Past and Future Management of Lower Danube Wetlands System: A Bioeconomic Appraisal

2003 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 415-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angheluta Vadineanu ◽  
Mihai Adamescu ◽  
Radu Vadineanu ◽  
Sergiu Cristofor ◽  
Costel Negrei
Keyword(s):  
Black Sea ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Danube River ◽  
Functional Changes ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
River Catchments ◽  
North Western

The Lower Danube Wetlands System has been and remains one of the largest and most diverse wetlands formations in Europe. It extends over ten thousands square kilometers along the lower Danube river stretch of 840 kilometers long. In the last century several types of management were applied at the LDWS and river catchments and a wide range of structural and functional effects occurred in time. The management system promoted between 1950s and late 1980s was designed according to the principles of neoclassical economic theory. The objectives of this paper are: i) the implementation of holistic approach and management for identifying the past and future drivers, pressures and impacts upon LDWS; ii) use of the methods of biological economics for the assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of past and future strategies and management of the LDWS and iii) identification of the overall goal and targets for future holistic bioeconomic management of the local (IBr), micro-regional (LDWS) and regional (LDC and North-Western Black Sea) biological complexes. As the reference state for LDWS we have adopted that of the beginning of 1960s when no major structural and functional changes had occurred. Increase in demands for more agricultural land and food production, hydropower or for waterway transport as well as for urbanization and industrial use at the Danube river catchments have resulted in significant changes. These together with a set of main actions consisting in: extensive conversion of wetlands into agroecosystems; intensification of auxiliary energy and material inputs into food production systems; point and diffuse pollution; hydrotechnical works and overexploitation of natural resources have been identified as drivers and pressures responsible for a wide range of structural and functional changes which have occurred in the last four decades in the LDWS and North-Western Black Sea. All sets of local and regional impacts are described and viewed as major threats for natural capital and long-term socioeconomic development. The crude estimation of total economic value of the remained wetlands (SIBr) and established polders in the IBr biological complex, allowed a better assessment of the short term and sectoral advantages against long term and holistic disadvantages. The achievements of such analysis described in section 4 clearly suggest the multifunctional role and economic value of self-maintaining wetlands ecosystems compared with monofunctional role and economic value of the human-dependent agroecosystems. It is determined that the economic inefficiency of the former applied mono-functional policy and management at the IBr wetlands system consists on the one hand in the huge cost of wetlands transformation (more than one billion USD) and additional cost for intensive production of crops, which accounted for at least 90 million USD per year (20 per cent higher than the crops market price of 70 million USD per year) and on the other hand in the monetary loss (173 million USD per year) due to cutting off three valuable ecosystem functions by implementing mono-functional farming system. Bearing in mind the difference between the reference and current states of LDWS and the respective economic consequences as well as the long-term objectives of the new established policy in the region, which deals, with: a) biodiversity conservation; b) 40 per cent reduction of the potential nutrient discharges into Black Sea by 2010 and c) sustainable development, we are proposing an operational plan for a holistic bioeconomic management of these wetlands. This plan is, based on the reconstruction of 1500 square kilometers of wetlands in the LDWS and implementing multifunctional farming in LDC and remaining polders in the LDWS. We have also estimated the potential impacts of wetlands reconstruction of LDWS’s functions and its total bioeconomic value.

scholarly journals Modern state of the reproductive potential of Black Sea sprat Sprattus sprattus phalericus (Risso, 1826) (Pisces: Clupeidae) in Crimean region and conditions for its formation

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 3-14
Author(s):  
G. V. Zuyev
Keyword(s):  
Black Sea ◽  
Average Length ◽  
Reproductive Potential ◽  
Danube River ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Total Catch ◽  
Sprattus Sprattus ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
Individual Fecundity

