Environmental Encyclopedia

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Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Japanese logging

ESOURCES

OOKS

McCutcheon, S. Electric Rivers: The Story of the James Bay Project. Montreal:

Black Rose Books, 1991.

ERIODICALS

Associated Press. “James Bay Cree Approve Deal with Quebec on Hy-

dropower Development.” February 05, 2002.

Picard, A. “James Bay II.” Amicus Journal 12 (Fall 1990): 10–16.

Japanese logging

In recent decades the timber industry has intensified efforts

to harvest logs from tropical, temperate, and boreal forests

worldwide to meet an increasing demand for wood and wood

products. Japanese companies have been particularly active

logging

and importing timber from around the world.

Because of wasteful and destructive logging practices that

result from efforts to maximize corporate financial gains,

those interested in reducing

deforestation

have raised many

concerns about Japan’s logging industry.

The world’s forests, especially tropical rain forests, are

rich in

species

, including plants, insects, birds, reptiles, and

mammals. Many of these species exist only in very limited

areas where conditions are suitable for their existence. These

endangered forest dwellers provide unique and irreplaceable

genetic material that can contribute to the betterment of

domestic plants and animals. The forests are a valuable re-

source for medically useful drugs. Healthy forests stabilize

watersheds by absorbing rainfall and retarding

runoff

. Mat

roots help control

soil erosion

, preventing the silting of

waterways and damage to reefs, fisheries, and spawning

grounds.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organiza-

tion reports tropical deforestation rates of 42 million acres

(over 17 million ha) per year. More than half of the Earth’s

primary tropical forest area has vanished, and more than

half of the remaining forest has been degraded. While Brazil

contains about a third of the world’s remaining

tropical

rain forest

, southeast Asia is now a major supplier of tropical

woods. Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Kampuchea, Ma-

laysia, Indonesia, Borneo, New Guinea, and the Philippines

contain 20% of the world’s remaining tropical forests. With

current rates of deforestation, it is estimated that almost all

of Southeast Asia’s primary forests will be gone by the year

2010. While a number of countries make use of

rain forest

wood, Japan is the number one importer of tropical timber.

Japan’s imports account for about 30% of the world trade

in tropical lumber.

Japan also imports large amounts of timber from tem-

perate and boreal forests in Canada, Russia, and the United

States. These three countries contain most of the remaining

787

boreal forests, and they supply more than half of the world’s

industrial wood. As demand for timber continues to climb,

previously undisturbed virgin forests are increasingly being

used. To speed harvesting, logging roads are built to provide

access, and heavy equipment is brought in to hasten work.

In the process, soil is compacted, making plant re-growth

difficult or impossible. Although these practices are not lim-

ited to one country, Japanese firms have been cited by envi-

ronmentalists as particularly insensitive to the environmental

impact of logging.

The globe’s forests are sometimes referred to as the

’lungs of the planet,’ exchanging

carbon dioxide

for oxygen.

Critics claim that the wood harvesting industry is destroying

this vital natural resource, and in the process this industry

is endangering the planet’s ability to nurture and sustain life.

Widespread destruction of the world’s forests is a growing

concern. Large Japanese companies, and companies affiliated

with Japanese firms, have logged old growth forests in several

parts of the globe to supply timber for the Japanese forest

products industry.

Clear-cutting

of trees over large areas in

tropical rain forests has made preservation of the original

flora

and

fauna

impossible. Many species are becoming

extinct. Replanting may in time restore the trees, but it will

not restore the array of organisms that were present in the

original forest.

Large scale logging activities have had a largely nega-

tive impact on the local economies in exporting regions

because whole logs are shipped to Japan for further pro-

cessing. Developed countries such as the United States and

Canada, which in the past harvested timber and processed

it into lumber and other products, have lost jobs to Japan.

Indigenous cultures that have thrived in harmony with their

forest homelands for eons are displaced and destroyed. Provi-

sion has not been made for the survival of local flora and

fauna, and provision for forest re-establishment has thus far

proven inadequate. As resentment has grown in impacted

areas, and among environmentalists, efforts have emerged

to limit or stop large-scale timber harvesting and exporting.

Although concern has been voiced over all large-scale

logging operations, special concern has been raised over

harvesting of tropical timber from previously undisturbed

primary forest areas. Tropical rain forests are especially

unique and valuable

natural resources

for many reasons,

including the density and variety of species within their

borders. The exploitation of these unique ecosystems will

result in the

extinction

of many potentially valuable species

of plants and animals that exist nowhere else. Many of these

forms of life have not yet been named or scientifically studied.

In addition, over-harvesting of tropical rainforests has a

negative effect on weather patterns, especially by reducing

rainfall.

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Japanese logging

Japan is a major importer of tropical timber from Ma-

laysia, New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. Although

the number of imported logs has declined in recent years,

this has been matched by an increase in imported tropical

plywood manufactured in Indonesia and Malaysia. As a

result, the total amount of timber removed has remained

fairly constant. An environmentalist group called the

Rainf-

orest Action Network

(RAN) has issued an alarm concern-

ing recent expansion of logging activity by firms affiliated

with Japanese importers. The RAN alleges that: “After lay-

ing waste to the rain forests of Asia and the Pacific islands,

giant Malaysian logging companies are setting their sights

on the Amazon. This past year, some of Southeast Asia’s

biggest forestry conglomerates have moved into Brazil, and

are buying controlling interests in area logging companies,

and purchasing rights to cut down vast rain forest territories

for as little as $3 U.S. dollars per acre. In the last few months

of 1996 these companies quadrupled their South American

interests, and now threaten 15% of the Amazon with imme-

diate logging. According to The Wall Street Journal,upto

30 million acres (12.3 million ha) are at stake. Major players

include the WTK Group, Samling, Mingo, and Rimbunan

Hijau.”

