If the tide is rising, who pays for the ark?

Two common goals of this meeting are to arrest the effects of sea level rise and other phenomena caused by Greenhouse Gases from anthropogenic sources ("GHG",) and to mitigate the effects. The fundamental questions are: (1) how to get there and (2) who should shoulder the cost? Given Washington gridlock, states, NGO's and citizens such as the Inupiat of the Village of Kivalina have turned to the courts for solutions. Current actions for public nuisance seek (1) to reduce and eventually eliminate GHG emissions, (2) damages for health effects and property damage—plus hundreds of millions in dollars spent to prepare for the foregoing. The U.S. Court of Appeals just upheld the action against the generators of some 10% of the CO2 emissions from human activities in the U.S., clearing the way for a trial featuring the state of the art scientific linkage between GHG production and the effects of global warming. Climate change impacts on coastal regions manifest most prominently through sea level rise and its impacts: beach erosion, loss of private and public structures, relocation costs, loss of use and accompanying revenues (e.g. tourism), beach replenishment and armoring costs, impacts of flooding during high water events, and loss of tax base. Other effects may include enhanced storm frequency and intensity, increased insurance risks and costs, impacts to water supplies, fires and biological changes through invasions or local extinctions (IPCC AR4, 2007; Okmyung, et al., 2007). There is an increasing urgency for federal and state governments to focus on the local and regional levels and consistently provide the information, tools, and methods necessary for adaptation. Calls for action at all levels acknowledge that a viable response must engage federal, state and local expertise, perspectives, and resources in a coordinated and collaborative effort. A workshop held in December 2000 on coastal inundation and sea level rise proposes a shared framework that can help guide where investments should be made to enable states and local governments to assess impacts and initiate adaptation strategies over the next decade. (PDF contains 5 pages

Grape Growing

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Spheroidal Carbonaceous Particles in a Virginia Mill Pond Provide a Record of Local and Regional Coal Combustion

Spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCP), a constituent of coal fly ash, are a sensitive indicator of local and regional coal combustion archived in lake sediments. Their unique morphology and chemical composition are not replicated by any naturally occurring substance on Earth. SCP accumulation in sediments has also been correlated to accumulation of heavy metals such as Mn, Fe, Ti, and Pb. We reconstructed SCP accumulation in a former mill pond in Williamsburg, VA, Lake Matoaka, and find a bimodal distribution with peaks c. 1790 and c. 1953. We believe that our study is the first to identify SCPs in sediments prior to the early 1800s, making this record unique. Grain size analysis shows a statistically significant difference in grains from the two peaks indicating different fly-ash provenance. The particles first appear in Lake Matoaka in 1734 and steadily increase from 15-300 SCP/gDM peaking in 1790. SCP concentration remains constant at ~100-200 SCP/gDM from c. 1800-1860, when a rapid increase in particle accumulation resumes, increasing abruptly from 500 SCP/gDM in 1860 to \u3e8000 SCP/gDM in 1953. Modern accumulation rates have decreased in response to emission restricting legislation in 1970 but continue to accumulate 1000 SCP/gDM in surface sediments. Trends in SCP accumulation mirror major historical events including prominent socio-political wars and economic depressions

The Role of Personality in Large Nut Dispersal by Sciurus carolinensis and its Implications for Seed Dispersal Across Human-Modified Landscapes

Small mammals are well known seed dispersers, but their efficiency at seed dispersal is directly affected by their personality type. Anthropomorphic habitat change shifts the distribution of personalities within small mammal populations, thus altering the mechanisms by which seeds are dispersed across these areas. Little is known about how small mammals interact with sidewalks, roads, or parking lots during the seed dispersal process despite these areas’ prevalence within human modified landscapes and the importance of understanding the ways in which seeds are transported across anthropomorphically altered regions. The goal of this study is to explore the role of personality in seed dispersal across sidewalks, streets, and parking lots by Eastern Gray Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis), a common urban small mammal. Through a field study in Maine, this paper shows that anxious and active gray squirrels are more likely to disperse nuts across sidewalks, streets, and parking lots. These results represent a step towards a greater understanding of road ecology as it pertains to seed dispersal, but more work is needed to examine the direct effects anthropomorphic habitat change has on urban squirrel personality distributions as well as how these changes impact their role as seed dispersers