Decision on oil and gas exploration in an Arctic area: Case study from the Norwegian Barents Sea

This paper addresses how risks to the environment in the Arctic are handled in decisions regarding the exploration for petroleum resources. An exploration well in the Norwegian Barents Sea is used as a case to demonstrate how environmental risks are assessed together with technical and economic considerations in the Oil Company’s decisions to enter into a new area and drill a well. The paper outlines environmental challenges in petroleum activities in the Arctic, the different roles of the Authorities and Oil Companies in decisions about petroleum activities, and the Oil Company’s tools and decision criteria used in addressing risks in the decision making.It is concluded that environmental and associated reputation risks are not a major issue at the strategic level in the Oil Company, since the most controversial areas in the Norwegian Arctic offshore have already been kept out of the exploration acreage by the authorities. Risks and uncertainties penetrate every aspect of the exploration of petroleum resources, and environmental risks are not unique in this sense. The Oil Company has established technical and economic tools and decision criteria to address them, and the mitigation of environmental risks becomes an element in the technical and economic analyses that affect detailed design and operational procedures. Mitigation measures such as the minimization of discharges to the sea (the so-called “zero-discharge” policy) and oil spill contingency planning are dimensioned to meet authority requirements and expectations rather than on strict risk acceptance considerations. A significant concern is to avoid delays in the permit granting process.     

Relation between occupational safety management and firm performance

Occupational accidents severely deteriorate human capital, and hence negatively affect the productivity and competitiveness of countries. But despite this, we still observe a scarcity of preventive practices, an unsatisfactory management commitment and an absence of safety culture among Spanish firms. The result is evident in firms’ high accident rates. This situation is a consequence of the general belief among firms that investing in safety is a cost, and hence has negative repercussions for their competitiveness. The current work aims to identify good practices in safety management, and analyse the effect of these practices on a set of indicators of organisational performance. For this, we first carry out an exhaustive literature review, and then formulate a series of hypotheses. We then test the proposed model on a sample of 455 Spanish firms. Our findings show that safety management has a positive influence on safety performance, competitiveness performance, and economic-financial performance. Hence they provide evidence of the compatibility between worker protection and corporate competitiveness.     

The role of root organic acids in the tolerance of Festuca rubra to zinc,lead and cadmium

Abstract

Festuca rubra L. plants are pseudometallophytes colonizing abandoned Pb/Zn mine areas, successfully employed in phytostabilization. To study the contribution of low-molecular weight organic acids to metal tolerance, F. rubra plants were grown for three months in hydroponics with Cd (1.8, 18 and 36 µmol?L^?1), Pb (50, 250 and 500?µmol?L^?1) and Zn (0.3, 3 and 6?mmol?L^?1), separately, and in ternary combination (18?µmol?L^?1 Cd + 250?µmol?L^?1 Pb + 0.3?mmol?L^?1 Zn). The roots retained most of the metals but their distribution from shoot to root was altered when the plants were treated with the ternary combination. The main organic acids in roots were citrate and malate. At the lowest concentrations, the metals caused small reductions in biomass, had no effects on photosynthetic pigments nor on malondialdehyde, but led to increases in root organic acids. At higher concentrations, phytotoxic responses were observed, associated with a decline of citrate and malate in the roots.     

Forest cover dynamics in the Selva Maya of Central and Southern Quintana Roo,Mexico: deforestation or degradation?

ABSTRACT

Forest cover dynamics (1993-2018) was assessed in two regions on the Yucatan Peninsula: Zona Maya (ZM), 67% indigenous with shifting cultivation and community forestry; and Bacalar–Rio Hondo (BRH), mainly commercial agriculture and pastureland. Degradation (12,915 ha y^?1) exceeded deforestation (5882 ha y^?1) and was worse in BRH. In BRH there was a net forest loss (?1.6% y^?1) associated with pastureland and commercial agriculture. In ZM, mature forest recovery (1.4% y^?1) and dynamic forest cover (continuous loss and gain) were associated with shifting cultivation. Changes were more intense during 2011–2018 and gains of mature forest in ZM and deforested areas in BRH targeted secondary vegetation. Fragments of mature and secondary vegetation decreased, and connectivity improved in ZM, but opposite trends occurred in BRH. Reporting and monitoring deforestation using Global Forest Watch data is inadequate since 62% of forest cover loss represent degrading or recovering forest cover.     

