High on pollution: drugs as environmental contaminants

Environmental protection has advanced in leaps and bounds over recent years and today we undoubtedly live in a much cleaner world than we did a generation ago. But look closely and all is not what it seems. Rather than reducing pollution, we are, in fact, still bathed in a sea of chemicals. What is more, most of them originate not from factories or agriculture but from our own homes, in the form of drugs and consumer products. Tackling these diffuse sources presents one of the main environmental challenges of the 21st century.     

Tourism impacts of Three Mile Island and other adverse events: Implications for Lincoln County and other rural counties bisected by radioactive wastes intended for Yucca Mountain

Whether the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository system will adversely impact tourism in southern Nevada is an open question of particular importance to visitor-oriented rural counties bisected by planned waste transportatin corridors (highway or rail). As part of one such county's repository impact assessment program, tourism implications of Three Mile Island (TMI) and other major hazard events have beem revisited to inform ongoing county-wide socioeconomic assessments and contingency planning efforts. This paper summarizes key research implications of such research as applied to Lincoln County, Nevada. Implications for other rural counties are discussed in light of the research findings.     

A Hydrologic/Water Quality Model Applicati11

Abstract: This paper presents a procedure for standard application of hydrologic/water quality models. To date, most hydrologic/water quality modeling projects and studies have not utilized formal protocols, but rather have employed ad hoc approaches. The procedure proposed is an adaptation and extension of steps identified from relevant literature including guidance provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This protocol provides guidance for establishing written plans prior to conducting modeling efforts. Eleven issues that should be addressed in model application plans were identified and discussed in the context of hydrologic/water quality studies. A graded approach for selection of the level of documentation for each item was suggested. The creation and use of environmental modeling plans is increasingly important as the results of modeling projects are used in decision‐making processes that have significant implications. Standard modeling application protocols similar to the proposed procedure herein provide modelers with a roadmap to be followed, reduces modelers’ bias, enhances the reproducibility of model application studies, and eventually improves acceptance of modeling outcomes.     

Exploited species impacts on trophic linkages along reef-seagrass interfaces in the Florida Keys

The removal of fish biomass by extensive commercial and recreational fishing has been hypothesized to drastically alter the strength of trophic linkages among adjacent habitats. We evaluated the effects of removing predatory fishes on trophic transfers between coral reefs and adjacent seagrass meadows by comparing fish community structure, grazing intensity, and invertebrate predation potential in predator-rich no-take sites and nearby predator-poor fished sites in the Florida Keys (USA). Exploited fishes were more abundant at the no-take sites than at the fished sites. Most of the exploited fishes were either omnivores or invertivores. More piscivores were recorded at no-take sites, but most (approximately 95%) were moderately fished and unexploited species (barracuda and bar jacks, respectively). Impacts of these consumers on lower trophic levels were modest. Herbivorous and smaller prey fish (< 10 cm total length) densities and seagrass grazing diminished with distance from reefs and were not negatively impacted by the elevated densities of exploited fishes at no-take sites. Predation by reef fishes on most tethered invertebrates was high, but exploited species impacts varied with prey type. The results of the study show that, even though abundances of reef-associated fishes have been reduced at fished sites, there is little evidence that this has produced cascading trophic effects or interrupted cross-habitat energy exchanges between coral reefs and seagrasses.     

A Short Survey Instrument to Segment Populations According to Their Attitudes Toward Science. Scale Development,Optimization and Assessment

ABSTRACT

Surveys play a key role in researching public perceptions of and attitudes toward science. Accordingly, there is a breadth of often-used survey instruments available which have also been adopted for segmentation analyses. Even though many of these segmentation solutions are similar in their aims, they often include a large numbers of variables, making it more difficult for other researchers to build on these solutions, as survey time is scarce. Therefore, we demonstrate how a large number of variables that were used for a comprehensive segmentation analysis can be reduced considerably without losing too much information. We develop and test a short survey instrument to segment populations according to their attitudes toward science. Results show that segmentation results can be replicated with over 90% accuracy by reducing the instrument from 20 to 10 variables. This reduction does not significantly affect the predictive power of segment attribution on three dependent variables, which suggests that many segmentation analyses could be similarly optimized, helping researchers save survey time and standardize segmentation analyses more.     

