Ferulic acid supplementation for 40 days in hair ewe lambs experiencing seasonal heat stress: short-term effects on physiological responses,growth, metabolism,and hematological profile

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Free ferulic acid (FA) is a natural compound with antioxidant properties which mitigates the negative effects of cold stress in sheep; however, its...     

Production patterns of packaging waste categories generated at typical Mediterranean residential building worksites

The construction sector is responsible for around 28% of the total waste volume generated in Europe, which exceeds the amount of household waste. This has led to an increase of different research studies focusing on construction waste quantification. However, within the research studies made, packaging waste has been analyzed to a limited extent. This article focuses on the packaging waste stream generated in the construction sector. To this purpose current on-site waste packaging management has been assessed by monitoring ten Mediterranean residential building works. The findings of the experimental data collection revealed that the incentive measures implemented by the construction company to improve on-site waste sorting failed to achieve the intended purpose, showing low segregation ratios. Subsequently, through an analytical study the generation patterns for packaging waste are established, leading to the identification of the prevailing kinds of packaging and the products responsible for their generation. Results indicate that plastic waste generation maintains a constant trend throughout the whole construction process, while cardboard becomes predominant towards the end of the construction works with switches and sockets from the electricity stage. Understanding the production patterns of packaging waste will be beneficial for adapting waste management strategies to the identified patterns for the specific nature of packaging waste within the context of construction worksites.     

A vegetation management experiment: Goats grazing shrublands in Doñana Natural Park

We have studied the effect of goat grazing on the shrub understory of a pine forest situated in a protected area (Doñana Natural Park). Along three years we have studied the changes in phytovolume, flammability, species richness and diversity in a grazed shrubland and in a control area not grazed by the goats. We studied also food preferences of the goats and the ability of the goats to disperse the seeds of the plants they eat. Goat grazing significantly reduced shrub biomass and flammability, decreasing the risk of forest fire. Goats selected the species they eat, changing the pattern of selection throughout the year. Grazing reduced shrub diversity, but did not affected species richness. The goats can also potentially disperse the seeds of some of the species they eat, since the seeds were able to pass through the goat’s gut and germinated afterwards. Goat grazing on scrub vegetation can be used as an effective tool for the control of shrubs in protected forest areas, without losing biodiversity.     

Effects of thermobarical pretreatment of cattle waste as feedstock for anaerobic digestion

Lab-scale experiments were conducted to assess the impact of thermobarical treatment of cattle waste on anaerobic digestion. Treatment was at temperatures of 140–220 °C in 20 K steps for a 5-min duration. Methane yields could be increased by up to 58% at a treatment temperature of 180 °C. At 220 °C the abundance of inhibitors and other non-digestible substances led to lower methane yields than those obtained from untreated material. In an extended analysis it could be demonstrated that there is a functional correlation between the methane yields after 30 days and the formation rate and methane yield in the acceleration phase. It could be proved in a regression of these correlation values that the optimum treatment temperature is 164 °C and that the minimum treatment temperature should be above 115 °C.     

Low cost organic and inorganic sorbents to fight soil and water pollution

Environmental Science and Pollution Research -     

Induction of glutathione reductase enzyme activity by β‐aminobutyric acid in plant leaves

Abstract

Treatment of pea and tobacco leaf discs with the resistance inducer DL‐β‐amino‐n‐butyric acid (BABA) led to a substantial induction of glutathione reductase (GR, E.C. 1.6.4.2.) enzyme activity. After exposure to 1 mM BABA for 96 hrs, the GR activities were 3.2‐fold and 2.9‐fold higher in pea and tobacco leaf discs, respectively, than GR activities in untreated controls. Elevated GR levels may contribute to the antioxidative protection of plants during pathogen attack.     

The effect of sea-water submergence on rhizome bud viability of the introducedAmmophila arenaria and the nativeLeymus mollis in California

Ammophila arenaria, an invasive European beach grass, dominates most United States Pacific coast beaches north of San Francisco Bay, and it appears to severely reduce opportunities for regeneration of native plant species, including American beach grass,Leymus mollis. The knowledge of how longAmmophila rhizomes can survive in sea-water is important for long-tern management strategies, which must consider the probability of reinvasion of areas whereAmmophila has been eradicated. The bud viability of bothAmmophila arenaria andLeymus mollis remained high following submergence in sea-water for 7 days, andLeymus bud viability was still high after 13 days submergence. In fact,Leymus bud viability appears to be enhanced slightly by submergence for 7 days in sea-water. SinceAmmophila rhizomes retain a mean bud viability of >50% following submergence for 7 days, there is clearly the potential for long distance dispersal to other beaches. Even after 13 days of submergence,Ammophila rhizomes still had a mean bud viability of 8.5%. Assuming near-shore current speeds of 5–45 cm/sec, viableAmmophila rhizomes can be transported up to 505 km in 13 days.     

An hourly PM10 diagnosis model for the Bilbao metropolitan area using a linear regression methodology

There is extensive evidence of the negative impacts on health linked to the rise of the regional background of particulate matter (PM) 10 levels. These levels are often increased over urban areas becoming one of the main air pollution concerns. This is the case on the Bilbao metropolitan area, Spain. This study describes a data-driven model to diagnose PM10 levels in Bilbao at hourly intervals. The model is built with a training period of 7-year historical data covering different urban environments (inland, city centre and coastal sites). The explanatory variables are quantitative—log [NO₂], temperature, short-wave incoming radiation, wind speed and direction, specific humidity, hour and vehicle intensity—and qualitative—working days/weekends, season (winter/summer), the hour (from 00 to 23 UTC) and precipitation/no precipitation. Three different linear regression models are compared: simple linear regression; linear regression with interaction terms (INT); and linear regression with interaction terms following the Sawa’s Bayesian Information Criteria (INT-BIC). Each type of model is calculated selecting two different periods: the training (it consists of 6 years) and the testing dataset (it consists of 1 year). The results of each type of model show that the INT-BIC-based model (R ²?=?0.42) is the best. Results were R of 0.65, 0.63 and 0.60 for the city centre, inland and coastal sites, respectively, a level of confidence similar to the state-of-the art methodology. The related error calculated for longer time intervals (monthly or seasonal means) diminished significantly (R of 0.75–0.80 for monthly means and R of 0.80 to 0.98 at seasonally means) with respect to shorter periods.     

Suitability of selected bioindicators of atmospheric pollution in the industrialised region of Ostrava,Upper Silesia,Czech Republic

This study is a continuation of our preceding research identifying suitable environmental samples for the tracing of atmospheric pollution in industrial areas. Three additional types of environmental samples were used to characterise contamination sources in the industrial area of Ostrava city, Czech Republic. The region is known for its extensive metallurgical and mining activities. Fingerprinting of stable Pb isotopes was applied to distinguish individual sources of anthropogenic Pb. A wide range of ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratios was observed in the investigated samples: ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb = 1.168–1.198 in mosses; ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb = 1.167–1.215 in soils and ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb = 1.158–1.184 in tree cores. Black and brown coal combustion, as well as metallurgical activities, is the two main sources of pollution in the area. Fossil fuel burning in industry and households seems to be a stronger source of Pb emissions than from the metallurgical industry. Concentration analyses of tree rings showed that a significant increase in As concentrations occurred between 1999 and 2016 (from 0.38 mg kg^?1 to 13.8 mg kg^?1). This shift corresponds to the use of brown coal from Bílina, Czech Republic, with an increased As concentration. The burning of low-quality fuels in households remains a problem in the area, as small ground sources have a greater influence on the air quality than do industrial sources.