Rare Earth Elements Around the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant,UAE

Natural Resources Research - Rare earth element (REE) contamination has major consequences for the environment and humans. Some forms of REEs have more serious environmental impacts than others. It...     

The Occurrence of Haze in Malaysia: A Case Study in an Urban Industrial Area

— Klang Valley, a heavily industrialized urban area in Malaysia, has experienced severe haze episodes since the early 1980s. Total Suspended Particulate matter (TSP) is used in studying this phenomenon. Three severe haze episodes during the early 1990s are reviewed; August 1990, October 1991, and August–October 1994. The nature of these episodes, their possible causes, and their major features are discussed. Meteorological conditions associated with these episodes were analyzed. Results of the study indicate that stability and trapping of particles are the main factors affecting the pollution during haze periods. Maximum total suspended matter (TSP) was recorded in October 1991. The August–October 1994 episode was the most persistent and least affected by meteorological variables. Analysis of wind direction data showed that southerly and southwesterly winds coincided with the worst haze periods.     

Deformities in silver pomfret Pampus argenteus caught from Kuwait waters

During sampling for spawning stock of the silver pomfret, Pampus argenteus in Kuwait waters, a few seriously deformed individuals were captured. These individuals had been attacked and wounded, but had healed and survived. The fish body deformities are believed to be caused by predation attempts on silver pomfret by predators such as sharks, groupers, and croakers.     

Is Climate Change Shifting the Poleward Limit of Mangroves?

Ecological (poleward) regime shifts are a predicted response to climate change and have been well documented in terrestrial and more recently ocean species. Coastal zones are amongst the most susceptible ecosystems to the impacts of climate change, yet studies particularly focused on mangroves are lacking. Recent studies have highlighted the critical ecosystem services mangroves provide, yet there is a lack of data on temporal global population response. This study tests the notion that mangroves are migrating poleward at their biogeographical limits across the globe in line with climate change. A coupled systematic approach utilising literature and land surface and air temperature data was used to determine and validate the global poleward extent of the mangrove population. Our findings indicate that whilst temperature (land and air) have both increased across the analysed time periods, the data we located showed that mangroves were not consistently extending their latitudinal range across the globe. Mangroves, unlike other marine and terrestrial taxa, do not appear to be experiencing a poleward range expansion despite warming occurring at the present distributional limits. Understanding failure for mangroves to realise the global expansion facilitated by climate warming may require a focus on local constraints, including local anthropogenic pressures and impacts, oceanographic, hydrological, and topographical conditions.     

Mobilizing policy: Models, methods, and mutations

Introducing the special issue on “Mobilizing policy,” the paper contrasts orthodox approaches to policy transfer with an emerging body of work in the interdisciplinary field critical policy studies. The governing metaphors in this latter body of work are those of mobility and mutation (rather than transfer, transit, and transaction), policymaking dynamics being conceived in terms of reproduction across and between sites of innovation/emulation (rather than interjurisdictional replication). Distinctive contributions of the following collection of papers are highlighted in the context of an emergent “policy mobilities” approach.