ALBERT

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Quanxi Zhang , Jingjing Tian , Yunlong Bai , Zhenhua Yang , Huifang Zhang , Ziqiang Meng The present study was designed to investigate the mechanisms underlying the effects of SO2 on functions of the isolated perfused hearts in rats. The results suggest that both SO2 and SO2 derivatives (sulfite: bisulfite, 3:1, M/M) elicited a negative inotropic effect. At high concentrations, the effects of SO2 or its derivatives on heart functions might be related to the increasing of reactive oxygen species (ROS) contents and decreasing of ATPase activities as well as the potentially damaging effects on the hearts; while at low concentrations, SO2 or its derivatives might modulate heart functions mainly through the NO signal transduction pathway.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Lei Li , Xinqiang Shen , Yunlong Wang , Hang Jiang , Mei Jiang The toxicity effects of Alexandriurn minuturn and Gymnodiniurn on the embryonic development of Sparus macrocephalus were tested through the toxicological experiments about hatching spawns and developing larvae of Sparus macrocephalus . Alexandriurn minuturn and Gymnodiniurn solution was diluted into three groups (about 3000cell/ml, 1500cell/ml, 500cell/ml). The results showed that the hatch of the spawns was sensitive to both kinds of the algae. And the toxicity results from Alexandriurn minuturn were inferior to that from Gymnodiniurn . The test of larvae 96-LC50 showed that, larvae was more susceptible to the Gymnodiniurn and produced certain resistance to the toxicity of the algae. Both the Alexandriurn minuturn and Gymnodiniurn restrained body length and weight increase as well as ATPase and GSH-PX enzyme activities of the larvae, while restrain from Gymnodiniurn was stronger. In conclusion, the effects on growth and development of Sparus macrocephalus spawns and larvae resulted from Gymnodiniurn was much higher than that from Alexandriurn minuturn .

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Xiaodong Ding , Shirong Zhang , Shuyi Li , Xinrong Liao , Rongping Wang To test the hypothesis that exogenous silicon (Si) would mediate the detoxification of Chromium (Cr) on pakchoi ( Brassica Chinensis L.) growing in Cr-contaminated soil, a pot experiment that 0, 50, 100 and 200 mg·kg -1 Cr (Na 2 Cr 2 O 7 2H 2 O) were supplied to soil together with 0, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 g·kg-1 Si (Na2SiO3) for 48 days, was studied. Results showed that supplying Si improved the growth of pakchoi in low Cr level. However, the shoot dry weight decreased with the increasing Si supplied in high Cr level. Compared with under non-Cr stress, the application of Si significantly increased the activities of POD, SOD and CAT of pakchoi under excess Cr. However, antioxidant enzymes activities displayed no difference under three Cr levels supplied. Shoot Cr accumulation decreased, while root Cr concentration increased, which was ascribed to the formation of precipitation-bound, “organic matter bound” Cr and the reduction of exchangeable-bound Cr fractions in the soil. Furthermore, the rhizosphere soil pH increased with Si level under either Cr level, suggesting that exogenous Si would induce the alkalization in the rhizosphere mediated detoxification of Cr on pakchoi by promoting the formation of precipitation-bound, organic matter bound Cr in Cr-contaminated soil, thereby probably decreasing Cr uptake from Cr-contaminated soil. These results proved direct evidence that Si played a mediated role, which decreased Cr uptake and improved the stabilization of Cr in Cr- contaminated soil.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Shuyi Li , Shirong Zhang , Xiaodong Ding , Xinrong Liao , Rongping Wang A field experiment of foliar application of silicon sol, cerium sol and silicon-cerium composite sol of different concentrations on Lettuce in field mildly combined Cd/Pb contaminated soil, was conducted to study effects of the application on yield, quality, antioxidant enzymes (SOD, POD) activities and Cd/Pb absorption, and hence to determine optimum concentration of the silicon sols and cerium sols to be sprayed for relieving toxicity of Cd/Pb. Results showed that spraying silicon and cerium sols could promote growth of Lettuce, increase contents of vitamin C and soluble sugar, and reduce nitrite content, enhance activities of SOD and POD, and inhibit the absorption of Cd/Pb and decrease the content and accumulation of Cd/Pb in shoots and roots, and reduce the risk of Cd/Pb to human body through food chain, while spraying silicon-cerium composite sol of 0.50 g·kg -1 silicon sols (SiO2) and 0.20 g·kg -1 cerium sols (CeO 2 ) was the most significant in effect.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Fayun Li , Guoqiang Wu , Shui Hu , Zhiping Fan , Qun Gao The negative effect of deicing salt on surface water have been reported by a number of studies, but there is a lack of knowledge about the effects of deicing salt on the growth behavior and the change of biochemical composition of algal Chlorella vulgaris ( C. vulgaris ). Algal were cultured at different concentration of deicing salt, algal cell densities, chlorophyll (a), protein and polysaccharides contents were measured. The results of this work showed that deicing salt had statistically significant inhibitory effects ( P 〈0.01) on the cell growth of algae, and the best-fit predictive equation of algal cell densities ( D algal, algal cells m/l) versus concentration of deicing salt ( C salt, g/l) after 7- day culture in this experiment was presented as a quadratic equation with C salt being the independent variable and D algal being the dependent variable (R 2 =0.944, P 〈0.01). The contents of chlorophyll (a) in C. vulgaris cell exposed to different concentrations of deicing salt suggested that the chlorophyll (a) content significantly decreased ( P 〈0.05) with the concentration of deicing salt higher than 4 g/l. Deicing salts also caused the trend of proteins contents decrease in C. vulgaris cells, and significantly increased ( P 〈0.05) the contents of polysaccharides in algae cell at 2 g/l deicing salt, however, the change of that was not significantly affected at deicing salt concentrations higher than 2 g/l.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Zhenhua Yang , Yuexia Zhang , Quanxi Zhang , Tianxing Pei , Ziqiang Meng A number of studies on sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) in toxicology and pharmacology have been reported, however spectral properties of SO 2 and its derivatives were seldom investigated. We investigated the absorption spectra of SO 2 , sodium sulfite (Na 2 SO 3 ), sodium bisulfite (NaHSO3) and sodium metabisulfite (Na 2 S 2 O 5 ) in aqueous solution. In the meanwhile, the effects of HCl on spectral properties of SO 2 and its derivatives were also investigated. We found that gaseous SO 2 in ethanol, n-butyl-alcohol and glycerol had a characteristic absorption peak at 276 nm. Na 2 S 2 O 5 and NaHSO 3 exhibited an absorption peak at 257 nm. Absorption of SO 2 at 276 nm was strongly enhanced in the presence of HCl. NaHSO3, Na 2 SO 3 and Na 2 S 2 O 5 also exhibited absorption at 276 nm with the addition of HCl, which was enhanced with the increase of HCl concentration. Importantly, two conclusions have been reached on the basis of our results. First, we attributed the absorbing power of SO 2 to SO 2 molecule, rather than hydrated sulfur dioxide. Second, absorption of SO 2 strongly enhanced by HCl at 276 nm was due to H + , instead of the formation of a complex SO 2 Cl-. Primary studies also indicated that NaHSO 3 and Na 2 S 2 O5 with HCl had a similar effect as SO 2 did in rat thoracic aortic rings, which prompted us believe that NaHSO3 and Na2S2O5 with HCl may be acted as a donor of SO2 in biology and other area.