The squirrel that cried wolf: reliability detection by juvenile Richardson's ground squirrels (Spermophilus richardsonii)

Where alarm signals function to warn others of the presence of threat, variation is likely to exist in the reliability of alarm signalers. Some signalers, with too low a threshold of excitation, will issue false alarms and should be ignored if potential alarm recipients are to maximize energy gains. We exposed juvenile Richardson's ground squirrels to reliable signalers, whose alarm calls were paired with the presentation of a predator model, and unreliable signalers, whose alarm calls were played when no potential predator was present. Call recipients discriminated among individual alarm callers, and reduced responsiveness to callers that had been unreliable. Thus, like primates, squirrels are capable of forming a concept of reliability by associating an individual's identity with that individual's past performance.     

Drought-induced sulphate release from a wetland in south-central Ontario

Increased sulphate (SO₄) export from wetlands following summer droughts in central Ontario, Canada has been associated with the delayed chemical recovery of downstream surface waters following decreased sulphur (S) emissions. Prolonged summer droughts result in a decrease or cessation of stream flow, declines in wetland water table level and oxidation of reduced S compounds to SO₄, which is subsequently flushed into drainage streams when stream flow resumes. Sulphate input-output budget calculations (1983–1995 and 1999–2001) at a conifer Sphagnum swamp in the Plastic Lake catchment, indicate that SO₄ is retained in most years but is exported on a net basis following particularly severe summer droughts that result in the cessation of stream flow for more than 54 days (95% CI: 41–72 days). Hindcast calculations using long-term (1916–2000) stream discharge records from a nearby station indicate that while droughts occurred frequently in south-central Ontario over the past 85 years, sufficiently dry conditions to cause net SO₄ export occurred in only18 of the past 85 years, and indicate a cumulative positive SO₄ balance for the swamp (i.e. net SO₄ retention). Furthermore, the S pool at the Plastic Lake swamp has been estimated to be ∼1500 kg S/ha in the upper 40 cm peat layer, which is large compared to the amount of net SO₄ export that occurs even in years with particularly dry summers (e.g. −43 kg S/ha in 1987/88). Together, these data suggest that the wetland S pool at Plastic Lake has not been depleted by previous droughts and will continue to sustain episodic drought-related SO₄ export for the foreseeable future.     

Energy use and emissions from marine vessels: a total fuel life cycle approach

Regional and global air pollution from marine transportation is a growing concern. In discerning the sources of such pollution, researchers have become interested in tracking where along the total fuel life cycle these emissions occur. In addition, new efforts to introduce alternative fuels in marine vessels have raised questions about the energy use and environmental impacts of such fuels. To address these issues, this paper presents the Total Energy and Emissions Analysis for Marine Systems (TEAMS) model. TEAMS can be used to analyze total fuel life cycle emissions and energy use from marine vessels. TEAMS captures "well-to-hull" emissions, that is, emissions along the entire fuel pathway, including extraction, processing, distribution, and use in vessels. TEAMS conducts analyses for six fuel pathways: (1) petroleum to residual oil, (2) petroleum to conventional diesel, (3) petroleum to low-sulfur diesel, (4) natural gas to compressed natural gas, (5) natural gas to Fischer-Tropsch diesel, and (6) soybeans to biodiesel. TEAMS calculates total fuel-cycle emissions of three greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane) and five criteria pollutants (volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters of 10 microm or less, and sulfur oxides). TEAMS also calculates total energy consumption, fossil fuel consumption, and petroleum consumption associated with each of its six fuel cycles. TEAMS can be used to study emissions from a variety of user-defined vessels. This paper presents TEAMS and provides example modeling results for three case studies using alternative fuels: a passenger ferry, a tanker vessel, and a container ship.     

Environmental impact of aquaculture and countermeasures to aquaculture pollution in China

GOAL, SCOPE AND BACKGROUND: Aquaculture activities are well known to be the major contributor to the increasing level of organic waste and toxic compound in the aquaculture industry. Along with the development of intensive aquaculture in China, concerns are evoked about the possible effects of ever-increasing aquaculture waste both on productivity inside the aquaculture system and on the ambient aquatic ecosystem. Therefore, it is apparent that appropriate waste treatment processes are needed for sustaining aquaculture development. This review aims at identifying the current status of aquaculture and aquaculture waste production in China. MAIN FEATURES: China is the world's largest fishery nation in terms of total seafood production volume, a position it has maintained continuously since 1990. Freshwater aquaculture is a major part of the Chinese fishery industry. Marine aquaculture in China consists of both land-based and offshore aquaculture, with the latter mostly operated in shallow seas, mud flats and protected bays. The environmental impacts of aquaculture are also striking. RESULTS: Case studies on pollution hot spots caused by aquaculture have been introduced. The quality and quantity of waste from aquaculture depends mainly on culture system characteristics and the choice of species, but also on feed quality and management. Wastewater without treatment, if continuously discharged into the aquatic environment, could result in remarkable elevation of the total organic matter contents and cause considerable economy lost. Waste treatments can be mainly classified into three categories: physical, chemical and biological methods. DISCUSSION: The environmental impacts of different aquaculture species are not the same. New waste treatments are introduced as references for the potential development of the waste treatment system in China. The most appropriate waste treatment system for each site should be selected according to the sites' conditions and financial status as well as by weighing the advantages and disadvantages of each system. Strategies and perspectives for sustainable aquaculture development are proposed, with the emphasis on environmental protection. CONCLUSIONS: Negative effects of waste from aquaculture to aquatic environment are increasingly recognized, though they were just a small proportion to land-based pollutants. Properly planned use of aquaculture waste alleviates water pollution problems and not only conserves valuable water resources but also takes advantage of the nutrients contained in effluent. It is highly demanding to develop sustainable aquaculture which keeps stocking density and pollution loadings under environmental capacity. RECOMMENDATIONS AND PERSPECTIVES: The traditional procedures for aquaculture waste treatment, mainly based on physical and chemical means, should be overcome by more site-specific approaches, taking into account the characteristics and resistibility of the aquatic environment. Further research needs to improve or optimize the current methods of wastewater treatment and reuse. Proposed new treatment technology should evaluate their feasibility at a larger scale for practical application.     

