Reducing mercury pollution from artisanal gold mining in Munhena,Mozambique

Artisanal small-scale mining (ASM) is responsible for over 90% of gold production in Mozambique. In 2005, a 15-day pilot training project was held in the village of Munhena, a gold mining community. This intervention aimed at raising awareness related to the environmental and health impacts of mercury amalgamation and introduced alternative practices to reduce mercury release and exposure. In 2007, a 9-day evaluation of the pilot campaign was accomplished and knowledge in regards to mining methods, and the ASM government–community operating relations in Munhena were updated. Miners in Munhena are organized in an association of over 3000 members, work on a 25 year Government granted 143 ha concession and generate a substantial income (producing over 5 kg of gold per month). There remain, however, serious barriers towards sustainable community development. ASM associated environmental and health costs are high, as mercury continues to be used and lost to the environment, and cyanide will be introduced soon. The Government of Mozambique has laid the foundation for supporting this sector; however, resources are limited, and thus restrict ability to fully address these issues. Importantly, malaria and HIV/AIDS are not diagnosed and/or treated effectively within the community, and basic necessities are absent. This paper concludes with recommendations focused on enhancing the ASM sector in Mozambique, and overcoming barriers to sustainability in the community of Munhena.     

Sustainability: A Study of the Level of Ecological Behavior of Postgraduate Students in Brazil

The decline in the supply of natural resources is a cause for concern, especially given continued worldwide population growth. New habits and attitudes toward resource use are slowly being introduced into the everyday lives of persons residing in a number of countries. The term “ecological behavior” refers to acting in favor of the environment, whether these actions are voluntarily or not, or learned or not (Pato & Tamayo, 2006 ). The general objective of this study is to identify the environmental behavior—one of several terms used interchangeably with ecological behavior—of graduate students from a Brazilian federal institution of higher education. We chose this particular group because many of them already act, or will act, as professors. Thus, by virtue of their positions, they will function as opinion leaders who will influence the education of future professionals, establishing a chain through which shared values can gradually change the environmental behavior of society.     

Environmental Surveillance of Polioviruses in Rio de Janeiro,Brazil, in Support to the Activities of Global Polio Eradication Initiative

Wild polioviruses still remain endemic in three countries (Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria) and re-emergency of wild polio has been reported in previously polio-free countries. Environmental surveillance has been used as a supplementary tool in monitoring the circulation of wild poliovirus (PVs) and/or vaccine-derived PVs even in the absence of acute flaccid paralysis cases. This study aimed to monitor the presence of polioviruses in wastewater samples collected at one wastewater treatment plant located in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. From December 2011 to June 2012 and from September to December 2012, 31 samples were collected and processed. RD and L20B cell cultures were able to isolate PVs and non-polio enteroviruses in 27/31 samples. Polioviruses were isolated in eight samples (type 1 Sabin = 1, type 2 Sabin = 5, and type 3 Sabin = 2). Vaccine-derived polioviruses were not detected nor evidence of recombination with other PVs or non-polio enterovirus serotypes were observed among the isolates. The Sabin-related serotypes 2 and 3 presented nucleotide substitutions in positions associated with the neurovirulent phenotype at the 5′-UTR. Changes in important Amino acid residues at VP1 were also observed in the serotypes 2 and 3. Environmental surveillance has been used successfully in monitoring the circulation of PVs and non-polio enteroviruses and it is of crucial importance in the final stages of the WHO global polio eradication initiative. Our results show the continuous circulation of Sabin-like PVs and non-polio enteroviruses in the analyzed area during the study period.     

