Special issue MinWat2020, third international multidisciplinary conference on mineral and thermal waters

Environmental Geochemistry and Health -     

Freshwater fish diversity hotspots for conservation priorities in the Amazon Basin

Conserving freshwater habitats and their biodiversity in the Amazon Basin is a growing challenge in the face of rapid anthropogenic changes. We used the most comprehensive fish-occurrence database available (2355 valid species; 21,248 sampling points) and 3 ecological criteria (irreplaceability, representativeness, and vulnerability) to identify biodiversity hotspots based on 6 conservation templates (3 proactive, 1 reactive, 1 representative, and 1 balanced) to provide a set of alternative planning solutions for freshwater fish protection in the Amazon Basin. We identified empirically for each template the 17% of sub-basins that should be conserved and performed a prioritization analysis by identifying current and future (2050) threats (i.e., degree of deforestation and habitat fragmentation by dams). Two of our 3 proactive templates had around 65% of their surface covered by protected areas; high levels of irreplaceability (60% of endemics) and representativeness (71% of the Amazonian fish fauna); and low current and future vulnerability. These 2 templates, then, seemed more robust for conservation prioritization. The future of the selected sub-basins in these 2 proactive templates is not immediately threatened by human activities, and these sub-basins host the largest part of Amazonian biodiversity. They could easily be conserved if no additional threats occur between now and 2050.     

Developing a SINTACS-based method to map groundwater multi-pollutant vulnerability using evolutionary algorithms

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this study, the modified SINTACS method, a rating-based groundwater vulnerability approach, was applied to data from the Campanian Plain, southern...     

Monitoring a changing Arctic: Recent advancements in the study of sea ice microbial communities

Sea ice continues to decline across many regions of the Arctic, with remaining ice becoming increasingly younger and more dynamic. These changes alter the habitats of microbial life that live within the sea ice, which support healthy functioning of the marine ecosystem and provision of resources for human-consumption, in addition to influencing biogeochemical cycles (e.g. air–sea CO₂ exchange). With the susceptibility of sea ice ecosystems to climate change, there is a pressing need to fill knowledge gaps surrounding sea ice habitats and their microbial communities. Of fundamental importance to this goal is the development of new methodologies that permit effective study of them. Based on outcomes from the DiatomARCTIC project, this paper integrates existing knowledge with case studies to provide insight on how to best document sea ice microbial communities, which contributes to the sustainable use and protection of Arctic marine and coastal ecosystems in a time of environmental change.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-021-01658-z.     

The role of agency in sustainable local community development

In this paper we question the importance of social capital as a primary indicator of a community's ability to engage in sustainable development as social capital can have both hindering and facilitating effects. We suggest that actor agency allows an individual or group to increase access to other critical forms of capital to overcome barriers and solve problems. We present 'bonding' social capital consisting of strong network ties as a negative in excess quantity as it can lead to the enforcement of social norms that hinder innovative change, and 'bridging' social capital consisting of weak network ties as a benefit that allows actors to bring about critical social changes. Communities achieve agency through a dynamic mix of bonding and bridging ties. We close with suggestions for fostering community agency and flag the need for further research in this area.     

Women's choices for fetal chromosome analysis

Five hundred and eighty women aged 35 or more at the expected date of delivery were offered the chance to join the MRC trial comparing CVS and amniocentesis at Queen Charlotte's Hospital. After a 1 h non-directive counselling session, they were asked to choose between having no test, having amniocentesis, or joining the trial in the hopes of having CVS (or in some cases having CVS outside the trial). The majority of women chose to have some test, and CVS was a more popular choice than amniocentesis.     

Changes in the biochemical oxygen demand procedure in the 21st edition of Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater.

The dilution biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) test has widespread application for design and operation of wastewater treatment processes, evaluating the quality of natural waters, and assessing the effect of wastewater discharges on these waters. While standardization of the BOD-measuring method has become of prime importance in maintaining dependable data acquisition, changes are made as needed in response to questions raised by analysts and to accommodate new applications. The purpose of this article is to describe changes that have been incorporated in the 20th and 21st editions of Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater (APHA et al., 1998 and 2004). These changes include changes in text format to clarify the procedural steps, allowance for use of bottle sizes ranging from 60 mL or larger, improvements in quality-control procedures, and improvements in the method of calculating BOD. Other changes include allowance for the use of allylthiourea for nitrification inhibition and broadening the source of seed that can be used for inoculation of BOD samples.     

Evidence of large-scale source-sink dynamics and long-distance dispersal among Wood Thrush populations

Source-sink dynamics are commonly thought to occur among Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) and other songbird populations, allowing for the persistence of populations with negative growth rates ("sinks") through immigration from populations with positive growth rates ("sources"). Knowledge of source-sink dynamics is important for management and conservation because the removal of source habitat should result in the extinction of dependent sinks. However, since research has focused on identifying individual sources/sink populations, not source-sink pairs, we cannot predict these effects or the scale over which they occur. We posit that, when dispersal occurs from a source to a sink year after year, there will be a one-year time-lagged correlation in abundance between the two populations. This should occur for populations separated by distances over which juveniles disperse. Using the North American Breeding Bird Survey data, we tested for such time-lagged correlations between paired Wood Thrush populations from 10 to 200 km apart. Populations were linked with a one-year time lag over distances from 60 to 80 km, indicating that dispersal and source-sink dynamics may occur over these long distances. There was also a declining trend in forest cover from sources to sinks. Conservation and management strategies should therefore be designed at large scales, with consideration for source-sink dynamics and forest cover.     

The MYSound Project: building an estuary-wide monitoring network for Long Island Sound,USA

A network of five water quality monitoring stations has been established in Long Island Sound, measuring temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen since 1999. The stations are located in areas of extreme water quality degradation (western Long Island Sound) as well as in pristine areas (eastern Long Island Sound). The data from these stations are collected every 15 minutes and posted to the project web site in real time as provisional data. After subsequent quality assurance procedures, the data are archived to the project File Transfer Protocol (FSP) site for downloading by the user community. The network of stations is in part supported logistically by a number of partners, including state and local agencies, schools, and non-governmental organizations. Data from the monitoring programs of some of these partners are also published to the project website providing a more comprehensive and complete picture of the status of the Sound than can be provided independently. This repository of information is used by marine educators, resource managers, scientists, and the general public, each with a different end purpose. We use the data from two of the stations to show that these high frequency time series measurements can be used to complement and enhance other monitoring programs within the Sound, documenting in greater detail the occurrence and duration of hypoxic events.