Increasing the effectiveness of environmental decision support systems: lessons from climate change adaptation projects in Canada and Australia

Regional Environmental Change - There is a need to increase regional and community level action towards adaptation to climate change. Natural resource managers and planners have to make challenging...     

Brevetoxins in sharks and rays (Chondrichthyes, Elasmobranchii) from Florida coastal waters

In October 2000, a mass mortality of blacktip sharks (Carcharhinus limbatus) and Atlantic sharpnose sharks (Rhizoprionodon terraenovae) in northwest Florida occurred in conjunction with a Karenia brevis red tide bloom. Before this incident, no information existed on red tide-induced shark mortalities or baseline brevetoxin levels in sharks and rays from red tide-endemic areas. We report here that brevetoxin accumulation in live and red tide-killed elasmobranchs is common during K. brevis blooms and non-bloom periods. Strong relationships were found between the frequency of red tide blooms and the average brevetoxin concentrations in elasmobranch tissues. The presence of brevetoxins in Atlantic coast sharks in the absence of documented K. brevis blooms may suggest that blooms are occurring in areas that are not well monitored. Although red tide-related shark mortalities are rarely observed, the presence of brevetoxins in shark embryos raises questions about the effects these toxins may have on the reproductive success of sharks.     

Vacuolate-attached filaments: highly productive Ridgeia piscesae epibionts at the Juan de Fuca hydrothermal vents

Vacuolate sulfur bacteria with high morphological similarity to vacuolate-attached filaments previously described from shallow hydrothermal vents (White Point, CA) were found at deep-sea hydrothermal vents. These filamentous bacteria grow in dense mats that cover surfaces and potentially provide a significant source of organic carbon where they occur. Vacuolate-attached filaments were collected near vents at the Clam Bed site of the Endeavour Segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge and from the sediment surface at Escanaba Trough on the Gorda Ridge. A phylogenetic analysis comparing their 16S rRNA gene sequences to those collected from the shallow White Point site showed that all vacuolate-attached filament sequences form a monophyletic group within the vacuolate sulfur-oxidizing bacteria clade in the gamma proteobacteria. Abundance of the attached filaments was quantified over the length of the exterior surface of the tubes of Ridgeia piscesae worms collected from the Clam Bed site at Juan de Fuca yielding a per worm average of 0.070 ± 0.018 cm³ (n = 4). In agreement with previous results for White Point filaments, anion measurements by ion chromatography showed no detectable internal nitrate concentrations above ambient seawater (n = 9). For one R. piscesae tube worm “bush” at the Easter Island vent site, potential gross epibiont productivity is estimated to be 15 to 45× the net productivity of the worms.     

Gypsum addition to soils contaminated by red mud: implications for aluminium, arsenic, molybdenum and vanadium solubility

Red mud is highly alkaline (pH 13), saline and can contain elevated concentrations of several potentially toxic elements (e.g. Al, As, Mo and V). Release of up to 1 million m³ of bauxite residue (red mud) suspension from the Ajka repository, western Hungary, caused large-scale contamination of downstream rivers and floodplains. There is now concern about the potential leaching of toxic metal(loid)s from the red mud as some have enhanced solubility at high pH. This study investigated the impact of red mud addition to three different Hungarian soils with respect to trace element solubility and soil geochemistry. The effectiveness of gypsum amendment for the rehabilitation of red mud-contaminated soils was also examined. Red mud addition to soils caused a pH increase, proportional to red mud addition, of up to 4 pH units (e.g. pH 7 → 11). Increasing red mud addition also led to significant increases in salinity, dissolved organic carbon and aqueous trace element concentrations. However, the response was highly soil specific and one of the soils tested buffered pH to around pH 8.5 even with the highest red mud loading tested (33 % w/w); experiments using this soil also had much lower aqueous Al, As and V concentrations. Gypsum addition to soil/red mud mixtures, even at relatively low concentrations (1 % w/w), was sufficient to buffer experimental pH to 7.5–8.5. This effect was attributed to the reaction of Ca²⁺ supplied by the gypsum with OH^? and carbonate from the red mud to precipitate calcite. The lowered pH enhanced trace element sorption and largely inhibited the release of Al, As and V. Mo concentrations, however, were largely unaffected by gypsum induced pH buffering due to the greater solubility of Mo (as molybdate) at circumneutral pH. Gypsum addition also leads to significantly higher porewater salinities, and column experiments demonstrated that this increase in total dissolved solids persisted even after 25 pore volume replacements. Gypsum addition could therefore provide a cheaper alternative to recovery (dig and dump) for the treatment of red mud-affected soils. The observed inhibition of trace metal release within red mud-affected soils was relatively insensitive to either the percentage of red mud or gypsum present, making the treatment easy to apply. However, there is risk that over-application of gypsum could lead to detrimental long-term increases in soil salinity.     

