Groundwater Modeling in Agricultural Watershed under Different Recharge and Discharge Scenarios for Quaternary Aquifer Eastern Nile Delta,Egypt

Different scenarios of recharge and discharge were assessed for sustainable management of groundwater in Quaternary aquifer east of Nile Delta. MODFLOW was utilized to investigate the effect of land use change and damming construction in the upstream of the Nile River on the current and short-term groundwater management strategies. The interpretive transient simulation was performed between 2004 and 2016 after steady-state calibration in 2004, and transient state from 2004 to 2013 with different irrigation recharges associated with land use change in this period. Sensitivity analysis was performed for hydraulic conductivities, recharge, and conductance parameters. The predictive transient simulation was run till 2023 under three scenarios of increasing pumping rates by 15, 30, and 50% for agriculture expansion and specified head reduction of Port Said Canal by 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 m associated with the reduction of Nile water levels after Grand Ethiopian Residence Dam, GERD operation in 2017. Results from the in- and out-flow budgets showed that groundwater aquifer is stable at the current rate of pumping till 2023. Groundwater heads decreased by 0.2 and 0.42 m in the southern section, and a slight increase in the northern part was noticed for the first and second scenarios, respectively. When additional pumping stress is applied (50% increase), groundwater head dropped by 0.66 m, and the storage is no longer able to maintain the aquifer capacity after 2020 (worst-case scenario).     

Robust Regression with Data-Dependent Regularization Parameters and Autoregressive Temporal Correlations

We introduce robust procedures for analyzing water quality data collected over time. One challenging task in analyzing such data is how to achieve robustness in presence of outliers while maintaining high estimation efficiency so that we can draw valid conclusions and provide useful advices in water management. The robust approach requires specification of a loss function such as the Huber, Tukey’s bisquare and the exponential loss function, and an associated tuning parameter determining the extent of robustness needed. High robustness is at the cost of efficiency loss in parameter loss. To this end, we propose a data-driven method which leads to more efficient parameter estimation. This data-dependent approach allows us to choose a regularization (tuning) parameter that depends on the proportion of “outliers” in the data so that estimation efficiency is maximized. We illustrate the proposed methods using a study on ammonium nitrogen concentrations from two sites in the Huaihe River in China, where the interest is in quantifying the trend in the most recent years while accounting for possible temporal correlations and “irregular” observations in earlier years.     

Carbon stocks and losses to deforestation in protected areas in Brazilian Amazonia

Regional Environmental Change - By 2014 approximately 2.2 million km2 (~43%) of Brazil’s Legal Amazonia region had been incorporated into an extensive network of 718 protected areas, which...     

灌河口表层土壤多环芳烃污染调查

为了解灌河口工业区表层土壤中多环芳烃的污染水平及健康风险。于2017年4月份在灌河口化工园区、火力发电厂和钢铁工业园区采集30个表层土壤样品,利用气相色谱-质谱联用仪(GC-MS)对16种优控ω(PAH)进行了检测。结果表明,30个采样点16种PAH的ω(T-PAHs)总为1 212.8~12 264.5 ng/g,平均值为3 504.8 ng/g。其中单体PAH以Fl为主,平均比例高达19.4%,其次为Pyr(16.7%)和B[a]P(9.6%)。单体PAH相关性分析表明了污染物来源的一致性,主要来源于本地工业区原油、生物质和煤的燃烧过程。根据加拿大土壤环境质量标准,灌河口工业区87%的土壤PAHs污染超过了安全值,存在潜在的生态风险。     

