Nature and the Singapore resident

Singapore has witnessed rapid urban development in the last thirty years. Its landscape has changed from one of slums and squatters in the immediate post-war years to a city of gardens and high-rise high-density housing. The concept of a `garden city' was introduced to guide the development of a city-state with abundant greenery. In the process, many parks and gardens were created including park connectors which are green linkages between parks and other land uses. This paper presents the findings of an ongoing research into park connectors. It reports on that part of the survey results which examine the views of residents towards nature provision in park connectors and suggest some design options to enhance the planning of park connectors. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Basalt generation at the Apollo 12 site,Part 1: New data,classification, and re-evaluation

Abstract— New data are reported from five previously unanalyzed Apollo 12 mare basalts that are incorporated into an evaluation of previous petrogenetic models and classification schemes for these basalts. This paper proposes a classification for Apollo 12 mare basalts on the basis of whole-rock Mg# [molar 100*(Mg/(Mg+Fe))] and Rb/Sr ratio (analyzed by isotope dilution), whereby the ilmenite, olivine, and pigeonite basalt groups are readily distinguished from each other. Scrutiny of the Apollo 12 feldspathic “suite” demonstrates that two of the three basalts previously assigned to this group (12031, 12038, 12072) can be reclassified: 12031 is a plagioclase-rich pigeonite basalt (Nyquist et al, 1979); and 12072 is an olivine basalt Only basalt 12038 stands out as a unique sample (Nyquist et al., 1981) to the Apollo 12 she, but whether this represents a single sample from another flow at the Apollo 12 site or is exotic to this site is equivocal. The question of whether the olivine and pigeonite basalt suites are co-magmatic is addressed by incompatible trace-element chemistry: the trends defined by these two suites when Co/Sm and Sm/Eu ratios are plotted against Rb/Sr ratio demonstrate that these two basaltic types cannot be co-magmatic. Crystal fractionation/accumulation paths have been calculated and show that neither the pigeonite, olivine, or ilmenite basalts are related by this process. Each suite requires a distinct and separate source region. This study also examines sample heterogeneity and the degree to which whole-rock analyses are representative, which is critical when petrogenetic interpretation is undertaken. Sample heterogeneity has been investigated petrographically (inhomogeneous mineral distribution) with consideration of duplicate analyses, and whether a specific sample (using average data) plots consistently upon a fractionation trend when a number of different compositional parameters are considered. Using these criteria, four basalts have been identified where reported analyses are not representative of the whole-rock composition: 12005, an ilmenite basalt; 12006 and 12036, olivine basalts; and 12031 previously classified as a feldspathic basalt, but reclassified as part of the pigeonite suite (Nyquist et al., 1979).     

Water quality and Cryptosporidium distribution in an upland water supply catchment,Cumbria, UK

Four micro‐catchment (MC) areas were identified to represent the main terrain types of a remote, sparsely populated upland valley catchment of 18 km² in Cumbria, UK. These were improved land with good grazing (IB), steeply sloping land with rough grazing (SG), wet moorland with sparse grazing (WM) and enclosed woodland that excluded livestock and deer (EW). Each MC contained the origin of a small stream that flowed into Swindale Beck, the river draining the valley. The water quality during the 14‐month study, as judged by chemical and physical parameters, was excellent, but it could not be regarded as pristine because of the frequent presence of Cryptosporidium oocysts arising from livestock and wild mammal faeces. Oocysts (0·2–5·6 l^?1) detected by genus‐specific immunofluorescent antibody were found in 32% of 188 water samples tested: ranking order EW 44%, IB 34%, Beck 30%, SG and WM 26%. Similarly, oocysts were identified in 9·5% of 1730 faecal samples. Small wild mammals (28%), calves (15·7%) and lambs (8·1%) were the dominant sources, whereas adult livestock (1·8%) and large wild mammals (4·8%) were less important. Autumn showed the highest occurrence of oocysts for both water and faecal samples. No hydrological controls were found to have a significant impact on the occurrence or concentration of oocysts in the main river or in the MCs, suggesting that their presence is controlled by seasonal changes in pathogen prevalence in the animal reservoir. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Lessons learnt in addressing environmental issues of new water resource projects – a case study in KwaZulu-Natal,South Africa

Developing new water resource projects without taking cognisance of the environmental impacts, both biophysical and social, has received global condemnation for many years now and is largely becoming a practice of the past. However, it is the prominence, extent of issues addressed, timing and intensity of the investigations and the commitment to environmental protection and mitigation that has increased significantly over the past few years. Practices in South Africa are no exception to this. Environmental legislation in South Africa requires that an Integrated Environmental Management (IEM) approach be adopted when any new project is being considered. This IEM approach was recently put to the test in South Africa during the planning and implementation of an inter-basin transfer scheme in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. This paper will discuss the steps that were taken to address the environmental issues during a protracted planning phase, and what was accomplished. It will compare how these recommendations were taken forward into the construction phase and the operations phase, and the lessons learnt from the process. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The millennial atmospheric lifetime of anthropogenic CO<Subscript>2</Subscript>

