Evidence-based guidelines for automated conservation assessments of plant species

Assessing species’ extinction risk is vital to setting conservation priorities. However, assessment endeavors, such as those used to produce the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, have significant gaps in taxonomic coverage. Automated assessment (AA) methods are gaining popularity to fill these gaps. Choices made in developing, using, and reporting results of AA methods could hinder their successful adoption or lead to poor allocation of conservation resources. We explored how choice of data cleaning type and level, taxonomic group, training sample, and automation method affect performance of threat status predictions for plant species. We used occurrences from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) to generate assessments for species in 3 taxonomic groups based on 6 different occurrence-based AA methods. We measured each method's performance and coverage following increasingly stringent occurrence cleaning. Automatically cleaned data from GBIF performed comparably to occurrence records cleaned manually by experts. However, all types of data cleaning limited the coverage of AAs. Overall, machine-learning-based methods performed well across taxa, even with minimal data cleaning. Results suggest a machine-learning-based method applied to minimally cleaned data offers the best compromise between performance and species coverage. However, optimal data cleaning, training sample, and automation methods depend on the study group, intended applications, and expertise.     

Autonomous mobile platform for monitoring air emissions from industrial and municipal wastewater ponds

Significant amounts of volatile organic compounds and greenhouse gases are generated from wastewater lagoons and tailings ponds in Alberta, Canada. Accurate measurements of these air pollutants and greenhouse gases are needed to support management and regulatory decisions. A mobile platform was developed to measure air emissions from tailings pond in the oil sands region of Alberta. The mobile platform was tested in 2015 in a municipal wastewater treatment lagoon. With a flux chamber and a CO₂/CH₄ sensor on board, the mobile platform was able to measure CO₂ and CH₄ emissions over two days at two different locations in the pond. Flux emission rates of CO₂ and CH₄ that were measured over the study period suggest the presence of aerobic and anaerobic zones in the wastewater treatment lagoon. The study demonstrated the capabilities of the mobile platform in measuring fugitive air emissions and identified the potential for the applications in air and water quality monitoring programs.

Implications: The Mobile Platform demonstrated in this study has the ability to measure greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from fugitive sources such as municipal wastewater lagoons. This technology can be used to measure emission fluxes from tailings ponds with better detection of spatial and temporal variations of fugitive emissions. Additional air and water sampling equipment could be added to the mobile platform for a broad range of air and water quality studies in the oil sands region of Alberta.     

A survey of storm-water management water quality regulations in four Mid-Atlantic States

This paper examines and compares the management practices and regulatory approaches used by the Mid-Atlantic States of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania for improving the quality of storm-water runoff. Such practices range from simple extended detention criteria in Pennsylvania through the BMP credit system used by Maryland, to the latest "green technology" methods promoted in Delaware and the recharge, quality and peak reduction approaches of New Jersey. All practices are designed to meet EPA requirements for total suspended solids (TSS) removal, but verification of performance is not required. More sophisticated methods of evaluating TSS removal that can be used for engineering design purposes are needed.     

Barriers,potentialities, and actions for implementation of sustainable energy procedures in Brazilian federal universities

Many universities around the world have served as active centers for research on climate change. However, there are several barriers to their activities, stemming from the nature of research, resources, and the structure of institutions. This document provides an overview of barriers, potential factors, and activities to develop and implement sustainable energy processes in public higher education institutions (HEIs) in Brazil. The research was conducted from March to April of 2018 with representatives of HEIs (rectors or prorectors of research). A total of 63 invitations to respond to the Survey‐monkey survey were emailed, and responses were received from 32 universities. The research concludes by proposing measures that can be taken to make the issue of climate change more present and effective in university research and teaching activities. This includes changes in research, information dissemination, and teaching approaches to better support actions to address climate change. In Brazil, there are many potentialities in terms of natural resources, but actions for implementation are still incipient. Further efforts and investment in research and development will be required.     

The Fourth Generation: New Strategies Call for New Eco‐Indicators

Under pressure from public opinion, the attitude of companies toward environmental issues has changed considerably since the 1970s. Over the past decades, there have been three distinct generations of environmental strategies and indicators. Now, at the beginning of a new century, we can start to see the contours of the fourth generation of environmental strategies and indicators—a generation that eventually will change the rules of the business game. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Transport of Sewage Sludge From the 106-Mile Site - Results From an October Survey

Approximately 8 million tons of sewage sludge were disposed of annually at the 106-Mile Deepwater Municipal Sludge Dump Site (106-Mile Site) between 1987 and 1990. Beginning in 1988 and continuing to the present, the focus of monitoring at the 106-Mile Site moved towards improved understanding of the fate of the sludge. A survey conducted in October 1989 was designed to (1) detect the presence of any sludge particles that settle rapidly following disposal, (2) determine if sludge could be detected in the surface waters at locations away from the immediate disposal site, and (3) determine if water quality was degraded, by assessing whether the Environmental Protection Agency's marine water quality criteria were being exceeded.

