Assessing the Vulnerability of Coastal Communities to Extreme Storms: The Case of Revere,MA., USA

Climate change may affect the frequency, intensity, and geographic distribution of severe coastal storms. Concurrent sea-level rise would raise the baseline of flooding during such events. Meanwhile, social vulnerability factors such as poverty and disability hinder the ability to cope with storms and storm damage. While physical changes are likely to remain scientifically uncertain into the foreseeable future, the ability to mitigate potential impacts from coastal flooding may be fostered by better understanding the interplay of social and physical factors that produce human vulnerability. This study does so by integrating the classic causal model of hazards with social, environmental, and spatial dynamics that lead to the differential ability of people to cope with hazards. It uses Census data, factor analysis, data envelopment analysis, and floodplain maps to understand the compound social and physical vulnerability of coastal residents in the city of Revere, MA, USA. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Influence of diesel fuel on seed germination

The use of plant-based systems to remediate contaminated soils has become an area of intense scientific study in recent years and it is apparent that plants which grow well in contaminated soils need to be identified and screened for use in phytoremediation technologies. This study investigated the effect of diesel fuel on germination of selected plant species. Germination response varied greatly with plant species and was species specific, as members of the same plant family showed differential sensitivity to diesel fuel contamination. Differences were also seen within plant subspecies. At relatively low levels of diesel fuel contamination, delayed seed emergence and reduced percentage germination was observed for the majority of plant species investigated. Results suggest the volatile fraction of diesel fuel played an influential role in delaying seed emergence and reducing percentage germination. In addition, the remaining diesel fuel in the soil added to this inhibitory effect on germination by physically impeding water and oxygen transfer between the seed and the surrounding soil environment, thus hindering the germination response.     

Wet and dry epoch durations of spatially averaged rain rate,their probability distributions and scaling properties

This article is concerned with the notion of duration of wet and dry epochs in stochastic processes of spatially averaged (instantaneous) rain rate over a given region. Gamma, Lognormal, and Inverse Gaussian parametric families of probability distributions have been considered as candidate models for the distribution of such durations. Goodness of these model's fit to data of dry and wet epoch durations obtained from real time series of spatially averaged rain rate, has been tested with Pearson's -test. The parameters of each of these models have been estimated by maximum likelihood and method of moments, based on TOGA-COARE measurements of tropical rainfall. The hypotheses of independence and identical distribution (i.i.d.) among durations of dry or wet epochs have also been tested using a certain version of the Wald-Wolfowitz test. Finally, the effect of spatial scale on the moments of dry and wet epoch durations has also been investigated, pointing to self-similarity of the underlying random structures over space. The main result of this study is that among the three candidate models, Inverse Gaussian is the one conforming most adequately with all the classical testing criteria implemented here, and also with the newly established scaling behavior of both dry and wet epoch duration processes over space. This is a remarkable finding, considering that the Inverse Gaussian family has recently been also justified from a theoretical viewpoint as a reasonable model for the probability distributions of dry and wet epoch durations.     

The effect of diesel fuel on common vetch (Vicia sativa L.) plants

When petroleum hydrocarbons contaminate soil, the carbon:nitrogen (C:N) ratio of the soil is altered. The added carbon stimulates microbial numbers but causes an imbalance in the C:N ratio which may result in immobilization of soil nitrogen by the microbial biomass, leaving none available for plant growth. As members of Leguminosae fix atmospheric nitrogen to produce their own nitrogen for growth, they may prove more successful at growing on petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated sites. During a wider study on phytoremediation of diesel fuel contaminated soil, particular attention was given to the performance of legumes versus other plant species. During harvesting of pot experiments containing leguminous plants, a recurring difference in the number and formation of root nodules present on control and contaminated Common vetch (Vicia sativa L.) plants was observed. The total number of nodules per plant was significantly reduced in contaminated plants compared to control plants but nodules on contaminated plants were more developed than corresponding nodules on control plants. Plant performance of Common vetch and Westerwold's ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum L.) was compared to illustrate any difference between the ability of legumes and grasses to grow on diesel fuel contaminated soil. Common vetch was less affected by diesel fuel and performed better in low levels of diesel fuel contaminated soil than Westerwolds ryegrass. The total amount of diesel fuel remaining after 4 months in Common vetch planted soil was slightly less than in Westerwolds ryegrass planted soil.     

