Accumulation and maternal transfer of polychlorinated biphenyls in Steller Sea Lions (Eumetopias jubatus) from Prince William Sound and the Bering Sea, Alaska

The western stock of the Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) in the northern Pacific Ocean has declined by approximately 80% over the past 30 years. This led to the listing of this sea lion population as an endangered species in 1997. Chemical pollution is a one of several contributing causes. In the present study, 145 individual PCBs were determined in tissues of male sea lions from Tatitlek (Prince William Sound) and St. Paul Island (Bering Sea), and placentae from the Aleutian Islands. PCBs 90/101, 118, and 153 were abundant in all the samples. The mean toxic equivalents (TEQ) were 2.6, 4.7 and 7.4 pg/g lw in the kidney, liver, and blubber samples, respectively. The mean TEQ in placentae was 8 pg/g lw. Total PCBs concentrations (2.6-7.9 μg/g lw) in livers of some males were within a range known to cause physiological effects. Further suggesting the possibility of adverse effects on this stock.     

Concentration of trace elements in feathers of three Antarctic penguins: Geographical and interspecific differences

Antarctica is often considered as one of the last pristine regions, but it could be affected by pollution at global and local scale. Concentrations of Al, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Cd and Pb were determinated by ICP-MS in feathers (n = 207 individuals) of gentoo, chinstrap and Adélie penguin collected in 8 locations throughout the Antarctic Peninsula (2006-2007). The highest levels of several elements were found in samples from King George Island (8.08, 20.29 and 1.76 μg g⁻¹ dw for Cr, Cu and Pb, respectively) and Deception Island (203.13, 3.26 and 164.26 μg g⁻¹ dw for Al, Mn and Fe, respectively), where probably human activities and large-scale transport of pollutants contribute to increase metal levels. Concentrations of Cr, Mn, Cu, Se or Pb, which are similar to others found in different regions of the world, show that some areas in Antarctica are not utterly pristine.     

水污染突发事件：演化模型与应急管理

概述了突发事件演化研究的现状,总结了现阶段中国水污染突发事件的典型案例,研究了事件的演化过程,提出把社会因素和全过程干预作为水污染突发事件演化动因的一个重要方面,并在此基础上分析了水污染突发事件演化的主要动力因素,运用灾害学、应急管理、环境科学等相关理论构建了事件演化的动力因素体系,最后从系统分析的角度构建了水污染突发事件演化模型。研究表明：社会因素和应急干预对水污染突发事件的演化具有推动作用;事件演化具有阶段性,不同阶段的动力因素存在差异;水污染突发事件应急管理具有多目标性,单一目标应急管理不能有效控制水污染突发事件演化。研究水污染突发事件演化机理可为政府有效地预警与事件初期的应急决策提供重要的理论依据。     

中美贸易与污染避难所假说的实证研究——基于内含污染的视角

使用非竞争型投入产出表,在考虑中间产品产生污染的情况下,通过计算中美双边贸易的内含污染,考察对外贸易对发达国家和发展中国家环境的影响,检验污染避难所假说是否成立.本文首先构造中美两国28个制造业的总污染强度,在此基础上计算1987-2004年中美制造业贸易的贸易内含污染条件指标,并分析中美制造业贸易的进出口内含污染的部门来源.研究发现,1992年之后,所有污染物的贸易内含污染条件值都大于1,这意味着美国从中国进口的污染强度要高于中国从美国的进口污染强度,中美双边贸易中,中国环境受损、美国环境获利,污染避难所假说成立.从部门结构上看,中国出口内含污染主要来源于塑料制品、机械设备和工业化学这三个部门,进口内含污染主要来源于工业化学、机械设备和交通设备这三个部门.     

A Contemporary,Sex‐Limited Change in Body Size of an Estuarine Turtle in Response to Commercial Fishing

Abstract: Juvenile growth rate and adult body size are important components of life‐history strategies because of their direct impact on fitness. The diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) is a sexually dimorphic, long‐lived turtle inhabiting brackish waters throughout the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States. In parts of its range, terrapins face anthropogenically imposed mortality: juveniles of both sexes inadvertently enter commercial crab traps and drown. For adult females, the carapace eventually grows large enough that they cannot enter traps, whereas males almost never reach that critical size. We compared age structure, carapace dimensions, growth curves, and indices of sexual dimorphism for a Chesapeake Bay population of terrapins (where mortality of turtles is high due to crab traps) with contemporary terrapins from Long Island Sound and museum specimens from Chesapeake Bay (neither group subject to commercial crab traps). We also calculated the allochronic and synchronic rates of evolutionary change (haldanes) for males and females to measure the rate of trait change in a population or between populations, respectively. We found a dramatic shift to a younger male age structure, a decrease in the length of time to terminal female carapace size, a 15% increase in female carapace width, and an increase in sexual dimorphism in Chesapeake Bay. In a new twist, our results implicate a fishery in the selective increase in size of a reptilian bycatch species. These sex‐specific changes in life history and demography have implications for population viability that need to be considered when addressing conservation of this threatened turtle.     

