Spatial and Temporal Trends in Organochlorine Contamination and Bill Deformities in Double-Crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax Auritus) from the Canadian Great Lakes

The levels of organochlorine contaminants (OCs) in the eggs of double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) from the Canadian Great Lakes, Lake Nipigon and Lake-of-the-Woods were monitored between 1970 and 1995. PCBs and p,p-DDE were present at the highest concentrations. Significant declines in OC concentrations on the Great Lakes were observed over this period for Lake Ontario, Lake Superior, Georgian Bay and North Channel but not Lake Erie where levels remained relatively stable. In the early 1970s, the greatest OC levels were generally observed in cormorant eggs from nesting sites in Georgian Bay and North Channel of Lake Huron. Between 1984 and 1995 mirex and PCB levels were consistently highest in samples from Lakes Ontario and Erie, respectively. Similar levels of PCDDs and PCDFs were observed from all regions of the Canadian Great Lakes in 1989. In general, OC levels in cormorant eggs between 1984-95 were ranked as follows: Lake Erie>Lake Ontario Lake Superior>Lake Huron. In 1995, eggshell thickness in Canadian Great Lakes cormorants, ranged from 0.423 to 0.440 mm and was on average only 2.3% thinner than pre-DDT era values. Between 1988 and 1996, 31 cormorant chicks with bill defects were observed at 16 different colonies (21% of all colonies surveyed) in Lakes Ontario and Superior, Georgian Bay and North Channel, and the main body of Lake Huron. No bill deformities were observed at reference sites in northwestern Ontario (Lake Nipigon and Lake-of-the-Woods). For the period 1988-96, the prevalence of bill defects in cormorant chicks (0.0 to 2.8/10,000 chicks) did not differ significantly (P > 0.05) among most regions in the Canadian Great Lakes. Georgian Bay was the only region to show a significant decrease in the prevalence of bill defects between the periods 1979-87 and 1988-95.     

Effect of cell physicochemical characteristics and motility on bacterial transport in groundwater

The influence of physicochemical characteristics and motility on bacterial transport in groundwater were examined in flow-through columns. Four strains of bacteria isolated from a crystalline rock groundwater system were investigated, with carboxylate-modified and amidine-modified latex microspheres and bromide as reference tracers. The bacterial isolates included a gram-positive rod (ML1), a gram-negative motile rod (ML2), a nonmotile mutant of ML2 (ML2m), and a gram-positive coccoid (ML3). Experiments were repeated at two flow velocities, in a glass column packed with glass beads, and in another packed with iron-oxyhydroxide coated glass beads. Bacteria breakthrough curves were interpreted using a transport equation that incorporates a sorption model from microscopic observation of bacterial deposition in flow-cell experiments. The model predicts that bacterial desorption rate will decrease exponentially with the amount of time the cell is attached to the solid surface. Desorption kinetics appeared to influence transport at the lower flow rate, but were not discernable at the higher flow rate. Iron-oxyhydroxide coatings had a lower-than-expected effect on bacterial breakthrough and no effect on the microsphere recovery in the column experiments. Cell wall type and shape also had minor effects on breakthrough. Motility tended to increase the adsorption rate, and decrease the desorption rate. The transport model predicts that at field scale, desorption rate kinetics may be important to the prediction of bacteria transport rates.     

Beliefs about ‘improvability’ of career‐relevant skills: relevance to job/task analysis,competency modelling,and learning orientation

Based on data obtained from three samples of participants from both a work organization and a college setting, this paper addressed two major research objectives relevant to organizational behavior and applied psychology. First, we wanted to explore the nature of implicit theory of skill malleability in more detail than has been done before. This was done by drawing on KSAO dimensions from the task/job analysis literature, and examining linkages among: (a) task/job analysis; (b) implicit theories; and (c) competency modelling (an area in which there has been little empirical research). The studies found multiple factors of beliefs about KSAO improvability and showed a clear ordering of improvability beliefs (from most to least improvable) that follow predictions made in the Iceberg model of competencies. The present studies also found relationships between perceptions of KSAO importance and KSAO improvability, as well as evidence that this relationship is stronger for people who have been in a role/job longer, having had greater opportunity to observe critical KSAOs improve over time. A second major objective of the research was to explore improvability beliefs within a nomological network that would help to further establish the construct validity of the beliefs within the learning/development area. Using structural modelling, the improvability beliefs were tied to learning‐oriented concepts including self‐efficacy for learning and development, tendency to compare oneself to others when learning, as well as learning‐oriented attitudes and behaviors. The potential practical value of improvability beliefs is discussed, as are suggestions for future research. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

