The classic environmental issue

Summary Environmental issues are rarely straightforward. The construction of the Tellico Dam not only proved to be an exceptionally complex environmental problem but also developed into a major political issue in its own right. Following the discovery of a previously unknown species of fish near the site of the nearly completed dam, environmentalists began a long legal battle to halt construction work and protect the habitat of the fish. The United States Supreme Court found in their favour, but local political interests, through a series of clever manoeuvres, succeeded in exempting the dam from all legislation to secure its completion. The blatant use of political expediency to resolve an environmental dilemma makes the Tellico Dam a classic case study for students of environmental policy and decision-making.Graham Bennett was born in London in 1948 and graduated from the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia where he also completed his doctoral research. Since 1980 he has been working in The Netherlands as an Associate in the Department of Environmental Science at the Catholic University of Nijmegen. His research interests lie in the field of environmental management and he is currently involved in the study of environmental policy making in Britain and The Netherlands with particular reference to the control of pollution by local authorities.     

WATER CONSTRAINTS ON EMERGING ENERGY PRODUCTION1

ABSTRACT: A comprehensive nationwide recognizance-level assessment of water needs for energy development over the 1985 to 2000 time frame and options for overcoming any actual or potential water supply problems are summarized. Water requirements for energy production and other uses are totaled for each geographic region of the United States and compared with available stream flow to identify regions with potentially inadequate water supplies to meet expanding energy needs. Water quality impacts and water-related institutional factors affecting energy development are also considered. It is concluded that, if proper planning measures are not initiated, water demands for energy production will not be satisfied by the year 2000, particularly in those areas with known fossil energy resources. No unmanageable water quality problems are foreseen, and water-related institutional factors will primarily delay rather than exclud energy development.     

Analysis of transgenic Indian mustard plants for phytoremediation of metal-contaminated mine tailings

Transgenic Indian mustard [Brassica juncea (L.) Czern.] plants overproducing the enzymes gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase (ECS) or glutathione synthetase (GS) were shown previously to have increased levels of the metal-binding thiol peptides phytochelatins and glutathione, and enhanced Cd tolerance and accumulation. Furthermore, transgenic Indian mustard plants overexpressing adenosine triphosphate sulfurylase (APS) were shown to have higher levels of glutathione and total thiols. These results were obtained with a solution culture. To better examine the phytoremediation potential of these transgenics, a greenhouse experiment was performed in which the transgenics were grown on metal-contaminated soil collected from a USEPA Superfund site near Leadville, Colorado. A grass mixture used for revegetation of the site was included for comparison. The ECS and GS transgenics accumulated significantly (P < 0.05) more metal in their shoot than wild-type (WT) Indian mustard, while the APS plants did not. Of the six metals tested, the ECS and GS transgenics accumulated 1.5-fold more Cd, and 1.5- to 2-fold more Zn, compared with wild-type Indian mustard. Furthermore, the ECS transgenics accumulated 2.4- to 3-fold more Cr, Cu, and Pb, relative to WT. The grass mixture accumulated significantly less metal than Indian mustard: approximately 2-fold less Cd, Cu, Mn, and Zn, and 5.7-fold less Pb than WT Indian mustard. All transgenics removed significantly more metal from the soil compared with WT Indian mustard or an unplanted control. While WT did not remove more metal than the unplanted control for any of the metals tested, all three types of transgenics significantly reduced the soil metal concentration, and removed between 6% (Zn) and 25% (Cd) of the soil metal. This study is the first to demonstrate enhanced phytoextraction potential of transgenic plants using polluted environmental soil. The results confirm the importance of metal-binding peptides for plant metal accumulation and show that results from hydroponic systems have value as an indicator for phytoremediation potential.     

Forest products and traditional peoples: Economic, biological, and cultural considerations

Conservationists and environmental economists have promoted the extraction of non–timber forest products (NTFP) as an alternative to forest conversion and as a means to benefit forest peoples. This article discusses the development of NTFP economic analyses and some economic, biological and socio–cultural constraints on the use of forest resources and methodological limitations of NTFP investigations. Several case studies document the importance of the forest in both North and South America. While studies differ in their conclusions regarding the sustainability of NTFP extraction, most researchers agree that sustainable harvesting is rare. The article argues for additional considerations that transcend the biological and economic concerns. While forests provide the basis of material culture for peoples that inhabit them, they are also linked intrinsically to the religion, mythology, and psyche of native peoples. Conservationists have an ethical obligation to consider the needs and desires of these people in conjunction with conservation and management plans.     

Ignition tests for electrical and mechanical equipment subjected to hot surfaces

This paper reports some experimental work on hot surface ignition temperatures of dust deposits. Dust layers up to 75 mm in depth were ignited using a modified version of the standard 5 mm layer apparatus. The measured ignition temperatures show good agreement with predictions using the method given in EN 50281-2-1. Ignition temperatures of conical dust deposits over an electrically heated box were not predictable, but were not too dissimilar from the ignition temperatures of the thick layers. Both tests gave adequate reproducibility in round robin tests. Rotating steel wheels in contact, immersed in a dust deposit produce the frictional hot surfaces. A relation between the power lost by friction and the surface temperature developed has been derived. The surface temperatures leading to ignition were close to the ignition temperatures for the conical deposits on the heated box. The similarities between the ignition temperatures of dust deposits in several configurations indicate that a simple test for ignition temperature measurement could have wide application in dusty environments.     

