Major Anthropogenic Activities Research Articles

Comparative study on air quality status in Indian and Chinese cities before and during the COVID-19 lockdown period.

Amidst COVID-19 pandemic, extreme steps have been taken by countries globally. Lockdown enforcement has emerged as one of the mitigating measures to reduce the community spread of the virus. With a reduction in major anthropogenic activities, a visible improvement in air quality has been recorded in urban centres. Hazardous air quality in countries like India and China leads to high mortality rates from cardiovascular diseases. The present article deals with 6 megacities in India and 6 cities in Hubei province, China, where strict lockdown measures were imposed. The real-time concentration of PM2.5 and NO2 were recorded at different monitoring stations in the cities for 3 months, i.e. January, February, and March for China and February, March, and April for India. The concentration data is converted into AQI according to US EPA parameters and the monthly and weekly averages are calculated for all the cities. Cities in China and India after 1 week of lockdown recorded an average drop in AQIPM2.5 and AQINO2 of 11.32% and 48.61% and 20.21% and 59.26%, respectively. The results indicate that the drop in AQINO2 was instantaneous as compared with the gradual drop in AQIPM2.5. The lockdown in China and India led to a final drop in AQIPM2.5 of 45.25% and 64.65% and in AQINO2 of 37.42% and 65.80%, respectively. This study will assist the policymakers in devising a pathway to curb down air pollutant concentration in various urban cities by utilising the benchmark levels of air pollution.

Striking centennial-scale changes in the population size of a threatened seabird.

Many animal populations are under stress and declining. For numerous marine bird species, only recent or sparse monitoring data are available, lacking the appropriate temporal perspective needed to consider natural, long-term population dynamics when developing conservation strategies. Here, we use a combination of established palaeoenvironmental approaches to examine the centennial-scale dynamics of the world's largest colony (representing approx. 50% of the global population) of the declining and vulnerable Leach's Storm-petrel (Hydrobates leucorhous). By reconstructing the last approximately 1700 years of the colony's population trends, we corroborate recent surveys indicating rapid declines since the 1980s. More surprisingly, however, was that the colony size was smaller and has changed strikingly in the past, even prior to the introduction of human stressors. Our results challenge notions that very large colonies are generally stable in the absence of anthropogenic pressures and speak to an increasingly pressing need to better understand inter-colony movement and recruitment when inferring range- and species-wide trends. While the recently documented decline in storm-petrels clearly warrants conservation concern, we show that colony size was consistently much lower in the past and changed markedly in the absence of major anthropogenic activity. In response, we emphasize the need for enlarged protected area networks to maintain natural population cycles, coupled with continued research to identify the driver(s) of the current global seabird decline.

Preliminary study on diversity of intertidal gastropods in Barangay Day-asan, Surigao City, Philippines

Unregulated harvesting and habitat degradation of marine gastropods are major anthropogenic activities done by the local people in Barangay Day-asan, Surigao City, Philippines. This study was undertaken to determine the diversity of marine gastropods found in the intertidal of Dapya Island. Collection of specimens was done through hand picking and beachcombing methods in the three established study stations. Data revealed a total of 184 individuals belonging to 37 species in 5 orders, 15 families and 25 genera. The order Neogastropoda obtained the highest number of species with 15 species, followed by order Mesogastropoda with 10 species, order Archaeogastropoda with 7 species, order Neritopsina with 4 species and order Caenogastropoda. Among the 37 species, Nerita undata was the most abundant. Shannon-Weiner diversity index revealed that station 2 (H=1.193) obtained the highest species diversity, followed by station 3 (H= 1.103) and station 1 (H=1.063). The Bray-Curtis analysis of species composition showed two different clusters of habitat. Cluster 1 is composed of two related habitats joined by Stations 1 and 2 with Si= 54.26% and cluster 2 composed of Stations 3 and 1 with Si= 40.65%. Furthermore, among the 37 species, six of which were concordant in all study stations viz., Angaria delphinus, Astralium calcar, Conus miles, Lambis lambis, Euprotomus bulla and Canarium labiatum. The results of the study showed a low diversity of intertidal gastropods in Barangay Day-asan. The area is known to be the most gleaned by locals and it is been already disturbed due to overharvesting of gastropod species.

