Effective Chromium Adsorption From Aqueous Solutions and Tannery Wastewater Using Bimetallic Fe/Cu Nanoparticles: Response Surface Methodology and Artificial Neural Network

Tannery industrial effluent is one of the most difficult wastewater types since it contains a huge concentration of organic, oil, and chrome (Cr). This study successfully prepared and applied bimetallic Fe/Cu nanoparticles (Fe/Cu NPs) for chrome removal. In the beginning, the Fe/Cu NPs was equilibrated by pure aqueous chrome solution at different operating conditions (lab scale), then the nanomaterial was applied in semi full scale. The operating conditions indicated that Fe/Cu NPs was able to adsorb 68% and 33% of Cr for initial concentrations of 1 and 9 mg/L, respectively. The removal occurred at pH 3 using 0.6 g/L Fe/Cu dose, stirring rate 200 r/min, contact time 20 min, and constant temperature 20 ± 2ºC. Adsorption isotherm proved that the Khan model is the most appropriate model for Cr removal using Fe/Cu NPs with the minimum error sum of 0.199. According to khan, the maximum uptakes was 20.5 mg/g Cr. Kinetic results proved that Pseudo Second Order mechanism with the least possible error of 0.098 indicated that the adsorption mechanism is chemisorption. Response surface methodology (RSM) equation was developed with a significant p-value = 0 to label the relations between Cr removal and different experimental parameters. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) were performed with a structure of 5-4-1 and the achieved results indicated that the effect of the dose is the most dominated variable for Cr removal. Application of Fe/Cu NPs in real tannery wastewater showed its ability to degrade and disinfect organic and biological contaminants in addition to chrome adsorption. The reduction in chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), total suspended solids (TSS), total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), Cr, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and oil reached 61.5%, 49.5%, 44.8%, 100%, 38.9%, 96.3%, 88.7%, and 29.4%, respectively.

Wildlife Use of Drainage Structures Under 2 Sections of Federal Highway 2 in the Sky Island Region of Northeastern Sonora, Mexico

Roads and highways are 1 of the most significant obstacles affecting wildlife movement by fragmenting habitat, altering wildlife migration and use of habitat, while also being a danger to wildlife and humans caused by wildlife-vehicle interactions. To mitigate wildlife mortality on highway sections and to minimize death and injury to motorists as well, road ecologists have proposed structures adapted for the safe passage of wildlife across roads. In this study, photographic sampling was conducted using trail cameras to quantify wildlife activity and use of existing culverts, bridges, and drainages within 2 separate sections of Mexico Federal Highway 2 where previous field assessment had observed high levels of activity. These sections are important areas for the conservation of wildlife, and they are known to be biological corridors for rare species of concern such as jaguar, black bear, and ocelot. The trail cameras were operated for 1 year to document the annual cycle of wildlife movement through the area. With the photographs obtained, a database was created containing the information from each wildlife-culvert interaction. Prior to sampling, an inventory of existing culverts was conducted that measured height, width, volume, and surrounding habitat to assign a hypothesized use quality index. After testing for significant differences in use index among culverts, we recognized that all culverts were equally important for moving wildlife, and that there were no significant differences in the use of culverts by the quality index.

Current Wildland Fire Patterns and Challenges in Europe: A Synthesis of National Perspectives

Changes in climate, land use, and land management impact the occurrence and severity of wildland fires in many parts of the world. This is particularly evident in Europe, where ongoing changes in land use have strongly modified fire patterns over the last decades. Although satellite data by the European Forest Fire Information System provide large-scale wildland fire statistics across European countries, there is still a crucial need to collect and summarize in-depth local analysis and understanding of the wildland fire condition and associated challenges across Europe. This article aims to provide a general overview of the current wildland fire patterns and challenges as perceived by national representatives, supplemented by national fire statistics (2009–2018) across Europe. For each of the 31 countries included, we present a perspective authored by scientists or practitioners from each respective country, representing a wide range of disciplines and cultural backgrounds. The authors were selected from members of the COST Action “Fire and the Earth System: Science & Society” funded by the European Commission with the aim to share knowledge and improve communication about wildland fire. Where relevant, a brief overview of key studies, particular wildland fire challenges a country is facing, and an overview of notable recent fire events are also presented. Key perceived challenges included (1) the lack of consistent and detailed records for wildland fire events, within and across countries, (2) an increase in wildland fires that pose a risk to properties and human life due to high population densities and sprawl into forested regions, and (3) the view that, irrespective of changes in management, climate change is likely to increase the frequency and impact of wildland fires in the coming decades. Addressing challenge (1) will not only be valuable in advancing national and pan-European wildland fire management strategies, but also in evaluating perceptions (2) and (3) against more robust quantitative evidence.