Copper resource appraisal

Data are presented indicating the availability of copper from domestic sources in the US—what quantity can be produced and when and at what price. Included are supply and demand data, production methods and costs, geographic location of deposits in the US, by-product relationships and some problems affecting the industry.     

Host intra-clutch variation,cuckoo egg matching and egg rejection by great reed warblers

Prevailing theory predicts that lower levels of intra-clutch variation in host eggs facilitate the detection of brood parasitism. We assessed egg matching using both human vision and UV-VIS spectrophotometry and then followed the nest fate of great reed warblers naturally parasitised by European cuckoos. Rejection was predicted by the following three variables: matching between cuckoo and host eggs on the main chromatic variable defined by principal components analysis of the egg spectra (which has a strong loading in the UV); the number of host eggs in the nest; and human estimates of intra-clutch variation. The first variable is not correlated to human estimates of matching, which do not predict rejection. In line with another recent study, rejection rates were predicted by higher levels of intra-clutch variation in the host eggs, suggesting that higher rather than lower levels of intra-clutch variation can facilitate the discrimination of cuckoo eggs by hosts. We suggest that the importance of intra-clutch variation is context dependent, with intra-clutch variation being important when there is good matching between the host and the cuckoo eggs. Our results also suggest that both spectrometric and human visual assessments of egg matching and intra-clutch variation are prudent: the former provide the best method of estimating reflectance variation, whereas the latter include some assessment of patterns of maculation.     

Degree of phosphorus saturation thresholds in manure-amended soils of alberta

The risk of P losses from agricultural land to surface and ground water generally increases as the degree of soil P saturation increases. A single-point soil P sorption index (PSI) was validated with adsorption isotherm data for determination of the P sorption status of Alberta soils. Soil P thresholds (change points) were then examined for two agricultural soils after eight annual applications of different rates of cattle manure and for three agricultural soils after one application of different rates of cattle manure. Linear relationships were found between soil-test P (STP) levels up to 1000 mg kg(-1) and desorbed P in the five Alberta soils. Weak linear relationships were also found between STP and runoff dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP) in three of these soils. Change points for the degree of P saturation (DPS) were detected in four of the five soils at 3 to 44% for water-extractable P (WEP) and at 11 to 51% for CaCl(2)-extractable P (CaCl(2)-P). Change points were not found for DPS or runoff DRP. Overall DPS thresholds for the five soils combined were 27% for WEP and 44% for CaCl(2)-P at a critical desorbable-P value of 1 mg L(-1). The corresponding STP levels (44 mg kg(-1) for WEP and 71 mg kg(-1) for CaCl(2)-P) are similar to agronomic thresholds for crops grown on Alberta soils. Soluble P losses in overland flow and leaching may be greater in soils with DPS values that exceed these thresholds than in soils with lower DPS values.     

Indoor airborne fungal pollution in newborn units in Turkey

Pathogenic and/or opportunistic fungal species are major causes of nosocomial infections, especially in controlled environments where immunocompromised patients are hospitalized. Indoor fungal contamination in hospital air is associated with a wide range of adverse health effects. Regular determination of fungal spore counts in controlled hospital environments may help reduce the risk of fungal infections. Because infants have inchoate immune systems, they are given immunocompromised patient status. The aim of the present study was to evaluate culturable airborne fungi in the air of hospital newborn units in the Thrace, Marmara, Aegean, and Central Anatolia regions of Turkey. A total of 108 air samples were collected seasonally from newborn units in July 2012, October 2012, January 2013, and April 2013 by using an air sampler and dichloran 18% glycerol agar (DG18) as isolation media. We obtained 2593 fungal colonies comprising 370 fungal isolates representing 109 species of 28 genera, which were identified through multi-loci gene sequencing. Penicillium, Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Talaromyces, and Alternaria were the most abundant genera identified (35.14, 25.40, 17.57, 2.70, and 6.22% of the total, respectively).     

Validation of Satellite Precipitation Adjustment Methodology From Seven Basins in the Continental United States1

Tobin, Kenneth J. and Marvin E. Bennett, 2012. Validation of Satellite Precipitation Adjustment Methodology From Seven Basins in the Continental United States. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(2): 221‐234. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2011.00604.x Abstract: The precipitation science community has expressed concern regarding the ability of satellite‐based precipitation products to accurately capture rainfall values over land. There has been some work that has focused on addressing the deficiencies of satellite precipitation products, particularly on the adjustment of bias. This article outlines a methodology that adjusts satellite products utilizing ground‐based precipitation data. The approach is not a simple bias adjustment, but is a three‐step process that transforms a satellite product based on a ground‐based precipitation product (NEXRAD‐derived Multisensor Precipitation Estimator [MPE] product or rain‐gauge data). The developed methodology was successfully applied to seven moderate‐to‐large sized watersheds from continental United States (CONUS) and northern Mexico over a spectrum of climatic regimes ranging from dry to humid settings. Methodology validation is based on comparison of observed and simulated streamflow generated with SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) model using unadjusted and adjusted precipitation products as input. Streamflow comparison is based on mass balance error and Nash‐Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient. Finally, the contribution of how adjustment to correct misses, false alarms, and bias impacts adjusted datasets and the potential impact that the adjustment methodology can have on hydrological applications such as water resource monitoring and flood prediction are explored.