Alaska’s Freshwater Resources: Issues Affecting Local and International Interests1

Alessa, Lilian, Mark Altaweel, Andrew Kliskey, Christopher Bone, William Schnabel, and Kalb Stevenson, 2011. Alaska’s Freshwater Resources: Issues Affecting Local and International Interests. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 47(1):143‐157. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2010.00498.x Abstract: The State of Alaska faces a broad range of freshwater challenges including limited resource access in rural communities, increasing freshwater use, and a pressing need to better understand and prepare for climate‐driven change. Despite these significant issues, Alaska is relatively water‐rich and far more equipped to address its water resource concerns compared with other regions of the world. Globally, simultaneous and rapid water stresses have influenced and complicated conflicts and are motivating nations to develop markets and trade as one of the primary means to manage their needs for this resource. This paper presents these interacting issues in the context of Alaska’s relationship with a world undergoing significant social and ecological changes that affect freshwater supplies. We present the challenges faced by Alaska in the context of a larger global perspective, and briefly explore the relative effects these issues have on local, regional, and global scales. We present the argument that Alaska needs to develop more robust institutions and policies that can alleviate both household concerns and ensure that Alaska plays a significant role in the international freshwater arena for its long‐term resilience.     

Landscape-level influences of terrestrial snake occupancy within the southeastern United States

Habitat loss and degradation are thought to be the primary drivers of species extirpations, but for many species we have little information regarding specific habitats that influence occupancy. Snakes are of conservation concern throughout North America, but effective management and conservation are hindered by a lack of basic natural history information and the small number of large-scale studies designed to assess general population trends. To address this information gap, we compiled detection/nondetection data for 13 large terrestrial species from 449 traps located across the southeastern United States, and we characterized the land cover surrounding each trap at multiple spatial scales (250-, 500-, and 1000-m buffers). We used occupancy modeling, while accounting for heterogeneity in detection probability, to identify habitat variables that were influential in determining the presence of a particular species. We evaluated 12 competing models for each species, representing various hypotheses pertaining to important habitat features for terrestrial snakes. Overall, considerable interspecific variation existed in important habitat variables and relevant spatial scales. For example, kingsnakes (Lampropeltis getula) were negatively associated with evergreen forests, whereas Louisiana pinesnake (Pituophis ruthveni) occupancy increased with increasing coverage of this forest type. Some species were positively associated with grassland and scrub/shrub (e.g., Slowinski's cornsnake, Elaphe slowinskii) whereas others, (e.g., copperhead, Agkistrodon contortrix, and eastern diamond-backed rattlesnake, Crotalus adamanteus) were positively associated with forested habitats. Although the species that we studied may persist in varied landscapes other than those we identified as important, our data were collected in relatively undeveloped areas. Thus, our findings may be relevant when generating conservation plans or restoration goals. Maintaining or restoring landscapes that are most consistent with the ancestral habitat preferences of terrestrial snake assemblages will require a diverse habitat matrix over large spatial scales.     

Responses of hybrid poplar clones and red maple seedlings to ambient O(3) under differing light within a mixed hardwood forest

The responses of ramets of hybrid poplar (Populus spp.) (HP) clones NE388 and NE359, and seedlings of red maple (Acer rubrum, L.) to ambient ozone (O(3)) were studied during May-September of 2000 and 2001 under natural forest conditions and differing natural sunlight exposures (sun, partial shade and full shade). Ambient O(3) concentrations at the study site reached hourly peaks of 109 and 98 ppb in 2000 and 2001, respectively. Monthly 12-h average O(3) concentrations ranged from 32.3 to 52.9 ppb. Weekly 12-h average photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) within the sun, partial shade and full shade plots ranged from 200 to 750, 50 to 180, and 25 to 75 micromol m(-2) s(-1), respectively. Ambient O(3) exposure induced visible foliar symptoms on HP NE388 and NE359 in both growing seasons, with more severe injury observed on NE388 than on NE359. Slight foliar symptoms were observed on red maple seedlings during the 2001 growing season. Percentage of total leaf area affected (%LAA) was positively correlated with cumulative O(3) exposures. More severe foliar injury was observed on plants grown within the full shade and partial shade plots than those observed on plants grown within the sun plot. Lower light availability within the partial shade and full shade plots significantly decreased net photosynthetic rate (Pn) and stomatal conductance (g(wv)). The reductions in Pn were greater than reductions in g(wv), which resulted in greater O(3) uptake per unit Pn in plants grown within the partial shade and full shade plots. Greater O(3) uptake per unit Pn was consistently associated with more severe visible foliar injury in all species and/or clones regardless of differences in shade tolerance. These studies suggest that plant physiological responses to O(3) exposure are likely complicated due to multiple factors under natural forest conditions.     

