Legacy halogenated organic contaminants in urban-influenced waters using passive polyethylene samplers: Emerging evidence of anthropogenic land-use-based sources and ecological risks

The objectives relating to the optimization of the environment conservation involve the determination of biotope sensibility, valuation and forecasting of the landscape sustainable development and excessive anthropogenic loads, assessment of ecological risks and possible adverse consequences, analysis of conflicts, choice of methods for protection and development of the territory, determination of proportions between the agricultural lands and priority trends in land use, compromise decision-making and elaboration of methods to bring in correspondence the interests of land owners. These tasks are solved on the basis of landscape functional analysis. The major ecological functions are the following: bioecological (biotopic and biocenotic, bioproduced, bioenergetic, biogeochemical, concentrated, oxidation-reduced, destructed, activated-inhibited, sanitary); atmospheric (gaseous, heat exchanged, hydroatmospheric); lithospheric (relief-forming, lithological); hydrological and hydrogeological ones. Based upon the identification and assessment of ecological functions of landscapes the social-economic functions are determined to meet the requirements of the human society.

Download Full-text

Impacts of changes in land use and land cover on atmospheric chemistry and air quality over the 21st century

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions ◽

10.5194/acpd-11-15469-2011 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. 15469-15495 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

S. Wu ◽

L. J. Mickley ◽

J. O. Kaplan ◽

D. J. Jacob

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Air Quality ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Land Cover ◽

21St Century ◽

Secondary Organic Aerosols ◽

Surface Ozone ◽

Organic Aerosols ◽

Ozone Concentrations ◽

Anthropogenic Land Use

Abstract. The effects of future land use and land cover change on the chemical composition of the atmosphere and air quality are largely unknown. To investigate the potential effects associated with future changes in vegetation driven by atmospheric CO2 concentrations, climate, and anthropogenic land use over the 21st century, we performed a series of model experiments combining a general circulation model with a dynamic global vegetation model and an atmospheric chemical-transport model. Our results indicate that climate- and CO2-induced changes in vegetation composition and density could lead to decreases in summer afternoon surface ozone of up to 10 ppb over large areas of the northern mid-latitudes. This is largely driven by the substantial increases in ozone dry deposition associated with changes in the composition of temperate and boreal forests where conifer forests are replaced by those dominated by broadleaf tree types, as well as a CO2-driven increase in vegetation density. Climate-driven vegetation changes over the period 2000–2100 lead to general increases in isoprene emissions, globally by 15 % in 2050 and 36 % in 2100. These increases in isoprene emissions result in decreases in surface ozone concentrations where the NOx levels are low, such as in remote tropical rainforests. However, over polluted regions, such as the northeastern United States, ozone concentrations are calculated to increase with higher isoprene emissions in the future. Increases in biogenic emissions also lead to higher concentrations of secondary organic aerosols, which increase globally by 10 % in 2050 and 20 % in 2100. Surface concentrations of secondary organic aerosols are calculated to increase by up to 1 μg m−3 for large areas in Eurasia. When we use a scenario of future anthropogenic land use change, we find less increase in global isoprene emissions due to replacement of higher-emitting forests by lower-emitting cropland. The global atmospheric burden of secondary organic aerosols changes little by 2100 when we account for future land use change, but both secondary organic aerosols and ozone show large regional changes at the surface.

Download Full-text

Impact Imposed by Urbanization on Soil Heavy Metal Content of Lake Wetland and Evaluation of Ecological Risks in East Dongting Lake in China

10.21203/rs.3.rs-339557/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yang Lin ◽

Kai Luo ◽

Zilin Su ◽

Yang Wu ◽

Wei Xiao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Heavy Metals ◽

Heavy Metal ◽

Land Use ◽

Metal Content ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Research Area ◽

Dongting Lake ◽

Heavy Metal Content ◽

Ecological Risks ◽

Positive Correlation

Abstract The urbanization is regarded as the major factor related to human activities that may interfere with the natural ecosystem. In this study, we have selected the wetland of East Dongting Lake as the research area. We have collected 180 soil samples (within the range of 0–20 cm, and 20cm-40cm), and we have measured the contents of their physicochemical properties (including salinity, pH value, soil particle composition, soil organic carbon, nitrate nitrogen and rapidly available phosphorus) as well as heavy metal elements (including As, Hg, Cd, Pb, Ni and Cr). We have adopted the methods of multivariate statistical analysis and inverse distance weighted (IDW) interpolation, so as to to reveal the sources and distribution characteristics of heavy metal content in soil in the research area. By adopting the potential ecological risk index (PERI) method proposed by Hakanson, we intend to assess the PERI values of heavy metals. Our research findings have shown that: (1) 8 sorts of heavy metals have shown positive correlation with each other. As, Hg and Zn have shown a significantly positive correlation with SOC (P < 0.01); As, Ni, Cr and Zn have shown a significantly positive correlation with AP (P < 0.01); As and Pb have shown a significantly positive correlation with Clay (P < 0.01); whereas Hg and Zn have shown a significantly negative correlation with Silt (P < 0.01); As and Pb have shown a significantly negative correlation with Sand (P < 0.01). (2) During urbanization, the elements of Cd, Ni, As, Hg and Pb might be enriched due to agricultural and industrial activities, whereas the use of fertilizers and pesticides constitute one of the major factors contributing to the increase of Cd and Pb contents in soil. (3) Influenced by the varying land patterns and with exception to Cu, the Fe-normalized concentrations have shown significant variations among different types of land use (P < 0.05). Specifically, there is a significantly higher level of Cd, Zn, Pb and Hg contents in the agricultural land than other types of land use, whereas there is a slightly higher level of heavy metal content in the mudflats than that in the grassland. In addition, the content of heavy metals in woodland remains relatively stable, and with exception to As, the content of heavy metals in woodland is the lowest among the five types of land. (4) The average value of the comprehensive PERI in heavy metals amounts to 555.03, representing a strong degree of ecological risks. Specifically, the proportion of sampling points of Cd that have a high level of ecological risks amounts to 36.51%, which is the primary element contributing to heavy metal pollution in the region, especially in the agricultural land.

