Evaluating pollution-related damage and restoration success in urban forests with participatory monitoring and digital tools

Peri-urban forest monitoring requires indicators of vegetation damage. An example is the sacred fir (Abies religiosa) forests surrounding Mexico City, which have been heavily exposed to tropospheric ozone, a harmful pollutant, for over 4 decades. We developed a participatory monitoring system with which local community members and scientists generated data on ozone tree damage. Santa Rosa Xochiac rangers (13) used the digital tool KoboToolBox to record ozone damage to trees, tree height, tree ages, tree condition, tree position, and whether the tree had been planted. Thirty-five percent of the trees (n = 1765) had ozone damage. Younger trees had a lower percentage of foliage damaged by ozone than older trees (p < 0.0001), and asymptomatic trees tended to be younger (p < 0.0001). Symptomatic trees were taller than asymptomatic trees of the same age (R²_c = 0.43, R²_m = 0.27). Involving local communities facilitated forest monitoring and using digital technology improved data quality. This participatory system can be used to monitor forest condition change over time and thus aids restoration efforts driven by government or local communities’ interests, facilitating local decision-making.     

Finding new sources of water for semi-arid cities in unlikely places

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Determining alternative water sources to meet municipal water demands is important when availability is limited. The purpose of this study was to...     

Turn down the heat: regional climate change impacts on development

Regional Environmental Change -     

Modelling PCB bioaccumulation in a Baltic food web

A steady state model is developed to describe the bioaccumulation of organic contaminants by 14 species in a Baltic food web including pelagic and benthic aquatic organisms. The model is used to study the bioaccumulation of five PCB congeners of different chlorination levels. The model predictions are evaluated against monitoring data for five of the species in the food web. Predicted concentrations are on average within a factor of two of measured concentrations. The model shows that all PCB congeners were biomagnified in the food web, which is consistent with observations. Sensitivity analysis reveals that the single most sensitive parameter is log K(OW). The most sensitive environmental parameter is the annual average temperature. Although not identified amongst the most sensitive input parameters, the dissolved concentration in water is believed to be important because of the uncertainty in its determination. The most sensitive organism-specific input parameters are the fractional respiration of species from the water column and sediment pore water, which are also difficult to determine. Parameters such as feeding rate, growth rate and lipid content of organism are only important at higher trophic levels.     

Degradation of atrazine using solar driven fenton-like advanced oxidation processes

Atrazine (2-chloro-4-ethylamino-6-isopropylamino-s-triazine) was degraded using cobalt-peroximonosulfate (Co/PMS) advanced oxidation process (AOP). Three Co concentrations (0.00, 0.25 and 0.50 mM) and five peroximonosulfate (PMS) concentrations (0, 5, 8, 16 and 32 mM) were tested. Maximum degradation reached was 88% using dark Co/PMS in 126 minutes when 0.25 mM of cobalt and 32 mM of PMS were used. Complete atrazine degradation was achieved when the samples were irradiated by the sun under the same experimental conditions described. Tests for identification of intermediate products allowed identification and quantification of deethylatrazine in both dark and radiated conditions. Kinetic data for both processes was calculated fitting a pseudo-first order reaction rate approach to the experimental data. Having kinetic parameters enabled comparison between both conditions. It was found that the kinetic approach describes data behavior appropriately (R2 > or = 0.95). Pseudo-kinetic constants determined for both Co/PMS processes, show k value of 10(-4) for Co/PMS and a k value of 10(-3) for Co/PMS/ultraviolet (UV). This means, that, with the same Co/PMS concentrations, UV light increases the reaction rate by around one order of magnitude than performing the reaction under dark conditions.