Literature Mapper: A QGIS Plugin for Georeferencing Citations in Zotero

Many studies in air, soil, and water research involve observations and sampling of a specific location. Knowing where studies have been previously undertaken can be a valuable addition to future research, including understanding the geographical context of previously published literature and selecting future study sites. Here, we introduce Literature Mapper, a Python QGIS plugin that provides a method for creating a spatial bibliography manager as well as a specification for storing spatial data in a bibliography manager. Literature Mapper uses QGIS’ spatial capabilities to allow users to digitize and add location information to a Zotero library, a free and open-source bibliography manager on basemaps or other geographic data of the user’s choice. Literature Mapper enhances the citations in a user’s online Zotero database with geo-locations by storing spatial coordinates as part of traditional citation entries. Literature Mapper receives data from and sends data to the user’s online database via Zotero’s web API. Using Zotero as the backend data storage, Literature Mapper benefits from all of its features including shared citation Collections, public sharing, and an open web API usable by additional applications, such as web mapping libraries. To evaluate Literature Mapper’s ability to provide insights into the spatial distribution of published literature, we provide a case study using the tool to map the study sites described in academic publications related to the biogeomorphology of California’s coastal strand vegetation, a line of research in which air movement, soil, and water are all driving factors. The results of this exercise are presented in static and web map form. The source code for Literature Mapper is available in the corresponding author’s GitHub repository: https://github.com/MicheleTobias/LiteratureMapper

Effectiveness of a New Drainage System for Decreasing Erosion in Road Hillslopes

Water is one of the most important erosive agents in roadside hillslopes. When these are built with ineffective drainage systems, erosion occurs, reducing road’s service life. However, these systems are not receiving the appropriate importance, given their strategic value. Therefore, a new drainage system called ‘branched’ is proposed in this study. Its technical and economic feasibility is compared with those of the traditional system, which consists of drainages with lines that follow maximum hillslope, to assess differences in relation to erosion, construction and maintenance costs, and service life. Different parameters were analysed, such as the average velocity of water (mm−1) running through the channels, its average specific energy (kJ), and its drag force (N). A scale model was constructed and used to test these factors before implementing it in natural terrain for testing it under field conditions. According to the theoretical and measured results, these factors were lower in the branched drainage than in the traditional one (from 24% to 34% in speed, from 37% to 60% in energy, and from 51% to 73% in force). The service life of hillslopes with a branched system of up to 0.5 m high and 1:2 grade is significantly longer than in those with a traditional drainage. Although the initial economic expense for the construction of the branched system is higher (€3534/m3 as opposed to €2930/m3 for the traditional one), its maintenance cost will be lower than the traditional one (€1230/m3 per year for the branched one as opposed to €1332/m3 per year for the traditional one). Consequently, under our experimental conditions, the proposed drainage will be profitable from the eighth year of construction, saving on the road maintenance in the following 15 years of service life.

Testing Possible Scenario-Based Responses of Vegetation Under Expected Climatic Changes in Khuzestan Province

Projections of future scenarios are scarce in developing countries where human activities are increasing and impacting land uses. We present a research based on the assessment of the baseline trends of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), precipitation, and temperature data for the Khuzestan Province, Iran, from 1984 to 2015 compiled from ground-based and remotely sensed sources. To achieve this goal, the Sen’s slope estimator, the Mann-Kendall test, and Pearson’s correlation test were used. After that, future trends in precipitation and temperature were estimated using the Canadian Earth System Model (CanESM2) model and were then used to estimate the NDVI trend for two future periods: from 2016 to 2046 and from 2046 to 2075. Our results showed that during the baseline period, precipitation decreased at all stations: 33.3% displayed a significant trend and the others were insignificant ones. Over the same period, the temperature increased at 66.7% of stations while NDVI decreased at all stations. The NDVI–precipitation relationship was positive while NDVI–temperature showed an inverse trend. During the first of the possible future periods and under the RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5 scenarios, NDVI and precipitation decreased, and temperatures significantly increased. In addition, the same trends were observed during the second future period; most of these were statistically significant. We conclude that much assessments are valuable and integral components of effective ecosystem planning and decisions.

Challenges of Applying Conservation Agriculture in Iran: An Overview on Experts and Farmers’ Perspectives

Different countries face diverse challenges for Conservation Agriculture (CA) development. The main purpose of this study was to examine the challenges of applying CA in Iran from the perspective of experts and farmers. A focus group method was used to investigate the challenges. The research sample consisting of farmers and experts of CA in different provinces includes those 19 experts and 15 farmers. Inductive content analysis and coding (open, axial, and selective coding) were employed to analyze the farmers’ and experts’ discussions. The findings showed that the challenges of applying CA in the studied provinces could be divided into 6 general categories: institutional-infrastructure (7 concepts), economic (5 concepts), training-research (2 concepts), environmental (4 concepts), mechanization (2 concepts), and cognitive (2 concepts) challenges. The economic and institutional-infrastructure challenges were the most frequent related to applying CA. It can be concluded that to solve the challenges of applying CA, it is necessary to link various sectors of government (the Ministry of Agriculture), education and research (Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization), and industry together. But farmers themselves are also a major contributor to meet the challenges of CA development through participation in planning CA project and training-extension programs. Therefore, farmers’ communities should also pave the way for a transition from conventional agriculture to CA with their participation.

