bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Adaptational Diversity of Desert Biota
Authors: Cloudsley-Thompson John L.
Published: August 2009

The climatic similarity of desert environments everywhere has engendered parallelism and the evolution of ecological analogues in different regions of the world. This tends to mask the actual diversity of their inhabitants. Although biodiversity may be poor in the desert, at least compared with most other terrestrial ecobiomes, deserts are extremely vulnerable to degradation and therefore deserve as much as, or even more, consideration than many biologically richer habitats.
Conservation and Management of Rivers in India: Case-study of the River Yamuna
Authors: Gopal Brij , Sah Malavika
Published: August 2009

The River Yamuna, originating in the Himalayas, is the largest tributary of the River Ganga (Ganges) into which it flows at Allahabad. Its drainage basin covers about 42% of the Ganga River basin and about 11% of India's total land area. The area of the Yamuna drainage basin is densely populated and under intensive agriculture, while industrial activity is also rapidly growing in it. Climatically, a large part of the basin is semi-arid, and the river-flow depends upon highly erratic monsoonal rains. Therefore, the River and its tributaries have been regulated for over a century by dams and barrages for domestic water-supply and irrigation.

Besides increased flow-regulation, the River's system has been under increasing anthropogenic stress from discharge of—mostly untreated—domestic and industrial wastewaters, and from other activities in the basin. River Yamuna is severely polluted by domestic and industrial effluents especially from Delhi down to Agra. Water extraction and consequently low flow has affected the selfpurification capacity of the River. The greater inflow of River Chambal helps River Yamuna to recover to some extent after their confluence near Etawah.

Studies of water quality and biota of the River Yamuna along its course during the past 30 years show rapid deterioration of water-quality, loss of fisheries, and significant changes in the biotic communities. In the manner of River Yamuna, its tributaries have also become increasingly polluted during the same period. There has, however, been little attention paid to the management of the River system and conservation of its resources, except for some efforts at the treatment of sewage effluents but emphasizing only water-quality. Ignoring the river-flood-plain interactions which play significant roles in the ecology of a river, most of the floodplain has been reclaimed by constructing high levees.

We emphasize that the Yamuna River basin should be treated as one ecocomplex in developing appropriate management strategies, and that the conservation of waterquality and biota can be achieved through protection and better management of floodplains than has been practised to date.
Simulating Past and Forecasting Future Climates
Authors: Bryson Reid A.
Published: August 2009

Climatic change is not a new phenomenon, nor is it random, as most of the variation can be explained in terms of variations in the sunlight reaching the surface of the Earth. The solar energy reaching the surface is modified by the aerosols in the atmosphere, however, and that means primarily aerosols of volcanic origin.

The climatic history of the Earth is divided up into episodes with abrupt beginnings and ends. Rapid changes from one climatic state to another are normal. The fluctuations within this century do not appear to be unusual in any respect.

To the Author's knowledge there is no evidence that past climatic changes, including those of the last decades, are related to changes in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere—except perhaps for warmer nights in the North American mid-west. It is not possible to simulate past climates using carbon dioxide content as the main variable, but it is possible to do so using calculated solar radiation as modified by volcanic aerosols. This strongly suggests that forecasts of the climatic future based on carbon dioxide increases are suspect.

Computerized models of the climate that can simulate decadal and century-long variations of climate as well as variations on the millennium scale, suggest that the climate will not warm dramatically in the next fifty years, but will, rather soon after that, begin a rather rapid change towards the next glacial climate.

Changes in our global array of cultures, sufficient to affect the global climate in a way which we perceive as beneficial, probably are not possible within centuries without massive physical conflict. There are both winners and losers when the climate changes in a non-uniform pattern, as it always does. It is a well-known fact that a global change of 0.5°C in mean temperature, such as has happened in recent years, might produce some regions of 10°C change in either direction and some regions with no change at all, and additionally an array of rainfall changes of various magnitudes. Russians would welcome warming of their climate!

The problems with attempting to modify the global climate in a particular direction are enormous and would be incredibly costly. This is compounded by our not knowing what the climate would do without intervention. Only one thing is truly clear, and it is that the present knowledge of the climatic effect of changing carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere is totally inadequate as a basis for initiating any global attempt to change the climate.

The indicated action would appear to be to engage in some high-quality climatic research based on sound science before taking global risks greater than those that might arise from the putative ‘global warming’.
Economic Value of Desert Plants: Acacia Trees in the Wadi Allaqi Biosphere Reserve
Authors: Springuel Irina , Mekki Abdel Moneim
Published: August 2009

Acacia trees form a principal element of desert plant communities in Egypt's Southeastern Desert. They are widespread in remote desert areas but sparse near settlements and urban areas as a result of human impact. However, sustainable use of Acacia trees remains an important component in the livelihood of nomadic people living in remote desert areas.

