Communicating Local Climate Risks Online Through an Interactive Data Visualization

Literature suggests a need to develop climate communication tools that focus on the impacts of climate change at local scales to increase proximity and communicate the risks on a more personal level. However, the nature of raw climate projection data makes accessibility by the lay audience a challenge and necessitates the need for innovative technological approaches to its distribution. ClimateData.US was created as an interactive visualization tool based on downscaled climate projection data to increase proximity and render climate change as salient and personally relevant. This experiment evaluated whether interacting with ClimateData.US influenced participants’ climate change attitudes and concern and whether this effect varied as a function of geographic proximity. Findings revealed strong effects—regardless of geographic proximity—for interacting with the website on participants’ perceived reality of climate change, attitude certainty, and concern for climate change.     

Evaluation of methods to determine adsorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to dispersed carbon nanotubes

A number of methods have been reported for determining hydrophobic organic compound adsorption to dispersed carbon nanotubes (CNTs), but their accuracy and reliability remain uncertain. We have evaluated three methods to investigate the adsorption of phenanthrene (a model polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, PAH) to CNTs with different physicochemical properties: dialysis tube (DT) protected negligible depletion solid phase microextraction (DT-nd-SPME), ultracentrifugation, and filtration using various types of filters. Dispersed CNTs adhered to the unprotected polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-coated fibers used in nd-SPME. Protection of the fibers from CNT adherence was investigated with hydrophilic DT, but high PAH sorption to the DT was observed. The efficiency of ultracentrifugation and filtration to separate CNTs from the water phase depended on CNT physicochemical properties. While non-functionalized CNTs were efficiently separated from the water phase using ultracentrifugation, incomplete separation of carboxyl functionalized CNTs was observed. Filtration efficiency varied with different filter types (composition and pore size), and non-functionalized CNTs were more easily separated from the water phase than functionalized CNTs. Sorption of phenanthrene was high (< 70%) for three of the filters tested, making them unsuitable for the assessment of phenanthrene adsorption to CNTs. Filtration using a hydrophilic polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) filter membrane (0.1 μm) was found to be a simple and precise technique for the determination of phenanthrene adsorption to a range of CNTs, efficiently separating all types of CNTs and exhibiting a good and highly reproducible recovery of phenanthrene (82%) over the concentration range tested (70–735 μg/L).

     

Shark recreational fisheries: Status,challenges, and research needs

For centuries, the primary manner in which humans have interacted with sharks has been fishing. A combination of their slow-growing nature and high use-values have resulted in population declines for many species around the world, and to date the vast majority of fisheries-related work on sharks has focused on the commercial sector. Shark recreational fishing remains an overlooked area of research despite the fact that these practices are popular globally and could present challenges to their populations. Here we provide a topical overview of shark recreational fisheries, highlighting their history and current status. While recreational fishing can provide conservation benefits under certain circumstances, we focus our discourse on the relatively understudied, potentially detrimental impacts these activities may have on shark physiology, behavior, and fitness. We took this angle given the realized but potentially underestimated significance of recreational fishing for shark conservation management plans and stock assessments, in hopes of creating a dialogue around sustainability. We also present a series of broad and focused research questions and underpin areas of future research need to assist with the development of this emergent area of research.     

Pressure-assisted ozonation of PCB and PAH contaminated sediments

Sediment contamination by recalcitrant organics such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is prevalent and of a great concern. Remediation efforts are hampered by the hydrophobic nature of the contaminants that limits their availability as well as by the sediment matrix that limits their exposure to treatment agents. Using contaminated sediment samples from the Passaic River, St. Louis River, Waukegan Harbor, and Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve, this research demonstrated a new ozonation technique that incorporates rapid, successive cycles of pressurization (690 kPa) and depressurization, enabling more effective treatment than conventional ozonation would. Conventional ozonation reached maximum 60% and 40% removal of PAHs from the Passaic River (40 mg kg(-1) initially) and St. Louis River sediment (520 mg kg(-1) initially), respectively, in 1h; however, removals ceased despite prolonged treatment for 2h. The pressure-assisted technique removed 96% of PAHs from both river sediments within 1h; it completely removed both PAHs (16 mg kg(-1) initially) and PCBs (5.1 mg kg(-1) initially) from the Waukegan Harbor sediment in 0.5 h. The heightened treatment is explained by soil aggregate fracturing upon pressure cycles that exposes the contaminants as well as by the confluence of hydrophobic contaminants and O(3) at the gas-liquid interface in the presence of microbubbles. The technique is expected to accelerate O(3) treatment of a wide range of organic contaminants, and it may provide treatment to dredged and stored contaminated sediment.     

