Impact of Indoor Environmental Parameters on Formaldehyde Concentrations in Unoccupied Research Houses

An environmental parameters study has examined the impact of indoor temperature (T) and relative humidity (RH) levels on formaldehyde (CH₂O) concentrations inside two unoccupied research houses where the primary CH₂O emitter is particleboard underlayment. The data were fit to a simple three-term, steady state model describing the T and RH dependence of CH₂O concentration in a single compartment with a single CH₂O emitter. The model incorporates an Arrhenius T dependence and a nonlinear RH dependence of the CH₂O vapor concentration within the solid CH₂O emitter. The RH dependence is based on Freundlich's theory of the adsorption of water vapor on solid surfaces. The model is used to estimate potential seasonal variation in CH₂O concentrations under specified experimental conditions inside the research houses. The modeled results indicate six- to ninefold variation between 18°C, 20% RH and 32°C, 80% RH, simulating potential winter/summer conditions with minimal indoor climate control. In comparison, Indoor conditions ranging from 20°C, 30% RH to 26°C, 60% RH yielded approximate two- to fourfold fluctuations in CH₂O concentration.

The research house data were also used to evaluate the limitations and applicability of more complex five-term models developed from small-scale chamber studies of the environmental dependence of CH₂O emissions from particleboard underlayment. These models also incorporate a linear T and RH dependence of the CH₂O transport rate through the CH₂O emitter in addition to the T and RH dependence of the CH₂O concentration within the emitter. Good correlation is observed between the results of the research house studies and 1) a selected (i.e., single) underlayment model over a broad range of environmental conditions and 2) a combined underlayment model over a restricted range of environmental conditions.     

The Virtue of Simplicity

In this paper we explore material simplicity, defined as the virtue disposing us to act appropriately within the sphere of our consumer decisions. Simplicity is a conscientious and restrained attitude toward material goods that typically includes (1) decreased consumption and (2) a more conscious consumption; hence (3) greater deliberation regarding our consumer decisions; (4) a more focused life in general; and (5) a greater and more nuanced appreciation for other things besides material goods, and also for (6) material goods themselves. It is to be distinguished from simple-mindedness, a return to nature, or poverty. Simplicity overlaps with traditional virtues such as temperance, frugality, and wisdom, and sustains and enables traditional virtues such as justice and generosity. Simplicity is a virtue because it furthers human flourishing, both individual and social, and sustains nature’s ecological flourishing. For analytic purposes, we consider six areas in which simplicity can make important contributions: (1) basic individual flourishing, (2) basic societal flourishing, (3) individual freedom or autonomy, (4) the acquisition of knowledge, (5) living meaningfully, and (6) preserving and protecting nonhuman beings. The proven failure of materialism to secure subjective happiness or objective flourishing argues for the practice of voluntary simplicity and for the radical reform of modern consumer societies.     

Trace element concentrations from lichen transplants in Pretoria,South Africa

Purpose  

The purpose of this study was to assess the level and possible sources of trace elements in Tshwane metropolis using transplanted lichen thallus of Parmelia sulcata with a view to evaluating the ability of this lichen species to monitor air pollutants from a perceived polluted environment.     

Energy in a woodland-livestock agroecosystem: Prince Edward Island,Canada, 1870–2010

Regional Environmental Change - This article presents historic energy profiles in order to understand the changing roles of three critical energy flows in eastern Canadian agroecosystems. The first...     

Evaluating outcomes of conservation with multidimensional indicators of well-being

Many conservation interventions are hypothesized to be beneficial for both the environment and people's well-being, but this has rarely been tested rigorously. We examined the effects of adoption or nonadoption of a conservation intervention on 3 dimensions of people's well-being (material, relational, and subjective) over time. We focused on a fisheries bycatch management initiative intended to reduce environmental externalities associated with resource extraction. We collected panel data from fishers (n = 250) in villages with (adopters and nonadopters) and without (control) the conservation intervention 3 times over 2 years. We found no evidence that adoption reduced any of the 3 dimensions of well-being in the local populations affected by the intervention. There were modest improvements in material (t = –1.58) and subjective livelihood well-being (p = 0.04) for adopters relative to nonadopters over time. The variations in well-being experiences (in terms of magnitude of change) among adopters, nonadopters, and controls across the different domains over time affirmed the dynamic and social nature of well-being.     

Adaptive introgression as a resource for management and genetic conservation in a changing climate

Current rates of climate change require organisms to respond through migration, phenotypic plasticity, or genetic changes via adaptation. We focused on questions regarding species’ and populations’ ability to respond to climate change through adaptation. Specifically, the role adaptive introgression, movement of genetic material from the genome of 1 species into the genome of another through repeated interbreeding, may play in increasing species’ ability to respond to a changing climate. Such interspecific gene flow may mediate extinction risk or consequences of limited adaptive potential that result from standing genetic variation and mutation alone, enabling a quicker demographic recovery in response to changing environments. Despite the near dismissal of the potential benefits of hybridization by conservation practitioners, we examined a number of case studies across different taxa that suggest gene flow between sympatric or parapatric sister species or within species that exhibit strong ecotypic differentiation may represent an underutilized management option to conserve evolutionary potential in a changing environment. This will be particularly true where advanced‐generation hybrids exhibit adaptive traits outside the parental phenotypic range, a phenomenon known as transgressive segregation. The ideas presented in this essay are meant to provoke discussion regarding how we maintain evolutionary potential, the conservation value of natural hybrid zones, and consideration of their important role in adaptation to climate.     

The Adaptation for Conservation Targets (ACT) Framework: A Tool for Incorporating Climate Change into Natural Resource Management

As natural resource management agencies and conservation organizations seek guidance on responding to climate change, myriad potential actions and strategies have been proposed for increasing the long-term viability of some attributes of natural systems. Managers need practical tools for selecting among these actions and strategies to develop a tailored management approach for specific targets at a given location. We developed and present one such tool, the participatory Adaptation for Conservation Targets (ACT) framework, which considers the effects of climate change in the development of management actions for particular species, ecosystems and ecological functions. Our framework is based on the premise that effective adaptation of management to climate change can rely on local knowledge of an ecosystem and does not necessarily require detailed projections of climate change or its effects. We illustrate the ACT framework by applying it to an ecological function in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, USA)-water flows in the upper Yellowstone River. We suggest that the ACT framework is a practical tool for initiating adaptation planning, and for generating and communicating specific management interventions given an increasingly altered, yet uncertain, climate.     

Effects of bridge construction on songbirds and small mammals at Blennerhassett Island, Ohio River, USA

Construction of man-made objects such as roads and bridges may have impacts on wildlife depending on species or location. We investigated songbirds and small mammals along the Ohio River, WV, USA at a new bridge both before and after construction and at a bridge crossing that was present throughout the study. Comparisons were made at each site over three time periods (1985–1987 [Phase I] and 1998–2000 [Phase II] [pre-construction], 2007–2009 [Phase III] [post-construction]) and at three distances (0, 100, 300 m) from the bridge or proposed bridge location. Overall, 70 songbirds and 10 small mammals were detected during the study. Cliff swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) and rock pigeons (Columba livia) showed high affinity for bridges (P?<?0.05). Combined small mammal abundances increased between Phases I and II (P?<?0.05), but did not differ between Phases II and III (P?>?0.05). Species richness and diversity for songbirds and small mammals did not differ before and after bridge construction (P?>?0.05). We found that most species sampled did not respond to the bridge crossing, and believe that the bridge is not causing any measurable negative density impacts to the species we investigated. The new bridge does provide habitat for exotic rock pigeons that are adjusted to man-made structures for nesting.