Mitochondrial DNA Variability in Italian and East European Wolves: Detecting the Consequences of Small Population Size and Hybridization

Abstract: The Italian wolf ( Canis lupus ) population has declined continuously over the last few centuries and become isolated as a result of the extermination of other populations in central Europe and the Alps during the nineteenth century. In the 1970s, approximately 100 wolves survived in 10 isolated areas in the central and southern Italian Apennines. Loss of genetic variability, as suggested by preliminary studies of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences, hybridization with feral dogs, and the illegal release of captive, non-native wolves are considered potential threats to the viability of the Italian wolf population. We sequenced 546 base pairs of the mtDNA control region in a comprehensive set of Italian wolves and compared them to those of dogs and other wolf populations from Europe and the Near East. Our data confirm the absence of mtDNA variability in Italian wolves: all 101 individuals sampled across their distribution in Italy had the same, unique haplotype, whereas seven haplotypes were found in only 26 wolves from an outbred population in Bulgaria. Most haplotypes were specific either to wolves or dogs, but some east European wolves shared haplotypes with dogs, indicative of hybridization. In contrast, neither hybridization with dogs nor introgression of non-native wolves was detected in the Italian population. These findings exclude the introgression of dog genes via matings between male wolves and female dogs, the most likely direction of hybridization. The observed mtDNA monomorphism is the possible outcome of random drift in the declining and isolated Italian wolf population, which probably existed at low effective population size during the last 100–150 years. Low effective population size and the continued loss of genetic variability might be a major threat to the long-term viability of Italian wolves. A controlled demographic increase, leading to recolonization of the historical wolf range in Italy, should be enforced.     

西部开发中环境保护法制建设思考

社会实践的需要是推动法律发展进步的根本动力。我国西部大开发战略是从根本上解决少数民族地区贫困落后状况 ,实现各民族共同繁荣的重大决策。由于西部生态环境的脆弱性及其在全国生态环境中的重要性 ,使得“可持续发展战略”成为西部唯一的发展模式选择 ,突出生态环境的保护和建设 ,促进西部地区经济发展与生态的良性循环 ;必须制定一套适合西部少数民族地区经济社会整体发展的法律体系 ,并最终实现“立法的生态化”。     

Comparative assessment of solar photovoltaic panels based on metal-derived hazardous waste,resource depletion,and toxicity potentials

Solar photovoltaic (PV) cells are used to resolve energy security and climate change problems. Although PV panels have long physical lifetimes, they would be eventually replaced by new ones with higher energy efficiency and then changed to waste. Depending on the types of PV cells, waste PV panels have different environmental impact potentials due to different contents of substances. This study assesses and compares hazardous waste, resource depletion, and toxicity potentials from metals in three types of PV modules (i.e., polycrystalline silicon (Si), amorphous Si, and CIGS (copper/indium/gallium/di-selenite) PVs) on per-watt electricity generation basis. Hazardous waste potentials are examined by using metal leachability tests, and resource depletion and toxicity potentials are evaluated by using life cycle impact assessment methods. The polycrystalline Si and CIGS PVs have hazardous waste potentials due to lead (Pb) and cadmium/selenium, respectively, whereas the amorphous Si PV does not. The polycrystalline Si PV has the highest resource depletion potential due primarily to silver; the CIGS PV has the next highest due primarily to selenium; and the amorphous Si PV had the lowest, which is derived primarily from tin and copper. For toxicity potentials, overall the amorphous Si PV had lower potentials, derived primarily from barium/copper/nickel/zinc, than the polycrystalline Si and CIGS PVs of which the toxicity potentials were primarily form copper/lead/nickel/silver and copper/mercury/molybdenum/nickel/silver, respectively. Therefore, waste polycrystalline Si and CIGS PV panels should be recycled and managed with priority, and PV technology development needs to be directed to amorphous Si PV from the material perspective.     

Comparisons of polybrominated diphenyl ethers levels in paired South Korean cord blood, maternal blood, and breast milk samples

