Assessment of the impacts of climate change and variability on water resources and use,food security,and economic welfare in Iran

Climate change influences the agricultural sector by reducing available water resources, thereby influencing income, consumer and producer surplus, and crop prices. So, it is necessary to have a comprehensive integrated method to measure the effects of these changes on natural resources and social conditions. The present study aims to use the positive mathematical programming method to discover the trend and conditions of groundwater resources, agricultural water use, food security, and economic welfare of the agricultural sector in Iran. To this end, data for the period 2000–2015 was used under four different scenarios of normal climate change, climate change, climate variability, and concurrent climate change The results showed that the mean agricultural water use will amount to 35,103.6, 26,533.8, 35,216, and 26,510.7 million m³ and the mean decline in the reserves of aquifers will amount to 4422.22, 11,165.6, 4438.25, and 11,267.4 million m³ under the scenarios, respectively. With respect to food security, the net farm revenue will be 314,560, 248,753, 315,427, and 248,574 billion IRR, respectively. The mean crop price per ton will reach 905.3, 1141.8, 904, and 1142.8 million IRR, respectively. The mean consumer surplus will be 172,107.7, 166,450, 172,024, and 166,403 billion IRR and the mean producer surplus will be 419,959.2, 395,380, 419,751, and 395,204 billion IRR, respectively. Based on the results, to reduce the adverse impacts of climate change on different studied aspects, it is necessary to change policymaking in the water and agricultural sectors, especially regarding the shift from traditional agricultural water allocation to its market-based allocation and to change planting pattern.

     

Impact of green trust and green perceived quality on green purchase intentions: a moderation study

Environment, Development and Sustainability - The current study explores the role of green trust, green perceived risk and green perceived quality in changing green purchase intention....     

Application of polyamide thin-film composite layered on polysulfone-GO/TiO2 mixed matrix membranes for removal of nitrotoluene derivatives from petrochemical wastewaters

Release of harmful organic intermediates or byproducts during the manufacture of petrochemical compounds is a serious problem in petrochemical plants. In this work, polysulfone membranes blended with GO/TiO₂ nanocomposite were synthesized by phase inversion method and coated with a polyamide layer formed by interfacial polymerization to prepare a thin-film composite (TFC) sample. Analysis and characterization of the sample were carried out by XRD, FE-SEM, BET, FTIR/ATR, AFM, TGA, and zeta potential. Results indicated that incorporation of GO/TiO₂ into the membrane structure enhanced porosity, surface roughness, and macrovoid formation along the cross-section of the sublayer and permeability of the membrane. The TFC membranes were applied to remove mononitrotoluene (MNT) and dinitrotoluene (DNT) as the basic intermediates of toluene diisocyanate (TDI). The membranes demonstrated high efficiency (>?90%) for the removal of MNT and DNT according to the charge exclusion mechanism and Donnan effect. Application of the TFC membrane for treatment of wastewater in the TDI plant showed that the removal of pollutants is variable in the range of 45–65% and 53–69% for the membrane with the highest flux and highest rejection in different transmembrane pressure, respectively.

     

Comparative efficacy of mitigation techniques for the detoxification of Prunus persica (L.) from selected pesticide residues

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Fruits are the valuable and important components of human diet. Among them, Prunus persica is a rich source of different minerals and dietary fibers....     

Analyzing temporal–spatial characteristics of drought events in the northern part of Cyprus

