Use of leaf litter breakdown and macroinvertebrates to evaluate gradient of recovery in an acid mine impacted stream remediated with an active alkaline doser

The spatial congruence of chemical and biological recovery along an 18-km acid mine impaired stream was examined to evaluate the efficacy of treatment with an alkaline doser. Two methods were used to evaluate biological recovery: the biological structure of the benthic macroinvertebrate community and several ecosystem processing measures (leaf litter breakdown, microbial respiration rates) along the gradient of improved water chemistry. We found that the doser successfully reduced the acidity and lowered dissolved metals (Al, Fe, and Mn), but downstream improvements were not linear. Water chemistry was more variable, and precipitated metals were elevated in a 3–5-km “mixing zone” immediately downstream of the doser, then stabilized into a “recovery zone” 10–18 km below the doser. Macroinvertebrate communities exhibited a longitudinal pattern of recovery, but it did not exactly match the water chemistry gradient Taxonomic richness (number of families) recovered about 6.5 km downstream of the doser, while total abundance and % EPT taxa recovery were incomplete except at the most downstream site, 18 km away. The functional measures of ecosystem processes (leaf litter breakdown, microbial respiration of conditioned leaves, and shredder biomass) closely matched the measures of community structure and also showed a more modest longitudinal trend of biological recovery than expected based on pH and alkalinity. The measures of microbial respiration had added diagnostic value and indicated that biological recovery downstream of the doser is limited by factors other than habitat and acidity/alkalinity, perhaps episodes of AMD and/or impaired energy/nutrient inputs. A better understanding of the factors that govern spatial and temporal variations in acid mine contaminants, especially episodic events, will improve our ability to predict biological recovery after remediation.     

Testing the scoping phase of a bottom-up planning guide designed to support Australian Indigenous rangers manage the impacts of climate change on cultural heritage sites

Since the early 1990s archaeologists have suggested archaeological and cultural heritage sites (cultural sites) will face major challenges from anthropogenic climate change. While techniques to manage such impacts are emerging, no planning tools exist for bottom-up, community-based management of the issue. This paper forms part of an overarching research project that aims to fill this gap by developing a bottom-up planning guide (the Guide). The paper tests the first of the proposed Guide’s five phases: the scoping phase. It presents the results of workshops conducted with two Australian Indigenous rangers groups. While existing studies document Indigenous peoples’ perceptions of climate change in general, none have focussed on their perceptions of impacts on cultural heritage sites. Here, Indigenous rangers related strong perceptions of particular climate change impacts on specific cultural sites in particular bio-regions. While the rangers were actively engaged with sites, they felt site management should be extended in the face of additional threats from climate change. Rangers were able to nominate a preferred methodological approach, based on a risk analysis of biophysical hazards, as well as local adaptive capacity building in the face of governance challenges. Various barriers to adaptation planning and resource limitations were identified but these were not regarded as insurmountable in terms of the current project. Testing of the scoping phase of the Guide suggested rangers had a strong organisational capacity to achieve practical adaptation results.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Robinia pseudoacacia</Emphasis> stump feature based methodology for <Emphasis Type="Italic">in situ</Emphasis> forest degradation assessment

Initiatives for reducing anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and degradation require transparent and robust methodologies for the estimation of emissions reduction or removal. Although carbon (C) stock change in degradation and devegetation by remote sensing are becoming increasingly powerful, the drivers of degradation, wood collection and harvest dynamics, cannot be understood without “on the ground” sampling. A methodological tool for the quantitative and qualitative analysis of forest degradation is proposed as developed based on a research on the stump history in the black locust degrading stands sampled in southwest Romania. Based on the survey of stumps, the cutting regime and wood extraction is determined over a past period of some 15 years. Stump age classification comprises multiple qualitative criteria (i.e. bark features; adherence of sprouts; cut edge features; etc.). The method allows for a quantitative assessment of wood removal over time, and is suitable for the development of a dynamic baseline and monitoring of degradation avoidance activities.     

