Biodegradation of Poly(3-Hydroxybutyrate) Produced from Cupriavidus necator with Different Concentrations of Oleic Acid as Nutritional Supplement

The environmental impact caused by the disposal of plastics has motivated the development of biodegradable materials. Recent studies showed that supplementation with oleic acid (OA) in cultures producing poly(3-hydroxybutyrate), P(3HB), increased the polymer productivity. However only few studies have shown the properties and biodegradation profile of the polymer obtained. This research investigated the influence of OA concentration on the biodegradation of the P(3HB) obtained from cultures of Cupriavidus necator. The crystallinity of the casting films determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was reduced from 70% (0 g L⁻¹ of OA) to 52% (3.0 g L⁻¹ of OA). A reduction of 11 °C in the melting temperature was observed with 3.0 g L⁻¹ of OA. The kinetic of biodegradation was: 3.0 > 1.5 > 0.9 > 0.3 > 0 g L⁻¹ of OA.     

Contamination Levels and Preliminary Assessment of the Technical Feasibility of Employing Natural Attenuation in 5 Priority Areas of Presidente Bernardes Refinery in Cubatão, São Paulo, Brazil

Five priority areas of potential impact by contaminants (API) were investigated at the Presidente Bernardes Refinery in Cubatão, São Paulo, Brazil with the following aims: (i) to identify both organic and inorganic contaminants present in soil and groundwater; (ii) to define the environmental conditions relevant for microbial activity at the site and (iii) to evaluate the feasibility of employing natural attenuation for treatment of the hydrocarbon contamination. One area (API 1) was an uncontrolled landfill, where waste materials from the refinery were deposited between 1954 and 1986, and four areas (API 4, 5, 7 and 11) were located in the operational section of the refinery. Soil contamination by regulated BTEX compounds (benzene, toluene, total xylenes) was restricted to two samples from API 1. Nonregulated ethylbenzene was detected in one soil sample from API 4, one from API 5 and two from API 1. No soil contained regulated PAH above threshold levels. Several nonregulated PAHs were found in 6 soil samples from API 1, 3 soil samples from API 4 and 1 soil sample from API 5. Site soils contained very high aluminium concentrations, but metal contamination was restricted to one soil sample from API 1, which contained nickel above threshold limits. BTEX contamination of groundwater was due mostly to benzene. Of the 17 PAH molecules tested, only naphthalene and 2-methylnaphthalene occurred in groundwater. The sum of total BTEX and total PAH exceeded 200 μg/L in only a few monitoring wells in API 4, 5 and 11 and was always below 2.640 μg/L. Be, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Se, Ag, Tl and Zn were not detected in groundwater, which was contaminated in a few locations by aluminium (mostly below 1 mg/L), lead (<0.066 mg/L) and arsenic (<0.056 mg/L). S, K, Ca, Mg and Fe were present in groundwater in excess of physiological requirements for microbial growth, but low concentrations of N and P could become growth limiting. However, BTEX were efficiently degraded in saturated and unsaturated zone microcosms and nutrient amendments did not stimulate biodegradation rates measurably. The inorganic carbon pool in groundwater was up to one order of magnitude larger than the organic carbon pool. Total inorganic carbon (TIC) in API groundwater exceeded TIC of clean groundwater by factors of 2 (API 4), 6 (API 5, 7 and 11) or 10 (API 1). Most of the inorganic carbon incorporated into groundwater beneath the refinery originated from biodegradation in the unsaturated soil, which contained a microbiota (10⁶ cells/g on average) capable of growth with most of the pure (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene) and mixed hydrocarbons tested (diesel oil, gasoline, naphtha, condensate, aromatic residue and fuel oil). A viscous hydrocarbon paste uncovered in API 1 was insoluble in water but dissolved in dichloromethane. Many organic components of this paste were biodegradable as evidenced by weight reduction of the hydrocarbon paste and by the growth of suspended and attached biomass in saturated zone microcosms, where the paste was the only carbon source. This study indicates that monitored natural attenuation may be a technically feasible and efficient means for plume control in API 1, 4 and 5, provided the plumes in API 4 and 5 are not expanding. This technique is not suitable for contaminant reduction in API 11.     

