Human drivers,biophysical changes,and climatic variation affecting contemporary cropping proportions in the northern prairie of the U.S

Grassland to cropland conversion in the northern prairie of the United States has been a topic of recent land use change studies. Within this region more corn and soybeans are grown now (2017) than in the past, but most studies to date have not examined multi-decadal trends and the synergistic web of socio-ecological driving forces involved, opting instead for short-term analyses and easily targeted agents of change. This paper examines the coalescing of biophysical and socioeconomic driving forces that have brought change to the agricultural landscape of this region between 1980 and 2013. While land conversion has occurred, most of the region’s cropland in 2013 had been previously cropped by the early 1980s. Furthermore, the agricultural conditions in which crops were grown during those three decades have changed considerably because of non-biophysical alterations to production practices and changing agricultural markets. Findings revealed that human drivers played more of a role in crop change than biophysical changes, that blending quantitative and qualitative methods to tell a more complete story of crop change in this region was difficult because of the synergistic characteristics of the drivers involved, and that more research is needed to understand how farmers make crop choice decisions.     

A Conceptual Model of Spatially Heterogeneous Nitrogen Leaching from a Welsh Moorland Catchment

Soil- and stream-water data from the Plynlimon research area, mid-Wales, have been used to develop a conceptual model of spatial variations in nitrogen (N) leaching within moorland catchments. Extensive peats, in both hilltop and valley locations, are considered near-complete sinks for inorganic N, but leach the most dissolved organic nitrogen (DON). Peaty mineral soils on hillslopes also retain inorganic N within upper organic horizons, but a proportion percolates into mineral horizons as nitrate (NO ₃ ^– ), either through incomplete immobilisation in the organic layer, or in water bypassing the organic soil matrix via macropores. This NO ₃ ^– reaches the stream where mineral soilwaters discharge (via matrix throughflow or pipeflow) directly to the drainage network, or via small N-enriched flush wetlands. NO ₃ ^– in hillslope waters discharging into larger valley wetlands will be removed before reaching the stream. A concept of catchment nitrate leaching zones is proposed, whereby most stream NO ₃ ^– derives from localised areas of mineral soil hillslope draining directly to the stream; the extent of these zones within a catchment may thus determine its overall susceptibility to elevated surface water NO ₃ ^– concentrations.     

The human cervical spine in tension: effects of frame and fixation compliance on structural responses

There is little data available on the responses of the human cervical spine to tensile loading. Such tests are mechanistically and technically challenging due to the variety of end conditions that need to be imposed and the difficulty of strong specimen fixation. As a result, spine specimens need to be tested using fairly complex, and potentially compliant, apparati in order to fully characterize the mechanical responses of each specimen. This, combined with the relatively high stiffness of human spine specimens, can result in errors in stiffness calculations. In this study, 18 specimen preparations were tested in tension. Tests were performed on whole cervical spines and on spine segments. On average, the linear stiffness of the segment preparations was 257 N/mm, and the stiffness of the whole cervical spine was 48 N/mm. The test frame was found to have a stiffness of 933 N/mm. Assembling a whole spine from a series combination of eight segments with a stiffness of 257 N/mm results in an estimated whole spine stiffness of 32.1 N/mm (32% error). The segment stiffnesses were corrected by assuming that the segment preparation stiffness is a series combination of the stiffnesses of the segment and the frame. This resulted in an average corrected segment stiffness of 356 N/mm. Taking the frame compliance into account, the whole spine stiffness is 51 N/mm. A series combination of eight segments using the corrected stiffnesses results in an estimated whole spine stiffness of 45.0 N/mm (12% error). We report both linear and nonlinear stiffness models for male spines and conclude that the compliance of the frame and the fixation must be quantified in all tension studies of spinal segments. Further, reported stiffness should be adjusted to account for frame and fixation compliance.     