Philopatry and mother-daughter associations in bushy-tailed woodrats: space use and reproductive success

Social groups in mammals are often based on overlapping generations of philopatric females, yet few researchers have examined fitness consequences of associations between females and their daughters. We examined survival and reproductive consequences of sharing a natal site with one's mother or daughter in wild bushy-tailed woodrats (Neotoma cinerea). Bushy-tailed woodrats reside on discrete rocky outcrops, and females tend to spend their entire reproductive life on their natal outcrop. Mothers and daughters that co-existed on the natal outcrop were closely associated in space. Juvenile females were more likely to survive their first winter to become breeding yearlings at their natal site if their mother was also present at the natal site during the winter. Juveniles survived equally well with or without their mother where densities of adult females were experimentally reduced, suggesting that females enhance their daughter's survival by facilitating their access to limited resources. Yearling females exhibited no reproductive costs from association with their mothers at the natal site during the breeding season; in fact, yearlings that bred at the natal site simultaneously with their adult mothers tended (P = 0.07) to experience fewer reproductive failures than did those that bred in the absence of their mothers. Mothers did not experience any detectable costs when sharing a natal site with a daughter. We conclude that bushy-tailed woodrats exhibit stable, fitness-enhancing associations among mothers and their philopatric daughters.     

The Development of Air Contaminant Emission Tables for Nonprocess Emissions

In New York State, the calculation of air contaminant emissions from a variety of sources is an essential part of comprehensive air pollution studies. The tables used to calculate emissions were obtained from an extensive literature search and modified to apply to New York State conditions. For example, sulfur dioxide emission factors for coal were selected to reflect the average sulfur content of the coal sold in New York State. Since the literature contains a wide array of emission factors, it was necessary to evaluate the factors and select those which would be most appropriate for the techniques used in conducting the comprehensive studies in New York State. This paper does not present the emission tables themselves but does outline the development of such tables for use in nonprocess calculations, i.e., combustion for heat and power of bituminous and anthracite coal, distillate and residual oil, natural and bottled gas; combustion of gasoline and diesel in internal combustion engines; burning of refuse in dumps and incinerators; and evaporation of gasoline from marketing operations.     

PCB congener specific oxidative stress response by microarray analysis using human liver cell line

In this study we have examined the effect of exposure to different congeners of PCBs and their role in oxidative stress response. A metabolically competent human liver cell line (HepG2) was exposed with two prototype congeners of PCBs: coplanar PCB-77 and non-coplanar PCB-153. After the predetermined times of exposure (0–24 h) at 70 μM concentration, the HepG2 cells showed significant apoptotic changes by fluorescent microscopy after 12 h of exposure. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) identified oxidative stress as the predominant enrichment. Further, paraquat assay showed that PCB congeners lead to oxidative stress to different extents, PCB-77 being more toxic. This study, with emphasis on all recommended microarray quality control steps, showed that apoptosis was one of the most significant cellular processes as a result of oxidative stress, but each of these congeners had a unique signature gene expression, which was further validated by Taqman real time PCR and immunoblotting. The pathways involved leading to the common apoptotic effect were completely different. Further in-silico analysis showed that PCB-153 most likely acted through the TNF receptor, leading to oxidative stress involving metallothionein gene families, and causing apoptosis mainly by the Fas receptor signaling pathway. In contrast, PCB-77 acted through the aryl hydrocarbon receptor. It induced oxidative stress through the involvement of cytochrome P450 (CYP1A1) leading to apoptosis through AHR/ARNT pathway.