Surprising cooperation despite apparently irreconcilable differences: Agricultural water use efficiency and CALFED

Much has been said about the need and benefits of consensus building for resolving disagreements about water and environmental management. Less has been said about how to better convene and facilitate those processes. This paper focuses on the latter, examining the challenges and breakthroughs encountered when decision-makers convene consensus building processes that seek an agreement among stakeholders who believe they have “apparently irreconcilable differences.” The research described here analyzes two multi-stakeholder, collaborative processes convened by the CALFED Bay-Delta Program (CALFED) on the issue of agricultural water use efficiency in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river watersheds of California. The first process made very little progress; however, stakeholder representatives in the second were able to forge an agreement that included significant innovation and surprising risk taking by all sides. Analyzing the two processes, this paper shows that the stakeholders, conveners, and facilitators in these processes had to do much more than make the discrete trades across interests envisioned in consensus building theory or reframing as described in theories about conflict and frames. Looking at the data, this paper shows how several concepts from outside consensus building—including boundary objects and interlanguage—along with less well-known concepts and issues within the consensus building literature—bricolage and representation—can provide insights into how the Steering Committee accomplished what it did. This paper introduces these additional concepts, how they mattered in this CALFED process, and suggests a complex set of interrelated insights into how future collaborative and integrative environmental programs can approach the most difficult environmental policy and management conflicts.     

Spatial and temporal occurrence of N-nitrosamines in seven drinking water supply systems

The spatiotemporal presence of eight N-nitrosamines in the water of seven supply systems in Quebec considered to be susceptible to these emerging disinfection by-products was evaluated. This is the first study on the presence of N-nitrosamines in drinking water utilities in Quebec. Seven sampling campaigns were carried out at several sampling points in each of the systems over a period of 1 year. The results show that N-nitrosamines, primarily N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), were not commonly detected in the water of the facilities under study (10 % of samples). The concentrations measured were lower than those reported in recent North American studies. None of the 195 samples taken exceeded the Ontario standard of 9 ng/L for NDMA (maximum value observed of 3.3 ng/L). N-nitrosomethylethylamine and N-nitrosopiperidine were detected once, with concentrations of 3.7 and 6.0 ng/L, respectively. Chloramination was identified as being the main risk factor regarding the presence of N-nitrosamines, but water quality and some operating parameters, in particular disinfectant residual, also seem to be related to their presence. NDMA concentrations at the end of the distribution systems were generally higher than water leaving the plant. No seasonal trends were observed for the formation of N-nitrosamines in the investigated supply systems. Finally, an association between the presence of N-nitrosamines and the levels of trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids was observed in some facilities.     

2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene mineralization and bacterial production rates of natural microbial assemblages from coastal sediments

The nitrogenous energetic constituent, 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT), is widely reported to be resistant to bacterial mineralization (conversion to CO₂); however, these studies primarily involve bacterial isolates from freshwater where bacterial production is typically limited by phosphorus. This study involved six surveys of coastal waters adjacent to three biome types: temperate broadleaf, northern coniferous, and tropical. Capacity to catabolize and mineralize TNT ring carbon to CO₂ was a common feature of natural sediment assemblages from these coastal environments (ranging to 270+/−38 μg C kg⁻¹ d⁻¹). More importantly, these mineralization rates comprised a significant proportion of total heterotrophic production. The finding that most natural assemblages surveyed from these ecosystems can mineralize TNT ring carbon to CO₂ is consistent with recent reports that assemblage components can incorporate TNT ring carbon into bacterial biomass. These data counter the widely held contention that TNT is recalcitrant to bacterial catabolism of the ring carbon in natural environments.     

Lactational transfer of mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls in polar bears

We examined concentrations of total mercury (tHg, inorganic and methylated forms) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in blood and milk from free-ranging Southern Beaufort-Chukchi Sea polar bears (Ursus maritimus) to assess maternal transfer of contaminants during lactation and the potential health risk to nursing young. Concentrations of contaminants in the blood of dependent and juvenile animals (ages 1-5 years) ranged from 35.9 to 52.2 μg kg(-1) ww for tHg and 13.9 to 52.2 μg kg(-1) ww (3255.81-11067.79 μg kg(-1) lw) for ΣPCB(7)s, similar to those of adult females, but greater than adult males. Contaminant concentrations in milk ranged from 5.7 to 71.8 μg tHg kg(-1)ww and 160 to 690 μg ΣPCB(11)s kg(-1) ww (547-5190 μg kg(-1) lw). The daily intake levels for tHg by milk consumption estimated for dependent young were below the tolerable daily intake level (TDIL) of tHg established for adult humans. Although the daily intake levels of PCBs through milk consumption for cubs of the year exceeded the TDIL thresholds, calculated dioxin equivalents for PCBs in milk were below adverse physiological thresholds for aquatic mammals. Relatively high concentrations of non-dioxin like PCBs in polar bear milk and blood could impact endocrine function of Southern Beaufort-Chukchi Sea polar bears, but this is uncertain. Transfer of contaminants during mid to late lactation likely limits bioaccumulation of dietary contaminants in female polar bears during spring. As polar bears respond to changes in their arctic sea ice habitat, the adverse health impacts associated with nutritional stress may be exacerbated by tHg and PCBs exposure, especially in ecologically and toxicologically sensitive polar bear cohorts such as reproductive females and young.     

