Peak to Mean Pollutant Concentration Ratios for Various Terrain and Vegetation Cover

Many of the new particle sizing instruments utilize light scattering principles to detect and size aerosolparticles. The sensitivity of such nstruments is quite good, although extensive light shielding and focusingmethods must be used. A visible He-Ne gas laser cavity with its low gain is very sensitive to disturbances in its optical cavity and so may provide a new particle sizing approach.     

In Situ Burning Restores the Ecological Function and Structure of an Oil-Impacted Coastal Marsh

As the use of in situ burning for oil spill remediation in coastal wetlands accelerates, the capacity of this procedure to restore the ecological structure and function of oil-impacted wetlands becomes increasingly important. Thus, our research focused on evaluating the functional and structural recovery of a coastal marsh in South Louisiana to an in situ burn following a Hurricane Katrina-induced oil spill. Permanent sampling plots were set up to monitor marsh recovery in the oiled and burned areas as well as non-oiled and non-burned (reference) marshes. Plots were monitored for species composition, stem density, above- and belowground productivity, marsh resiliency, soil chemistry, soil residual oil, and organic matter decomposition. The burn removed the majority of the oil from the marsh, and structurally the marsh recovered rapidly. Plant biomass and species composition returned to control levels within 9 months; however, species richness remained somewhat lower in the oiled and burned areas compared to the reference areas. Recovery of ecological function was also rapid following the in situ burn. Aboveground and belowground plant productivity recovered within one growing season, and although decomposition rates were initially higher in the oiled areas, over time they became equivalent to those in reference sites. Also, marsh resiliency, i.e., the rate of recovery from our applied disturbances, was not affected by the in situ burn. We conclude that in situ burning is an effective way to remove oil and allow ecosystem recovery in coastal marshes.     

LIMITS ON THE INSTITUTIONAL FRAME OF REFERENCE IN WATER RESOURCE DECISION-MAKING1

Study of water resource decision-making in Massachusetts demonstrates the existence of many institutional constraints such as the established fee system for consulting engineers, the funding of certain agencies, the institutionalization of equity concerns, overrepresentation of interests, and incompatibility of agency goals. These institutional constraints are attributable in part to certain broadly-based value-orientations such as the American pragmatic tradition. However, various lines of evidence indicate that these constraints are less important than other factors in the etiology of decisional outcomes. The outcomes of the decision processes were found to be at variance with the decisions studied, a fact leading to the conclusion that choice of decisions for study should be given more attention. The authors conclude that institutional constraints are important if one is interested in studying how decisions are made, but that what actually happens in the long run cannot be easily ascertained by studying either institutions or the decision-making process. They suggest the need for more research utilizing the incremental theories of Carl Lindblom and the side-effect theories of Albert O. Hirschman.     

A Simplified Method of Estimating Atmospheric Diffusion Parameters

Studies at Brookhaven National Laboratory have revealed reliable relationships among the statistical properties of the three-dimensional wind components. Combining these results with functions relating these wind statistics to atmospheric diffusion has produced a simplified system for estimating diffusion parameters from a variety of instrument arrangements. The system is described; examples of its application are given.     

Testing for thresholds of ecosystem collapse in seagrass meadows

Although the public desire for healthy environments is clear‐cut, the science and management of ecosystem health has not been as simple. Ecological systems can be dynamic and can shift abruptly from one ecosystem state to another. Such unpredictable shifts result when ecological thresholds are crossed; that is, small cumulative increases in an environmental stressor drive a much greater change than could be predicted from linear effects, suggesting an unforeseen tipping point is crossed. In coastal waters, broad‐scale seagrass loss often occurs as a sudden event associated with human‐driven nutrient enrichment (eutrophication). We tested whether the response of seagrass ecosystems to coastal nutrient enrichment is subject to a threshold effect. We exposed seagrass plots to different levels of nutrient enrichment (dissolved inorganic nitrogen) for 10 months and measured net production. Seagrass response exhibited a threshold pattern when nutrient enrichment exceeded moderate levels: there was an abrupt and large shift from positive to negative net leaf production (from approximately 0.04 leaf production to 0.02 leaf loss per day). Epiphyte load also increased as nutrient enrichment increased, which may have driven the shift in leaf production. Inadvertently crossing such thresholds, as can occur through ineffective management of land‐derived inputs such as wastewater and stormwater runoff along urbanized coasts, may account for the widely observed sudden loss of seagrass meadows. Identification of tipping points may improve not only adaptive‐management monitoring that seeks to avoid threshold effects, but also restoration approaches in systems that have crossed them.     

The risks of risk-based regulation: insights from the environmental policy domain

Risk-based regulation has become increasingly popular in recent years. Proponents argue that it facilitates robust governance, contributing to efficient and effective use of regulatory resources and delivering interventions in proportion to risk. Critics contend that the challenges of operationalising risk-based governance mitigate its potential benefits. In this paper we start by considering what we mean by risk-based governance and discuss some of the factors shaping the adoption of such strategies. We then consider the development and operation of risk-based approaches in the environmental policy domain, focusing specifically on the regulation of contaminated land and radioactive waste. We argue that whilst risk-based approaches can offer important benefits, they face a range of epistemic, institutional and normative challenges that can play an important role in shaping the way that organisations manage both risks to society and their own institutional risks. This has profound implications for achieving regulatory objectives and, for this paper, the environmental outcomes that the regulations are designed to deliver.