Permanent exposure versus facultative concealment of sexual traits: an experimental study in the house sparrow

In many bird species the cryptic winter plumage is due to the presence of light feather tips that conceal conspicuous colorations. The gradual abrasion of these tips that makes sexual traits visible has been interpreted as a strategy to improve mating success (here referred as the permanent exhibition hypothesis). However, under some circumstances, the maintenance of a full plumage that facultatively enables the bird to exhibit or cover aggression-inducing traits has proved to be advantageous (the coverable badge hypothesis). In a population of house sparrows where black throat patches (here called badges) are used in intrasexual competition, the degree of abrasion of dull feather tips that conceal bright colour early in the breeding season correlated neither with badge size nor with traits indicating morphology and body condition. These results are only in accordance with predictions of the coverable badge hypothesis. In 1992 experimental clipping of badge feather tips, which forced permanent exposure of badges, negatively affected birds with the largest badges in terms of nest acquisition, but an opposite trend was indicated for birds with the smallest badges. In 1993, when more novel birds in the study area were competing for nesting sites than in 1992, only badge size, but not the experimental manipulation, affected nesting success. These results suggest that the loss of the ability to conceal badges was disadvantageous, and more so if most competing individuals had already been resident in the colony in previous years and the larger their badges were. There is a striking contrast between the results reported for this study population, where badges mainly signal fighting ability, and those reported for another house sparrow population, where badges are mainly used in mate choice. In this last population, tip abrasion is advantageous for dominant individuals showing the largest badges. This suggests that the trade-off between conserving versus wearing off the feathers that conceal ornaments could have different optimal resolutions depending on the relative importance of inter and intrasexual selection on indicator traits. Received: 29 September 1995/Accepted after revision: 14 July 1996     

Sustainability and education for sustainability: An analysis of publications from the last decade

This study analyzes the characteristics of publications on sustainability topics and education for sustainability in the Web of Science (WOS) database during the period ranging from 2005 to 2014. We identified the topics that are being studied within those subjects and other relevant topics. We also analyzed a special edition of the Journal of Cleaner Production on “Higher Education for Sustainable Development: Emerging areas,” published in January, 2014. Our approach was both qualitative and quantitative and aimed at qualifying and quantifying certain variables related to the scientific literature on the broad subject of sustainability. The number of published pieces in the WOS focusing on sustainability issues during the period from 2005 to 2014 was 5,924. In our analysis of the special edition of the Journal of Cleaner Production, we found and analyzed 17 abstracts and full papers. The main results of our survey highlight the education, educational research, environmental sciences, ecology, and engineering areas as including the greatest number of publications. Articles, as opposed to conference proceedings or reviews, accounted for 63% of the published documents, and the year 2013 showed the largest number of publications. Huisingh, Suciu, Katane, and Barth are the most published authors on these topics. Furthermore, management, environmental studies, ecology, and environmental sciences are the “hot topics” with the best search results, meaning articles of impact and high quality. Finally, it should be emphasized that publications on the subject of sustainability appear most often in the sciences.     

Effects of paternal care on reproductive success in the polygynous spotless starling Sturnus unicolor

For males of socially polygynous avian species like the spotless starling, there may exist a trade-off between investing in paternal care and controlling several nests. To determine how the intensity of paternal care affects reproductive success per brood sired or expressed as the total number of young raised in all nests controlled by the same male, it is necessary to manipulate paternal care. Testosterone (T) has been shown to depress the tendency for males to care for their young, and induces them to acquire more mates. The effects of paternal care on reproductive success were studied by treating certain male starlings with exogenous T and others with the antiandrogen cyproterone acetate (CA), and comparing the parental behavior of T- and CA-males throughout the breeding season with that of controls. CA-males fed their chicks more during the first week after hatching than T-males, with controls feeding at intermediate rates, both on a per nest basis and as total effort for all nests controlled by the same male. Paternal feeding rates during the first week of chick life had a significant positive effect on the number of fledged young. The hormone treatment significantly affected the number of chicks raised per nest, CA-males having a higher breeding success per nest than T-males, and controls showing intermediate levels of success. There was no significant effect of treatment on total reproductive success attained by males throughout the season. In the polygonous spotless starling, the intensity of paternal care of young affects reproductive success per nest positively but not on a seasonal basis. Received: 6 February 1999 / Received in revised form: 30 June 1999 / Accepted: 11 July 1999     

