A comprehensive review of climate adaptation in the United States: more than before, but less than needed

We reviewed existing and planned adaptation activities of federal, tribal, state, and local governments and the private sector in the United States (U.S.) to understand what types of adaptation activities are underway across different sectors and scales throughout the country. Primary sources of review included material officially submitted for consideration in the upcoming 2013 U.S. National Climate Assessment and supplemental peer-reviewed and grey literature. Although substantial adaptation planning is occurring in various sectors, levels of government, and the private sector, few measures have been implemented and even fewer have been evaluated. Most adaptation actions to date appear to be incremental changes, not the transformational changes that may be needed in certain cases to adapt to significant changes in climate. While there appear to be no one-size-fits-all adaptations, there are similarities in approaches across scales and sectors, including mainstreaming climate considerations into existing policies and plans, and pursuing no- and low-regrets strategies. Despite the positive momentum in recent years, barriers to implementation still impede action in all sectors and across scales. The most significant barriers include lack of funding, policy and institutional constraints, and difficulty in anticipating climate change given the current state of information on change. However, the practice of adaptation can advance through learning by doing, stakeholder engagements (including “listening sessions”), and sharing of best practices. Efforts to advance adaptation across the U.S. and globally will necessitate the reduction or elimination of barriers, the enhancement of information and best practice sharing mechanisms, and the creation of comprehensive adaptation evaluation metrics.     

Downscaling and visioning of mountain snow packs and other climate change implications in North Vancouver, British Columbia

This paper provides an overview of a collaborative study on visualizing climate change at the local scale. A conceptual framework has been developed, in which local scenarios and visualizations of climate change impacts and response were created to facilitate local dialogue on incorporating climate change into long-term planning and implementation of community development decisions. As part of a larger effort to generate a new integrated participatory visioning process, this paper describes a case study of the District of North Vancouver which created visualizations of changing mountain snow and landscape conditions, and provides new insights on issues and dilemmas in using realistic landscape visualizations to depict scientific modelling projections, local responses to climate change, and uncertainty. Results from this study suggest that the visualizations, and subsequent dialogue sessions, did influence emotional response to climate change as well as self-assessed understanding of adaptation and mitigation response options. However, there is a need to test this visioning process with larger heterogeneous groups of participants in order to better assess its effectiveness in enabling dialogue on local responses to climate change.     

Effects of metals on life cycle parameters of the earthworm Eisenia fetida exposed to field-contaminated, metal-polluted soils

Two control and eight field-contaminated, metal-polluted soils were inoculated with Eisenia fetida (Savigny, 1826). Three, 7, 14, 21, 28 and 42 days after inoculation, earthworm survival, body weight, cocoon production and hatching rate were measured. Seventeen metals were analysed in E. fetida tissue, bulk soil and soil solution. Soil organic carbon content, texture, pH and cation exchange capacity were also measured. Cocoon production and hatching rate were more sensitive to adverse conditions than survival or weight change. Soil properties other than metal concentration impacted toxicity. The most toxic soils were organic-poor (1-10 g C kg(-1)), sandy soils (c. 74% sand), with intermediate metal concentrations (e.g. 7150-13,100 mg Pb kg(-1), 2970-53,400 mg Zn kg(-1)). Significant relationships between soil properties and the life cycle parameters were determined. The best coefficients of correlation were generally found for texture, pH, Ag, Cd, Mg, Pb, Tl, and Zn both singularly and in multivariate regressions. Studies that use metal-amended artificial soils are not useful to predict toxicity of field multi-contaminated soils.     

Determination of selected quaternary ammonium compounds by liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry. Part I. Application to surface, waste and indirect discharge water samples in Austria

A method for simultaneous quantitative determination of alkyl benzyl, dialkyl and trialkyl quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) has been developed, validated and subsequently applied to real water samples in Austria. The method employs liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) followed by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), using electrospray ionization (ESI) in positive mode. The overall method quantification limits range from 4 to 19ng/L for the enrichment of 500mL water samples and analyte recoveries are between 80 and 99%. The method was applied to 62 of the respective water samples without filtration to avoid the loss of the analytes due to the high adsorption capacity of these compounds. Maxima in the mg/L range, especially in the wastewater of hospitals and laundries, could be detected for the selected target compounds.     