The present paper discusses the economic and ecological value of Acacia trees in the Wadi Allaqi basin. The total population of Acacia trees in this area is estimated at approximately 13,000 trees. What will be the fate of this population, from which the annual production of charcoal amounts to 10–15 tons? The present work attempts to answer this question by analysing the economic system of the local nomadic population and the ecological characteristics of Acacia trees, coming to reasonably optimistic conclusions.
Barriers to Establishment of Invading, Non-forest Plants in Deciduous Forest Nature Reserves
Authors: Reader Richard J. , Bricker Bradlay D.
Published: August 2009

A field experiment was conducted to define minimum values of irradiance (i.e. light reaching the forest floor) and exposed mineral soil required for non-forest species to become established in deciduous forest in Southern Canada. Three logging intensities (0%, 33%, and 66%, of tree basal-area removed) were combined with three plot sizes (0.01, 0.05, and 0.20 ha) to create a range of values of irradiance and exposed mineral soil. The total number of non-forest species that became established during the first three years after logging was recorded.

Non-forest species invaded experimental plots only when irradiance was at least 8% of incident light. There was no single minimum area of exposed mineral soil required for invasion. A few non-forest species became established even in the absence of exposed mineral soil where penetrating irradiance was 8% or greater. More non-forest species became established as irradiance and the amount of exposed mineral soil increased.

Logging increased both irradiance and the amount of exposed mineral soil. Only a small amount of logging (e.g. 33% removal of tree basal-area from a 0.01 ha plot) would be compatible with the conservation objective of preventing invasion by undesirable non-forest species.
Predictions for Cairo: A Reaffirmation, A Reversal, A Realignment, and A Refusal
Authors: Najam Adil
Published: August 2009

This paper analyses the preparatory process for the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), to see what it might suggest about the direction that the population debate has taken since the 1974 World Population Conference at Bucharest and its successor conference held at Mexico City in 1984. Given the insights obtained from the ICPD preparatory process, and the legacy of the preceding two UN population conferences, what can we say about the directions that the evolving population agenda may take at Cairo?

In an attempt to answer this question we make four predictions: (i) the linkage between population and development will be reaffirmed; (ii) United States' ‘Mexico City Policy’ will be formally reversed as the US will seek to recapture the leadership role in the field that it conceded in 1984; (iii) women's health issues will take centre-stage as a new focus in the ongoing debate on the larger ‘population question’ as the agenda is again realigned; and (iv) nations will once again refuse attempts by the population establishment to adopt quantitative population targets.
Environmental Deterioration Resulting from Ski-resort Construction in Japan
Authors: Tsuyuzaki Shiro
Published: August 2009

Ski slopes are commonly established following clearcutting of areas of well-developed forests, scraping off the surface soil, and seeding the entire ground-surface, as forests widely remain in mountainous regions where skiing is developed in Japan. The ski slopes are then sown with seeds of exotic plants in an attempt to prevent soil erosion. However, many bare areas remain, or develop, on ski slopes. Due to this landscape fragmentation, not only deterioration of Nature but also environmental problems develop, including those of water, garbage, and traffic, pollution.

The ski-resort concentration occurs mainly in regions of high-quality landscape around urbanized areas, and derives mostly from economic benefits. Yet any regulation of ski-resort construction has unfortunately been delayed. Areas where ski-resorts have been concentrated have a high risk of damage, and further studies of the situation are overdue. We should reconsider the construction, enlargement, and distribution patterns, of skiresorts, and any further development should be based on sound ecological and conservational knowledge rather than mere transient economic considerations.
Margrethe-Kog and the Artificial Saltwater Lagoon: Evaluation of a Habitat Restoration Project in the Danish Wadden Sea
Authors: Falk Knud , Nøhr Henning , Rasmussen Lars Maltha
Published: August 2009

Across the Danish–German border in the Wadden Sea, a new dike was completed in 1981, enclosing formerly productive tidal flats and marsh areas which were most important as feeding grounds to breeding and migrant waterbirds. The bird populations responded immediately by a 50% or more reduction in numbers of resting birds and breeding pairs of most species. This paper reviews the management of the enclosed areas, comparing the differences in approach in the Danish and German areas involved.

Most importantly, a saline environment was re-established (a Saltwater Lagoon) in parts of the Danish area by actively pumping in water from the Wadden Sea. Despite sometimes drastic fluctuations in environmental conditions in the Lagoon, an infauna of species important in the birds' diet was maintained, and the Lagoon to some extent counteracted the negative effects of the dike construction.

The former marsh areas on the Danish side are drained and partly cultivated. In addition, the land areas are separated from the Lagoon by a dike, preventing a saline environment from being maintained outside the designated Saltwater Lagoon. Overall, the land areas in the Danish part are too dry and intensively used to be optimal to the breeding birds.

