Factors affecting the outcome of corporate sustainability policy: a review paper

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Despite having a focus on sustainability policy planning, failures occur during the implementation process. The gap between policy and its...     

Impact of invasive ant species on native fauna across similar habitats under global environmental changes

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Biotic invasions can predominantly alter the dynamics, composition, functions, and structure of natural ecosystems. Social insects, particularly ants,...     

The trade-off between economic growth and environmental quality: does economic freedom asymmetric matter for Pakistan?

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This empirical study investigates the dynamic effects of economic freedom on economic growth and air quality for Pakistan over the period...     

陕北黄土丘陵区不同土地利用方式下土壤碳剖面分布特征

黄土高原土层深厚,土壤剖面碳存储受土地利用方式影响明显.为探讨不同土地利用方式对深层土壤碳分布的影响,研究了人工经济林地(陕北米脂)、退耕还林地(神木)和防风固沙林地(榆林榆阳区)0~20.0 m土壤有机碳(SOC)和无机碳(SIC)的分布特征和差异.结果表明,在不同土地利用方式下SOC含量:矮化枣树(2.00 g·kg~(-1))未矮化枣树(1.54 g·kg~(-1))柠条林(0.97 g·kg~(-1))退化人工草地(0.81 g·kg~(-1))樟子松林(0.70 g·kg~(-1))荒草地(0.45 g·kg~(-1)),且各剖面之间SOC含量存在显著性差异(P0.05).在不同土地利用方式下SIC含量:矮化枣树(11.66 g·kg~(-1))≥未矮化枣树(11.59g·kg~(-1))柠条林(9.62 g·kg~(-1))退化人工草地(8.07 g·kg~(-1))樟子松林(4.32 g·kg~(-1))荒草地(0.47 g·kg~(-1));人工经济林和退耕还林(草)样地内所有土壤剖面之间SIC含量无显著性差异;人工经济林、退耕还林(草)剖面和防风固沙林地剖面SIC含量存在显著性差异(P0.05).矮化枣树、未矮化枣树、柠条林、退化人工草地、樟子松林和荒草地土壤剖面无机碳密度分别是有机碳密度的6.19、7.71、10.80、10.78、5.91和1.03倍.综上可见,不同土地利用方式之间土壤碳储量存在明显差异,无机碳的含量远高于有机碳.     

Mutagenic and cytotoxic potential of Endosulfan and Lambda-cyhalothrin - In vitro study describing individual and combined effects of pesticides

Excessive use of pesticides poses increased risks to non target species including humans. In the developing countries, lack of proper awareness about the toxic potential of pesticides makes the farmer more vulnerable to pesticide linked toxicities, which could lead to diverse pathological conditions. The toxic potential of a pesticide could be determined by their ability to induce genetic mutations and cytotoxicity. Hence, determination of genetic mutation and cytotoxicity of each pesticide is unavoidable to legislate health and safety appraisal about pesticides. The objective of current investigation was to determine the genotoxic and cytotoxic potential of Endosulfan（EN） and Lambda-cyhalothrin（LC）; individually and in combination. 3-（4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl）-2,5-Diphenyltetrazolium Bromide（MTT） assay was utilized to determine cytotoxicity, while two mutant histidine dependent Salmonella strains（TA98, TA100） were used to determine the mutagenicity of EN and LC.Moreover, mutagenicity assay was conducted with and without S9 to evaluate the effects of metabolic activation on mutagenicity. Even though a dose dependent increase in the number of revertant colonies was detected with EN against both bacterial strains, a highly significant（p 〈 0.05） increase in the mutagenicity was detected in TA98 with S9. In comparison, data obtained from LC revealed less mutagenic potential than EN. Surprisingly,the non-mutagenic individual-concentrations of EN and LC showed dose dependent mutagenicity when combined. Combination of EN and LC synergistically induced mutagenicity both in TA98 and TA100. MTT assay spotlighted comparable dose dependent cytotoxicity effects of both pesticides. Interestingly, the combination of EN and LC produced increased reversion and cytotoxicity at lower doses as compared to each pesticide, concluding that pesticide exposure even at sub-lethal doses can produce cytotoxicity and genetic mutations, which could lead to carcinogenicity.     

Impact of climate change: an empirical investigation of Malaysian rice production

This paper examines the possible impact of climate change on Malaysian rice production. Using the Ricardian Method and farm household data, we have examined the effects on rice producers focusing on sharecropper adaptations and ecological causes. The principle goal of this research paper is to investigate the impact of climate variables such as temperature, rainfall and precipitation on rice production during main and off seasons, in Kedah, Malaysia. The main purpose of this paper is to examine how climate change affects the net income of paddy farmers in the study area. The statistically significant results show that temperature, rainfall, farm size, educational knowledge, land area and value of labour input have an impact on rice production per hectare revealing potential impacts of climate vulnerability on Malaysian agriculture. The results showed that net revenue increased by Ringgit Malaysia (RM 1= $0.3277) 4.78 per hectare throughout the main seasons as a result of minimal increase in the temperature while there is a decrease of RM 3.02 in the net revenue per hectare during off seasons. During the off season, rainfall increased revenue per hectare by RM 1.32 and during the main season it reduced revenue per hectare by RM 1.01. The evidence from this study may be useful for Malaysian policymakers to facilitate greater preventive measures during the main and off-seasons to counteract climate uncertainty and vulnerability.     