Investigations into the transport and pathways of scallop larvae--the use of numerical models for managing fish stocks

The scallop fisheries off the southeast coast of Ireland have historically been considered a valuable resource for coastal communities, and hence their management is important. The scallop fishing grounds consist of a number of scallop beds dispersed throughout the St George's Channel and the southern Irish Sea. The boundaries between stocks and the interconnection in populations of adult scallops, through larval transport, is generally unknown. Until the time of this research, the stocks of scallop in this region had not been assessed. A research project was undertaken to develop novel, spatially explicit and multi-disciplinary approaches to the assessment of the scallop fisheries in the region. The project supported research in three related areas under the broad objective of developing stock assessment protocols and methods in order to promote sustainable management of these fisheries. One of these areas was the development and application of numerical models. The objectives of this modelling research were: (a) to reconstruct the physical environment of the study area; (b) investigate how this environment affects the demographics and nature of scallop; and (c) determine migration-transport pathways of the scallop larvae. From these investigations, light is shed on how the spatial variability in certain parameters of the natural environment determine habitats and the scallop populations. Also, the investigations now enable determinations to be made on the interconnectivities of 'disparate' scallop beds and where larvae are, in general, likely to be found. Thus, through the use of complex computer models, important clues are deduced that enable us to now understand key behavioural components of scallop larvae and their transport pathways. The analysis of these clues is assisting the development of protocols for managing the fish stock in a sustainable manner.     

Dehalogenation of polychlorinated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers using a hybrid bioinorganic catalyst

The environmentally prevalent polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) #47 and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) #28 and #118 were challenged for 24 hours with a novel biomass-supported Pd catalyst (Bio-Pd(0)). Analysis of the products via GC-MS revealed the Bio-Pd(0) to cause the challenged compounds to undergo stepwise dehalogenation with preferential loss of the least sterically hindered halogen atom. A mass balance for PCB #28 showed that it is degraded to three dichlorobiphenyls (33.9%), two monochlorobiphenyls (12%), and biphenyl (30.7%). The remaining mass was starting material. In contrast, while PCB #118 underwent degradation to yield five tetra- and five trichlorinated biphenyls, no less chlorinated products or biphenyl were detected, and the total mass of degraded products was 0.3%. Although the Bio-Pd(0) material was developed for treatment of PCBs, a mass balance for PBDE #47 showed that the biocatalyst could prove a potentially useful method for treatment of PBDEs. Specifically, 10% of PBDE #47 was converted to identifiable lower brominated congeners, predominantly the tribrominated PBDE #17 and the dibrominated PBDE #4, 75% remained intact, while 15% of the starting mass was unaccounted for.     

Supporting Diverse Data Providers in the Open Water Data Initiative: Communicating Water Data Quality and Fitness of Use

Shared, trusted, timely data are essential elements for the cooperation needed to optimize economic, ecologic, and public safety concerns related to water. The Open Water Data Initiative (OWDI) will provide a fully scalable platform that can support a wide variety of data from many diverse providers. Many of these will be larger, well‐established, and trusted agencies with a history of providing well‐documented, standardized, and archive‐ready products. However, some potential partners may be smaller, distributed, and relatively unknown or untested as data providers. The data these partners will provide are valuable and can be used to fill in many data gaps, but can also be variable in quality or supplied in nonstandardized formats. They may also reflect the smaller partners' variable budgets and missions, be intermittent, or of unknown provenance. A challenge for the OWDI will be to convey the quality and the contextual “fitness” of data from providers other than the most trusted brands. This article reviews past and current methods for documenting data quality. Three case studies are provided that describe processes and pathways for effective data‐sharing and publication initiatives. They also illustrate how partners may work together to find a metadata reporting threshold that encourages participation while maintaining high data integrity. And lastly, potential governance is proposed that may assist smaller partners with short‐ and long‐term participation in the OWDI.     

