Diversity and distribution of riparian plant communities in relation to stream size and eutrophication

The present study was conducted in 47 different riparian areas distributed throughout Denmark to investigate diversity and distributional patterns of plant communities along a lowland stream size gradient (first to fifth order). The investigated areas were representative for Danish riparian areas not in use for agricultural production. We investigated plant community richness along a stream size gradient and the influence of eutrophication on the abundance of different plant communities. Vegetation analyses were performed in transects placed perpendicular to the stream channel, with a total of 1798 plots analyzed. Overall, we found a positive relationship between stream mean depth as a measure of stream size and the number of plant community types identified in the riparian areas. We also found that the abundance of the identified communities was positively correlated with their nutrient preference and negatively correlated with their moisture preference. The abundance of alkaline fens and Molinia meadows (protected community types) in riparian areas decreased with increasing size of the stream, whereas the abundance of humid meadows and wet herb fringes increased with increasing size of the stream. Based on our findings, we recommend that wide buffer zones be established along streams with protected habitat types in the associated riparian areas to reduce the direct impact from agriculture. Furthermore, we recommend that wide buffer zones be established along middle-sized and large streams because several community types may develop.     

A Quantitative Review of Urban Ecosystem Service Assessments: Concepts,Models, and Implementation

Although a number of comprehensive reviews have examined global ecosystem services (ES), few have focused on studies that assess urban ecosystem services (UES). Given that more than half of the world’s population lives in cities, understanding the dualism of the provision of and need for UES is of critical importance. Which UES are the focus of research, and what types of urban land use are examined? Are models or decision support systems used to assess the provision of UES? Are trade-offs considered? Do studies of UES engage stakeholders? To address these questions, we analyzed 217 papers derived from an ISI Web of Knowledge search using a set of standardized criteria. The results indicate that most UES studies have been undertaken in Europe, North America, and China, at city scale. Assessment methods involve bio-physical models, Geographical Information Systems, and valuation, but few study findings have been implemented as land use policy.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-014-0504-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Spatial and temporal trends of metals and arsenic in German freshwater compartments

Cadmium, lead, mercury, copper, nickel, zinc, and arsenic were analyzed in suspended particulate matter (SPM), zebra mussels, and bream sampled yearly under the program of the German Environmental Specimen Bank (ESB) in the rivers Rhine, Elbe, Danube, Saar, Mulde, and Saale and in Lake Belau. Temporal and spatial trends were analyzed, correlations between metal levels in different specimen types assessed, and sampling sites ranked according to their metal levels by calculating a Multi-Metal Index (MMI) for every specimen type and site. SPM: Highest metal loads were detected in Mulde, Saale, and Elbe right downstream of the Saale confluence. In the Elbe, metal loads in SPM were mostly highest in the upper and middle section of the river while in Rhine and Saar concentrations increased downstream. Temporal trends since 2005 were detected only at three sites. Zebra mussel: MMIs were highest in the tidal section of the Elbe and the lower Rhine and lowest in Lake Belau and the upper Danube. Different temporal trends were detected since the early 1990s depending on site and metal. Bream: As, Pb, Cu, and Hg were analyzed in muscle tissue and Pb, Cd, Cu, and Zn in liver. For both tissues, MMIs were highest in Mulde and Saale and the lower and middle Elbe. Since the early 1990s, Hg, Pb, and Cu decreased in bream muscle at many sites while As increased at 6 of the 17 sites. The findings indicate that Hg, Pb, and Cu have obviously decreased in many freshwater ecosystems in recent years, whereas As and Ni levels have increased at several sites. Metal levels and temporal trends mostly differed between the specimen types under investigation and only few correlations between specimen types were detected. This underlines the importance of including different components of an ecosystem when assessing its environmental quality.     

Accelerated transport of (90)Sr following a release of high ionic strength solution in vadose zone sediments

Numerical simulation of cation exchange and mineral precipitation/dissolution reactions using the multiphase reactive geochemical transport code TOUGHREACT has provided important insight into the distribution of (90)Sr among layers of geologic strata in a complex vadose zone at the U. S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory. During a transfer operation in November 1972, 70.4 m(3) of acidic, high ionic strength liquid containing 15,900 Ci of (90)Sr was released over five days into alluvial gravels 137 m above the Snake River Plain Aquifer. Sampling data from perched water zones 33 m below the release contain very high levels of (90)Sr as do soil samples obtained nearer the point of release. Use of traditional simulation approaches using laboratory-measured constant partitioning coefficients (K(d)) cannot simultaneously explain perched water and soil concentrations. To address the discrepancy, a reactive transport approach was adopted to include competitive cation exchange, dissolution/precipitation of calcite, carbon dioxide gas production and transport, and gibbsite precipitation. Simulation results using this model suggest that some of the (90)Sr could have been transported very rapidly immediately after the release with the acceleration facilitated by competition for cation exchange sites with high sodium concentrations in the released liquid and calcium dissolved from calcite, and to a lesser extent by formation of aqueous complexes with nitrate. Once the leading edge of the liquid assemblage was flushed from the alluvium, the mobility of the remaining (90)Sr decreased significantly in the absence of the competing cations. Calculations indicate that there should be a net increase in calcite, suggesting that (90)Sr could be entrained in the mineral lattice, but insufficient field data exist for confirmation. Sensitivity studies show that the cation exchange selectivity coefficients were the most sensitive individual parameters determining the (90)Sr distribution. However, the most sensitive overall quantity was the total ion exchange capacity which is a function of the moles of exchange sites per volume of pore water, the cation exchange capacity, and the total volume wetted by the infiltrating solution. In contrast, the future mobility of (90)Sr was found to be relatively insensitive to the normal range in the composition of influxing precipitation and anthropogenic waters.     