To what extent are hepatic concentrations of heavy metals in Anguilla anguilla at a site in a contaminated estuary related to body size and age and reflected in the metallothionein concentrations?

We explored how hepatic [metal]s in Anguilla anguilla at a contaminated estuarine site are influenced by body size, age and season, and the extent that [Cu], [Cd] and [Zn]s are reflected in [metallothionein (MT)]s. Although each [metal] and [MT] increased significantly with length, weight and age, those biotic variables explained <10% of the variation in each [metal] and only 11-16% for [MT]. Seasonal changes in [Cu] and [Cd] were paralleled by [MT]. The variation in [MT] explained by Cu (42%) was greater than by Zn (16%) and Cd (13%), and seasonally lay between 43 and 69% for those metals collectively. Thus, hepatic [MT] in eels is closely correlated with hepatic [heavy metal]s. However, the great variability among [MT]s for eels of similar sizes and ages, which reflects marked variability in hepatic [heavy metal]s, means that this variable reflects imprecisely the contamination level at a particular site.     

Interlaboratory evaluation of an extraction and fluorescence method for the determination of trace beryllium in soils

Analytical methods for the determination of trace beryllium in soils are needed so that anthropogenic sources of this element can be distinguished from native (background) levels of beryllium. In this work, a collaborative interlaboratory evaluation of a new extraction and fluorescence-based procedure for determining beryllium in soil samples was carried out to fulfil method validation requirements for ASTM International voluntary consensus standard test methods. A Canadian reference material, CCRMP Till-1 soil, with a background beryllium concentration of 2.4 microg g(-1), was selected for study. This certified reference material (CRM) was spiked and homogenized with varying levels of beryllium oxide in order to give batches of material with beryllium concentrations of 4.36 +/- 0.69, 11.5 +/- 0.7, 124 +/- 7 and 246 +/- 16 microg g(-1) (+/- values are standard deviations). In the interlaboratory study (ILS), which was carried out in accordance with an applicable ASTM International standard practice (ASTM E691), samples of these spiked soils were subjected to extraction in dilute ammonium bifluoride at approximately 90 degrees C for 40 h. Fluorescence measurement of the extracted beryllium was carried out via detection using the high quantum yield fluorophore, hydroxybenzoquinoline sulfonate (HBQS). Interlaboratory precision estimates from six participating laboratories ranged from 0.048 to 0.103 (relative standard deviations) for the five different beryllium concentrations. Pooled bias estimates resulting from this ILS were between -0.049 and 0.177 for the various beryllium levels. These figures of merit support promulgation of the analytical procedure as an ASTM International standard test method.     

Consistency and comparability of estimation and accounting of removal by sinks in afforestation/reforestation activities

The Kyoto Protocol accounting system and its market mechanisms, Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI), are built on the key principle that emission and emission reduction units generated by afforestation/reforestation activities under national systems and projects are fully comparable, no matter their origin. Lack of consistency in the quality of emission and emission reduction units can undermine the environmental integrity of the climate stabilization actions. Therefore, it is the ambition that units generated in the land-use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector are of similar quality with those from non-LULUCF sectors. In this paper, the authors pose the question of whether there is full estimation and accounting consistency between Annex I Party’s national GHG systems and CDM projects methodologies in the LULUCF sector, in terms accuracy, completeness, levels of uncertainty and permanence risk. We focus on methodological aspects related to the applicability and practicability of using approved afforestation/reforestation CDM methodologies; estimation, reporting and accounting rules; the small pools and sources issue, uncertainty of removal estimate; leakage and handling of non-permanence risk. We conclude that there is significant scope for improving the consistency of greenhouse gas emission accounting from land use activities in the post-2012 climate change agreement, between Annex I domestic and project activities. As well, we conclude that the preparation and implementation of project activities has to be made simpler by a project framework guideline, which is then adapted to any project circumstances.