The RAN claims that “the same timber companies in

Sarawak, Malaysia, worked with such rapacious speed that

they devastated the region’s forest within a decade, displacing

traditional peoples and leaving the landscape marred with

silted rivers and eroded soil.”

One large Japanese firm, the Mitsubishi Corporation,

has been targeted for criticism and boycott by the RAN, as

one of the world’s largest importers of timber. The boycott

is an effort to encourage environmentally-conscious consum-

ers to stop buying products marketed by companies affiliated

with the huge conglomerate, including automobiles, cam-

eras, beer, cell phones, and consumer electronics equipment.

Through its subsidiaries, Mitsubishi has logged or imported

timber from the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea,

Bolivia, Indonesia, Brazil, Chile, Canada (British Columbia

and Alberta), Siberia, and the United States (Alaska, Ore-

gon, Washington, and Texas). The RAN charges that “Mit-

subishi Corporation is one of the most voracious destroyers

of the world’s rain forests. Its timber purchases have laid

waste to forests in the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New

Guinea, Indonesia, Brazil, Bolivia,

Australia

, New Zealand,

Siberia, Canada, and even the United States.” The Mitsubi-

shi Corporation itself does not sell consumer products, but

it consists of 190 interlinked companies and hundreds of

associated firms that do market to consumers. This conglom-

erate forms one of the world’s largest industrial and financial

powers. The Mitsubishi umbrella includes Mitsubishi Bank,

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Electronics, Mit-

subishi Motors, and other major components. To force Mit-

788

subishi and other corporations involved with timber harvest-

ing to operate in a more environmentally responsible way

and to end “their destructive logging and trading practices,”

an international boycott was organized in 1990 by the World

Rainforest Movement (tropical forests) and the

Taiga

Res-

cue Network (boreal forests).

The Mitsubishi Corporation has countered criticism

by launching a program “to promote the regeneration of rain

forests...in Malaysia that plants seedlings and monitors their

development.” In 1990, the corporation formed an Environ-

mental Affairs Department, one of the first of its kind in

Japan, to draft environmental guidelines, and coordinate

corporate environmental activities. In the words of the Mit-

subishi Corporation Chairman, “A business cannot continue

to exist without the trust and respect of society for its envi-

ronmental performance.” Mitsubishi Corporation reports

that they have launched a program to support experimental

reforestation projects in Malaysia, Brazil, and Chile. In Ma-

laysia, the company is working with a local agricultural uni-

versity, under the guidance of a professor from Japan. About

300,000 seedlings were planted on a barren site in 1991.

Within five years, the trees were over 33 feet (10 m) in

height and the corporation claimed that they were “well on

the way to establishing techniques for regenerating tropical

forest on burnt or barren land using indigenous species.”

Similar projects are underway in Brazil and Chile. The com-

pany is also conducting research on sustainable management

of the Amazon rain forests. In Canada, Mitsubishi Corpora-

tion has participated in a pulp project called Al-Pac to start

a mill “which will supply customers in North America, Eu-

rope, and Asia,” meeting “the strictest environmental stan-

dards by employing advanced, environmentally safe technol-

ogy. Al-Pac harvests around 0.25% of its total area annually

and all harvested areas will be reforested.”

[Bill Asenjo Ph.D.]

ESOURCES

OOKS

Marx, M. J. The Mitsubishi Campaign: First Year Report. Rainforest Action

Network, San Francisco, 1993.

Mitsubishi Corporation Annual Report 1996. Mitsubishi Corporation,

Tokyo, 1996.

Wakker, E. “Mitsubishi’s Unsustainable Timber Trade: Sarawak.” In Resto-

ration of Tropical Forest Ecosystems. L. and M. Lohmann, eds. Netherlands:

Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1993.

ERIODICALS

Marshall, G. “The Political Economy of the Logging: The Barnett Inquiry

into Corruption in the Papua New Guinea Timber Industry,” The Ecologist

20, no. 5 (1990).

Neff, R., and W. J. Holstein. “Mitsubishi is on the Move,” Business Week,

September 24, 1990.

World Rainforest Report XII, no. 4 (October-December 1995). San Fran-

cisco: Rainforest Action Network.

Kapirowitz Plateau

The Kapirowitz Plateau, a

wildlife refuge

on the northern

rim of the Grand Canyon, has come to symbolize

wildlife

management

gone awry, a classic case of misguided human

intervention intended to help

wildlife

that ended up damag-

ing the animals and the

environment

. The Kapirowitz is

located on the

Colorado River

in northwestern Arizona,

and is bounded by steep cliffs dropping down to the Kanab

Canyon to the west, and the Grand and Marble canyons

to the south and southeast. Because of its inaccessibility,

according to naturalist James B. Trefethen, the Plateau was

considered a “biological island,” and its deer population

“evolved in almost complete genetic isolation.”

The lush grass meadows of the Kapirowitz Plateau

supported a resident population of 3,000 mule deer (Odo-

coileus hemionus), which were known and renowned for their

massive size and the huge antlers of the old bucks. Before

the advent of Europeans, Paiute and Navajo Indians hunted

on the Kapirowitz in the fall, stocking up on meat and skins

for the winter. In the early 1900s, in an effort to protect

and enhance the magnificent deer population of the Kapi-

rowitz, the federal government prohibited all killing of deer,

and even eliminated the predator population in the area.

As a result, the deer population exploded, causing massive

overbrowsing, starvation, and a drastic decline in the health

and population of the herd.

