An assessment of the environmental and socio-economic impacts of alien rabbits and hares

Directly comparable data on the environmental and socio-economic impacts of alien species informs the effective prioritisation of their management. We used two frameworks, the Environmental Impact Classification for Alien Taxa (EICAT) and Socio-Economic Impact Classification for Alien Taxa (SEICAT), to create a unified dataset on the severity and type of impacts caused by alien leporids (rabbits and hares). Literature was reviewed to collate impact data, which was categorised following EICAT and SEICAT guidelines. We aimed to use these data to identify: (1) alien leporid species with severe impacts, (2) their impact mechanisms, (3) the native species and local communities vulnerable to impacts and (4) knowledge gaps. Native species from a range of taxonomic groups were affected by environmental impacts which tended to be more damaging than socio-economic impacts. Indirect environmental impacts were particularly damaging and underreported. No impact data were found for several alien leporid species.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-021-01642-7.     

Assessment of Arsenic Losses during Ashing: A Comparison of Two Methods Applied to Atmospheric Participates

A comparison was made of over 300 pairs of arsenic results from instrumental neutron activation and flameless atomic absorption analyses of atmospheric particulates collected on glass fiber filters. Atomic absorption analyses involved low temperature ashing of filters at high power levels. No matrix modification chemicals were added to the acid extract which was analyzed. Neutron activation results are on the average 9% higher than those obtained by atomic absorption and the difference is statistically significant. This small difference is probably due to the analytical techniques or acid extraction and not in any important way to losses during low temperature ashing. This conclusion is in sharp contrast to other recently reported situations where low temperature ashing losses in analyzing atmospheric particulate were sizable. Although the atmospheres sampled differed somewhat between these situations the most obvious difference was in the combustibility of the filters used in sampling.     

Flame retardants and legacy contaminants in polar bears from Alaska, Canada, East Greenland and Svalbard, 2005-2008

Flame retardants and legacy contaminants were analyzed in adipose tissue from 11 circumpolar polar bear (Ursus maritimus) subpopulations in 2005-2008 spanning Alaska east to Svalbard. Although 37 polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), total-(α)-hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), 2 polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), pentabromotoluene, pentabromoethylbenzene, hexabromobenzene, 1,2-bis(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy(ethane) and decabromodiphenyl ethane were screened, only 4 PBDEs, total-(α-)HBCD and BB153 were consistently found. Geometric mean ΣPBDE (4.6-78.4 ng/g lipid weight (lw)) and BB153 (2.5-81.1 ng/g lw) levels were highest in East Greenland (43.2 and 39.2 ng/g lipid weight (lw), respectively), Svalbard (44.4 and 20.9 ng/g lw) and western (38.6 and 30.1 ng/g lw) and southern Hudson Bay (78.4 and 81.1 ng/g lw). Total-(α)-HBCD levels (<0.3-41.1 ng/g lw) were lower than ΣPBDE levels in all subpopulations except in Svalbard, consistent with greater European HBCD use versus North American pentaBDE product use. ΣPCB levels were high relative to flame retardants as well as other legacy contaminants and increased from west to east (1797-10,537 ng/g lw). ΣCHL levels were highest among legacy organochlorine pesticides and relatively spatially uniform (765-3477 ng/g lw). ΣDDT levels were relatively low and spatially variable (31.5-206 ng/g lw). However, elevated proportions of p,p'-DDT to ΣDDT in Alaska and Beaufort Sea relative to other subpopulations suggested fresh inputs from vector control use in Asia and/or Africa. Comparing earlier circumpolar polar bear studies, ΣPBDE, total-(α)-HBCD, p,p'-DDE and ΣCHL levels consistently declined, whereas levels of other legacy contaminants did not. International regulations have clearly been effective in reducing levels of several legacy contaminants in polar bears relative to historical levels. However, slow or stalling declines of certain historic pollutants like PCBs and a complex mixture of "new" chemicals continue to be of concern to polar bear health and that of their arctic marine ecosystems.     

The ecological context of student achievement: School building quality effects are exacerbated by high levels of student mobility

National reports along with numerous statewide studies indicate that the physical infrastructure of American schools is crumbling. At the same time there is emerging evidence that school building quality matters for children's academic achievement. We integrate two separate literatures that have demonstrated that low school building quality as well as high rates of student mobility each contribute to reduced academic achievement by showing that these two variables statistically interact. Elementary school children in 511 New York City public schools have lower achievement scores if they attend schools of poor structural quality and with high rates of student mobility. The significant main and interactive effects of school building quality and student mobility on standardized test scores occur independently of socioeconomic and racial composition of the school.     

Adaptive Management of Nonnative Species: Moving Beyond the “Either-Or” Through Experimental Pluralism

This paper develops the outlines of a pragmatic, adaptive management-based approach toward the control of invasive nonnative species (INS) through a case study of Kings Bay/Crystal River, a large artesian springs ecosystem that is one of Florida’s most important habitats for endangered West Indian manatees (Trichechus manatus). Building upon recent critiques of invasion biology, principles of adaptive management, and our own interview and participant–observer research, we argue that this case study represents an example in which rigid application of invasion biology’s a␣priori imperative to minimize INS has produced counterproductive results from both an ecological and social standpoint. As such, we recommend that INS control in Kings Bay should be relaxed in conjunction with an overall program of adaptive ecosystem management that includes meaningful participation and input from non-institutional stakeholders. However, we also note that adaptive management and INS control are by no means mutually exclusive, in Kings Bay or elsewhere. Instead, we suggest that adaptive management offers a means by which INS control efforts can emerge from—and be evaluated through—ongoing scientific research and participatory dialogue about the condition of specific places, rather than non-contextual assumptions about the harmfulness of INS as a general class.     

