Response of Pinus halepensis Mill. seedlings to biosolids enriched with Cu, Ni and Zn in three Mediterranean forest soils

We investigated the response of Pinus halepensis seedlings to the application of biosolids enriched with Cu, Ni and Zn on three Mediterranean forest soils under semiarid conditions. One-year-old seedlings were planted in lysimeters on soils developed from marl, limestone and sandstone which were left unamended, amended with biosolids, or amended with biosolids enriched in Cu, Ni and Zn. Enriched biosolids increased plant heavy metal concentration, but always below phytotoxic levels. Seedlings receiving unenriched biosolids showed a weak reduction in Cu and Zn concentration in needles, negatively affecting physiological status during drought. This effect was alleviated by the application of enriched sludge. Sewage sludge with relatively high levels of Cu, Zn and Ni had minor effects on plant performance on our experimental conditions. Results suggest that micronutrient limitations in these soils may be alleviated by the application of biosolids with a higher Cu, Zn and Ni content than those established by current regulations.     

Quantifying the connections—linkages between land-use and water in the Kathmandu Valley,Nepal

Land development without thoughtful water supply planning can lead to unsustainability. In practice, management of our lands and waters is often unintegrated. We present new land-use, ecological stream health, water quality, and streamflow data from nine perennial watersheds in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, in the 2016 monsoon (i.e., August and September) and 2017 pre-monsoon (i.e., April and May) periods. Our goal was to improve understanding of the longitudinal linkages between land-use and water. At a total of 38 locations, the Rapid Stream Assessment (RSA) protocol was used to characterize stream ecology, basic water quality parameters were collected with a handheld WTW multi-parameter meter, and stream flow was measured with a SonTek FlowTracker Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter. A pixel-based supervised classification method was used to create a 30-m gridded land use coverage from a Landsat 8 image scene captured in the fall of 2015. Our results indicated that land-use had a statistically significant impact on water quality, with built land-uses (high and low) having the greatest influence. Upstream locations of six of the nine watersheds investigated had near natural status (i.e., river quality class (RQC) 1) and water could be used for all purposes (after standard treatments as required). However, downstream RSA measurements for all nine watersheds had RQC 5 (i.e., most highly impaired). Generally, water quality deteriorated from monsoon 2016 to pre-monsoon 2017. Our findings reinforce the importance of integrated land and water management and highlight the urgency of addressing waste management issues in the Kathmandu Valley.     

Emission factors of atmospheric and climatic pollutants from crop residues burning

Biomass burning is a common agricultural practice, because it allows elimination of postharvesting residues; nevertheless, it involves an inefficient combustion process that generates atmospheric pollutants emission, which has implications on health and climate change. This work focuses on the estimation of emission factors (EFs) of PM_2.5, PM₁₀, organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO₂), and methane (CH₄) of residues from burning alfalfa, barley, beans, cotton, maize, rice, sorghum, and wheat in Mexico. Chemical characteristics of the residues were determined to establish their relationship with EFs, as well as with the modified combustion efficiency (MCE). Essays were carried out in an open combustion chamber with isokinetic sampling, following modified EPA 201-A method. EFs did not present statistical differences among different varieties of the same crop, but were statistically different among different crops, showing that generic values of EFs for all the agricultural residues can introduce significant uncertainties when used for climatic and atmospheric pollutant inventories. EFs of PM_2.5 ranged from 1.19 to 11.30 g kg^?1, and of PM₁₀ from 1.77 to 21.56 g kg^?1. EFs of EC correlated with lignin content, whereas EFs of OC correlated inversely with carbon content. EFs of EC and OC in PM_2.5 ranged from 0.15 to 0.41 g kg^?1 and from 0.33 to 5.29 g kg^?1, respectively, and in PM₁₀, from 0.17 to 0.43 g kg^?1 and from 0.54 to 11.06 g kg^?1. CO₂ represented the largest gaseous emissions volume with 1053.35–1850.82 g kg^?1, whereas the lowest was CH₄ with 1.61–5.59 g kg^?1. CO ranged from 28.85 to 155.71 g kg^?1, correlating inversely with carbon content and MCE. EFs were used to calculate emissions from eight agricultural residues burning in the country during 2016, to know the potential mitigation of climatic and atmospheric pollutants, provided this practice was banned.

