A biomonitoring plan for assessing potential radionuclide exposure using Amchitka Island in the Aleutian chain of Alaska as a case study

With the ending of the Cold War, the US and other nations were faced with a legacy of nuclear wastes. For some sites where hazardous nuclear wastes will remain in place, methods must be developed to protect human health and the environment. Biomonitoring is one method of assessing the status and trends of potential radionuclide exposure from nuclear waste sites, and of providing the public with early warning of any potential harmful exposure. Amchitka Island (51 degrees N lat, 179 degrees E long) was the site of three underground nuclear tests from 1965 to 1971. Following a substantive study of radionuclide levels in biota from the marine environment around Amchitka and a reference site, we developed a suite of bioindicators (with suggested isotopes) that can serve as a model for other sites contaminated with radionuclides. Although the species selection was site-specific, the methods can provide a framework for other sites. We selected bioindicators using five criteria: (1) occurrence at all three test shots (and reference site), (2) receptor groups (subsistence foods, commercial species, and food chain nodes), (3) species groups (plants, invertebrates, fish, and birds), (4) trophic levels, and (5) an accumulator of one or several radionuclides. Our major objective was to identify bioindicators that could serve for both human health and the ecosystem, and were abundant enough to collect adjacent to the three test sites and at the reference site. Site-specific information on both biota availability and isotope levels was essential in the final selection of bioindicators. Actinides bioaccumulated in algae and invertebrates, while radiocesium accumulated in higher trophic level birds and fish. Thus, unlike biomonitoring schemes developed for heavy metals or other contaminants, top-level predators are not sufficient to evaluate potential radionuclide exposure at Amchitka. The process described in this paper resulted in the selection of Fucus, Alaria fistulosa, blue mussel (Mytilus trossulus), dolly varden (Salvelinus malma), black rockfish (Sebastes melanops), Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus), Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis), and glaucous-winged gull (Larus glaucescens) as bioindicators. This combination of species included mainly subsistence foods, commercial fish, and nodes on different food chains.     

Perceptions of climate change risk in four disaster-impacted rural Australian towns

Australia, a country which has regularly experienced various natural disasters, is now set to face more intense and frequent disasters in the twenty-first century as a result of climate change. Prior research indicates that in Australia, the perceived risks of climate change are mixed and becoming less prevalent across rural and urban locations, posing a threat to the public’s adoption of mitigation and adaptation strategies. Research was conducted in four disaster-impacted rural Australian towns to investigate whether prior disaster experience, trust in climate change risk communications and specific location predicted climate change risk perceptions. Four case study sites were chosen exemplifying communities impacted by different types of disaster events. The case study towns were Beechworth (wildfire, 2009) and Bendigo (drought, 2002–2008) in Victoria; Ingham (flood, 2009) and Innisfail (cyclone, 2006) in Queensland. Structural equation modelling analyses of surveys returned by a sample of 1,008 householders across the four towns showed that prior disaster experience had no impact upon climate change risk perceptions. Instead climate change risk perceptions were predicted by trust in climate change communications, climate change knowledge and the geographical location of the sample, suggesting the need for targeted, place-specific contextual communication interventions that consider the needs and socioeconomic characteristics of the community in question.     

The Death of Humanitarianism?: An Anatomy of the Attack

Over recent years, the humanitarian community has been under increasing scrutiny and attracted harsh criticism. This mounting critique of humanitarianism has shifted from being concerned primarily with the poor functioning of the humanitarian system to one targeted on basic humanitarian values. This paper is concerned to understand the factors driving the attack on humanitarian values. It identifies four apparently disparate groups who are interested in attacking these values: the anti-imperialists, the realpolitikers, the developmentalists and the neo-peaceniks. It concludes that unless humanitarian actors are aware of these diverse threats to their values and operations, they risk being co-opted or marginalised.     

Secretor Status is Associated with Susceptibility to Disease in a Large GII.6 Norovirus Foodborne Outbreak

Food and Environmental Virology - Norovirus is commonly associated with food and waterborne outbreaks. Genetic susceptibility to norovirus is largely dependent on presence of histo-blood group...     

Errors and uncertainties in a gridded carbon dioxide emissions inventory

Emission inventories (EIs) are the fundamental tool to monitor compliance with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and emission reduction commitments. Inventory accounting guidelines provide the best practices to help EI compilers across different countries and regions make comparable, national emission estimates regardless of differences in data availability. However, there are a variety of sources of error and uncertainty that originate beyond what the inventory guidelines can define. Spatially explicit EIs, which are a key product for atmospheric modeling applications, are often developed for research purposes and there are no specific guidelines to achieve spatial emission estimates. The errors and uncertainties associated with the spatial estimates are unique to the approaches employed and are often difficult to assess. This study compares the global, high-resolution (1 km), fossil fuel, carbon dioxide (CO₂), gridded EI Open-source Data Inventory for Anthropogenic CO₂ (ODIAC) with the multi-resolution, spatially explicit bottom-up EI geoinformation technologies, spatio-temporal approaches, and full carbon account for improving the accuracy of GHG inventories (GESAPU) over the domain of Poland. By taking full advantage of the data granularity that bottom-up EI offers, this study characterized the potential biases in spatial disaggregation by emission sector (point and non-point emissions) across different scales (national, subnational/regional, and urban policy-relevant scales) and identified the root causes. While two EIs are in agreement in total and sectoral emissions (2.2% for the total emissions), the emission spatial patterns showed large differences (10~100% relative differences at 1 km) especially at the urban-rural transitioning areas (90–100%). We however found that the agreement of emissions over urban areas is surprisingly good compared with the estimates previously reported for US cities. This paper also discusses the use of spatially explicit EIs for climate mitigation applications beyond the common use in atmospheric modeling. We conclude with a discussion of current and future challenges of EIs in support of successful implementation of GHG emission monitoring and mitigation activity under the Paris Climate Agreement from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21). We highlight the importance of capacity building for EI development and coordinated research efforts of EI, atmospheric observations, and modeling to overcome the challenges.

     

An inexpensive depth gauge for marine animals

Current models of time-at-depth gauges are so expensive that few can be deployed and only limited data obtained. We describe an inexpensive depth gauge for use on marine animals, which we tested on diving birds. The device was constructed from components costing $2 (US); and had a mass of 6 g. The gauge employs photographic film to record the depth-dependent position of a light emitting diode. The total time that the animal spends at each depth underwater can be determined.     

Examples of sustainable development efforts in Costa Rica

SUMMARY

Efforts towards sustainable development are now being undertaken at all levels and the concept has increasingly entered the consciousness of the average person. For many Costa Ricans however, it is not just an abstract concept but a matter of survival as input costs increase, natural resources diminish and the soil loses fertility or is washed away. This paper reviews three case studies representing different approaches towards achieving sustainable development by different types of organization which are each innovative in preventing further destruction of tropical forest resources.