After construction of the dike, the breeding bird populations shifted more towards the German areas. Here, the land-use is much more beneficial to the breeding birds, because no cultivation has taken place, and a generally high water-level in the marsh areas is preserved. Furthermore, in Germany the new dike was placed closer to the original coastline than in Denmark, but a small area of the original foreland remained outside the dike, providing good breeding sites for colonial waterbirds.

It is concluded that, due to the creation of the Saltwater Lagoon, the Danish part of the area again sustains waterbirds in numbers of international importance. But an integrated approach to the Nature management of the enclosed areas — combining the solutions adopted for land management in the German part with the technical solution of re-establishing a saline environment behind the dike as in the Danish part — would have rendered a better compensation for the damage caused by the dike construction and related activities.
Towards an Ecologically-based Economic Philosophy
Authors: Hanson J. A.
Published: August 2009

The present global economic order is one which fails to recognize the finiteness of global resources and the finiteness of the global ecosystem to absorb wastes. Indeed, there may be a great deal of lip-service paid to these truths; but nevertheless the global economic system, as it is functioning today, exhibits little or no awareness that they are at all important to a stable world economy. Superimposed upon this condition is the ‘Autophage Effect’, which points to a continuing acceleration in depletion of raw resources even though the net resource-demands of the world's populations may stabilize.

This is a human predicament which cannot and will not continue indefinitely. The key question is, ‘Will Earth's societies acknowledge the situation early enough to choose alternatives?’ There appear to be only two fundamental alternatives: either the present level of population and material abundance (imperfect as it may be) will crash, or it will be replaced by a world economic order which attends to the finiteness of this planet. Should we be fortunate enough or quick enough to realize the second alternative, I suggest that the basic structure of the new economic order may rather closely resemble the ecologists' ‘trophic’ divisions in natural ecosystems (e.g. Lindeman, 1942). If this comes to pass, conservation of energy and order (negentropy) will very likely emerge as the prime forcing functions in the resulting world socio-economic order.

This exploration has progressed from logical derivation into imagination, but still leaves a plethora of unanswered questions. If one does admit that industrial civilizations must eventually face resource limitations and thereby be driven towards the patterns exposed by the hypothetical society that has been sketched here, how do we get there from our present predicament? Can such a society be capitalistic, with grossly or moderately unequal distribution of resources among its citizens? Or must it be a form of socialistic idealism; and, if so, should it be democratic or autocratic? Can the present momentum of the highconsumption Keynesian theology be redirected? And if so, how—and will there be time? If the seeds offered here have any credibility, they should be nurtured further.
The Increasing Number of Environment-degrading Accidents in Italy
Authors: Renzoni Aristeo
Published: August 2009

The Author reports some information regarding three recent accidents in Italy: the sinking of a freighter transporting lead tetraethyl and tetramethyl, an explosion in a tower of a chemical plant which resulted in a considerable outflow of arsenic dioxide, and the Seveso explosion with the consequent contamination by highly poisonous Dioxin of a large inhabited area adjacent to the factory.

Difficulties due to lack of knowledge, conflicting opinions, and contradictory ‘remedies’, are reported and discussed. It is concluded that the local populace and authorities should be informed of the nature of cargoes that are being carried across sea basins or through smaller channels, of the types of wastes that are eliminated regularly into the air or water by a factory, and what a factory is producing during its various working processes that could cause risks to employees or others around—also, what possible measures could remove or alleviate these risks.
Koster's Curse (Clidemia hirta), a Weed Pest in Hawaiian Forests
Authors: Wester Lyndon L. , Wood Hulton B.
Published: August 2009

The tropical American shrub Clidemia hirta (Koster's Curse) has become a pest in pastures, cropland, and forests, where it has become naturalized in many parts of the humid tropics. It has spread through the island of Oahu, Hawaii, since 1941, despite attempts at biological control by the introduction of the parasitic thrips, Liothrips urichi, which had proven effective in supressing growth of this noxious weed in Fiji.

The pest has colonized habitats similar to those occupied over its natural range—such as forest clearings, trail-sides, and burn-sites. In addition, in Hawaii it has intruded into the understorey of forests which were formerly free from exotic weeds. Fears are held that the resulting ecological disruptions may place further stress on the frail island ecosystems and cause plant and animal extinctions while producing other management and aesthetic problems.

Immediate action is necessary to eradicate small colonies of Koster's Curse that have become established on near-by islands, and recommendations are made regarding efforts needed to devise means to control heavy infestations in the highly inaccessible mountains of Oahu.
Expected Effects of Land-use Patterns on Future Supplies of Bushmeat in Africa South of the Sahara
Authors: Asibey Emmanuel O. A.
Published: August 2009

Bushmeat is meat, of whatever nature, that is obtained from wild animals, and historically people everywhere in the inhabited world have, at some stage in the evolution of their culture, been dependent on it to some extent. Wildlife conservation is essential for varied bushmeat production, and the two are particularly closely interconnected in the countries of Africa lying to the south of the Sahara; this brings in environmental conservation as a third factor of basic importance.

