We conducted a cumulative environmental health risk assessment of whether specialty vape shops and poor air quality are more likely to co-occur in socially disadvantaged neighborhoods where ...racial/ethnic minority youth live.
We examined the population-adjusted incidence of specialty vape shops in relation to youth race/ethnicity, neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES), and air quality (nitrogen dioxide NO
) at the census tract level across the conterminous United States for 2018.
We did not find disparity in vape shop incidence related to minority youth race/ethnicity. Vape shop incidence was significantly negatively associated with all the youth race/ethnicities examined. The two lowest SES quintiles had nearly double the rate of specialty vape shop incidence compared with the highest SES quintile. Specialty vape shop incidence increased with NO
concentration, with more vape shops in poor air quality neighborhoods.
Specialty vape shops are disproportionately present in neighborhoods with poor air quality and where socially disadvantaged youth live. The increased incidence of vape shops in poor air quality neighborhoods, particularly in an urban context with increased traffic emissions, further points to potentially disproportionate impacts on disadvantaged populations due to cumulative social and environmental risks. This raises environmental justice and health equity concerns. Retailer-focused strategies aimed at limiting youth exposure to electronic cigarettes' labeling and advertising, preventing sales to minors, and limiting the number of retailers in low-SES neighborhoods may reduce initiation and help prevent tobacco-related health disparities among youth.
With the introduction and establishment of exotic species, most ecosystems now contain both native and exotic plants and herbivores. Recent research identifies several factors that govern how ...specialist herbivores switch host plants upon introduction. Predicting the feeding ecology and impacts of introduced generalist species, however, remains difficult. Here, we examine how plant geographic origin, an indicator of shared co-evolutionary history, influences patterns of host use by a generalist, invasive herbivore, while accounting for variation in plant availability. The brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys, is a highly polyphagous Asian herbivore and an economically important invasive pest in North America and Europe. In visual surveys of 220 plant taxa in commercial nurseries in Maryland, USA, H. halys was more abundant on non-Asian plants and selected these over Asian plants. The relationship between the relative use of plants and their availability was strongly positive but depended also on plant origin at two of our three sites, where the higher relative use of non-Asian plants was greatest for highly abundant taxa. These results highlight the importance of considering both plant origin and relative abundance in understanding the selection of host plants by invasive generalist herbivores in diverse, natural and urban forests.
We describe the mesoscale floristic patterns in the central Western Ghats of Karnataka, India, through combined analysis of woody species abundance and stand structure data from a network of ...ninety-six 1-ha sampling plots spread across 22,000 km². A total of 61,906 individuals (≥10 cm gbh) comprising 400 plant species from 254 genera and 75 families were recorded. Euphorbiaceae, Rubiaceae, Lauraceae and Moraceae families constituted 23.5 percent of the total number of species encountered. The relative dominance of species was skewed with Poecilonueron indicum, Xylia xylocarpa, Terminalia tomentosa and Anogeissus latifolia being dominant in some plots. Correspondence analysis (CA) and a nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) of plots by species abundances data showed similar arching patterns, with significant correlation between the first axis of CA and NMDS (r=0.77). Hierarchical clustering of plot scores along the three first CA axes resulted in splitting the plots into five different categories that broadly reflect the major bioclimatic features of the region. A multiscale bootstrapping test indicated that categorization of the wettest (wet evergreen group 1 and 2) and driest (dry deciduous) groups were robust (P<0.05 with 1000 bootstraps), while the remaining two transitional groups were uncertain (P=0.12 and 0.26 for moist deciduous and semi-evergreen group, respectively). Principal component analysis revealed that plots with similar floristic composition can encompass contrastingly different physiognomic structures (canopy cover, canopy height and mean tree diameter) probably in relation to their levels of disturbance. Observed patterns in the floristic composition have been discussed in the light of the complex interaction between the bioclimatic and disturbance regimes that characterize the region.
This data set reports woody plant species abundances in a network of 96 sampling sites spread across 22 000 km
2
in the central Western Ghats region, Karnataka, India (74°15′-75°40′ E; 15°15′-13°30′ ...N). Due to its varied climate and diverse topography, the study area, which is part of the Western Ghats-Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot, supports a wide array of non-equatorial tropical habitats including wet evergreen, moist and dry deciduous, and intact as well as degraded forests and scrublands. These formations, floristically moderately rich and diversified, are characterized by a lower rate of endemism than in the southern part of the Western Ghats. This data paper provides abundance and girth data for 76 813 trees and lianas of 446 species collected in 96 sampling sites during 1996-1997. A total of 61 965 individuals ≥10-cm girth at breast height (gbh) were recorded in 96 1-ha macroplots, while 14 848 individuals <10 cm gbh, but >1 m height, were sampled in three 0.1-ha microplots located within each macroplot. Additional data regarding the stand structure (average canopy height, percent canopy cover, number of strata) and the level of degradation are available for the macroplots, along with environmental data derived from other sources and analyses, such as soil types, rainfall, length of the dry season, and altitude. These data have been used to produce ecological research papers, as well as to elaborate conservation value maps and recommendations toward sustainable management of the forests of the central Western Ghats region.