In 1893, when the Kapirowitz and surrounding lands

were designated the Grand Canyon

National Forest

Re-

serve, hundreds of thousands of sheep, cattle, and horses

were grazing on the Plateau, resulting in

overgrazing

ero-

sion

, and large-scale damage to the land. On November 28,

1906, President

Theodore Roosevelt

established the one

million-acre (400,000-ha) Grand Canyon National Game

Preserve, which provided complete protection of the Kapi-

rowitz ’s deer population. By then, however, overgrazing by

livestock had destroyed much of the native vegetation and

changed the Kapirowitz considerably for the worse. Contin-

789

ued pasturing of over 16,000 horses and cattle degraded the

Kapirowitz even further.

The

Forest Service

carried out President Roosevelt’s

directive to emphasize “the propagation and breeding” of

the mule deer by not only banning

hunting

, but also natural

predators as well. From 1906 to 1931, federal agents poi-

soned, shot, or trapped 4,889 coyotes (Canis latrans), 781

mountain lions (Puma concolor, 554 bobcats (Felis rufus), and

wolves

(Canis lupus). Without predators to remove the

old, the sick, the unwary, and other biologically unfit ani-

mals, and keep the size of the herd in check, the deer herd

began to grow out of control, and to lose those qualities that

made its members such unique and magnificent animals.

After 1906, the deer population doubled within 10 breeding

seasons, and by 1918 (two years later), it doubled again. By

1923, the herd had mushroomed to at least 30,000 deer,

and perhaps as many as 100,000 according to some estimates.

Unable to support the overpopulation of deer, range

grasses and land greatly deteriorated, and by 1925, 10,000–

15,000 deer were reported to have died from starvation and

malnutrition. Finally, after relocation efforts mostly failed

to move a significant number of deer off of the Kapirowitz,

hunting was reinstated, and livestock grazing was strictly

controlled. By 1931, hunting, disease, and starvation had

reduced the herd to under 20,000. The range grasses and

other vegetation returned, and the Kapirowitz began to re-

cover. In 1975 James Trefethen wrote, “the Kapirowitz today

again produces some of the largest and heaviest antlered

mule deer in North America.”

In the fields of wildlife management and biology, the

lessons of the Kapirowitz Plateau are often cited (as in the

writings of naturalist

Aldo Leopold

) to demonstrate the

valuable role of predators in maintaining the

balance of

nature

(such as between herbivores and the plants they

consume) and survival of the fittest. The experience of the

Kapirowitz shows that in the absence of natural predators,

prey populations (especially ungulates) tend to increase be-

yond the

carrying capacity

of the land, and eventually the

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Robert Francis Kennedy Jr.

results are overpopulation and malnutrition. See also Predator

control; Predator-prey interactions

[Lewis G. Regenstein]

ESOURCES

OOKS

Leopold, A. A Sand County Almanac. New York: Oxford University

Press, 1949.

Trefethen, J. B. An American Crusade for Wildlife. New York: Winchester

Press, 1975.

ERIODICALS

Rasmussen, D. I. “Biotic Communities of the Kapirowitz Plateau,” Ecologi-

cal Monographs 3 (1941): 229–275.

Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. (1954 – )

American environmental lawyer

Robert “Bobby” Kennedy Jr. had a very controversial youth.

Kennedy entered a drug

rehabilitation

program, at the age

of 28, after being found guilty of drug possession following

the South Dakota incident. He was sentenced to two years

probation and community service.

Clearly the incident was a turning point in Bobby’s

life. “Let’s just say, I had a tumultuous adolescence that

lasted until I was 29,” he told a reporter for New York

magazine, which ran a long profile of Kennedy in 1995,

entitled “Nature Boy.” The title refers to the passion which

has enabled Kennedy to emerge from his bleak years as a

strong and vital participant in environmental causes.

A Harvard graduate and published author, Kennedy

serves as chief prosecuting attorney for a group called the

Hudson Riverkeeper (named after the famed New York

river) and senior attorney for the

Natural Resources De-

fense Council

. Kennedy, who earlier in his career served as

assistant district attorney in New York City after passing

the bar, is also a clinical professor and supervising attorney

at the Environmental Litigation Clinic at Pace University

School of Law in New York.

While Kennedy appeared to be following in the fami-

ly’s political footsteps, working, for example, on several polit-

ical campaigns and serving as a state coordinator for his

Uncle Ted’s 1980 presidential campaign, it is in environmen-

tal issues that Bobby Jr. has found himself. He has worked

on environmental issues across the Americas and has assisted

several indigenous tribes in Latin America and Canada in

successfully negotiating treaties protecting traditional home-

lands. He is also credited with leading the fight to protect

New York City’s water supply, a battle which resulted in

the New York City

Watershed

Agreement, regarded as an

790

international model for combining development and envi-

ronmental concerns.

Opportunity was always around the corner for a young,

confident and intelligent Kennedy. After Harvard, Bobby

Jr. earned a law degree at the University of Virginia. In

1978, the subject of Kennedy’s Harvard thesis—a prominent

Alabama judge—was named head of the FBI. A publisher

offered Bobby money to expand his previous research into

a book, published in 1978, called Judge Frank M. Johnson,

Jr.: A Biography.

Bobby did a publicity tour which included TV appear-

ances, but the reviews were mixed. In 1982, Bobby married

Emily Black, a Protestant who later converted to Catholi-

cism. Two children followed: Robert Francis Kennedy III

and Kathleen Alexandra, named for Bobby’s Aunt Kathleen,

who died in a plane crash in 1948.

The marriage, however, coincided with Bobby’s fallout

through drug addiction. In 1992, Bobby and Emily sepa-

rated, and a divorce was obtained in the Dominican Repub-

lic. In 1994, Bobby married Mary Richardson, an architect,

with whom he would have two more children.

