Persistent organochlorine residues in livers of six species of Ciconiiformes (aves) from Spain

Liver samples of 42 birds belonging to 6 species of Ciconiiformes (grey heron (n = 17), little egret (n = 12), cattle egret (n = 1), glossy ibis (n = 1), little bittern (n = 1), and white stork (n = 10)), collected from two different zones of Spain (Ebro Delta and Madrid) in 1992-1997, were analyzed for organochlorine pesticides and PCBs. SigmaPCBs (sum of concentrations of individual congeners), p,p'-DDE, HCB, gamma-HCH, and heptachlor epoxide were the most prevalent residues detected in all samples (occurrence > 95%). There were no statistically significant differences in organochlorine levels between grey herons and little egrets, while levels of SigmaPCBs, p,p'-DDE, HCB, gamma-HCH, and heptachlor were significantly lower for white storks. These results could be explained by the different habitat of these species, aquatic in the Ebro Delta (grey herons, little egrets) and dry in Madrid (white stork), and their diverse feeding habits.     

Industrial sustainability in China: practice and prospects for eco-industrial development

China is a large densely populated country undergoing rapid industrialization and is becoming one of the world's biggest consumers of natural resources. This circumstance provides a sharp contrast with other countries. As China is so significant in the global economy, studies of its eco-industrial development are very important. In this study we examined the state of eco-industrial development in China and have drawn conclusions from this analysis about some of the future prospects for sustainable development. In the analysis, we investigated the application of industrial ecology concepts by reference to several case studies. We have therefore described the current environmental situation in China, and have provided an overview of eco-industrial development and its implementation. Constraints to industrial sustainability in China have also been examined. We consider that eco-industrial development in China is in its infancy, and that closed loops involving chains and industrial symbiotic webs are the technological key and core of successful initiatives in the application of industrial ecology. In the case studies, we found that each system has different characteristics and management concerns. Our major conclusion is that even though China's Agenda 21 highlights the principles and sets the directions for eco-industrial development, these have not yet become essential ingredients in the country's industrial policy and practice for implementing Agenda 21.     

Integrating biodegradation and electroosmosis for the enhanced removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from creosote-polluted soils

This paper presents a hybrid technology of soil remediation based on the integration of biodegradation and electroosmosis. We employed soils with different texture (clay soil and loamy sand) containing a mixture of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) present in creosote, and inoculation with a representative soil bacterium able to degrade fluorene, phenanthrene, fluoranthene, pyrene, anthracene, and benzo[a]pyrene. Two different modes of treatment were prospected: (i) inducing in soil the simultaneous occurrence of biodegradation and electroosmosis in the presence of a biodegradable surfactant, and (ii) treating the soils sequentially with electrokinetics and bioremediation. Losses of PAH due to simultaneous biodegradation and electroosmosis (induced by a continuous electric field) were significantly higher than in control cells that contained the surfactant but no biological activity or no current. The method was especially successful with loamy sand. For example, benzo[a]pyrene decreased its concentration by 50% after 7 d, whereas 22 and 17% of the compound had disappeared as a result of electrokinetic flushing and bioremediation alone, respectively. The use of periodical changes in polarity and current pulses increased by 16% in the removal of total PAH and in up to 30% of specific compounds, including benzo[a]pyrene. With the aim of reaching lower residual levels through bioremediation, an electrokinetic pretreatment was also evaluated as a way to mobilize the less bioaccessible fraction of PAH. Residual concentrations of total biodegradable PAH, remaining after bioremediation in soil slurries, were twofold lower in electrokinetically pretreated soils than in untreated soils. The results indicate that biodegradation and electroosmosis can be successfully integrated to promote the removal of PAH from soil.     

Environmental management and firm performance: a case study

This study has as its aim to help to clarify the relationship between environmental management and economic performance by integrating it into a wider framework that includes the relationship between environmental strategy and firm performance, the latter being understood as the combination of environmental performance, competitive advantage and economic performance. A case study of the COATO farming cooperative showed us that its environmental management, focused on prevention logic, has had a positive net effect on its environmental performance. Besides, the order in which these practices were adopted favoured the development of new organisational capabilities that have contributed to the appearance of advantages derived from the greater accumulated experience of employees in creating new projects that are designed to reduce residues and pollution. COATO has also obtained a competitive advantage in differentiation thanks to an improved brand image and to its increased credibility in business relationships. Finally, a positive correlation exists between the pioneering proactive strategy adopted by this cooperative and the improvement of its firm performance with respect to the other firms in its sector.     

First fossil evidence of an “interglacial refugium” in the Pyrenean region

A refugium is generally understood as an area where temperate species survive cold periods, such as the Iberian, Italian, or Balkan Peninsulas in Europe. Strictly speaking, this definition refers to what is known as a glacial refugium. However, there are various types of lesser-known refugia such as the interglacial refugium, which denotes a mountainous region at low latitudes, such as the Pyrenees, where species adapted to the cold survive during interstadial periods. The small-vertebrate association from the sequence of Cova Colomera, which is located on the southern face of the Pyrenees and contains the final cold spell of the Late Pleistocene and the beginnings of the temperate period in which we currently find ourselves (the Holocene), could constitute the first fossil evidence of such an interglacial refugium, thus providing new paleoecological data on the phenomenon.     