Brittlestars,Biomarkers and Beryl: Assessing the Toxicity of Oil-Based Drill Cuttings Using Laboratory,Mesocosm and Field Studies

Effects of drill cuttings on burrowing brittlestars (Amphiura chiajei and A. filiformls) were compared at different levels of response, from acute laboratory experiments to chronic field studies. Acute toxicity tests showed that drill cuttings containing oil-based muds had a very low toxicity (LC₅₀ 52,800 ppm total hydrocarbons in test sediment) but sub-lethal effects were detected at much lower levels using a variety of biomarkers and assays. Chronic sub-lethal effects were detected around the Beryl oil platform in the North Sea where the levels of oil in the sediment were very low (<3 ppm total hydrocarbons in sediment) and brittlestars were excluded from areas nearer the platform with higher sediment oil content. These results suggest that acute toxicity tests are a poor predictor of chronic response in these animals. the relationship between toxicity at different levels of response and the predictive power of laboratory studies is discussed.     

Cultural influences on workplace safety: An example of hospital workers’ adoption of patient lifting devices

Aims

A sociological and anthropological view of culture was used to investigate how work culture, independent of “safety culture”, may affect safety in the workplace. We explored how work cultures of nurses and physical/occupational therapists (PT/OTs) in two acute care hospitals are related to the adoption of patient lifting devices.

Methods

Focus groups were conducted between 2006 and 2009, seven with nurse staff (n = 39) and two with PT/OT staff (n = 17), to explore issues concerning a Minimal Manual Lift Environment policy, initiated in 2004, and subsequent use of patient lift equipment. Audio recordings of the sessions were transcribed; text data were analyzed using N6-QSR. Cultural facilitators and barriers to the adoption of patient lift equipment were examined.

Results

Data revealed cultural similarities and differences between these healthcare professions. Both displayed a “patient first” approach to care-giving which may promote lift device use for patients’ benefits, not necessarily for staff safety. Also, the implied purpose of patient lifting devices clashes with the nurses’ cultural emphasis on compassion, and with PT/OTs’ cultural emphasis on independence except when use increases patients’ independence.

Conclusions

Cultural expressions regarding the nature of care-giving among healthcare professionals may affect the propensity to adopt safety measures in complex ways. The workers’ understanding of the purpose of their work, and acceptable means of conducting it, should be understood before implementing safety interventions. The utilization of lift assist teams, who are not socialized into the cultures of nursing or PT/OT, may be one means of circumventing cultural barriers to lift equipment use.     

Motivations for the use and consumption of wildlife products

The dominant approach to combating the illegal wildlife trade has traditionally been to restrict the supply of wildlife products. Yet conservationists increasingly recognize the importance of implementing demand-side interventions that target the end consumers in the trade chain. Their aim is to curb the consumption of wildlife or shift consumption to more sustainable alternatives. However, there are still considerable knowledge gaps in understanding of the diversity of consumer motivations in the context of illegal wildlife trade, which includes hundreds of thousands of species, different uses, and diverse contexts. Based on consultation with multiple experts from a diversity of backgrounds, nationalities, and focal taxa, we developed a typology of common motivations held by wildlife consumers that can be used to inform conservation interventions. We identified 5 main motivational categories for wildlife use: experiential, social, functional, financial, and spiritual, each containing subcategories. This framework is intended to facilitate the segmentation of consumers based on psychographics and allow the tailoring of interventions—whether behavior change campaigns, enforcement efforts, or incentive programs—to the specific context in which they will be used. Underlining the importance of consumer research and collaborating with local actors is an important step toward promoting a more systematic approach to the design of demand reduction interventions.     

Who’s where? Ecological uncertainty shapes neophobic predator avoidance in Trinidadian guppies

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology - Behavioural diversity is a basic component of biodiversity, with implications in ecological interactions at the intra- and interspecific levels. The...