Coupled and complex: Human-environment interaction in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, USA

Complexity theory has received considerable attention over the past decade from a wide variety of disciplines. Some who write on this topic suggest that complexity theory will lead to a unifying understanding of complex phenomena; others dismiss it as a passing and disruptive fad. We suggest that for the analysis of coupled natural/human systems, the truth emerges from the middle ground. As an approach focused as much on the connections among system elements as the elements themselves, we argue that complexity theory provides a useful conceptual framework for the study of coupled natural/human systems. It is, if nothing else, a framework that leads us to ask interesting questions about, for example, sustainability, resilience, threshold events, and predictability.In this paper we attempt to demystify the ongoing discussions on complexity theory by linking its evocative and overloaded terminology to real-world processes. We illustrate how a shift in focus from system elements to connections among elements can lead to meaningful insight into human-environment interactions that might otherwise be overlooked. We ground our discussion in ongoing interdisciplinary research surrounding Yellowstone National Park’s northern elk winter range; a tightly coupled natural/human system that has been the center of debate, conflict, and compromise for more than 135 years.     

Radon transfer from groundwater used in showers to indoor air

Estimation of Rn transfer from water to indoor air based on multi-day measurements may underestimate alpha exposure that occurs at short time scales in confined spaces, such as from showering, in houses with high Rn activities in the water supply. In order to examine one such incremental increase in exposure, variations in Rn in water and indoor air in 18 houses with private wells in western North Carolina (USA) were investigated. Radon in well water ranged from 158 to 811 Bq L⁻¹ (median 239 Bq L⁻¹). After 20-min showers in bathrooms with closed doors, peak Rn in air increases (above background) ranged from 71 to 4420 Bq m⁻³ (median 1170 Bq m⁻³). Calculated transfer coefficients at the scale of a 40-min closed bathroom (20-min shower plus 20 min post-shower) are described by a lognormal distribution whose geometric mean exceeds the widely-used ∼10⁻⁴ whole-house transfer coefficient by about one order of magnitude. As short-lived decay products grow from shower-derived Rn, short-term alpha energy exposure occurs in bathrooms in addition to the exposure caused by Rn mixed throughout the volume of the house. Due to the increasing ratio of Rn decay products to Rn, alpha energy exposure is greatest several minutes after the shower is turned off. For a 7.2-min shower with 10 min of additional exposure before opening the door, a geometric mean 5.6% increase in exposure over the ∼10⁻⁴ whole-house transfer coefficient derived from longer measurement periods was estimated. In addition to Rn activity in water, short-term shower exposure to Rn progeny depends on exposure time, ventilation, attachment and deposition, among other variable factors that characterize individual houses and residents.     

Coupled hydrogeological and reactive transport modelling of the Simpevarp area (Sweden)

The Simpevarp area is one of the alternative sites being considered for the deep geological disposal of high level radioactive waste in Sweden. In this paper, a coupled regional groundwater flow and reactive solute transport model of the Simpevarp area is presented that integrates current hydrogeological and hydrochemical data of the area. The model simulates the current hydrochemical pattern of the groundwater system in the area. To that aim, a conceptual hydrochemical model was developed in order to represent the dominant chemical processes. Groundwater flow conditions were reproduced by taking into account fluid-density-dependent groundwater flow and regional hydrogeologic boundary conditions. Reactive solute transport calculations were performed on the basis of the velocity field so obtained. The model was calibrated and sensitivity analyses were carried out in order to investigate the effects of heterogeneities of hydraulic conductivity in the subsurface medium. Results provided by the reactive transport model are in good agreement with much of the measured hydrochemical data. This paper emphasizes the appropriateness of the use of reactive solute transport models when water-rock interaction reactions are involved, and demonstrates what powerful tools they are for the interpretation of hydrogeological and hydrochemical data from site geological repository characterization programs, by providing a qualitative framework for data analysis and testing of conceptual assumptions in a process-oriented approach.     

