Chemical oxidation using stabilized hydrogen peroxide in high temperature,saline groundwater impacted with hydrocarbons and MTBE

In situ chemical oxidation (ISCO) of petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs) within groundwater is considered a proven approach to addressing PHC‐impacted groundwater in nonsaline environments. One of the most common oxidants used for oxidation of PHCs in groundwater is hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). Due to its highly reactive nature, H₂O₂ is often stabilized to aid in increasing its reactivity lifespan. Limited research and application of ISCO has been completed in warm, saline groundwater environments. Furthermore, even fewer studies have been completed in these environments for ISCO using stabilized H₂O₂. In this research, stabilized H₂O₂ was examined to determine its effectiveness in the treatment of PHCs and the additive methyl tert‐butyl ether (MTBE). Three stabilizers (citrate, phytate, silica [SiO₂]) were tested to determine if the stabilizers could enhance and extend the treatment life of H₂O₂ within saline groundwater. To determine the effect of salinity on the three stabilizers, groundwater and aquifer samples were collected from two saline locations that had different salinity (total dissolved solids of about 7,000 mg/L and 18,000 mg/L). Specific target chemicals for treatment were water soluble, mobile components of gasoline including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes, (BTEX) and MTBE. Previous studies using unactivated persulfate indicated that the PHCs within the groundwater could be oxidized, however, only limited oxidation of the MTBE could be affected. The results of the laboratory tests indicated that greater than 95 percent of the target hydrocarbons were removed within 7 days of treatment. Microcosms with citrate‐stabilized H₂O₂ demonstrated a significantly faster and greater decline with most hydrocarbon concentrations reaching < 5 μg/L. The exceptions were ethylbenzene and m‐xylene, which were slightly decreased to about 30 and 20 μg/L, respectively. Initial mean concentrations of the BTEX compounds within the citrate‐stabilized microcosms were 10,554 μg/L, 9,318 μg/L, 6,859 μg/L, and 14,435 μg/L, respectively. The silicate‐stabilized H₂O₂ microcosms showed no significant benefit over the unstabilized control microcosms. The better performance of citrate‐stabilized microcosms was confirmed by increasing δ13C values of remaining hydrocarbons. MTBE declined from > 400 mg/L to < 100 mg/L in all microcosms, again with the best removal (> 90 percent) being measured in the citrate‐stabilized microcosms. Unfortunately, H₂O₂ oxidation in the microcosms also resulted in production of up to 40 mg/L TBA or approximately 10 percent of the MTBE oxidized.     

Mobilisation and protest: environmental justice in Durban,South Africa

This paper examines the ability of civil society actors to champion environmental justice in an industrial risk society in South Africa by way of mobilisation and protest action. This paper presents viewpoints from key stakeholders at the Durban city level and three local case study sites to examine social capital relations to achieve environmental justice. It explores how civil society engages in social capital for mobilisation with itself and subsequent protest actions to engage with government and industry. The paper highlights that social actor response to engage in social capital for mobilisation and protests is best understood in relation to the socio-economic and political positioning of individuals or organisations.     

Incidence of stress in benthic communities along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts within different ranges of sediment contamination from chemical mixtures

Synoptic data on concentrations of sediment-associated chemical contaminants and benthic macroinfaunal community structure were collected from 1,389 stations in estuaries along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts as part of the nationwide Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP). These data were used to develop an empirical framework for evaluating risks of benthic community-level effects within different ranges of sediment contamination from mixtures of multiple chemicals present at varying concentrations. Sediment contamination was expressed as the mean ratio of individual chemical concentrations relative to corresponding sediment quality guidelines (SQGs), including Effects Range-Median (ERM) and Probable Effects Level (PEL) values. Benthic condition was assessed using diagnostic, multi-metric indices developed for each of three EMAP provinces (Virginian, Carolinian, and Louisianian). Cumulative percentages of stations with a degraded benthic community were plotted against ascending values of the mean ERM and PEL quotients. Based on the observed relationships, mean SQG quotients were divided into four ranges corresponding to either a low, moderate, high, or very high incidence of degraded benthic condition. Results showed that condition of the ambient benthic community provides a reliable and sensitive indicator for evaluating the biological significance of sediment-associated stressors. Mean SQG quotients marking the beginning of the contaminant range associated with the highest incidence of benthic impacts (73–100% of samples, depending on the province and type of SQG) were well below those linked to high risks of sediment toxicity as determined by short-term toxicity tests with single species. Measures of the ambient benthic community reflect the sensitivities of multiple species and life stages to persistent exposures under actual field conditions. Similar results were obtained with preliminary data from the west coast (Puget Sound).     

