The influence of vegetation cover on evapotranspiration atop waste rock piles,Elk Valley,British Columbia

Surface mining in the Elk Valley, British Columbia, involves removing vegetation, soil, and rock to access underlying metallurgical coal. Subsequent waste rock is placed into adjacent valleys, frequently burying headwater streams. Due to their coarse texture, waste rock piles increase infiltration and percolation, increasing solute transport and concentration of geochemicals in downstream surface waters. Previous research suggests that weathering solutes are transport limited, and it is hypothesized that revegetation will enhance evapotranspiration (ET) and reduce percolation through the waste rock, potentially reducing loading. This study examined the surface‐atmosphere water and energy exchanges using the eddy covariance technique for three waste rock surfaces with different levels of reclamation: (a) an ~25‐year‐old mixed coniferous forest, (b) a grass site, and (c) bare waste rock. Measurements were taken from May to October in 2013 and 2014. Soil moisture and matric suction were measured to 1‐m depth. Sap flow at the forested site was measured to partition transpiration from total ET. In all years, ET rates were greatest at the forested site, followed by the grass cover and lowest at the bare waste rock site. Growing season ET rates at the forest were 56% higher than grass in 2013 and 35% higher in 2014. At the vegetated sites, climate was the main driver of ET, with high radiation, and warm and dry conditions enhancing fluxes. Maximum ET at these sites corresponded with peak growing season, with vegetation increasing both transpiration and rainfall interception. At the bare rock site, ET was weakly related to atmospheric conditions, and ET rates briefly increased during periods following rainfall when near‐surface soil moisture was enhanced. Transpiration comprised 29% of overall ET at the forest site from late July to early October. Results suggest that vegetation establishment can be incorporated into mine reclamation plans to enhance ET rates and limit percolation, potentially reducing downstream geochemical loads.     

Mineralogical characterization of Baptistina Asteroid Family: Implications for K/T impactor source

Bottke et al. [Bottke, W.F., Vokrouhlicky, D., Nesvorný, D., 2007. Nature 449, 48–53] linked the catastrophic formation of Baptistina Asteroid Family (BAF) to the K/T impact event. This linkage was based on dynamical and compositional evidence, which suggested the impactor had a composition similar to CM2 carbonaceous chondrites. However, our recent study [Reddy, V., Emery, J.P., Gaffey, M.J., Bottke, W.F., Cramer, A., Kelley, M.S., 2009. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 44, 1917–1927] suggests that the composition of (298) Baptistina is similar to LL-type ordinary chondrites rather than CM2 carbonaceous chondrites. This rules out any possibility of it being related to the source of the K/T impactor, if the impactor was of CM-type composition. Mineralogical study of asteroids in the vicinity of BAF has revealed a plethora of compositional types suggesting a complex formation and evolution environment. A detailed compositional analysis of 16 asteroids suggests several distinct surface assemblages including ordinary chondrites (Gaffey SIV subtype), primitive achondrites (Gaffey SIII subtype), basaltic achondrites (Gaffey SVII subtype and V-type), and a carbonaceous chondrite. Based on our mineralogical analysis we conclude that (298) Baptistina is similar to ordinary chondrites (LL-type) based on olivine and pyroxene mineralogy and moderate albedo. S-type and V-type in and around the vicinity of BAF we characterized show mineralogical affinity to (8) Flora and (4) Vesta and could be part of their families. Smaller BAF asteroids with lower SNR spectra showing only a ‘single’ band are compositionally similar to (298) Baptistina and L/LL chondrites. It is unclear at this point why the silicate absorption bands in spectra of asteroids with formal family definition seem suppressed relative to background population, despite having similar mineralogy.     

A comparison of intertidal species richness and composition between Central California and Oahu,Hawaii

The intertidal zone of tropical islands is particularly poorly known. In contrast, temperate locations such as California's Monterey Bay are fairly well studied. However, even in these locations, studies have tended to focus on a few species or locations. Here we present the results of the first broadscale surveys of invertebrate, fish and algal species richness from a tropical island, Oahu, Hawaii, and a temperate mainland coast, Central California. Data were gathered through surveys of 10 sites in the early 1970s and again in the mid‐1990s in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, California, and of nine sites in 2001–2005 on Oahu. Surveys were conducted in a similar manner allowing for a comparison between Oahu and Central California and, for California, a comparison between time periods 24 years apart. We report a previously undocumented richness of intertidal species in both locations: 516 for Oahu and 801 for Central California. Surprisingly, when differences in search efforts are controlled, overall (alpha) diversity appears to be similar between locations, although site level (beta) diversity is much higher in California. Species richness in California generally increased along a wave exposure gradient and distance from an urban area. Much higher numbers of both invasive and endemic species were found on Oahu. In California, more invertebrate species were found in the 1990s, likely due to an improvement in taxonomic resources since the 1970s, and species composition was different in the two surveys due to the high incidence of rare species. Although some southern species increased in number between the two time periods and some northern species decreased, we detected little evidence of change favoring southern or northern species. These results are in line with recent findings that water temperatures in the Monterey Bay have been in a cooling trend since the 1980s, in contrast to many locations elsewhere in the world.     

