Contrasting direct and indirect effects of warming and drought on isoprenoid emissions from Mediterranean oaks

Regional Environmental Change - The degree to which climate warming and increasing drought will alter isoprenoid emissions of Mediterranean forests remains unclear, because most studies were...     

Direct and indirect impact of sewage sludge compost spreading on Quercus coccifera monoterpene emissions in a Mediterranean shrubland

Monoterpene emissions of Quercus coccifera L. were repeatedly measured during the two years following the spreading of a sewage sludge compost at rates of 50 Mg ha⁻¹ and 100 Mg ha⁻¹, in a twelve-year-old post-fire Mediterranean shrubland. We also monitored the patterns of change in soil and leaf nutrient content, plant water potential, chlorophyll fluorescence, and plant growth. Compost spreading resulted in weak changes in leaf nutrient content and plant water status, and therefore no significant effect on monoterpene emissions at leaf scale, except during one summer sampling, probably related to advanced leaf maturity with the highest compost rate. However, compost increased plant growth, particularly the leaf biomass. The results suggest that compost spreading in Mediterranean shrublands has no strong short-term effect on Q. coccifera monoterpene emissions at leaf level, but may indirectly increase volatile organic compound fluxes at the stand scale, which may contribute to regional ozone pollution.     

The German packaging ordinance: the questionable effects of a fragmentary solid waste management approach

Germany seems to be one of the leading nations in solid waste management, especially in the case of packaging waste; success stories about the ongoing increase in recycling strengthen this impression. However, enormous costs and questionable ecological benefits are the result of Germany's packaging ordinance and the formation of the recycling organization Duales System Deutschland (DSD). This article shows that similar progress in the reduction and recycling of packaging could have been realized without the packaging ordinance and dual system, with lower costs. This regulatory impact analysis of the German packaging ordinance covers all the effects on the different life-cycle stages of packaging, from production to recycling or disposal. The conclusion is that a fragmentary solid waste management approach – one that is based, like the German packaging ordinance, more on ideology than on facts – leads to enormous costs and questionable ecological benefits. To improve this situation, there is a need for an integrated solid waste management approach, based on evaluation of the economic, environmental, and social effects of different waste management options for the materials involved. Received: February 4, 1999 / Accepted: April 30, 1999