Ontogenetic habitat shift,population growth,and burrowing behavior of the Indo-Pacific beach star, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Archaster typicus</Emphasis> (Echinodermata; Asteroidea)

Archaster typicus, a common sea star in Indo-Pacific regions, has been a target for the ornamental trade, even though little is known about its population biology. Spatial and temporal patterns of abundance and size structure of A. typicus were studied in the Davao Gulf, the Philippines (125°42.7′E, 7°0.6′N), from February 2008 to December 2009. Specimens of A. typicus were associated with intertidal mangrove prop roots, seagrass meadows, sandy beaches, and shoals. Among prop roots, specimens were significantly smaller and had highest densities (131 ind. m⁻²) between November and March. High organic matter in sediment and a relatively low predation rate seemed to support juvenile life among mangroves. Size and density analyses provided evidence that individuals gradually move to seagrass, sandy habitats, and shoals as they age. Specimens were significantly larger at a shoal (maximum radius R = 81 mm). New recruits were found between August and November in both 2008 and 2009. Timing of recruitment and population size frequencies confirmed a seasonal reproductive cycle. Juveniles had relatively high growth rates (2–7 mm month⁻¹) and may reach an R of 20–25 mm after 1 year. Growth rates of larger specimens (R > 30 mm) were generally <2 mm month⁻¹. The activity pattern of A. typicus was related to the tidal phase and not to time of day: Specimens moved over the sediment surface during low tides and were burrowed during high tides possibly avoiding predation. This is one of the first studies to document an ontogenetic habitat shift for sea stars and provides new biological information as a basis for management of harvested A. typicus populations.     

Twenty-Five Years of Ecological Recovery of East Fork Poplar Creek: Review of Environmental Problems and Remedial Actions

In May 1985, a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit was issued for the Department of Energy’s Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12 Complex) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA, allowing discharge of effluents to East Fork Poplar Creek (EFPC). The effluents ranged from large volumes of chlorinated once-through cooling water and cooling tower blow-down to smaller discharges of treated and untreated process wastewaters, which contained a mixture of heavy metals, organics, and nutrients, especially nitrates. As a condition of the permit, a Biological Monitoring and Abatement Program (BMAP) was developed to meet two major objectives: demonstrate that the established effluent limitations were protecting the classified uses of EFPC, and document the ecological effects resulting from implementing a Water Pollution Control Program at the Y-12 Complex. The second objective is the primary focus of the other papers in this special series. This paper provides a history of pollution and the remedial actions that were implemented; describes the geographic setting of the study area; and characterizes the physicochemical attributes of the sampling sites, including changes in stream flow and temperature that occurred during implementation of the BMAP. Most of the actions taken under the Water Pollution Control Program were completed between 1986 and 1998, with as many as four years elapsing between some of the most significant actions. The Water Pollution Control Program included constructing nine new wastewater treatment facilities and implementation of several other pollution-reducing measures, such as a best management practices plan; area-source pollution control management; and various spill-prevention projects. Many of the major actions had readily discernable effects on the chemical and physical conditions of EFPC. As controls on effluents entering the stream were implemented, pollutant concentrations generally declined and, at least initially, the volume of water discharged from the Y-12 Complex declined. This reduction in discharge was of ecological concern and led to implementation of a flow management program for EFPC. Implementing flow management, in turn, led to substantial changes in chemical and physical conditions of the stream: stream discharge nearly doubled and stream temperatures decreased, becoming more similar to those in reference streams. While water quality clearly improved, meeting water quality standards alone does not guarantee protection of a waterbody’s biological integrity. Results from studies on the ecological changes stemming from pollution-reduction actions, such as those presented in this series, also are needed to understand how best to restore or protect biological integrity and enhance ecological recovery in stream ecosystems. With a better knowledge of the ecological consequences of their decisions, environmental managers can better evaluate alternative actions and more accurately predict their effects.     

Leveraging the Rao–Blackwell theorem to improve ratio estimators in adaptive cluster sampling

Rao-Blackwellization is used to improve the unbiased Hansen–Hurwitz and Horvitz–Thompson unbiased estimators in Adaptive Cluster Sampling by finding the conditional expected value of the original unbiased estimators given the sufficient or minimal sufficient statistic. In principle, the same idea can be used to find better ratio estimators, however, the calculation of taking all the possible combinations into account can be extremely tedious in practice. The simplified analytical forms of such ratio estimators are not currently available. For practical interest, several improved ratio estimators in Adaptive Cluster Sampling are proposed in this article. The proposed ratio estimators are not the real Rao-Blackwellized versions of the original ones but make use of the Rao-Blackwellized univariate estimators. How to calculate the proposed estimators is illustrated, and their performance are evaluated by both of the Bivariate Poisson clustered process and a real data. The simulation result indicates that the proposed improved ratio estimators are able to provide considerably advantageous estimation results over the original ones.     

