YEAR IN REVIEW 2001: ENVIRONMENT

Gardening In 2000 home gardeners continued to purchase plants rather than grow them from seed. In addition, buyers grouped annuals, perennials, grasses, and even tender shrubs together in the landscape or planted them together in a container. There was an increase in the number of gardeners who favoured container gardening, as well as the vegetative rather than seed propagation of both container and bedding plants. Though vegetative propagation had been limited to cultivars not available from seed, such as Lantana, Abutilon, Scaevola, and Bacopa (Sutera), vegetatively propagated petunias, verbena, and snapdragons began to appear. All-America Rose Selections (AARS) named three winners for the 2001 season. Glowing Peace-a descendant of Peace, one of the world's best-known roses-was hybridized by the House of Meilland of France from parents Sun King and Roxanne. The plants grew to 1.2 m (1 m = 3.3 ft) in height and were 0.9 m in width, with nearly 8-cm (1 cm = 0.4 in) blooms that were coloured yellow and cantaloupe-orange above glossy, deep-green foliage that turned burgundy in fall. Slightly smaller was floribunda AARS winner Marmalade Skies, at 0.9 m high and across, with green satiny foliage and clusters of between five and eight 6-8-cm tangerine-orange double flowers on each stem. This stellar rose-developed by Meilland from a combination of Parador, Patricia, and Tamango-was judged excellent for hedging. The first miniature rose to win since 1993 was Sun Sprinkles, an upright, rounded, disease-resistant plant with dark green, glossy foliage. Having a height of only 45-60 cm made Sun Sprinkles ideal for edging or containers. The bright yellow 5-cm double blossoms were moderately fragrant, with an odour of spice and musk. Sun Sprinkles was hybridized by John Walden and introduced by Bear Creek Gardens of the U.S. In an effort to build consumer enthusiasm for new plant introductions, seed-industry associations continued to promote award competitions. Interspecific hybrid Zinnia Profusion White, bred by Sakata Seed of Japan for both professional and amateur bedding and container plantings, was chosen to receive a Gold Medal award from both All-America Selections (AAS) and the European flower-testing organization Fleuroselect. Zinnia Profusion White-an open-pollinated diploid annual at 30 cm in height and width, with lance-shaped green leaves and 5-cm single white ray petals crowned by raised orange discs-was also found to be highly resistant to mildew (Erysiphe species. Nicotiana x sanderae Avalon Bright Pink, bred for bedding and container use by Floranova of the U.K., also won awards from both organizations-a Gold Medal from Fleuroselect and a bedding-plant award from AAS. It was a very compact F1 hybrid annual with a height of 25 cm and diameter of 30 cm. The star-shaped flowers were 4-5 cm in diameter, with five petals and a unique pale-pink colour with a darker pink edge.Nicotiana Avalon Bright Pink bloomed only 90 days from sowing, resisted summer heat well, and continued to bloom without deadheading until frost. Two other plants that received AAS bedding plant awards were Portulaca F1 hybrid Margarita Rosita from Waller Genetics of the U.S. and Eustoma F1 hybrid Forever Blue from the multinational Pan American Seed. Margarita Rosita was a mounding Portulaca; it stood 8-10 cm and spread 30-35 cm. The plants, which had fleshy leaves and semidouble rose flowers 3-4 cm across, were highly heat- and drought-tolerant.Eustoma Forever Blue had a novel basal branching habit that made it more dense than normal Lisianthusand was submitted for a utility patent, which was far more difficult to obtain and more restrictive than a plant patent. Forever Blue reached 30 cm in height and nearly the same in width and bore warm blue 6-cm single flowers atop small shield-shaped foliage. AAS awarded one flower award for the 2001 season-to Sunflower (Helianthus) Ring of Fire, bred by Benary Samenzucht of Germany. The late-blooming plants stood 120-150 cm, spread 60-90 cm, and after approximately 120 days displayed a distinct bicolour pattern, with a deep red ring between the golden outer petal colour and the chocolate-brown centres. Four vegetables were recognized by AAS for their garden performance in a range of American gardening regions. Hybrid Sweet Corn Honey Select from Rogers (Novartis) of the U.S. was chosen for its enhanced flavour and ease of growth. The 20-cm-long, 5-cm-diameter ears matured in just under 80 days with 18-20 rows of yellow kernels. Honey Select-which contained 75% supersweet genes (which would normally require isolation from other corn varieties) and 25% sugar-enhanced genes (which did not require isolation)-could be grown adjacent to other sweet corns and could withstand a long storage period without losing its flavour. Jolly, a new hybrid cluster tomato from Known-You Seed of Taiwan, was awarded a 2001 AAS vegetable award. The peach-shaped pink fruits weighed 40-45 g (1.4-1.5 oz) and were borne in clusters of 9 to 14 on vigorous indeterminate plants about 70-75 days after transplanting when the plants were trellised and pruned. Seminis Vegetable Seeds of California earned a vegetable award for Giant Marconi, a hybrid pepper. Introduced