The Great Recession or progressive energy policies? Explaining the decline in US greenhouse gas emissions forecasts

This paper evaluates the causes of the 23% decline in 2030 US greenhouse gas emissions forecasts between 2007 and 2011. Dynamic regression modeling predicts that the Great Recession contributed to about 67% of the 2008–2009 emissions decline, but then fell to about an 18% share for the 2030 emissions forecast. An analysis of electricity generation forecasts show that switching from coal to gas contributed only 6% to the total 2030 decline. In contrast, regulatory impact assessments and policy analysis showed that state and federal policies were responsible for 46% of the 2030 decline in emissions.     

New insight into defining the lakes of the southern Baltic coastal zone

There exist many classification systems of hydrographic entities such as lakes found along the coastlines of seas and oceans. Each system has its advantages and can be used with some success in the area of protection and management. This paper aims to evaluate whether the studied lakes are only coastal lakes or rather bodies of water of a completely different hydrological and hydrochemical nature. The attempt to create a new classification system of Polish coastal lakes is related to the incompleteness of lake information in existing classifications. Thus far, the most frequently used are classifications based solely on lake basin morphogenesis or hydrochemical properties. The classifications in this paper are based not only on the magnitude of lake water salinity or hydrochemical analysis but also on isolation from the Baltic Sea and other sources of water. The key element of the new classification system for coastal bodies of water is a departure from the existing system used to classify lakes in Poland and the introduction of ion-“tracking” methods designed to identify anion and cation distributions in each body of water of interest. As a result of the work, a new classification of lakes of the southern Baltic Sea coastal zone was created. Featured objects such as permanently brackish lakes, brackish lakes that may turn into freshwater lakes from time to time, freshwater lakes that may turn into brackish lakes from time to time, freshwater lakes that experience low levels of salinity due to specific incidents, and permanently freshwater lakes. The authors have adopted 200 mg Cl^? dm^?3 as a maximum value of lake water salinity. There are many conditions that determine the membership of a lake to a particular group, but the most important is the isolation lakes from the Baltic Sea. Changing a condition may change the classification of a lake.     

Global change impacts on the Upper Danube Catchment (Central Europe): a study of participatory modeling

Participatory modeling (PM) has become an essential concept in environmental impact assessment and planning in the field of water resources. In this paper, we focus on the use of PM to support the development of the integrated regional modeling system DANUBIA as a scientific concept to analyze the previously unknown impacts of global change, i.e., the combined effects of climate, demographic, economic, social and ecological change, on the Upper Danube Catchment (Germany). We use this case study to examine the specific conditions for PM in the field of complex integrated models on a regional scale. We describe the stepwise PM process and discuss the respective results, focusing on (1) the stakeholder dialogue’s contribution in supporting the development of new, complex modeling systems, particularly on a regional scale, (2) conditions of stakeholder involvement in issues related to the distant future, such as climate change impacts on regional water availability, and (3) limitations of PM and scientists’ motivation to carry out participatory research at all. We conclude that the PM process was not entirely successful in improving the scientific quality and practical applicability of the developed models because the process goals were manifold and overambitious, and the definition of the problem of “global change impacts on a regional scale” was too weak and uncertain to allow for a clear common objective of modelers and stakeholders. We claim that there is a lack of incentives for scientists, particularly natural scientists, to commit to PM activities.     

A method to determine in situ zooplankton grazing rates on natural particle assemblages

In situ zooplankton grazing rates on natural particle assemblages were stimated by measuring zooplankton uptake of labelled autotrophic (with Na¹⁴CO₃) and heterotrophic (with [methyl-³H]-thymidine) particulate matter in 1-h incubations in clear, Plexiglas, Haney chambers. The in situ grazing rates are in the same range as those measured for zooplankton in the laboratory using standard particle counting techniques. A negative selection coefficient for ³H-labelled particles indicated a lower filtration efficiency or avoidance of these particles by zooplankton.     

Prospects and limitations of phytoremediation for the removal of persistent pesticides in the environment

The environmental problems that have arisen from the use of persistent pesticides in the past, and potential sources of further contamination have been discussed. The potential and limitations of phytoremediation for removal of pesticides in the environment have been reviewed. The enzymatic processes in plants that are known to be involved in phytodegradation of pesticides, and possibilities for enhancing them have also been discussed.     