Factors influencing polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin and polychlorinated dibenzofuran (PCDD/F) emissions and control in major industrial sectors：Case evidence from Shandong Province, China

Analyzing determinants that influence polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin and polychlorinated dibenzofuran（PCDD/F） emissions is helpful for decision-makers to find effective and efficient ways to mitigate PCDD/F emissions. The PCDD/F emissions and the contributions of the scale effect, structure effect and technology effect to emissions from eight main industrial sectors in2006, 2008 and 2010 in Shandong Province, were calculated in this article. Total PCDD/F emissions in Shandong increased by 52.8% in 2008（614.1 g I-TEQ） and 49.7% in 2010（601.8 g I-TEQ） based on 2006（401.9 g I-TEQ）. According to the decomposition method, the largest influencing factor on PCDD/F emission changes was the composition effect（contributed 43.4%in 2008 and 120.6% in 2010 based on 2006）, which was also an emission-increasing factor.In this case, the present industrial restructuring policy should be adjusted to control the proportion of production capacities with high emission factors, such as iron ore sintering and steelmaking and the secondary non-ferrous metal sector. The scale effect increased the emissions in 2008（contributed 21.9%） and decreased the emissions in 2010（contributed-28.0%）. However, as a source control measure, the excess capacity control policy indeed had a significant role in emission reduction. The main reason for the technology effect（contributed 34.7% in 2008 and 7.4% in 2010 based on 2006） having an emission-increasing role was the weakness in implementing policies for restricting industries with outdated facilities. Some specific suggestions were proposed on PCDD/F reduction for local administrators at the end.     

Administrative Co-management: The Case of Special-Use Forest Conservation in Vietnam

Special-use forests (SUFs) are nature protected areas in Vietnam used to conserve nature and its biodiversity. While the Vietnamese government has managed to increase the size and number of SUFs, biodiversity within these areas continues to decline. To improve protection of these SUFs, co-management has been advocated in Vietnam. Successfully implementing co-management requires decentralization of authority and a certain extent of public involvement in management activities. This paper assesses how and to what extent the governance of Vietnam’s SUFs have taken up the challenge of shifting from conventional government-based management to co-management. Current practices of (co-) management were investigated in 105 of the 143 SUFs. The results show that the type of co-management varies little between different categories of SUFs. Nevertheless, a national ‘style’ of Vietnamese co-management could be identified, labelled ‘administrative’ co-management; fostering interaction between a variety of actors, but final decision-making power on management remaining strongly in the hands of the provincial government.     

Political Modernization in China's Forest Governance? Payment Schemes for Forest Ecological Services in Liaoning

Payment for environmental services (PES) schemes are increasingly being introduced in developed and developing countries for the ecological conservation of forests also. Such payment schemes resemble a new mode of forest governance labelled political modernization, in which centralized and state-based command-and-control policies make room for market dynamics, non-state actors, and decentralization. In entering the new Millennium, China has massively started using payment schemes to conserve its forests. An analysis of the implementation of the Forest Ecological Benefit Compensation Fund Programme in Liaoning Province is used to investigate whether China's PES schemes resemble notions of political modernization. It is concluded that Liaoning Province introduced market dynamics and farmer participation in the implementation of its PES scheme, but in a way different from that theorized by political modernization scholars. Hence, it should rather be seen as a ‘Chinese style’ political modernization process.     

Applications of Cr-rich composted tannery sludge in the soil decrease microbial biomass and select specific bacterial groups

The tannery industries generate a solid waste known as tannery sludge, which is composed of organic and inorganic compounds, mainly chromium (Cr). When Cr is not removed from the tannery sludge, this solid waste is metal-rich and its application could affect the soil microorganisms. Alternatively, the composting of the tannery sludge can contribute to decreasing the concentration of Cr in the composted tannery sludge (CTS). However, in some cases, the concentration of Cr remains high in the CTS. During the last 10 years, the Cr-rich CTS has been successively applied in the soil, and its effect on soil microbial properties was verified. Here, we discuss the effect of successive applications of Cr-rich CTS on soil microbes. Interestingly, the findings have shown that successive applications of Cr-rich CTS selected specific soil microbial groups with potential functions. In addition, the studies added a new focus to further research evaluating the potential effect of successive applications of Cr-rich CTS on the rare microbial community.

     

Effects of increased sea water concentrations of CO2 on growth of the bivalve Mytilus edulis L

It has been proposed that emission of anthropogenic carbon dioxide to the atmosphere will lead to increased concentrations of CO(2) in sea water corresponding to a decrease of pH of several tenths of pH units. An experiment was performed to test the effects of increased sea water concentrations of CO(2) on shell growth of the blue mussel Mytilus edulis. The experiment was performed in aquaria continuously flushed with sea water spiked with CO(2) to provide five different levels of pH between 6.7 and control sea water with a pH of 8.1. The shell length of the mussels was measured at the start and end of the 44 days experimental period. No mortality was observed during the first 23 days of the experiment. The growth increment in mm was much larger for small mussels than for large mussels, but relative growth profile as function of pH was more similar in the two size groups; observed differences may be random variation between samples. The experiments showed that CO(2) induced reduction of pH affects the growth of M. edulis negatively. There was a strong and statistically significant decrease in growth at the lowest pH values, with virtually no growth at pH = 6.7 and reduced growth at pH = 7.1. The effect seems to set in between pH 7.4 and 7.1; at mean pH levels 7.4 and 7.6 the growth increments were not significantly different from growth at normal pH 8.1.     

Healthcare waste generation in hospitals per continent: a systematic review

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - There are increasing worldwide concerns about the negative impacts of healthcare waste generated in hospitals, especially in low- and middle-income...