我国东部轻度富营养化湖泊（元荡湖）介形类组成及其生态意义

元荡湖是我国东部平原的一个浅水湖泊,原系淀山湖的一个湖湾,后因芦滩封淤而成,其形成历史短,是探讨动物类群组成与湖泊生态系统演化间关系的理想场所。近年由于人类活动频繁,该湖已处于轻度富营养化状态。研究首次对该湖泊中的介形类进行了研究,共发现9种,它们分别是Cypretta turgida、Cypria kraepelini、Cypridopsis vidua、Cypris subglobosa、Dolerocypria taalensis、Fabaeformiscandona myllaina、F. subacuta、Fabaeformiscandona sp.和Ilyocypris salebrosa。这些介形类均非地方性物种,且都对生态环境有较强的耐受性。结合元荡湖母体湖泊-淀山湖水动力大、无介形类生存的实际情况,研究认为元荡湖中的介形类应由周边迁移而来,且其组成已受到人类活动的干扰。优势度（Y）分析结果也显示,C. kraepelini、F. myllaina、F. subacuta和Fabaeformiscandona sp.共4种出现频率相对较高的介形类中,以富营养化指示物种C. kraepelini的优势度最高。而典型对应分析结果（Canonical correspondence analyses,CCA）发现,自然环境因素水深仍是影响介形类分布的主要环境因子,其次是总氮、叶绿素a、水体透明度和溶解氧。通过分析介形类动物的生活习性和摄食方式发现,元荡湖的介形类分属于底栖动物栖息类型中的游泳型（如C. kraepelini和C. vidua）、攀爬型（如C. subglobosa和C. turgida）和蔓生型(其他5种),其中蔓生型介形类占比最高,达56%,这也解释了为什么在元荡湖这样一个浅水湖泊中水深却成为影响介形类分布的主要环境因素。总结发现,元荡湖中的介形类组成和丰度分布受到湖泊形成时间的长短、自然环境因素和人类干扰等方面的共同影响,这为今后深入开展介形类组成与湖泊演化间的关系提供了理论证据。此外,研究首次报导了F. myllaina在中国的分布。 关键词： 元荡湖;介形类;水深;人为干扰;优势度Y;栖息类型     

Discrete-choice experiments valuing local environmental impacts of renewables: two approaches to a case study in Portugal

Despite the often mentioned environmental benefits associated with transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, their use for electricity production has non-negligible negative environmental impacts. The most commonly mentioned in surveys concern different types of landscape impacts, impacts on the fauna and flora, and noise. These impacts differ by size and location of plants, and by source of energy, rendering the policy decision complex. In addition, there are other welfare issues to take into consideration, as positive and negative environmental impacts are not evenly distributed among population groups. This paper proposes to compare the welfare impacts of renewable energy sources controlling for the type of renewable as well as the specific environmental impact by source. To this end, two discrete-choice experiments are designed and applied to a national sample of the Portuguese population. In one case, only individual negative impacts of renewables are used, and in another case, the negative impacts interact with a specific source. Results show the robustness of discrete-choice experiments as a method to estimate the welfare change induced by the impacts of renewable energy sources. Overall, respondents are willing to pay to reduce the environmental impacts, thus making compensation for local impacts feasible. Moreover, the estimations reveal that respondents are significantly sensitive to the detrimental environmental effects of specific renewable energy sources, being willing to pay more to use these sources of energy relative to others.     

Development and implementation of eco-genomic tools for aquatic ecosystem biomonitoring: the SYNAQUA French-Swiss program

The effectiveness of environmental protection measures is based on the early identification and diagnosis of anthropogenic pressures. Similarly, restoration actions require precise monitoring of changes in the ecological quality of ecosystems, in order to highlight their effectiveness. Monitoring the ecological quality relies on bioindicators, which are organisms revealing the pressures exerted on the environment through the composition of their communities. Their implementation, based on the morphological identification of species, is expensive because it requires time and experts in taxonomy. Recent genomic tools should provide access to reliable and high-throughput environmental monitoring by directly inferring the composition of bioindicators’ communities from their DNA (metabarcoding). The French-Swiss program SYNAQUA (INTERREG France-Switzerland 2017–2019) proposes to use and validate the tools of environmental genomic for biomonitoring and aims ultimately at their implementation in the regulatory bio-surveillance. SYNAQUA will test the metabarcoding approach focusing on two bioindicators, diatoms, and aquatic oligochaetes, which are used in freshwater biomonitoring in France and Switzerland. To go towards the renewal of current biomonitoring practices, SYNAQUA will (1) bring together different actors: scientists, environmental managers, consulting firms, and biotechnological companies, (2) apply this approach on a large scale to demonstrate its relevance, (3) propose robust and reliable tools, and (4) raise public awareness and train the various actors likely to use these new tools. Biomonitoring approaches based on such environmental genomic tools should address the European need for reliable, higher-throughput monitoring to improve the protection of aquatic environments under multiple pressures, guide their restoration, and follow their evolution.     

