Global climate change and environmental contaminants: A SETAC call for research
No abstract available.
Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management↗
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Survey effort and targeted landbird community metrics at Indiana lowland forest restoration sites
Many sampling and analytical methods can estimate the abundance, distributions, and diversity of birds and other wildlife. However, challenges with sample size and analytical capacity can make these methods difficult to implement for resource-limited monitoring programs. To apprise efficient and attainable sampling designs for landbird monitoring programs with limited observational data, we used breeding season bird point survey data collected in 2016 at four forest restoration sites in Indiana, USA. We evaluated three subsets of observed species richness, total possibly breeding landbirds, Partners in Flight Regional Conservation Concern (PIF RCC) landbirds, and interior forest specialists (IFSs). Simulated surveys based on field data were used to conduct Bayesian Michaelis–Menten curve analyses estimating observed species as a function of sampling effort. On comparing simulated survey sets with multiple habitat types versus those with one habitat, we found that those with multiple habitat types had estimated 39%–83% greater observed PIF RCC species richness and required 41%–55% fewer visits per point to observe an equivalent proportion of PIF RCC species. Even with multiple habitats in a survey set, the number of visits per point required to detect 50% of observable species was 30% higher for PIF RCC species than for total breeding landbird species. Low detection rates of IFS species at two field sites made precise estimation of required effort to observe these species difficult. However, qualitatively, we found that only sites containing mature forest fragments had detections of several bird species designated as high-confidence IFS species. Our results suggest that deriving specialized species diversity metrics from point survey data can add value when interpreting those data. Additionally, designing studies to collect these metrics may require explicitly planning to visit multiple habitat types at a monitoring site and increasing the number of visits per survey point.
Indiana↗
Studies to assess natural resource recovery and evaluate monitoring methods for restored bottomland hardwood forests
The Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration process assesses natural resource injury due to oil or chemical spills and calculates the damages to compensate the public for those injuries. Ecological restoration provides a means for recovering resources injured or lost due to contamination from oil or chemical spills by restoring the injured site after remediation, or acquiring or reconstructing equivalent resources off site to replace those lost due to the spill. In the case of restored forests, once restoration is implemented, monitoring of forest ecology helps keep recovery on track, with the maturation of forest vegetation, recovered soil conditions, and development of microbial, fungal, and faunal communities, necessary for ecologically functioning forests. This series of papers focuses on applying methods for monitoring restoration progress in forest vegetation and soils, and amphibian, avian, and mammalian communities, assessing strengths and weaknesses of different methods, and evaluating levels of effort needed to obtain accurate indications of forest ecological condition.
Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management↗
Advancing environmental toxicology through chemical dosimetry: External exposures versus tissue residues
The tissue residue dose concept has been used, although in a limited manner, in environmental toxicology for more than 100 y. This review outlines the history of this approach and the technical background for organic chemicals and metals. Although the toxicity of both can be explained in tissue residue terms, the relationship between external exposure concentration, body and/or tissues dose surrogates, and the effective internal dose at the sites of toxic action tends to be more complex for metals. Various issues and current limitations related to research and regulatory applications are also examined. It is clear that the tissue residue approach (TRA) should be an integral component in future efforts to enhance the generation, understanding, and utility of toxicity testing data, both in the laboratory and in the field. To accomplish these goals, several key areas need to be addressed: 1) development of a risk-based interpretive framework linking toxicology and ecology at multiple levels of biological organization and incorporating organism-based dose metrics; 2) a broadly applicable, generally accepted classification scheme for modes/mechanisms of toxic action with explicit consideration of residue information to improve both single chemical and mixture toxicity data interpretation and regulatory risk assessment; 3) toxicity testing protocols updated to ensure collection of adequate residue information, along with toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics information, based on explicitly defined toxicological models accompanied by toxicological model validation; 4) continued development of residueeffect databases is needed ensure their ongoing utility; and 5) regulatory guidance incorporating residue-based testing and interpretation approaches, essential in various jurisdictions. ??:2010 SETAC.
Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management↗
Effects of haying on breeding birds in CRP grasslands
The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is a voluntary program that is available to agricultural producers to help protect environmentally sensitive or highly erodible land. Management disturbances of CRP grasslands generally are not allowed unless authorized to provide relief to livestock producers during severe drought or a similar natural disaster (i.e., emergency haying and grazing) or to improve the quality and performance of the CRP cover (i.e., managed haying and grazing). Although CRP grasslands may not be hayed or grazed during the primary bird-nesting season, these disturbances may have short-term (1 yr after disturbance) and long-term (≥2 yr after disturbance) effects on grassland bird populations. We assessed the effects of haying on 20 grassland bird species in 483 CRP grasslands in 9 counties of 4 states in the northern Great Plains, USA between 1993 and 2008. We compared breeding bird densities (as determined by total-area counts) in idle and hayed fields to evaluate changes 1, 2, 3, and 4 years after haying. Haying of CRP grasslands had either positive or negative effects on grassland birds, depending on the species, the county, and the number of years after the initial disturbance. Some species (e.g., horned lark [ Eremophila alpestris ], bobolink [ Dolichonyx oryzivorus ]) responded positively after haying, and others (e.g., song sparrow [ Melospiza melodia ]) responded negatively. The responses of some species changed direction as the fields recovered from haying. For example, densities for common yellowthroat ( Geothlypis trichas ), sedge wren ( Cistothorus platensis ), and clay-colored sparrow ( Spizella pallida ) declined the first year after haying but increased in the subsequent 3 years. Ten species showed treatment × county interactions, indicating that the effects of haying varied geographically. This long-term evaluation on the effects of haying on breeding birds provides important information on the strength and direction of changes in bird populations following a disturbance. Results from this study can help guide management of CRP and other grasslands and inform future agricultural programs that address biomass energy production. © 2016 This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.
Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota↗
Setting a pluralist agenda for water governance: Why power and scale matter
Global water systems are facing unprecedented pressures, including climate change-driven drought and escalating flood risk, environmental contamination, and over allocation. Water management and governance typically lack integration across spatial scales, including relationships between surface and ground water systems. They also routinely ignore connectivity across temporal scales, including the need for intergenerational water planning. As a global and interdisciplinary group of scientists, we seek to highlight how power and scale dynamics influence and determine water outcomes. We argue that attending to complex water systems challenges requires understanding the function and influence of power at different temporal and spatial scales. Building this understanding is key to designing multi-scalar, reflexive, and pluralistic policy solutions that avoid ineffective or unintended outcomes. We use a co-learning process to reveal important lessons for the challenge of interdisciplinary research and set a pluralist agenda for understanding power and scale in future water governance.
WIREs Water↗
Interactions of water quality and integrated groundwater management: Examples from the United States and Europe
Groundwater is available in many parts of the world, but the quality of the water may limit its use. Contaminants can limit the use of groundwater through concerns associated with human health, aquatic health, economic costs, or even societal perception. Given this broad range of concerns, this chapter focuses on examples of how water quality issues influence integrated groundwater management. One example evaluates the importance of a naturally occurring contaminant Arsenic (As) for drinking water supply, one explores issues resulting from agricultural activities on the land surface and factors that influence related groundwater management, and the last examines unique issues that result from human-introduced viral pathogens for groundwater-derived drinking water vulnerability. The examples underscore how integrated groundwater management lies at the intersections of environmental characterization, engineering constraints, societal needs, and human perception of acceptable water quality. As such, water quality factors can be a key driver for societal decision making.
Book chapter↗
An econometric model of the U.S. secondary copper industry: Recycling versus disposal
In this paper, a theoretical model of secondary recovery is developed that integrates microeconomic theories of production and cost with a dynamic model of scrap generation and accumulation. The model equations are estimated for the U.S. secondary copper industry and used to assess the impacts that various policies and future events have on copper recycling rates. The alternatives considered are: subsidies for secondary production, differing energy costs, and varying ore quality in primary production.
