inexorable expansion is exerting mul- tiple pressures on the Sierra Nevada forest. Local inhabitants depend on agriculture and logging, developers carve out ...
Dispatches
Improvement of CIEMAT Facilities (Madrid), “and includes an analysis of the radiological impacts of these activities on the public and on CIEMAT staff. All appropriate measures will be taken and restrictions imposed to prevent any negative internal or external impact.” Although the dismantling is welcomed by residents’ associations, some of the preliminary work has angered activist groups – particularly the draining of the reactor pool. Greenpeace claims that over 90 000 liters of contaminated water were dumped into the
city’s sewage system. Diáz Díaz points out that the evacuation met the conditions imposed by the NSC, of “diluting each cubic meter of water in the pool by 7.5 m3 of drinking water, to reach a value of one tenth the annual dose permitted via the ingestion of water”. However, Carlos Bravo (Head of the Nuclear Energy Campaign, Greenpeace España, Madrid) insists: “Dilution does not make radioactivity disappear; the total levels remain. It’s just cheaper and more irresponsible than storing it properly.” Back in 1970, the reactor was involved in Spain’s worst nuclear accident, in which 53 liters of contaminated water spilled from a broken tube – the incident remained secret until 1984. Forty of these liters flowed directly into the sewage system; the other 13 drained into a 10 m3 block of soil at the CIEMAT site, and is now to be removed. “All the material to be eliminated is of medium–low activity”, says Jorge Lange-Lenton (Director of Communications for ENRESA, the company charged with the clean-up). “It will be stored in reinforced concrete containers and will lose all radioactivity within 300 years. However, the CIEMAT should be clean by 2008.”
Now, researchers in Oxford, UK, have proved that the species–area relationship applies to colonies of bacteria in two very different environments – sump tanks in an engineering workshop (van der Gast et al. Environ Microbiol 2005; 7: 1220–26) and hollows at the base of beech trees (Bell et al. Science 2005; 308: 1884); both correspond, on a microscopic scale, to island archipelagoes. Microbial ecologists are always hampered by difficulties in defining and counting species of bacteria. Christopher van der Gast, of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Oxford, and lead researcher on the project, explains, “We used a technique called denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) to separate amplified 16S rRNA gene fragments from our samples of bacteria. The
number of bands on each gel is not identical to the number of species in a sample, but it can be assumed to be equivalent.” The team found that, in both the sump tanks and the beech hollows, the relationship between the number of bands observed and the volume of liquid from which the sample was taken could be described using a power law equation very similar to that used to model island biodiversity. They are now applying the same principle to much larger bacterial ecosystems – wastewater treatment plants. “Our results indicate that we may be able to model how bacterial communities assemble, and how different treatment processes may affect microbial diversity”, says van der Gast. “This has potential implications for improving sewage treatment.”
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Madrid’s nuclear reactor to be dismantled A nuclear reactor within the Madrid city limits is to be dismantled, starting October 2005; in addition, 10 m3 of soil contaminated in an accident 35 years ago is finally to be removed. The 3 MW reactor, a research and training tool belonging to the Research Centre for Energy, Environment and Technology (CIEMAT), began functioning in 1958, but was decommissioned in 1984. Its fuel rods were removed over the next 8 years. The task now is to dismantle the reactor “skeleton” and pool block, to remove the radioactive sources stored in the reactor hall, and to implement decontamination protocols. “The dismantling of the four CIEMAT installations involved was approved by the Nuclear Safety Council [NSC] on July 13”, explains Jose Luis Diáz Díaz, Director of Safety and the Integrated Plan for the
Bacterial biodiversity Clare Sansom The idea that ecosystems can be modelled using basic mathematics goes back well over a hundred years. In 1859, ecologist HC Watson proposed that the number of species found in a region increases with the size of the area sampled. This model is now termed the species–area relationship. It was later described mathematically as a simple power law (Arrhenius, J Ecol 1921; 9: 95–99) and, during the latter part of the 20th century, it was often used to estimate biodiversity as conservation strategies were developed. Until recently, it was not thought that these classical laws, which were all discovered by studying higher eukaryotes, could apply to bacteria. www.frontiersinecology.org
