Factors affecting vegetation establishment and development in a sand dune chronosequence at Newborough Warren,North Wales

Newborough Warren is a large calcareous west coast UK dune system, which has experienced rapid vegetation spread in the last 70 years. Information from two high resolution chronosequences for dry and wet dune habitats, 0–145 years, was used to answer the following questions: Does climate influence colonisation of vegetation on bare sand? What are the timescales and sequences of successional change in the vegetation? Analysis of aerial photographs showed that stabilisation of the dune system since 1945 has occurred in three main phases. The onset of stabilisation predated myxomatosis by 10 years; while stabilisation virtually halted during the period 1964–1978. Periods of rapid stabilisation were coincident with higher values of Talbot’s Mobility index (M)?>?0.3. Successional development was apparent in both dry and wet habitats. Fixed dune grassland started to replace earlier successional communities at around 40 years, and could persist to 145 years. Linear succession in dune slacks was less apparent, but a separation between communities typically regarded as ‘younger’ and ‘older’ occurred at around 40 years. Species richness in dry dune habitats increased with age to a maximum on soils around 60 years old, then declined again. Species richness was unrelated to age or soil development in wet dune slacks. The influence of climate suggests that conservation managers can only operate within the constraints imposed by natural climatic conditions. Vegetation growth and soil development are closely linked and maintaining some open areas is key to preventing soil development and over-stabilisation.     

Alkanes and hopanes for pollution source apportionment in coking plant soils

Polluted soils of former coking plants are characterized by multiple organic contributions, e.g. coal tar, coal, coke, soot, and natural organic matter, that can either be sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) or act as sorption surfaces for pollutants. The contamination level is usually based on the quantification of 16 PAHs but it does not provide any information on PAH sources. We studied the aliphatic fractions of 25 soil samples from a former coking plant site by microscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The microscopic investigation allowed to identify four main organic contributions: coal tar, coal, coke, and natural organic matter. These isolated sources were analyzed and considered as reference materials. Although the PAH distributions were very similar in the 25 contaminated soils, alkanes and hopanes distributions were representative from various contributions characterizing the relative enrichment in coal, coal tars, or natural organic matter. Two principal component analyses based on n-alkanes and hopanes showed that three molecular indices, the carbon preference index, the low molecular weight/high molecular weight n-alkanes ratio, and the 18α(H)-22,29,30-trisnorhopane/(18α(H)-22,29,30-trisnorhopane+17α(H)-22,29,30-trisnorhopane) ratio allow to classify polluted soils according to various organic contributions.     

Megacities and Large Urban Agglomerations in the Coastal Zone: Interactions Between Atmosphere, Land, and Marine Ecosystems

Megacities are not only important drivers for socio-economic development but also sources of environmental challenges. Many megacities and large urban agglomerations are located in the coastal zone where land, atmosphere, and ocean meet, posing multiple environmental challenges which we consider here. The atmospheric flow around megacities is complicated by urban heat island effects and topographic flows and sea breezes and influences air pollution and human health. The outflow of polluted air over the ocean perturbs biogeochemical processes. Contaminant inputs can damage downstream coastal zone ecosystem function and resources including fisheries, induce harmful algal blooms and feedback to the atmosphere via marine emissions. The scale of influence of megacities in the coastal zone is hundreds to thousands of kilometers in the atmosphere and tens to hundreds of kilometers in the ocean. We list research needs to further our understanding of coastal megacities with the ultimate aim to improve their environmental management.     

Accelerated transport of (90)Sr following a release of high ionic strength solution in vadose zone sediments

Numerical simulation of cation exchange and mineral precipitation/dissolution reactions using the multiphase reactive geochemical transport code TOUGHREACT has provided important insight into the distribution of (90)Sr among layers of geologic strata in a complex vadose zone at the U. S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory. During a transfer operation in November 1972, 70.4 m(3) of acidic, high ionic strength liquid containing 15,900 Ci of (90)Sr was released over five days into alluvial gravels 137 m above the Snake River Plain Aquifer. Sampling data from perched water zones 33 m below the release contain very high levels of (90)Sr as do soil samples obtained nearer the point of release. Use of traditional simulation approaches using laboratory-measured constant partitioning coefficients (K(d)) cannot simultaneously explain perched water and soil concentrations. To address the discrepancy, a reactive transport approach was adopted to include competitive cation exchange, dissolution/precipitation of calcite, carbon dioxide gas production and transport, and gibbsite precipitation. Simulation results using this model suggest that some of the (90)Sr could have been transported very rapidly immediately after the release with the acceleration facilitated by competition for cation exchange sites with high sodium concentrations in the released liquid and calcium dissolved from calcite, and to a lesser extent by formation of aqueous complexes with nitrate. Once the leading edge of the liquid assemblage was flushed from the alluvium, the mobility of the remaining (90)Sr decreased significantly in the absence of the competing cations. Calculations indicate that there should be a net increase in calcite, suggesting that (90)Sr could be entrained in the mineral lattice, but insufficient field data exist for confirmation. Sensitivity studies show that the cation exchange selectivity coefficients were the most sensitive individual parameters determining the (90)Sr distribution. However, the most sensitive overall quantity was the total ion exchange capacity which is a function of the moles of exchange sites per volume of pore water, the cation exchange capacity, and the total volume wetted by the infiltrating solution. In contrast, the future mobility of (90)Sr was found to be relatively insensitive to the normal range in the composition of influxing precipitation and anthropogenic waters.     

