Concentration of some heavy metals in organically grown primitive,old and modern wheat genotypes: Implications for human health

The concentration of six HMs (Cd, Cr, Co, Pb, Hg and Ni) was analysed in 321 organically grown winter and spring wheat genotypes from six genotype groups, i.e. selections, old landraces, primitive wheat, spelt, old cultivars and cultivars. Also the potential risk of individual toxic HM to human health was estimated by using the Hazard Quotient (HQ). Significantly the lowest grain concentration of Cd was found in primitive wheat as compared to all other investigated genotype groups. Intake of HM by consumption of whole wheat grain was not found to pose a health risk to human for any of the investigated genotype groups. The bio-concentration factor of Cd for the different genotype groups indicated a lower ability to accumulate Cd for primitive wheat as compared to other genotype groups. The primitive wheat was found the most promising and might be of interest in future wheat breeding programs to develop wheat genotypes with low HMs concentration in the grain.     

Is levoglucosan a suitable quantitative tracer for wood burning? Comparison with receptor modeling on trace elements in Lycksele, Sweden

Particle emissions from residential wood combustion in small communities in Northern Sweden can sometimes increase the ambient particle concentrations to levels comparable to densely trafficked streets in the center of large cities. The reason for this is the combination of increased need for domestic heating during periods of low temperatures, leading to higher emission rates, and stable meteorological conditions. In this work, the authors compare two different approaches to quantify the wood combustion contribution to fine particles in Northern Sweden: a multivariate source-receptor analysis on inorganic compounds followed by multiple linear regression (MLR) of fine particle concentrations and levoglucosan used as a tracer. From the receptor model, it can be seen that residential wood combustion corresponds with 70% of modeled particle mass. Smaller contributions are also seen from local nonexhaust traffic particles, road dust, and brake wear (each contributing 14%). Of the mass, 1.5% is explained by long-distance transported particles, and 2% derives from a regional source deriving from either oil combustion or smelter activities. In samples collected in ambient air, a significant linear correlation was found between wood burning particles and levoglucosan. The levoglucosan fraction in the ambient fine particulate matter attributed to wood burning according to the multivariate analysis ranged from < 2% to 50%. This is much higher than the fraction found in the emission from the boilers expected to be responsible for most emissions at this site (between 3% and 6%). A laboratory emission study of wood and pellet boilers gave 0.3% wt to 22% wt levoglucosan to particle mass, indicating that the levoglucosan fraction may be highly dependent on combustion conditions, making it uncertain to use it as a quantitative tracer under real-world burning conditions. Thus, quantitative estimates of wood burning contributions will be very uncertain using solely levoglucosan as a tracer.     

SIMAIR—Evaluation tool for meeting the EU directive on air pollution limits

Almost all Swedish cities need to determine air pollution levels—especially PM10—close to major streets. SIMAIR is an internet tool that can be used by all Swedish municipalities to assess PM10, NO₂, CO and benzene levels and how they compare to the EU directive. SIMAIR is delivered to the municipalities with all required input data pre-loaded and is meant to be used prior to decisions if and where, monitoring campaigns are required. The system includes a road and vehicle database with emission factors and a model to calculate non-tailpipe PM10 emissions. Regional and urban background contributions are pre-calculated and stored as hourly values on a 1×1 km² grid. The local contribution is calculated by the user, selecting either an open road or a street canyon environment.A comparison between measured and simulated concentrations in four street locations shows that SIMAIR is able to calculate statistics of yearly mean values, 90-percentile and 98-percentile daily mean values and the number of days exceeding the limit value that are well within ±50% that EU requires for model estimates of yearly mean values. In comparison, all values except one are within ±25% which is the quality objective for fixed measurements according to the EU directive.The SIMAIR model system is also able to separate the percentual contribution of the long-range transport from outside the city, the city contribution and the local contribution from the traffic of an individual street.     