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), commonly used flame retardants, have been reported as potential endocrine disruptor and neurodevelopmental toxicants, thus giving rise to the public health concern. The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between umbilical cord blood, maternal blood, and breast milk concentrations of PBDEs in South Korean. We assessed PBDE levels in paired samples of umbilical cord blood, maternal blood, and breast milk. The levels of seven PBDE congeners were measured in 21 paired samples collected from the Cheil Woman’s Hospital (Seoul, Korea) in 2008. We also measured thyroid hormones levels in maternal and cord blood to assess the association between PBDEs exposure and thyroid hormone levels. However, there was no correlation between serum thyroxin (T4) and total PBDEs concentrations. The total PBDEs concentrations in the umbilical cord blood, maternal blood, and breast milk were 10.7 ± 5.1 ng g⁻¹ lipid, 7.7 ± 4.2 ng g⁻¹ lipid, and 3.0 ± 1.8 ng g⁻¹ lipid, respectively. The ranges of total PBDE concentrations observed were 2.28-30.94 ng g⁻¹ lipid in umbilical cord blood, 1.8-17.66 ng g⁻¹ lipid in maternal blood, and 1.08-8.66 ng g⁻¹ lipid in breast milk. BDE-47 (45-73% of total PBDEs) was observed to be present dominantly in all samples, followed by BDE-153. A strong correlation was found for major BDE-congeners between breast milk and cord blood or maternal blood and cord blood samples. The measurement of PBDEs concentrations in maternal blood or breast milk may help to determine the concentration of PBDEs in infant.     

Quantifying capital goods for waste incineration

Materials and energy used for the construction of modern waste incineration plants were quantified. The data was collected from five incineration plants (72,000–240,000 tonnes per year) built in Scandinavia (Norway, Finland and Denmark) between 2006 and 2012. Concrete for the buildings was the main material used amounting to 19,000–26,000 tonnes per plant. The quantification further included six main materials, electronic systems, cables and all transportation. The energy used for the actual on-site construction of the incinerators was in the range 4000–5000 MW h. In terms of the environmental burden of producing the materials used in the construction, steel for the building and the machinery contributed the most. The material and energy used for the construction corresponded to the emission of 7–14 kg CO₂ per tonne of waste combusted throughout the lifetime of the incineration plant. The assessment showed that, compared to data reported in the literature on direct emissions from the operation of incinerators, the environmental impacts caused by the construction of buildings and machinery (capital goods) could amount to 2–3% with respect to kg CO₂ per tonne of waste combusted.     

LCA and economic evaluation of landfill leachate and gas technologies

Landfills receiving a mix of waste, including organics, have developed dramatically over the last 3-4 decades; from open dumps to engineered facilities with extensive controls on leachate and gas. The conventional municipal landfill will in most climates produce a highly contaminated leachate and a significant amount of landfill gas. Leachate controls may include bottom liners and leachate collection systems as well as leachate treatment prior to discharge to surface water. Gas controls may include oxidizing top covers, gas collection systems with flares or gas utilization systems for production of electricity and heat.The importance of leachate and gas control measures in reducing the overall environmental impact from a conventional landfill was assessed by life-cycle-assessment (LCA). The direct cost for the measures were also estimated providing a basis for assessing which measures are the most cost-effective in reducing the impact from a conventional landfill. This was done by modeling landfills ranging from a simple open dump to highly engineered conventional landfills with energy recovery in form of heat or electricity. The modeling was done in the waste LCA model EASEWASTE. The results showed drastic improvements for most impact categories. Global warming went from an impact of 0.1 person equivalent (PE) for the dump to −0.05 PE for the best design. Similar improvements were found for photochemical ozone formation (0.02 PE to 0.002 PE) and stratospheric ozone formation (0.04 PE to 0.001 PE).For the toxic and spoiled groundwater impact categories the trend is not as clear. The reason for this was that the load to the environment shifted as more technologies were used. For the dump landfill the main impacts were impacts for spoiled groundwater due to lack of leachate collection, 2.3 PE down to 0.4 PE when leachate is collected. However, at the same time, leachate collection causes a slight increase in eco-toxicity and human toxicity via water (0.007E to 0.013PE and 0.002 to 0.003 PE respectively). The reason for this is that even if the leachate is treated, slight amounts of contaminants are released through emissions of treated wastewater to surface waters.The largest environmental improvement with regard to the direct cost of the landfill was the capping and leachate treatment system. The capping, though very cheap to establish, gave a huge benefit in lowered impacts, the leachate collection system though expensive gave large benefits as well. The other gas measures were found to give further improvements, for a minor increase in cost.     

Contribution of individual waste fractions to the environmental impacts from landfilling of municipal solid waste

A number of LCA-based studies have reported on the environmental performance of landfilling of mixed waste, but little is known about the relative contributions of individual waste fractions to the overall impact potentials estimated for the mixed waste. In this paper, an empirical model has been used to estimate the emissions to the environment from landfilling of individual waste fractions. By means of the LCA-model EASEWASTE, the emissions estimated have been used to quantify how much of the overall impact potential for each impact category is to be attributed to the individual waste fractions. Impact potentials are estimated for 1 tonne of mixed waste disposed off in a conventional landfill with bottom liner, leachate collection and treatment and gas collection and utilization for electricity generation. All the environmental aspects are accounted for 100 years after disposal and several impact categories have been considered, including standard categories, toxicity-related categories and groundwater contamination.Amongst the standard and toxicity-related categories, the highest potential impact is estimated for human toxicity via soil (HTs; 12 mPE/tonne). This is mostly caused by leaching of heavy metals from ashes (e.g. residues from roads cleaning and vacuum cleaning bags), batteries, paper and metals. On the other hand, substantial net environmental savings are estimated for the categories Global Warming (GW; ?31 mPE/tonne) and Eco-Toxicity in water chronic (ETwc; ?53 mPE/tonne). These savings are mostly determined by the waste fractions characterized by a high content of biogenic carbon (paper, organics, other combustible waste). These savings are due to emissions from energy generation avoided by landfill gas utilization, and by the storage of biogenic carbon in the landfill due to incomplete waste degradation.     