Geospatial distribution of heavy metal contamination in Ewekoro Limestone, SW Nigeria

Limestone exploration has numerous advantage to the nation’s economy. However, major anthropogenic activities such as mining of such mineral deposits causes environmental contamination due to heavy metals pollution. The presence of heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic can interfere with the biochemical pathways by interaction with enzymes and proteins. They equally have the capacity to alter the DNA repair mechanism and act as the inducers of carcinogenesis. The focus of the research is therefore to detect the extent of heavy metals contaminations within the sampled Ewekoro limestone, southwestern Nigeria and to ascertain the risks they posed to the quarry workers, miners and the people residing in the study area.

Gandhi as an Environmentalist.

Gandhi as an Environmentalist.

Spectroscopic and Voltammetric Analysis of Platinum Group Metals in Road Dust and Roadside Soil

The emission of toxic compounds by increasing anthropogenic activities affects human health and the environment. Heavy road traffic and mining activities are the major anthropogenic activities contributing to the presence of metals in the environment. The release of palladium (Pd), platinum (Pt), and rhodium (Rh) into the environment increases the levels of contamination in soils, road sediments, airborne particles, and plants. These Pd, Pt, and Rh in road dusts can be soluble and enter aquatic environment posing a risk to environment and human health. The aim of this study is to determine the levels of Pd, Pt, and Rh with spectroscopy and voltammetric methods. Potential interferences by other metal ions (Na(I), Fe(III), Ni(II), Co(II)) in voltammetric methods have also been investigated in this study. At all the sampling sites very low concentrations of Pd, Pt, and Rh were found at levels that range from 0.48 ± 0.05 to 5.44 ± 0.11 ng/g (dry weight (d.wt)) for Pd(II), with 17.28 ± 3.12 to 81.44 ± 3.07 pg/g (d.wt) for Pt(II), and 14.34 ± 3.08 to 53.35 ± 4.07 pg/g (d.wt) for Rh(III). The instrumental limit of detection for Pd, Pt, and Rh for Inductively Coupled Plasma Quadrupole-based Mass Spectrometry (ICP-QMS) analysis was found to be 3 × 10−6 µg/g, 3 × 10−6 µg/g and 1 × 10−6 µg/g, respectively. In the case of voltammetric analysis the instrumental limit of detection for Pd(II), Pt(II), and Rh(III) for differential pulse adsorptive stripping voltammetry was found to be 7 × 10−8 µg/g, 6 × 10−8 µg/g, and 2 × 10−7 µg/g, respectively. For the sensor application, good precision was obtained due to consistently reproduced the measurements with a reproducibility of 6.31% for Pt(II), 7.58% for Pd(II), and 5.37% for Rh(III) (n = 10). The reproducibility for ICP-QMS analysis were 1.58% for Pd(II), 1.12% for Pt(II), and 1.37% for Rh(III) (n = 5). In the case of repeatability for differential pulse adsorptive stripping voltammetry (DPAdSV) and ICP-QMS, good standard deviations of 0.01 for Pd(II); 0.02 for Pt(II), 0.009 for Rh(III) and 0.011 for Pd, 0.019 for Pt and 0.013 for Rh, respectively.

Anthropogenic impacts on the water quality of Aba River, southeast Nigeria

A stretch of Aba River, southeast Nigeria was studied in four stations from November 2014 to August 2015 to identify the major anthropogenic activities and their impact on the water quality. A number of major anthropogenic activities were identified; some were regular and persistent such as washing of clothes, rugs/carpets and cars as well as effluents and wastes from abattoir. Dredging was observed as a one-time anthropogenic activity during this study with its associated impacts. The identified anthropogenic and other salient activities in the watershed have individually and cumulatively impacted on the water quality of Aba River. Some of the water quality parameters had elevated values but the most affected were turbidity (6.8 – 321NTU/FEPA, 10NTU), phosphate (2.3 – 79.8mg/l/FEPA, 5mg/l) and nitrate (7.4 – 79.8mg/l/FEPA, 20mg/l). These observed impacts on the water quality have directly or indirectly affected the ecological, domestic and other uses of the river. Many residents cannot use the water for drinking, cooking, industrial or aquaculture purposes.Keywords: Physico-chemical parameters, Watershed, Cumulative impact

