Modelling land use change across elevation gradients in district Swat, Pakistan

District Swat is part of the high mountain Hindu-Kush Himalayan region of Pakistan. Documentation and analysis of land use change in this region is challenging due to very disparate accounts of the state of forest resources and limited accessible data. Such analysis is, however, important due to concerns over the degradation of forest land leading to deterioration of the protection of water catchments and exposure of highly erodible soils. Furthermore, the area is identified as hotspot for biodiversity loss. The aim of this paper is to identify geophysical and geographical factors related to land use change and model how these relationships vary across the district. For three selected zones across the elevation gradient of the district, we analyse land use change by studying land use maps for the years 1968, 1990 and 2007. In the high-altitude zone, the forest area decreased by 30.5 %, a third of which was caused by agricultural expansion. In the mid-elevation zone, agriculture expanded by 70.3 % and forests decreased by 49.7 %. In the lower altitudes, agriculture expansion was 129.9 % consuming 31.7 % of the forest area over the forty-year time period. Annual deforestation rates observed were 0.80, 1.28 and 1.86 % in high, mid and low altitudes, respectively. In the high-altitude ecosystems, accessibility (distance to nearest road and city) had no significant role in agriculture expansion; rather land use change appears significantly related to geophysical factors such as slope, aspect and altitude. In the low-elevation zone, accessibility was the factor showing the closest association with agriculture expansion and abandonment. The analysis illustrates that land use change processes vary quite considerably between different altitudinal and vegetation cover zones of the same district and that environmental constraints and stage of economic development provide important contextual information.     

Recent Progress in Silane Coupling Agent with Its Emerging Applications

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - This paper presents the effects of silane coupling agent, which includes interfacial adhesive strength, water treatment, polymer composites and coatings...     

Potentially toxic elements in soil of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and Tribal areas,Pakistan: evaluation for human and ecological risk assessment

Environmental Geochemistry and Health - Potentially toxic elements (PTEs) contaminations in the soil ecosystem are considered as extremely hazardous due to toxicity, persistence and bioaccumulative...     

Vehicle pollution toxicity induced changes in physiology,defence system and biochemical characteristics of Calotropis procera L.

The present study aims to examine the physiological, biochemical and defence system responses of Calotropis procera to vehicle exhaust pollution. We selected various sample sites along two major roads in the Punjab province of Pakistan, i.e. Faisalabad to Sargodha road (FSR) and Pindi Bhattian to Lillah motorway (M-2). Traffic density at all sites and plant responses (i.e. chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll and carotenoid contents, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, photosynthetic rate, sub-stomatal CO₂ concentration, water use efficiency, total free amino acids, total soluble proteins and total antioxidant activity) were measured. Levels of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) and four metals of most possible concern – i.e. lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd) and nickel (Ni) – were also examined in all samples. We found their considerable deposition in all the samples along roads. Inhibitory effects of roadside pollutants were noted for photosynthetic pigments, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, photosynthetic rate and total soluble proteins, whereas stimulatory effects were noted for sub-stomatal CO₂ concentration, free amino acids and total antioxidant activity. The stimulation of antioxidant enzymes activity revealed stress and mitigation of reactive oxygen species. The present study clearly signifies that C. procera has great potential to endure the stress caused by roadside pollutants.     

Stimulating student’s pro-environmental behavior in higher education institutions: an ability–motivation–opportunity perspective

Environment, Development and Sustainability - The slow and inadequate environmental performance of higher education institutions is attracting the consideration of researchers toward a behavioral...     

Analyzing the relationships between travel mode indicators and the number of passenger transport fatalities at the city level

Objective: A number of efforts have been conducted on travel behavior and transport fatalities at the neighborhood or street level, and they have identified different factors such as roadway characteristics, personal indicators, and design indicators related to transport safety. However, only a limited number of studies have considered the relationship between travel behavior indicators and the number of transport fatalities at the city level. Therefore, this study explores this relationship and how to fill the mentioned gap in current knowledge.

Method: A generalized linear model (GLM) estimates the relationships between different travel mode indicators (e.g., length of motorway per inhabitants, number of motorcycles per inhabitant, percentage of daily trips on foot and by bicycle, percentage of daily trips by public transport) and the number of passenger transport fatalities. Because this city-level model is developed using data sets from different cities all over the world, the impacts of gross domestic product (GDP) are also included in the model.

