Book Reviews

ION‐SELECTIVE ELECTRODES IN ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, Vol. 2 by H. Freiser (ed.), Plenum Press, New York, 1980.

CARCINOGENESIS AND MUTAGENESIS by Myron A. Mehlman, Morris F. Cranmer and Raymond E. Shapiro, from the Journal of Environmental Pathology and Toxicology (Official Organ of the American College of Toxicology), 388 pages and 135 tables and figures, 1977, linen, format 261 × 178 mm, ISBN 0–930376–02–1, printed by Pathotox Publishers, Inc., Park Forest South, Illinois 60466, $23.00.     

The drivers of risk to water security in Shanghai

Big cities are often said to have big water problems, and Shanghai is no exception. In this paper, we examine and compare the influence of the major factors that give rise to the risk of water insecurity in Shanghai. There is an extensive and diverse literature on these issues, dealt with in isolation, and here, we provide a synthesis of the literature, together with our own assessments and calculations, to assess what are the risks to Shanghai’s water supply and what is our degree of confidence in this assessment. We describe the systems that supply water to the city, and past and future changes in the systems, including changes in the glaciers that supply some water to the river, changes in climate, changes in land use, the construction of dams, and water diversions. We show how, at the same time as Shanghai is increasing its dependence on the Yangtze river, water diversions and sea level rise are increasing the risk that this water will be too saline to consume at certain times of the year. This analysis suggests that most of the major drivers of the risk to water security in Shanghai are within the power of environmental managers to control.     

Determining the Costs of Air Pollution Control

A general procedure has been described that can be followed for estimating the cost of reducing air pollution emissions within a metropolitan region. The six step procedure examines emission inventories, regional trends, control trends, alternate control schemes, control costs, and optimum cost-effectiveness. The procedure is illustrated for one emission source in the Delaware Valley. By application of “feasible controls,” automobile emissions were shown to be reduced from 4.5 billion pounds per year in the Region during 1968 to 1.5 billion pounds in the year 2000. Annual control costs during the same period will increase from $30 million to over $300 million per year. This represents a cost increase from $15 per registered vehicle in 1968 to about $58 per vehicle per year in 2000. A method was illustrated for determining minimum cost to achieve any desired degree of emission reduction where alternate feasible control schemes are available. This method is especially useful where the allocation of scarce resources is involved. The general procedure is applicable to any number of pollutants and emission sources, and may be useful for calculations in any metropolitan area. The objectives of the present study are to apply this method to other sources within the Delaware Valley and to determine total regional costs for various levels of emission reduction. As one example of a practical application for this type of analysis, the economic impact of regulatory schemes can be evaluated on a cost-effectiveness basis     

Hunting Effects on Favourable Conservation Status of Highly Inbred Swedish Wolves

The wolf (Canis lupus) is classified as endangered in Sweden by the Swedish Species Information Centre, which is the official authority for threat classification. The present population, which was founded in the early 1980s, descends from 5 individuals. It is isolated and highly inbred, and on average individuals are more related than siblings. Hunts have been used by Swedish authorities during 2010 and 2011 to reduce the population size to its upper tolerable level of 210 wolves. European Union (EU) biodiversity legislation requires all member states to promote a concept called “favourable conservation status” (FCS) for a series of species including the wolf. Swedish national policy stipulates maintenance of viable populations with sufficient levels of genetic variation of all naturally occurring species. Hunting to reduce wolf numbers in Sweden is currently not in line with national and EU policy agreements and will make genetically based FCS criteria less achievable for this species. We suggest that to reach FCS for the wolf in Sweden the following criteria need to be met: (1) a well‐connected, large, subdivided wolf population over Scandinavia, Finland, and the Russian Karelia‐Kola region should be reestablished, (2) genetically effective size (N_e) of this population is in the minimum range of N_e = 500–1000, (3) Sweden harbors a part of this total population that substantially contributes to the total N_e and that is large enough to not be classified as threatened genetically or according to IUCN criteria, and (4) average inbreeding levels in the Swedish population are <0.1. Efectos de la Cacería sobre el Estatus de Conservación Favorable de Lobos Suecos con Endogamia Alta     

A free-enzyme catalyst for the bioremediation of environmental atrazine contamination

Herbicide contamination from agriculture is a major issue worldwide, and has been identified as a threat to freshwater and marine environments in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area in Australia. The triazine herbicides are of particular concern because of potential adverse effects, both on photosynthetic organisms and upon vertebrate development. To date a number of bioremediation strategies have been proposed for triazine herbicides, but are unlikely to be implemented due to their reliance upon the release of genetically modified organisms. We propose an alternative strategy using a free-enzyme bioremediant, which is unconstrained by the issues surrounding the use of live organisms. Here we report an initial field trial with an enzyme-based product, demonstrating that the technology is technically capable of remediating water bodies contaminated with the most common triazine herbicide, atrazine.     

