Maternal investment in sons and daughters: problems of methodology

Summary The prediction that mothers should invest more in sons than daughters was briefly examined in American bison (Bison bison) by Wolff (1988). He concluded that (a) male calves suckle more than females, (b) cows that had previously produced sons were more likely to be barren, and (c) cows that had male calves became estrous later in the year than other cows. In this paper we present data from two long term studies at different sites to show that Wolff's conclusions are equivocal at best and difficult to reconcile with predictions of the hypothesis because of questionable methods and assumptions. Offprint requests to: W.C.H. Green     

Evaluation of wind fields used in Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission analyses

The Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission (GCVTC) was established by the U.S. Congress to assess the potential impacts of projected growth on atmospheric visibility at Grand Canyon National Park and to make recommendations to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on what measures could be taken to avoid such adverse impacts. A critical input to the assessment tool used by the commission was three-dimensional model-derived wind fields used to transport the emissions. This paper describes the evaluation of the wind fields used at various stages in the assessment. Wind fields evaluated included those obtained from the Colorado State University Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS), the National Meteorological Center's Nested Grid Model (NGM), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Atmospheric Transport and Dispersion (ATAD) trajectory model. The model-derived wind fields were evaluated at multiple vertical levels at several locations in the southwestern United States by determining differences between model predicted winds and winds that were measured using radiosonde and radar wind profiler data. Model-derived winds were also evaluated by determining the percent of time that they were within acceptable differences from measured winds. All models had difficulties, generally meeting the acceptable criteria for less than 50% of the predictions. The RAMS model had a persistent bias toward southwesterly winds at the expense of other directions, especially failing to represent channeling by north-south mountain ranges in the lower levels. The NGM model exhibited a substantial bias in the summer months by extending northwesterly winds in the eastern Pacific Ocean well inland, in contrast to the observed southwesterlies at inland locations. The simpler ATAD trajectory model performed somewhat better than the other models, probably because of its use of more upper air sites. The results of the evaluation indicated that these wind fields could not be used to reliably predict source-receptor impacts on a particular day; thus, seasonally averaged impacts were used in the GCVTC assessment.     

Linking field experiments to long-term simulation of impacts of nitrogen deposition on heathlands and moorlands

The results from three long-term field manipulation studies of the impacts of increased nitrogen deposition (0–120 kg N ha^–1 yr^–1) on lowland and upland heathlands in the UK were compared, to test if common responses are observed. Consistent increases in Calluna foliar N content and decreases in litter C:N ratios were found across all sites, while increases in N leaching were not observed at any site over the range 0–80 kg ha^–1 yr^–1. However, the response of Calluna biomass did vary between sites, possibly reflecting site differences in nutrient status and management histories. Five versions of a simulation model of heathland responses to N were developed, each reflecting different assumptions about the fate and turnover of soil N. Model outputs supported the deduction from mass balance calculations at two of the field sites that N additions have resulted in an increase in immobilisation; the latter was needed to prevent the model overestimating measured N leaching. However, this version of the model significantly underestimated Calluna biomass. Model versions, which included uptake of organic N by Callunaand re-mobilisation of N from the soil organic store provided some improvement in the fit between modelled and field biomass data, but re-mobilisation also led to an overestimation of N leaching. Quantification of these processes and their response to increased N deposition are therefore critical to interpreting experimental data and predicting the long-term impacts of atmospheric deposition on heathlands and moorlands.     

Observations on the methane oxidation capacity of landfill soils

The objective of this study was to determine the role of CH₄ loading to a landfill cover in the control of CH₄ oxidation rate (g CH₄ m⁻² d⁻¹) and CH₄ oxidation efficiency (% CH₄ oxidation) in a field setting. Specifically, we wanted to assess how much CH₄ a cover soil could handle. To achieve this objective we conducted synoptic measurements of landfill CH₄ emission and CH₄ oxidation in a single season at two Southeastern USA landfills. We hypothesized that percent oxidation would be greatest at sites of low CH₄ emission and would decrease as CH₄ emission rates increased. The trends in the experimental results were then compared to the predictions of two differing numerical models designed to simulate gas transport in landfill covers, one by modeling transport by diffusion only and the second allowing both advection and diffusion. In both field measurements and in modeling, we found that percent oxidation is a decreasing exponential function of the total CH₄ flux rate (CH₄ loading) into the cover. When CH₄ is supplied, a cover’s rate of CH₄ uptake (g CH₄ m⁻² d⁻²) is linear to a point, after which the system becomes saturated. Both field data and modeling results indicate that percent oxidation should not be considered as a constant value. Percent oxidation is a changing quantity and is a function of cover type, climatic conditions and CH₄ loading to the bottom of the cover. The data indicate that an effective way to increase the % oxidation of a landfill cover is to limit the amount of CH₄ delivered to it.