Degradation of tetraphenylphosphonium bromide at high pH and its effect on radionuclide solubility

Recently, tetraphenylphosphonium bromide (TPPB) has been used to remove technetium from some radioactive waste streams. However, before TPPB could be approved for use it was necessary to show that TPPB and its degradation products would not have a significant detrimental effect on post-closure performance of a radioactive waste repository. TPPB is known to be stable at neutral pH, however, under alkaline conditions it degrades by an alkaline hydrolysis mechanism to triphenylphosphonium oxide (TPPO). Degradation can also occur by radiolysis to produce triphenylphosphine (TPP). The kinetics of the alkaline hydrolysis degradation of TPPB is described and the solubility of europium, iodine, nickel, technetium(VII) and uranium(VI) in aqueous solutions of TPPB and its degradation products is reported. These results were used to support the use of TPPB in removing technetium from some waste streams.     

Competitive effect of iron(III) on metal complexation by humic substances: characterisation of ageing processes

Aiming at an assessment of counteractive effects on colloid-borne migration of actinides in the event of release from an underground repository, competition by Fe(III) in respect of metal complexation by dissolved organic matter was investigated for the example of Eu(III) as an analogue of trivalent actinides. Complexation with different humic materials was examined in cation exchange experiments, using (59)Fe and (152)Eu as radioactive tracers for measurements in dilute systems as encountered in nature. Competitive effects proved to be significant when Fe is present at micromolar concentrations. Flocculation as a limiting process was attributed to charge compensation of humic colloids. Fe fractions bound to humic acids (HA) were higher than 90%, exceeding the capacity of binding sites at high Fe concentrations. It is thus concluded that the polynuclear structure of hydrolysed Fe(III) is maintained when bound to HA, which is also inferred from UV-Vis spectrometry. The competitive effect was found to be enhanced if Fe and HA were in contact before Eu was added. Depending on the time of Fe/HA pre-equilibration, Eu complexation decreased asymptotically over a time period of several weeks, the amount of bound Fe being unchanged. Time-dependent observations of UV-Vis spectra and pH values revealed that the ageing effect was due to a decline in Fe hydrolysis rather than structural changes within HA molecules. Fe polycations are slowly degraded in contact with humic colloids, and more binding sites are occupied as a consequence of dispersion. The extent of degradation as derived from pH shifts depended on the Fe/HA ratio.     

Mutagenic and carcinogenic potency of extracts of diesel and related environmental emissions: In vitro mutagenesis and DNA damage

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae D3 recombinogenic assay, the assay for forward mutagenesis in L5178Y mouse lymphoma cells, and the sister chromatid exchange (SCE) assay using Chinese hamster ovary cells were used to evaluate the in vitro mutagenic and DNA-damaging effects of eight samples of diesel engine emissions and related environmental emissions. The recombinogenic assay was not sufficiently sensitive for this evaluation, but mutagenicity was detected in the L5178Y mutagenesis assay following exposures of the cells to all of the emission samples, and DNA damage in the SCE assay was induced by most of the emission samples in the presence and absence of metabolic activation. The observation of positive results in the absence of activation indicated that the samples contained substances that were direct-acting mutagens and DNA-damaging agents.     

U.S. EPA SITE demonstration of AWD Technologies' AquaDetox/SVE system.

Under the Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) Program, a technology developed by AWD Technologies, Inc. was demonstrated in September 1990. This paper presents the major results of the SITE demonstration of AWD Technologies' AquaDetox/SVE treatment system designed for simultaneous on-site treatment of contaminated groundwater and soil-gas. The groundwater and soil at the demonstration site were contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE). The AWD technology was evaluated on the basis of the removal efficiencies of TCE and PCE from the contaminated groundwater and soil-gas. The conclusions drawn from these evaluations are: (1) the system achieved removal efficiencies as high as 99.99 percent for groundwater and 99.9 percent for soil-gas; (2) the effluent groundwater was in compliance with the regulatory discharge requirements of 5 micrograms/L each for TCE and PCE for all test runs; (3) the demonstrated 1,000 gpm system has an estimated capital cost of $4.3 million and annual operating and maintenance cost of approximately $820,000.     

Uptake and loss of 134Cs and 60Co by the Baltic bivalve Macoma baltica in a laboratory microcosmos

Accumulation and clearance of ¹³⁴Cs and ⁶⁰Co by the Baltic bivalve Macoma baltica were experimentally investigated in a laboratory microcosmos. The nuclides were added to the water and the activities in bivalve flesh, shell, feces and sediment were determined at regular intervals. The uptake was quite rapid, 40% (Cs) and 55% (Co) of the final steady state values being attained after 24 h. The subsequent releases were also rapid, 50% (Cs) and 40% (Co), of the accumulated activity being lost within 6 days. The experiments demonstrated that the major intake route following short-term releases of activity will be from the water column and that the close relationship between activity in water and organism can thus be used for predictive purposes without the complication of radionuclide uptake from contaminated sediments. However, for longer periods, the subsequent intake of sediments will generate a significant exposure pathway for this deposit-feeding bivalve.