Collaborative approaches to local climate change and clean energy initiatives in the USA and England

This paper analyses how 10 localities in the USA and England, recognised as leaders in clean energy and climate action, have used collaborative approaches to develop local climate change plans and energy conservation, efficiency, and renewable energy initiatives. It examines these planning and policy-making processes in the context of Margerum's [2008. A typology of collaboration efforts in environmental management. Environmental Management, 41 (4), 487–500] typology of “action”, “organizational”, and “policy-level” collaborations, as well as Gray's [1989. Collaborating: finding common ground for multiparty problems. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass] classification of collaboration in the “problem-setting”, “direction-setting”, and “implementation” phases. We conducted interviews with local elected officials, municipal staff, energy professionals, and citizen volunteers in each community, supplemented with an analysis of their adopted energy, climate change, and land-use plans. We find that despite the different government structures and political contexts between the two countries, there was a surprising amount of commonality in how the case study localities used collaborative planning to develop local climate plans and clean energy initiatives. These processes were most often initiated by local elected officials and/or high-level staff members, and then carried out in collaboration with local third-sector organisations and other community stakeholders. In the USA, collaboration was strongest at the policy level and in the direction-setting phase, with the distinguishing feature that citizen advisory boards or stakeholder working groups often took a more active role in shaping local plans and policies. The English localities had some of those same types of collaborations, but were more likely to also employ action collaboration, in the implementation phase, in which third-sector organisations coordinated with the locality to directly provide clean energy services.     

Analytical insight into degradation processes of aminopolyphosphonates as potential factors that induce cyanobacterial blooms

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Aminopolyphosphonates (AAPs) are commonly used industrial complexones of metal ions, which upon the action of biotic and abiotic factors undergo a...     

“Modern agriculture” transfers many pesticides to watercourses: a case study of a representative rural catchment of southern Brazil

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The total cultivated area in Brazil reached to 62 million ha in 2018, with the predominance of genetically modified soybean and corn (36 and 17...     

Mercury Air Emission from Coal-Fired Public Power Sector: Uncertainty and Its Monthly Distribution. Case Study from Poland

The paper presents two aspects concerned with the mercury air emission inventory from coal-fired public power and energy plants: an uncertainty analysis, using Monte Carlo simulation (Journal of the American Statistical Association, 44(247), 335–341 1949) and the monthly distributions applying the Denton-Cholette approach (Dagum & Cholette 2006). The analysis determines uncertainty about the estimates mercury air emission from 1990 to 2012 including the development of air pollution control (APC) technologies in the Polish public power and energy sector, also the monthly distributions in comparison with previously obtained results (H?awiczka 2008). The uncertainty of mercury (Hg) content in fuel is 31.6% for hard coal and 42.4% for brown coal. The confidence interval for the estimated emission changed from [kg] (16,082.2; 16,242.2) in 1990 to (10,525.9;10,671.1) in 2012. However, the Denton-Cholette approach overestimates the emissions for the warmer periods of the year, but it could, however, in our view, be applied to attain the monthly distributions.     

Environmental fate of chlorothalonil in a Costa Rican banana plantation

The environmental fate of chlorothalonil (CHT) and its metabolites were studied under field-variable conditions in a commercial banana plantation in Costa Rica. Weather conditions were representative of a tropical environment and the fungicide applications were typical of those in banana production. The test plots were treated with Bravo 720 at 1.2 l ha(-1) of formulated product. Field persistence of CHT in soil and on banana leaves was measured during five consecutive months and after three aerial applications of the fungicide. Residues were analyzed in soil, sediment, water, banana leaves and drift cards by gas and liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. In soil and on the surface of banana leaves, CHT dissipated rapidly with half-lives of 2.2 and 3.9 d, respectively. Soil residues persisted and were detected 85 d after application. The main metabolite found in soil, 4-hydroxy-chlorothalonil, accounted for approximately 65% of residues detected and was measured up to 6d after application.     

Germination and seedling development of switchgrass and smooth bromegrass exposed to 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene

It is estimated that explosives contaminate approximately 0.82 million cubic metres of soil at former military installations throughout the US; major contaminants often include 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and its degradation products. At some sites, phytoremediation may be a viable option to incineration or other costly remediation treatments. Grasses may be particularly suited for remediation because of their growth habit and adaptability to a wide range of soil and climate conditions. We characterized the effects of TNT on germination and early seedling development of switchgrass and smooth bromegrass to evaluate their potential use on contaminated sites. Switchgrass and smooth bromegrass seeds were germinated in nutrient-free agar containing 0 to 60 mg TNT litre(-1). Smooth bromegrass germination decreased as TNT concentration increased, while switchgrass germination was unaffected by TNT. Concentrations up to 15 mg TNT litre(-1) did not affect switchgrass root growth rate, but bromegrass root growth was reduced at TNT concentrations above 7.5 mg litre(-1). At 7.5 mg TNT litre(-1), however, shoot growth rate was reduced in both species. Examination at 20-fold magnification revealed switchgrass radicles were unaffected by TNT, while smooth bromegrass radicles appeared slightly swollen. Results indicate switchgrass is more tolerant of TNT than smooth bromegrass, but the establishment of both species may be limited to soil containing less than 50 mg kg(-1) of extractable TNT.     

