Towards generalised reference condition models for environmental assessment: a case study on rivers in Atlantic Canada

Evaluation of the ecological status of river sites in Canada is supported by building models using the reference condition approach. However, geography, data scarcity and inter-operability constraints have frustrated attempts to monitor national-scale status and trends. This issue is particularly true in Atlantic Canada, where no ecological assessment system is currently available. Here, we present a reference condition model based on the River Invertebrate Prediction and Classification System approach with regional-scale applicability. To achieve this, we used biological monitoring data collected from wadeable streams across Atlantic Canada together with freely available, nationally consistent geographic information system (GIS) environmental data layers. For the first time, we demonstrated that it is possible to use data generated from different studies, even when collected using different sampling methods, to generate a robust predictive model. This model was successfully generated and tested using GIS-based rather than local habitat variables and showed improved performance when compared to a null model. In addition, ecological quality ratio data derived from the model responded to observed stressors in a test dataset. Implications for future large-scale implementation of river biomonitoring using a standardised approach with global application are presented.     

Response to environmental flows in the Lower Tarim River, Xinjiang, China: an ecological interpretation of water-table dynamics

Increased water-dependent development and utilization have led to significant environmental and hydrological degradation of the Tarim River in western China and its dependent ecosystems. Between the 1950s and 1970s, 350 km of the lower reaches were drained and between 1960 and 1980 the water-table fell from between −2 and −3 m to between −8 and −10 m. Subsequently, riparian ecosystems were seriously degraded. In 2000, the Chinese government launched a program to restore the lower reaches of the river. Four environmental flows of 1034×10⁶ m³ were released from 2000 to 2002. This paper interprets and discusses the ecological significance of changes following the releases and identifies the relationship between water-table dynamics and vegetation responses. Short-term objectives for river restoration are proposed with possible monitoring parameters suggested.     

The ozone formation potential of 1-bromo-propane

1-Bromo-propane (1-BP) is a replacement for high-end chlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) solvents. Its reaction rate constant with the OH radical is, on a weight basis, significantly less than that of ethane. However, the overall smog formation chemistry of 1-BP appears to be very unusual compared with typical volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and relatively complex because of the presence of bromine. In smog chamber experiments, 1-BP initially shows a faster ozone build-up than what would be expected from ethane, but the secondary products containing bromine tend to destroy ozone such that 1-BP can have a net overall negative reactivity. Alternative sets of reactions are offered to explain this unusual behavior. Follow-up studies are suggested to resolve the chemistry. Using one set of bromine-related reactions in a photochemical grid model shows that 1-BP would be less reactive toward peak ozone formation than ethane with a trend toward even lower ozone impacts in the future.     

Thermally induced biological effects caused by once-through cooling systems: A rationale for evaluation

The thermally induced biological effects of power plants with once-through cooling systems can be evaluated in a logical, scientifically defensible manner. First, we combined a near-field integral model (the Shirazi-Davis model) with a far-field model (the Okubo-Pritchard model) to predict the fields of excess temperature and velocity associated with a hypothetical power plant sited on a river and an estuary, and to establish the time-excess temperature exposure histories resulting from the interaction of an assumed distribution of organisms with these fields. Next, we developed a new thermal response model to assess the thermal effects of these exposures on these organisms.Our thermal response model can be used with data from existing and proposed power plants to estimate what fraction of plankton in waters contiguous to the plant will be exposed to thermal doses greater than those that cause death at any stated level. The model can also be used to aid in the design of once-through cooling systems to keep the mortality rate caused by thermal stresses below any designated threshold. The inputs to the model are the frequency distribution of time-excess temperature histories experienced by particular plankton (the Representative Important Species), thermal resistance curves for those organisms, and the spatial and temporal variations of the natural temperature of the receiving waters.To illustrate, we applied our thermal response model to three important aquatic environments of New York State, Long Island Sound, the lower Hudson River, and Lake Ontario. The Representative Important Species were identified for each of these environments and the thermal resistance data for their early (entrainable) life stages were reviewed. Fromall of the thermal resistance data available for any of the entrainable species composing these three communities, we constructed community thermal resistance curves and showed how they could be combined in graphic form with the distribution of thermal doses computed from the physical models and an assumed distribution of organisms in the receiving waters. For each community it appeared that the most sensitive organisms were the ichthyoplankton and juvenile fish; therefore, protection of these organisms from thermal stress should protect the entrainable populations as a whole.Finally, we made several recommendations for future research so that the full management potential of our approach can be achieved.     

Prenatal diagnosis of a double bisatellited marker with an unusual copy number ratio

Prenatal diagnosis, by amniocentesis, revealed mosaicism with respect to a bisatellited, apparently dicentric, DA/DAPI positive, de novo marker. The following cell lines were observed in decreasing order of frequency: 46,XX > 48.XX, + mar, + mar » 47,XX, + mar. The pregnancy was terminated and post-mortem examination revealed an apparently normal fetus. Cytogenetic studies of fetal and placental tissues revealed approximately the same level of mosaicism together with the unusual copy number ratio seen in the amniotic fluid cultures. Non-disjunction at the first post-zygotic mitotic division giving rise to a mosaic: 46,XX/ 48,XX, + mar, + mar followed by subsequent mitotic instability of the marker could account for the unusual copy number ratio.     

The illusion of environmental iodine deficiency

The distribution of endemic goitre in England and Wales was compared with the distribution of environmental iodine (atmospheric deposition, soil, surface water). Despite a very clear goitre belt through the west of England and Wales there was no patterning in the environmental iodine distribution. A clear seasonal variation in depositional iodine exists, with an unusually high concentration of iodine in March 1997. The temporal variation in iodine concentration is determined at the monthly and not the annual level. The presence of endemic goitre is no indicator of how iodine is distributed in the environment or vice versa!