as an improved Italian-type grilling pepper, Giant Marconi bore 15-20-cm elongated fruits that were ready for green harvest 72 days after transplanting. The fruits, if left on the 75-cm plants, matured to red up to a month later. The plants were resistant to both potato and tobacco viruses. For the first time, an onion won an AAS award. Hybrid Onion Super Star, a globular white onion from Seminis, was chosen for its wide adaptability to daylight. The bulbs were resistant to pink root. In the U.S. leading on-line retailer GARDEN.COM ceased operations after failing to secure additional financing, and the nonprofit National Gardening Association (NGA) ceased publication of National Gardening, its for-profit magazine. In addition, the NGA sold to mySEASONS.com-the on-line marketing arm of Foster and Gallagher's stable of horticultural retailers-all rights to the magazine's content as well as to the content of its World Wide Web site, . MySEASONS.com then created a Web site- -which incorporated the content from garden.org. Shepherd Ogden The Environment International Activities On Feb. 3, 2000, the European Parliament passed the second reading of the end-of-life vehicles directive, and on May 23 a committee of diplomats and members of the Parliament agreed to its terms. The directive would require automobile manufacturers to pay all or a significant part of the cost of scrapping cars. On July 4 the European Court of Justice imposed daily fines on Greece for continuing to use a landfill site in the Chania area of Crete in breach of two waste-management directives. The Greek government was ordered to pay 20,000 (1 = about $0.84) a day from July 4 until it complied with the law. Greece agreed to the judgment and set a target date at the end of November. By that time the total fine was nearly 3 million. Popular protests against high taxes on gasoline (petrol) and diesel fuel erupted across the European Union (EU) in September. The U.K. was the country most seriously affected. Freight haulers and farmers blockaded oil refineries, causing panic buying that emptied gasoline stations within days and almost brought the country to a standstill. People then began buying in food stores, creating local shortages. On September 26 about 7,000 German drivers blocked the central thoroughfare to the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, but they left a lane free for public transportation. National Developments China. On August 8 the Xinhua News Agency reported that the Shenyang Smeltery had been closed in June because of the pollution it caused. The factory, in northeastern China, was said to have been discharging 74,000 tons of sulfur dioxide and 67 tons of heavy metals each year. It affected about 50 sq km (20 sq mi) of Shenyang, once one of the 10 most polluted cities in the world, and accounted for about 42% of the sulfur dioxide in the city. The smeltery was founded in 1936 and refined gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc. In the 1980s it was among the top 500 government-owned enterprises. Germany. At a meeting on January 15, the Social Democratic and Green parties moved a step closer to agreement on the operating limit for nuclear power stations. Talks between the government and industry had remained suspended pending agreement between the coalition partners. On June 23 at a meeting in Mnster, the Greens approved the deal that had been agreed upon between the government and the power companies. This allowed nuclear plants to operate at full power for an average of 30 years; because the plants did not always operate at full power, however, their average lifetimes would be about 35 years, an average of 5 years shorter than they would have been without the new limit. Production limits were specified for each station, but to maximize operating efficiency, companies were allowed to switch those amounts among stations. Consequently, it was impossible to say when each station would close or when the last one would close. The government undertook not to introduce taxes or other economic measures that would harm the industry and not to strengthen safety standards. On September 22 the federal radiation protection authority announced that shipments of spent nuclear fuel were to be resumed. Eight shipments would be allowed during 2000, traveling from the power stations at Stade, Biblis, and Philippsburg to the La Hague reprocessing plant in France. The industry had requested 54 shipments by the end of 2001. The safety regulations were tightened, and plant operators agreed that all plutonium derived from reprocessing would be recycled to prevent it from accumulating. An opinion poll published on June 30 found that 94% of the population ranked the environment as important and 71% said they would pay higher taxes to improve environmental protection. About 85% said they considered nuclear power to be dangerous and wished it to be phased out as quickly as possible. Norway. On March 9 the Norwegian government became the first in the world to fall over a global-warming issue. Coalition Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik lost a vote of confidence in the Storting (parliament) arising from his opposition to building gas-fired power stations. The government argued