During this time Bobby emerged as a leading environ-

mental activist and litigator. Kennedy is quoted as saying:

“To me...this is a struggle of good and evil between short-

term greed and a long-term vision of building communities

that are dignified and enriching and that meet the obligations

future generations

. There are two visions of America.

One is that this is just a place where you make a pile for

yourself and keep moving. And the other is that you put

down roots and build communities that are examples to the

rest of humanity.” Kennedy goes on: “The

environment

cannot be separated from the economy, housing, civil rights.

How we distribute the goods of the earth is the best measure

of our democracy. It’s not about advocating for fishes and

birds. It’s about human rights.”

ESOURCES

OOKS

Young Kennedys: The New Generation. Avon, 1998.

THER

Biography Resource Center Online. Biography Resource Center. Farmington

Hills, MI: The Gale Group. 2002.

RGANIZATIONS

Riverkeeper, Inc., 25 Wing & Wing, Garrison, NY USA 10524-0130

(845) 424-4149, Fax: (845) 424-4150, Email: info@riverkeeper.org,

<http://www.riverkeeper.org>

Kepone

Kepone (C

O) is an organochlorine

pesticide

that was

manufactured by the Allied Chemical Corporation in Vir-

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Kepone

ginia from the late 1940s to the 1970s. Kepone was responsi-

ble for human health problems and extensive contamination

of the James River and its

estuary

in the

Chesapeake Bay

It is a milestone in the development of a public environmen-

tal consciousness, and its history is considered by many to

be a classic example of negligent corporate behavior and

inadequate oversight by state and federal agencies.

Kepone is an insecticide and

fungicide

that is closely

related to other chlorinated pesticides such as DDT and

aldrin. As with all such pesticides, Kepone causes lethal

damage to the nervous systems of its target organisms. A

poorly water-soluble substance, it can be absorbed through

the skin, and it bioaccumulates in fatty tissues from which

it is later released into the bloodstream. It is also a contact

poison; when inhaled, absorbed, or ingested by humans, it

can damage the central nervous system as well as the liver

and kidneys. It can also lead to neurological symptoms such

as tremors, muscle spasms, sterility, and

cancer

. Although

the manufacture and use of Kepone is now banned by the

Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA), organochlo-

rines have long half-lives, and these compounds, along with

their residues and degradation products, can persist in the

environment

over many decades.

Allied Chemical first opened a plant to manufacture

nitrogen-based fertilizers in 1928 in the town of Hopewell,

on the banks of the James River in Virginia. This plant

began producing Kepone in 1949. Commercial production

was subsequently begun, although a battery of toxicity tests

indicated that Kepone was both toxic and carcinogenic and

that it caused damage to the functioning of the nervous,

muscular, and reproductive systems in fish, birds, and mam-

mals. It was patented by Allied in 1952 and registered with

federal agencies in 1957. The demand for the pesticide grew

after 1958, and Allied expanded production by entering into

a variety of subcontracting agreements with a number of

smaller companies, including the Life Science Products

Company.

In 1970, a series of new environmental regulations

came into effect which should have changed the way wastes

from the manufacture of Kepone were discharged. The Re-

fuse Act Permit Program and the National Pollutant

Dis-

charge

Elimination Program (NPDES) of the

Clean Water

Act

required all dischargers of effluents into United States

waters to register their discharges and obtain permits from

federal agencies. At the time these regulations went into

effect, Allied Chemical had three pipes discharging Kepone

and plastic wastes into the Gravelly Run, a tributary of the

James River, about 75 mi (120 km) north of Chesapeake Bay.

A regional

sewage treatment

plant which would

accept industrial wastes was then under construction but not

scheduled for completion until 1975. Rather than installing

expensive

pollution control

equipment for the interim pe-

791

riod, Allied chose to delay. They adopted a strategy of misin-

formation, reporting the releases as temporary and unmoni-

tored discharges, and they did not disclose the presence of

untreated Kepone and other process wastes in the effluents.

The Life Science Products Company also avoided the new

federal permit requirements by discharging their wastes di-

rectly into the local Hopewell sewer system. These discharges

caused problems with the functioning of the biological treat-

ment systems at the sewage plant; the company was required

to reduce concentrations of Kepone in sewage, but it contin-

ued its discharges at high concentrations, violating these

standards with the apparent knowledge of plant treatment

officials.

During this same period, an employee of Life Science

Products visited a local Hopewell physician, complaining

of tremors, weight loss, and general aches and pains. The

physician discovered impaired liver and nervous functions,

and a blood test revealed an astronomically high level of

Kepone—7.5

parts per million

. Federal and state officials

were contacted, and the epidemiologist for the state of Vir-

ginia toured the manufacturing facility at Life Science Prod-

ucts. This official reported that “Kepone was everywhere in

the plant,” and that workers wore no protective equipment

and were “virtually swimming in the stuff.” Another investi-

gation discovered 75 cases of Kepone

poisoning

among the

workers; some members of their families were also found to

have elevated concentrations of the chemical in their blood.

Further investigations revealed that the environment around

the plant was also heavily contaminated. The

soil

contained

10,000–20,000 ppm of Kepone. Sediments in the James

River, as well as local landfills and trenches around the Allied

facilities were just as badly contaminated. Government agen-

cies were forced to close 100 mi (161 km) of the James River

and its tributaries to commercial and recreational fishing

and shellfishing.

In the middle of 1975, Life Science Products finally

closed its manufacturing facility. It has been estimated that

since 1966, it and Allied together produced 3.2 million lb

(1.5 million kg) of Kepone and were responsible for releasing

100,000–200,000 lb (45,360–90,700 kg) into the environ-

ment. In 1976, the Northern District of Virginia filed crimi-

nal charges against Allied, Life Science Products, the city

of Hopewell, and six individuals on 1,097 counts relating

to the production and disposal of Kepone. The indictments

were based on violations of the permit regulations, unlawful

discharge into the sewer systems, and conspiracy related to

that discharge.

