Sun-compass migration by Aurelia aurita (Scyphozoa): population retention and reproduction in Saanich Inlet,British Columbia

The scyphomedusa Aurelia aurita in Saanich Inlet, a north-south oriented fjord in British Columbia, uses a sun compass to migrate in a southeasterly direction during the day. When the sky is overcast and at night, A. aurita orients randomly and is dispersed passively by gentle tidal currents. The net result is daily reaggregation of medusae into enormous swarms along the southeastern shore of the fjord. Observations of spawning A. aurita in these swarms suggest that sun-compass migration and aggregative behavior may have evolved to facilitate reproduction and to maintain the population within this fjord throughout the year.     

Crown density assessments, control surveys and reproducibility

This study aims to evaluate the quality of crown density data, based on independent, pairwise tree assessments. The data originates from monitoring of forest health (crown condition) in Norway; 250 plots, comprising 12 000 individual trees of Norway spruce, have been reassessed by a single observer during 1990–95. Of the trees, 2300 were controlled more than twice, providing the possibility of evaluating the quality of assessed temporal changes of crown density. True errors (standard deviation) are estimated to be about 10% for single trees and 5% for plot means, while the real standard deviation of the differences were slightly higher. The errors of the temporal changes of crown density were of similar magnitude. Systematic differences in crown density were found between sites and plot types, partly resulting from observer bias. However, the results suggest that observer bias is really the result of each observer's personal style in assessment.     

Low-manpower checkpoints: can they provide effective DUI enforcement in small communities?

OBJECTIVE: Sobriety checkpoints can be effective in reducing alcohol-impaired driving. Checkpoints are underutilized, however, partially because police believe a large number of officers are required. This study evaluated the feasibility and impact of conducting small-scale checkpoints in rural communities. METHODS: Law enforcement agencies in two counties agreed to conduct weekly checkpoints for one year. Two nonadjacent counties did not undertake additional checkpoints. Evaluation included public-awareness surveys and roadside surveys (including blood alcohol concentration [BAC] measurements) of weekend nighttime drivers. RESULTS: Relative to drivers in the comparison counties, the proportion of drivers in the experimental counties with BACs >0.05% was 70% lower. Drivers surveyed at driver's license offices in the experimental counties after program implementation were more likely to report seeing or passing through a checkpoint and were more aware of publicity on driving under the influence (DUI) enforcement. CONCLUSIONS: Small rural communities can safely and effectively conduct low-staff sobriety checkpoints on a weekly basis. Such programs can be expected to result in large reductions in drivers operating at higher BACs.     

标准和规章有助于对可持续建筑的必要激励吗?

要了解推动可持续建筑和建筑法的规章与标准作用如何,各种各样可持续发展环境政策研究可以用做评估基准线.只要得以贯彻,现有的法令、规章和标准基本上就能够引导这个产业向正确的方向前进.然而,要建造可持续建筑就需要额外的政策举措.本文从国家和世界的高度审视关联可持续建筑的法令、规章和标准,包括目前尚未完成的国际标准化组织的标准.国际标准和规章还没有把问题解决得令发展中世界满意,尽管这个问题已经得到越来越多的关注.     

Using evidence to improve reproductive health quality along the Thailand-Burma border

The Mae Tao Clinic, located on the Thailand-Burma border, has provided health services for illegal migrant workers in Thailand and internally displaced people from Burma since 1989. In 2001, the clinic launched a project with the primary aim of improving reproductive health services and the secondary aim of building clinic capacity in monitoring and evaluation (M&E). This paper first presents the project's methods and key results. The team used observation of antenatal care and family-planning sessions and client exit interviews at baseline and follow-up, approximately 13 months apart, to assess performance on six elements of quality of care. Findings indicated that improving programme readiness contributed to some improvement in the quality of services, though inconsistencies in findings across the methods require further research. The paper then identifies lessons learned from introducing M&E in a resource-constrained setting. One key lesson was that a participatory approach to M&E increased people's feelings of ownership of the project and motivated staff to collect and use data for programme decision-making to improve quality.     

EVAPOTRANSPIRATION CONCEPTUALIZATION IN THE HSPF‐MODFLOW INTEGRATED MODELS1

In 1988, the Florida Institute of Phosphate Research (FIPR) funded project to develop an advanced hydrologic model for shallow water table systems. The FIPR hydrologic model (FHM) was developed to provide an improved predictive capability of the interactions of surface water and ground water using its component models, HSPF and MODFLOW. The Integrated Surface and Ground Water (ISGW) model was developed from an early version of FHM and the two models were developed relatively independently in the late 1990s. Hydrologic processes including precipitation, interception, evapotranspiration, runoff, recharge, streamflow, and base flow are explicitly accounted for in both models. Considerable review of FHM and ISGW and their applications occurred through a series of projects. One model evolved, known as the Integrated Hydrological Model IHM. This model more appropriately describes hydrologic processes, including evapotranspiration fluxes within small distributed land‐based discretization. There is a significant departure of many IHM algorithms from FHM and ISGW, especially for soil water and evapotranspiration (ET). In this paper, the ET concepts in FHM, ISGW, and IHM will be presented. The paper also identifies the advantages and data costs of the improved methods. In FHM and IHM, ground water ET algorithms of the MODFLOW ET package replace those of HSPF (ISGW used a different model for ground water ET). However, IHM builds on an improved understanding and characterization of ET partitioning between surface storages, vadose zone storage, and saturated ground water storage. The IHM considers evaporative flux from surface sources, proximity of the water table to land surface, relative moisture condition of the unsaturated zone, thickness of the capillary zone, thickness of the root zone, and relative plant cover density. The improvements provide a smooth transition to satisfy ET demand between the vadose zone and deeper saturated ground water. While the IHM approach provides a more sound representation of the actual soil profile than FHM, and has shown promise at reproducing soil moisture and water table fluctuations as well as field measured ET rates, more rigorous testing is necessary to understand the robustness and/or limitations of this methodology.     

