Regional Management of Farmland Feeding Geese Using an Ecological Prioritization Tool

Wild geese foraging on farmland cause increasing conflicts with agricultural interests, calling for a strategic approach to mitigation. In central Norway, conflicts between farmers and spring-staging pink-footed geese feeding on pastures have escalated. To alleviate the conflict, a scheme by which farmers are subsidized to allow geese to forage undisturbed was introduced. To guide allocation of subsidies, an ecological-based ranking of fields at a regional level was recommended and applied. Here we evaluate the scheme. On average, 40 % of subsidized fields were in the top 5 % of the ranking, and 80 % were within the top 20 %. Goose grazing pressure on subsidized pastures was 13 times higher compared to a stratified random selection of non-subsidized pastures, capturing 67 % of the pasture feeding geese despite that subsidized fields only comprised 13 % of the grassland area. Close dialogue between scientists and managers is regarded as a key to the success of the scheme.     

Impaired benthic macrofauna function 4 years after sediment capping with activated carbon in the Grenland fjords,Norway

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The sediments in the Grenland fjords in southern Norway are heavily contaminated by large emissions of dioxins and mercury from historic industrial...     

Removal of cyanide by woody plants

Hydrogen cyanide is a high volume production chemical that causes severe environmental problems. The toxicity of potassium cyanide (KCN) to basket willow trees (Salix viminalis) was tested. In aqueous solution, 2 mg CN l(-1) as KCN depressed the transpiration after 72 h about 50%. Trees exposed to 0.4 mg CN l(-1) in aqueous solution showed initially a depression of transpiration, but recovered. Doses of 8 and 20 mg CN l(-1) in aqueous solution were quickly mortal to the trees. At the end of the test, almost all cyanide had disappeared from the solutions. Levels of cyanide in plants were related to the toxicity, with no elevated levels of cyanide in plants exposed to 0.4 mg CN l(-1). Willows grown in sand survived 423.5 h irrigation with 20 mg CN l(-1). Willows grown in sand irrigated with 50 mg CN l(-1) died within a few days. The roots of the surviving willows were able to consume about 10 mg CN kg fresh weight(-1)h(-1). Vascular plants possess the enzymes beta-cyanoalanine synthase and beta-cyanoalanine hydrolase, which convert free cyanide to the amino acid asparagine. The in vivo capacity of woody plants (willow, poplar, elder, rose, birch) to remove cyanide was evaluated. Tests were performed with detached leaves and roots in KCN solutions of different concentrations. The highest removal capacity was obtained for basket willow hybrids (Salix viminalis x schwerinii). The Michaelis-Menten kinetics was determined. Realistic values of the half-saturation constant, K(M), were between 0.6 and 1.7 mg CN l(-1); the maximum metabolic capacity, v(max), was around 9.3 mg CN kg fresh weight(-1)h(-1). The removal of cyanide by plants might be useful in phytoremediation and treatment of wastewater from gold mining.     

Cold comfort: Arctic seabirds find refugia from climate change and potential competition in marginal ice zones and fjords

Climate change alters species distributions by shifting their fundamental niche in space through time. Such effects may be exacerbated by increased inter-specific competition if climate alters species dominance where competitor ranges overlap. This study used census data, telemetry and stable isotopes to examine the population and foraging ecology of a pair of Arctic and temperate congeners across an extensive zone of sympatry in Iceland, where sea temperatures varied substantially. The abundance of Arctic Brünnich’s guillemot Uria lomvia declined with sea temperature. Accessibility of refugia in cold water currents or fjords helped support higher numbers and reduce rates of population decline. Competition with temperate Common guillemots Uria aalge did not affect abundance, but similarities in foraging ecology were sufficient to cause competition when resources are limiting. Continued warming is likely to lead to further declines of Brünnich’s guillemot, with implications for conservation status and ecosystem services.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-021-01650-7.     

Airborne enzyme measurements to detect indoor mould exposure

Mould in buildings constitutes a threat to health. Present methods to determine the moulds comprise counting of spores or determination of viable moulds which give imprecise measures of total mould cell biomass. Analysis of ergosterol and β-glucan as markers of mould cell biomass is expensive and cumbersome. To evaluate if airborne enzyme activity was related to mould in buildings air samples were taken using an impinger technique or cellulose filters in 386 rooms in 141 buildings. The samples were analysed for the activity of N-acetylhexosaminidase (NAHA) and expressed as enzyme units per m(3) (EU per m(3)). The highest value found in a building was used for the classification of the building and was related to the results from the subsequent technical inspection. In buildings without mould damage, the NAHA activity was generally below 20 EU per m(3). In buildings with mould damage, almost all the buildings had activities above 20 EU per m(3) (specificity 85%). At 30 EU per m(3) the specificity was 100%. Measurements of airborne enzyme activity have a high sensitivity and specificity to identify buildings with mould problems. The method can be used in the investigations of building related symptoms or for home exposure characteristics when investigating diseases such as asthma that can be related to mould exposure.     

