Biophysical and socioeconomic characterization of a water-stressed area and simulating agri-production estimates and land use planning under normal and extreme climatic events: a case study

This study aims in linking the biophysical and socioeconomic data base layers with the technical coefficients or simulation models for agri-production estimates and land use planning under normal and extreme climatic events, and exploring the resource and inputs management options in village Shikohpur, Gurgaon district located in the northwest part of India. The socioeconomic profile of Shikohpur is highly skewed with mostly small and marginal farmers. Though the areas under wheat in Shikohpur are increasing, the productivity is declining or remaining stagnant over the years. Most of the area during kharif season (June-September) remains fallow. Pearl millet based cropping systems (pearl millet-mustard and pearl millet-wheat) are predominant. Soils are mostly loamy sand to sandy loam with average of 70-80% sand content. Organic C content in soil is less than 0.3%, due to high prevailing temperature with little rainfall and also intensive agriculture followed in this region. Though the annual average seasonal rainfall in Gurgaon did not have much variation over the years, occurrence of extreme climate events has increased in the last two decades. The crop intensity is low and the water table is declining. Water and nitrogen production functions were developed for the important crops of the region, for their subsequent use in scheduling of the inputs. InfoCrop, WTGROWS and technical coefficients were used for crop planning and resource management under climate change and its variability, extreme events, limited resource availability and crop intensification. These will help in disseminating necessary agro-advisories to the farmers so that they will be able to manipulate the inputs and agronomic management practices for sustained agricultural production under normal as well as extreme climatic conditions.     

Emission of isoprene from common Indian plant species and its implications for regional air quality

Isoprene is most dominant volatile organic compounds (VOC) emitted by many plants. In this study 40 common Indian plant species were examined for isoprene emission using dynamic flow through enclosure chamber technique. Isoprene emission rates of plants species were found to vary from undetectable to 69.5 microg g(-1) h(-1) (Madhuca latifolia). Besides, an attempt has been made to evaluate suitability of 80 common Indian plant species for planting programmes. Out of 80 species, 29 species were moderate to high emitters (10 to < or =25 microg g(-1) h(-1)), 12 species were low emitter emitters (1 to < or =10 microg g(-1) h(-1)) and remaining 39 species were found to be negligible or non emitters (<1 microg g(-1) h(-1)) of isoprene. About 50% plant species selected for planting programmes in India were found to be moderate to high emitters of isoprene.     

Assessing the Impacts of Forests on Human Welfare: Preliminary Results from the Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment

This paper presents results from the first phase of the socio-economic assessment of forest ecosystems in the Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment (MAIA). First, we present results of the analysis of changes in the distribution of human population and forest land use in the region. Then, trends in wood products employment and income between 1975–95 are used to examine the economic contributions of forest-based industries in the Mid-Atlantic region. Between 1970–90 the population of the MAIA region increased by 14% (4.3 million people) resulting in the average population density increasing by 25 people per square mile from 179 to 204 people per square mile. Nevertheless, population density was lower in large parts of the region in 1990 than in 1950. Although forests dominate the MAIA landscape, the trend is toward more people owning smaller forest land holdings, with developed lands increasing by 21% and rural lands decreasing by 2.64% between 1982–94. All of this suggests increasing forest fragmentation in all states of the region except New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Forest industry has been an important contributor to the economy of the MAIA region, producing an average of a quarter million jobs (2.03% of all wage employment) and generating $4.5 billion in wages and salaries each year between 1975–95. If recent trends continue, forest industry will continue to be an important source of employment and income for parts of some states in the MAIA region; however, the forest industry's importance relative to the entire mid-Atlantic economy will likely continue to decline in the 21^st century.     