Modeling River Connectivity Using the Barrier Assessment Tool and Available Data on Registered Dams in the Guadalupe–San Antonio River System,Texas

The rate of dam building has declined in the United States, but dam building is still considered an integral part of water supply management, particularly in arid and semiarid regions. Understanding how dams affect river connectivity is a key component of river basin management. This study analyzed the spatial and temporal patterns of fragmentation in the Guadalupe–San Antonio River System (GSARS) and how these patterns were related to dam size, age, and purpose. Using a shapefile of registered dams and the National Hydrography Dataset High Resolution (NHD-HR) as input data for the Barrier Assessment Tool (BAT), six successive connectivity models were created. The average length of functional river networks (FRNs) decreased over time but the number of FRNs over 100?km stayed relatively stable. Fragmentation in the GSARS was concentrated around urban centers, and the majority of fragmentation occurred gradually as dams separated small FRNs along tributaries and headwaters. This gradual decline in longitudinal connectivity was punctuated by sporadically large separations of river networks by particular dams based on their location and time of commissioning. The methodology presented here provides a way to analyze both the extent and the temporal evolution of fragmentation in a river system. Key Words: Barrier Assessment Tool (BAT), fragmentation, functional river networks, river connectivity.     

Enantioselectivity of polychlorinated biphenyl atropisomers in sediment and biota from the Turtle/Brunswick River estuary, Georgia, USA

To investigate the potential for enantioselective transformation and accumulation, the enantiomer distributions of seven polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) atropisomers were measured in the sediment and biota from a sub-tropical estuary heavily contaminated with Aroclor 1268, a technical mixture of highly chlorinated PCB congeners. Enantiomer fractions (EFs) of PCBs 91, 95, 136, 149, 174, 176, and 183 in marsh sediment, invertebrate, forage and predatory fish species, and bottlenose dolphins were determined. Non-racemic EFs greater than 0.75 were found in sediments for PCBs 136 and 174, likely the result of microbial dechlorination. Although enantiomer fractions in grass shrimp (Palaemonetes spp.) mirrored those of sediment, fish species had EFs that differed significantly from sediment or grass shrimp. Similarly, bottlenose dolphins were also found to contain non-racemic quantities of PCBs 91, 136, 174, 176, and 183. Non-racemic EFs in these biota were likely a result of both uptake of non-racemic proportions of PCBs from the diet and enantioselective biotransformation.     

Future makers or future takers? A scenario analysis of climate change and the Great Barrier Reef

The extent to which nations and regions can actively shape the future or must passively respond to global forces is a topic of relevance to current discourses on climate change. In Australia, climate change has been identified as the greatest threat to the ecological resilience of the Great Barrier Reef, but is exacerbated by regional and local pressures. We undertook a scenario analysis to explore how two key uncertainties may influence these threats and their impact on the Great Barrier Reef and adjacent catchments in 2100: whether (1) global development and (2) Australian development is defined and pursued primarily in terms of economic growth or broader concepts of human well-being and environmental sustainability, and in turn, how climate change is managed and mitigated. We compared the implications of four scenarios for marine and terrestrial ecosystem services and human well-being. The results suggest that while regional actions can partially offset global inaction on climate change until about mid-century, there are probable threshold levels for marine ecosystems, beyond which the Great Barrier Reef will become a fundamentally different system by 2100 if climate change is not curtailed. Management that can respond to pressures at both global and regional scales will be needed to maintain the full range of ecosystem services. Modest improvements in human well-being appear possible even while ecosystem services decline, but only where regional management is strong. The future of the region depends largely on whether national and regional decision-makers choose to be active future ‘makers’ or passive future ‘takers’ in responding to global drivers of change. We conclude by discussing potential avenues for using these scenarios further with the Great Barrier Reef region's stakeholders.     

Water Education for Sustainability: Criteria and Recommendations

This article applies behavioral theories, knowledge-to-action frameworks, and educational pedagogy to the case study of water education programs in metropolitan Phoenix, AZ. First, we describe three criteria for sustainable behavior change through education. Next, we demonstrate how water education programs in Phoenix have employed inadequate approaches to reduce resource consumption relative to the criteria. Finally, we offer recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of educational initiatives directed toward transformative change for sustainability. Central insights involve incorporating diverse knowledge domains, using interactive educational techniques, and tailoring programs to specific actions and relevant targeted populations.     

