Female foraging and male vigilance in white-tailed ptarmigan (Lagopus leucurus): opportunism or behavioural coordination?

For several species of birds, high rates of male vigilance are correlated with high rates of female foraging. This relationship is thought to ultimately result in higher reproductive success for females paired with highly vigilant males. However, previous research has not examined the behavioural mechanism that produces the correlation between male vigilance and rates of female foraging. Foraging females may take advantage of vigilance that males are using for other purposes. Alternatively, the purpose of male vigilance may be to increase females' ability to forage. We examined these alternatives by testing whether vigilance preceded or followed bouts of female foraging more often than would occur by chance alone, using simultaneous behaviour observations of pre-incubation pairs of white-tailed ptarmigan (Lagopus leucurus). Our results indicate that each member of a pair may influence the behaviour of the other. Females were more likely to initiate foraging bouts after males became vigilant than if their mate remained non-vigilant. Moreover, non-vigilant males were more likely to become vigilant if their mate was foraging than if she was engaged in some other activity. Despite the possibility that a sexual conflict exists as each member of a pair attempts to maximize its fitness, both sexes behave as though a major role of male vigilance is to enhance female foraging opportunities. Received: 3 May 1999 / Received in revised form: 14 June 1999 / Accepted: 16 June 1999     

Nanoparticle-free and self-healing amphiphobic membrane for anti-surfactant-wetting membrane distillation

In membrane distillation (MD), complicated feed water with amphiphilic contaminants induces fouling/wetting of the MD membrane and can even lead to process failure. This study reports a facile approach to fabricate robust and self-healing hybrid amphiphobic membranes for anti-surfactant-wetting MD based on the ultra-low surface energy of fluorinated polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (F-POSS) and its thermal induced motivation and rotation. The thermal treatment makes the membranes achieving amphiphobicity at a very low cost of F-POSS (13.04 wt.%), which is about 1/3 of without thermal treatment. The prepared membrane exhibits excellent amphiphobicity, i.e. ethanol contact angle of 120.3°, without using environmentally toxic fluorinated nanoparticles. Robust MD performance was observed for the amphiphobic membrane in concentrated sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) feed solutions. Furthermore, the fabricated membrane exhibited stable amphiphobicity even in extreme environments, including strong acid or alkaline solutions. In the event of a damaged or abraded membrane surface where the F-POSS can be removed, the amphiphobic membrane exhibits self-healing ability with additional thermal treatment. This simple approach without the use of nanoparticles provides an environmentally friendly way for fabrication of amphiphobic membranes for anti-surfactant-wetting membrane distillation.     

Perfluoroalkane acids in human milk under the global monitoring plan of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (2008–2019)

● Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid and perfluorooctanoic acid highest in human milk. ● All other perfluoroalkane substances had median values of zero (101 samples). ● Branched PFOS recommended to be analyzed separately from linear isomer. ● PFOS and PFOA showed differentiated regional and income distribution. ● Human health risk assessment values not yet available at global level. Within the global monitoring plan (GMP) established by article 16 of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS) are recommended for analysis in core matrices to assess occurrence and changes geographically and with time. In 101 samples consisting of 86 national pools and 15 pools from States in Brazil obtained between 2008 and 2019, PFHxS was detected in 17% of the national pools and none in Brazil. PFOA and PFOS had a detection frequency of 100% and 92%, respectively. Other perfluoroalkane substances (PFAS) had either low detection frequencies and median values of zero (carboxylic acids C₄–C₁₁; except PFOA) or could not be quantified in any sample (sulfonic acids, C₄–C₁₀, and long-chain carboxylic acids, C₁₂–C₁₄). Correlation between PFOA and PFOS was moderately (r = 0.58). Whereas median values were almost identical (18.9 pg/g f.w. for PFOS; 18.6 pg/g f.w. for PFOA), PFOS showed larger ranges (< 6.2 pg/g f.w.–212 pg/g f.w.) than PFOA (< 6.2 pg/g f.w.–63.4 pg/g f.w.). It was shown that wealthier countries had higher PFOA concentrations than poorer countries. No difference in concentrations was found for samples collected in countries having or not having ratified the Stockholm Convention amendments to list PFOS or PFOA. The goal to achieve 50% decrease in concentrations within ten years was met by Antigua and Barbuda, Kenya, and Nigeria for PFOS and by Antigua and Barbuda for PFOA. In a few cases, increases were observed; one country for PFOS, four countries for PFOA.     

