Management plan for an alkali sink and its endangered plantCordylanthus palmatus

Cordylanthus palmatus is a hemiparasitic annual of the family Scrophulareacae. It is on both the federal and state lists of endangered species. Only four widely separated populations remain, all of them in alkali sinks, where the plant thrives in saline-sodic soils. The largest population is at Springtown, Alameda County, California. This article reports on efforts to develop a management plan for both the plant and the alkali sink ecosystem. The plan is based on: (1) characterization of hydrology, soils and geomorphology of the site; (2) characterization of the land use impacts to the site; (3) analysis of plant distribution in relation to gradients of elevation and soil chemistry; (4) studies on water potential and water stress inCordylanthus palmatus and associated species. On the basis of this plan, both the State of California and private groups are cooperating to create, restore, and manage a preserve in the Springtown Alkali Sink.     

Integrated measures for preservation, restoration and improvement of the environmental conditions of the Lagoon Olho d'Agua basin

The Lagoon Olho d'Agua in Pernambuco State, Northeast Brazil has received increasing environmental concern due to significant stress from pollution in the catchment. The existing environmental problems are the result of great pressure from a broad range of human activities, especially in the last 10 years. Serious pollution exists mainly from some industrial and urban activities, which increased intensively after the eighties. There is a strong social and economical pressure for housing and construction near the lagoon, due to the available land nearby beaches and estuarine zone, and recently by growing tourism activities. Uncontrolled land use by low-income communities and the pressure for construction by developers have led to landfilling and to deterioration of water quality in the lagoon catchment. Improvement of the environmental conditions in the catchment needs integrated measures. Guidelines and some specific actions involving several institutions have been established and refer to sanitation and urban infrastructure as the main priorities. A main target is the construction of low-cost sewage system with smaller and decentralised treatment plants.     

Room to move? Threatened shorebird habitat in the path of sea level rise—dynamic beaches, multiple users, and mixed ownership: a case study from Rhode Island, USA

Accelerated sea level rise (slr) is expected to transform vulnerable Atlantic coastal habitats in the United States during this century. Low-elevation sandy beaches, important nesting habitat for the continued recovery of the federally threatened piping plover (Charadrius melodus) in Rhode Island, are especially vulnerable. These beaches, under a mix of private and public ownership, exist in a heterogeneous landscape of dunes, rocky headlands, salt ponds, and heavily developed areas. Understanding the extent to which piping plover nesting beaches can retreat landward under projected slr is important for prioritizing future conservation actions across multiple jurisdictions. This research examines habitat change in response to slr (0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 m) under stationary and migration beach responses and whether development blocks habitat migration for five productive piping plover nesting beaches. We found that under the stationary habitat model, all beaches lose area under all slr scenarios. For the habitat migration model, future habitat availability differs by beach depending on elevation, landward topography, and presence of development. However, across the majority of beach area, piping plover habitat will be able to migrate landward if unconstrained by future development. A coalition of public and private stakeholders already supports management efforts to help ensure plover population recovery in the area. With emerging habitat change prediction tools, these stakeholders and other partners can engage in innovative, local-level planning needed to protect wildlife habitat and commercial, residential, and infrastructure assets from sea level rise.     

The European Commission's sustainable consumption and production and sustainable industrial policy action plan

The promotion of sustainable consumption and production patterns is enshrined as a key objective in the renewed European Union Sustainable Development Strategy (EU SDS). Sustainable consumption and production is arguably the most challenging aspect of the EU SDS. It requires changes to the way products and services are designed, produced, used and disposed of, taking into account producer and consumer behaviours. This paper reviews the European Commission's Communication on the sustainable consumption and production and sustainable industrial policy action plan, introduced on July 16, 2008. The paper examines the priority areas identified for action, the means adopted to improve energy and environmental performance of products as well as uptake by consumers. The paper concludes that the absence of mandatory quantifiable targets and deadlines and a reliance on both cross-sectoral and multi-level relationships are likely to weaken the ability of the action plan's fundamental objective of decoupling economic growth from resource use.     

Base-neutral extractable organic pollutants in biota and sediments from Lake Pontchartrain

A study was conducted to screen the three passes that link Lake Pontchartrain to the Gulf of Mexico via Lake Borne for the presence of EPA base-neutral (BN) priority pollutants and any other pollutants detected in significant concentration. Biota and sediment samples were collected and analytical procedures were developed for the trace analysis of BN organics in these matrices. Compounds identified include alkanes (normal, branched, cyclic), alkenes, aromatics, alkylated aromatics, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons and their alkylated derivatives, phthalates, ketones, furans, thiophenes, phenols, amines, nitriles, thiazoles, amides, aldehydes, alcohols, free fatty acids, fatty acid methyl and ethyl esters, phosphates, sterols. Concentrations were in the parts-per-billion range.     

The boom in mineral markets: How long might it last?

The commodity price boom that emerged in 2004 has proved far more persevering than its predecessors of 1950 and 1973. Some analysts have suggested that it may represent the start of a “supercycle” caused by the voracious raw materials demand from China and other emerging economies, with prices remaining high for 20-30 years. We offer an alternative explanation. For a variety of reasons, the establishment of new capacity in minerals and energy to match the accelerated demand trends is more time consuming than commonly assumed, and may take a decade or longer. As soon as the new capacity is in place, however, the boom will be punctuated. Prices may collapse much earlier in the event of a severe recession that cuts the growth in commodity demand.