When experts disagree: the need to rethink indicator selection for assessing sustainability of agriculture

Sustainability indicators are well recognized for their potential to assess and monitor sustainable development of agricultural systems. A large number of indicators are proposed in various sustainability assessment frameworks, which raises concerns regarding the validity of approaches, usefulness and trust in such frameworks. Selecting indicators requires transparent and well-defined procedures to ensure the relevance and validity of sustainability assessments. The objective of this study, therefore, was to determine whether experts agree on which criteria are most important in the selection of indicators and indicator sets for robust sustainability assessments. Two groups of experts (Temperate Agriculture Research Network and New Zealand Sustainability Dashboard) were asked to rank the relative importance of eleven criteria for selecting individual indicators and of nine criteria for balancing a collective set of indicators. Both ranking surveys reveal a startling lack of consensus amongst experts about how best to measure agricultural sustainability and call for a radical rethink about how complementary approaches to sustainability assessments are used alongside each other to ensure a plurality of views and maximum collaboration and trust amongst stakeholders. To improve the transparency, relevance and robustness of sustainable assessments, the context of the sustainability assessment, including prioritizations of selection criteria for indicator selection, must be accounted for. A collaborative design process will enhance the acceptance of diverse values and prioritizations embedded in sustainability assessments. The process by which indicators and sustainability frameworks are established may be a much more important determinant of their success than the final shape of the assessment tools. Such an emphasis on process would make assessments more transparent, transformative and enduring.     

Renewable energy sources: conflicts and opportunities in a changing landscape

Regional Environmental Change - Replacement of conventional energy sources with renewables such as solar panels and wind turbines requires adequate land. Impact assessments should be conducted to...     

Urinary 8-oxo-7, 8-dihydro-2′-deoxyguanosine concentrations after frying of bacon,a pilot study

Cooking fumes contain compounds that may give rise to oxidative stress and mutations when inhaled. The aim of this study was to evaluate if cooking fumes from frying of bacon induce oxidative stress by measurement of urinary 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2 deoxyguanosine, a marker of oxidatively damaged DNA. Three non-smoking women fried bacon for 3 h. Urine samples were taken as early morning void at the same time on four days; the morning before frying, the morning after first frying, the morning after three days of frying and one week after first urine sample. 8-Oxo-7,8-dihydro-2 deoxyguanosine, 1-hydroxypyrene and 2-hydroxyphenanthrene, metabolites of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, were measured by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). 8-Oxo-7,8-dihydro-2 deoxyguanosine correlated weakly with concentrations of 1-hydroxypyrene (r = 0.31, p = 0.042), but it did not correlate with 2-hydroxyphenanthrene (r = ?0.074; p = 0.64). Average urinary 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2 deoxyguanosine concentrations increased from the day before frying (16.3 ± 4.2 nmol/L) to the third day of frying (26.2 ± 10.2 nmol/L), although not statistically significantly. Our pilot study shows that frying of bacon may result in increased oxidative stress which further emphasises the possible carcinogenic potential of cooking fumes.     

Wood-Specific Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) Patterns in Soot Using Gas Chromatography-Atmospheric Pressure Laser Ionization-Mass Spectrometry (GC-APLI-MS)

If organic matter is burnt, the combustion of wood produces the highest amounts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) compared with other fossil energy sources such as oil, coal, or gas. Emissions from wood combustion are increasingly of special interest due to the rising use of wood as a renewable energy source in residential heating in Europe. To the authors' knowledge, reproducible wood-specific PAH patterns in soot were identified for the first time by use of a sampling interval of only 5 min in this study. The short sampling interval was enabled by the very sensitive analytical method of gas chromatography–atmospheric pressure laser ionization–mass spectrometry (GC-APLI-MS) applied. The analysis of 40 PAH of soot from wood logs of spruce, pine, larch (softwood) and beech, birch, oak (hardwood), and wood pellets, as well as wood briquettes, showed 13.46–250.62 mg/kg for ∑40 PAH and 10.75–177.94 mg/kg for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency PAH standard (without acenaphthylene and anthracene). Highest concentrations occurred in the samples from birch with bark, beech, and wood briquettes. Indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene, naphthalene, and alkylated naphthalenes were also detected. Significant concentrations of the very toxic dibenzopyrenes (up to 11.30 mg/kg) are reported. Softwood soot contained highest amounts of 2–4-ring PAH, followed by hardwood which is in accordance with the presence of highest amounts of abietic acid in softwood, a known precursor of retene and phenanthrene. PAH in soot from five spruce samples from different locations show a mean ∑40 PAH concentration of 13.46 mg/kg (n = 5, minimum 8.03, maximum 23.32 mg/kg, SD = 5.65) and exhibited a typical pattern that differed from all other wood soot samples. The distributions of alkylated naphthalenes of the spruce samples show a bell-shape distribution in contrast to the alkylated phenanthrenes/anthracenes of all samples (except the wood pellets), showing a slope distribution. The data indicate that wood-specific PAH patterns exist and under the applied conditions, spruce logs produced the least toxic soot.     

