Evaluating environmental protection in post-Hurricane Katrina plans in Mississippi

Immediately following Hurricane Katrina, the Mississippi Governor's Commission for Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal provided planning teams to work with coastal communities to prepare long-range rebuilding plans followed by further community-initiated plans. Eighteen months after Katrina, this paper examines the degree to which environmental protection has been incorporated into the long-range plans developed in Harrison County, Mississippi. This study finds that environmental protection has not been adequately integrated into the plans. It concludes by offering recommendations on how these communities can improve their plans relative to environmental protection measures as they move into their next phase of planning.     

提供给热带森林管理的地方知识:植物次生化学节律和月亮周期的关系

本研究运用满月时收获非木材林产品的当地实践如识,来证明控制叶片分解速率的化学物质随月亮周期而波动,并且这种现象可能已发展为一种植物一食草动物之间的相互关系.当地知识认为,满月期收获的叶片更为耐用.满月期收获的棕榈叶片具有较高的总碳量、半纤维素和碳化合物、而钙的浓度则较低.这些化学上的变化使棕榈叶在满月收获时对食草动物不太敏感且更为耐用.本研究提出了热带植物减少食叶功物食用及影响衰老叶片的分解速度和耐用性(尤其在满月期)的作用机制.本研究认为森林经营中有必要利用天然的生命周期,并为当地人的收获实践提供了科学依据.     

Waging the struggle for healthy eating: food environments,dietary regimes and Brazil's dietary guidelines

The struggle for healthy eating is a nascent social movement that represents active resistance to the hostile food environments created by multinational food and beverage corporations. Using a political economy approach and leveraging Winson's [2013. The industrial diet: the degradation of food and the struggle for healthy eating. Vancouver: UBC Press] concepts of dietary regimes and the industrial diet, this paper will examine the strengths and limitations of Brazil's new dietary guidelines and discuss its role as a precursor to a new dietary regime that incorporates social justice and sustainability.     

Influence of mercury and selenium chemistries on the progression of cardiomyopathy in pygmy sperm whales, Kogia breviceps

More than half of pygmy sperm whales (Kogia breviceps) that strand exhibit signs of cardiomyopathy (CMP). Many factors may contribute to the development of idiopathic CMP in K. breviceps, including genetics, infectious agents, contaminants, biotoxins, and dietary intake (e.g. selenium, mercury, and pro-oxidants). This study assessed trace elements in K. breviceps at various stages of CMP progression using fresh frozen liver and heart samples collected from individuals that stranded along US Atlantic and Gulf coasts between 1993 and 2007. Standard addition calibration and collision cell inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) were employed for total Se analysis and pyrolysis atomic absorption (AA) was utilized for total Hg analysis to examine if the Se/Hg detoxification pathway inhibits the bioavailability of Se. Double spike speciated isotope dilution gas chromatography ICP-MS was utilized to measure methyl Hg and inorganic Hg. Immunoblot detection and colorimetric assays were used to assess protein oxidation status. Data collected on trace elements, selenoproteins, and oxidative status were evaluated in the context of animal life history and other complementary histological information to gain insight into the biochemical pathways contributing to the development of CMP in K. breviceps. Cardiomyopathy was only observed in adult pygmy sperm whales, predominantly in male animals. Both Hg:Se molar ratios and overall protein oxidation were greater in males than females and increased with progression of CMP.     

Determination of dominant biogeochemical processes in a contaminated aquifer-wetland system using multivariate statistical analysis

Determining the processes governing aqueous biogeochemistry in a wetland hydrologically linked to an underlying contaminated aquifer is challenging due to the complex exchange between the systems and their distinct responses to changes in precipitation, recharge, and biological activities. To evaluate temporal and spatial processes in the wetland-aquifer system, water samples were collected using cm-scale multi-chambered passive diffusion samplers (peepers) to span the wetland-aquifer interface over a period of 3 yr. Samples were analyzed for major cations and anions, methane, and a suite of organic acids resulting in a large dataset of over 8000 points, which was evaluated using multivariate statistics. Principal component analysis (PCA) was chosen with the purpose of exploring the sources of variation in the dataset to expose related variables and provide insight into the biogeochemical processes that control the water chemistry of the system. Factor scores computed from PCA were mapped by date and depth. Patterns observed suggest that (i) fermentation is the process controlling the greatest variability in the dataset and it peaks in May; (ii) iron and sulfate reduction were the dominant terminal electron-accepting processes in the system and were associated with fermentation but had more complex seasonal variability than fermentation; (iii) methanogenesis was also important and associated with bacterial utilization of minerals as a source of electron acceptors (e.g., barite BaSO(4)); and (iv) seasonal hydrological patterns (wet and dry periods) control the availability of electron acceptors through the reoxidation of reduced iron-sulfur species enhancing iron and sulfate reduction.     