Drought in the northern part of Cyprus has become a recurrent phenomenon. In the last few decades, Cyprus has experienced significantly severe drought events occurring periodically, and this trend is now continuing. With rainfall distribution varying considerably across the region and frequent drought conditions, the water resources, agriculture, economy and the environment have been adversely affected. This study aims to investigate spatial–temporal characteristic of drought using Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) at multiple timescales (3, 6 and 12 months). Monthly time series of 36 years (1977–2013) rainfall data from nine weather stations are used to derive SPI values. Based on different drought categories, this study focuses on propagation of drought from one timescale to another and estimating critical rainfall values during moderate, severe and extreme drought conditions. The analysis revealed that there is a strong correlation among different timescales in detecting drought events. On average, 79 and 78% of 3-month timescale drought propagated into 6- and 12-month drought events, respectively, while 90% of 6-month timescale drought events propagated into 12-month drought events. The derived critical rainfall value for extreme droughts over a 12-month timescale was less than 255 mm/year in the town of Alsancak, while for Guzelyurt, a major citrus growing city, this figure was less than 135 mm/year. The results are validated through drought events detected at various regions of the Mediterranean basin and local flood occurrences during the wet periods and decline in water tables at drought seasons.     

Adsorption-desorption and leaching potential of glyphosate and aminomethylphosphonic acid in acidic Malaysian soil amended with cow dung and rice husk ash

This study investigates adsorption-desorption and the leaching potential of glyphosate and aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) in control and amended—addition of cow dung or rice husk ash—acidic Malaysian soil with high oxide mineral content. The addition of cow dung or rice husk ash increased the adsorptive removal of AMPA. The isotherm data of glyphosate and AMPA best fitted the Freundlich model. The constant K_f for glyphosate was high in the control soil (544.873 mg g^?1) followed by soil with cow dung (482.451 mg g^?1) then soil with rice husk ash (418.539 mg g^?1). However, for AMPA, soil with cow dung was high (166.636 mg g^?1) followed by soil with rice husk ash (137.570 mg g^?1) then the control soil (48.446 mg g^?1). The 1/n values for both glyphosate and AMPA adsorptions were <?1 indicating their strong affinity for adsorbents. Desorption of both glyphosate and AMPA occurred only in the control soil. The compounds were not detected in soils with added cow dung or rice husk ash. The addition of cow dung or rice husk ash increased glyphosate mobility. However, ground water ubiquity scores for both control and amended soils were <?2.8. This indicated glyphosate is a transitional herbicide; therefore, its leaching potential in the soil is low, despite the addition of cow dung or rice husk ash. Addition of these wastes decreased the mobility and leaching potential of AMPA. The addition of cow dung or rice husk ash could be beneficial in increasing adsorption and enhancing degradation of these compounds.     

Estimation of soil specific surface area using some mechanical properties of soil by artificial neural networks

Soil specific surface area (SSA) is an important property of soil. Depending on the measurement techniques, determination of the SSA is costly and time consuming. Hence, a limited number of studies have been conducted to predict the SSA from the soil variables. In this study, the soil samples were taken from the literature. Fractal parameters (FP) were calculated by the model of Bird et al. (European Journal of Soil Science 51, 55–63, 2000) used as the input variables to predict the SSA. Some studies have been carried out on the prediction capability of the different parameters using the artificial neural networks (ANNs). The ANNs were further used and 20 models were developed to investigate the value of input variables to predict the SSA. The results showed that the PTF13 (RMSE?=?0.13) and PTF18 (RMSE?=?0.13) with the input variables of particle-size distribution and Atterberg limits revealed better performance than the other PTFs (in the training step). It is because of the fact that free swelling index (FSI) and Atterberg limits were closely correlated to the soil clay mineralogy as one of the important factors controlling the SSA. In general, this results demonstrated that the PTF9 with the variables of sand, clay, plastic limit (PL), liquid limit (LL), and FSI showed the best (RMSE?=?0.37) results in the estimation of the SSA. In conclusion, there was not a strong correlation between the soil mechanical properties and SSA but also ANNs were a suitable method to predict the SSA from the soil variables.     