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management↗
Earthquake and volcano hazard notices: An economic evaluation of changes in risk perceptions
Earthquake and volcano hazard notices were issued for the Mammoth Lakes, California area by the U.S. Geological Survey under the authority granted by the Disaster Relief Act of 1974. The effects on investment, recretion visitation, and risk perceptionsare explored. The hazard notices did not affect recreation visitation, although investment was affected. A perceived loss in the market value of homes was documented. Risk perceptions were altered for property owners. Communication of the probability of an event over time would enhance hazard notices as a policy instrument and would mitigate unnecessary market perturbations.
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management↗
The supply and demand for pollution control: Evidence from wastewater treatment
This paper analyzes the determination of pollution control from wastewater treatment plants as an economic decision facing local or regional regulators. Pollution control is measured by plant design effluent concentration levels and is fully endogenous in a supply- and-demand model of treatment choice. On the supply side, plant costs are a function of the design treatment level of the plant, and on the demand side, treatment level is a function of both the costs of control and the regional or regulatory preferences for control. We find evidence that the economic model of effluent choice by local regulators has a good deal of explanatory power. We find evidence that wastewater treatment plant removal of biological oxygen demand (BOD) is sensitive to many local factors including the size of the treatment plant, the flow rate of the receiving water, the population density of the surrounding area, regional growth, state sensitivity to environmental issues, state income, and the extent to which the damages from pollution fall on other states. We find strong evidence that regulators are sensitive to capital costs in determining the design level of BOD effluent reduction at a plant. Thus, proposed reductions in federal subsidies for wastewater treatment plant construction are likely to have significant adverse effects on water quality.
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management↗
Estimating vegetation biomass and cover across large plots in shrub and grass dominated drylands using terrestrial lidar and machine learning
Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) has been shown to enable an efficient, precise, and non-destructive inventory of vegetation structure at ranges up to hundreds of meters. We developed a method that leverages TLS collections with machine learning techniques to model and map canopy cover and biomass of several classes of short-stature vegetation across large plots. We collected high-definition TLS scans of 26 1-ha plots in desert grasslands and big sagebrush shrublands in southwest Idaho, USA. We used the Random Forests machine learning algorithm to develop decision tree models predicting the biomass and canopy cover of several vegetation classes from statistical descriptors of the aboveground heights of TLS points. Manual measurements of vegetation characteristics collected within each plot served as training and validation data. Models based on five or fewer TLS descriptors of vegetation heights were developed to predict the canopy cover fraction of shrubs (R 2 = 0.77, RMSE = 7%), annual grasses (R 2 = 0.70, RMSE = 21%), perennial grasses (R 2 = 0.36, RMSE = 12%), forbs (R 2 = 0.52, RMSE = 6%), bare earth or litter (R 2 = 0.49, RMSE = 19%), and the biomass of shrubs (R 2 = 0.71, RMSE = 175 g) and herbaceous vegetation (R 2 = 0.61, RMSE = 99 g) (all values reported are out-of-bag). Our models explained much of the variability between predictions and manual measurements, and yet we expect that future applications could produce even better results by reducing some of the methodological sources of error that we encountered. Our work demonstrates how TLS can be used efficiently to extend manual measurement of vegetation characteristics from small to large plots in grasslands and shrublands, with potential application to other similarly structured ecosystems. Our method shows that vegetation structural characteristics can be modeled without classifying and delineating individual plants, a challenging and time-consuming step common in previous methods applying TLS to vegetation inventory. Improving application of TLS to studies of shrub-steppe ecosystems will serve immediate management needs by enhancing vegetation inventories, environmental modeling studies, and the ability to train broader datasets collected from air and space.