IMPLEMENTATION OF AN OPTIMIZATION MODEL FOR OPERATION OF A METROPOLITAN RESERVOIR SYSTEM1

ABSTRACT: A deterministic dynamic programming optimization model with a refining sectioning search procedure is developed and implemented to find least cost withdrawal and release patterns for water supple from a multiple reservoir system serving a metropolitan area. Applications are made to teh four reservoir system operated by the city of Dallas, Texas. A realistic cost structure, including nonlinear power consumption, block rate unit power costs, and flow dependent power consumption for intracity water distribution, is utilized. Applications are made to find least cost operating patterns and, as well, by inclusion of a water loss penalty function, supply patterns which will reduce evaporation water losses for the Dallas system.     

A GIS-BASED MODELING APPROACH FOR EVALUATING GROUNDWATER VULNERABILITY TO PESTICIDES1

ABSTRACT: The Attenuation Factor (AF), a screening model, was used to evaluate the relative degree of vulnerability of groundwater to pesticide contamination in Louisa County, Virginia. For evaluating the contamination potential of pesticides, three scenarios of pesticide leaching represented by high, moderate, and low cases of degradation and sorption in the soil were considered. Data layers were overlaid within a Geographic Information System (GIS) for spatial computation of AF for the actual and 2m groundwater depths. This spatial database was divided into five contamination potential categories namely high, medium, low, very low, and unlikely, based on the numerical values of the AF for each cell (119 ha). The results for the three most mobile pesticides are presented in this paper. The performance of the AF model was evaluated by comparing its predicted results with the field data from an experimental watershed. The AF model was able to identify most of the frequently detected pesticides in the watershed. A sensitivity analysis was also performed. The results of this study provide information about the potential groundwater threat by pesticides to the citizens ahd decision-makers in the County and can be used for formulating an appropriate land use management plan to protect the groundwater quality.     

Extirpation of Crayfish in a Lake Affected by Long-Range Anthropogenic Acidification

Plastic Lake, Ontario, remote from any point sources of pollutants, is the most thoroughly investigated anthropogenically acidifying lake in North America. As the lake pH decreased from 5.8 to 5.6 over a period of six years, a resident population of the crayfish Orconectes virilis , which had previously exhibited abundances typical of those of nearby Canadian Shield lakes, became extinct. This is one of only half a dozen documented examples of biotic impoverishment due to the long-range aerial transport of strong acids. The loss of crayfish could not be explained by changes in the predaceous fish community. However, the pH range over which extinction occurred matched that of experimentally acidified Lake 223 where O. virilis began to decline dramatically due to recruitment failures, calcium imbalances, and possibly parasite infection. O. virilis appears to be the third component of the benthic invertebrate fauna of Plastic Lake that has been extirpated by anthropogenic acidification.     

Seasonal composition of meroplankton and holoplankton in the Bristol Channel

A decreasing gradation in the plankton standing stock of the Bristol Channel was observed from the seaward section to the inner, less saline, reaches. Two sub-regions of our survey, the North Outer Channel (NOC) and the Inner Channel (IC), represented the extremes of this gradient and were selected for detailed comparison. The integrated zooplankton biomass, over the 307 d sampling period (4 November 1973 to 6 September 1974), was 2 475 mg C m^-3 (266 mg C m^-2 d^-1) in the NOC and 335 mg C m^-3 (20 mg C m^-2 d^-1) in the IC. The omnivorous plankton accounted for 76% of the standing stock in the NOC and 89% in the IC, of which 58 and 23% were meroplankton and 39 and 71% were holoplankton, respectively; the remainder was unassigned. The majority of the meroplankton in both subregions was decapod larvae and adults, whereas the holoplankton biomass was dominated in the NOC by copepods (89%) and in the IC by mysids (57%), mainly Schistomyzis spiritus. Centropages hamatus was the most abundant copepod species in the NOC and accounted for 32% of the total holoplankton omnivore standing stock. In the NOC and IC, the carnivorous plankton accounted for 24 and 11% of the total plankton biomass, respectively. In the two sub-regions, 20 and 21% of the carnivores were meroplanktonic (primarily larvae of sprats and pilchards), while the holoplankton carnivores contributed 75 and 74% to the NOC and IC, respectively (Sagitta elegans, Pleurobrachia pileus). S. elegans dominated the holoplankton carnivore biomass for the majority of the year and accounted for 96% in the NOC and 60% in the IC. The integrated total particulate carbon over the 307 d period was 200 g C m^-3 (6 600 g C m^-2) in the NOC and 838 g C m^-3 (15 084 g C m^-2) in the IC. The annual primary production ranged from 164.9 g C m^-2 yr^-1 in the Outer Channel (North and South) to 6.8 g C m^-2 yr^-1 in the IC. The zooplankton biomass reached a maximum in July. The total particulate carbon (TPC) in July was 400 mg C m^-3 in the NOC of which ca. 78 mg C m^-3 were phytoplankton and ca. 21 mg C m^-3 were zooplankton; these values compare favourably with those found in the adjoining Celtic Sea. In the IC, the TPC was 2 800 mg C m^-3, of which ca. 107 mg C m^-3 were phytoplankton and 2.8 mg C m^-3 were zooplankton. From the low primary production estimates for the IC it can be concluded that the majority of the chlorophyll, like the TPC, was allochthonous in origin. Furthermore it is suggested that zooplankton plays a minor role in this estuarine ecosystem and is not the main consumer of the suspended particulate carbon; the benthic filter-feeding communities are presumed to fulfill this role in the Bristol Channel.     