The economic incentive being often considerable, the record of protection and management of wildlife in some countries in Africa south of the Sahara is impressive, though in others it is lagging, while even in the famous National Parks the failure to cull large mammals may lead to drastic habitat deterioration due to over-population: wider, regularized use of bushmeat could provide a beneficial answer to this problem. Meanwhile there is a great demand for bushmeat in Ghana and many other African countries, and it is expected that this demand—and hopefully the supply—will increase with changing patterns of land-use.

There is thus strong economic and other justification for environmental management with the objective inter alia of maintaining and increasing bushmeat production in most countries of Africa south of the Sahara.
Systems Analysis of Mediterranean Desert Ecosystems of Northern Egypt (SAMDENE)
Authors: Ayyad Mohammed A. , Ghabbour Samir I.
Published: August 2009

Natural and semi-natural ecosystems in many parts of the world are in the most serious danger of being degraded or lost through Man's mistaking short-term economic gains under temporarily favourable conditions for long-term stability. This is particularly obvious in arid and semi-arid regions where ill-advised land-use methods have led to profound and often irreversible changes. Under the austere conditions prevailing in such regions, the dynamic ecological equilibrium is fragile: minor changes in the physical environment entail dramatic changes in plant and animal life. These circumstances lead easily to desertification. Due to overexploitation of natural resources by Man (especially overgrazing, and overcutting of shrubs) in North Africa, desertification has proceeded at a rate of more than 100 square kilometres per year. There is a great need to establish scientific bases for the conservation and rational use of the resources of natural and semi-natural ecosystems, especially in regions fringing the deserts where these resources continue to disappear regularly and all too rapidly.

The western Mediterranean desert of Egypt provides clear examples of such losses. As a result of the misuse of its resources, the region is producing at a rate that is probably far below its real potential. Agriculture (mainly barley cultivation) provides the livelihood for 74% of the population between Alexandria and Daba'a; this agriculture is either rain-fed (along most of the coastal strip), supplied by Nile and drainage-water mixed (Mariut Project, 500,000 feddan = 210,000 ha), or fed by irrigation and rainfall where Nile water is used as a supplementary source (Mariut Extension Project, 18,000 feddan). The most important land-use in terms of area, however, is animal husbandry (very largely sheep and goats, whose herding becomes more important and farming less important passing from the sea towards the interior). Actually there is overstocking, so that range vegetation is seriously depleted due to overgrazing and poor management.

Various land-use policies have been tried in the past decades with varying degrees of success, though fig and olive cultivations, which act within the framework of the natural ecosystem and with minimum human intervention, have a remarkable record of viability.

The Samdene Project (Systems Analysis of Mediterranean Desert Ecosystems of Northern Egypt) was conceived to bring together information on the Mediterranean desert ecosystems of northern Egypt. The Project involves the construction of predictive models simulating the major ecosystems of the region interms of energy flow and circulation of matter, and of spatial and temporal changes in plants and animals aswell as in soil features in relation to environmental variations.

So he preliminary results are already offered on soil moisture, vegetation, effects of fencing, phenology, litter production, and soil fauna.
Conservation and Management of Tropical Rain-forest: A Dilemma of Development in Papua New Guinea
Authors: Lamb David
Published: August 2009

Large areas of Papua New Guinea are covered by tropical rain-forest, but national and local pressures for development are causing increasing areas to be cleared for agriculture or logged for timber. Despite concern by conservation-minded land managers, a number of constraints make planning for the rational use of these resources rather difficult.

The problems encountered are mainly sociological rather than ecological. Thus while landowners are willing or eager to sell the rights to harvest the timber on their land, they are unwilling to commit the land to any long-term land-use, whether this be as managed forest, national park, or wildlife reserve. The problem is compounded by the complicated system of land tenure and the fact that several language-groups may commonly be found within even a small area.

The Gogol Timber Project at Madang illustrates some of these difficulties and the attempts that are being made to overcome them.
Recent Trends in Preserved Natural Areas in the U.S.S.R.
Authors: Pryde Philip R.
Published: August 2009

Large natural preserves, known as zapovedniki, represent the main territorial entities employed in biosphere preservation in the Soviet Union. In the past decade, a large expansion of the zapovedniki system has taken place, 35 new preserves totalling 4,477,000 ha having been created. In all, the system totalled (in 1976) 107 preserves covering about nine million hectares. The period since 1970 has also seen the creation of the U.S.S.R.'s first three national parks, one in each of the three Baltic republics.