Download Full-text

Fire and Parasites: An Under-Recognized Form of Anthropogenic Land Use Change and Mechanism of Disease Exposure

EcoHealth ◽

10.1007/s10393-015-1024-5 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 398-403 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

John Derek Scasta

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Anthropogenic Land Use Change ◽

Disease Exposure ◽

Anthropogenic Land Use

Download Full-text

Anthropogenic Land Use and Land-Cover Change

Ecological Climatology ◽

10.1017/cbo9781107339200.029 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 523-562

Author(s):

Gordon Bonan

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Land Cover ◽

Land Cover Change ◽

Anthropogenic Land Use

Download Full-text

Anthropogenic land‒use impacts on the size structure of macroinvertebrate assemblages are jointly modulated by local conditions and spatial processes

Environmental Research ◽

10.1016/j.envres.2021.112055 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 204 ◽

pp. 112055

Author(s):

Jorge García‒Girón ◽

Kimmo T. Tolonen ◽

Janne Soininen ◽

Henna Snåre ◽

Virpi Pajunen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Size Structure ◽

Land Use Impacts ◽

Spatial Processes ◽

Local Conditions ◽

Macroinvertebrate Assemblages ◽

Anthropogenic Land Use

Download Full-text

Advances in Understanding Landscape Influences on Freshwater Habitats and Biological Assemblages

Advances in Understanding Landscape Influences on Freshwater Habitats and Biological Assemblages ◽

10.47886/9781934874561.ch17 ◽

2019 ◽

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Fish Assemblage ◽

Fish Assemblages ◽

Urban Land ◽

Urban Land Use ◽

Stream Fish ◽

Landscape Variables ◽

Stream Fish Assemblages ◽

Anthropogenic Land Use ◽

Assemblage Metrics

<i>Abstract.</i>—Anthropogenic activities including urbanization, agriculture, and dams degrade stream habitats and are a dominant reason for global biodiversity declines in fluvial fish assemblages. Declining diversity trends have been well documented in many regions of the world; however, fishes vary regionally in response to anthropogenic land use, resulting from complex relationships between landscape variables and mechanisms controlling stream fish assemblages. To test for differences in regional fish response to anthropogenic land use, we conducted our study across five freshwater ecoregions in the temperate mesic portion of the United States and evaluated data characterizing stream fish assemblages from 10,522 locations across all study freshwater ecoregions. Fishes were summarized by metrics describing assemblage structure, trophic groupings of species, levels of tolerance to anthropogenic stressors, and life history characteristics, with seven metrics used for analyses. Natural and anthropogenic landscape variables were assessed across freshwater ecoregions, and we tested for regionally specific influences of percent catchment urbanization, percent catchment agriculture, and catchment densities of dams and stream-road crossings on stream fishes. We used cascade multivariate regression trees to quantify variance explained in fish metrics by these landscape variables after controlling for influences of natural landscape variables, including catchment area, catchment lithology, and elevation of study sites. Results indicated differences in dominant influences by freshwater ecoregion, as well as differences in the levels of anthropogenic land use influencing fishes within and across freshwater ecoregions. For example, urban land use was the most influential anthropogenic land use in both Appalachian Piedmont and Chesapeake Bay freshwater ecoregions, with fish assemblage metrics showing responses at 10% and 1% catchment urban land use, respectively. In contrast, dam density in the network catchment was the most influential anthropogenic variable on fish assemblage metrics in both the Laurentian Great Lakes and Middle Missouri freshwater ecoregions. Also, large amounts of agriculture in the catchment was the most influential anthropogenic land use on fish assemblage metrics in the Upper Mississippi freshwater ecoregion. Knowledge of regional differences in the top contributing anthropogenic landscape variables and the levels at which fish assemblages respond to these variables lends insight into mechanisms controlling stream fish assemblages by freshwater ecoregions and can aid in development of region-specific conservation strategies to prevent biodiversity loss from current and future anthropogenic land use.

Download Full-text