Ecologically derived guidelines for managing two New Zealand lakes

Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau, in Fiordland National Park, became the center of a major controversy after the New Zealand government offered their water resource to an overseas aluminum smelting consortium for electricity generation. Although the scheme proceeded, the lake levels were not raised as originally proposed. Rather, government sought guidelines to optimize hydroelectric potential while maintaining ecological stability of the vulnerable, largely forested, glaciated lakeshores. Guidelines were derived by relating the vegetation zonation to the natural lake-level fluctuations recorded daily for 37 years. Ahigh operating range in the upper third of the lakes' natural ranges, based on flood tolerances of the woody shoreline species, restricts both duration and frequency. Alow operating range (ca. lower third) safeguards stability of shoreline sediments by limiting drawn-down rates, duration, and frequency. Themain operating range (ca. middle third) has few limitations. These guidelines, which allow utilization of ca. 93% of the water resource, have now been verified by instances of flooding and draw-down rates that exceeded the natural rates recorded earlier. The guidelines were officially accepted by the government in 1977 as a basis for managing the valuable multiple resources of these two lakes and their environs, and they were formalized in legislation in 1981. The details and merits of the guideline approach are discussed.     

EFFECTS OF DIVERSIONS ON THE NORTH AMERICAN GREAT LAKES1

ABSTRACT: Water level fluctuations of the Great Lakes often have created regional controversies among the states and Canadian provinces that share this vast resource. Even though the 100-year range of their water levels is only four to five feet, episodes of high and low Great Lakes water levels have been a recurring problem throughout the twentieth century. The possibility of increased diversion and consumptive use has exacerbated the existing conflicts over how to manage this water resource. A research project evaluated the effects of interbasin diversion on the Great Lakes system and on the industries that depend on the maintenance of historical water levels, namely hydropower and commercial navigation. The simulation approach employed in this research and some of the important findings are presented. The approach is similar to that used in recent government studies of Great Lakes water level regulation. Several significant modifications were made specifically addressing the diversion issue. Aggregate annual impacts to hydropower and shipping resulting from a diversion of 10,000 cubic feet per second were found to vary from 60 to 100 million dollars. Increases in impacts as a function of diversion rate are nonlinear for the navigation industry.     

Lowest Effect Levels of Lead and Mercury on Decomposition of Mor Layer Samples in a Long-Term Experiment

Indications of possible negative effects of lead (Pb) and mercury(Hg) on microbial respiration in Southern Swedish forest humus layers led to experiments on dose-response relationships by additions of metal salts in the laboratory. Respiration rates andweight loss due to decomposition of organic material were measured. For relevance to field situations metal doses were low,the time span was long, 550 days including freeze storage, and microbial activity was kept up by plant litter additions. We looked for effects of Pb and Hg at levels moderately elevated above the Southern Swedish reference, as well as combined effectsof Pb + Hg. A reduction in respiration and decomposition of10% was found at about 225–245 g g^-1 of total Pb, i.e. ata Pb level elevated 3.5 times. Although small effects of Hg werefound even at the lowest dose level, 10% inhibition of microbialactivity appeared temporarily at about 2–3 g g^-1 of total Hg, i. e. at 6–8 times the reference level. There were nolong-term additive effects of Pb and Hg on decomposition. Type of anion had a strong influence on the test, chlorides of Pbbeing more toxic than nitrates. Long-term monitoring and maintenance of microbial activity during the experiment were prerequisites for the occurrence of effects at low metal levels.     

Interpreting dynamics of aquatic resources: A perspective for resource managers

Since the presentation of the Leopold Report (Leopold et al. 1963) to the United States Secretary of the Interior, recommendations in the document for managing natural park resources on the ecosystem level have been included in the management policies of the National Park Service. In many instances, however, management programs have continued to focus on individual resource problems, without apparent concern for the ecological consequences on ecosystems. Without knowledge of the interrelationships of ecosystem components, solving one problem may result in other resource problems. Graphic approaches are presented as potential tools to view these complex interrelationships relative to the needs of the resource manager. Interpreting the dynamics of aquatic systems is emphasized.     

Participatory evaluation of regional light rail scenarios: A Flemish case on sustainable mobility and land-use

Rail transit is generally acknowledged as an alternative transport mode in contributing towards sustainable mobility. In addition to minimising negative externalities, rail transit has sustainable land-use opportunities to integrate transport- and spatial planning. The objective of this paper is to determine the impact of integrative light rail scenarios and their ability to curtail private vehicle driven urban sprawl in the Flemish rhombus.The paper proposes three light rail scenarios: an infrastructural scenario; tramification scenario; and spatial rail scenario, each covering a specific landscape structure to reorganise the dispersed spatial environment in Flanders in the long-term. We used the participatory multi-actor multi-criteria analysis (MAMCA) which incorporates the objectives of all involved stakeholders to assess the impact of the scenarios.The infrastructural alternative scenario gained most support among the involved stakeholders, on the grounds of improved multimodality, enhanced user amenities, reduced implementation costs, moderated greenhouse gas emissions and mitigated infrastructural barrier effects.Despite the merits of the infrastructural scenario in terms of stakeholder objectives, few possibilities are included to elaborate upon sustainable land-use development. In response to the low performance of this assessment criterion, catalyst measures are discussed to support the implementation.     