The case went to trial without a jury. The corporations

and the individuals named in the charges negotiated lighter

fines and sentences by entering pleas of “no contest.” Allied

ultimately paid a fine of 13.3 million dollars, although their

annual sales reach three billion dollars. Life Science Products

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge

was fined four million dollars, which it could not pay due

to lack of assets. Company officers were fined 25,000 dollars

each, and the town of Hopewell was fined 10,000 dollars.

No one was sentenced to a jail term. Civil suits brought

against Allied and the other defendants resulted in a settle-

ment of 5.25 million dollars to pay for cleanup expenses and

to repair the damage that had been done to the sewage

treatment plant. Allied paid another three million dollars to

settle civil suits brought by workers for damage to their

health.

Environmentalists and many others considered the

results of legal action against the manufacturers of Kepone

unsatisfactory. Some have argued that these results are typical

of environmental litigation. It is difficult to establish criminal

intent beyond a reasonable doubt in such cases, and even

when guilt is determined, sentencing is relatively light. Cor-

porations are rarely fined in amounts that affect their finan-

cial strength, and individual officers are almost never sent

to jail. Corporate fines are generally passed along as costs

to the consumer, and public bodies are treated even more

lightly, since it is recognized that the fines levied on public

agencies are paid by taxpayers.

Today, the James River has been reopened to fishing

for those

species

that are not prone to the

bioaccumulation

of Kepone. Nevertheless, sediments in the river and its estu-

ary contain large amounts of deposited Kepone which is

released during periods of turbulence. Scientists have pub-

lished studies which document that Kepone is still moving

through the

food chain/web

and the

ecosystem

in this

area, and Kepone toxicity has been demonstrated in a variety

of invertebrate test species. There are still deposits of Kepone

in the local sewer pipes in Hopewell; these continue to

release the chemical, endangering treatment plant operations

and polluting receiving waters.

[Usha Vedagiri and Douglas Smith]

ESOURCES

OOKS

Goldfarb, W. Kepone: A Case Study. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univer-

sity, 1977.

Sax, N. I. Dangerous Properties of Industrial Materials. 6th ed. New York:

Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1984.

Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge

One of a dwindling number of freshwater marshes in Cali-

fornia’s San Joaquin Valley, Kesterson

National Wildlife

Refuge

achieved national notoriety in 1983 when refuge

managers discovered that agricultural

runoff

was

poisoning

the area’s birds. Among other elements and

agricultural

chemicals

reaching toxic concentrations in the

wetlands

792

Breeding populations of American coots were

affected by selenium poisoning at Kesterson

National Wildlife Refuge. (Photograph by Leonard

Lee Rue III. Visuals Unlimited. Reproduced by permission.)

the naturally occurring element selenium was identified as

the cause of falling fertility and severe

birth defects

in the

refuge’s breeding populations of stilts, grebes, shovellers,

coots, and other aquatic birds. Selenium,

lead

, boron, chro-

mium, molybdenum, and numerous other contaminants

were accumulating in refuge waters because the refuge had

become an evaporation pond for tainted water draining from

the region’s fields.

The soils of the

arid

San Joaquin valley are the source

of Kesterson’s problems. The flat valley floor is composed

of ancient sea bed sediments that contain high levels of

trace elements,

heavy metals

, and salts. But with generous

applications of water, this sun-baked

soil

provides an excel-

lent medium for food production. Perforated pipes buried

in the fields drain away excess water—and with it dissolved

salts and trace elements—after flood

irrigation

. An exten-

sive system of underground piping, known as tile

drainage

carries

wastewater

into a network of canals that lead to

Kesterson Refuge, an artificial basin constructed by the

Bu-

reau of Reclamation

to store irrigation runoff from central

California’s heavily-watered agriculture. Originally a final

drainage canal from Kesterson to San Francisco Bay was

planned, but because an outfall point was never agreed upon,

contaminated drainage water remained trapped in Kester-

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Keystone species

son’s 12 shallow ponds. In small doses, selenium and other

trace elements are not harmful and can even be dietary

necessities. But steady evaporation in the refuge gradually

concentrated these contaminants to dangerous levels.

Wetlands in California’s San Joaquin valley were once

numerous, supporting huge populations of breeding and mi-

grating birds. In the past half century drainage and the

development of agricultural fields have nearly depleted the

area’s marshes. The new ponds and cattail marshes at Kester-

son presented a rare opportunity to extend breeding

habitat

and the area was declared a national

wildlife refuge

1972, one year after the basins were constructed. Eleven

years later, in the spring of 1983, observers discovered that

a shocking 60% of Kesterson’s nestlings were grotesquely

deformed. High concentrations of selenium were found in

their tissues, an inheritance from parent birds who ate algae,

plants, and insects—all tainted with selenium—in the marsh.

Following extensive public outcry the local water man-

agement district agreed to try to protect the birds. Alternate

drainage routes were established, and by 1987 much of the

most contaminated drainage had been diverted from the

wildlife

refuge. The California Water Resource Control

Board ordered the Bureau of

Reclamation

to drain the

ponds and clean out contaminated sediments, at a cost of well

over $50 million. However, these contaminants, especially in

such large volumes and high concentrations, are difficult to

contain, and similar problems could quickly emerge again.

Furthermore, these problems are widespread. Selenium poi-

soning from irrigation runoff has been discovered in least

nine other national wildlife refuges, all in the arid west, since

it appeared at Kesterson. Researchers continue to work on

affordable and effective responses to such contamination in

wetlands, an increasingly rare habitat in this country.

[Mary Ann Cunningham Ph.D.]

ESOURCES

OOKS

Harris, T. Death in the Marsh. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1991.