The impacts of a global pandemic on the efficacy and stability of contemporary wildlife conservation: South Africa as a case study

Conservationists speculated on potential benefits to wildlife of lockdown restrictions because of the COVID-19 pandemic but voiced concern that restrictions impeded nature conservation. We assessed the effects of lockdown restrictions on biodiversity conservation in South Africa, a biodiverse country with economic inequality and reliance on wildlife resources. We solicited expert opinion using the IUCN’s Threats Classification Scheme to structure a questionnaire and illustrated responses with individual case studies from government parastatal and non-governmental conservation organisations. The most highly reported threats were biological resource use, residential/commercial developments, invasive species, and human intrusions. The trends reported by 90 survey respondents were supported by case studies using environmental compliance data from parastatal conservation organisations. Lack of tourism revenue and funding were cited as hindrances to conservation. Mechanisms to prevent environmental degradation in the face of global emergencies must be implemented and ‘ring-fenced’ to ensure conservation is not a casualty during future global crises.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-022-01814-z.     

The European Commission’s Green Deal is an opportunity to rethink harmful practices of research and innovation policy

The European Union’s Green Deal and associated policies, aspiring to long-term environmental sustainability, now require economic activities to ‘do no significant harm’ to EU environmental objectives. The way the European Commission is enacting the do no significant harm principle relies on quantitative tools that try to identify harm and adjudicate its significance. A reliance on established technical approaches to assessing such questions ignores the high levels of imprecision, ambiguity, and uncertainty—levels often in flux—characterizing the social contexts in which harms emerge. Indeed, harm, and its significance, are relational, not absolute. A better approach would thus be to acknowledge the relational nature of harm and develop broad capabilities to engage and ‘stay with’ the harm. We use the case of European research and innovation activities to expose the relational nature of harm, and explore an alternative and potentially more productive approach that departs from attempts to unilaterally or uniformly claim to know or adjudicate what is or is not significantly harmful. In closing, we outline three ways research and innovation policy-makers might experiment with reconfiguring scientific and technological systems and practices to better address the significant harms borne by people, other-than-human beings, and ecosystems.     

The environmental state as a model for the world? An analysis of policy repertoires in 37 countries

Scholars have proposed the analytical concept of the environmental state, a state where government actively addresses negative environmental externalities of economic activities. The mapping of environmental regulatory expansion in Western countries has been central in recent attempts to identify the environmental state empirically. Surprisingly little is known, however, when it comes to the environmental regulatory expansions in non-Western countries. Are there similar trends towards the emergence of environmental states in the non-West as well? From analysing data covering 25 policies in 37 countries, it appears that regulatory expansion has also occurred in the non-Western world, and the distinction between the West and the non-West has been reduced over time. There are non-Western countries among environmental pioneers, and there is some evidence for the trend of global convergence. Future research on environmental states should take into account emerging environmental states in the non-West.     

Development of the IM147: an alternative inspection/maintenance mass-emission transient test to address vehicle preconditioning concerns

A series of studies was performed to develop an alternative to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's gold standard IM240 mass-based emission test. The new IM147 test was based on the second phase of the IM240 that consists of 147 sec of transient vehicle operation. Paired IM240/IM147 tests were conducted on vehicles ranging from 1981 to 1996 to determine IM147 cutpoints and excess emissions were identified. Additionally, an optimized test procedure was developed that combined possible triplicate IM147s with improved drive trace quality control, fast-pass, and retest methods. The optimized procedure was found to provide improved vehicle preconditioning with a relatively minor decrease in excess emissions identification. Resulting identification rates ranged from 96 to 100% for hydrocarbons (HC), 93-100% for CO, and 93-100% for NOx, depending on cutpoint selection, while false failures caused by lack of vehicle preconditioning were reduced to essentially zero. Significant vehicle throughput improvements were achieved through the development of software algorithms involving modal fast-pass and retest procedures. Modal drive trace variation limits also were developed to improve test accuracy. The combination of the algorithms reduced average IM147 test times by nearly 60%.     

