1999 Annual Report / Environmental Institute of Houston
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Environmental Pollution Issues Prevention Natural Resource Conservation Environmental Education The Environmental Institute of Houston University of Houston—Clear Lake University of Houston Houston, Texas The Environmental Institute of Houston • University of Houston—Clear Lake • University of • Houston 1999 • Houston, Texas Annual Report • 1999 University of Houston—Clear Lake William A. Staples, Ph.D., President Edward J. Hayes, Ph.D., Senior Vice-President and Provost University of Houston Arthur K. Smith, Ph.D., Chancellor/President of the University of Houston System Edward P. Sheridan, Ph.D., Executive Vice-President and Provost Arthur Vailas, Ph.D., Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President for Research and Intellectual Property Management Environmental Institute of Houston Jim Lester, Ph.D., Director Glenn D. Aumann, Ph.D., Co-Director Brenda Weiser, Environmental Education Program Manager Irving N. Rothman, Ph.D., Editor Debbie V. Bush, Website Manager and Assistant Editor March 2000 The UH Coastal Center Table of Contents 1 • The Director’s Report 3 • Developing Human Exposure Estimates for Indoor/Outdoor Air Pollution in Houston 5 • Development of Environmentally Benign Routes to the Synthesis of Polyolefins Pollution Prevention 6 • Development of Mid-Infrared Semiconductor Lasers Suitable for a Portable Methane LIDAR Detector 7 • Environmentally Benign Inhibitors of Ice Growth and Ice Nucleation 8 • High Performance Integrated Solar-Blind Optoelectronic Chemical Sensor Based on Gallium Nitride 9 • Modeling of Ground-Level Ozone Using Meteorological and Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Measurements 12 • Assessing the Impact of Chemical and Biological Pollutants on Shrimp 14 • Developing High-Resolution Markers for Meta-Population and Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL) Experiments Natural Resource 16 • An Evaluation of the Ecotoxicology of Mercury in Lavaca Bay, Conservation Texas—A Continuation Study 18 • Genetic Constraints on Adaptive Radiation 19 • Genetic Diversity in Ruppia maritima and Halodule wrightii 20 • The Influence of Colloids and Cations on Infectivity Levels of Taura Syndrome Virus 21 • Long-Term Research in Mathematical Modeling in Ecology 23 • Molecular Tools for Identifying Microgeographic Genetic Patterns in Avian Systems 24 • Population Age Structure in a Common Species of Damselfish on an Isolated Western Atlantic Reef (Flower Gardens, Texas) and the Florida Keys Patch Reef 25 • The Population Demography of the Polygyne Form of the Red, Imported Fire Ant, Solenopsia invicta 26 • Defining and Measuring Environmental Capital in Urban Environments 28 • An Environmental History of Galveston Bay: Flood Control 29 • Influence of Global Climate Changes in the Early Development of the Environmental Issues Rio Grande Chirping Frog, Syrrhophus cystignathoides campi, a Direct Developing Frog 31 • The Social and Natural History of Galveston Bay 32 • Winds, Water Budgets, and Stable Isotopes in Tropical Cyclones Using TRMM and QUICKSCAT 34 • Making a Difference Through Environmental Education 35 • Surveying Schoolyard Ecosystems: Validating Instruction through Science Support Systems Environmental Education 36 • Publications 38 • Presentations 40 • Grants 42 • Principal Investigators Environmental Institute of Houston • Annual 1999 Report 1998-1999 Advisory Board • Environmental Institute of Houston Gigi Bear, Equilon Enterprises Dick Brown, Gulf Coast Waste Disposal Authority Bonnie Cockrell, CET Environmental Services, Inc. Tracie Copeland, The Dow Chemical Company Helen Drummond, Galveston Bay Estuary Program Ed Feith, Reliant Energy Catriona Glazebrook, Audubon Society of Texas Marilu Hastings, Houston Advanced Research Center Jim Kachtick, Greater Houston Partnership Kam Lulla, NASA Johnson Space Center Beth Morian, Wilhelmina R. Morian Interests Fran Pizzitola, Keep Texas Beautiful Dan Raab, Dupont Packaging & Industrial Polymers George Regmund, Armand Bayou Nature Center Will Roach, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Kevin Shanley, SWA Group Linda Shead, Galveston Bay Foundation Gary Tannahill, Exxon Company, USA Mike Terraso, Enron Corporation Jarrett “Woody” Woodrow, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department UH & UHCL Faculty Advisory Board Members Richard Allison, Administration Sciences, UHCL Regina Capuano, Geosciences, UH Ted Cleveland, Environmental Engineering, UH Terrell Dixon, English, UH Lisa Gossett, Environmental Management, UHCL Robert Jones, Education, UHCL Martin Melosi, History, UH Theron Sage, Environmental Science, UHCL Contributors ARCO/Lyondell Petrochemical Armand Bayou Nature Center Compaq Texas Hazardous Waste Management Society The Environmental Institute of Houston University