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Yuexia Zhang , Zhenhua Yang , Dan Guo , Hong Geng , Chuan Dong In the study, we present the results of thermodynamic simulation of CaSO4 water-salt systems containing Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , Na + , K + and HCO - 3 at 37°C. The results showed that the solubility of CaSO phase increased with increasing NaCl as wells as KCl concentration in the range of 0.0 to 2.0 M and 0.0 to 1.0 M, respectively. Remarkably, enhanced effect of MgCl 2 on the solubility of CaSO 4 phase was much larger than that of KCl or NaCl. The only exception was CaCl 2 , which was found to reduce solubility value of CaSO4 in aqueous solution at 37°C with the increase of CaCl 2 concentration. Also, the solubility of CaSO4 phase in mixed salt solutions was investigated at 37°C. The common ion effect was the main factor on the solubility of CaSO 4 in the mixed salts solution. Furthermore, CaSO 4 solubility was reduced by small amounts of NaHCO 3 in mixed solutions. These studies are of relevance in the estimating the changes of various salts in blood plasma and production of salt with low impurities of Ca2+ and SO 4 2- ions, as well as estimating oceanic-containing CaSO 4 uptake of CO 2 .

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Huimin Zhao , Hongtao Wang , Xie Quan , Feng Tan Tetracycline (TC), a widely used broad spectrum antibiotic, is excreted to environment seriously. Because of its harmful effects, it is essential to establish an effective method for TC determintation. In this work, we fabricated an electrochemical sensor for TC detection based on molecularly imprinted technique. The molecularly imprinted polymer was thermalpolymerized on Ti substrate electrodeposited with micro-nano Pt cluster (MIP-Pt/Ti). The linear range was in a TC concentration range from 0.1 to 10 mg L-1, and the detection limit was 0.026 mg L-1 (S/N = 3). The current change of TC on MIP-Pt/Ti electrode was 10 and 14 times than that of CTC and CAP, respectively. The results indicated that this electrochemical sensor exhibited good sensitivity and selectivity for TC.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Hongbo Xu , Wanping Zhang , Xiaoshun Zhang , Jing Wang , Jian Wang A new cloud point extraction procedure was established for the simultaneous preconcentration and determination of cobalt(II), nickel(II), and copper(II) ions in water samples. After complexation with 2-(5-bromo-2-pyridylazo)-5- (diethylamino) phenol (5-Br-PADAP), the analytes could be competitively extracted in a surfactant octylphenoxy polyethoxyethanol (TritonX-114), prior to determination by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The effects of pH, the concentrations of chelating agent and surfactant, equilibration temperature and time, sample volume, etc on CPE were studied. The preconcentration factor obtained was 25 and the limits of detection (DL) obtained for cobalt(II), nickel(II), and copper(II) were 2.4, 1.7 and 1.5 ng·mL−1, respectively. Standard reference material of poplar leaf (GBW 07604) was analyzed by the proposed methods, giving results of cobalt(II), nickel(II), and copper(II) found contents in consistency with the standard values. The presented preconcentration procedure was successfully applied to determination cobalt(II), nickel(II), and copper(II) in water samples.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Duanping Xu , Changjian Gu , Xiao Chen Humic acid (HA) was isolated from lignite. Flocculent HA was made and used to adsorb and remove dye acid red 3R from aqueous solution. The adsorption experiments were carried out in a batch process to observe the effect of various parameters such as contact time, dose of flocculent HA, ionic strength (NaCl) as well as adsorption kinetics and isotherm. Results showed that adsorption of acid red 3R on flocculent HA could reach equilibrium at less than 180 min. The adsorption kinetics obeyed the pseudo-second order model (R2=0.994). The adsorption was described with Freundlich equation on the basis of value of regression coefficient (R2=0.984). The removal rate of the dye increased with the increase of the dose of flocculent HA, while it decreased with the addition of NaCl in the aqueous solution. These suggested that the adsorption mechanism was the electrostatic attraction, to form hydrogen bonds, and van der waals’ force between molecules of HA and acid red 3R. Conclusion was made that flocculent HA isolated from lignite could be used as an adsorbent to remove the dye from aqueous solution.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Shouliang Huo , Zhuoshi He , Jing Su , Beidou Xi , Chaowei Zhu Artificial neural network (ANN), a data driven modeling approach, is proposed to predict the water quality indicators of Lake Fuxian, the deepest lake of southwest China. To determine the non-linear relationships between the water quality factors and the eutrophication indicators, several ANN models was chosen for the investigation. A commonly used back-propagation neural network model was used to relate the key factors that influence a number of water quality indicators such as dissolved oxygen (DO), total phosphorus (TP), chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), and secchi disk depth (SD) in Lake Fuxian. The measured data were fed to the input layer, representing forcing functions to control the in- lake bio-chemical processes. Eutrophication indicators such as DO, TN, Chl-a and SD were represented in the output layers. The results indicated that the back-propagation neural network model performs good in ten months prediction and the neural network is able to predict these indicators with reasonable accuracy. This study also suggested that the neural network is a valuable tool for lake management.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Yiran Du , Bo Gao , Huaidong Zhou , Xinxin Ju , Hong Hao , Shuhua Yin Due to the continuous urbanization and industrialization in many countries of the world, heavy metals are continuously emitted into the terrestrial environment and pose a great threat on human health. A detailed study was conducted to determine the concentrations of six heavy metals (Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb) in road dusts in urban parks of Beijing, and assessed the health risk of these metals for local people. The dust samples were collected from 13 different urban parks in Beijing, China. The health risk was assessed using Hazard Quotient ( HQ ) and Health Index ( HI ). The results show that the average concentrations of Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb in the dust samples are 69.33, 25.97, 72.13, 219.20 0.64 and 201.82 mg/kg, respectively. The concentrations of Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb were much higher than those in the background value of Chinese soil. The assessment of health risk indicated that there were mainly three exposure pathways for people: ingestion, dermal contact and inhalation. The main exposure pathway of heavy metals to both children and adults is ingestion. The values of HQ and HI are lower than the safe level (=1), indicating no health risk exists in present condition. Meanwhile, the HI value for children is higher than that for adults, indicating that children have higher potential health risk than adults in Beijing parks.