National Inventory of Landscapes in Sweden (NILS)��scope, design, and experiences from establishing a multiscale biodiversity monitoring system

The landscape-level and multiscale biodiversity monitoring program National Inventory of Landscapes in Sweden (NILS) was launched in 2003. NILS is conducted as a sample-based stratified inventory that acquires data across several spatial scales, which is accomplished by combining aerial photo interpretation with field inventory. A total of 631 sample units are distributed across the land base of Sweden, of which 20% are surveyed each year. By 2007 NILS completed the first 5-year inventory phase. As the reinventory in the second 5-year phase (2008?C2012) proceeds, experiences and insights accumulate and reflections are made on the setup and accomplishment of the monitoring scheme. In this article, the emphasis is placed on background, scope, objectives, design, and experiences of the NILS program. The main objective to collect data for and perform analyses of natural landscape changes, degree of anthropogenic impact, prerequisites for natural biological diversity and ecological processes at landscape scale. Different environmental conditions that can have direct or indirect effects on biological diversity are monitored. The program provides data for national and international policy and offers an infrastructure for other monitoring program and research projects. NILS has attracted significant national and international interest during its relatively short time of existence; the number of stakeholders and cooperation partners steadily increases. This is constructive and strengthens the incentive for the multiscale monitoring approach.     

Modelling of occupational respirable crystalline silica exposure for quantitative exposure assessment in community-based case-control studies

We describe an empirical model for exposure to respirable crystalline silica (RCS) to create a quantitative job-exposure matrix (JEM) for community-based studies. Personal measurements of exposure to RCS from Europe and Canada were obtained for exposure modelling. A mixed-effects model was elaborated, with region/country and job titles as random effect terms. The fixed effect terms included year of measurement, measurement strategy (representative or worst-case), sampling duration (minutes) and a priori exposure intensity rating for each job from an independently developed JEM (none, low, high). 23,640 personal RCS exposure measurements, covering a time period from 1976 to 2009, were available for modelling. The model indicated an overall downward time trend in RCS exposure levels of -6% per year. Exposure levels were higher in the UK and Canada, and lower in Northern Europe and Germany. Worst-case sampling was associated with higher reported exposure levels and an increase in sampling duration was associated with lower reported exposure levels. Highest predicted RCS exposure levels in the reference year (1998) were for chimney bricklayers (geometric mean 0.11 mg m(-3)), monument carvers and other stone cutters and carvers (0.10 mg m(-3)). The resulting model enables us to predict time-, job-, and region/country-specific exposure levels of RCS. These predictions will be used in the SYNERGY study, an ongoing pooled multinational community-based case-control study on lung cancer.     

Regime-dependent effect of tourism on carbon emissions in the Mediterranean countries

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This study aims to test the effects of the number of tourist arrivals and tourism receipts on carbon emissions for the Mediterranean countries. The...     

Laying date and polygyny as determinants of annual reproductive success in male collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis): a long-term study

Annual reproductive success (ARS) is one of the main components of lifetime reproductive success, a reliable measure of individual fitness. Previous studies often dealt with ARS and variables potentially affecting it. Among them, long-term studies that consider multiple factors at the same time are particularly important in understanding the adaptive value of different phenotypes. Here, we used an 18-year dataset to quantify the ARS of male collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis) on the basis of recruited offspring. We simultaneously assessed the effect of start of breeding, age, polygyny, body size and the expression of forehead patch (a sexually selected trait). The success of early breeding individuals was appreciably higher than late birds; however, breeding too early was also disadvantaged, and males that bred around the yearly median breeding date had the highest ARS. Polygynous males were more successful in years with good food supply, while in years with low food availability, they did not produce more recruits than monogamous males. The age of males, their forehead patch size and body size did not affect the number of recruits. Our findings support the importance of breeding date and suggest stabilizing selection on it in the long term. We also show that polygyny is not always advantageous for males, and its fitness pay-off may depend on environmental quality.     