Courtesy of the CIEMAT
Adrian Burton
The CIEMAT installations in Madrid (arrow marks reactor building)
© The Ecological Society of America
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Protecting Mexico City’s water supply Claudia Orellana The Sierra Nevada foothills of Mexico are the site of the Incalli Ixcahuicopa International Center for Sustainability and Training, which was inaugurated on July 13, 2005. The Center’s overriding objective is to protect and rehabilitate forests which are seen as crucial for replenishing Mexico City’s aquifers. The Center is the result of a collaboration between the Mexico State Government Ecology Secretariat, the United Nations Environment Program, and the Autonomous Metropolitan University (AMU), whose Sierra Nevada Research Program has been working to halt environmental degradation in this mountainous area for the past 9 years. Their agreement effectively gives the AMU the mandate, funding, and infrastructure to take con-
trol of sustainable resource management in the region. Mexico City is growing at a rate of 1000 new inhabitants a day, and this inexorable expansion is exerting multiple pressures on the Sierra Nevada forest. Local inhabitants depend on agriculture and logging, developers carve out sites for housing (50 000 houses are under construction in the area), and municipal waste sites are proliferating. “Coyotes and opossums were last sighted 2 or 3 years ago and edible mushrooms are disappearing as a result of overharvesting”, observes Jacobo Espinoza, Sierra Nevada Research Program, Iztapalapa, Mexico. The Center will be responsible for devising land-use strategies and zoning policies for the Mexico City basin and for implementing projects on the ground. “Around here, maize is cultivated virtually by default”, explains Espinoza. “So we suggest fruit trees as an alternative, pay for the seedlings,
Courtesy of University of Newcastle, UK
Reforestation programs don’t hold water Virginia Gewin The assumption that forests increase or stabilize the available water in a region – fueling countless forestrybased water management programs – is being challenged by the results of a new international study by researchers at the University of Newcastle, UK. While forested land has the benefits of erosion control and biodiversity enhancement, the report, “From the mountains to the tap”, suggests that, due largely to higher levels of evapotranspiration, trees can actually reduce the amount of water available in a region compared to other vegetation sources. “The benefits of planting trees have been grossly exaggerated”, says lead author Ian Calder. “In many cases, the extra evaporation from forests outweighs any small increase in rainfall, so that the net effect is a reduction.” The report also takes issue with © The Ecological Society of America
provide training, and help with processing and markets.” Other initiatives include beekeeping for honey, teaching people to build adobe houses, and setting up waste-processing cooperatives. “If we don’t provide local people with a viable agro-forestry alternative, the day will come when the city’s water supply will simply dry up.” In combining research with fieldwork and policy development, the intention is to establish the Sierra Nevada as a model of environmental management. The new Center will offer courses to civil servants from Mexico and abroad. “We have observed that in Latin America, many of the people responsible for environmental policies are not trained to do the job”, comments Arlette López Trujillo, Mexico State Ecology Secretary, Mexico City. “The Center is located in the middle of the Sierra Nevada, so that people in charge of public policies can learn from real experiences.”
Eucalyptus planted on an irrigation tank (reservoir) in the Kolar district of Karnataka, India, aggravates existing water stress.
claims that reforestation efforts may increase dry season flows, which some scientists think is theoretically possible, although this effect has yet to be documented. Calder admits that this requires further study, and David Kaimowitz, Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research (Bogor, Indonesia), tends to agree, adding that “we have an urgent need for more forest ecological research in the tropics, because we are forced to extrapolate from a handful of cases from diverse areas”.
