Scaring as a tool to alleviate crop damage by geese: Revealing differences between farmers’ perceptions and the scale of the problem

Expanding populations of farmland foraging geese are causing escalating conflict with agriculture. We used questionnaires to investigate farmers´ perceptions in mid-Norway of spring staging geese and the extent to which they attempt to reduce pasture damage by goose scaring. We predicted farmers’ scaring effort (a measure of dissatisfaction) to increase on fields closer to goose roosting sites where goose grazing intensity was highest (measured by dropping counts). Results showed no such relationship, suggesting that farmers’ perception of goose use was not linked to actual goose use, but influenced by sociological factors and individual opinion. These results confirm the need to distribute subsidies/compensation to affected farmers based upon quantifiable measures of goose use rather than complaint levels. To avoid further conflict escalation, it is equally important that managers are aware of farmers´ perceptions and their causes, to effectively target communication about policies and measures to mitigate goose–agriculture problems.     

Key actions towards the sustainable management of European geese

Increasing abundance of geese in North America and Europe constitutes a major conservation success, but has caused increasing conflicts with economic, health and safety interests, as well as ecosystem impacts. Potential conflict resolution through a single, ‘one size fits all’ policy is hindered by differences in species’ ecology, behaviour, abundance and population status, and in contrasting political and socio-economic environments across the flyways. Effective goose management requires coordinated application of a suite of tools from the local level to strategic flyway management actions. The European Goose Management Platform, established under the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds, aims to harmonise and prioritise management, monitoring and conservation efforts, sharing best practice internationally by facilitating agreed policies, coordinating flyway efforts, and sharing and exchanging experiences and information. This depends crucially upon adequate government financing, the collection of necessary monitoring data (e.g., on distribution, abundance, hunting bags, demography, ecosystem and agricultural damage), the collation and effective use of such data and information, as well as the evaluation of outcomes of existing management measures.     

Urinary 8-oxo-7, 8-dihydro-2′-deoxyguanosine concentrations after frying of bacon,a pilot study

Cooking fumes contain compounds that may give rise to oxidative stress and mutations when inhaled. The aim of this study was to evaluate if cooking fumes from frying of bacon induce oxidative stress by measurement of urinary 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2 deoxyguanosine, a marker of oxidatively damaged DNA. Three non-smoking women fried bacon for 3 h. Urine samples were taken as early morning void at the same time on four days; the morning before frying, the morning after first frying, the morning after three days of frying and one week after first urine sample. 8-Oxo-7,8-dihydro-2 deoxyguanosine, 1-hydroxypyrene and 2-hydroxyphenanthrene, metabolites of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, were measured by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). 8-Oxo-7,8-dihydro-2 deoxyguanosine correlated weakly with concentrations of 1-hydroxypyrene (r = 0.31, p = 0.042), but it did not correlate with 2-hydroxyphenanthrene (r = ?0.074; p = 0.64). Average urinary 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2 deoxyguanosine concentrations increased from the day before frying (16.3 ± 4.2 nmol/L) to the third day of frying (26.2 ± 10.2 nmol/L), although not statistically significantly. Our pilot study shows that frying of bacon may result in increased oxidative stress which further emphasises the possible carcinogenic potential of cooking fumes.     

Linking Climate Trends to Population Dynamics in the Baltic Ringed Seal: Impacts of Historical and Future Winter Temperatures

A global trend of a warming climate may seriously affect species dependent on sea ice. We investigated the impact of climate on the Baltic ringed seals (Phoca hispida botnica), using historical and future climatological time series. Availability of suitable breeding ice is known to affect pup survival. We used detailed information on how winter temperatures affect the extent of breeding ice and a climatological model (RCA3) to project the expected effects on the Baltic ringed seal population. The population comprises of three sub-populations, and our simulations suggest that all of them will experience severely hampered growth rates during the coming 90 years. The projected 30 730 seals at the end of the twenty-first century constitutes only 16 % of the historical population size, and thus reduced ice cover alone will severely limit their growth rate. This adds burden to a species already haunted by other anthropogenic impacts.     

A theoretical overview of the relationship between the resource curse and genuine savings as an indicator for “weak” sustainability

This paper shows the strong relation between the factors that lead to the resource curse (RC) and factors that lead to a decline of genuine savings (GS). There is substantial empirical evidence that economies that rely predominantly on their natural resources are also characterized by slower economic growth. This so‐called RC is commonly traced back to the fact that natural resources' generate rents that are independent of a country's economic performance, which can lead to suboptimal reinvestments of this consumed natural capital. We argue that the factors responsible for the RC also have a negative effect on GS, a concept that measures “weak” sustainable development by considering reinvestment of natural capital rents in physical and human capital. We discuss whether the RC hampers possibilities for resource abundant countries to obtain sufficiently high rates of GS, and find indeed many reasons why resource‐dependent countries have problems achieving positive GS rates. We survey both areas of research, emphasizing the influence of the exogenous and endogenous determinants of economic growth, which are usually used to theoretically and empirically explain the RC on the three different forms of capital considered by GS. We specify why most countries suffering from the RC have negative GS rates and explain in detail where the linkages are. This overview could help with potential advancements in the explanation of GS through the inclusion of RC effects.     

Aerobic and anaerobic transformations of sulfide in a sewer system--field study and model simulations.

