The Adaptation for Conservation Targets (ACT) Framework: A Tool for Incorporating Climate Change into Natural Resource Management

As natural resource management agencies and conservation organizations seek guidance on responding to climate change, myriad potential actions and strategies have been proposed for increasing the long-term viability of some attributes of natural systems. Managers need practical tools for selecting among these actions and strategies to develop a tailored management approach for specific targets at a given location. We developed and present one such tool, the participatory Adaptation for Conservation Targets (ACT) framework, which considers the effects of climate change in the development of management actions for particular species, ecosystems and ecological functions. Our framework is based on the premise that effective adaptation of management to climate change can rely on local knowledge of an ecosystem and does not necessarily require detailed projections of climate change or its effects. We illustrate the ACT framework by applying it to an ecological function in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, USA)-water flows in the upper Yellowstone River. We suggest that the ACT framework is a practical tool for initiating adaptation planning, and for generating and communicating specific management interventions given an increasingly altered, yet uncertain, climate.     

Evaluation of alternative filter media for particulate matter emission testing of residential wood heating devices

The performance of Teflon-coated glass fiber filter media (Pallflex Emfab TX40) is evaluated for particulate matter (PM) sampling of residential wood heating devices in a dilution tunnel. Thirty samples of varying duration and PM loading and concentration were collected from an U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Method 28 dilution tunnel using dual Method 5G sample trains with untreated glass fiber and Emfab filters. Filters were weighed soon after the end of sampling and again the next day after equilibration at 35% relative humidity (RH). PM concentrations from both types of filters agreed very well with 1-day equilibration, demonstrating that Emfab filters are appropriate for use in measuring PM from residential wood burning appliances in a dilution tunnel and have performance equal to or better than the glass fiber filter media. Agreement between filter media without equilibration was erratic, with PM from glass fiber filter samples varying from slightly less than the Emfab samples to as much as 2.8 times higher. Some of the glass fiber filters lost substantial mass with equilibration, with the highest percent loss at lower filter mass loadings. Mass loss for Emfab samples was a small percentage of the mass and very consistent across the range of mass loadings. Taken together, these results may indicate water uptake on the glass fiber media that is readily removed with 1-day equilibration at moderate RH conditions.

Implications: EPA regulations now allow the use of either glass fiber or Teflon filter media for wood appliance PM emission testing. Teflon filter media minimizes the potential for acid-gas PM artifacts on glass fiber filters; this is important as EPA moves toward the use of locally sourced cordwood for testing that may have higher sulfur content. This work demonstrates that the use of Teflon-coated glass fiber filters can give similar PM measurement results to glass fiber filters after 1 day of equilibration. With no equilibration, measured PM from glass fiber filters was usually higher than from Teflon-coated glass fiber filters.     

Mapping divergent concepts of sustainability: lay knowledge,local practices and environmental governance

This paper examines local sustainability concepts in Connemara, a predominantly rural region in the West of Ireland (in this paper, the term “Ireland” refers to the Republic of Ireland), to show how they are (re-)constituted through people's interactions with social and biophysical environments. We argue that these interactions produce diverse forms of lay environmental knowledge and expertise that encompass cognitive and emotional aspects, a fact that is frequently ignored in environmental policy-making which prioritises rational arguments over reactions rooted in people's sense of place and community. Local people's responses to this dominance of “official” rational-technical sustainability concepts are central to recent cases of environmental controversy and lack of compliance to environmental policies that have characterised the study area but that show many parallels to conflicts and disputes elsewhere. Drawing on rich qualitative evidence from interviews and ethnographic fieldwork, this paper demonstrates how communities' responses to environmental policies depend on how well (or poorly) sustainability concepts underpinning these policies match local people's social-ecological practices and related place-specific views of what should be sustained.     

