An ecological perspective on theory, methods, and analysis in environmental psychology: Advances and challenges

Over the course of environmental psychology's brief history, there has been an interest in ecologically oriented approaches to theory and research. Based on this work, this paper identifies a set of six principles of ecological analysis that present theoretical, methodological, and analytic challenges to future research in environmental psychology. These challenges include the theoretical treatment of the multiple contexts within which human experience and behavior occurs, the need for sampling both persons and environments, the modeling of moderating and mediating processes, the issue of self-selection into and out of different settings, the necessity of considering temporal factors in environmental research, reliance on single methods (e.g., verbal report) in data generation, cross-sectional and longitudinal research designs, and the need for greater use of statistical techniques developed for contextual (multi-level) research. These issues are discussed and illustrated using recent developments in environmentally oriented research. The paper concludes with a set of 11 recommendations for the future.     

Characterization of particulate matter for three sites in Kuwait

Many studies have shown strong associations between particulate matter (PM) levels and a variety of health outcomes, leading to changes in air quality standards in many regions, especially the United States and Europe. Kuwait, a desert country located on the Persian Gulf, has a large petroleum industry with associated industrial and urban land uses. It was marked by environmental destruction from the 1990 Iraqi invasion and subsequent oil fires. A detailed particle characterization study was conducted over 12 months in 2004-2005 at three sites simultaneously with an additional 6 months at one of the sites. Two sites were in urban areas (central and southern) and one in a remote desert location (northern). This paper reports the concentrations of particles less than 10 microm in diameter (PM10) and fine PM (PM2.5), as well as fine particle nitrate, sulfate, elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon (OC), and elements measured at the three sites. Mean annual concentrations for PM10 ranged from 66 to 93 microg/m3 across the three sites, exceeding the World Health Organization (WHO) air quality guidelines for PM10 of 20 microg/m3. The arithmetic mean PM2.5 concentrations varied from 38 and 37 microg/m3 at the central and southern sites, respectively, to 31 microg/m3 at the northern site. All sites had mean PM2.5 concentrations more than double the U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for PM2.5. Coarse particles comprised 50-60% of PM10. The high levels of PM10 and large fraction of coarse particles comprising PM10 are partially explained by the resuspension of dust and soil from the desert crust. However, EC, OC, and most of the elements were significantly higher at the urbanized sites, compared with the more remote northern site, indicating significant pollutant contributions from local mobile and stationary sources. The particulate levels in this study are high enough to generate substantial health impacts and present opportunities for improving public health by reducing airborne PM.     

An Inventory of Particulate Emissions from Open Sources

Open sources are those stationary sources of air pollution too great in extent to be controlled through enclosure or ducting. Open sources of atmospheric particles include: wind erosion, tilling, and prescribed burning of agricultural cropland; surface mining and wind erosion of tailings piles; vehicular travel on both paved and unpaved roads; construction site activity; and forest fires. It is estimated that in 1976 the total open source emissions of particles in the U.S. amounted to over 580 × 10⁶ ton. These estimates indicate that emissions from the two largest open source classes, travel on unpaved roads and agricultural wind erosion, accounted for 86% of this total. The open source emissions in ten states (AZ, CA, KS, MN, MT, NM, ND, OH, SD, TX) contributed 6 2% of the national emissions for 1976.     

Estimating Innovative Technology Costs for the SITE Program

Among the objectives of the EPA’s Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) Program are two which pertain to the issue of economics: 1. That the program will provide a projected cost for each treatment technology demonstrated.

2. That the program will attempt to identify and remove impediments to the development and commercial use of alternative technologies.¹

The SITE Program has fostered a special relationship between elements of the public and private sector. In turn, this has created a unique set of problems. These problems are most apparent where objectives of the public and private sector conflict, as in the area of cost economics. One concern of the SITE Program is to provide the public with an impartial analysis of each technology’s cost. Just as important is the need to be sensitive to the demands of the competitive economic environment which face every firm selling innovative technology (especially when the goal is to promote the commercial use of new technologies).

An early concern of the SITE Program was to design a methodology for projecting and reporting costs which tried to balance the needs of these two groups. Toward this end, four issues were identified which were thought to have a significant impact on the SITE Program's ability to generate useful cost projections. An analysis of these issues led to the creation of a simple five-part cost methodology. This paper will review the nature of these problems and will describe the methodology which addresses them. Finally, a review of cost data gathered from the first nine demonstrations will be presented.     

