► New concept proposed for gauging the overall health of small-area human populations. ► BioSCIM uses Sewage Chemical-Information Mining to measure biomarkers in sewage. ► Real-time, low-cost assessment of community-wide heath is possible. ► Isoprostanes (biomarkers of oxidative stress) are identified as targets for BioSCIM. ► Panel of orthogonal biomarkers with complementary properties may broaden usefulness.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.02.038

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Global Conservation Maps

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Nuclear energy is a potential solution to electricity demand but also entails risks. Policy debates on nuclear accidents have focused primarily on negative impacts on humans. Although such impacts are important, we argue that policy debates must also consider the consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem services. We reviewed 521 studies conducted after the Chernobyl accident, the most severe nuclear accident in history. Elevated radiation levels have been recorded among a diversity of species, even up to thousands of kilometers away from the meltdown site, and after more than two decades following the accident. Close to the reactor, physiological and morphological changes have occurred. Negative effects on ecosystem services have been observed, including the contamination of water, soils, and wild food supplies. Informed policy decisions on nuclear energy require a greater understanding of the consequences of accidents, including effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Based on our review, we recommend to (1) fully incorporate risks for biodiversity and ecosystem services into policy debates; (2) develop a coherent information chain regarding such risks; (3) use proactive planning strategies to be prepared for potential accidents; and (4) develop a coherent research agenda on the consequences of nuclear accidents for biodiversity and ecosystem services.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-263X.2011.00217.x

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1. Global mapping of ecosystem services and conservation priorities
2. Enhancement of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services by Ecological Restoration: A Meta-Analysis

Acoustic surveys of New Zealand deep-water seamounts often show fish aggregations up to 150 m high on the summit. Although bottom trawls on the seamount slopes catch predominantly orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus), species composition in the midwater plumes is extremely uncertain. In June 2010, moored underwater video cameras were deployed on the summit of the Morgue seamount (summit depth 890 m), a feature that has been closed to fishing since 2001. Cameras and lights were timed to come on for 2 min every 2 h. Fish response to the mooring was monitored using vessel-mounted echosounders. Moored cameras confirmed that orange roughy were present up to 70 m above the seamount summit. Orange roughy made up 97% of the fish identified from the video. Other species observed included smooth oreo (Pseudocyttus maculatus), spiky oreo (Neocyttus rhomboidalis), deep-water dogfish, cardinalfish (Epigonus spp.), and squid. Total along-track backscatter from the plume varied by a factor of 25 over a period of hours. Peak acoustic densities in the plume (equivalent to 20 orange roughy m−3) were an order of magnitude higher than peak visual estimates (0.64 orange roughy m−3), but relative densities between paired video and acoustic observations were generally consistent.

doi:  http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fss010

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1. Seamounts may serve as refuges for deep-sea animals that struggle to survive elsewhere
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The value of ecosystem services typically goes unaccounted for in business and policy decisions and in market prices. For commercial purposes, if ecosystem services are recognized at all, they are perceived as free goods, like clean air and water. So it’s not surprising that much of the degradation of ecosystems is rooted in what the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), an independent group of U.S. scientists and engineers, describes as “widespread under-appreciation of the importance of environmental capital for human well-being and . . . the absence of the value of its services from the economic balance sheets of producers and consumers.”7 PCAST and other groups are working to build recognition of ecosystem services and, importantly, to valuate them—that is, calculate values for these services to help policy makers and resource managers make rational decisions that factor important environmental and human health outcomes into the bottom line.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.120-a152

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1. An operational structure for clarity in ecosystem service values
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A World Bank sponsored project to restore water levels in the Dead Sea while also providing desalinated water and hydropower to the region received a final environmental approval and construction is slated to begin in June.

Final Report (pdf)

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