scholarly journals Threat of plastic pollution to seabirds is global, pervasive, and increasing

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (38) ◽  
pp. 11899-11904 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Wilcox ◽  
Erik Van Sebille ◽  
Britta Denise Hardesty
Keyword(s):  
Risk Model ◽  
Ingestion Rate ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Marine Debris ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Plastic Pollution ◽  
Anthropogenic Pressures ◽  
Seabird Species ◽  
Spatial Risk

Plastic pollution in the ocean is a global concern; concentrations reach 580,000 pieces per km2 and production is increasing exponentially. Although a large number of empirical studies provide emerging evidence of impacts to wildlife, there has been little systematic assessment of risk. We performed a spatial risk analysis using predicted debris distributions and ranges for 186 seabird species to model debris exposure. We adjusted the model using published data on plastic ingestion by seabirds. Eighty of 135 (59%) species with studies reported in the literature between 1962 and 2012 had ingested plastic, and, within those studies, on average 29% of individuals had plastic in their gut. Standardizing the data for time and species, we estimate the ingestion rate would reach 90% of individuals if these studies were conducted today. Using these results from the literature, we tuned our risk model and were able to capture 71% of the variation in plastic ingestion based on a model including exposure, time, study method, and body size. We used this tuned model to predict risk across seabird species at the global scale. The highest area of expected impact occurs at the Southern Ocean boundary in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, which contrasts with previous work identifying this area as having low anthropogenic pressures and concentrations of marine debris. We predict that plastics ingestion is increasing in seabirds, that it will reach 99% of all species by 2050, and that effective waste management can reduce this threat.

scholarly journals Assessing plastic debris in aquatic food webs: what we know and don’t know about uptake and trophic transfer

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 304-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.F. Provencher ◽  
J. Ammendolia ◽  
C.M. Rochman ◽  
M.L. Mallory
Keyword(s):  
Food Webs ◽  
Trophic Transfer ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Plastic Pollution ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Global Environmental Issue ◽  
Freshwater Biota ◽  
Aquatic Food

Plastic pollution is now recognized as a global environmental issue that can affect the health of biota and ecosystems. Now that a growing number of species and taxa are known to ingest a diverse range of sizes and types of plastics and retain the plastics in their guts, there are increasing questions relating to the movement of plastics through food webs, and how biota may directly and indirectly ingest plastics. Here, we synthesize what is known from the published, peer-reviewed literature about plastic ingestion by animals and identify critical gaps in our knowledge. We systematically reviewed and examined the literature for studies that reported ingested plastics in marine and freshwater biota at a global scale. Our objective was to inform discussions and future studies regarding what we know about plastic ingestion and fate in food webs. We assessed what regions, ecosystems, and food webs have been studied to date and whether potential information may already be available to assess if trophic transfer of plastics may be occurring. We found 160 relevant publications through 2016. Most studies were concentrated in specific regions and in specific ecosystem types, with freshwater studies being the most limited. Moreover, most studies examined one species at a time with only a handful of regions with multiple taxa examined across multiple studies. Twenty-one percent of the regions have no published data on plastic ingestion to date. Although some studies have measured ingestion in multiple species across trophic levels, few have tested the hypothesis that plastics are transferred across trophic levels. Moreover, none have addressed questions related to biomagnification. While our review suggests that numerous papers have recorded the ingestion of plastics by biota across many trophic levels, habitats, and geographic regions, many questions regarding how or whether biota retain, bioaccumulate, biomagnify, and trophically transfer plastics still need to be addressed.

scholarly journals MULTICRITERIA ANALYSIS FOR IDENTIFYING FOREST FIRE RISK ZONES IN THE BIOLOGICAL RESERVE OF THE SAMA CORDILLERA, BOLIVIA

2020 ◽  
Vol XLII-3/W12-2020 ◽  
pp. 113-118
Author(s):  
S. Mariscal ◽  
M. Ríos ◽  
F. Soria
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Risk Model ◽  
Multicriteria Analysis ◽  
Fire Risk ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
Spatial Risk ◽  
Forest Fire Risk ◽  
Very High ◽  
Biological Reserve

Abstract. Forest fires have negative effects on biodiversity, the atmosphere and human health. The paper presents a spatial risk model as a tool to assess them. Risk areas refer to sectors prone to the spread of fire, in addition to the influence of human activity through remote sensing and multi-criteria analysis. The analysis includes information on land cover, land use, topography (aspect, slope and elevation), climate (temperature and precipitation) and socio-economic factors (proximity to settlements and roads). Weights were assigned to each in order to generate the forest fire risk map. The investigation was carried for a Biological Reserve in Bolivia because of the continuous occurrence of forest fires. Five risk categories for forest fires were derived: very high, high, moderate, low and very low. In summary, results suggest that approximately 67% of the protected area presents a moderate to very high risk; in the latter, populated areas are not dense which reduces the actual risk to the type of events analyzed.

