Case study: Management system verification using responsible care® at Rohm & Haas: Lessons learned

In this article, Rohm & Haas' Responsible Care® implementation strategy and management system verification (MSV) experiences are detailed. Recommendations on how to strengthen the verification process are provided.     

Farm factors associated with reducing Cryptosporidium loading in storm runoff from dairies

A systems approach was used to evaluate environmental loading of Cryptosporidium oocysts on five coastal dairies in California. One aspect of the study was to determine Cryptosporidium oocyst concentrations and loads for 350 storm runoff samples from dairy high use areas collected over two storm seasons. Selected farm factors and beneficial management practices (BMPs) associated with reducing the Cryptosporidium load in storm runoff were assessed. Using immunomagnetic separation (IMS) with direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) analysis, Cryptosporidium oocysts were detected on four of the five farms and in 21% of storm runoff samples overall. Oocysts were detected in 59% of runoff samples collected near cattle less than 2 mo old, while 10% of runoff samples collected near cattle over 6 mo old were positive. Factors associated with environmental loading of Cryptosporidium oocysts included cattle age class, 24 h precipitation, and cumulative seasonal precipitation, but not percent slope, lot acreage, cattle stocking number, or cattle density. Vegetated buffer strips and straw mulch application significantly reduced the protozoal concentrations and loads in storm runoff, while cattle exclusion and removal of manure did not. The study findings suggest that BMPs such as vegetated buffer strips and straw mulch application, especially when placed near calf areas, will reduce environmental loading of fecal protozoa and improve stormwater quality. These findings are assisting working dairies in their efforts to improve farm and ecosystem health along the California coast.     

Energy vs the environment

Optimal development programs that explicitly account for the environment impacts of extracting energy resources are analyzed. Possibilities of storing the resources above ground once it has been extracted are examined When environmental disruption results from resource extraction, as in the case of strip mining or drilling for oil, then the socially optimal rates of resource consumption and extraction depend on the type and severity of the environmental impact and on the prospects of storing the resource above ground.     

Associative learning of odor with food- or blood-meal by Culex quinquefasciatus Say (Diptera: Culicidae)

The ability of many insects to learn has been documented. However, a limited number of studies examining associative learning in medically important arthropods has been published. Investigations into the associative learning capabilities of Culex quinquefasciatus Say were conducted by adapting methods commonly used in experiments involving Hymenoptera. Male and female mosquitoes were able to learn a conditioned stimulus that consisted of an odor not normally encountered in nature (synthetic strawberry or vanilla extracts) in association with an unconditioned stimulus consisting of either a sugar (males and females) or blood (females) meal. Such information could lead to a better understanding of the ability of mosquitoes to locate and select host and food resources in nature.     

Dynamics in the global protected-area estate since 2004

Nations of the world have committed to a number of goals and targets to address global environmental challenges. Protected areas have for centuries been a key strategy in conservation and play a major role in addressing current challenges. The most important tool used to track progress on protected-area commitments is the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA). Periodic assessments of the world's protected-area estate show steady growth over the last 2 decades. However, the current method, which uses the latest version of the WDPA, does not show the true dynamic nature of protected areas over time and does not provide information on sites removed from the WDPA. In reality, this method can only show growth or remain stable. We used GIS tools in an approach to assess protected-area change over time based on 12 temporally distinct versions of the WDPA that quantify area added and removed from the WDPA annually from 2004 to 2016. Both the narrative of continual growth of protected area and the counter-narrative of protected area removal were overly simplistic. The former because growth was almost entirely in the marine realm and the latter because some areas removed were reprotected in later years. On average 2.5 million km² was added to the WDPA annually and 1.1 million km² was removed. Reasons for the inclusion and removal of protected areas in the WDPA database were in part due to data-quality issues but also to on-the-ground changes. To meet the 17% protected-area component of Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 by 2020, which stood at 14.7% in 2016, either the rate of protected-area removal must decrease or the rate of protected-area designation and addition to the WDPA must increase.     

Crustacean epifauna of seagrass and macroalgae in Apalachee Bay,Florida, USA

Epifaunal crustaceans on turtlegrass (Thalassia testudinum) and five dominant macroalgae (Anadyomene stellata, Digenia simplex, Halimeda incrassata, Laurencia poitei and Penicillus lamourouxii) were quantitatively sampled bimonthly over a one-year period from September 1979 to September 1980 in a subtropical seagrass meadow in Apalachee Bay, Florida (northeastern Gulf of Mexico). These plant species exhibited a wide range of morphologies, with surface area-to-biomass ratios differing by over 2.5 times. A similar suite of crustaceans occurred on all macrophytes despite differences in shape or architecture among plant species. Relative abundances of many crustaceans, however, varied among plant hosts. Similarity analysis indicated that the epifaunal associates of T. testudinum were distinct from those of the macroalgae. Species richness was generally higher on turtlegrass than on any of the macroalgae. Abundances of total crustaceans per plant biomass or per plant surface area, on the other hand, were greater on all macroalgal species compared to the seagrass. Abundances (per plant biomass or plant surface area) of 14 of the 16 numerically dominant epifaunal species differed significantly among macrophytes. Twelve of the 16 species had greater abundance on one or more macroalgae, while only two species were more abundant on T. testudinum. Almost half of the dominant species had greatest abundances on the branching red alga L. poitei. Although abundances per plant biomass and plant surface area were greater on macroalgae relative to turtlegrass, densities (individuals per meter square of bottom) of animals associated with T. testudinum were significantly greater than those associated with macroalgae, primarily because of the greater abundance of turtlegrass in the grass bed. Both surface area-to-biomass ratios and degree of branching were poorly correlated with epifaunal abundance and number of species. Neither structural feature is an adequate predictor of faunal abundance and species richness among plant species, especially when macrophytes with very different morphologies are compared.     

Temporal stability of gene frequencies within genetically heterogeneous populations of the queen scallop Aequipecten (Chlamys) opercularis

The widely held assumption that gene frequencies within samples of multi-aged organisms are temporally stable has rarely been tested. In order to test this assumption in the commercially exploited bivalve scallop Aequipecten (Chlamys) opercularis (L.), 12 populations were sampled from around the UK over the period 1988–1990 and each was assayed at four putative polymorphic enzyme loci. Most populations were comprised of 3 to 4 year-classes, distinguishable by annual rings laid down on the shell. Three alleles from each locus were used as discriminant-function variables. Discriminant-function analysis based on allele frequencies averaged for each inividual year-class (45 demes) revealed highly significant inter-site heterogeneity. A posteriori classification of individual year-classes based on the discriminant analysis resulted in assignment of year-classes to the correct home site in 80% of cases. If allozyme neutrality is assumed, the phenomenon of predominant local allele frequency-stability through time within populations which are genetically heterogeneous from one site to another raises the possibility that queen scallop populations may be self-recruiting. Despite a planktonic larval phase lasting up to several weeks, this possibility is not excluded by the available hydrographic data.