Contamination of soil and the medicinal plant <Emphasis Type="Italic">Phyllanthus niruri</Emphasis> Linn. with cadmium in ceramic industrial areas

Phyllanthus niruri is a plant that is used to prevent calcium oxalate crystallisation and to block the stone formation in urolithiasis. Contaminants in the environment can be readily taken up by medicinal plants due to their ability to absorb chemicals into their tissues. If contaminated plants are ingested, they have the potential to negatively affect human and environmental health. The aim of this study was to assess contamination in the soil and the medicinal plant P. niruri by cadmium (Cd) in ceramic industrial areas of Monte Carmelo, Brazil. Soil samples and plant samples (divided in root, shoot and leaves) were collected from a contaminated monitoring site and from a rural area (which was used as a reference site for comparative purposes). The Cd concentrations of the samples were analysed with an atomic absorption spectrometer. P. niruri was found to be sensitive to soil contamination by Cd that was attributed to ceramic industrial emissions. The results revealed that Cd bioaccumulation in the roots and shoots of P. niruri was associated with a significant increase (p?<?0.05) in the concentration of active lignan compounds (phyllanthin and hypophyllanthin) in the leaves. The identification of high concentrations of Cd and active lignan compounds suggests a risk of contamination of the site and the risk of a high dose of Cd to people exposed at the site.     

Evaluation of a detailed model of secondary organic aerosol formation from α-pinene against dark ozonolysis experiments

BOREAM, a detailed model for the gas-phase oxidation of α-pinene and its subsequent formation of Secondary Organic Aerosol (SOA), is tested against a large set of SOA yield measurements obtained in dark ozonolysis experiments. For the majority of experiments, modelled SOA yields are found to agree with measured yields to within a factor 2. However, the comparisons point to a general underestimation of modelled SOA yields at high temperatures (above 30 °C), reaching an order of magnitude or more in the worst cases, whereas modelled SOA yields are often overestimated at lower temperature (by a factor of about 2). Comparisons of results obtained using four different vapour pressure prediction methods indicate a strong sensitivity to the choice of the method, although the overestimated temperature dependence of the yields is found in all cases. Accounting for non-ideality of the aerosol mixture (based on an adapted UNIFAC method) has significant effects, especially at low yields. Our simulations show that the formation of oligomers through the gas-phase reactions of Stabilised Criegee Intermediates (SCI) with other molecular organic products could increase the SOA yield significantly only at very low relative humidity (below 1%). Further tests show that the agreement between model and measurements is improved when the ozonolysis mechanism includes additional production of non-volatile compounds.     

Characterisation of PM10 emissions from woodstove combustion of common woods grown in Portugal

A series of source tests was performed to evaluate the chemical composition of particle emissions from the woodstove combustion of four prevalent Portuguese species of woods: Pinus pinaster (maritime pine), Eucalyptus globulus (eucalyptus), Quercus suber (cork oak) and Acacia longifolia (golden wattle). Analyses included water-soluble ions, metals, radionuclides, organic and elemental carbon (OC and EC), humic-like substances (HULIS), cellulose and approximately l80 organic compounds. Particle (PM₁₀) emission factors from eucalyptus and oak were higher than those from pine and acacia. The carbonaceous matter represented 44–63% of the particulate mass emitted during the combustion process, regardless of species burned. The major organic components of smoke particles, for all the wood species studied, with the exception of the golden wattle (0.07–1.9% w/w), were anhydrosugars (0.2–17% w/w). Conflicting with what was expected, only small amounts of cellulose were found in wood smoke. As for HULIS, average particle mass concentrations ranged from 1.5% to 3.0%. The golden wattle wood smoke presented much higher concentrations of ions and metal species than the emissions from the other wood types. The results of the analysis of radionuclides revealed that the ²²⁶Ra was the naturally occurring radionuclide more enriched in PM₁₀. The chromatographically resolved organics included n-alkanes, n-alkenes, PAH, oxygenated PAH, n-alkanals, ketones, n-alkanols, terpenoids, triterpenoids, phenolic compounds, phytosterols, alcohols, n-alkanoic acids, n-di-acids, unsaturated acids and alkyl ester acids.