The complete data sets corresponding to abstracts published in the Data Papers section of the journal are published electronically in
Ecological Archives
at 〈
http://esapubs.org/archive
〉. (The accession number for each Data Paper is given directly beneath the title.)
Objectives: Toxic pollutants leaching from littered cigarette butts (CB) raise environmental impact concerns. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is required to assess the environmental impacts ...of its tobacco regulatory actions per the US National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA). Methods: We determined the chemical constituents in CB leachate through analyses of 109 field-collected CB and literature compilation and characterized their ecotoxicity to aquatic organisms. Results: One-third of the 98 identified CB leachate chemicals were very toxic
and 10% were toxic to aquatic organisms due to acute and chronic toxicity. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, metals, phthalates, nicotine and volatile organic compounds were the most hazardous CB leachate chemicals for aquatic organisms. Of the 98 CB leachate chemicals, 25 are included in
FDA's list of harmful or potentially harmful constituents in tobacco products and tobacco smoke. Conclusions: Our study quantifies CB leachate constituents, characterizes their ecological hazard and identifies chemicals of concern. Thus, it aids in evaluating the environmental impacts
of tobacco products per NEPA requirements. These results provide important information for strategies to prevent and reduce CB litter (eg, awareness programs, litter laws enforcement), thereby reducing environmental hazards from CB toxicants.
Climate change can benefit individual species, but when pest species are enhanced by warmer temperatures agricultural productivity may be placed at greater risk. We analyzed the effects of ...temperature anomaly on arrival date and infestation severity of potato leafhopper, Empoasca fabae Harris, a classic new world long distance migrant, and a significant pest in several agricultural crops. We compiled E. fabae arrival dates and infestation severity data at different states in USA from existing literature reviews and agricultural extension records from 1951-2012, and examined the influence of temperature anomalies at each target state or overwintering range on the date of arrival and severity of infestation. Average E. fabae arrival date at different states reveal a clear trend along the south-north axis, with earliest arrival closest to the overwintering range. E. fabae arrival has advanced by 10 days over the last 62 years. E. fabae arrived earlier in warmer years in relation to each target state level temperature anomaly (3.0 days / degree C increase in temperature anomaly). Increased temperature had a significant and positive effect on the severity of infestation, and arrival date had a marginal negative effect on severity. These relationships suggest that continued warming could advance the time of E. fabae colonization and increase their impact on affected crops.
The status report on the Indian giant squirrel speculates a declining population trend for the species and suggests that a further decline can be expected. Given the wide distribution of the species ...and the limited resources to accurately estimate abundances to monitor population trends, the proportion of the area occupied by the species could be used as an alternate state variable. Arriving at occupancy rates involves repeated detection/non-detection surveys and analysis of the data in a capture–recapture framework. We estimate the site occupancy rates for unstudied populations of Indian giant squirrel within the Kalakad–Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR) using a model that allowed us to estimate this parameter even when the species was not detected. About 180 evidences of the occurrence of the species were recorded from 486 km of trails. The estimated occupancy rate for Indian giant squirrel in KMTR was 0.82 (with a SE of 0.08) with a detection probability of 0.71 (±0.05). An examination of the species– habitat relationship showed that contiguous patches of moist deciduous and evergreen forests were preferred by the species. The occupancy rates were low in areas with degraded dry deciduous forests and scrub, which were associated with high levels of human disturbance. The estimates from this study provide a benchmark for long-term monitoring and metapopulation studies.
Over the past two decades many checklists of reptiles of India and adjacent countries have been published. These publications have furthered the growth of knowledge on systematics, distribution and ...biogeography of Indian reptiles, and the field of herpetology in India in general. However, the reporting format of most such checklists of Indian reptiles does not provide a basis for direct verification of the information presented. As a result, mistakes in the inclusion and omission of species have been perpetuated and the exact number of reptile species reported from India still remains unclear. A verification of the current listings based on distributional records and review of published checklists revealed that 199 species of lizards (Reptilia: Sauria) are currently validly reported on the basis of distributional records within the boundaries of India. Seventeen other lizard species have erroneously been included in earlier checklists of Indian reptiles. Omissions of species by these checklists have been even more numerous than erroneous inclusions. In this paper, I present a plea to report species lists as annotated checklists which corroborate the inclusion and omission of species by providing valid source references or notes.
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