Response of ecological storage and conservation to land use transformation: A case study of a mining town in China

Rapid land use transformation shaped by agriculture, industrialization and population urbanization has a great influence on ecological environment. Based on theory of ecosystem service functions, this study aims at revealing the response of ecological storage and conservation to each unit area of land use transformation. Taking Cishan Town, a mining town in China, as a case study, this paper estimates the “past-present-future” ecological storage impacted by the process, result and possibility of land use transformation. The local land use and industrial distribution show that the active areas of land use transformation are also the areas of concentration of human (industrial) activities. Ecological storage shows the different responses to land use ways. And then this study combines the ecological storage indices with the indices of ecosystem pattern and land condition into the“5A” framework (active state, active degree, active possibility, active balance and active condition) for grading ecological conservation, and then assigns all regions of Cishan Town into different grades through membership functions for complex mapping of ecological conservation. The research results show that the ecological conservation in Cishan goes toward two extreme grades (best grade and worst grade). Uneven and unbalanced land use transformation is the main cause of that. Hence, rational and timely reflection of impact of land use transformation on ecological storage and conservation can assist land use planners and local government in adjusting land use ways and balancing regional ecology and economy.     

The determinants of environmental quality in the SAARC region: a spatial heterogeneous panel data approach

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In recent years, financial development, trade policies, and energy performance have attracted attention due to their behavior on environmental...     

Comparison the effects of bioaugmentation versus biostimulation on marine microbial community by PCR–DGGE: A mesocosm scale

In order to better understand the effects of biostimulation and bioaugmentation processes on a marine microbial community, three different mesocosm experiments were planned. Natural seawater(10.000 L) was artificially polluted with crude oil(1 L) and(1) inorganic nutrients(Biostimulating Mesocosm, BM),(2) inorganic nutrients and an inoculum of Alcanivorax borkumensis SK2(Single Bioaugmentation Mesocosm, SBM),(3) inorganic nutrients and inoculums of A. borkumensis SK2 and Thalassolituus oleivorans MIL-1(Consortium Bioaugmentation Mesocosm, CBM). During the experimental period(20 days), samples were taken from each mesocosm and the community structure was analyzed by PCR–DGGE. The 16 S r RNA gene DGGE banding patterns and sequence analysis demonstrated that biostimulation had the lowest effect on microbial biodiversity in the mesocosms; however, the biodiversity of the marine microbial community dramatically decreased in the CBM(Shannon index was 0.6 in T3). The community structures among the three mesocosms were also markedly different,and major bacteria derived from DGGE bands were related to uncultured Gamma Proteobacteria. The biodegradation results show that the Single Bioaugmentation Mesocosm(SBM) system had the highest percentage of degradation(95%) in comparison to the BM mesocosm(80%) and CBM(70%).     

Portland cement solidified construction waste using MSW leachate and phosphate admixtures

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - Many dumping sites all over the world release leachate into the environment. The primary goal of this study was to convert raw municipal...     

Introduction of Ionic Liquids as Highly Efficient Plasticizers and Flame Retardants of Cellulose Triacetate Films

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - As a promising biodegradable polymer, cellulose triacetate (CTA) was synthesized and plasticized with ionic liquids to produce flexible biocomposite films...     

Application of polysaccharide-based biopolymers as supports in photocatalytic treatment of water and wastewater: a review

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Rising health issues of Worldwide pollution by fossil fuel products are Fostering the development of safer materials such as biopolymers in many sectors such as...     

Green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles loaded on activated carbon prepared from walnut peel extract for the removal of Eosin Y and Erythrosine B dyes from aqueous solution: experimental approaches,kinetics models,and thermodynamic studies

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Water contamination due to release of dye containing effluents is one of the environmental problems of serious concern today. The present study...     

The analysis and probabilistic health risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in cereal products

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The analysis and probabilistic health risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in cereal products were done by using magnetic...