that the new stations would release too much carbon dioxide and that the project should be postponed until cleansing technology had been developed. The Conservative and Labour opposition favoured the plan, maintaining that there was no other way to meet the demand for electricity. The national statistics agency reported in September that collecting, sorting, cleaning, and transporting household waste for recycling consumed at least 100 gigawatt-hours of power annually, equal to half the output from a proposed new power station. Householders in the survey reported they spent almost 30 minutes and used 50 litres (13 gal) of water each week preparing their rubbish for collection. Russia. Pres. Vladimir Putin abolished the State Committee for Environmental Protection in May. It had been responsible for monitoring all aspects of the environment except for nuclear safety and had replaced the Federal Environment Ministry in 1996. Its responsibilities were transferred to the Ministry of Natural Resources. Sweden. On August 16 the government postponed the closing of the Barsebck 2 nuclear reactor, previously scheduled for July 2001. Industry Minister Bjrn Rosengren said that the country would be unable to make up the resulting shortfall quickly enough by increasing renewable energy capacity. Barsebck 1 closed in November 1999. Brushing aside protests over fuel prices, the government in its proposed 2001 budget announced on September 20 that it would increase the tax on diesel fuel by SKr 0.10 (SKr 1=about $0.10) per litre, raising the price by 3%. The carbon dioxide emission tax was to increase by 15% and the tax on electricity by SKr 0.018 per kilowatt-hour. These were part of a proposed increase of SKr 3.3 billion in environmental taxation, amounting to just over 10% of the final "green tax" target of SKr 30 billion. The increases were offset by reduced employment taxes, including a SKr 12.5 billion reduction in the income tax. Sales taxes on public transportation would be halved to 6% and spending on environmental research and rehabilitation increased by SKr 360 billion. Thailand. It was reported in February that five people had been hospitalized in Bangkok after they were exposed to radiation leaking from a cylinder containing scrap metal that had been sold to a recycling yard on the city's outskirts. Two workers who handled the metal cylinder were in comas, and the man who sold it suffered radiation burns to his hands. The owner of the scrap yard and another worker were also taken to a hospital. After searching for 11 hours, staff from the Thai atomic research centre found the cylinder. It contained cobalt-60. This was said to be the first radioactive leak ever to have occurred in Thailand. United States. On January 21 the Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmental group, sent faxes to the Associated Press and several newspapers claiming responsibility for a fire on New Year's Eve that did $400,000 worth of damage in the Agriculture Hall at Michigan State University (MSU). The group said that Catherine Ives, director of the MSU Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project, whose office was one of those damaged in the fire, directed a program aimed at persuading less-developed countries to adopt genetically modified crops. On March 13 a group claiming to be from the Animal Liberation Front broke into a Wisconsin warehouse, placed incendiary devices against propane tanks, set the timers, and departed. Later, they claimed to have burned down the refrigerated warehouse, which contained gourmet dog food. The devices malfunctioned, however, and the attack failed. On June 12 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claimed that dioxins were 10 times more likely to cause cancer than had previously been believed, creating a 0.1-1% risk in the most exposed individuals, such as those eating a diet high in animal fat. The agency also upgraded dioxins from "probable" to "known" carcinogens. Some scientists, however, said that the estimate was "unbelievable." The EPA also said that exposure to dioxins among the population had fallen significantly since the 1980s and was still falling and that there were no indications of ill effects. Wildlife Conservation As a result of captive breeding and conservation efforts, breeding populations of the black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) had by 2000 returned to the wild in the Rocky Mountains region of the U.S. The ferret's ultimate fate would, however, depend on that of its prey-prairie dogs. Only one of the five species of prairie dogs was listed as threatened, but all had experienced reductions in their ranges. The black-tailed prairie dog had suffered a 98% reduction in range in 100 years and was being assessed for possible listing as endangered. After primates had survived a century with no extinctions, 25 species of apes, monkeys, lemurs, and other primates were at risk of disappearing forever, according to a report released January 10. The main causes for the declines were forest destruction and hunting. Intensifying conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) threatened bonobos (Pan paniscus), which lived only in central DRC; these and other apes fell prey to troops and refugees. About 200 tons of fish were killed in January and February as a result of the mine-spill accident in Romania before the 50-km (30-mi)-long pulse of cyanide and heavy metals spilled into the Danube River in northern Yugoslavia, killing still more fish. It may have been the worst-ever case of water pollution in Eastern and Central Europe. Two fish species found only in the upper Tisza may have been pushed to the brink of extinction, and prospects were bleak for other wild species, including white-tailed eagles and otters.