Impacts of ocean CO2 disposal on marine life: II. Probabilistic plume exposure model used with a time‐varying dose‐response analysis

A method to evaluate aquatic mortality given a pollutant distribution is presented and applied to several sample low pH plumes representing various ocean CO₂ disposal schemes. The method is an improvement over current analysis because it integrates the mortality due to timevarying exposure to low pH with the probabilistic experiences of passive organisms subject to turbulent lateral diffusion as they pass through the plume. For the examples presented, the plume was discretized laterally into lanes and longitudinally by time steps, and a random walk model accounting for the scaledependent nature of relative diffusion was used to simulate the organism pathways over one time step. From these simulations, the probability that an organism will be in a given lane, , one time step after it starts from an initial lane, , was determined for all combinations of and . These probabilities were used to find the number of organisms following each of the possible pathways, and the mortality to the organisms due to their time varying exposure to low pH was determined by using the toxicity model described in part I of this paper. The integrated method allows the impact of the plume to be described in terms of total organism mortality as well as spatial deficit of organisms.     

Impacts of ocean CO2 disposal on marine life: I. A toxicological assessment integrating constant‐concentration laboratory assay data with variable‐concentration field exposure

Feasibility studies suggest that the concept of capturing CO₂ from fossil fuel power plants and discharging it to the deep ocean could help reduce atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. However, the local reduction in seawater pH near the point of injection is a potential environmental impact. Data from the literature reporting on toxicity of reduced pH to marine organisms potentially affected by such a plume were combined into a model expressing mortality as a function of pH and exposure time. Since organisms exposed to real plumes would experience a time‐varying pH, methods to account for a variable exposure were reviewed and a new method developed based on the concept of isomortality. In part II of this paper, the method is combined with a random‐walk model describing the transport of passive organisms through a low pH plume leading to a Monte‐Carlo‐like risk assessment which is applied to several candidate CO₂ injection scenarios.     

Accelerating environmental cleanup at DOE sites: Monitored natural attenuation/enhanced attenuation—A basis for a new paradigm

The U.S. Department of Energy is conducting a project to accelerate remediation through the use of monitored natural attenuation and enhanced attenuation for chlorinated ethenes in soils and groundwater. Better monitoring practices, improved scientific understanding, and an advanced regulatory framework are being sought through a team effort that engages technology developers from academia, private industry, and government laboratories; site cleanup managers; stakeholders; and federal and state regulators. The team works collaboratively toward the common goals of reducing risk, accelerating cleanup, reducing cost, and minimizing environmental disruption. Cutting‐edge scientific advances are being combined with experience and sound environmental engineering in a broadly integrated and comprehensive approach that exemplifies socalled “third‐generation R&D.” The project is potentially a model for other cleanup activities. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

德国的劳动保护工作

在劳动保护领域，德国在世界上具有领先地位，在对工伤人员的保障方面有着很高的标准和要求。德国政府规定，当工作人员发生工伤事故或由于工作而引起身体健康受到损害时，将获得长期补偿资金，这种由多项因素所组成的赔偿首先要保证受害人不会出现经济拮据现象；再者也要保证受害人的社会形象及地位不受影响，因而要给受害人无偿提供各种医疗和身体康复措施。40年来，德国政府始终致力于减少职业伤害。     

Sex and microhabitat influence the uptake and allocation of mycosporine-like amino acids to tissues in the purple sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus

UVR-absorbing mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) were detected in tissues of Strongylocentrotus purpuratus and in ten species of Rhodophyte macroalgae (eight previously untested) collected from intertidal microhabitats in November and January 2006?C2007 in Central California (35°09??N, 120°45??W). In sea urchins, MAA concentrations were higher in ovaries than testes, while epidermal concentrations were similar between sexes. Ovaries and epidermal tissues had similar MAA signatures and broadband UVA/UVB absorbance, while testes had a narrower absorption ranges shifted toward higher energy wavelengths. Sea urchins occupying pits in the substrate exhibited lower MAA concentrations than those outside pits, suggesting adult microhabitat may impact UV protection. Light levels did not influence gonadal MAA concentrations, but correlated with elevated epidermal MAA concentrations for males in the sunniest microhabitat. This study suggests sex and habitat strongly influence MAA concentrations among individual S. purpuratus and that allocation of MAA sunscreens to tissues in response to UVR is sex-dependent.     

