The economic value of water use: implications for implementing the Water Framework Directive in Scotland

The European Union Water Framework Directive (WFD) enshrines several economic principles in pursuit of 'good ecological status' for Europe's waters and rationalising water use in society. The implicit principle of maximising the social value from use of a scarce resource is reminiscent of the debate about treating water as an economic good, which has competing uses in society. This paper locates the debate about the economic value of water in the requirements of WFD. Specifically, we consider the implications of national reporting requirements for the economic characterisation report that stress the identification of relative value derived from use. As part of the Scottish contribution to the UK reporting exercise, we use a range of secondary data sources to derive economic values for water on a sector basis. We suggest whether the implications of different water values can be followed through in the WFD.     

Environmental solutions sparked by environmental history

Environmental solutions require a decision-making process that is ultimately political, in that they involve decisions with uncertain outcomes and stakeholders with conflicting viewpoints. If this process seeks broad alignment between the government and public, then reconciling conflicting viewpoints is a key to the legitimacy of these decisions. We show that ecological baselines can be particularly powerful tools for creating a common understanding for public support (legitimacy) and conformity to new rules or regulations (legality) that enable the solution. They are powerful because they move the discussion of solutions from the abstract to the concrete by providing a conceptual model for a common expectation (e.g., restoring habitat). They provide narratives of the past (ecological histories) that readjust the future expectations of individuals on how to perceive and respond to new policy. While ecological baselines offer scientists benchmarks for reinstating ecological functions, they also normalize public and government discussion of solutions. This social normalization of public issues may assist government policy and influence social views, practices, and behaviors that adopt the policy. For science to more effectively inform conservation, we encourage interdisciplinary thinking (science- and human-centered) because it can provide public support and government legitimacy for investing in environmental solutions.     

The Relevance of Error Analysis in Graphical Symbols Evaluation

In an increasing number of modern tools and devices, small graphical symbols appear simultaneously in sets as parts of the human-machine interfaces. The presence of each symbol can influence the other’s recognisability and correct association to its intended referents. Thus, aside from correct associations, it is equally important to perform certain error analysis of the wrong answers, misses, confusions, and even lack of answers. This research aimed to show how such error analyses could be valuable in evaluating graphical symbols especially across potentially different user groups. The study tested 3 sets of icons representing 7 videophone functions. The methods involved parameters such as hits, confusions, missing values, and misses. The association tests showed similar hit rates of most symbols across the majority of the participant groups. However, exploring the error patterns helped detect differences in the graphical symbols’ performances between participant groups, which otherwise seemed to have similar levels of recognition. These are very valuable not only in determining the symbols to be retained, replaced, or re-designed, but also in formulating instructions and other aids in learning to use new products faster and more satisfactorily.     

Involving local farmers in rehabilitation of degraded tropical forests: some lessons from Ghana

The role of community-based plantation development in forest rehabilitation and poverty alleviation is a pressing issue for the government of Ghana. In this paper, we present an analysis of the prospects of a community-based plantation using taungya systems and indigenous trees as means to forest rehabilitation and livelihood improvement in Ghana. The project management strategies, communication process and incentive mechanism and their impact on local participation are discussed with the aim to recommending a mechanism through which local farmers can best be involved in rehabilitation of degraded sites in the future in Ghana. Data were collected through a survey using personal interviews of 431 farming households and ten key informants from ten communities living in scattered hamlets in and around forests reserves. The results show a high rate of local participation in project tree planting activities. Four years after the project’s initiation, about 250 ha of plantations had been established using twelve priority indigenous and one exotic species and farmers had indicated improvement in their farming practices and availability of food and forest products. Restoring forest quality as a timber resource and associated values, getting money, food stuff and timber and non-timber for domestic use, and having access to fertile land for farming were the top three issues prioritised by respondents as motivational factors for engaging in the project activities. Overall, this project demonstrates that reversing tropical forest degradation is possible. For this we need local involvement in tree domestication combined with activities that addresses livelihood needs and environmental concerns. This case also demonstrates the prospects of utilising indigenous tree species, not only exotic species that dominated tree planting in the past, for plantations and landscape rehabilitation in Ghana. Readers should send their comments on this paper to BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Postnatal management and outcome for neural tube defects including spina bifida and encephalocoeles

The incidence of neural tube defects (NTDs) has declined in recent decades, however myelomeningocele and encephalocele still represent one of the commoner prenatally diagnosed congenital malformations. Improved perinatal and post natal care mean that the mortality associated with these conditions has also fallen. Advances in the multidisciplinary management of children with myelomeningocele have led to significant improvements in functional outcome for many with this condition. However, there remains a substantial population of patients born with NTDs whose life expectancy is substantially reduced and who suffer significant cognitive and physical disability remaining wholly or partially dependant on the care of others into adult life. This article aims to outline the contemporary early management of these conditions and examine the prospects for functional outcome where possible, attempting to show how early anatomical features of these conditions can help predict where, along the wide spectrum of outcome, a given individual may lie. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Timber harvest transforms ecological roles of salmon in southeast Alaska rain forest streams

Although species commonly modify habitats and thereby influence ecosystem structure and function, the factors governing the ecological importance of these modifications are not well understood. Pacific salmon have repeatedly been shown to positively influence the abundance of benthic biota by annually transferring large quantities of nutrients from marine systems to the nutrient-poor freshwaters in which they spawn. Conversely, other studies have demonstrated that salmon can negatively influence the abundance of freshwater biota, an effect attributed to bioturbation during upstream migration and nest construction. The factors determining which of these contrasting ecological effects predominates are unknown, including how human activities, such as land use, influence ecological responses to salmon. We sampled a key basal food resource, sediment biofilm, in seven southeast Alaskan streams impacted to varying degrees by timber harvest. Biofilm abundance (measured as chlorophyll a and ash-free dry mass) was positively related to timber-harvest intensity prior to salmon arrival. However, during the salmon run, an inverse relationship emerged of more abundant biofilm in less-harvested watersheds. Among-stream variability in biofilm response to salmon was largely explained by sediment particle size, which was larger in less-harvested watersheds. Collectively, these results suggest that, by altering stream sediment size, timber harvest transformed the dominant effect of salmon from nutrient enrichment to physical disturbance, thus modifying nutrient linkages between marine and freshwater ecosystems.     