Identifying influencing factors on paved roads silt loading

The factors that influence the increase or decrease of silt loadings on paved roadways have not been fully quantitatively investigated. They were identified in this study based on the quarterly silt loading sampling data collected from 20 sites by the Clark County Department of Air Quality and Environmental Management in Southern Nevada for the period from 2000 to 2003. The silt loading and associated data collected over these years at one sampling site may inherently possess site-specific characteristics that can be better incorporated by using panel data models. The factors that are identified as significant are the presence of curbs and gutters, shoulder type, pavement conditions, and the presence of construction activities in the vicinity of roadways. The presence of curbs and gutters, stabilized shoulders, and good pavement conditions would result in decreased silt loadings. Conversely, the presence of construction activities within the immediate vicinity of sampled areas would result in increases of silt loadings on the roadway surfaces. Based on the analysis of the results, it was recommended that constructing curbs, gutters and stabilized shoulders, preventing or reducing construction track-out from construction activity, and improving pavement conditions be the preferred control measures to reduce silt loading on paved roadways.     

A Multilevel Modeling Approach to Assessing Regional and Local Landscape Features for Lake Classification and Assessment of Fish Growth Rates

The ecoregion and watershed frameworks are landscape-based classifications that have been used to group waterbodies with respect to measures of community structure; however, they have yet to be evaluated for grouping lakes for demographic characteristics of fish populations. We used a multilevel modeling approach to determine if variability in mean fish length at age could be partitioned by ecoregions and watersheds. For the ecoregions analysis, we then examined if within-ecoregion variability could be explained by local water quality and lake morphometry characteristics. We used data from agency surveys conducted during 1974-1984 for age 2 and 3 fish of seven common warm and coolwater fish species. Variance in mean length at age between ecoregions for all species was not significant, and between-watershed variance estimates were only significant in 3 out of 14 analyses; however, the total amount of variation between watersheds was very small (ranging from 1.8% to 3.7% of the total variance), indicating that ecoregions and watersheds were ineffective in partitioning variability in mean length at age. Within ecoregions, water quality and lake morphometric characteristics accounted for 2%-23% of the variation in mean length at age. Measures of lake productivity were the most common significant covariates, with mean length at age increasing with increasing lake productivity. Much of the variability in mean length at age was not accounted for, suggesting that other local factors such as biotic interactions, fish density, and exploitation are important. The results indicate that the development of an effective regional framework for managing inland lakes will require a substantial effort to understand sources of demographic variability and that managers should not rely solely on ecoregions or watersheds for grouping lakes with similar growth rates.     

Anthropogenic nexus on organochlorine pesticide pollution: a case study with Tamiraparani river basin,South India

The levels of 17 organochlorine pesticides residues (OCPs) in surface water and sediments from Tamiraparani river basin, South India were investigated to evaluate their potential pollution and risk impacts. A total of 96 surface water and sediment samples at 12 sampling stations were collected along the river in four seasons during 2008–2009. The ΣOCP concentrations in surface water and sediments were in the range of 0.1 to 79.9 ng l⁻¹ and 0.12 to 3,938.7 ng g⁻¹ dry weight (dw), respectively. Among the OCPs, the levels of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs), aldrin, dieldrin, cis-chlordane, trans-chlordane, and mirex were dominant in the sediments. The dominant OCPs in water samples are heptachlor, o,p′-DDE, dieldrin, o,p′-DDD, and mirex, which show different source of contamination pattern among sampling seasons. The distribution pattern of DDTs, hexachlorocyclohexane, and other OCPs in the present study shows heterogenic nature of nonpoint source of pollution. Notable contamination of water and sediment sample that was observed in upstream (S2) 58 ng l⁻¹ and downstream (S11) 1,693 ng g⁻¹ dw explains agricultural and municipal outfalls, whereas frequent damming effect reduces the concentration level in the midstream. The overall spatial–temporal distribution pattern of ΣOCP residues are illustrated by GIS package.