Conclusions: Overall, the results imply that the percentage of daily trips by public transport, the percentage of daily trips on foot and by bicycle, and the GDP per inhabitant have negative relationships with the number of passenger transport fatalities, whereas motorway length and the number of motorcycles have positive relationships with the number of passenger transport fatalities.     

Biosorption characteristics of unicellular green alga Chlorella sorokiniana immobilized in loofa sponge for removal of Cr(Ⅲ)

Loofa sponge (LS) immobilized biomass of Chlorella sorokiniana (LSIBCS), isolated from industrial wastewater, was investigated as a new biosorbent for the removal of Cr(Ⅲ) from aqueous solution. A comparison of the biosorption of Cr(Ⅲ) by LSIBCS and free biomass of C. sorokiniana (FBCS) from 10-300 mg Cr(Ⅲ)/L aqueous solutions showed an increase in uptake of 17.79% when the microalgal biomass was immobilized onto loofa sponge. Maximum biosorption capacity for LSIBCS and FBCS was found to be 69.26 and 58.80 mg Cr(Ⅲ)/g biosorbent, respectively, whereas the amount of Cr(Ⅲ) ions adsorbed onto naked LS was 4.97 mg/g. The kinetics of Cr(Ⅲ) biosorption was extremely rapid and equilibrium was established in about 15 and 20 min by LSIBCS and FBCS,respectively. The biosorption equilibrium was well defined by Langmuir adsorption isotherm model. The biosorption kinetics followed the pseudo-second order kinetic model. The biosorption was found to be pH dependent and the maximum sorption occurred at the solution pH 4.0. Desorption studies showed that 98% of the adsorbed Cr(Ⅲ) could be desorbed with 0.1 mol/L HNO3, while other desorbing agents were less effective in the order: EDTA ＞ H2SO4 ＞ CH3COOH ＞ HCl. The regenerated LSIBCS retained 92.68% of the initial Cr(Ⅲ) binding capacity up to five cycles of reuse in continuous flow-fixed bed columns. The study revealed that LSIBCS could be used as an effective biosorbent for the removal of Cr(Ⅲ) from wastewater.     

Catalyst assisted destruction of trichloro ethylene and toluene in corona discharges

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Destruction of VOCs by combination of corona discharge and catalysis techniques

The catalytic effect of alumina on the destruction of toluene, benzene, acetone and methanol, in DC pulsed corona discharge reactor was studied. In the presence of alumina the inlet concentration of the VOCs was varied from 5 x 10-6 mol/L to 80% x 10-6 mol/L, and their decomposition efficiency (conversion %) was found to be 99%-80% for toluene, 99%-97% for benzene, 95%-92% for acetone, and 72%-85% for methanol. Corresponding decomposition in the absence of alumina was 90%-38% for toluene, 89%-57% forbenzene, 42%-30% for acetone, and 47%-19% for methanol. Feed gas flow rate was 400 cm3/min and power reading from DC source was 7.4 W in all of the experiments. Alumina also shifted the CO/CO2 ratio in the by-products in favor of CO2. Ozone concentration at the reactor outlet was higher in the presence of alumina. Enhancement in VOCs decomposition by alumina was explained on the basis of higher concentration of ozone and its precursor atomic oxygen [O].Decomposition efficiency (conversion %) for individual compounds was found to be inversely proportional to the ionization potential of the compound, under identical conditions. Double DC high voltage sources pulse generator was tested and found to improve VOCs decomposition compared with the conventional single DC high voltage source.     

Enzymatic production of biosilica glass using enzymes from sponges: basic aspects and application in nanobiotechnology (material sciences and medicine)

Biomineralization, biosilicification in particular (i.e. the formation of biogenic silica, SiO₂), has become an exciting source of inspiration for the development of novel bionic approaches following “nature as model”. Siliceous sponges are unique among silica forming organisms in their ability to catalyze silica formation using a specific enzyme termed silicatein. In this study, we review the present state of knowledge on silicatein-mediated “biosilica” formation in marine sponges, the involvement of further molecules in silica metabolism and their potential application in nanobiotechnology and medicine. Werner E. G. Müller dedicated this study to Prof. Vera Gamulin (Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Zagreb, Croatia) in honour of her unique contributions in molecular evolution.