Modeling Water Quantity and Sulfate Concentrations in the Devils Lake Watershed Using Coupled SWAT and CE‐QUAL‐W2

Devils Lake is an endorheic lake in the Red River of the North basin in northeastern North Dakota. During the last two decades, the lake water level has risen by nearly 10 m, causing floods that have cost more than 1 billion USD in mitigation measures. Another increase of approximately 1.5 m in the lake water level would cause spillage into the Sheyenne River. To alleviate this potentially catastrophic spillage, two artificial outlets were constructed. However, the artificial drainage of water into the Sheyenne River raises water quality concerns because the Devils Lake water contains significantly higher concentrations of dissolved solids, particularly sulfate. In this study, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was coupled with the CE‐QUAL‐W2 model to simulate both water balance and sulfate concentrations in the lake. The SWAT model performed well in simulating daily flow in tributaries with E_NS > 0.5 and |PBIAS| < 25%, and reproduced the lake water level with a root mean square error of 0.35 m for the study period from 1995 to 2014. The water temperature and sulfate concentrations simulated by CE‐QUAL‐W2 for the lake are in general agreement with the field observations. The model results show that the operation of the two outlets since August 2005 has lowered the lake level by 0.70 m. Furthermore, the models show pumping water from the two outlets raises sulfate concentrations in the Sheyenne River from ~100 to >500 mg/L. Editor's note : This paper is part of the featured series on SWAT Applications for Emerging Hydrologic and Water Quality Challenges. See the February 2017 issue for the introduction and background to the series.     

关于欧盟植物保护品对鸟类和哺乳动物的风险评估的反思：过去、现在和未来

植物保护品在农作物上的使用会导致鸟类和哺乳动物接触有毒化学物质。在欧盟,关于此类暴露的风险评估均以当前(2009)欧洲食品安全局(EFSA)颁布的指导性文件为依据,与之前的版本相比,该文件在理论风险评估的可实现性方面有所提高(SANCO/4145/2000)。自从7年前实施2009 EFSA 指导性文件以来,基于此已经对众多植物保护品的毒性进行了成功地评估。然而,在今后的修订版本中仍然存在需要改进的重要方面。这篇焦点文章讨论了目前方案的风险评估经验,包括输入参数的保守水平和监管当局的解释以及如何在不远的将来对指导性文件进行修订提出建议。明确了推进指导文件的几方面建议,例如与生态相关的鸟类和哺乳动物生殖端点的推导和情境风险评估中建模方法的使用。在完善现有数据库方面,本文也有所强调,包括校对全欧洲相关焦点物种和扩大食物残留数据库。为了能够在将来形成一个真实可用的指导性文件,强烈建议在产业、监管和欧洲食品安全局等部门之间进行开放和建设性的沟通和交流。这样的合作也将鼓励会员国之间的融合,从而减轻产业和监管机构工作负荷。
精选自Amy C. Brooks, Mike Fryer, Alan Lawrence, Juan Pascual, Rachel Sharp. Reflections on bird and mammal risk assessment for plant protection products in the European Union: past, present and future. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry: Volume 36, Issue 3, pages 565–575, July 2017. DOI: 10.1002/etc.3719
详情请见http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1002/etc.3719/full
     

Beyond Counting Climate Consensus

Several studies have been using quantified consensus within climate science as an argument to foster climate policy. Recent efforts to communicate such scientific consensus attained a high public profile but it is doubtful if they can be regarded successful. We argue that repeated efforts to shore up the scientific consensus on minimalist claims such as “humans cause global warming” are distractions from more urgent matters of knowledge, values, policy framing and public engagement. Such efforts to force policy progress through communicating scientific consensus misunderstand the relationship between scientific knowledge, publics and policymakers. More important is to focus on genuinely controversial issues within climate policy debates where expertise might play a facilitating role. Mobilizing expertise in policy debates calls for judgment, context and attention to diversity, rather than deferring to formal quantifications of narrowly scientific claims.     

The application of potassium ferrate for sewage treatment

The comparative performance of potassium ferrate(VI), ferric sulphate and aluminium sulphate for the removal of turbidity, chemical oxygen demand (COD), colour (as Vis400-abs) and bacteria in sewage treatment was evaluated. For coagulation and disinfection of sewage, potassium ferrate(VI) can remove more organic contaminants, COD and bacteria in comparison with the other two coagulants for the same doses used. Also, potassium ferrate(VI) produces less sludge volume and removes more contaminants, which should make subsequent sludge treatment easier.     

10th Anniversary lecture: looking to the future of POPs

In August, around 850 delegates from 46 countries gathered in Birmingham (UK) for the 28th International Symposium on Halogenated Persistent Organic Pollutants ('Dioxin 2008', for short). Inaugurated in Rome in 1980, this has grown to become the main research symposium worldwide for research in the field of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). This was the first time the meeting had been held in the UK, the venue being Birmingham's world-class International Convention Centre.