Rhetorical Recommendations Built on Ecological Experience: A Reassessment of the Challenge of Environmental Communication

This article reconsiders the challenge of environmental communication by inquiring into the fundamental rhetorical difficulty of thinking in terms of ecology. We discuss two essential yet bewildering aspects of ecology: its focus on interconnection and its use of multiple scales. On this basis, we distil six rhetorical recommendations: a shift from appealing to pre-existing values to avenues for transforming values; a shift from arguments from authority to addressing legitimate resistances; a shift from a focus on mutual agreement to a mutual bewilderment; a shift from intellectual comprehension to personal experience; a shift from negative effects to positive connections; and, finally, a shift from a focus on political results to local transformations. We experiment with this rhetorical approach through two applications: for critical reassessments of past articulations we consider the Gaia Hypothesis and Deep Ecology, and for current refinements to environmental problems we consider controversies around Marcellus Shale gas development     

Reserve Design to Maximize Species Persistence

We develop a reserve design strategy to maximize the probability of species persistence predicted by a stochastic, individual-based, metapopulation model. Because the population model does not fit exact optimization procedures, our strategy involves deriving promising solutions from theory, obtaining promising solutions from a simulation optimization heuristic, and determining the best of the promising solutions using a multiple-comparison statistical test. We use the strategy to address a problem of allocating limited resources to new and existing reserves. The best reserve design depends on emigration, dispersal mortality, and probabilities of movement between reserves. When movement probabilities are symmetric, the best design is to expand a subset of reserves to equal size to exhaust the habitat budget. When movement probabilities are not symmetric, the best design does not expand reserves to equal size and is strongly affected by movement probabilities and emigration rates. We use commercial simulation software to obtain our results.     

Geospatial Analysis of Climatic and Geomorphic Interactions Influencing Stream Discharge, Appalachian Mountains, USA

Streamflow values are commonly synthesized for locations where flow measurement stations are lacking or where only intermittent measurements are available. In an Appalachian Mountains dataset comprised of 29 watersheds, the most appropriate among geomorphic, geologic, and hydrogeologic datasets were selected for use in prediction of streamflow at watershed scale. A statistical model was developed using principal components analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) for. Using CA on variables derived from the PCA, an optimum set of variables was derived for predicting streamflow. Results indicate there are two categories of watersheds in the study area. The first is strongly correlated with climatic variables (precipitation, temperature, elevation, and groundwater recharge). The second is strongly correlated with two geomorphic variables (watershed slope and percentage of forested area). The spatial distribution of cluster classifications shows that watersheds dominated by the climatic component are located along the Allegheny Front while watersheds dominated by the geomorphic component are located in the Allegheny Plateau and Valley and Ridge physiographic provinces. These variations between the Allegheny Plateau and Valley and Ridge physiographic provinces suggest that, to accurately model streamflow, modeling needs be done based on natural physiographic boundaries rather than political boundaries. In this physiographic setting, elevation seems to be a major control.     

Trace metal dynamics in fishes from the southwest coast of India

The concentration of Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb in the muscle tissue of marine fishes like Lates calcarifer, Nemipterus japonicus, Caranx melampygus, Rastrelliger kanagurta, and Cyanoglossus macrostomus was estimated from samples collected in the continental shelf waters off Kochi and Mangalore on southwest coast of India. Species-specific and spatially heterogeneous patterns of tissue metals loads were apparent within the pelagic and demersal fish species for the two regions. The concentration ranges of Fe (541.60 to 649.60 ppm), Ni (12.12 to 13.92 ppm), and Cu (3.09 to 3.62 ppm) were higher in the demersal species C. melampygus, whereas Co (9.10 to 11.80 ppm) and Zn (79.30 to 84.30 ppm) were higher in the pelagic species L. calcarifer and Cd (4.35 to 6.38 ppm) were higher in the demersal species N. japonicus, possibly due to enhanced bioavailability of these metals from ecological processes associated with upwelling during the summer monsoon. The fish species showed a great capacity to accumulate metals, with highest bioaccumulation for the essential element iron and lowest bioaccumulation for the non-essential element lead. Among the demersal species, C. melampygus and N. japonicus had high concentration factors for the metals Fe (280,268 to 322,808), Ni (88,252 to 96,891), Cu (2,351 to 2,600), and Cd (29,637 to 32,404). In contrast, the pelagic species L. calcarifer and R. kanagurta had high concentration factors for the metals Zn (40,812 to 46,892), Co (280,285 to 423,037), and Pb (854 to 1,404).     