Application of Multivariate Statistical Analysis in Evaluation of Surface River Water Quality of a Tropical River

The present study evaluated the spatial variations of surface water quality in a tropical river using multivariate statistical techniques, including cluster analysis (CA) and principal component analysis (PCA). Twenty physicochemical parameters were measured at 30 stations along the Batang Baram and its tributaries. The water quality of the Batang Baram was categorized as “slightly polluted” where the chemical oxygen demand and total suspended solids were the most deteriorated parameters. The CA grouped the 30 stations into four clusters which shared similar characteristics within the same cluster, representing the upstream, middle, and downstream regions of the main river and the tributaries from the middle to downstream regions of the river. The PCA has determined a reduced number of six principal components that explained 83.6% of the data set variance. The first PC indicated that the total suspended solids, turbidity, and hydrogen sulphide were the dominant polluting factors which is attributed to the logging activities, followed by the five-day biochemical oxygen demand, total phosphorus, organic nitrogen, and nitrate-nitrogen in the second PC which are related to the discharges from domestic wastewater. The components also imply that logging activities are the major anthropogenic activities responsible for water quality variations in the Batang Baram when compared to the domestic wastewater discharge.

Communities of saprobic fungi on leaf litter of Vismia guianensis in remnants of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

We examined the mycobiota associated with Vismia guianensis leaf litter in three Atlantic Forest remnants of Brazil’s semiarid region. Among the study sites, two remnants were protected forest reserves, whereas the third was influenced by major anthropogenic activities. Eighteen litter samples were collected in wet and dry seasons and were processed by particle filtration technique. A total of 4750 fungal isolates of 142 taxa were identified. Species richness was higher in litter samples collected during wet season. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling multivariate analysis showed differences in the composition of fungal communities among the sampling sites and the seasons. Analysis of similarity showed that the differences were statistically significant (R = 0.85; P = 0.0001). Our findings revealed that spatial and temporal heterogeneity, and human activities had significant impacts on the saprobic fungi of V. guianensis leaf litter.

A Water Framework Directive-compatible metric for assessing acidification in UK and Irish rivers using diatoms

Freshwater acidification continues to be a major problem affecting large areas of Europe, and while there is evidence for chemical recovery, similar evidence for biological recovery of freshwaters is sparse. The need for a methodology to identify waterbodies impacted acidification and to assess the extent of biological recovery is relevant to the EU Water Framework Directive, which requires methods to quantify differences in biology between impacted and unimpacted or reference sites. This study presents a new WFD-compliant metric based on diatoms (Diatom Acidification Metric: DAM) for assessing the acidification status of rivers. A database of 558 benthic diatom samples and associated water chemistry data was assembled. Diatom taxa were assigned to one of 5 indicator classes on the basis of their pH optimum, assessed using Gaussian logistic regression, and these indicator values used to calculate a DAM score for each site using weighted averaging. Reference sites were selected on the basis of their acid neutralising capacity (ANC) and calcium concentration, and a regression model developed to predict expected DAM for each site using pH and total organic carbon (TOC) concentration. Site-specific DAM scores were used to calculate ecological quality ratios ranging from ≥1, where the diatom assemblage showed no impact, to (theoretically) 0, when the diatom assemblage was indicative of major anthropogenic activities. The boundary between ‘high’ and ‘good’ status was defined as the 25th percentile of Ecological Quality Ratios (EQRs) of all reference sites. The boundary between ‘good’ and ‘moderate’ status was set at the point at which nutrient-sensitive and nutrient-tolerant taxa were present in equal relative abundance. The methodology was evaluated using long-term data from 11 sites from the UK Uplands Waters Monitoring Network and is shown to perform well in discriminating naturally acid from acidified sites.

