Impact of changing DOC concentrations on the potential distribution of acid sensitive biota in a boreal stream network

DOC concentrations have increased in many surface waters in Europe and North America over the past few decades. As DOC exudes a strong influence on pH this DOC increase could have detrimental effects on acid sensitive biota in many streams and lakes. To investigate the potential implications of changes in the DOC concentration on stream water biota, we have used a mesoscale boreal stream network in northern Sweden as a case study. The network was sampled for stream water chemistry at 60 locations during both winter base flow and spring flood periods, representing the extremes experienced annually in these streams both in terms of discharge and acidity. The effect of changing DOC on pH was modeled for all sampling locations using an organic acid model, with input DOC concentrations for different scenarios adjusted by between −30% and +50% from measured present concentrations. The resulting effect on pH was then used to quantify the proportion of stream length in the catchment with pH below the acid thresholds of pH 5.5 and pH 5.0. The results suggest that a change in stream water DOC during base flow would have only a limited effect on pH and hence on the stream length with pH below the acid thresholds. During the spring flood on the other hand a change in DOC would strongly influence pH and the stream length with pH below the acid thresholds. For example an increase in DOC concentration of 30% at all sites would increase the proportion of stream length with pH below 5.5 from 37% to 65%, and the proportion of stream length with pH below 5.0 would increase from 18% to 27%. The results suggest that in high DOC waters, even a marginal change in the DOC concentration could impact acid sensitive biota in a large portion of the aquatic landscape

KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION WORK IN ORGANIZATIONS

Since the turn of the century, the United States, Canada, and Western Europe have been moving toward service and information economies and away from an agricultural and manufacturing economies (Euromonitor, 1990; Machlup, 1962; Rubin and Huber, 1986; Porat, 1977). The fraction of workers using information to produce economic value has been rising, and the fraction working with their hands in factories or on farms has been declining. In the United States, the percentage of jobs in manufacturing fell from 27 percent in 1920 to 17 percent in 1990. In the European Community, the value-added by manufacturing grew at an average annual rate of 6.2 percent from 1960 to 1970, but this growth rate was only 0.7 percent from 1980 to 1985. Among white-collar workers, the fastest growing occupations have been clerical, professional, and technical workers, and managers and administrators (Wolff and Baumol, 1987). Six factors have been involved in this shift. First, third-world and developing societies have become centers of manufacturing, while the so-called advanced societies have shifted toward services. In Europe, the telecommunications sector has been growing about 9 to 11 percent annually, and the software and computing services sector has been growing 15 to 20 percent annually (Sema Group, 1991). Second, knowledge-intense and information-intense products and services have grown rapidly, and the production of traditional products has also been using knowledge more intensively. Third, business has invested heavily in equipment to support information work. In the United States, information-related equipment accounted for 20 percent of capital investment in 1979; this figure had become 40 percent of capital investment by 1986. Fourth, knowledge workers and information workers have replaced manual production workers within the manufacturing sectors. Machine-tool operators, for instance, have often been replaced by technicians who monitor computer-controlled machine tools. Fifth, workers have increased education and information-processing skills (Howell and Wolff 1991). Sixth, new kinds of knowledge-intense and information-intense organizations have emerged that are devoted entirely to the production, processing, and distribution of information. These new kinds of organizations employ millions of people (Office of Technology Assessment, 1988). As early as 1976, the value of information-sector products and services had already exceeded that of the manufacturing sector in the U. S. By 1990, the information sector (including services) accounted for $3 out of every$4 of GNP, and over half of the U. S. workers were doing some type of information work (Howell and Wolff, 1993; Roach, 1988). The U. S., however, represents an extreme case. For instance, in the software and computing services sector, the United States has about 55 percent of the world market, the European Community has about 25 percent, and Japan has about 8 percent (Sema Group, 199 1). This article surveys information work, information workers, and the computer systems that support such work. It then examines the organizations that are most dependent on knowledge and information work -- knowledge-intensive firms.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

A preliminary assessment of water partitioning and ecohydrological coupling in northern headwaters using stable isotopes and conceptual runoff models

Funded by European Research Council ERC. Grant Number: GA 335910 VEWA Swedish Science Foundation (SITES) Future Forest Formas (ForWater) SKB the Kempe foundation Environment Canada the Garfield Weston Foundation the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) the Northwest Territories Cumulative Impacts Monitoring ProgramPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Modeling subsurface transport in extensive glaciofluvial and littoral sediments to remediate a municipal drinking water aquifer

Few studies have been carried out that cover the entire transport process of pesticides, from application at the soil surface, through subsurface transport, to contamination of drinking water in esker aquifers. In formerly glaciated regions, such as Scandinavia, many of the most important groundwater resources are situated in glaciofluvial eskers. The purpose of the present study was to model and identify significant processes that govern subsurface transport of pesticides in extensive glaciofluvial and littoral sediments. To simulate the transport processes, we coupled a vadose zone model at soil profile scale to a regional groundwater flow model. The model was applied to a municipal drinking-water aquifer, contaminated with the pesticide-metabolite BAM (2,6-dichlorobenzoamide). At regional scale, with the combination of a ten-meter-deep vadose zone and coarse texture, the observed concentrations could be described by the model without assuming preferential flow. A sensitivity analysis revealed that hydraulic conductivity in the aquifer and infiltration rate accounted for almost half of the model uncertainty. The calibrated model was applied to optimize the location of extraction wells for remediation, which were used to validate the predictive modeling. Running a worst-case scenario, the model showed that the establishment of two remediation wells would clean the aquifer in four years, compared to nine years without them. Further development of the model would require additional field measurements in order to improve the description of macrodispersion in deep, sandy vadose zones. We also suggest that future research should focus on characterization of the variability of hydraulic conductivity and its effect on contaminant transport in eskers

