Salinity-temperature profiles in the Panama Canal Locks

In discussions concerning the possible construction of a Panamá sea-level canal it has been assumed that Gatún Lake, part of the present canal, acts as a fresh-water barrier to the migration of marine animals from either end of the Canal to the other. Methodical documentary salinity determinations have not been made previously, and only a few surface salinity observations have been recorded. Determinations of salinity-temperature profiles made in spring and fall, 1972, show essentially freshwater to be present from Miraflores Lake, through the Pedro Miguel Locks, through Gatún Lake, to, and including, the upper chambers of the Gatún Locks. With the exception of those of the lower chamber of the Miraflores Locks, the profiles indicate homogeneity and thorough vertical mixing of all water masses in the lock systems and lakes of the canal. Homogeneity of the water in the lock chambers is thought to be due to turbulence during filling of the chambers, to the piston-effect of large ships moving into the chambers, to the action of ships' propellers, and to density currents established as the lock gates are opened. Water in the approach channel at the Pacific end appears to be more homogeneous than that at the Atlantic end. The Panama Canal does, in fact, constitute a fresh-water barrier to the migration of the stenohaline marine biota of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.     

A California air standard to protect vegetation from ozone

Evidence shows that the current national primary ambient air quality standard, if attained, would still permit substantial injury to vegetation. Thus, in March 1987, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) began consideration of the evidence for the effects of ozone (O3) on vegetation, and of several possible state ambient air quality standards designed to protect vegetation, especially crops, from O3 injury. In its review, the CARB addressed a number of issues relevant to such a standard. One issue considered by the CARB is the relationship of an ambient air quality standard to natural background levels of O3, which would greatly influence the practicality of attainment. Attainment of a standard close to natural background could entail excessive costs. Another issue considered is the occurrence of oxidants other than O3 that can damage vegetation. Throughout much of California, O3 accounts for over 90% of the oxidant air pollutants, and the CARB considered whether, in keeping with current practice, O3 should be used as a surrogate for total oxidant air pollutants. A major new piece of information presented to the CARB was an assessment of the economic effects of several potential standards. This assessment, produced by University of California scientists at Riverside and Davis, calculated the benefits of the potential standards in comparison to current O3 levels and estimated natural O3 background. This assessment was developed using field chamber response data, local crop data, and local O3 concentration data as inputs to the California Agricultural Resources Model, which accounts for both supply and demand effects. Because of California's varied climate, agricultural production occurs on a year-round basis, with overlapping growing seasons for many crops. Over long periods of time, O3 levels may vary markedly because of the influence of various factors, and a 1-h standard may not be an accurate indicator of growing season O3 exposure. A moving three-month averaging time has been proposed as a way to approximate the growing seasons of California's 200 crops. However, a sufficiently stringent 1-h standard would serve as a surrogate for a growing season standard. The CARB reviewed evidence supporting both long-term and short-term standards. Agriculture dominates the economies of some regions within California but is a minor components of other regional economies. Because the San Joaquin Valley is California's most important agricultural area, the CARB reviewed evidence for a regional standard for this area that would be more stringent than standards for other parts of the state.     

A DESCRIPTIVE MODEL FOR ANALYZING PROPOSED COST SHARING RATE CHANGES1

ABSTRACT: This article offers a procedure for identifying the primary effects of financing and cost sharing rates on four basic levels: program, technical, incidence, and comprehensive impacts. A process is developed for identifying these effects based upon two alternative approaches. One method would follow the effects of rate changes through the four levels of impact, another would look in depth at the consequences of rate changes on a particular impact. For this study the information and suggested changes found in the Section 80(c) Study were used to illustrate possible impacts. The process suggested herein could be used in anticipating impacts of any major policy change.     

Agroecosystem functional assessment and its difficulties

Agroecosystem functional assessment indicators provide a necessary bridge between decision-makers and scientists. The development of acceptable indicators, however, remains a difficult task because the current knowledge and understanding of ecosystems is not sufficient to allow an objective assessment of all ecosystem functions. These difficulties were summarized from three perspectives. First, there are difficulties in individual function assessment. Of the four functions associated with agroecosystems-energy flow, materials cycling,information flow and value flow-data on material cycling and information flow remain difficult to obtain and the indicators relatively immature. Secondly, there are difficulties of integration. During the assessment process, the integration of the agroecosystem functions remains the biggest obstacle. Until now, there has been no practical or effective methodology established to resolve the problem. At present, the makeshift approach has been to weight the various indicators and then add them together. Thirdly, there is the problem of obscure concepts and concept confusion. When assessments of agroecosystems are conducted, concepts such as structure, function, benefit,and resource utilization are used extensively. To date, no logical relationship (either real or implied) has been developed between any of these concepts. Are they causes and results such that the relationship between them is linear, or are they independent from one another such that the relationship is parallel? Thus far, the essence of this question is yet to be explored.     

