The importance of monitoring and evaluation in adaptive maritime spatial planning

Adaptive maritime spatial planning (MSP) uses monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of spatial and temporal management measures to promote understanding and improve planning and decision-making. An adaptive approach to MSP involves exploring alternative ways to meet management objectives, predicting the outcomes of alternative management measures, implementing one or more of these alternative management measures, monitoring to learn about the effects of management measures, and then using the results to update knowledge and adjust management actions. A monitoring and evaluation plan should be designed to be both cost effective and comprehensive. The process of setting and assessing performance metrics requires that the ecological and socio-economic objectives of the spatial management plan must be clearly stated up front for management actions to reflect those objectives accurately. To evaluate the effectiveness of a MSP plan, a range of ecological, socio-economic and institutional indicators need to be developed and monitored.     

Modelling short-term effects of ozone on morbidity: an application to the city of Milano,Italy, 1995–2003

In this paper, we explore a range of concerns that arise in measuring short-term effects of ozone on health. In particular, we tackle the problem of measuring exposure using alternative daily measures of ozone derived from hourly concentrations. We adopt the exposure paradigm of Chiogna and Bellini (Environmetrics 13:55–69, 2002) extending it to ozone concentrations, and we compare its performances with respect to traditional exposure measures by exploiting model selection. To investigate the stability of model selection, we then apply the idea of bootstrapping the modelling process.     

Effects of salinity on multiplication and transmission of an intertidal trematode parasite

Salinity levels vary spatially in coastal areas, depending on proximity to freshwater sources, and may also be slowly decreasing as a result of anthropogenic climatic changes. The impact of salinity on host–parasite interactions is potentially a key regulator of transmission processes in intertidal areas, where trematodes are extremely common parasites of invertebrates and vertebrates. We investigated experimentally the effects of long-term exposure to decreased salinity levels on output of infective stages (cercariae) and their transmission success in the trematode Philophthalmus sp. This parasite uses the snail Zeacumantus subcarinatus as intermediate host, in which it asexually produces cercariae. After leaving the snail, cercariae encyst externally on hard substrates to await accidental ingestion by shorebirds, which serve as definitive hosts. We found that at reduced salinities (25 or 30 psu), the cercarial output of the parasite was lower, the time taken by cercariae to encyst was longer, fewer cercariae successfully encysted and encysted parasites had lower long-term survival than at normal seawater salinity (35 psu). The strong effect of salinity on the replication and transmission of this parasite suggests that there may be sources and sinks of transmission to birds along coastal areas, depending on local salinity conditions. Also, unless it evolves to adapt to changing conditions, the predicted reduction in salinity as a consequence of climate change may have negative impact on the parasite’s abundance.     

Do corals select zooxanthellae by alternative discharge?

Loss of zooxanthellae (dinoflagellate Symbiodinium) from corals will sometimes lead to mass mortality of corals. To detect and quantify Symbiodinium released from corals, we developed a zooxanthellae “trap” and a quantitative PCR (qPCR) system with Symbiodinium clades A–F-specific primer sets. The trap was attached to a branch or the surface of several wild stony corals, and the water samples within the traps, including released Symbiodinium, were subjected to qPCR. All tested corals released clade C Symbiodinium at estimates of ~5,900 cells h⁻¹ cm⁻² of coral surface. Although all tested Pocillopora eydouxi harboured both clades C and D, some of these colonies released only clade C or released a lesser amount of clade D than that in the tissues. Our Symbiodinium quantification system revealed that wild hermatypic corals constantly release Symbiodinium to the environment. Our result suggests that some corals may discharge certain clades of Symbiodinium alternatively.     

The effects of autophagy in rat tracheal epithelial cells induced by silver nanoparticles

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The massive use of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) is potentially harmful to exposed humans. Although previous studies have found that AgNPs can induce...     

Assessing the mechanism of barriers towards green finance and public spending in small and medium enterprises from developed countries

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Due to their different abilities to improve financial growth and improve social development, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have been referred to...     

协同治理理论视角下连云港湾长制试点存在的问题及对策

近岸海域环境综合治理是典型的公共产品和公共服务,需要多个主体协同治理。连云港湾长制已实施两年多,虽取得了一定成效,但从协同治理理论来看,仍存在治理主体相对单一、公众参与不足问题。因此,今后应以协同治理理论为指导,形成多元的治理主体,树立各个治理主体的权威性,加强各治理主体的协同性,充分发挥各治理主体的积极性,共同推进湾长制的实施。     

三门峡水库水体中不同形态汞的分布特征

为了解三门峡水库水体中不同形态汞的分布特征,在丰水期和枯水期对三门峡水库进行采样,分别采用冷原子荧光光谱法(CVAFS)和蒸馏-乙基化衍生-气相色谱-冷原子荧光法(GC-CVAFS)测定水样中总汞、总甲基汞、溶解态总汞和溶解态甲基汞的浓度.结果表明,三门峡水库水体中总汞、溶解态汞和颗粒态汞浓度范围分别为1.65~9.65、0.80~3.16和0.70~7.81 ng·L~(-1),符合国家地表水环境质量标准(GB 3838-2002)一类水汞浓度标准限值;总甲基汞、溶解态甲基汞和颗粒态甲基汞浓度分别为0.05~0.36、0.02~0.14和ND~0.26 ng·L~(-1).三门峡水库水体总汞和甲基汞在季节和空间分布上没有呈现出明显的变化规律.总汞和甲基汞与未受污染的天然水体差别不大,水库未受到明显的汞污染.丰、枯水期沉积物中总汞浓度分别为(92.96±10.65)ng·g~(-1)和(80.06±19.14)ng·g~(-1),甲基汞浓度分别为(0.33±0.14)ng·g~(-1)和(0.50±0.19)ng·g~(-1).较低的甲基汞浓度说明在三门峡水库汞的迁移转化过程中,甲基化作用可能并非主要的过程,这可能与水体底层溶解氧浓度较高以及沉积物中有机质浓度较低有关.