The survey showed that the sludge does have a rapidly settling component composed of organic floc. mineral grains, and other heavy, gritlike particles, all of which are relatively large. These particles may settle at rates of between 8 and 180 m h^-1 and may reach the sea floor within 1 to 13 days following disposal. Even though a rapidly settling component is present in the sludge, a significant fraction of the sludge was detectable in the form of intact sludge plumes in the upper 35 m of the water column at least 15 km from the Site. in addition, unique tracers of sludge such as xylem tracheids and Clostridium perfringens plus elevated total suspended solids and trace metals concentrations, were found at locations up to 40 km from the Site. the presence of these tracers correspond with in situ transmissometry data suggesting that a fraction of the sludge was remaining in the near-surface waters above the seasonal pycnocline. Concentrations of metals were below EPA chronic marine water quality criteria, which indicates that the water quality downstream of the Site was not impaired. the detection of sludge downstream of the 106-Mile Site is consistent with the southwestward movement of the surface water mass during the survey, as recorded by satellite-tracked surface drifters and current vectors derived from a current meter moored at 100-m depth immediately west of the Site. Near-surface transport was generally towards the southwest at a speed of approximately 22 cm s^-1*.     

Coping with variability and change: Floods and droughts

Floods and droughts are natural phenomena for which the risks of occurrence are likely to continue to grow. Increasing levels of exposure and insufficient adaptive capacity are among the factors responsible for the rising vulnerability. The former is conditioned by anthropopressure (e.g., economic development of flood–prone areas) and adverse effects of climate change; scenarios for future climates indicate the possibility of amplified water–related extremes. This article presents the current situation of coping with extreme hydrological events within the pressure–state–response framework. Among promising response strategies, the role of forecast and warning, and of watershed management are reviewed. Sample success stories and lessons learnt related to hydrological extremes are given and policy implications discussed.     

The landscape design of forestry

The value placed by the public on the nation's rural landscapes is emphasised by vociferous criticism of insensitive, large‐scale afforestation. As forestry causes massive changes in the landscape in the short term, with results that last for decades, the opportunity provided to improve and conserve should be positively grasped. There is evidence that concensus exists over a considerable part of landscape and design, and this paper explores some of the major factors in landscape design which are consistently important in forest landscapes.     

Relationship between foliar injury and changes in antioxidant levels in red and Norway spruce exposed to acidic mists

Elevated levels of total glutathione and enhanced activities of glutathione reductase and ascorbate peroxidase were found in needles of red spruce which had been exposed to acidic mists. Reduced levels of ascorbate were also detected. Such observations suggest that oxidative stress is involved in processes which resist foliar injury caused by acidic misting. Different ionic compositions of the acidic mists applied had pronounced effects on the levels of these antioxidants and the activities of related enzymes. Sulphate was found to be most effective in causing increases in glutathione, while additions of ammonium and/or nitrate mitigated the effects of sulphuric acid. Moreover, it is the composition of ions in the applied mists, rather than the levels of acidity, that determines the extent of the overall response of red spruce. By contrast, although acidic mists caused similar increases in glutathione content of Norway spruce needles, no statistically significant changes of ascorbate or related enzymic activities were found.     

The return of the giants: ecological effects of an increasing elephant population

Northern Botswana and adjacent areas, have the world's largest population of African elephant (Loxodonta africana). However, a 100 years ago elephants were rare following excessive hunting. Simultaneously, ungulate populations were severely reduced by decease. The ecological effects of the reduction in large herbivores must have been substantial, but are little known. Today, however, ecosystem changes following the increase in elephant numbers cause considerable concern in Botswana. This was the background for the "BONIC" project, investigating the interactions between the increasing elephant population and other ecosystem components and processes. Results confirm that the ecosystem is changing following the increase in elephant and ungulate populations, and, presumably, developing towards a situation resembling that before the reduction of large herbivores. We see no ecological reasons to artificially change elephant numbers. There are, however, economic and social reasons to control elephants, and their range in northern Botswana may have to be artificially restricted.