Past and Present Permafrost Temperatures in the Abisko Area: Redrilling of Boreholes

Monitoring of permafrost has been ongoing since 1978 in the Abisko area, northernmost Sweden, when measurements of active layer thickness started. In 1980, boreholes were drilled in three mires in the area to record permafrost temperatures. Recordings were made twice per year, and the last data were obtained in 2002. During the International Polar Year (2007–2008), new boreholes were drilled within the ‘Back to the Future’ (BTF) and ‘Thermal State of Permafrost’ (TSP) projects that enabled year-round temperature monitoring. Mean annual ground temperatures (MAGT) in the mires are close to 0°C, ranging from −0.16 to −0.47°C at 5 m depth. Data from the boreholes show increasing ground temperatures in the upper and lower part by 0.4 to 1°C between 1980 and 2002. At one mire, permafrost thickness has decreased from 15 m in 1980 to ca. 9 m in 2009, with an accelerating thawing trend during the last decade.     

Monitoring the multi-year carbon balance of a subarctic palsa mire with micrometeorological techniques

This article reports a dataset on 8 years of monitoring carbon fluxes in a subarctic palsa mire based on micrometeorological eddy covariance measurements. The mire is a complex with wet minerotrophic areas and elevated dry palsa as well as intermediate sub-ecosystems. The measurements document primarily the emission originating from the wet parts of the mire dominated by a rather homogenous cover of Eriophorum angustifolium. The CO(2)/CH(4) flux measurements performed during the years 2001-2008 showed that the areas represented in the measurements were a relatively stable sink of carbon with an average annual rate of uptake amounting to on average -46 g C m(-2) y(-1) including an equally stable loss through CH(4) emissions (18-22 g CH(4)-C m(-2) y(-1)). This consistent carbon sink combined with substantial CH(4) emissions is most likely what is to be expected as the permafrost under palsa mires degrades in response to climate warming.     

Environmental impact assessment of leachate recirculation in landfill of municipal solid waste by comparing with evaporation and discharge (EASEWASTE)

In some arid regions where landfill produces minimal amount of leachate, leachate recirculation is suggested as a cost-effective option. However, its long-term impacts to environment remain disputed. For the purpose of revealing the environmental impacts of leachate recirculation in landfill, four scenarios were modeled using EASEWASTE, comparing the strategies of leachate recirculation (with or without gas management), evaporation and discharge. In the current situation (Scenario A), a total of 280 t of waste was generated and then transported to a conventional landfill for disposal. A number of contaminants derived from waste can be stored in the landfill for long periods, with 11.69 person equivalent (PE) for stored ecotoxicity in water and 29.62 PE for stored ecotoxicity in soil, considered as potential risks of releasing to the environment someday. Meanwhile, impacts to ecotoxicity and human toxicity in surface water, and those to groundwater, present relatively low levels. In Scenario B, leachate evaporation in a collecting pool has minimal impacts on surface water. However, this strategy significantly impacts groundwater (1055.16 PE) because of the potential infiltration of leachate, with major contaminants of As, ammonia, and Cd. A number of ions, such as Cl^?, Mg²⁺, and Ca²⁺, may also contaminate groundwater. In Scenario C, the direct discharge of leachate to surface water may result in acidification (2.71 PE) and nutrient enrichment (2.88 PE), primarily attributed to soluble ammonia in leachate and the depositional ammonia from biogas. Moreover, the direct discharge of leachate may also result in ecotoxicity and human toxicity via water contaminated by heavy metals in leachate, with 3.96 PE and 11.64 PE respectively. The results also show that landfill gas is the main contributor to global warming and photochemical ozone formation due to methane emission. In Scenario D, landfill gas flaring was thus be modeled and proven to be efficient for reducing impacts by approximately 90% in most categories, like global warming, photochemical ozone formation, acidification, nutrient enrichment, ecotoxicity, and human toxicity. Therefore, leachate recirculation is considered a cost-effective and environmentally viable solution for the current situation, and landfill gas treatment is urgently required. These results can provide important evidence for leachate and gas management of landfill in arid regions.