Implications: The emission factors of particles, short-lived climatic pollutants, and atmospheric pollutants from the crop residues burning of eight agricultural wastes crops, determined in this study using a standardized method, provides better knowledge of the emissions of those species in Latin America and other developing countries, and can be used as inputs in air quality models and climatic studies. The EFs will allow the development of more accurate inventories of aerosols and gaseous pollutants, which will lead to the design of effective mitigation strategies and planning processes for sustainable agriculture.     

Mating behaviour of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pseudodiaptomus annandalei</Emphasis> (Copepoda,Calanoida) at calm and hydrodynamically disturbed waters

Behavioural observations of male copepods revealed that they commonly follow female footprints to find their mates. Copepods can perceive signals generated by females either hydromechanically or chemically. Signal intensity is affected by hydrodynamic conditions which clear chemical and mechanical cues and modulate copepod’s ability to sense signals of their biotic environment, such as in their search for mates. We studied the patterns and efficiency of the copepod Pseudodiaptomus annandalei to mate in calm and hydrodynamically disturbed waters, in illuminated and dark conditions in experimental containers of different shapes and volumes. Courtship in P. annandalei was a negative function of hydromechanical disturbance, since successful mating events were observed in calm water only. In weakly turbulent conditions (air-bubbling of 100 ml/min), males were not able to pursue females properly; swimming speed decreased about three times in comparison with that in calm water. In calm water conditions, sequential and simultaneous taxis mechanisms were used by P. annandalei males to pursue females. The ability of P. annandalei males to track a three-dimensional trail probably depended on the persistence of fluid-borne signals.     

Landslide hazard,vulnerability, and risk assessment (HVRA), Mussoorie township,lesser himalaya,India

Environment, Development and Sustainability - In the present study, landslide hazard, vulnerability and the risk assessment of the Himalayan township Mussoorie, located in the lower part of the...     

A Spanish model for quantification and management of construction waste

Currently, construction and demolition waste (C&D waste) is a worldwide issue that concerns not only governments but also the building actors involved in construction activity. In Spain, a new national decree has been regulating the production and management of C&D waste since February 2008. The present work describes the waste management model that has inspired this decree: the Alcores model implemented with good results in Los Alcores Community (Seville, Spain). A detailed model is also provided to estimate the volume of waste that is expected to be generated on the building site. The quantification of C&D waste volume, from the project stage, is essential for the building actors to properly plan and control its disposal. This quantification model has been developed by studying 100 dwelling projects, especially their bill of quantities, and defining three coefficients to estimate the demolished volume (CT), the wreckage volume (CR) and the packaging volume (CE). Finally, two case studies are included to illustrate the usefulness of the model to estimate C&D waste volume in both new construction and demolition projects.     

Biomethanation under psychrophilic conditions

The biomethanation of organic matter represents a long-standing, well-established technology. Although at mesophilic and thermophilic temperatures the process is well understood, current knowledge on psychrophilic biomethanation is somewhat scarce. Methanogenesis is particularly sensitive to temperature, which not only affects the activity and structure of the microbial community, but also results in a change in the degradation pathway of organic matter. There is evidence of psychrophilic methanogenesis in natural environments, and a number of methanogenic archaea have been isolated with optimum growth temperatures of 15–25 °C. At psychrophilic temperatures, large amounts of heat are needed to operate reactors, thus resulting in a marginal or negative overall energy yield. Biomethanation at ambient temperature can alleviate this requirement, but for stable biogas production, a microbial consortium adapted to low temperatures or a psychrophilic consortium is required. Single-step or two-step high rate anaerobic reactors [expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) and up flow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB)] have been used for the treatment of low strength wastewater. Simplified versions of these reactors, such as anaerobic sequencing batch reactors (ASBR) and anaerobic migrating blanket reactor (AMBR) have also been developed with the aim of reducing volume and cost. This technology has been further simplified and extended for the disposal of night soil in high altitude, low temperature areas of the Himalayas, where the hilly terrain, non-availability of conventional energy, harsh climate and space constraints limit the application of complicated reactors. Biomethanation at psychrophilic temperatures and the contribution made to night-soil degradation in the Himalayas are reviewed in this article.