Community-Based Monitoring in support of local sustainability

Community-based monitoring (CBM) activities in Canada are increasing. A conceptual framework developed for and used to guide a pilot CBM project in 31 Canadian communities is evaluated. The framework provided the strategic direction necessary for successful implementation of the pilot and proved useful in the training of community coordinators hired for the project. Limitations of the framework include its inadequate attention to community diversity, its linearity, and insufficient expression of the adaptive and synergistic nature of its components. In order to support local sustainability, CBM appears to require an approach that is context-specific, iterative, and adaptive. Given these emergent characteristics, an enhanced conceptual framework for CBM in Canada is developed based on four dynamic themes: community mapping, participation assessment, capacity building, and information delivery.     

Discretionary Judgement in Local Planning Authority Decision Making: Screening Development Proposals for Environmental Impact Assessment

Screening is a critical decision-stage in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process and involves the determination of whether or not a development proposal will require EIA. This decision requires a discretionary judgement on whether the development has the potential to cause ‘significant environmental effects’, and consequently there is potential for diversity to exist in formal requests for EIA. Drawing upon a comprehensive survey of Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) in England and Wales, this paper explores the characteristics of LPA screening decision making since the introduction of revised EIA regulations in March 1999. The paper starts with a theoretical overview of rationality, decision making and planning theory, followed by a brief review of the regulatory context of EIA screening. The research approach is then outlined and the survey findings are presented, including a detailed consideration of organizational and individual level analyses set within the context of planning theory judgement debates. Comparisons with other European countries are briefly made, before drawing conclusions and recommendations.     

The city as a refuge for insect pollinators

Research on urban insect pollinators is changing views on the biological value and ecological importance of cities. The abundance and diversity of native bee species in urban landscapes that are absent in nearby rural lands evidence the biological value and ecological importance of cities and have implications for biodiversity conservation. Lagging behind this revised image of the city are urban conservation programs that historically have invested in education and outreach rather than programs designed to achieve high‐priority species conservation results. We synthesized research on urban bee species diversity and abundance to determine how urban conservation could be repositioned to better align with new views on the ecological importance of urban landscapes. Due to insect pollinators’ relatively small functional requirements—habitat range, life cycle, and nesting behavior—relative to larger mammals, we argue that pollinators put high‐priority and high‐impact urban conservation within reach. In a rapidly urbanizing world, transforming how environmental managers view the city can improve citizen engagement and contribute to the development of more sustainable urbanization.     

The effects of partial mortality on the fecundity of three common Caribbean corals

The recent intensification of human disturbances in the Caribbean has increased the prevalence of partial mortality on coral colonies. Partial mortality can change colony size by directly shrinking colonies or by splitting colonies into fragments. A reduction in colony size can also adversely affect fecundity and fitness as internal resources shift away from reproduction toward colony maintenance. This study aimed to determine whether three Caribbean coral species, Siderastrea siderea, Montastraea faveolata, and Diploria strigosa, along the reef tract in Puerto Morelos, Mexico (20^o52′N, 86^o51′W), continued to dedicate resources to reproduction when colonies were fragmented to pre-maturation size. Contrary to expectations, eggs were found in colonies that were smaller than the maturation size and had been subjected to partial mortality. The continued dedication of resources toward reproduction, even in the smallest colonies, suggests that resource trade-offs away from reproduction are not as rigid as previously suggested in stressed corals.     