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Juan Chen , Yuanbo Xie , Wei Li Energy consumption leads to air pollution, which is a great threat to residents’ health. According to the requirements of energy and environment during “12th Five Year” period in Beijing, this paper set two different energy-constraint scenarios, applying an integrated energy-environment-health model to quantitatively evaluate Beijing's residents’ health damage caused by energy consumption. The results showed that: compared with low-constraint scenario, up to 2015, the high-constraint scenario can reduce totally 6501 cases of mortality, in which 1200 cases are related to SO2; 2489 cases are related to NOX; 1693 cases are related to PM10; 1119 cases are related to PM2.5. Therefore restricting energy consumption and improving energy structure are conductive to the reduction of atmospheric pollutants and the protection of population health.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Shuming Ma , Shushen Zhang , Yu Chen , Hongbo Zheng To meet the practical deficiency in the management of major environmental risk source, one of key issues in environmental management, especially in China, a major environmental risk source management system was developed based on the technology of ArcGIS Engine, .NET, and Oracle. The system used a C / S structure. Three function modules were designed. They are basic environmental information management module, enterprise risk source reporting module and risk source audit & management module. The system was applied to Da Gushan Peninsula, China.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Yuan Qin , Yi Wang , Huiqiong Wang , Jinsuo Gao , Zhenping Qu The dynamic adsorption/desorption behavior of VOCs (C7H8) was evaluated for mesoporous SBA-15 silicas with four kinds of morphologies and pore sizes on a fixed bed unit. The SBA-15 silica with interconnected rodlike morphology exhibited exceptionally good breakthrough behavior, a higher adsorption capacity, and better desorption performance for toluene. The large dynamic VOC capacity of the interconnected rodlike silica was attributed to the pore system of the micropores and mesopore size, group-togethering rods which can aggregate to enhance the ability of adsorption, together with the smoother surface.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Yaxin Su , Liming Ren , Wenyi Deng Waste tire powder was used to reduce NO emission by reburning and burnout in a two-stage furnace with simulated flue gas. Ceramic tubes were used as the flow reactor. The reburning temperature was 1150 °C and burnout temperature was 1250 °C respectively. The simulated flue gas consisted 16.8% vol. CO2, 1.95% vol. O2, and 0.05% and 0.08% vol. NO in a helium base. 4 kinds of ashes were used to abate the reburning intermediate products, HCN and NH3 in order to improve the final NO reduction efficiency after burnout. Resutls showed that waste tire was very good reburning fuel. More than 95% NO reduction efficiency was achieved after reburning of waste tire when the stoichiometric ratio for reburning, SR2, was 0.9. When waste tire powder was mixed with lignite ash collected by baghouse at power plant and used as reburning fuel, the final NO reduction efficiency after reburning and burnout was as high as 86%, which was very close to that of natural gas. Further test showed that lignite ash could effectively reduce HCN and NH3 during reburning. The present research demonstrated that waste tire is a very effective reburning fuel.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Jinlong Yan , Guixiang Quan , Cheng Ding The effects of heavy metals contamination on soil are quite alarming and can cause huge disturbances in the ecological balance and health of living creatures on earth. Effects of the heavy metals combined pollution of lead (Pb 2+ ) and cadmium (Cd 2+ ) cations on soil urease activity and nitrification were studied by soil incubation method to evaluate whether there is a synergistic interaction on soil enzyme activities, nutrient cycling and pollutants. Results showed that activated effect on soil urease activity was found only in the low concentrations (such as 0.5 mg/kg Pb2+ and 0.5 mg/kg Cd2+ combined) than the control, and the inhibitory effect was existed in most of the higher concentrations ( P 〈 0.05). With the increasing of Pb2+ concentration in soil from 0.5 mg/kg to 100.0 mg/kg combined with 0.5 mg/kg of Cd2+, the soil urease activity decreased and varied as the incubation proceeded. At the same time, soil nitrification was also inhibited in a certain degree with the threat of heavy metals contamination, and the nitrifying activity in contaminated soil samples were significantly lower than the control. A statistical analysis indicated that there were some correlations between the inhibition of soil urease activities and nitrification.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Shuang Li , Wenhua Song , Minling Gao This study chose the propiconazole and nano-zinc oxide of different particle size as the study object. The single and combined toxicity on the mouse embryonic fibroblast cell (NIH/3T3) was researched. The results showed that the cell growth was inhibited by propiconazole and nano zinc oxide of different concentrations, and it presents a dose- response relationship. When the two substances are combined, the combined of nanoscale particles produces the antagonism effect, and the combined of micron scale particles could generate synergy effect.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Yuying Dong , Jing Wang , Ling Ding , Yaoye Liu There is little information about the influence of organic solvents for low water-solubility compounds on Photobacterium phosphoreum toxicity test, though it appears likely that much of data were obtained by using solutions prepared with the cosolvents or surfactants. In this study the influence of five stock solvents, including dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO), acetone, aether, ethanol, tetrahydrofuran, on Photobacterium phosphoreum toxicity test were measured and different effective concentration (EC) values were obtained. DMSO was selected as the most suitable solvent of chemical compounds with low water-solubility according to its good characters and less toxicity effect to Photobacterium phospherum . Chlorobenzene and nitrobenzene, whose toxicity can be detected even if without any solvent, were selected to testify the effect of DMSO to toxicity of chemicals to Photobacterium phopherum . It was demonstrated that DMSO (its concentration no more than 0.20mol·L-1) had little effect on the toxicity of organic chemicals with EC value no more than 10%. The successful application of DMSO used as cosolvent provides a good example and a good idea to improve traditional acute toxicity test of Photobacterium phopherum .