Variability patterns of the annual frequency and timing of low streamflow days across the United States and their linkage to regional and large‐scale climate

Low‐flow events can cause significant impacts to river ecosystems and water‐use sectors; as such, it is important to understand their variability and drivers. In this study, we characterise the variability and timing of annual total frequency of low‐streamflow days across a range of headwater streams within the continental United States. To quantify this, we use a metric that counts the annual number of low‐flow days below a given threshold, defined as the cumulative dry days occurrence (CDO). First, we identify three large clusters of stream gauge locations using a Partitioning Around Medoids (PAM) clustering algorithm. In terms of timing, results reveal that for most clusters, the majority of low‐streamflow days occur from the middle of summer until early fall, although several locations in Central and Western United States also experience low‐flow days in cold seasons. Further, we aim to identify the regional climate and larger scale drivers for these low‐streamflow days. Regionally, we find that precipitation deficits largely associate with low‐streamflow days in the Western United States, whereas within the Central and Eastern U.S. clusters, high temperature indicators are also linked to low‐streamflow days. In terms of larger scale, we examine sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies, finding that extreme dry years exhibit a high degree of co‐occurrence with different patterns of warmer SST anomalies across the Pacific and Northern Atlantic Oceans. The linkages identified with regional climate and SSTs offer promise towards regional prediction of changing conditions of low‐streamflow events.     

Investigation of calcareous beach sands in the Akumal and Tulum areas for use in constructed wetlands,Eastern Yucatan Peninsula

Constructed wetlands can be a low-cost, ecologically based technology to locally treat domestic wastewater prior to discharge. Wetland systems implemented in the resort village of Akumal in the state of Quintana Roo, in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico have been considered moderately successful over approximately 10 years of operation. Yet the wide-scale implementation of constructed wetlands has not occurred in the region nor throughout Mexico due largely to the cost of the crushed aggregate used in these systems. Variation in the geotechnical and mineralogical properties of 29 samples of local calcareous beach sands collected from the tourist areas of Akumal and Tulum in the Yucatan, Mexico were analyzed and compared to those of crushed aggregate currently used in constructed wetland systems in Akumal. Powder X-ray diffraction on beach sand samples from Akumal and Tulum indicates that the proportion of aragonite varies from 24 to 84%, calcite varies from 7 to 38% and Mg-calcite varied from 8 to 57% compared to crushed aggregate which consists of 0–25% aragonite and 75–100% calcite. Compared to crushed aggregate beach sands are unimodal and have better uniformity coefficients, making them a better geotechnical choice than crushed sands with respect to these properties. Grain-size of the beach sands is much smaller compared to that of the crushed aggregate currently used in the constructed wetland systems in Akumal which should enhance the efficiency of the filtration of organic matter and bacteria. The average hydraulic conductivity measurements of 0.010 and 0.016 cm/s for beach sands from Akumal and Tulum, respectively are comparable or less than the average of 0.016 cm/s for crushed aggregate currently used in engineered wetland systems. Yet a combination of high bulk porosity, intragranular pores, and the presence of Mg-calcite observed in beach sands may likely result in higher dissolution rates versus the crushed aggregate. Preliminary assessment suggests that the use of local sand may be a technical, economic, and perceptual enhancement to the systems. Still a careful and thorough analysis of the potential environmental and aesthetic impacts of mining beach sands is necessary.     

Magnetic susceptibility as a proxy for coal ash pollution within riverbed sediments in a watershed with complex geology (southeastern USA)

A study of near surface sediments from the Dan River (southeastern USA) was conducted to assess the use of magnetic properties as proxies of coal ash after a recent spill. The watershed geology is diverse and potentially contributes magnetic minerals to riverbed sediment from diabase dikes in the Dan River Triassic Basin and from granitic gneiss outside the basin. Coal ash is heterogeneous, including aluminosilicate spheres, amorphous particles and carbonaceous rods and lacy particles. The magnetic fraction of ash from the failed storage pond is up to 17 wt% and is mostly composed of black spheres with maghemite and magnetite. Ash was detected in riverbed sediment from quiet water settings such as inside of meander bends, the confluence of tributary streams and near islands between the spill site and 20 miles downstream in the Schoolfield Reservoir, Danville, VA. The strong magnetic signal is detected above background in riverbed samples and is strongly positively correlated with total ash; elevated low field magnetic susceptibility (χ _LF) is evident in samples with ≥ 12% ash content. Anhysteretic remanent magnetization and hysteresis parameters delineate native sediment, ash-bearing sediment, and diabase dikes. Between 20 and 70 miles downstream of the spill site, ash concentrations were either buried or too low due to dilution with native sediment to be detected with χ _LF in riverbed samples.