Low abundance of long-tongued pollinators leads to pollen limitation in four specialized hawkmoth-pollinated plants in the Atlantic Rain forest,Brazil

Long-tubed hawkmoth-pollinated species present some of the most remarkable examples of floral specialization depending exclusively on long-tongued hawkmoths for sexual reproduction. Nonetheless, long-tongued hawkmoths do not rely exclusively on specialized plants as nectar sources, which may limit sexual reproduction through pollen limitation. However, very few studies have quantified the level of pollen limitation in plants with highly specialized floral traits in tropical regions. In this context, we studied four sympatric hawkmoth-pollinated species in a highland Atlantic Rain forest and assessed pollen limitation and their dependence on pollinators by analyzing the floral biology, breeding system, pollination mechanisms, and abundance of long-tongued pollinators. We showed that the four species are self-compatible, but are completely dependent on long-tongued hawkmoths to set fruits, and that flower visitation was infrequent in all plant species. Pollen limitation indices ranged from 0.53 to 0.96 showing that fruit set is highly limited by pollen receipt. Long-tongued moths are much less abundant and comprise only one sixth of the hawkmoth fauna. Pollen analyses of 578 sampled moths revealed that hawkmoths visited ca. 80 plant species in the community, but only two of the four species studied. Visited plants included a long-tubed hawkmoth-pollinated species endemic to the lowland forest ca. 15–20 km away from the study site. Specialization index (H ₂ ′?=?0.20) showed that community-level interactions between hawkmoths and plants are generalized. We suggest that sexual reproduction of these highly specialized hawkmoth-pollinated species is impaired by competition among plants for pollinators, in conjunction with the low abundance and diversity of long-tongued pollinators.     

Effect of housing geometry on the performance of Chemcatcher passive sampler for the monitoring of hydrophobic organic pollutants in water

Passive sampling of pollutants in water has been gaining acceptance for environmental monitoring. Previously, an integrative passive sampler (the Chemcatcher) was developed and calibrated for the measurement of time weighted average concentrations of hydrophobic pollutants in water. Effects of physicochemical properties and environmental variables (water temperature and turbulence) on kinetic and thermodynamic parameters characterising the exchange of analytes between the sampler and water have been published. In this study, the effect of modification in sampler housing geometry on these calibration parameters was studied. The results obtained for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons show that reducing the depth of the cavity in the sampler body geometry increased the exchange kinetics by approximately twofold, whilst having no effect on the correlation between the uptake and offload kinetics of analytes. The use of performance reference compounds thus avoids the need for extensive re-calibration when the sampler body geometry is modified.     

A two-generational reproductive toxicity study of zinc in rats

A two-generation reproductive toxicity study of zinc chloride (ZnCl(2)) was conducted in rats. F(o) male and female rats were administered 0.00 (control), 7.50 (low), 15.00 (mid) and 30.00 (high) mg/kg/day of ZnCl(2). Selected F(1) male and female rats were exposed to the same doses received by their parents (F(o)). Exposure of F(0) parental rats to ZnCl(2) showed significant reduction in fertility, viability (days 0 and 4), and the body weight of F(1) pups from the high-dose group but caused no effects on litter size, weaning index, and sex ratio. Similarly, the continued exposure of F(1) parental rats to ZnCl(2) also reduced fertility, liter size, viability (day 0), and the body weight of F(2) pups within the high-dose group but caused no effects on weaning index and sex ratio. Exposure of ZnCl(2) to F(0) and F(1) parental males resulted in a significant reduction in their body weights, and the F(0) and F(1) parental females did not show any significant difference in their body weights compared to their control groups. However, the postpartum dam weights of both F(0) and F(1) female rats were significantly reduced compared to their controls. Exposure of ZnCl(2) to F(o) and F(1) generation parental rats did not produce any significant change of their clinical signs as well as their clinical pathology parameters, except the alkaline phosphotase (ALK) level, which showed an upward trend in both sexes of both generations. Exposure of ZnCl(2) to F(0) rats resulted in a reduction of brain, liver, kidney, spleen and seminal vesicles weights of males and in the spleen and uterus of females. Similarly, exposure of F(1) rats to ZnCl(2) also resulted in reduction of brain, liver, kidney, adrenal, spleen, prostate and seminal vesicles weights of males and in spleen and uterus of females. ZnCl(2) exposure resulted in grossly observed gastro-intestianla (GI) tract, lymphoreticular/hematopoietic, and reproductive tract lesions in parental rats in both generations. Reduced body fat was also recorded in F(1) parental rats.     