Sources of hydrocarbons in sediments of the Bay of Fort de France (Martinique)

Sedimentary hydrocarbons have been studied quantitatively and qualitatively in 16 stations of the Bay of Fort de France (Martinique). Hydrocarbon levels ranged from 54 to 1045 mg kg(-1) sed. dry weight. Origin of hydrocarbons are multiple: biogenic (terrestrial inputs), pyrolytic (residues of natural or anthropogenic combustions), diagenetic and anthropogenic (petroleum contamination). Generally high levels of hydrocarbons are not associated to a petroleum contamination. The main source of hydrocarbons in the mangrove coastal zones of the Bay of Fort de France seems to be the early diagenetic degradation products of 3-oxytriterpenoids. Excepted two stations, petroleum contamination is very low or absent.     

Evaluation of the effects of ozone and acidic precipitation,alone and in combination,on the photosynthesis,nutrition, and growth of red spruce and sugar maple

Substantial and widespread morbidity and mortality of red spruce have been observed in high elevation forests of the northeast under circumstances indicative of a stress-related disease. Whether red spruce at lower elevations are experiencing a more subtle loss of growth and vigor is uncertain. In addition, sugar maple has exhibited decline of varying extent and intensity for several decades. Forests in the northeast are exposed to two air pollutants, ozone (O₃) and acidic precipitation, that are widespread in occurrence and have the potential, both individually and collectively, to produce impacts to forest trees. the roles, if any, of these two stress agents in the tree declines found in the northeast are not known.In 1986, a five-year study was initiated to evaluate the effects of O₃ and acidic precipitation on red spruce and sugar maple. The trees will be exposed to controlled levels of O₃ and acidic precipitation in the field using open-top chambers. The experiment is a 4×3 factorial conducted in split plots with O₃ treatments as whole plots and simulated rain treatments comprising the split plots. Broadly stated, the research will evaluate the effects of the pollutants on the processes, fluxes, and pools associated with carbon, water, and nutrients in the soil/tree/atmosphere system. These evaluations will be conducted on a systems level and will be integrated through the development of mechanistic simulation models.Assessment of the effects of the treatments on carbon fixation by photosynthesis, the loss of carbon through respiration, and the allocation of carbon in growth will be a central focus of the study. Whole-tree cuvettes will be used to assess net photosynthesis, respiration, transpiration, and stomatal conductance.Considerable emphasis will be placed on determining the influences of the treatments on the biogeochemistry of the system. These studies will focus on the leaching of nutrients from the tree canopy, the mobilization and loss of nutrients from the soil, soil solution chemistry, and the alteration of tree nutrition by the input of additional nitrogen in precipitation.Statistical and simulation modeling will be used to assess and describe the effects of the treatments. The modeling approaches are different in technique, but complementary. Statistical models will be used to describe the responses of growth and physiological variables to the ozone and acidic precipitation treatments. Simulation models will be built to describe the relationships between photosynthesis, respiration, nutrition, and water use, how these processes are affected by the treatments, and how these effects ultimately result in altered growth. The simulation models will initially provide a framework for the formulation of hypotheses regarding the interrelationships of plant components and processes and how they are affected by the treatments.Contribution from Fourth World Wilderness Congress—Acid Rain Symposium, Denver (Estes Park), Colorado, September 11–18, 1987.     

Recovery of a freshwater wetland from chemical contamination after an oil spill

In March 2009, a cargo ship spilled 250 tons of heavy fuel oil off the Queensland coast of Australia. The pristine National Park Moreton Island, seven nautical miles to the east of the spill site, was most affected by the oil slick. Contamination of the island's shoreline was widespread, with freshwater wetlands particularly slow to recover as clean-up needed to be carefully managed to avoid damage to this sensitive ecosystem. During the clean-up process on Moreton Island a monitoring program was initiated using traditional chemical analysis in combination with bioanalytical techniques to assess the extent and variability in contamination at sites on the shoreline and freshwater wetlands. Water accommodated fractions (WAF) of oil residues from samples taken directly after the spill on the shoreline showed the same level of toxic potency as samples from the wetland while baseline-toxicity equivalent concentrations (baseline-TEQ) and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin equivalent concentrations (TCDDEQ) were much lower in oil collected from the sandy beach. The umuC assay for genotoxicity and the E-SCREEN assay for estrogenic effects indicated the extracts were not genotoxic or estrogenic. PAH concentrations and toxicity in grab water samples were below detectable levels, however, extracts from time integrated silicone passive samplers deployed for several weeks at the contaminated sites gave measurable responses in the bioassays with TCDDEQ levels increased relative to the control site. The low levels of baseline-TEQ and TCDDEQ present after 8 months had further decreased 6 months later indicating satisfactory recovery of this pristine ecosystem after an oil spill.