A new approach to managing work-related road traffic injury: The development of a health investment framework

Objective: Statistics indicate that employees commuting or traveling as part of their work are overrepresented in workplace injury and death. Despite this, many organizations are unaware of the factors within their organizations that are likely to influence potential reductions in work-related road traffic injury.

Methods: This article presents a multilevel conceptual framework that identifies health investment as the central feature in reducing work-related road traffic injury. Within this framework, we explore factors operating at the individual driver, workgroup supervisor, and organizational senior management levels that create a mutually reinforcing system of safety.

Results: The health investment framework identifies key factors at the senior manager, supervisor, and driver levels to cultivating a safe working environment. These factors are high-performance workplace systems, leader–member exchange and autonomy, trust and empowerment, respectively. The framework demonstrates the important interactions between these factors and how they create a self-sustaining organizational safety system.

Conclusions: The framework aims to provide insight into the future development of interventions that are strategically aligned with the organization and target elements that facilitate and enhance driver safety and ultimately reduce work-related road traffic injury and death.     

政策和计划：促进清洁生产的整体方法

在亚洲，50多个国际组织每年花费上百万美元来促进清洁生产和相关举措.大部分国家政府为清洁生产的促进项目提供资金.对其关注程度从有关组织的广度看，显然超过了工业和经济活动对人类健康、环境和自然资源的可持续性的影响.许多项目，特别是促进清洁生产的项目和创新而可实施的环境标准和规则是一致的，清洁生产是减少污染和保存自然资源的关键手段.     

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in fuel-oil contaminated soils, Antarctica

Where fuel oil spills have occurred on Antarctic soils polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) may accumulate. Surface and subsurface soil samples were collected from fuel spill sites up to 30 years old, and from nearby control sites, and analysed for the 16 PAHs on the USEPA priority pollutants list, as well as for two methyl substituted naphthalenes, 1-methylnaphthalene and 2-methylnaphthalene. PAH levels ranged from 41-8105 ng g-1 of dried soil in the samples from contaminated sites and were below detection limits in control site samples. PAH were detected in surface soils and had migrated to lower depths in the contaminated soil. The predominant PAH detected were naphthalene and its methyl derivatives.     

Physiological and foliar injury responses of Prunus serotina,Fraxinus americana,and Acer rubrum seedlings to varying soil moisture and ozone

Sixteen black cherry (Prunus serotina, Ehrh.), 10 white ash (Fraxinus americana, L.) and 10 red maple (Acer rubrum, L.) 1-year old seedlings were planted per plot in 1997 on a former nursery bed within 12 open-top chambers and six open plots. Seedlings were exposed to three different ozone scenarios (ambient air: 100% O3; non-filtered air: 98% ambient O3; charcoal-filtered air: 50% ambient O3) within each of two different water regimes (nine plots irrigated, nine plots non-irrigated) during three growing seasons.During the 1998 and 1999 growing season, leaf gas exchange, plant water relations, and foliar injury were measured. Climatic data,ambient- and chamber-ozone-concentrations were monitored. We found that seedlings grown under irrigated conditions had similar (in 1998) but significantly higher gas exchange rates (in 1999) than seedlings grown within non-irrigated plots among similar ozone exposures. Cherry and ash had similar ozone uptake but cherry developed more ozone-induced injury (< 34% affected leaf area, LAA) than ash (<5% LAA), while maple rarely showed foliar injury, indicating the species differed in ozone sensitivity. Significantly more severe injury on seedlings grown under irrigated conditions than seedlings grown under non-irrigated conditions demonstrated that soil moisture altered seedling responses to ambient ozone exposures.