Comparative radiation impact on biota and man in the area affected by the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant

A methodological approach for a comparative assessment of ionising radiation effects on man and non-human species, based on the use of Radiation Impact Factor (RIF) - ratios of actual exposure doses to biota species and man to critical dose is described. As such doses, radiation safety standards limiting radiation exposure of man and doses at which radiobiological effects in non-human species were not observed after the Chernobyl accident, were employed. For the study area within the 30km ChNPP zone dose burdens to 10 reference biota groups and the population (with and without evacuation) and the corresponding RIFs were calculated. It has been found that in 1986 (early period after the accident) the emergency radiation standards for man do not guarantee adequate protection of the environment, some species of which could be affected more than man. In 1991 RIFs for man were considerably (by factor of 20.0-1.1 x 10(5)) higher compared with those for selected non-human species. Thus, for the long term after the accident radiation safety standards for man are shown to ensure radiation safety for biota as well.     

Applying local knowledge: the contribution of oral history to wetland rehabilitation at Kanyapella Basin, Australia

Local knowledge of the history and ecology of wetland ecosystems can be a valuable resource in wetland rehabilitation projects. This is especially the case when other historical ecological information is unavailable. As well as providing a source of historical information, time spent acquiring local knowledge can enhance public participation in environmental management and facilitate early conflict resolution between stakeholders and the community. This paper investigates the use of oral history as a tool to collate a history of the flooding, ecology and management of Kanyapella Basin, a 2581 ha wetland on the floodplain of the Murray and Goulburn Rivers, Australia. Interviews were held with nine local residents and 11 natural resource managers. Oral history proved an effective way to obtain information about changes in the frequency and distribution of flood events over the last 60 years. Observations of rare and threatened fauna, and comments regarding the success of past management were also recorded. Results from the oral history have been used to direct ecological research and develop alternative management options at Kanyapella Basin. In addition to its use in gathering ecological information, oral history also proved effective in enabling the values and concerns of local community and stakeholders to be articulated, increasing managers' understanding of the social context of the particular locality, which is fundamental to sound environmental decision-making.     

Development of imposex and accumulation of butyltin in the tropical muricid Thais distinguenda transplanted to a TBT contaminated site

The muricid Thais distinguenda (ca. 1,300 individuals) was collected from a pristine island in the Andaman Sea and tagged prior to translocation to an area of intense shipping activities. A minimum of 50 tagged individuals were recaptured 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 12 months after transplantation. The animals were separated into small (< or = 25 mm) and big (>25 mm) specimens based on total shell length and both incidence of imposex and body burden of butyltin (BT) were determined. After 3 months 16.7% of the small size and none of the big size class had developed imposex. After 5 months the incidence of imposex in the big and small size classes increased steadily with time reaching 86.4 and 80%, respectively after 1 year. Time after transplantation was significantly correlated with the incidence of imposex for the big size class (Spearman Rs=1; P=0.008); RPLI (Spearman Rs=1; P=0.008) and VDSI (Spearman Rs=1; P=0.008); and the small size class: incidence of imposex (Spearman Rs=1; P=0.006); RPLI (Spearman Rs=1; P=0.006) and VDSI (Spearman Rs=1: P=0.007). The development of imposex was not significantly related to body size after five months (chi square P<0.001). The body burden of tributyltin was not significantly different between the two size classes (paired t-test ) but the smaller animals had significantly higher concentrations of both dibutyltin (DBT; P<0.005) and monobutyltin (MBT; P<0.001). The use of transplantation experiments in addition to imposex surveys and analysis of body burden of tributyltin (TBT) can enhance the interpretation of the results and understanding of the time scale involved with the development of imposex.     

Radioactive contamination in the marine environment adjacent to the outfall of the radioactive waste treatment plant at ATOMFLOT,northern Russia

RTP "ATOMFLOT" is a civilian nuclear icebreaker base located on the Kola Bay of northwest Russia. The objectives of this study were to determine the distributions of man-made radionuclides in the marine environment adjacent to the base, to explain the form of the distributions in sediments and to derive information concerning the fate of radionuclides discharged from ATOMFLOT. Mean activity concentrations (d.w.) for surface sediment, of 63 Bq kg(-1 137Cs, 5.8 Bq kg(-1) 90Sr and 0.45 Bq kg(-1 239,240)Pu were measured. Filtered seawater activity levels were in the range of 3--6.9 Bq m(-3) 137Cs, 2.0-11.2 Bq m(-3) 90Sr, and 16-40 m Bq m(-3), 239,240Pu. Short-lived radionuclides were present at sediment depths in excess of 10cm indicating a high degree of sediment mixing. Correlations of radionuclide activity concentrations with grain-size appear to be absent; instead, the presence of relatively contaminated sediment appears to be related to the existence of radioactive particles.