Basis For Environmental Protection Research Articles

Conservation of the Malus gene pool in Kazakhstan as the basis for environmental protection and economic growth

Conservation of the <i>Malus</i> gene pool in Kazakhstan as the basis for environmental protection and economic growth

Оrganisation of Tourist Activities in Natural Landscapes of Post-War Period

The purpose of the article is to research and justify the content of tourist activities in natural landscapes, in particular on the basis of speleological resources in the post-war period. The research methodology is based on the principles of socio-cultural and polysystemic analysis, comparative and structural-systemic methods of scientific knowledge, which make it possible to consider the trends of tourism development in the post-war period and to find out the specifics of the organisation of tourist activities in speleological landscapes. The scientific novelty of the study is determined by the actualisation of attention to recreational activities in natural complexes, in particular speleological ones, since speleological tourism activities in war and post-war time can be considered as a natural model of emotional stress relief, adaptation to unusual conditions and prevention of negative changes in physical and mental health. Conclusions. Doing various tourist recreation in the natural landscapes of the post-war period should take place on the basis of environmental protection and familiarity with local cultural traditions. When designing tourist and recreational parks based on speleological and spelestological sites, a set of functional zones is determined on the basis of the socio-cultural and natural features of the territory.&#x0D; Key words: tourist activity, natural landscapes, speleological sites, post-war period.

Application of concrete and cement slurry based on waste recycling in fast consolidation of engineering rock mass

The cement-based rock materials and cement slurry used in the fast repair and reinforcement of engineering surrounding rock mass are generally not environmentally friendly and have a slow setting time. From the perspective of environmental protection and waste utilization, this study adopts a variety of domestic wastes, considers the fast condensation of materials, and comprehensively and systematically develops environmentally friendly high-similarity concrete and cement slurry through the Taguchi grey correlation analysis method. The damage constitutive equations, the constitutive equations after water saturation and after immersion in corrosive liquid are deduced. Combined with DIEM, VOCM and UDEC software, the effects BG and AG under various engineering site situation are analyzed. Research indicates that both rock-like materials and cement slurry have good performance. The research results are widely used in the rapid repair and reinforcement of damaged rock mass on the basis of environmental protection and waste recycling.

Distribution characteristics and correlation of heavy metals in soil and total suspended particles of Urumqi City

In this study, soil and total suspended particles samples (TSP) were collected from different soil layers in four functional areas of Urumqi City, Northwest China, and electric heating plate digestion and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) were used to determine the mass fractions and spatial distribution of six heavy metals. The aim was to determine the effects of human activities on the urban soil and atmosphere and provide a theoretical basis for environmental protection and management in Urumqi. The results showed that: (1) The average mass fractions of Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn were 129.24, 42.445, 691.70, 48.705, 31.36, and 126.5 mg kg−1, respectively; the average mass fractions of Cr, Zn, Ni, and Cu exceeded the limit of the national soil standard; the pollution indexes were 1.44, 1.27, 1.22, and 1.21, respectively. (2) The heavy metal contents of surface soils are higher in the industrial, traffic, and cultural and educational areas than in the clean park area; in the vertical section, the heavy metals in the industrial, traffic, and culture and education areas show a weak epimerism, and the soil in the park area shows a good primitivity. (3) The ratios of the highest to lowest concentration of heavy metals in TSP can be ranked as follows: Pb (9.75) > Mn (2) > Ni (1.48) > Cr (1.36) > Cu (1.32) > Zn (1.17). (4) The correlations of heavy metals between the soil and TSP are significant, indicating that dry and wet deposition significantly affect the heavy metal content of the soil.