Vulnerability Identification of Hajiabad Plain Aquifer: The DRASTIC Model and the GIS-Based Fuzzy Logic Method

Hajiabad plain with an area of about 158 km2 is located about 160 km north of Bandar Abbas in Iran. Due to the significance of this plain in terms of agricultural and drinking water supply in the region and the declining groundwater level in the region, the withdrawal of water resources has been prohibited in recent years. The purpose of this study is to determine the vulnerability of the aquifer using the DRASTIC model and the optimal method of fuzzy logic as well as the drastic method calibrated with nitrate. Finally, the final vulnerability maps were calibrated with EC values. In order to investigate the hydrogeochemical properties of groundwater resources of the plain, 26 water samples were collected from designated points in different periods of the water year 2018. Water samples were analyzed in Hormozgan soil and water laboratory. Also, the results of water sample data analyzed by Hormozgan Regional Water Organization were used. Assessment of aquifer vulnerability based on vulnerability models showed that the east and parts of the center of the plain were subject to the highest vulnerability, while the southern, southwestern, and northern slopes of the plain were of the lowest vulnerability. The determined coefficients between nitrate and DRASTIC vulnerability models and fuzzy optimization were estimated to be 0.41 and 0.36, respectively. Nitrate concentration validation demonstrated that the vulnerabilities of Hajiabad plain aquifer were almost similar under both drastic model and fuzzy optimization methods.

Editorial: Combining the Science and Practice of Restoration Ecology—Case studies of a Grassroots Binational Restoration Collaborative in the Madrean Archipelago Ecoregion (2014-2019)

The Sky Island Restoration Collaborative (SIRC) is a growing partnership between government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and private landowners in southeast Arizona, the United States, and northern Sonora, Mexico. Starting in 2014 as an experiment to cultivate restoration efforts by connecting people across vocations and nations, SIRC has evolved over 5 years into a flourishing landscape-restoration initiative. The group is founded on the concept of developing a restoration economy, where ecological and socioeconomic benefits are interconnected and complimentary. The variety of ideas, people, field sites, administration, and organizations promote learning and increase project success through iterative adaptive management, transparency, and sharing. The collaborative seeks to make restoration self-sustaining and improve quality of life for citizens living along the US-Mexico border. Research and experiments are developed between scientists and practitioners to test hypotheses, qualify procedures, and quantify impacts on shared projects. Simultaneously, partners encourage and facilitate connecting more people to the landscape—via volunteerism, internships, training, and mentoring. Through this history, SIRC’s evolution is pioneering the integration of community and ecological restoration to protect biodiversity in the Madrean Archipelago Ecoregion. This editorial introduces SIRC as a unique opportunity for scientists and practitioners looking to engage in binational partnerships and segues into this special journal issue we have assembled that relates new findings in the field of restoration ecology.

RUSLE Model Based Annual Soil Loss Quantification for Soil Erosion Protection: A Case of Fincha Catchment, Ethiopia

In this study, Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model and Geographic Information System (GIS) platforms were successfully applied to quantify the annual soil loss for the protection of soil erosion in Fincha catchment, Ethiopia. The key physical factors such as rainfall erosivity ( R-factor), soil erodibility ( K-factor), topographic condition (LS-factor), cover management ( C-factor), and support practice ( P-factor) were prepared in GIS environment from rainfall, soil, Digital Elevation Model (DEM), Land use/Land cover (LULC) respectively. The RUSLE equation was used in raster calculator of ArcGIS spatial tool analyst. The individual map of the derived factors was multiplied in the raster calculator and an average annual soil loss ranges from 0.0 to 76.5 t ha−1 yr−1 was estimated. The estimated annual soil loss was categorized based on the qualitative and quantitative classifications as Very Low (0–15 t ha−1 yr−1), Low (15–45 t ha−1 yr−1), Moderate (45–75 t ha−1 yr−1), and High (>75 t ha−1 yr−1). It was found from the generated soil erosion severity map that about 45% of the catchment area was vulnerable to the erosion with an annual soil loss of (>75 t ha−1 yr−1), and this demonstrates that the erosion reduction actions are immediately required to ensure the sustainable soil resources in the study area. The soil erosion severity map generated based on RUSLE model and GIS platforms have a paramount role to alert all stakeholders in controlling the effects of the erosion. The results of the RUSLE model can also be further considered along with the catchment for practical soil loss protection practices.