Prospects for Reconciling the Conflict between Economic Growth and Biodiversity Conservation with Technological Progress

Abstract: The conflict between economic growth and biodiversity conservation is understood in portions of academia and sometimes acknowledged in political circles. Nevertheless, there is not a unified response. In political and policy circles, the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) is posited to solve the conflict between economic growth and environmental protection. In academia, however, the EKC has been deemed fallacious in macroeconomic scenarios and largely irrelevant to biodiversity. A more compelling response to the conflict is that it may be resolved with technological progress. Herein I review the conflict between economic growth and biodiversity conservation in the absence of technological progress, explore the prospects for technological progress to reconcile that conflict, and provide linguistic suggestions for describing the relationships among economic growth, technological progress, and biodiversity conservation. The conflict between economic growth and biodiversity conservation is based on the first two laws of thermodynamics and principles of ecology such as trophic levels and competitive exclusion. In this biophysical context, the human economy grows at the competitive exclusion of nonhuman species in the aggregate. Reconciling the conflict via technological progress has not occurred and is infeasible because of the tight linkage between technological progress and economic growth at current levels of technology. Surplus production in existing economic sectors is required for conducting the research and development necessary for bringing new technologies to market. Technological regimes also reflect macroeconomic goals, and if the goal is economic growth, reconciliatory technologies are less likely to be developed. As the economy grows, the loss of biodiversity may be partly mitigated with end‐use innovation that increases technical efficiency, but this type of technological progress requires policies that are unlikely if the conflict between economic growth and biodiversity conservation (and other aspects of environmental protection) is not acknowledged.     

The relationship between light intensity and nutrient uptake kinetics in six freshwater diatoms

In order to find effective measures to control diatom blooms, a better understanding of the physiological characteristics of nutrient uptake in diatoms is needed. A study of P and Si-uptake kinetics for diatom species from two light regimes was conducted at low (LL), moderate (ML) and high light intensities (HL) (2, 25 and 80 μmol photons/(m²·sec)), respectively. The results showed that P uptake of diatoms was heavily influenced by historic light regimes. P affinity changed with growth and photosynthetic activity. The lowest half saturation constant for P uptake (K_m(P)) was under HL for high-light adapted diatoms while the lowest half-saturation constant for low-light adapted diatoms was observed under LL. The Si half-saturation constant (K_m(Si)) increased with increasing light intensities for pennate diatoms but decreased for centric diatoms. Diatom volumes were correlated with the maximum Si uptake rates (V_m(Si)) at HL and K_m(Si) at ML and HL for six diatom species. Our results imply that when we assess the development of diatom blooms we should consider light intensity and cell volume in addition to ambient Si or P concentration. The relationship between light intensity and P-uptake suggests that we can find suitable methods to control diatom blooms on the basis of reducing phytoplankton activity of P-uptake and photosynthesis simultaneously.     

配套养殖体系中部分抗生素的污染特征

采用超声提取-固相萃取-高效液相色谱串联质谱技术分析配套养殖体系粪便、水体和沉积物中4种磺胺类(SAs)、2种四环素类(TCs)、2种大环内酯(MLs)和2种喹诺酮类(QLs)抗生素的含量和分布特征.研究结果显示,在水体中共检出8种抗生素,浓度在ND—382 ng·L-1,2种四环素类抗生素未被检出,且水体中抗生素的浓度呈现旱季高于雨季;沉积物中共检出7种抗生素,其浓度分别在ND—3400μg·kg-1范围内,磺胺嘧啶(SDZ)、磺胺甲噁唑(SMX)和罗红霉素(RTM)未被检出;在猪粪和鸭粪中均检出甲氧苄啶(TMP)、诺氟沙星(NFX)、脱水红霉素(ETM-H2O)和罗红霉素(RTM),同时猪粪中还检出2种四环素类,鸭粪中检出磺胺二甲嘧啶(SMZ)和环丙沙星(CFX),其中鸭粪中甲氧苄啶的最高浓度达到6.11 mg·kg-1.研究结果表明,不同介质中抗生素的含量存在一定差异,其中磺胺类抗生素在水体中浓度最高,喹诺酮类和四环素类在沉积物中的浓度最高;粪便中抗生素的种类与施药的种类密切相关,并且可能会加剧抗生素对水体环境的污染.     

广州地区孕妇羊水中PCBs暴露水平初步研究

随机采集广州地区非职业PCBs(polychlorinated biphenyls,多氯联苯)暴露单胎孕妇分娩时羊水,分析羊水中PCBs浓度水平;结合孕妇临床资料(年龄、孕周、身体质量指数(body mass index,BMI))以及孕妇居住环境信息等,阐明了广州地区非职业暴露孕妇羊水PCBs蓄积的影响因素。结果表明,∑33PCBs浓度为15.91-324.38 ng·g-1,平均值为114.34±83.52 ng·g-1,中值为84.8 5ng·g-1;其中十氯含量最低,平均浓度为2.66±3.46 ng·g-1,中值为1.47 ng·g-1;六氯PCBs含量最高,平均浓度为28.79±33.84 ng·g-1,中值为17.48 ng·g-1。样本中有31种PCBs同分异构体在孕妇羊水中检出,分别为PCB 8、28、30、49、52、70、74、77、82、87、99、101、105、114、118、126、128、138、153、156、158、166、169、170、179、180、183、187、189、198和209;羊水主要的PCBs暴露以五氯PCBs、六氯PCBs和七氯PCBs为主,主要的同分异构体为PCB 138(4.73%)、179(4.15%)、153(3.92%)、183(3.89%)、166(3.77%)、187(3.74%)以及180(3.67%);暴露水平与美国、西班牙、加拿大等地区相比属于严重水平。统计结果显示,年龄、身体质量指数和孕周与PCBs蓄积有显著性正相关关系;工业区居住的孕妇相与非工业区居住孕妇相比,上述统计结果更为显著。