Trans-provincial Basin Horizontal Ecological Compensation and Enterprise Total Factor Productivity

China takes the horizontal ecological compensation policy as an important measure for sharing the results of green development in economically backward areas. On the basis of environmental protection, China realizes economic development and benefits the people’s livelihood, so as to accomplish “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets”. Trans-provincial basin horizontal ecological compensation is a significant exploration of China to take a market-oriented way to control cross-border water pollution, and is another institutional innovation in the process of ecological civilization construction. However, there are few studies on the impact of horizontal compensation on the total factor productivity of enterprises.In this paper, the trans-provincial horizontal ecological compensation of Xin’anjiang River Basin signed by Anhui Province and Zhejiang Province in 2011 is regarded as a natural experiment. It takes the database of Chinese industrial enterprises from 2008 to 2013 as the research sample, and uses the System GMM method to calculate total factor productivity. According to the scope of policy implementation, the enterprises located in the policy compensation area（Huangshan City）are selected as the experimental group, and the DID method is used to study the impact of trans-provincial horizontal ecological compensation on the total factor productivity of enterprises in Xin’anjiang River Basin. It is found that, the implementation of the policy significantly improves the total factor productivity of enterprises through tax relief, government subsidies, labor productivity improvement and capital deepening, and the effect is sustainable. The results of age heterogeneity show that only when enterprises enter a relatively stable period, can the policy significantly improve the total factor productivity of enterprises. The results of industry heterogeneity show that when enterprises are in labor-intensive and technology-intensive industries, the implementation of the policy is conducive to the improvement of total factor productivity, but it hinders the total factor productivity of enterprises in capital-intensive industries. This paper puts forward suggestions from three aspects: （1）Continue to promote the implementation of trans-provincial basin horizontal ecological compensation policy steadily.（2）Strengthen the supervision of ecological environment compensation funds flowing into enterprises.（3）According to the age and industry of enterprises, the policy of differentiated support and supervision should be implemented to avoid the “one-size-fits-all”.The marginal contributions of this paper are as follows: （1）In terms of research content, there are few studies on the effect of horizontal ecological compensation on total factor productivity at home and abroad. This paper analyzes the implementation mechanism of ecological compensation, and further studies the implementation of basin horizontal ecological compensation through four kinds of mechanisms for the total factor productivity of enterprises.（2）In terms of data method, this paper uses the relatively new Chinese industrial enterprise database for empirical analysis, while the DID method can effectively reduce the endogenous problem and improve the reliability and robustness of empirical regression results.

Research on Evaluation Method of Ecological Environment Quality Based on the Improvement of Human Settlement Environment

Against the background that ecological environment quality has become a hot research topic in recent years, ecological environment quality assessment has emerged as an emerging discipline. By adopting scientific methods, it objectively and quantitatively reveals the real situation of ecological environment quality, and is committed to providing support basis for environmental protection and comprehensive prevention and control. Therefore, how to develop a reasonable eco-environmental quality assessment system has become the focus of attention. Based on this, this paper summarizes the research results in this field at home and abroad, and discusses and illustrates the main existing evaluation methods and evaluation models through horizontal and vertical analysis. The development status of ecological environment quality evaluation research field and the application characteristics of different evaluation methods are analyzed, some problems in theoretical innovation, model construction and application of conclusions are discussed, and the development trend of ecological environment quality evaluation research is proposed based on this.

Environment Protection in Israel

In such country as Israel with its high industrialization and urbanization rates the environment protection is of key importance for preserving the biodiversity of nature. Awareness of the need to protect precious natural resources and landscapes of Israel forced to pass numerous laws on protection of nature and wild animals. These laws provide legal basis for protection of environment, natural resources, wild animals, unique nature features and places being of scientific and educational value in this country.Israel locates at the juncture of three continents combining different climatic and botanical regions which have led to appearance of the unique, by diversity and composition, plant and animal world. In Israel you can find 2800 plant varieties (of which 150 are endemics), 8 species of amphibia, 80 species of reptiles, 450 species of birds and 70 species of mammals. For protection of natural biodiversity there were established 224 nature preserves and 203 and historical heritage deserves special mention.In the recent years the governmental and public organizations have focused on development of the programs on environment management for monitoring and ensuring the required quality of water and air and for processing and utilization of solid wastes.Quite spectacular achievements are observed in reintroduction of predatory and bible species, protection of sea turtles, impoundment of the Hula valley and preservation of migratory birds. The government’s initiatives were welcomed by the public that joined in national parks which cover around 23% of the territory of Israel. The nature preserves and national parks represent the whole range of the natural heritage of Israel: Mediterranean forests, coastal and water landscapes, sand dunes, desert and crater landscapes and oases, while the unique archeological these activities. The environmental education, awareness and activities of the society have increased enormously which is proved by the growing number of nongovernmental environmental organizations — from a few in the 1990s to over one hundred nowadays. The greater attention is paid to collection and publication of environmental data.

