Euro-trash: searching Europe for a more sustainable approach to waste management

How an economically affordable, environmentally effective and socially acceptable municipal solid waste management system can be developed is currently unclear. Considerable research has been carried out on the practical aspects of municipal waste management (i.e. transport, treatment and disposal) and how citizens feel about source separation, recycling, incineration and landfill but the perspective of the waste manager within the context of long term planning is often ignored. In this study, waste managers from 11 different leading-edge European municipal solid waste programs in nine different countries were interviewed. The economic, social, political, environmental, legal and technical factors of their specific programs were explored and analyzed. The transition of municipal solid waste management to urban resources management was observed and key ‘system drivers’ for more sustainable waste management practices were identified. Programs visited were: Brescia (I), Copenhagen (DK), Hampshire (UK), Helsinki (FI), Lahn-Dill-Kreis (D), Malmö (SE), Pamplona (E), Prato (I), Saarbrücken (D), Vienna (A), and Zürich (CH).     

Dye removal by biosorption using cross-linked chitosan-based hydrogels

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Synthetic dyes are an important class of recalcitrant organic compounds that are often found in the environment as a result of their wide industrial use....     

Photocatalytic degradation of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in pure water system

Due to the low water solubility of polybrominated diphenyl ethers, organic solvent is usually added into the oxidation system to enhance the removal efficiency. In this study the photocatalytic degradation of decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE209), a type of polybrominated diphenyl ether used throughout the world, in pure water without the addition of organic solvent was investigated. In the pure water system, BDE209 was not dissolved but dispersed as nano-scale particles with a mean diameter of 166 nm. Most of BDE209 (>98%) were removed within 4 h and the final debromination ratio was greater than 80%. Although the addition of organic solvent (tetrahydrofuran, THF) could lead to a relatively high BDE209 degradation rate, the final debromination ratio (<50%) was much lower than that in pure water system. Major oxidation intermediates of tetrahydrofuran, including tetrahydro-2-furanol and γ-butyrolactone, were detected indicating the engagement of THF in the BDE209 degradation process. The photocatalytic degradation of BDE209 in the pure water system followed first-order kinetics. The BDE209 degradation rate constant increased from 0.0011 to 0.0023 min⁻¹ as the pH increased from 3 to 9.     

How complex do models need to be to predict dispersal of threatened species through matrix habitats?

Persistence of species in fragmented landscapes depends on dispersal among suitable breeding sites, and dispersal is often influenced by the "matrix" habitats that lie between breeding sites. However, measuring effects of different matrix habitats on movement and incorporating those differences into spatially explicit models to predict dispersal is costly in terms of time and financial resources. Hence a key question for conservation managers is: Do more costly, complex movement models yield more accurate dispersal predictions? We compared the abilities of a range of movement models, from simple to complex, to predict the dispersal of an endangered butterfly, the Saint Francis' satyr (Neonympha mitchellii francisci). The value of more complex models differed depending on how value was assessed. Although the most complex model, based on detailed movement behaviors, best predicted observed dispersal rates, it was only slightly better than the simplest model, which was based solely on distance between sites. Consequently, a parsimony approach using information criteria favors the simplest model we examined. However, when we applied the models to a larger landscape that included proposed habitat restoration sites, in which the composition of the matrix was different than the matrix surrounding extant breeding sites, the simplest model failed to identify a potentially important dispersal barrier, open habitat that butterflies rarely enter, which may completely isolate some of the proposed restoration sites from other breeding sites. Finally, we found that, although the gain in predicting dispersal with increasing model complexity was small, so was the increase in financial cost. Furthermore, a greater fit continued to accrue with greater financial cost, and more complex models made substantially different predictions than simple models when applied to a novel landscape in which butterflies are to be reintroduced to bolster their populations. This suggests that more complex models might be justifiable on financial grounds. Our results caution against a pure parsimony approach to deciding how complex movement models need to be to accurately predict dispersal through the matrix, especially if the models are to be applied to novel or modified landscapes.     

Flux by fin: fish-mediated carbon and nutrient flux in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico

Seagrass meadows are among the most productive ecosystems in the marine environment. It has been speculated that much of this production is exported to adjacent ecosystems via the movements of organisms. Our study utilized stable isotopes to track seagrass-derived production into offshore food webs in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. We found that gag grouper (Myctereoperca microlepis) on reefs as far as 90 km from the seagrass beds incorporate a significant portion of seagrass-derived biomass. The muscle tissue of gag grouper, a major fisheries species, was composed on average of 18.5–25% seagrass habitat-derived biomass. The timing of this annual seagrass subsidy appears to be important in fueling gag grouper egg production. The δ³⁴S values of gag grouper gonad tissues varied seasonally and were δ³⁴S depleted during the spawning season indicating that gag utilize the seagrass-derived biomass to support reproduction. If such large scale trophic subsidies are typical of temperate seagrass systems, then loss of seagrass production or habitat would result in a direct loss of offshore fisheries productivity.     