Behavioral transitions with the evolution of cooperative nest founding by harvester ant queens

Research on the evolution of cooperative groups tends to explore the costs and benefits of cooperation, with less focus on the proximate behavioral changes necessary for the transition from solitary to cooperative living. However, understanding what proximate changes must occur, as well as those pre-conditions already in place, is critical to understanding the origins and evolution of sociality. The California harvester ant Pogonomyrmex californicus demonstrates population-level variation in colony founding over a close geographic range. In adjacent populations, queens either found nests as single individuals (haplometrosis) or form cooperative groups of nonrelatives (pleometrosis). We compared aggregation, aggression, and tolerance of queens from one pleometrotic and two haplometrotic populations during nest initiation, to determine which behaviors show an evolutionary shift and which are present at the transition to pleometrosis. Surprisingly, within-nest aggregative behavior was equally present among all populations. In nesting boxes with multiple available brood-rearing sites, both queen types readily formed and clustered around a single common brood pile, suggesting that innate attraction to brood (offspring) facilitates the transition to social aggregation. In contrast, queens from the three populations differed in their probabilities of attraction on the ground to nest sites occupied by other queens and in levels of aggression. Our results suggest that some key behavioral mechanisms facilitating cooperation in P. californicus are in place prior to the evolution of pleometrosis and that the switch from aggression to tolerance is critical for the evolution of stable cooperative associations.     

Estimating abundance of killer whales in the nearshore waters of the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands using line-transect sampling

Killer whale (Orcinus orca Linnaeus, 1758) abundance in the North Pacific is known only for a few populations for which extensive longitudinal data are available, with little quantitative data from more remote regions. Line-transect ship surveys were conducted in July and August of 2001–2003 in coastal waters of the western Gulf of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. Conventional and Multiple Covariate Distance Sampling methods were used to estimate the abundance of different killer whale ecotypes, which were distinguished based upon morphological and genetic data. Abundance was calculated separately for two data sets that differed in the method by which killer whale group size data were obtained. Initial group size (IGS) data corresponded to estimates of group size at the time of first sighting, and post-encounter group size (PEGS) corresponded to estimates made after closely approaching sighted groups. ‘Resident’-type (fish-eating) killer whales were more abundant than the ‘transient’-type (mammal-eating). Abundance estimates of resident killer whales (991 [95% CI = 379–2,585] [IGS] and 1,587 [95% CI = 608–4,140] [PEGS]), were at least four times greater than those of the transient killer whales (200 [95% CI = 81–488] [IGS] and 251 [95% CI = 97–644] whales [PEGS]). The IGS estimate of abundance is preferred for resident killer whales because the estimate based on PEGS data may show an upward bias. The PEGS estimate of abundance is likely more accurate for transients. Residents were most abundant near Kodiak Island in the northern Gulf of Alaska, around Umnak and Unalaska Islands in the eastern Aleutians, and in Seguam Pass in the central Aleutians. This ecotype was not observed between 156 and 164°W, south of the Alaska Peninsula. In contrast, transient killer whale sightings were found at higher densities south of the Alaska Peninsula between the Shumagin Islands and the eastern Aleutians. Only two sightings of ‘offshore’-type killer whales were recorded during the surveys, one northeast of Unalaska Island and the other south of Kodiak Island. These are the first estimates of abundance of killer whale ecotypes in the Aleutian Islands and Alaska Peninsula area and provide a baseline for quantifying the role of these top predators in their ecosystem. Electronic Supplementary Material  Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at and is accessible for authorized users.