Uncertainties in assessing the extent and legal compliance status of riparian forests in the eastern Brazilian Amazon

Riparian forests play a vital role in conserving biodiversity, maintaining ecological connectivity and assisting the delivery of key ecosystem services (i.e. maintenance of water flows). Nevertheless, riparian forests are particularly threatened across the tropics, including in Brazil following widespread forest conversion for pasturelands and agriculture. Despite the significance of the landmark Brazilian Forest Code as the basis of environmental protection on private properties, the effectiveness of the legal protection afforded to riparian vegetation in permanent preservation areas (APP, in Portuguese) has been very poorly assessed. We provide the first fine-scale estimation of the total riparian APP distribution and deficit for the 1.25 Mkm2 Brazilian state of Pará, which has the highest deforestation rate in the Brazilian Amazon in recent years, using the available properties boundaries. We demonstrate how coarse-resolution mapping data (for landscape scale mapping, e.g. 1:100,000) consistently underestimates the extent of APP areas, highlighting the scale of the challenge involved in achieving compliance with the Brazilian Forest Code. Moreover, despite nearly half (49%) of the total extent of riparian APPs being forested, following the 2012 revision of the Forest Code, the area that does not need to be restored is six times the area obligated for restoration (940,000 ha). This suggests that some catchments in Pará may not recover fully functioning hydrological and ecological services, as around 5.7 Mha of already cleared APP are likely to remain deforested because there was a law amnesty. We also found that deforestation within APPs was greater than outside APPs for most municipalities in Pará, indicating that implementation of the Forest Code has not been sufficient to protect riparian forests to date. This shortfall in the legal requirement to restore riparian forest cover suggests that under the current enforcement regime regulatory measures on their own are insufficient and incentive-based mechanisms are needed to encourage restoration – even within the existing legal framework. Our work demonstrates the importance of using finer resolution land cover data and improved hydrological models for ensuring the effective implementation of Brazilian legislation and the safeguarding of the environmental benefits provided by these critically important ecosystems.

Advancing Environmental Epidemiology to Assess the Beneficial Influence of the Natural Environment on Human Health and Well-Being.

Environmental health research can be oriented across a continuum of effects ranging from adverse to cobenefits to salutogenic. We argue that the salutogenic end of the continuum is insufficiently represented in research and as a basis for environmental protection, even though there is growing evidence that the natural environment plays a critical role in blunting adverse effects and promoting human health and well-being. Thus, we advocate for advancing environmental health research through environmental epidemiology that more fully and directly accounts for the salutogenic effects of the natural environment on individual well-being by (1) defining "natural environments" broadly, from pristine natural areas to urban green infrastructure; (2) considering exposure comprehensively to encompass residential, occupational, and recreational settings, local and distant, day-to-day and occasional; (3) doing individual-level assessments that include both health and well-being outcomes and one's experience of nature, including potential mediation by connectedness to nature and individual perceptions and preferences, as well as sociocultural and demographic effect modifiers; and (4) collecting longitudinal and nationally representative data.