Black Sea sprat Sprattus sprattus phalericus (Risso, 1826) is one of the abundant species of fish in the Sea of Azov – Black Sea basin. Due to its large number sprat plays an extremely important role in the ecosystem of the sea, being an intermediate link between zooplankton and representatives of the highest trophic level – large predatory fish, dolphins, and birds. At the same time sprat is one of the important commercial fish in all the Black Sea countries, steadily being on the second place of catch volume in recent decades (after anchovy). The total catch reaches 100 thousand tons. Turkey and Ukraine are the main producing countries. Monitoring and forecast of biological state of sprat population with rising fishing intensity and climate changes are urgent tasks. The research subject of this article is the long-term (2000–2016) dynamics of biological (qualitative) parameters determining the population fecundity of Black Sea sprat in Crimean region, the current state of reproductive potential, and the conditions for its formation. The article is based on the results of own research. Parameters determining the population fecundity – the length-age structure of the spawning part population, the absolute individual fecundity, and the sex structure population (ratio between females and males) – were studied. In the long-term plan (in 2011–2016 compared with 2000–2004) the average length of spawning females decreased by 1.22 times (from 7.36 to 6.03 cm). It was accompanied by a decrease in the absolute individual fecundity by 2.39 times (from 13 625 to 5690 eggs). The numerical ratio between females and males decreased by 1.23 times (from 1.95 to 1.59). Simultaneously the sprat stock in the northern part of the Black Sea was reduced by more than 2.5 times (from > 500 thousand tons to < 200 thousand tons). As a result, the population fecundity of sprat in Crimean region decreased by more than 7 times (2.39 × 1.23 × 2.5). The conditions of sprat fishing in the northern part of the Black Sea (from the mouth of the Danube River to the Kerch Strait) were studied. They showed 2-fold decrease (from 251.9 thousand tons in 2000–2004 to 129.1 thousand tons in 2011–2016) in the total catch and more than 2.3-fold decrease (from 50.4 to 21.4 thousand tons) in average annual catch in this region. On the contrary, in the Crimean shelf the total catch at that time increased by 1.2 times (from 76.9 to 92.2 thousand tons), and its average annual value remained constant (15.4 thousand tons). While reducing the stock by 2.5 times, this means that the fishing pressure on the Crimean population increased 2.5 times. This fact suggests considering the factor of fishing as the main cause of its degradation. Validity of this version is confirmed by the fact of conjugacy (inverse connection) of interannual fluctuations between the catch and the length-age parameters of sprat in Crimean region in 2003–2013 previously found: catches over 15–16 thousand tons were accompanied by a next year decrease in the fish average length. Regulation of fishing is a necessary condition for preventing further degradation, for restoring and maintaining sustainable state of sprat population in Crimean region and its reproductive potential. The negative impact of natural (climatic and trophic) factors on the state of the population should be recognized as a secondary one. Local overfishing indicates indirectly the structuring of the commercial stock of Black Sea sprat, its division into a number of geographical aggregations (stock units), i. e. the presence of intraspecific differentiation.

Introduction

2016 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Paul Huddie
Keyword(s):  
Black Sea ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Crimean War ◽  
Black Sea Region ◽  
The North ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
North Western

The year 2014 marked the 160th anniversary of the beginning of the Crimean War, 1854–6. It was during that anniversary year that the names of Crimea, Sevastopol, Simferopol and the Black Sea re-entered the lexicon of Ireland, and so did the terms ‘Russian aggression’, ‘territorial violation’ and ‘weak neighbour’. Coincidentally, those same places and terms, and the sheer extent to which they perpetuated within Irish and even world media as well as popular parlance, had not been seen nor heard since 1854. It was in that year that the British and French Empires committed themselves to war in the wider Black Sea region and beyond against the Russian Empire. The latter had demonstrated clear aggression, initially diplomatic and later military, against its perceived-to-be-weak neighbour and long-term adversary in the region, the Ottoman Empire, or Turkey. As part of that aggression Russia invaded the latter’s vassal principalities in the north-western Balkans, namely Wallachia and Moldavia (part of modern-day Romania), collectively known as the Danubian Principalities. Russia had previously taken Crimea from the Ottomans in 1783....