Both zapovedniki and national parks in the Soviet Union are still in the process of having uniform administrative policies formulated for their management, which represents a difficult task in view of the fact that they have traditionally been managed by a wide variety of concerned agencies.

The zapovedniki network represents one of the great biosphere preservation systems of the world, and remaining problems associated with ecosystem management, tourism, economic uses, and administrative coordination, are being given thoughtful attention.
The IUCN Threatened Plants Committee and Its Work Throughout the World
Authors: Lucas Grenville Ll. , Synge A. H. M.
Published: August 2009

After stressing the importance of the plant kingdom to Man and the dangers threatening the survival of an estimated 20,000 species of flowering plants, this paper presents details of the activities of the IUCN Threatened Plants Committee (TPC), set up by the Survival Service Commission in 1974. The Secretariat of the TPC works through three main approaches: (1) regional groups of botanists and other experts identifying threats to their floras, advising the TPC, and preparing recommendations; (2) specialist groups doing similar work for plant groups such as palms and cycads; and (3) institutional support of botanic gardens and similar organizations maintaining collections of threatened species in cultivation. This last aspect was launched at a conference on conservation held at Kew in 1975.

The primary aim of the TPC is to gather and disseminate information on which species are threatened throughout the world. Accurate documentation is essential, and in this task both herbarium and field work are needed. Although our knowledge in general of temperate, subtropical, and islands, floras is reasonably good in most cases, and there are specialists working on most of such areas, our knowledge of continental tropical floras is much less comprehensive. There is an urgent need for check-lists to be rapidly compiled for such areas wherever possible. In tropical rain-forests, the difficulties encountered in listing threatened species are particularly acute.

Provided present collaboration continues and finance is provided, initial lists of rare and threatened species will become available within the next decade for many areas. This information should be of great value in preventing needless extinction through lack of planning or forethought, in providing a valuable input in the selection of sites for reserves, etc., and in complementing habitat conservation approaches—as well as helping to stimulate action on individual species.

The ‘Red Data’ categories used by IUCN to indicate the degrees of threat to individual species are outlined, and will be used in the three types of TPC publication—regional lists of rare and threatened species, bulletins on smaller areas with more detail on each species, and sheets for the Red Data Book which will give detailed case-histories of a limited selection of threatened species. All three approaches are under way; the European List has been completed, bulletins for many areas are on the way, and the TPC aims to start issuing new plant Red Data sheets in 1977–78.
Environmental Problems of India and Their Possible Trends in Future
Authors: Parikh Jyoti K.
Published: August 2009

The environmental problems which may arise in India, due to population growth, increased industrial and agricultural activities, and depletion of natural resources in the next 25 years, are discussed here. Selected aspects of problems which require special attention are treated with particular emphasis on rural situations. The present status of the various aspects of human settlement—such as quality of air, water, sanitation, health, and housing—as well as aspects of conservation of forests, soils, and wildlife, is outlined as far as possible in a quantitative manner. It is visualized that environmental management will have to be more serious and of growing dimensions in the coming years.

It emerges from the study that two of the most serious problems which India may face in 25 years' time are water pollution and deforestation. By a.d. 2000, population in India is projected to reach around 950 millions, 65% of whom would be living in rural areas. The environment's capacity to absorb the concomitant wastes and pollution would be significantly reduced through the consequent growth of human activities. At present, in the rural areas, the percentage of population with piped water-supply and exclusive sanitation facilities is less than 10%. Unless drastic measures are taken, this percentage may not exceed 30% by A.D. 2000. Without appropriate sewerage and sanitation facilities, the accumulated wastes could mix with open-water resources, so leading to high levels of water pollution. The effects of mixing agricultural runoff containing wastes, pesticides, and fertilizers, in the rural water-sources, would also need consideration.

The current practice in the rural areas of obtaining more than 90% of domestic fuels from non-commercial sources—firewood, animal dung, and agricultural wastes—even if considerably reduced, may continue and lead to deforestation and hence to soil erosion, floods, climatic changes, and loss of precious varieties of flora and fauna. Such burning leads to air pollution as well.

