Monitoring the impacts of urbanization and industrialization on the agricultural land and environment of the Torbali, Izmir region, Turkey

The aim of this research is to determine agricultural land loss and environmental pollution caused by industrialization and urban sprawl using the Geographical Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing technique (RS). Remotely sensed data is the most powerful tool for monitoring land use changes and GIS is the best way to store and reproduce various kinds of integrated data. Considering the rapid increase of population the loss of fertile agricultural soils is a very dangerous situation for the future of the country. Thus, people are living in the cities in (with adverse) conditions of insufficient drinking water, infrastructure problems, inadequate landscape and many unsolved (extreme) environmental problems. During the last 36 years, unplanned urbanization and industrialization have led to the use of agricultural areas for non-agricultural purposes in the Torbali (Izmir) region, which has the most fertile soils of the Aegean Region. Within this study, a database was created on the parameters of land loss and environmental pollution by means of field observation, interpretation of satellite images (ASTER), aerial photos(1/25.000 scale), topographic map ,soil map, and 1/5.000 scale cadastral map. Results of previous researches and the archives of Torbali municipality were used as ancillary data. In the research, urbanization and industrialization of the town was studied by (using) GIS and RS between 1965 and 2001. Since 1965, 4.742.357 m² agricultural land, mostly of first and second land use capability classes, has been lost due to unplanned urban and industrial developments. Urbanization and industrialization involved an area of which 58% was being used as irrigated lands, 25 % rain feed (rain fed lands)and 17 % for olive growing.     

The environmental effects of salinity load in Great Menderes Basin irrigation schemes

This study aimed to assess how poor planning for irrigation led to heavy salt loads, how those salt loads adversely affected the environment, and how to identify management practices to deal with these potential problems in the Great Menderes River Basin, Aydin Plain Irrigation Scheme of Turkey for the period between 2000 and 2006. In order to determine the effects on the environment; electrical conductivity, salinity load, total amount of water table salinity, inflow and outflow salinity were measured and calculated for the research area. There was no problem on account of water table fluctuations. The mean of area prevented the plant growth by high water table was 8.5%. The percentage of the area occurring water table salinity problem was 39.2. The total amount of salt transported to the Great Menderes River and accumulated in the soil of the research area was 211,609 and 246,565 tones respectively. Salt, 458,174 tones in total, had adverse effects on the environment.     

The effects of the environment and ecology projects on lake management and water quality

In this study, the characteristics, benefits, and effects of the environment and ecology project, which has been implemented in Turkey for the first time to restore the natural life that has been spoilt and the ecological balance of Lake Bafa located in Great Meander Basin, are searched. Moreover, the water samples taken from the stations that were spotted in the lake have been analyzed for the physical and chemical changes taking place in water quality before and after the project. The water cycle occurring as a result of giving water that was raised in Great Meander River by the Rubber regulator, which is the most important element of the project, through the Serçin inlet and feeder channel; and draining the saline and low-quality water to the river bed of the Great Meander, will improve the water quality, the natural life, and the ecological balance of the lake in time. Thanks to the water given to the lake within the scope of project, the salinity of the lake water decreased from 25,500 to 22,500 mmhos cm^???1. The electrical conductivity, Na^?+?, Mg^?+?2, Ca^?+?2, Cl^???, $\text{CO}_\text{3} ^{-\text{2}}In this study, the characteristics, benefits, and effects of the environment and ecology project, which has been implemented in Turkey for the first time to restore the natural life that has been spoilt and the ecological balance of Lake Bafa located in Great Meander Basin, are searched. Moreover, the water samples taken from the stations that were spotted in the lake have been analyzed for the physical and chemical changes taking place in water quality before and after the project. The water cycle occurring as a result of giving water that was raised in Great Meander River by the Rubber regulator, which is the most important element of the project, through the Ser?in inlet and feeder channel; and draining the saline and low-quality water to the river bed of the Great Meander, will improve the water quality, the natural life, and the ecological balance of the lake in time. Thanks to the water given to the lake within the scope of project, the salinity of the lake water decreased from 25,500 to 22,500 mmhos cm( - 1). The electrical conductivity, Na+, Mg+2, Ca+2, Cl(-), CO3(-2), HCO3(-), and the amount of the organic substances were found as over the appropriate values for fishery. Besides, the decreases in the amounts of NO3(-), HN3(-) and PO4(-3) affect the living beings in the lake negatively. In addition, the measures to take are specified, so that the natural life of the Lake and the ecological balance can renew themselves within a short time.     

Salmonella mutagenicity analysis of water samples from Çamaltı saltern

Mutagenicity analysis of water samples from Camalti Saltern, Turkey were investigated by applying Salmonella mutagenicity test. Plate incorporation assay was applied in the absence of metabolic activation. XAD 4 and XAD 16 columns were used for the fractionation of the water samples. The results obtained were negative in both TA 98 and TA 100. Although the number of revertants of XAD 16 extract in station B were higher than the revertants in the other stations for TA 98 strain when compared to the solvent control. However this was not significant to be considered as mutagenic. The results were discussed for the future analysis.     