Organic Carbon Geochemistry in the North-western Black Sea–Danube River System

2002 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 631-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.M. Galimov ◽  
L.A. Kodina ◽  
L.I. Zhiltsova ◽  
V.G. Tokarev ◽  
L.N. Vlasova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Black Sea ◽  
River System ◽  
Danube River ◽  
The North ◽  
North Western

Alcohol Pathophysiology

2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 215-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claude Tomberg
Keyword(s):  
Neuronal Networks ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Functional Changes ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Cognitive Disturbances ◽  
Specific Proteins ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Functional Circuitry ◽  
The Brain

There is no specialized alcohol addiction area in the brain; rather, alcohol acts on a wide range of excitatory and inhibitory nervous networks to modulate neurotransmitters actions by binding with and altering the function of specific proteins. With no hemato-encephalic barrier for alcohol, its actions are strongly related to the amount of intake. Heavy alcohol intake is associated with both structural and functional changes in the central nervous system with long-term neuronal adaptive changes contributing to the phenomena of tolerance and withdrawal. The effects of alcohol on the function of neuronal networks are heterogeneous. Because ethanol affects neural activity in some brain sites but is without effect in others, its actions are analyzed in terms of integrated connectivities in the functional circuitry of neuronal networks, which are of particular interest because of the cognitive interactions discussed in the manuscripts contributing to this review. Recent molecular data are reviewed as a support for the other contributions dealing with cognitive disturbances related to alcohol acute and addicted consumption.

scholarly journals Solar and wind energy enhances drought resilience and groundwater sustainability

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaogang He ◽  
Kairui Feng ◽  
Xiaoyuan Li ◽  
Amy B. Craft ◽  
Yoshihide Wada ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wind Energy ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Groundwater Sustainability ◽  
Drought Resilience ◽  
Trade Offs

Abstract Water scarcity brings tremendous challenges to achieving sustainable development of water resources, food, and energy security, as these sectors are often in competition, especially during drought. Overcoming these challenges requires balancing trade-offs between sectors and improving resilience to drought impacts. An under-appreciated factor in managing the water-food-energy (WFE) nexus is the increased value of solar and wind energy (SWE). Here we develop a trade-off frontier framework to quantify the water sustainability value of SWE through a case study in California. We identify development pathways that optimize the economic value of water in competition for energy and food production while ensuring sustainable use of groundwater. Our results indicate that in the long term, SWE penetration creates beneficial feedback for the WFE nexus: SWE enhances drought resilience and benefits groundwater sustainability, and in turn, maintaining groundwater at a sustainable level increases the added value of SWE to energy and food production.

scholarly journals First record of Pseudodiaptomus marinus (Copepoda: Calanoida: Pseudodiaptomidae) in the Black Sea (Sevastopol Bay)

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 78-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. A. Garbazey ◽  
E. V. Popova ◽  
A. D. Gubanova ◽  
D. A. Altukhov
Keyword(s):  
Black Sea ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Mnemiopsis Leidyi ◽  
Northwestern Pacific ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Sevastopol Bay ◽  
Pseudodiaptomus Marinus

Pseudodiaptomus marinus was initially discovered at the end of September 2016 in a sample taken during a long-term plankton survey of Sevastopol Bay started in 2002. We found 6 females and 12 copepodites (I-V stages) of P. marinus at the center of Sevastopol Bay (St. 3) on September 22. At the mouth of Bay (St. 2) the species was not found. Both females and copepodite stages I-V of P. marinus were found at the both stations on November 11. Abundance of P. marinus increased to 1236 individuals in sample (1373 ind/m3) at the center of the bay. Moreover, two individuals of P. marinus nauplii identified by Sazhina, were found in this sample. At the mouth of the bay abundance of the invasive species reached 103 individuals in sample (103 ind/m3). It is considered to be native to the Northwestern Pacific Ocean, but now species is widespread across the world. Brilinski described in details its distribution in the World's oceans. Recently P. marinus has been found in the Atlantic Ocean in the North Sea and in the Mediterranean Sea. P. marinus is a typical estuarine coastal copepod, living in shallow eutrophic inshore waters. It is tolerant to a wide range of salinity (2.5-35 ptt) and temperature (5-28 ºC) and has the highest invasive potential. Thus species is adapted to relatively low salinities and low winter temperatures of the Black Sea. Copepodite stages at both stations indicate the existence of reproducing populations. Thus, very likely P. marinus is the new established species in coastal area of the Black Sea. As other recent pelagic invaders – the copepods Acartia tonsa Dana 1849, Oithona davisae Ferrari F. D. & Orsi 1984; ctenophores Mnemiopsis leidyi A. Agassiz, 1865 and Beroe ovata Bruguiere, 1789 - P. marinus was most probably brought into Sevastopol Bay in the ballast water of ships. Long-term studies at basin scale are needed to estimate the structural changes in the Black Sea zooplankton community.

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