Genetic relationships between roost-mates in a fission–fusion society of tree-roosting big brown bats (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Eptesicus fuscus</Emphasis>)

Kin-based patterns of associations are often observed in group living mammals. Colonies of forest-living big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) exhibit fission–fusion roosting behavior and female philopatry. Within a roosting area of forest, adult females are distributed into several subgroups roosting in different trees during the day. At night, adult females leave the roost subgroups to forage and, upon return to the roosting area at dawn, both the individual composition and location of subgroups often change. Individuals exhibit nonrandom roosting associations, and we hypothesized that genetic relationships would influence roosting associations. We determined (1) whether the strength of roosting associations between pairs of bats (based on radiotelemetry) was correlated with relatedness, (2) whether individuals that roosted together in roost subgroups were more related than by chance, and (3) from roost subgroups, the pairs of bats that roosted nonrandomly and whether the proportion of related pairs was higher than expected at random. Relatedness measures were based on microsatellite genotyping and mitochondrial DNA sequences. We found from all analyses that roosting associations were not influenced by relatedness or matrilineal relationships. These results provide clear evidence that, contrary to other mammals, kinship does not mediate roosting associations within forest living big brown bats that exhibit fission–fusion roosting behavior.     

Evaluation of the Hormosira banksii (Turner) desicaine germination and growth inhibition bioassay for use as a regulatory assay

A germination and growth inhibition bioassay using the marine macroalga, Hormosira banksii, was evaluated for use as a standard method for direct toxicity assessment testing in the Australasian region. H. banksii is the dominant macroalga and an important primary producer in temperate coastal zones of Australasia and is therefore relevant as a test organism. Moreover, it releases gametes readily under laboratory conditions, therefore allowing tests to be conducted year round. The test endpoints' variability and sensitivity was evaluated using ammonia, a common constituent of waste waters. The two test endpoints of germination and growth proved to be both reliable and repeatable bioassay endpoints. The coefficients of variation (CV's) for toxicity to germination and growth by ammonia ranged from 25% to 38% (n=18).     

Adsorption and absorption of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and metabolites (DDD and DDE) by rice roots

A three-step sequential extraction procedure was applied to measure the concentrations of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) on rice root surface and in root tissues collected from two sites in Tianjin. Bulk and rhizosphere soils were also analyzed. The measured DDXs in the rhizosphere soils were significantly higher than those in the bulk soils. On average, p,p'-DDT, p,p'-DDD, and p,p'-DDE in the soil accounted for 38%, 47% and 15% of the total. For total DDXs, approximately one third remained on the outer surface of the roots. The partition of DDXs between rhizosphere soil and root surface depend on contaminant affinity to soil organic matter, soil organic matter content and root specific area. A case specific equation was developed to quantitatively describe the partition of DDXs between soil and root surface.     

Determinants of blood and saliva lead concentrations in adult gardeners on urban agricultural sites

Environmental Geochemistry and Health - Soil Pb concentrations at urban agriculture sites (UAS) commonly exceed recommended safe levels. There is a lack of evidence regarding uptake of Pb by...     

Effects of ultraviolet and photosynthetically active radiation on five seagrass species

Five seagrass species [Halophila ovalis (R.Br) Hook. f., Halodule uninervis (Forsk.) Aschers., Zostera capricorni Aschers., Cymodocea serrulata (R.Br) Aschers. (ed.) and Syringodium isoetifolium (Aschers.) Dandy] from Moreton Bay, Australia, were grown under increased (+25%) and ambient levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), and various morphological and physiological responses were examined. Leaf fluorescence ratio (variable:maximum fluorescence) in conjunction with xanthophyll pigment content (violaxanthin, antheraxanthin and zeaxanthin) were used as a measure of photosynthetic efficiency. In addition, absorbance in the UV spectrum, chlorophyll content and chloroplast density were used as indicators of photosynthetic capacity. The seagrass species examined had varying degrees of sensitivity to UV radiation. Halophila ovalis and Halodule uninervis were the most sensitive species, exhibiting the largest decrease in photosynthetic efficiency and chloroplast density and the smallest increase in UV-blocking pigments in response to UV radiation. The more UV-tolerant species, Z. capricorni, C. serrulata and S. isoetifolium, were only significantly affected by increased levels of UV radiation, showing a gradual decline in photosynthetic efficiency and chloroplast density and the largest increases in UV-blocking pigment. UV sensitivity corresponded with leaf morphology, with thicker leaves (as in Z. capricorni, C. serrulata and S. isoetifolium) providing greater morphological protection for UV-sensitive organelles. Not all species were significantly affected by increasing PAR, with decreases in fluorescence ratio and increases in zeaxanthin content observed only in C. serrulata and S. isoetifolium. Sensitivity to PAR corresponded with morphological plasticity; species exhibiting a wide range of growth forms (e.g. Halophila ovalis, Halodule uninervis and Z. capricorni) were the least sensitive to increases in PAR. Seagrass depth-distributions in Moreton Bay appear to be influenced by species sensitivity to UV radiation and PAR, with other factors such as epiphytes, shading and nutrients also affecting species' tolerance. All species were affected to some degree by UV radiation, thus future changes in UV intensity may have repercussions on the distribution of seagrasses.