ERIODICALS

Claus, K. E. “Kesterson: An Unsolvable Problem?” Environment 89 (1987):

4–5.

Harris, T. “The Kesterson Syndrome.” Amicus Journal 11 (Fall 1989): 4–9.

Marshal, E. “Selenium in Western Wildlife Refuges.” Science 231 (1986):

111–12.

Tanji, K., A. La

uchli, and J. Meyer. “Selenium in the San Joaquin Valley.”

Environment 88 (1986): 6–11.

RGANIZATIONS

Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge, c/o San Luis NWR Complex, 340 I

Street, P.O. Box 2176, Los Banos, CA USA 93635 (209) 826-3508,

793

Ketones

Ketones belong to a class of organic compounds known as

carbonyls. They contain a

carbon

atom linked to an oxygen

atom with a double bond (C=O).

Acetone

(dimethyl ketone)

is a ketone commonly used in industrial applications. Other

ketones include methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), methyl isobutyl

ketone (MIBK), methyl amyl ketone (MAK), isophorone,

and diacetone alcohol.

As solvents, ketones have the ability to dissolve other

materials or substances, particularly polymers and adhesives.

They are ingredients in lacquers, epoxies, polyurethane, nail

polish remover, degreasers, and cleaning solvents. Ketones

are also used in industry for the manufacture of

plastics

and

composites and in pharmaceutical and photographic film

manufacturing. Because they have high evaporation rates

and dry quickly, they are sometimes employed in drying

applications.

Some types of ketones used in industry, such as methyl

isobutyl ketone and methyl ethyl ketone, are considered

both hazardous air pollutants (HAP) and volatile organic

compounds (VOC) by the EPA. As such, the

Clean Air

Act

regulates their use.

In addition to these industrial sources, ketones are

released into the

atmosphere

cigarette smoke

and car

and truck exhaust. More “natural” environmental sources

such as forest fires and volcanoes also emit ketones. Acetone,

in particular is readily produced in the atmosphere during

the oxidation of organic pollutants or natural emissions.

Ketones (in the form of acetone, beta-hydroxybutyric

acid

and acetoacetic acid) also occur in the human body as a

byproduct of the

metabolism

, or break down, of fat.

[Paula Anne Ford-Martin]

ESOURCES

ERIODICALS

Wood, Andrew. “Cleaner Ketone Oxidation.” Chemical Week (Aug 1, 2001).

THER

U.S. National Library of Medicine. Hazardous Substances Data Bank. [cited

May 2002]. <http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?HSDB>.

RGANIZATIONS

American Chemical Society, 1155 Sixteenth St. NW, Washington, D.C.

USA 20036 (202) 872-4600, Fax: (202) 872-4615, Toll Free: (800) 227-

5558, Email: help@acs.org, <http://www.chemistry.org>

Keystone species

Keystone

species

have a major influence on the structure

of their ecological community. The profound influence of

keystone species occurs because of their position and activity

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Keystone species

within the

food chain/web

. In the sense meant here, a

“major influence” means that removal of a keystone species

would result in a large change in the abundance, and even

the local extirpation, of one or more species in the commu-

nity. This would fundamentally change the structure of the

overall community in terms of species composition, produc-

tivity, and other characteristics. Such changes would have

substantial effects on all of the species that are present, and

could allow new species to invade the community.

The original use of the word “keystone” was in archi-

tecture. An architectural keystone is a wedge-shaped stone

that is strategically located at the summit of an arch. The

keystone serves to lock all other elements of the arch to-

gether, and it thereby gives the entire structure mechanical

integrity. Keystone species play an analogous role in giving

structure to the “architecture” of their ecological community.

The concept of keystone species was first applied to

the role of certain predators (i.e., keystone predators) in

their community. More recently, however, the term has been

extended to refer to other so-called “strong interactors.” This

has been particularly true of keystone herbivores that have

a relatively great influence on the species composition and

relative abundance of plants in their community.

Keystone species directly exert their influence on the

populations of species that they feed upon, but they also

have indirect effects on species lower in the food web. Con-

sider, for example, a hypothetical case of a keystone predator

that regulates the population of a herbivore. This effect will

also, of course, indirectly influence the abundance of plant

species that the herbivore feeds upon. Moreover, by affecting

the competitive relationships among the various species of

plants in the community, the abundance of plants that the

herbivore does not eat will also be indirectly affected by the

keystone predator. Although keystone species exert their

greatest influence on species with which they are most closely

linked through feeding relationships, their influences can

ramify throughout the food web.

Ecologists have documented the presence of keystone

species in many types of communities. The phenomenon

does not, however, appear to be universal, in that keystone

species have not been identified in many ecosystems.

Predators as keystone species

The term “keystone species” was originally used by

the American ecologist Robert Paine to refer to the critical

influence of certain predators. His original usage of the

concept was in reference to rocky intertidal communities of

western North America, in which the predatory starfish

Pisaster ochraceous prevents the mussel Mytilus californianus

from monopolizing the available space on rocky habitats and

thereby eliminating other, less-competitive herbivores and

even seaweeds from the community. By feeding on mussels,

which are the dominant competitor among the herbivores

794

in the community, the starfish prevents these shellfish from

achieving the

dominance

that would otherwise be possible.

This permits the development of a community that is much

richer in species than would occur in the absence of the

predatory starfish. Paine demonstrated the keystone role of

the starfish by conducting experiments in which the predator

was excluded from small areas using cages. When this was

done, the mussels quickly became strongly dominant in the

community and eliminated virtually all other species of her-

bivores. Paine also showed that once mussels reached a cer-

tain size they were safe from predation by the starfish. This

prevented the predator from eliminating the mussel from

the community.