Idaho↗
ENSO and NAO linkages to interannual salinity variability in north central Gulf of Mexico estuaries through teleconnections with precipitation
Though the importance of Earth's internal climate modes such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) to regional-scale climate variability is well recognized, the degree to which these oscillations are reflected by spatio-temporal salinity variability over interannual timescales in estuaries is less understood. Here an 11-year continuous salinity monitoring dataset spanning 223 stations across Louisiana's coastal wetlands along the northern Gulf of Mexico is examined with empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis to identify dominant modes of interannual variability in the salinity field. The first EOF mode accounts for 72% of the variance in the salinity field and captures a domain-wide pattern where salinities vary in-phase through space in response to local precipitation anomalies occurring in the vicinity of the study area. This local precipitation anomaly is positively correlated with ENSO (Nino3.4 index), consistent with the El Niño – wet (La Niña – dry) precipitation teleconnection that is prevalent throughout the northern Gulf of Mexico coast. The second EOF mode, which accounts for 13% of the variance in the salinity field, is expressed primarily in the marshes across the lower reaches of the Mississippi River deltaic plain (MRDP). EOF2 is anticorrelated with annual Mississippi River discharge anomaly such that salinities in the lower MRDP decrease as discharge increases, pointing to enhanced advection of fresh river plume waters over the shelf into the estuary via estuary-ocean exchange during years of anomalously high river discharge. Mississippi River discharge anomaly is positively correlated with the NAO at a one-year time lag, through a teleconnection with precipitation throughout much of the central region of the Mississippi River drainage basin. Together, these findings indicate that most of the interannual salinity variability across Louisiana's coastal wetlands can be linked to climate variability through teleconnections with precipitation. Incorporating these dynamics into restoration planning, monitoring, and adaptive management efforts may help constrain background environmental variation and better isolate restoration effects.
Louisiana↗
Validation and standardization of SPE and HPLC-UV methods for simultaneous determination of legacy and insensitive munitions
There have been few attempts to consolidate legacy and insensitive munitions analyses. Furthermore, there are no standard methods for insensitive munitions (IM) in tissues, resulting in overlapping methods and supplementary analyses. The goal of the present study was to validate extraction and instrumental methods previously developed and address analytical methodology gaps (missing tissue matrices, combined legacy and IM analysis, and IM compounds). The method encompasses analytes in waters, soils, and tissues. The primary and secondary instrumental methodologies use high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet (HPLC-UV) and an alternate LC-mass spectrometry (MS) method, which includes 26 compounds of interest (legacy munitions, IM, IM degradation products , and other munitions compounds). The methods were formally evaluated during a series of double-blind round robin studies including a broad variety of laboratories (Government Department of Defense (DoD), Government non-DoD, ammunition manufacturing, commercial, and academic). The results of these round robin studies were gathered to generate recovery ranges for each of the 26 compounds in each of the matrices. The recovery ranges were subsequently compared with existing recovery ranges for standard explosives analysis, United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) 8330B. The validation study reveals a capable method, which reduces analysis time for IM and legacy munitions analyses.
Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Managem↗
Timing, uncertainty, and opportunity cost: Lessons for ecosystem modification on the Colorado River
While conservation goals have long been pursued through traditional species-augmenting actions, a broader set of episodic ecosystem modification (EEM) actions, such as hydropower dam releases, prescribed fire, and beach nourishment, is garnering attention. EEM actions face several implementation challenges stemming from high opportunity costs, delayed effect mechanisms, reliance on monitoring for deployment timing, and outcome uncertainty due to infrequent use. In this paper, we study the use of EEM actions in the form of designer flows—ecologically-motivated releases of water into regulated river segments—to maintain a viable population of a threatened native fish species in the Colorado River. We demonstrate how the cost-effectiveness of EEM actions can be hampered by the complex and delayed effects on species viability, but enhanced through targeted monitoring for timing deployment and experimentation for reducing uncertainty about effectiveness.
Arizona, Utah↗
Regional monitoring programs in the United States: Synthesis of four case studies from Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf Coasts
Water quality monitoring is a cornerstone of environmental protection and ambient monitoring provides managers with the critical data they need to take informed action. Unlike site-specific monitoring that is at the heart of regulatory permit compliance, regional monitoring can provide an integrated, holistic view of the environment, allowing managers to obtain a more complete picture of natural variability and cumulative impacts, and more effectively prioritize management actions. By reviewing four long-standing regional monitoring programs that cover portions of all three coasts in the United States – Chesapeake Bay, Tampa Bay, Southern California Bight, and San Francisco Bay – important insights can be gleaned about the benefits that regional monitoring provides to managers. These insights include the underlying reasons that make regional monitoring programs successful, the challenges to maintain relevance and viability in the face of ever-changing technology, competing demands and shifting management priorities. The lessons learned can help other managers achieve similar successes as they seek to establish and reinvigorate their own monitoring programs.
California, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, New Jerse↗
Estimation of potential loss of two pesticides in runoff in Fillmore County, Minnesota using a field-scale process-based model and a geographic information system
In assessing the occurrence, behavior, and effects of agricultural chemicals in surface water, the scales of study (i.e., watershed, county, state, and regional areas) are usually much larger than the scale of agricultural fields, where much of the understanding of processes has been developed. Field-scale areas are characterized by relatively homogeneous conditions. The combination of process-based simulation models and geographic information system technology can be used to help extend our understanding of field processes to water-quality concerns at larger scales. To demonstrate this, the model "Groundwater Loading Effects of Agricultural Management Systems" was used to estimate the potential loss of two pesticides (atrazine and permethrin) in runoff to surface water in Fillmore County in southeastern Minnesota. The county was divided into field-scale areas on the basis of a 100 m by 100 m grid, and the influences of soil type and surface topography on the potential losses of the two pesticides in runoff was evaluated for each individual grid cell. The results could be used for guidance for agricultural management and regulatory decisions, for planning environmental monitoring programs, and as an educational tool for the public.
Minnesota↗
Urbanization impacts on evapotranspiration across various spatio-temporal scales
Urbanization has been shown to locally increase the nighttime temperatures creating urban heat islands, which partly arise due to evapotranspiration (ET) reduction. It is unclear how the direction and magnitude of the change in local ET due to urbanization varies globally across different climatic regimes. This knowledge gap is critical, both for the key role of ET in the energy and water balance accounting for the majority of local precipitation, and for reducing the urban heat island effect. We explore and assess the impacts of urbanization on monthly and mean annual ET across a range of landscapes from local to global spatial scales. Remotely sensed land cover and ET available at 1 km resolution are used to quantify the differences in ET between urban and surrounding non-urban areas across the globe. The observed patterns show that the statistically significant difference between urban and non-urban ET can be estimated to first order as a function of local hydroclimate, with arid regions seeing increased ET, and humid regions showing decreased ET. Cities under cold climates also evaporate more than their non-urban surroundings during the winter, as the urban micro-climate has increased energy availability resulting from human activities. Increased ET in arid cities arises from municipal water withdrawals and increased irrigation during drought conditions. These results can help inform planners to improve the integration of environmental conditions into the design and management of urban landscapes.
Earth's Future↗
Analysis of ecological context for identifying vegetation and animal conservation planning foci: An example from the arid South-western USA
In developing conservation strategies, it is important to maximize effects of conservation within a specified land tract and to maximize conservation effects on surrounding area (ecological context). The authors proposed two criteria to select biotic entities for conservation foci: (1) the relative occurrence of fauna or flora in a tract is greater than that of an ecological context region; and (2) occurrence of the fauna or flora is relatively limited in the ecological context region. Using extensive spatial data on vegetation and wildlife habitat distribution, the authors identified strategic vegetation and fauna conservation foci for the 400 000 ha Fort Bliss military reservation in New Mexico and Texas relative to a 164 km radius ecological context region intersecting seven ecological zones and the predicted habitat distribution of 616 animal species. The authors set two specific criteria: (1) predicted area of a species' occurrence is <50% of the ecological context region; and (2) percentage of Fort Bliss intersecting the species' or vegetation community predicted areas in the ecological context region is >5% (Fort Bliss is 4.2% of the region). These criteria selected one vegetation class and 40 animal species. Further, these vegetation and animal foci were primarily located in two areas of Fort Bliss. Sensitivity analyses with other analytical radii corroborated the context radius used. Conservation of the two areas and associated taxa will maximize the contribution of Fort Bliss's conservation efforts in its ecological proximity. This relatively simple but information-rich process represents economical and defensible preliminary contextual analysis for detailed conservation planning.
Journal of Environmental Planning and Management↗