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Transdisciplinary researchers collaborate with diverse partners outside of academia to tackle sustainability problems. The patterns and practices of social interaction and the contextual nature of transdisciplinary research result in different performance expectations than traditional, curiosity-driven research. Documenting patterns of interaction can inform project success and affirm progress toward interim outcomes on the way to achieve sustainability impacts. Yet providing credible and robust indicators of research activity remains challenging. We provide quantitative and qualitative indicators for assessing transdisciplinary practices and patterns through social network analysis (SNA). Our assessment developed four criteria to reveal how SNA metrics provide insight into (1) diversity of participants; (2) whether and how integration and collaboration are occurring, (3) the relative degrees of network stability and fragility, and (4) how the network is structured to achieve its goals. These four key criteria can be used to help identify patterns of research activity and determine whether interim progress is occurring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors reflects on the expansion on the oil sands industry in Canada which has caused land destruction and social fraction in the country. They mention that Oil sands development is Canada's fastest growing source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. They state that by honouring treaty commitments made with indigenous peoples Canada could become a leader in climate governance.

Predicting the ecological consequences of declining biodiversity is an urgent challenge, particularly in freshwater habitats where species declines and losses are among the highest. Small-scale experiments suggest potential ecosystem responses to losses of species, but definitive conclusions require verification at larger scales. We measured ecosystem metabolism and used whole-ecosystem stable isotope tracer additions to quantify nitrogen cycling in a tropical headwater stream before and after the sudden loss of amphibians to the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Tadpoles are normally dominant grazers in such streams, where greater than 18 species may co-occur and densities often exceed 50 individuals m. Loss of 98% of tadpole biomass corresponded with greater than 2× increases in algae and fine detritus biomass in the stream and a greater than 50% reduction in nitrogen uptake rate. Nitrogen turnover rates in suspended and deposited organic sediments were also significantly lower after the decline. As a consequence, the stream cycled nitrogen less rapidly, and downstream exports of particulate N were reduced. Whole stream respiration was significantly lower following the decline, indicating less biological activity in the stream sediments. Contrary to our predictions, biomass of grazing invertebrates, or any invertebrate functional groups, did not increase over 2 years following loss of tadpoles. Thus, reductions in ecosystem processes linked to the amphibian decline were not compensated for by other, functionally redundant consumers. Declining animal biodiversity has ecosystem-level consequences that may not be offset by ecological redundancy, even in biologically diverse regions such as the Neotropics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thirty-two RSV strains recovered during the winter months of 1987/88 to 1993/94 from hospitalized children in Vienna, Austria and Zagreb, Croatia were analysed for antigenic and genetic variations. Twenty-nine of the 32 isolates investigated belonged to group A and 3 to group B, with the majority of infections caused by subgroup A1 (21 of 29). Restriction endonuclease mapping of PCR products derived from parts of the N and G gene of 18 group A strains identified 3 distinct lineages, very similar to those defined by analysis of recurrent epidemics in Birmingham, United Kingdom during the same period. Results of this study povide further information on the global pattern of RSV and show that very similar viruses are present simultaneously in widely separated areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six different genotypes (designated lineages SHL1-6) of human respiratory syncytial (RS) virus have been defined by partial nucleotide sequence analysis of the variable SH and the hypervariable G membrane protein genes, and by restriction fragment analysis of the conserved N protein gene of viruses isolated in south Birmingham. Viruses of very similar genotype appear to be present worldwide at the present time. We have determined the nucleotide sequences of the fusion protein genes of five viruses isolated in south Birmingham in the same year, but belonging to different lineages, and have compared them with the sequences of four subgroup A viruses isolated at earlier times from diverse localities. The sequence diversity of the F genes of these five viruses, as measured by nucleotide (94.5-98.5%) and inferred amino acid (97.0-99.3%) identities, is comparable with that of the nine subgroup A viruses considered as a whole. No sequence changes occur in any of the sites of known epitopes. Comparison of the nine subgroup A sequences with the published sequences of a subgroup B strain and three bovine RS viruses confirms that the F protein sequences are most divergent in the F region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The identification of these host factors, the mechanism of transition of polymerase activity from transcription to replication, and the structure of the L protein gene remain outstanding problems in rhabdovirus research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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