Step-up multiple regression model to compute Chlorophyll a in the coastal waters off Cochin, southwest coast of India

The interaction effects of abiotic processes in the production of phytoplankton in a coastal marine region off Cochin are evaluated using multiple regression models. The study shows that chlorophyll production is not limited by nutrients, but their physiological regulations (responses to nutrients, pH, temperature and salinity) are mainly responsible for the increased biological production. The model explaining 77% of variability for chlorophyll a production is indicative of preconditioning of the coastal waters. The phytoplankton production is found to be sensitive to the environment, which varies seasonally. Further, the study suggests that supply of organic matter and grazing of zooplankton (not included) would improve the model efficiency. Despite this, the good agreement in the computed and measured chlorophyll a values shows that step-up multiple regression model is a useful tool to understand the influence of environmental variables on the production of phytoplankton in these coastal waters.     

The Need for Scale Sensitive Approaches in Spatially Explicit Land Use Change Modeling

This paper introduces some of the issues that are relevant to the spatially explicit modeling of land use systems. A short overview is given of the ways and means in which a number of different land use change models describe the land use system. Specific attention is given to the empirical modeling approach used in the CLUE (Conversion of Land Use and its Effects) modeling framework. This approach is demonstrated for three case studies in China, Ecuador and the Atlantic Zone of Costa Rica. These case-studies illustrate the methodology for multi-scale analysis of land use driving factors and their application in spatially explicit modeling exercises. Model functioning, performance and limitations are discussed. The presented case-studies indicate that empirical modeling results can contribute to a better theoretic imbedding of land use change research in scale sensitive and integrated theories.     

Biomonitoring of heavy metals by pollen in urban environment

Abstract Industrial development and consumption of petroleum products leads to increase air pollution levels especially in urban and industrial areas. Heavy metal components associated with air pollutants have far reaching effects with respect to economic and ecological importance of pollens. The pollens are male reproductive organs of the plant and travel through air from flower to flower for pollination purpose. During this period they are exposed to air pollutants. Present investigation thus pertains to study of effect of air pollutants on pollens especially biosorption and bioaccumulation of heavy metals. The pollens of three commonly occurring plants namely Cassia siamea, Cyperus rotundus, Kigelia pinnata have been studied from the NH-6 of Nagpur city, India. The pollens exposed to polluted air showed the presence of higher concentrations of Ca, Al and Fe as compared to unexposed pollens. Higher concentration of these metals was observed in Cyperus rotundus followed by Cassia siamea and Kigelia pinnata. These results indicate that pollens act as good indicator of air pollution giving results in short time of exposure of 5–10 h. Apart from this, it is also reported that some of these metals play crucial role in the metabolic activity in pollens for example Calcium is necessary for growth of pollen tube and other metabolic activities in pollens. The presence of these metals in pollens may also enhance the allergenicity of the pollens. Similarly accumulation of heavy metals may also deteriorate the quality of pollen for their economical use. The viability of pollen is also affected by these pollutants in sensitive species leading to impairment of their fertility.     

Whole body vibration exposure in heavy earth moving machinery operators of metalliferrous mines

As mining operations get mechanized, the rate of profit generation increases and so do the rate of occupational hazards. This study deals with one such hazard - occupational vibration. The present study was carried out to determine the whole body vibration (WBV) exposure of the heavy earth moving machinery (HEMM) operators in two types of metalliferous mines in India, when they were engaged in the mining activity. Cross-comparison was done of the vibration dose value (VDV) for HEMM operators as well as each type of mine. The VDV for the shovel operator in bauxite mine was observed to be 13.53 +/- 5.63 m/s(7/4) with 25% of the readings higher than the prescribed limit whereas in iron ore mine VDV for dumper operator was 10.81 +/- 3.44 m/s(7/4) with 14.62% readings on the higher side. Cross-comparison of the VDV values for bauxite and iron ore mines revealed that it was 9.57 +/- 4.93 and 8.21 +/- 5.12 m/s(7/4) with 21.28 and 14.95% of the readings on the higher side respectively. The Student's t test level was found to be insignificant for both type of mines, indicating that the WBV exposure is not dependent on the type of mine but is dependent on the working condition and type of HEMM in operation.     