Integrating intraseasonal grassland dynamics in cross-scale distribution modeling to support waterbird recovery plans

Despite much discussion about the utility of remote sensing for effective conservation, the inclusion of these technologies in species recovery plans remains largely anecdotal. We developed a modeling approach for the integration of local, spatially measured ecosystem functional dynamics into a species distribution modeling (SDM) framework in which other ecologically relevant factors are modeled separately at broad scales. To illustrate the approach, we incorporated intraseasonal water-vegetation dynamics into a cross-scale SDM for the Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago), which is highly dependent on water and vegetation dynamics. The Common Snipe is an Iberian grassland waterbird characteristic of European agricultural meadows and a member of one of the most threatened bird guilds. The intraseasonal dynamics of water content of vegetation were measured using the standard deviation of the normalized difference water index time series computed from bimonthly images of the Sentinel-2 satellite. The recovery plan for the Common Snipe in Galicia (northwestern Iberian Peninsula) provided an opportunity to apply our modeling framework. Model accuracy in predicting the species’ distribution at a regional scale (resulting from integration of downscaled climate projections with regional habitat–topographic suitability models) was very high (area under the curve [AUC] of 0.981 and Boyce's index of 0.971). Local water-vegetation dynamic models, based exclusively on Sentinel-2 imagery, were good predictors (AUC of 0.849 and Boyce's index of 0.976). The predictive power improved (AUC of 0.92 and Boyce's index of 0.98) when local model predictions were restricted to areas identified by the continental and regional models as priorities for conservation. Our models also performed well (AUC of 0.90 and Boyce's index of 0.93) when projected to updated water-vegetation conditions. Our modeling framework enabled incorporation of key ecosystem processes closely related to water and carbon cycles while accounting for other factors ecologically relevant to endangered grassland waterbirds across different scales, allowed identification of priority areas for conservation, and provided an opportunity for cost-effective recovery planning by monitoring management effectiveness from space.     

Egg composition in relation to social environment and maternal physiological condition in the collared flycatcher

Offspring survival can be influenced by resources allocated to eggs, which in turn may be affected by the environmental factors the mother experiences during egg formation. In this study, we investigated whether experimentally elevated social interactions and number of neighbouring pairs influence yolk composition of collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis). Social challenge was simulated by presentation of a conspecific female. Experimental females spent more time near the cage and produced eggs with higher androgen concentration, but local breeding density did not affect yolk androgen level. Moreover, we found that females exposed to more intra-specific interactions and those that bred at higher density produced eggs with smaller yolk. These females may be more constrained in foraging time due to more frequent social encounters, and there might be increased competition for food at areas of higher density. In contrast, the present study did not reveal any evidence for the effect of social environment on yolk antioxidant and immunoglobulin levels. However, we found that yolk lutein and immunoglobulin concentrations were related to the female’s H/L ratio. Also, yolk lutein and α-tocopherol levels showed a seasonal increase and were positively related to the female’s plasma carotenoid level. Mothers may incur significant costs by transferring these compounds into the eggs, thus only females in good physiological condition and those that lay eggs later, when food is probably more abundant, could allocate higher amounts to the eggs without compromising their defence mechanisms. Our results suggest that environmental circumstances during egg formation can influence conditions for embryonic development.     

Bioavailability and accumulation of trace elements in soils and plants of a highly contaminated estuary (Domingo Rubio tidal channel,SW Spain)

The Domingo Rubio tidal channel (Palos de la Frontera, Huelva, Spain) is an estuary located in the mouth of the Tinto River. The estuary is affected by different sources of pollution (waters of the Tinto River, contaminated with trace elements from the Iberian Pyrite belt, and effluent from the Huelva chemical industrial area). Soil and the most frequent plant species were collected in 2004 and 2006 at six different locations on the estuary. In general, N-Kjedahl, Total Organic Carbon values, salinity and contamination (total trace elements up to 1,000 mg kg⁻¹ As, 6 mg kg⁻¹ Cd, 2,500 mg kg⁻¹ Cu, 1,900 mg kg⁻¹ Pb and 1,300 mg kg⁻¹ Zn) tended to increase downstream of the tidal channel. Soil biochemical properties were not negatively affected either by the high salinity or by trace element contamination. Despite the high values of the trace elements, analysed plant samples showed that Cu was the only metal that could be a serious risk for the food chain.     

