Oil sands mining companies in Alberta, Canada, are planning to create wetlands for the bioremediation of mining waste materials as part of a reclamation strategy. To assess feasibility, experimental wetlands mimicking proposed reclamation scenarios were constructed on mining leases. This research assessed the health of tree swallows (<i>Tachycineta bicolor</i>) nesting on these sites where they were naturally exposed to a mixture of chemicals including unrecovered bitumen, naphthenic acids (NAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Endpoints reflecting health were compared among three experimental wetlands and one reference site. In order to specifically investigate toxicity of NAs to birds, an experimental exposure to NAs was also conducted on a subset of nestlings on the reference site. <p> In 2003 and 2004, approximately 50 breeding pairs (total, per year) nesting on the following sites were monitored: Suncors Consolidated Tailings and Natural Wetlands; Syncrudes Demo Pond and Poplar Creek reference site. In 2003, reproductive success was very low on OSPM-sites compared to the reference site, but was relatively unaffected in 2004. Compromised reproductive performance in 2003 was linked to harsh weather, during which mortality rates of nestlings reached 100% on the site with the highest levels of PAHs and NAs, while they did not surpass 50% on the reference site. In 2004, mortality rates were low but nestlings from OSPM-sites weighed less and showed greater hepatic detoxification efforts (etoxyresorufin-o-deethylase activity) than those on the reference site. Furthermore, nestlings on OSPM-sites exhibited higher levels of thyroid hormones and suffered parasitic burdens (Protocalliphora spp.) approximately twice that of those on the reference site. Several of these findings may be associated with low post-fledging survival, suggesting that wet landscape reclamation strategy is not optimal for avian species and may require improvement. <p> As part of a separate study investigating toxicity of naphthenic acids, twenty nestlings from the reference site were randomly selected for an experimental exposure. Nestlings received 0.1 ml/day of NAs (15g/L) orally from day 7 to day 13 of age while being reared normally by their free-ranging parents. Nestling growth, hematocrit, blood biochemistry, organ weights and etoxyresorufin-o-deethylase activity (EROD) activity appeared unaffected by naphthenic acids. No toxic changes were detected on histopathological evaluation of major organs. These findings suggest that for nestlings reared on oil sands reclaimed sites, exposure to other chemicals such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is a greater concern than exposure to NAs. However, this study did not investigate the chronic or reproductive toxicity of naphthenic acids. More research still needs to be conducted as a part of an assessment of the sustainability of wet landscape reclamation because a previous study found that chronic exposure to NAs severely compromised reproduction in mammals.

Wetlands are among the most ecologically productive lands in the world, but every year they continue to be lost due to increasing pressures from agriculture, industrial development, urbanization and the lack of effective mitigation to deal with such pressures. Despite environmental assessment processes, policies, and regulations to ensure the mitigation of affected wetlands, wetlands continue to experience a loss in areal extent, but more importantly, a functional net-loss. This is attributed, in large part, to the lack of incorporating cumulative effects principles into project-based wetland impact assessment and mitigation. The majority of activities that affect wetlands are either assessed at the screening level, where cumulative effects are rarely considered, or are deemed insignificant and do not trigger any formal environmental assessment process. As a result, the mitigation of cumulative effects on wetlands is often insufficient or completely lacking in development planning and decision-making. Part of the challenge is that there currently does not exist methodological guidance as to how to identify wetland cumulative effects and corresponding mitigation needs early in the project design process. This research presents a methodological framework and guidance for the integration of cumulative effects in decision-making for project-based, wetland impact mitigation. The framework provides a means for the early indication, assessment, and mitigation of the potential cumulative effects of project developments on the wetland environment, with the objective of ensuring a no-net-loss of wetland functions.

<p>Sammandrag på engelska.</p>

<p>With an English summary</p>

Oil sands mining companies in Alberta, Canada, are planning to create wetlands for the bioremediation of mining waste materials as part of a reclamation strategy. To assess feasibility, experimental wetlands mimicking proposed reclamation scenarios were constructed on mining leases. This research assessed the health of tree swallows (<i>Tachycineta bicolor</i>) nesting on these sites where they were naturally exposed to a mixture of chemicals including unrecovered bitumen, naphthenic acids (NAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Endpoints reflecting health were compared among three experimental wetlands and one reference site. In order to specifically investigate toxicity of NAs to birds, an experimental exposure to NAs was also conducted on a subset of nestlings on the reference site. <p> In 2003 and 2004, approximately 50 breeding pairs (total, per year) nesting on the following sites were monitored: Suncors Consolidated Tailings and Natural Wetlands; Syncrudes Demo Pond and Poplar Creek reference site. In 2003, reproductive success was very low on OSPM-sites compared to the reference site, but was relatively unaffected in 2004. Compromised reproductive performance in 2003 was linked to harsh weather, during which mortality rates of nestlings reached 100% on the site with the highest levels of PAHs and NAs, while they did not surpass 50% on the reference site. In 2004, mortality rates were low but nestlings from OSPM-sites weighed less and showed greater hepatic detoxification efforts (etoxyresorufin-o-deethylase activity) than those on the reference site. Furthermore, nestlings on OSPM-sites exhibited higher levels of thyroid hormones and suffered parasitic burdens (Protocalliphora spp.) approximately twice that of those on the reference site. Several of these findings may be associated with low post-fledging survival, suggesting that wet landscape reclamation strategy is not optimal for avian species and may require improvement. <p> As part of a separate study investigating toxicity of naphthenic acids, twenty nestlings from the reference site were randomly selected for an experimental exposure. Nestlings received 0.1 ml/day of NAs (15g/L) orally from day 7 to day 13 of age while being reared normally by their free-ranging parents. Nestling growth, hematocrit, blood biochemistry, organ weights and etoxyresorufin-o-deethylase activity (EROD) activity appeared unaffected by naphthenic acids. No toxic changes were detected on histopathological evaluation of major organs. These findings suggest that for nestlings reared on oil sands reclaimed sites, exposure to other chemicals such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is a greater concern than exposure to NAs. However, this study did not investigate the chronic or reproductive toxicity of naphthenic acids. More research still needs to be conducted as a part of an assessment of the sustainability of wet landscape reclamation because a previous study found that chronic exposure to NAs severely compromised reproduction in mammals.