A calculation of the large scale three dimensional distribution of diabatic heating in the atmosphere

Summary The large scale three-dimensional diabatic heating in the atmosphere is computed at 12 isentropic surfaces for a particular twelve hour time period. Using a method due toErtel, the continuity equation is combined with the equations of motion to give an explicit relation between diabatic heating and changes in potential vorticity and stability along isentropic surface trajectories. The results are barely of useful accuracy and reliability and this only under favorable conditions. The distribution of diabatic heating is qualitatively reasonable in the regions near the tropopause, close to the ground, above a cloud or moist layer, and within an area of general condensation. Errors and approximations make the computed values completely unreliable in areas of large anticyclonic vorticity or large baroclinity. Comparison of magnitudes with those computed from rainfall observations and with those measured directly at the earth's surface shows agreement in sign and within a factor of three in the areas of best data. The results emphasize that there are regions and periods where diabatic heating in the free atmosphere may be important in controlling atmospheric behavior. Sample calculations in one of these regions using values of diabatic heating computed by this study illustrate that this process is of comparable importance with the adiabatic process in determining vertical velocity.

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Zusammenfassung Die großräumige nichtadiabatische Erwärmung der Atmosphäre in 12 isentropen Flächen während eines 12stündigen Zeitabschnittes wird berechnet. Unter Verwendung einer Methode vonErtel liefert eine Kombination der Kontinuitätsgleichung mit den Bewegungsgleichungen eine explizite Beziehung zwischen der nichtadiabatischen Erwärmung, der potentiellen Vorticity und der Stabilität entlang der isentropen Trajektorien. Das Resultat ist von beschränkter Genauigkeit — und auch dies nur unter günstigen Bedingungen. Qualitativ brauchbare Verteilungen der nichtadiabatischen Erwärmung erhält man nahe der Tropopause, in Bodennähe, über einer Schicht von Wolken oder feuchter Luft und innerhalb der Zonen mit verbreiteter Kondensation. In Gebieten mit großer antizyklonaler Vorticity oder großer Baroklinität werden die berechneten Werte infolge von Meß- und Approximationsfehlern völlig ungenau. In den Gebieten mit optimalen Voraussetzungen stimmen die berechneten Werte mit den aus Niederschlagsmessungen abgeleiteten oder am Boden direkt beobachteten im Vorzeichen und innerhalb eines Faktors von 3 überein. Die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Untersuchung weisen erneut darauf hin, daß in manchen Gebieten bzw. Zeitabschnitten das Verhalten der freien Atmosphäre durch nichtadiabatische Erwärmung wesentlich beeinflußt sein kann. Stichprobenweise Berechnungen für eines dieser Gebiete zeigen, daß die theoretisch ermittelte nichtadiabatische Erwärmung für die resultierende Vertikalgeschwindigkeit der Luft quantitativ von ähnlicher Bedeutung ist wie der adiabatische Prozeß.

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Résumé L'auteur a calculé le réchauffement non adiabatique, à grande échelle, de l'atmosphère à 12 niveaux isentropes pendant un intervalle de 12 heures. Une méthode établie parErtel combine l'équation de continuité et les équations de mouvement et aboutit à une relation explicite entre le réchauffement non adiabatique, la vorticity potentielle et la stabilité le long de trajectoires isentropes. Le résultat n'a qu'une exactitude approchée, et cela dans des conditions favorables seulement. On obtient une répartition utilisable du réchauffement non adiabatique au voisinage de la tropopause, du sol, au-dessus d'une couche de nuages ou d'air humide, ainsi qu'à l'intérieur des zones à forte condensation. Dans les régions à grande vorticity anticyclonique et à grande baroclinité, les valeurs calculées deviennent tout à fait inexactes par suite d'une approximation insuffisante et d'erreurs de mesure. Dans les régions à conditions favorables par contre, les valeurs calculées correspondent à celles que l'on peut tirer de la mesure des précipitations ou de celles que l'on mesure au sol, cela au signe et à un facteur 3 près. Le résultat de cette étude montre à nouveau que dans certaines régions ou certains laps de temps l'état de l'atmosphère peut être notablement conditionné par un réchauffement non adiabatique. Des épreuves faites pour l'une de ces régions montrent que le réchauffement non adiabatique obtenu par calcul est quantitativement aussi important pour la vitesse verticale résultante de l'air que le processus adiabatique.