Many in the agroforestry community are concerned that this report will result in an anti-forestry backlash in the development community – one that may not be warranted, given site-specific factors such as species of tree planted, geology, and rainfall patterns. “There are lots of other reasons to keep trees and forests in landscapes”, stresses Kaimowitz, “but trying to use approaches that have no scientific basis would come back to haunt us”. The report does highlight the distinction between intact forest and tree plantations on the surrounding hydrology. “To assume that plantations will give the same benefits as natural forests is misleading, because plantation forests involve management activities, roads, treeplanting operations, and logging”, continues Calder. The findings of the report are perhaps most important for projects in the drier areas of sub-Saharan Africa and India, which receive less than 1000 mm of annual rainfall. www.frontiersinecology.org
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Coal wins in Asia-Pacific climate pact
warned that Australia faces catastrophic temperature rises of up to 6 ˚C, more droughts, cyclones, and bushfires. Australia’s Environment minister, Ian Campbell, warned that emissions must be cut by at least 50% over the next century, but said that the pact reflects the reality that coal will remain the world’s main energy source. The Australian Government effectively halted growth in Australia’s burgeoning renewables industry last year, by refusing to expand market incentives. China, India, and South Korea have ratified the Kyoto Protocol,
which exempts developing countries from mandatory targets until 2012. The new pact is being promoted as a second-stage alternative, but Greenpeace energy campaigner Catherine Fitzpatrick (Sydney) believes Australia is trying to cover its failure to rein in emissions, which have soared by 20% since 1990; “Unlike Kyoto, this is a voluntary scheme and all the evidence shows that voluntary schemes don’t work”, she says. Andrew Macintosh, research fellow at the Australia Institute (Canberra), a liberal think tank, says the new pact merely winds the clock back to commitments made in 1992, pointing out that “the vision statement is largely a reproduction of some of the technology transfer provisions in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. If the Government thinks it can come out with a vision statement like this, 13 years after the FCCC, and people are going to jump up and down and think it is a great thing, then think again! We are looking for implementation, not a statement of what we have had before.”
dredged material is to be disposed of at an undersea location. Environmental groups in both countries are concerned that these activities will affect marine ecology and fishing operations, as well as disturbing sea currents. They also question the validity of the environmental impact assessment carried out by the Indian Government’s National Environmental Engineering Research Center. The Tamil Nadu State Government has raised environmental concerns but these have not been addressed. The Gulf of Mannar region is home to 3600 species of fauna and flora, including rare and endangered turtles, dolphins, dugongs, and whales. “The biodiversity of this region is already under threat, as a result of intensive, indiscriminate trawling and coral mining”, says Sanjiv Gopal (Greenpeace, India).
However, canal authorities point out that the channels have been aligned in such a way that there won’t be any dredging in the biosphere reserve, its marine breeding grounds, or the coral reefs. They also deny any heightening of tsunami risk due to the canal. The breaching of Adam’s bridge, which acts as a natural breakwater between the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Straits, will lead to changes in water temperature, salinity, and nutrient flow, according to the Environmental Foundation, a Colombo-based voluntary group. Salinity, temperature, and water level differ between the Bay of Bengal and the Gulf of Mannar. The group also believes the project will lead to a rise in sea level and inundation of parts of the Jaffna peninsula.
Claire Miller Six major nations, including the US and China, have signed a new international climate agreement, widely condemned as an attempt to undermine the Kyoto Protocol. The AsiaPacific Partnership for Clean Development eschews the protocol’s efforts to limit greenhouse emissions using mandatory targets and market mechanisms such as carbon taxes and trading. It relies instead on developing and sharing experimental technologies such as geosequestration and “clean” coal. Japan, India, Korea, and Australia have also signed the US-initiated climate pact; together, the six members account for 40% of global emissions. Australia, although only emitting 1.4%, was included since it is a staunch US ally in Iraq and against the Kyoto Protocol. Australia, a major coal and gas exporter to Asia, will host the first ministerial meeting in Adelaide in November. The pact was revealed in late July, on the same day as a new Government report
India’s shipping canal threatens marine ecology Dinesh C Sharma India has begun work on a shipping canal project between the Palk Straits and the Gulf of Mannar, raising environmental concerns in both Sri Lanka and India. The Sethusamudram canal will connect India’s East and West coasts, cutting down travel time by a day. Two channels are planned, with a total length of about 90 kilometers and a width of 300 meters – one across Adam’s Bridge (a 30-km chain of islets and shoals linking India with Sri Lanka) and another through the shallows of the Palk Straits. The construction will involve dredging 82.5 million cubic meters of seabed, while another 0.55 million cubic meters will have to be removed every year for maintenance. The www.frontiersinecology.org
W Papps, Australian Antarctic Division ©CofA
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Climate related changes are accelerating in Antarctica.