Sampling animal association networks with the gambit of the group

Ecologists increasingly use network theory to examine animal association patterns. The gambit of the group (GoG) is a simple and useful assumption for accumulating the data necessary for a network analysis. The gambit of the group implies that each animal in a group is associating with every other individual in that group. Sampling is an important issue for networks in wild populations collected assuming GoG. Due to time, effort, and resource constraints and the difficulty of tracking animals, sampled data are usually a subset of the actual network. Ecologists often use association indexes to calculate the frequency of associations between individuals. These indexes are often transformed by applying a filter to produce a binary network. We explore GoG sampling using model networks. We examine assortment at the level of the group by a single dichotomous trait, along with many other network measures, to examine the effect of different sampling regimes, and choice of filter on the accuracy and precision with which measures are estimated. We find strong support for the use of weighted, rather than filtered, network measures and show that different filters have different effects depending on the nature of the sampling. We make several practical recommendations for ecologists planning GoG sampling.     

The impact of urbanization on tropical mangroves (Fortaleza,Brazil): Evidence from PAH distribution in sediments

This investigation represents the first environmental diagnosis of the distribution and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediments from a tropical mangrove in Fortaleza, northeastern Brazil. Sediment cores from six sampling stations in the Cocó and Ceará Rivers were retrieved in June-July 2006 to determine 17 priority PAHs. The total PAH concentrations (Σ_PAHs) ranged from 3.04 to 2234.76 μg kg^?1(Cocó River) and from 3.34 to 1859.21 μg kg^?1 (Ceará River). These levels are higher than those of other cities with more industrial development. PAH concentrations did not reach probable effect levels (PELs). However, from 4.5 to 87.5% of individual PAH concentrations can occasionally cause adverse biological effects for aquatic organisms. The PAH molecular ratios indicate that the PAHs in the sediment core were derived mainly from petroleum, wood, and charcoal combustion (pyrogenic source), and that atmospheric deposition and urban runoff may serve as important pathways for PAH input to the sediment. Clearly, the Σ_PAHs in sediments collected in the Cocó and Ceará Rivers indicate that ongoing pollution is more severe than past pollution.     

A performance evaluation of the National Air Quality Forecast Capability for the summer of 2007

This paper provides a performance evaluation of the real-time, CONUS-scale National Air Quality Forecast Capability (NAQFC) that supported, in part, its transition into operational status. This evaluation focuses primarily on discrete forecasts for the maximum 8-h O₃ concentrations covering the 4-month period, June through September, 2007, using measurements obtained from EPA's AIRNow network. Results indicate that the 2007 NAQFC performed as well or better than previous configurations, despite the expansion of the forecast domain into the western half of the nation that is dominated by complex terrain. The mean, domain-wide, season-long correlation was 0.70. When examined over time, the domain-wide correlations exhibit a fairly consistent nature, with values exceeding 0.60 (0.70) over 90% (55%) of the days. The NAQFC systematically over-predicted the 8-h O₃ concentrations, continuing a trend established by earlier NAQFC configurations, though to a lesser degree. The summer-long mean forecast value of 53.2 ppb was 4.2 ppb higher than the observed value, resulting in a domain-wide Normalized Mean Bias (NMB) of 8.7%. Most of the over-prediction is associated with observed concentrations less than 50 ppb. In fact the model tends to under-predict when concentrations exceed 70 ppb. As with the bias, the error associated with the latest configuration was also lower. The summer-long Root Mean Square Error of 13.0 ppb (Normalized Mean Error (NME) = 20.4%) represented marked improvements over earlier forecasts. Examination of the spatial distribution of both the NMB and NME reveals that the NAQFC was generally within 25% for the NME and 25% for the NMB over a majority of the domain. Several areas of poorer performance, where the NMB and NME often exceed 25% and in some cases 50%, were noted. These areas include southern California, where the NAQFC tended to under-predict concentrations (especially on weekends) and the southeast Atlantic and Gulf coasts regions, where the model over-predicted. Subsequent analysis revealed that the incorrect temporal allocation of precursor emissions was likely the source of the under-prediction in southern California, while inaccurate simulation of PBL heights likely contributed to the over-prediction in the coastal regions.