Changing corporate environmental philosophy: Project renewal gets companies started

Project RENEWAL is an innovative new environmental business project taking place in New Jersey. Project RENEWAL stands for Resource Efficiency Network to Eliminate Waste and Liability. The purpose of this project is to investigate and promote the linkages between ecology, technology, and business economics for the benefit of the economy and the environment. This is a collaborative effort, initially focused on equipment and inventory assets, between the business and environmental communities in order to explore new ways to increase business efficiency and profitability and also benefit the environment. Participants in the project include representatives from industry, consulting, local and state government, environmental agencies, trade groups and academia. This article will outline the background and initial framework of Project RENEWAL's initiatives. (The authors are open to comments, suggestions, criticism, and most importantly input from others who share their vision and are willing to cooperatively accelerate the change process).     

EIA training courses organized by the centre for environmental management and planning,University of Aberdeen: An analysis of experience

In 1980, the World Health Organization (Regional Office for Europe) invited The Centre for Environmental Management and Planning (CEMP) to organize a two-week training course on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to provide a comprehensive introduction to EIA with emphasis on methods and techniques for impact identification, prediction and assessment. Not suprisingly the topic of environmental health impact assessment was to be a major focus. Since 1980, the course has been held each year at the University of Aberdeen. An analysis of participation in the course during its first five years yields several impressions about the success of this training effort and the ways in which it might be improved.     

Spatial Relationships Between Water Quality and Pesticide Application Rates in Agricultural Watersheds

Pesticide applications to agricultural lands in California, USA, are reported to a central data base, while data on water and sediment quality are collected by a number of monitoring programs. Data from both sources are geo-referenced, allowing spatial analysis of relationships between pesticide application rates and the chemical and biological condition of water bodies. This study collected data from 12 watersheds, selected to represent a range of pesticide usage. Water quality parameters were measured during six surveys of stream sites receiving runoff from the selected watershed areas. This study had three objectives: to evaluate the usefulness of pesticide application data in selecting regional monitoring sites, to provide information for generating and testing hypotheses about pesticide fate and effects, and to determine whether in-stream nitrate concentration was a useful surrogate indicator for regional monitoring of toxic substances. Significant correlations were observed between pesticide application rates and in-stream pesticide concentrations (p < 0.05) and toxicity (p < 0.10). In-stream nitrate concentrations were not significantly correlated with either the amount of pesticides applied, in-stream pesticide concentrations, or in-stream toxicity (all p > 0.30). Neither total watershed area nor the area in which pesticide usage was reported correlated significantly with the amount of pesticides applied, in-stream pesticide concentrations, or in-stream toxicity (all p > 0.14). In-stream pesticide concentrations and effects were more closely related to the intensity of pesticide use than to the area under cultivation.     

Using three-dimensional surface area to compare the growth of two Pocilloporid coral species

Many facets of coral research require coral colony surface area estimates. This study developed a relationship between the two-dimensional (2D) projected area and the three-dimensional (3D) whole colony surface area for two commonly studied Indo-Pacific coral species: Pocillopora damicornis and Stylophora pistillata. The surface index function was used to measure the growth of colonies in situ around Heron reef on the southern Great Barrier Reef. The results show that while growth between the two species was not significantly different when measured in two dimensions, the 3D area showed significantly different growth rates with S. pistillata growing at almost double the rate of P. damicornis. The study demonstrates that it is possible to make reliable estimates of the 3D surface area of entire colonies of these complex branching coral species, using the plan view of the coral and a pre-determined surface index function. In addition, this study shows that the 3D surface area provides a more useful measure of colony growth than the traditional methods of either 2D area or longest dimension.     

Temperature, salinity and prey availability shape the marine migration of Arctic char, Salvelinus alpinus, in a macrotidal estuary

The influence of salinity, temperature and prey availability on the marine migration of anadromous fishes was determined by describing the movements, habitat use and feeding behaviours of Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus). The objectives were to determine whether char are restricted to the upper water column of the inter-/subtidal zones due to warmer temperatures. Twenty-seven char were tracked with acoustic temperature/pressure (depth) transmitters from June to September, 2008/2009, in inner Frobisher Bay, Canada. Most detections were in surface waters (0–3 m). Inter-/subtidal movements and consecutive repetitive dives (maximum 52.8 m) resulted in extreme body temperature shifts (−0.2–18.1 °C). Approximately half of intertidal and subtidal detections were between 9–13 °C and 1–3 °C, respectively. Stomach contents and deep diving suggested feeding in both inter-/subtidal zones. We suggest that char tolerate cold water at depth to capture prey in the subtidal zone, then seek warmer water to enhance feeding/digestion physiology.     

Losses of surface runoff, total solids, and nitrogen during bermudagrass establishment on levee embankments

Nutrient and sediment runoff from newly constructed levee embankments pose a threat to water quality during soft armor vegetation establishment. Research was initiated in 2008 and 2009 to evaluate the effect of bermudagrass ( L.) coverage and N source on nutrient and sediment runoff from levee embankments during establishment. Bermudagrass plots were seeded at 195.3 kg pure live seed ha and fertilized at 50 kg N ha using a water-soluble N source, urea or NH-NO, or slow-release N source, S-coated urea (SCU) or urea formaldehyde (UF), with controls unfertilized. Vegetative cover percentage, time until the onset of runoff, runoff volume, and total solids (TS), NO-N, and NH-N concentrations were measured from simulated and natural rainfall events for 70 d in 2008 and 56 d in 2009. Bermudagrass at 90% grass cover delayed the onset of runoff an additional 441 to 538 s and reduced runoff volumes 74 to 84% of that exhibited at 10% grass cover. Nitrogen fertilizers did not accelerate bermudagrass growth sufficiently, however, to reduce TS loading compared with unfertilized bermudagrass in either year of the study. The application of urea and SCU resulted in cumulative N losses of 2.45 and 3.13 kg ha compared with 1.59 kg ha from the unfertilized bermudagrass in 2008, and 1.73 kg ha from NH-NO vs. 0.24 kg ha from controls in 2009. Only UF increased bermudagrass establishment without increasing cumulative N losses compared with unfertilized bermudagrass. Therefore, the benefit of greater erosion and runoff resistance expected from N-accelerated vegetative growth did not occur but had the unintended consequence of higher N losses when water-soluble N and SCU fertilizers were applied.