Prey density in non-breeding areas affects adult survival of black-legged kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla

In migratory birds, environmental conditions in both breeding and non-breeding areas may affect adult survival rates and hence be significant drivers of demographic processes. In seabirds, poor knowledge of their true distribution outside the breeding season, however, has severely limited such studies. This study explored how annual adult survival rates of black-legged kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla on Hornoya in the southern Barents Sea were related to temporal vari- ation in prey densities and climatic parameters in their breeding and non-breeding areas. We used information on the kittiwakes' spatiotemporal distribution in the non-breeding season gained from year-round light-based tracking devices (geolocators) and satellite transmitters, and kittiwake annual adult survival rates gained from a multistate capture-mark-recapture analysis of a 22 yr time series of colour-ringed kittiwakes. In the post-breeding period, kittiwakes concen- trated in an area east of Svalbard, in the winter they stayed in the Grand Banks/Labrador Sea area, and in the pre-breeding period they returned to the Barents Sea. We identified 2 possible prey categories of importance for the survival of kittiwakes in these areas (sea butterflies Theco- somata in the Grand Banks/Labrador Sea area in winter and capelin Mallotus villosus in the Bar- ents Sea in the pre-breeding season) that together explained 52% of the variation in adult survival rates. Our results may have important implications for the conservation of kittiwakes, which are declining globally, because other populations use the same areas. Since they are under the influ- ence of major anthropogenic activities including fisheries, international shipping and the offshore oil and gas industry, both areas should be targeted for future management plans.

Applying the Soil Water Assessment Tool to 5th Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown

A hydrologic and water quality model is sought to establish an approach to land management decisions for a Canadian Army training base. Training areas are subjected to high levels of persistent activity creating unique land cover and land-use disturbances. Deforestation, complex road networks, off-road manoeuvres, and vehicle stream crossings are among major anthropogenic activities observed to affect these landscapes. Expanding, preserving and improving the quality of these areas to host training activities for future generations is critical to maintain operational effectiveness. Inclusive to this objective is minimizing resultant environmental degradation, principally in the form of hydrologic fluctuations, excess erosion, and sedimentation of aquatic environments. Application of the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was assessed for its ability to simulate hydrologic and water quality conditions observed in military landscapes at 5th Canadian Division Support Base (5 CDSB) Gagetown, New Brunswick. Despite some limitations, this model adequately simulated three partial years of daily watershed outflow (NSE = 0.47–0.79, R2 = 0.50–0.88) and adequately predicted suspended sediment yields during the observation periods (%d = 6–47%) for one highly disturbed sub-watershed in Gagetown. Further development of this model may help guide decisions to develop or decommission training areas, guide land management practices and prioritize select landscape mitigation efforts.

Arsenic within the secondary environment resulting from geogenic inputs, Harlech Dome, United Kingdom

There has been a growing awareness of As in the environment due to both anthropogenic and geogenic loading. This study quantifies the presence of As in river water, river sediment and groundwater within the Harlech Dome region of the UK, an area underlain by Cambro–Ordovician aged mineralization. Published data regarding As levels in UK groundwater are relatively rare compared to elsewhere. Arsenic levels in groundwater (0.1–18 µg l−1) and river sediment (1.5–142 mg kg−1) exceed environmental quality guidelines and indicate the release of As into the secondary environment from predominantly geogenic sources. Modelling of dissolved As speciation using ORP–pH diagrams predicts the presence of As in both arsenate (As5+) and arsenous acid (As3+) species, which possess differing solubilities and mobilities. Calculation of enrichment factors (EFs) for As in river sediments, using Al as a reference element, indicates highest EFs, and therefore As release, occurs in streams draining the Coed-y-Brenin region in the south-east of the Harlech Dome. This area is underlain by an as yet unexploited porphyry copper deposit. Data indicate that the presence of potentially harmful elements within the environment may occur with or without the presence of major anthropogenic activity.

Irrigation as an important factor in species distribution models

Species distribution models (SDMs) that employ climatic variables are widely used to predict potential distribution of invasive species. However, climatic variables derived from climate datasets do not account for anthropogenic influences on microclimate. Irrigation is a major anthropogenic activity that influences microclimate conditions and alters the distribution of species in anthropogenic landuses. SDM-based studies appear to ignore the effects of irrigation on microclimatic conditions. This study incorporated irrigation as a correction to precipitation data, to improve the predictive capacity of SDM. As a case study, we examined a SDM of Wasmannia auropunctata, an invasive species that originates in South and Central America, which has invaded tropical and subtropical regions around the world. The potential distribution of W. auropunctata was predicted using Maxent. The model was built based on climatic variables and species records from non-irrigated sites in the native range and then projected on a global scale. Invasive species records were used to evaluate the performance of the model. Precipitation-related variables were modified to approximate actual water input in irrigated areas. Precipitation correction relied on an estimate of irrigation inputs. The model with irrigation correction performed better than the corresponding model without correction, on a global scale and when it was examined in five different geographical regions of the model. These results demonstrate the importance of irrigation correction for assessing the distribution of W. auropunctata in various geographical regions. Accounting for irrigation is expected to improve SDMs for a variety of species.

