Conservation of animals traded for medicinal purposes in Brazil: Can products derived from plants or domestic animals replace products of wild animals?

Regional Environmental Change - The use and trade of animals in traditional medicine involves many different species, some of which are threatened with extinction. Thus, evaluating biological and...     

Monitoring and modelling of indoor radon concentrations in a multi-storey building at Mumbai,India

Radon (Rn(222)) levels in an indoor atmosphere of a multi-storey building at Mumbai have been measured for one year covering all the four seasons. Monitoring was carried out using the time-integrated passive detector technique, using Kodak-115 type Solid State Nuclear Track Detector (SSNTD) films of 2.5x2.5 cm size. Measured indoor radon levels showed a decreasing trend with height with concentration ranging from 41 Bq m(-3) at ground floor level to 15 Bq m(-3) at 19th floor level. Using the dose conversion factors, the inhalation dose due to breathing of radon gas is estimated to be 1.03 mSv y(-1) at the ground floor to 0.38 mSv y(-1) at the 19th floor level. Measured indoor radon concentrations on each floor were compared with the computed values using a mathematical model. The agreement between measured values and calculated values of indoor concentrations at different floors was very good within the limitations of various field parameter values.     

Ordination of Plant Communities in Forest Biogeocenoses under Conditions of Air Pollution in the Northern Kola Peninsula

The species diversity and structure of the tree, herb–dwarf shrub, and moss–lichen layers in the biogeocenoses (BGCs) of pine forests of the Kola Peninsula were analyzed in the zone affected by the Pechenganikel Combined Works. Relationships of the diversity of phytocenoses with the amount of atmospheric fallout and the concentrations of accessible compounds of polluting elements (nickel and copper) and nutrients (potassium, magnesium, and nitrogen) in forest litters were revealed.     

Anthropogenic Transformation of Flora in the City of Astrakhan and Its Environs over the Past 100 Years

Trends in the anthropogenic transformation of flora in the city of Astrakhan and its environs over the past 100 years are discussed. In general, the process of flora synanthropization is observed, with natural aboriginal plant communities being replaced by anthropogenically altered communities.     

Distribution of organotin compounds in the bivalves of the Aegean Sea, Greece

Five bivalve species--Mytilus galloprovinciallis (Mediterranean mussels), Venus gallina (stripped venus), Modiola barbatus L. (bearded horse mussels), Pecten jacobeus (scallops) and Callista chione (hard clams)--were collected from seven areas in Aegean Sea, Greece, between August 2001 and January 2003 and analyzed for organotins (OTs). The concentrations (as geometric means) found were 17.1 ng g-1 for tributyltin (TBT), 18.8 ng g-1 for dibutytltin (DBT), 7.8 ng g-1 for monobutyltin (MBT) and 13.0 ng g-1 for triphenyltin (TPhT) (wet weight), which are at similar or lower levels than those reported worldwide. Studying OTs distribution between different bivalve species, lower concentrations were observed in mediterranean mussels, possibly due to their growth in water column (grown on sea net pens in mussel farms), in contrast to the free-ranging species, collected from fishing grounds. Concentrations of the OTs in the examined bivalves varied seasonally.     

An efficient and simple method for measuring (226)Ra using the scintillation cell in a delayed coincidence counting system (RaDeCC)

A delayed coincidence counter (RaDeCC), developed to determine ultra-low levels of (223)Ra (half life = 11.1 days) and (224)Ra (half life = 3.6 days) in seawater, was adapted to measure (226)Ra (half life = 1622 years). After pre-concentration of Ra from seawater onto MnO(2)-coated fiber we show in this study that the (226)Ra activity can be determined using the RaDeCC's ability to record alpha decay of its daughters as total counts. For sufficient ingrowth of (222)Rn, the Mn-fiber is hermetically sealed in a column for a few days. Then, the ingrown (222)Rn is circulated through the RaDeCC air-loop system followed by shutting down of the pump and closure of the scintillation cell for equilibration. Counting may be completed within a few hours for seawater samples. Sample measurements with this method agreed well with data obtained using gamma-ray spectrometry. This proves that a set of Ra isotopes ((223)Ra, (224)Ra, and (226)Ra), commonly used for geophysical studies such as mixing rates of different water masses and submarine groundwater discharge, can be efficiently and rapidly measured using the RaDeCC.     

On Assessing Decomposition Rates of Plant Debris and Standard Cellulose Samples in Tundra Communities

Russian Journal of Ecology -     

Seasonal variations of Rn concentrations in the air of a tunnel located in Nagano city

The seasonal variation of 222Rn concentrations in the air of tunnels constructed during World War II at Nagano City has been investigated. The determination of 222Rn concentrations in tunnel air was performed using a solid-state nuclear track detector technique. The monthly radon concentrations changed smoothly, decreasing towards winter and increasing towards summer, and it was found that the concentrations strongly correlate with the temperature difference between the inside and the outside of the tunnel. In the innermost areas of the tunnel, the maximum concentration was observed in July, its value being about 6500 Bq m (-3). The concentrations of radon in the tunnel air decrease exponentially towards the openings of the tunnel, which indicates that the radon concentration in the tunnel is basically governed by diffusion and mixing of radon gas with air. These observations lead to the conclusion that the seasonal variation of the radon concentration in the tunnel air is mainly caused by a convection current due to a stack effect induced by the temperature difference between the tunnel air and the outside air.     

Status differences in collective action and forest benefits: evidence from joint forest management in India

Does status matter in community-based forest management? If so, are the high-status households more benefited than the low-status households? What drives status differences, if any, in the appropriation of forest resources? To address these questions, we draw on a theory of status and resource use that defines one’s status as one’s relative position in a group on the basis of power, prestige, honor and deference. Following this perspective, we surveyed the heads of 341 forest-based rural households in India from 2009 to 2010. We find that collective actions themselves are status-driven and the high-status households are more interested and involved in status-maintaining collective actions such as decision-making and implementation, while the low-status households perform general tasks like forest patrol. Moreover, the high-status households derive benefits from local forest significantly more than the low-status households. Further, decomposition analysis shows that a household’s prestige and honor measured by its access to social resources, problem faced and useful contacts explain about 56 % of the status gap in forest benefits, while socioeconomic characteristics explain only 16 % of the gap. Thus, due emphasis on household status from a broader socioeconomic perspective is required to reduce inequality in participation and the distribution of forest benefits in co-management.     

Bronchial dosimeters for radon progeny for Chinese males and females

Bronchial dosimeters have been designed for adult Chinese males and females for home and mine exposures, which can give the bronchial doses from radon progeny by direct measurements. The bronchial dosimeter for home exposures consists of five 400-mesh wire screens. With a sampling face velocity of 3.3 cm s(-1) for Chinese males and 2.7 cm s(-1) for Chinese females, the deposition pattern on the wire screens were found to satisfactorily match the variation of the dose conversion coefficients (in units of mSv WLM(-1)) with the size of radon progeny from 1 to 1000 nm. The bronchial dosimeter for mine exposures consists of four 250-mesh wire screens. With a sampling face velocity of 3.3 cm s(-1), the deposition pattern on the wire screens were found to satisfactorily match the variation of the dose conversion coefficients for both Chinese males and females. In this way, the bronchial dosimeters directly give the bronchial doses from the alpha counts recorded on the wire-screens.