Road traffic impact on urban water quality: a step towards integrated traffic,air and stormwater modelling

Methods for simulating air pollution due to road traffic and the associated effects on stormwater runoff quality in an urban environment are examined with particular emphasis on the integration of the various simulation models into a consistent modelling chain. To that end, the models for traffic, pollutant emissions, atmospheric dispersion and deposition, and stormwater contamination are reviewed. The present study focuses on the implementation of a modelling chain for an actual urban case study, which is the contamination of water runoff by cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn) in the Grigny urban catchment near Paris, France. First, traffic emissions are calculated with traffic inputs using the COPERT4 methodology. Next, the atmospheric dispersion of pollutants is simulated with the Polyphemus line source model and pollutant deposition fluxes in different subcatchment areas are calculated. Finally, the SWMM water quantity and quality model is used to estimate the concentrations of pollutants in stormwater runoff. The simulation results are compared to mass flow rates and concentrations of Cd, Pb and Zn measured at the catchment outlet. The contribution of local traffic to stormwater contamination is estimated to be significant for Pb and, to a lesser extent, for Zn and Cd; however, Pb is most likely overestimated due to outdated emissions factors. The results demonstrate the importance of treating distributed traffic emissions from major roadways explicitly since the impact of these sources on concentrations in the catchment outlet is underestimated when those traffic emissions are spatially averaged over the catchment area.     

Characterisation of microbial activity in the framework of natural attenuation without groundwater monitoring wells?: a new Direct-Push probe

At many contaminated field sites in Europe, monitored natural attenuation is a feasible site remediation option. Natural attenuation includes several processes but only the microbial degradation leads to real contaminant removal and very few methods are accepted by the authorities providing real evidence of microbial contaminant degradation activity. One of those methods is the recently developed in situ microcosm approach (BACTRAP®). These in situ microcosms consist of perforated stainless steel cages or PTFE tubes filled with an activated carbon matrix that is amended with ¹³C-labelled contaminants; the microcosms are then exposed within groundwater monitoring wells. Based on this approach, natural attenuation was accepted by authorities as a site remediation option for the BTEX-polluted site Zeitz in Germany. Currently, the in situ microcosms are restricted to the use inside groundwater monitoring wells at the level of the aquifer. The (classical) system therefore is only applicable on field sites with a network of monitoring wells, and only microbial activity inside the monitoring wells at the level of the aquifer can be assessed. In order to overcome these limitations, a new Direct-Push BACTRAP probe was developed on the basis of the Geoprobe® equipment. With respect to the mechanical boundary conditions of the DP technique, these new probes were constructed in a rugged and segmented manner and are adaptable to various sampling concepts. With this new probe, the approach can be extended to field sites without existing monitoring wells, and microbial activity was demonstrated to be measureable even under very dry conditions inside the vadose zone above the aquifer. In a field test, classical and Direct-Push BACTRAPs were applied in the BTEX-contaminated aquifer at the ModelPROBE reference site Zeitz (Germany). Both types of BACTRAPs were incubated in the centre and at the fringe of the BTEX plume. Analysis of phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) patterns showed that the bacterial communities on DP-BACTRAPs were more similar to the soil than those found on classical BACTRAPs. During microbial degradation of the ¹³C-labelled substrate on the carrier material of the microcosms, the label was only slightly incorporated into bacterial biomass, as determined by PLFA analysis. This provides clear indication for decreased in situ natural attenuation potential in comparison to earlier sampling campaigns, which is presumably caused by a large-scale source remediation measure in the meantime. In conclusion, Direct-Push-based BACTRAPs offer a promising way to monitor natural attenuation or remediation success at field sites which are currently inaccessible by the technique due to the lack of monitoring wells or due to a main contamination present within the vadose zone.     