Settlement analysis of fresh and partially stabilised municipal solid waste in simulated controlled dumps and bioreactor landfills

The patterns of settlement of fresh as well as partially stabilised municipal solid waste (MSW), undergoing degradation in five different landfill lysimeters, were studied elaborately. The first two lysimeters, R1 and R2, contained fresh MSW while the other three lysimeters, R3, R4 and R5, contained partially stabilised MSW. R1 and R3 simulated conventional controlled dumps with fortnightly disposal of drained leachate. R2 and R4 simulated bioreactor landfills with leachate recirculation. Fortnightly water flushing was done in R5. Settlement of MSW, monitored over a period of 58 weeks, was correlated with the organic carbon content of leachate and residual volatile matter in the MSW to establish the relationship between settlement and organic destruction. Compressibility parameters such as modulus of elasticity and compression indices were determined and empirical equations were applied for the settlement data. Overall settlements up to 49% were observed in the case of landfill lysimeters, filled with fresh MSW. Landfill lysimeters with liquid addition, in the form of leachate or water, experienced lower primary settlements and higher secondary settlements than conventional fills, where no liquid addition was practised. Modified secondary compression indices for MSW in lysimeters with leachate recirculation and flushing were 30%-44% higher than that for lysimeters where no liquid addition was done. Secondary settlements in bioreactor landfills were found to vary exponentially with time.     

Comparative study of transport processes of nitrogen, phosphorus, and herbicides to streams in five agricultural basins, USA

Agricultural chemical transport to surface water and the linkage to other hydrological compartments, principally ground water, was investigated at five watersheds in semiarid to humid climatic settings. Chemical transport was affected by storm water runoff, soil drainage, irrigation, and how streams were linked to shallow ground water systems. Irrigation practices and timing of chemical use greatly affected nutrient and pesticide transport in the semiarid basins. Irrigation with imported water tended to increase ground water and chemical transport, whereas the use of locally pumped irrigation water may eliminate connections between streams and ground water, resulting in lower annual loads. Drainage pathways in humid environments are important because the loads may be transported in tile drains, or through varying combinations of ground water discharge, and overland flow. In most cases, overland flow contributed the greatest loads, but a significant portion of the annual load of nitrate and some pesticide degradates can be transported under base-flow conditions. The highest basin yields for nitrate were measured in a semiarid irrigated system that used imported water and in a stream dominated by tile drainage in a humid environment. Pesticide loads, as a percent of actual use (LAPU), showed the effects of climate and geohydrologic conditions. The LAPU values in the semiarid study basin in Washington were generally low because most of the load was transported in ground water discharge to the stream. When herbicides are applied during the rainy season in a semiarid setting, such as simazine in the California basin, LAPU values are similar to those in the Midwest basins.     

Changes in surface water quality from small-scale gold mining operations in the Surinamean rainforest

Abstract

Small-scale miners often engage in environmentally damaging activities, are subject to poor safety conditions, and utilize inefficient mineral extraction technologies. Here, we explore environmental impacts to surface waters from regional artisanal small-scale gold placer mining operations conducted in iron and aluminum-rich saprolites found within the lateritic, interior Amazon rainforest of Suriname. Heavy equipment was utilized to release gold from its host material followed by amalgamation and gravity separation. In contrast with background tributary recordings, streams adjacent to these gold mining operations consistently contained turbidity measurements that exceeded United States’ EPA guidelines for aquatic species of 50 nephelometric turbidity units and were typically in the hundreds to thousands of units. Turbidity was further heightened in association with precipitation events. Mercury played a prominent role in whole ore amalgam concentration practices. Freshwater fish from the region were found to harbor mercury that encroached upon public health criteria. Dissolved phase metals present further ecotoxicological challenges to the region, but their association with mining activities was less clear. These findings collectively reveal that small-scale placer gold mining practices in the Surinamese rainforest result in an increase of suspended sediments and release of mercury into waterways that could impact communities that depend upon local fisheries.     

Status and trends of circumpolar peregrine falcon and gyrfalcon populations

Ambio - The peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) and the gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus) are top avian predators of Arctic ecosystems. Although existing monitoring efforts are well established for both...