(See Environmental Issues: Freshwater Pollution, above.) Although a survey of coral reefs off Belize in the Caribbean Sea in February found no signs of recovery from the bleaching caused by the El Nio event of 1997-98, some coral reefs in the Indian and Pacific oceans seemed to be recovering more quickly than expected, possibly owing to the unexpected survival of juvenile coral. The reefs would, however, need a decade or more of undisturbed growth to recover completely, and this was not likely, because repeated bleaching was forecast to accompany the projected global warming. Rising carbon dioxide levels may also cripple coral reefs by dissolving in sea water and reacting with carbonate, reducing the availability of carbonate to corals, which need it to build their skeletons. Tuberculosis was diagnosed for the first time in an Iberian lynx in Doana National Park in southern Spain, and fears were raised for the fewer than 1,000 remaining Iberian lynxes, most of which lived in the park. Wild boar and fallow deer in the area were also infected, and it was suspected that cattle in the park were harbouring the disease. The 1,000th giant tortoise (Geochelone elephantopus hoodensis) to be repatriated to its native Galpagos island of Espaola was released in March, a milestone in the breeding program started by the Charles Darwin Research Station in 1963, when only 14 individuals remained. Attention was now being given to many other threatened tortoise species in the archipelago. A 10-year study of Pacific leatherback turtles suggested that they were nearing extinction. The population that nested at Playa Grande, Costa Rica, fell from 1,367 in 1988 to 117 in 1998, and by 2004 there could be fewer than 50. Net fishing off the coast of South America was thought to be catching and killing the turtles accidentally. At the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, in April, it was decided that the ban on regular international trade in elephant ivory should continue and that in the future the issue should be decided by two new bodies established to monitor the illegal killing of elephants and to keep tabs on ivory seizures. Along with 13 other plants, the African tree Prunus africana was given protection by CITES. In order to supply the pharmaceutical trade, this species was being felled much faster than it was being replaced and could be extinct within a decade. On April 22 the discovery of two new marmoset species-Callithrix manicorensis and Callithrix acariensis-in northwestern Brazil was announced. Another 10 new species of monkey, 5 new birds, 1 deer, and 1 peccary were also discovered in the region and awaited scientific description. In May it was reported that orangutans were now restricted to the shrinking forests of Borneo and Sumatra; without urgent action they could be extinct in the wild within 20 years because of large-scale habitat destruction for logging and agriculture. A plan was launched to save the species, and there was optimism because International Monetary Fund loans to Indonesia were forbidding extensions to oil palm plantations and loans to loggers. Increasing human presence and influence on land use were putting many tropical forest fragments in immediate danger of collapse if new conservation measures were not enacted quickly. Small isolated fragments were unable to sustain their original biodiversity and needed to be connected across broad landscapes. Researchers in July stated that a combination of interacting factors, including forest fragmentation, logging, and El Nio-driven drought, altered the extent of forest fires and thereby caused forest ecosystems to break down and regional climates to change. On September 5 Pres. Alberto Fujimori of Peru decreed protection of one of the most biologically important ecosystems in the world. The size of Bahuaja-Sonene National Park was doubled to cover more than 1.1 million ha (1 ha = 2.47 ac) in the rich Amazonian lowland forests at the base of the Andes Mountains, and the adjoining 254,000-ha Tambopata National Reserve, as well as a 262,000-ha buffer zone, was created. As many as 550 bird species and more than 1,200 butterfly species had been recorded in just one of the region's localities. A consortium of oil and gas companies that had held exploratory drilling rights had recently relinquished the area incorporated into the park. A viral infectious disease, possibly transmitted through infected battery-hen carcasses, was believed to be the cause of the mysterious and catastrophic decline in vultures in northern India, which had started a decade earlier. One species, the common white-backed vulture (Gyps bengalensis), had been virtually wiped out in some areas, and captive breeding of the