Application of chemical oxidation to remediate HCH-contaminated soil under batch and flow through conditions

This is the first study describing the chemical oxidation of hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) in contaminated soil under water saturated and unsaturated flow through conditions. Soil contaminated with β-HCH (45 mg kg^?1) and γ-HCH (lindane, 25 mg kg^?1) was sampled from former lindane waste storage site. Efficiency of following treatments was tested at circumneutral pH: H₂O₂ alone, H₂O₂/Fe^II, Na₂S₂O₈ alone, Na₂S₂O₈/Fe^II, and KMnO₄. Experimental conditions (oxidant dose, liquid/solid ratio, and soil granulometry) were first optimized in batch experiments. Obtained results revealed that increasing dose of H₂O₂ improved the oxidation efficiency while in Na₂S₂O₈ system, maximum HCHs were removed at 300 mM. However, oxidation efficiency was slightly improved by Fe^II-activation. Increasing the solid/liquid ratio decreased HCH removal in soil samples crushed to 500 μm while an opposite trend was observed for 2-mm samples. Dynamic column experiments showed that oxidation efficiency followed the order KMnO₄ > Na₂S₂O₈/Fe^II > Na₂S₂O₈ whatever the flow condition, whereas the removal extent declined at higher flow rate (e.g., ~50% by KMnO₄ at 0.5 mL/min as compared to ~30% at 2 mL/min). Both HCH removal and oxidant decomposition extents were found higher in saturated columns than the unsaturated ones. While no significant change in relative abundance of soil mineral constituents was observed before and after chemical oxidation, more than 60% of extractable organic matter was lost after chemical oxidation, thereby underscoring the non-selective behavior of chemical oxidation in soil. Due to the complexity of soil system, chemical oxidation has rarely been reported under flow through conditions, and therefore our findings will have promising implications in developing remediation techniques under dynamic conditions closer to field applications.     

The impact of municipal solid waste treatment methods on greenhouse gas emissions in Lahore, Pakistan

The contribution of existing municipal solid waste management to emission of greenhouse gases and the alternative scenarios to reduce emissions were analyzed for Data Ganj Bukhsh Town (DGBT) in Lahore, Pakistan using the life cycle assessment methodology. DGBT has a population of 1,624,169 people living in 232,024 dwellings. Total waste generated is 500,000 tons per year with an average per capita rate of 0.84kg per day. Alternative scenarios were developed and evaluated according to the environmental, economic, and social atmosphere of the study area. Solid waste management options considered include the collection and transportation of waste, collection of recyclables with single and mixed material bank container systems (SMBCS, MMBCS), material recovery facilities (MRF), composting, biogasification and landfilling. A life cycle inventory (LCI) of the six scenarios along with the baseline scenario was completed; this helped to quantify the CO2 equivalents, emitted and avoided, for energy consumption, production, fuel consumption, and methane (CH4) emissions. LCI results showed that the contribution of the baseline scenario to the global warming potential as CO2 equivalents was a maximum of 838,116 tons. The sixth scenario had a maximum reduction of GHG emissions in terms of CO2 equivalents of -33,773 tons, but the most workable scenario for the current situation in the study area is scenario 5. It saves 25% in CO2 equivalents compared to the baseline scenario.     

An Approach to Reaeration Coefficient Modeling in Local Surface Water Quality Monitoring

Reaeration coefficient (k ₂) for River Atuwara, Ogun State, Nigeria was calculated from dissolved oxygen and biochemical oxygen demand data collected over period of 3 months covering the two prevailing climatic seasons in the country. Both the Akaike and Bayesian information criteria were used in the selection and analysis of ten models to identify the most suitable reaeration coefficient (k ₂) model for Atuwara River. Models that passed the confidence limit were subjected to model evaluation using measures of agreement between observed and predicted data such as percent bias, Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency, and root mean square observation standard deviation ratio. The used approach yield better results than empirical models developed for local conditions while it is also useful in conserving scarce resources.     

The importance of ammonium mobility in nitrogen-impacted unfertilized grasslands: A critical reassessment

The physico-chemical absorption characteristics of ammonium-N for 10 soils from 5 profiles in York, UK, show its high potential mobility in N deposition-impacted, unfertilized, permanent grassland soils. Substantial proportions of ammonium-N inputs were retained in the solution phase, indicating that ammonium translocation plays an important role in the N cycling in, and losses from, such soils. This conclusion was further supported by measuring the ammonium-N leaching from intact plant/soil microcosms. The ammonium-N absorption characteristics apparently varied with soil pH, depth and soil texture. It was concluded for the most acid soils especially that ammonium-N leached from litter horizons could be seriously limiting the capacity of underlying soils to retain ammonium. Contrary to common opinion, more attention therefore needs to be paid to ammonium leaching and its potential role in biogeochemical N cycling in semi-natural soil systems subject to atmospheric pollution.