Search

Iron is a critical redox-active element in geothermal water, and the presence of nanoparticulate Fe is essential in comprehending the intricate cycling of iron and related elements within the natural geothermal ecosystems. In this study, we investigated the mineral properties of Fe-bearing nanoparticles in a hot spring located in Shanxi Province. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) is utilized for the examination of the morphology, chemical composition, and crystalline structure of Fe-bearing nanoparticles. The findings show that Fe-bearing nanoparticles can exist as single particles measuring 50-200 nm in size, as well as aggregate to form nanoparticle aggregations. The morphology of Fe-bearing nanoparticles mainly includes triangle, axiolitic, and irregular shapes. The selected area electron diffraction patterns reveal the crystal form, amorphous form, and the transition from amorphous to crystalline forms of these nanoparticles. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis indicates that these nanoparticles primarily consist of O and Fe in composition, along with various trace elements including N, Al, Si, Ca, Zn, Cr, Ni, and Mo. These results reveal that goethite and hematite can occur in hot spring. Various in size and modality, tend to cluster into each other, and multiple crystalline states indicate that these iron-bearing nanoparticles are formed through natural processes. In addition, the iron-bearing nanoparticles with biomimetic morphologies (cell-like or microorganism-like shapes) may be produced through microbial activity. The biomimetic properties also imply that these nanoparticles may be readily available for biological processes. Significantly, our findings further validate that the shape of iron oxide nanoparticles can serve as an indicator of pH and temperature of the hot spring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bulletin of the L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University. Bioscience Series is the property of L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Biodiversity within composting systems involves a variety of microorganisms including nematodes. In the research, nematode populations were monitored within six simultaneously operating composting processes. These processes involved varying proportions of feedstock materials. The primary objective was to evaluate the consistency of nematode community succession patterns across the composting processes over a time of 3 months. During the study, samples were taken every month to isolate nematodes, determine the population density of the five trophic groups (per genus) and determine the dominant nematode species. It was shown that the bacterial-feeding community maintained dominance, while the fungus-feeding nematodes gradually increased in dominance as the maturation process progressed. The presence of predatory nematodes Mononchoides which were initially absent, along with the total absence of parasitic nematodes in the late stages of waste stabilization, serves as strong evidence for the reliable evaluation of the biodegradable waste processing level. Based on the obtained results, it is evident that the succession of nematode communities holds promise as a reliable method for evaluating compost maturity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Tropical floodplain wetlands are among the most disturbed and intensively harvested ecosystems. Their sustainable management is often hindered due to the lack of comprehensive, coherent, and standardized assessment frameworks of wetland ecological health (WEH). In this study, a set of appropriate criteria and indicators (C&I) of WEH assessment was developed and tested on seven wetlands of River Ichhamati, eastern India. Methods Based on the pressure–state–response (PSR) approach, evaluation indicators representing ecological, socio-economic, and institutional sustainability issues of floodplain wetland systems were either selected or formulated through literature survey and stakeholder consensus. Weights of indicators were assigned by the entropy weighting method and then used in the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution model to determine the Euclidean distances of each wetland from the positive ideal solution and negative ideal solution. Subsequently, a comprehensive wetland ecological health index (CWEHI) was constructed from these distances to portray the condition of any PSR system component in a wetland under a fivefold classification scheme, namely ‘excellent health’ (CWEHI ≥ 0.81), ‘good health’ (0.61–0.80), ‘moderate health’ (0.41–0.60), ‘weak health’ (0.21–0.40), and ‘morbid’ (≤ 0.20). Results The developed C&I set contains 8 criteria and 38 indicators under pressure component, 7 criteria and 49 indicators under state component, as well as 4 criteria and 18 indicators under response component. When applied in 2016 and 2022, it was found that the Panchita and Aromdanga wetlands were continuously in weak and morbid health status, while the Madhabpur wetland always showed an excellent or good status for all components. Health of other wetlands oscillated between moderate and morbid health across assessment years and system components. Conclusions The developed C&I set was found to be a flexible, holistic, and refined framework that could be applied elsewhere in similar assessments with minor indicator-level adjustments. The present assessment inferred that agriculture-dominated wetlands were more affected by amplified environmental pressure than fishing-dominated wetlands. Absence of persistent water flow from main river channel, wide-spread jute-retting, agriculture-induced eutrophication, proliferation of aquatic weeds were identified as the major causes of rapid ecological deterioration.

Abstract Background Public interest in the way food is produced on the farm and processed along the food-production chain is increasing. The analysis of isotopic signatures (13C) in cow tail hair provides a method to reconstruct the dietary proportion of maize in cow diets. Based on this, we further investigated whether there is a relationship between isotopic signatures in cow tail hair or farm slurry and the proportion of maize of the total utilized agricultural area per farm [%]. We did an on-farm survey on 17 dairy farms in coastal Northwest Germany and collected cow tail hair from dairy cows and slurry samples on each farm. The farms differed in their feeding regime (C3 vs. C4 plants), their site conditions (sandy soil = ‘Geestland’; organic soil = ‘Peatland’; clayey soil = ‘Marshland’), and in the area cultivated with maize as a proportion of the total utilized agricultural area per farm. Results We found a positive relationship between δ13C values in both cow tail hair and slurry and the annual dietary proportion of maize (R 2 = 0.67; and R 2 = 0.63). Furthermore, we confirmed that there was a relationship between δ13C values in cow tail hair and area of maize as a proportion of the total utilized agricultural area per farm (R 2 = 0.69). Conclusion Our findings suggest a general applicability of using isotopic signatures (13C) along a wide gradient of site conditions and productions systems in practice.

