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‘Algae Service for LIFE’, the project supported by the European Union, seeks to promote best practices in ecological service and the circular economy by implementing innovative complex system of three interlinked elements: i) prototypes for harvesting of cyanobacteria and macroalgae biomass; ii) distant methods for surveying of the blooms and defining hot-spots of algal agglomerations; and iii) restitution of harvesting costs by redesigning of waste algal biomass into valuable products. The current paper describes application of algal biomass part of the project by providing actions in redesigning of harvested waste biomass of cyanobacteria and macroalgae into potential valuable products for sustainable management and recycling of environmental resources. It also highlights the socio-economic aspects of the project and added value of the project for the European Union.

Forest coverage is important geographical factor for every country, so it is very important to regulate, control and supervise it. The purpose of this paper – to analyze forest changes in Aukštadvaris Regional Park in the period from 1893 to 2015. In order to reach the goal, certain tasks were accomplished. Firstly, with the use of GIS and cartographic sources of different periods (1:21 000 – 1:25 000 scale topographic maps of the Republic of Lithuania forest cadastral digital data) to identify forest areas of Aukštadvaris Regional Park in 1893, 1934, 1949, 1984, 2000, 2015, changes were identified and their spatial distribution were examined. During the study maps were made to reflect the mentioned years, changes that had occurred during period between the years, all of this information were analyzed, evaluated and described. Second, causes and factors of forest changes in Aukštadvaris Regional Park area were examined. It showed that the main reason for this was government policies, wars, lack of natural-growth control. Finally, the results, information and trends were compared with the Lithuanian forest situation and trends. In this way, problems, regional park is facing, were highlighted – too many fast growing forest coverage, because in Lithuania forest coverage were both increasing and decreasing over the period of time, and right now it stands at 33,4 %, but in the regional park of Aukštadvaris, during analyzed period has only been rising and right now stands at 54,8 %. If the situation will not change and appropriate measures will not be taken, forest coverage can reach 60%.

Water samples from the different basins of the Baltic Sea and North Sea were collected during four cruises taken place in 2016–2017. Altogether 60 water samples for 3H activity concentration and 120 water samples for stable isotopes ratio (δ18O and δ2H) were analysed. Exceptionally strong inflow activity from North Sea to the Baltic Sea occurred prior our surveys. The data obtained enabled comprehensive evaluation of tritium and stable isotopes distribution in waters of Baltic Sea and contributing inputs, including riverine and atmospheric freshwater flux and saline water inflow through the Danish Straits. By comparing with the previous studies, we noticed a tendency toward an increase in the δ18O and δ2H values of zero-salinity component over time, which may be due to climate change. In the case of tritium, the influence of artificial sources has also been noticed., Europos Sąjungos LIFE programos projektas „Algae Service for LIFE“ skatina gerąją ekologinių paslaugų praktiką ir žiedinės ekonomikos kūrimą. Projekto tikslas yra demonstruoti integruotą efektyvų maistinių medžiagų ir dumblių „žydėjimų“ valdymą upių baseinų lygyje, surenkant perteklinę melsvabakterių ir makrodumblių biomasę iš skirtingų vandens telkinių (upių, ežerų, tvenkinių, Kuršių marių). Taip pat projektu siekiama skleisti informaciją nacionalinėms ir vietos valdžios institucijoms, verslo bendruomenei bei didinti visuomenėssusidomėjimą vandens telkinių ekologine būkle. Straipsnyje aptariamos ekologinės vandens „žydėjimų“ kontrolės priemonės ir paslaugos, akcentuojant gėlavandenių ekosistemų eutrofikacijos ir „žydėjimų“ priežastis ir pasekmes. Siūlomos projekte priemonės prisideda prie Europos Sąjungos strateginių direktyvų įgyvendinimo.

Straipsnyje nagrinėjama Akmenių erozinio klonio sapropelio geocheminė sudėtis ir užterstumas minerogeniniais ir sunkiaisiais metalais. Tyrimai atlikti rentgeno fluorescenciniu spektrometru Niton XL2 . Analizuojami kokybiniai Samuko, Antakmenių ir Drabužaicio ežerų parametrai: minerogeninių elementų (Rb, Zr, Sr) ir sunkiųjų metalų (As, Cr, Cu, Zn, Pb) koncentracijų pasiskirstymas pavirsiniuose (0,0–0,6 m) ir giluminiuose (0,6–2,0 m) sluoksniuose. Pateikiami ir aptariami tyrimų duomenys, kurie lyginami su aplinkosauginiais normatyvais (foninėmis ir didžiausiomis leistinomis koncentracijomis (DLK)) bei rodikliais: suminiu užterstumu (Zd) ir praturtinimo faktoriumi (EF). Tyrimų rezultatai ir jų analizė leidžia nustatyti ežerų būkle, juose vykstancius procesus ir pokycius per kelių simtų metų laikotarpį. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3846/aainz.2018.013

Political and economical changes in the Baltic countries during the last decade have caused considerable changes in human interaction with nature. Intensive utilisation of forest resources is now a fact, since almost half of forest areas are becoming privately owned and many private forest owners regard it as a source of rapid income. Due to land reform and development of recreational activities, pressure is also increasing in coastal areas. Valuable agro-habitats are being lost: most of semi-natural grasslands and former pastures are overgrowing with brush, as farmers quite often have no capacity to continue grazing and grass cutting and traditional agriculture practices do not pay themselves off. The slow and incomplete privatisation process and inadequate rural policy have been the main reasons causing arable land abandonment. Currently around 20 per cent of the arable land is abandoned. This creates several environmental problems — decrease in biodiversity and esthetical value of the landscape, distribution of the weed seeds and danger of the fire.