Intentionally building relationships between participatory online groups and formal organisations for effective emergency response

Advances in information and communication technologies enable the public to contribute to emergency response. For instance, reporting systems set up during recent disasters allowed affected people to submit testimonies about conditions on the ground. In addition, the public has analysed data and helped to mobilise and deliver relief resources. To plan intentionally for an integrative emergency response system in the networked age, this research explores two subject areas: (i) the organisational and technical determinants of relationships forged between formal organisations and participatory online groups established by the public; and (ii) the consequences of the outcomes generated by these relationships. Four in‐depth case studies were selected for the analysis, which revealed that resource dependence, shared understanding, and the use of certain types of information technology influence the formation of such relationships. Furthermore, healthy collaborative relationships increase the chances of desirable results, including inter‐organisational alignment and minimal long‐term harm owing to a disaster.     

Impacts of climate variability and human colonization on the vegetation of the Galápagos Islands

A high-resolution (2-9 year sampling interval) fossil pollen record from the Galápagos Islands, which spans the last 2690 years, reveals considerable ecosystem stability. Vegetation changes associated with independently derived histories of El Ni?o Southern Oscillation variability provided evidence of shifts in the relative abundance of individual species rather than immigration or extinction. Droughts associated with the Medieval Climate Anomaly induced rapid ecological change that was followed by a reversion to the previous state. The paleoecological data suggested nonneutral responses to climatic forcing in this ecosystem prior to the period of human influence. Human impacts on the islands are evident in the record. A marked decline in long-term codominants of the pollen record, Alternanthera and Acalypha, produced a flora without modern analogue before 1930. Intensified animal husbandry after ca. 1930 may have induced the local extinction of Acalypha and Alternanthera. Reductions in populations of grazing animals in the 1970s and 1980s did not result in the return of the native flora, but in invasions by exotic species. After ca. 1970 the trajectory of habitat change accelerated, continuously moving the ecosystem away from the observed range of variability in the previous 2690 years toward a novel ecosystem. The last 40 years of the record also suggest unprecedented transport of lowland pollen to the uplands, consistent with intensified convection and warmer wet seasons.     

Adult female hamsters avoid interspecific mating after exposure to heterospecific males

When females mate with a heterospecific male, they do not usually produce viable offspring. Thus, there is a selective pressure for females to avoid interspecific mating. In many species, females innately avoid heterospecific males; females can also imprint on their parents to avoid later sexual interactions with heterospecific males. However, it was previously unknown whether adult females can learn to discriminate against heterospecific males. We tested the hypothesis that adult females previously unable to avoid interspecific mating learn to avoid such mating after being exposed to heterospecific males. Syrian hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) females not previously exposed to Turkish hamster (Mesocricetus brandti) males can discriminate between odors of conspecific and heterospecific males, but they mate with either type of male. However, when we exposed adult females to both a conspecific male and a heterospecific male through wire-mesh barriers for 8 days, and then paired them sequentially with the two males, females were more receptive to conspecific males and more aggressive to heterospecific males. When females were paired with the heterospecific male first and the conspecific male second, no female was receptive and all were aggressive to heterospecific males. When females were paired with the conspecific male first, only 43% of females were then aggressive toward the heterospecific male. That is, interactions with conspecific males may decrease a female’s ability to properly avoid heterospecific males. Our study clearly shows for the first time that females can learn during adulthood to avoid interspecific mating just by being exposed to stimuli from heterospecific males.     

High-Velocity Stretching of Renewable Polymer Blends

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - We evaluated the influence of blending various renewable polymer grades and amounts to allow for high stretchability during stretching at 800 mm/s...     

Responses of community to the possible use of recycled water for washing machines: A case study in Sydney, Australia

Recycled water is a valuable resource that has potential to free up potable water supplies and recharge systems while improving the environment. Recycled water for washing machine could be one of the options as new end use of recycled water to alleviate the demand on existing and limited water supplies. This paper summarizes the findings of a research survey in Sydney, Australia to explore the attitudes and opinions of community towards the use of recycled water for different purposes, especially for the washing machine. The survey showed that 97% of the respondents were aware of the persisting water shortage problem while more than 60% of the respondents supported the use of recycled water for washing clothes. This paper exposes the basic concern of participants for using recycled water in washing machine. Health issue was found as the most concerns of the community. The survey also presents the further conditions to be considered for using recycled water for washing machine according to the participants’ opinions. Correlation between knowledge and attitudes of respondents was also found in this survey.     

