Communities across Washington State have expressed the need for neighborhood-level information on the cumulative impact of environmental hazards and social conditions to illuminate disparities and address environmental justice issues. Many existing mapping tools have not explicitly integrated community voice and lived experience as an integral part of their development. The goals of this project were to create a new community–academic–government partnership to collect and summarize community concerns and to develop a publicly available mapping tool that ranks relative environmental health disparities for populations across Washington State. Using a community-driven framework, we developed the Washington Environmental Health Disparities Map, a cumulative environmental health impacts assessment tool. Nineteen regularly updated environmental and population indicators were integrated into the geospatial tool that allows for comparisons of the cumulative impacts between census tracts. This interactive map provides critical information for the public, agencies, policymakers, and community-based organizations to make informed decisions. The unique community–academic–government partnership and the community-driven framework can be used as a template for other environmental and social justice mapping endeavors.
SynopsisSexual dimorphisms, and factors influencing the evolution of these differences, have been investigated for four species of rockfish: Sebastes melanops, S. flavidus, S. mystinus, and S. serranoides. These four species, which have similar ecology, tend to aggregate by species with males and females staying together throughout the year. In all four species adult females reach larger sizes than males, which probably relates to their role in reproduction. The number of eggs produced increases with size, so that natural selection has favored larger females. It appears males were subjected to different selective pressures than females. It was more advantageous for males to mature quickly, to become reproductive, than to expend energy on growth. Other sexually dimorphic features include larger eyes in males of all four species and longer pectoral fin rays in males of the three piscivorous species: S. melanops, S. flavidus, and S. serranoides. The larger pectoral fins may permit smaller males to coexist with females by increasing acceleration and, together with the proportionately larger eye, enable the male to compete successfully with the female tb capture elusive prey (the latter not necessarily useful for the planktivore S. mystinus). Since the size of the eye is equivalent in both sexes of the same age, visual perception should be comparable for both sexes.
Sexual dimorphism and factors that may cause it were investigated in 34 species of the genus Sebastes. Sexual dimorphism in standard length and morphometric characters are fairly common in rockfish. In many species males are shorter than females. However in males head length, width of orbit, interorbital width, length of upper jaw, longest pectoral fin ray and longest dorsal spine tend to be larger at a specified size than in females. Water-column species tend to be more dimorphic than demersal species. We suggest that the observed differences in dimorphism in standard length may be related to differences in mating and territorial behavior. Dimorphisms in morphometric measurements may be related to compensation in feeding ability for reduced standard length of males, mating and territorial behavior.
Rotifers were exposed to (1) a single dose of 14C labeled benzene on day 1 with initial concentrations of benzene at 0.1 and 1.0 μL/L declining over time and (2) a chronic exposure of 0.1 and 1.0 μL/L daily for 9 d. Both conditions resulted in rotifers accumulating 1000 to 10 000 times the 14C activity detected in the seawater. These concentrations were maintained in the rotifers for 8 and 11 d, respectively, and remained high even after exposure was terminated. Analysis of 14C activity from 14C labeled benzene detected in the water revealed its source to be phenolic compounds, compounds with a potentially higher toxicity than benzene. The water maintained a low level of 14C compounds throughout the experiments. Rotifers accumulated high quantities and retained most of the acquired 14C compounds after 2 d in clean water.Key words: benzene, rotifer, zooplankton, biomagnification
Eggs and larvae of Pacific herring were exposed to low concentrations of 14C-labeled benzene, a soluble, aromatic component of crude oil. All life stages accumulated benzene from water in direct proportion to the initial exposure concentrations, reaching equilibrium within 6–12 h. Feeding larvae exposed to benzene through water and live food accumulated benzene initially from the water, then secondarily from the food. The maximum amount of benzene accumulated in tissues was inversely related to age. Eggs accumulated up to 10.9 times the initial concentration, yolk-sac larvae up to 6.9 times, and feeding larvae to 3.9 times. Reasons for these differences in total accumulation and uptake rate are discussed. Results provide evidence for food web magnification of petroleum-based hydrocarbons. Key words: Pacific herring, Clupea harengus pallasi, eggs and larvae, 14C-benzene, uptake, depuration, food chain, petroleum-based hydrocarbons
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.