title: Quiet Activists - Environmental Values and Value Adjustment in Environmental Policy Advisors

authors: Grübmeyer, Sonja Felicitas

subjects: Environment

abstract: In this thesis, I investigate the influence of environmental values on the work of environmental policy advisors in a regional council in New Zealand and the influence on the institutional values of their work environment on their personal environmental values.

Values are relatively stable concepts of socially acquired beliefs and norms that influence the perception and behaviour of humans and are organised in interdependent and dynamic structures that can be changed through social experiences. Environmental values are partly responsible for environmentally friendly behaviour, which encompasses a variety of activities and even lifestyle choices. 

People, who have chosen to work in the environmental sector are exposed to environmental values through working for institutions that represent environmentally friendly principles. By working in an environmental context, environmental values can get changed by social interaction, which can lead to an adjustment or approximation to the dominant notion of environmental values within the workplace (Finegan, 2000) 

Although policy advice is expected to be a neutral and objective task, statements are still written by persons with an individual opinion that, although suppressed, represents the values of the writer (Heineman, Bluhm, Peterson,  Keary, 2002). It is therefore likely that the whole process of evaluating information and preparing a policy recommendation is influenced by the values of the policy advisor.

My findings indicate that environmental values of employees get adjusted to the institution's environmental values through their work. This happens through a merging of their private environmental values into their professional values, through  processes of adjustment. This change not only results in identification with the job but also presents a way to circumvent possible value conflicts in the work environment. 

The policy process involves a number of stages where information is re-evaluated and discussed to fit the formal and structural requirements of policy making under the  Resource Management Act, which is done in collaboration with others. This leads to a social construction of values that are represented in collaboratively developed policy recommendation. 

In my conclusion, I show that policy advisors at regional government level use. in New Zealand have environmental values, use them for environmental protection, and adjust them to work more efficiently for the environment within a public service organisation. The use of their environmental values by the participants show that they are environmentalists and do what environmentalists do, but in a quiet, unobtrusive way.

text: Quiet Activists - Environmental Values and Value Adjustment in Environmental Policy Advisors In this thesis, I investigate the influence of environmental values on the work of environmental policy advisors in a regional council in New Zealand and the influence on the institutional values of their work environment on their personal environmental values.

Values are relatively stable concepts of socially acquired beliefs and norms that influence the perception and behaviour of humans and are organised in interdependent and dynamic structures that can be changed through social experiences. Environmental values are partly responsible for environmentally friendly behaviour, which encompasses a variety of activities and even lifestyle choices. 

People, who have chosen to work in the environmental sector are exposed to environmental values through working for institutions that represent environmentally friendly principles. By working in an environmental context, environmental values can get changed by social interaction, which can lead to an adjustment or approximation to the dominant notion of environmental values within the workplace (Finegan, 2000) 

Although policy advice is expected to be a neutral and objective task, statements are still written by persons with an individual opinion that, although suppressed, represents the values of the writer (Heineman, Bluhm, Peterson,  Keary, 2002). It is therefore likely that the whole process of evaluating information and preparing a policy recommendation is influenced by the values of the policy advisor.

My findings indicate that environmental values of employees get adjusted to the institution's environmental values through their work. This happens through a merging of their private environmental values into their professional values, through  processes of adjustment. This change not only results in identification with the job but also presents a way to circumvent possible value conflicts in the work environment. 

The policy process involves a number of stages where information is re-evaluated and discussed to fit the formal and structural requirements of policy making under the  Resource Management Act, which is done in collaboration with others. This leads to a social construction of values that are represented in collaboratively developed policy recommendation. 

In my conclusion, I show that policy advisors at regional government level use. in New Zealand have environmental values, use them for environmental protection, and adjust them to work more efficiently for the environment within a public service organisation. The use of their environmental values by the participants show that they are environmentalists and do what environmentalists do, but in a quiet, unobtrusive way.

year: 2007

title: Theoretical consequences of trait-based environmental filtering for the breadth and shape of the niche: New testable hypotheses generated by the Traitspace model

authors: Laughlin, Daniel C.

subjects: Community assembly

abstract: Every species on Earth fills a unique environmental niche that is driven, in part, by the process of environmental filtering, where the adaptive value of the functional traits of individuals determine their fitness within the given environmental conditions. Despite its long-standing importance in ecology, theoretical investigations of environmental filtering have lagged behind studies of species interactions and neutral dynamics. A new statistical model of trait-based environmental filtering can be a useful tool for exploring the logical consequences of this process while holding all other processes constant. The model uses the logic of objective Bayesian inference to compute the probabilities of species within different environments using two sources of information: the location and dispersion of species within functional trait space, and the statistical relationship between traits and environmental gradients. By varying key parameters in the model, we highlight several testable hypotheses for trait-based ecology. First, niche breadth decreases as intraspecific trait variation decreases, as the strength of the environmental filter increases, and if the trait values do not enhance fitness in any environmental condition in the landscape. Second, niche shape is determined by the form of the trait-environment relationships, where species with extreme trait values are predicted to dominate at the environmental extremes when traits are linearly related to the environment, species with intermediate trait values generally have a selective advantage across a broader environmental range, and bimodal species response curves can occur independently from negative species interactions. The generality of these modelling results can be tested using empirical data from any ecosystem.

