Retaining natural vegetation to safeguard biodiversity and humanity

Global efforts to deliver internationally agreed goals to reduce carbon emissions, halt biodiversity loss, and retain essential ecosystem services have been poorly integrated. These goals rely in part on preserving natural (e.g., native, largely unmodified) and seminatural (e.g., low intensity or sustainable human use) forests, woodlands, and grasslands. To show how to unify these goals, we empirically derived spatially explicit, quantitative, area-based targets for the retention of natural and seminatural (e.g., native) terrestrial vegetation worldwide. We used a 250-m-resolution map of natural and seminatural vegetation cover and, from this, selected areas identified under different international agreements as being important for achieving global biodiversity, carbon, soil, and water targets. At least 67 million km² of Earth's terrestrial vegetation (∼79% of the area of vegetation remaining) required retention to contribute to biodiversity, climate, soil, and freshwater conservation objectives under 4 United Nations’ resolutions. This equates to retaining natural and seminatural vegetation across at least 50% of the total terrestrial (excluding Antarctica) surface of Earth. Retention efforts could contribute to multiple goals simultaneously, especially where natural and seminatural vegetation can be managed to achieve cobenefits for biodiversity, carbon storage, and ecosystem service provision. Such management can and should co-occur and be driven by people who live in and rely on places where natural and sustainably managed vegetation remains in situ and must be complemented by restoration and appropriate management of more human-modified environments if global goals are to be realized.     

Synthesis of mono- and dimethoxylated polychlorinated biphenyl derivatives starting from fluoroarene derivatives

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are environmental pollutants implicated in a variety of adverse health effects, including cancer and noncancer...     

Methods for Determining Paniculate Mass and Size Properties: Laboratory and Field Measurements

No single particle size measuring device was found suitable in both the fine and ultrafine particle size regimes, however, combinations of devices have been used successfully. Methods of measurement and applications in the laboratory and field are discussed.     

Temperature and salinity effects on the toxicity of common pesticides to the grass shrimp,Palaemonetes pugio

This study investigated the effects of increased temperature and salinity, two potential impacts of global climate change, on the toxicity of two common pesticides to the estuarine grass shrimp, Palaemonetes pugio. Larval and adult grass shrimp were exposed to the fungicide chlorothalonil and the insecticide Scourge® under standard toxicity test conditions, a 10°C increase in temperature, a 10 ppt increase in salinity, and a combined increased temperature and salinity exposure. Toxicity of the fungicide chlorothalonil increased with temperature and salinity. Toxicity of the insecticide Scourge® also increased with temperature; while increased salinity reduced Scourge® toxicity, but only in adult shrimp. These findings suggest that changes in temperature and salinity may alter the toxicity of certain pesticides, and that the nature of the effect will depend on both the organism's life stage and the chemical contaminant. Standard toxicity bioassays may not be predictive of actual pesticide toxicity under variable environmental conditions, and testing under a wider range of exposure conditions could improve the accuracy of chemical risk assessments.     

Fabric Filter Technology for Utility Coal-Fired Power Plants

This is the third in a series of papers discussing the experience of electric utilities in applying baghouse technology for the collection of particulate matter at coal-fired electric power generating plants. The series presents new data obtained in research sponsored by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) on reverse-gas and shake/deflate cleaned baghouses, and specifically addresses a number of unresolved issues in the design and operation of these units. This paper provides an overview of the design and operating characteristics of baghouses now in place in the utility industry. In addition, it discusses three key issues in design and operation: the relationships among dust cake weight and chemical composition, air-to-cloth ratio, and pressure drop; fabric selection; and bag life.     

Spatial trends of organochlorinated pesticides,polychlorinated biphenyls,and polybrominated diphenyl ethers in Atlantic Anguillid eels

The bioaccumulation of lipophilic contaminants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) can result in a reduction in fitness and spawner quality in eels and may be a factor in Anguillid sp. population declines. Contaminant concentrations in eels have been studied extensively in Europe, but data for American eels are severely lacking. Concentrations of PCBs, OCPs, and PBDEs were determined in American eel from eastern Canada and New York, USA, along with European eel from Belgium. Principal component analysis revealed that eels captured in the St. Lawrence estuary were a mixture of upstream migrants from the St. Lawrence River watershed, and fish captured in local tributaries. Contaminant concentrations were dependent on origin, related to the local environment, and were lower than historic values. In Canada, concentrations of OCPs and PCBs in eel tissues were below the Canadian human consumption guidelines for contaminants in fish, indicating that the current risk to consumers is low. However, concentrations of PCBs, total DDT, and mirex in eels from L. Ontario and the upper St. Lawrence R. were above Great Lakes guidelines for the protection of piscivorous predators. Concentrations of penta-BDE homologs exceeded the Canadian guideline for environmental quality in over half of the eels in this study, but concentrations of the other homolog groups were below the guideline.     

The Cost of Co-viability in the Australian Northern Prawn Fishery

Fisheries management must address multiple, often conflicting objectives in a highly uncertain context. In particular, while the bio-economic performance of trawl fisheries is subject to high levels of biological and economic uncertainty, the impact of trawling on broader biodiversity is also a major concern for their management. The purpose of this study is to propose an analytical framework to formally assess the trade-offs associated with balancing biological, economic and non-target species conservation objectives. We use the Australian Northern Prawn Fishery (NPF), which is one of the most valuable federally managed commercial fisheries in Australia, as a case study. We develop a stochastic co-viability assessment of the fishery under multiple management objectives. Results show that, due to the variability in the interactions between the fishery and the ecosystem, current management strategies are characterized by biological and economic risks. Results highlight the trade-offs between respecting biological, economic and non-target species conservation constraints at each point in time with a high probability and maximizing the net present value of the fishery.