Going with the flow: using species-discharge relationships to forecast losses in fish biodiversity

In response to the scarcity of tools to make quantitative forecasts of the loss of aquatic species from anthropogenic effects, we present a statistical model that relates fish species richness to river discharge. Fish richness increases logarithmically with discharge, an index of habitat space, similar to a species-area curve in terrestrial systems. We apply the species-discharge model as a forecasting tool to build scenarios of changes in riverine fish richness from climate change, water consumption, and other anthropogenic drivers that reduce river discharge. Using hypothetical reductions in discharges (of magnitudes that have been observed in other rivers), we predict that reductions of 20-90% in discharge would result in losses of 2-38% of the fish species in two biogeographical regions in the United States (Lower Ohio-Upper Mississippi and Southeastern). Additional data on the occurrence of specific species relative to specific discharge regimes suggests that fishes found exclusively in high discharge environments (e.g., Shovelnose sturgeon) would be most vulnerable to reductions in discharge. Lag times in species extinctions after discharge reduction provide a window of opportunity for conservation efforts. Applications of the species-discharge model can help prioritize such management efforts among species and rivers.     

2,4-Dichlorophenoxy acetic acid mineralization in amended soil

The application of municipal biosolid or liquid hog manure to agricultural soils under laboratory conditions at 20 degrees C influenced the fate of the herbicide 2,4-D [2,4-(dichlorophenoxy)acetic acid] in soil. When 2,4-D was added to soil at agronomic rates immediately after the addition of manure or biosolids to a coarse-textured soil, the percentage of 2,4-D mineralized at 100 days was about 47% for both treatments, compared to only 31% for control soils without amendments. The enhanced 2,4-D mineralization as a result of amendment addition was due to an increased heterotrophic microbial activity, with the greatest increases in soil respiration occurring for soils amended with biosolids. When additions of 2,4-D were delayed for one, two, or four weeks after the amendments were applied, the additions of amendments generally reduced 2,4-D mineralization in soil, particularly for manure, indicating that the effect of amendments on enhancing soil microbial activities diminished over time. In contrast, the mineralization of 2,4-D in control soils was less dependent on when 2,4-D was applied in relation to pre-incubations of soil for zero, one, two, or four weeks. The effect of manure on decreasing 2,4-D mineralization in specific soils was as large as the effect of soil texture on differences in 2,4-D mineralization across soils. Because manure was not found to impact 2,4-D sorption by soil, it is possible that 2,4-D mineralization decreased because 2,4-D transformation products were strongly sorbed onto organic carbon constituents in manure-amended soils and were therefore less accessible to microorganisms. Alternatively, microorganisms were less likely to metabolize the herbicide because they preferentially consumed the type of organic carbon in manure that is a weak sorbent for 2,4-D.     

From the inside looking out: knowledge, justice and modernity in the assessment of St. Julian's environmental capacity

The aim of this paper is to examine whether the concept of environmental capacity is useful for implementing local sustainability. This concept suggests that there may be thresholds to the total amount of development that an area can sustain without losing its critical environmental features. By means of a case study in the popular seaside town of St. Julian's, Malta, the research uncovers a number of tensions for environmental capacity assessment, surrounding the themes of knowledge, environmental justice and modernity. It concludes that the concept does have transformative potential, challenging received wisdom about the relative usefulness of expert and lay knowledge, bringing to light processes responsible for significant differences between the residents themselves, and with other groups, and uncovering a critique of understandings of progress based on physical land development. However this potential is curtailed by weak institutions and the impotence of local residents when business and politics strike an alliance.     

Habitat loss, trophic collapse, and the decline of ecosystem services

The provisioning of sustaining goods and services that we obtain from natural ecosystems is a strong economic justification for the conservation of biological diversity. Understanding the relationship between these goods and services and changes in the size, arrangement, and quality of natural habitats is a fundamental challenge of natural resource management. In this paper, we describe a new approach to assessing the implications of habitat loss for loss of ecosystem services by examining how the provision of different ecosystem services is dominated by species from different trophic levels. We then develop a mathematical model that illustrates how declines in habitat quality and quantity lead to sequential losses of trophic diversity. The model suggests that declines in the provisioning of services will initially be slow but will then accelerate as species from higher trophic levels are lost at faster rates. Comparison of these patterns with empirical examples of ecosystem collapse (and assembly) suggest similar patterns occur in natural systems impacted by anthropogenic change. In general, ecosystem goods and services provided by species in the upper trophic levels will be lost before those provided by species lower in the food chain. The decrease in terrestrial food chain length predicted by the model parallels that observed in the oceans following overexploitation. The large area requirements of higher trophic levels make them as susceptible to extinction as they are in marine systems where they are systematically exploited. Whereas the traditional species-area curve suggests that 50% of species are driven extinct by an order-of-magnitude decline in habitat abundance, this magnitude of loss may represent the loss of an entire trophic level and all the ecosystem services performed by the species on this trophic level.     

可持续食品生产的一种全寿命思路

可持续性问题涉及整个食品生产与供应链,从食品生产和加工到包装、流通和最终消费.其中每个步骤都涉及资源投入和废物与排放物的产生.本文探讨了一些可以通过提高资源效率、技术应用、消费者教育、和更深入了解消费者需求而使食品生产与消费变得更可持续的途径.它也考察了食品业正在如何回应这些挑战.