The acetochlor registration partnership state ground water monitoring program

The Acetochlor Registration Partnership (ARP) conducted a 7-yr ground water monitoring program at a total of 175 sites in seven states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. While acetochlor [2-chloro-N-(ethoxymethyl)-N-(2-ethyl-6-methylphenyl)-acetamide] was the primary focus, the analytical methods also quantified alachlor [2-chloro-N-(2,6-diethylphenyl)-N-(methoxymethyl)-acetamide], atrazine [6-chloro-N-ethyl-N'-(1-methylethyl)-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diamine], metolachlor [2-chloro-N-(2-ethyl-6-methylphenyl)-N-(2-methoxy-1-methylethyl)-acetamide], and two classes of soil degradates for acetochlor, alachlor, and metolachlor. Ground water samples were collected monthly for five years and quarterly for two additional years. All samples were analyzed for the presence of parent herbicides, and degradates were monitored during the last three years. Parent acetochlor was detected above 0.1 microg L(-1) in three or more samples at just seven sites. Alachlor and metolachlor were also rarely detected, but atrazine was detected in 36% of all samples analyzed. Even more widespread were the tertiary amide sulfonic acid (ethanesulfonic acid, ESA) degradates of acetochlor, alachlor, and metolachlor, which were detected at 81, 76, and 106 sites, respectively. The other class of monitored soil degradates (oxanilic acid, OXA) was detected less frequently, at 26, 16, and 63 sites for acetochlor OXA, alachlor OXA, and metolachlor OXA, respectively. The geographic distribution of detections did not follow the pattern originally expected when the study began. Rather than being a function primarily of soil texture, the detection of these herbicides in shallow ground water was related to site-specific factors associated with local topography, the occurrence of surface water drainage features, irrigation practices, and the vertical positioning of the well screen.     

Comparison of Critical Load Exceedance and Its Uncertainty Based on National and Site-specific Data

Critical loads have been used to develop international agreements on acidifying air pollution abatement, and within the UK and other countries, to develop national policies for pollution abatement. The Environment Agency (England and Wales) has regulatory obligations to protect sites of high conservation value from the threat of acidification, and hence requires a practical methodology for acidification assessments at the site-specific scale. The Environment Agency has therefore posed the question: Are the national critical load exceedance models sufficiently robust to form the basis for methods to assess harm to individual sites or are they only useful for national policy development? In order to provide one measure of the appropriateness of applying the models at the site-specific scale we incorporated estimates of uncertainty in both national and site-specific data into the calculation of critical load exceedance for individual sites. The exceedance calculations use data from a wide range of sources and the accuracy of the exceedance will be influenced by the accuracy of the input data sets. Using Monte Carlo methods to incorporate the uncertainty in the input data sets into the calculation a distribution of critical load exceedance values is generated rather than a single point estimate. This paper compares uncertainty analyses for coniferous forested sites in England and Wales using both national scale and site-specific data sets and uncertainty ranges.     

Impacts of Climatic Change On Peatland Hydrochemistry; A Laboratory-Based Experiment

A laboratory simulation of a reduction in water table height that could be anticipated from current climate change models, resulted in a change in the efficiency with which a valley-bottom wetland acted as a sink/source of nutrients. Effects were confined to the upper 10 cm of the profile, but since this depth has the greatest hydraulic conductivity, it was noted that the effects of hydrochemical changes therein would be readily transferred to receiving waterbodies. Marked changes in leachate chemistry were observed, including increases in nitrate and sulphate concentrations, while concentrations of phenolics, dissolved organic carbon, potassium, iron and ammonium decreased. These changes have implications for the quality and productivity of waters draining wetlands.     

The use of passive sampling to monitor forest exposure to O3, NO2 and SO2: a review and some case studies

The use of passive sampler systems is reviewed and discussed. These devices are able to determine both spatial and temporal differences in canopy exposure, as is demonstrated by their use in extensive monitoring of air-pollution exposure in forest health plots. Categorising forest health monitoring plots according to air-pollution exposure permits cause-effect analysis of certain forest health responses. In addition, passive sampling may identify areas affected by interaction between different gaseous pollutants. Passive samplers at the stand level can be used to resolve vertical profiles of ozone within the stand, and edge effects, which are important in exposure of understorey and ground flora. Recent case studies using passive samplers to determine forest exposure to gaseous pollutants indicate a potential for the development of spatial models on regional-, landscape-, and stand-level scales and the verification of atmospheric transport models.