Sea otters

(Enhydra lutris) of the west coast of North

America are another example of a keystone predator. This

species feeds heavily on sea urchins when these invertebrates

are available. By greatly reducing the abundance of sea ur-

chins, the sea otters prevent these herbivores from

overgraz-

ing

kelps and other seaweeds in subtidal habitats. Therefore,

when sea otters are abundant, urchins are not, and this allows

luxurious kelp “forests” to develop. In the absence of otters,

the high urchin populations can keep the kelp populations

low, and the

habitat

then may develop as a rocky “barren

ground.” Because sea otters were trapped very intensively

for their fur during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries,

they were extirpated over much of their natural range. In

fact, the species had been considered extinct until the 1930s,

when small populations were “discovered” off the coast of

California and in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. Thanks

to effective protection from

trapping

, and deliberate re-

introductions to some areas, populations of sea otters have

now recovered over much of their original range. This has

resulted in a natural depletion of urchin populations, and a

widespread increase in the area of kelp forests.

Herbivores as Keystone Species

Some herbivorous animals have also been demon-

strated to have a strong influence on the structure and pro-

ductivity of their ecological community. One such example

is the spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana), a moth

that occasionally irrupts in abundance and becomes an im-

portant

pest

of conifer forests in the northeastern United

States and eastern Canada. The habitat of spruce budworm

is mature forests dominated by balsam fir (Abies balsamea),

white spruce (Picea glauca), and red spruce (P. rubens). This

native species of moth is always present in at least small

populations, but it sometimes reaches very high populations,

which are known as irruptions. When budworm populations

are high, many species of forest birds and small mammals

occur in relatively large populations that subsist by feeding

heavily on larvae of the moth. However, during irruptions

of budworm most of the fir and spruce foliage is eaten by

the abundant larvae, and after this happens for several years

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Kirtland’s warbler

many of the trees die. Because of damages caused to mature

trees in the forest the budworm epidemic collapses, and then

a successional recovery begins. The plant communities of

early

succession

contain many species of plants that are

uncommon in mature conifer forests. Eventually, however,

another matures, conifer forest redevelops, and the cycle is

primed for the occurrence of another irruption of the budw-

orm. Clearly, spruce budworm is a good example of a key-

stone herbivore, because it has such a great influence on the

populations of plant species in its habitat, and also on the

many animal species that are predators of the budworm.

Another example of a keystone herbivore concerns

snow geese (Chen caerulescens) in salt marshes of western

Hudson Bay. In the absence of grazing by flocks of snow

geese this

ecosystem

would become extensively dominated

by several competitively superior species, such as the salt-

marsh grass Puccinellia phryganodes and the sedge Carex subs-

pathacea. However, vigorous feeding by the geese creates

bare patches of up to several square meters in area, which

can then be colonized by other species of plants. The patchy

disturbance regime associated with goose grazing results in

the development of a relatively complex community, which

supports more species of plants than would otherwise be

possible. In addition, by manuring the community with their

droppings, the geese help to maintain higher rates of plant

productivity than might otherwise occur. In recent years,

however, large populations of snow goose have caused severe

damages to the salt-marsh habitat by over-grazing. This has

resulted in the development of salt-marsh “barrens” in some

places, which may take years to recover.

Plants as keystone species

Some ecologists have also extended the idea of key-

stone species to refer to plant species that are extremely

influential in their community. For example, sugar maple

(Acer saccharum) is a competitively superior species that often

strongly dominates stands of forest in eastern North

America. Under these conditions most of the community-

level productivity is contributed by sugar-maple trees. In

addition, most of the seedlings and saplings are of sugar

maple. This is because few seedlings of other species of trees

are able to tolerate the stressful conditions beneath a closed

sugar-maple canopy.

Other ecologists prefer to not use the idea of keystone

species to refer to plants that, because of their competitive

abilities, are strongly dominant in their community. Instead,

these are sometimes referred to as “foundationstone species.”

This term reflects the facts that strongly dominant plants

contribute the great bulk of the

biomass

and productivity of

their community, and that they support almost all herbivores,

predators, and

detritivores

that are present.

[Bill Freedman Ph.D.]

795

ESOURCES

OOKS

Begon, M., J. L. Harper, and C. R. Townsend. Ecology. Individuals, Popula-

tions and Communities. 3rd ed. London: Blackwell Sci. Pub., 1996.

Krebs, C. J. Ecology. The Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abun-

dance. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1985.

Ricklefs, R. E. Ecology. New York: W. H. Freeman and Co., 1990.

ERIODICALS

Paine, R. T. “Intertidal Community Structure: Experimental Studies of the

Relationship Between A Dominant Competitor and Its Principal Predator.”

Oecologia 15 (1974): 93–120.

Killer bees

see

Africanized bees

Kirtland’s warbler

Kirtland’s warbler (Dendroica kirtlandii)isan

endangered

species

and one of the rarest members of the North Ameri-

can wood warbler family. Its entire breeding range is limited

to a seven-county area of north-central Michigan. The re-

stricted distribution of the Kirtland’s warbler and its specific

niche

requirements have probably contributed to low popu-

lation levels throughout its existence, but human activity has

had a large impact on their numbers over the past hun-

dred years.

The first specimen of Kirtland’s warbler was taken by

Samuel Cabot in October 1841, and brought on ship in the

West Indies during an expedition to the Yucatan. But this

specimen went unnoticed until 1865, long after the

species

had been formally described. Charles Pease is credited with

discovering Kirtland’s warbler. He collected a specimen on

May 13, 1851 near Cleveland, Ohio, and gave it to his

father-in-law, Dr. Jared P. Kirtland, a renowned naturalist.

Kirtland sent the specimen to his friend, ornithologist Spen-

cer Fullerton Baird, who described the new species the fol-

lowing year and named it in honor of the naturalist.