Exposure Efficiency: Concept and Application to Perchloroethylene Exposure from Dry Cleaners

ABSTRACT

Standard approaches for computing population exposures due to specific sources of air pollutants are relatively complex. In many cases, more simple and approximate methods would be useful. This paper develops an approach, based on the concept of exposure efficiency, that may be used for estimating the impact of a source (or source class) on the integrated population exposure. The approach is illustrated by an example, which uses the concept of exposure efficiency to examine the impact of perchloroeth-ylene emissions from dry cleaners in the United States. The paper explores the geographic variability of exposure efficiency by evaluating it for each of 100 randomly selected dry cleaners. For perchloroethylene, which has a long atmospheric residence time, the site-to-site variability in exposure efficiency is found to be relatively small. This suggests that simple exposure assessments, based on generic distributional characterizations of exposure efficiency, may be used in risk assessments without introducing appreciable uncertainty. For many compounds, like perchloroethylene, the uncertainty inherent in the estimation of cancer potency or source emissions would dominate these small errors.     

Effects of Eastern Hemlock Decline on Large Wood Loads in Streams of the Appalachian Mountains

Evans, Daniel M., C. Andrew Dolloff, W. Michael Aust, and Amy M. Villamagna, 2012. Effects of Eastern Hemlock Decline on Large Wood Loads in Streams of the Appalachian Mountains. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(2): 266‐276. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2011.00610.x Abstract: Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), a foundation species important to riparian forests of the Appalachian Mountains, is in decline due to the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) (Adelges tsugae). The effect of this insect on large wood (LW) production and recruitment to streams is largely unknown. We measured LW load, riparian forest composition, and T. canadensis health in 47 streams from Maine to Alabama and developed a conceptual model that frames the expected forest stand and instream LW response to the disturbance caused by HWA. In stands with HWA, 24.3% of the overstory T. canadensis basal area was stressed and 7.5% was dead, whereas only 3.0% was stressed and 2.0% was dead in stands without HWA. Mean T. canadensis effective LW load was 0.20 m³/100 m² in streams with adjacent stands infested by HWA, almost three times higher than in streams flowing through uninfested stands (p = 0.048). Higher frequencies of LW were found at streams with HWA present and there was a positive association between the percent of dead T. canadensis and T. canadensis LW load (ρ = 0.4468; p = <0.0001). Greater total LW loads were associated with higher stream gradients, lesser bankfull widths, and streams at lower latitudes. Our research supports the hypothesis that HWA infestation of T. canadensis in riparian forest stands has increased LW loads in streams. This episodic disturbance to the riparian forest overstory may have lasting impacts on aquatic ecosystem structure and function.     

Uptake and loss of Cs and Co 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.     

The effects of testosterone on antibody production and plumage coloration in male house sparrows (Passer domesticus)

Many bird species have patches of colour in their plumage, contrasting with their basic coloration, which are used to display and signal status to conspecifics. These are called ’badges of status’, because they are believed to be low-cost signals of social status. For a signalling system to be evolutionarily stable, cheating must be controlled. The conventional view is that there is frequent testing, which uncovers cheats. Recently, the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis (ICHH) suggested that signals may be dependent on testosterone for their development, with a cost being imposed through immune suppression. We report experiments on house sparrows (Passer domesticus) which show that testosterone significantly influences the size of the bib (a ’badge of status’). The ultimate effect of the testosterone manipulation was to impair antibody production, as predicted by the ICHH. However, testosterone manipulations also changed the levels of the ’stress hormone’ corticosterone. The level of corticosterone was also related to the degree of immunosuppression. After controlling for the effect of corticosterone, testosterone enhanced the birds’ ability to produce antibodies, counter to the ICHH. The hypothesis therefore must be modified. We suggest that testosterone has a dual effect: it leads to immunosuppression through a mechanism involving corticosterone but, conversely, leads to increased immunocompetence probably via dominance influencing access to resources. Received: 5 March 1999 / Received in revised form: 1 October 1999 / Accepted: 16 October 1999     

Spatial and temporal patterns of dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus in surface waters of a multi-land use basin

Research on relationships between dissolved nutrients and land-use at the watershed scale is a high priority for protecting surface water quality. We measured dissolved nitrogen (DN) and ortho-phosphorus (P) along 130 km of the Calapooia River (Oregon, USA) and 44 of its sub-basins for 3 years to test for associations with land-use. Nutrient concentrations were analyzed for spatial and seasonal patterns and for relationships with land-use and stream discharge. Ortho-P and DN were higher in lower-elevation sub-basins dominated by poorly drained soils and agricultural production compared with higher-elevation sub-basins dominated by well-drained soils and forests. Eight lower basins had at least one sample period with nitrate-N?>?10 mg L^?1. The Calapooia River had lower concentrations of dissolved nutrients compared with lower sub-basins, often by an order of magnitude. Dissolved organic N represented a greater proportion of DN in the upper forested sub-basins. Seasonal nutrient concentrations had strong positive correlations to the percent of a sub-basin that was managed for agriculture in all seasons (p?values?≤?0.019) except summer. Results suggest that agricultural lands are contributing to stream nutrient concentrations. However, poorly drained soils in agricultural areas may also contribute to the strong relationships that we found between dissolved nutrients and agriculture.