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Gary R.W. Denton , Sara Namazi Radon (Rn) is a naturally occurring, radioactive gas that impacts air quality world-wide. It is a known carcinogen and considered by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) to be the second leading cause of lung cancer after tobacco smoking. Of several known isotopes of radon, 222 Rn is the most stable with a half-life of approximately four days. This particular isotope is associated with the uranium ( 238 U) decay series and accounts for most public ionizing radiation exposures. Most global indoor 222 Rn emanates from granitic bedrocks located underneath buildings. While such rocks are absent on Guam, the karst limestone formations that overlay the island's basement volcanics (basalt) are of biogenic origin and are believed to be a significant source of radon. In a recent multi-year survey conducted on Guam by the local EPA, indoor 222 Rn levels exceeded the U.S. EPA air quality standard of 4 pCi/L in ~40% of all buildings tested. Concentrations were log-normally distributed and exceeded 300 pCi/L in two instances. Weighted average indoor 222 Rn levels were generally much higher in villages from the northern half of the island where limestone coverage predominates. The relationship between 222 Rn and lung cancer incidence on Guam was examined in the study reported here. The results were strongly suggestive of a hormetic effect existing between the two variables. Possible confounding effects attributable to smoking and ethnicity were examined and found to be insignificant. In fact, ethnic groups predominantly confined to the northern half of the island (i.e., Filipinos and all other Asians as a collective group) showed considerably lower cancer incidence and mortality rates than the indigenous Chamorro people who are well represented island-wide. The findings of the study lend further weight to numerous other reports that suggest low-level exposures to 222 Rn have a beneficial health effect. They also support a growing critique of the rationale behind the U.S. EPA adopted linear-no-threshold toxicological model, which assumes that any dose of radiation is harmful, no matter how small. Finally, they also imply that the current U.S. EPA action level of 4 pCi/L for indoor radon is overly conservative and needlessly prompting homeowners to install radon mitigation systems into buildings that really don’t need them.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Yingkui Zhao , Susan B. Marriott Metal mining used to be a major source of heavy-metal contamination for river systems and in England and Wales affected areas exceed 4000 km2. Under flooding conditions, heavy metals stored in riverbeds and floodplains can be remobilised and become secondary sources of diffuse pollution. During remobilisation, heavy-metal species and their association with soil/sediment particles have been changed. This paper investigates heavy metals in floodplain sediments of the River Severn, UK. Four floodplains representing the upper catchment (Caersws), the middle reaches (The Burf and Berwick Farm) and the lower catchment (Tewkesbury Ham) were studied for the concentration and distribution of Pb, Zn, Cu, Co and Cd and their associations with sediment particles. In the floodplain sediment from Caersws, heavy metals are associated with sand-sized particles and are in the form of native metals. With increasing distance downstream, these particles are broken into smaller fragments and heavy metals are released into the system where they combine with finer particles and are deposited on floodplains downstream during flooding. The highest concentrations of Pb are in the floodplain sediment at Caersws and the concentration decreases downstream due to “dilution” by local sediment supply and fragmentation. Across the floodplain, heavy metals are deposited adjacent to the present channel in the upper reaches, but are deposited in localities further away from the channel on the other floodplains further downstream, reflecting the fact that heavy-metal association with sediment particles controls their distribution. Concentration of heavy metals along vertical profiles increases first and then decreases with depth with peak values reached at varying depth between profiles. This pattern of variation along profile reflects the history of heavy metal accumulation, which is determined by the rate of heavy metal release from mining sites upstream. Although the varying depth that peak value reaches at different profiles is affected by translocation and hydroperiod, it still corresponds with the change of historical mining output upstream and can be used to calculate the sedimentation rate of floodplain surfaces.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Kazumi Akimoto , Kiyoshi Takikawa , Koichi Yakita , Takaomi Hokamura , Yukihide Shimasaki , Keisuke Mori , Izumi Sakamoto , Yoshiyuki Takino The purposes of this study are to understand mercury accumulation and diffusion based on topographic, sedimentologic, and biologic information obtained by acoustic equipment and an ROV after dredging in Minamata Bay and Yatsushiro Sea. Differences in contrast of acoustic reflections made clear the sediment distribution and the ROV investigation provided the vertical distribution of the biota and substrate. Rocks and blocks are distributed above 5 m water depth, coarse sand with rich molluscan fragments between 5 and 12m, and mud below 12m, with these sediments controlling the biota. The video shows that many depressions by ray's predation are distributed on sandy bottoms and burrows of benthic organisms on muddy bottoms. These facts suggest the possibility that a supply of mercury-free sediment moves from the sub-surface to the surface by burrowing, that mercury is concentrated by the benthos inhabiting the sediment surface, and that diffusion occurs by the predation of nekton.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Beibei Liu , Dong Qu , Xin Chen , Qinfen Li , Lixu Peng Chemical fraction plays an influential role in solubility and potential bioavailability of heavy metals in soils. Seasonally flooding and iron reduction are significant environmental processes of paddy soil. They may influence the fractionation of cooper (Cu) in paddy soil. In this study, an anaerobic incubation experiment was conducted to simulate the anaerobic environment of flooded paddy soil. The fractionations of native and spiked Cu in paddy soil were determined using a modified sequential extraction procedure (SEP) method. The effects of flooding time on Cu fractions were determined. The effects of ferrihydrite on Cu fractions were also investigated to understand the interaction between Cu contamination and iron reduction process. The results showed that the native Cu in soil were most in the residual and organic matter fractions, but the more available fractions, such as, the exchangeable and carbonates fractions occupied only a little proportion. After flooding, the native Cu in soil released from organic matter fraction and crystalloid ferric oxides fraction, and transferred to the easy extracted fractions, such as, amorphous ferric oxides, carbonates and exchangeable fractions. The spiked Cu was easily absorbed by carbonates and organic matter in soil, but after flooding, the two fractions transferred into ferric oxides fraction, especially amorphous ferric oxides fraction. Similar phenomena were observed after adding ferrihydrite in soil except for the disposal of added 400 mg/kg Cu. The process of iron reduction was inhibited significantly by Cu contamination and the inhibition of Cu contamination to iron reduction decreased after adding ferrihydrite. The transformation of Cu fractions had significant relation to the process of iron anaerobic reduction in paddy soil.