Wetlands are among the most ecologically productive lands in the world, but every year they continue to be lost due to increasing pressures from agriculture, industrial development, urbanization and the lack of effective mitigation to deal with such pressures. Despite environmental assessment processes, policies, and regulations to ensure the mitigation of affected wetlands, wetlands continue to experience a loss in areal extent, but more importantly, a functional net-loss. This is attributed, in large part, to the lack of incorporating cumulative effects principles into project-based wetland impact assessment and mitigation. The majority of activities that affect wetlands are either assessed at the screening level, where cumulative effects are rarely considered, or are deemed insignificant and do not trigger any formal environmental assessment process. As a result, the mitigation of cumulative effects on wetlands is often insufficient or completely lacking in development planning and decision-making. Part of the challenge is that there currently does not exist methodological guidance as to how to identify wetland cumulative effects and corresponding mitigation needs early in the project design process. This research presents a methodological framework and guidance for the integration of cumulative effects in decision-making for project-based, wetland impact mitigation. The framework provides a means for the early indication, assessment, and mitigation of the potential cumulative effects of project developments on the wetland environment, with the objective of ensuring a no-net-loss of wetland functions.

Wetland, one of the three major ecosystems on earth, can prevent flood, purify water quality and provide habitat for wildlife; also protects the shore line from erosion, and has many other functions and values. Owing to the economic development and the rapid population growth, the land resource has being inadequate to meet all demands. Thus, coastal wetlands have become the target of development. This tendency causes reduction and fragmentary of wetlands, degradation of ecosystem and depletion of ecological resources. To avoid the improper development on the wetland, it is necessary to integrate considerations over the social economy, ecosystem, and management strategy. Based on the unique feature of the wetland, it is therefore possible to effectively manage the wetland resources for achieving the goal of sustainable development. This study explores the group model building approach which design for the discussion of the various potential effects of the yacht industry park may have on Cheting Wetland. Participants of stakeholders in Cheting had met several times and the structured debates had been organized with them in order to promote the emergence of a consensual view of the main issues and their implications. And then, a system dynamic model was built to evaluate the development in the wetlands zone. The authentic results of the policies and scenario analyses inspected the effectiveness of the designate plans for Cheting Wetland development. Particular Wetland Zone, Artificial Floating Island and In Lieu Fee were adopted as management strategies in Cheting Wetland Zone case. The study concludes that: under single-policy condition, implementation of Particular Wetland Zone is the best management strategy; while under the multi-policy conditions, the combination of Wetland Zone and Artificial Floating Island would have the best managerial performance. Additional benefits of the GMB study include: (1) providing stakeholders with information and knowledge to understand the behavior of wetland environment system; (2) A revealing gap between system behavior patterns and participants¡¦ mental model. Both achievements will further promote the participants to introspect and to improve their mental model, eventually help the whole community to reach consensus about wetland management.

Due to various components within the landfill sites, the water qualityof landfill leachate, which has high consistency of COD, BOD and nutrients, is unsteady. Using traditional sewage treatment plant to treat leachate should be designed and built to fit the unsteady water quality, which is usually time consuming and high expenditured. Therefore, application of constructed wetland treatment systems as altanatives may solve such kinds of problems According to the experimental results of this study, referring to the effect of cleaning the controlling substances, the SSF (sub-surface flow system) constructed wetland system performed better than the FWS (free-water surface system) one, which was because FWS was usually operated in an opening water areas, which exposured to the air causing stink in the inflow site of influent, and meanwhile caused problems of virus-transmitting mosquitoes. . Thus, it was suggested to use SSF system in treating landfill leachate. In this study, we found that the average removal efficiencies of pollutants in the leachate were high in the constructed wetland systmes (phosphate 73%, total phosphorous 70¢H, total nitrogen 57%, NH3-N 77¢H, COD 43% ). In addition, the BOD in the effluent from the systems could reach the outflow standard guideline in Taiwan (30 mg/L). Hence, using constructed wetland systems to solve those problems arisen from landfill leachate is expandable. We also found that the aquatic plant species of reed (Phragmites australis) that we used in this study could not grow well and was invaded by aphid due to the limitary environment in the landfill site and lack of biodiversity, which could not generate a good natural food chain. On the other hand, it was found that the plant species of evergreen (Dracaena sanderiana) could grow healthily and present high removal efficiencies for pollutants. Since the leachate was lack of biodegradable organic carbon sources used for denitrification, in the final test run of this study, we run an experiment of adding organic carbon sourcecs (fructose and molasses) into the constructed wetland systemis to test its effect on denitrification. The experimental results showed that the addition of organic carbon sources could significantly increase the efficiencies of denitrification to let more nitrate removed from the leachate, especially for molasses, which could increase the denitrification efficiency above 90%.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [135]-139). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International.