Environmental health implications of global climate change

This paper reviews the background that has led to the now almost-universally held opinion in the scientific community that global climate change is occurring and is inescapably linked with anthropogenic activity. The potential implications to human health are considerable and very diverse. These include, for example, the increased direct impacts of heat and of rises in sea level, exacerbated air and water-borne harmful agents, and--associated with all the preceding--the emergence of environmental refugees. Vector-borne diseases, in particular those associated with blood-sucking arthropods such as mosquitoes, may be significantly impacted, including redistribution of some of those diseases to areas not previously affected. Responses to possible impending environmental and public health crises must involve political and socio-economic considerations, adding even greater complexity to what is already a difficult challenge. In some areas, adjustments to national and international public health practices and policies may be effective, at least in the short and medium terms. But in others, more drastic measures will be required. Environmental monitoring, in its widest sense, will play a significant role in the future management of the problem.     

QUANTIFICATION OF INCISED CHANNEL EVOLUTION AND EQUILIBRIUM1

ABSTRACT: Incised channels are caused by an imbalance between sediment transport capacity and sediment supply that alters channel morphology through bed and bank erosion. Consistent sequential changes in incised channel morphology may be quantified and used to develop relationships describing quasi‐equilibrium conditions in these channels. We analyzed the hydraulic characteristics of streams in the Yazoo River Basin, Mississippi in various stages of incised channel evolution. The hydraulic characteristics of incising channels were observed to follow the sequence predicted by previous conceptual models of incised channel response. Multiple regression models of stable slopes in quasi‐equilibrium channels that have completed a full evolutionary sequence were developed. These models compare favorably with analytical solutions based on the extremal hypothesis of minimum stream power and empirical relationships from other regions. Appropriate application of these empirical relationships may be useful in preliminary design of stream rehabilitation strategies.     

The dynamic context of southern African savannas: investigating emerging threats and opportunities to sustainability

The Southern African Savannas Network and the Southern African Vulnerability Initiative used study areas and information from a wide range of sources to assess threats and opportunities to savanna sustainability from a natural and social science perspective, respectively. This paper describes an attempt to synthesise their findings using structural analysis. Key driving processes, main dependent processes, and processes that are inherent to most interactions by having both high driving power and high dependency, were identified. Qualitative examination reveals that while many of the changes within savannas reinforce each other, many of the key driving factors are generated externally, such as economic globalisation and climate change. In order to take advantage of opportunities and address challenges within such a complex and dynamic system, future interventions must address the different elements of savannas in a coherent and multi-sectoral manner. Within the large social, economic and environmental changes taking place over the past decade, changes in institutions and technologies and in indigenous fauna and flora continue to play a central role both in driving, and being dependent on, other processes and must continue to be a key focus of any coherent savanna policy.     

In vitro effects of acephate on carbonic anhydrase activity in the blood and gills of rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri

Acephate, a water-soluble organophosphate pesticide used to control terrestrial insect pests, may enter aquatic ecosystems in the course of its use and adversely affect fish populations. The in vitro effects of this insecticide on gill and red blood cell (RBC) carbonic anyhdrase (CA) activity in rainbow trout were investigated over a range of 100 mg/1 (0.55 mM) to 50,000 mg/l (273 mM) to assess the manner in which acephate might affect respiratory capacity in exposed fish. Concentrations required to produce 50% inhibition of CA activity in the gill and RBC preparations were 38,000 mg/l (207 mM) and 8,900 mg/l (48 mM) respectively. The toxic action of acephate may be related to inhibition of CA activity in the blood and gills with resultant disturbances of respiratory capacity and salt balance.     

Karyotype,phenotype and parental origin in 19 cases of triploidy

The parental origin of triploidy in 19 cases was examined by inheritance of DNA microsatellites and by methylation patterns of SNRPN or PW71 (where parents' blood was unavailable). The fetal and placental morphology on these cases was reviewed. The phenotype of the fetuses with non-mosaic triploidy was assessed in relation to the two types described by McFadden and Kalousek. Of the diandric fetuses three of the six showed mild-to-moderate symmetrical growth retardation and the other three had growth characteristics in accordance with their gestational ages. This study would suggest the fetal triploid ‘Type 1’ definition be modified to ‘well grown to moderate symmetrical IUGR’ to allow for such variation. In the digynic fetuses (McFadden/Kalousek Type 2) there were poor growth characteristics with IUGR being more severe and asymmetrical. The diandric fetuses were as common as digynic fetuses in this series. The ratio of diandric to digynic specimens was 11:8 but if only fetal specimens (not embryos or mosaic children) were included the ratio was 6:5. Many diandric conceptions end as partial moles but later in gestation diandric fetuses may be well grown. It is proposed that there may be a survival barrier for diandric fetuses early in gestation (possibly based on the proportion of vascularised placental villi), although once this is passed the diandric fetuses are comparatively more viable and better grown than digynic fetuses. In the XXY triploid fetuses, 5/6 had hypoplastic or ambiguous external genitalia (two were recorded as of female phenotype) as has been reported previously. In these, the gonadal histology was testicular in all the diandrics but in the single digynic XXY case, sex reversal was complete with normal uterus and Fallopian tubes and the gonads were histologically ovaries. Two triploid/diploid mosaics were proven to be due to digyny. The probable cause is delayed incorporation of the second polar body into a blastomere and there was evidence of identical alleles from the same sperm being present in both diploid and triploid cells. In one of these triploid/diploid mosaics in which there was a termination of pregnancy (TOP) after prenatal karyotyping the diploid cell line had trisomy 16 which was not evident in the triploid line. This trisomy was probably of post-zygotic origin and we suggest the fetus was rescued by the prominence of the triploid line. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluation of OC/EC speciation by thermal manganese dioxide oxidation and the IMPROVE method