Hydrological and anthropogenic influence in the Gilgel Gibe I reservoir (Ethiopia) on macroinvertebrate assemblages

The Gilgel Gibe reservoir, which was built to fulfill the energy demand and the electricity export ambitions of Ethiopia, was characterized by low macroinvertebrate diversity mainly due to water level fluctuations, trampling of the littoral zone by cattle, nutrient input, and siltation from the catchment flow. The downstream river system was also affected by the dam due to a strongly decreased discharge as the water is diverted to Gilgel Gibe II hydropower plant through a 25 km underground tunnel. The study was based on seasonal macroinvertebrate sampling, water quality analyses, measurement of daily water level fluctuation, and recording of major anthropogenic activities. Hierarchical cluster analysis and canonical correspondence analysis were performed to determine relationships between the macroinvertebrate community composition and the environmental variables in the reservoir. The cluster analysis, Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA, and MANOVA permutation tests, revealed that differences in physicochemical water quality parameters and ecological quality metrics based on macroinvertebrates existed between the samples taken during periods with low, medium, and high water level seasons. Remedial actions could be important at basin and reservoir level to solve the identified problems and to improve the ecological water quality.

Spatio-seasonal physico-chemistry of Aiba stream, Iwo, Nigeria

Seasonal variation of some physico-chemical parameters of Aiba stream at four locations was assessed in this study. Over the years, the stream has been subjected to various human interferences and water quality was getting deteriorated gradually. Major anthropogenic activities practiced in and around the river are as follows: irrigation activities, car wash, artificial pond, washing cloths and utensils, spiritual bathing, discharge of domestic waste etc. All these constitute serious threat to the aquatic biota and thereby alter the physico-chemical and biological concentration of the river. The physico-chemical parameters were determined using parameters were determined using standard literature methods. The pH, water temperature, sulphate, phosphate, total alkalinity/bicarbonate levels indicate moderate quality of water. Electrical conductivity was above the maximum allowable limit in dry season. Dissolved oxygen and nitrate levels were slightly above maximum allowable limit for aquatic biota. Biological oxygen demand (BOD) level indicates the absence of major organic pollution sources. The t-test calculated for seasonal variation shows that, of all the parameters studied, only temperature was significant at P < 0.05. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) for all the locations revealed that all the parameters studies were not significant at P < 0.05. The nutrient levels in the river system is a warning signal of eutrophication, hence the pollution level has to be checked. It is therefore recommended that periodical assessment of both physico-chemical and microbial analysis of the area should be carried out, as this would be helpful in early detection of any future degradation. Keywords : Water quality, nutrients, Aiba stream, physico-chemistry, pollution African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(14), pp. 1630-1635

Can Wetland Vegetation be Used to Describe Anthropogenic Effects and Pollution Patterns? The Case of Dakodwom and Kaase Wetlands in the Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana

&lt;p&gt;Wetlands in general are losing their peculiar features, attributes, functions and products although the need to protect them is on the increase globally. Wetlands in Kumasi are not exempted. They are either being converted to other land uses or are directly affected by adjacent land use. Also, the vegetation of the different wetlands in Kumasi varies. This spatial heterogeneity in species of these urban spaces therefore makes management difficult. This research is therefore aimed at using the wetland vegetation to describe anthropogenic effects and pollution patterns in the Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana. Two large riverine wetland areas in Kumasi were selected. All plant species that are within 30 m from water channel were identified. Heavy metal concentrations and the associated anthropogenic activities in these wetlands were assessed. A total of 48 different plant species were identified in the study areas. Plant species with high importance value index observed at the sites included Ipomoea aquatica, Thalia geniculata, Ipomoea carica, Panicum maximum and Andropogon gayanus. Housing, vegetable farming and car repair shops were the major anthropogenic activities around these wetland areas. Also, all the heavy metals considered in this study were all present in both study sites. The very close similarity in the list of species identified makes it difficult to use vegetation to describe pollution. However, the adjacent anthropogenic activities are the sources of the pollutants and these activities also influence the vegetation.&lt;/p&gt;