Environmental effects of maritime traffic on the İstanbul Strait

The Istanbul Strait, which separates the European and the Asian parts of Istanbul, is one of the narrowest straits in the world that is used for international shipping. The Strait has very special ecological conditions in terms of marine environment (atmospheric/oceanographic conditions, plant and animal diversity) and terrestrial environment. It also has roles as biological corridor and biological barrier between the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea and form an acclimatization zone for migrating species. Due to being the only maritime access for the neighboring Black Sea states and the Central Asian Turki Republics, the Istanbul Strait has been exposed to dense marine traffic for centuries and substantial increase has occurred in size and tonnage of the ships passing through the Strait with hazardous cargo varieties and amounts they carry. Increase in the number of vessels that navigates on the Strait and being on the transportation way of hazardous and dangerous materials pose serious environmental and safety hazards for the Istanbul Strait, Marmara Sea and the surrounding residential areas. Geographic and oceanographic features of the Istanbul Strait makes the navigation on the Strait rather difficult and consequently the Strait has faced many casualties that caused severe environmental problems due to thousands tons of oil spill occurring in recent decades.     

Distributions of 210Pb around a uraniferous coal-fired power plant in Western Turkey

In the present study the spatial and the vertical distributions of 210Pb were investigated in the soils around a uranifereous coal fired power plant (CPP) in Yatagan Basin, in Western Turkey. The variation of 226Ra activity along the soil profiles was studied to assess the unsupported 210Pb distribution in the same samples. 226Ra was measured by gamma spectroscopy and 210Pb activities were determined from 210Po activities using radiochemical deposition and alpha spectroscopy. The total 210Pb activity concentrations in bulk core samples varied in the range of 38-250 Bq kg(-1) in the study sites and of 22-78 Bq kg(-1) in reference site. In the sectioned cores sampled from the study areas the ranges for activity concentrations of 226Ra, total 210Pb and unsupported 210Pb are 24-77; 39-344 and 4-313 Bq kg(-1), respectively. Corresponding ranges for reference site are 37-39; 39-122 and 1-83 Bq kg(-1).     

Influence of composition on the biomethanation potential of restaurant waste at mesophilic temperatures

A synthetic waste was used to study the effect of waste composition on anaerobic degradation of restaurant waste. It was made by blending melted pork lard, white cabbage, chicken breast, and potato flakes, to simulate lipids, cellulose, protein, and carbohydrates, respectively. Four blends of the four constituents with an excess of each component were assayed and compared with a fifth blend containing an equal amount of chemical oxygen demand (COD) of each of the four components. The methane production and the time course of soluble COD and volatile fatty acids were assessed in batch assays. A high reduction of volatile solids (between 94% and 99.6%) was obtained in all the assays. The methane yield was between 0.40 m(3) CH(4)/kg VS(initial) (excess of carbohydrates) and 0.49 m(3) CH(4)/kg VS(initial) (excess of lipids). The degradation of the lipid-rich assays differed from the others. Fifty percent of the biochemical methane potential was obtained after 3-6 days for all of the assays, except for the one with excess of lipids which achieved 50% methanation only after 14.7 days of incubation. In the assay with excess of lipids, a considerable fraction of COD remained in the liquid phase, suggesting an inhibition of the methanogenic process that was likely due to the accumulation of long chain fatty acids. The hydrolysis rate constants, assuming first order kinetics, over the first 6 days were between 0.12d(-1) (excess of lipids) and 0.32 d(-1) (excess of carbohydrates). The results indicate that anaerobic digestion facilities with large variations in lipid input could have significant changes in process performance that merit further examination.     

Marine Parks for protection and tourism in Turkey

Protected Turkish areas in the Mediterranean region are compared with those of other Mediterranean countries. Policies followed in Turkey for conservation protection of the natural and cultural environment and the use of coastal resources for tourism are discussed. The purpose and application of Turkish law is examined with respect to the interaction between the protection of coastal areas and tourism. Modifications on the administrative and management regulations in Turkey enabling a better use of coastal areas is suggested by combining coastal tourism and protection. The necessity and importance of estabilishing and managing Marine Parks in short-and long-term plans are acknowledged.     

Characterization and validation of a Portuguese natural reference soil to be used as substrate for ecotoxicological purposes

This study describes the first attempt to validate a Portuguese natural soil (PTRS1) to be used as reference soil for ecotoxicological purposes, aimed to both: (i) obtain ecotoxicological data for the derivation of Soil Screening Values (SSVs) with regional relevance, acting as a substrate to be spiked with ranges of concentrations of the chemicals under evaluation and (ii) act as control and as substrate for the dilution of contaminated soils in ecotoxicological assays performed to evaluate the ecotoxicity of contaminated soils, in tier 2 of risk assessment frameworks, applied to contaminated lands. The PTRS1 is a cambisol from a granitic area integrated in the Central Iberian Zone. After chemical characterization of the soil in terms of pseudo-total metals, PAHs, PCBs and pesticide contents, it was possible to perceive that some metals (Ba, Be, Co, Cr and V) surpass the Dutch Target Values (Dtvs) corrected for the percentage of organic matter and clay of the PTRS1. Nevertheless, these metals displayed total concentrations below the background total concentrations described for Portuguese soils in general. The same was observed for aldrin, endosulfan I, endosulfan II, heptachlor epoxide, and heptachlor; however the Dtvs corrected become negligible. The performance of invertebrate and plant species, commonly used in standard ecotoxicological assays, was not compromised by both soil properties and soil metal contents. The results obtained suggest that the PTRS1 can be used as a natural reference soil in ecotoxicological assays carried out under the scope of ecological risk assessment.