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النتائج 371 - 380 من 1,310
The effect of environmental conditions on the stability of heavy metal–filter material complex as assessed by the leaching of adsorbed metal ions النص الكامل
2011
Khokhotva, Oleksandr | Waara, Sylvia
In this study the influence of environmental conditions, most likely prevailing in filter beds used for intermittently discharged pollutant streams such as landfill leachate and storm water, on the stability of the heavy metal–filter complex was investigated for 2 filter materials; non-treated and urea treated pine bark, using leaching experiments. The metal–filter complex stability was higher for urea treated than for non-treated pine bark and dependent on the metal adsorbed. The type of environmental condition applied was of less importance for the extent of leaching.
اظهر المزيد [+] اقل [-]Novel urban ecosystems, biodiversity, and conservation النص الكامل
2011
Kowarik, Ingo
With increasing urbanization the importance of cities for biodiversity conservation grows. This paper reviews the ways in which biodiversity is affected by urbanization and discusses the consequences of different conservation approaches. Cities can be richer in plant species, including in native species, than rural areas. Alien species can lead to both homogenization and differentiation among urban regions. Urban habitats can harbor self-sustaining populations of rare and endangered native species, but cannot replace the complete functionality of (semi-)natural remnants. While many conservation approaches tend to focus on such relict habitats and native species in urban settings, this paper argues for a paradigm shift towards considering the whole range of urban ecosystems. Although conservation attitudes may be challenged by the novelty of some urban ecosystems, which are often linked to high numbers of nonnative species, it is promising to consider their associated ecosystem services, social benefits, and possible contribution to biodiversity conservation.
اظهر المزيد [+] اقل [-]Impact of local traffic exclusion on near-road air quality: Findings from the New York City “Summer Streets” campaign النص الكامل
2011
Whitlow, Thomas H. | Hall, Andrew | Zhang, K Max | Anguita, Juan
We monitored curbside airborne particulate matter (PM) concentrations and its proinflammatory capacity during 3 weekends when vehicle traffic was excluded from Park. Ave., New York City. Fine PM concentration peaked in the morning regardless of traffic while ultrafine PM was 58% lower during mornings without traffic. Ultrafine PM concentration varied linearly with traffic flow, while fine PM spiked sharply in response to random traffic events that were weakly correlated with the traffic signal cycle. Ultrafine PM concentrations decayed exponentially with distance from a cross street with unrestricted traffic flow, reaching background levels within 100 m of the source. IL-6 induction was typically highest on Friday afternoons but showed no clear relationship to the presence of traffic. The coarse fraction (>2.5 μm) had the greatest intrinsic inflammatory capacity, suggesting that coarse PM still warrants attention even as the research focus is shifting to nano-particles.
اظهر المزيد [+] اقل [-]Modelling the impact of nitrogen deposition, climate change and nutrient limitations on tree carbon sequestration in Europe for the period 1900–2050 النص الكامل
2011
de Vries, Wim | Posch, Maximilian
We modelled the combined effects of past and expected future changes in climate and nitrogen deposition on tree carbon sequestration by European forests for the period 1900–2050. Two scenarios for deposition (current legislation and maximum technically feasible reductions) and two climate scenarios (no change and SRES A1 scenario) were used. Furthermore, the possible limitation of forest growth by calcium, magnesium, potassium and phosphorus is investigated. The area and age structure of the forests was assumed to stay constant to observations during the period 1970–1990. Under these assumptions, the simulations show that the change in forest growth and carbon sequestration in the past is dominated by changes in nitrogen deposition, while climate change is the major driver for future carbon sequestration. However, its impact is reduced by nitrogen availability. Furthermore, limitations in base cations, especially magnesium, and in phosphorus may significantly affect predicted growth in the future.
