Linking Cellulose Fiber Sediment Methyl Mercury Levels to Organic Matter Decay and Major Element Composition

Methylation of mercury (Hg) to highly toxic methyl Hg (MeHg), a process known to occur when organic matter (OM) decomposition leads to anoxia, is considered a worldwide threat to aquatic ecosystems and human health. We measured temporal and spatial variations in sediment MeHg, total Hg (THg), and major elements in a freshwater lagoon in Sweden polluted with Hg-laden cellulose fibers. Fiber decomposition, confined to a narrow surface layer, resulted in loss of carbon (C), uptake of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and sulfur (S), and increased MeHg levels. Notably, fiber decomposition and subsequent erosion of fiber residues will cause buried contaminants to gradually come closer to the sediment–water interface. At an adjacent site where decomposed fiber accumulated, there was a gain in C and a loss of S when MeHg increased. As evidenced by correlation patterns and vertical chemical profiles, reduced S may have fueled C-fixation and Hg methylation at this site.     

Effect of ammonoxidation on lignite properties

Oxidised lignite is a potential alternative source of N fertilizers. Ammonoxidation is the reaction of a given substrate with oxygen in aqueous ammonia. Lignite ammonoxidation is used for converting low-rank lignite into slowly nitrogen-releasing artificial humic matter. A lignite sample is compared before and after ammonoxidation in terms of geochemical and petrological properties, as well as the acid–base and physical hydrophobic sorptive behavior. The most obvious change caused by ammonoxidation is the decrease of attrinite, texto-ulminite and textinite in favor mainly of densinite and gelohuminite. In general, the ammonoxidative reactions promote the destruction of the structured humic macerals (texto-ulminite, textinite), and the formation of gels, which resulted in the cementation of the freely fine humic particles (attrinite). The pzc values are 3.4 and 4.3 for oxidised and non-oxidised lignite, respectively. After ammonoxidation the contents of carboxylic and free phenolic groups are found to be lower. The oxidised lignite shows a statistically lower sorptive capacity and affinity than the original sample due to a possible decrease in the hydrophobicity of the lignite.     

Learning in agriculture: building social capital in island communities

Social capital helps communities respond positively to change. Research in agricultural businesses and into managing change through learning in communities has highlighted the importance of relationships between people and the formal and informal infrastructure of communities to the quality of outcomes experienced by communities, businesses and individuals. Communities can be geographic communities—the data drawn on in this paper are from an island community, for example—or communities-of-common-purpose, such as agricultural organisations. This paper reviews research into managing change through learning and social capital, presents a model of the simultaneous building and use of social capital and explores the ways in which learning as part of an agricultural community can be used to bring benefits to geographic communities such as islands. The model presented in this paper stems from studies of the informal learning process that builds resilient communities. It conceptualises the way in which social capital is used and built in interactions between individuals. There are two stages to the model. The first stage depicts social capital at the micro level of one-on-one interactions where it is built and used. The second stage of the model is about the interrelationship of micro-level social capital processes with the community and societal-level social capital resources.     

Developing a circumpolar programme for the monitoring of Arctic terrestrial biodiversity

The Arctic is undergoing biological and environmental changes, and a coordinated effort to monitor is critical to detect these changes. The Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme (CBMP) of the Arctic Council biodiversity working group, Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF), has developed pan-Arctic biodiversity monitoring plans that aims to improve the ability to detect and report on long-term changes. Whilst introducing this special issue, this paper also presents the making of the terrestrial monitoring plan and discusses how the plan follows the steps required for an adaptive and ecosystem-based monitoring programme. In this article, we discuss how data on key findings can be used to inform circumpolar and global assessments, including the State of the Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity Report, which will be the first terrestrial assessment made by the CBMP. Key findings, advice for future monitoring and lessons learned will be used in planning next steps of pan-Arctic coordinated monitoring.     

