The Optical Evaluation of Smoke or Participate Matter Collected on Filter Paper

Many food, fiber, forage, and forest crops and a number of animals are adversely affected by a variety of air pollutants. The more important and generally occurring of these pollutants are ethylene, fluorides, ozone, peroxyacyl nitrates (PAN), and sulfur oxides. Their effects upon animals and plants can best be judged by criteria which describe the reaction of biologic materials to pollutant concentration and exposure time. Four criteria are recognized: (1) interference with enzyme systems; (2) change in cellular chemical constituents and physical structure; (3) retardation of growth and reduction in production from altered metabolism; and (4) acute immediate tissue degeneration. Information on tissue degenerative effects due to these pollutants is the most common; there are some reports on growth and productivity reduction; but little data are available on cellular alterations and interference with enzymes. Determination and measurement of the latter two criteria are essential to the ultimate definition and prediction of the significance of the effects of pollutants on growth and productivity of agriculture. Dosage data are available which indicate the degenerative effects of some specific pollutants on certain tissues of hosts. Political-social judgments can be made because of the knowledge of the effects of these specific pollutants; this knowledge thus permits the establishment of standards which define air quality necessary for the protection of agriculture. The importance of combined pollutant effects mitigates against the ready setting of standards on an airshed or significant regional basis. The setting of standards for a single polluiant effects upon crops and animals effectively serves as a precedent and indicates the necessity of establishing air quality values for pollutant mixtures emitted into and produced within the air resource at different geographic locations as the polluted air moves throughout the typically multigovernment jurisdictions of the airsheds.     

Methane balance of a bioreactor landfill in Latin America

This paper presents results from a methane (CH4) gas emission characterization survey conducted at the Loma Los Colorados landfill located 60 km from Santiago, Chile. The landfill receives approximately 1 million metric tons (t) of waste annually, and is equipped with leachate control systems and landfill gas collection systems. The collected leachate is recirculated to enable operation of the landfill as a bioreactor. For this study, conducted between April and July 2000, a total of 232 surface emission measurements were made over the 23-ha surface area of the landfill. The average surface flux rate of CH4 emissions over the landfill surface was 167 g x m(-2) x day(-1), and the total quantity of surface emissions was 13,320 t/yr. These values do not include the contribution made by "hot spots," originating from leachate pools caused by "daylighting" of leachate, that were identified on the landfill surface and had very high CH4 emission rates. Other point sources of CH4 emissions at this landfill include 20 disconnected gas wells that vent directly to the atmosphere. Additionally, there are 13 gas wells connected to an incinerator responsible for destroying 84 t/yr of CH4. The balance also includes CH4 that is being oxidized on the surface of the landfill by meth-anotrophic bacteria. Including all sources, except leachate pool emissions, the emissions were estimated to be 14,584 t/yr CH4. It was estimated that less than 1% of the gas produced by the decomposition of waste was captured by the gas collection system and 38% of CH4 generated was emitted to the atmosphere through the soil cover.     

Are Irrigators Different from Dryland Operators? Insights from a Comparative Study in Australia

Social researchers tasked with advising practitioners on effective stakeholder engagement often develop typologies that distinguish operators on key attributes. We build on emerging research exploring the efficacy of occupational identity by investigating a potentially important difference among rural landholders that, to our knowledge, remains untested: irrigated operations and dryland operations. Using primary data collected from a large sample of operators in the North Central region of Victoria, Australia, we compared irrigators with dryland operators across a range of characteristics, controlling for the influence of occupational identity. We find evidence that irrigators tend to hold a stronger business orientation toward their properties and that dryland operators tend to hold stronger environmental concerns. But, it is important not to overdraw contrasts on business‐environment tradeoffs. Both place value on financial aspects of their properties and both hold environmental concerns. But, the especially close coupling of life and work among irrigators encourage a stronger orientation toward farming, and the natural resource base, as a means of sustaining livelihoods. We discuss the implications of the findings for future research and for stakeholder engagement efforts.     

