The short-run impact of environmental protection costs on U.S. product prices

Using an input-output framework, this paper investigates the magnitude of the impact that environmental protection costs had on prices in the United States in 1977. With the imposition of environmental protection costs, the projected total price increases for individual industries range from 0.12% to 6.58%. Due to data limitations, the constraints of input-output analysis, and the structural changes that occurred in the economy from 1972 to 1977, the results should not be taken as definitive. However, the results do indicate the typical sort of variation in impact likely to occur across industries and that the average impact on prices was modest.     

Elevated concentrations of mercury in mussels (Mytilus californianus) associated with pinniped colonies

The geographic distribution of mercury concentrations in the California mussel Mytilus californianus, collected from 1977–1978 at 43 sites along the western coastline of the continental United States is marked by consistently elevated levels at two locations. These two sites, which are relatively isolated from anthropogenic inputs and mercuryrich minerals, both contain large pinniped and marine bird populations. The relatively elevated mercury levels measured in the excrement of a pinniped from one of those locales indicate that the concentrated discharge of mercuryrich waste products from the marine ecosystem's top carnivores is contaminating lower trophic levels.     

Geologic occurrences of erionite in the United States: an emerging national public health concern for respiratory disease

Erionite, a mineral series within the zeolite group, is classified as a Group 1 known respiratory carcinogen. This designation resulted from extremely high incidences of mesothelioma discovered in three small villages from the Cappadocia region of Turkey, where the disease was linked to environmental exposures to fibrous forms of erionite. Natural deposits of erionite, including fibrous forms, have been identified in the past in the western United States. Until recently, these occurrences have generally been overlooked as a potential hazard. In the last several years, concerns have emerged regarding the potential for environmental and occupational exposures to erionite in the United States, such as erionite-bearing gravels in western North Dakota mined and used to surface unpaved roads. As a result, there has been much interest in identifying locations and geologic environments across the United States where erionite occurs naturally. A 1996 U.S. Geological Survey report describing erionite occurrences in the United States has been widely cited as a compilation of all US erionite deposits; however, this compilation only focused on one of several geologic environments in which erionite can form. Also, new occurrences of erionite have been identified in recent years. Using a detailed literature survey, this paper updates and expands the erionite occurrences database, provided in a supplemental file (US_erionite.xls). Epidemiology, public health, and natural hazard studies can incorporate this information on known erionite occurrences and their characteristics. By recognizing that only specific geologic settings and formations are hosts to erionite, this knowledge can be used in developing management plans designed to protect the public.     

Modeled historical land use and land cover for the conterminous United States

The landscape of the conterminous United States has changed dramatically over the last 200 years, with agricultural land use, urban expansion, forestry, and other anthropogenic activities altering land cover across vast swaths of the country. While land use and land cover (LULC) models have been developed to model potential future LULC change, few efforts have focused on recreating historical landscapes. Researchers at the US Geological Survey have used a wide range of historical data sources and a spatially explicit modeling framework to model spatially explicit historical LULC change in the conterminous United States from 1992 back to 1938. Annual LULC maps were produced at 250-m resolution, with 14 LULC classes. Assessment of model results showed good agreement with trends and spatial patterns in historical data sources such as the Census of Agriculture and historical housing density data, although comparison with historical data is complicated by definitional and methodological differences. The completion of this dataset allows researchers to assess historical LULC impacts on a range of ecological processes.     

The hardrock minerals industry and the landscape architect

The landscape architecture profession is a source of creative thinking and planning which is relatively untapped within the mining industry in the United States of America. The landscape architect has been active in European operations for years as indicated by the four examples presented. The landscape architect can provide an important interface with mine design and engineering and environmental affairs. To initiate this interface within the United States, and increase its effectiveness, six objectives are presented and discussed.     

Gaps and Mismatches between Global Conservation Priorities and Spending

Abstract:  Several international conservation organizations have recently produced global priority maps to guide conservation activities and spending in their own and other conservation organizations. Surprisingly, it is not possible to directly evaluate the relationship between priorities and spending within a given organization because none of the organizations with global priority models tracks how they spend their money relative to their priorities. We were able, however, to evaluate the spending patterns of five other large biodiversity conservation organizations without their own published global priority models and investigate the potential influence of priority models on this spending. On average, countries with priority areas received greater conservation investment; global prioritization systems, however, explained between only 2 and 32% of the US$1.5 billion spent in 2002, depending on whether the United States was removed from analyses and whether conservation spending was adjusted by the per capita gross domestic product within each country. We also found little overlap in the spending patterns of the five conservation organizations evaluated, suggesting that informal coordination or segregation of effort may be occurring. Our results also highlight a number of potential gaps and mismatches in how limited conservation funds are spent and provide the first audit of global conservation spending patterns. More explicit presentation of conservation priorities by organizations currently without priority models and better tracking of spending by those with published priorities are clearly needed to help make future conservation activities as efficient as possible.     