scholarly journals A global comparison of grassland biomass responses to CO 2 and nitrogen enrichment

2010 ◽  
Vol 365 (1549) ◽  
pp. 2047-2056 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Lee ◽  
Pete Manning ◽  
Janna Rist ◽  
Sally A. Power ◽  
Charles Marsh
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
C Sequestration ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Scale Model ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Forage Production ◽  
Global Comparison ◽  
N Enrichment

Grassland ecosystems cover vast areas of the Earth's surface and provide many ecosystem services including carbon (C) storage, biodiversity preservation and the production of livestock forage. Predicting the future delivery of these services is difficult, because widespread changes in atmospheric CO 2 concentration, climate and nitrogen (N) inputs are expected. We compiled published data from global change driver manipulation experiments and combined these with climate data to assess grassland biomass responses to CO 2 and N enrichment across a range of climates. CO 2 and N enrichment generally increased aboveground biomass (AGB) but effects of CO 2 enrichment were weaker than those of N. The response to N was also dependent on the amount of N added and rainfall, with a greater response in high precipitation regions. No relationship between response to CO 2 and climate was detected within our dataset, thus suggesting that other site characteristics, e.g. soils and plant community composition, are more important regulators of grassland responses to CO 2 . A statistical model of AGB response to N was used in conjunction with projected N deposition data to estimate changes to future biomass stocks. This highlighted several potential hotspots (e.g. in some regions of China and India) of grassland AGB gain. Possible benefits for C sequestration and forage production in these regions may be offset by declines in plant biodiversity caused by these biomass gains, thus necessitating careful management if ecosystem service delivery is to be maximized. An approach such as ours, in which meta-analysis is combined with global scale model outputs to make large-scale predictions, may complement the results of dynamic global vegetation models, thus allowing us to form better predictions of biosphere responses to environmental change.

scholarly journals Global-scale human pressure evolution imprints on sustainability of river systems

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (9) ◽  
pp. 3933-3944 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serena Ceola ◽  
Francesco Laio ◽  
Alberto Montanari
Keyword(s):  
Hot Spot ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
First Century ◽  
Human Pressure ◽  
River Systems ◽  
Anthropogenic Pressures ◽  
Discharge Data ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Major River

Abstract. Human pressures on river systems pose a major threat to the sustainable development of human societies in the twenty-first century. Previous studies showed that a large part of global river systems was already exposed to relevant anthropogenic pressures at the beginning of this century. A relevant question that has never been explained in the literature so far is whether these pressures are increasing in time, therefore representing a potential future challenge to the sustainability of river systems. This paper proposes an index we call “Differential Human Pressure on Rivers” (DHPR) to quantify the annual evolution of human pressure on river systems. DHPR identifies a per-year percentage increment (or decrement) of normalized human pressures on river systems (i.e., ratio of annual values to long-term average). This index, based on annual nightlights and stationary discharge data, is estimated for 2195 major river basins over a period of 22 years, from 1992 to 2013. The results show that normalized annual human pressure on river systems increased globally, as indicated by an average DHPR value of 1.9 % per year, whereby the greatest increase occurred in the northern tropical and equatorial areas. The evaluation of DHPR over this 22-year period allows the identification of hot-spot areas, therefore offering guidance on where the development and implementation of mitigation strategies and plans are most needed (i.e., where human pressure is strongly increasing).

Plastic ingestion by seabirds in the circumpolar Arctic: a review

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 506-516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia E. Baak ◽  
Jannie F. Linnebjerg ◽  
Tom Barry ◽  
Maria V. Gavrilo ◽  
Mark L. Mallory ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Standard Technique ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Plastic Pollution ◽  
Knowledge Gaps ◽  
Seabird Species ◽  
Global Trends ◽  
Small Sample Sizes