of Houston—Clear Lake University of Houston Office of the Director Jim Lester, Ph.D. Bayou Bldg., Rm 3221 University of Houston—Clear Lake 2700 Bay Area Boulevard Houston, TX 77058-1098 Phone: 281 283-3950 FAX: 281 283-3044 [email protected] http://www.eih.uhcl.edu/ Editorial Offices 504 Science & Research 1 Turkey vultures over the Coastal Center. Houston, TX 77204-5505 A path through the Coastal Center. Phone: 713 743-3198 A sea gull perched at Kemah. [email protected] health, safety and quality of life. Labor “THINK GLOBALLY; ACT LOCALLY” and some businesses support it because they envision income and jobs. The basic The HIS ANTHEM HAS BEEN COMMON policy question in this conflict is “When among environmentalists for years, does quality of life for a community Tbut it does not address a problemat- become more important than increasing Environmental ic level of environmental planning, region- income and jobs?” Universities are al development. Before acting locally, charged with generation of knowledge for Institute consideration should be given to environ- the benefit of society. Surely we should mental, economic and social impacts at work to inform decision processes such as larger scales. EIH is prepared to address this one. of many regional issues or facilitate their The decision process for large public debate before actions occur. Un for tu nate- projects should be based on the best infor- Houston ly, there is often no appropriate decision- mation obtainable on the economic, envi- making body to receive the information ronmental and social impacts of such pro- developed. jects. This is the type of information EIH Problems addressed by EIH and our should strive to provide. The research pro- affiliated researchers are not restricted by jects described in this annual report have The local political boundaries and many of much to do with technology to identify or them do not have a global context. There mediate problems and little to do with pol- Director’s are two reports in this volume on the his- icy changes to prevent problems. tory of the Galveston Bay region, which Bayport is a project based on old matches no political boundaries. Also, two approaches to transportation and distribu- Report of the reports study the issues of ozone tion of goods, old technology: diesel formation and air pollution exposure. The trucks and bunker oil burning ships, old ozone problem connects our region to problems: erosion, oil spills, air pollution. Beaumont, Dallas and perhaps San Where is the better way? Alternatively Antonio, and it certainly calls for regional fueled ships and trucks, smaller ecological action. However, outside of regulated footprints for cities, soft engineering for industries, ozone has generated little local erosion control should be part of the action. EIH and UH System researchers future. Where is the transportation system have little input to the regional implemen- of the 21st century for the Houston region? tation plan for compliance with Clean Air The new thoughts, the new solutions, standards. This should change if this uni- should be coming from universities. Are versity is to serve our region well. we doing our best? Similarly, the controversy surrounding In this volume, we present new ideas on the Port of Houston Authority’s Bayport modeling air pollution exposure, estimat- container terminal proposal suggests ing urban environmental capital, develop- regional action. It certainly makes sense to ing new lasers for detecting volatile organ- have a decision-making body for the ics, finding new synthetic pathways for development of shipping facilities around polyolefins, and building new chips for Galveston Bay, but there is no regional monitoring effluents. These new solutions authority deciding the future of Galveston are joined by studies to obtain better infor- Bay. Again Houston’s universities are pro- mation for regional policy decisions: bet- viding little information to the debate. ter statistical analysis of ozone related The controversy over the Bayport con- data, better communication to the public tainer terminal encapsulates a full spec- on volatile organic pollutants, more infor- trum of environmental issues. The Port mation on the ecological impacts of mer- Authority proposes an expansion over the cury pollution at the Lavaca Bay super- next 20 years of container docks and fund site, and increased understanding of cruise terminals at a location adjacent to the impact of climate change on amphib- residential areas, but already used as a port ian development. Given the quantity and for petrochemicals. The project promises quality of expertise represented in this vol- jobs and economic growth. The project ume, we have much to offer to regional Photo courtesy of Jim Lester brings concomitant air pollution, water policy debates. Dr. Jim Lester, Director pollution, erosion, traffic congestion, and What