text: Theoretical consequences of trait-based environmental filtering for the breadth and shape of the niche: New testable hypotheses generated by the Traitspace model Every species on Earth fills a unique environmental niche that is driven, in part, by the process of environmental filtering, where the adaptive value of the functional traits of individuals determine their fitness within the given environmental conditions. Despite its long-standing importance in ecology, theoretical investigations of environmental filtering have lagged behind studies of species interactions and neutral dynamics. A new statistical model of trait-based environmental filtering can be a useful tool for exploring the logical consequences of this process while holding all other processes constant. The model uses the logic of objective Bayesian inference to compute the probabilities of species within different environments using two sources of information: the location and dispersion of species within functional trait space, and the statistical relationship between traits and environmental gradients. By varying key parameters in the model, we highlight several testable hypotheses for trait-based ecology. First, niche breadth decreases as intraspecific trait variation decreases, as the strength of the environmental filter increases, and if the trait values do not enhance fitness in any environmental condition in the landscape. Second, niche shape is determined by the form of the trait-environment relationships, where species with extreme trait values are predicted to dominate at the environmental extremes when traits are linearly related to the environment, species with intermediate trait values generally have a selective advantage across a broader environmental range, and bimodal species response curves can occur independently from negative species interactions. The generality of these modelling results can be tested using empirical data from any ecosystem.

year: 2015-07-01

title: Analysis of multibeam sonar data for benthic habitat characterization of the Port of Tauranga, New Zealand.

authors: Boulay, Sebastien O. C.

subjects: Tauranga

abstract: Tauranga Harbour is a mesotidal lagoon located within the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, and is subject to an ongoing maintenance dredging program to remove mud deposits coming from various sources in the catchment. At the southern end of the commercial port, the Tauranga Bridge Marina was built adjacent to the bridge causeway, with 500 floating concrete berths, enclosed by concrete floating breakwaters. It is proposed to convert these floating breakwaters into solid ones to stop waves entering the marina. This is expected to influence tidal circulation around the Tauranga bridge causeway, and potentially affect sedimentation and marine habitats. The region is an important source of "kai moana" (seafood) for local iwi, and is a source of juvenile shellfish for the large beds located on the flood tidal delta and surrounding channels.

This study investigates the impact of the successive harbour constructions on the local sedimentology. The overall goal of the mapping part of this project is to identify and locate the different seabed facies and features within the study site, which may be affected by the sediment transport potentially resulting from the past and future harbour developments. 

To investigate the impacts of the harbour modifications, a habitat-mapping survey using acoustic mapping techniques was undertaken in July and August 2011. The hydrographic survey was simultaneously performed using a multibeam echosounder (Kongsberg-Simrad EM3000) and a Starfish 452F sidescan sonar. The backscatter/imagery data from both systems was then used for habitat mapping, using a combination of Angular Response Analysis and image-based segmentation. An underwater camera survey and seabed sampling were also performed to ground-truth the morphologies identified from the acoustic backscatter analysis. The most recent habitat map was then compared to the previous studies to identify changes in response to the different modifications of the estuary.

text: Analysis of multibeam sonar data for benthic habitat characterization of the Port of Tauranga, New Zealand. Tauranga Harbour is a mesotidal lagoon located within the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, and is subject to an ongoing maintenance dredging program to remove mud deposits coming from various sources in the catchment. At the southern end of the commercial port, the Tauranga Bridge Marina was built adjacent to the bridge causeway, with 500 floating concrete berths, enclosed by concrete floating breakwaters. It is proposed to convert these floating breakwaters into solid ones to stop waves entering the marina. This is expected to influence tidal circulation around the Tauranga bridge causeway, and potentially affect sedimentation and marine habitats. The region is an important source of "kai moana" (seafood) for local iwi, and is a source of juvenile shellfish for the large beds located on the flood tidal delta and surrounding channels.

This study investigates the impact of the successive harbour constructions on the local sedimentology. The overall goal of the mapping part of this project is to identify and locate the different seabed facies and features within the study site, which may be affected by the sediment transport potentially resulting from the past and future harbour developments. 

To investigate the impacts of the harbour modifications, a habitat-mapping survey using acoustic mapping techniques was undertaken in July and August 2011. The hydrographic survey was simultaneously performed using a multibeam echosounder (Kongsberg-Simrad EM3000) and a Starfish 452F sidescan sonar. The backscatter/imagery data from both systems was then used for habitat mapping, using a combination of Angular Response Analysis and image-based segmentation. An underwater camera survey and seabed sampling were also performed to ground-truth the morphologies identified from the acoustic backscatter analysis. The most recent habitat map was then compared to the previous studies to identify changes in response to the different modifications of the estuary.

year: 2012