Multi-scale habitat selection modeling (HSM) has garnered attention due to its ability to incorporate scale dependence of species. The key of multi-scale HSM is to select the appropriate combination of scales for different resources or environmental conditions, and then construct a set of multi-scale environmental covariates as the features of HSM. However, the existing scale selection methods do not determine the combination of scales under a unified model. In this study, a combinatorial optimization approach is proposed. We regard the combination of different scales as a search space, and use a heuristic optimization algorithm to search for the best-fitting model to determine the optimal scales for each resource or environmental condition. In a case study conducted in Yancheng National Nature Reserve, the proposed approach is applied to model the habitat selection of the endangered red-crowned crane. We compare the proposed method with single-scale, random-scale and other multi-scale approaches. The results show that the combination of scales selected based on the proposed method obtained the best accuracy in the spatial prediction of habitat suitability with a test AUC of 0.865 for the daytime scenario and 0.932 for the nighttime scenario. Moreover, the selected scales are utilized to generate response curves, providing suggestions for habitat restoration and management of the red-crowned crane population in the nature reserve.

Background: Tropical floodplain wetlands are among the most disturbed and intensively harvested ecosystems. Their sustainable management is often hindered due to the lack of comprehensive, coherent, and standardized assessment frameworks of wetland ecological health (WEH). In this study, a set of appropriate criteria and indicators (C&I) of WEH assessment was developed and tested on seven wetlands of River Ichhamati, eastern India. Methods: Based on the pressure–state–response (PSR) approach, evaluation indicators representing ecological, socio-economic, and institutional sustainability issues of floodplain wetland systems were either selected or formulated through literature survey and stakeholder consensus. Weights of indicators were assigned by the entropy weighting method and then used in the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution model to determine the Euclidean distances of each wetland from the positive ideal solution and negative ideal solution. Subsequently, a comprehensive wetland ecological health index (CWEHI) was constructed from these distances to portray the condition of any PSR system component in a wetland under a fivefold classification scheme, namely 'excellent health' (CWEHI ≥ 0.81), 'good health' (0.61–0.80), 'moderate health' (0.41–0.60), 'weak health' (0.21–0.40), and 'morbid' (≤ 0.20). Results: The developed C&I set contains 8 criteria and 38 indicators under pressure component, 7 criteria and 49 indicators under state component, as well as 4 criteria and 18 indicators under response component. When applied in 2016 and 2022, it was found that the Panchita and Aromdanga wetlands were continuously in weak and morbid health status, while the Madhabpur wetland always showed an excellent or good status for all components. Health of other wetlands oscillated between moderate and morbid health across assessment years and system components. Conclusions: The developed C&I set was found to be a flexible, holistic, and refined framework that could be applied elsewhere in similar assessments with minor indicator-level adjustments. The present assessment inferred that agriculture-dominated wetlands were more affected by amplified environmental pressure than fishing-dominated wetlands. Absence of persistent water flow from main river channel, wide-spread jute-retting, agriculture-induced eutrophication, proliferation of aquatic weeds were identified as the major causes of rapid ecological deterioration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study simulated the water scarcity footprint (WSF) of cocoa irrigation in municipalities considered suitable for cocoa growing in the state of Bahia, according to agro climatic zoning. Irrigation demand was calculated using the model proposed by FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). Subsequently, impact on water scarcity was calculated using the product of crop irrigation demand and water scarcity characterization factors of the regionalized AWARE method for Brazil. The WSF in Bahia ranged between 0.28 and 646.5 m³ of water per kilo of cocoa produced. From the defined scale, of the 417 municipalities in Bahia suitable for growing cocoa, 59% have a 'low' footprint, 18% 'medium', 10% 'high', and 12% have a 'very high' footprint. Based on these results, it is suggested that areas with lower WSF are a priority in the expansion of cocoa to avoid a possible compromise of other essential demands of the municipalities. In addition, irrigation should avoid waste, especially in regions with high levels of water scarcity. The results show that the inclusion of the WSF in agroclimatic zoning can contribute to the process of identifying potential and critical regions for new crops and the expansion of others.

Background: Public interest in the way food is produced on the farm and processed along the food-production chain is increasing. The analysis of isotopic signatures (13C) in cow tail hair provides a method to reconstruct the dietary proportion of maize in cow diets. Based on this, we further investigated whether there is a relationship between isotopic signatures in cow tail hair or farm slurry and the proportion of maize of the total utilized agricultural area per farm [%]. We did an on-farm survey on 17 dairy farms in coastal Northwest Germany and collected cow tail hair from dairy cows and slurry samples on each farm. The farms differed in their feeding regime (C3 vs. C4 plants), their site conditions (sandy soil = 'Geestland'; organic soil = 'Peatland'; clayey soil = 'Marshland'), and in the area cultivated with maize as a proportion of the total utilized agricultural area per farm. Results: We found a positive relationship between δ13C values in both cow tail hair and slurry and the annual dietary proportion of maize (R2 = 0.67; and R2 = 0.63). Furthermore, we confirmed that there was a relationship between δ13C values in cow tail hair and area of maize as a proportion of the total utilized agricultural area per farm (R2 = 0.69). Conclusion: Our findings suggest a general applicability of using isotopic signatures (13C) along a wide gradient of site conditions and productions systems in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