Sulfuric acid at workplaces--applicability of the new Indicative Occupational Exposure Limit Value (IOELV) to thoracic particles

Until 2009, the limit values for airborne sulfuric acid in Europe were based on the inhalable particle fraction (e.g. MAK (Maximum allowed concentration at workplace) value 0.1 mg m(-3) as the inhalable fraction). With the publication of the Commission Directive 2009/161/EU, an Indicative Occupational Exposure Limit Value (IOELV) of 0.05 mg m(-3) for sulfuric acid aerosols was based for the first time on the thoracic particle fraction. To permit a comparison of the measured values for the inhalable fraction with those of the thoracic fraction and to quantify the thoracic fraction, a cyclone was fabricated out of sulfuric-acid-resistant stainless steel that achieves suitable collection characteristics (PM(10)) at a flow rate of 5.34 L min(-1). 49 measurements were carried out in parallel in 21 companies. At concentrations well below the IOELV, there is little difference between the thoracic and inhalable particle concentrations. At higher concentrations (>0.1 mg m(-3) inhalable aerosol), larger droplets have a marked effect on the measured values and the thoracic fraction accounts for only 32.1 ± 12.5% of the inhalable fraction. The EU's IOELV and the proposal of the MAK Commission therefore provide a comparable level of protection. In the transposition of the IOELV into national law, an air limit of 0.1 mg m(-3) could therefore be implemented for the inhalable fraction.     

Turbulent Ventilation of a Street Canyon

A selection of turbulence data corresponding to 185 days of field measurements has been analysed. The non-ideal building geometry influenced the circulation patterns in the street canyon and the largest average vertical velocities were observed in the wake of an unbroken line of buildings. The standard deviation of vertical velocity fluctuations normalised by the ambient wind speed was relatively insensitive to ambient wind direction and sensor position, and it was usually larger than the corresponding 1-hour average velocity. Cross-correlations of spatially separated velocity measurements were small, and this suggests that most of the velocity fluctuations were fairly local and not caused by unsteady street vortices. The observed velocities scaled with the ambient wind speed except under low-wind conditions.     

Climate change and national crop wild relative conservation planning

Climate change is likely to be one of the most important factors affecting our future food security. To mitigate negative impacts, we will require our crops to be more genetically diverse. Such diversity is available in crop wild relatives (CWRs), the wild taxa relatively closely related to crops and from which diverse traits can be transferred to the crop. Conservation of such genetic resources resides within the nation where they are found; therefore, national-level conservation recommendations are fundamental to global food security. We investigate the potential impact of climate change on CWR richness in Norway. The consequences of a 1.5 and 3.0 °C temperature rise were studied for the years 2030, 2050, 2070, 2080 and then compared to the present climate. The results indicate a pattern of shifting CWR richness from the south to the north, with increases in taxa turnover and in the numbers of threatened taxa. Recommendations for in situ and ex situ conservation actions over the short and long term for the priority CWRs in Norway are presented. The methods and recommendations developed here can be applied within other nations and at regional and global levels to improve the effectiveness of conservation actions and help ensure global food security.     

Oil exposure in a warmer Arctic: potential impacts on key zooplankton species

Oil exploration activities are rapidly increasing in Arctic marine areas with potentially higher risks of oil spills to the environment. Water temperatures in Arctic marine areas are simultaneously increasing as a result of global warming. Potential effects of a combination of increased water temperature and exposure to the PAH pyrene were investigated on fecal pellet and, egg production and hatching success of two copepod species, Calanus finmarchicus and Calanus glacialis, sampled in Disko Bay, Greenland on 23–25 April 2008. The two species were exposed daily to nominal pyrene concentrations of 0-0.01-0.1-1-10-100 nM at water temperatures of 0.5, 5 and 8°C for 9 and 7 days, respectively. Daily measurements of faecal pellet production, egg production and hatching showed different responses of the two species to the applied stressors. When temperature increased, low concentrations of pyrene caused a decrease in faecal pellet production by C. finmarchicus, whereas C. glacialis faecal pellet production showed no negative response to pyrene exposure when temperatures increased. Pyrene exposure decreased egg production of C. finmarchicus at all temperatures, but the species was more sensitive at 0.5 and 8°C. A lag period of 1 day before egg production began was prolonged with several days when warmer water was combined with pyrene exposure. Egg production by C. glacialis was only negatively affected by pyrene in a dose-dependent manner at 0.5°C. Hatching success in both species was not affected by pyrene, where increased water temperatures led to a higher hatching success. In conclusion, C. glacialis seemed to be the less sensitive of the two species to the stress combination of increased water temperature and pyrene exposure. As a consequence of the differential responses of the two species, their competition can be impaired with a consequent impact on energy transfer between trophic levels.