Environmental impact of historical harbour city Zadar (Croatia) on the composition of marine sediments and soils

Sediment samples and soils along the coast line of the Adriatic Sea were sampled along a transect near the coast line at Zadar/Croatia, ranging from north-western suburbs via the historical centre and the industrial area to south-east suburbs. The sediments were dominated by carbonates and clay minerals, and contaminations with Cd-Cu-Pb-Zn-TOC (total organic carbon) at the historical centre and the industrial site were detected, as well as P and Mo input at the mouth of a small creek, probably from agriculture. No trends between the composition of surface and subsurface sea sediments were seen. At the historic harbour site, total element concentrations versus grain size showed a minimum in the fine silt fraction for most of the elements analysed. The soil samples behind the shoreline were not carbonaceous, but dominated by Fe-Al- oxides, some contained high levels of Be-Cd-Cu-Sn-Zn. Surprisingly, high TOC values within the soils might be assigned to human impacts, not to humus. Contrary to data from street dust samples from Seoul city/Korea, which were measured within our laboratory at the same time, Pt-Ir-Au were at ambient levels due to the limited use of catalysts in cars in the Zadar area at the time of sampling.     

Alternative reproductive tactics and the impact of local competition on sex ratios in the ant Hypoponera opacior

The ant Hypoponera opacior exhibits alternative reproductive morphs of males and females associated with distinct sexual behaviours. Our long-term study reports strong seasonality in sexual production with a mating season in early and one in late summer. Winged (alate) reproductives emerge in June, swarm during the monsoon season and establish new colonies independently. In contrast, wingless worker-like (ergatoid) reproductives that appear in late August mate within their natal or adjacent nests and either do not disperse or establish new nests close by. These divergent dispersal patterns allowed us to analyse the impact of local factors on investment strategies by comparing sex allocation between and within the two reproductive events. The optimal sex ratio for ergatoid reproductives should be influenced both by competition for matings between brothers (local mate competition) and rivalry among young locally dispersing queens for workers, nest sites or food (local resource competition). The greater importance of local resource competition was demonstrated both by a male-biased sex ratio for wingless sexuals and a stronger increase in the number of males with total sexual production than for the number of queens. Microsatellite analysis revealed that inter-nest variation in relatedness asymmetry cannot explain split sex ratios in the August generation. Instead, nests with related ergatoid males raised a male-biased sex ratio contrary to the expectations under local mate competition. In conclusion, male bias in wingless H. opacior indicates that local mate competition is less strong than local resource competition among ergatoid queens over the help of workers during nest foundation.     

Tapping the leakages: Methane losses, mitigation options and policy issues for Russian long distance gas transmission pipelines

The Russian natural gas industry is the world's largest producer and transporter of natural gas. This paper aims to characterize the methane emissions from Russian natural gas transmission operations, to explain projects to reduce these emissions, and to characterize the role of emissions reduction within the context of current GHG policy. It draws on the most recent independent measurements at all parts of the Russian long distance transport system made by the Wuppertal Institute in 2003 and combines these results with the findings from the US Natural Gas STAR Program on GHG mitigation options and economics.With this background the paper concludes that the methane emissions from the Russian natural gas long distance network are approximately 0.6% of the natural gas delivered. Mitigating these emissions can create new revenue streams for the operator in the form of reduced costs, increased gas throughput and sales, and earned carbon credits. Specific emissions sources that have cost-effective mitigation solutions are also opportunities for outside investment for the Joint Implementation Kyoto Protocol flexibility mechanism or other carbon markets.     

The potential of spatial information in human biomonitoring by example of two German environmental epidemiology studies

This study aimed at statistically investigating the association between the internal exposure of children and young adults to uranium (U) and epidemiologically relevant external determinants of exposure. The investigation was performed with data from two studies within the framework of the German health-related environmental monitoring program: The German Environmental Survey for Children (GerES IV) conducted by the Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt) with data on 1,780 children 3–14 years of age and their home environment and the German Environmental Specimen Bank (ESB, section: human specimens) with data on 2,253 students 20–29 years of age. Both studies provided data on the U levels in human urine for all probands. GerES IV furthermore provided an extensive environmental and demographic database on, e.g., U levels in drinking water. The data from GerES IV and ESB were linked by GIS to spatially relevant exposure information, including background values of U in stream sediments and in upper and lower soils, U levels in mosses and particulate matter in the lower atmosphere, precipitation and elevation as well as forest density. Bivariate correlation analysis and two decision tree models showed moderate but significant associations between U in human urine and U levels in drinking water, stream sediments and upper and lower soils. Future investigations considering additional epidemiologically relevant data sets may differentiate the results. Furthermore, the sample design of future environmental epidemiology studies should take the spatial evaluation of the data into greater account.     

Staubfilterung und immissionshistorische Aspekte am Beispiel fassadenbegrünenden Wilden Weines (Parthenocissus tricuspidata)

Goal and Scope

At the present, air borne particulate matter is in the focus of public and scientific interest. In this context, it makes sense to remember the buffer function of vegetation for particulate air pollutants, notwithstanding technical and traffic management measures. Since trees with large and dense crowns might be able to shade windows and minimise the turbulent dilution of pollutants, natural-scientific results and socio-scientific aspects will point to the potentials of vertical greening with creeping plants.

Methods

To differentiate the endogenous and exogenous element fractions, the pollution caused by dust that covers the façade climbing creepers leaves was removed by a polyvinyl-butyrale based stripping method. The cleaning success is proven by SEM-Scans. The results of cleaned and not cleaned leaf-samples from an inner-city vertical greening for the element concentrations of Al, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, Pt, Rh, Sb and Zn between 1991 and 1997 are shown by AAS- and ICP-MS analyses.

Results and Conclusion

The results show the increasing element concentrations during the course of the separate vegetation periods. Due to the long investigation period, it is possible to detect historical aspects concerning pollution, such as the end of the use of leaded fuel and the introduction of the catalytic converters. The comparison of dust deposition data from different cities shows the relevance of the pollution filtering by vertical greenings with Japanese Creeper. The comparison of investigation results of sycamore leaves refer to entirely different filtering characteristics of the leaf-surfaces.

Recommendation and Perspective

If appropriate planning and maintenance is assured, vertical greening can be a useful contribution for air pollution control and neighbourhood improvement. As selected results from a survey show, from the citizens point of view, the aesthetical and psychosocial aspects of well-being are of more relevant than ecological arguments. Therefore it seems to be wise to implement the combined fields of interest.