DETECTING HUMAN IMPACTS ON LIVE-DEAD MACROINVERTEBRATE COMMUNITIES IN HONEOYE LAKE, NEW YORK

AbstractHeat waves killed more people in the United States than all other weather-related disasters combined over the last three decades. However, human–environment interactions during these episodic events are not well understood because of a lack of data on the crucial indoor temperatures, especially in non-air-conditioned residences. To address this gap, a unique consortium of media and community groups conceived the Harlem Heat Project to place sensors in people’s homes in northern Manhattan, New York, forming the basis for ongoing radio human-interest stories and online reporting alongside scientifically valuable information. The advantage that a media–community partnership brings to this work is the ability to attract a large number of community volunteers for sensor placement and reporting of human impacts, surmounting the normal barrier facing scientific study. The sensors were hand constructed and distributed through the WE ACT environmental justice community group. Interviews, personal stories, and key data summaries were posted on the ISeeChange, AdaptNY, and WNYC websites. Results from the pilot study document that indoor temperatures are far more stable than outdoor temperatures, with the indoor diurnal average typically above the outdoor average. The thermal inertia of building interiors results in a lag and smoothing of indoor versus outdoor heat waves. Statistical modeling based on energy balances demonstrates that indoor temperatures can be forecast a day in advance with useful accuracy based on weather conditions.

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The state factor model and urban forest restoration

Journal of Urban Ecology ◽

10.1093/jue/juaa018 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Jason Smith ◽

Richard Hallett ◽

Peter M Groffman

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Forest Restoration ◽

Urban Forest ◽

Factor Model ◽

Human Impacts ◽

Urban Ecosystems ◽

The State ◽

Human Behaviour ◽

Nature And Culture ◽

State Factor

Abstract A ‘state factor’ model of ecosystems can serve as a conceptual framework for researching and managing urban ecosystems. This approach provides alternative goals and narratives to those derived from historically grounded dichotomies between nature and culture, which can reify constructions of human influence as inherently destructive. The integration of human behaviour and state factors is critical to the application of a state factor model to urban ecosystems. We emphasize the role of culture in co-producing urban ecosystems and the importance of feedbacks between urban ecosystems and state factors. We advocate for ecosystem models that encourage local agency and actions that enhance the capacity of cities to constructively adapt to environmental change. We contrast this approach to efforts intended to minimize human impacts on ecosystems. The usefulness of the state factor model for informing such efforts is assessed through a consideration of the norms and practices of urban forest restoration in New York City. Despite the limitations and challenges of applying a state factor model to urban ecosystems, it can inform comparative research within and between cities and offers an intuitive framework for understanding the ecological conditions created in cities by human behaviour.

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Fish stomach contents in benthic macroinvertebrate assemblage assessments

Brazilian Journal of Biology ◽

10.1590/1519-6984.09913 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 75 (1) ◽

pp. 157-164 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

TH. Tupinambás ◽

PS. Pompeu ◽

CV. Gandini ◽

RM. Hughes ◽

M. Callisto

Keyword(s):

Benthic Macroinvertebrates ◽

Fish Assemblages ◽

Human Impacts ◽

Stomach Contents ◽

Taxonomic Composition ◽

The Other ◽

Benthic Macroinvertebrate ◽

Macroinvertebrate Communities ◽

Species Accumulation Curves ◽

Sediment Samples

The choice of sampling gears to assess benthic macroinvertebrate communities depends on environmental characteristics, study objectives, and cost effectiveness. Because of the high foraging capacity and diverse habitats and behaviors of benthophagous fishes, their stomach contents may offer a useful sampling tool in studies of benthic macroinvertebrates, especially in large, deep, fast rivers that are difficult to sample with traditional sediment sampling gear. Our objective was to compare the benthic macroinvertebrate communities sampled from sediments with those sampled from fish stomachs. We collected benthic macroinvertebrates and fish from three different habitat types (backwater, beach, riffle) in the wet season, drying season, and dry season along a single reach of the Grande River (Paraná River Basin, southeast Brazil). We sampled sediments through use of a Petersen dredge (total of 216 grabs) and used gill nets to sample fish (total of 36 samples). We analyzed the stomach contents of three commonly occurring benthophagous fish species (Eigenmannia virescens, Iheringichthys labrosus, Leporinus amblyrhynchus). Chironomids dominated in both sampling methods. Macroinvertebrate taxonomic composition and abundances from fish stomachs differed from those from sediment samples, but less so from riffles than from backwater and beach habitats. Macroinvertebrate taxa from E. virescens stomachs were more strongly correlated with sediment samples from all three habitats than were those from the other two species. The species accumulation curves and higher mean dispersion values, compared with with sediment samples suggest that E. virescens is more efficient than sediment samples and the other fish studied at collecting benthic taxa. We conclude that by analyzing the stomach contents of benthophagous fishes it is possible to assess important characteristics of benthic communities (dispersion, taxonomic composition and diversity). This is especially true for studies that only sample fish assemblages to evaluate aquatic ecosystem impacts. Therefore, this approach can be useful to amplify assessments of human impacts, and to incorporate additional bioindicators.

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Impacts of acidification on macroinvertebrate communities in streams of the western Adirondack Mountains, New York, USA

Ecological Indicators ◽

10.1016/j.ecolind.2008.04.004 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 226-239 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Barry P. Baldigo ◽

Gregory B. Lawrence ◽

Robert W. Bode ◽

Howard A. Simonin ◽

Karen M. Roy ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Macroinvertebrate Communities ◽

Adirondack Mountains

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Proposed Environmental Risk Management Elements in a Carpathian Valley Basin, within the Roşia Montană European Historical Mining Area

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18094565 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (9) ◽

pp. 4565

Author(s):

Doru Bănăduc ◽

Angela Curtean-Bănăduc ◽

Kevin Cianfaglione ◽

John Robert Akeroyd ◽

Lucian-Ionel Cioca

Keyword(s):

Benthic Macroinvertebrates ◽

Human Impacts ◽

Ecological Status ◽

Mining Area ◽

Mining Activities ◽

Macroinvertebrate Communities ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Lotic Systems ◽

South East Europe

Non-ferrous metals mining activities have long accompanied people, and began in the study area of South East Europe over 2000 years ago. The environment quality is significantly affected by both historic mining activities and contemporary impacts. All these problems, inducing synergic negative effects on local organism communities, have created a chronic state of pollution. The Corna Valley has one of the oldest historical human impacts in Romania due to the influence of mining. Fish and benthic macroinvertebrates have exhibited significant responses to long term mining effects on lotic systems. The analysis of macroinvertebrate communities, correlated with the lack of fish and some biotope characteristics, indicates that the Corna River presents a variety of categories of ecological status between sectors. The lack of fish reveals the poor ecological conditions. Technical and management solutions are proposed here to diminish the historical environmental problems and to avoid future ecological accidents, especially in an attempt to improve any construction plan concerning a possible new de-cyanidation dam and lake. Fish and benthic macroinvertebrates have exhibited significant responses to long term mining effects on lotic systems. Two management zones were identified, an upper zone which can be used as a reference area and a lower zone, where pollution remedial activities are proposed.

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