Land Planning Authorities and Sustainable Tourism in Zanzibar

The National Land Use Plan (NLUP) sets out the physical planning framework with a perspective to the year 2015. The NLUP also provides a spatial framework for public as well as private sector investment programmes and serves as a basis for environmental protection. The Zanzibar Vision 2020 on the other hand aims to achieve sustainable economic growth averaging 9-10% by the year 2020 by diversifying the economy with the tourism industry which will provide employment opportunities of around 50% compared to 20% in agriculture.Starting from planning permission and ending with enforcement powers, the land planning authorities can therefore, as per the NLUP and Vision 2020, play a significant role in the implementation of sustainable tourism development such as in setting the land use framework in a way that fits the tourism industry. Nevertheless, confrontation between the authorities as well as economic, political and social interference has never escaped the planning system. The same applies between public interest against public participation. In terms of economic growth, sustainable tourism industry has a direct role in revenue and employment. Yet, the tourism industry has faced criticism on environmental damage which is a move away from sustainable tourism industry. In analyzing the Zanzibar‟s practicalities revealing successes and failures of the land planning authorities in the implementation of sustainable tourism development, this study concludes that Zanzibar favors economic sustainability in comparison to ecological sustainability. Hence Zanzibar is recommended to recognize the importance of not only rationalizing the use to which land is put in sustainable tourism development, but even more importantly ensuring that land and resources are stewarded ecologically for present and future generations.

Toxicity of As on Soil Neutral Phosphatase

Toxicity of As on soil neutral phosphatase was studied through a series indoor incubation experiments. Results showed that the activity of soil neutral phosphatase was significantly inhibited by As pollution, and the peak inhibiting ratio was appeared at the sixth incubation day. While the activity of soil neutral phosphatase was also decreased with concentration of As increasing in the same incubation day. The relationship between the concentration of as and soil neutral phosphatase was fit by model ①y=c/(1+bx)and ②y=c(1+ax)(1+bx).The model② was more suitable to describe the relationship between the concentration of As and soil enzyme. This means the effect mechanism of As on the soil neutral phosphatase was part of inhibition. The Km of neutral phosphatase was increase by As concentration adding, while the Vmax was lowered. This kind of inhibition belongs to mix competition inhibition. Phosphatase widely exists in the biological world, from lower organism Escherichia coli, yeast to higher animals and plant tissues, body fluid and human liver, prostate gland are found to have phosphatase exist. It can catalyze the phosphate hydrolysis of elemental and inorganic phosphate release, important enzymes of biological phosphorus metabolism [1-2]. Soil phosphatase is an enzyme that has a major impact on agricultural production, producing an important role in the cycle of soil phosphorus. Research show that phosphatase in soil and aquatic systems of phosphorus, organic phosphorus pesticide contaminated soil bioremediation is very important, so it can be used as material for ecosystem beneficial or deleterious effects of indicator. Therefore, some can be as the instructions of the beneficial or harmful effects of ecosystem biology. Arsenic is widespread nature of toxic heavy metals often pollute the environment with the waste material, pesticides, fertilizers and other. According to the statistics in early 1990s, each year around the world due to human activities the importation of soil arsenic content of 0.52-1.2 million tons, its impact on soil ecosystem is one of the important topics. This experiment which proposed indoor simulation method analysis different concentrations of arsenic contaminated soils of neutral phosphatase activity, to explore the effects of different concentrations of arsenic on soil phosphatase activity of short-term toxicity effect. Analysis of the influence degree and duration, further analysis between the two possible mechanism, provides the basis for environmental protection and monitoring.