Low emission zones reduce PM10 mass concentrations and diesel soot in German cities

In many European cities mass concentrations of PM₁₀ (particles less than 10 μm in size) are still exceeding air quality standards as set by the European Commission in 1999. As a consequence, many cities introduced low emission zones (LEZs) to improve air quality and to meet the limit values. In Germany currently 48 LEZs are in operation. By means of dispersion modeling, PM₁₀ concentrations were estimated to decrease up to 10%. Analysis of PM₁₀ levels conducted for Cologne, Berlin, and Munich some time after the LEZs were introduced showed reduction of PM₁₀ mass concentration in the estimated range. The PM₁₀ particle fraction is, however, composed of particles with varying toxicity, of which diesel soot is highly health relevant. An evaluation of air quality data conducted in Berlin showed that in 2010 traffic-related soot concentrations measured along major roads decreased by 52% compared to 2007. Diesel particle emissions in Berlin were reduced in 2012 by 63% compared to a business-as-usual scenario (reference year 2007). A strong reduction of the traffic-related particle fraction of PM_2.5 was also reported for Munich. Therefore, it is likely that the effects of LEZs are considerably more significant to human health than was anticipated when only considering the reduction of PM₁₀ mass concentrations.

Implications: The implementation of low emission zones in German cities might result in a reduction of PM₁₀ levels concentrations by up to 10%. However, it is difficult to show a reduction of PM₁₀ annual averages in this order of magnitude as meteorology has a large impact on the year-to-year variation of PM mass concentrations. Monitoring of other PM metrics such as black smoke (BS) or elemental carbon (EC) might be a better strategy for evaluating LEZs effects. The benefit of low emission zones on human health is far greater than is presently visible from routine measurements of PM₁₀.     

Childhood asthma acute primary care visits,traffic, and traffic-related pollutants

Previous studies have found associations between traffic-related air pollution and asthma exacerbation in children, where exacerbations were measured according to emergency department visits and hospital admissions. Fewer studies have been undertaken that look at asthma exacerbations in a less severe primary care setting. Therefore, the authors sought to examine the associations between childhood asthma exacerbations, measured as acute visits to a primary care setting, and vehicular-traffic measures in a population of children aged 18 and under in the metropolitan Atlanta area. Statistical tests for differences of mean monthly visits for members with traffic measures above the median compared with below the median and for the upper quartile compared with the lower quartile were conducted. We also compared the odds of having one or more visits in a month for those who lived closer to a major roadway were compared with those who lived farther (greater than 300 m) from a major roadway. Poisson general linear modeling was used to determine associations between daily levels of acute visits for childhood asthma and traffic-related pollutants (zinc, EC [elemental carbon], and PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 [particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of ≤10 and ≤2.5 μm, respectively]) for different levels of traffic and distance measures. This analysis found that both larger traffic volumes and smaller distances to the nearest major roadway were positively and significantly associated with larger numbers of childhood asthma visits, when compared with less traffic and larger distances. Our findings point to motor vehicle traffic as an important contributor to childhood asthma exacerbations.

Implications: Previous studies have found associations between traffic-related air pollution and asthma exacerbation in children. However, these studies were mainly conducted in emergency department or hospital admission settings; little is known regarding less acute health effects. This analysis of the association between vehicular traffic measures and childhood asthma in a primary care setting suggests that motor vehicle traffic is a contributor to less acute asthma episodes in children. The present analysis of traffic-related air pollutants and childhood asthma were less conclusive, likely due to methods limitations outlined in the paper. The implication is that further evidence of adverse respiratory health effects in children due to motor vehicle traffic can be found in a primary care setting and similar studies should be considered.     

Greenhouse gas mitigation with scarce land: The potential contribution of increased nitrogen input

Agricultural lands have been identified to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions primarily by production of energy crops and substituting fossil energy resources and through carbon sequestration in soils. Increased fertilizer input resulting in increased yields may reduce the area needed for crop production. The surplus area could be used for energy production without affecting the land use necessary for food and feed production. We built a model to investigate the effect of changing nitrogen (N) fertilizer rates on cropping area required for a given amount of crops. We found that an increase in nitrogen fertilizer supply is only justified if GHG mitigation with additional land is higher than 9–15 t carbon dioxide equivalents per hectare (CO₂-eq._./ha). The mitigation potential of bioenergy production from energy crops is most often not in this range. Hence, from a GHG abatement point of view land should rather be used to produce crops at moderate fertilizer rate than to produce energy crops. This may change if farmers are forced to reduce their N input due to taxes or governmental regulations as it is the case in Denmark. However, with a fertilizer rate 10 % below the economical optimum a reduction of N input is still more effective than the production of bioenergy unless mitigation effect of the bioenergy production exceeds 7 t carbon dioxide (CO₂)-eq._./ha. An intensification of land use in terms of N supply to provide more land for bioenergy production can only in exceptional cases be justified to mitigate GHG emissions with bioenergy under current frame conditions in Germany and Denmark.     

Polyethylene microplastic toxicity to the terrestrial snail Cantareus aspersus: size matters

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Plastic has become the most widespread human-made material and small fragments (< 5mm, so called microplastics, MPs) accumulate in all the...