Emerging pattern of anthropogenic NOX emission over Indian subcontinent during 1990s and 2000s

The fossil fuel and bio–fuel burning in a developing country like India can have a significant impact on global climate. In the current work, we have set–up a more realistic, accurate and spatially distributed, all India, NOX emissions from different fuel combustion and industrial activities at 1°×1° grid resolution by incorporating the most recently available micro–level activity data as well as country specific emission factors (EFs) at high resolution. The emission scenarios and their trends are studied in a comprehensive way for approximately 593 districts (sub–region) in India. We have developed three scenarios to construct the possible range of past and present NOX emissions using Geographical Information System (GIS) based methodology. The total NOX emissions are estimated to be 2 952 Giga gram (Gg)/yr, 4 487 Gg/yr and 7 583 Gg/yr for three different base years, i.e., 1991, 2001 and 2011. NOX emission trends in India during 1990s and 2000s due to different major anthropogenic activities are estimated and their growth is discussed. A strong growth of NOX is found during 2000s as compared to 1990s. All major cities remain as top emitters of NOX. The present work depicts that the contribution of fossil fuel will gradually increase in coming years and will be around 91% by 2011. The present new gridded emission inventory will be very useful as an input to Chemical Transport Modeling study over Indian geography.

Mismatch between fish landings and market trends: A western European case study

As an island nation, Ireland is connected to and responsible for the seas that surround it. Fishing has historically been one of the major anthropogenic activities linking Irish society to the marine environment. Deriving an approach from historical ecology, we investigated temporal patterns in the diversity of seafood landed, traded and marketed in Ireland by collating long-term datasets acquired from government sources and through conducting contemporary product surveys. Our findings suggest that consumer preferences have not adapted to changes in local resource supply. From the beginning of the 20th century, Irish landings of some of the traditionally most important seafood products have gradually grown, then sharply declined within the most recent 10–20 years, but access to ample supply appears to have been maintained in the Irish marketplace. Our results indicate that this trend has been concealed from consumers through import, aquaculture production and mislabelling. Future intentions of responsible management must incorporate policy implementation and enforcement, consumer education and industry transparency.

Carbon flow pattern in the forest zones of Nigeria as influenced by land use change

Forest in Nigeria plays a much wider role in the overall balance of issues affecting the country than those of climate change alone. Nigeria’s tropical forest is depleting fast, due largely to uncontrolled human activities. Poverty, urbanization, population growth and insecurity are the major causes of this trend. Tracking carbon flow in these forest life zones will help account for the effect of these activities on the environment. COPATH, an acronym for Total Carbon Flow from Conversion to Agriculture, Pasture, Harvest and OTHER land-uses including construction of dams, roads, forest fires and human settlement, etc., was used for tracking carbon flow in the forest zones. From the five forest life zones, total carbon stored was estimated to be 2.55 TgC. The four activities of agriculture, harvest, pasture and bush burning were pronounced in contributions to land use changes, particularly to forest depletion. In this paper it is shown that carbon emission was highest from harvesting activity in year 2000, principally from clear-cutting activity in the lowland rainforest as against that of 1990 study, which showed agricultural activity as the major anthropogenic activity leading to carbon release into the atmosphere. Further, it is shown that the value of carbon emission is on the increase as compared to the earlier study with 1990 as the base year. During the two periods of study, it was however, observed that the relative contribution of each of the activities that are responsible for deforestation and affects carbon flow pattern in the forest zones and invariably causes carbon emission had not changed. Though a look at the fractional contribution of each of these activities in 2000 as against that of 1990 estimates shows a marked change. The study also concludes that if there is no change in the estimated deforestation rate of 2.23% per annum of the forest formations, lowland rainforest and riparian forests are likely to disappear by 2040.