EFFECTS OF PLACER MINING DISCHARGE ON HEALTH AND FOOD OF ARCTIC GRAYLING1

ABSTRACT: During the summers of 1982, 1983, and 1985, we assessed the effects of placer mining sedimentation on Arctic grayling, Thymallus arcticus, in the headwaters of Birch Creek, northeast of Fairbanks, Alaska. We compared differences between two streams (one that was undisturbed and one with mining activity upstream) near the confluence. Studies of caged fish demonstrated that, if grayling could not escape from streams carrying mining sediments, they would either die at high rates (sac fry) or suffer gill damage, starvation, and slowed maturation (age-O fingerlings and age-2 juveniles). Indirect effects of sedimentation, through loss of summer habitat for feeding and reproduction, may more severely affect grayling populations than the direct effects of sedimentation on the health and survival of individual fish.     

Holarctic Collared Lemmings: Traces of Their Spread as Related to the History of the Arctic Biota

Among recent lemmings (D. torquatus from the Yamal Peninsula and D. groenlandicus from Somerset, Bathurst, Melville, and Devon islands), there are populations with archaic sets of morphotypes characteristic of the end of the Late Pleistocene. In some parts of the species range, lemming morphotypes follow the pattern characteristic of the Holocene stage of their evolution. Lemmings with the best developed tooth system live in the Bering Sea sector of the Arctic (Wrangel Island, Chukotka and Alaska). The correspondence of the boundaries of the groups distinguished by odontological traits to the phylogeographic data on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and chromosomal groups is discussed.     

Environmental and Economic Factors Can Increase the Risk of Exotic Species Introductions to the Arctic Region Through Increased Ballast Water Discharge

The effects of global warming can increase the risk of exotic species introductions in eastern Canadian Arctic waters by reducing surface ice cover and allow increased access to commercial vessels. Ballast water discharged by incoming overseas vessels is an important means for introducing species on a global scale. Analyses of air temperatures at Churchill, Manitoba between 1943 and 2002 indicated an increase in mean temperature within the past decade. Churchill is the only major northern port in this region where grain has been exported on a limited basis due to the short navigation season. Economic analyses of grain exported from Canadian and U.S. ports indicated some cost advantages for using northern ports. The Hudson Bay region is vulnerable to increased exotic species introductions because of its southerly location. Current ballast water exchange measures to reduce the risk of introductions may not be effective because most vessels enter the region with ballast, and the ballast exchange zone is located relatively close to coastal areas where the habitat could be favorable for an introduced species to become established. The probability of a large crab species introduced to this region from northern European waters is discussed. The risk of ballast water–related exotic species introduction to this region may be reduced by expanding the types of cargo handled and developing a strong import market. This approach would accommodate an increase in the number of vessels with cargo, and substantially reduce the volume of ballast carried to this region.     

A Call for Urgent Monitoring of Food and Water Security Based on Relevant Indicators for the Arctic

This perspective paper argues for an urgent need to monitor a set of 12 concrete, measurable indicators of food and water security in the Arctic over time. Such a quantitative indicator approach may be viewed as representing a reductionist rather than a holistic perspective, but is nevertheless necessary for actually knowing what reality aspects to monitor in order to accurately understand, quantify, and be able to project critical changes to food and water security of both indigenous and non-indigenous people in the Arctic. More relevant indicators may be developed in the future, taking us further toward reconciliation between reductionist and holistic approaches to change assessment and understanding. However, the potential of such further development to improved holistic change assessment is not an argument not to urgently start to monitor and quantify the changes in food and water security indicators that are immediately available and adequate for the Arctic context.     

Environmental Damage,Abandoned Treaties,and Fossil-Fuel Dependence: The Coming Costs of Oil-and-Gas Exploration in the “1002 Area” of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Contrary to claims from American politicians, lobbyists, and oil and gas executives, allowing energy development in the Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) will harm the environment, compromise international law, erode the social significance of wilderness protection, and ultimately fail to␣increase the energy security of the United States. After exploring a brief history of the ANWR controversy, this piece argues that the operation of oil and gas refineries in ANWR will release discharged solids, drilling waste, and dirty diesel fuel into the ecosystem’s food-chain, as they have from oil operations in Prudhoe Bay. Less obvious but equally important, oil and gas exploration in ANWR will violate a number of international treaties on biodiversity protection. In the end, development in ANWR will threaten the concept of wilderness protection, and will do little to end US dependence on foreign sources of energy. About the Author: Benjamin K. Sovacool is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. He works as a research analyst for the Consortium on Energy Restructuring and is a Senior Research Fellow for the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research. He also just completed a Graduate Fellowship in Energy Policy at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

