ecosystem restoration planning and to provide better information for resource managers about public preferences for different types and levels of restoration.

Simulation of gum naval stores production systems

Stormwater detention areas (SDAs) play an important role in treating end-of-the-farm runoff in phosphorous (P) limited agroecosystems. Phosphorus transport from the SDAs, including those through subsurface pathways, are not well understood. The prevailing understanding of these systems assumes that biogeochemical processes play the primary treatment role and that subsurface losses can be neglected. Water and P fluxes from a SDA located in a row-crop farm were measured for two years (2009-2011) to assess the SDAs role in reducing downstream P loads. The SDA treated 55% (497kg) and 95% (205kg) of the incoming load during Year 1 (Y1, 09-10) and Year 2 (Y2, 10-11), respectively. These treatment efficiencies were similar to surface water volumetric retention (49% in Y1 and 84% in Y2) and varied primarily with rainfall. Similar water volume and P retentions indicate that volume retention is the main process controlling P loads. A limited role of biogeochemical processes was supported by low to no remaining soil P adsorption capacity due to long-term drainage P input. The fact that outflow P concentrations (Y1=368.3μg L-1, Y2=230.4μg L-1) could be approximated by using a simple mixing of rainfall and drainage P input further confirmed the near inert biogeochemical processes. Subsurface P losses through groundwater were 304kg (27% of inflow P) indicating that they are an important source for downstream P. Including subsurface P losses reduces the treatment efficiency to 35% (from 61%). The aboveground biomass in the SDA contained 42% (240kg) of the average incoming P load suggesting that biomass harvesting could be a cost-effective alternative for reviving the role of biogeochemical processes to enhance P treatment in aged, P-saturated SDAs. The 20-year present economic value of P removal through harvesting was estimated to be