Air concentrations of PCDD/Fs, PCBs and PCNs using active and passive air samplers

The concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) were determined in air samples collected at four sampling sites located in two zones of Barcelona (Spain): near a municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI) and a combined cycle power plant (3 sites), and at a background/control site. Samples were collected using high-volume active samplers. Moreover, 4 PUF passive samplers were deployed at the same sampling points during three months. For PCDD/Fs, total WHO-TEQ values were 27.3 and 10.9 fg WHO-TEQm(-3) at the urban/industrial and the background sites, respectively. The sum of 7 PCB congeners and the Sigma PCN levels were also higher at the industrial site than at the background site. In order to compare active and passive sampling, the accumulated amounts of PCDD/Fs, PCBs and PCNs in the four passive air samplers, as well as the total toxic equivalents in each sampling site were also determined. To assess the use of PUF passive samplers as a complementary tool for PCDD/F, PCB and PCN monitoring, sampling rates were calculated in accordance with the theory of passive air samplers. PUF disks allowed establishing differences among zones for the POP levels, showing that they can be a suitable method to determine POP concentrations in air in areas with various potential emission sources. Although both particle and gas phase were sorbed by the PUFs, data of gas phase congeners are more reproducible.     

LCA of selective waste collection systems in dense urban areas

This paper presents research concerning the environmental analysis of the selective collection management of municipal solid waste. The main goal of this study is to quantify and to compare, by means of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), the potential environmental impacts of three selective collection systems modelled on densely populated urban areas. These systems are: the mobile pneumatic, the multi-container and the door-to-door. Impact assessment method based on CML 2 baseline 2000 is applied to the different systems. The study separates and analyzes the collection systems in substages: two urban substages and one inter-city substage. At the urban level, the multi-container system has the least environmental impact of all systems. The mobile pneumatic system has greater environmental impacts in terms of global warming, fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity, terrestrial ecotoxicity, acidification and eutrophication. In this system, the pipes and the pneumatic transport have the greatest impacts. The door-to-door system has a greatest environmental impact in terms of abiotic depletion, ozone layer depletion and human toxicity. An overall evaluation of the three substages, with a sensitivity analysis, indicates that the mobile pneumatic system at an inter-city distance of 20 km shows the greatest environmental impacts and the greatest energy demand. Inter-city transport is key; the results show that from an inter-city distance of 11 km onwards, this becomes the substage which most contributes to global warming impact and energy demand, in all the systems.     

The contingent behavior of charter fishing participants on the Chesapeake Bay: Welfare estimates associated with water quality improvements

Water quality in the Chesapeake Bay has deteriorated over recent years. Historically, fishing has contributed to the region's local economy in terms of commercial and recreational harvests. A contingent behavior model is used to estimate welfare measures for charter fishing participants with regard to a hypothetical improvement in water quality. Using a truncated Poisson count model corrected for endogenous stratification, it was found that charter fishers not only contribute to the local market economy, but they also place positive non-market value on preserving the Bay's water quality. Using two estimates for travels costs it is estimated that the individual consumer surplus is $200 and $117 per trip, and the average individual consumer surplus values for an improvement in water quality is $75 and $44 for two models estimated.     

Spatial and Temporal Comparison of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Spheroidal Carbonaceous Particles in Remote European Lakes

Spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCP) and polycyclicaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) have been measured in the dated sediment cores of 10 remote lakes distributed across Europe. The geographic trends were evaluated by examination of the superficial sediment fluxes and total sediment inventories. The highest levels of both markers were observed in the Eastern European lakes whereas the minimal values corresponded to the lake located in the Arctic. However, this SCP-PAH correlation was not observed after exclusion of the end member lakes from the series. The temporal trends of both pollutant markers are consistent with the history of pyrolytic emissions over Europe. However, the downcore SCP distributions are shorter than the PAH profiles in nearly all lakes. The differences are probably related to the different size particle fractions involved in the measurement of each marker, >5 and >1 m for SCP and PAH, respectively. Thus, the two proxies probably reflect pollution inputs from closer (SCP) and more distant sites (PAH).     

MEETING PUBLIC EXPECTATIONS WITH ECOLOGICAL INNOVATION IN RIPARIAN LANDSCAPES1

ABSTRACT: Appearances matter for managing riparian landscapes because the appearance of landscapes affects public willingness to accept plans and designs that improve ecological quality. Riparian landscape design and planning should respect and strategically incorporate characteristics that the public values and expects to see. Such design can be quite novel in its ecological effects, but it also should be sufficiently familiar in appearance to correspond with cultural values. This paper describes some influential cultural values for riparian landscapes and demonstrates how attention to such values supports public acceptance of ecologically innovative design in rural and urban watersheds.     

Mass scans from a proton transfer mass spectrometry analysis of air over Mediterranean shrubland browsed by horses

Plants usually emit large amount and varieties of volatiles after being damaged by herbivores. However, analytical methods for measuring herbivore-induced volatiles do not normally monitor the whole range of volatiles and the response to large herbivores such as large mammals is much less studied than the response to other herbivores such as insects. In this paper we present the results of using a highly sensitive proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) technique that allows simultaneous monitoring of leaf volatiles in the pptv range. The resulting mass scans in air over Mediterranean shrubland browsed by horses show 70 to 100% higher concentrations of the masses corresponding to mass fragments 57, 43 and 41 (mostly hexenals, acetone and acetic acid) than scans over control non-browsed shrubland. These compounds are biogeochemically active and they are significant components of the volatile organic carbon found in the atmosphere. They influence the performance of living organisms and, the chemical and physical processes of Earth's atmosphere.     

Perception of the effects of climate change in winter and summer tourist areas: the Pyrenees and the Catalan and Balearic coasts,Spain

In this study, we compare the perception of climate change in two different tourist settings of northeastern Spain: the Catalan Pyrenees and the Catalan Mediterranean coast and the Balearic Islands. We carried out a survey of 906 cases (506 in the coastal areas of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands and 400 in the Catalan Pyrenees) asking residents on those areas to assess the possible effects of climate change on tourist-related activities. While the existence of climate change and of its estimated impacts is widely accepted, we observe statistically significant differences in most of the questions between residents in the coastal areas and residents in the Pyrenees. In general terms, respondents from the Pyrenees display a much higher concern regarding the economic impacts of climate change on tourism. On the other hand, the results also show that some demographic groups, such as women, members of large households, or unemployed, tend to present higher levels of concern. This study may give new hints on which tourist modalities and which groups are more concerned for the impacts of climate change in Mediterranean tourist environments and could translate into more targeted adaptive and mitigation practices.     

Sustainable tourism management and development of a Greek coastal municipality

A process is presented to facilitate the sustainable management and development of tourist destinations. Based on a specific reforming of the Limits of Acceptable Change planning system and combined with the Tourism Carrying Capacity concept into a common framework, specific steps are described to integrate environmental, social and economic information of a tourist destination into indicators, which are afterwards compared with reference conditions. The Leopold matrix is applied to identify and classify restrictions of development and provide the basis for negotiations between managers, stakeholders and local communities. Through a feedback process of continuous monitoring and adjustment, the aim is to focus developmental activities on restricting factors until all indicators upgrade to reference. A case study at a Greek coastal municipality (Ilida – western Greece) is applied to demonstrate the process. Activity zones are identified and 18 indicators are selected. Results suggest high potential for tourism development of the area. However, low scores are assigned to 8/18 indicators, reflecting restrictions, requiring priority under a sustainable development plan. The proposed process offers managers and stakeholders the ability to easily visualize/identify restrictions and assign developmental priorities within a step-by-step upgrading process, toward the sustainable management and development of tourist destinations.