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Yoshihiro Deguchi , Zhen Zhen Wang , Jun Jie Yan , Ji Ping Liu Since the demands for lowering the burdens on the environment will continue to grow steadily, understanding of pollutant emission characteristics becomes more and more important to minimize environmental disruption. These pollutant emission conditions cannot be estimated in real-time using conventional mass-based methods because of their low concentrations in air or exhaust gases. Therefore, new evaluation criteria are required for better understanding of their characteristics. In this study, the laser breakdown time-of-flight mass spectrometry was developed and applied to hydrocarbons to detect the elemental composition of gas phase materials. The laser wavelength dependence of this method was evaluated using 1064 and 266 nm laser outputs. Signals from fragments of hydrocarbons appeared using 266 nm. On the other hand, it was found that the mass spectra of atoms can be detected using the 1064 nm laser breakdown process without intermediate fragment signals. This feature is important to detect atomic signals of the measured materials without the interference of fragmentations. The pressure effect was also evaluated to enhance the detection limit. The higher pressure tends to induce the higher atomic signals. The detection limit can easily reach to ppb or less. The signal intensity was proportional to the concentration of hydrocarbons introduced. The method was applied to various hydrocarbons and the breakdown characteristics of these molecules were taken for the quantitative analysis. Compared with conventional measurements, this method has a lot of merits of the simple signal analysis, real-time and sensitive detection features. The method can cover various industrial applications including the exhaust analysis of combustors, environmental monitoring of air, and plant monitoring for safety and security.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Duoxi Yao , Zheng Chen , Kui Zhao , Qing Yang , Wenying Zhang Nanotechnology is a new booming science, which has leaped huge significant achievements for only short dozens of years, and created so much wealth for human beings. Their usages on environmental security have been ignored by public, however, multiples of evidences have been demonstrated nano-materials would perform different influence upon a variety of organism. Here, this article concerns that situations and challenges to separate or detect the nano- particles contained in the products or the environment. Meanwhile, a case was presented to introduce an available approach to prepare the nano-colloid (nano-TiO2) for environmental risks research. Therefore, it's necessary for the relevance authorities to formulate effective or available detections upon nano-materials. And the key point should be focused on the normalization of nano-materials control and the establishments on environmental risk assessment upon nano-materials, which will finally promote the developments on the fields of nanotechnology.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): K.G. Rosin , Ravinder Kaur , S.D. Singh , P. Singh , D.S. Dubey Pollution of groundwater due to industrial and municipal wastewaters is of a rising concern in many cities and industrial clusters of India. Faridabad - a peri-urban agricultural area is one such industrial site in district Haryana, India. The primary aim of this investigation was, to assess extend of ground water contamination in the peri-urban agricultural sites around Faridabad, Haryana and to assess its contribution due to salt/trace metal laden agricultural irrigation waters. For this, a detailed survey on the farming practices, soils and surface/sub-surface irrigation waters of 30 spatially separated villages around study area was conducted. The surveyed information was used for estimating deep percolation loss, salt/heavy metal leaching and thus vulnerability of ground waters at each sample site to salt/heavy metals by means of a field scale decision support system - IMPASSE © . Analysis showed that the study area was saline (i.e., ECmean = 4.79 2.76 dS/m, Clmean = 2043.30 457.26 ppm and Fmean = 11.57 4.83 ppm). These salt affected agricultural lands were found to be irrigated with (good to marginally alkali) canal, (marginally alkali to alkali) drain and (good to alkali) tube well waters. As a result, the mean EC (2.85 0.85 dS/m), Cl (1227.85 remove-image>295.93 ppm) and F (6.26 2.12 ppm) concentrations in the root zone leachates from each test site, were found to be far beyond their permissible limits of 0.75 dS/m, 1000 ppm and 1.5 ppm. Even the soil root zone water soluble concentrations of some trace metals (viz., Cr: 0.06 0.00 ppm; Ni: 0.02 0.01 ppm, and Pb:0.05 0.01 ppm) were observed to be of some threat to the deep percolating waters. However, the vulnerability assessments indicated that due to existing cropping pattern and deeper water table depths, the study area ground waters were not yet vulnerable to these salts/trace metals in the root zone leachates, and that the presence of salts in the study area ground waters was primarily geogenic

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Kaimin Shih , Fei Wang With global distribution, persistence nature, and strong bioaccumulation, the fate and transport of perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) in natural environment have recently attracted strong attentions. As boehmite is a common form of hydrated aluminum oxide existing in soils and sediments, this study successfully revealed the adsorption behavior of PFOS and PFOA on boehmite and the influence from solution chemistry. The results of kinetic experiments show that the adsorption equilibrium can be achieved within 48 hours and the boehmite surface is generally receptive to PFOS and PFOA adsorption. The adsorption isotherms estimated the maximum adsorption capacities of PFOS and PFOA on boehmite to be 0.877 μg/m 2 and 0.633 μg/m2, respectively. The increase of pH can lead to a moderate decrease of PFOS and PFOA adsorption, owing to the increase of ligand exchange reaction and the decrease of electrostatic interaction. With the compression of electrical double layers, the competitive adsorption from the other ions and the Ca2+ bridging effect between perfluorochemicals have demonstrated their negative influence for PFOS and PFOA adsorption on boehmite surface. Finally, humic acid (HA) also showed significant retardant effects on the sorption of perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorobutanesulfonate (PFBuS) on boehmite.