-This study aimed to assess the seasonality of litter deposition in a Cerrado area, in Gurupi, Tocantins State, Brazil. We installed systematically 50 collectors in the area. Litter collections were carried out monthly for two years from July, 2016 to June, 2018. The litter was collected and packed in plastic bags, before separating the fractions (leaves, branches and reproductive material). Subsequently, the samples were taken to the oven at 70 °C for 48 h. The litter deposition varied in terms of stability along the two years, with higher production in the dry period. The total litter production and its structural and reproductive and leaf fractions were not affected by the differences between years 1 (5,884.0 kg ha-1) and 2 (5,420.0 kg ha-1), only for branches that presented significant differences. We measured 426 individuals distributed in 40 species and 28 families, showing Shannon diversity index equivalent to 3.11 (nats ind-1) and Pielou equitability index of 0.84. The species Myrcia splendens showed higher values for phytosociological parameters. There were significantly correlations among growth traits and the fraction of leaf and branches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benthic diatoms are the primary beach vegetation on sandy coasts, acting as the main primary producers in such environments. Changes in their community structure and biomass can have substantial impact on both the entire micro-food web and the nearshore shallow marine ecosystem. This study focused on four typical beaches along the southern coast of China (Fuzhou Changle Beach, Xiamen Huizhan Beach, Xiamen Guanyinshan Beach, and Beihai Silver Beach). Analysis of benthic diatoms and environmental factors revealed that the distribution of benthic diatom communities on the studied beaches is influenced by elevation, salinity changes due to freshwater inputs, sediment composition, and hydrodynamic factors. The most important factor is elevation, which reflects the location of the beach in the tidal zone. On Beihai Silver Beach and the Xiamen beaches, the mid-tidal and low tidal zones are more conducive to growth and reproduction of benthic diatoms, and some diatom species show preference for different tidal zones. On dissipative beaches, benthic diatom abundance peaks in the mid-tidal zone, whereas on low tidal terrace beaches, diatom abundance is generally low in the high tidal zone and relatively high in the low tidal zone. Additionally, low tidal terrace beaches exhibit a "steep increase zone" of diatom abundance at the junction of the steep and gentle slopes, indicating that benthic diatom abundance responds more to this type of beach landform than to that of dissipative beaches., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This study disentangles the relationships that exist between the four indicators of corporate sustainable development: economic, environmental, social, and governance. We account for the potential bidirectionality of the relationships, control for the dynamic nature of the sustainability process, and address the endogeneity problem to appropriately analyze the sustainability process. We estimated a panel data from 734 U.S. companies from 2004 through 2016 by using the system generalized method of moments and find evidence of a clear dynamic nature of the businesses' sustainability process. The results show that the current levels of the four sustainable development indicators are strongly determined by the levels of these indicators in the two previous years. Our results also show that corporate sustainable development follows a virtuous circle. The relationships across the economic, environmental, and social indicators are bidirectional and positive. Hence, these three sustainability indicators do not compete for available resources. On the contrary, they are tightly interconnected in a firm's sustainable development processes. Therefore, practitioners and regulators should consider these indicators simultaneously to promote sustainability in businesses and apply long-term sustainability policies. Altogether, our evidence supports the idea that firms can do good by doing well, and they do well by doing good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The food processing industry is one of the leading sectors contributing to countries’ economies. Edible oil processing is one of the subsectors in the food processing industry, which has had rapid growth in these few decades. Sustainable development is critical in this industry, especially from the environmental aspect. Sustainability assessment is necessary for this food processing industry to achieve sustainability and market competitiveness. Current studies show that the development of the food processing industry negatively impacts the environment and causes an increase in the pollution of waste and environmental resources. In addition, the issues of unsustainable edible oil production have risen over the years, and there are no standardized indicators for the sustainability assessment. Furthermore, the international level indicators are not suitable for use in the local edible oil processing industry. Therefore, this research aims to determine the selection of environmental indicators for sustainability assessment in the edible oil processing industry. The Delphi Method is used in this research, and the experts are selected from the industrial, research institute and government agencies. The research has successfully obtained a set of environmental sustainability indicators and sub-indicators in the edible oil processing industry based on the consensus of the experts. Five main themes (Energy, Water; Materials; Effluents and Waste and Gas Emissions), nine indicators, and fourteen sub-indicators directly impacting the edible oil production concluded from the Delphi Method exercise with the experts. These indicators can be applied in the sustainability assessment system to trace and monitor the environmental issue in the industry and further suggest the conservation programme.