Landscapes, identities, and development

Contents: Introduction, Zoran Roca and John A. Agnew Part I Landscape and Identity between Imagery and Reality: Limits to transformation of places' identity: theoretical and methodological questions, Lionella Scazzosi The ineffable, ethereal and evanescent as values of local, national and European identities, Edmunds Valdemars BunkA!e Landscape and national identity in Europe: England versus Italy in the role of landscape identity formation, John Agnew The dual character of landscape in Lahemaa national park, Estonia, Anu Printsmann, Marju KA ivupuu and Hannes Palang Young immigrants and landscape: cultural mediation and territorial creativity, Benedetta Castiglioni, Tania Rossetto and Alessia de Nardi Cultural 'hybridism', identitary anthropophagy and transterritoriality, RogA(c)rio Haesbaert From landscaping to terraforming: gulf mega-projects, cartographic visions and urban imaginaries, Mark Jackson and Veronica della Dora. Part II Landscape History, Heritage and Social Change: European landscapes: continuity and change, Johannes Renes The Brioni archipelago: functional identity of a historical landscape, Ivancica Schrunk and Vlasta Begovic Expanding the European landscape: aqueducts and the Spanish usurpation of MA(c)xico, William E. Doolittle Uncovering a past landscape: Rio de Janeiro in the 17th century, Mauricio de Almeida Abreu Striking roots in soil unknown: post-war transformations of cultural landscape of former German towns in Poland, Barbara Borkowska The cultivated mire landscape as a mirror of Finnish society, Minna Tanskanen Barroso revisited: long-term consequences of emigration on mountain landscape in Northern Portugal, Bodo Freund. Part III Landscape Assets, Resources and Services: From landscape to tourism and back: the emergence of a Greek landscape conscience, Theano S. Terkenli Biodiversity and land abandonment: connecting agriculture, place and nature in the landscape, Ruth Beilin, Regina Lindborg and Cibele Queiroz Natural landscape inside metropolis: example of St Petersburg, Gregory A. Isachenko and Andrey Y. Reznikov The evolving landscape of the Austin-San Antonio corridor, Frederick A. Day and James W. Vaughan Land use changes as basis for environmental protection: the example of the South Moravian region, Czech Republic, Hana SkokanovA! and Tereza StrA!nskA! Assessing sustainability impact of land management with the ecosystem services concept: towards a framework for Mediterranean agroforestry landscapes, Tobias Plieninger and Thanasis Kizos Claiming territorial identity and local development: from wishes to deeds, Zoran Roca, JosA(c) AntA^3nio Oliveira and Maria de NazarA(c) Roca How can the different functions of gardens in suburban areas be evaluated? Towards a framework for an integrated method of evaluating aesthetic, ecological, environmental and economic functions of gardens in suburban areas, Athanasia Mavridou and Thanasis Kizos. Part IV Landscape Research and Development Planning: Research supporting landscape policy: a challenge, Daniel Terrason 'Landscape' as a sign: semiotics and methodological issues in landscape studies, Tor Arnesen 'Participation' between a must and negligence: paradigmatic resistance to landscape impacts of wind industry in Gaspesie (Quebec) and FinistAre (France), Marie-JosA(c) Fortin, Sophie Le Floch and Anne-Sophie Devanne New landscape concerns in the development of renewable energy projects in South-West Spain, Marina Frolova and BelA(c)n PA(c)rez PA(c)rez GIS approach to historical landscape changes: the case for modernization at Lake Biwa in central Japan, Carlos Zeballos, Caroline BorrA(c), Kati LindstrA m and Junzo Uchiyama Beyond regional landscape typologies: a multi-scaled and trans-regional landscape characterization for the federal state of Belgium, Veerle Van Eetvelde and Marc Antrop Back to the future: landscape and planning history as a means to understand modern landscapes, Mattias QvistrA m A new GIS procedure for peri-urban landscape change detection, Enrico Borgogno Mondino, Barbara Drusi and Robert Chiabrando In lieu of conclusion: changing scope and ambitions in landscape concerns, Paul Claval Index.