Molecular tools for bathing water assessment in Europe: Balancing social science research with a rapidly developing environmental science evidence-base

The use of molecular tools, principally qPCR, versus traditional culture-based methods for quantifying microbial parameters (e.g., Fecal Indicator Organisms) in bathing waters generates considerable ongoing debate at the science–policy interface. Advances in science have allowed the development and application of molecular biological methods for rapid (~2 h) quantification of microbial pollution in bathing and recreational waters. In contrast, culture-based methods can take between 18 and 96 h for sample processing. Thus, molecular tools offer an opportunity to provide a more meaningful statement of microbial risk to water-users by providing near-real-time information enabling potentially more informed decision-making with regard to water-based activities. However, complementary studies concerning the potential costs and benefits of adopting rapid methods as a regulatory tool are in short supply. We report on findings from an international Working Group that examined the breadth of social impacts, challenges, and research opportunities associated with the application of molecular tools to bathing water regulations.     

Biogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments of the San Joaquin River in California (USA), and current paradigms on their formation

Biogenic perylene and higher plant pentacyclic triterpenoid-derived alkylated and partially aromatized tetra- and pentacyclic derivatives of chrysene (3,4,7-trimethyl- and 3,3,7-trimethyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydrochrysene, THC) and picene (1,2,9-trimethyl- and 2,2,9-trimethyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropicene, THP) were two- to four-fold more abundant than pyrogenic PAH in two sediment cores from the San Joaquin River in Northern California (USA). In a core from Venice Cut (VC), located in the river, PAH concentrations varied little downcore and the whole-core PAH concentration (biogenics?+?pyrogenics) was 250.6?±?73.7 ng g^?1 dw; biogenic PAH constituted 67?±?4 % of total PAH. THC were 26?±?9 % of total biogenic PAH, THP were 36?±?7 %, and perylene was 38?±?7 %. PAH distributions in a core from Franks Tract (FT), a former wetland that was converted to an agricultural tract in the late 1800s and flooded in 1938, were more variable. Surface sediments were dominated by pyrogenic PAH so that biogenic PAH were only ~30 % of total PAH. Deeper in the core, biogenic PAH constituted 60–93 % of total PAH; THC, THP and perylene were 31?±?28 %, 24?±?32 %, and 45?±?36 % of biogenic PAH. At 100–103 cm depth, THP constituted 80 % of biogenic PAH and at 120–123 cm perylene was 95 % of biogenic PAH. Current concepts related to precursors and transformation processes responsible for the diagenetic generation of perylene and triterpenoid-derived PAH are discussed. Distributions of biogenic PAH in VC and FT sediments suggest that they may not form diagenetically within these sediments but rather might be delivered pre-formed from the river’s watershed.     

A framework for understanding climate change impacts on coral reef social–ecological systems

Corals and coral-associated species are highly vulnerable to the emerging effects of global climate change. The widespread degradation of coral reefs, which will be accelerated by climate change, jeopardizes the goods and services that tropical nations derive from reef ecosystems. However, climate change impacts to reef social–ecological systems can also be bi-directional. For example, some climate impacts, such as storms and sea level rise, can directly impact societies, with repercussions for how they interact with the environment. This study identifies the multiple impact pathways within coral reef social–ecological systems arising from four key climatic drivers: increased sea surface temperature, severe tropical storms, sea level rise and ocean acidification. We develop a novel framework for investigating climate change impacts in social–ecological systems, which helps to highlight the diverse impacts that must be considered in order to develop a more complete understanding of the impacts of climate change, as well as developing appropriate management actions to mitigate climate change impacts on coral reef and people.