Colistin is a polymyxin antimicrobic mainly used to treat infection caused by multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria. Mechanisms of colistin resistance are linked to the mobile colistin resistance (mcr) genes, which are transferable within mobile plasmids. Currently, there is limited research on the environmental dissemination of these genes. The behavioural and morphological characteristics of Apis mellifera L. make honey bees effective environmental bioindicators for assessing the prevalence of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. This study aims to evaluate the colistin phenotypic and genotypic resistance in environmental Gram-negative bacteria isolated from foraging honey bees, across a network of 33 colonies distributed across the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy. Phenotypic resistances were determined through a microdilution assay using the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) with dilutions ranging from 0.5 μg/ml to 256 μg/ml. Strains with MIC values gather than 2 μg/ml were classified as resistant. Also, the identification of the nine mcr genes was carried out using two separate multiplex PCR assays. The study found that 68.5% of isolates were resistant and the genus with the higher resistance rates observed in Enterobacter spp. (84.5%). At least one mcr gene was found in 137 strains (53.3%). The most detected gene was mcr5 (35.3%), which was the most frequently detected gene in the seven provinces, while the least observed was mcr4 (4.8%), detected only in two provinces. These results suggested the feasibility of detecting specific colistin resistance genes in environmentally spread bacteria and understanding their distribution at the environmental level, despite their restricted clinical use. In a One-Health approach, this capability enables valuable environmental monitoring, considering the significant role of colistin in the context of public health. [Display omitted] • AMR environmental monitoring is essential to protect ecosystem health. • Honey bee colonies are crucial in environmental biomonitoring. • Colistin is an antimicrobic used to treat MDR Gram-negative bacteria. • 68.5% of isolates were colistin-resistant and mcr genes were found in 53.3% of them. • The most detected gene was mcr5 (35.3%), while the least found was mcr4 (4.8%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trace element analysis, in the leaves of five kinds of greening plants (Buxus, Picea, Pine, Juniperus and Platycladus) from eight uniform distribution sites in Fuxin, a typical traditional resource-based city in northeast China, was carried out to study the purification ability difference of urban greening plants and spatial distribution tendency of heavy metal elements in the whole city area. In terms of the purification ability analysis, Platycladus had a better environmental purification capacity for Cd, As, Pb and Cr. Juniperus also showed a certain environmental purification potential for As, Pb and Cu. Furthermore, Mn has the highest point mean of element content in all plants, ranging from 64.044–114.290 µg/g, and the MnPA content of Buxus and Juniperus was 60% higher than that of the other three plants, which showed a better Mn purification effect. In terms of the spatial distribution tendency analysis, point pollution source location and the urban climate factors (mainly for the wind factor) were the main controlling factors. However, the specificity of Mn distribution suggested that its polluting behavior had a close relation with minerals transportation during exploiting and transferring in the city's coal mining industry in the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Ambiente e Água is the property of Revista Ambiente e Agua and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Biologically vital areas (BVAs) indicate regions with ecological functions within cities. Their presence in green spaces helps to counteract the negative impacts of built-up areas and impermeable structures on urban environments and city dwellers. The main objective of this study was to examine the level of sustainability of urban parks based on their real ratio of biologically vital areas (RBVA). The preliminary research was conducted in 2021 on six randomly selected parks in Budapest, Hungary, which are examples either of site rehabilitation or of new designs based on a sustainable approach. The areas of the main types of landcover with ecological functions, such as greenery planted on the ground, green roofs, permeable pavement, and water reservoirs, were measured and compared to the area of hard structures as well as the entire area of each park. The results show that the RBVA was below 50% in four of the six studied cases (ranging from 22.97% in MOM Park to 44.13% in Millenáris Park) and above 50% in two cases (51.52% in Graphisoft Park and 79.31% in Nehru Park). This diversity resulted from the need to reconcile ecological and social functions in urban parks; however, the implementation of sustainable solutions should be increased in further development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of a composite polyphenolic-rich extract (CPRE) on ruminal fermentation, nutrient utilisation, growth performance, excretion of nitrogen and phosphorus and methane emission were studied in growing buffaloes. Four herbal dry extracts prepared from Acacia arabica (babul; bark), Acacia catechu (cutch; bark), Punica granatum (pomegranate; peel) and Eugenia jambolana (Indian blackberry; seeds) were mixed in an equal proportion (1:1:1:1) to prepare the CPRE that contained mainly phenolic compounds (146 g/kg), flavonoids (41.7 g/kg) and saponins (40.5 g/kg). First, in vitro tests were performed for ruminal fermentation and feed degradability using ruminal fluid as inocula and CPRE at 0 to 40 g/kg substrate to decide an optimal dose of CPRE for an in vivo study on buffaloes. In the animal study, 20 buffaloes were randomly assigned to two groups (n = 10)—a control diet and a CPRE diet (control diet added with extra 20 g/kg of CPRE). The in vitro tests suggested that addition of CPRE at 20 g/kg substrate increased degradability of substrate, short-chain fatty acid concentration and propionate proportion, and reduced methane production, acetate proportion, acetate:propionate ratio and ammonia concentration in fermentation media, which were also noted in the rumen of buffaloes. Feeding CRPE to buffaloes did not affect feed intake, but increased daily body weight gain, dry matter and crude protein digestibility and nitrogen and phosphorus retention in the body. Total bacteria, methanogens and protozoal numbers were similar between two groups, but Fibrobacter succinogenes increased in the rumen of buffaloes fed CPRE. Concentrations of total, essential, non-essential and glucogenic amino acids were greater in the plasma of CPRE-fed buffaloes. Cell-mediated immune response improved in the CPRE-fed buffaloes compared with the control group. Estimated methane production and excretion of nitrogen and phosphorus per unit of body weight gain decreased in the CPRE group. The comprehensive results of this study clearly suggested that the composite polyphenol-rich feed additive at 20 g/kg diet improved growth performance, ruminal fermentation, immunity and plasma amino acids profile, whereas it reduced indicators of environmental impacts of buffalo production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Providing an enabling nurturing care environment for early childhood development (ECD) that cuts across the five domains of the Nurturing Care Framework (i.e., good health, adequate nutrition, opportunities for early learning, security and safety and responsive caregiving) has become a global priority. Brazil is home to approximately 18.5 million children under 5 years of age, of which 13% are at risk of poor development due to socio‐economic inequalities. We explored whether the Early Childhood Friendly Municipal Index (IMAPI) can detect inequities in nurturing care ECD environments across the 5570 Brazilian municipalities. We examined the validity of the IMAPI scores and conducted descriptive analyses for assessing sociodemographic inequities by nurturing care domains and between and within regions. The strong correlations between school achievement (positive) and socially vulnerable children (negative) confirmed the IMAPI as a multidimensional nurturing care indicator. Low IMAPI scores were more frequent in the North (72.7%) and Northeast (63.3%) regions and in small (47.7%) and medium (43.3%) size municipalities. Conversely, high IMAPI scores were more frequent in the more prosperous South (52.9%) and Southeast (41.2%) regions and in metropolitan areas (41.2%). The security and safety domain had the lowest mean differences (MDs) among Brazilian regions (MD = 5) and population size (MD = 3). Between‐region analyses confirmed inequities between the North/Northeast and South/Southeast. The biggest within‐region inequity gaps were found in the Northeast (from −22 to 15) and the North (−21 to 19). The IMAPI distinguished the nurturing care ECD environments across Brazilian municipalities and can inform equitable and intersectoral multilevel decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A tool to quantify the pollution potential of leachate, termed the revised leachate pollution index (r-LPI), has been developed. It was developed using the fuzzy Delphi analytic hierarchy process (FDAHP). The formulation entails four major steps: parameter selection, weight calculation, normalization of parameters, and aggregation of the parameters. Eleven leachate parameters categorized into three criteria were selected using the fuzzy Delphi method (FDM). The relative weights of the parameters and the criteria were computed using the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP), and rating curves were used for normalization of the parameters. The selection of an aggregation function is one of the most critical steps in the development of a composite indicator. In this study, the concept of r-LPI was briefly discussed and 14 different aggregation functions were examined to estimate the pollution potential of landfill leachate. Based on accountability and non-accountability of weights of the parameters, ambiguity, eclipsing, and constant functional behavior, 8 aggregation functions were eliminated. The remaining six aggregation functions were subjected to sensitivity analysis. Furthermore, information lost due to aggregation of parameters was quantified. Based on the findings, it was concluded that the weighted additive function effectively quantifies the pollution potential of landfill leachate and thus recommended for the r-LPI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to identify cluster structure of European Union (EU) Member countries and Candidate Turkey in terms of environmental waste indicators and to determine the other member countries which are classified in the same cluster with Turkey. Hierarchical and non-hierarchical clustering methods were used to determine clusters of 28 member countries and Turkey according to the total 8 environmental waste indicators. The optimal cluster number and the best method were identified with the silhouette index which is a cluster validity index. The results from the cluster analysis using the hierarchical and non-hierarchical methods showed that there are six clusters according to the environmental waste indicators of EU countries and Turkey. The average Silhouette index shows that the k-means gives more valid results than the ward. According to the Silhouette index obtained by k-means method, Turkey has been found to be classified in the same cluster with 50% of the EU countries such as Poland, Hungary, and Latvia etc.