Using geo-topographic materials for environmental protection

In accordance with the requirements for the protection and development of environment, the usage of spatial data represents a specific need for different kinds of geographical and cartographical information. Theoretical and practical understanding of these requirements, with existing experiences and the use of appropriate standards, help in the process of solving particular ecological problems. In this paper, the analysis (theoretical understanding of the problem) and the comparison of models will try to point out the importance, requirements and possibilities of using existing data from different geo-topographical materials such as charts at different scales in analog as well as digital forms. Sources of information about an area: Cartographic-analytic collecting of spatial information for environmental purposes is carried out mainly from the following sources: satellite images, geographic information systems / Environmental Information Systems (GIS / EIS), Geo-topographic materials in analogue and digital (especially maps) forms and physical measurements of ambient environment. Types of maps which can be used for environmental protection: Base maps are widely used mostly for military purposes. Being highly detailed, these maps can be largely used for the purposes of environmental protection, especially topographic maps of a scale of 1:25 000 to 1:200 000 and 1:250 000. Thematic maps primarily give information on specific locations and specific content. For the purposes of environmental protection and improvement, thematic maps with specific topics are constructed most frequently. Combined maps are specific and they are a combination of base and thematic maps. These are, for example, political, travel, touristic, hydrological, and synoptic maps. Synthetic maps show the results and analysis of data collected. They cannot display all the characteristics or information related to the environment, especially data about complex ecosystems. Conclusion: For the purposes of environmental protection and improvement, the existing geo-topographic materials can be used, especially maps in the analogue and digital form. Based on the content and topics depicted, there are many different types of maps. All maps, especially those with the specific content important for environment, have highly variable characteristics. The geo-topographic materials of different scales and shapes, both in analogue and digital forms, in the Military Geographic Institute (MGI) are a good basis for environmental protection and improvement purposes.

Breaking Patterns of Disease: Early-Life Clues May Predict Long-Term Health

Vol. 118, No. 8 NewsOpen AccessBreaking Patterns of Disease: Early-Life Clues May Predict Long-Term Health M. Nathaniel Mead M. Nathaniel Mead Search for more papers by this author Published:1 August 2010https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.118-2920107AboutSectionsPDF ToolsDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InReddit Modern diseases often seem to occur in isolation, but many are now known to emerge from a complex web or pattern of conditions linked together by certain underlying biological mechanisms and processes. With the help of large disease databases, medical scientists have begun to discern how such patterns occur over the course of a lifetime. A new review focused on developmental immunotoxicology explores how this integrative perspective might inspire novel strategies for lowering the risk and prevalence of immune-based diseases influenced by environmental stimuli [EHP118(8):1091–1099; Dietert et al.].Many chronic diseases share three common features: 1) early-life exposures to chemical agents or pathogens, 2) evidence of immune insult or dysfunction, and 3) the appearance of disease biomarkers in exposed children although disease itself may not manifest until later in life. One example of interlinked disease conditions highlighted by the authors is metabolic syndrome, defined as the co-occurrence of at least three of five conditions: insulin resistance, obesity, high blood pressure, elevated triglycerides, and reduced HDL cholesterol.Immune dysfunction is central to the underlying physiology of metabolic syndrome, and the authors posit that the seeds of such dysfunction may be planted in childhood. They describe pre- and postnatal exposures to environmental risk factors that produce postnatal lipid dysregulation and immune dysfunction. However, it is not yet known whether immune dysfunction is an underlying cause of metabolic syndrome or simply an associated or disease-facilitating characteristic.The practical key to preventing metabolic syndrome may lie in treatments that address overall patterns and their progression, not just the initial presenting condition. “For those patterns of disease with immune involvement,” the authors write, “preventing the underlying immune dysfunction is the single most effective option to minimize the risk of one or more chronic diseases later in life.” This will require more information about risk factors for immune dysfunction that are encountered during development or childhood. Therefore, the authors also recommend that chemicals and pharmaceuticals be tested for developmental immunotoxicity end points; currently, safety assessments are based solely on adult exposures.The authors say patterns of disease can be used to better predict, prevent, and treat diseases associated with an immune-related pattern of diseases, and may also serve as the basis for environmental protection and testing to prevent exposure to developmental immunotoxicants that may contribute to multiple interconnected diseases. But pattern-based evaluation, prevention, and treatment will require a shift from the prevailing single-organ approach to disease classification and management.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Vol. 118, No. 8 August 2010Metrics About Article Metrics Publication History Originally published1 August 2010Published in print1 August 2010 Financial disclosuresPDF download License information EHP is an open-access journal published with support from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health. All content is public domain unless otherwise noted. Note to readers with disabilities EHP strives to ensure that all journal content is accessible to all readers. However, some figures and Supplemental Material published in EHP articles may not conform to 508 standards due to the complexity of the information being presented. If you need assistance accessing journal content, please contact [email protected]. Our staff will work with you to assess and meet your accessibility needs within 3 working days.

