The relationship between flow and bacteria in streams

A method is proposed to relate the statistics of in-stream bacteria concentrations to the surface-runoff fraction of stream flow. The parameters of this relationship include the characteristic concentration of bacteria in surface runoff and the characteristic concentration of bacteria in the base flow, and these parameters can be derived from synoptic bacteria and flow measurements. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated at several U.S. locations for both Escherichia coli and fecal coliform bacteria. Application of the proposed method at a particular location showed that the method can be used to identify the most effective bacteria source controls and that conventional application of the load-duration curve might lead to erroneous identification of target sources.     

Development of Thixotropic Coatings Using Dimerized Soybean Oil Fatty Acids: The Case of Polyamide of 1,2-Phenylene Diamine

Soybean oil (SBO) was dimerized and the crude dimer acid product reacted with 1,2-phenylene diamine at 210 ± 5 °C under inert atmosphere to obtain fatty polyamide (FPA). The FPA was used to modify a commercial alkyd resin by reacting a mixture of the alkyd resin with 5 wt% of FPA at 120 °C for 80 min under inert atmosphere. The FTIR spectrum of the FPA modified resin showed evidence of higher degree of H-bonding than was found for the unmodified alkyd. White gloss coatings of 15, 20, 25, and 30% solids were formulated from the modified and unmodified resins and examined for performance with respect to: leveling, sag resistance, drying time, pigment settling, skinning tendency and film hardness. Results showed that the unmodified alkyd coatings exhibited good leveling but poor sag resistance at all solid contents. In contrast, FPA modified alkyd coatings combined good leveling with high sag resistance indicating their thixotropic nature. A strong tendency to pigment settling was observed for unmodified alkyd coatings but was not observed in the FPA modified alkyd coatings. The modified alkyd coatings showed skinning while the unmodified alkyd coatings did not skin. A 30% solids coating formulation of the FPA modified resin showed shorter surface dry time but longer hard dry time than the unmodified alkyd resin coating.     

Preparation and Characterization of Hydrogel Based on Poly(vinyl alcohol) Cross-Linked by Different Cross-Linkers Used to Dry Organic Solvents

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogels were chemically cross-linked with/without different cross-linkers such as glutaraldehyde and epichlorohydrin, in the presence of a catalyst, or activator (potassium hydroxide) to produce three types of hydrogels. The structures of PVA and the prepared gel types were determined by FTIR spectroscopy, the mechanical and thermal properties, of these hydrogels were examined. The effects of different pH values and temperatures on the swelling properties of the prepared gels were examined. From the obtained results, it was found that, the low concentration of the cross-linker produced hydrogel with moderate properties, but in absence of the cross-linker, the obtained hydrogel exhibited good properties and can be used as friendly environmentally moisture absorbents from the organic solvents. The insolubility and swelling properties of gels were tested in these solvents. The results indicated that these hydrogels can be used as moisture absorbents and solvent dryers.     

The relations between natural and civic place attachment and pro-environmental behavior

The relation between place attachment and pro-environmental behavior is unclear. Studies have reported that place attachment is associated both with more and less pro-environmental behavior. To help clarify this, we distinguished two dimensions of place attachment: civic and natural, and explored their respective influences on pro-environmental behavior. A community sample of residents (N = 104) from two proximate towns with different environmental reputations reported the strength of their civic and natural place attachment, their performance of various pro-environmental behaviors, and a number of sociodemographic characteristics. Regression analyses revealed that natural, but not civic place attachment predicted pro-environmental behavior when controlling for the town, length of residence, gender, education and age. This demonstrates that research and theory on place attachment should consider its civic and natural dimensions independently.     

Universal criteria for assessing the ecological state of soil algocenoses

A set of criteria allowing demarcation between algocenoses is proposed. These criteria characterize the species composition, group of dominants, and taxonomic and ecological structure of algocenoses.     

Beyond selectivity: Are behavioral avoidance and hormesis likely causes of pyrethroid-induced outbreaks of the southern red mite Oligonychus ilicis?

Secondary pest outbreak is a counterintuitive ecological backlash of pesticide use in agriculture that takes place with the increase in abundance of a non-targeted pest species after pesticide application against a targeted pest species. Although the phenomenon was well recognized, its alternative causes are seldom considered. Outbreaks of the southern red mite Oligonychus ilicis are frequently reported in Brazilian coffee farms after the application of pyrethroid insecticides against the coffee leaf miner Leucoptera coffeella. Selectivity favoring the red mite against its main predatory mites is generally assumed as the outbreak cause, but this theory has never been tested. Here, we assessed the toxicity (and thus the selectivity) of deltamethrin against both mite species: the southern red mite and its phytoseid predator Amblyseius herbicolus. Additionally, behavioral avoidance and deltamethrin-induced hormesis were also tested as potential causes of red mite outbreak using free-choice behavioral walking bioassays with the predatory mite and life-table experiments with both mite species, respectively. Lethal toxicity bioassays indicated that the predatory mite was slightly more susceptible than its prey (1.5×), but in more robust demographic bioassays, the predator was three times more tolerant to deltamethrin than its prey, indicating that predator susceptibility to deltamethrin is not a cause of the reported outbreaks. The predator did not exhibit behavioral avoidance to deltamethrin; however insecticide-induced hormesis in the red mite led to its high population increase under low doses, which was not observed for the predatory mite. Therefore, deltamethrin-induced hormesis is a likely cause of the reported red mite outbreaks.     

Ozone Injury to Pinus Strobus

In a study of the ozone-induced needle blight of eastern white pine in central New York, acute injuries naturally induced on field trees during a year of relatively low ozone concentrations (1 966) were compared with injuries induced during a year of higher concentrations (1967). Injuries were more frequent and severe and were associated with higher mean ozone concentrations in 1967 than in 1966. Characteristic symptoms were induced on foliage of pine branches exposed to controlled doses of ozone as low as 7 ± 1 pphm for four hours or 3 ± 1 pphm for 48 hours. Such doses were equalled or exceeded two and four times, respectively, in the field during the 1 967 season. Ozone sensitivity of pine needle tissue was increased by fumigation in atmospheres containing water mist. High concentrations of ozone (40-60 pphm) caused general injury of foliage of both ozone-susceptible and resistant trees; the symptoms were unlike those found in the field or caused by fumigation with low concentrations of ozone.