Evolution of a stream ecosystem in recently deglaciated terrain

Climate change and associated glacial recession create new stream habitat that leads to the assembly of new riverine communities through primary succession. However, there are still very few studies of the patterns and processes of community assembly during primary succession for stream ecosystems. We illustrate the rapidity with which biotic communities can colonize and establish in recently formed streams by examining Stonefly Creek in Glacier Bay, Alaska (USA), which began to emerge from a remnant glacial ice mass between 1976 and 1979. By 2002, 57 macroinvertebrate and 27 microcrustacea species had become established. Within 10 years of the stream's formation, pink salmon and Dolly Varden charr colonized, followed by other fish species, including juvenile red and silver salmon, Coast Range sculpin, and sticklebacks. Stable-isotope analyses indicate that marine-derived nitrogen from the decay of salmon carcasses was substantially assimilated within the aquatic food web by 2004. The findings from Stonefly Creek are compared with those from a long-term study of a similarly formed but older stream (12 km to the northeast) to examine possible similarities in macroinvertebrate community and biological trait composition between streams at similar stages of development. Macroinvertebrate community assembly appears to have been initially strongly deterministic owing to low water temperature associated with remnant ice masses. In contrast, microcrustacean community assembly appears to have been more stochastic. However, as stream age and water temperature increased, macroinvertebrate colonization was also more stochastic, and taxonomic similarity between Stonefly Creek and a stream at the same stage of development was <50%. However the most abundant taxa were similar, and functional diversity of the two communities was almost identical. Tolerance is suggested as the major mechanism of community assembly. The rapidity with which salmonids and invertebrate communities have become established across an entire watershed has implications for the conservation of biodiversity in freshwater habitats.     

Factors Affecting Stream Nutrient Loads: A Synthesis of Regional SPARROW Model Results for the Continental United States1

Preston, Stephen D., Richard B. Alexander, Gregory E. Schwarz, and Charles G. Crawford, 2011. Factors Affecting Stream Nutrient Loads: A Synthesis of Regional SPARROW Model Results for the Continental United States. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 47(5):891‐915. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2011.00577.x Abstract: We compared the results of 12 recently calibrated regional SPARROW (SPAtially Referenced Regressions On Watershed attributes) models covering most of the continental United States to evaluate the consistency and regional differences in factors affecting stream nutrient loads. The models – 6 for total nitrogen and 6 for total phosphorus – all provide similar levels of prediction accuracy, but those for major river basins in the eastern half of the country were somewhat more accurate. The models simulate long‐term mean annual stream nutrient loads as a function of a wide range of known sources and climatic (precipitation, temperature), landscape (e.g., soils, geology), and aquatic factors affecting nutrient fate and transport. The results confirm the dominant effects of urban and agricultural sources on stream nutrient loads nationally and regionally, but reveal considerable spatial variability in the specific types of sources that control water quality. These include regional differences in the relative importance of different types of urban (municipal and industrial point vs. diffuse urban runoff) and agriculture (crop cultivation vs. animal waste) sources, as well as the effects of atmospheric deposition, mining, and background (e.g., soil phosphorus) sources on stream nutrients. Overall, we found that the SPARROW model results provide a consistent set of information for identifying the major sources and environmental factors affecting nutrient fate and transport in United States watersheds at regional and subregional scales.     

Source and Delivery of Nutrients to Receiving Waters in the Northeastern and Mid‐Atlantic Regions of the United States1

Moore, Richard B., Craig M. Johnston, Richard A. Smith, and Bryan Milstead, 2011. Source and Delivery of Nutrients to Receiving Waters in the Northeastern and Mid‐Atlantic Regions of the United States. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 47(5):965‐990. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2011.00582.x Abstract: This study investigates nutrient sources and transport to receiving waters, in order to provide spatially detailed information to aid water‐resources managers concerned with eutrophication and nutrient management strategies. SPAtially Referenced Regressions On Watershed attributes (SPARROW) nutrient models were developed for the Northeastern and Mid‐Atlantic (NE US) regions of the United States to represent source conditions for the year 2002. The model developed to examine the source and delivery of nitrogen to the estuaries of nine large rivers along the NE US Seaboard indicated that agricultural sources contribute the largest percentage (37%) of the total nitrogen load delivered to the estuaries. Point sources account for 28% while atmospheric deposition accounts for 20%. A second SPARROW model was used to examine the sources and delivery of phosphorus to lakes and reservoirs throughout the NE US. The greatest attenuation of phosphorus occurred in lakes that were large relative to the size of their watershed. Model results show that, within the NE US, aquatic decay of nutrients is quite limited on an annual basis and that we especially cannot rely on natural attenuation to remove nutrients within the larger rivers nor within lakes with large watersheds relative to the size of the lake.     

Quantification of mass fluxes and natural attenuation rates at an industrial site with a limited monitoring network: a case study

At many "real world" field sites, the number of available monitoring wells is limited due to economic or geological reasons. Under such restricted conditions, it is difficult to perform a reliable field investigation and to quantify primary lines of evidence for natural attenuation (NA), like the documentation of a decrease of contaminant mass flux in flow direction. This study reports the results of a groundwater investigation at a former manufactured gas plant situated in a Quaternary river valley in southwest Germany. The location, infrastructure and aquifer setting are typical of many industrial sites in Germany. Due to difficult drilling conditions (coarse glaciofluvial gravel deposits and an anthropogenic fill above the aquifer), only 12 monitoring wells were available for the investigation and localisation of the contaminant plume. These wells were situated along three control planes (CP) downgradient from the contaminant source, with four wells along each plane. Based on the sparse set of monitoring wells, field scale mass fluxes and first-order natural attenuation rate constants of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and o-xylene and p-xylene (BTEX) and low molecular weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) were estimated utilizing different point scale and also a new integral investigation method. The results show that even at a heterogeneous site with a sparse monitoring network point scale investigation methods can provide reliable information on field scale natural attenuation rates, if a dependable flow model or tracer test data is available. If this information is not available, only the new integral investigation method presented can yield adequate results for the quantification of contaminant mass fluxes under sparse monitoring conditions.