Use of benzo[a]pyrene relative abundance ratios to assess exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the ambient atmosphere in the vicinity of a Söderberg aluminum smelter

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) relative abundance ratios (RARs) to assess exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the urban atmospheric air in the vicinity of a horizontal stud S?derberg aluminum reduction facility. The B[a]P RARs refer to the concentration of individual PAHs measured in a given sample divided by the concentration of B[a]P found in the same sample. This study compared the B[a]P RARs calculated for the facility stack and three sites near the S?derberg aluminum smelter for three different sampling periods. Interperiod differences were significant for many of the PAHs, and the differences between the stations proved insignificant at p < 0.05. The differences between each individual station and the facility stack were significant for all PAHs. B[a]P RARs increased in value at the stations compared with the stack, indicating that B[a]P may be degraded or removed from the atmosphere at a rate greater than that of the majority of the measured PAHs. It is concluded that B[a]P and B[a]P RARs may be poor markers of exposure to PAHs in the vicinity of this S?derberg aluminum refinery for the entire mixture of PAHs present in the ambient atmosphere.     

USE OF DYE TRACERS TO COLLECT HYDROLOGIC DATA IN OREGON1

Dye tracers have been used in Oregon in the Collection of hydrologic data on 2,350 miles of stream channels in the Long Tom, Umpqua, Willmette, and John Day River basins, and in the Carmen-Smith power tunnel. These investigations demonstrated the usefulness, of dye tracers for determining: (1) estimates of traveltimes and travel rates of water, (2) discharge where standard methods of measuring are not applicable, and (3) dispersion characteristics of streams. Illustrations are used to present the results of time-of-travel studies in simple, concise, and readily interpreted form.     

Concentrations of two organic contaminants in precipitation, soils and plants in the Essex region of Southern Ontario

Recent research has indicated that the atmosphere is an important pathway by which pollutants enter terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. We report here concentrations of PCBs and octachlorostyrene (OCS) in precipitation, soils and plants in Essex County, Ontario. The average PCB concentration in urban precipitation (23 ng litre(-1)) was lower than that previously reported for urban areas in the Great Lakes basin. Differences between sites and with varying wind directions were not significant. OCS concentrations in precipitation averaged 1.6 ng litre(-1). Concentrations of PCBs in soils were 2-3 orders of magnitude greater than in precipitation. Concentrations of these pollutants in city soils and plant roots were consistently higher than those from suburban and rural sites. Ratios of urban to suburban concentrations in soils and precipitation were approximately 5:1 for PCBs. However, concentrations of OCS were similar in urban and suburban samples of precipitation, soils and plant tissues. These comparisons suggest an urban source for PCBs, but not OCS. Concentrations of all contaminants in plant leaves, unlike those in precipitation, roots and soils, were relatively similar in urban and suburban areas. That similarity suggests that direct foliar uptake is not an important pathway for pollutant uptake in plants.     

Aquatic microcosm assessment of the effects of tylosin on Lemna gibba and Myriophyllum spicatum

Tylosin is a macrolide antibiotic commonly used for therapeutic treatment and prophylaxis in livestock. As part of a larger ecotoxicological study, the potential phytotoxic effects of tylosin on the rooted macrophyte Myriophyllum spicatum and the floating macrophyte Lemna gibba were assessed under semi-field conditions using 15 12 000-L microcosms. Concentrations of 0, 10, 30, 300 microg/L (n = 3), and 600, 1000, and 3000 microg/L (n = 1) were evaluated as part of separate ANOVA and regression analyses over an exposure period of 35 days. Fate of tylosin was monitored over time in the highest three treatments, where dissipation followed pseudo-first order kinetics with associated half-lives ranging from 9 to 10 days. For both M. spicatum and L. gibba, tylosin was found to cause no biologically significant changes to any endpoint assessed compared to controls at a Type I error rate of 0.1. However, subsequent power analyses revealed that there was generally insufficient power to declare that there were no significant differences at a Type II error rate of 0.2. Conclusions concerning biologically significant impacts were therefore further assessed based on other statistical criteria including comparisons of percent differences between replicated treatments and controls, minimum significant and minimum detectable differences, and coefficients of variation. Based on these criteria, at an ecological effect size of >20% change, tylosin was concluded to elicit no biologically or ecologically significant toxicity to M. spicatum or L. gibba. A hazard quotient assessment indicated that tylosin poses little risk to either species of macrophyte, with an HQ value calculated to be nearly three orders of magnitude below 1 (0.002).