Ambient particulate samples are routinely analyzed for organic and elemental carbon (OC/EC) using either thermal manganese dioxide oxidation (TMO) or thermal volatilization-pyrolysis correction methods, such as the Interagency Monitoring of PROtected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) method with correction by reflectance, or a variation of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Method 5040 using thermal optical transmittance (TOT). With TMO, EC is modeled after the oxidation properties of submicron graphite and needle coke by MnO2, and is the fraction of total carbon (TC) that is not oxidized at >525 degrees C. In thermal volatilization methods, EC is the fraction of TC that accounts for the light extinction properties of the sample at the start of analysis. Chow et al. (2001) compared IMPROVE and NIOSH methods implemented on the same instrument using 60 samples of various types and found that NIOSH EC was lower than IMPROVE. This study compares total, organic, and elemental carbon measurements from the TMO and IMPROVE thermal optical reflectance (TOR) methods using a sample set consisting of 60 IMPROVE nonurban, 16 Korean urban, 10 Hong Kong urban, and 14 synthetic carbon black samples.     

EFFECTS OF URBANIZATION ON CHANNEL INSTABILITY1

ABSTRACT: Channel instability and aquatic ecosystem degradation have been linked to watershed imperviousness in humid regions of the U.S. In an effort to provide a more process‐based linkage between observed thresholds of aquatic ecosystem degradation and urbanization, standard single event approaches (U.S. Geological Survey Flood Regression Equations and rational) and continuous hydrologic models (HSPF and CASC2D) were used to examine potential changes in flow regime associated with varying levels of watershed imperviousness. The predicted changes in flow parameters were then interpreted in concert with risk‐based models of channel form and instability. Although low levels of imperviousness (10 to 20 percent) clearly have the potential to destabilize streams, changes in discharge, and thus stream power, associated with increased impervious area are highly variable and dependent upon watershed‐specific conditions. In addition to the storage characteristics of the pre‐development watershed, the magnitude of change is sensitive to the connectivity and conveyance of impervious areas as well as the specific characteristics of the receiving channels. Different stream types are likely to exhibit varying degrees and types of instability, depending on entrenchment, relative erodibility of bed and banks, riparian condition, mode of sediment transport (bedload versus suspended load), and proximity to geomorphic thresholds. Nonetheless, simple risk‐based analyses of the potential impacts of land use change on aquatic ecosystems have the potential to redirect and improve the effectiveness of watershed management strategies by facilitating the identification of channels that may be most sensitive to changes in stream power.     

PM2.5 chemical source profiles for vehicle exhaust, vegetative burning, geological material, and coal burning in Northwestern Colorado during 1995

PM_2.5 (particles with aerodynamic diameters less than 2.5 μm) chemical source profiles applicable to speciated emissions inventories and receptor model source apportionment are reported for geological material, motor vehicle exhaust, residential coal (RCC) and wood combustion (RWC), forest fires, geothermal hot springs; and coal-fired power generation units from northwestern Colorado during 1995. Fuels and combustion conditions are similar to those of other communities of the inland western US. Coal-fired power station profiles differed substantially between different units using similar coals, with the major difference being lack of selenium in emissions from the only unit that was equipped with a dry limestone sulfur dioxide (SO₂) scrubber. SO₂ abundances relative to fine particle mass emissions in power plant emissions were seven to nine times higher than hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) abundances from geothermal springs, and one to two orders of magnitude higher than SO₂ abundances in RCC emissions, implying that the SO₂ abundance is an important marker for primary particle contributions of non-aged coal-fired power station contributions. The sum of organic and elemental carbon ranged from 1% to 10% of fine particle mass in coal-fired power plant emissions, from 5% to 10% in geological material, >50% in forest fire emissions, >60% in RWC emissions, and >95% in RCC and vehicle exhaust emissions. Water-soluble potassium (K⁺) was most abundant in vegetative burning profiles. K⁺/K ratios ranged from 0.1 in geological material profiles to 0.9 in vegetative burning emissions, confirming previous observations that soluble potassium is a good marker for vegetative burning.