Overestimates of black carbon in soils and sediments

Several recent reports suggest that black carbon (BC), which broadly encompasses charcoal, soot, and other forms of pyrogenic carbon, may constitute a significant proportion of the refractory carbon in soil and sedimentary organic matter. BC is a sink for biospheric and atmospheric carbon dioxide, and is intimately tied to the biogeochemical cycling of both carbon and oxygen through its role in organic matter cycling. Additionally, BC may represent a large fraction of the missing carbon sink in global carbon accounting. Here, we demonstrate that documented measurements of BC may be the result of methodological artifacts, which inadvertently overestimate the amount of BC. We found that a widely used thermal oxidative method can create a residue that falls under the operational definition of BC in samples that are relatively BC-free. Moreover, during this procedure, labile organic matter constituents are condensed into pyrogenic carbon, implying that the labile components are present in lesser quantities. These methodological deficiencies are promoting overestimates in the amount of refractory carbon in soil and sedimentary organic matter and may endorse inaccuracies in the rates of carbon fluxes, the mean residence times of terrestrial carbon, and organic matter burial rates in oceanic environments.     

The effect of octopamine on behavioral responses of free-foraging bumblebees to a change in food source profitability

The invertebrate neuromodulator octopamine is known to be involved in bees' associative learning, enhancing the responsiveness of a bee to a conditioned stimulus. In this study, we tested the effect of octopamine on the choice behavior of free-flying bumblebees using a two-phase experiment in an array of artificial flowers. During the first phase of the experiment, the bee was allowed to collect octopamine-laden sugar water from two types of equally rewarding flowers (yellow versus blue). In the second phase, one type of flower was set to be unrewarding. The behavior of the bee (proportion of visits to the unrewarding flowers) over the two phases was fitted to a sigmoid regression model. Our results show that octopamine had no significant effect on the bees' equilibrium choice or on the overall rate of the behavioral change in response to the change in reward. Rather, octopamine significantly affected the time interval between the change in reward status and the initiation of behavioral change in the bee.     

The Value Of Public Participation During a Hazard,Impact, Risk And Vulnerability (HIRV) Analysis

The first part of this paper discusses the links between hazard, risk and vulnerability (HRV) analysis and the development of mitigative strategies. The second part discusses the need to include public participation when completing an HRV analysis. Two current HRV models are used to illustrate the general failure of HRV analysis to include public participation. The third part of this paper provides a brief overview of the Hazard, Impact, Risk and Vulnerability (HIRV) model and its use of public participation. The paper concludes by offering a synopsis of a case study in the town and regional area surrounding Barriere, British Columbia, Canada. This case study demonstrates a positive outcome when public participation is incorporated into an HIRV analysis.