Climate Change and River Ecosystems: Protection and Adaptation Options

Rivers provide a special suite of goods and services valued highly by the public that are inextricably linked to their flow dynamics and the interaction of flow with the landscape. Yet most rivers are within watersheds that are stressed to some extent by human activities including development, dams, or extractive uses. Climate change will add to and magnify risks that are already present through its potential to alter rainfall, temperature, runoff patterns, and to disrupt biological communities and sever ecological linkages. We provide an overview of the predicted impacts based on published studies to date, discuss both reactive and proactive management responses, and outline six categories of management actions that will contribute substantially to the protection of valuable river assets. To be effective, management must be place-based focusing on local watershed scales that are most relevant to management scales. The first priority should be enhancing environmental monitoring of changes and river responses coupled with the development of local scenario-building exercises that take land use and water use into account. Protection of a greater number of rivers and riparian corridors is essential, as is conjunctive groundwater/surface water management. This will require collaborations among multiple partners in the respective river basins and wise land use planning to minimize additional development in watersheds with valued rivers. Ensuring environmental flows by purchasing or leasing water rights and/or altering reservoir release patterns will be needed for many rivers. Implementing restoration projects proactively can be used to protect existing resources so that expensive reactive restoration to repair damage associated with a changing climate is minimized. Special attention should be given to diversifying and replicating habitats of special importance and to monitoring populations at high risk or of special value so that management interventions can occur if the risks to habitats or species increase significantly over time.     

外源水杨酸对染铅小鼠抗氧化水平的调节

为了研究水杨酸对铅染毒小鼠体内抗氧化水平的调节,将不同浓度的水杨酸(0、0.1、0.5、1.0和1.5 mmol·L-1)附加到醋酸铅溶液中对小鼠隔日灌胃1个月,测定了肝和脑组织抗氧化酶活性以及脂质过氧化产物丙二醛(MDA)的含量,观察了核DNA的降解情况.结果显示,0.5mmol·L-1的水杨酸完全消除了铅(300 mg·kg-1)对小鼠超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)、过氧化物酶(POD)和过氧化氢酶(CAT)活性的抑制,使MDA含量维持在对照水平,核DNA降解明显减轻.这些数据显示,外源水杨酸可通过调节铅胁迫下小鼠体内抗氧化酶的活性而保护肝和脑组织免受铅引发的氧化胁迫伤害.     

An assessment of chemical contaminants in sediments from the St. Thomas East End Reserves,St. Thomas,USVI

The St. Thomas East End Reserves or STEER is located on the southeastern end of the island of St. Thomas, USVI. The STEER contains extensive mangroves and seagrass beds, along with coral reefs, lagoons, and cays. Within the watershed, however, are a large active landfill, numerous marinas, resorts, various commercial activities, an EPA Superfund Site, and residential areas, all of which have the potential to contribute pollutants to the STEER. As part of a project to develop an integrated assessment for the STEER, 185 chemical contaminants were analyzed in sediments from 24 sites. Higher levels of chemical contaminants were found in Mangrove Lagoon and Benner Bay in the western portion of the study area. The concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), zinc, copper, lead, and mercury were above a NOAA Effects Range-Low (ERL) sediment quality guideline at one or more sites, indicating impacts may be present in more sensitive species or life stages. Copper at one site in Benner Bay was above a NOAA Effects Range-Median (ERM) guideline indicating effects on benthic organisms were likely. The antifoulant boat hull ingredient tributyltin (TBT) was found at the third highest concentration in the history of NOAA’s National Status and Trends (NS&T) Program, which monitors the nation’s coastal and estuarine waters for chemical contaminants and bioeffects. The results from this project will provide resource managers with key information needed to make effective decisions affecting coral reef ecosystem health and gauge the efficacy of restoration activities.     

Survey of polynuclear aromatic compounds in oil refining areas

Air samples in and around refinery areas were collected over a 3-year period. The results of the analysis for polynuclear aromatic compounds listed as priority pollutants by the United States Environmental Protection Agency are presented. The particulate matters in the air were collected on glass fiber filters using high volume samplers. These samples were later Soxhlet extracted with cyclohexane, and then extracted with DMSO/pentane for isolation of the polynuclear aromatic compounds. These extracts were then analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for specified polynuclear aromatic compounds. It was found that much higher concentrations of these aromatic compounds were found in one refinery compared to another one. In general, the number of these priority pollutants detected and their concentrations were higher in sites inside the refineries relative to a site outside the refineries.     