Integrating Land Market Feedbacks into Conservation Planning—A Mathematical Programming Approach

Nature reserves are often designated ad hoc. Despite increasing conservation efforts, loss of biodiversity is still accelerating. Considering land scarcity and demand for alternative uses, efficiency in conservation strongly correlates with efficiency in land allocation. Systematic conservation planning can effectively prioritize conservation activities. Previous studies minimize opportunity costs for given conservation targets. However, these studies assume constant marginal costs of habitat protection. We extend this cost minimization approach by also considering a dynamic representation of marginal costs. The more land is allocated to nature reserves, the higher are opportunity costs, i.e., costs of forgone agricultural production. This increase in costs results from changes in the prices of agricultural commodities. We employ a deterministic, spatially explicit mathematical optimization model to allocate species habitats by minimizing opportunity costs for setting aside land for conservation purposes. The model is designed as a mixed integer programming problem and solved with GAMS/CPLEX. Our results show the need for integrating land market feedbacks into conservation planning. We find that ignoring land rent adjustments can lead to highly cost-ineffective solutions in reserve selection.     

Assessing the sustainability of water governance systems: the sustainability wheel

We present and test a conceptual and methodological approach for interdisciplinary sustainability assessments of water governance systems based on what we call the sustainability wheel. The approach combines transparent identification of sustainability principles, their regional contextualization through sub-principles (indicators), and the scoring of these indicators through deliberative dialogue within an interdisciplinary team of researchers, taking into account their various qualitative and quantitative research results. The approach was applied to a sustainability assessment of a complex water governance system in the Swiss Alps. We conclude that the applied approach is advantageous for structuring complex and heterogeneous knowledge, gaining a holistic and comprehensive perspective on water sustainability, and communicating this perspective to stakeholders.     

250-year records of mercury and trace element deposition in two lakes from Cajas National Park,SW Ecuadorian Andes

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Historical records of trace elements in lake sediments provide source-to-sink information about potentially toxic pollutants across space and time. We...     

MONTHLY RUNOFF PREDICTIONS BASED ON RAINFALL FORECASTS IN A SMALL OKLAHOMA WATERSHED1

ABSTRACT: Conditions under which monthly rainfall forecasts translate into monthly runoff predictions that could support water resources planning and management activities were investigated on a small watershed in central Oklahoma. Runoff response to rainfall forecasts was simulated using the hydrologic model SWAT. Eighteen scenarios were examined that represented combinations of wet, average, and dry antecedent rainfall conditions, with wet, normal, and dry forecasted rainfall. Results suggest that for the climatic and physiographic conditions under consideration, rainfall forecasts could offer potential application opportunities in surface water resources but only under certain conditions. Pronounced wet and dry antecedent rainfall conditions were shown to have greater impact on runoff than forecasts, particularly in the first month of a forecast period. Large forecast impacts on runoff occurred under wet antecedent conditions, when the fraction of forecasted rainfall contributing to runoff was greatest. Under dry antecedent conditions, most of the forecasted rainfall was absorbed in the soil profile, with little immediate runoff response. Persistent three‐month forecasts produced stronger impacts on runoff than one‐month forecasts due to cumulative effects in the hydrologic system. Runoff response to antecedent conditions and forecasts suggest a highly asymmetric utility function for rainfall forecasts, with greatest decision‐support potential for persistent wet forecasts under wet antecedent conditions when the forecast signal is least dampened by soil‐storage effects. Under average and dry antecedent conditions, rainfall forecasts showed little potential value for practical applications in surface water resources assessments.     

An enormous Jurassic turtle bone bed from the Turpan Basin of Xinjiang, China

A spectacular new terrestrial Konzentratlagerst?tte is introduced from the Turpan Basin of Xinjiang, China that probably belongs to the late Middle Jurassic Qigu Formation. It contains a mass accumulation of “xinjiangchelyid” turtles preliminarily identified as Annemys sp. In the zone with the highest turtle concentration, complete and articulated turtle skeletons are tightly packed at a density of up to 36 turtles per square meter. The fossiliferous layer is thickened here and shows an erosional base. This high concentration zone outcrops approximately 10?m in length and shows no decrease in turtle density after exposing 2?m of the layer into the hillside. Adjacent is a more expansive zone of at least 10?m by 30?m. In this region, the fossiliferous layer is evenly thick, and approximately five, fully disarticulated turtles are present per square meter. A conservatively estimated 1,800 turtles may, therefore, have been deposited at this site. It is likely that these aquatic turtles gathered in a retreating water hole in a riverine environment during a drought, much as some aquatic turtles will do today, but perished when the habitat dried up completely. A following catastrophic rainfall event caused a debris flow, possibly channelized in a dry river bed, which transported complete turtles, disarticulated turtles, and mudstone clasts and deposited them after a short distance. This taphonomic model is consistent with previous environmental reconstructions of the Turpan Basin during the late Middle Jurassic in predicting the episodic breakdown of regional monsoonal circulation resulting in a seasonally dry climate with severe episodic droughts.