A wetland habitat assessment scheme.

The work of Goodrick (1970) documented the loss of wetlands along the New South Wales coast ad highlighted the need for conservation and protective management of remaining valuable wetlands. Throughout the 1970s, growing community awareness of the values of wetlands was increasingly reflected in the gazettal of a number of wetland Nature Reserves and more balanced consideration of development applications potentially affecting wetlands. The 1979 Environmental Planning and Assessment Act provided the legislative basis for environment protection in New South Wales with planning guideline for control at local, regional and state levels. To support the effective implementation of the Act in rural areas, the Department of Environment and Planning published the Rural Land Evaluation Manual (Woodward and Neilson, 1981) which included rudimentary guidelines for the identification of valuable wetlands and urged the compilation of an inventory of wetlands in each local government area. However, the manual stopped short of giving detailed procedures for comparative assessment of specific wetlands.

Geomorphological, pedological, and hydrological characteristics of karst lakes at Conversano (Apulia, southern Italy) as a basis for environmental protection

The land around Conversano (Apulia, southern Italy) is part of the Murge karst, interesting limestones and dolomitic limestones of Upper Cretaceous age, in a flat environment with sub-horizontal setting. Dolines and karst depressions are the most typical landforms in the area. Filling of these landforms with eluvial deposits locally created the possibility of water stagnancy at the surface. The Conversano territory presents ten karst lakes that represented, until some decades ago, the only water resource available for the local people, who built the typical bell-shaped wells to collect water volumes satisfying local needs during the dry season. Currently, these lakes have no great importance as water supplies, but represent habitats of great naturalistic value that are still able to support the ecological functionality and the wet environments with self-vegetation. Hydrological and hydrogeological studies have been carried out with the aim to fully estimate the related environmental problems. For this purpose, the hydrogeologic data of historical time series have been collected and compared to those of the last 5 years; successively, according to the Thornthwaite method, a hydrological monthly balance has been evaluated to quantify the distribution of water volumes interacting annually between the surface water bodies and the underlying carbonate groundwater. This evaluation has highlighted the need to carefully consider all the parameters concurring to a right definition of water balance for a karst environment, where pedological features, climatic conditions and anthropogenic modifications to the environment represent the elements of a very delicate system. Particularly, on the basis of recent soil map and field surveys, a re-evaluation of the available water capacity, estimated in some 40 mm, has been carried out. The studies have highlighted the need to extend the environmental protection rules to larger areas around the lakes, e.g. at the catchment scale, with definition of buffer zones; in this manner, it will be possible to constantly monitor the protected land and the local anthropogenic activities, that represent real polluting sources for both the surface water resources and the underlying carbonate groundwaters.

The seashore sedges of the Russian Kola Peninsula: How many species?

A necessary basis for environmental protection is thorough knowledge of the biodiversity to be protected. Setting conservation priorities in taxonomically complex groups is an especially difficult task. The seashore sedges of the Carex salina group (Cyperaceae) of the Russian White and Barents Seas form important parts of the coastal ecosystems and include species listed as rare and endangered. However, their taxonomy is poorly understood and supposed to be blurred by hybridization, also including the closely related C. aquatilis and possibly other species of sect. Phacocystis ( C. bigelowii, C. nigra s. lat.). We address the taxonomic situation in the C. salina group in the Kola Peninsula with emphasis on taxa of supposed hybrid origin ( C. salina and C. recta coll.). We analyzed 92 plants from 28 sites for 101 amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) and 10 morphological characters. The plants referred to three supposedly “pure” species ( C. aquatilis, C. paleacea and C. subspathacea) formed different extreme parts of the morphological and molecular variation. These species could be discriminated by a combination of morphological characters. The two taxa of proposed hybrid origin had extremely variable morphology and could not be clearly distinguished from each other or from the supposedly “pure” species. Our results demonstrate extensive gene flow between all taxa, suggesting that the entire C. salina group including C. aquatilis acts as a single large biological species.