Impact of a commercial destocking relief intervention in Moyale district, southern Ethiopia

A commercial destocking intervention was piloted in southern Ethiopia during the drought of early 2006. The intervention led to the purchase of an estimated 20,000 cattle valued at USD 1.01 million. On average, destocked households received USD 186 from the sale of cattle--approximately 5,405 households were involved. In terms of aid investment, the approximate cost-benefit ratio was 41:1. During the drought, income from destocking accounted for 54.2 per cent of household income (n = 114 households), and was used to buy food, care for livestock, meet various domestic expenses, support relatives, and either pay off debts or augment savings. Seventy-nine per cent of the income derived from destocking was used to buy local goods or services. Expenditure on livestock care amounted to 36.5 per cent of local spending, and included the private transportation of livestock to better grazing areas. The buoyant livestock export trade was considered to be an important driver of commercial destocking, demonstrating a positive link between livestock and meat exports, and pastoral vulnerability during drought.     

USING FIELD SCALE MODELS TO PREDICT PEAK FLOWS ON AGRICULTURAL WATERSHEDS1

The goal of this study was to develop a methodology for generating storm hydrographs at a watershed scale based on daily runoff estimates from a field scale model. The methodology was evaluated on a small agricultural watershed using the ADAPT field scale process model. A comparison of observed and predicted peak flows for 11 of the largest events that occurred in a three year period gave r² values of 0.84, 0.82, and 0.81 when the watershed was subdivided into 1, 5, and 10 sub watersheds. However, all other statistical measures improved when the watershed was subdivided into at least five sub watersheds. Guidelines need to be developed on the use of the procedure but it first needs to be evaluated on several watersheds that exhibit a range in sizes, land uses, slopes, and soil properties.     

Community Based Ecological Monitoring in Nova Scotia: Challenges and Opportunities

This article examines community-based ecological monitoring in Nova Scotia, with an emphasis on watershed stewardship groups. It discusses successes to date and future challenges, drawing on examples from the Atlantic Coastal Action Program (ACAP) and other community groups. The barriers to the generation of robust monitoring datasets and effective participation in watershed management are examined. The article concludes with a discussion of issues to be addressed to ensure that community groups can both gather scientifically valid ecological data and have meaningful input into the management of their local natural resources.     

Identifying crop vulnerability to groundwater abstraction: modelling and expert knowledge in a GIS

Water use is expected to increase and climate change scenarios indicate the need for more frequent water abstraction. Abstracting groundwater may have a detrimental effect on soil moisture availability for crop growth and yields. This work presents an elegant and robust method for identifying zones of crop vulnerability to abstraction. Archive groundwater level datasets were used to generate a composite groundwater surface that was subtracted from a digital terrain model. The result was the depth from surface to groundwater and identified areas underlain by shallow groundwater. Knowledge from an expert agronomist was used to define classes of risk in terms of their depth below ground level. Combining information on the permeability of geological drift types further refined the assessment of the risk of crop growth vulnerability. The nature of the mapped output is one that is easy to communicate to the intended farming audience because of the general familiarity of mapped information. Such Geographic Information System (GIS)-based products can play a significant role in the characterisation of catchments under the EU Water Framework Directive especially in the process of public liaison that is fundamental to the setting of priorities for management change. The creation of a baseline allows the impact of future increased water abstraction rates to be modelled and the vulnerability maps are in a format that can be readily understood by the various stakeholders. This methodology can readily be extended to encompass additional data layers and for a range of groundwater vulnerability issues including water resources, ecological impacts, nitrate and phosphorus.