Land cover change and abrupt environmental impacts on Javan volcanoes, Indonesia: a long-term perspective on recent events

Based on a presentation of the spectacularly abrupt environmental and societal processes occurring on Java since the 1990s, and using that as an analogue to compare their consequences with the known environmental history of the island, we unravel the relative contributions of natural and human impacts in shaping the environment of Java. Our work is based on remote sensing, Geographical Information System analysis, field-based observations and measurements of responses to abrupt land cover changes in the last 10 years. Ecological disturbance has been endemic to the long-term history of Java, but montane forests on volcanoes have since ca. 1990 become the last frontier of colonisation and are for the first time rapidly receding. We reveal how human disturbance of natural ecosystems, today as in the past, tends to be the greatest where resistance is the least. This appears true within the regional setting of Southeast Asia, where Javan forests since the last glaciation have constituted a biogeographical ecotone with a limited natural ability to regenerate after some imbalance. It is equally true at the scale of single events where humans will turn a natural disturbance to their own advantage. Overall, it remains difficult to deconvolve the signals of spontaneous human impacts and of localised natural events such as volcanic activity, El Niño-related forest fires or longer climatic anomalies because humans are opportunistic in their attitudes to natural variability and so the two are often inextricably linked. The clearest impact on land cover and land degradation comes from the history of state-organised deforestation, whether colonial or indigenous, because its impact has been systematic, pervasive and regionally consistent. Javan environments have shown astonishing signs of resilience under the abrupt, cumulative impacts that have been inflicted over the last four centuries in successive iterations, possibly because the high-energy tropical and volcanic environment is a system in which sediment turnover is naturally rapid and where past scars of land degradation either heal rapidly or are soon destroyed by younger events. However, the volcanoes are the island’s keystone reservoirs of water, sediment and biodiversity and command the geomorphic metabolism of the lowlands. By removing forests from increasingly crowded mountain slopes, Javanese society is following a trajectory in which new nonlinear responses to environmental hazards and change may limit our capacity to anticipate and contain environmental risk to human life and property.     

Sewage sludge effects on mesofauna and cork oak (Quercus suber L.) leaves decomposition in a Mediterranean forest firebreak

Effects of sewage sludge on litter mesofauna communities (Collembola and Acari) and cork oak (Quercus suber L.) leaf litter decomposition have been studied during 18 mo using litterbags in an in situ experimental forest firebreak in southeastern France. The sludge (2.74 t DM ha(-1) yr(-1)) was applied to fertilize and maintain a pasture created on the firebreak. Litterbag colonization had similar dynamics on both the control and fertilized plots and followed a typical Mediterranean pattern showing a greater abundance in spring and autumn and a lower abundance in summer. After 9 mo of litter colonization, Collembola and Acari, but mainly Oribatida, were more abundant on the sludge-fertilized plot. Leaf litter decomposition showed a similar pattern on both plots, but it was faster on the control plot. Furthermore, leaves from the fertilized plot were characterized by greater nitrogen content. Both chemical composition of leaves and sludges and the decomposition state of leaves have significantly affected the mesofauna community composition from each plot.     

Insecticide resistance may enhance the response to a host-plant volatile kairomone for the codling moth, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cydia pomonella</Emphasis> (L.)

The behavioral and electroantennographic responses of Cydia pomonella (L.) to the ripe pear volatile ethyl (2E,4Z)-2,4-decadienoate (Et-E,Z-DD), were compared in insecticide-susceptible and -resistant populations originating from southern France. A dose–response relationship to this kairomonal attractant was established for antennal activity and did not reveal differences between susceptible and resistant strains. Conversely, males of the laboratory strains expressing metabolic [cytochrome P450-dependent mixed-function oxidases (mfo)] or physiological (kdr-type mutation of the sodium-channel gene) resistance mechanisms exhibited a significantly higher response to Et-E,Z-DD than those of the susceptible strain in a wind tunnel experiment. No response of the females to this kairomone could be obtained in our wind-tunnel conditions. In apple orchards, mfo-resistant male moths were captured at significantly higher rates in kairomone-baited traps than in traps baited with the sex pheromone of C. pomonella. Such a differential phenomenon was not verified for the kdr-resistant insects, which exhibited a similar response to both the sex pheromone and the kairomonal attractant in apple orchards. Considering the widespread distribution of metabolic resistance in European populations of C. pomonella and the enhanced behavioral response to Et-E,Z-DD in resistant moths, the development of control measures based on this kairomonal compound would be of great interest for the management of insecticide resistance in this species.     

PM2.5 and PM10 air pollution peaks are associated with emergency department visits for psychotic and mood disorders

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Particulate matters with a diameter of less than 10&nbsp;µm (PM10) or less than 2.5&nbsp;µm (PM2.5) are major air pollutants. Their...     

Interactions between sewage sludge-amended soil and earthworms—comparison between <Emphasis Type="Italic">Eisenia fetida</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Eisenia andrei</Emphasis> composting species

Vermicomposting is an eco-friendly technology, where earthworms are introduced in the waste, inter alia sewage sludge, to cooperate with microorganisms and enhance decomposition of organic matter. The main aims of the present study was to determine the influence of two different earthworm species, Eisenia fetida and Eisenia andrei, on the changes of selected metallic trace elements content in substratum during vermicomposting process using three different sewage sludge mainly differentiated by their metal contents. Final vermicompost has shown a slight reduction in Cd, Cu, Ni, and Pb, while the Zn concentration tends to increase. Accumulation of particular heavy metals in earthworms’ bodies was assessed. Both species revealed high tendency to accumulate Cd and Zn, but not Cu, Ni, and Pb, but E. andrei has higher capabilities to accumulate some metals. Riboflavin content, which content varies depending on metal pollution in several earthworms species, was measured supravitaly in extruded coelomocytes. Riboflavin content decreased slightly during the first 6 weeks of exposure and subsequently restored till the end of the 9-week experiment. Selected agronomic parameters have also been measured in the final product (vermicompost) to assess the influence of earthworms on substratum.     

Sauerstoff und Kohlendioxid — Schlüsselverbindungen des Lebens

Für Anregungen danken wir den Professoren P. Böger, P. Fabian, H. Flohn, M. Schidlowski und F. Wagner.