Desert pastoralists’ negative and positive effects on rare wildlife in the Gobi

In arid regions of the developing world, pastoralists and livestock commonly inhabit protected areas, resulting in human–wildlife conflict. Conflict is inextricably linked to the ecological processes shaping relationships between pastoralists and native herbivores and carnivores. To elucidate relationships underpinning human–wildlife conflict, we synthesized 15 years of ecological and ethnographic data from Ikh Nart Nature Reserve in Mongolia's Gobi steppe. The density of argali (Ovis ammon), the world's largest wild sheep, at Ikh Nart was among the highest in Mongolia, yet livestock were >90% of ungulate biomass and dogs >90% of large‐carnivore biomass. For argali, pastoral activities decreased food availability, increased mortality from dog predation, and potentially increased disease risk. Isotope analyses indicated that livestock accounted for >50% of the diet of the majority of gray wolves (Canis lupus) and up to 90% of diet in 25% of sampled wolves (n = 8). Livestock composed at least 96% of ungulate prey in the single wolf pack for which we collected species‐specific prey data. Interviews with pastoralists indicated that wolves annually killed 1–4% of Ikh Nart's livestock, and pastoralists killed wolves in retribution. Pastoralists reduced wolf survival by killing them, but their livestock were an abundant food source for wolves. Consequently, wolf density appeared to be largely decoupled from argali density, and pastoralists had indirect effects on argali that could be negative if pastoralists increased wolf density (apparent competition) or positive if pastoralists decreased wolf predation (apparent facilitation). Ikh Nart's argali population was stable despite these threats, but livestock are increasingly dominant numerically and functionally relative to argali. To support both native wildlife and pastoral livelihoods, we suggest training dogs to not kill argali, community insurance against livestock losses to wolves, reintroducing key native prey species to hotspots of human–wolf conflict, and developing incentives for pastoralists to reduce livestock density.     

Indoor pollution and burning practices in wood stove management

This study evaluates effects of good burning practice and correct installation and management of wood heaters on indoor air pollution in an Italian rural area. The same study attests the role of education in mitigating wood smoke pollution. In August 2007 and winters of 2007 and 2008, in a little mountain village of Liguria Apennines (Italy), indoor and outdoor benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) concentrations were measured in nine wood-heated houses. During the first sampling, several mistakes in heating plant installations and management were found in all houses. Indoor BTEX concentrations increased during use of wood burning. Low toluene/benzene ratios were in agreement with wood smoke as main indoor and outdoor pollution source. Other BTEX sources were identified as the indoor use of solvents and paints and incense burning. Results obtained during 2007 were presented and discussed with homeowners. Following this preventive intervention, in the second winter sampling all indoor BTEX concentrations decreased, in spite of the colder outdoor air temperatures. Information provided to families has induced the adoption of effective good practices in stoves and fire management. These results highlight the importance of education, supported by reliable data on air pollution, as an effective method to reduce wood smoke exposures.

Implications:Information about burning practices and correct installation and management of wood heaters, supported by reliable data on indoor and outdoor pollution, may help to identify and remove indoor pollution sources. This can be an effective strategy in mitigate wood smoke pollution.     

Think globally,act locally: neighbourhood pollution and the future of the earth

Each year governments and industry around the globe spend billions of dollars in search of treatments and cures for diseases that shorten lives, which often means gadgets, implants, radiation and pills. These “cures”, do not get to the root of the problem. Perhaps it is time for us to adjust our thinking to be more proactive instead of reactive in public health. Perhaps we need to consider confronting environmental pollution of air, soil and water at a local level. As the Physicians for Social Responsibility point out, we should be “preventing what we cannot cure”. One such preventive measure is ensuring that our communities, including our poor inner-city neighbourhoods, enjoy a clean environment. We challenge local and national policy-makers to respond to the global call and to take action to address environmental toxins; to take local action to ameliorate the pollution of the air, water and soil in so many of our nation’s neighbourhoods. A person’s neighbourhood, and the proximity of dangerous environmental contaminants within it, is a powerful predictor of how long s/he will live. While situations like the poisoning of the water in Flint, Michigan have gotten some attention, they are generally treated as the exception rather than a reflection of real environmental hazards that exist in the west. Moreover we wonder why more endemic issues of neighbourhood environmental contamination that shorten human lives are not a priority for local action or that it is not linked to disproportionate production of greenhouse gases that cause climate change/warming/chaos.     