Degradation of octylphenol and nonylphenol by ozone - part I: direct reaction

This aqueous reaction between ozone and two alkylphenols (APs), namely octylphenol (OP) and nonylphenol (NP), has been investigated. Both compounds are important endocrine disrupting chemicals, which arise from the biodegradation of alkylphenol ethoxylates and are often found at relatively high concentrations in wastewater effluents. In this paper the results of an experimental study are presented which provide values for the reaction rate constants between molecular ozone and undissociated OP and NP, and overall reaction rate constants for the degradation of the two APs at pH values in the range of 7-9. The kinetic rate constants for OP and NP degradation by molecular ozone were 4.33(+/-0.18) x 10(4) and 3.90(+/-0.10) x 10(4) M(-1) s(-1), and the reaction stoichiometry was similar in both cases and equal to approximately 1.3:1 ([O3]:[AP]). The overall second order reaction rate constants for the two APs increased significantly with increasing pH, which is believed to be mainly due to the increasing influence of indirect radical reaction with increasing pH; this aspect is considered in more detail in a companion paper. A preliminary investigation of the reaction mechanism suggests that an initial product of ozonation is hydroxyl-alkyl phenol.     

Unintended Effects of Emphasizing the Role of Climate Change in Recent Natural Disasters

In 2017, the United States experienced a series of natural hazards (hurricanes, wildfires, and blizzards) that resulted in significant loss of life and property. Emphasizing the role of climate change in these events might offer an important tool for engagement, particularly with skeptical audiences. However, in a survey experiment (N?=?1504) involving three different natural hazards – hurricanes, wildfires, and blizzards – we find that emphasizing the role of climate change in these hazards produced unintended effects for climate change skeptics. In particular, skeptics experienced resistance to the news article, which associated with reduced perceived hazard severity. These backfiring effects likely serve as a defensive mechanism used by skeptics to maintain their prior views of climate change, illustrating the challenges faced in communicating climate change to skeptical audiences. These findings offer additional insight for those attempting to communicate climate-related risk information to skeptical audiences.     

The influence of the scale of mining activity and mine site remediation on the contamination legacy of historical metal mining activity

Globally, thousands of kilometres of rivers are degraded due to the presence of elevated concentrations of potentially harmful elements (PHEs) sourced from historical metal mining activity. In many countries, the presence of contaminated water and river sediment creates a legal requirement to address such problems. Remediation of mining-associated point sources has often been focused upon improving river water quality; however, this study evaluates the contaminant legacy present within river sediments and attempts to assess the influence of the scale of mining activity and post-mining remediation upon the magnitude of PHE contamination found within contemporary river sediments. Data collected from four exemplar catchments indicates a strong relationship between the scale of historical mining, as measured by ore output, and maximum PHE enrichment factors, calculated versus environmental quality guidelines. The use of channel slope as a proxy measure for the degree of channel-floodplain coupling indicates that enrichment factors for PHEs in contemporary river sediments may also be the highest where channel-floodplain coupling is the greatest. Calculation of a metric score for mine remediation activity indicates no clear influence of the scale of remediation activity and PHE enrichment factors for river sediments. It is suggested that whilst exemplars of significant successes at improving post-remediation river water quality can be identified; river sediment quality is a much more long-lasting environmental problem. In addition, it is suggested that improvements to river sediment quality do not occur quickly or easily as a result of remediation actions focused a specific mining point sources. Data indicate that PHEs continue to be episodically dispersed through river catchments hundreds of years after the cessation of mining activity, especially during flood flows. The high PHE loads of flood sediments in mining-affected river catchments and the predicted changes to flood frequency, especially, in many river catchments, provides further evidence of the need to enact effective mine remediation strategies and to fully consider the role of river sediments in prolonging the environmental legacy of historical mine sites.