Exploring the lay/expert divide: the attribution of responsibilities for coal ash pollution in Tuzla,Bosnia and Herzegovina

Invoking expert knowledge is a common strategy in attempts to settle environmental disputes. However, the validity of expertise is contingent upon the context in which an actor is recognised as an expert. In complex environmental conflicts the distinction between lay and expert knowledge is not always fixed a priori. However, as conflicts unfold, intervening parties tend to present their cases in ways that reinforce this distinction. This is apparent in the attribution of environmental responsibilities. This paper presents an empirical case of an environmental conflict related to land contamination due to coal ash disposal in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The analysis revealed two polar positions in the conflict: the first one, mainly held by scientists and industry representatives, invoked expert knowledge and presented a distributed approach to the attribution of responsibilities; the second one, mainly held by local residents and municipal officials, presented an experiential understanding of pollution, as lay knowledge, and attributed direct responsibilities to the local energy industry. The paper concludes that the persistence of the distinction between expert and lay knowledge is a manifestation of the social structures that underlie the conflict.     

Flooding in Texas: Examination of Temporal Changes and Impacts of Tropical Cyclones

Annual maximum peak discharge measurements from 62 stations with a record of at least 70 years are used to assess extreme flooding in Texas at the regional scale. This work focuses on examination of the validity of the stationarity assumption and on the impact of tropical cyclones (TCs) on the upper tail of the flood peak distribution. We assess the validity of the stationarity assumption by testing the records for abrupt and gradual changes. The presence of abrupt changes in the first two moments of the flood peak distribution is assessed using the Lombard test. We use the Mann‐Kendall test to examine the presence of monotonic trends. Results indicate that violations of the stationarity assumption are most commonly caused by abrupt changes, which are often associated with river regulation. We fit the time series of stationary flood records with the generalized extreme value distribution to investigate whether TCs control the upper tail of the flood peak distribution. Our results indicate that TCs play a diminished role in shaping the upper tail of the flood peak distribution compared with areas of the eastern United States subject to frequent TCs.     

Air‐Water Temperature Relationships in the Trout Streams of Southeastern Minnesota's Carbonate‐Sandstone Landscape

Carbonate‐sandstone geology in southeastern Minnesota creates a heterogeneous landscape of springs, seeps, and sinkholes that supply groundwater into streams. Air temperatures are effective predictors of water temperature in surface‐water dominated streams. However, no published work investigates the relationship between air and water temperatures in groundwater‐fed streams (GWFS) across watersheds. We used simple linear regressions to examine weekly air‐water temperature relationships for 40 GWFS in southeastern Minnesota. A 40‐stream, composite linear regression model has a slope of 0.38, an intercept of 6.63, and R² of 0.83. The regression models for GWFS have lower slopes and higher intercepts in comparison to surface‐water dominated streams. Regression models for streams with high R² values offer promise for use as predictive tools for future climate conditions. Climate change is expected to alter the thermal regime of groundwater‐fed systems, but will do so at a slower rate than surface‐water dominated systems. A regression model of intercept vs. slope can be used to identify streams for which water temperatures are more meteorologically than groundwater controlled, and thus more vulnerable to climate change. Such relationships can be used to guide restoration vs. management strategies to protect trout streams.     

An Optimization Method for Estimating Constituent Mean Concentrations in Base Flow‐Dominated Flow

Pollutant coefficients have been widely used to assess runoff nonpoint source pollution from individual land uses (e.g., agricultural, residential) of a watershed. Pollutant coefficients, known as event mean concentrations (EMCs), were developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Nationwide Urban Runoff Program (NURP) to serve as a national measure for characterizing pollutant loading in a receiving water body. The term “baseflow pollutant coefficient (BPC)” is used in this study as a surrogate for EMC to describe mean concentration of pollutants in base flow‐dominated flow. A method for characterizing base flow quantity and quality for different land uses was explored using inverse modeling with two optimization techniques (a least square method and a genetic algorithm [GA] optimization), land use information, and streamflow quantity and quality data. The inverse model was formulated as a constrained minimization problem and demonstrated with data for 15 watersheds in Indiana. Results showed that estimated pollutant coefficients are comparable to the published literature. This indicates that the proposed method has the potential to effectively estimate constituent mean concentrations for pollutant load determination in gauged and ungauged watersheds, albeit more analysis with larger and more robust datasets is desirable to further refine and validate the accuracy of the approach.     

