Developing Nutrient Criteria for Streams: An Evaluation of the Frequency Distribution Method1

Abstract: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends two statistical methods to States and Tribes for developing nutrient criteria. One establishes a criterion as the 75th percentile of a reference‐population frequency distribution, the other uses the 25th percentile of a general‐population distribution; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency suggests either method results in similar criteria. To evaluate each method, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (MT DEQ) assembled data from STORET and other sources to create a nutrient general population. MT DEQ’s reference‐stream project provided reference population data. Data were partitioned by ecoregions, and by seasons (winter, runoff, and growing) defined for the project. For each ecoregion and season, nutrient concentrations at the 75th percentile of the reference population were matched to their corresponding concentrations in the general population. Additionally, nutrient concentrations from five regional scientific studies were matched to their corresponding reference population concentrations; each study linked nutrients to impacts on water uses. Reference‐to‐general population matches were highly variable between ecoregions, as nutrients at the 75th percentile of reference corresponded to percentiles ranging from the 4th to the 97th of the general population. In contrast, case studies‐to‐reference matches were more consistent, matching on average to the 86th percentile of reference, with a coefficient of variation of 13%.     

Housing association and local authority provision in rural housing markets: a Mid‐Wales case study

Over the last decade or so, rural housing problems in Britain have become an important focus of attention both for researchers and planners. Inaccessibility to adequate housing is a significant component of the more all‐embracing problems of rural deprivation. The rented sector is of particular relevance to the amelioration of these problems, but the supply has been increasingly restricted both in the private and in the public sector. Great stress has therefore been laid on the ability of housing associations to provide rented sector housing. This paper investigates the work of one particular housing association in Mid‐Wales — Cymdeithas Tai Dyffryn Teifi (CTDT) and assesses the degree of complementarity achieved with housing provision by the local councils operating in the same rural locality. The particular areas of effectiveness of a housing association in this context are thereby evaluated.     

Role of heavy polar organic compounds for water repellency of sandy soils

Separation and chemical characterisation of specific compounds responsible for soil water repellency has not previously been achieved. Here we describe the extraction, separation and analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry of organic compounds found in wettable and water repellent sandy soils from the Netherlands and United Kingdom. Fatty acids (C₁₆–C₂₄), amides (C₁₄–C₂₄), alkanes (C₂₅–C₃₃), aldehydes/ketones (C₂₃–C₃₁) and complex ring-containing structures were detected in all samples. We found a greater abundance of high molecular mass polar compounds in the water repellent samples.     

Absorption of decabromodiphenyl ether and other organohalogen chemicals by grey seals (Halichoerus grypus)

An input-output balance study was performed for polybrominated diphenyl ethers, polychlorinated biphenyls and some organochlorine pesticides on three captive, juvenile grey seals (Halichoerus grypus). The animals were fed a diet of herring for six months, during the last three months of which this study was performed. A supplement of decabromodiphenyl ether was included in the diet during the second month of the study. Consistently high absorption (>89%) was observed for all of the chemicals studied, whereas work on other animals has generally shown high (>80%) net absorption at log K(OW) < approximately 6, dropping towards higher log K(OW), and very low absorption of decabromodiphenyl ether. The half-life of decabromodiphenyl ether in blood was estimated to be between 8.5 and 13 days. Measurable concentrations of decabromodiphenyl ether were detected in seal blubber at the end of the study, indicating that this chemical can be stored in adipose and may bioaccumulate. Current understanding of the mechanism of absorption of organohalogen chemicals and the potential for accumulation of decabromodiphenyl ether will need reassessing in the light of these results.     

Europe's last Mesozoic bird

Birds known from more than isolated skeletal elements are rare in the fossil record, especially from the European Mesozoic. This paucity has hindered interpretations of avian evolution immediately prior to, and in the aftermath of, the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) extinction event. We report on a specimen of a large ornithurine bird (closely related to Ichthyornis) from the uppermost Cretaceous (Maastricht Formation) of Belgium. This is the first record of a bird from these historic strata and the only phylogenetically informative ornithurine to be recovered from the Mesozoic of Europe. Because this new specimen was collected from 40 m below the K-T boundary (approximate age of 65.8 Ma), it is also the youngest non-neornithine (=non-modern) bird known from anywhere in the world.