Geographical location and key sensitivity issues of post-industrial regions in Europe

Primary objectives of our work were to spatially delineate post industrial areas of the EU-27 and indicate key environmental, social and economic sensitivity issues for these regions. The density of industrial sites within NUTS-x regions for EU-27 countries was assessed by using CORINE 2000 land cover layer. A development of postindustrial society in Europe represents a strong geographic diversity. There are distinct historical and current differences between regions which form major groups, comprising similar internal characteristics and definable trends in environmental and socioeconomic sense. Regions grouped into postindustrial clusters are fundamentally different from the European average, and are facing specific problems related to global market and political changes. Eastern postindustrial regions can be characterized as socially and economically weak, exhibiting high unemployment rate, low GDP, negative population growth and a strong environmental pressure, represented by a high density of dump sites. Most of the western EU postindustrial areas have been successfully recovered and moved into new economy as shown by most of the indicators. In urban postindustrial zones, however, emission sources of pollutants seem to continually be a major problem--not necessarily in terms of exceeding thresholds, but through a remarkable difference in the amount of pollutants produced relative to other regions.     

Geostatistical 3-dimensional integration of measurements of soil magnetic susceptibility

In soil magnetometry, two types of measurements are usually performed. The first type is measurements performed on the soil surface, frequently using an MS2D sensor. The second type includes measurements of magnetic susceptibility carried out in the soil profile, usually to a depth of about 30 cm. Up to now, such measurement results were analyzed separately. However, it is possible and advantageous to integrate these two types of measurements. The goal of the study was to integrate measurements of magnetic susceptibility performed on the soil surface and in the soil profile. More specifically, the goal was to obtain 3-dimensional spatial distributions of magnetic susceptibility of the topsoil horizon. Results show that it is possible to effectively integrate measurements of magnetic susceptibility performed on the soil surface and in the soil profile. Moreover, the 3-dimensional spatial distribution that is obtained shows the magnetic susceptibility of the top 20 cm of soil, which includes the soil horizons where most of the heavy metals are accumulated. The analysis of such a spatial distribution can be very helpful in delineating areas where the heightened magnetic susceptibility is a result of the influence of anthropogenic pollution from those areas where it results from lithogenic origin. It is possible to investigate where the volumes of soil with heightened magnetic susceptibility are located in the soil profile and in this way investigate which characteristic type of soil profile it is.     

Contamination of Polish national parks with heavy metals

The paper presents results of screening analysis of all Polish national parks (23) contamination with Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn on the basis of a three-level characteristic of heavy metal presence in Norway spruce stands: accumulation on the needle surface, concentration of heavy metals in spruce needles and concentration of bioavailable heavy metals in the soil. Based on the obtained results, the classification of forest ecosystem hazard in national parks with heavy metals was made using synthetic indicators. It was found out that Babiogórski, Magurski, Ojcowski and Gorczański National Parks, located in the southern part of the country, were the most polluted with heavy metals. It is probably due to a higher industrial activity in this part of Poland and the transboundary transport of air pollutants. A little lower level of pollution was observed in Kampinoski National Park located in the middle of the country. The concentration of heavy metals found in needles from national parks does not seem to be harmful for the health status of the trees. Statistically significant correlation between all parameters, which was found for cadmium--the most mobile of the analysed elements--shows that this metal can be proposed as a marker to reflect present effect of industrial emission on forests.     

Utility of Gridded Rainfall for IHACRES Daily River Flow Predictions in Southern California Watersheds1

Abstract: Studies to regionalize conceptual hydrologic models generally require rainfall and river flow data from multiple watersheds. Besides the considerable time (cost) to assemble and process rainfall data for many watersheds, investigators often need to choose from a number of candidate gauges, subjectively weighing the relative importance of proximity and elevation to select a representative rainfall dataset. The Unified Raingauge Dataset (URD) is a gridded daily rainfall dataset that covers the conterminous United States at 0.25 × 0.25 degrees spatial resolution and is available from 1948 to present. The objective of this study was to determine whether uncertainty in daily river flow predictions using the conceptual hydrologic model IHACRES in small to moderate size watersheds (50‐400 km²) in southern California would increase if URD gridded rainfall data were used in place of single rain gauge data to calibrate the model. Rain gauge data were obtained from the gauge nearest the watershed centroid and the gauge closest in elevation to the watershed mean elevation. Results from 20 randomly selected watersheds indicated that IHACRES calibration performance was similar using rainfall data from the URD grids and rain gauge data. There was some evidence of greater uncertainties associated with the URD calibrations in areas where topography may affect rainfall amounts. In contrast to the URD data, monthly gridded data produced by the Parameter‐Elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) includes adjustments for elevation and produces gridded values at a finer spatial resolution (4 km²). A limited test on two watersheds demonstrated that scaling the URD daily rainfall estimates to match the PRISM monthly values may improve rainfall estimates and model simulation performance.     

Towards Participatory Geographic Information Systems for community-based environmental decision making

This article discusses the potential of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to become an information technology enabling groups of people to participate in decisions shaping their communities and promoting sustainable use of natural resources. It explains the concept of participation in the context of planning and decision making. In this context Participatory GIS (PGIS) offers tools that can be used to help the public become meaningfully involved in decision making processes affecting their communities. Following an overview of research on PGIS and its current status the article presents two recent studies of PGIS in water resource planning; one involving the use of computer generated maps representing simple information structures and the other involving the use of more sophisticated information tools. The synthesis of both studies provides the bases for discussing the prospects of PGIS to empower citizens in making decisions about their communities and resources.     

