A comparative study of (239,240)Pu in soil near the former Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Facility, Golden, CO

The Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant near Golden, CO released plutonium into the environment during almost 40 years of operation. Continuing concern over possible health impacts of these releases has been heightened by lack of public disclosure of the US Department of Energy (DOE) activities. A dose reconstruction study for the Rocky Flats facilities, begun in 1990, provided a unique opportunity for concerned citizens to design and implement field studies without participation of the DOE, its contractors, or other government agencies. The Citizens Environmental Sampling Committee was formed in late 1992 and conducted a field sampling program in 1994. Over 60 soil samples, including both surface and core samples, were collected from 28 locations where past human activities would have minimal influence on contaminant distributions in soil. Cesium-137 activity was used as a means to assess whether samples were collected in undisturbed locations. The distribution of plutonium (as (239,240)Pu) in soil was consistent with past sampling conducted by DOE, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and others. Elevated levels of (239,240)Pu were found immediately east of the Rocky Flats Plant, with concentrations falling rapidly with distance from the plant to levels consistent with background from fallout. Samples collected in areas south, west, and north of the plant were generally consistent with background from fallout. No biases in past sampling due to choice of sampling locations or sampling methodology were evident. The study shows that local citizens, when provided sufficient resources, can design and implement technical studies that directly address community concerns where trust in the regulated community and/or regulators is low.     

False positive fecal coliform in biosolid samples assayed using A-1 medium.

Two most probable number (MPN) methods-lauryl tryptose broth with Escherichia coli broth confirmation and direct A-1 broth incubation (A-1)--were compared for the enumeration of fecal coliform in lime-treated biosolid. Fecal coliform numbers were significantly higher using the A-1 method. Analysis of positive A-1 tubes, however, indicated that a high percentage of these were false positives. Therefore, the use of A-1 broth for 40 CFR Part 503 Pathogen Reduction (CFR, 1993) compliance testing is not recommended.     

Differential predation by males on moulted females may explain the competitive displacement of Gammarus duebeni by G. pulex (Amphipoda)

Summary Several studies have reported the ability of Gammarus pulex to successfully compete with and ultimately displace G. duebeni in freshwater. These studies have been unable, however, to provide adequate explanations for this displacement based on mechanisms of exploitative competition and/or differences in the environmental tolerances of the species. The present study investigates the role of predation as an extreme form of interference competition between G. pulex and G. duebeni. The data presented show that: (1) given the opportunity, males of both species prey on females of the other species, but only on females that have recently moulted; (2) mate guarding in both species significantly reduces the incidence of predation on moulted females; (3) mate guarding by male G. pulex is more successful in reducing predation on moulted females than is guarding by male G. duebeni. We propose that differential predation rate on moulted females may constitute the primary mechanism by which G. pulex displaces G. duebeni. Offprint requests to: J.T.A. Dick     

Team mental models and team performance: a field study of the effects of team mental model similarity and accuracy

We conducted a field study of 71 action teams to examine the relationship between team mental model similarity and accuracy and the performance of real‐world teams. We used Pathfinder to operationalize team members' taskwork mental models (describing team procedures, tasks, and equipment) and teamwork mental models (describing team interaction processes) and examined team performance as evaluated by expert team assessment center raters. Both taskwork mental model and teamwork mental model similarity predicted team performance. Team mental model accuracy measures were also predictive of team performance. We discuss the implications of our findings and directions for future research. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Acute effects of removing large fish from a near-pristine coral reef

Large animals are severely depleted in many ecosystems, yet we are only beginning to understand the ecological implications of their loss. To empirically measure the short-term effects of removing large animals from an ocean ecosystem, we used exclosures to remove large fish from a near-pristine coral reef at Palmyra Atoll, Central Pacific Ocean. We identified a range of effects that followed from the removal of these large fish. These effects were revealed within weeks of their removal. Removing large fish (1) altered the behavior of prey fish; (2) reduced rates of herbivory on certain species of reef algae; (3) had both direct positive (reduced mortality of coral recruits) and indirect negative (through reduced grazing pressure on competitive algae) impacts on recruiting corals; and (4) tended to decrease abundances of small mobile benthic invertebrates. Results of this kind help advance our understanding of the ecological importance of large animals in ecosystems.     

Lake of flies, or lake of fish? A trophic model of Lake Malawi

Ecosystem-focused models have, for the first time, become available for the combined demersal and pelagic components of a large tropical lake ecosystem, Lake Malawi. These provide the opportunity to explore continuing controversies over the production efficiencies and ecological functioning of large tropical lakes. In Lake Malawi these models can provide important insight to the effect of fishing on fish composition, and the potential competition that the lakefly Chaoborus edulis may have with fisheries production. A mass-balanced trophic model developed for the demersal fish community of the southern and western areas of Lake Malawi was integrated with an existing trophic model developed for the open-water pelagic. Input parameters for the demersal model were obtained from a survey of fish distributions, fish food consumption studies, and from additional published quantitative and qualitative information on the various biotic components of the community. The model was constructed using the Ecopath approach and software. The graphically presented demersal food web spanned four trophic levels and was based primarily on consumption of detritus, zooplankton and sedimented diatoms. Zooplankton was imported into the system at trophic levels three and four through fish predation on carnivorous and herbivorous copepods and Chaoborus larvae. It is proposed that the primary consumption of copepods was by fish migrating into the pelagic zone. Chaoborus larvae in the demersal were probably consumed near the lakebed as they conducted a daily migration from the pelagic to seek refuge in the sediments. This evidence for strong benthic-pelagic coupling provided the opportunity for linking the demersal model to the existing model for the pelagic community so producing the first model for the complete ecosystem. Energy fluxes through the resulting combined model demonstrated that the primary import of biomass to the demersal system was detritus of pelagic origin (72.1%) and pelagic zooplankton (10.6%). Only 15.8% of the biomass consumed within the demersal system was of demersal origin. Lakefly production is efficiently utilised by the lake fish community, and any attempt to improve fishery production through introduction of a non-native plantivorous fish species would have a negative impact on the stability and productivity of the lake ecosystem.     

Heavier birds react faster to predators: individual differences in the detection of stalking and ambush predators

The relationship between body mass and reactions speed in response to a predatory threat is poorly understood. Theory predicts that different vigilance patterns are optimal for the detection of different predator types. We suggest that birds of different individual state might also differ in their speed of response dependent upon predator type. We used laboratory trials of wild caught chaffinches (Fringilla coelebs) to determine how between individual differences in chaffinch behaviour and state correlate with latency to react to a ground predator model (domestic cat), thus providing a comparison with previous work in the same model system using aerial predator models. In experiment 1, we observed chaffinch responses to a moving cat model, simulating a stalking predator. In experiment 2, we used a camouflaged cat model simulating an ambush predator. Both experiments show evidence suggesting heavier individuals (which previous literature has linked to impaired flight performance) responded more quickly to the model cat. Heavier individuals also had shorter interscan intervals. In contrast to a previous study, both experiments found individuals with a higher intake rate were not faster at responding to the cat model. In addition, individuals in experiment 1 that head turned more while scanning were slower to respond to the stalking cat model. Our work suggests that although heavier individuals may have impaired escape performance they appear to show behavioural compensation by allocating more attention to anti-predator behaviour and by modifying their interscan intervals, resulting in faster response times to a ground predator. We suggest more experiments investigating response time to different predatory types and explicitly manipulating state to elucidate cause and effect.