Sequential determination and chemical speciation analysis of inorganic As and Sb in airborne particulate matter collected in outdoor and indoor environments using slurry sampling and detection by HG AAS

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this work, fast sequential determination and chemical speciation analysis of inorganic arsenic and antimony in airborne particulate matter...     

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.     

Using spatially explicit,time-dependent analysis to understand how social factors influence conservation outcomes

Conservation across human-dominated landscapes requires an understanding of the social and ecological factors driving outcomes. Studies that link conservation outcomes to social and ecological factors have examined temporally static patterns. However, there may be different social and ecological processes driving increases and decreases in conservation outcomes that can only be revealed through temporal analyses. Through a case study of the invasion of Falcataria moluccana in Hawaii, we examined the association of social factors with increases and decreases in invader distributions over time and space. Over 7 years, rates of invader decrease varied substantially (66–100%) relative to social factors, such as building value, whether land was privately or publically owned, and primary residence by a homeowner, whereas rates of increase varied only slightly (<0.1–3.6%) relative to such factors. These findings suggest that links between social factors and invasion in the study system may be driven more by landowners controlling existing invasive species, rather than by landowners preventing the spread of invasive species. We suggest that spatially explicit, time-dependent analyses provide a more nuanced understanding of the way social factors influence conservation outcomes. Such an understanding can help managers develop outreach programs and policies targeted at different types of landowners in human-dominated landscapes.     

The impacts of knowledge of the past on preferences for future landscape change

In this paper, we investigate whether people's knowledge of the past influences their preferences and values towards future landscape change. "Knowledge of the past" is one aspect of the information set held by individuals, and a well-established finding in economics is that changes in information can change preferences and values. The particular aspects of knowledge of the past we work with here are: (i) awareness of past landuse, as represented by woodland cover and (ii) awareness of differing and sometimes contradictory literary impressions of this past landscape. The case studies used here relate to prospective changes in woodland cover in two UK national parks, the Lake District and the Trossachs. We find that people who are made aware that the landscape has changed over time, or that perceptions of the landscape have changed over time, are more likely to favour changes to the current landscape (are less likely to favour the status quo). Knowledge of the past therefore seems to have an impact on preferences for future landscapes. We also investigate the impacts on preferences of how "special", how "wild" and how "worked in" people perceive the landscapes of these two national parks to be.     

Characterization of bacteria with phenol-oxidase activity from soil in the La Laguna area (Spain)

A total of 168 bacterial strains isolated from soil of the La Laguna area (Tenerife Island, Spain) were characterized and assayed for phenol-oxidase enzymes (as an indicator of lignolytic capability).     

Cost‐benefit analysis of paper recycling: a case study and some general principles

This paper sets out the legislative background to the recycling of waste materials in the UK. Relevant items in this background include: the provision of recycling credits under the 1990 Environmental Protection Act; the draft EC Packaging Waste Directive; and the German DSD scheme. We next set out the elements of a cost‐benefit analysis of waste paper recycling, including the environmental impacts of recycling. The method is then applied to a recycling scheme in central Scotland. We find that whilst on private, financial grounds the scheme is unattractive, it passes the cost‐benefit test in the base‐line case; this justifies government support for this recycling scheme, given the data used.     

Contribution of warm habitat to cold-water fisheries

A central tenet of landscape ecology is that mobile species depend on complementary habitats, which are insufficient in isolation, but combine to support animals through the full annual cycle. However, incorporating the dynamic needs of mobile species into conservation strategies remains a challenge, particularly in the context of climate adaptation planning. For cold-water fishes, it is widely assumed that maximum temperatures are limiting and that summer data alone can predict refugia and population persistence. We tested these assumptions in populations of redband rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss newberrii) in an arid basin, where the dominance of hot, hyperproductive water in summer emulates threats of climate change predicted for cold-water fish in other basins. We used telemetry to reveal seasonal patterns of movement and habitat use. Then, we compared contributions of hot and cool water to growth with empirical indicators of diet and condition (gut contents, weight–length ratios, electric phase angle, and stable isotope signatures) and a bioenergetics model. During summer, trout occurred only in cool tributaries or springs (<20 °C) and avoided Upper Klamath Lake (>25 °C). During spring and fall, ≥65% of trout migrated to the lake (5–50 km) to forage. Spring and fall growth (mean [SD] 0.58% per day [0.80%] and 0.34 per day [0.55%], respectively) compensated for a net loss of energy in cool summer refuges (–0.56% per day [0.55%]). In winter, ≥90% of trout returned to tributaries (25–150 km) to spawn. Thus, although perennially cool tributaries supported thermal refuge and spawning, foraging opportunities in the seasonally hot lake ultimately fueled these behaviors. Current approaches to climate adaptation would prioritize the tributaries for conservation but would devalue critical foraging habitat because the lake is unsuitable and unoccupied during summer. Our results empirically demonstrate that warm water can fuel cold-water fisheries and challenge the common practice of identifying refugia based only on summer conditions.     

GIS and multiple-criteria evaluation for the optimisation of tsetse fly eradication programmes

Tsetse flies are the vectors of trypanosomes, the causal agent of trypanosomiasis, a widespread disease of livestock and people in Africa. Control of tsetse may open vast areas of land to livestock-keeping, with the associated benefits of developing mixed crop-livestock production systems. However, as well as possible positive impacts there are also risks: bush clearing would accelerate and cattle numbers would rise, leading to a reduction of vegetation cover, and an increase in runoff and erosion; there may also be increased pressure on conserved areas and reductions in biodiversity. The objective of this study is to show how remotely sensed and other environmental data can be combined in a decision support system to help inform tsetse control programmes in a manner that could be used to limit possible detrimental effects of tsetse control. For Zambia, a methodology is developed that combines a tree-based decision-support approach with the use of Multiple-Criteria Evaluation (MCE), within a Geographical Information System (GIS), in order to target areas for tsetse control. The results show clear differentiation of priority areas under a series of hypothetical scenarios, and some areas (e.g. northwest of Petauke in the Eastern Province of Zambia) are consistently flagged as high priority for control. It is also demonstrated that priority areas do not comprise isolated tsetse populations, meaning that disease control using an integrated approach is likely to be more economically viable than local eradication.     

Inspiring England's urban fringes: multi-functionality and planning

The urban fringe has been described as 'planning's last frontier'; a zone of transition and interface between town and country where a broad variety of land uses and activities come together, and where development pressure is often intense. In this paper, we argue that the urban fringe possesses special characteristics, making it more than simply a transitional landscape. These characteristics centre on patterns of land use, biodiversity and leisure/development opportunity which are unique to the urban edge and to land extending away from built-up areas. The uniqueness, diversity and particular dynamics of the urban fringe demands a special brand of planning and management response. Therefore we suggest that the principle of 'multi-functionality' provides a framework for action, showing how diversity can be managed and supported. Through brief case studies, we demonstrate how functional interactions at the urban fringe might be promoted in the future.