Water Governance and Water Use Efficiency: The Five Principles of WUA Management and Performance in China1

Wang, Jinxia, Jikun Huang, Lijuan Zhang, Qiuqiong Huang, and Scott Rozelle, 2010. Water Governance and Water Use Efficiency: The Five Principles of WUA Management and Performance in China. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(4): 665-685. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00439.x Abstract: In recent years China has attempted to reform water management by decentralizing water management responsibilities. The overall goal of our paper is to better understand the emergence of water user associations (WUAs) in China and assess if they are adhering to the practices spelled out by the Five Principles, a set of recommended practices that are supposed to lead to successful WUA operation. Using four sets of different types of villages to examine implementation and performance, we find that World Bank-supported WUA villages (“Bank villages”) can be thought of as operating mostly according to the Five Principles. For example, the Bank villages were endowed with a more reliable water supply; were set up and were operating with a relatively high degree of farmer participation; and leaders were more consultative and the process more formal. When WUAs are run according to the Five Principals, we show that WUAs increase water use efficiency. The study also provides evidence that there is a perception in the Bank villages that water management is improving in general and that there is less conflict both within the village and among villages. Perhaps more importantly, we find that the Bank’s effort to promote WUAs extended beyond their own project villages. The openness, consultative nature, and transparency found in the Bank WUAs are also found (albeit at a somewhat lower level) in the non-Bank WUA villages.     

对钻井废物污染的全过程控制

在钻井作业过程中控制废物的排放量和毒性，变末端处理为全过程控制，采取各种措施预防钻井废物的污染是近年来国外油气田环保工作的一项重要内容。本文就采用小井眼钻井工艺；减少井眼冲蚀；强化环境管理；提高钻井液固控系统的处理效率；开发各种合成基钻井液；采用低毒无害的钻井液化学添加剂等６个方面讨论了减少钻井废物产生量的途径和降低钻井液及添加剂对环境的影响     

Environmental democracy in action: The Toxics Release Inventory

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) created by the 1986 Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act initially received limited attention. During the early years of its implementation, the TRI has become the basis for a national experiment in voluntaristic problem solving among citizens and industry, but that process of environmental democracy hinges on citizens' ability to actually acquire, understand, and apply the new data on industrial toxic emissions. A national study of TRI-using organizations in the public and private sectors reveals that effective citizen access depends in part on the efforts of intermediary public interest groups to bridge individual needs and right-to-know data. Although the TRI has had early success as a supplement to conventional command and control regulation, questions exist about the extent to which state and federal government should or must provide special efforts to make environmental information access work for citizens.     

Impact of flood control reservoirs and pollution influx on the Sandy Creek Watershed,Mercer County,Pennsylvania, USA

A study of the impact of two flood control reservoirs and pollution influx was conducted on two streams within the Sandy Creek Watershed, Mercer County, Pennsylvania, USA. Fecal coliforms were significantly reduced in the outflows without affecting water chemistry, thereby improving the overall water quality. The size and composition of the aquatic communities as well as stream metabolism varied seasonably among the different sampling stations. Pollution influx primarily from communities and agricultural drainage had a greater impact on the stream ecosystem than did impounding of the streams. Natural wetlands and riparian vegetation were important factors in reducing the pollution load in these streams. The reestablishment and maintenance of riparian vegetation should therefore be an integral part of the land-use plan for watersheds in order to improve water quality and wildlife habitats. In the future, the maintenance of riparian vegetation should be given prime consideration in the development of watershed projects.     

Impact of government regulations on pollution performance of pulp and paper firms

A comparative study of water pollution emissions of pulp and paper companies for the period 1978–1983 indicates a reduction in emissions for most firms. This improvement in pollution performance is attributed to the federal government's water pollution policy. Although there is an overall decline in water pollution, some firms have actually increased their emissions. Furthermore, there is still a wide disparity in each company's performance, although the differences are narrowing.