Plastic pollution is a ubiquitous global environmental problem. Plastic ingestion by seabirds is an increasing issue even in remote areas, such as the Arctic, yet research and monitoring of plastic ingestion in Arctic seabird populations is limited, and there are large knowledge gaps for many geographic regions. There is currently no standard technique for monitoring plastic debris in the Arctic, making it difficult to compare studies and monitor global trends. Here, we review the current state of knowledge of plastic ingestion by seabirds in the Arctic. We analyzed 38 published records that report plastic ingestion by seabirds in the Arctic region. Of the 51 seabird species examined for plastic ingestion in the Arctic, over half have ingested plastic; however, the majority have a limited number of studies, small sample sizes, and (or) data are more than 15 years old. Additionally, the spatial distribution of plastic ingestion reports in the Arctic varies widely, with large knowledge gaps in the northernmost areas of most countries. This indicates that we lack recent information on plastic ingestion for most of the seabird species in the Arctic. Further, less than one-third of studies reference standardized methods from other regions, making it difficult to assess spatial and temporal trends. Long-term monitoring programs should be established in the Arctic to obtain an accurate assessment of plastic ingestion by seabirds in this region.

scholarly journals Global, regional and national estimates ofToxoplasma gondiiseroprevalence in pregnant women: a protocol for a systematic review and modelling analysis

BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. e030472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Joel Bigna ◽  
Joel Noutakdie Tochie ◽  
Dahlia Noelle Tounouga ◽  
Anne Olive Bekolo ◽  
Nadia S Ymele ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Toxoplasma Gondii ◽  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Data Extraction ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Representative Study ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Meta Analyses

IntroductionTo set priorities for public health policy, funding for public health interventions, and healthcare planning which will ultimately contribute in bending the burden of toxoplasmosis towards maternal and neonatal health, it is necessary to have accurate data on the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in pregnancy. Therefore, we aimed to estimate the seroprevalence ofToxoplasma gondiiinfection in pregnant women by countries, WHO regions and globally.Methods and analysisWe will search multiple databases to identify studies that reported the prevalence (or enough data to compute this estimate) ofToxoplasma gondiiin the global population of pregnant women up till December 31, 2018 without any language restrictions. Study selection, data extraction and risk of bias assessment will be conducted independently by three pairs of investigators. For each country, we will estimate the prevalence based on empirical studies if there is either one nationally representative study, or two or more not nationally representative studies. Then, we will perform a country-specific random-effects meta-analyses. The heterogeneity will be evaluated using the χ² test on Cochrane’s Q statistic and quantified with H and I² statistics. For countries with one or no empirical studies or where the meta-analysis will result in a wide CI of 0%–100%, we will predict the country’s prevalence by using a Bayesian generalised non-linear multilevel model. The model will have a hierarchical structure in which estimates for each country will be informed by its own data, if available, or by data from other countries in the same WHO region.Ethics and disseminationSince this study will be based on published data, it does not require any ethical approval. Its findings will be published in a scientific peer-reviewed journal. They will also be presented at scientific conferences and to relevant public health sectors.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42019125572.

INTEGRATING STATE-OF-THE-ART SHORELINE INTERACTION KNOWLEDGE INTO SPILL MODELING

2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 (1) ◽  
pp. 915-922 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dagmar Schmidt Etkin ◽  
Jacqueline Michel ◽  
Deborah French McCay ◽  
Michel Boufadel ◽  
Hailong Li
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Risk Model ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Practical Method ◽  
Complex Interaction ◽  
Laboratory Research ◽  
It Impacts ◽  
Comprehensive Literature Review

ABSTRACT An understanding of the complex interaction between oil and shoreline sediments in nearshore areas after an oil spill is essential for more accurate oil spill risk analysis modeling. In particular, an estimation of the degree to which shoreline sediments hold and retain oil during the 10–30 days after a spill is required for modeling the fate and trajectory of oil as it impacts a shoreline and either strands on or penetrates into the sediment or refloats to be deposited elsewhere. A comprehensive literature review of empirical studies, laboratory research, and oil-shoreline modeling was conducted. For a spill risk model to be applied in a stochastic manner, a relatively simple and practical method to estimate the oil holding capacity of shoreline sediments based on shoreline type and oil properties was derived from empirical shoreline cleanup assessment team (SCAT) data and a theoretical hydraulics model. The suggested methodology can be applied by spill modelers needing a way to estimate the amount of oil held by a shoreline upon impact to allow a trajectory model to more accurately project the total spread of oil.

