Quantifying and mapping species threat abatement opportunities to support national target setting

The successful implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity's post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework will rely on effective translation of targets from global to national level and increased engagement across diverse sectors of society. Species conservation targets require policy support measures that can be applied to a diversity of taxonomic groups, that link action targets to outcome goals, and that can be applied to both global and national data sets to account for national context, which the species threat abatement and restoration (STAR) metric does. To test the flexibility of STAR, we applied the metric to vascular plants listed on national red lists of Brazil, Norway, and South Africa. The STAR metric uses data on species’ extinction risk, distributions, and threats, which we obtained from national red lists to quantify the contribution that threat abatement and habitat restoration activities could make to reducing species’ extinction risk. Across all 3 countries, the greatest opportunity for reducing plant species’ extinction risk was from abating threats from agricultural activities, which could reduce species’ extinction risk by 54% in Norway, 36% in South Africa, and 29% in Brazil. Species extinction risk could be reduced by a further 21% in South Africa by abating threats from invasive species and by 21% in Brazil by abating threats from urban expansion. Even with different approaches to red-listing among countries, the STAR metric yielded informative results that identified where the greatest conservation gains could be made for species through threat-abatement and restoration activities. Quantifiably linking local taxonomic coverage and data collection to global processes with STAR would allow national target setting to align with global targets and enable state and nonstate actors to measure and report on their potential contributions to species conservation.     

The effect of financial development and economic growth on ecological footprint in Azerbaijan: an ARDL bound test approach with structural breaks

Environmental and Ecological Statistics - Is it possible to protect the environment while aiming at economic growth, one of the most critical factors in increasing the welfare of societies and...     

The challenge of managing threatened invasive species at a continental scale

The European Union's (EU) environmental legislation establishes common measures to prevent the entry and spread of invasive non-native species and to minimize their impacts. However, species that are native to at least one member state but non-native and potentially invasive in others (NPIS) are in limbo because they are neither legally regulated at the EU level nor in most member states. We used the Communication and Information Resource Centre for Administrations, Businesses and Citizens (CIRCABC) raw data on NPIS (317 taxa) to analyze their distribution across the EU and identify which biogeographical regions are the main sources of invasions. We additionally evaluated the conservation challenge posed by NPIS that are threatened within their native ranges. We performed a pairwise analysis summarizing the number of species that are native to a given member state but non-native to another and vice versa. Although distribution patterns of NPIS varied across taxa groups, overall, southern and central EU countries were both donors and recipients of NPIS. Eastern countries were mainly a source, and western and northern countries mostly received NPIS. Around 27% of NPIS were threatened in some of their EU native ranges, which is a challenge for conservation and management because some of them have serious negative effects on European biodiversity, but hitherto remain outside the scope of the EU regulation of invasive non-native species. This highlights an unresolved paradox because efforts to manage species as invasive conflict with efforts to protect them as threatened within the same territory.     

Valorization of leather industry waste in polyurethane composites for reduced flammability

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - Industrial wastes are considered a major cause of environmental pollution, and studies on valorizing these wastes and converting them into...     

Influence of various emission scenarios on ozone in Europe

In this study, we investigated the effect of numerous regulations enforced since 1985 to improve air quality on ozone in Europe with the focus on Switzerland, using the Comprehensive Air Quality Model with Extensions (CAMx) for a specific summer period. Several emission scenarios for the year 2010 were also considered. The model results suggest that the emission reductions of ozone precursors should have been effective to reduce ozone production between 1985 and 2000 in northern Switzerland. However, observations do not indicate any significant change in surface ozone levels since early 1990s, except in the region of Zurich where there is a small negative trend. On the other hand, the model predictions match very well the spatial variability of the trends but the calculated trends are around 0.5 ppb year⁻¹ lower than those observed. This difference is similar to the background ozone increase as suggested by the long-term observations at the high Alpine station Jungfraujoch. These results support the hypothesis that the decrease in local ozone production due to emission reductions might have been partly or completely compensated by the simultaneous increase in the background ozone. In 2010, a strict application of the Gothenburg Protocol in Europe would lead to a decrease in peak ozone concentrations by about 5% in Switzerland under the meteorological conditions applied. Our calculations also indicated that emission controls only in Switzerland would not be very effective to improve the air quality in the future. The further development of the background ozone will in any case be very important for the tropospheric ozone levels.     

