► 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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Approaches are needed to better predict spatial variation in riverine Hg concentrations across heterogeneous landscapes that include mountains, wetlands, and open waters. We applied multivariate linear regression to determine the landscape factors and chemical variables that best account for the spatial variation of total Hg (THg) and methyl Hg (MeHg) concentrations in 27 sub-basins across the 493 km2 upper Hudson River basin in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. THg concentrations varied by sixfold, and those of MeHg by 40-fold in synoptic samples collected at low-to-moderate flow, during spring and summer of 2006 and 2008. Bivariate linear regression relations of THg and MeHg concentrations with either percent wetland area or DOC concentrations were significant but could account for only about 1/3 of the variation in these Hg forms in summer. In contrast, multivariate linear regression relations that included metrics of (1) hydrogeomorphology, (2) riparian/wetland area, and (3) open water, explained about 66% to >90% of spatial variation in each Hg form in spring and summer samples. These metrics reflect the influence of basin morphometry and riparian soils on Hg source and transport, and the role of open water as a Hg sink. Multivariate models based solely on these landscape metrics generally accounted for as much or more of the variation in Hg concentrations than models based on chemical and physical metrics, and show great promise for identifying waters with expected high Hg concentrations in the Adirondack region and similar glaciated riverine ecosystems.

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011JG001812

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Nitrate is naturally found within the environment as part of the nitrogen cycle. However, anthropogenic inputs have greatly increased nitrate loads within ground and surface waters. This has had a severe impact on aquatic ecosystems and has given rise to health considerations in humans and livestock. Therefore, the identification of nitrate sources is important in preserving water quality and achieving sustainability of our water resources. Nitrate sources can be determined based on the nitrate nitrogen (N) and oxygen (O) isotopic compositions (δ15N, δ18O). However, sewage and manure have overlapping δ15N and δ18O values making their differentiation on this basis problematic. The specific differentiation between sources of faecal contamination is of particular importance, because the risk to humans is usually considered higher from human faecal contamination (sewage) than from animal faecal contamination. This review summarises the current state of knowledge in using isotope tracers to differentiate various nitrate sources and identifies potential chemical tracers for differentiating sewage and manure. In particular, an in depth review of the current state of knowledge regarding the necessary considerations in using chemical markers, such as pharmaceuticals and food additives, to differentiate sewage and manure sources of nitrate contamination will be given, through an understanding of their use, occurrence and fate, in order to identify the most suitable potential chemical markers.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2012.01.044

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2011.06.017

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Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, which funded glaciology to gauge central Asia’s water supply, research facilities have fallen into disuse or disrepair. Tajikistan, for instance, lost many of its stations—along with the scientists who staffed them—during its bloody 1992–97 civil war. But the outlook is improving, thanks to a new commitment to regional glacier research led by the Beijing-based Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences. In collaboration with counterparts in neighboring central Asian countries, it is helping to fund new state-of-the-art research stations in Tajikistan, Nepal, and Pakistan and erecting its own high-elevation glacier stations in Tibet. The aim, Director Yao Tandong says, is to “record the full picture of environmental change around the glaciers.”

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.334.6060.1199

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