The formation and fate of sulfide in a force main and a downstream-located gravity sewer were investigated in an extensive field study. Sulfide formation in the force main was significant. However, during 14 minutes of transport in the gravity sewer, the sulfide concentration decreased 30%, on average. An application of a conceptual sewer process model for simulating the formation and fate of sulfide was demonstrated. Overall, the model predicted that approximately 90% of the decrease of the sulfide concentration in the gravity sewer was the result of sulfide oxidation and that only a small fraction entered the sewer atmosphere, causing odor and corrosion. Even so, the model predicted concrete corrosion rates of up to 1.2 mm/y in the gravity sewer section.     

Refinery evaluation of optical imaging to locate fugitive emissions

Fugitive emissions account for approximately 50% of total hydrocarbon emissions from process plants. Federal and state regulations aiming at controlling these emissions require refineries and petrochemical plants in the United States to implement a Leak Detection and Repair Program (LDAR). The current regulatory work practice, U.S. Environment Protection Agency Method 21, requires designated components to be monitored individually at regular intervals. The annual costs of these LDAR programs in a typical refinery can exceed US$1,000,000. Previous studies have shown that a majority of controllable fugitive emissions come from a very small fraction of components. The Smart LDAR program aims to find cost-effective methods to monitor and reduce emissions from these large leakers. Optical gas imaging has been identified as one such technology that can help achieve this objective. This paper discusses a refinery evaluation of an instrument based on backscatter absorption gas imaging technology. This portable camera allows an operator to scan components more quickly and image gas leaks in real time. During the evaluation, the instrument was able to identify leaking components that were the source of 97% of the total mass emissions from leaks detected. More than 27,000 components were monitored. This was achieved in far less time than it would have taken using Method 21. In addition, the instrument was able to find leaks from components that are not required to be monitored by the current LDAR regulations. The technology principles and the parameters that affect instrument performance are also discussed in the paper.     

Multi-component assessment of worker exposures in a copper refinery. Part 2. Biological exposure indices for copper, nickel and cobalt

Urinary copper (Cu), nickel (Ni) and cobalt (Co) concentrations were determined for 127 Cu refinery workers (40 females, 87 males), with values of the 95% upper confidence interval of the geometric mean in nmol per mmol creatinine of 89 (Ni), 42 (Cu) and 3.4 (Co) for electrorefinery workers. In the pyrometallurgical departments, the corresponding concentrations were 37 (Ni), 99 (Cu) and 11 (Co). Female workers had higher Co urinary concentrations than males (p< or = 0.05) while no gender difference was observed for Cu and Ni. Inter-elemental correlations were moderate to weak. Based on the inhalable aerosol levels reported previously for the same workers, the observed urinary Cu concentrations were considerably lower than expected, relative to Co and Ni. This is interpreted in terms of the current understanding of Cu homeostasis.     

产业与环境：丹麦展望

近20-30年来,很多国家引进了综合性环境保护法律.然而,人们逐渐认识到,在进行具体技术调控的同时,也需要意识上和管理原则上的改变.为帮助各公司在公司层次上减少、评估、监测和控制环境影响,已经开发了各种环境管理技术.本文根据对丹麦公司的一次调查,论述了下列问题:这些技术是如何在工业中采用的?以及发生态度上的变化了吗?     

17 β-estradiol mineralization in human waste products and soil in the presence and the absence of antimicrobials

Natural steroidal estrogens, such as 17 β-estradiol (E2), as well as antimicrobials such as doxycycline and norfloxacin, are excreted by humans and hence detected in sewage sludge and biosolid. The disposal of human waste products on agricultural land results in estrogens and antibiotics being detected as mixtures in soils. The objective of this study was to examine microbial respiration and E2 mineralization in sewage sludge, biosolid, and soil in the presence and the absence of doxycycline and norfloxacin. The antimicrobials were applied to the media either alone or in combination at total rates of 4 and 40 mg kg^?1, with the 4 mg kg^?1 rate being an environmentally relevant concentration. The calculated time that half of the applied E2 was mineralized ranged from 294 to 418 days in sewage sludge, from 721 to 869 days in soil, and from 2,258 to 14,146 days in biosolid. E2 mineralization followed first-order and the presence of antimicrobials had no significant effect on mineralization half-lives, except for some antimicrobial applications to the human waste products. At 189 day, total E2 mineralization was significantly greater in sewage sludge (38 ±0.7%) > soil (23 ±0.7%) > biosolid (3 ±0.7%), while total respiration was significantly greater in biosolid (1,258 mg CO₂) > sewage sludge (253 mg CO₂) ≥ soil (131 mg CO₂). Strong sorption of E2 to the organic fraction in biosolid may have resulted in reduced E2 mineralization despite the high microbial activity in this media. Total E2 mineralization at 189 day was not significantly influenced by the presence of doxycycline and/or norfloxacin in the media. Antimicrobial additions also did not significantly influence total respiration in media, except that total CO₂ respiration at 189 day was significantly greater for biosolid with 40 mg kg^?1 doxycycline added, relative to biosolid without antimicrobials. We conclude that it is unlikely for doxycycline and norfloxacin, or their mixtures, to have a significant effect on E2 mineralization in human waste products and soil. However, the potential for E2 to be persistent in biosolids, with and without the presence of antimicrobials, is posing a challenge for biosolid disposal to agricultural lands.