Water, environment and development

This paper for the most part constitutes the address which was made to the Consortium for International Development at their recent Presidential Symposium at Colorado State University on 30 July 1992. It raises some of the global issues in water resources development and management which are likely to confront the international community in the 1990s and beyond. The issues pose the challenge to institutions involved in the water resources field in both developed and developing countries.     

An investigation into pay valence and performance in a pay-for-performance field setting

Inconsistent findings have been reported in the few studies investigating the relationship between the perceived value of pay and incentive performance. One hundred and seventy-eight female incentive employees with a nine-week, non-judgmental performance measure responded to a developed valence of pay scale. This measure used items assessing the perceived ability of pay to address employee needs. Three factor-scales were found within these items. Support for the hypothesized positive relationship between pay valence and incentive performance was found, dependent on which of the three scales was used. These findings provide initial insight into the means by which pay, with its ability to address different needs, might provide differential employee motivation and performance levels. This study and future research issues are discussed.     

DETECTION OF FRESH WATER AQUIFERS IN THE GLACIAL DEPOSITS OF NORTHWESTERN MISSOURI BY GEOELECTRICAL METHODS1

Geoelectrical investigations in Grundy County of northwestern Missouri, where the groundwater resources of the glacial deposits have already been examined through an extensive drilling program by the Missouri Geological Survey and Water Resources, indicate that water-bearing gravel deposits can be distinguished from glacial deposits containing appreciable amounts of clay and limited amounts of water. The Schlumberger method used for the geoelectric depth soundings in the vicinity of the Survey's drillholes demonstrates the exploratory usefulness of the method in that it can partly replace the more expensive procedure of drilling. The method also provides improved interpretation between drillholes. Results of the investigation show that, in the area, clay has a resistivity below 20in, that the fresh water-bearing gravel at the bottom of the buried glacial stream channels has a resisitivity of 40 to 50fim, and that the near surface glacial gravel deposits have a resistivity above lOOfim. Interpretation of the depth soundings and the conductivity of water obtained from a local well implies that its water is drawn from the saline water of the bedrock. A recommendation is made for the quality improvement of this particular well.     

Regional Representativeness of Swedish Reference Lakes

/ Recent focus has been placed on ecoregion delineations for providing an appropriate framework for monitoring and assessment of region-specific attainable water/habitat quality. Using an ecoregion approach to stratify variance, this study was conducted to determine whether earlier (subjectively) selected Swedish reference lakes may be considered as regionally representative reference sites when compared with a randomly selected lake population. Predictive modeling by discriminant function analysis with lakes classified by ecoregion and lake surface area and six physicochemical variables showed that the greater majority of reference lakes may be considered as regionally representative. The highest proportion of lake "misclassifications" occurred in the boreonemoral ecoregion, a relatively diverse ecoregion of southern Sweden. This apparent bias may be in part be due to the criteria used in selecting regional reference lakes. In the earlier selection of reference lakes emphasis was placed on lakes not being adversely affected by land usage or pollutant discharges, consequently forest lakes were often overrepresented and sites in agricultural areas underrepresented in the selected reference sites. As a complement to predictive modeling, PCA ordination showed the placement of reference lakes within the random lake population and indicated where reference sites might be missing along potentially important ecological gradients. KEY WORDS: Regionalization; Ecoregion; Representativeness; Reference; Ordination; Modeling; Temperate lakes     

Hermaphrodite sex role preferences: the role of partner body size, mating history and female fitness in the sea slug Chelidonura sandrana

Costs and benefits associated with matings and the effects of mating frequency on fitness commonly differ between the sexes. As a result, outcrossing simultaneous hermaphrodites may prefer to copulate in the more rewarding sex role, generating conflicts over sperm donation and sperm receipt between mates. Because recent sex role preference models remain controversial, we contrast here some of their assumptions and predictions in the sea slug Chelidonura sandrana. For this hermaphrodite with sperm storage and internal fertilisation, risk-averse models assume that fitness pay-offs are constantly higher in the female than in the male function in any single mating. Moreover, excluding mutual partner assessment, these models predict male mating behaviour to be independent of receiver traits. The competing gender ratio hypothesis assumes that relative fitness pay-offs, and thus the preferred mating roles, vary and may reverse between matings and predicts that ejaculation strategies co-vary with receiver quality. We found that field mating rates of C. sandrana substantially exceeded what is required to maintain female fertility and fecundity, indicating large variation in direct female benefits between matings. We further demonstrate that male copulation duration adaptively increased with partner body size (i.e. fecundity) but decreased with recent partner promiscuity. These findings are compatible with the gender ratio hypothesis but contradict risk-averse models.     

Methane oxidation in water-spreading and compost biofilters.

This study evaluated two biofilter designs to mitigate methane emissions from landfill vents. Water-spreading biofilters were designed to use the capillarity of coarse sand overlain by a finer sand to increase the active depth for methane oxidation. Compost biofilters consisted of 238-L barrels containing a 1:1 mixture (by volume) of compost to expanded polystyrene pellets. Two replicates of each type of biofilter were tested at an outdoor facility. Gas inflow consisted of an approximately 1:1 mixture (by volume) of CH4 and CO2. Methane output rates (J(out); g m(-2) day(-1)) were measured using the static chamber technique and the Pedersen et al. (2001) diffusion model. Methane oxidation rate (J(ox); g m(-2) day(-1)) and fraction of methane oxidized (f(ox)) were determined by mass balance. For methane inflow rates (J(in)) between 250 and 500 g m(-2) day(-1), the compost biofilter J(ox), 242 g m(-2) day(-1), was not significantly different (P = 0.0647) than the water-spreading biofilter J(ox), 203 g m(-2) day(-1); and the compost f(ox), 69%, was not significantly different (P = 0.7354) than water-spreading f(ox), 63%. The water-spreading biofilter was shown to generally perform as well as the compost biofilter, and it may be easier to implement at a landfill and require less maintenance.     

Residues of dicofol on cucumber grown under plastic covers in Jordan

Residues of dicofol were determined on cucumber leaves and fruits under plastic house (PH) and plastic tunnels (PT). Five sprays, 8 d apart, were applied at 0.15% concentration. Initial deposits on leaves were 48 and 58 ppm under PH and PT, respectively. In the last sampling date of leaves, the amounts of 191 and 135 ppm were detected under both cultures, respectively. There was a continuous increase in the initial residue after each spray. The highest amount of dicofol (401) was determined 1 d after the fifth spray under PH. The exposure to high residues may pose a risk to fieldworkers. On cucumber fruits, residues of 0.95 and 1.60 ppm were determined 1 d after the fourth spray under PH and PT, respectively. These residues decreased after 4 d to 0.40 and 1.49 ppm, respectively. Almost no detectable residues could be determined 8 d after sprays number 4 and 5 under both cultures. All dicofol residues on the fruits were below the tolerance level of 2 ppm.