Vertical distributions of eggs,nauplii and copepodites of Calanus helgolandicus (Copepoda: Crustacea) in the Celtic Sea

The vertical distributions of eggs, nauplii, copepodites and adults of Calanus helgolandicus (Claus) from five oblique plankton-net hauls taken in May (1980), March and September (1981) and January (1982) at a site in the shelf sea to the south-west of the United Kingdom are described. The water depth is approximately 95 m and becomes thermally stratified during the summer months when a thermocline of ∼6 C° develops. In early spring when the water column was isothermal (∼8 °C), the development of the eggs and nauplii took place below 60 m and a single ontogenetic migration was observed between Nauplius VI (NVI) and Copepodite I (CI). As the temperature of the water increased, this migration occurred in progressively earlier naupliar stages. The eggs were distributed throughout the water column in the profile taken in early May when a 1 C° thermocline occurred between 30 to 40 m. The majority of the NI to NIV stages occurred below 40 m, with the ontogenetic migration taking place in the NIV stage; the NV and NVI stages were found above the thermocline. In September, the eggs were again distributed throughout the water column (101 490 m^-2), with a maximum number of >4 500 m^-3 occurring in the surface to 5 m depth interval. Nauplius I and II were found at all depths, demonstrating that hatching occurred throughout the water column. The ontogenetic migration in these late-summer profiles took place between the NII and NIII stages, the remainder of the nauplii being found above the thermocline in the top 20 m. This is the first time that an ontogenetic migration, similar to the developmental ascent observed in the naupliar stages of the euphausiid Euphausia superba in the deep ocean, has been shown for a copepod nauplius.     

Stabilized Coal Ash Artificial Reef Studies

In 1989, an experimental stabilized coal ash reef was deployed in Poole Bay off the southern coast of the UK. Three different mixtures of pulverised fuel ash, gypsum, flue gas desulphurisation sludge and cement were used along with concrete controls. the aim was to study the environmental compatibility of the reef materials through heavy metal analyses of the blocks to determine if any leaching or changes were occurring. at the same time, reef encrusting and associated biota have been analyzed together with material from concrete control and natural reefs to determine if there was any evidence for excess bioaccumulation.

This paper presents the results from studies of sectioned reef blocks immersed for 3 and 4 years. No significant change in levels of heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn) has been detected. Surface loss of calcium, presumably associated with the gypsum component, is confirmed with evidence of replacement by magnesium. Trends in data suggest initial surface changes which slow with time.

Epibiota have been analyzed for heavy metal content. the variety of reef-associated organisms has been extended to include mobile, resident species which are higher in the food chain: molluscs, crustaceans and territorial fish. No consistent evidence of bioaccumulation of a range of heavy metals (above those levels found in organisms associated with control reefs) has been detected. Monitoring of the encrusting species range and densities shows little difference between colonisation of the concrete and ash mixture blocks.     

Local‐level governance of risk and resilience in Nepal

This paper explores the circumstances in which communities may effectively reduce risks. It draws on the example of two ‘Risk and Resilience Committees’ (RRCs) that were established in Nepal as part of an action research project: one in Panchkhal in the central region, operating as a community‐based organisation (CBO); and the other in Dhankuta in the eastern region, embedded in municipal government. In‐depth interviews were conducted with RRC members. Wider community preferences for risk reduction were examined through a questionnaire survey. In Dhankuta, the RRC obtained further funding, developed strong upward and downward institutional links, and applied a ‘disaster risk reduction lens’ to existing local government responsibilities. In Panchkhal, RRC activities have been limited by funding and have focused on the strengthening of livelihoods. It may be concluded tentatively that community‐based disaster risk reduction activities are more successful when they are institutionally embedded in local government structures.