Atmospheric Change and Biodiversity: Co-Networks and Networking

Canada responded to the Global Biodiversity Convention by completing the Canadian Biodiversity Strategy in 1995. At the same time, Environment Canada also completed a national Science Assessment on Biodiversity. During this period, the Smithsonian Institution, in partnership with Parks and Environment Canada, initiated the implementation of a global biodiversity monitoring program in Canada. Under the auspices of the United Nations Man and the Biosphere Program, the SI/MAB monitoring protocols and plots have spread across Canada at an unprecedented rate. National champions in the science and educational sectors, working within an inter-disciplinary ecological framework, have guided the development, education, quality control and sharing of atmosphere-biodiversity observations electronically.Atmospheric-Biodiversity Networks and Networking have traditionally operated within separate mandates with little degree of integration. Air-Bio Networks were designed within an integrated framework to better understand the atmospheric stress on biodiversity and the adaptation actions, nationally and regionally. Detailed examples of the cumulative effects of climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, acid deposition, ground-level ozone, suspended particulate matter and hazardous air pollutants on biodiversity will be discussed using a Southern Ontario case study. In addition, recommendations will be presented for future paired SI/MAB plots, linked networks and networking for adaptation within the context of climate, chemical and ecological gradients.     

Nanomaterials and the environment: uses, methods and measurement

Nanotechnology has emerged as a field of science and engineering which offers many new product possibilities and potential solutions for a variety of problems. Nanomaterials come in many shapes and forms and contribute to potential products that do everything from sense analytes on a molecular level to function as self cleaning surfaces. With new and significant applications, it is likely that nanomaterial containing products may replace many of the products we use on a daily basis, leading to an increased presence of these materials in the environment. This will result in new needs and requirements from detection tools. It is likely that the analytical methods used to monitor nanomaterials in the environment will be very different than those used in risk assessment and exposure studies. This paper briefly outlines the history, impacts, and uses of nanomaterials and discusses possible methods of detection and quantification for environmental samples. The discussions in this article are specific to those matrices relating to wastewaters and sludge.     

Biodiversity of Minnesota Caddisflies (Insecta: Trichoptera): Delineation and Characterization of Regions

Despite the value of aquatic insects in aquatic ecosystem biomonitoring, few studies within North America have addressed relationships between aquatic insect assemblages and landscape-level environmental variables. In this study, over 300,000 adult caddisfly specimens representing 224 species were collected and analyzed from samples of 225 Minnesota aquatic habitats within 58 watersheds. Detrended Correspondence Analysis and a UPGMA dendrogram of caddisfly relative abundance data determined that five regions of caddisfly biodiversity exist within the state. Species richness and diversity were significantly highest in the Lake Superior and Northern regions, lowest in the Northwestern and Southern regions, and intermediate in the Southeastern region. Canonical Correspondence Analysis determined that caddisfly species composition was related to temperature, percentage of disturbed habitat, and stream gradient. Although a strong correlation between temperature and percentage of disturbed habitat made determination of the relative importance of those variables difficult, it is likely that anthropogenic disturbance has decreased caddisfly biodiversity in at least the Northwestern and Southern regions. Now that regions of biodiversity have been established, future changes to the fauna can be evaluated with greater precision and confidence. This study represents the most comprehensive faunal analysis of an aquatic insect order within the Western Hemisphere.     

Cadmium and lead in common terns (Aves: Sterna hirundo): Relationship between levels in parents and eggs

We analyzed cadmium and lead levels in feathers of mated pairs of common terns (Sterna hirundo) and in their eggs to determine if metal levels in eggs correlated with female levels, and whether there were intrapair and intermetal correlations. Eggs had significantly lower lead levels (89 ng g^-1) and cadmium levels (4.0 ng g^-1) than adult feathers (500 and 50 ng g^-1 respectively). Adult females had higher metal levels than males. Cadmium and lead levels were correlated across families for females, males and eggs. Lead, but not cadmium, levels were correlated in females and their eggs.     

The siting puzzle: Balancing economic and environmental gains and losses

Traditional approaches to the siting of potentially hazardous but regionally necessary facilities are often ineffective and lead to drawn-out legal disputes ultimately satisfactory to none of the parties. Research at MIT over the last decade has indicated five factors that may solve the siting puzzle. Application of these principles do not guarantee that a decision will not be disputed but may enhance the possibility of a wise and durable agreement.     

Persistence of desertified ecosystems: Explanations and implications

Studies of rainfall partitioning by shrubs, responses of shrub-dominated ecosystems to herbicide treatment, and experiments using drought and supplemental rainfall were conducted to test the hypothesis that the shrub-dominated ecosystems that have replaced desert grasslands are resistant and resilient to disturbance. Between 16 and 25% of the intercepted rainfall is channelized to deep soil storage by stemflow and root channelization. Stemflow water is nutrient enriched and contributes to the islands of fertility that develop under desert shrubs. Drought and rainfall augmentation experiments during the growing season after 5 consecutive years of summer drought found that (1) growth of creosotebushes, Larrea tridentata, was not significantly affected, (2) perennial grasses and forbs disappeared on droughted plots, (3) nitrogen mineralization increased in the short term, and (4) densities and biomass of spring annual plants increased on the droughted plots. Doubling summer rainfall for 5 consecutive years had less-significant effects. Coppice dunes treated with herbicide in 1979 to kill mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) had the same frequency of occurrence of the shrub as the untreated dunes when remeasured in 1993. These data indicate that the shrub-dominated ecosystems persist because they are resistant and resilient to climatic and anthropogenic stresses.Notice: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), through its Office of Research and Development (ORD), partially funded and collaborated in the research described herein. This paper has been subjected to EPA's peer review and has been approved as an EPA publication. The U.S. Government has a nonexclusive, royalty-free license in and to any copyright covering this article.     