Status and trends of tundra birds across the circumpolar Arctic

Tundra-breeding birds face diverse conservation challenges, from accelerated rates of Arctic climate change to threats associated with highly migratory life histories. Here we summarise the status and trends of Arctic terrestrial birds (88 species, 228 subspecies or distinct flyway populations) across guilds/regions, derived from published sources, raw data or, in rare cases, expert opinion. We report long-term trends in vital rates (survival, reproduction) for the handful of species and regions for which these are available. Over half of all circumpolar Arctic wader taxa are declining (51% of 91 taxa with known trends) and almost half of all waterfowl are increasing (49% of 61 taxa); these opposing trends have fostered a shift in community composition in some locations. Declines were least prevalent in the African-Eurasian Flyway (29%), but similarly prevalent in the remaining three global flyways (44–54%). Widespread, and in some cases accelerating, declines underscore the urgent conservation needs faced by many Arctic terrestrial bird species.     

From Europe to North America into the world and atmosphere: a short review of global footprints and their impacts and predictions

Humans are now virtually found everywhere in the world. They changed the global nitrogen and phosphate cycles, create light pollution and affect the soundscapes, even in remote wilderness areas. The destruction of the earth and its original habitat is found on land, in the ocean and now, in the atmosphere. Of note are the big impacts from the many small contaminations (e.g., Ott in Sound truth and corporate myths: the legacy of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Dragonfly Sisters Press, Cordova, 2005). The global magnitude of this man-made impact is virtually unprecedented in human history. Indigenous populations lived within earth??s carrying capacity for easily over 10,000?years, and they never caused such global impacts. It is obvious from most metrics that these problems steeply increased during the last 50?years. This suggests that global procedures and policies, and arguably driven by western industrialized countries, cultures and institutions setting the global framework, are affecting sustainability in dramatic ways. Based on documented and public sources, here I show the brief history, European thought, its global expansion, successes and global sustainability failures. There is an inherent and widely acknowledged conflict between growing the gross domestic product (GDP) and biodiversity, and when considering that we all live on one finite world. Works by Daly, Diamond, Flannery, Shtilmark, Leopold and many others make that already widely clear. Our land- and seascapes are currently overcommitted. With an increase of the human population of over 9?billion people in the next 100?years??likely earlier??we are at the very brink of biodiversity and humanity, and of the earth as we know it. Business as usual, and purely technical and industrial environmental efforts will not help us, and instead, we need a sustainability reform of institutions, education, funding schemes, cultures and society if we want to keep striving, or at least maintain the status quo.     

Arctic terrestrial biodiversity status and trends: A synopsis of science supporting the CBMP State of Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity Report

Ambio - This review provides a synopsis of the main findings of individual papers in the special issue Terrestrial Biodiversity in a Rapidly Changing Arctic. The special issue was developed to...     

The Bayesian conditional independence model for measurement error: applications in ecology

The measurement error model is a well established statistical method for regression problems in medical sciences, although rarely used in ecological studies. While the situations in which it is appropriate may be less common in ecology, there are instances in which there may be benefits in its use for prediction and estimation of parameters of interest. We have chosen to explore this topic using a conditional independence model in a Bayesian framework using a Gibbs sampler, as this gives a great deal of flexibility, allowing us to analyse a number of different models without losing generality. Using simulations and two examples, we show how the conditional independence model can be used in ecology, and when it is appropriate.     

Spatially stratified sampling using auxiliary information for geostatistical mapping

This paper presents a method of spatial sampling based on stratification by Local Moran’s I _i calculated using auxiliary information. The sampling technique is compared to other design-based approaches including simple random sampling, systematic sampling on a regular grid, conditional Latin Hypercube sampling and stratified sampling based on auxiliary information, and is illustrated using two different spatial data sets. Each of the samples for the two data sets is interpolated using regression kriging to form a geostatistical map for their respective areas. The proposed technique is shown to be competitive in reproducing specific areas of interest with high accuracy.