Territorial meadow pipit males (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Anthus pratensis</Emphasis>; Passeriformes) become more aggressive in female presence

Although mate guarding as prevention of extra-pair copulation is common among birds, evidence for aggressive behaviour involving physical contact related to mate guarding in passerines is scarce and cases of the presence of one partner directly influencing the aggressiveness of the other are lacking. We investigated the intra-specific territorial behaviour of male meadow pipits (Anthus pratensis; Passeriformes: Motacillidae) at the beginning of the breeding season by placing a pipit model accompanied by an intra-specific song playback in the territory of socially paired males and compared the responses of males whose mates were physically present during trials with those whose females were out of sight. The level of aggression of males was significantly higher in the presence of the female; half of the males in this group physically attacked the model (the most intense and risky aggressive behaviour). Physical attacks did not occur among males whose female was absent during the trial; response to the playback by most of these males was only weak. This pattern may be related to the prevention of extra-pair copulation; if the risks involved in the conflict are outweighed by potential loss of paternity, such aggressive mate guarding may pay off. The apparently overlooked effect on the territorial behaviour of a partner’s passive physical presence during conflict should be further evaluated because it may be important for the design and interpretation of results of behavioural experiments.     

Vascular function and short-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution

Exposure to fine particulate air pollution has been implicated as a risk factor for cardiopulmonary disease and mortality. Proposed biological pathways imply that particle-induced pulmonary and systemic inflammation play a role in activating the vascular endothelium and altering vascular function. Potential effects of fine particulate pollution on vascular function are explored using controlled chamber exposure and uncontrolled ambient exposure. Research subjects included four panels with a total of 26 healthy nonsmoking young adults. On two study visits, at least 7 days apart, subjects spent 3 hr in a controlled-exposure chamber exposed to 150-200 microg/m3 of fine particles generated from coal or wood combustion and 3 hr in a clean room, with exposure and nonexposure periods alternated between visits. Baseline, postexposure, and post-clean room reactive hyperemia-peripheral arterial tonometry (RH-PAT) was conducted. A microvascular responsiveness index, defined as the log of the RH-PAT ratio, was calculated. There was no contemporaneous vascular response to the few hours of controlled exposure. Declines in vascular response were associated with elevated ambient exposures for the previous 2 days, especially for female subjects. Cumulative exposure to real-life fine particulate pollution may affect vascular function. More research is needed to determine the roles of age and gender, the effect of pollution sources, the importance of cumulative exposure over a few days versus a few hours, and the lag time between exposure and response.     

Antifungal efficacy of some natural phenolic compounds against significant pathogenic and toxinogenic filamentous fungi

In terms of food safety, species of the Fusarium, Aspergillus and Penicillium genera are considered the most significant because they produce the great majority of known mycotoxins. Developing resistance against commonly used fungicides have become a critical problem in area such as agriculture, the storage and production of food and even in human medicines. The need for research and development of new alternative antifungal treatment based on natural antifungal substances is obvious. Here, the antifungal efficacy of 21 phenolic components of essential oils and plant substances were tested against these filamentous fungi with respect to their different molecular structures. Minimum inhibitory concentration values MIC₅₀ and MIC₁₀₀ were successfully estimated for 15 substances by means of probit analysis. Thymol and carvacrol were evaluated as the most effective. The MIC₅₀ values for thymol ranged from 30 to 52 μg mL⁻¹. The MIC₁₀₀ values for thymol ranged from 76 to 255 μg mL⁻¹, respectively. For carvacrol, the MIC₅₀ values ranged from 37 to 76 μg mL⁻¹, and the MIC₁₀₀ ranged from 131 to 262 μg mL⁻¹. The results also revealed differences in the efficacy of phenols depending on molecular structures and different inter-species sensitivity.     

The effect of deoxynivalenol on the secretion activity,proliferation and apoptosis of porcine ovarian granulosa cells in vitro

The aim of this in vitro study was to examine the secretion activity, markers of proliferation and apoptosis in porcine ovarian granulosa cells (GCs) after deoxynivalenol (DON) addition. Ovarian granulosa cells were incubated with DON for 24h: 10, 100 and 1000 ng/mL, while the control group received no DON. The secretion of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF–I) and progesterone was determined by radioimmunoassay (RIA) and expression of cyclin B1, PCNA and caspase-3 by immunocytochemistry. IGF–I release by GCs was inhibited by DON, while progesterone release and the expression of cyclin B1 was stimulated by DON (at 1000 ng/mL but not at 10 and 100 ng/mL). PCNA expression was stimulated by DON (at 100 and 1000 ng/mL but not at 10 ng/mL). Caspase-3 expression was not influenced by DON treatment (at all doses). In conclusion, our results indicate, (1) a direct effect of DON on secretion of growth factor IGF-I and steroid hormone progesterone, (2) expression of markers of proliferation (cyclin B1 and PCNA) but not on the (3) expression of marker of apoptosis (caspase-3) in porcine ovarian granulosa cells. This in vitro study suggests the dose-dependent association of DON on porcine ovarian functions.