Coastal resource complexes of South India: options for sustainable management

India's coastal resource complexes were traditionally characterized by a continuum of 'common property resources' or 'commons' that stretched from the shores to the seas. The continuum aided the existence of sustainable livelihood systems for local communities. Today, fragmented policy approaches and economic welfare schemes have caused the disintegration of community control over the continuum. As a consequence, livelihood systems of local communities have declined. The introduction of coastal management guidelines in the 1990s has exacerbated the situation. With reference to a coastal village located in the State of Kerala in South West India, the paper describes the trajectory of unsustainable change that has taken place in the coastal area resource complexes of the country. The paper argues for restoring the continuum of commons in the study area through community driven systems of natural resource management that are based on networks of nested institutions.     

离子交换纤维对金属氰络合物吸附性能的研究

采用强碱性离子交换纤维对含氰废水中主要离子铜氰络合物、锌氰络合物的吸附性能进行了研究.实验结果表明:含氰废水的pH在8～11范围内,纤维材料对金属氰络合物具有良好的吸附性能;纤维对铜氰络合物、锌氰络合物的吸附速率很快,4 min左右就可达吸附平衡;温度对铜氰络合物、锌氰络合物吸附影响不大,纤维的这些吸附特点对工业应用非常有利.     

Iron Ore Industry Emissions as a Potential Ecological Risk Factor for Tropical Coastal Vegetation

In the coastal zone of the Espírito Santo state, Brazil, fragments of restinga, which form a natural ecosystem, share their space with an increasing number of iron ore industries. The iron ore dust and SO(2) originating from the industry processing activities can interfere with the vegetation of the adjacent ecosystems at various levels. This study was undertaken in order to evaluate the effects of industry emissions on representative members of the restinga flora, by measuring physiological and phenological parameters. Foliar samples of Ipomoea pes caprae, Canavalia rosea, Sophora tomentosa, and Schinus terebinthifolius were collected at three increasing distances from an ore industry (1.0, 5.0, and 15.0 km), and were assessed for their dust deposition, chlorophyll, and Fe content. Phenological monitoring was focused on the formation of shoots, flowers, and fruits and was also performed throughout the course of a year. The results showed that the edaphic characteristics and the mineral constitutions of the plants were affected by industry emissions. In addition, the chlorophyll content of the four species increased with proximity to the industry. Phenological data revealed that the reproductive effort, as measured by fruit production, was affected by emissions and S. tomentosa was the most affected species. The use of an integrative approach that combines biochemical and ecological data indicates that the restinga flora is under stress due to industry emissions, which on a long-term basis may put the ecosystem at risk.     

Formed-in-place Polyelectrolyte Complex Membranes for Atrazine Recovery from Aqueous Media

A permeable system composed of a polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) membrane formed by alternated deposition of chitosan (CHI) and carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) onto a porous solid substrate was investigated. The films, with thicknesses not superior to 20 nm, were obtained by a self-assembly technique, i.e., by direct dipping of chemically cleaned porous glass membranes, into concentrated polymeric precursor solutions. The resulting depositions have irregular structures and reduce the initial membrane permeability, especially for higher flux velocities. Concerning filtration tests for herbicide removal in aqueous medium, the chitosan deposition attained better results. A tentative model of binding involving hydrogen bonding and/or charge-transfer to nonspecific sites available dynamically as a function of the conformational estate of the deposited polymers is proposed for polysaccharide-herbicide interactions.     

Human Influences on Water Quality in Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands

A better understanding of relationships between human activities and water chemistry is needed to identify and manage sources of anthropogenic stress in Great Lakes coastal wetlands. The objective of the study described in this article was to characterize relationships between water chemistry and multiple classes of human activity (agriculture, population and development, point source pollution, and atmospheric deposition). We also evaluated the influence of geomorphology and biogeographic factors on stressor-water quality relationships. We collected water chemistry data from 98 coastal wetlands distributed along the United States shoreline of the Laurentian Great Lakes and GIS-based stressor data from the associated drainage basin to examine stressor-water quality relationships. The sampling captured broad ranges (1.5–2 orders of magnitude) in total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), total suspended solids (TSS), chlorophyll a (Chl a), and chloride; concentrations were strongly correlated with stressor metrics. Hierarchical partitioning and all-subsets regression analyses were used to evaluate the independent influence of different stressor classes on water quality and to identify best predictive models. Results showed that all categories of stress influenced water quality and that the relative influence of different classes of disturbance varied among water quality parameters. Chloride exhibited the strongest relationships with stressors followed in order by TN, Chl a, TP, TSS, and DIN. In general, coarse scale classification of wetlands by morphology (three wetland classes: riverine, protected, open coastal) and biogeography (two ecoprovinces: Eastern Broadleaf Forest [EBF] and Laurentian Mixed Forest [LMF]) did not improve predictive models. This study provides strong evidence of the link between water chemistry and human stress in Great Lakes coastal wetlands and can be used to inform management efforts to improve water quality in Great Lakes coastal ecosystems.     