Changes in Upland Wildlife Habitat on Farmland in Illinois 1920–1987

/ An index of upland wildlife habitat was developed to investigate patterns and changes in habitat over time, using four years (1920, 1940, 1964, 1987) and the state of Illinois as an example. The index was composed of two subdivisions that described, at the county level, the quantity of wildlife habitat and a third subdivision that described farming disturbances that impacted the quality of the habitat. Data came from the US Census of Agriculture. The first subdivision that reflected quantity of habitat was called the wildlife habitat subdivision and was the sum of percentage woodland on farms, percentage farmland in nonrow crops, and percentage farmland in set-aside programs. The second subdivision that reflected the quantity of habitat was termed the soil-related features subdivision and was the sum of the percentage of farmland that was not highly erodible, the percentage of farmland in soil-protecting crops, and the percentage of farmland in conservation tillage. The third subdivision, reflecting the quality of the habitat, was the farming disturbance subdivision and was the sum of the percentage of grazing and the percentage of land on which fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides were applied. Overall, major decreases occurred between 1920 and 1987 in the subdivisions reflecting the quantity of wildlife habitat and a major increase occurred in the subdivision associated with farming disturbance, reflecting the intensification of agriculture in the state. However, there was variability throughout the state, with some counties being more favorable to wildlife (as measured by the subdivisions) than others. Most of the changes within the state for the subdivisions reflecting quantity of upland wildlife habitat occurred during 1940 while changes in the farming disturbance subdivision (reflecting habitat quality) occurred in 1964. By 1987, the western and southern parts of Illinois were the most favorable for wildlife as reflected in all three subdivisions. Upland wildlife harvest indices were related to the subdivisions in 1964 and 1987, when harvest indices were available. Cottontail and northern bobwhite harvests were higher in counties with higher amounts of the wildlife habitat subdivision in both years. Cottontail harvest was also higher in counties with lower levels of the farming disturbance subdivision in 1964 and higher levels of soil-related features subdivision in 1987. Indices at the county level have the potential to be used in a multiscale analysis to investigate the impact of policy changes on large-scale areas of the Midwest and to develop regional perspectives of the impacts of agriculture on upland wildlife and their habitats.KEY WORDS: Upland wildlife; Habitat; Agriculture; Illinois     

基于小波相关分析框架的大气腐蚀数据挖掘

目的 针对大气腐蚀中腐蚀数据复杂多变且不易于分析的问题,提出一种基于小波的相关分析框架,挖掘腐蚀的变化特征及其影响因素.方法 首先采用小波功率谱确定腐蚀数据的周期波动特征,然后应用小波相干谱分析腐蚀和环境因素的相关强度、超前滞后及正反相关系,最后利用平均小波相干和显著相干百分比筛选出与腐蚀相关程度较高的环境因素.然后以青岛碳钢腐蚀数据为具体对象,挖掘了温度、相对湿度、降雨和污染物对碳钢初期腐蚀行为的影响.结果 在腐蚀初期,碳钢的腐蚀具有很强的日波动特征,温度和相对湿度是导致其波动的主要环境因素;腐蚀在降雨时刻呈现间歇性波动特征,且降雨超前于腐蚀;污染物浓度较低使得其对碳钢的腐蚀影响较弱.结论 基于小波的相关分析框架有效展现了复杂腐蚀数据的变化特征及其与环境因素的关系,为深入理解大气腐蚀规律提供了一种新的途径.     

Green chemistry

A grand challenge facing government, industry, and academia in the relationship of our technological society to the environment is reinventing the use of materials. To address this challenge, collaboration from an interdisciplinary group of stakeholders will be necessary. Traditionally, the approach to risk management of materials and chemicals has been through inerventions intended to reduce exposure to materials that are hazardous to health and the environment. In 1990, the Pollution Prevention Act encouraged a new tact-elimination of hazards at the source. An emerging approach to this grand challenge seeks to embed the diverse set of environmental perspectives and interests in the everyday practice of the people most responsible for using and creating new materials—chemists. The approach, which has come to be known as Green Chemistry, intends to eliminate intrinsic hazard itself, rather than focusing on reducing risk by minimizing exposure. This chapter addresses the representation of downstream environmental stakeholder interests in the upstream everyday practice that is reinventing chemistry and its material inputs, products, and waste as described in the “12 Principles of Green Chemistry”.     

高危岗位矿工心理倦怠对注意执行功能的影响

为探究心智游移在倦怠和注意执行功能间的作用机制,有效减少由负性心理状态引起的不安全行为,降低人因事故发生率。在文献研究的基础上,引入心智游移,采用SART范式和AX-CPT范式,以问卷筛选出的100位国有煤炭企业高危岗位作业人员为研究对象,讨论倦怠、心智游移和个体注意执行功能之间的关系。研究结果表明:高频AX试次会引起惯性反应偏向,被试者需要更多的时间来维持线索字母A和解决无效线索B与有效探针X之间的冲突;高倦怠矿工比低倦怠矿工的注意执行控制功能更易受到高频心智游移的影响;心智游移在倦怠与注意执行功能间起到调节作用。     

Risk assessment for ingested inorganic arsenic: A review and status report

Arsenic presents several unique problems in risk assessment. First, there is no good animal model for arsenic as a carcinogen, although in humans arsenic exposure through inhalation is judged to cause lung cancer and ingested inorganic arsenic is judged to cause skin cancer. Second, detoxification of arsenic through methylation is believed to be important, but the mechanisms and the quantitative relationships are not yet understood.EPA provided a risk assessment for ingested inorganic arsenic in its 1984 Health Assessment Document and a revised version in 1988. In both cases EPA calculated a cancer potency or slope factor using epidemiological data from Taiwan. EPA's standard or default risk assessment procedure is to use the linear coefficient from the multistage model in order to calculate cancer risk. This procedure was challenged by the EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) in a report to the Administrator in September of 1989. The SAB recommended that EPA (1) develop a revised risk assessment based on estimates of the delivered dose of non-detoxified arsenic to target tissues, and (2) consider the potential reduction in cancer risk due to detoxification in establishing an MCL for arsenic.This paper will draw upon the author's experience with the SAB to summarise major issues in arsenic risk assessment and to examine how these issues might be resolved through further research.