Employability of environmental science graduates in Australia

Since the 1970s, there has been a global proliferation of environmental courses. The types of courses are described, as are the structures, philosophies and objectives of courses which have stood the test of time. Employment of environmental graduates is discussed. The degree in Australian Environmental Studies (AES) from Griffith University is described and discussed with reference to pitfalls described in the literature. In Australia, there has been an increased demand for graduates in the environmental area. The trend in employers has been widening the field of potential recruits by keeping the degree specification broad and using the duty statements in the advertisements to specify the environmental skills and knowledge required. The number of graduates from AES has increased steadily since the course was established, and despite global and national trends of proliferation of environmental courses and graduates, survey results indicated that graduates from AES are professionally employed in a wide range of employment sectors, with female and male graduates being equally successful in obtaining employment.     

Spatial and Temporal Variations in the Sediment Habitat of Ranunculus spp. in Lowland Chalk Streams – Implications for Ecological Status?

Ranunculus spp. are the dominant plants of lowland chalk stream habitats in England. The spatial variability of sediment characteristics (silt–clay, organic matter, total phosphorus and total nitrogen content) within stands of Ranunculus spp. was investigated in 12 rivers in lowland England. Variability was found to be high and there were no discernible differences between samples taken from within Ranunculus and a limited number of samples from bare substrate. For two of these rivers, comparisons were also made between reaches upstream and downstream of waste water treatment works outfalls in terms of the characteristics of the sediments within Ranunculus stands. In one river a clear increase in sediment nutrient, fine and organic material content was observed downstream but in the other there was no consistent difference. Temporal variability was considered for two rivers in the Frome catchment, Dorset, by analysing the monthly variability in sediment organic matter and silt–clay content beneath Ranunculus stands over an annual cycle of growth and die-back. Whilst a clear pattern of fine and organic material retention consistent with seasonal plant growth patterns was evident at one site, the three sites displayed different temporal patterns. This inconsistency is believed to reflect differences in sediment supply at the three sites.     

Environmental Racism in the Sunbelt? A Cross-Cultural Analysis

/ Sociologist Robert Bullard challenged the prevailing paradigm of environmentalism as a consensual issue in the United States by developing the concept of environmental racism. As he claims, ethnic minorities have been put "at greater environmental risk" than has the Caucasian majority in most areas of the country. This study of the Tucson metropolitan area examines this proposition by utilizing data from several sources: interviews with elected officials and other opinion leaders, GIS-generated socioeconomic data, articles in the press, and a literature review. We conclude that Bullard's concept has validity for this metropolitan area but that there also exist widely divergent differences of opinion on the subject. We explain why this is so. We further conclude that the allegation of "environmental racism" made by the Hispanic community in the 1980s and 1990s has had a transformative effect on local politics.KEY WORDS: Environment; Racism; Tucson; Garbage dumps; County government; Pollution; Equity; Justice     

RIVPACS models for predicting the expected macroinvertebrate fauna and assessing the ecological quality of rivers

The European Union Water Framework Directive recognises the need for and value of biological monitoring. This paper reviews the modelling approach known as River Invertebrate Prediction and Classification System (RIVPACS for assessing the ecological quality of river sites using macroinvertebrate sampling. The RIVPACS philosophy is to develop statistical relationships between the fauna and the environmental characteristics of a large set of high quality reference sites which can be used to predict the macroinvertebrate fauna to be expected at any site in the absence of pollution or other environmental stress. The observed fauna at new test sites can then be compared with their site-specific expected fauna to derive indices of ecological quality. All methodological decisions in any such model development have implications for the reliability, precision and robustness of any resulting indices for assessing the ecological quality and ecological grade (‘status’) of individual river stretches. The choice of reference sites and environmental predictor variables, the site classification and discrimination methods, the estimation of the expected fauna, and indices for comparing the agreement, or lack of it, between the observed and expected fauna, are all discussed. The indices are assessed on the reference sites and on a separate test set of 340 sites, which are subject to a wide range of types and degrees of impairment.     

Trends and Seasonality in the Nitrate Concentrations and Loads of the Bere Stream (Dorset) for the Period 1966-1986

Neutron activation analysis was used for the determination of the elemental composition of different plants and soils. Variations in concentrations of elements during the day were found. Mean concentrations, standard deviations and relationships between elements in soils and different parts of plants were studied. It was shown that the behaviour of chemical elements in samples from urban and unpolluted areas have significant differences.     

Co-ordinated rhythms of digestion,absorption and excretion in Mytilus edulis (Bivalvia: Mollusca)

Sequential alternation of extracellular digestion in the stomach and intracellular digestion in the diverticula appears widespread among bivalves. The present study documents some physiological consequences of such processes in Mytilus edulis L. collected during 1981 from Whitsand Bay, Cornwall, England. Pronounced temporal fluctuations in faecal deposition are described that relate, in terms of amplitude and period, to both sinusoidal rhythmicity established for ammonia excretion and changes in the morphology of digestive tubules. Although at least partially synchronised among replicate groups of mussels, these cycles bore no consistent relationship with exogenous influences. Hourly fluctuation in the net absorption efficiency for nitrogen, as evidenced by the mean percentage ±2 SE, measured over 24 h sampling periods, was considerable (16.0±53.7, 49.3±10.9 and 52.8±6.6 for mussels acclimated in March, June and October, respectively). This variation in absorption derived from an inverse relationship between the percentage nitrogen within faeces and the rate of faecal egestion. Accordingly, peaks of faecal deposition presumably represented the pulsed remnants of intracellular digestion. Co-ordinated rhythms of digestion, absorption and excretion were thus evident in M. edulis. These processes displayed seasonally dependent periodicities of approximately 8, 3 and 4 h in March, June and October, respectively. It was concluded that, at least for M. edulis, this previously unquantified rhythmicity of physiological processes warrants careful consideration during assays commonly undertaken in the complication of nutrient and energy budgets.     

Increases in Nitrate Concentrations in the River Frome (Dorset) Catchment Related to Changes in Land Use, Fertiliser Applications and Sewage Input

Nitrate concentrations and nitrate loads throughout the River Frome catchment (Dorset) are compared for the periods 1970-71 and 1984-86. Nitrate concentrations and loads have increased at every site, the increase in mean nitrate concentrations varying from 31% to 123%. These increases in nitrate concentrations are related to changes in land use and fertiliser applications and also to an increase in sewage effluent entering the river.     

Human exposure to PCBs, PBDEs and HBCDs in Ghana: Temporal variation, sources of exposure and estimation of daily intakes by infants

Human exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs) was evaluated in Ghana using breast milk samples collected in 2004 and 2009. Mean levels and ranges of PBDEs (4.5; 0.86-18 ng/g lw) and PCBs (62; 15-160 ng/g lw) observed in the present study were unexpectedly high, in spite of the fact that Ghana is a non-industrialized country when compared with many of the Asian and European countries. Significant increases were found in the concentrations of PCBs and PBDEs over the years, while no significant increase was observed for HBCDs. Estimated hazard quotient (HQ) showed that all the mothers had HQ values exceeding the threshold of 1 for PCBs, indicating potential health risk for their children. PCBs in dirty oils and obsolete equipment should be of concern as potential sources in Ghana, and e-waste recycling with little or no experience in safe handling could be a threat to this sub-region noted for unregulated disposal of e-waste. The results may point towards an increase in trends in human milk in Ghana, especially in the larger cities but further analysis would be required to confirm this upward trend in levels. This is the first study to report BFRs in human breast milk from Africa, and undoubtedly from Ghana.