Impact of intensive agricultural practices on drinking water quality in the EVROS Region (NE GREECE) by GIS analysis

Chemical fertilizers are used extensively in modern agriculture, in order to improve yield and productivity of agricultural products. However, nutrient leaching from agricultural soil into groundwater resources poses a major environmental and public health concern. The Evros region is one of the largest agricultural areas in Northern Greece, extending over 1.5 million acres of cultivated land. Many of its drinking water resources are of groundwater origin and lie within agricultural areas. In order to assess the impact of agricultural fertilizers on drinking water quality in this region, tap-water samples from 64 different locations were collected and analyzed for the presence of nitrates [Formula: see text], nitrites [Formula: see text], ammonium [Formula: see text], sulfate [Formula: see text] and phosphate [Formula: see text]. These chemicals were selected based on the information that ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate and inorganic phosphate were the primary fertilizers used in local crop production. [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] levels exceeding accepted values were recorded in 6.25, 4.70 and 9.38% of all sampling points, respectively. [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] concentrations, on the other hand, were inside the permitted range. The data generated were introduced into a geographic information system (GIS) program for computer analysis and projection maps representing afflicted areas were created. Our results indicate a profound geographic correlation in the surface distribution of primary contaminants in areas of intensified agricultural production. Thus, drinking water pollution in these areas can be attributed to excessive fertilizer use from agricultural sources.     

Design and evaluation of an inlet conditioner to dry particles for real-time particle sizers

Real-time particle sizers provide rapid information about atmospheric particles, particularly peak exposures, which may be important in the development of adverse health outcomes. However, these instruments are subject to erroneous readings in high-humidity environments when compared with measurements from filter-based, federal reference method (FRM) samplers. Laboratory tests were conducted to evaluate the ability of three inlet conditioners to dry aerosol prior to entering a real-time particle sizer for measuring coarse aerosols (Model 3321 Aerodynamic Particle Sizer, APS) under simulated highly humid conditions. Two 30 day field studies in Birmingham, AL, USA were conducted to compare the response of two APSs operated with and without an inlet conditioner to that measured with FRM samplers. In field studies, the correlation of PM(10-2.5) derived from the APS and that measured with the FRM was substantially stronger with an inlet conditioner applied (r2 ranged from 0.91 to 0.99) than with no conditioner (r2 = 0.61). Laboratory experiments confirmed the ability of the heater and desiccant conditioner to remove particle-borne moisture. In field tests, water was found associated with particles across the sizing range of the APS (0.5 microm to 20 microm) when relative humidity was high in Birmingham. Certain types of inlet conditioners may substantially improve the correlation between particulate mass concentration derived from real-time particle sizers and filter-based samplers in humid conditions.     

Passive sampling of glycol ethers and their acetates in indoor air

This study examined the performances of a thermal desorbable radial diffusive sampler for the weekly measurement of eight glycol ethers in indoor air and described the results of an application of this method carried out as part of HABIT'AIR Nord - Pas de Calais program for the air monitoring of these compounds in sixty homes located in northern France. The target compounds were the four glycol ethers banned from sale to the public in France since the 1990s (i.e. 2-methoxy ethanol, 2-ethoxy ethanol and their acetates) and four other glycol ethers derivatives of which the use have increased considerably (i.e. 1-methoxy-2-propanol, 2-butoxy ethanol and their acetates).A test program was carried out with the aim of validating the passive sampling method. It allowed the estimation of all the parameters of a method for each compound (calibration, analytical precision, desorption efficiency, sampling rate in standard conditions, detection limit and stability of sample before and after exposure), the examination of the influence of environmental factors on the sampling rate by some exposure chamber experiments and the assessment of the uncertainty of the measurements.The results of this evaluation demonstrated that the method has turned out to be suitable for six out of eight glycol ethers tested. The effect of the environmental factors on the sampling rates was the main source of measurement uncertainty. The measurements done in sixty homes revealed a relative abundance of 1-methoxy-2-propanol that was found in more than two thirds of homes at concentration levels of 4.5 microg m(-3) on average (a maximum value of 28 microg m(-3)). 1-methoxy-2-propanol acetate and 2-butoxy ethanol were also detected, but less frequently (in 19% of homes) and with the concentrations below 12 microg m(-3). The highest levels of these glycol ethers appear to be in relation to the emissions occurring at the time of cleaning tasks.