Recent developments in the analysis of Large Wood dynamics in fluvial systems

Environmental Fluid Mechanics -     

Health impact assessment of air pollutants during the COVID-19 pandemic in a Brazilian metropolis

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Studies around the world have revealed reduced levels of atmospheric particulate matter in periods of greatest human mobility restriction to contain...     

The Incidence of Tariff Schedules and Price Information on Inattentive Consumers: a Lab Experiment

We design an induced value laboratory consumption choice experiment where complex tariff schemes trigger nonlinear simplification heuristics that lead individuals to over- or underconsume public goods such as electricity, gas, or drinking water. By studying this “schmeduling” bias, we investigate how an informational nudge could reduce it. Participants choose consumption levels repeatedly under different tariff schemes, where the marginal price per unit either remains constant (constant block rate, i.e., CBR) or increases above a certain threshold (increasing block rate, or IBR). We observe that the vast majority of choices are optimal, but a significant number of them reveal overconsumption. To investigate the impact of the informational nudge on these errors, some of our participants received a marginal price reminder. In that case, the learning effect helps to achieve convergence towards the optimal consumption value. To explain these effects, we use econometric models relying on microeconomic behavioral inattention to price to capture the magnitude of consumers’ inattention, observing, in particular, how the informational nudge is decreasing it.

     

The economic value of water use: implications for implementing the Water Framework Directive in Scotland

The European Union Water Framework Directive (WFD) enshrines several economic principles in pursuit of 'good ecological status' for Europe's waters and rationalising water use in society. The implicit principle of maximising the social value from use of a scarce resource is reminiscent of the debate about treating water as an economic good, which has competing uses in society. This paper locates the debate about the economic value of water in the requirements of WFD. Specifically, we consider the implications of national reporting requirements for the economic characterisation report that stress the identification of relative value derived from use. As part of the Scottish contribution to the UK reporting exercise, we use a range of secondary data sources to derive economic values for water on a sector basis. We suggest whether the implications of different water values can be followed through in the WFD.     

Phytoremediation of phenol using Vicia sativa L. plants and its antioxidative response

Common vetch (Vicia sativa L.) is a legume species with an extensive agricultural use. However, the phytoremediation potentiality of this species has not been sufficiently explored because little is known about its resistance to inorganic and organic pollutants. In the present work, phenol tolerance of common vetch was assayed at different stages of growth. Germination index and germination rate decreased only at high phenol concentrations (250 and 500 mg L(-1)), whereas 30-day-old plants were able to tolerate this pollutant, with high removal efficiencies. The activities of antioxidative enzymes, such as peroxidase (POD) and ascorbate peroxidase, increased significantly with the highest phenol concentration, whereas superoxide dismutase activity, malondialdehyde, and H(2)O(2) levels remained unaltered. Besides, an increase in two basic isoforms of POD was observed in plants treated with phenol. The results suggested that common vetch has an efficient protection mechanism against phenol-induced oxidative damage. Moreover, it could tolerate and remove high phenol concentrations, avoiding serious phytotoxic effects. Thus, V. sativa could be considered an interesting tool in the field of phytoremediation.     

Rapid determination of residues of pesticides in honey by µGC-ECD and GC-MS/MS: Method validation and estimation of measurement uncertainty according to document No. SANCO/12571/2013

A simple and straightforward method for simultaneous determination of residues of 13 pesticides in honey samples (acrinathrin, bifenthrin, bromopropylate, cyhalothrin-lambda, cypermethrin, chlorfenvinphos, chlorpyrifos, coumaphos, deltamethrin, fluvalinate-tau, malathion, permethrin and tetradifon) from different pesticide classes has been developed and validated. The analytical method provides dissolution of honey in water and an extraction of pesticide residues by n-Hexane followed by clean-up on a Florisil SPE column. The extract was evaporated and taken up by a solution of an injection internal standard (I-IS), ethion, and finally analyzed by capillary gas chromatography with electron capture detection (GC-µECD). Identification for qualitative purpose was conducted by gas chromatography with triple quadrupole mass spectrometer (GC-MS/MS). A matrix-matched calibration curve was performed for quantitative purposes by plotting the area ratio (analyte/I-IS) against concentration using a GC-µECD instrument. According to document No. SANCO/12571/2013, the method was validated by testing the following parameters: linearity, matrix effect, specificity, precision, trueness (bias) and measurement uncertainty. The analytical process was validated analyzing blank honey samples spiked at levels equal to and greater than 0.010 mg/kg (limit of quantification). All parameters were satisfactorily compared with the values established by document No. SANCO/12571/2013. The analytical performance was verified by participating in eight multi-residue proficiency tests organized by BIPEA, obtaining satisfactory z-scores in all 70 determinations. Measurement uncertainty was estimated according to the top-down approaches described in Appendix C of the SANCO document using the within-laboratory reproducibility relative standard deviation combined with laboratory bias using the proficiency test data.     

Changes in the phytoplankton community at Helgoland, North Sea: lessons from single spot time series analyses

In recent regime shift analyses, the phytoplankton compartment of the marine food web was essentially represented by phytoplankton color or chlorophyll concentration. A detection of changes directly at the species level is highly desirable. The Helgoland Roads data series, a collection of high frequency long-term time series comprising biological and physico-chemical components of the southern North Sea, allow such an investigation at the level of single species. Aiming at a detection and characterization of habitat and community changes in the observation period (1962 until the end of 2008), we selected six species as representatives of certain classes, for example, benthic or neritic species, and applied a combination of novel analysis methods—a fitness-based analysis of the realized niche, a bloom-triggered averaging and a Markovian analysis of co-occurrence and succession patterns—to related abundance time series and concurrent environmental parameter time series. We found a general trend toward enlargement of niche size and shifts of the niche position, interesting salinity patterns around bloom events of two species, and statistically highly significant changes of a phytoplankton community segment after 1965 and after 1998. Interpreting our observations in ecological terms leads to the formulation of testable hypotheses.