The role of corporations in ensuring biodiversity

Corporations own approximately 25% of all private land in the United States and, therefore, play an essential role in protecting biodiversity and maintaining natural habitats. The Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) is a unique joint venture between conservation organizations and corporations to utilize corporate lands for ensuring biodiversity. The following case studies demonstrate how corporations have helped ensure healthy ecosystems and provided critical leadership in regional efforts. Amoco Chemical Company's Cooper River Plant has been instrumental in developing a cooperative project that involves numerous corporations, plantation owners, private citizens, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and community groups to develop a comprehensive, ecosystem-based management plan for part of the Cooper River in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. The second case focuses on the Morie Company, a national sand quarry operator headquartered in southern New Jersey, USA. Morie Company is working with WHC, community groups, the Pinelands Commission, and other state regulatory agencies to explore sustainable development opportunities for companies within the Pinelands regulations. The third case takes us to DuPont Company's Asturias, Spain, site. A win—win success story of improved habitat and cost savings is the result of DuPont's concern for the environment, ability to work with a variety of groups, and willingness to consider innovative restoration techniques. The fourth case discusses Consumers Power Company's Campbell Plant in West Olive, Michigan, USA. In addition to implementing projects that contribute to biodiversity, Consumers Power has developed an environmental education field station to teach others about the importance of natural habitats. The final case highlights Baltimore Gas & Electric Company's efforts to maintain habitat for endangered species at their Calvert Cliffs site in Maryland.     

WASTE LOADINGS FROM A FRESHWATER ATLANTIC SALMON FARM IN SCOTLAND1

ABSTRACT: Recent studies suggest that waste generation from the freshwater phase of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) production varies considerably on an annual basis. A fish farm on the West Coast of Scotland was visited regularly during a two-year period to determine inflow and outflow water quality. Waste output budgets of suspended solids (SS), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), total ammonia nitrogen (TAN = NH₃+NH₄⁺), dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP) and total phosphorus (TP) were produced. The annual waste loadings obtained were 71 kg TN t fish^?1 yr^?1 (one year of data only), 10.9–11.1 kg TP t fish^?1 yr^?1, 1.2–2.1 kg DRP t fish^?1 yr^?1, 422–485 kg BOD₅ t fish^?1 yr^?1, 327–337 kg SS t fish^?1 yr^?1, and 30–35 kg TAN-N t fish^?1 yr^?1. Simple linear regression models relating waste parameter production to water temperature and feeding regime were developed. When compared to existing data for other salmonid production systems, greater ranges of daily waste loadings were observed. Wide variations in concentrations of these parameters during a daily cycle were also observed, suggesting that mass balance estimates of waste production will provide more robust estimates of waste output than frequent monitoring of outflow water quality.     

Gas chromatographic separation and determination of chloroanthracene isomers on fly ash

An efficient, reproducible and rapid fused silica capillary column gas chromatographic method, in splitless mode, for analysing of the three chloroanthracene isomers is described. The method affords efficient separation and good linearity for each isomer in the range of 0.2 -200 μg/ml. The method can also be used in separation and determination of another thirty three aromatic and their halosubstituted compounds. This paper also presents the applications of the method in analysing of complex products mixture from reaction of the selected aromatic compounds with hydrogen chloride on fly ash surface from municipal incinerator.     

Prenatal diagnosis for dystrophia myotonica using the polymerase chain reaction

The polymerase chain reaction has been used to detect an abundant class of short repeat DNA families of the form (dC-dA)n.(dG-dT)n, known as microsatellites. These units are found throughout the human genome and have been characterized for several loci including APOC2 on chromosome 19ql2-ql3.2. The locus APOC2 is linked to the gene for dystrophia myotonica and a microsatellite within this locus was used to derive polymorphisms in a family to predict the inheritance of the disease. Chorionic villus sampling (CVS) was performed at 151/2 weeks' gestation. Following DNA extraction from the CVS material and parental blood samples, microsatellite analysis was carried out by the polymerase chain reaction.     

Visible light photocatalytic bismuth oxide coatings are effective at suppressing aquatic cyanobacteria and degrading free-floating genomic DNA

Access to safe drinking water free from microbial pollution is an issue of global concern. The use of photocatalytic thin films in water treatment has focused on titanium dioxide, which requires UV-activation, proving a potential barrier to upscaling and implementation in the real world. Visible-light-activated photocatalytic thin films, such as bismuth oxide, have recently been shown to have antimicrobial properties. However, more understanding of the photocatalytic effect on the microbial population in water is required. Glass beads coated with bismuth oxide were incubated with either Microcystis aeruginosa, Anabaena sp. or free-floating genomic DNA. The presence of bismuth oxide-coated glass beads was able to rapidly stop a population of cyanobacteria from increasing. The coated beads were also able to degrade genomic DNA. Leachate from the beads showed no increase in toxicity against human liver cells. This data demonstrates the efficacy of bismuth oxide-coated glass beads for controlling potentially dangerous cyanobacterial populations, whilst potentially reducing the amount of free-floating genomic DNA (an essential issue in the face of antimicrobial resistance) – all of which should be essential considerations in emerging water treatment technologies.     

Importance of individual and environmental variation for invasive species spread: a spatial integral projection model

Plant survival, growth, and flowering are size dependent in many plant populations but also vary among individuals of the same size. This individual variation, along with variation in dispersal caused by differences in, e.g., seed release height, seed characteristics, and wind speed, is a key determinant of the spread rate of species through homogeneous landscapes. Here we develop spatial integral projection models (SIPMs) that include both demography and dispersal with continuous state variables. The advantage of this novel approach over discrete-stage spread models is that the effect of variation in plant size and size-dependent vital rates can be studied at much higher resolution. Comparing Neubert-Caswell matrix models to SIPMs allowed us to assess the importance of including individual variation in the models. As a test case we parameterized a SIPM with previously published data on the invasive monocarpic thistle Carduus nutans in New Zealand. Spread rate (c*) estimates were 34% lower than for standard spatial matrix models and stabilized with as few as seven evenly distributed size classes. The SIPM allowed us to calculate spread rate elasticities over the range of plant sizes, showing the size range of seedlings that contributed most to c* through their survival, growth and reproduction. The annual transitions of these seedlings were also the most important ones for local population growth (lambda). However, seedlings that reproduced within a year contributed relatively more to c* than to lambda. In contrast, plants that grow over several years to reach a large size and produce many more seeds, contributed relatively more to lambda than to c*. We show that matrix models pick up some of these details, while other details disappear within wide size classes. Our results show that SIPMs integrate various sources of variation much better than discrete-stage matrix models. Simpler, heuristic models, however, remain very valuable in studies where the main goal is to investigate the general impact of a life history stage on population dynamics. We conclude with a discussion of future extensions of SIPMs, including incorporation of continuous time and environmental drivers.     

Village-scale reserves in the forest frontier regions of Chenes and Calakmul,Mexico

ABSTRACT

Sketch-map-facilitated interviews were conducted in 23 villages in two adjacent regions in the southern Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico – the Maya (and increasingly Mennonite) forest-agriculture mosaic of the Chenes, and the late-20^th-century-settlement forest frontier of Calakmul – to determine the frequency and typology of local-scale reserves, including the external (e.g. Payments for Environmental Services programs) and internal sources of their generation. 9% of the study communities are found to satisfy the author’s criteria for deliberate, autochthonous reserves. The static polygon reserve and static map are found to have limited value for understanding the evolving cultural ecologies of these regions. Alternative approaches are discussed, particularly those employed by geographers.