Direct and indirect effects of ants on a forest-floor food web

Interactions among predators that prey on each other and are potential competitors for shared prey (intraguild [IG] predators) are widespread in terrestrial ecosystems and have the potential to strongly influence the dynamics of terrestrial food webs. Ants and spiders are abundant and ubiquitous terrestrial IG predators, yet the strength and consequences of interactions between them are largely unknown. In the leaf-litter food web of a deciduous forest in Kentucky (USA), we tested the direct and indirect effects of ants on spiders and a category of shared prey (Collembola) by experimentally subsidizing ants in open plots in two field experiments. In the first experiment, ant activity was increased, and the density of ants in the litter was doubled, by placing carbohydrate and protein baits in the center of each plot. Gnaphosa spiders were almost twice as abundant and Schizocosa spiders were half as abundant in baited plots relative to controls. There were more tomocerid Collembola in baited plots, suggesting possible indirect effects on Collembola caused by ant-spider interactions. The second experiment, in which screening of two mesh sizes selectively excluded large and small worker ants from a sugar bait, revealed that the large ants, primarily Camponotus, could alone induce similar effects on spiders. Gnaphosa biomass density was almost twice as high in the plots where large ants were more active, whereas Schizocosa biomass density was reduced by half in these plots. Although tomocerid densities did not differ between treatments, tomocerid numbers were negatively correlated with the activity of Formica, another large ant species. Path analysis failed to support the hypothesis that the ant Camponotus indirectly affected tomocerid Collembola through effects on densities of spiders. However, path analysis also revealed other indirect effects of Camponotus affecting tomocerids. These results illustrate the complexity of interactions between and within two major IG predator groups with disparate predatory behaviors, complexities that will have consequences for functioning of the forest-floor food web.     

Basis for a national strategy for integrated coastal zone management—in Portugal

This paper includes the proposals made in the report “Basis for a National Strategy for Coastal Zone Management” prepared for the Portuguese Ministry of Environment, Territorial Planning and Regional Development. The final version of that report was presented in June 2006. This paper describes a theme framework followed by a discussion of concepts. Nine Primary Principles, eight Principal Objectives, and 37 Strategic Options for an Integrated Coastal Zone Management are then presented. These Strategic Options are set hierarchically according to their sequential priority, identifying the dominant types of Associated Measures. The analysis of these arrives at a set of Structural Measures, which interlink and aggregate various actions and propose a new method of integrated management for the coastal zone, which includes the “Legal Basis of Coastal Zone”; the Organization System; the Action Plan and Monitoring.     

雷静电作用下储气库安全危害分析

为保障能源储备安全,探究雷电和静电对储气库安全的影响。根据雷电和静电理论,构建储气库雷静电概率模型,分析雷静电对储气库的影响。考虑天然气扩散的特殊性,选取高斯烟羽模型预测气体扩散范围,并结合闪火后果准则对闪火危害范围进行分析,构建CCPS-BST模型对爆炸危害范围预测,分析风速及大气稳定度对三种危害后果的影响。结果表明,雷静电会增加储气库泄漏后发生闪火和爆炸的概率,气体扩散范围和闪火后果沿主导风向呈梭形分布,蒸气云爆炸后果由中心向四周扩散,三种危害范围都与风速和大气稳定度呈相反的变化。研究结果可为多因素下储气库安全分析研究提供参考,为降低灾害后果和维护储气库的日常安全提供了理论依据。     

Metals and emerging contaminants in groundwater and human health risk assessment

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Groundwaters are normally consumed without previous treatment and therefore the monitoring of contaminants in order to guarantee its safety is...     

Assessment of solar driven TiO2-assisted photocatalysis efficiency on amoxicillin degradation

The objective of this work was to evaluate the efficiency of a solar TiO₂-assisted photocatalytic process on amoxicillin (AMX) degradation, an antibiotic widely used in human and veterinary medicine. Firstly, solar photolysis of AMX was compared with solar photocatalysis in a compound parabolic collectors pilot scale photoreactor to assess the amount of accumulated UV energy in the system (Q _UV) necessary to remove 20 mg L^?1 AMX from aqueous solution and mineralize the intermediary by-products. Another experiment was also carried out to accurately follow the antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli DSM 1103 and Staphylococcus aureus DSM 1104 and mineralization of AMX by tracing the contents of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), low molecular weight carboxylate anions, and inorganic anions. Finally, the influence of individual inorganic ions on AMX photocatalytic degradation efficiency and the involvement of some reactive oxygen species were also assessed. Photolysis was shown to be completely ineffective, while only 3.1 kJ_UV?L^?1 was sufficient to fully degrade 20 mg L^?1 AMX and remove 61 % of initial DOC content in the presence of the photocatalyst and sunlight. In the experiment with an initial AMX concentration of 40 mg L^?1, antibacterial activity of the solution was considerably reduced after elimination of AMX to levels below the respective detection limit. After 11.7 kJ_UV?L^?1, DOC decreased by 71 %; 30 % of the AMX nitrogen was converted into ammonium and all sulfur compounds were converted into sulfate. A large percentage of the remaining DOC was in the form of low molecular weight carboxylic acids. Presence of phosphate ions promoted the removal of AMX from solution, while no sizeable effects on the kinetics were found for other inorganic ions. Although the AMX degradation was mainly attributed to hydroxyl radicals, singlet oxygen also plays an important role in AMX self-photosensitization under UV/visible solar light.