Estimates of black carbon and size-resolved particle number emission factors from residential wood burning based on ambient monitoring and model simulations

In this paper we derive typical emission factors for coarse particulate matter (PM(10)), oxides of nitrogen (NO(x)), black carbon (BC), and number particle size distributions based on a combination of measurements and air quality dispersion modeling. The advantage of this approach is that the emission factors represent integrated emissions from several vehicle types and different types of wood stoves. Normally it is very difficult to estimate the total emissions in cities on the basis of laboratory measurements on single vehicles or stoves because of the large variability in conditions. The measurements were made in Temuco, Chile, between April 18 and June 15, 2005 at two sites. The first one was located in a residential area relatively far from major roads. The second site was located in a busy street in downtown Temuco where wood consumption is low. The measurements support the assumption that the monitoring sites represent the impact of different emission sources, namely traffic and residential wood combustion (RWC). Fitting model results to the available measurements, emission factors were obtained for PM(10) (RWC = 2160 +/- 100 mg/kg; traffic = 610 +/- 51 mg/veh-km), NO(x) (RWC = 800 +/- 100 mg/kg; traffic = 4400 +/- 100 mg/veh-km), BC (RWC = 74 +/- 6 mg/kg; traffic = 60 +/- 3 mg/veh-km) and particle number (N) with size distribution between 25 and 600 nm (N(25-600)) (RWC = 8.9 +/- 1 x 10(14) pt/kg; traffic = 6.7 +/- 0.5 x 10(14) pt/veh-km). The obtained emission factors are comparable to results reported in the literature. The size distribution of the N emission factors for traffic was shown to be different than for RWC. The main difference is that although traffic emissions show a bimodal size distribution with a main mode below 30 nm and a secondary one around 100 nm, RWC emissions show the main mode slightly below 100 nm and a smaller nucleation mode below 50 nm.     

Devolving power from the state: local initiatives for nature protection and recreation in Sweden

ABSTRACT

Quests for devolving more power to local actors for nature protection stem from both international and national policies. Also, there is a growing recognition of the need for local governments to promote green infrastructure for citizens to recreate and learn about their environment. Starting in 2004, the Swedish government has allocated special funding towards these goals through the Local Nature Conservation Programme (LONA). Virtually all Swedish municipalities have received such funding in pursuit of facilitating wide access to nature and promoting recreational activities, including the protection of nature areas, creating pathways, information devices, and promoting these areas among new societal groups to enjoy. This study presents the results of ten years of experience with LONA. A survey with respondents from 191 municipalities and 20 county administrations, together with 20 key informant interviews, show that the programme has been a success in several respects. Not only have most municipalities created a wealth of new ways to engage local organisations and citizens in nature conservation and recreation, but they have also broadened the ways they think about how nature is important to their constituencies. Due to innovative ways to count voluntary work as local matching of funding, smaller and less resourceful municipalities have also become engaged. Still, the local needs for further initiatives are deemed considerable. State support coupled with knowledge sharing is important to show policy priority to such bottom-up initiatives.     

Synchronous variation in water chemistry for 80 lakes in Southern Sweden

Variation in water chemistry was studied in 80 lakes in southern Sweden. The lakes had forest dominated catchments. The length of the time series was 14 years. Synchrony was calculated as Pearsons product moment correlation coefficients for all combinations of lakes, i.e. 3160 lake-pairs. The chemical variables studied were non-marine sulphate (SO₄ ^*), non-marine calcium (Ca^*), absorbance and acid neutralising capacity (ANC). Statistically significant synchrony occurred in 93% of all lake-pairs for SO₄ ^*, and between 58 and 67% for absorbance, Ca^* and ANC. In 70% of all lake-pairs, the synchrony was \s>0.71 for SO₄ ^*, which means that more than half of the variation in one lake could be explained by the variation in the other lake. For absorbance, Ca^* and ANC, about 25% of the lake-pairs had a synchrony \s>0.71. The relatively high synchrony for SO₄ ^* occurred during an overall downward trend in SO₄ ^* concentration.The degree of synchrony in our study was at a level comparable to other studies in northern America and England. However, our study included lakes in a much larger area, with distances of up to 500 km between the lakes, while earlier studies were made on small lake districts with lakes located within approximately 50 km. In contrast to these earlier studies, there was no correlation between synchrony and distance, lake characteristics or catchment characteristics. However, when a small subset of 15 lakes in the southeast of Sweden was selected, such relations were found.     