birds was being considered. Jacqui M. Morris Zoos The gathering of tracking data by zoos had by 2000 become, depending on the animal involved, greatly simplified. For example, Mike Loomis of the North Carolina Zoological Park tracked African elephants in Cameroon, David St. Aubin of the Mystic (Conn.) Aquarium tracked beluga whales in the Canadian Arctic, Molly Lutcavage of the New England Aquarium in Boston used pop-up tags to track bluefin tuna in the North Atlantic, and Scott Pfaff of the Riverbanks Zoological Park and Botanical Gardens in Columbia, S.C., tracked a local population of eastern diamondback rattlesnakes. The Outreach Program at the Baltimore (Md.) Zoo engaged 900 local students to help track wild eastern box turtles by means of radio telemetry. At the New England Aquarium, a display next to a tank containing a harbour seal depicted a real-time tracking of a wild harbour seal moving between Ireland and Scotland and thus immediately linked the captive world to the wild one. One of the most significant and gratifying pursuits of zoos and aquariums was the rehabilitation and postrelease tracking of marine mammals and turtles. In 1999 a pair of juvenile long-finned pilot whales had become stranded on the eastern shore of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The staffs from the New England Aquarium and the Cape Cod Stranding Network were able to respond quickly before the animals could become seriously hurt by abrasion and exposure in the surf. From Cape Cod the animals were transported by truck to the Aquatic Animal Study Center at Mystic Aquarium. The centre was designed specifically for quarantine and intensive care of cetaceans and other marine mammals. Following the whales' arrival, physical examinations revealed evidence of bacterial infection in one animal but little beyond dehydration and stress in the other. Both were later returned to the waters of the western North Atlantic. Each animal carried on its dorsal fin a specially fitted Global Positioning System satellite tag and instrument pack designed to transmit data revealing dive patterns and locations to any of four polar orbiting satellites. A flow of electrical current through seawater prevented signal transmission so long as the unit was underwater; an air break at the surface initiated uplink. Within 24 hours, Mystic had received its first set of transmission data from the tags; some 115 days later, more than 30,000 uplink signals had been received, longer than any other pilot whales (and most other cetaceans) had been continuously monitored. The data continued to indicate that both animals remained together and were swimming and diving consistently. During the winter of 1999-2000, sea turtles in large numbers had washed ashore on Cape Cod beaches. Ultimately, the live turtles were transported to Boston's New England Aquarium. Nearly all of them were subsequently relocated to aquariums and marine animal hospitals from Boston to Florida, and they later were released. Since 1994 the Zoological Society of San Diego, Calif., in conjunction with the Australian Koala Foundation, had been organizing teams of representatives from interested zoos to assist in collecting field data in Australia with regard to koala habitat utilization and tree species preferences. The data were then analyzed to develop regional models of habitat use by koalas and subsequently to complete further the computerized "Koala Habitat Atlas." In 2000 two field expeditions were offered to zoo representatives interested in participating in this koala-conservation effort. In June 1999 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the City of New Orleans embarked on an exciting new pilot program when the New Orleans mayor and the deputy assistant director of refuges signed the U.S.'s first Urban Conservation Treaty for Migratory Birds. With the help of the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge and the Audubon Institute's Louisiana Nature Center, New Orleans began emphasizing the value of cities as sanctuaries for wildlife and exploring ways to enhance parks, gardens, and median areas for the benefit of birds. The mayor of Chicago signed the treaty in March 2000. On March 6, 2000, the first African elephant conceived by artificial insemination was born at the Indianapolis (Ind.) Zoo. By July the baby girl, named Amali (a Swahili word meaning "hope"), was a thriving 180-kg (400-lb) toddler. With the numbers of wild elephants dropping sharply in recent years and the level of natural births far below the rate needed to maintain the population, it had become an urgent matter to develop new ways to produce these animals. In April the government of China approved the sending of a pair of giant pandas to the National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C., for breeding purposes. In return, the Smithsonian Institution, which operated the zoo, agreed to donate $1 million per year to China for 10 years for panda research and conservation. Mei Xiang, a two-year-old female, and Tian Tian, a three-year-old male, arrived in Washington on December 6. The pair brings the panda population in U.S. institutions to seven: three at the San Diego, Calif., Zoo and two at Zoo Atlanta in Georgia. Alan H. Shoemaker