اظهر المزيد [+] اقل [-]Patterns of insect communities along a stress gradient following decommissioning of a Cu–Ni smelter النص الكامل
2011
Babin-Fenske, Jennifer | Anand, Madhur
The diversity, estimated richness and abundance of terrestrial insect communities were examined along a stress gradient of past pollution in the region of Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. This gradient represents the natural recovery and lingering effects of a decommissioned copper–nickel smelting complex. Ant genera and sixteen higher taxonomic groups (family and order) had the highest abundance at the sites with intermediate stress. Eight families increased in abundance with distance from the decommissioned source of pollution and eleven families decreased reflecting a complex response of diversity to pollution. Carabid beetles show an increase in diversity further from the smelter; however, examination of the species composition reveals a distinct carabid community closest to the smelter, emphasizing the unique habitat created by severe pollution. Although almost forty years since decomissioning of the smelter complex, the terrestrial insect community in the vicinity remains significantly impacted suggesting slow recovery.
اظهر المزيد [+] اقل [-]Terrestrial exposure of oilfield flowline additives diminish soil structural stability and remediative microbial function النص الكامل
2011
George, S.J. | Sherbone, J. | Hinz, C. | Tibbett, M.
Terrestrial exposure of oilfield flowline additives diminish soil structural stability and remediative microbial function النص الكامل
2011
George, S.J. | Sherbone, J. | Hinz, C. | Tibbett, M.
Onshore oil production pipelines are major installations in the petroleum industry, stretching many thousands of kilometres worldwide which also contain flowline additives. The current study focuses on the effect of the flowline additives on soil physico-chemical and biological properties and quantified the impact using resilience and resistance indices. Our findings are the first to highlight deleterious effect of flowline additives by altering some fundamental soil properties, including a complete loss of structural integrity of the impacted soil and a reduced capacity to degrade hydrocarbons mainly due to: (i) phosphonate salts (in scale inhibitor) prevented accumulation of scale in pipelines but also disrupted soil physical structure; (ii) glutaraldehyde (in biocides) which repressed microbial activity in the pipeline and reduced hydrocarbon degradation in soil upon environmental exposure; (iii) the combinatory effects of these two chemicals synergistically caused severe soil structural collapse and disruption of microbial degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons.
اظهر المزيد [+] اقل [-]Terrestrial exposure of oilfield flowline additives diminish soil structural stability and remediative microbial function النص الكامل
2011
George, S. J. | Sherbone, J. | Hinz, C. | Tibbett, Mark
Onshore oil production pipelines are major installations in the petroleum industry, stretching many thousands of kilometres worldwide which also contain flowline additives. The current study focuses on the effect of the flowline additives on soil physico-chemical and biological properties and quantified the impact using resilience and resistance indices. Our findings are the first to highlight deleterious effect of flowline additives by altering some fundamental soil properties, including a complete loss of structural integrity of the impacted soil and a reduced capacity to degrade hydrocarbons mainly due to: (i) phosphonate salts (in scale inhibitor) prevented accumulation of scale in pipelines but also disrupted soil physical structure; (ii) glutaraldehyde (in biocides) which repressed microbial activity in the pipeline and reduced hydrocarbon degradation in soil upon environmental exposure; (iii) the combinatory effects of these two chemicals synergistically caused severe soil structural collapse and disruption of microbial degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons.
اظهر المزيد [+] اقل [-]Identification of perfluoroalkyl acid sources in Swiss surface waters with the help of the artificial sweetener acesulfame النص الكامل
2011
Müller, Claudia E. | Gerecke, Andreas C. | Alder, Alfredo C. | Scheringer, Martin | Hungerbühler, Konrad
Anthropogenic perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), especially the perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) are ubiquitously found in surface waters around the globe. Emissions from households, industries and also atmospheric transport/deposition are discussed as the possible sources. In this study, these sources are evaluated using Switzerland as the study area. Forty-four surface water locations in different rivers and an Alpine lake were investigated for 14 PFAAs, four precursors and acesulfame, an artificial sweetener used as a population marker. Concentrations of individual PFAAs were generally low, between 0.02 and 10 ng/L. Correlation analysis showed that some PFAAs concentrations correlated well with population and less with catchment area, indicating that emissions from population, i.e., from consumer products, is the most important source to surface waters in Switzerland. The correlation with the population marker acesulfame confirmed this observation but highlighted also a few elevated PFAA levels, some of which could be attributed to industrial emissions.
