THE LOUISIANA ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND ITS UTILITY IN WATER RESOURCE PLANNING1

ABSTRACT: The Louisiana Environmental Management System (LEMS) is a data processing program developed to aid the Louisiana Joint Legislative Committee on Environmental Quality in decisions leading to resources legislation. Serving as a central data collection and retrieval point for various agencies, the LEMS will maintain assembled information on the location of monitoring stations and coordinate the files of user agencies with data on: land use; air and water quality; meteorological, climatological, and hydrological phenomena; vegetation; fish and wildlife conservation; population; and economics. This data is geographically stored in relation to the state plane coordinate system. For decision making, all pertinent hydrologic, topographic, engineering, cadastral, and other information from separate sources can be automatically mapped as a combined overlay to one of three chosen scales. Land-use patterns are the input data for iterative analyses of present conditions and simulated future human activities for assessing the environmental impact of proposed multiple-purpose water resource developments.     

Relation of Lake Acidification and Recovery to Fish,Common Loon and Common Merganser Occurrence in Algoma Lakes

Models are needed that predict both spatial and temporal improvements to ecosystems following reductions of acidifying emissions that produce `acid rain'. Logistic regression models were developed for the occurrence of fish and two fish-eatingbirds, common loons (Gavia immer) and common mergansers(Mergus merganser), using monitoring data collected onlakes across Ontario. These models were applied in the Algomaregion, including the Turkey Lakes Watershed (TLW). Using theWaterfowl Acidification Response Modeling System (WARMS), severalSO₂ emission reduction scenarios were simulated, i.e. thosecontributing to measured 1982–1986 sulphate deposition levels, 1994levels (corresponding to full implementation of Canadian SO₂emission reductions as stipulated in the 1991 Canada/U.S. AirQuality Agreement), 2010 levels (1994 plus full U.S. reductions),and both a 50% and a 75% further reduction beyond 2010 levels. Some habitat improvements in Algoma were predicted under the 2010scenario for all biota, but substantial increases in habitatquality, especially for mergansers, would occur only under further reductions. The TLW showed little change in chemistry orbiota, while lakes near the Montreal River were predicted toimprove substantially.     

A Social Contract for Biotechnology: Shared Visions for Risky Technologies?

Future technological developmentsconcerning food, agriculture, and theenvironment face a gulf of social legitimationfrom a skeptical public and media, in the wakeof the crises of BSE, GM food, and foot andmouth disease in the UK (House of Lords, 2000). Keyethical issues were ignored by the bioindustry,regulators, and the Government, leaving alegacy of distrust. The paper examinesagricultural biotechnology in terms of a socialcontract, whose conditions would have to be fulfilled togain acceptance of novel applications. Variouscurrent and future GM applications areevaluated against these conditions. Successwould depend critically on how far a sharedvision can be found with the public. Tore-establish trust, significant changes areidentified in the planning and pursuit ofbiotechnology.     

Disease avoidance influences shelter use and predation in Caribbean spiny lobster

Shelter competition is uncommon among social animals, as is the case among normally gregarious Caribbean spiny lobsters (Panulirus argus). However, healthy lobsters avoid sheltering with conspecifics infected by a lethal pathogenic virus, PaV1. These contradictory behaviors have implications for shelter use and survival, especially in areas where shelter is limited. In laboratory experiments, we tested shelter competition between paired healthy and diseased juvenile lobsters in shelter-limited mesocosms. Neither healthy nor diseased lobsters dominated access to shelters, but lobsters shared shelter less often when diseased lobsters were present relative to controls with two healthy lobsters. We hypothesized that exclusion of juvenile lobsters from shelter results in increased mortality from predation, especially for the more lethargic, infected individuals. Field tethering trials revealed that predation was indeed higher on infected individuals and on all tethered lobsters deprived of shelter. We then tested in mesocosm experiments how the contrasting risks of predation versus infection by a lethal pathogen influence shelter use. Lobsters were offered a choice of an empty shelter or one containing a diseased lobster in the presence of a predator (i.e., caged octopus) whose presence normally elicits shelter-seeking behavior, and these data were compared with a previous study where the predator was absent. Lobsters selected the empty shelter significantly more often despite the threat of predation, foregoing the protection of group defense in favor of reduced infection risk. These results offer striking evidence of how pathogenic diseases shape not only the behavior of social animals but also their use of shelters and risk of predation.     