A system coupling hybrid biological method with UV/O<Subscript>3</Subscript> oxidation and membrane separation for treatment and reuse of industrial laundry wastewater

The possibilities of application of a three-step system combining hybrid biological treatment followed by advanced UV/O₃ oxidation with in situ generated O₃ and membrane separation (ultrafiltration (UF) and nanofiltration (NF)) to treat and reuse the wastewater from an industrial laundry are presented. By the application of a hybrid moving bed biofilm reactor (HMBBR), the total organic carbon concentration was reduced for about 90 %. However, since the HMBBR effluent still contained organic contaminants as well as high concentrations of inorganic ions and exhibited significant turbidity (8.2 NTU), its further treatment before a possible reuse in the laundry was necessary. The UV/O₃ pretreatment prior to UF was found to be an efficient method of the membrane fouling alleviation. During UF, the turbidity of wastewater was reduced below 0.3 NTU. To remove the inorganic salts, the UF permeate was further treated during NF. The NF permeate exhibited very low conductivity (27–75 μS/cm) and contained only small amounts of Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺; thus ,it could be reused at any stage of the laundry process.     

Chitosan/glyphosate formulation as a potential,environmental friendly herbicide with prolonged activity

Although there are many reports on the dangers posed by glyphosate, this herbicide is still one of the most popular and widely used total weed killers. Therefore, great effort should be made to minimize exposure to this herbicide and limit its losses into the environment. The aim of this study was to prepare a new formulation consisted of various molecular weight chitosans with glyphosate and their evaluation toward active substance release, phytotoxicity, and preliminary herbicidal efficiency. The phytotoxicity study of the obtained chitosan/glyphosate formulations was determined based on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 208 guideline. Among all tested formulations evaluated for phytotoxicity, that containing the highest molecular weight of chitosan was found to be the least toxic, showing simultaneously the most effective herbicidal activity against selected weeds. The release rate of glyphosate from the obtained formulations was dependent on the molecular weight and viscosity of chitosan.     

Response of the lichen Cladonia rei Schaer. to strong heavy metal contamination of the substrate

The phenomenon of mass occurrence of the lichen Cladonia rei in extremely contaminated post-smelting slag dumps was studied in relation to metal accumulation capacity of this lichen. The research was aimed to evaluate the relationships between element contents in the thalli and in the corresponding substrate. The study was conducted in terms of a wide spectrum of Zn, Cd, Pb and As contents. The concentrations of these elements in the lichen thalli and substrate samples were measured. Various regression models were considered to find the best fitted one that greatly reflects the dependencies. Various Cladonia species and the hyperaccumulator Diploschistes muscorum were also included in the study for comparison purposes. Specific non-linear regression models described by a power function reflected relationships between Zn and Cd contents in C. rei thalli and in the host substrate in the most reliable way. The relationship for As was also noted, but none significant model was found. Contrarily, Pb concentrations in the thalli varied independently of the metal levels in the substrate. Nevertheless, the concentrations of all measured heavy metals in C. rei thalli are relatively low considering the frequently enormous substrate contamination. Different Cladonia species demonstrated a generally similar accumulation capacity and could be considered as weak accumulators. The restrained accumulation pattern may be one of the important attributes of C. rei which facilitates its colonisation of extremely contaminated dumps. This finding highlights ecological importance of this species as stable and resistant pioneer in such affected sites.     

Photocatalytic decomposition of methanol over La/TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> materials

Lanthanum-modified TiO₂ photocatalysts (0.2–1.5 wt% La) were investigated in the methanol decomposition in an aqueous solution. The photocatalysts were prepared by the common sol-gel method followed by calcination. The structural (X-ray diffraction, Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy), textural (N₂ physisorption), and optical properties (diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, photoelectrochemical measurements) of all synthetized nanomaterials were correlated with photocatalytic activity. Both pure TiO₂ and La-doped TiO₂ photocatalysts proved higher yields of hydrogen in comparison to photolysis. The photocatalyst with optimal amount of lanthanum (0.2 wt% La) showed almost two times higher amount of hydrogen produced at the same time as in the presence of pure TiO₂. The photocatalytic activity increased with both increasing photocurrent response and decreasing amount of lattice and surface O species. It has been shown that both direct and indirect mechanisms of methanol photocatalytic oxidation participate in the production of hydrogen. Both direct and indirect mechanisms take part in the formation of hydrogen.     

Effects of visitor pressure on understory vegetation in Warsaw forested parks (Poland)

Visitor’s access to understorey vegetation in park forest stands results in the impoverishment of plant species composition and a reduction in habitat quality. The phenomenon of biotic homogenisation is typical in urban landscapes, but it can proceed differently depending on the scale, a detail that has not been observed in previous studies. This research was carried out in seven Warsaw parks (both public and restricted access). Thirty-four forested areas were randomly selected, some subjected to strong visitors’ pressure and some within restricted access areas, free of such impacts. The latter category included woodlands growing in old forest and secondary habitats. Public access to the study areas contributed to the disappearance of some forest species and their replacement by cosmopolitan non-forest species, leading to loss of floristic biodiversity in areas of high ecological importance at the city scale. Some human-induced factors, including soil compaction and changes in soil pH, moisture and capillary volume, were found to cause habitat changes that favoured native non-forest plants. Despite changes in species composition, the taxonomic similarity of understorey vegetation in both categories—public access and restricted access—was comparable. In a distance gradient of measurements taken around selected individual trees, there was found to be significant variation (in light, soil pH and compaction) affecting the quality and quantity of understorey vegetation (including rare species). In conclusion, the protection of rare forest species could be achieved by limiting access to forested areas, particularly in old forest fragments, and we highly recommend its consideration in the proposal of future park restoration plans.