Ecological assessments of surface water bodies at the river basin level: a case study from England

Ecological assessments of surface water bodies are essential in order to evaluate the level of degradation in freshwater ecosystems and to address the subsequent decline in services they provide. These assessments cover multiple aspects of the aquatic environment, particularly biological elements due to their ability to respond to all pressures within an ecosystem. Such assessments can enable the identification of the multiple pressures which threaten water bodies, facilitating sustainable decisions regarding their management to be identified. Here, the design requirements of the networks which facilitate ecological assessments are presented. A river basin district in England is used as a case study to investigate the number of elements monitored, the number of failing elements and the relationship between failing elements. Findings demonstrate the value of ensuring that monitoring networks are risk based and appropriately designed to meet their objectives. This therefore requires that monitoring is not only for the communicating of compliance but also for use iteratively so that the design of monitoring networks and ultimately management can be continually improved.     

Biodiversity and food security: from trade-offs to synergies

Regional Environmental Change -     

Phosphorus recovery from sewage sludge ash through an electrodialytic process

The electrodialytic separation process (ED) was applied to sewage sludge ash (SSA) aiming at phosphorus (P) recovery. As the SSA may have high heavy metals contents, their removal was also assessed. Two SSA were sampled, one immediately after incineration (SA) and the other from an open deposit (SB). Both samples were ED treated as stirred suspensions in sulphuric acid for 3, 7 and 14 days. After 14 days, phosphorus was mainly mobilized towards the anode end (approx. 60% in the SA and 70% in the SB), whereas heavy metals mainly electromigrated towards the cathode end. The anolyte presented a composition of 98% of P, mainly as orthophosphate, and 2% of heavy metals. The highest heavy metal removal was achieved for Cu (ca. 80%) and the lowest for Pb and Fe (between 4% and 6%). The ED showed to be a viable method for phosphorus recovery from SSA, as it promotes the separation of P from the heavy metals.     

Farmer’s Response to Societal Concerns About Farm Animal Welfare: The Case of Mulesing

The study explored the motivations behind Australian wool producers’ intentions regarding mulesing; a surgical procedure that will be voluntarily phased out after 2010, following retailer boycotts led by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Telephone interviews were conducted with 22 West Australian wool producers and consultants to elicit their behavioral, normative and control beliefs about mulesing and alternative methods of breech strike prevention. Results indicate that approximately half the interviewees intend to continue mulesing, despite attitudes toward the act of mulesing being quite negative. This indicates that attitudes alone are unlikely to be good predictors of this goal directed behavior. Most respondents believed mulesing was more effective and involved less cost, time, and effort than the currently available alternatives to prevent breech strike. Further, they felt relatively little social pressure, as they believed few consumers were concerned about mulesing. However, they noted that if consumer sentiment changed they would likely change their practices. Thus, attitudes are likely to be only one of several factors influencing intentions to change farm practices to address societal concerns about animal welfare. Further, mulesing appears to be goal-directed behavior, suggesting that other factors depicted by the Model of Goal-directed Behavior (MGB; Perugini and Bagozzi In: Br J Soc Psychol, 40: 79–98, 2001) may be worth exploring in this context. Finally, these results provide insight into how policy makers may influence farmers to change practices in response to societal pressure for improving farm animal welfare.     

Immediate one-step lime precipitation process for the valorization of winery wastewater to agricultural purposes

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The winery wastewater (WW) of the Village of Vidigueira, in south of Portugal, presented an acid pH (4.26 ± 0.029), a high content of chemical...     

The silent spring of Sargassum

Environmental Science and Pollution Research -     

Degradation of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol in aqueous systems through the association of zero-valent-copper-mediated reduction and UVC/H2O2: effect of water matrix and toxicity assessment

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The presence of toxic chlorinated compounds in drinking water, generated during the disinfection step in water treatment plants, is of great concern...     

Mechanistic insights into acetaminophen removal on cashew nut shell biomass-derived activated carbons

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Activated carbons prepared from cashew nut shells by chemical activation with phosphoric acid were tested for the removal of acetaminophen. It was...     

Determination of heavy metals in the territory of contaminated areas of Greece and their restoration through hyperaccumulators

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Phytoremediation is an effective technique for the processing of contaminated soil and for sequestering environmental contaminants such as heavy...     

Itaconic Acid Grafted Starch Hydrogels as Metal Remover: Capacity,Selectivity and Adsorption Kinetics

Hydrogels were synthesized by free radical graft copolymerization of itaconic acid (IA) onto corn starch (S-g-IA). For this purpose, potassium permanganate (KMnO₄)-sodium bisulfite (NaHSO₃) was used as redox initiation system. The formation of grafted starches was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, wide angle X-ray scattering, thermogravimetric analysis and scanning electron microscopy. The effect of monomer concentration, neutralization, addition of crosslinking agent, N,N-bismetilenacrilamide (MBAm), and initiator concentration on grafting efficiency and adsorption capacity of the starch hydrogels was investigated. It was demonstrated that the introduction of carboxyl and carbonyl groups promoted starch hydration and swelling. Grafting degree increased with the decrease of monomer concentration, increase of initiator concentration, grade of neutralization and the addition of MBAm without neutralization. Remarkably the resulting materials exhibited water absorption capacities between 258 and 1878% and the ability to adsorb metal ions. It was experimentally confirmed the metal uptake, obtaining the higher adsorption capacity (q _e  = 35 mg/g) for the product prepared with the pre-oxidation and lower initiator concentration. The removal capacity order was Pb²⁺>Ni²⁺>Zn²⁺>Cd²⁺. Moreover, the experimental kinetic and the equilibrium adsorption data for Ni²⁺ and Pb²⁺ were best fitted to the pseudo-second order and Freundlich isotherm models, respectively. This work describes for the first time the preparation of metal removal hydrogels based on starch and itaconic acid using the pair redox system KMnO₄/NaHSO₃, which avoids the starch hydrolysis and allows itaconic acid grafting incorporation without the requirement of more reactive comonomers.