Examining the place of ecological integrity in environmental justice: A systematic review

Environmental justice research is predominately an anthropocentric endeavour, and it is unclear whether this research captures injustices to other species or the integrity of ecological systems that support all life on earth. The purpose of this article is three-fold. First, we systematically review the environmental justice literature to identify the epistemological perspectives from which environmental justice is conveyed. Second, we examine definitions of environmental justice to determine how the concept is operationalised across these paradigms. Third, we document under what conditions these definitions purposely acknowledge the interdependency of all species in order to elucidate the place (or absence) of ecological integrity in our understanding of environmental justice. We conclude with a discussion of the value of going beyond mainstream expressions of environmental justice that typically do not include ecological integrity as a way to begin addressing the problem in a more holistic way.     

Exploring the current status of water governance and outcomes of community-based monitoring across the Oak Ridges Moraine,Southern Ontario,Canada

ABSTRACT

Community-based monitoring (CBM) activities are becoming increasingly prevalent in response to multiple factors, including reduced governmental capacity and increased public interest in environmental management. This research aims to explore how CBM has evolved in the Oak Ridges Moraine (ORM), southern Ontario, including an examination of strengths and challenges. Interviews with CBM stakeholders, provincial government staff, and conservation authority staff were combined with document analysis to explore the evolution and outcomes of ORM CBM activities. Results indicate that there is active CBM on the ORM and conservation authorities play a role in the shaping of CBM activities, although significant barriers remain to civil society participation in water governance. The case study results from the ORM were also considered in light of research emerging from the Nova Scotia experience of numerous civil society organisations involved in CBM.     

Hydrochemical and radiometric evaluation of fresh and thermal waters from Araxá city (Minas Gerais,Brazil)

Environmental Geochemistry and Health - This paper reports the hydrochemistry and activity concentration of the natural radionuclides 238U, 234U, and 210Po for three compartments of the...     

Environmental strategies for achieving a new foreign direct investment golden decade in Algeria

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - While numerous studies have discussed the impact of economic growth on the environment, this paper advances in the empirical literature, aiming to...     

Effective removal of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug from wastewater by adsorption process using acid-treated Fagopyrum esculentum husk

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this work, buckwheat husks (Fagopyrum esculentum) were modified by acid treatment and posteriorly employed to remove the ketoprofen in batch...     

Adjusting the economy to the new energy realities of the second half of the age of oil

Our research indicates that, due to the depletion of conventional, and hence cheap, crude oil supplies (i.e. peak oil), increasing the supply of oil in the future would require exploiting lower quality resources (i.e. expensive), and thus will most likely occur only at high prices. This situation creates a system of feedbacks where economic growth, which requires more oil, would require high oil prices that will undermine that economic growth. We conclude that the economic growth of the past 40 years is unlikely to continue unless there is some remarkable change in how we manage our economy.     

Spatial modeling in ecology: the flexibility of eigenfunction spatial analyses

Recently, analytical approaches based on the eigenfunctions of spatial configuration matrices have been proposed in order to consider explicitly spatial predictors. The present study demonstrates the usefulness of eigenfunctions in spatial modeling applied to ecological problems and shows equivalencies of and differences between the two current implementations of this methodology. The two approaches in this category are the distance-based (DB) eigenvector maps proposed by P. Legendre and his colleagues, and spatial filtering based upon geographic connectivity matrices (i.e., topology-based; CB) developed by D. A. Griffith and his colleagues. In both cases, the goal is to create spatial predictors that can be easily incorporated into conventional regression models. One important advantage of these two approaches over any other spatial approach is that they provide a flexible tool that allows the full range of general and generalized linear modeling theory to be applied to ecological and geographical problems in the presence of nonzero spatial autocorrelation.     

Nitrogen dynamics in an Australian semiarid grassland soil

We conducted a four-week laboratory incubation of soil from a Themeda triandra Forsskal grassland to clarify mechanisms of nitrogen (N) cycling processes in relation to carbon (C) and N availability in a hot, semiarid environment. Variation in soil C and N availability was achieved by collecting soil from either under tussocks or the bare soil between tussocks, and by amending soil with Themeda litter. We measured N cycling by monitoring: dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), ammonium (NH4+), and nitrate (NO3-) contents, gross rates of N mineralization and microbial re-mineralization, NH4+ and NO3- immobilization, and autotrophic and heterotrophic nitrification. We monitored C availability by measuring cumulative soil respiration and dissolved organic C (DOC). Litter-amended soil had cumulative respiration that was eightfold greater than non-amended soil (2000 compared with 250 microg C/g soil) and almost twice the DOC content (54 compared with 28 microg C/g soil). However, litter-amended soils had only half as much DON accumulation as non-amended soils (9 compared with 17 microg N/g soil) and lower gross N rates (1-4 compared with 13-26 microg N x [g soil](-1) x d(-1)) and NO3- accumulation (0.5 compared with 22 microg N/g soil). Unamended soil from under tussocks had almost twice the soil respiration as soil from between tussocks (300 compared with 175 microg C/g soil), and greater DOC content (33 compared with 24 microg C/g soil). However, unamended soil from under tussocks had lower gross N rates (3-20 compared with 17-31 microg N x [g soil](-1) d(-1)) and NO3- accumulation (18 compared with 25 microg N/g soil) relative to soil from between tussocks. We conclude that N cycling in this grassland is mediated by both C and N limitations that arise from the patchiness of tussocks and seasonal variability in Themeda litterfall. Heterotrophic nitrification rate explained >50% of total nitrification, but this percentage was not affected by proximity to tussocks or litter amendment. A conceptual model that considers DON as central to N cycling processes provided a useful initial framework to explain results of our study. However, to fully explain N cycling in this semiarid grassland soil, the production of NO3- from organic N sources must be included in this model.     

Degradation of littoral habitats by residential development: woody debris in lakes of the Pacific Northwest and Midwest, United States

One of the least understood aspects of aquatic ecology is the role of riparian zones of lakes, and how these habitats and their functions are impacted by human development of lakeshores. We investigated the effects of residential lakeshore development on littoral coarse woody debris (CWD) distribution and on riparian forest characteristics by comparing 18 lakes in the U.S. Pacific Northwest with 16 previously surveyed lakes in the U.S. Upper Midwest. Residential development had a strong negative effect on CWD and riparian forest characteristics at both local and whole-lake scales. There was a strong positive correlation between riparian forest density and littoral CWD abundance in both regions. We found regional variation in CWD and riparian forest characteristics, mostly owing to differences in native forests. Our results suggest the role of local processes in determining CWD distribution and point to potential regional differences in littoral habitat structure associated with forest composition and lakeshore development that may have consequences for littoral-pelagic coupling in lakes.