Management of the Panzootic White‐Nose Syndrome through Culling of Bats

Abstract: The probability of persistence of many species of hibernating bats in the United States is greatly reduced by an emerging infectious disease, white‐nose syndrome (WNS). In the United States WNS is rapidly spreading and is associated with a psychrophilic fungus, Geomyces destructans. WNS has caused massive mortality of bats that hibernate. Efforts to control the disease have been ineffective. The culling of bats in hibernacula has been proposed as a way to break the transmission cycle or slow the spread of WNS. We formulated a disease model to examine the efficacy of culling to abate WNS in bat populations. We based the model dynamics on disease transmission in maternity roosts, swarms, and hibernacula, which are the arenas of contact among bats. Our simulations indicated culling will not control WNS in bats primarily because contact rates are high among colonial bats, contact occurs in multiple arenas, and periodic movement between arenas occurs. In general, culling is ineffective in the control of animal diseases in the wild.     

Forecasting the Expansion of Zebra Mussels in the United States

Abstract:  Because zebra mussels spread rapidly throughout the eastern United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s, their spread to the western United States has been expected. Overland dispersal into inland lakes and reservoirs, however, has occurred at a much slower rate than earlier spread via connected, navigable waterways. We forecasted the potential western spread of zebra mussels by predicting the overland movement of recreational boaters with a production-constrained gravity model. We also predicted the potential abundance of zebra mussels in two western reservoirs by comparing their water chemistry characteristics with those of water bodies with known abundances of zebra mussels. Most boats coming from waters infested with zebra mussels were taken to areas that already had zebra mussels, but a small proportion of such boats did travel west of the 100th meridian. If zebra mussels do establish in western U.S. water bodies, we predict that population densities could achieve similar levels to those in the Midwestern United States, where zebra mussels have caused considerable economic and ecological impacts. Our analyses suggest that the dispersal of zebra mussels to the western United States is an event of low probability but potentially high impact on native biodiversity and human infrastructure. Combining these results with economic analyses could help determine appropriate investment levels in prevention and control strategies .     

Subterranean freshwater gastropod biodiversity and conservation in the United States and Mexico

Many taxonomic groups successfully exploit groundwater environments and have adapted to a subterranean (stygobiotic) existence. Among these groups are freshwater gastropods (stygosnails), which represent a widespread and taxonomically diverse component of groundwater ecosystems in North America. However, owing to sampling difficulty and lack of targeted study, stygosnails remain among the most understudied of all subterranean groups. We conducted a literature review to assess the biodiversity and geographic associations of stygosnails, along with the threats, management activities, and policy considerations related to the groundwater systems they inhabit. We identified 39 stygosnail species known to occur in a range of groundwater habitats from karst regions in the United States and Mexico. Most stygosnails exhibit extreme narrow-range endemism, resulting in a high risk of extinction from a single catastrophic event. We found that anthropogenically driven changes to surface environments have led to changes in local hydrology and degradation of groundwater systems inhabited by stygosnails such as increased sedimentation, introduction of invasive species, groundwater extraction, or physical collapse of water-bearing passages. Consequently, 32 of the 39 described stygosnail species in the United States and Mexico have been assessed as imperiled under NatureServe criteria, and 10 species have been assessed as threatened under International Union for Conservation of Nature criteria. Compared with surface species of freshwater snails, stygosnail conservation is uniquely hindered by difficulties associated with accessing subterranean habitats for monitoring and management. Furthermore, only three species were found to have federal protection in either the United States or Mexico, and current laws regulating wildlife and water pollution at the state and federal level may be inadequate for protecting stygosnail habitats. As groundwater systems continue to be manipulated and relied on by humans, groundwater-restricted fauna such as stygosnails should be studied so unique biodiversity can be protected.     

The effect of pollution on crime: Evidence from data on particulate matter and ozone

We estimate the effect of short-term air pollution exposure (PM_2.5 and ozone) on several categories of crime, with a particular emphasis on aggressive behavior. To identify this relationship, we combine detailed daily data on crime, air pollution, and weather for an eight-year period across the United States. Our primary identification strategy employs extremely high dimensional fixed effects and we perform a series of robustness checks to address confounding variation between temperature and air pollution. We find a robust positive effect of increased air pollution on violent crimes, and specifically assaults, but no relationship between increases in air pollution and property crimes. The effects are present in and out of the home, at levels well below Ambient Air Pollution Standards, and PM_2.5 effects are strongest at lower temperatures. The results suggest that a 10% reduction in daily PM_2.5 and ozone could save $1.4 billion in crime costs per year, a previously overlooked cost associated with pollution.     

