The north peak: an environmentally sensitive area in the UK

Summary Environmentally Sensitive Areas were introduced in Britain by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food during 1987. By 1994, the fourth round of designations had brought the total of such areas to 22. The environmental implications for the North Peak, which was designated as such an area in 1988, are discussed in the context of sheep farming and heather management, for these have shaped the patchwork of moorland ecosystems that give the North Peak its unique character.Paul Perkins is a research worker at the University of Huddersfield. He is currently undertaking research into how derelict mining land in West and South Yorkshire can be reclaimed for productive use.     

Chemistry in Ecology: An Editorial Review

At a time when scientists contribute to and, at times, seem likely to be overwhelmed by an information explosion, one might pardonably question the need for another journal; particularly another journai of an ecological nature. Too often, however, land, sea and fresh water are treated as if they do not interact, and chemistry, although a driving force in ecological systems, is either viewed as an impact upon parts rather than the whole system, or ignored completely: an attitude which is the despair of chemists and a grave loss to ecologists. Indeed, i t would seem, particularly in the marine field, that biologists/ecologists are falling far behind the chemists and this is a loss to the scientific community as a whole. One outcome is a lack of the wider view and those attempts to theorise which are necessary to progress in the subject. While not forgetting that an understanding of the component parts is vital to an understanding of the whole, Chemistry in Ecology will seek to promote the wider view, and in so doing try to create “bridges” between studies which have not been allied hitherto, but may advantageously work together in the future.     

A strategy for species introduction into evolving model ecosystems

Using a recently developed technique, a realistic method of introducing species into an evolving ecosystem simulation model is presented. A single unit, preemption strength, provides an index which combines strictly preemptive and strictly head-of-the-line colonization strategies. An optimization of priority strategies is presented. The relevance of the realistically evolving model to the stability-complexity problem is emphasized.     

Winter bird use of seed-rich habitats in agri-environment schemes

To assess the effectiveness of over-winter seed provision by agri-environment schemes, bird use of patches of seed-bearing crops was compared with that of other seed-rich habitats on 53 farms in eastern Scotland over three winters. Seed-bearing crops were the most frequently selected habitat, and held 28% of birds of the 10 species recorded. Outside schemes, cereal stubble was the most selected habitat and held 44% of birds. For nine species, seed-bearing crops were used by more birds than expected from the area of crop available in at least one winter, and five species were more likely to occur in first-winter patches, reflecting a greater abundance of cereal grain than in second-winter patches. For cereal grain specialists such as buntings, sowing cereal-based crops annually would ensure that grain is available in each winter, whilst either a 1-year or a 2-year crop would be appropriate for finches that favour oilseeds, and species with a more generalist diet.     

Unusual sources of aluminium and heavy metals in potable waters

Aluminium in water supplies derives from natural sources and from the use of Al₂(SO₄)₃ in water treatment. Heavy metals such as Pb, Cu, Zn and Cd can be added to water from pipework and solder. However, it is apparent that AI and other metals in potable waters can derive from deposits on pipe walls which can be subsequently mobilised when the supply and/or treatment process is changed. Concentrations of Al in domestic supply water of the Llanbrynmair area have been shown to increase from 1 g to 50 g L^–1 during its 18 km journey along the water main. Similarly, Pb concentrations in a public building in the Aberystwyth area are found to be extremely elevated due to the metal's mobilisation from encrustations occurring on the copper pipework.     

The importance of agricultural yield elasticity for indirect land use change: a Bayesian network analysis for robust uncertainty quantification

ABSTRACT

A major barrier to realising biofuels’ climate change mitigation potential is uncertainty concerning carbon emissions from indirect land use change (ILUC). Central to this uncertainty is the extent to which yields can respond dynamically to increased demand for agricultural commodities. This study examines the elasticity of soybean and corn yields in the USA for 1990–2017 using Bayesian network models to robustly quantify uncertainty. The central finding is that a single parameter value for yield elasticity does not adequately represent the effects of technology, policy and price pressures through time. The models demonstrate the limiting role of technological progress as well as farmers’ capital investment in response to system shocks. Results suggest evaluation of parameter uncertainty alone is unlikely to capture a full range of future ILUC scenarios and reiterate the need for ILUC studies to use probabilistic approaches as standard to robustly inform climate change mitigation policies.     

Prevention of neural tube defects in curly-tail mice by maternal administration of vitamin A

Various doses of vitamin A were administered on day 9 of pregnancy to the pregnant curly-tail mouse, a mutant, 60 per cent of which have neural tube defects (NTD). There was a reduction in the incidence of NTD in the fetuses with all doses used. The effect was maximal with 5 mg/kg; it was also marked, but to a lesser degree, with 10 and 20 mg/kg and minimal with 1 mg/kg. The implications of these findings in the mouse to the prevention of NTD in humans by preconception vitamin supplementation are discussed.     

An Urban Airshed Model for Predicting Carbon Monoxide Concentrations in Tucson,Arizona

ABSTRACT

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) is conducting research to investigate mercury removal in utility flue gas using sorbents. Bench-scale and pilot-scale tests have been conducted to determine the abilities of different sor-bents to remove mercury in simulated and actual flue gas streams. Bench-scale tests have investigated the effects of various sorbent and flue gas parameters on sorbent performance. These data are being used to develop a theoretical model for predicting mercury removal by sorbents at different conditions. This paper describes the results of parametric bench-scale tests investigating the removal of mercuric chloride and elemental mercury by activated carbon.

Results obtained to date indicate that the adsorption capacity of a given sorbent is dependent on many factors, including the type of mercury being adsorbed, flue gas composition, and adsorption temperature. These data provide insight into potential mercury adsorption mechanisms and suggest that the removal of mercury involves both physical and chemical mechanisms. Understanding these effects is important since the performance of a given sorbent could vary significantly from site to site depending on the coal- or gas-matrix composition.