In order to address concerns related to global warming and increased atmospheric carbon content, the life cycle assessment (LCA) tool has demonstrated usefulness in the building and construction sector. The LCA is used to evaluate environmental impacts concerning all stages of the building process from “cradle” to “grave”. The LCA helps promote sustainable development by considering environmental indicators such as stratospheric ozone depletion, eutrophication, global warming potential, and many more. It is of an interest to know the degree of impact on a given environmental indicator if an input is changed in terms of the type or amount of the materials used. The LCA software Athena IE4B was employed to analyze data of a selected timber building. This study was aimed at evaluating the sensitivity of LCA analysis on a hybrid timber building, which was done via two case studies. Case 1 focused on changes in the volume of wood materials, meanwhile Case 2 focused on simultaneous changes in the volume of materials for wood, steel, and concrete. In Case 1, it was observed increasing wood materials increased environmental indicators, with stratospheric ozone depletion being the most sensitive and global warming potential as the least sensitive. Case 2 discovered that proportionally increasing wood materials in relation to steel and concrete materials decreased environmental indicators, with eutrophication being the most sensitive and stratospheric ozone depletion as the least sensitive. This study helped support the feasibility of using Athena IE4B for LCA analysis in the initial assessment of a building.

El propósito del trabajo es identificar indicadores geográficos de riesgo ambiental para contribuir con la sustentabilidad urbana local. Se diseñó un procedimiento metodológico ad-hoc para promover la participación de la comunidad en la planificación ambiental local del municipio de Tres de Febrero, provincia de Buenos Aires. A partir del análisis de los datos relevados, se llega a un diagnóstico rápido de los eventos ambientales que inciden en la salud o calidad de vida. Los resultados fueron organizados conforme a la identificación y clasificación de eventos ambientales según el porcentaje de opinión respecto al grado de amenaza ambiental, el análisis de escenarios de riesgo ambiental y la delimitación del área de afectación de los eventos ambientales percibidos. Con base en las respuestas gráficas obtenidas durante la encuesta de hogares y las estadísticas descriptivas de los datos recopilados, se definen indicadores geográficos. El indicador geográfico de riesgo concentra las afectaciones ambientales y su manejo permite evaluar la vulnerabilidad de los hogares. El uso de indicadores geográficos para reducir riesgo ambiental, facilita la priorización de acciones preventivas alertando sobre posibles lugares de exposición.

Although ponds are rich ecosystems for the maintenance of aquatic biodiversity, in many regions of the world, they have been adversely affected by anthropogenic changes in surrounding landscapes. Dragonflies (Insecta: Odonata) are characterized by larval phases that are closely associated with aquatic ecosystems and can accordingly serve as useful indicators of the quality of these environments. In this study, we evaluated the patterns of abundance, richness, and taxonomic composition of adult Odonata in artificial and natural ponds located in the Legal Amazon of Maranhão, which have been exposed to different levels of disturbance. We analysed how the composition of the Odonata assemblages varies between natural and artificial ponds and also assessed to what extent artificial ponds and degraded natural ponds are able to maintain Odonata biodiversity. Our results indicate that the abundance, richness, and composition of Odonata among the monitored ponds were adversely impacted by more disturbed landscapes, with greater abundance and richness being recorded in preserved natural ponds. Although the degraded artificial and natural ponds have Odonata diversities comparable to those of the preserved natural ponds, the latter tend to be characterized by unique and exclusive species, thereby indicating the urgent need for measures designed to protect these natural ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates current trends in the use of global environmental resources using the example of selected countries and the following aggregated indicator – the ecological footprint that monitors the use of natural resources and the global environmental burden. Results showed that there are major differences between countries; not only between developed and developing countries but also between economically strong countries. Herein, we identify the key countries and describe their efforts to improve the environmental situation and reduce their ecological footprint. The global ecological footprint is not decreasing; in most countries it is increasing or unchanged, and strategic decisions on nature protection are a pressing reality. The United States and China are the most important of the monitored countries because their future decisions can have the greatest impact on international environmental protection. The pressure on their policy-making choices should be greatest and monitoring their ecological footprint and informing the public and responsible authorities should lead to appropriate changes.

