EMA podcast transcript: electronic management of assessment processes and systems

The text transcript for a Jisc podcast on the business processes and systems around the electronic management of assessment (EMA). One of a series of podcasts on EMA.

Evaluating approaches and technologies for monitoring organic contaminants in the aquatic environment, Ann Arbor, MI, July 21-23, 2006: workshop proceedings

The Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT) convened a workshop on Evaluating Approaches and Technologies for Monitoring Organic Contaminants in the Aquatic Environment in Ann Arbor, MI on July 21-23, 2006. The primary objectives of this workshop were to: 1) identify the priority management information needs relative to organic contaminant loading; 2) explore the most appropriate approaches to estimating mass loading; and 3) evaluate the current status of the sensor technology. To meet these objectives, a mixture of leading research scientists, resource managers, and industry representatives were brought together for a focused two-day workshop. The workshop featured four plenary talks followed by breakout sessions in which arranged groups of participants where charged to respond to a series of focused discussion questions. At present, there are major concerns about the inadequacies in approaches and technologies for quantifying mass emissions and detection of organic contaminants for protecting municipal water supplies and receiving waters. Managers use estimates of land-based contaminant loadings to rivers, lakes, and oceans to assess relative risk among various contaminant sources, determine compliance with regulatory standards, and define progress in source reduction. However, accurately quantifying contaminant loading remains a major challenge. Loading occurs over a range of hydrologic conditions, requiring measurement technologies that can accommodate a broad range of ambient conditions. In addition, in situ chemical sensors that provide a means for acquiring continuous concentration measurements are still under development, particularly for organic contaminants that typically occur at low concentrations. Better approaches and strategies for estimating contaminant loading, including evaluations of both sampling design and sensor technologies, need to be identified. The following general recommendations were made in an effort to advance future organic contaminant monitoring: 1. Improve the understanding of material balance in aquatic systems and the relationship between potential surrogate measures (e.g., DOC, chlorophyll, particle size distribution) and target constituents. 2. Develop continuous real-time sensors to be used by managers as screening measures and triggers for more intensive monitoring. 3. Pursue surrogate measures and indicators of organic pollutant contamination, such as CDOM, turbidity, or non-equilibrium partitioning. 4. Develop continuous field-deployable sensors for PCBs, PAHs, pyrethroids, and emerging contaminants of concern and develop strategies that couple sampling approaches with tools that incorporate sensor synergy (i.e., measure appropriate surrogates along with the dissolved organics to allow full mass emission estimation).[PDF contains 20 pages]

Sulfur-Cycling in Methane-Rich Ecosystems: Uncovering Microbial Processes and Novel Niches

Microbial sulfur cycling communities were investigated in two methane-rich ecosystems, terrestrial mud volcanoes (TMVs) and marine methane seeps, in order to investigate niches and processes that would likely be central to the functioning of these crucial ecosystems. Terrestrial mud volcanoes represent geochemically diverse habitats with varying sulfur sources and yet sulfur-cycling in these environments remains largely unexplored. Here we characterized the sulfur-metabolizing microorganisms and activity in 4 TMVs in Azerbaijan, supporting the presence of active sulfur-oxidizing and sulfate-reducing guilds in all 4 TMVs across a range of physiochemical conditions, with diversity of these guilds being unique to each TMV. We also found evidence for the anaerobic oxidation of methane coupled to sulfate reduction, a process which we explored further in the more tractable marine methane seeps. Diverse associations between methanotrophic archaea (ANME) and sulfate-reducing bacterial groups (SRB) often co-occur in marine methane seeps, however the ecophysiology of these different symbiotic associations has not been examined. Using a combination of molecular, geochemical and fluorescence in situ hybridization coupled to nano-scale secondary ion mass spectrometry (FISH-NanoSIMS) analyses of in situ seep sediments and methane-amended sediment incubations from diverse locations, we show that the unexplained diversity in SRB associated with ANME cells can be at least partially explained by preferential nitrate utilization by one particular partner, the seepDBB. This discovery reveals that nitrate is likely an important factor in community structuring and diversity in marine methane seep ecosystems. The thesis concludes with a study of the dynamics between ANME and their associated SRB partners. We inhibited sulfate reduction and followed the metabolic processes of the community as well as the effect of ANME/SRB aggregate composition and growth on a cellular level by tracking 15N substrate incorporation into biomass using FISH-NanoSIMS. We revealed that while sulfate-reducing bacteria gradually disappeared over time in incubations with an SRB inhibitor, the ANME archaea persisted in the form of ANME-only aggregates, which are capable of little to no growth when sulfate reduction is inhibited. These data suggest ANME are not able to synthesize new proteins when sulfate reduction is inhibited.

Mellum Island (southern North Sea): dynamic processes and sedimentary structures. I. Southern tidal flat, transition zone and high-surface.[p.72 (Blasensand) only][Translation from: Senckenbergiana Maritima 11, 59-113, 1979]

This partial translation of a longer article describes the phenomenon of ”Blasensand”. Blasensand is formed when sedimentation of dried out sand is suddenly flooded from above. A more detailed explanation of Blasensand is given in this translated part of the paper.