The United States Environmental Protection Agency's Role in Controlling Aquatic Debris

Unsightly and environmentally damaging debris is an ever present problem for waterways and beaches around the world. This debris has numerous sources, and is comprised of materials ranging from metal and wood to plastics and paper. the aesthetic, economic, and environmental impacts of debris have been well documented over the past several years. in an effort to control the release of trash and debris into our waters, there are many activities ongoing in the US. One such activity is a coordinated effort between the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), other federal Agencies (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), United States Coast Guard (USCG), United States Navy (USN), National Park Service (NPS), Department of Interior (DOI)), industry (the Society of the Plastics Industry, INC. (SPI)), environmental, and local groups. This paper describes the results of field assessments, and the other activities undertaken by EPA as part of this coordinated effort to control the release of debris to our nation's waterways.     

The United States Environmental Protection Agency's Role in Controlling Aquatic Debris

Unsightly and environmentally damaging debris is an ever present problem for waterways and beaches around the world. This debris has numerous sources, and is comprised of materials ranging from metal and wood to plastics and paper. the aesthetic, economic, and environmental impacts of debris have been well documented over the past several years. in an effort to control the release of trash and debris into our waters, there are many activities ongoing in the US. One such activity is a coordinated effort between the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), other federal Agencies (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), United States Coast Guard (USCG), United States Navy (USN), National Park Service (NPS), Department of Interior (DOI)), industry (the Society of the Plastics Industry, INC. (SPI)), environmental, and local groups. This paper describes the results of field assessments, and the other activities undertaken by EPA as part of this coordinated effort to control the release of debris to our nation's waterways.     

The human footprint in the west: a large-scale analysis of anthropogenic impacts

Anthropogenic features such as urbanization, roads, and power lines, are increasing in western United States landscapes in response to rapidly growing human populations. However, their spatial effects have not been evaluated. Our goal was to model the human footprint across the western United States. We first delineated the actual area occupied by anthropogenic features, the physical effect area. Next, we developed the human footprint model based on the ecological effect area, the zone influenced by features beyond their physical presence, by combining seven input models: three models quantified top-down anthropogenic influences of synanthropic predators (avian predators, domestic dog and cat presence risk), and four models quantified bottom-up anthropogenic influences on habitat (invasion of exotic plants, human-caused fires, energy extraction, and anthropogenic wildland fragmentation). Using independent bird population data, we found bird abundance of four synanthropic species to correlate positively with human footprint intensity and negatively for three of the six species influenced by habitat fragmentation. We then evaluated the extent of the human footprint in relation to terrestrial (ecoregions) and aquatic systems (major rivers and lakes), regional management and conservation status, physical environment, and temporal changes in human actions. The physical effect area of anthropogenic features covered 13% of the western United States with agricultural land (9.8%) being most dominant. High-intensity human footprint areas (class 8-10) overlapped highly productive low-elevation private landholdings and covered 7% of the western United States compared to 48% for low-intensity areas (class 1-3), which were confined to low-productivity high-elevation federal landholdings. Areas within 1 km of rivers were more affected by the human footprint compared to lakes. Percentage human population growth was higher in low-intensity human footprint areas. The disproportional regional effects of the human footprint on landscapes in the western United States create a challenge to management of ecosystems and wildlife populations. Using footprint models, managers can plan land use actions, develop restoration scenarios, and identify areas of high conservation value at local landscapes within a regional context. Moreover, human footprint models serve as a tool to stratify landscapes for studies investigating floral and faunal response to human disturbance intensity gradients.     

Fuel prices and new vehicle fuel economy—Comparing the United States and Western Europe

Several recent papers have documented an effect of fuel prices on new vehicle fuel economy in the United States. This paper estimates the effect of fuel prices on average new vehicle fuel economy for the eight largest European markets. The analysis spans the years 2002–2007 and uses detailed vehicle registration and specification data to control for policies, consumer preferences, and other potentially confounding factors. We find fuel prices to have a statistically significant effect on average new vehicle fuel economy in Europe. The effect estimated for Europe is much smaller than comparable estimates for the United States.     

The natives are restless, but not often and mostly when disturbed

The argument that the threat posed by introduced species is overblown is often buttressed by the observation that native species sometimes also become invasive. An examination of the literature on plant invasions in the United States shows that six times more nonnative species have been termed invasive than native species, and that a member of the naturalized nonnative pool is 40 times more likely than a native species to be perceived as invasive. In the great majority of instances in which a native plant species is seen as invasive, the invasion is associated with an anthropogenic disturbance, especially changed fire or hydrological regime, livestock grazing, and changes wrought by an introduced species. These results suggest that natives are significantly less likely than nonnatives to be problematic for local ecosystems.     