Apart from the problems of water pollution and deforestation, the problems of the urban areas include increasing slums, inadequate transportation facilities, and industrial pollution—all of which would have to be dealt with. Finally, the present status of environmental legislation is reviewed, and certain policies and intense efforts for generating environmental awareness are recommended.
The Wildlife Community of Iona Island Jetty, Vancouver, B.C., and Heavy-metal Pollution Effects
Authors: Brown David A. , Bawden Carole A. , Chatel Kenneth W. , Parsons Timothy R.
Published: August 2009

Marine and terrestial animals have been shown to be particularly abundant in a wildlife community associated with a marine sewer outfall from the City of Vancouver. These same animals are contaminated with high levels of heavy-metals but are apparently protected from their poisonous effects by the production of a protein known as metallothionein. The amount of metallothionein and heavy-metal loading appears to depend primarily on the degree of pollution and secondly on the species of animal and its position in the food-web.
Food Resources of the Oceans: An Outline of Status and Potentials
Authors: Tont Sargun A. , Delistraty Damon A.
Published: August 2009

Knowledge of the present status and future potential of the world's marine food resources is a key prerequisite to their ecological exploitation. Rationales for the exploitation of these resources are twofold. Most important is the expectation that more time to reduce human population growth—the ultimate goal—could be made available. Secondly, because fish and shellfish are typically high in their content of protein and low in fat, nutritional quality in the human diet can be improved through their increased use.

Fundamental to marine biological production are the phytoplankton populations which comprise the basis of the oceanic food-structure. This production involves the photosynthesis of organic matter by phytoplankton and the subsequent flow of this matter through the food-web. Spatial and temporal discontinuities in marine production are related to the patchy distributional pattern of phytoplankton and to natural fluctuations in oceanic populations due to geographically and temporally varying conditions. A review of past estimates of the potential marine yield suggests that there has been significant variation in the methodology employed to arrive at these estimates.

Much-improved management of the oceanic food resources is urgently needed. Present mismanagement of these resources includes chemical pollution and the overexploitation of several important fish-stocks, which together threaten the viability of marine life. On the positive side, the future potential of the overall marine food-resources appears to be considerably larger than the present yield. The current harvest can be augmented by further development of aquaculture and by the exploitation of unconventional species, both of which could offer a relatively untapped source of valuable protein. Thus, Man must quickly establish and implement a rational, global management plan for the world's oceans and control his own population numbers to ensure conservation of the marine food-resources.
Attitudes and Orientations of Environmentally-concerned Citizens
Authors: Bowman James S.
Published: August 2009

The changing fortunes of ecological issues in American society suggest the importance of citizen attention and attitudes to environmental problems. Only a few studies since Earth Day, 1970, have focused on a key group of political actors in natural resource politics—environmental activists. The great variety of issues that are of interest to environmentally-concerned individuals suggest that important differences exist among environmentalists regarding the nature of ecological problems.

The present paper examines the attitudes of these people and how they have defined the extent and character of the ecological crisis. By adopting an analytical framework that described levels of environmental understanding, this analysis has attempted to explore belief-structures within the environmental movement and the implications of these beliefs for future change. The evidence revealed that, while environmentalism is not a monolithic social movement, a substantial majority of the respondents to sets of questions about key issues were in the ‘reformist’ mode of environmental activity—that is, environmental problems are reasonably well understood by these activists, the origins of environmental problems are seen by them in terms of consumption and production activities in society, and these attitudes demand political action that is compatible with existing institutions.
Channel Morphology Below Reservoir Storage Projects
Authors: Buma Paul G. , Day J. Chadwick
Published: August 2009

Reservoir storage projects are known to alter significantly the environmental settings in which they are established. Extensive data are required to assess quantitatively the physical effects of human interference with rivers. Methodologies must be developed to permit continual monitoring of such changes, so that environmental effects of storage projects may be considered in more integrated, comprehensive plans than hitherto for future river-development efforts.

This study documents stream-channel changes over a five-years period following reservoir completion at eight cross-sections on the main stream below a dam and on one tributary. Of eight main-stream sections, four are increasing in cross-sectional area, namely numbers one, five, six, and seven. Of these, the crosssectional area of numbers one and seven is increasing laterally and that of five and six is increasing vertically. The average annual degradation of sections five and six is 0.092 m over the study period, compared with an average of 0.031 m in the United States over the first 10–15 years after dam closure. Sections three, eight, and nine, are shitfing laterally without a crosssectional area increase, while of sections 2 and 4 the cross-sectional area remained largely unchanged.

Extraction of most of the sediment load by the new reservoir led to increased erosion of the stream channel below the dam. However, it is not always predictable whether the increased erosive power of released clearwater will induce the ongoing channel to erode its bed, widen its section, or cause the bed to move laterally. Nearly all of the nine Deer Creek study sections experienced one of these changes over the study period of five years.
The Blackfly Dilemma
Authors: Asibey Emmanuel O. A.
Published: August 2009

The good intentions of specialists involved in the onchocerciasis control project in the Volta Basin of West Africa have not been questioned. It is, however, questioned whether there was not too great a haste to implement the spraying phase of the programme. There is apprehension that the food-chain with Man as terminal link will be contaminated, and that the project will increase the socio-economic as well as political problems of participating countries and yet fail to control the disease.