Assessment of lead uptake in reptilian prey species

As part of an investigation determining the trophically available fraction of metals in a model terrestrial food web, i.e., invertebrate prey to Western fence lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis), we evaluated the ability of several invertebrate prey to bioaccumulate lead and to form metals-rich granules, which are hypothesized to be non-available to predators. Crickets (Acheta domestica), tenebroid beetle larvae (Tenebrio molitor), and isopods (Porcellio scaber) were selected as model prey organisms. Lack of standard exposure methodologies for these species has presented a barrier to trophic transfer evaluations, as each species has particular requirements that create challenges for designing exposure conditions. We were able to devise exposure conditions for all three species that allow long-term exposure studies. All prey organisms accumulated lead from contaminated food, and for all species the majority of the accumulated Pb was associated with the exoskeleton (>50%), with metals-rich granules accounting for most of the remaining accumulated lead.     

Rapid cultural adaptation can facilitate the evolution of large-scale cooperation

Over the past several decades, we have argued that cultural evolution can facilitate the evolution of large-scale cooperation because it often leads to more rapid adaptation than genetic evolution, and, when multiple stable equilibria exist, rapid adaptation leads to variation among groups. Recently, Lehmann, Feldman, and colleagues have published several papers questioning this argument. They analyze models showing that cultural evolution can actually reduce the range of conditions under which cooperation can evolve and interpret these models as indicating that we were wrong to conclude that culture facilitated the evolution of human cooperation. In the main, their models assume that rates of cultural adaption are not strong enough compared to migration to maintain persistent variation among groups when payoffs create multiple stable equilibria. We show that Lehmann et al. reach different conclusions because they have made different assumptions. We argue that the assumptions that underlie our models are more consistent with the empirical data on large-scale cultural variation in humans than those of Lehmann et al., and thus, our models provide a more plausible account of the cultural evolution of human cooperation in large groups.     

Effect of the trichothecene deoxynivalenol on brain biogenic monoamines concentrations in rats and chickens

Male Sprague-Dawley rats (180 g) and 28-day-old Single Comb White Leghorn Cockerels (300 g) were orally dosed with deoxynivalenol (DON) at 2.5 mg kg-1 body weight. In the first experiment, whole brains were collected at 2, 6, 12, 24 and 48 hours after the toxin treatment and analyzed for brain biogenic monoamines by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection. Although several interesting trends were observed, DON did not influence whole brain concentrations of monoamine neurotransmitters or their metabolites in either species, at any time. In a second experiment, brains were collected 24 hours postdosing, dissected into 5 brain regions (pons and medulla oblongata, cerebellum, hypothalamus, hippocampus and cerebral cortex), and analyzed. DON treatment resulted in significantly elevated concentrations of serotonin (HT) and 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid (HIAA) in all brain regions of the rat. However, this was not seen in poultry, where DON treatment resulted in a decrease in norepinephrine (NE) in the hypothalamus and hippocampus, and a decrease in dopamine (DA) in the pons and medulla oblongata region. These results suggest that DON influences brain biogenic amine metabolism, and that there may be intraspecies differences in the central effects of this mycotoxin.     

Automated Calibration of the METRIC‐Landsat Evapotranspiration Process

A remaining challenge to applying satellite‐based energy‐balance algorithms for operational estimation of evapotranspiration (ET) is the calibration of the energy‐balance model. Customized calibration for each image date is generally required to overcome biases associated with radiometric accuracy of the image, uncertainties in aerodynamic features of the landscape, background thermal conditions, and model assumptions. The CIMEC process (calibration using inverse modeling at extreme conditions) is an endpoint calibration procedure where near extreme conditions in the image are identified where the ET can be estimated and assigned. In the Mapping EvapoTranspiration at high Resolution with Internalized Calibration (METRIC?) energy‐balance model, two endpoints represent the dry and wet ends of the ET spectrum. Generally, user‐intervention is required to select locations in the image to produce best accuracy. To bring the METRIC and similar processes into the domain of less experienced operators, a consistent, reproducible, and dependable statistics‐based procedure is introduced where relationships between vegetation amount and surface temperature are used to identify a subpopulation of locations (pixels) in an image that may best represent the calibration endpoints. This article describes the background and logic for the statistical approach, how the statistics were developed, area of interest requirements and assumptions, adjustment for dry conditions in desert climates, and implementation in a common image processing environment (ERDAS Imagine).