Adaptation to the Impacts of Sea Level Rise in Egypt

Assessment of the vulnerability and expected socioeconomic losses over the Nile delta coast due to the impact of sea level rise is carried out in details. Impacts of sea level rise over the Governorates of Alexandria and Port Said in particular, are evaluated quantitatively. Analysis of the results at Alexandria Governorate indicate that, if no action is taken, an area of about 30% of the city will be lost due to inundation. Almost 2 million people will have to abandon their homeland; 195,000 jobs will be lost and an economic loss of over $3.5 Billion is expected over the next century. At Port Said Governorate results indicate that beach areas are most severely affected (hence tourism), followed by urban areas. The agriculture sector is the least affected sector. It is estimated that the economic loss is over $ 2.0 Billion for 0.50 m SLR and may exceed $ 4.4 Billion for 1.25 m SLR. Options and costs of adaptation are analyzed and presented. Multi-criteria and decision matrix approaches, based on questionnaire surveys are carried out to identify priorities for the two cases. Analysis of these techniques of two options; the current policy (hard protection measures on some vulnerable areas) and no action (stopping these activities) have the lowest scores. Beach nourishment and integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) have the highest scores, however ICZM has high cost measures. The most cost-effective option is the land-use change, however with relatively very high cost measure. It is recommended that an ICZM approach be adopted since it provides a reasonable trade off between costs and cost effectiveness.     

Developmental physiology of Antarctic asteroids with different life-history modes

Rates of respiration and protein synthesis were measured during embryonic and larval development of Antarctic asteroids with different life-history modes (non-feeding and feeding larvae: Acodontaster hodgsoni, Porania antarctica, Odontaster meridionalis). Patterns of respiration for these species all show an increase during embryogenesis, with subsequent maintenance of routine respiration (“starvation resistance”), even in the absence of food for ~4 months (O. meridionalis). Fractional rates of protein synthesis (i.e., rate per unit mass of whole-body protein content) in the Antarctic larvae are essentially identical to those of temperate species. Larvae of O. meridionalis had an average fractional synthesis rate of 0.52% ± 0.05 h⁻¹ at −1.0°C, which is comparable to the temperate asteroid Asterina miniata at 0.53% ± 0.14 h⁻¹ at 15°C. For embryos of the asteroids A. hodgsoni and P. antarctica, fractional rates of protein synthesis (~0.2% h⁻¹) also are comparable to those reported for embryos of temperate echinoderm species. While rates of synthesis are high, rates of protein deposition are relatively low (percent of protein synthesized that is retained for growth). During a ~4 month growth period for larvae of O. meridionalis, the average protein depositional efficiency was 5.2%. This contrasts with higher rates of depositional efficiency reported for similar developmental stages of temperate echinoderm species. The biological significance of maintaining high rates of macromolecular synthesis for species with low rates of cell division and low protein depositional efficiencies is intriguing in the context of understanding the mechanistic bases of extended life spans and dispersal potential in response to changing Antarctic environments.     

Future directions in air-quality science,policy, and education

On February 12-15, 2001, more than 200 scientists, engineers, decision makers, and educators participated in a conference on the "Future Directions in Air Quality Research: Ecological, Atmospheric, Regulatory/Policy, and Educational Issues." Important perspectives are summarized from the keynote addresses of noted scientists and educators, as well as managers in government, industry, and public interest groups. Observations and recommendations are provided to stimulate further thought about how to increase opportunities to make greater use of scientific knowledge in air-quality decision making and to ensure that decisions are effective, economically viable, health and ecologically sound, and socially acceptable. Recommendations are given regarding ways in which communications between scientists and policy makers should be structured so as to make appropriate and effective use of scientists and the knowledge they can provide in policy-making fora.     

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