Incentives and outcomes: Evaluation of a Swedish environmental subsidy programme

This paper empirically evaluates a Swedish government subsidy to environmental sustainability, the Local Investment Programme (LIP). During the programme period, 1998 – 2002, more than 670 million was granted to 1814 different municipal projects, making it the largest Swedish subsidization to ecological sustainability to date. For the 682 projects evaluated here, it was found that the projects were rewarded smaller subsidies than granted. To explain the gap between granted and rewarded subsidies, the gap was decomposed into a quantity effect, depending on the quantified environmental and employment outcomes of the projects, and a price effect, depending on the government's valuation of these outcomes. Whereas no statistically significant quantity effect was found, there was a large statistically significant price effect, indicating that the government paid the municipalities less than promised in the granting decision.     

Recovery of Acidified Streams in Forests Treated by Total Catchment Liming

Reduced emissions of acidifying pollutants have changed the acidification process, and as a result, forest soils and surface waters are slowly recovering in Sweden. However, model calculations show that some areas may never recover completely unless further measures, such as liming, are undertaken. Liming of surface waters (lakes, rivers and wetlands) has been successfully practised in Sweden since the 1970s, but repeated treatments are necessary. A full recovery of acidified lakes and streams without frequent liming is however not possible until soil acidification is reversed in the most strongly affected areas. In this study, the recovery of acidified streams was examined using ‘the total catchment approach’ i.e. treatment of both recharge and discharge areas. The aim was to compare the quantitative effect of different treatments on run off chemistry and the recovery of brown trout. Catchments in southwest Sweden were treated with a combination of 2 tons of wood ash and 4, 6 or 12 tons of crushed limestone per hectare in 1998/1999. Treatment of both recharge and discharge areas resulted in fast and significant changes in stream water quality, e.g. increased concentrations of calcium, higher pH and ANC and a decreased concentration of inorganic aluminium. The initial changes were dependent on the distribution of the applied lime between discharge and recharge areas rather than the average dose on the total catchment. Treatment of recharge areas only, resulted in smaller but still significant effects on calcium, pH and ANC in stream water. Furthermore, there was an initial leaching of nitrate but it was only minor compared with the elevated leaching that occurs after a clear-cut. As a result of the treatments, brown trout is now successfully reproducing. Olle Westling (deceased).     

Grassland songbird survival and recruitment in agricultural landscapes: implications for source-sink demography

Population growth and decline are particularly sensitive to changes in three key life-history parameters: annual productivity, juvenile survival, and adult survival. However, for many species these parameters remain unknown. For example, although grassland songbirds are imperiled throughout North America, for this guild, only a small number of studies have assessed these parameters. From 2002 to 2006, in the agricultural landscape of the Champlain Valley of Vermont and New York, USA, we studied Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis) and Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) demography on four grassland treatments: (1) early-hayed fields cut before 11 June and again in early- to mid-July; (2) middle-hayed fields cut once between 21 June and 10 July; (3) late-hayed fields cut after 1 August; and (4) rotationally grazed pastures. We assessed whether these treatments affected adult apparent survival (phi) and recruitment (f), how sensitive these parameters were to the presence of nonbreeders and local dispersal, and the populations' ability to persist in these four habitats. On average, birds using late-hayed fields had > 25% higher apparent survival than those on the more intensively managed early-hayed, middle-hayed, and grazed fields. Overall male phi was 35% higher than female phi, and Savannah Sparrow phi was 44% higher than Bobolink phi. Across all analyses and treatments, apparent survival estimates were 0.58-0.85 for male and 0.48-0.71 for female Savannah Sparrows, and 0.52-0.70 for male and 0.19-0.55 for female Bobolinks. For males of both species, potential nonbreeders decreased the precision of and lowered apparent survival estimates by 25%; female estimates showed little variation with the inclusion of nonbreeders. Inclusion of local dispersal observations increased apparent survival estimates and, in many cases, increased precision, though the effect was stronger for Savannah Sparrows than for Bobolinks, and also stronger for males than for females. High Savannah Sparrow apparent survival rates resulted in stable or near stable populations (lambda approximately 1), particularly in late-hayed and grazed fields, while low Bobolink apparent survival rates resulted in strongly declining populations (lambda < 1) in all treatments.