Spatial Considerations in Wet and Dry Periods for Phosphorus in Streams of the Fort Cobb Watershed,United States

The Fort Cobb Watershed in Oklahoma has diverse biogeophysical settings and provides an opportunity to explore the association of water quality with a diverse set of landscapes during both wet (April 2007‐December 2009) and dry (January 2005‐March 2007) periods. The objective of this work was to identify spatial patterns in phosphorus (P) (soluble reactive P [SRP] and bioavailable P [BAP]) associated with landscape metrics for two distinct streamflow regimes. Spatial autocorrelation of P was evaluated using contiguous (side‐by‐side) and upstream (upstream:downstream) connectivity matrices. Biogeophysical metrics were compiled for each contributing area, and were partitioned based on association to P concentrations. Results for both SRP and BAP indicated that spatial autocorrelation was present (p < 0.05). There was more spatial autocorrelation and stream P concentrations were three to five times higher in the Wet phase than in the Dry phase (p < 0.05). Analysis with recursive partitioning resulted in higher R² with spatial autocorrelation than without spatial autocorrelation and indicated that lateral metrics (topography, soil, geology, management) were better predictors for SRP than instream metrics. During Wet phase, lateral metrics indicative of rapid surface and subsurface water movement were associated with higher P stream concentrations. This research demonstrated that we can detect landscapes more vulnerable to P losses and/or contaminations in either drought or very wet periods.     

Determination of DDT and its metabolites in cattle dip soil available in aqueous phase after remediation

Soil taken from a former cattle tick dip site in NSW Australia, was remediated with a chemical leaching technology. The pre- and post-remediated soil (20g) was dispersed in water (100mL) and subjected to passive diffusion using polymeric membranes. The remediation reduced tDDT from 1174.3 microg/g to 102.9 microg/g (ash weight basis), which was further reduced to 43.2 microg/g with composting. The membranes accumulated 41.3 microg tDDT/g from the dip soil, 49.2 microg tDDT/g from the chemically leached soil and 3.1 microg tDDT/g from the leached composted soil. The chemical leaching removed over 90% of the tDDT, but released soil bound DDT, which was converted to DDE, while 2.99 microg/g was accumulated by the membranes from dip soil, 37.52 microg/g was accumulated from remediated soil. Composting, however, almost eliminated the availability for passive diffusion by the membranes from 50-60 microg/g in remediated soil to 3 -3.5 microg/g in composted soil. Variability studies of the membranes using eight replicates demonstrated that the accumulation by the membranes was reproducible with an average relative error of 20.3% for p,p'-DDT in soil type two, whilst the lowest average relative error for p,p'-DDE was 4.3%, suggesting that triplicate analyses will achieve acceptable accuracy.     

Cultural ecology of Whitethroat (Sylvia communis) habitat management by farmers: field-boundary vegetation in lowland England

Field-boundary structure, its use by territorial Whitethroats, and its management by farmers were investigated in southern Wiltshire using a combination of fieldwork and a questionnaire survey. Whitethroats favour wide herbaceous field boundary strips and low hedges. Long-term cultural and short-term economic interests combine to influence farmers' management decisions. Only farmers with game and conservation interests claimed to adopt field-boundary management that would benefit Whitethroats, but across all farms, intended and actual herbaceous strips were too narrow, and their management too imprecise, for Whitethroats and other wildlife. Agricultural advisors and magazines were the main influences on farmers' management decisions. Improving habitat for Whitethroats could have both agronomic and wider conservation benefits, and the provision of information that accommodates farmers' cultural and economic incentives could benefit both farmers and wildlife.     

Division of labor and the evolution of task sharing in queen associations of the harvester ant<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Pogonomyrmex californicus</Emphasis>

Division of labor is a key factor in the ecological success of social groups. Recent work suggests that division of labor can emerge even without specific adaptations for task specialization and that it can appear in incipient social groups as a self-organizational property. We investigated experimentally how selection and self-organization may interact during the evolution of division of labor by examining task performance in groups of normally solitary versus normally social ant queens. We created social pairs of colony-founding queens from two populations of the ant Pogonomyrmex californicus, one in which queens are normally solitary and one in which queens form foundress groups, and observed their behavior during nest excavation. In both populations, one of the two queens usually performed most of the excavation, becoming the excavation specialist. We could predict which queen would become the specialist based on their relative propensities to perform the task in other contexts, consistent with a variance-based model of task specialization. The occurrence of specialization even when group members were not adapted to social life suggests that division of labor may well have been present in incipient queen groups. However, division of labor can result in cost skew among group members, and thus, paradoxically, within-group selection may constrain or even reduce specialization. Consistent with this effect, pairs of normally solitary queens were significantly more asymmetrical in their task performance than normally social pairs, in which both queens nearly always performed the behavior to some degree.Communicated by J. Heinze     

