Assessing use-values and relative importance of trees for livelihood values and their potentials for environmental protection in Southern Burkina Faso

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Empirical ethnobotanical studies in Burkina Faso and the Sahel apply unmodified use-value methods, which often fail to capture uses of plants within...     

Developing climatic scenarios for pesticide fate modelling in Europe

A climatic classification for Europe suitable for pesticide fate modelling was constructed using a 3-stage process involving the identification of key climatic variables, the extraction of the dominant modes of spatial variability in those variables and the use of k-means clustering to identify regions with similar climates. The procedure identified 16 coherent zones that reflect the variability of climate across Europe whilst maintaining a manageable number of zones for subsequent modelling studies. An analysis of basic climatic parameters for each zone demonstrates the success of the scheme in identifying distinct climatic regions. Objective criteria were used to identify one representative 26-year daily meteorological series from a European dataset for each zone. The representativeness of each series was then verified against the zonal classifications. These new FOOTPRINT climate zones provide a state-of-the-art objective classification of European climate complete with representative daily data that are suitable for use in pesticide fate modelling.     

Some observations on heavy metal concentrations in soils of the Mendip region of north Somerset

Topsoiis in the Mendip Hills of north Somerset are strongly enriched in Pb, Zn and Cd. While much of this enrichment is the result of pollution stemming from previous base metal mining, analyses of soil profile samples reveals that, in several cases, there is considerable enrichment of heavy metals with depth. This, together with relatively high levels of base metals in samples of the limestone and sandstone bedrocks, suggests that some of the enrichment in soil of heavy metals is due to natural processes.     

Source apportionment with site specific source profiles

A receptor modeling study was performed to identify and apportion the sources of PM10 mass in Granite City, Illinois, an area of historic TSP nonattainment. Samples of the ambient aerosol were collected using a dichotomous sampler. Each sample was analyzed by x-ray fluorescence and instrumental neutron activation analysis. To begin the study, a factor analysis was performed. Two different chemical mass balance (CMB) analyses were then made. The first CMB analysis used only source profiles available from the literature while the second included twelve source profiles developed from dust samples collected in Granite City. Both CMB analyses used 20 of the 33 analyzed elements since many of the source profiles in the literature did not include the other thirteen elements. The results from both sets of CMB analyses were grouped by the predominate wind direction at the site during the time each sample was taken to identify the direction of each source relative to the sampler. It was found that regional sources were the primary contributors to the fine fraction while the coarse fraction was composed of material from local industries. These sources were generally the ones identified during the Regional Air Pollution Study previously conducted in the area. However, the emission profiles from these sources were observed to have changed between the studies. It was also found that the use of the locally generated profiles greatly improved the results of the CMB analysis.     

FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT NEEDS PECULIAR TO ARID CLIMATES1

ABSTRACT: Many practices followed uniformly nationwide in the federal flood control and floodplain management programs are inappropriate or even counter productive in the arid Utah climate. An analysis of the 130-year Utah flood history, the structural and nonstructural flood programs in the state, and local perceptions obtained by field visits and interviews in 35 Utah communities revealed a number of such inefficiencies. Since flood flows dissipate quickly when they emerge from mountain watersheds onto desert lowlands, risks are concentrated near the apex of alluvial fans, include hazard from mud as well as water flow, and are compounded by canal interception of flood waters. Because of variation in the area flooded from one event to the next, floodplain mapping has tended to show risks too high in mapped areas and too low outside. Traditional channelization carries floods downstream past where they would dissipate naturally. The federal government needs to become more active in developing better flood hazard delineation and structural and nonstructural designs for arid areas. State government can help by providing a forum where communities can exchange experiences, reviewing structural designs prepared by local government, and providing local communities with technical expertise for dealing with federal agencies.     

Questions on the mechanism of temperature adaptation in marine phytoplankton

The rate of light-saturated photosynthesis in 3 marine algae [Phaeodactylum tricornutum Bohlin, Nitzschia closterium (Ehrenberg) Smith and Dunaliella tertiolecta Butcher] varies during growth in batch culture. The photosynthetic rare declines most rapidly during growth at the higher temperatures. Because of these changes in photosynthesis rate, the previously reported enhanced photosynthetic abilities caused by growth at lower temperatures (generally interpreted as evidence for higher enzyme levels) can only be observed when measurements are made late in the exponential phase or after the onset of the stationary phase of growth. When allowance is made for the earlier peak of photosynthetic ability in cultures growing at higher temperatures, there is no evidence for adaptation to lower temperatures being caused by increased levels of the enzymes required for carbon-dioxide fixation. When the changes due to growth in batch culture are taken into account, certain effects of temperature can be recognized. the dry weight: chlorophyll ratio of all 3 algae increases with decreasing growth temperatures. For P. tricornutum and N. closterium, growth at lower temperatures reduces the cellular content of chlorophyll a, but has little effect on the chlorophyll content of D. tertiolecta. The dry weight: cell-number ratio of D. tertiolecta and P. tricornutum increases with lower growth temperatures, but growth temperature has little effect on the cell mass of N. closterium. Growth of the 3 algae at lower temperatures does not increase their ability to photosynthesize at these lower temperatures. Rather, it reduces their ability to assimilate carbon dioxide at the higher temperatures.     

Industrial age anthropogenic inputs of heavy metals into the pedosphere

Heavy metals have been increasingly released into our environment. We present here, for the first time, the global industrial age production of Cd, Cu, Cr, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn, and their potential accumulation and environmental effects in the pedosphere. World soils have been seriously polluted by Pb and Cd and slightly by Zn. The potential industrial age anthropogenic Pb, Hg, and Cd inputs in the pedosphere are 9.6, 6.1, and 5.2 times those in the lithosphere, respectively. The potential anthropogenic heavy metal inputs in the pedosphere increased tremendously after the 1950s, especially for Cr and Ni. In 2000, the cumulative industrial age anthropogenic global production of Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn was 1.1, 105, 451, 0.64, 36, 235, and 354 million tonnes, respectively. The global industrial age metal burdens per capita (in 2000) were 0.18, 17.3, 74.2, 0.10, 5.9, 38.6, and 58.2 kg for Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn, respectively. Acidification may increase the bioavailability and toxicity of heavy metals in the pedosphere. The improvement of industrial processing technology reducing the metal dispersion rate, the recycling of metal-containing outdated products, by-products and wastes, and the development of new substitute materials for heavy metals are possible strategies to minimize the effects of heavy metals on our environment.