Trophic field overlap: A new approach to quantify keystone species

It is a current challenge to better understand the relative importance of species in ecosystems, and the network perspective is able to offer quantitative tools for this. It is plausible to assume, in general, that well-linked species, being key interactors, are also more important for the community. Recently a number of methods have been suggested for quantifying the network position of species in ecological networks (like the topological importance metric, TI). Most of them are based on node centrality indices and it may happen that the two most important species in a food web have very similar interaction structure and they can essentially replace each other if one becomes extinct. For conservation considerations it is a challenge to identify species that are richly connected and, at the same time, have a relatively unique and irreplaceable interaction pattern. We present a new method and illustrate our approach by using the Kuosheng Bay trophic network in Taiwan. The new method is based on the interaction matrix, where the strength of the interaction between nodes i and j depends only on topology. By defining a threshold separating weak and strong interactors, we define the effective range of interactions for each graph node. If the overlaps between pairs of these ranges are quantified, we gain a metric expressing how unique is the interaction pattern of a focal node (TO). The combination of centrality (TI) and uniqueness (TO) is called topological functionality (TF). We compare the nodal importance rank provided by this metric to others based on a variety of centrality measures. The main conclusion is that shrimps seem to have the most unique interaction pattern despite that their structural importance has been underestimated by all conventional centrality indices. Also, our network analysis suggests that fisheries disturb the ecosystem in a more critical network position than the impingement by the local power plant.     

Light-induced transformations of aza-aromatic pollutants adsorbed on models of atmospheric particulate matter: Acridine and 9(10-H) acridone

The effect of the characteristics of the surface on the phototransformation of acridine, one of the most abundant azapolycyclic compounds encountered in urban atmospheres, and of one of its principal photoproducts, acridone, was studied when adsorbed onto models of the atmospherice particulate matter. For this purpose, relative photodegradation rates were determined from absorption or emission intensities as a function of irradiation times, and some products were isolated and characterized. The relative photodegradation rates of adsorbed acridine show the tendency (NH(4))(2) SO(4) > MgO > Al(2)O(3) >SiO(2). In general, the rates decrease as the fraction of protonated acridine species on the surface increases in MgO, Al(2)O(3), and SiO(2), except for (NH(4))(2) SO(4) where a fast surface reaction occurs. Oxygen reduces the photodestruction rates by as much as 40 to 60% when compared to an inert atmosphere, implying the participation of an acrideine triplet state in the transformation processes on all surfaces except on (NH(4))(2)SO(4). Acridone, a major product, undergoes a photoinduced tautomerization to 9-hydroxy acridine. The formation of a dihydrodiol, another photoproduct of acridine, is suggested by comparison to reported spectral properties of these compounds. This is formed through a singlet oxygen reaction. Photoproducts showing the absence of the narrow absorption band of 250 nm, characteristic of the pi -->pi* transition in tricyclic aromatics, were detected in small yields but not identified. These results suggest possible photochemical transformation pathways that could lead to the ultimate fate of these pollutants in the environment.     

A roadmap for ladybird conservation and recovery

Ladybirds (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) provide services that are critical to food production, and they fulfill an ecological role as a food source for predators. The richness, abundance, and distribution of ladybirds, however, are compromised by many anthropogenic threats. Meanwhile, a lack of knowledge of the conservation status of most species and the factors driving their population dynamics hinders the development and implementation of conservation strategies for ladybirds. We conducted a review of the literature on the ecology, diversity, and conservation of ladybirds to identify their key ecological threats. Ladybird populations are most affected by climate factors, landscape composition, and biological invasions. We suggest mitigating actions for ladybird conservation and recovery. Short-term actions include citizen science programs and education, protective measures for habitat recovery and threatened species, prevention of the introduction of non-native species, and the maintenance and restoration of natural areas and landscape heterogeneity. Mid-term actions involve the analysis of data from monitoring programs and insect collections to disentangle the effect of different threats to ladybird populations, understand habitat use by taxa on which there is limited knowledge, and quantify temporal trends of abundance, diversity, and biomass along a management-intensity gradient. Long-term actions include the development of a worldwide monitoring program based on standardized sampling to fill data gaps, increase explanatory power, streamline analyses, and facilitate global collaborations.