Polyfluoroalkyl phosphate esters and perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids in target food samples and packaging—method development and screening

Polyfluoroalkyl phosphate mono-, di-, and tri-esters (mono-, di-, and triPAPs) are used to water- and grease-proof food packaging materials, and these chemicals are known precursors to perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs). Existing analytical methods for PAPs lack sample clean-up steps in the sample preparation. In the present study, a method based on ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC/MS/MS) was developed and optimized for the analysis of mono-, di-, and triPAPs, including a clean-up step for the raw extracts. The method was applied to food samples and their PAP-containing packaging materials. The optimized UPLC/MS/MS method enabled the separation and identification of a total of 4 monoPAPs, 16 diPAPs, and 7 triPAPs in the technical mixture Zonyl®-RP. For sample clean-up, weak anion exchange solid phase extraction columns were tested. PAPs standard solutions spiked onto the columns were separated into a fraction containing neutral compounds (triPAPs) and a fraction with ionic compounds (mono- and diPAPs) with recoveries between 72–110 %. Method limits of quantification for food samples were in the sub to low picogram per gram range. For quantitative analysis of PAPs, compound-specific labeled internal standards showed to be essential as sorption and matrix effects were observed. Mono-, di-, and/or triPAPs were detected in all food packaging materials obtained from the Swedish market. Up to nine diPAPs were detected in the food samples, with the 6:2/6:2 and 6:2/8:2 diPAPs as the dominant compounds. DiPAP concentrations in the food samples ranged from 0.9 to 36 pg/g, which was comparable to individual PFCA concentrations in the same samples. Consumption of food packed in PAP-containing materials could be an indirect source of human exposure to PFCAs.     

Framework for integrating sustainability into remediation projects

The US Sustainable Remediation Forum (SURF) created this Framework to enable sustainability parameters to be integrated and balanced throughout the remediation project life cycle, while ensuring long‐term protection of human health and the environment and achieving public and regulatory acceptance. Parameters are considerations, impacts, or stressors of environmental, social, and economic importance. Because remediation project phases are not stand‐alone entities but interconnected components of the wider remediation system, the Framework provides a systematic, process‐based approach in which sustainability is integrated holistically and iteratively within the wider remediation system. By focusing stakeholders on the preferred end use or future use of a site at the beginning of a remediation project, the Framework helps stakeholders form a disciplined planning strategy. Specifically, the Framework is designed to help remediation practitioners (1) perform a tiered sustainability evaluation, (2) update the conceptual site model based on the results of the sustainability evaluation, (3) identify and implement sustainability impact measures, and (4) balance sustainability and other considerations during the remediation decision‐making process. The result is a process that encourages communication among different stakeholders and allows remediation practitioners to achieve regulatory goals and maximize the integration of sustainability parameters during the remediation process. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Experimental and theoretical studies on physico-chemical parameters affecting the solubility of phosphogypsum

Phosphogypsum is a waste by-product of the phosphate fertilizer industry, which is usually disposed in the environment because of its restricted use in industrial applications. Physico-chemical conditions existing in stack fluids and leachates are of major importance and determine solubility and redox stability of phosphogypsum, as well as radionuclide release from stacks to terrestrial environments. The aim of this study is to assess the effect of key parameters (e.g. ionic strength, temperature, pH) on the solubility of phosphogypsum. Phosphogypsum sampling and in-situ measurements were carried out at a coastal stack in Cyprus, solubility experiments were performed in simulated laboratory systems and thermodynamic calculations by means of MINTEQA2, an equilibrium speciation model. Generally, increasing ionic strength and temperature leads to increased phosphogypsum solubility, with the former being much more effective. The increased solubility of phosphogypsum in saline solutions is attributed solely to ionic strength effects on the activity of ionic species in solution and no solid phase transformations could be observed. The effect of pH on phosphogypsum solubility seems to be insignificant at least in a pH range between 4 and 8. Regarding uranium levels, there is a strong correlation between salinity and uranium concentration and linear correlation between phosphogypsum solubility and uranium levels in stack solutions, indicating the incorporation of uranium into the gypsum lattice and the formation of a solid solution.