Incremental evolution and devolution of Florida's Coastal High Hazard Area policy

Demarcation of Coastal High Hazard Areas (CHHAs) in Florida dates back to the passage of the landmark Growth Management Act (GMA) of 1985. There have been two subsequent legislative changes in 1994 and 2006. This paper draws on theories of policy implementation, policy framing and policy learning to shed light on this ‘natural experiment’ and to offer clues about factors that impact how and why policies evolve and devolve even after multiple revisions. Although the case study is focused on Florida, the lessons are transferable to land use and environmental policy makers seeking a balance between economic development, property rights and environmental risk.     

Oil spill vulnerability assessment integrating physical, biological and socio-economical aspects: Application to the Cantabrian coast (Bay of Biscay, Spain)

A methodology has been developed to carry out an integrated oil spill vulnerability index, V, for coastal environments. This index takes into account the main physical, biological and socio-economical characteristics by means of three intermediate indexes. Three different integration methods (worst-case, average and survey-based) along with ESI-based vulnerability scores, V_ESI, proposed for the Cantabrian coast during the Prestige oil spill, have been analyzed and compared in terms of agreement between the classifications obtained with each one for this coastal area. Results of this study indicate that the use of the worst-case index, V_R, leads to a conservative ranking, with a very poor discrimination which is not helpful in coastal oil spill risk management. Due to the homogeneity of this coastal stretch, the rest of the methods, V_I, V_M and V_ESI, provide similar classifications. However, V_M and V_I give more flexibility allowing three indexes for each coastal segment and including socio-economic aspects. Finally, the V_I procedure is proposed here as the more advisable as using this index promotes the public participation that is a key element in the implementation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (IZCM).     

我国海岸带灾害的加剧发展及其防御方略

中国大陆海岸带绵长1.8万公里,地跨12个省市,是我国人口密集、经济发展最快的地区。出现的严重灾害有台风、风暴潮、洪涝、地震海啸、海岸侵蚀、盐水入侵、海冰、地基下沉、污染、赤潮等十类,并互相叠加,形成年直接经济损失100亿元以上。全球海平面上升与人类活动加强,使海岸带灾害加剧发展,粗略估计到下世纪初中期,导致的损失可能达到1000亿元以上,是海岸带经济发展的重要制约因素。必须提高全民防灾意识,在调查研究基础上,拟订海岸带减灾规划;加强灾害的监测、预报和预警;加高加固防潮防洪大堤与护岸工程,疏浚内陆洼地和城市排洪河道,提高排水能力;保护地下水源,严格限制过量开采,以防止地面下沉和盐水入侵;合理开发海岸带资源,保护生态环境,严格限制超标排污;积极参加国际合作,逐步限制CO_2等温室气体的排放,和缓海平面上升趋势,争取大幅度减轻海岸带灾害。     

苏通大桥初设阶段主桥场地地震反应计算

本文计算了苏通大桥初设阶段主桥近300 m深场地的地震反应。将三种地震波从基岩输入,并考虑了行波效应,从而得到不同计算工况下8个桥墩所在场地的地震反应结果,列出了工程场地地表的部分绝对加速度和绝对位移的计算结果。从计算结果来看,土层的地震反应受到以下几个因素的影响:土层计算模型、土层的地质地形条件、行波效应。当有倾斜河谷地形时,采用一致输入下水平均匀分层土层的简单模型后,计算所得的工程场地地震动参数与实际场地精细化模型的计算结果有较大的差距。是否考虑基岩面上地震波的行进过程,也会对场地地表的地震动参数产生较大的影响。