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Yanan Zheng , Xilai Zheng , Zengwen Gao , Yuxiang Zhang Based on the analysis of seawater quality monitoring data, the grey predication method (GM (1, 1) model) was used to predict seawater quality in the Rigs-to-Reefs area of the Chengdao oil field. The result shows that petroleum pollutants and dissolved oxygen concentration will take on an increasing tendency from 2011 to 2015, and heavy metal Hg and Cd will be still kept at a low level. In addition, COD concentration has been gradually decreasing. On the whole, the prediction results indicate that the seawater quality of Rigs-to-Reefs area accords with the second-class seawater quality standard (GB3097-1997) and meets the requirement of artificial reef construction.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Zrafi Ines , Bakhrouf Amina , Rouabhia Mahmoud , Saidane-Mosbahi Dalila Levels, composition profiles and sources of hydrocarbons were analyzed in surface marine sediment samples collected from Khniss Coast in Tunisia. The total Hydrocarbon (TH) concentrations ranged from 2280 μg/g to 7700 μg/g. The sedimentary non-aromatic hydrocarbon (NAH) and aromatic hydrocarbon (AH) concentrations ranged from 1020 to 2320 μg/g, and from 240 to 680 μg/g, respectively. The higher level of total concentration of 17 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons ∑17PAHs is equal to 14.59 ng/g. The PAH profiles showed that the ∑4–5-ring compounds were the major PAHs detected in the sampling sites. Characteristic ratios of Anth/(Anth+ Phe), and Flu/(Flu + Pyr) indicated that PAHs could originate from petrogenic and pyrolytic sources. Petroleum contamination associated with increased marine activity and high eutrophization statue in Khniss area which can have side-effects on the ecosystems and human safety, must be controlled.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Fanxiu Li Set pair analysis (SPA) is a new method to describe and process the system uncertainty and has been applied in many areas recently. In view of the uncertainty and complexity in the process of water quality evaluation of water supply networks, the paper introduced a new model-varying coefficient of discrepancy degree based on set pair analysis theory. In the model, a new effective method to the determination of discrepancy degree coefficient i is suggested. As an example, the paper evaluated water quality conditions of water supply networks from 3 monitoring spots by the model. The results of the assessment are in concordance with other evaluation methods. Compared with the other evaluation method, this model is perfect, the evaluating result is more reasonable and its resolving power is higher.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Adrian Spence , Claion Robinson Here we report on a spectro-chemical approach to investigate the adsorption of dissolved Cd ions to montmorillonite (M) in the presence of a mixed consortium of soil bacteria. Results indicate that the order of metal-loading was M- microbial complex > microbial biomass > M. Surface interactions of Cd with M-microbial complex have also been confirmed, and we speculate that after binding to M, additional proton binding sites on microbial cells function as binding sites for Cd ions thereby enhancing the metal binding capacity of the mineral. There is also evidence to suggest that hydrogen bonding, cation bridging and ion-exchange are important mechanisms in the adsorption of metal ions to clay-organo complexes.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Wanjun Fu , Guilan Ma 108 vegetable samples were collected from Jilin suburb vegetable production base, and Pb of samples was measured using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometer (GF- AAS). Results showed that the average Pb of vegetable was 0.06 mg·kg-1 fresh weight, with only 1.5% above the Safety Requirements. Single-factor contaminant index was utilized for assessment. It was found that vegetable Pb order as following: leaf vegetables>fruit vegetables, dark vegetables>light vegetables. The average daily intake (DI) Pb of per standard person was urban 21.6 μg •d-1 and rural 18.7 μg •d-1, as well as economical family 22.1 μg •d-1and poor 18.3 μg •d-1, indicating that vegetable Pb in Jilin suburbs were safety. The Pb health risk was assessed based on the target hazard quotients (THQ). The study showed that THQurban =THQhigh >THQmedium >THQlow =THQrural, indicating the health risk via vegetable consumption in rural was relative lower than that in urban area. Assessment results proved that the vegetables Pb in this area is no health risk to persons.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Xueqin Liao , Wei Li , Jinxiang Hou Coal accounts for more than 70% of total energy consumption in China. Kinds of ecological problems resulting from coal mining have become increasingly serious, which directly threaten regional ecological security and people's normal production and livelihood in some areas. Ecological vulnerability is the overall performance of the ecosystem change under mining development, thus evaluation of ecological vulnerability based on GIS in Fuxin mining master plan environmental impact assessment was presented in this article. According to ecological condition of Fuxin, the ecological vulnerability index was established synthetically reflecting ecological environmental status, ecological sensitivity and landscape spatial structure, including 9 indictors. The study area was divided into 247 grids, then the EVI value of each grid was calculated by comprehensive evaluation and the results were divided into 5 levels by Zonal Statistic analysis of ArcGIS. Combining the distribution of vulnerability classification with the important ecological function area and natural reserves in the scope of planning, the research area was plotted into five types of zone, i.e., appropriate exploitation zone, optimized exploitation zone, moderate exploitation zone, restrictive exploitation zone and forbidden exploitation zone. Several adjustment suggestions were put forward to optimize the layout of Fuxin mining area and guide the ecological protection during coal exploitation.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Mingda Liu , Yue Li , Wei Zhang , Yaojing Wang In this paper, we collected 295 soil samples from Chaoyang as the experiment material, then identify the concentration and spatial distribution of zinc (Zn) in agricultural soils on the basis of The integrated pollution index (IPI) and index geoaccumulation (Igeo). The concentration of Zn in soils of Chaoyang are from 22.787 to 669.597 mg kg-1,with an average concentration of 107.082 mg·kg-1. And results of the evaluation show that the pollution excess rate is 2.03%, which indicated that most of samples are slightly polluted. Compared two evaluation methods, integrated pollution index focuses on the evaluation of pollution results, the Geo accumulation index method is more accurate and objective.