The benefits of lower ozone due to air pollution emission reductions (2002–2011) in the Eastern United States during extreme heat

ABSTRACT

Using the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model and the Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program – Community Edition (BenMAP-CE) tool, we estimate the benefits of anthropogenic emission reductions between 2002 and 2011 in the Eastern United States (US) with respect to surface ozone concentrations and ozone-related health and economic impacts, during a month of extreme heat, July 2011. Based on CMAQ simulations using emissions appropriate for 2002 and 2011, we estimate that emission reductions since 2002 likely prevented 10– 15 ozone exceedance days (using the 2011 maximum 8-hr average ozone standard of 75 ppbv) throughout the Ohio River Valley and 5– 10 ozone exceedance days throughout the Washington, DC – Baltimore, MD metropolitan area during this extremely hot month. CMAQ results were fed into the BenMAP-CE tool to determine the health and health-related economic benefits of anthropogenic emission reductions between 2002 and 2011. We estimate that the concomitant health benefits from the ozone reductions were significant for this anomalous month: 160–800 mortalities (95% confidence interval (CI): 70–1,010) were avoided in July 2011 in the Eastern U.S, saving an estimated $1.3–$6.6 billion (CI: $174 million–$15.5 billion). Additionally, we estimate that emission reductions resulted in 950 (CI: 90–2,350) less hospital admissions from respiratory symptoms, 370 (CI: 180–580) less hospital admissions for pneumonia, 570 (CI: 0–1650) less Emergency Room (ER) visits from asthma symptoms, 922,020 (CI: 469,960–1,370,050) less minor restricted activity days (MRADs), and 430,240 (CI: ?280,350–963,190) less symptoms of asthma exacerbation during July 2011.

Implications: We estimate the benefits of air pollution emission reductions on surface ozone concentrations and ozone-related impacts on human health and the economy between 2002 and 2011 during an extremely hot month, July 2011, in the eastern United States (US) using the CMAQ and BenMAP-CE models. Results suggest that, during July 2011, emission reductions prevented 10-15 ozone exceedance days in the Ohio River Valley and 5-10 ozone exceedance days in the Mid Atlantic; saved 160-800 lives in the Eastern US, saving $1.3 - $6.5 billion; and resulted in 950 less hospital admissions for respiratory symptoms, 370 less hospital admissions for pneumonia, 570 less Emergency Room visits for asthma symptoms, 922,020 less minor restricted activity days, and 430,240 less symptoms of asthma exacerbation.     

Understanding technology trends for remediation projects

Success of future environmental remediation projects depends on applying knowledge gained from completed projects. This article examines the trends in technology implementation, quantifies the impact of different remediation technologies on project costs and execution risks, and quantifies the economies of scale experienced by remediation projects. Actual project data from remediation projects conducted by the private sector and government organizations form the basis of the analysis.     

Citizens’ perception of the resilience of Australian cities

How well does the general public understand the concept of urban resilience? We address this question via an online survey of 500+ citizens living in three large Australian cities (Sydney, Melbourne and Perth). The majority of respondents claim not to know what urban resilience means. Of the remaining respondents, understanding ranges from poor to sophisticated. To circumvent this stated lack of understanding, we cast the concept of urban resilience into a more familiar framework consisting of risk and ability to cope with threats. This allows us to assess perceptions about what may challenge the resilience of Australian cities. Two concerns clearly emerge: (1) violence and social unrest and (2) environmental threats. Analysing a number of constructs from the social psychology literature reveals that these two concerns hold different cognitive signatures, whose understanding may facilitate discussion and communication within a public engagement process.     

A direct comparison of the consequences of plant genotypic and species diversity on communities and ecosystem function

Biodiversity loss is proceeding at an unprecedented rate, yet we lack a thorough understanding of the consequences of losing diversity at different scales. While species diversity is known to impact community and ecosystem processes, genotypic diversity is assumed to have relatively smaller effects. Nonetheless, a few recent studies suggest that genotypic diversity may have quantitatively similar ecological consequences compared to species diversity. Here we show that increasing either genotypic diversity of common evening primrose (Oenothera biennis) or species diversity of old-field plant species resulted in nearly equivalent increases (approximately 17%) in aboveground primary production. The predominant mechanism explaining this effect, niche complementarity, was similar for each type of diversity. Arthropod species richness also increased with both types of plant diversity, but the mechanisms leading to this effect differed: abundance-driven accumulation of arthropod species was important in plant genotypic polycultures, whereas resource specialization was important in plant species polycultures. Thus, similar increases in primary productivity differentially impacted higher trophic levels in response to each type of plant diversity. These results highlight important ecological similarities and differences between genotypic and species diversity and suggest that genotypic diversity may play a larger role in community and ecosystem processes than previously realized.     

Population genetic structure and genetic diversity of three critically endangered <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pristis</Emphasis> sawfishes in Australian waters

Northern Australia is considered to be one of the last strongholds for three critically endangered sawfishes, Pristis zijsron, Pristis clavata, and Pristis microdon, making these populations of global significance. Population structure and levels of genetic diversity were assessed for each species across northern Australia using a portion of the mitochondrial control region. Statistically significant genetic structure was detected in all three species, although it was higher in P. microdon (F _ST = 0.811; N = 149) than in either P. clavata (F _ST = 0.419; N = 73) or P. zijsron (F _ST = 0.202; N = 49), possibly due to a much higher and/or localized level of female philopatry in P. microdon. The overall levels of haplotype diversity in P. zijsron (h = 0.555), P. clavata (h = 0.489), and P. microdon (h = 0.650) were moderate, although it appears to be reduced in the assemblages of P. zijsron and P. clavata in the Gulf of Carpentaria (h = 0.342 and h = 0.083, respectively). Since female migration (replenishment) between regions is unlikely, conservation plans should strive to maintain current levels of diversity and abundances in the regional assemblages of each species.