Influence of Clear Fellings on the Bryophyte Component of the Broad-leaved Forests of the Bashkir Cis-Ural Region

The change in the composition of the bryophyte component of succession communities that occur in the process of natural regeneration at the site of clear felling of the indigenous elm—maple–linden forests of the Bashkir Cis-Ural Region has been studied. The vulnerability of species to the consequences of felling is affected by their substrate confinement, ecological amplitude in relation to the factors of temperature, humidity, variability of soil moisture, and type of life strategy. In the secondary aspen forests, the absence or low constancy of nemoral epiphytic and ground mosses was noted.     

Holocene Dynamics of Vegetation and Ecological Conditions in the Center of the East European Plain

Changes in the vegetation and fire regimes in the central East European Plain during the second half of the Holocene have been reconstructed based on the results of paleobotanical analysis and radiocarbon dating of material from a section of peat deposit in the Mordovia State Nature Reserve. It has been shown that birch–pine forests were widespread in the region between 7000 and 5000 yr BP, with the frequency of fires in that period being high (the fire return interval ranged from 10–20 to 100 years). Beginning from 5000 yr BP and to the early 20th century, broadleaf forests were dominant, with the fire return interval increasing to 300–500 years or longer.     

Fly ash from biomass combustion as replacement raw material and its influence on the mortars durability

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - Several types of industrial solid waste have been used as byproducts in the construction and materials industries. Some of the applications seem to...     

Towards an assessment of the influence of climate on wet acidic deposition in Europe

The EMEP precipitation composition network is used to examine relationships between non-marine SO4(2-), NO3-, NH4+, H+ concentrations and precipitation amount and a local zonal pressure index (an index of the atmospheric circulation). The pattern of the relationships changes across Europe with the zonal pressure gradient explaining more of the variance in ion concentrations in the west, and precipitation amount explaining relatively more of the variance in the east. There is some predictive capability for precipitation composition in the zonal pressure gradient for restricted regions in Europe; R2 values are up to 40% on a daily basis but in some seasons/months attain >60%. The zonal pressure gradient is an index which appears to include pertinent information on transport and wet removal. Preliminary analysis indicates that this approach can be useful in assessing the contributions of changing atmospheric circulation to time-trends of wet acidic deposition in an area stretching from the UK over the North Sea to Denmark. The zonal pressure gradient is known to have varied on time-scales of decades, and the simple index may be one appropriate approach to assessing future deposition patterns from future climate projections.     

Altered feeding preference of beech weevil Rhynchaenus fagi L. for beech foliage under ambient air pollution

The effect of ambient air pollution with increased ozone concentrations on the feeding behaviour of the beech weevil Rhynchaenus fagi L. was studied. In a dual choice feeding test the beech weevil preferred leaf disks from beech saplings exposed to ambient air against those from filtered air in 65.5% of all cases.     

Effects of atmospheric ammonia and ammonium sulphate on Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)

Three-year-old Douglas firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii) were fumigated with 180 microg m(-3) NH3 or clean (charcoal-filtered) air. During these fumigations the plants received 15 mm artificial rain weekly, supplemented with 20, 500 or 2500 micromol litre(-1) (NH4)2SO4. Exposure to NH3 and NH4+ for 14 weeks resulted in a change of the nutrient status of the needles. The most remarkable effect was the increase in the N/K ratio, due to both uptake of N and leaching of K. The action of NH3 was stronger than that of NH4+. Both NH3 and (NH4)2SO4 affected the epicuticular wax layer and decreased mycorhiza frequency. Following fumigation and artificial rain treatments, needles were incubated for 8 h in a medium containing 0, 50, 250, 500 and 2500 micromol litre(-1) (NH4)2SO4. Almost no exchange of Ca, Mg and K for NH4+ was found. Therefore this ion exchange probably explains only a minor part of the changes in nutrient status of the whole trees.     

Unintentional non-traffic injury and fatal events: Threats to children in and around vehicles

Objective: There have been substantial reductions in motor vehicle crash–related child fatalities due to advances in legislation, public safety campaigns, and engineering. Less is known about non-traffic injuries and fatalities to children in and around motor vehicles. The objective of this study was to describe the frequency of various non-traffic incidents, injuries, and fatalities to children using a unique surveillance system and database.

Methods: Instances of non-traffic injuries and fatalities in the United States to children 0–14 years were tracked from January 1990 to December 2014 using a compilation of sources including media reports, individual accounts from families of affected children, medical examiner reports, police reports, child death review teams, coroner reports, medical professionals, legal professionals, and other various modes of publication.

Results: Over the 25-year period, there were at least 11,759 events resulting in 3,396 deaths. The median age of the affected child was 3.7 years. The incident types included 3,115 children unattended in hot vehicles resulting in 729 deaths, 2,251 backovers resulting in 1,232 deaths, 1,439 frontovers resulting in 692 deaths, 777 vehicles knocked into motion resulting in 227 deaths, 415 underage drivers resulting in 203 deaths, 172 power window incidents resulting in 61 deaths, 134 falls resulting in 54 deaths, 79 fires resulting in 41 deaths, and 3,377 other incidents resulting in 157 deaths.

Conclusions: Non-traffic injuries and fatalities present an important threat to the safety and lives of very young children. Future efforts should consider complementary surveillance mechanisms to systematically and comprehensively capture all non-traffic incidents. Continued education, engineering modifications, advocacy, and legislation can help continue to prevent these incidents and must be incorporated in overall child vehicle safety initiatives.     

Social justice and mobility in coastal Louisiana,USA

Regional Environmental Change - Louisiana faces extensive coastal land loss which threatens the livelihoods of marginalized populations. These groups have endured extreme disruptive events in the...     

Trees on the move: using decision theory to compensate for climate change at the regional scale in forest social-ecological systems

Regional Environmental Change - The adaptation of social-ecological systems such as managed forests depends largely on decisions taken by forest managers who must choose among a wide range of...     

Measuring the effectiveness of landscape approaches to conservation and development

Landscape approaches attempt to achieve balance amongst multiple goals over long time periods and to adapt to changing conditions. We review project reports and the literature on integrated landscape approaches, and found a lack of documented studies of their long-term effectiveness. The combination of multiple and potentially changing goals presents problems for the conventional measures of impact. We propose more critical use of theories of change and measures of process and progress to complement the conventional impact assessments. Theories of change make the links between project deliverables, outputs, outcomes, and impacts explicit, and allow a full exploration of the landscape context. Landscape approaches are long-term engagements, but short-term process metrics are needed to confirm that progress is being made in negotiation of goals, meaningful stakeholder engagement, existence of connections to policy processes, and effectiveness of governance. Long-term impact metrics are needed to assess progress on achieving landscapes that deliver multiple societal benefits, including conservation, production, and livelihood benefits. Generic criteria for process are proposed, but impact metrics will be highly situation specific and must be derived from an effective process and a credible theory of change.