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Quanxi Zhang , Jian Zhang , Zhenhua Yang , Yuexia Zhang , Ziqiang Meng The aim of this study is to explore the association between PM2.5 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm) and daily outpatient number for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases in a place where dust events are most frequent. During the study period, all hospitals in Wuwei, Gansu province, northwest of China were selected. The results suggest that there were associations between PM2.5 and the increasing of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases outpatient visits for males and females during the period when dust events frequently happen. PM2.5 was one of the main hazardous factors for these diseases during the study period.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Bo Chen , Shaobin Lin , Sheng Wu , Wenhua Li , Wenrong Chen Samples from Peifeng were studied to further investigate the influence of particle specific surface area, oil dosage, system energy input and the concentration of electrolyte on the cleaning of Fujian coal with oil agglomeration. The results showed that specific surface area of coal particles around 24m 2 g -1 led to the minimum value of ash content 3.14% obtained, and sulfur content decrease from 2.0% to 0.44%; After 10 min of stirring at 2400r min-1, the minimum product ash content 3.8% was obtained. Within the dosage range studied, considerable ash content reduction occurred with NaCl in appropriate concentrations used, in contrary, the other five other electrolytes would, to varying degrees, put a raise on ash content. No positive correlation was shown between product ash content and solid concentration, in fact, the former fell with the increasing of the latter within a certain range.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Zhen Zhen Wang , Yoshihiro Deguchi , Jun Jie Yan , Ji Ping Liu It has been highly recognized heavy metals pollution concerns the environment, as well as human health. Mercury (Hg) pollution has greatly increased and been considered as a global pollutant because of its long residence time in surrounding. This paper describes the rapid detection of mercury using laser breakdown time-of-flight mass spectrometry at high sensitivity without fragmentation interference from other species. Two irradiation wavelengths 1064 nm and 532 nm were employed under various experimental conditions. The second harmonic 532 nm performs excellent measurement results. The influence of pressure on mercury signal intensity displays a liner growth when increasing the pressure. These results also show as the laser power increased, nitrogen signal intensity increased, but mercury signal intensity increased first and then decreased. Experiment with different buffer gases clarified the recombination of Hg ions and electrons when increasing the laser power, resulting in the decrease of mercury signal intensity. According to these measurement results, the method of enlarging focus area and reducing laser power by tilting the focus lens was applied to decrease the recombination rate to enhance the detection limit. It is demonstrated that the detection limit with 1ppb can be acquired facilely.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Jing Yang , Ning Wang , Yafen Li The objectives of this study were to characterize the spatial distribution of Hg in topsoil at Jia-Pi-Gou(JPG), a centuried gold mine area, and to evaluate the Hg pollution risks. A total of 28 soil samples were collected by a stratified random sampling technique. Descriptive statistics and ANN were used to analyze the data. The results show that the mean value of Hg in the soil was 0.203mg·kg -1 , higher than Chinese Soil Environmental Quality Standard's soil quality standard. In the ANN figure the high concentrations of Hg are found in three main spots, two of which are gold mine and one of which is gold mine tailing and the three spots are the center of high concentration. The geo- accumulation index assessment shows that all farmland topsoil in JPG is contaminated by Hg, while different sampling sites are contaminated to different levels, among all 53.57% are beyond heavily contaminated.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Ting Yao , Chunxiang He , Peng Zhang , Hui Gao , Chuanguang Zhou Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in surface water collected from the Jinzhou Bay in North China were analyzed using gas chromatography to reveal their horizontal distribution tendencies and trace their sources. Total PCB concentrations ranged from 215.4 to 3161 ng/L. The level of PCB in the opening of the Bay was higher than the inner Bay. The predominated components were 5- and 6-chlorinated PCBs, indicating these residual PCBs derived from paint additives. Total OCP concentrations ranged from 4.165 to 136.8 ng/L, whose isomer concentrations’ ratios implied the usage of technical HCH and lindane.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): C. Corbari , G. Ravazzani , A. Ceppi , M. Mancini Distributed hydrological models of energy and mass balance usually need in input many soil and vegetation parameters, which are usually difficult to define. This paper will try to approach this problem performing a parameters calibration based on satellite land surface temperature data (LST) as a complementary method to the traditional calibration with ground data. A pixel to pixel calibration procedure of soil hydraulic and vegetation parameters for each pixel of the domain is proposed according to the comparison between observed and simulated land surface temperature. A distributed hydrological model, FEST-EWB, that solves the system of energy and mass balance equations as a function of the representative equilibrium temperature (RET) will be used. RET is comparable to the land surface temperature as retrieved from operational remote sensing data. LST is a critical model state variable and remote sensing LST can be effectively used, in combination with energy and mass balance modeling, to monitor latent and sensible heat fluxes. The analyses are performed over the Consorzio Muzza basin for an area that covers 74,000 ha in the middle of the Po Valley, near Lodi city. The reliability of the hydrological model estimates will be evaluated against measurements of latent heat flux and soil moisture acquired by an eddy-covariance station. Moreover, distributed evapotranspiration estimates will be compared with the results obtained from a simplified version of FEST-WB model with computes crop evapotranspiration with Hargreaves equation and crop coefficient values.