In view of these considerations and of continuing ‘blind spots’ in human knowledge and especially of the problems involved, it is considered urgent that the spraying as it is now going on be modified or suspended until such time as the gaps in knowledge are reasonably closed.
Snow and Ice Control and the Transport Environment
Authors: Jones Philip H.
Published: August 2009

There is much to be learned if we are to optimize the procedures for maintaining ice-free roads in the wintertime. Sociological studies indicate that investigations should not only be of technological measures to maintain bare pavements for ‘summer driving’ in the winter, but also we might well reduce the driver's expectations, educate him or her in the matter of how to drive under hazardous conditions, and generally accept a lower level of mobility in exchange for reduced costs and environmental damage.

Increased availability and efficiency of public means of transit may be forced upon an unwilling public in the years to come by a much-reduced portable energy-source (gasoline), and this change in transportation habit may have further impact on winter maintenance procedures. For many reasons, we can no longer use the methods of the past with a gay disregard for our environment and often limited resources faced by an increased world population.

The paper deals mainly with the use particularly of common salt (NaC1), but also of calcium chloride (CaCl2) and the defroster Verglimit, to reduce hazards on roads in times of freezing temperatures, and concludes that, whereas the former single chemicals pose environmental problems as possible ground-water and surface-water hazards to humans and their corrodible possessions, as well as to vegetation especially near treated highways, the multi-chemical patented Verglimit offers an encouraging new approach—apart from its high cost which, however, can be mitigated to some extent by judiciously limited application.
Birds and Aviation
Authors: Solman Victor E.F.
Published: August 2009

Collisions between birds and aircraft have caused damage to, or destruction of, aircraft and loss of human life for more than 68 years. Birds are attracted to airfields by the large open spaces which they provide and, often, by the availability of food, water, and shelter, on or near the airfield. Birds attracted by open space can be driven away by trained persons furnished with suitable bird-dispersal equipment, while removal of food, water, and shelter, can reduce the attraction.

Mass movements (migrations) by birds, especially large birds, create hazards for aircraft aloft. Air traffic control radar can show the abundance, speed, and direction of movement, of birds, while correlation of those movements with weather parameters permits development of bird movement hazard forecasts. Although the periods of high hazard are of short duration, use of these forecasts to make changes in flying training programmes has reduced losses of Canadian military aircraft through bird studies.

Automatic digital presentation of bird movement data gathered by radar has been tested at two airfields by air traffic controllers for possible use in vectoring scheduled civil aircraft away from hazardous concentrations of bird migrants. A decision on operational use of the technique has not yet been made.

Reduction of bird hazards to aircraft depends upon human motivation. The necessary habitat control, bird dispersal, and migration hazard forecasting, involve timeconsuming, rather dull work that is repeated at prescribed intervals. Unless the work is always well done, bird-strikes on aircraft will continue and human lives and aircraft will be lost.
Endangered Species and Habitats of Viet Nam
Authors: Westing Arthur H. , Westing Carol E.
Published: August 2009

This brief paper presents the information which we obtained in August 1980 on the habitats and endangered species of Viet Nam by interviewing scientists in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). We did this with officials of the Department of Zoology of the University of Hanoi, of the Institute of Biology of the National Centre for Scientific Research, of the Technical Department of the Ministry of Forestry, and with others.

We were informed that Hylobates concolor (Whitecheeked or Black Gibbon) appears to be found in sufficient numbers to hold its own, but that H. pileatus (Pileated Gibbon) has been extirpated from Viet Nam. Pygathrix nemaeus (Douc Langur) also appears to be in no immediate danger of extinction. Bos sauveli (Kouprey), however, is said to be down to less than a dozen individuals in Viet Nam, and so little hope remains for this species. Lophura imperialis (Imperial Pheasant) has become even more rare than formerly and is in grave danger of extinction. The conifer Pinus krempfii also seems headed for extinction.

The coastal mangrove forest is the single most seriously disrupted habitat of Viet Nam. Some 40% of this highly productive ecosystem has been obliterated by military activities, and these war-obliterated areas are now largely covered by a low-growing, inferior vegetation or else have been converted to agriculture.

It is recognized that a comprehensive survey of the endangered species of Viet Nam is an urgent requirement, and that there is a pressing need for additional nature reserves. Economic conditions, however, seem to make early action improbable in both cases.
Floodplain Management: A Flood and Land Planning System
Authors: Arnold Maurice D.
Published: August 2009

The trauma and loss which we experience from flooding is a measure of the effectiveness of a society's leaders, for the results of land and flood management configurations can be predicted. Floodplain Management (FM) is the only approach that can control excessive runoff and tides in the long term. It is a system for turning flood-plains to needed uses— ‘open’ uses such as farms and parks—and for either floodproofing buildings in flood zones or keeping them out of the floodplain.