The practice of raw material extraction has a high impact on the environment and represents a potential threat to the health and thriving of local communities. The concept of Extractive Essential Variables (EEVs) are explored in order to propose variables that can be used to quantify the environmental footprint of mineral extraction. Considering the interdependence of mining activities with social, economic and environmental issues, the variables target the development of monitoring tools for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The identification of EEVs is based on the use of Earth Observation products in the field of mineral resources exploitation. A list of variables is proposed based on three classes of Essential Variables (EVs): installation and exploration phase, mineral extraction, and ore processing. These variables take into account the impacts of mining on the hydrology, land, water resources and the atmosphere of the area subjected to mineral exploitation. One of the variables is implemented as an operational workflow addressing SDG15, “life on land”. The workflow is intended to assess the area of forest ecosystem lost due to the presence of a mining site. Geospatial data on the extent of mining concessions and forest cover are combined using ArcGISTM. The workflow is successively translated into a Unix script to automatize the process of data treatment. The script is developed using the Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL). The use of a Virtual Laboratory Platform (VLab), a web-service-based access platform, increases the accessibility of data and resources and the re-use of the script. This work is a first attempt to propose a framework of EEVs, derived data workflows, while the underlying methodology, partially based on scientific publications and on personal reasoning, still needs to be tested and, improved based on expertise in the sector.

This paper presents six environmental noise indicators and two fuzzy acoustic indexes for urban spaces integrated with a permanent monitoring system. Likewise, they can help the management practices of land traffic and other noise generation sources in cities. The environmental noise indicators are defined by combining the equivalent continuous sound levels with A-weighting for time intervals of five, thirty, and sixty minutes and the non-harmful values set by national and international standards. Exposure and severity are the fuzzy indexes obtained with a model that weights the six environmental noise indicators utilising membership functions, rules and the centroid defuzzification method. The two fuzzy indexes are evaluation metrics of the social-urban acoustic impact that monitoring and evaluation programs can apply for standard time intervals or other time selection.Assessment traditional methods use the equivalent continuous sound level by integrating the sound pressure for a short or long time. When the analysis is for standard intervals, for example, from 7 to 19, 19 to 23 and 23 to 7 local time in hours, a sound pressure very high in short time subintervals greatly influences the equivalent continuous sound level of the long time interval. This situation is unfavourable for a quick assessment, and its interpretation may have significant uncertainty. The time intervals of five, thirty, and sixty minutes are very useful in environmental noise permanent monitoring systems. However, their traditional evaluations are complex to obtain the acoustic impact, the exposure time and noise severity that people receive during a prolonged stay or transit through an area. All tests used measurements from an environmental noise monitoring system over several months.

Report cards are increasingly popular tools communicating the condition of coastal and riverine environments to environmental managers, stakeholders and the public, and synthesising complex data drawn from a range of indicators. Mud crabs have not previously been included in ecosystem health report cards in Australia or elsewhere but have been suggested as environmental indicators for tropical coastal marine environments in Australia. Mud crabs support commercial, recreational and Indigenous fisheries and their biology is relatively well known. For these reasons and due to their local relevance, mud crabs (Scylla serrata) were selected for long-term monitoring and inclusion in a report card for Gladstone Harbour, Australia. Three mud crab measures were identified to reflect the variety of pressures across Gladstone Harbour: abundance, prevalence of rust lesions and sex ratio. A standardised field monitoring program was developed to allow for ongoing scoring and reporting of the multi-metric indicator. An indicator scoring (distance from benchmark) and grading methodology was applied to the indicator and refined over the two years of monitoring. This article provides a novel framework for monitoring and scoring mud crabs for management purposes or for use in report cards, and outlines the process of developing an indicator for an iconic crustacean species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biologically vital areas (BVAs) indicate regions with ecological functions within cities. Their presence in green spaces helps to counteract the negative impacts of built-up areas and impermeable structures on urban environments and city dwellers. The main objective of this study was to examine the level of sustainability of urban parks based on their real ratio of biologically vital areas (RBVA). The preliminary research was conducted in 2021 on six randomly selected parks in Budapest, Hungary, which are examples either of site rehabilitation or of new designs based on a sustainable approach. The areas of the main types of landcover with ecological functions, such as greenery planted on the ground, green roofs, permeable pavement, and water reservoirs, were measured and compared to the area of hard structures as well as the entire area of each park. The results show that the RBVA was below 50% in four of the six studied cases (ranging from 22.97% in MOM Park to 44.13% in Millenáris Park) and above 50% in two cases (51.52% in Graphisoft Park and 79.31% in Nehru Park). This diversity resulted from the need to reconcile ecological and social functions in urban parks; however, the implementation of sustainable solutions should be increased in further development.

Estimating the magnitude and sustainability of aquaculture’s environmental impacts is challenging. A lack of quantifiable performance data on sustainability is limiting the industry’s ability to demonstrate the potential benefits of aquaculture as it plays an essential role in the future supply of seafood. Environmental Indicator Sets (EISs) have emerged as tools to express the sustainability of complex ecological systems. The intent of this work was to harness the collective expert input reflected in the EISs of global certification and ratings schemes to provide new tools to further define and advance the quantification of sustainable aquaculture. Every environmental indicator from four prominent schemes was analyzed and categorized by their level of application (site- and resource-level) and by their mode of action (status, control and risk). Impact-specific parameters were defined (Impact, Resource, Target, Limit Reference Point (LRP), and Recovery Timeframe) and used to develop a 0–100 performance scale for key environmental impacts. The resulting two-dimensional categorical-performance frameworks represent a formalized way to reflect on the different approaches of the certification and ratings schemes. Performance comparisons between schemes were avoided but the analysis indicates there is an opportunity for the different approaches to be considered complimentary. The novel parameters proposed here, particularly the LRP, highlight the incongruence between the common definitions of sustainable wild caught and farmed seafood. As such, the present work serves as an orientation point for further discussion on the quantification and ongoing development of sustainable aquaculture, anchored on the existing content of established aquaculture certification and ratings schemes.

