Ecosystem services in coupled social–ecological systems: Closing the cycle of service provision and societal feedback

Both the ‘cascade model’ of ecosystem service provision and the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response framework individually contribute to the understanding of human–nature interactions in social–ecological systems (SES). Yet, as several points of criticism show, they are limited analytical tools when it comes to reproducing complex cause–effect relationships in such systems. However, in this paper, we point out that by merging the two models, they can mutually enhance their comprehensiveness and overcome their individual conceptual deficits. Therefore we closed a cycle of ecosystem service provision and societal feedback by rethinking and reassembling the core elements of both models. That way, we established a causal sequence apt to describe the causes of change to SES, their effects and their consequences. Finally, to illustrate its functioning we exemplified and discussed our approach based on a case study conducted in the Alpujarra de la Sierra in southern Spain.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-015-0651-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Validation of the operational emergency response model at the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute using data from etex and the chernobyl accident

The Eulerian atmospheric tracer transport model MATCH (Multiscale Atmospheric Transport and Chemistry model) has been extended with a Lagrangian particle model treating the initial dispersion of pollutants from point sources. The model has been implemented at the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute in an emergency response system for nuclear accidents and can be activated on short notice to provide forecast concentration and deposition fields.The model has been used to simulate the transport of the inert tracer released during the ETEX experiment and the transport and deposition of ¹³⁷Cs from the Chernobyl accident. Visual inspection of the results as well as statistical analysis shows that the extent, time of arrival and duration of the tracer cloud, is in good agreement with the observations for both cases, with a tendency towards over-prediction for the first ETEX release. For the Chernobyl case the simulated deposition pattern over Scandinavia and over Europe as a whole agrees with observations when observed precipitation is used in the simulation. When model calculated precipitation is used, the quality of the simulation is reduced significantly and the model fails to predict major features of the observed deposition field.     

Effects of degree of water saturation on dispersivity and immobile water in sandy soil columns

Three natural nonaggregated soil samples, with similar grain-size distributions, have been used to determine the dispersive behavior of porous media under steady, saturated and unsaturated flow conditions. Tritium was used as a tracer and was found to have no sorption on the solid matrix. Generated breakthrough curves (BTCs) for the unsaturated experiments were symmetrical with no evidence of tailing. The unsaturated experiments for two of the soils were adequately described by considering all the water in the pore volume as mobile. However, about 10% of the pore water, independent of the degree of saturation, was found to be immobile in the case of the third soil during unsaturated flow. For this soil, there was no mass transfer between the two water regions, indicating that the immobile water is essentially isolated from the flowing water fraction. For all three soils, dispersivity under unsaturated conditions was found to be higher, independent of the degree of water saturation, than the value determined for the saturated experiments. This is inconsistent with what would be expected from the simple bundle-of-capillary-tubes model and does not agree well with a more sophisticated conceptualization of the porous medium. The data, however, clearly indicate a wider range in pore-water velocities when these soils are desaturated.     

Surface complexation modeling of Yb(III) sorption and desorption on hematite and alumina

Sorption and desorption of Yb(III) were studied on hematite and on alumina using a surface complexation model. The experimental methodology was conceived to allow an analysis of the data using a constant capacitance model. The FITEQL code was used for the calculations.The experimental results tend to show reversibility of sorption when the surface loading is small, and irreversibility when the surface loading is high. Surface complexation modeling gives a good interpretation of these two phenomena, taking into account hydroxylation of the surface complexes. In these two cases, it is possible to describe sorption and desorption curves with the same surface stoichiometries and the same surface complexation constants. The existence of these surface complexes depends on the pH of the solution, surface loading, and reaction direction.     

Regression modelling of hourly NOx and NO2 concentrations in urban air in London

Based on hourly measurements of NO_x NO₂ and O₃ and meteorological data, an ordinary least squares (OLS) model and a first-order autocorrelation (AR) model were developed to analyse the regression and prediction of NO_x and NO₂ concentrations in London. Primary emissions and wind speed are the most important factors influencing NO_x concentrations; in addition to these two, reaction of NO with O₃ is also a major factor influencing NO₂ concentrations. The AR model resulted in high correlation coefficients (R > 0.95) for the NO_x and NO₂ regression based on a whole year's data, and is capable of predicting NO₂ (R = 0.83) and NO_x (R = 0.65) concentrations when the explanatory variables were available. The analysis of the structure of regression models by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) indicates that the regression models are stable. The results of the OLS model indicate that there was an exceptional NO₂ source, other than primary emission and reaction of NO with O₃, in the air pollution episode in London in December 1991.     

基于村庄分散度的农村生活污水治理模式量化分析

随着农村地区生活水平的提升,生活污水所含污染物成分趋于复杂化,未经处理就地排放对生态环境影响不容小觑。目前,农村生活污水治理模式种类多样,但决策方法缺乏科学依据。以内蒙古地区82个村落为研究对象。以自然村落为最小研究单元,利用村落宅基地占比、村落长宽比、周长、极限距离、坡度0°~8°占比和坡度标准差等指标,构建了居住密度决策树 (准确率76%) 以及地势决策树 (准确率88%) 。决策树所得结果通过二分类概率单位回归 (Probit)分析 (准确率87%) ,确定其村落集中或分散情况,进而选择适宜的村落污水治理模式 (集中模式、纳管模式、分散模式、拉运模式、就地利用模式) 。农村生活污水治理模式决策方法的确立决策指标的量化,为促进农村生活污水治理体系的发展、提升污水治理的有效性具有积极意义。     

建筑陶瓷行业SO2污染物评价及总量控制实用方法

采用高斯点源模型对建陶生产造成的SO2地面浓度增量进行计算.利用比例下降模型计算建陶业的SO2允许排放总量,并根据企业的设备生产能力进行了总量分配,在方法上具有较强的可操作性,计算结果表明,可有效降低所在地区的SO2地面浓度.     