QUANTIFICATION OF THE WATER BUDGET AND NUTRIENT LOADING IN A SMALL PEATLAND1

ABSTRACT: Few water budgets exist for specific types of wetlands such as peatlands, even though such information provides the basis from which to investigate linkages between wetlands and upland ecosystems. In this study, we first determined the water budget and then estimated nutrient loading from an upland farm field into a 1.5 ha, kettle-block peatland. The wetland contains highly anisotropic peat and has no distinct, active layer of groundwater flow. We estimated the depth of the active layer using Fick's law of diffusion and quantified groundwater flow using a chemical mass balance model. Evapotranspiration was determined using MORECS, a semi-physical model based on the Penman-Monteith approach. Precipitation and surface outflow were measured using physical means. Groundwater provided the major inflow, 84 percent (44,418 m³) in 1993 and 88 percent (68,311 m³) in 1994. Surface outflow represented 54 percent (28,763 m³) of total outflows in 1993 and 48 percent (37,078 m³) in 1994. A comparison of several published water budgets for wetlands and lakes showed that error estimates for hydrologic components in this study are well within the range of error estimates calculated in other studies. Groundwater inflow estimates and nutrient concentrations of three springs were used to estimate agricultural nutrient loading to the site. During the study period, nutrient loading into the peatland via groundwater discharge averaged 24.74 kg K ha^-1, 1.83 kg total inorganic P ha^d, and 21.81 kg NO₃-N ha^-1.     

Stimulation of aerobic degradation of chlorinated ethenes in soil by microbial inoculation

Degradation of chlorinated ethenes under aerobic conditions has been reported using a cometabolic pathway. A site in Illinois had shallow contamination and sandy soils, which in combination created aerobic conditions. The aerobic conditions prevented the degradation of chlorinated ethenes by reductive dechlorination. Biodegradation of chloroethenes under aerobic conditions does not occur naturally at all sites; however, it can be enhanced if microorganisms capable of cometabolic degradation are introduced into the soil. In this study, trichloroethene (TCE) removal in the soil was enhanced by the injection of a commercially available microbial inoculum (CL‐OUT® inoculum, CL‐Solutions, Cincinnati, OH) and nutrients and was compared to chlorinated ethene removal in soil that had received nutrients only and soil that had received activated sludge and nutrients. Trichloroethene removal was measured after one week, seven weeks, and eleven weeks. After one week, no significant TCE removal had occurred in any of the test microcosms. After seven weeks, a slight decrease in TCE levels accompanied by an increase in cis‐1,2‐dichloroethene (cis‐1,2‐DCE) was seen in the microcosms that had received CL‐OUT®. After 11 weeks, a marked decrease in TCE levels was observed in the microcosms that had received CL‐OUT®. No significant TCE decrease was observed in any of the other microcosms. These data suggest that organisms capable of aerobic TCE degradation were not present at the site; however, the addition of an inoculum containing such organisms enabled aerobic degradation to occur. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

What drove reversions to quadrupedality in ornithischian dinosaurs? Testing hypotheses using centre of mass modelling

The exceptionally rare transition to quadrupedalism from bipedal ancestors occurred on three independent occasions in ornithischian dinosaurs. The possible driving forces behind these transitions remain elusive, but several hypotheses—including the development of dermal armour and the expansion of head size and cranial ornamentation—have been proposed to account for this major shift in stance. We modelled the position of the centre of mass (CoM) in several exemplar ornithischian taxa and demonstrate that the anterior shifts in CoM position associated with the development of an enlarged skull ornamented with horns and frills for display/defence may have been one of the drivers promoting ceratopsian quadrupedality. A posterior shift in CoM position coincident with the development of extensive dermal armour in thyreophorans demonstrates this cannot have been a primary causative mechanism for quadrupedality in this clade. Quadrupedalism developed in response to different selective pressures in each ornithischian lineage, indicating different evolutionary pathways to convergent quadrupedal morphology.     

Mating frequency, colony size, polyethism and sex ratio in fungus-growing ants (Attini)

The mating frequency of queens was estimated for eight attine ant species, Myrmicocrypta ednaella, Apterostigma mayri, Cyphomyrmex costatus, C. rimosus (four lower attines), Trachymyrmex isthmicus, Serico-myrmex amabalis, Acromyrmex octospinosus and Atta colombica (four higher attines), and correlated to colony size, worker polyethism, and sex ratio. Mating frequency was calculated from within-colony relatedness estimated by CAP-PCR DNA fingerprinting. Most queens of lower attines and T. isthmicus mated with only one male, while those of the three higher attines mated with multiple males. Mating frequency was positively correlated with colony size. Polyethism among workers was dependent on worker age in lower attines but on body size in higher attines, suggesting some correlation between mating frequency (i.e., within-colony gene diversity) and caste complexity. The sex ratio was biased toward females in species where the mating frequency equaled one, but toward males in species where the mating frequency was greater than two. Changing in nest site from ground surface to deep underground may have facilitated the evolution of large colony size in Attini, and this may have resulted in the evolution of polyandry (a queen mates with multiple males). With the evolution of polyandry in higher attines, Atta and Acromyrmex in particular have generated high genetic diversity within their colonies and complex social structures. Received: 26 October 1999 / Revised: 25 May 2000 / Accepted: 24 June 2000     

Public mosquito abatement

Mosquito abatement is a public good for which there is a long history of operating expenditures and measured performance. A simultaneous model of mosquito abundance and abatement response is developed. Parameters are estimated using time-series, cross-section data from 30 districts. Both insecticides and ditching have contributed to reduced mosquito populations. There is evidence that district managers may have invested in excess permanent control (ditching) relative to use of insecticides, and that present abatement expenditures for the average district are excessive.