Water information: what is it good for? The use of information in transboundary water management

Consistent and relevant information on the status of water systems is indispensable for rational and cost-effective water management. This statement has general validity for all types of river basins, but is particularly relevant for transboundary water regions. Information is used to support decision-making and to evaluate the effects of water resources management decisions. Information production however lags behind developments in water management, which becomes clear from the fact that information still focuses on ecological components of water bodies and largely ignores the importance of socio-economic data stemming from human activities taking place in the river basin. Production of improved information is hindered by strong boundaries between different disciplines that are not easily overcome. Moreover, consideration of information needs and the goals of information dissemination prior to producing information is insufficient and the relevant actors are often reluctant to participate in these processes as they are time consuming. Differences in institutional behaviour also hinder cooperation between institutions, while organisational structures are insufficiently tuned to the needs of the external environment. All these issues hinder the use of information as the basis for decision-making. This paper provides an overview of relevant aspects of information from a broad range of perspectives and establishes the need for changes in the production and use of environmental information in support of water management. The paper is largely based on the outcomes of a closed multi-disciplinary specialist meeting on the role and use of environmental data and information in transboundary water contexts held in Arendal, Norway, September 2002.     

Predictive mapping of soil organic carbon in wet cultivated lands using classification-tree based models: The case study of Denmark

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is one of the most important carbon stocks globally and has large potential to affect global climate. Distribution patterns of SOC in Denmark constitute a nation-wide baseline for studies on soil carbon changes (with respect to Kyoto protocol). This paper predicts and maps the geographic distribution of SOC across Denmark using remote sensing (RS), geographic information systems (GISs) and decision-tree modeling (un-pruned and pruned classification trees). Seventeen parameters, i.e. parent material, soil type, landscape type, elevation, slope gradient, slope aspect, mean curvature, plan curvature, profile curvature, flow accumulation, specific catchment area, tangent slope, tangent curvature, steady-state wetness index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalized Difference Wetness Index (NDWI) and Soil Color Index (SCI) were generated to statistically explain SOC field measurements in the area of interest (Denmark). A large number of tree-based classification models (588) were developed using (i) all of the parameters, (ii) all Digital Elevation Model (DEM) parameters only, (iii) the primary DEM parameters only, (iv), the remote sensing (RS) indices only, (v) selected pairs of parameters, (vi) soil type, parent material and landscape type only, and (vii) the parameters having a high impact on SOC distribution in built pruned trees. The best constructed classification tree models (in the number of three) with the lowest misclassification error (ME) and the lowest number of nodes (N) as well are: (i) the tree (T1) combining all of the parameters (ME = 29.5%; N = 54); (ii) the tree (T2) based on the parent material, soil type and landscape type (ME = 31.5%; N = 14); and (iii) the tree (T3) constructed using parent material, soil type, landscape type, elevation, tangent slope and SCI (ME = 30%; N = 39). The produced SOC maps at 1:50,000 cartographic scale using these trees are highly matching with coincidence values equal to 90.5% (Map T1/Map T2), 95% (Map T1/Map T3) and 91% (Map T2/Map T3). The overall accuracies of these maps once compared with field observations were estimated to be 69.54% (Map T1), 68.87% (Map T2) and 69.41% (Map T3). The proposed tree models are relatively simple, and may be also applied to other areas.     

Carbon speciation in municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI) bottom ash in relation to facilitated metal leaching

The release of inorganic and organic contaminants from municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI) bottom ash is controlled to a large extent by the release of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and in particular by the reactive humic (HA) and fulvic acids (FA) subfractions of DOC. The properties of organic matter contributing to the release of DOC, HA and FA are, therefore, important for environmental risk assessment. In this study we have quantitatively measured the carbon speciation, and its relation with the leaching of Cu, in three fresh and carbonated MSWI bottom ash samples. Results show that up to only 25% of loss on ignition (LOI) consists of organic carbon (OC), while about 17% of OC in the three samples consists of HA and FA. Up to 50% of DOC in MSWI bottom ash leachates was identified as fulvic acid (FA). This value is substantially higher than previously estimated for these MSWI bottom ash samples and is consistent with the higher recovery of the new method that was applied. The results of this study imply that methods focusing on specific carbon fractions are more appropriate for assessment of environmentally relevant organic carbon species than the measurement of LOI.     

Evaluation of soil erosion risk using Analytic Network Process and GIS: A case study from Spanish mountain olive plantations

The study presents an approach that combined objective information such as sampling or experimental data with subjective information such as expert opinions. This combined approach was based on the Analytic Network Process method. It was applied to evaluate soil erosion risk and overcomes one of the drawbacks of USLE/RUSLE soil erosion models, namely that they do not consider interactions among soil erosion factors. Another advantage of this method is that it can be used if there are insufficient experimental data. The lack of experimental data can be compensated for through the use of expert evaluations. As an example of the proposed approach, the risk of soil erosion was evaluated in olive groves in Southern Spain, showing the potential of the ANP method for modelling a complex physical process like soil erosion.