The integrated academic information system support for education 3.0 in higher education institution: lecturer perspective

Education 3.0 has been implemented in many higher education institutions (HEIs). Education 3.0 has been directed the institution toward better educational experience. But on the other hands, the implementation of Education 3.0 also caused some problems. Previous research has found administrative problem experienced by the lecturer. This research explores deeper from the lecturer and suggested the solution from lecturer perspective, combined with information technology capabilities owned by the HEIs. The research used a case study as the method and conducted a qualitative research with a semi-structured interview. The interview analysis has found that the increase of the administrative processes is caused by online and offline administrative activities. The online activities are from e-learning and the offline activities are from traditional learning (face-to-face). The administrative processes also involved the academic information system (AIS). Simplified all of the administrative processes are more preferred. To overcome the problems, integrating the AIS and e-learning become necessary. This research suggests transforming the existing AIS into an integrated AIS and hopes the solution can simplify the administration process

Current forest carbon fixation fuels stream CO2 emissions

Stream CO2 emissions contribute significantly to atmospheric climate forcing. While there are strong indications that groundwater inputs sustain these emissions, the specific biogeochemical pathways and timescales involved in this lateral CO2 export are still obscure. Here, via an extensive radiocarbon (14C) characterisation of CO2 and DOC in stream water and its groundwater sources in an old-growth boreal forest, we demonstrate that the 14C-CO2 is consistently in tune with the current atmospheric 14C-CO2 level and shows little association with the 14C-DOC in the same waters. Our findings thus indicate that stream CO2 emissions act as a shortcut that returns CO2 recently fixed by the forest vegetation to the atmosphere. Our results expose a positive feedback mechanism within the C budget of forested catchments, where stream CO2 emissions will be highly sensitive to changes in forest C allocation patterns associated with climate and land-use changes

Wolf-Livestock Conflict in Montana: Spatial and Temporal Factors Influencing Livestock Loss

Successful wolf (Canis lupus) recovery in Montana has brought with it some negative impacts on livestock producers in certain areas and time periods.  We assessed the spatial and temporal patterns of wolf depredations on livestock in Montana at a broad, statewide scale during the past decade (2005–2014).  These analyses highlighted areas of concentrated and consistent wolf-livestock conflicts, such that, for example, 50% of the statewide conflicts occur in 5% of the state.  We then used generalized linear mixed-models to test covariates potentially predictive of both conflict presence (zero vs. non-zero depredation events) and conflict severity (number of events given at least 1), including the assessment of lethal controls and hunter harvest as tools to reduce conflicts.  Using administrative hunting districts (HDs) as the unit of analysis, we found that conflict presence increased for HD-years with wolves present (P<0.001), higher wolf pack densities (P=0.006), higher livestock densities (P<0.001), and intermediate proportionate areas of agricultural land (P<0.001).  HDs with depredations the previous year were more likely to continue having them (P<0.001), though lethal removal of wolves significantly reduced this effect (P=0.038).  Direct effects of wolf hunter harvest were shown to marginally (P=0.152) reduce year-to-year conflicts, but indirect effects of harvest would also be expected given its role in determining wolf numbers, a primary driver of conflicts.  Minimizing livestock losses is a top priority for successful wolf management, and these results shed light on the broad-scale patterns behind chronic problems and the tools used to address them

Regulation of stream water dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations during snowmelt; the role of discharge, winter climate and memory effects

Using a 15 year stream record from a northern boreal catchment, we demonstrate that the inter-annual variation in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations during snowmelt was related to discharge, winter climate and previous DOC export. A short and intense snowmelt gave higher stream water DOC concentrations, as did long winters, while a high previous DOC export during the antecedent summer and autumn resulted in lower concentrations during the following spring. By removing the effect of discharge we could detect that the length of winter affected the modeled soil water DOC concentrations during the following snowmelt period, which in turn affected the concentrations in the stream. Winter climate explained more of the stream water DOC variations than previous DOC export during the antecedent summer and autumn

Predicting Abundance of Gray Wolves in Montana Using Hunter Observations and Field Monitoring

From the early 1980s to present, wolf (Canis lupus) numbers in Montana have been documented by attempting to locate and count all individuals. These counts represented minimums with unknown error.  We describe a method using observations by hunters, in conjunction with field monitoring to estimate wolf population size and distribution in a more systematic way. Our method consists of three general steps: 1) use a multi-season occupancy model to estimate the area occupied by wolves in packs using locations reported by a random sample of hunters, 2) estimate the numbers of wolf packs by dividing area occupied by average territory size from field monitoring, then 3) estimate the numbers of wolves by multiplying the number of estimated packs by average pack size from field monitoring.  Estimated area occupied by packs increased between 2007 and 2012. From 2007 to 2009, mean estimated territory size from 38 closely monitored packs was 599.83 km2. Dividing estimated area occupied by mean territory size resulted in an increase in estimated packs between 2007 and 2012, exceeding minimum counts. From 1994 to 2011, complete counts were obtained from 413 packs within or bordering Montana, and mean pack size was estimated at 6.32 animals. Multiplying estimated packs by mean pack size resulted in an increase in estimated population size between 2007 and 2012, exceeding minimum counts.  MFWP’s method to estimate the wolf population is cost effective and incorporates public participation with field monitoring. Future application will test the effects of harvest and removals on occupancy, colonization, and local extinction