Ceratium hirundinella is considered as a biological indicator in the environmental and climate changes. In the summer of 2018, the presence of Ceratium hirundinella reported in the Iranian region of the Caspian Sea. So the present study conducted to survey trend of Ceratium hirundinella fluctuations in the Iranian basin of the Caspian Sea during the last 3 decay. The study showed that in the winter of 1995, Ceratium contained very little percentage of phytoplankton density. In the summer of 2013, contribution of the species in dinoflagellates and total phytoplankton biomass reported 34 and 31% respectively. The percentage of Ceratium participation in phytoplankton biomass increased to 70% in summer of 2018. The study also showed that the increasing of water temperature and pH coincided to the Ceratium presence recorded, compared to the same time in the study area. Meanwhile, the trophic state changed from oligotrophic to mesotrophic condition. The annual changes of ceratium (presence and abundance) in the phytoplankton composition may be a response to increase of the regional warming and anthropogenic activity. The Ceratium bloom affects the feeding of planktivore organisms and causes water oxygen decreasing, which it led to fishes killing. Recently, the tendency of aquaculture has been increased in the Caspian Sea, so the monitoring and control methods of Ceratium hirundinella should be considered in the area.

Desert locust plagues can easily cause a regional food crisis and thus affect social stability. Preventive control of the disaster highlights the early detection of hopper gregarization before they form devastating swarms. However, the response of hopper band emergence to environmental fluctuation exhibits a time lag. To realize the dynamic forecast of band occurrence with optimal temporal predictors, we proposed an SVM-based model with a temporal sliding window technique by coupling multisource time-series imagery with historical locust ground survey observations from between 2000–2020. The sliding window method was based on a lagging variable importance ranking used to analyze the temporal organization of environmental indicators in band-forming sequences and eventually facilitate the early prediction of band emergence. Statistical results show that hopper bands are more likely to occur within 41–64 days after increased rainfall; soil moisture dynamics increasing by approximately 0.05 m³/m³ then decreasing may enhance the chance of observing bands after 73–80 days. While sparse vegetation areas with NDVI increasing from 0.18 to 0.25 tend to witness bands after 17–40 days. The forecast model combining the optimal time lags of these dynamic indicators with other static indicators allows for a 16-day extended outlook of band presence in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya. Monthly predictions from February to December 2020 display an overall accuracy of 77.46%, with an average ROC-AUC of 0.767 and a mean F-score close to 0.772. The multivariate forecast framework based on the lagging effect can realize the early warning of band presence in different spatiotemporal scenarios, supporting early decisions and response strategies for desert locust preventive management.

