Plant species richness of riverbed elevations—the Pripyat river valley case study

Flora of the still unchanged or slightly modified floodplains is particularly valuable. Such are the natural, periodically flooded riparian ecosystems within the Mid-Pripyat river valley in Belarus. Distinctive elements of that area are ‘periodic islands’, which arise from the most elevated parts of the riverbed during flooding and have a specific microtopography. The aim of the research was to recognize floristic composition and ecological conditions of the ‘islands.’ Noted plants were mainly photophilous, by clearly varied in soil moisture, acidity and fertility requirements.     

Composition and quantification of the anthropogenic and natural fractions of wastes collected from the stormwater drainage system for discussions about the waste management and people behavior

A study was made of the composition of wastes collected from the pipes of the stormwater drainage system of Sorocaba, SP, Brazil (600 thousand inhabitants). A total of 10 samples weighing at least 100 kg each were sorted into 19 items to determine the fraction that can be considered natural (earth/sand, stones, organic matter, and water, the latter determined after oven-drying the samples) and the anthropogenic fraction (the remaining 15 items, especially construction and demolition wastes and packaging). Soil/sand was found to be the main item collected (52.5 % dry weight), followed by the water soaked into the waste (24.3 %), which meant that all the other wastes were saturated in mud, whose contents varied from 6.4 % (glass) to 87.2 % (metalized plastics packaging). In general, 83 % of the collected wastes can be classified as “natural,” but the remaining 17 % represent 2,000 kg of the most varied types of wastes discarded improperly every day on the streets of the city. This is an alarming amount of wastes that may clog parts of the drainage systems, causing troubles for all the population (like flooding) and must be strongly considered in municipal solid wastes management and in environmental education programs.     

Seasonal dynamics of heart rate variability in three murine rodent species

Seasonal dynamics of heart rate variability in individuals of late summer and autumn generations have been studied in three rodent species kept in a vivarium: the striped field mouse (Apodemus agrarius), bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus), and northern red-backed vole (Cl. rutilus). It has been shown that the cardiac function of the rodents in autumn and winter is mainly controlled by autonomic mechanisms: the heart rate is slow, cardiovascular control systems are relaxed. During the winter-spring transition, the role of central cardiovascular circuits increases because of the necessity to activate all body systems by spring.     

Ecosystem services in coupled social–ecological systems: Closing the cycle of service provision and societal feedback

Both the ‘cascade model’ of ecosystem service provision and the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response framework individually contribute to the understanding of human–nature interactions in social–ecological systems (SES). Yet, as several points of criticism show, they are limited analytical tools when it comes to reproducing complex cause–effect relationships in such systems. However, in this paper, we point out that by merging the two models, they can mutually enhance their comprehensiveness and overcome their individual conceptual deficits. Therefore we closed a cycle of ecosystem service provision and societal feedback by rethinking and reassembling the core elements of both models. That way, we established a causal sequence apt to describe the causes of change to SES, their effects and their consequences. Finally, to illustrate its functioning we exemplified and discussed our approach based on a case study conducted in the Alpujarra de la Sierra in southern Spain.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-015-0651-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Electrical resistance heating of volatile organic compounds in Sedimentary rock

Electrical resistance heating (ERH) has become a common method of remediation for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in unconsolidated soils, both above and below the water table. Recently, use of ERH has expanded to include treatment of contaminated sedimentary bedrock. This article describes the implementation issues for rock remediation and provides case studies of three sites remediated by ERH in Maryland, New Jersey, and Indiana. With proper design, remediation of bedrock can be as effectively completed as remediation of overburden materials. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Why ozonolysis may not increase the hydrophilicity of particles

It is commonly assumed that atmospheric oxidation of hydrocarbon particles or hydrocarbon coatings on particles leads to polar products and increased water uptake, altering atmospheric visibility and increasing the likelihood they will act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). We show here through laboratory experiments that increased water uptake depends on the 3-dimensional structure of the particles. Laboratory studies of particles formed during ozonolysis of surface-bound alkenes, present as terminally unsaturated self-assembled monolayers (C8= SAM) on a silica substrate, were carried out at room temperature and 1 atm pressure. SAMs were exposed to ～10¹³ O₃ molecules cm^?3 for 40 min and resultant particles were analyzed using single particle Fourier transform infrared micro-spectroscopy (micro-FTIR) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS). Spectroscopy results show that –COOH and other polar groups are formed but are buried inside a hydrophobic shell, consistent with earlier observations (McIntire et al., 2005, Moussa et al., 2009) that water uptake does not increase after reaction of the terminal alkene with O₃. These insights into the 3-D structure of particles formed on oxidation have important implications for the ability of secondary organic aerosols to act as CCN. In addition, the nature of the surface of the particles is expected to determine their uptake into biological systems such as the surface of the lungs.     

Universal criteria for assessing the ecological state of soil algocenoses

A set of criteria allowing demarcation between algocenoses is proposed. These criteria characterize the species composition, group of dominants, and taxonomic and ecological structure of algocenoses.     

Effects of agricultural pesticides on the health of Rana pipiens frogs sampled from the field

There is evidence that over the last 30 years, there have been mass declines in diverse geographic locations among amphibian populations due to disease outbreaks. Multiple causes have been suggested to explain this increase in disease incidence. Among these, climate changes, environmental pollution and reduced water quality are gaining attention. Indeed, some chemicals of environmental concerns are known to alter the immune system. It is possible that exposure to these pollutants could alter the immune system of anurans and render them more susceptible to different pathogens. In this study, we sampled Rana pipiens in five different sites near St. Lawrence River (Quebec, Canada) during the months of July and September in 2001. Two of these sites were protected areas, in which low levels of pesticides were detected, while the remaining three sites were located in areas with intensive corn and soybeans cultivations. Our results demonstrated that frogs living in agricultural regions are smaller in size and weight than frogs living in areas with lower levels of pesticides at both sampling times. Moreover, we have observed a significant decrease in the number of splenocytes (cellularity) and the phagocytic activity in frogs sampled in impacted sites. Taken together, these results suggest that frogs living in agricultural regions might be more vulnerable to infections and diseases through their smaller size and alteration of their immune system. Our results also contribute to the overall discussion on factors involved in amphibian declines.