Using multivariate regression modeling for sampling and predicting chemical characteristics of mixed waste in old landfills

Municipal solid waste landfills pose a threat on environment and human health, especially old landfills which lack facilities for collection and treatment of landfill gas and leachate. Consequently, missing information about emission flows prevent site-specific environmental risk assessments. To overcome this gap, the combination of waste sampling and analysis with statistical modeling is one option for estimating present and future emission potentials. Optimizing the tradeoff between investigation costs and reliable results requires knowledge about both: the number of samples to be taken and variables to be analyzed.This article aims to identify the optimized number of waste samples and variables in order to predict a larger set of variables. Therefore, we introduce a multivariate linear regression model and tested the applicability by usage of two case studies. Landfill A was used to set up and calibrate the model based on 50 waste samples and twelve variables. The calibrated model was applied to Landfill B including 36 waste samples and twelve variables with four predictor variables.The case study results are twofold: first, the reliable and accurate prediction of the twelve variables can be achieved with the knowledge of four predictor variables (Loi, EC, pH and Cl). For the second Landfill B, only ten full measurements would be needed for a reliable prediction of most response variables. The four predictor variables would exhibit comparably low analytical costs in comparison to the full set of measurements. This cost reduction could be used to increase the number of samples yielding an improved understanding of the spatial waste heterogeneity in landfills.Concluding, the future application of the developed model potentially improves the reliability of predicted emission potentials. The model could become a standard screening tool for old landfills if its applicability and reliability would be tested in additional case studies.     

Investigation into the effect of high concentrations of volatile fatty acids in anaerobic digestion on methanogenic communities

A study was conducted to determine whether differences in the levels of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) in anaerobic digester plants could result in variations in the indigenous methanogenic communities. Two digesters (one operated under mesophilic conditions, the other under thermophilic conditions) were monitored, and sampled at points where VFA levels were high, as well as when VFA levels were low. Physical and chemical parameters were measured, and the methanogenic diversity was screened using the phylogenetic microarray ANAEROCHIP. In addition, real-time PCR was used to quantify the presence of the different methanogenic genera in the sludge samples. Array results indicated that the archaeal communities in the different reactors were stable, and that changes in the VFA levels of the anaerobic digesters did not greatly alter the dominating methanogenic organisms. In contrast, the two digesters were found to harbour different dominating methanogenic communities, which appeared to remain stable over time. Real-time PCR results were inline with those of microarray analysis indicating only minimal changes in methanogen numbers during periods of high VFAs, however, revealed a greater diversity in methanogens than found with the array.     

Uptake of 14C-atropine and/or its transformation products from soil by wheat (Triticum aestivum var Kronjet) and their translocation to shoots

Plant uptake of toxins and their translocation to edible plant parts are important processes in the transfer of contaminants into the food chain. Atropine, a highly toxic muscarine receptor antagonist produced by Solanacea species, is found in all plant tissues and can enter the soil and hence be available for uptake by crops. The absorption of atropine and/or its transformation products from soil by wheat (Triticum aestivum var Kronjet) and its distribution to shoots was investigated by growing wheat in soil spiked with unlabeled or ¹⁴C-labeled atropine. Radioactivity attributable to ¹⁴C-atropine and its transformation products was measurable in plants sampled at 15 d after sowing (DAS) and thereafter until the end of experiment. The highest accumulation of ¹⁴C-atropine and/or its transformation products by plants was detected in leaves (between 73 and 90% of the total accumulated) with lower amounts in stems, roots, and seeds (approximately 14%, 9%, and 3%, respectively). ¹⁴C-Atropine and/or its transformation products were detected in soil leachate at 30, 60, and 90 DAS and were strongly adsorbed to soil, with 60% of the applied dose adsorbed at 30 DAS, plateauing at 70% from 60 DAS. Unlabeled atropine was detected in shoots 30 DAS at a concentration of 3.9 ± 0.1 μg kg^?1 (mean ± SD). The observed bioconcentration factor was 2.3 ± 0.04. The results suggest a potential risk of atropine toxicity to consumers.