The Cytotoxicity of Some Organic Solvents on Isolated Hepatocytes in Monolayer Culture

The cytotoxic effects of volatile and water-insoluble organic solvents (ethylbenzene, tetrachloroethylene, n-hexane) were tested on isolated hepatocytes in monolayer culture by using the 3-(4,5 dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5 diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) reduction assay. All of the tested compounds inhibited metabolic activity of hepatocytes and this effect depended on the concentration of solvents in the incubatory medium. The presence of fetal calf serum in the medium did not change the cytotoxicity of xenobiotics. IC₅₀ values calculated on the basis of the MTT assay indicated that ethylbenzene was more cytotoxic than tetrachloroethylene and n-hexane. Using hepatocyte monolayer culture and the MTT assay to assess cytotoxicity of organic solvents causes many technical problems. It seems that it cannot be used as a rapid, cheap, and credible method.     

Multi-elemental compound-specific isotope analysis of pesticides for source identification and monitoring of degradation in soil: a review

Environmental Chemistry Letters - The transfer of pesticides from agricultural soils to food and drinking water is a major health issue. There are actually few robust methods to identify,...     

Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) tends to reduce the toxic effects of nickel (II) chloride in Allium cepa L. roots

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The immense protection potential of plant-derived products against heavy metal toxicity has become a considerable field of research. The goal of the...     

Decision process in large-scale crisis management

This paper deals with the decision-aiding process in large-scale crisis such as natural disasters. It consists in four phases: decision context characterisation, system modelling, aggregation and integration. The elements of the context, such as crisis level, risk situation, decision-makers, problem issue are defined through the characterisation phase. At the feared event occurrence, these elements will interact on a target system. Through the model on this system, the consequences to stakes could be assessed or estimated. The presented aggregation approaches will allow taking the right decisions. The architecture of a Decision Support System is presented in the integration phase.     

Impact of UV-irradiation on the formation of odorous chloroaldimines in drinking water

In order to explain some of the possible origins of an odor episode which took place in a drinking water supply in the region of Paris (France), the impact of disinfection on the formation of odorous by-products was investigated. We have previously established that very odorous and stable chloroaldimines are formed during amino acid chlorination in conditions relevant to those of drinking water treatment. As chlorination is preceded by a UV-irradiation step, we examined here the impact of this irradiation on the formation of chloroaldimines. Irradiation (30 m W cm(-2)) of various amino acids (glycine, valine, phenylalanine) and peptides (Phe-Gly-Gly-Phe, Phe-Ala) led to a degradation of the compounds but it was negligible at the doses applied in drinking water supplies. As peptides were concerned, contrary to what we previously expected, the degradation did not involve the peptidic bond breaking: irradiation induces therefore no increase in the quantity of free amino acids, precursors of odorous chloroaldimines. However chlorination of peptides (Phe-Ala-Ala-Val, Phe-Gly-Gly-Phe and Ala-Phe) showed that chloroaldimines are also probably formed during combined amino acids chlorination.     

Recognizing Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ rights and agency in the post-2020 Biodiversity Agenda

The Convention on Biological Diversity is defining the goals that will frame future global biodiversity policy in a context of rapid biodiversity decline and under pressure to make transformative change. Drawing on the work of Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars, we argue that transformative change requires the foregrounding of Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ rights and agency in biodiversity policy. We support this argument with four key points. First, Indigenous peoples and local communities hold knowledge essential for setting realistic and effective biodiversity targets that simultaneously improve local livelihoods. Second, Indigenous peoples’ conceptualizations of nature sustain and manifest CBD’s 2050 vision of “Living in harmony with nature.” Third, Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ participation in biodiversity policy contributes to the recognition of human and Indigenous peoples’ rights. And fourth, engagement in biodiversity policy is essential for Indigenous peoples and local communities to be able to exercise their recognized rights to territories and resources.