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A technique is developed to compute precision requirements for component parts of an emissions inventory to ensure (at a given confidence level) an overall acceptable precision in the estimate of total emissions. Since the emissions inventory is a basic requirement of air quality control implementation plans and provides a valuable management tool for planning air pollution control activities, it isi appropriate to state in quantitative terms the confidence that can be associated with each inventory. The approach reported here uses weighted sensitivity analysis methods to distribute both percentage and physical errors in source class emissions according to their contribution to the total emissions, and utilizes Chebyshev’s inequality to establish confidence levels for total emissions. The analysis has been extended to cover the case where one or more of the error components in a given inventory source class can be fixed by the analyst. The utility of the technique is manifold and several practical applications are reported. In particular, it serves to establish percentage error requirements for source categories to satisfy given error bounds for the overall emissions inventory at a given level of statistical confidence. The weighted sensitivity analysis technique possesses a high degree of generality, being applicable to compute component error requirements for any kind of data inventory which exhibits a hierarchical (tree-like) structure, as exemplified by NEDS Emissions Summary Reports. This work should be of interest to air pollution control planners at all levels of government and to anyone responsible for the air pollution portion of environmental impact statements.     

Temporal and geographical genetic variation in the amphipod Melita plumulosa (Crustacea: Melitidae): Link of a localized change in haplotype frequencies to a chemical spill

Anthropogenic effects such as contamination affect the genetic structure of populations. This study examined the temporal and geographical patterns of genetic diversity among populations of the benthic crustacean amphipod Melita plumulosa in the Parramatta River (Sydney, Australia), following an industrial chemical spill. The spill of an acrylate/methacrylate co-polymer in naphtha solvent occurred in July 2006. M. plumulosa were sampled temporally between December 2006 and November 2009 and spatially in November 2009. Genetic variation was examined at the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I locus. Notably, nucleotide diversity was low and Tajima’s D was significantly negative amongst amphipods collected immediately downstream from the spill for 10 months. We hypothesize that the spill had a significant localized effect on the genetic diversity of M. plumulosa. Alternate explanations include an alternate and unknown toxicant or a localized sampling bias. Future proposed studies will dissect these alternatives.     

Soil and biodiversity

It is shown that the soil diversity-biodiversity system in terrestrial ecosystems operates in spatiotemporal unity, which manifests itself at different hierarchical levels of their structural-functional organization: successional-evolutionary, zonal geographic, landscape, biogeocenotic, soil-type, horizon-layer, geochemical, and the levels of elementary soil processes and soil fertility. Arguments confirming the functional relationship between organisms and soils are considered. Effective biodiversity conservation is possible on the basis of an ecosystems approach involving simultaneous conservation of soil diversity.     

Interaction of ant species in associations: An attempt to formalize behavioral characters

Behavioral adaptations of ant species were studied in associations of different biotopes in the Crimean Mountains. The pattern of an association was found to depend on the mode of the territorial behavior of dominant species, irrespective of their number. The dominance hierarchy was more strict in monodominant than in bidominant associations. Ant species demonstrated different behavioral strategies, plasticity of foraging, and avoidance of aggressive encounters. A method for formalizing interspecies relationships and a model describing stochastic properties of the biological system are proposed, which can be useful in solving various ethological and ecological problems.     

Agroforest’s growing role in reducing carbon losses from Jambi (Sumatra), Indonesia

This paper examines the size and intensity of changes among five land categories during the two time intervals in a region of Indonesia that is pioneering negotiations concerning reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD). Maps at 1973, 1993, and 2005 indicate that land-cover change is accelerating, while carbon loss is decelerating in Jambi Province, Sumatra. Land dynamics have shifted from Forest loss during 1973–1993 to Agroforest loss during 1993–2005. Forest losses account for most reductions in aboveground carbon during the both time intervals, but Agroforest plays an increasingly important role in carbon reductions during the more recent interval. These results provide motivation for future REDD policies to count carbon changes associated with all influential land categories, such as Agroforests.     

Levels of household particulate matter and environmental tobacco smoke exposure in the first year of life for a cohort at risk for asthma in urban Syracuse, NY

The Syracuse, NY, AUDIT (Assessment of Urban Dwellings for Indoor Toxics) study was designed to quantify asthma agent levels in the inner-city homes of a birth cohort whose mothers had a diagnosis of asthma. Risk of exposure to particulate matter (PM), particle number and tobacco smoke was assessed in 103 infants' homes. Repeat measurements were made in 44% of the homes. Infants also were examined on a quarterly basis during the first year of life to monitor their respiratory health and urine cotinine levels. Overall geometric mean (GM) values for PM(2.5) of 21.2 μg/m(3) and for PM(10) of 31.8 μg/m(3) were recorded in homes at visit 1. GM values for PM(2.5) and PM(10) in smoking homes were higher at 26.3 and 37.7 μg/m(3), while values in non-smoking homes were 12.7 and 21.2 μg/m(3) respectively. Fifty-four percent of mothers (55/103) smoked at some point in pregnancy (39% smoked throughout pregnancy). Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure occurred in 68% of homes during the infants' first year. Significant to this study was the size- and time-resolved monitoring of PM at 140 home visits and the classification of PM count data. PM number counts ranged from continuously low levels (little indoor activity) to continuously high counts (constant indoor activity), and recorded apparent instances of prolonged repeated cigarette smoking. Wheezing in the first year of life was recorded for 38% of the infants (39/103). Adjusted logistic regression modeling demonstrated that elevated levels of indoor PM(2.5) (≥ 15 μg/m(3)) were a significant risk factor for infant wheezing after controlling for infant gender, mothers' age and education level, season of home visit and presence of carpeting (OR 4.21; 95% CI 1.36-13.03; p=0.013). An elevated level of the nicotine metabolite cotinine in infant urine also was associated with infant wheezing after adjusting for infant gender, mothers' age and education level (OR 5.10; 95% CI 0.96-27.24; p=0.057). ETS exposure was pervasive in the AUDIT cohort and a risk for developing infants in this urban population.     

Technologically enhanced 210Pb and 210Po in iron and steel industry

Iron and steel manufacture has been ranked as the largest industrial source of environmental contamination in the USA; the wastes generated in their production processes contain heavy elements that can be a source of contamination, and natural radionuclides that can produce an occupational and/or public radiological impact. In this work the potential occupational effective dose rate (μSv/y) due to inhalation in four integrated steel-making factories from Egypt has been evaluated, by assuming a well defined scenario and with basis in the ²¹⁰Pb and ²¹⁰Po activity concentrations determined in ore and wastes collected in the aforementioned factories. Activity concentrations, in Bq/kg, of ²¹⁰Pb and ²¹⁰Po, and leachable Pb and Fe were measured using gamma-ray spectrometry based on HPGe detector, alpha particle spectrometry based on PIPS detector, and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Levels of ²¹⁰Pb and ²¹⁰Po in the range of <DL-4238 and 1-5660 Bq/kg, respectively, were found. According to the assumed scenarios, the occupational exposures by inhalation are much lower than the recommended annual effective dose limit, although the environmental impact due to waste storage and/or use should be considered based on case by case evaluation.