A Biomimetic Approach to the Detection and Identification of Estrogen Receptor Agonists in Surface Waters Using Semipermeable Membrane Devices (SPMDs) and Bioassay-Directed Chemical Analysis (12 pp)

Goal, Scope and Background Some anthropogenic pollutants posses the capacity to disrupt endogenous control of developmental and reproductive processes in aquatic biota by activating estrogen receptors. Many anthropogenic estrogen receptor agonists (ERAs) are hydrophobic and will therefore readily partition into the abiotic organic carbon phases present in natural waters. This partitioning process effectively reduces the proportion of ERAs readily available for bioconcentration by aquatic biota. Results from some studies have suggested that for many aquatic species, bioconcentration of the freely-dissolved fraction may be the principal route of uptake for hydrophobic pollutants with logarithm n-octanol/water partition coefficient (log Kow) values less than approximately 6.0, which includes the majority of known anthropogenic ERAs. The detection and identification of freely-dissolved readily bioconcentratable ERAs is therefore an important aspect of exposure and risk assessment. However, most studies use conventional techniques to sample total ERA concentrations and in doing so frequently fail to account for bioconcentration of the freely-dissolved fraction. The aim of the current study was to couple the biomimetic sampling properties of semipermeable membrane devices (SPMDs) to a bioassay-directed chemical analysis (BDCA) scheme for the detection and identification of readily bioconcentratable ERAs in surface waters. Methods SPMDs were constructed and deployed at a number of sites in Germany and the UK. Following the dialytic recovery of target compounds and size exclusion chromatographic clean-up, SPMD samples were fractionated using a reverse-phase HPLC method calibrated to provide an estimation of target analyte log Kow. A portion of each HPLC fraction was then subjected to the yeast estrogen screen (YES) to determine estrogenic potential. Results were plotted in the form of 'estrograms' which displayed profiles of estrogenic potential as a function of HPLC retention time (i.e. hydrophobicity) for each of the samples. Where significant activity was elicited in the YES, the remaining portion of the respective active fraction was subjected to GC-MS analysis in an attempt to identify the ERAs present. Results and Discussion Estrograms from each of the field samples showed that readily bioconcentratable ERAs were present at each of the sampling sites. Estimated log Kow values for the various active fractions ranged from 1.92 to 8.63. For some samples, estrogenic potential was associated with a relatively narrow range of log Kow values whilst in others estrogenic potential was more widely distributed across the respective estrograms. ERAs identified in active fractions included some benzophenones, various nonylphenol isomers, benzyl butyl phthalate, dehydroabietic acid, sitosterol, 3-(4-methylbenzylidine)camphor (4-MBC) and 6-acetyl-1,1,2,4,4,7-hexamethyltetralin (AHTN). Other tentatively identified compounds which may have contributed to the observed YES activity included various polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their alkylated derivatives, methylated benzylphenols, various alkylphenols and dialkylphenols. However, potential ERAs present in some active fractions remain unidentified. Conclusions and Outlook Our results show that SPMD-YES-based BDCA can be used to detect and identify readily bioconcentratable ERAs in surface waters. As such, this biomimetic approach can be employed as an alternative to conventional methodologies to provide investigators with a more environmentally relevant insight into the distribution and identity of ERAs in surface waters. The use of alternative bioassays also has the potential to expand SPMD-based BDCA to include a wide range of toxicological endpoints. Improvements to the analytical methodology used to identify ERAs or other target compounds in active fractions in the current study could greatly enhance the applicability of the methodology to risk assessment and monitoring programmes.     

Synthesis of maximum water recovery network for batch process systems

Development of maximum water recovery (MWR) networks for continuous processes based on Pinch Analysis has been rather well established. In contrast, less work has been done on the water minimisation problem for batch process systems. This work presents a two-stage procedure for the synthesis of an MWR network for a batch process system, covering both mass transfer-based and non-mass transfer-based water-using processes. The first stage of the synthesis task is to locate the various network targets, which include the overall and interval-based minimum utility targets (fresh water and wastewater flows) as well as storage capacity target using the newly developed time-dependent water cascade analysis (WCA) technique. In the second stage, a new tool called the time-water network is introduced to help in the development of the MWR network to achieve the established utility targets. This new network representation has an advantage of clearly depicting the time-dependent nature of a batch water network.     

Mutual information in the Tangled Nature model

We consider the concept of mutual information in ecological networks, and use this idea to analyse the Tangled Nature model of co-evolution. We show that this measure of correlation has two distinct behaviours depending on how we define the network in question: if we consider only the network of viable species this measure increases, whereas for the whole system it decreases. It is suggested that these are complimentary behaviours that show how ecosystems can become both more stable and better adapted.