اظهر المزيد [+] اقل [-]Evaluation of soil metal bioavailability estimates using two plant species (L. perenne and T. aestivum) grown in a range of agricultural soils treated with biosolids and metal salts النص الكامل
2011
Black, Amanda | McLaren, R. G. (Ronald G.) | Reichman, Suzanne M. | Speir, Thomas W. | Condron, Leo M.
Few studies have quantified the accuracy of soil metal bioavailability assays using large datasets. A meta-analysis from experiments spanning 6 months to 13 years on 12 soil types, compared bioavailability estimate efficiencies for wheat and ryegrass. Treatments included biosolids ± metals, comparing total metal, Ca(NO₃)₂, EDTA, soil solution, DGT and free ion activity. The best correlations between soil metal bioavailability and shoot concentrations were for Ni using Ca(NO₃)₂ (r² = 0.72) which also provided the best estimate of Zn bioavailability (r² = 0.64). DGT provided the best estimate of Cd bioavailability, accounting for 49% of shoot Cd concentrations. There was no reliable descriptor of Cu bioavailability, with less than 35% of shoot Cu concentrations defined. Thus interpretation of data obtained from many soil metal bioavailability assays is unreliable and probably flawed, and there is little justification to look beyond Ca(NO₃)₂ for Ni and Zn, and DGT for Cd.
اظهر المزيد [+] اقل [-]Long term remediation of highly polluted acid mine drainage: A sustainable approach to restore the environmental quality of the Odiel river basin النص الكامل
2011
Caraballo, Manuel A. | Macías, Francisco | Rötting, Tobias S. | Nieto, José Miguel | Ayora, Carlos
During 20 months of proper operation the full scale passive treatment in Mina Esperanza (SW Spain) produced around 100 mg/L of ferric iron in the aeration cascades, removing an average net acidity up to 1500 mg/L as CaCO₃ and not having any significant clogging problem. Complete Al, As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ti and V removal from the water was accomplished through almost the entire operation time while Fe removal ranged between 170 and 620 mg/L. The system operated at a mean inflow rate of 43 m³/day achieving an acid load reduction of 597 g·(m² day)⁻¹, more than 10 times higher than the generally accepted 40 g·(m² day)⁻¹ value commonly used as a passive treatment system designing criteria. The high performance achieved by the passive treatment system at Mina Esperanza demonstrates that this innovative treatment design is a simple, efficient and long lasting remediation option to treat highly polluted acid mine drainage.
اظهر المزيد [+] اقل [-]Bioaccumulation and trophic transfer of dioxins in marine copepods and fish النص الكامل
2011
Zhang, Qiong | Yang, Liuyan | Wang, Wen-Xiong
Despite the great concerns about dioxins in the marine environments, the biokinetics and bioaccumulation of these compounds in marine organisms remains little known. Using radioactive tracers the aqueous uptake, dietary assimilation efficiency, and elimination of dioxins were measured in marine phytoplankton, copepods and seabream. The calculated uptake rate constant of dioxins decreased with increasing trophic levels, whereas the dietary assimilation efficiency (AE) was 28.5–57.6% in the copepods and 36.6–70.2% in the fish. The dietary AE was highly dependent on the food concentrations and food type. The elimination rate constant of dioxin in the copepods varied with different exposure pathways as well as food concentration and food type. Biokinetic calculation showed that dietary accumulation was the predominant pathway for dioxin accumulation in marine copepods and fish. Aqueous uptake can be an important pathway only when the bioconcentration of dioxins in the phytoplankton was low.
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