Accelerated remediation of pesticide-contaminated soil with zerovalent iron

High pesticide concentrations in soil from spills or discharges can result in point-source contamination of ground and surface waters. Cost-effective technologies are needed for on-site treatment that meet clean-up goals and restore soil function. Remediation is particularly challenging when a mixture of pesticides is present. Zerovalent iron (Fe0) has been shown to promote reductive dechlorination and nitro group reduction of a wide range of contaminants in soil and water. We employed Fe0 for on-site treatment of soil containing > 1000 mg metolachlor, > 55 mg alachlor, > 64 mg atrazine, > 35 mg pendimethalin, and > 10 mg chlorpyrifos kg(-1). While concentrations were highly variable within the windrowed soil, treatment with 5% (w/w) Fe0 resulted in > 60% destruction of the five pesticides within 90 d and increased to > 90% when 2% (w/w) Al2(SO4)3 was added to the Fe0. GC/MS analysis confirmed dechlorination of metolachlor and alachlor during treatment. Our observations support the use of Fe0 for ex situ treatment of pesticide-contaminated soil.     

Invasional interference due to similar inter- and intraspecific competition between invaders may affect management

As the number of biological invasions increases, the potential for invader-invader interactions also rises. The effect of multiple invaders can be superadditive (invasional meltdown), additive, or subadditive (invasional interference); which of these situations occurs has critical implications for prioritization of management efforts. Carduus nutans and C. acanthoides, two congeneric invasive weeds, have a striking, segregated distribution in central Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Possible hypotheses for this pattern include invasion history and chance, direct competition, or negative interactions mediated by other species, such as shared pollinators. To explore the role of resource competition in generating this pattern, we conducted three related experiments using a response-surface design throughout the life cycles of two cohorts. Although these species have similar niche requirements, we found no differential response to competition between conspecifics vs. congeners. The response to combined density was relatively weak for both species. While direct competitive interactions do not explain the segregated distributional patterns of these two species, we predict that invasions of either species singly, or both species together, would have similar impacts. When prioritizing which areas to target to prevent the spread of one of the species, it is better to focus on areas as yet unaffected by its congener; where the congener is already present, invasional interference makes it unlikely that the net effect will change.     

Importance of individual and environmental variation for invasive species spread: a spatial integral projection model

Plant survival, growth, and flowering are size dependent in many plant populations but also vary among individuals of the same size. This individual variation, along with variation in dispersal caused by differences in, e.g., seed release height, seed characteristics, and wind speed, is a key determinant of the spread rate of species through homogeneous landscapes. Here we develop spatial integral projection models (SIPMs) that include both demography and dispersal with continuous state variables. The advantage of this novel approach over discrete-stage spread models is that the effect of variation in plant size and size-dependent vital rates can be studied at much higher resolution. Comparing Neubert-Caswell matrix models to SIPMs allowed us to assess the importance of including individual variation in the models. As a test case we parameterized a SIPM with previously published data on the invasive monocarpic thistle Carduus nutans in New Zealand. Spread rate (c*) estimates were 34% lower than for standard spatial matrix models and stabilized with as few as seven evenly distributed size classes. The SIPM allowed us to calculate spread rate elasticities over the range of plant sizes, showing the size range of seedlings that contributed most to c* through their survival, growth and reproduction. The annual transitions of these seedlings were also the most important ones for local population growth (lambda). However, seedlings that reproduced within a year contributed relatively more to c* than to lambda. In contrast, plants that grow over several years to reach a large size and produce many more seeds, contributed relatively more to lambda than to c*. We show that matrix models pick up some of these details, while other details disappear within wide size classes. Our results show that SIPMs integrate various sources of variation much better than discrete-stage matrix models. Simpler, heuristic models, however, remain very valuable in studies where the main goal is to investigate the general impact of a life history stage on population dynamics. We conclude with a discussion of future extensions of SIPMs, including incorporation of continuous time and environmental drivers.     

Estimating annual survival in sexually dimorphic species from proportions of first-year birds

We estimated the annual adult survival (S) of several species of temperate and tropical sexually dimorphic tanagers and manakins from the proportions of first-year and older individuals in museum collections. In the case of the sexually dimorphic species included here, young males through their first year resemble females and can be distinguished from older males. We assumed that the sex ratio among first-year birds is even and estimated the number of immature females (IF) in a sample as equal to the number of immature males (IM), using sex information on museum labels. The number of adult females (AF) is the total number of females (F) minus IF, and survival can be estimated by S = AF/F. We used a Monte Carlo resampling approach to estimate standard errors and 1% and 99% confidence limits on S for samples of size N, based on 1000 sets of N randomly drawn individuals and observed proportions of the F, IM, and AM classes. Estimates of annual survival (S) were 0.60-0.73 in four North American species of Piranga tanagers and 0.50 and 0.62 in two montane Central American species. Values of S in lowland species of Habia and Ramphocelus tanagers ranged between 0.68 and 0.82. Annual survival in Pipra manakins was 0.53-0.68, and values for two Manacus species were 0.69 and 0.70. Where estimates of apparent survival (phi) from capture-recapture studies were available, the two methods produced correlated results with a tendency for phi < S. Among tanagers, only Ramphocelus dimidiatus (0.82) and Piranga bidentata (0.50) stood out from the other species, for which S averaged 0.66 +/- 0.05 (SD). Annual survival rates of temperate and tropical species overlapped broadly in this analysis, reinforcing the conclusion that distinctive life-history traits of temperate vs. tropical species cannot be explained completely by the adjustment of reproductive investment in relation to adult survival and the expectation of future life.