Screening Approach for Principal Organic Hazardous Constituents and Products of Incomplete Combustion

The body of information presented in this paper is directed to those individuals concerned with developing or implementing screening strategies for characterizing organic emissions from incinerators and other combustion sources. The need to characterize hazardous waste incinerator emissions for multiple organic compounds has been steadily increasing for several years. The regulatory approach makes use of a type of indicator compound procedure that concentrates on principal organic hazardous constituents (POHCs). In addition to continuing interest in POHCs, interest has been growing in the types and concentrations of products of incomplete combustion (PICs). Sampling and analysis methods have been developed previously for approximately 225 of the more important POHCs and PICs. These methods may be used as components of a cost-effective screening protocol aimed at maximum characterization of emissions, whether the project budget is large or small. This paper contains a discussion of fundamental principles of several kinds of screening strategies and recommends an approach suitable for incinerators and other combustion sources. The concept of a risk-driven analysis strategy is introduced and illustrated with a simplified example.     

The Anthropocene: From Global Change to Planetary Stewardship

Over the past century, the total material wealth of humanity has been enhanced. However, in the twenty-first century, we face scarcity in critical resources, the degradation of ecosystem services, and the erosion of the planet's capability to absorb our wastes. Equity issues remain stubbornly difficult to solve. This situation is novel in its speed, its global scale and its threat to the resilience of the Earth System. The advent of the Anthropence, the time interval in which human activities now rival global geophysical processes, suggests that we need to fundamentally alter our relationship with the planet we inhabit. Many approaches could be adopted, ranging from geoengineering solutions that purposefully manipulate parts of the Earth System to becoming active stewards of our own life support system. The Anthropocene is a reminder that the Holocene, during which complex human societies have developed, has been a stable, accommodating environment and is the only state of the Earth System that we know for sure can support contemporary society. The need to achieve effective planetary stewardship is urgent. As we go further into the Anthropocene, we risk driving the Earth System onto a trajectory toward more hostile states from which we cannot easily return.     

Particulate composition characteristics under different ambient air quality conditions

Particulate compositions including elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon (OC), water-soluble ionic species, and elemental compositions were investigated during the period from 2004 to 2006 in southern Taiwan. The correlation between the pollutant standard index (PSI) of ambient air quality and the various particle compositions was also addressed in this study. PSI revealed a correlation with fine (r = 0.74) and coarse (r = 0.80) particulate matter (PM). PSI manifested a significant correlation with the amount of analyzed ionic species (r approximately 0.80) in coarse and fine particles and a moderate correlation with carbon content (r = 0.63) in fine particles; however, it showed no correlation with elemental content. Although the ambient air quality ranged from good to moderate, the ionic species including chloride (Cl-), nitrate (NO3-), sulfate (SO4(2-)), sodium (Na+), ammonium (NH4+), magnesium (Mg2+), and calcium (Ca2+) increased significantly (1.5-3.7 times for Daliao and 1.8-6.9 times for Tzouying) in coarse PM. For fine particles, NO3-, SO4(2-), NH4+, and potassium (K+) also increased significantly (1.3-2.4 times for Daliao and 2.8-9.6 times for Tzouying) when the air quality went from good to moderate. For meteorological parameters, temperature evidenced a slightly negative correlation with PM concentration and PSI value, which implied a high PM concentration in the low-temperature condition. This reflects the high frequency of PM episodes in winter and spring in southern Taiwan. In addition, the mixing height increase from 980 to 1450 m corresponds to the air quality condition changing from unhealthy to good.     

Use of isotopic analysis of vertebrae in reconstructing ontogenetic feeding ecology in white sharks

We conducted stable 13C and 15N analysis on white shark vertebrae and demonstrated that incremental analysis of isotopes along the radius of a vertebral centrum produces a chronological record of dietary information, allowing for reconstruction of an individual's trophic history. Isotopic data showed significant enrichments in 15N with increasing sampling distance from the centrum center, indicating a correlation between body size and trophic level. Additionally, isotopic values verified two distinct ontogenetic trophic shifts in the white shark: one following parturition, marking a dietary switch from yolk to fish; and one at a total length of >341 cm, representing a known diet shift from fish to marine mammals. Retrospective trophic-level reconstruction using vertebral tissue will have broad applications in future studies on the ecology of threatened, endangered, or extinct species to determine life-long feeding patterns, which would be impossible through other methods.