Bioremediation of tannery effluent by Cr- and salt-tolerant bacterial strains

Microorganisms have great potential to control environmental pollution, particularly industrial sources of water pollution. Currently, leather industry is regarded as the most polluting and suffering from negative impacts due to the pollution it adds to the environment. Chromium, one of the hazardous pollutants discharged from tanneries, is highly toxic and carcinogenic in nature. Effective treatment of tannery effluent is a dire need of the era as a part of environmental management. Among all the wastewater treatment technologies, bioremediation is the most effective and environment-friendly tool to manage the water pollution. The present study evaluated the potential of 11 previously isolated bacterial strains, tolerant to high concentrations of salts and Cr for the bioremediation of tannery effluent. Among all the tested strains, Enterobacter sp. HU38, Microbacterium arborescens HU33, and Pantoea stewartii ASI11 were found most effective in reducing biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS), and chromium (Cr) 70, 63, 57, 87, and 54%, respectively, of tannery effluent and proliferated well under highly toxic conditions, at 9 days of incubation. The pollutant removal efficacy of these bacterial strains can be improved by extending the incubation period or by increasing the amount of inoculum.     

Brain glutathione redox system significance for the control of silica-coated magnetite nanoparticles with or without mercury co-exposures mediated oxidative stress in European eel (Anguilla anguilla L.)

This in vitro study investigates the impact of silica-coated magnetite particles (Fe₃O₄@SiO₂/SiDTC, hereafter called IONP; 2.5 mg L^?1) and its interference with co-exposure to persistent contaminant (mercury, Hg; 50 μg L^?1) during 0, 2, 4, 8, 16, 24, 48, and 72 h on European eel (Anguilla anguilla) brain and evaluates the significance of the glutathione (GSH) redox system in this context. The extent of damage (membrane lipid peroxidation, measured as thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, TBARS; protein oxidation, measured as reactive carbonyls, RCs) decreased with increasing period of exposure to IONP or IONP + Hg which was accompanied with differential responses of glutathione redox system major components (glutathione reductase, GR; glutathione peroxidase, GPX; total GSH, TGSH). The occurrence of antagonism between IONP and Hg impacts was evident at late hour (72 h), where significantly decreased TBARS and RC levels and GR and glutathione sulfo-transferase (GST) activity imply the positive effect of IONP + Hg concomitant exposure against Hg-accrued negative impacts [vs. early (2 h) hour of exposure]. A period of exposure-dependent IONP alone and IONP + Hg joint exposure-accrued impact was perceptible. Additionally, increased susceptibility of the GSH redox system to increased period of exposure to Hg was depicted, where insufficiency of elevated GR for the maintenance of TGSH required for membrane lipid and cellular protein protection was displayed. Overall, a fine-tuning among brain glutathione redox system components was revealed controlling IONP + Hg interactive impacts successfully.     

Hydrogen sulfide ameliorates lead-induced morphological, photosynthetic, oxidative damages and biochemical changes in cotton

Poisonous lead (Pb), among heavy metals, is a potential pollutant that readily accumulates in soils and thus adversely affects physiological processes in plants. We have evaluated how exogenous H₂S affects cotton plant physiological attributes and Pb uptake under Pb stress thereby understanding the role of H₂S in physiological processes in plants. Two concentrations (0 and 200 μM) of H₂S donor sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS) were experimented on cotton plants under Pb stress (0, 50, and 100 μM). Results have shown that Pb stress decreased plant growth, chlorophyll contents, SPAD value, photosynthesis, antioxidant activity. On the other hand, Pb stress increased the level of malondialdehyde (MDA), electrolyte leakage (EL), and production of H₂O₂ and uptake of Pb contents in all three parts of plant, viz. root, stem, and leaf. Application of H₂S slightly increased plant growth, chlorophyll contents, SPAD value, photosynthesis, and antioxidant activity as compared to control. Hydrogen sulfide supply alleviated the toxic effects of lead on plant growth, chlorophyll contents, SPAD value, photosynthesis, and antioxidant activity in cotton plants. Hydrogen sulfide also reduced MDA, EL, and production of H₂O₂ and endogenous Pb levels in the three mentioned plant parts. On the basis of our results, we conclude that H₂S has promotive effects which could improve plant survival under Pb stress.