Sediments and sediment-derived soils in Illinois: pedological and agronomic assessment

Dredging sediments from water bodies in Illinois is done topreserve reservoir capacity, maintain navigation and recreationchannels, and restore habitats, but the fate of the sediments is an issue. In anticipation of a major sediment dredging operationin Lake Peoria in the Illinois River, a retrospective study ofsediment placement operations was performed. Sedimentspreviously dredged from reservoirs and placed in retaining pondswere sampled along with adjacent upland soils which served asreferences. Sediments from the Illinois River above Peoria weresampled from islands, river bottom, and adjacent floodplain. Dredged sediment retention ponds initially support wetlandvegetation. After dewatering, the physical properties of sediments tend to become similar to upland soils and theretention basins are then able to support conventionalagriculture. Sediment organic matter content was similar to localreference surface soils, and soil pH of the sediments wasneutral or above. Sediment textures are dominated by silts and clays, with the Lake Peoria samples being most clayey. Calcium was the dominant cation in all the samples, and micronutrientsmeasured were in adequate supply for plant growth. However,because the Illinois River watershed includes industrial inputs,river sediments contained elevated levels of some metals, butthey were generally below levels of regulatory concern. Resultsindicated that properly handled dredge sediments could make highquality agricultural soils. In addition, sediment placement onpoor soils could improve their productivity.     

Resource Game: Present Bias and Sophisticated Paradigm

Environmental Modeling & Assessment - We provide a tool for diagnosing preference heterogeneity (e.g., present bias) in a resource game. This game constitutes of two present-biased players,...     

Integrated environmental assessment methods: Evolution and applications

The central objectives of the European Forum on Integrated Environmental Assessment (EFIEA) include improving the scientific quality of Integrated Environmental Assessments (IEA) as well as strengthening the interactions between science and policy making in environmental matters. This paper is intended to provide a concise assessment of the evolution of IEA methods and present it as a background to current thinking on and practice in IEA. Historical roots of IEA concepts and applications are explored. Common elements and distinctive features in recent proposals to define IEA are sorted and a liberal definition is proposed for the purposes of the present methodological study. This definition emphasizes the interdisciplinary character and environmental policy orientation of IEAs. Changes in the nature, social perception, and management of environmental problems are identified as the major factors driving methodological development in IEAs. A simple scheme is proposed to arrange the main elements of IEA: disciplinary tools, integration tools, and assessment frameworks. The role of IEAs in environmental management is examined by adopting the concept of risk management functions. Due to the varying needs for interdisciplinary research and diverging degrees of policy involvement across those functions, the potential contribution of IEAs to activities belonging to different functions also varies. The flexibility and diversity of IEAs are demonstrated by a sampler of frameworks that have been developed to address profoundly different problems and audiences. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Thiram: degradation, applications and analytical methods

In this review a brief introduction to thiram (tetramethylthiuram disulfide; TMTD) pesticide has been given along with other applications. All the important methods available are systematically arranged and are listed under various techniques. Some of these methods have been applied for the determination of thiram in commercial formulations, synthetic mixtures in grains, vegetables and fruits. A comparison of different methods is the salient feature of this review.     

Sustainability and sustainable development: Historical and conceptual review

The vagueness of the concept of sustainable development, coupled with its increasing importance in national, international and corporate policies, has led to a large political battle for influence over our future by linking interpretation to the concept. This has resulted in a wide variety of definitions and interpretations that are skewed towards institutional and group prerogatives rather than compounding the essence of the concept, which has been inherent in traditional beliefs and practices. A systematic analysis of representative definitions and interpretations presented in this article reveals that most of the contemporary definitions focus on specific elements while failing to capture the whole spectrum. Such a historical and conceptual analysis focusing on the analysis of the metaphorical and epistemological basis of the different definitions is believed to be the first step towards developing a concrete body of theory on sustainability and sustainable development.     

Models at the interface between science and society: impacts and options

Within the CLEAR project a new approach to integrated assessment modelling has been developed for the participatory integrated assessment of regional climate change involving citizens' focus groups. The climate change decision problem was structured by focusing separately on climate impacts and mitigation options. The attempt was made to link the different scales of the problem from the individual to the global level. The abstract topic of climate change was related to options on the level of a citizen's individual lifestyle. The option of a low energy society was emphasised in order to embed the climate change decision problem in a wider range of societal concerns. Special emphasis was given to the characterisation and communication of uncertainties. The chosen approach allows different kinds of uncertainties in one framework to be addressed. The paper concludes with a summary of the experience made, and recommendations for the use of models in participatory integrated assessments. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.