© The Ecological Society of America
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From buffalo dung to carbon credits Kumar P Mainali This year, the prestigious Ashden Award, worth UK £30 000, has been given to the Biogas Sector Partnership, Nepal (BSP Nepal), for its work in replacing wood fuel for cooking with clean and efficient biogas from cattle and human waste, thereby both improving the quality of life of rural people and protecting the environment. Established in 1992, with financial and technical assistance from the Netherlands Development Organization in Nepal, the German Development Bank, and the Government of Nepal, BSP Nepal has established 140 000 biogas plants in 66 out of the 75 districts in Nepal. Biogas not only contributes to improved health, since people now cook on smokeless stoves, but also saves an average of 3 hours per day per installation as
ity construction, and proper aftersale service have made the program a success”, he says. Currently, 97% of the plants are functioning properly. Bajgain wants to make the program the first carbon credit project in Nepal. “We hope to sell the emissions rights to developed countries, and are negotiating with the World Bank for one million tons of carbon”, he continues. This money will be used to build more plants; BSP Nepal has plans to establish an additional 200 000 plants by 2009. Bajgain intends to invest the £30 000 in another new project – the introduction of water tanks alongside the biogas plants. Households in the hilly regions of Nepal often experience water shortages, and without water the biogas plant cannot work. The water tanks will collect monsoon rainwater, which can be used during the dry seasons.
compared to the time normally spent collecting fuelwood. According to Sundar Bajgain, director of BSP Nepal, a study of 1200 households (600 with biogas plants and 600 without) in 20 districts revealed that introduction of the biogas plants saved an estimated total of 420 000 tons of wood and reduced CO2 emissions by 640 000 tons year-1. The biogas plants mainly use bovine and human waste products. These are mixed with an equal amount of water and passed into a tank, where the dung is fermented, giving off methane, which is piped to the cooking stove. The residue is used as fertilizer. Previous biogas programs in Nepal have failed, but BSP Nepal has been remarkably successful. Bajgain attributes this to standardized plant design and stringent quality control. “Our continuous monitoring system, intensive training of technicians, high qual-
Kathryn Senior Australian marine scientists are planning radical measures to try to save the endangered grey nurse shark (Carchatias taurus) from extinction in the next 20 years. In July 2005, a seven gill shark was artificially inseminated and monitored in an effort to perfect the technique for use in grey nurse sharks. But that is only the start – in the next 10 years, Nick Otway and other marine biologists from the New South Wales State Fisheries Department will attempt to develop artificial uteri in which the shark embryos can develop. “Grey nurse sharks exhibit intrauterine cannabilism; once the pups are about 10cm long, they have developed a fully functional set of jaws and teeth and they then set about trying to eat each other”, explains Otway. Although a female grey nurse shark can produce about © The Ecological Society of America
© D Harasti (www.speciesspotlight.com)
A new line in test-tube babies
Despite its fearsome looks, the grey nurse shark (Carchatias taurus) is quite gentle.
40 eggs that are initially fertilized, it is unusual for more than two pups to survive to birth, one growing in each of the shark’s two uteri. Eventually, once the technique has been perfected, pregnant sharks from the wild may be used to harvest embryos to boost the wild population. Not surprisingly, the million-dollar investment in the program over the next 4 years, and the nature of the program, have raised eyebrows amongst environmental groups such
as the Humane Society International (HSI) and the Nature Conservation Council. According to HSI, on average, one grey nurse is killed every month either by shark nets or commercial and recreational fishing. “There is absolutely no point breeding sharks in test tubes without securing a safe place to release them in the wild”, says Nicola Beynon, HSI Wildlife and Habitat Program Manager. Cate Faehrmann, Director of the Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales considers that the NSW Government has effectively abandoned the wild population of grey nurse sharks “in preference for a zoo population”. Current scientific evidence recommends a 1500-meter sanctuary zone around all 16 critical habitat areas to help the remaining 500 sharks, which live off the east coast of Australia, to survive. “It is unacceptable that we can ignore wild populations of animals and focus on recreating them artificially at a later stage”, concludes Faehrmann. www.frontiersinecology.org
