Book Chapters

the partial meltdown of the 1000-MW reactor at Chernobyl, Ukraine, on April 26, 1986, released large amounts of radiocesium and other radionuclides into the environment, causing widespread radioactive contamination of Europe and the former Soviet Union.1-7 At least 3,000,000 trillion becquerels (TBq) were released from the fuel during the accident (Table 24.1), dwarfing, by orders of...

Over the past decade, the Marbled Murrelet has become a focus of much controversy. It was listed as threatened in Washington, Oregon, and California by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in February 1993. In order to aid the various agencies with management, the Marbled Murrelet Conservation Assessment was formed to bring together scientists, managers, and others to gather all the...

Biological conservation is increasingly moving toward an ecosystem and landscape approach, recognizing the prohibitive cost and difficulty of a species-by-species approach (LaRoe 1993). Also, statewide (e.g., Gap Analysis Program) and national surveys (e.g., Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program or EMAP) are conducted at a scale and level of resolution that do not meet the...

The two zinc smelters at Palmerton, PA emitted huge amounts of contaminants ( 260,000 t of Zn, 3,300 t of Cd, 6,800 t of Pb) to the air and severely damaged the forest on Blue Mountain. The high Zn concentrations in soil killed tree seedlings by inhibiting root elongation. The result was a forest with too few young trees. When natural stresses such as fire challenged the forest, the...

Many factors affect the use of point counts for monitoring bird populations, including sampling strategies, variation in detection rates, and independence of sample points. The most commonly used sampling plans are stratified sampling, cluster sampling, and systematic sampling. Each of these might be most useful for different objectives or field situations. Variation in detection...

All U.S. Navy electroplating and metal-finishing wastes are now required to pass through industrial-wastewater treatment plants and other treatment facilities for the removal of heavy metals and other potentially hazardous materials. In 1984 a total of 235,191 metric tons (t) of electroplating and metal-finishing wastes from 70 U.S. Navy installations - primarily shipyards, aviation...

Cui-ui (Chasmistes cujus) is a large plankton-feeding fish that only occurs in Pyramid Lake, Nevada. It was put on the federal endangered list in 1967 based on declining population and absence of reproduction. A lake dweller, cui-ui is a stream spawner. Most of this century, this sucker species was unable to access the Truckee River, Pyramid Lake's only perennial tributary, to reproduce...

Environmental factors have long been demonstrated to influence the toxicity of pollutants to vertebrates. The vast majority of data has been derived from studies on fish, highly inbred laboratory rodents, and man.1,2 The magnitude and significance of these factors on toxicity has almost exclusively been elucidated in controlled experiments conducted in a laboratory setting. The...

We used capture-recapture methods to estimate bird species richness from mist-net and point-count data from a study area in Campeche, Mexico. We estimated species richness separately for each survey technique for two habitats, forest and pasture, in six sampling periods. We then estimated richness based on species' detections by either technique, and estimated the proportion of species...

Reliable estimates of abundance and survival, gained through mark-recapture studies, are necessary to better understand how to manage and restore lake trout populations in the Great Lakes. Working with a 24-year data set from a mark-recapture study conducted in Lake Superior, we attempted to disclose information on tag shedding by examining recaptures of double-tagged fish. The data set

The endangered Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) is a survivor. It is one of only three living species of manatees which, along with their closest living relative, the dugong (Dugong dugon), make up the Order Sirenia. This taxonomic distinctiveness reflects their evolutionary and genetic uniqueness. Sirenians are the only herbivorous marine mammals; manatees feed on...

Forested wetlands constructed for mitigation were evaluated at six sites in Maryland to determine the success of these areas for providing suitable wildlife habitat. Natural forested wetlands were used as reference sites. Initial mortality of planted woody shrubs and trees was high (avg. 55%) and mostly attributed to excessive moisture. The number of woody seedlings from natural...