Changes in HIV/AIDS/STI knowledge, attitudes and practices among commercial sex workers and military forces in Port Loko, Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone suffered from 11 years of civil war (1991-2002) resulting in tens of thousands of deaths and mutilations together with massive population displacement. In 2001, ARC International, Sierra Leone conducted a baseline survey of 201 commercial sex workers (CSWs) and 202 military respondents on the knowledge, attitudes and practices surrounding HIV/AIDS and STIs in Port Loko, Sierra Leone. In 2003, a comparable post-intervention survey of 202 CSWs and 205 military respondents was performed. Comparison of baseline and post-intervention results showed that HIV/AIDS knowledge increased among both groups, with those able to name three effective means of avoiding AIDS increasing from 5 per cent to 70 per cent among CSWs, and 11 to 75 per cent among the military. Reported condom use during last sex increased among CSWs from 38 to 68 per cent and among military from 39 to 68 per cent. These results demonstrate that, despite the challenges inherent in a post-conflict country, good-quality AIDS-prevention programmes can be effective.     

Radioactive waste forms stabilized by ChemChar gasification: characterization and leaching behavior of cerium, thorium, protactinium, uranium, and neptunium

The uses of a thermally reductive gasification process in conjunction with vitrification and cementation for the long-term disposal of low level radioactive materials have been investigated. gamma-ray spectroscopy was used for analysis of carrier-free protactinium-233 and neptunium-239 and a stoichiometric amount of cerium (observed cerium-141) subsequent to gasification and leaching, up to 48 days. High resolution ICP-MS was used to analyze the cerium, thorium, and uranium from 46 to 438 days of leaching. Leaching procedures followed the guidance of ASTM Procedure C 1220-92, Standard Test Method for Static Leaching of Monolithic Waste Forms for Disposal of Radioactive Waste. The combination of the thermally reductive pretreatment, vitrification and cementation produced a highly non-leachable form suitable for long-term disposal of cerium, thorium, protactinium, uranium, and neptunium.     

The Ythan Project: A Case Study on Improving Catchment Management through Community Involvement

Increased participation in resource management decisions by a wide range of stakeholders has been widely advocated, and has recently been formally incorporated into the European Water Framework Directive. However, achieving such participation has generally proved to be problematical. In response to locally perceived needs, a project was set up in the Ythan catchment in northeast Scotland, to undertake catchment management actions with increased public involvement. This paper outlines the methods used to increase public participation in such actions, and some preliminary assessments of the effectiveness of these. The experience of the project and the lessons learnt, including some of the difficulties of ensuring fully representative stakeholder involvement, are discussed in relation to published criteria for public participation in resource management.     

Non-Point-Source Impacts on Stream Nutrient Concentrations Along a Forest to Urban Gradient

We conducted statistical analyses of a 10-year record of stream nutrient and sediment concentrations for 17 streams in the greater Seattle region to determine the impact of urban non-point-source pollutants on stream water quality. These catchments are dominated by either urban (22–87%) or forest (6–73%) land cover, with no major nutrient point sources. Stream water phosphorus concentrations were moderately strongly (r²=0.58) correlated with catchment land-cover type, whereas nitrogen concentrations were weakly (r²=0.19) and nonsignificantly (at < 0.05) correlated with land cover. The most urban streams had, on average, 95% higher total phosphorus (TP) and 122% higher soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) and 71% higher turbidity than the most forested streams. Nitrate (NO₃), ammonium (NH₄), and total suspended solids (TSS) concentrations did not vary significantly with land cover. These results suggest that urbanization markedly increased stream phosphorus concentrations and modestly increased nitrogen concentrations. However, nutrient concentrations in Seattle region urban streams are significantly less than those previously reported for agricultural area streams.     

Incorporating health outcomes into environmental justice research: The case of children's asthma and air pollution in Phoenix, Arizona

Asthma is a health condition that is also an environmental justice issue. Using an environmental justice frame, this paper explores socio-demographic, indoor hazard, and air quality factors that contribute to disparities in asthma hospitalizations. Multivariate Poisson regression models predicting asthma hospitalizations at the zip code level are employed to examine the case of metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona (AZ). Controlling for socio-demographics, indoor hazards, and toxic releases from industry, ozone was the strongest predictor of asthma hospitalizations. This paper contributes to the project of inserting health measures into quantitative environmental justice studies.