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With 7 Figures     

North Atlantic fisheries: Trends, status and management issues

Despite the fact that the North Atlantic remains one of the most productive of oceanic regions, its importance has declined both relatively and absolutely. A key factor has been the steady erosion of stocks of some of the major food fish species, including the ubiquitous cod. The paper traces the main trends in catches since 1973 and outlines the development of fisheries management in the region from the formation of ICES in 1902, through the creation of coastal state management in the 1970s to the UN Agreement on high-seas fishing in 1995. Finally, the key issues for fisheries management are identified, and the invited papers are contextualised.     

Effects on zooplankton of a warmer ocean: Recent evidence from the Northeast Pacific

The consequences for pelagic communities of warming trends in mid and high latitude ocean regions could be substantial, but their magnitude and trajectory are not yet known. Environmental changes predicted by climate models (and beginning to be confirmed by observations) include warming and freshening of the upper ocean and reduction in the extent and duration of ice cover. One way to evaluate response scenarios is by comparing how “similar” zooplankton communities have differed among years and/or locations with differing temperature. The subarctic Pacific is a strong candidate for such comparisons, because the same mix of zooplankton species dominates over a wide range of temperature climatologies, and observations have spanned substantial temperature variability at interannual-to-decadal time scales. In this paper, we review and extend copepod abundance and phenology time series from net tow and Continuous Plankton Recorder surveys in the subarctic Northeast Pacific. The two strongest responses we have observed are latitudinal shifts in centers of abundance of many species (poleward under warm conditions), and changes in the life cycle timing of Neocalanus plumchrus in both oceanic and coastal regions (earlier by several weeks in warm years and at warmer locations). These zooplankton data, plus indices of higher trophic level responses such as reproduction, growth and survival of pelagic fish and seabirds, are all moderately-to-strongly intercorrelated (∣r∣ = 0.25-0.8) with indices of local and basin-scale temperature anomalies. A principal components analysis of the normalized anomaly time series from 1979 to 2004 shows that a single “warm-and-low-productivity” vs. “cool-and-high-productivity” component axis accounts for over half of the variance/covariance. Prior to 1990, the scores for this component were negative (“cool” and “productive”) or near zero except positive in the El Niño years 1983 and 1987. The scores were strongly and increasingly positive (“warm” and “low productivity”) from 1992 to 1998; negative from 1999 to 2002; and again increasingly positive from 2003-present. We suggest that, in strongly seasonal environments, anomalously high temperature may provide misleading environmental cues that contribute to timing mismatch between life history events and the more-nearly-fixed seasonality of insolation, stratification, and food supply.     

Analysis of medaka cytochrome P450 3A homotropic and heterotropic cooperativity

We have previously demonstrated that medaka CYP3A is associated with metabolism of several endobiotics including steroids and bile acids. In this study, we demonstrate that medaka CYP3A catalysis exhibits unusual kinetic behaviors consistent with allosteric interaction which cannot be described by hyperbolic kinetic models. Using 7-benzyloxy-4-(trifluoromethyl)-coumarin (BFC) and nonylphenol as CYP3A substrates, we describe both homotropic and heterotropic cooperative interactions. Given the role of CYP3A in maintaining the homeostatic balance for numerous endobiotics, enzymatic activation/inhibition by endocrine disruptors (EDCs) represents a putative (non-genomic) mechanism for endocrine disruption.