The wintering grounds of Kirtland’s warbler is the

Bahamas, a fact which was well established by the turn of

the century, but its nesting grounds went undiscovered until

1903, when Norman Wood found the first nest in Oscoda

County, Michigan. Every nest found since then has been

within a 60 mile (95 km) radius of this spot.

In 1951 the first exhaustive census of singing males was

undertaken in an effort to establish the range of Kirtland’s

warblers as well as its population level. Assuming that num-

bers of males and females are approximately equal and that

a singing male is defending an active nesting site, the total

of 432 in this census indicated a population of 864 birds.

Ten years later another census counted 502 singing males,

indicating the population was over 1,000 birds. In 1971,

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Krakatoa

annual counts began, but for the next 20 years these counts

revealed that the population had dropped significantly,

reaching lows of 167 singing males in 1974 and 1987. In

the early 1990s,

conservation

efforts on behalf of the species

began to bear fruit and the population began to recover. By

2001 the annual census counted 1,085 singing males or a

total population of over 2,000 birds.

The first problem facing this endangered species cen-

ters on its specialized nesting and

habitat

requirements. The

Kirtland’s warbler nests on the ground, and its reproductive

success is tied closely to its selection of young jack pine trees

as nesting sites. When the jack pines are 5–20 ft (1.5–6 m)

tall, at an age of 8–20 years, their lower branches are at

ground level and provide the cover this warbler needs. The

life cycle of the pine, however, is dependent on forest fires,

as the intense heat is needed to open the cones for seed

release. The advent of fire protection in

forest manage-

ment

reduced the production of the number of young trees

the warblers needed and the population suffered. Once this

relationship was fully understood, jack pine stands were man-

aged for Kirtland’s warbler, as well as commercial harvest,

by instituting controlled burns on a 50 year rotational basis.

The second problem is the population pressures

brought to bear by a nest parasite, the brown-headed cowbird

(Molothrus ater), which lays its eggs in the nests of other

songbirds. Originally a bird of open plains, it did not threaten

Kirtland’s warbler until Michigan was heavily deforested,

thus providing it with appropriate habitat. Once established

in the warbler’s range, it has increasingly pressured the Kirt-

land’s population. Cowbird chicks hatch earlier than other

birds and they compete successfully with the other nestlings

for nourishment. Efforts to trap and destroy this nest parasite

in the warbler’s range have resulted in improved reproductive

success for Kirtland’s warbler. See also Deforestation; Endan-

gered Species Act; International Council on Bird Preserva-

tion; Rare species; Wildlife management

[Eugene C. Beckham]

ESOURCES

OOKS

Ehrlich, P. R., D. S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. Birds in Jeopardy: The Imperiled

and Extinct Birds of the United States and Canada, Including Hawaii and

Puerto Rico. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992.

ERIODICALS

Weinrich, J. A. “Status of Kirtland’s Warbler, 1988.” Jack-Pine Warbler 67

(1989): 69–72.

THER

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Kirtland"s Warbler (Dendroica kirtlandii).

April 2, 2002 [cited June 19, 2002]. <http://endangered.fws.gov/i/

b0d.html>.

796

Krakatoa

The explosion of this triad of volcanoes on August 27, 1883,

the culmination of a three-month eruptive phase, astonished

the world because of its global impact. Perhaps one of the

most influential factors, however, was its timing. It happened

during a time of major growth in science, technology, and

communications, and the world received current news ac-

companied by the correspondents’ personal observations.

The explosion was heard some 3,000 mi (4,828 km) away,

on the Island of Rodriguez in the Indian Ocean. The glow

of sunsets was so vivid three months later that fire engines

were called out in New York City and nearby towns.

Krakatoa (or Krakatau), located in the Sunda Strait

between Java and Sumatra, is part of the Indonesian volcanic

system, which was formed by the subduction of the Indian

Ocean plate under the Asian plate. A similar explosion oc-

curred in

A.D.

416, and another major eruption was recorded

in 1680. Now a new

volcano

is growing out of the caldera,

likely building toward some future cataclysm.

This immense natural event, perhaps twice as powerful

as the largest

hydrogen

bomb, had an extraordinary impact

on the solid earth, the oceans, and the

atmosphere

, and

demonstrated their interdependence. It also made possible

the creation of a

wildlife refuge

and

tropical rain forest

preserve on the Ujung Kulon Peninsula of southwestern Java.

Studies revealed that this caldera, like Crater Lake,

Oregon, resulted from Krakatoa’s collapse into the now

empty magma chamber. The explosion produced a 131-ft

(40-m) high tsunami, or tidal wave, which carried a steam-

ship nearly 2 mi (3.2 km) inland, and caused most of the

fatalities resulting from the eruption. Tidal gauges as far

away as San Francisco Bay and the English Channel recorded

fluctuations.

The explosion provided substantial benefits to the

young science of

meteorology

. Every barometer on Earth

recorded the blast wave as it raced towards its antipodal

position in Columbia, and then reverberated back and forth

in six more recorded waves. The distribution of ash in the

stratosphere

gave the first solid evidence of rapidly flowing

westerly winds, as debris encircled the equator over the next

13 days. Global temperatures were lowered about 0.9°F

(0.5°C), and did not return to normal until five years later.

An ironic development is that the Ujung Kulon Penin-

sula was never resettled after the tsunami killed most of the

people. Without Krakatoa’s explosion, the population would

have most likely grown significantly and much of the

habitat

there would likely have been altered by agriculture. Instead,

the area is now a

national park

that supports a variety of

species

, including the Javan rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus),

one of Earth’s rarest and most

endangered species

. This

park has provided a laboratory for scientists to study nature’s