The notion is pervasive in the climate science community and in the public at large that the climate impacts of fossil fuel CO₂ release will only persist for a few centuries. This conclusion has no basis in theory or models of the atmosphere/ocean carbon cycle, which we review here. The largest fraction of the CO₂ recovery will take place on time scales of centuries, as CO₂ invades the ocean, but a significant fraction of the fossil fuel CO₂, ranging in published models in the literature from 20–60%, remains airborne for a thousand years or longer. Ultimate recovery takes place on time scales of hundreds of thousands of years, a geologic longevity typically associated in public perceptions with nuclear waste. The glacial/interglacial climate cycles demonstrate that ice sheets and sea level respond dramatically to millennial-timescale changes in climate forcing. There are also potential positive feedbacks in the carbon cycle, including methane hydrates in the ocean, and peat frozen in permafrost, that are most sensitive to the long tail of the fossil fuel CO₂ in the atmosphere.     

Coastal resource degradation in the tropics: does the tragedy of the commons apply for coral reefs, mangrove forests and seagrass beds

The keynote paper by Garrett Hardin 44 years ago introduced the term 'tragedy of the commons' into our language (Hardin, 1968); this term is now used widely, but it is neither universally accepted nor fully understood. Irrespective, the 'tragedy of the commons' is an increasing reality for more than 500 million people that rely on the biodiversity resources and services of tropical coral reefs, mangrove forests, seagrass beds and associated fisheries. These natural resources continue to decline despite major advances in our scientific understanding of how ecosystems and human populations interact, and the application of considerable conservation and management efforts at scales from local user communities to oceans. Greater effort will be required to avert increasing damage from over-exploitation, pollution and global climate change; all deriving from increasing exploitation driven by poverty and progress i.e. continuing to expand development indefinitely and extraction of resources at industrial scales. However, the 'tragedy' concept has been widely criticized as a simple metaphor for a much larger set of problems and solutions. We argue that the 'tragedy' is essentially real and will continue to threaten the lives of millions of people unless there are some major moral and policy shifts to reverse increasing damage to coastal habitats and resources. We agree with the conclusion by Hardin that the solution to the tragedy will not be through the application of natural sciences, but via implementing exceedingly difficult and controversial moral decisions. An extreme example of a moral and controversial direction suggested by Hardin was in re-examining the 'freedom to breed' as an inherent human value. The need for 'moral decisions' is even greater in 2012.     

Shallow magma transport for the 2002–3 Mt. Etna eruption inferred from thermal infrared surveys

The 26 October 2002–28 January 2003 eruption of Mt. Etna volcano was characterised by lava effusion and by an uncommon explosivity along a 1 km-long-eruptive fissure on the southern, upper flank of the volcano. The intense activity promoted rapid growth of cinder cones and several effusive vents. Analysis of thermal images, recorded throughout the eruption, allowed investigation of the distribution of vents along the eruptive fissure, and of the nature of explosive activity. The spatial and temporal distribution of active vents revealed phases of dike intrusion, expansion, geometric stabilization and drainage. These phases were characterised by different styles of explosive activity, with a gradual transition from fire fountaining through transitional phases to mild strombolian activity, and ending with non-explosive lava effusion. Here we interpret the mechanisms of the dike emplacement and the eruptive dynamics, according to changes in the eruptive style, vent morphology and apparent temperature variations at vents, detected through thermal imaging. This is the first time that dike emplacement and eruptive activity have been tracked using a handheld thermal camera and we believe that its use was crucial to gain a detailed understanding of the eruptive event.     

Spatial patterns of soil δC reveal grassland-to-woodland successional processes

Many grasslands and savannas around the world have experienced woody plant encroachment in recent history. In the Rio Grande Plains of southern Texas, subtropical woodlands dominated by C₃ trees and shrubs have become significant components of landscapes once dominated almost exclusively by C₄ grasslands. In this study, spatial variation of soil δ¹³C to was used to investigate patterns of transformation. Previous research has shown that grassland-to-shrubland transitions are initiated when discrete, multi-species shrub clusters organized around a honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) tree nucleus established in grassland. It is inferred from space-for-time substitution and modeling studies that as new shrub clusters are initiated and existing clusters enlarge, coalescence will occur, leading to the formation of groves; and that groves will eventually merge to form woodlands. The hypothesis that present-day mesquite groves represent areas where individual discrete shrub clusters have proliferated and coalesced was evaluated by comparing patterns of soil δ¹³C within isolated shrub clusters (n = 6) to those in nearby groves (n = 3). Mean soil δ¹³C within discrete clusters was lowest in the center (−23.3‰), increased exponentially toward the dripline (−20.1‰), and stabilized at a relatively high value approximately 15 cm beyond the dripline (−18.9‰). The spatial structure of soil δ¹³C in groves was consistent with that which would be expected to occur if present-day grove communities were a collection of what once were individual discrete clusters that had fused. As such, it provides direct evidence in support of conceptual and mathematical models derived from indirect assessments. However, spatial patterns of soil δ¹³C suggest that groves are not simply a collection of clusters with respect to primary production and SOC turnover. This study illustrates how soil δ¹³C values can be used to reconstruct successional processes accompanying vegetation compositional change, and its consequences for ecosystem function.