An integrated methodology for assessment of estuarine trophic status

This paper describes an integrated methodology for the Assessment of Estuarine Trophic Status (ASSETS), which may be applied comparatively to rank the eutrophication status of estuaries and coastal areas, and to address management options. It includes quantitative and semi-quantitative components, and uses field data, models and expert knowledge to provide Pressure-State-Response (PSR) indicators.A substantial part of the concepts underlying the approach were developed as the United States National Estuarine Eutrophication Assessment (NEEA), which was applied to 138 estuaries in the continental United States. The core methodology relies on three diagnostic tools: a heuristic index of pressure (Overall Human Influence), a symptoms-based evaluation of state (Overall Eutrophic Conditions), and an indicator of management response (Definition of Future Outlook).Recently, the methodology has been extended and refined in its application to European estuaries, and a more quantitative approach to some of the metrics has been implemented. In particular, the assessment of pressure is carried out by means of simple modeling techniques, comparing anthropogenic nutrient loading with natural background concentrations, and the quantitative criteria for classification of system state based on different symptoms have been refined to improve comparability.The present approach has been intercalibrated with the original NEEA work, for five widely different U.S. estuaries (Long Island Sound, Neuse River, Savannah River, Florida Bay and West Mississippi Sound) with good results. ASSETS additionally aims to contribute to the EU Water Framework Directive classification system, as regards a subset of water quality and ecological parameters in transitional and coastal waters.     

Existierende dioxininventare weltweit und neue methodik zur erstellung von vergleichbaren und vollständigen emissionsinventaren

Presently, there are less than 20 inventories to estimate releases of dioxins and furans. According to a recent survey, 12,900 g TEQ of these unwanted byproducts are emitted into the atmosphere by 16 countries. Highest emissions are from the densely populated industrialized countries of the Northern hemisphere — Japan and the United States of America. Whereas the metal producing and recycling industry is the sector with the highest dioxin emissions in Europe, waste incineration is considered to be the major source in many other countries. Measures to reduce dioxin emissions have resulted in strong downward trends, as shown e.g. in Germany and Japan; however, potentials for further reduction have been identified. So far, countries have utilized own methods to calculate their dioxin emissions and the majority has addressed releases to air only. The future Stockholm Convention on POPs will require to continuously reduce dioxin emissions. In order to assist countries in inventory making, UNEP has produced the Toolkit, a methodology to establish comparable dioxin inventories that address releases to air, water and land, with products and in residues.     

Impacts of urbanization: diversity and the symbiotic relationships of rural,urban, and spaces in-between

This Impacts article proposes strategies for mitigating negative impacts of urbanization in rural locations in the United States. Issues addressed include impacts of population growth and development, loss of agricultural lands, and impacts of climate change on agriculture and rural communities. Conclusions are supported by stakeholder survey data, geographic information systems-based data, and desktop reviews of research journal publications. We propose a sustainable, diversified approach that supports mitigation of issues, including increasing demand on food production and decline of rural communities. A key issue that we address is where we will find suitable landscapes to reduce enough food for 9.6 billion people living in 2050.

Urban and rural development planners are grappling with solutions to escalating impacts global populations, stresses on food production, and effects of climate change. Solutions are identified, including strengthening rural and urban contexts by establishing connected and interdependent links that support diversification of rural and urban contexts as viable solutions to these issues.

Diversified rural-to-urban sustainable agriculture production is a promising approach to addressing climate change impacts. Organic agriculture principles exhibit strong diversity and are accredited by United States Department of Agriculture as the only federally certified sustainable agriculture practice in the United States. Sustainable agriculture practices are evolving into profitable diversified alternative food sources. We offer substantiated alternative solutions for remediating impacts of urbanization on rural agriculture and communities. Collectively, these solutions can strengthen symbiotic relationships between sustainable agriculture and rural communities, addressing our growing population issues and preserving our dwindling farmlands and rural communities.     

Obligate Cave Fauna of the 48 Contiguous United States

Abstract: We assembled a list of obligate cave-dwelling species and subspecies, their county distribution, and their provisional global conservation rank. A total of 927 species and 46 additional subspecies in 96 families exclusively from cave and associated subterranean habitats have been described in the 48 contiguous states of the United States. The terrestrial (troglobitic) species are concentrated in northeast Alabama (especially Jackson County), with other concentrations in Kentucky, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Only 23 counties, comprising less than 1% of the land area of the 48 contiguous states, account for over 50% of the terrestrial species and subspecies. The aquatic (stygobitic) species are concentrated in Hays County, Texas, with other concentrations in Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Only 18 counties, comprising less than 1% of the land area, account for over 50% of the aquatic species and subspecies. Endemism is high, with 54% of the species known from a single county. Approximately 95% of the species are listed by The Nature Conservancy as vulnerable or imperiled in the United States. These cave species comprise 50% of all vulnerable or imperiled species listed in databases of the Natural Heritage Program. Less than 4% of these subterranean species have federal status. Conservation can best be accomplished through habitat protection, which must include protection of the associated surface habitat.