FM tends in most situations, and indeed in general, to be more economic and less socially costly than other flood-management formats. It allows lands to play more appropriate roles, generally does not fight natural water-cycles, decreases at-risk populations, deals effectively with flood hazards, tends not to destabilize soil and biological systems, and does not require great commitments to maintain.

Unfortunately the structural approach is often preferred, and an important, perhaps pivoting, reason is that it is part of a system of largess used by governmental leaders to aid financial constituencies. Political reform is accordingly required.

FM tools include citizen intervention; regulation; property rights purchase; flood-control structures; relocation of settlements; weather forecasting, warning, and modification; governmental loan and guarantee activities; government flood insurance; private and governmental disaster aid; banking regulations; farm preservation, erosion control, and water-quality management; parks, refuges, scenic streams, and open spaces; coordination of ‘delivery’ of services; trust, cooperative, and other private arrangements; legal redress; and special planning and executive devices, each of which is considered briefly.
The Shellfish Resource in a Polluted Tidal Inlet
Authors: Hruby Thomas
Published: August 2009

In the City of Gloucester, Massachusetts, 30% of the Soft-shell Clam (Mya arenaria) beds in a tidal inlet known as the Annisquam River are not harvestable owing to the discharges of untreated sewage from the surrounding area. A large proportion of the total area of the clam-flats has been closed to clamming because of exceedingly high levels of coliform Bacteria in the clams and in the water. These polluted areas represent a ‘loss’ of resources for the community, and they were surveyed in 1980 to determine the number and value of Clams which could have been harvested if only the sewage discharges had been controlled.

In the productive areas of the closed-to-fishing flats, which totaled 25.9 ha, the densities of Clams larger than 2.5 mm were found to be statistically the same on the 9 flats sampled and averaged 122.3 per m2. The average number of legally harvestable Clams (those with shells more than 51 mm in length) was 23.3 per m2, and the total yield that could have been harvested in 1980 was estimated at 6 × 106 Clams. Assuming that only 50–60% of the Clams would actually have been harvested in a year (i.e. 3.2 × 106 animals), the local community lost $332,400 in retail sales alone for lack of adequate sewage treatment facilities. Locally, 70% of the harvest goes into the restaurant trade where a bushel (35.2 1), which contains some 1,600 animals, retails for $210, and 30% is sold fresh at $64 per bushel.
A Survey of Fluoride Pollution Effects on the Forest Ecosystem Around an Aluminium Factory in Mirzapur, U.P., India
Authors: Pandey G. P.
Published: August 2009

A survey of vegetation around an aluminium factory in Renukoot, Mirzapur, U.P., India, was made in the course of a study of the polluting effects on plants of gaseous hydrogen fluoride. These ‘pollugenic’ effects were analyzed by examining the chlorotic and necrotic symptoms of injury on the leaf surfaces, the plants then being classified into three categories on the basis of their sensitivity.

The study revealed the absence, from the vicinity of the factory, of certain plant species which are normally present in the surrounding unpolluted areas. The tree species were the first to be affected, followed by shrubs, grasses, and finally forbs. These differences in response could be attributed in part to differences between the ambient air and ground-level concentrations of the pollutant. The concentrations in the ambient air, being higher than those at ground-level, were responsible for the greater impact on trees, with less on shrubs and grasses, and least on forbs, this being in part a function of the exposure-height of the plant species.

The gradual improvement noted in the performance of the plants and the number of their species at increasing distances from the aluminium factory, was consequent on the gradual decrease in the concentration of the polluting hydrogen fluoride. Such a trend is clearly evident in the north-east direction, where the pollutant fallout was directed by the prevailingly southwesterly winds.
Development and Conservation: A Global Dilemma
Authors: Harvey Brian , Knamiller Gary W.
Published: August 2009

The pursuit of ‘progress’ in the developed and less-developed countries ran about parallel in the 1950s and 1960s, but doubts clouded both their horizons in the 1970s in the form of disappointing material advance in the less-developed countries and the surge of environmental consciousness in the industrialized world. The focus of this paper is on the tensions which the combined development—conservation problem is creating in two basic institutions, the commercial corporation in the industrialized countries and the school in the less-developed countries, together with their roles in the search for solutions.

In the case of the industrial countries, the developmental and environmental impact of the corporation is described, together with its role in the allocation and use of resources. The market mechanism and its failure in guiding corporate actions is outlined, as are the supplemental roles of legislation, protest, and the concept of corporate social responsibility.

In the context of the less-developed countries, the conventional role ascribed to education in development is described in its record of failure. The article proceeds to report attempts at reform via changes in curriculum and institutions, and the continuing search for functional school systems now that the desire for development is tempered by a growing awareness that environmental—conservational problems are not unique to the ‘over-developed’ North, but that the South also needs developmentand conservation.

The paper concludes by asserting the importance of both the corporation and the school in the search for ‘development and conservation’, and the scope and need for both research and concomitant action.