TRANSPORT CHARACTERISTICS OF PHOSPHORUS IN CHANNELIZED AND MEANDERING STREAMS1

ABSTRACT: Comparisons were made between rates of movement of orthophosphate in a canal and a meandering stream. The meander system had greater algal and macrophyte phosphate uptake rates, and lower plankton and sediment release rates compared to the canal. Chemical precipitation and direct rainfall influences on orthophosphate movement were insignificant relative to other terms. The major source of phosphorus to both systems was from upland runoff. The impact of this source was greater on the meandering system due to the smaller channel volume. When secondary effects of meandering were considered such as marsh inundation, the net orthophosphate movement within the meandering channel was less than that for the canal; due to the lower concentrations of phosphorus in marsh effluent waters. Field experiments were conducted to compare the longitudinal dispersion coefficient between a canal and meandering river system; the meandering stream had a dispersion coefficient over 17 times that measured for the canal. Rates of orthophosphate movement were combined into a single mass transport equation, and a numerical solution was obtained. Internal river and canal channel processes were overshadowed by external point source loadings.     

Cotton defoliant runoff as a function of active ingredient and tillage

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) defoliant runoff was recently identified as an ecological risk. However, assessments are not supported by field studies. Runoff potential of three defoliant active ingredients, dimethipin (2,3-dihydro-5,6-dimethyl-1,4-dithiin 1,1,4,4-tetraoxide), thidiazuron (N-phenyl-N-1,2,3-thidiazol-5-yl-urea), and tribufos (S,S,S-tributyl phosphorotrithioate) was investigated by rainfall simulation on strip (ST) and conventionally tilled (CT) cotton in south central Georgia. Simulated rainfall timing relative to defoliant application (1 h after) represented an extreme worst-case scenario; however, weather records indicate that it was not unrealistic for the region. Thidiazuron and tribufos losses were 12 to 15% of applied. Only 2 to 5% of the more water soluble dimethipin was lost. Although ST erosion rates were less, loss of tribufos, a strongly sorbing compound, was not affected. Higher sediment-water partition coefficients (kd) were measured in ST samples. This likely explains why no tillage related differences in loss rates were observed, but it is unknown whether this result can be generalized. The study was conducted in the first year following establishment of tillage treatments at the study site. As soil conditions stabilize, ST impacts may change. Data provide an estimate of the maximum amount of the defoliants that will run off during a single postapplication storm event. Use of these values in place of the default value in runoff simulation models used in pesticide risk assessments will likely improve risk estimate accuracy and enhance evaluation of comparative risk among these active ingredients.     

Comparison of current Federal Reference Methods for ambient lead measurements adjacent to a secondary lead smelter

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reduced their National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for lead (Pb) an order of magnitude to a concentration level of 0.15 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m³) when the new rule was promulgated in 2008. At that time, the possibility of revising the Pb sampling method from total suspended particulate (TSP) to particulate matter less than or equal to 10 µm in diameter (PM₁₀) was considered due to potential measurement bias of the Pb-TSP monitoring technique. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) has been operating source-orientated colocated TSP and PM₁₀ monitors documenting ambient air lead (Pb) concentrations since 2011 at a site adjacent to a secondary Pb smelter in Wallkill, New York. The colocated Wallkill data show a very strong correlation between the readings recorded by these two sampling techniques. After the range of the variability in the individual Pb-PM₁₀/Pb-TSP ratios was reduced by using a 0.005 µg/m³ concentration cut point, because of the concerns about the measurements at low concentrations, an adjustment factor (AF) of 1.49 was calculated using the remaining data set. This AF can be used to estimate Pb-TSP concentrations from Pb-PM₁₀ readings at this Wallkill source-orientated location. It was stated by the EPA that there is only a limited data set in situations where Pb-TSP and Pb-PM₁₀ are colocated, especially for those sites considered to be source-oriented, so the analyses performed and summarized herein for the Wallkill colocated airborne Pb concentration data add to that limited data set.

Implications: These data analyses add to the limited data set in situations where Pb-TSP and Pb-PM₁₀ are colocated to help refine the derivation of a site-specific adjustment factor for estimating TSP Pb concentrations from measured PM₁₀ Pb concentrations. This could assist the EPA in transitioning away from the use of the Pb-TSP monitoring technique, with its indicated measurement bias, for the Pb NAAQS to the use of Pb-PM₁₀ instead. An adjustment factor of 1.49 was calculated that could be used to estimate Pb-TSP concentrations from Pb-PM₁₀ values collected around this source-orientated location.