Multiple lineages and absence of panmixia in the “circumpolar” crinoid <Emphasis Type="Italic">Promachocrinus kerguelensis</Emphasis> from the Atlantic sector of Antarctica

Despite considerable interest in physiology, evolution and life history of Antarctic marine invertebrates, only a limited number of studies have examined the genetic variability and diversity patterns of these organisms. Moreover, understanding and characterizing patterns of Antarctic biodiversity has taken on a degree of urgency because of potential impacts of global warming. To expand an understanding of the evolutionary history of Antarctic marine invertebrates, the genetic diversity of the crinoid Promachocrinuskerguelensis Carpenter, 1888 was investigated, which is documented to have a circumpolar distribution extending to subantarctic islands. Specimens of P. kerguelensis were collected from the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, and the subantarctic islands South Georgia, South Sandwich and Bouvetøya Island from 2001 to 2004. P. kerguelensis was previously subject to morphological review that confirmed the taxonomic recognition of only one species. The wide distribution and reported high dispersal capability for P. kerguelensis predicts one large panmictic population. In contrast, nucleotide sequence data from mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I and cytochrome b genes, collected herein, reveal distinct genetic structure and cryptic speciation within P.kerguelensis. In the Antarctic Atlantic sector alone, there were at least five “species-level” clades. Some of these clades are geographically limited, and most exist in sympatry. The largest and most widespread of these clades was examined to help elucidate connectivity along the subantarctic islands of the Scotia Arc and the Antarctic Peninsula. Within this clade, most genetic diversity was contained within populations, but significant differences were present between regions (Antarctic Peninsula, South Sandwich Is., South Georgia, Bouvetøya Is.), suggesting a corresponding lack of gene flow. Given that P. “kerguelensis” is a well-studied taxon, the finding of considerable genetic diversity within the Atlantic sector alone suggests that the recognized diversity of Antarctica’s benthic marine life may be underestimated, and will rise dramatically with phylogeographic analyses of putative widespread species.     

Competition, resources, and vegetation during 10 years in native grassland

A 10-year experiment tested for variation in competition intensity over time in a natural grassland at the northern edge of the Great Plains. Growing-season precipitation varied fivefold during the study. All ecosystem-level variables varied significantly among years, and most covaried in expected ways. The covers of all common grasses possessing the C3 photosynthetic pathway varied significantly among years; in contrast, all common species with traits associated with drought tolerance (a C4 grass, a lichen, a spikemoss, and a subshrub) did not vary. Annual transplant experiments measured the competitive effects of neighbors on the growth of individuals of the native grass Bouteloua gracilis. A significant interaction between year and competition showed that competition intensity varied among years. The size of this effect, however, was small (eta2 = 0.074) relative to the size of the direct effect of competition (eta2 = 0.20) or the year in which the experiment was conducted (eta2 = 0.51). Further, competition intensity was not significantly related to any variable describing standing crop or resources, or species richness. Species richness was highest in years with high precipitation, standing crop, and individual growth, due to the recruitment of rare species that were absent from dry years. In summary, variation in competition intensity was statistically significant but had small effects relative to the direct effects of climate.     

Safety in numbers and the spatial scaling of density-dependent mortality in a coral reef fish

In coral reef fishes, density-dependent population regulation is commonly mediated via predation on juveniles that have recently settled from the plankton. All else being equal, strong density-dependent mortality should select against the formation of high-density aggregations, yet the juveniles of many reef fishes aggregate. In light of this apparent contradiction, we hypothesized that the form and intensity of density dependence vary with the spatial scale of measurement. Individual groups might enjoy safety in numbers, but predators could still produce density-dependent mortality at larger spatial scales. We investigated this possibility using recently settled juvenile bluehead wrasse, Thalassoma bifasciatum, a small, aggregating reef fish. An initial caging experiment demonstrated that juvenile bluehead wrasse settlers suffer high predation, and spatial settlement patterns indicated that bluehead wrasse juveniles preferentially settle in groups, although they are also found singly. We then monitored the mortality of recently settled juveniles at two spatial scales: microsites, occupied by individual fish or groups of fish and separated by centimeters, and sites, consisting of approximately 2400-m2 areas of reef and separated by kilometers. At the microsite scale, we measured group size and effective population density independently and found that per capita mortality decreased with group size but was not related to density. At the larger spatial scale, however, per capita mortality increased with settler density. This shift in the form of density dependence with spatial scale could reconcile the existence of small-scale aggregative behavior typical of many reef fishes with the population-scale density dependence that is essential to population stability and persistence.