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A framework for predicting personal exposures to environmental hazards

This paper presents a general framework for constructing a predictive distribution of the exposure to an environmental hazard sustained by a randomly selected member of a designated population. The individual’s exposure is assumed to arise from random movement through the environment, resulting in a distribution of exposure that can be used for environmental risk analysis. A specialization of the general framework is that of predicting human exposure to air pollution that can be used to develop models for such things as exposure to particulate matter; practical aspects of their construction are considered. These models can help answer questions such as what fraction of the population sustained ‘high’ levels of exposure for say 5 days in a row. The immediate implementation of the above framework takes the form of a computing platform referred to as pCNEM. This provides a facility for simulating exposures to airborne pollutants and is described in detail elsewhere. This paper considers some theoretical aspects underpinning probabilistic exposure models of this type, with the ideas illustrated in developing a model for predicting human exposure to PM ₁₀.     

Aerobic Biodegradation of Hydrocarbons in High Temperature and Saline Groundwater

A series of laboratory microcosm experiments and a field pilot test were performed to evaluate the potential for aerobic biodegradation of aromatic hydrocarbons and methyl tert‐butyl ether (MtBE; a common oxygenate additive in gasoline) in saline, high temperature (>30° C) groundwater. Aquifer, sediment, and groundwater samples from two sites, one in Canada and another in Saudi Arabia, were incubated for 106 days to evaluate the changes in select hydrocarbon and MtBE concentrations and microbial community structure. Almost complete biodegradation of the aromatic hydrocarbons was found in the Saudi Arabian microcosm samples whereas the Canadian microcosm samples showed no significant biodegradation during the laboratory testing. MtBE degradation was not observed in either set of microcosms. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analyses showed that, while the Canadian microorganisms were the most diverse, they showed little response during incubation. The microbial communities for the Saudi Arabian sample contained significant numbers of microorganisms capable of hydrocarbon degradation which increased during incubation. Based on the laboratory results, pilot‐scale testing at the Saudi Arabian field site was carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of enhanced aerobic biodegradation on a high temperature, saline petroleum hydrocarbon plume. Dissolved oxygen was delivered to the subsurface using a series of oxygen diffusion emitters installed perpendicular to groundwater flow, which created a reactive zone. Results obtained from the seven‐month field trial indicated that all the target compounds decreased with removal percentages varying between 33 percent for the trimethylbenzenes to greater than 80 percent for the BTEX compounds. MtBE decreased 40 percent on average whereas naphthalene was reduced 85 percent on average. Examination of the microbial population upgradient and downgradient of the emitter reactive zone suggested that the bacteria population went from an anaerobic, sulfate‐reducing dominated population to one dominated by a heterotrophic aerobic bacteria dominant population. These studies illustrate that field aerobic biodegradation may exceed expectations derived from simple laboratory microcosm experiments. Also, high salinity and elevated groundwater temperature do not appear to inhibit in situ aerobic biorestoration. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Cryptic direct benefits of mate choice: choosy females experience reduced predation risk while in precopula

Despite the central role that female mate choice plays in the production of biological diversity, controversy remains concerning its evolution and maintenance. This is particularly true in systems where females are choosy but do not receive obvious direct benefits such as nuptial gifts that increase a female's survival and fecundity. In the absence of such direct benefits, indirect benefits (i.e., the production of superior offspring) are often invoked to explain the evolution of mate choice. However, females may receive less obvious, or "cryptic," direct benefits, particularly in species with prolonged pre-mating interactions (e.g., precopulatory mate guarding). We assessed the “cryptic” direct benefits of female choice for large male size in two species of freshwater amphipods that do not receive obvious direct benefits. Females paired with large males experienced decreased predation from fish. However, we found that the size of a female’s mate did not affect her predation risk against predatory dragonflies or the harassment she received by single males while paired. Our results demonstrate that even when females receive no traditional direct benefits, female choice for large male size can still provide important direct benefits. Such “cryptic” direct benefits may be common, especially in species with prolonged mating interactions, and are likely important for fully understanding the evolution of mate choice.