Extra-pair paternity in the facultatively polygynous spotless starling,<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Sturnus unicolor</Emphasis>

A potential cost of polygyny that may have restrained its evolution in some avian species is the presence of extra-pair offspring in the nests of males mated with several females. However, this relationship is not frequently found and an experimental approach investigating the association between extra-pair offspring and polygyny, while controlling for male traits related to polygyny, has not been undertaken. In this study, we manipulated the testosterone levels of facultatively polygynous spotless starlings, Sturnus unicolor, to establish experimentally different groups of polygyny and analyse its influence on levels of extra-pair offspring in males for which other traits were randomised. During two consecutive breeding seasons, we examined the effects of harem size on the ability of males to assure genetic paternity, assessed by DNA fingerprinting, and on reproductive success in their own nests. The frequency of extra-pair fertilisations varied between 10% (14/140) in 1996 and 20% (39/194) in 1997. Year-to-year analyses of extra-pair paternity variables with treatment as factor and harem size (number of simultaneous mated females) as covariate, were significant only in relation to harem size. Males with few simultaneously mated females were less cuckolded than more polygynous males in 1997 but not in 1996, indicating that mating costs of polygyny occurred, at least in the year with the higher rate of extra-pair paternity. Because polygynous males have more social mates, they may accrue higher reproductive success irrespective of their risk of being cuckolded. However, our results suggest that to be polygynous is costly in terms of paternity loss when we experimentally induce mating status controlling for individual male traits. However, the low values of our power tests for the statistically non-significant results of hormone on cuckoldry do not allow us to discard this hormone effect altogether.     

Strategies for reducing the environmental impact of reprocessing mercury-contaminated tailings in the artisanal and small-scale gold mining sector: insights from Tapajos River Basin,Brazil

Worldwide, the environmental impacts of artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) are extensive. Annual losses from mercury, which is used to amalgamate gold, are in the range of 1000 tonnes, and at advanced sites, there is the additional threat of cyanide contamination.Recent developments in The Brazilian Amazon, an area populated by 200,000 small-scale gold miners, have the potential to reduce these impacts considerably. In the locality of Garimpo Ouro Roxo, miners are presently using amalgamation and cyanidation in vat-leaching. Each cycle typically recovers 50% of the gold and lasts 20 days (per tank), consuming around 3300 kg NaCN/month. A new process has been developed and implemented in a pilot plant in this area, involving gravity concentration followed by cyanidation in a ball mill. Concentrate leaching is conducted with a PVC capsule filled with activated carbon inserted in the cyanide solution in the mill. The cycle takes less than 24 h and recovers up to 98% of the gold in the concentrate. The main advantages of wide adoption of this method, apart from a reduced gold recovery cycle and improved recovery, include possible phase out of amalgamation altogether, and marked reductions in cyanide consumption (from current 22,000 kg–980 kg annually).     

Heavy-metal pollution assessment in the coastal lagoons of Jacarepaguá, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Jacarepaguá lagoon receives the waste from 239 industries and domestic sewage. Bottom sediment analysis revealed that metal pollution is not spread over the lagoons but restricted to the discharge areas of the main metal-carrier rivers. Metal concentrations in superficial water showed the following concentrations values in ng/ml: Zn, 9.63+/-3.59; Pb, 0.61+/-0.43; Cu, 0.94+/-0.45; Mn, 12.7+/-8.0. Metal concentration in fish (average of seven different species) presented the following results, in mg/kg wet weight: Cr, 0.08+/-0.01; Cu, 0.4+/-0.15; Zn, 4.6+/-3.4; Fe, 2.4+/-1.3; Mn, 0.4+/-0.3. These results imply, considering fish consumption rate and the RfD (USEPA Reference Dose), that the local population is not exposed to undue health risks. Metal concentrations in the water may, however, increase due to their dissolution induced by pH and redox changes in the sediments.