The Formicidae are considered crucial components of the entomosarcosaprophagous fauna because they can delay the decomposition process, cause tissue postmortem damage and produce bloodstain patterns that may confuse investigations. Moreover, some studies suggest that the Formicidae can act as environmental and seasonal indicators. However, studies on this group on vertebrate carcasses are scarce, especially in the Iberian Peninsula and the southwest of Europe. Thus, comparative studies at different altitudes in a protected wild mountain area could provide useful information on its composition in such environmental conditions, their role as environmental indicators and their forensic implications. For this reason, the Formicidae sarcosaprophagous community was studied at three different altitudes, between 400 and 1,500 m, in a wild mountainous area in the southeast of Spain using a modified Schoenly trap, with two pitfall traps inside, baited with 5 kg piglets (Sus scrofa L.). This work illustrates an approach to the community of the Formicidae, as a representative of the sarcosaprophagous community in an altitudinal gradient, showing a great variability in its composition. Furthermore, when comparing our results with other studies carried out in the Iberian Peninsula, we are able to suggest certain species with a potential utility as geographic and environmental indicators. Thus, Iberoformica subrufa, Lasius brunneus, Lasius cinereus and Camponotus sylvaticus are species of special interest as they appeared in either one of the sampled areas or in the same region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although crabs are effective indicator species for evaluating the health of estuarine environments, the relationship between crab communities and environmental conditions in temperate river estuaries is poorly investigated. This study aimed to clarify the physicochemical factors that affect crab fauna in temperate areas, as well as classify and characterize habitat based on the similarity of crab fauna. Data of crab fauna and physicochemical environmental factors were collected at 199 sites in two temperate rivers. These survey sites were spatially arranged to cover the estuarine zone (i.e., tidal freshwater to polyhaline water) and the intertidal zone (i.e., the high tide to low tide line). The result of a direct gradient analysis showed that salinity and median particle size, in particular, affected crab fauna. Moreover, the survey sites were classified into seven groups based on the similarity of crab fauna, which were modeled with moderate accuracy using three variables: salinity, elevation, and percentage of silt. From these variables, we were able to identify seven different habitat types: salt marshes covered with fine or coarse sediment, upstream zones with gravelly sediment, intermediate zones between salt marshes and tidal flats, sand tidal flats with scattered hard structures, monotonous sand flats, and mud flats. Our findings suggest that maintaining the salinity gradient and diversity of sediment grain size is necessary to conserve crab species diversity in temperate river estuaries. Effective ecosystem conservation in these areas needs to take into account the physicochemical conditions in the seven identified habitat types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to identify cluster structure of European Union (EU) Member countries and Candidate Turkey in terms of environmental waste indicators and to determine the other member countries which are classified in the same cluster with Turkey. Hierarchical and nonhierarchical clustering methods were used to determine clusters of 28 member countries and Turkey according to the total 8 environmental waste indicators. The optimal cluster number and the best method were identified with the silhouette index which is a cluster validity index. The results from the cluster analysis using the hierarchical and non-hierarchical methods showed that there are six clusters according to the environmental waste indicators of EU countries and Turkey. The average Silhouette index shows that the kmeans gives more valid results than the ward. According to the Silhouette index obtained by k-means method, Turkey has been found to be classified in the same cluster with 50% of the EU countries such as Poland, Hungary, and Latvia etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Life cycle assessment (LCA) has only had limited application in the geotechnical engineering discipline, though it has been widely applied to civil engineering systems such as pavements and roadways. A review of previous geotechnical LCAs showed that most studies have tracked a small set of impact categories, such as energy and global warming potential. Accordingly, currently reported environmental indicators may not effectively or fully capture important environmental impacts and tradeoffs associated with geotechnical systems, including those associated with land and soil resources. This research reviewed previous studies, methods, and models for assessment of land use and soil‐related impacts to understand their applicability to geotechnical LCA. The results of this review show that critical gaps remain in current knowledge and practice. In particular, further development or refinement of environmental indicators, impact categories, and cause–effect pathways is needed as they pertain to geotechnical applications—specifically those related to soil quality, soil functions, and the ecosystem services soils provide. In addition, many existing methods emerge from research on land use and land use change related to other disciplines (e.g., agriculture). For applicability to geotechnical projects, the resolution of many of these methods and resulting indicators need to be downscaled from the landscape/macro scale to the project scale. In the near term, practitioners of geotechnical LCA should begin tracking changes to soil properties and report impacts to land and soil resources qualitatively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimation of incinerability of municipal solid waste (MSW) can play a crucial role in the feasibility assessment of waste incineration. A composite indicator called incinerability index or i-Index was developed to estimate the incinerability of MSW incorporating the 3-E concept, i.e. the potential to impact the environment, energy recovery and economy of operation. Eight input parameters that encompass the 3-E concept form the part of the index structure. While some of these parameters may be readily available, a few other input parameters may need to be estimated either experimentally or theoretically. The objective of this study is to effectively demonstrate the estimation of the input parameters, thus facilitating the quantification of incinerability using i-Index. A theoretical approach to the computation of parameters is introduced as an alternative technique, which can simplify the computation of the index for practical purposes. Following these approaches, the input parameters for MSW generated in South Delhi were estimated and the corresponding i-Index amounted to 66.1. In comparison with the i-Index of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) which amounted to 80, the incinerability of MSW generated in South Delhi thus quantified was low. Further, the paper also provides a brief account of a few potential applications of incinerability estimation using i-Index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The honey bee has long been known to be a bioindicator of environmental pollution and the use of antimicrobials in the beekeeping industry is strictly regulated. For these reasons, this paper was aimed to evaluate for the first time the role of Apis mellifera as a possible indicator of environmental antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The study isolated and analysed the resistance patterns of Enterobacteriaceae from a pool of honey bee guts located in five different environmental sites (ES), where different antimicrobial selective pressures were hypothesized. In all, 48 isolates were considered for identification and underwent analyses of AMR to ampicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, cefazolin, ceftazidime, tetracycline, imipenem, enrofloxacin, amikacin and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. In all, 12 isolates out of 48 (25%) showed resistance to at least one antimicrobial drug. There were no significant differences between the resistance rates observed in the ESs, even if the highest percentage of resistance was found in ES4. Resistances to amoxicillin/clavulanic acid resulted significantly higher than those detected towards the other antimicrobials. Amoxicillin/clavulanic acid is not commonly used in beekeeping but it is extensively used in animals and in humans, suggesting an environmental origin of this resistance and supporting the hypothesis that honey bees could be used as indicators of AMR spread in the environment. Significance and Impact of the Study: In this study, a possible role of honey bees as indicator of environmental antimicrobial resistance is hypothesized. Enterobacteriaceae were isolated from bees living in different environmental sites (ES) where different antimicrobial selective pressures were hypothesized. Even if no differences between the resistances in the five ES were observed, the resistance rates for amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, compared to other antimicrobials, were significantly higher. Since amoxicillin/clavulanic acid is not used in beekeeping but it is extensively used in animals and in humans, an environmental origin of this resistance is suggested that supports our hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a comprehensive review of 71 previous studies on the life cycle assessment (LCA) of nanomaterials (NMs) from 2001 to 2020 (19 years). Although various studies have been carried out to assess the efficiency and potential of wastes for nanotechnology, little attention has been paid to conducting a comprehensive analysis related to the environmental performance and hotspot of NMs, based on LCA methodology. Therefore, this paper highlights and discusses LCA methodology’s basis (goal and scope definition, system boundary, life cycle inventory, life cycle impact assessment, and interpretation) to insights into current practices, limitations, progress, and challenges of LCA application NMs. We found that there is still a lack of comprehensive LCA study on the environmental impacts of NMs until end-of-life stages, thereby potentially supporting misleading conclusions, in most of the previous studies reviewed. For a comprehensive evaluation of LCA of NMs, we recommend that future studies should: (1) report more detailed and transparent LCI data within NMs LCA studies; (2) consider the environmental impacts and potential risks of NMs within their whole life cycle; (3) adopt a transparent and prudent characterization model; and (4) include toxicity, uncertainty, and sensitivity assessments to analyze the exposure pathways of NMs further. Future recommendations towards improvement and harmonization of methodological for future research directions were discussed and provided. This study’s findings redound to future research in the field of LCA NMs specifically, considering that the release of NMs into the environment is yet to be explored due to limited understanding of the mechanisms and pathways involved.