Evaluation of three global gradient-based groundwater models in the Mediterranean region

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nahed Ben-Salem ◽  
Alexander Wachholz ◽  
Michael Rode ◽  
Dietrich Borchardt ◽  
Seifeddine Jomaa
Keyword(s):  
Water Table ◽  
Mediterranean Region ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Groundwater Table ◽  
Groundwater Depletion ◽  
Groundwater Model ◽  
Anthropogenic Pressures ◽  
Groundwater Levels ◽  
Gradient Based ◽  
The Mediterranean

<p>The Mediterranean region is recognized as one of the most sensitive regions in the world to water scarcity, due to both climate change and consistently increasing anthropogenic pressures. Groundwater is considered as a strategic freshwater reserve in the Mediterranean region; however, its status remains poorly characterized and its total budget uncertain. In recent years, groundwater modelling has moved from local to regional/global scale, offering insights into the status of data-scarce regions. However, it remains unclear to what extent those models can be used to support management decisions. This study aims to compare and evaluate the performance of three groundwater models to represent the steady-state groundwater levels in the Mediterranean region. Thus, the groundwater models of Reinecke et al. (2019), de Graaf et al. (2017) and Fan et al. (2013) will be utilized in this study. The preliminary results indicate that, in the northern part of the Mediterranean region, the models of Reinecke et al. (2019) and de Graaf et al. (2017) predict similar water table patterns. However, both models simulate completely different groundwater regimes in the desert regions; the predicted groundwater table of de Graaf et al. (2017) model is significantly deeper than of Reinecke et al. (2019) model. This could be, probably, because of the calibration of de Graaf et al. (2017) model compared to Reinecke et al. (2019) model, which is not yet calibrated. A detailed comparison between simulated and measured water table depth of different Mediterranean aquifers having different climatic, geologic and anthropogenic conditions will be presented.</p><p><strong>References</strong></p><p>Reinecke, R. et al. Challenges in developing a global gradient-based groundwater model (G3M v1.0) for the integration into a global hydrological model. Geosci. Model Dev 12, 2401-2418 (2019).</p><p>de Graaf, I. et al. A global-scale two-layer transient groundwater model: Development and application to groundwater depletion. Adv. Water Resour 102, 53-67 (2017).</p><p>Fan, Y. et al. Global patterns of groundwater table depth. Science 339, 940-943 (2013).</p><p> </p>

Ingestion-Limited Growth of Aquatic Animals: The Case for Blackman Kinetics

1982 ◽  
Vol 39 (12) ◽  
pp. 1585-1595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard E. Condrey
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Linear Relationship ◽  
Ingestion Rate ◽  
Growth Efficiency ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Limited Growth ◽  
Aquatic Animals

The published data on ingestion-limited growth in aquatic animals is shown to be consistent with Blackman kinetics. As such, if ingestion limits growth rate there is a linear relationship between growth and ingestion from starvation to satiation. If, however, growth is limited by some factor other than ingestion rate, there is no increase in growth rate with increasing ingestion rate.Key words: ingestion, growth, growth efficiency, Blackman kinetics

scholarly journals Karakteristik dan Sebaran Sampah Terdampar di Kawasan Pesisir Taman Nasional Bali Barat

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Putra Bagus Panji Pamungkas ◽  
I Gede Hendrawan ◽  
I Nyoman Giri Putra
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Area ◽  
National Park ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Relative Size ◽  
Marine Debris ◽  
Anthropogenic Activity ◽  
Plastic Pollution ◽  
The West ◽  
Conservation Area ◽  
Industrial Research Organization

The existence of marine debris can be a threat to marine ecosystems. Several studies have shown that marine debris can cause death of marine organisms and a degradation of ecosystems. The West Bali National Park (TNBB) is a conservation area in Bali that is also susceptible to be affected by marine debris pollution, due to its high population and anthropogenic activity in the area. Bali generates about 4.281 tons of waste per day, where 11% of it ends up in the ocean. Therefore, research about marine debris in TNBB is important. The purpose of this research is to find out the characteristics and distribution of stranded marine debris in the TNBB coastal area. This research was conducted in February 2020 at 23 stations by the shoreline. Marine debris data collection was carried out by adapting the method developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) Global Plastic Pollution Project. Marine debris exists along the coastline with the concentration range between 0.05 – 28.47 items/m2 with the average of 4.29 items/m2. As much as 92.3% of waste were plastic, dominated by three major debris classes, including soft plastic (44.8%), foam (30.8%), and hard plastic (12.4%). Marine debris in the area has various sizes and shapes. As much as 57.9% of debris at TNBB were whole items and the rest of it were fragment items. Marine debris size at TNBB tend to have a big relative size, i.e. between 8-16 cm (32%). Generally, marine debris at TNBB were mostly daily consumer items. Therefore, public awareness play an important role to decrease the amount of marine debris on the TNBB coastal area.

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