Interdisciplinarity and participatory approaches to environmental health

This paper reviews a workshop discussion postulated on the notion that social, economic and behavioural factors are responsible for the creation of environmental hazards and benefits that, in turn, can affect human health, with concomitant effects on future social well-being. The workshop case study centred on environmental health investigations, public engagement and partnership work undertaken following the death of two neighbouring children in Cheshire. Discussion included questions of causality and generalisability. It revealed how the attribution of responsibility for environmental damage to health is fraught with difficulties. It may often militate against an informed and open debate among interested parties, with concomitant implications for reducing the danger from environmental hazards. To improve communication, vocabulary needs to be free from jargon and acronyms, and differences in conceptual approach between different disciplines need to be better understood. The definition of the ‘community’ is itself far from clear-cut, yet questions of how to involve this community in intervention processes are important ones. The workshop identified a clear need for better, more considered forms of communication with communities and the public if fears are to be allayed, but recognised the additional costs that this would incur.     

Perspectives of the Scientific Community on the Status of Ecological Risk Assessment

/ Views from a wide variety of practicing environmental professionals on the current status of ecological risk assessment (ERA) indicate consensus and divergence of opinion on the utility and practice of risk assessment. Central to the debate were the issues of whether ERA appropriately incorporates ecological and scientific principle into its conceptual paradigm. Advocates argue that ERA effectively does both, noting that much of the fault detractors find with the process has more to do with its practice than its purpose. Critics argue that failure to validate ERA predictions and the tendency to over-simplify ecological principles compromise the integrity of ERA and may lead to misleading advice on the appropriate responses to environmental problems. All authors felt that many improvements could be made, including validation, better definition of the ecological questions and boundaries of ERA, improved harmonization of selected methods, and improvements in the knowledge base. Despite identified deficiencies, most authors felt that ERA was a useful process undergoing evolutionary changes that will inevitably determine the range of environmental problems to which it can be appropriately applied. The views expressed give ERA a cautious vote of approval and highlight many of the critical strengths and weaknesses in one of our most important environmental assessment tools.KEY WORDS: Ecological risk assessment; Ecology; Probability     

Long-Term Biological Monitoring of an Impaired Stream: Synthesis and Environmental Management Implications

The long-term ecological recovery of an impaired stream in response to an industrial facility’s pollution abatement actions and the implications of the biological monitoring effort to environmental management is the subject of this special issue of Environmental Management. This final article focuses on the synthesis of the biological monitoring program’s components and methods, the efficacy of various biological monitoring techniques to environmental management, and the lessons learned from the program that might be applicable to the design and application of other programs. The focus of the 25-year program has been on East Fork Poplar Creek, an ecologically impaired stream in Oak Ridge, Tennessee with varied and complex stressors from a Department of Energy facility in its headwaters. Major components of the long-term program included testing and monitoring of invertebrate and fish toxicity, bioindicators of fish health, fish contaminant accumulation, and instream communities (including periphyton, benthic macroinvertebrate, and fish). Key parallel components of the program include water chemistry sampling and data management. Multiple lines of evidence suggested positive ecological responses during three major pollution abatement periods. Based on this case study and the related literature, effective environmental management of impaired streams starts with program design that is consistent across space and time, but also adaptable to changing conditions. The biological monitoring approaches used for the program provided a strong basis for assessments of recovery from remedial actions, and the likely causes of impairment. This case study provides a unique application of multidisciplinary and quantitative techniques to address multiple and complex regulatory and programmatic goals, environmental stressors, and remedial actions.