Dip-angle influence on areal DNAPL recovery by co-solvent flooding with and without pre-flooding

A two-dimensional (2D) laboratory model was used to study effects of gravity on areal recovery of a representative dense non-aqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) contaminant by an alcohol pre-flood and co-solvent flood in dipping aquifers. Recent studies have demonstrated that injection of alcohol and co-solvent solutions can be used to reduce in-situ the density of DNAPL globules and displace the contaminant from the source zone. However, contact with aqueous alcohol reduces interfacial tension and causes DNAPL swelling, thus facilitating risk of uncontrolled downward DNAPL migration. The 2D laboratory model was operated with constant background gradient flow and a DNAPL spill was simulated using tetrachloroethene (PCE). The spill was dispersed to a trapped, immobile PCE saturation by a water flood. Areal PCE recovery was studied using a double-triangle well pattern to simulate a remediation scheme consisting of an alcohol pre-flood using aqueous isobutanol ( approximately 10% vol.) followed by a co-solvent flood using a solution of ethylene glycol (65%) and 1-propanol (35%). Experiments were conducted with the 2D model oriented in the horizontal plane and compared to experiments at the 15 degrees and 30 degrees dip-angle orientations. Injection was applied either in the downward or upward direction of flow. Experimental results were compared to theoretical predictions for flood front stability and used to evaluate effects of gravity on areal PCE recovery. Sensitivity experiments were performed to evaluate effects of the alcohol pre-flood on PCE areal recovery. For experiments conducted with the alcohol pre-flood and the 2D model oriented in the horizontal plane, results indicate that 89-93% of source zone PCE was recovered. With injection oriented downward, results indicate that areal PCE recovery was 70-77% for a 15 degrees dip angle and 57-59% for a 30 degrees dip angle. With injection oriented upward, results indicate that areal PCE recovery was 57-60% at the 30 degrees dip angle, which was similar to PCE recovery for injection in the downward flow direction. Lower areal PCE recovery at greater dip angles in either direction of flow was attributed to DNAPL swelling and migration, flood front instabilities and bypassing of the displaced fluid past the extraction wells during the alcohol pre-flood. Additional results demonstrate that the use of an alcohol pre-flood can be beneficial in improving DNAPL recovery in the horizontal orientation, but pre-flooding may reduce areal recovery efficiency in dip-angle orientations. This study also demonstrates the use of theoretical perturbation (fingering) analysis in predicting NAPL recovery efficiency for flooding processes in remediating aquifers with dip angles.     

Photochemical oxidation of reduced sulfur compounds in an urban location based on short time monitoring data

This study examines the oxidation of reduced sulfur compounds (RSCs) in urban ambient air. The photochemical conversions of RSC (such as DMS, CS₂, H₂S, DMDS, and CH₃SH) to a further oxidized form (e.g., SO₂, MSA, and H₂SO₄) were assessed using a photochemical box model. For our model simulation of RSC oxidation, measurements were taken at an urban monitoring station in Seoul, Korea (37.6° N, 127° E) during three separate time periods (e.g., Sept. 17–18, Oct. 23, and Oct. 27–28, 2003). The results indicate that DMS and H₂S were the dominant RSCs with concentrations of 370 ± 140 and 110 ± 60 pptv, respectively. The photochemical conversion of DMDS to SO₂ was found to occur more efficiently than other RSCs. The overall results of our study suggest that photochemical conversion of RSCs accounted for less than 15% of the observed SO₂ during the measurement period. The SO₂ production from DMS oxidation (mainly by the reaction with OH) was found to be affected primarily by the abstraction channel due to high NO_x levels during the experimental conditions.     

基于物化生化耦合的污水深度脱氮除磷新工艺

为了解决常规污水处理技术无法进行完整的硝化反硝化过程,污水厂出水中氨氮、总氮、总磷偏高以及运行成本较高的问题,以某污水厂排水为研究对象,通过物化与生化耦合,构建化学催化生物耦合床(CCBF)脱氮系统,研究CCBF系统对污水厂排水中氨氮、总氮、总磷和COD的去除效能。结果表明：当DO为5.5~6.0 mg·L⁻¹、RT为8 h、C/N为1.5∶1时,CCBF可将${\rm{NH}}_4^{+} $-N从48.5 mg·L⁻¹降至4.58 mg·L⁻¹、TN从51.2 mg·L⁻¹降至6.5 mg·L⁻¹、TP从6.6 mg·L⁻¹降至0.48 mg·L⁻¹、COD从78.5 mg·L⁻¹降至33 mg·L⁻¹,去除率分别达到89.5%、85.7%、92.5%和57.9%;污水经处理后,氨氮、总氮、总磷、COD均达到城镇污水处理厂污染物排放标准(GB 18918-2002)一级A排放标准。利用Eckenfelder方程对系统脱氮过程进行模拟,求得${n_{{\rm{NH}}_4^ +{\text{-}} {\rm{N}}}} $=0.314 76,n_TN=0.282 21,${K_{{\rm{NH}}_4^ +{\text{-}} {\rm{N}}}} $=0.128 02,K_TN=0.218 59,与水力负荷为0.000 8~0.007 m³·(m²·min)⁻¹的常规生物处理相比,系统内部生物量充足、活性高,物化与生物耦合强化效果明显。