Environmental risk assessment of heavy metal extractability in a biosludge from the biological wastewater treatment plant of a pulp and paper mill

A five-stage sequential extraction procedure was used to fractionate heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Pb, Cr, Zn, Fe, Mn, Ni, Co, As, V and Ba) in a biosludge from the biological wastewater treatment plant of Stora Enso Oyj Veitsiluoto Mills at Kemi, Northern Finland, into the following fractions: (1) water-soluble fraction, (2) exchangeable fraction, (3) easily reduced fraction, (4) oxidizable fraction, and (5) residual fraction. The biosludge investigated in this study is a combination of sludge from the primary and secondary clarifiers at the biological wastewater treatment plant. Extraction stages (2)-(4) follow the protocol proposed by the Measurements and Testing Program (formerly BCR Programme) of the European Commission, which is based on acetic acid extraction (stage 2), hydroxylamine hydrochloride extraction (stage 3), and hydrogen peroxide digestion following the ammonium acetate extraction (stage 4). The residual fraction (stage 5) was based on digestion of the residue from stage 4 in a mixture of HF + HNO3 + HCl. Although metals were extractable in all fractions, the highest concentrations of most of the metals occurred in the residual fraction. From the environmental point of view, it was notable that the total heavy metal concentrations in the biosludge did not exceed the maximal allowable heavy metal concentrations for sewage sludge used in agriculture, set on the basis of environmental protection of soil by European Union Directive 86/278/EEC, and by the Finnish legislation. The Ca (98.6 g kg(-1); dry weight) and Mg (2.2 g kg(-1); dry weight) concentrations in the biosludge were 62 and 11 times higher than the typical values of 1.6 and of 0.2 g kg(-1) (dry weight), respectively, in arable land in Central Finland. The biosludge had a slightly alkaline pH ( approximately 8.30), a high loss-on-ignition value ( approximately 78%) and a liming effect of 10.3% expressed as Ca equivalents (dry weight). This indicates its potential as a soil conditioner and improvement agent, as well as a pH buffer.

Ecological Conditions of Agricultural Land Use in Transcarpathia

The unbalanced anthropogenic effects for several decades resulted in significant technogen damages in the ecosystem of Ukraine. Excessive land development, including the use of slopes, effected the disintegration of the natural balance of lands – arable-lands, meadows, forests, and watershed areas – producing quite a negative effect on the landscape’s nature itself. It has to be stressed that according to other indexes, too, agricultural lands show a tendentious deterioration.Erosion, caused by water and wind, is one of the most influential factors in the degradation of agricultural soils and in the reduction of the productiveness of benefital lands. Nowadays the degree erosion became significant and it directly endangers the existence of the soil which is a principal chain-link of the agricultural cultivation as well as an irreplaceable element of the biosphere.The social and political changes in Ukraine’s life demand fundamental modernization in the land utilization both in ecological and in economical aspects. However, these aims can be realized only if, during the developments, we base on the up-to-date results of agronomics, and we do further research in the relations of agricultural land use and environmental protection. According to the latest theories, rational and environmental-safe agricultural production relates to the optimum correlation of the natural- and agricultural- ecosystems as well as to the reconstruction of agricultural areas built on the basis of environmental protection.

Environmental information system as the basis of environmental protection in Serbia

A real system of environmental protection did not exist up until now, but for a gathering of more or less autonomous and mutually nonharmonized department systems — politics of particular areas. Just after the “Introduction (Law) of Environment Protection in Serbia,” this problem has been approached systematically, and state quality and environment managing has been established and done within the framework of a unique information system. In this way, a legal system base has been set, but its realisation demands the establishment of operative instruments and mechanisms.