应急救援物资车辆运输线路的选择

为了给紧急救援物资支持保障中心的物资调度人员提供科学的车辆路线调度决策方法,提高应急救援工作的响应能力,基于应急条件下物资运输调度的时效性、安全性和经济性特征,运用旅行商理论,对上述3个决策属性分量进行了数学描述,构造了它们的目标函数,并进行了无量纲和权重聚合处理,继而按照多属性决策理论建立了用来评价备选线路决策效用函数的数学模型.利用期望效用属性合并所搜集的信息,将多属性决策问题转化成单属性决策问题,确立了选择具有最高期望效用方案的方法,最后进行了实例分析.结果表明,应急救援条件下的运输调度与正常环境下的企业运输调度决策目标之间存在明显的差异,前者虽然本质上属于图论中最短路线问题的范畴,但由于多个决策目标的存在,不能直接运用最短路线模型和Dijkstra算法求解.运用多属性决策理论建立的评价备选线路决策效用函数,是有关人员进行车辆路线安排的有效方法,但其相对优越性尚需做进一步的研究和探讨.     

基于人的认知可靠性模型(HCR)的接车进路办理诊断时间的研究

接发列车作业事故在铁路运输事故中占有相当大的比重。为减少接车作业事故的发生,合理制定车站接车进路办理时的诊断时间是保证接车作业安全的关键。针对车站采用写实法查定时具有较大随意性的问题,提出采用人的认知可靠性(HCR)模型,根据人因失误概率计算接车作业诊断时间的方法,并在自动闭塞区段通过模拟机实验进行了验证。结果表明,HCR模型确定的诊断时间与人因失误之间的关系与写实法的测定数据具有良好的符合性;作业人员的训练水平对诊断时间有较大的影响;利用该模型,根据作业人员的训练水平与可接受的人因失误概率,可以确定接车进路办理的最佳诊断时间,或对写实法测定的诊断时间进行订正。     

公路隧道火灾发生位置与人群疏散通道仿真研究

利用EXODUS建立隧道的仿真场景,确定疏散人群仿真参数,并将出口工效OPS作为评价疏散效率的指标,分析不同火灾发生位置对疏散时间的影响。采用K-means算法分别对火灾发生位置和人群疏散通道位置进行聚类,并建立基于两者影响下的出口工效模型,通过对该模型求偏导,得出隧道火灾发生位置和人群疏散通道选择之间的关系。研究结果表明:火灾发生位置越接近人行横通道,疏散时间波动越大,人行横通道和隧道入口的疏散时间随人群疏散区域分界线变化,当火灾发生距人行横通道20~110 m时,变化明显,当距140~350 m时,变化平稳;出口工效OPS总体呈现不稳定的阶梯状变化趋势;火灾发生位置和人群疏散通道的最优位置呈线性递减关系。研究结果可应用于隧道应急指挥中心管理人员制定有效疏散路径和采取诱导分流人群措施。     

基于GIS和多目标的生活垃圾运输路线优化研究

随着城市建设和规模的发展,人们生活水平日益提高,城市生活垃圾管理系统的改进与提高势在必行。为了探索生活最优运输路径,研究以北京市海淀区生活垃圾转运设施(五路居转运站)和处理设施(六里屯填埋场)为例,基于Arcgis9.2软件平台,利用最短路径搜索法和GIS(地理信息系统)中网络分析工具以及AHP(层次分析法),建立了可视化多目标运输体系,并搜索出不同目标(路线最短、时间最短、环境最优和综合加权)下生活垃圾最佳运输路径。该研究结果为海淀区生活垃圾运输系统提供可选优化路径和研究方法,从而为城市生活垃圾转运系统提高收运效率、减少运输过程中环境污染以及针对不同情况采用不同路线等问题提供理论指导和技术支持。     

丹江口水库水位抬高面临的挑战及其对策

移民与生态环境问题是丹江口水库水位抬高所面临的主要问题。移民问题是水位抬高首当其冲需要解决的难题,存在政策法规、移民资金、安置措施、脱贫致富等问题,需要以市场为导向,综合考虑诸多因素,制定可行的移民规划,确保移民的稳定和发展。生态环境问题是非常艰巨的问题,水土流失严重、污染源与污染总量日益增加、水质下降、支流库湾富营养化进程加剧等问题将困扰水库的运行与管理,后靠移民的生产生活也在一定程度上对生态环境产生影响;建议成立专门的监管机构,全方位开展水源地保护工作,确保水库水质安全和南水北调中线工程战略目标的实现。