能值分析理论在耕地可持续利用评价中的应用研究——以南京市为例

评价指标体系是耕地可持续利用评价研究的难点,正确选择评价理论与方法,构建科学、合理的评价指标体系,为正确认识耕地利用的可持续性及制定相应政策提供理论与实践依据。文章引入能值理论,在传统评价方法基础上对耕地利用中物流、能流等以太阳能值为统一衡量标准,建立新的指标体系,并对南京市1995~2004年的耕地利用进行评价。结果表明,研究时段内南京市耕地利用是向可持续方向发展的,且其可持续利用经历了两个阶段:①1995~1998年可持续性下降阶段,综合系数从1995年的1逐渐下降到1998年的0.9570;②1998~2004年可持续性上升阶段,综合系数逐年上升到2004年的1.1123。与传统评价方法相比,引入能值理论后的评价结果更能全面、客观地反映耕地利用的可持续状况。     

贵州土地复垦发展现状及其对策研究

详细分析了贵州省土地复垦的发展现状以及近年来所做的工作及成效,研究了矿山开采等活动对贵州省土地资源造成的破坏及生态危害,提出了具体的土地复垦的技术措施。为了实现能源、环境、社会、人口和经济的可持续发展,土地复垦是必然选择。     

浑善达克沙地退化草地的封育效果调查

封育保护是促进退化草地自然恢复的有效方法之一,为了研究实施京津风沙源工程措施以来浑善达克沙地沙质草场的围封效果,我们特对浑善达克沙地南缘地段的围封草场进行了调查,并取得了一些结果。     

西安市LUCC预测生态系统服务价值损失

人类活动作用于土地资源,使LUCC（土地利用／土地覆被变化）在全球环境变化过程中起主导作用,随着国际LUCC研究计划的进展,各国依据本国的实际情况开展研究。对西安市以往五年（2000-2004年）的土地利用基础数据开展调查统计分析,建立灰色系统动态GM（1,1）模型,预测2005—2010年西安市土地利用结构变化状况,尝试计算西安市土地生态系统服务价值损失（简称生态损失）,用一种直观经济指标-货币来反映这种生态损失。预测2010年西安市生态损失为331、84×10^6元。     

鞍山市铁矿景观格局变化的遥感调查

采用1997和2007年2个时相的卫星遥感数据,对鞍山市城区周边铁矿典型景观类型的面积及其10年来的变化进行了遥感调查和分析。结果表明,国有矿山采矿场的面积相对稳定,边界无明显变化,民营矿山采矿场面积增加明显。采矿场面积变化与开采方式有关,国有矿山采用深凹露天开采,对地表破坏较轻,民营矿山采用山坡露天开采,对地表破坏较严重。排岩场的总面积有所增加,个别矿区增加明显。复垦绿地有大幅度增加,但仍低于排岩场扩张的速度。     

Effect of soil crust on evaporation and dew deposition in Mu Us sandy land, China

The development of soil crust on sandy land may affect the surface hydrological process. This paper investigates the process of evaporation and dew deposition influenced by different soil surface types which were dominated by sand, primitive biotic crust, and advanced biotic crust, respectively, in the south fringe of Mu Us sandy land in Northwest China from July to September of 2006. The experimental results indicate that the advanced biotic crust could increase evaporation and dew deposition compared to the primitive biotic crust and bare sand although the differences between them were not significant. The average evaporation from advanced biotic crust, primitive biotic crust and sand was 6.8, 6.6, and 6.5 mm/d, respectively, and water content is around 16.2 % in the condition of initially identical soil. The average dew amount on advanced biotic crust was 0.116 mm/d with extreme 0.05 and 0.24 mm/d. The average values on primitive biotic crust and sand were 0.105 and 0.101 mm/d, respectively, with extreme 0.04 and 0.21 mm/d for both treatments. Also, the dew deposition on advanced biotic crust seemed stable and might rest for a longer time than that on primitive biotic crust and sand. The results suggest that the advanced biotic crust possibly facilitates evaporation and dew deposition. Therefore, the development of biotic crust may potentially enhance the hydrological circulation in the upper sand layer in sandy land.