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Aldo Fiori , David Russo Solute transport in hillslope is often ruled by the water dynamics at the vadose zone and the groundwater. Solute is mobilized by rainfall, which feds the subsurface components of flow leading to water discharge and pollutograph at the outlet. It is often convenient to analyze solute transport through the travel time analysis. The latter is deeply influenced by the partitioning of the water ages. That is, rainfall typically mobilized pre-event (or “ old ” ) water in the catchment, and the discharged water (and solute) is characterized by an age much larger than the one pertaining to the event water. We analyze solute transport in hillslope through a series of detailed numerical experiments. These are carried out through a three-dimensional saturated/unsaturated model, with realistic assumptions regarding the time- dependent rainfall and evapotranspiration forcing the flow system and the spatial distribution of the hydraulic properties. The scope is to analyze the travel time of rainfall in hillslopes as function of some selected characteristics and the seasonality of rainfall. We show that most of the river discharge is due to old water, i.e. rainfall coming from previous periods, sometimes very distant from the event. Also, each season displays a different travel time distribution for rainfall, as function of a few significant characteristics, like e.g. transpiration and the pre-event groundwater storage. The Equivalent Steady State approximation (ESS) for the analysis of solute transport is also tested.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): M. Palladino , A. Staiano , G. D’Urso , M. Minacapilli , G. Rallo Tree crops are representing one of most widespread agricultural systems in Mediterranean regions, thus contributing in a substantial way to the economy and productivity of primary sectors of the countries interested. Besides the aspects concerning their economical relevance, tree crops like vineyards, olive and orange orchards are also typical elements of the Mediterranean landscape, and their ecological role has been recently revitalised in consideration of their function as carbon sinks for the Kyoto agreement. The environmental and economical sustainability of these agricultural systems in arid and semi-arid zones has to cope with the availability and management of water resources for irrigation. During recent years there has been a substantial progress in understanding the evolution of evapotranspiration processes in cropping systems, and detailed models and measurement techniques have been set-up for describing the mass and energy exchanges in the soil-plant- atmosphere continuum. However, due to the complexity of rooting systems and aerial parts further steps are needed for a full comprehension of hydrological processes in tree crop systems, with special regard to water stress conditions. Within the research project P.R.I.N. 2008 “ Assessment of mass and energy fluxes for the irrigation management of Mediterranean tree crops ” different techniques for measuring evapotranspiration fluxes in tree crops will be developed and tested, from innovative methodologies based on remote sensing observations to in-situ observations (xylem-flow measurements and micro-meteorology). These data-sets have be interpreted by means of physical approaches, with a modelling perspective of the observed processes.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Lorenzo Campo , Francesca Caparrini Among the studies on the interactions between the land surface and the atmosphere, the estimation of the surface energy budget in desert areas is of great interest in different applications, like the influence on the climate and the study of the desertification dynamics. Given the scarcity or the complete lack of ground sensors, the large scale assessment of the state of the desert regions and of the surrounding vegetation requires the use of remote sensing techniques on satellite platforms. The main prognostic variable that retains information about the energy budget at the interface between land and atmosphere is the Land Surface Temperature (LST). In this work the LST assimilation model ACHAB, designed for the estimation of the fluxes of sensible and latent heat (evapotranspiration), was employed to assess the energy and water budget through the use of sequences of LST maps from satellite platforms. The LST data were taken from measurements of the MODIS sensor aboard Terra and Aqua satellites, while the auxiliary data at the ground (air temperature, solar radiation, etc.) were estimated basing on a disaggregation of the large scale NCEP reanalysis fields. The domain of the study consisted in the desert areas of the Mediterranean, namely some of the southern regions of Europe and the Mediterranean Africa, while the period considered was 2003- 2006. The results in terms of maps of evapotranspiration and evaporative fraction were compared with maps of FAPAR (Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation) obtained by SeaWiFS platform, showing good agreement in terms of trends and spatial patterns. A discussion of the results, also in terms of maps and trends of desertification, is presented.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): William P. Kustas , Martha C. Anderson , Carmelo Cammalleri , Joseph G. Alfieri Many landscapes are comprised of a variety of vegetation types with different canopy structure, rooting depth physiological characteristics, including r sponse to environmental stressors, etc. Even in agricultural regions different management practices, including crop rotations, irrigation scheduling, planting density, seed varieties, and other factors result in complex patterns in vegetation growth stages, canopy cover, canopy architecture and cropping densities. This variability at the canopy, field and landscape scale, makes it very challenging for quantifying spatially-distributed surface fluxes. This paper describes a robust but relatively simple thermal-based energy balance model that parameterizes the key soil/substrate and vegetation exchange processes affecting the radiative balance and turbulent energy transport with the overlying atmosphere. The thermal-based model, called the Two-Source Energy Balance (TSEB) model solves for the soil/substrate and canopy temperatures that achieves a balance in the radiation and turbulent heat flux exchange with the lower atmosphere for the soil/substrate and vegetation elements. The TSEB scheme permits interaction between soil/substrate and canopy elements which are both coupled to the atmosphere via the canopy-air temperature; this canopy-air temperature is highly correlated to the aerodynamic surface temperature used in computing surface sensible heat flux. As a result, the TSEB modeling framework is applicable to a wide range of atmospheric and canopy cover conditions. An overview of recent applications of the TSEB modeling framework to a variety of agricultural landscapes is presented.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): P. Nasta , B. Sica , G.B. Chirico , S. Ferraris , N. Romano Management of water resources in basins under Mediterranean climate is based on t e knowledge of the complex interaction among rainfall, evapotranspira ion, streamflow discharge, and changes in water storage. Understanding the spatial and temporal evolution of such relations is a key issue for obtaining reliable applications of hydrologica models. In this study we identified the water dynamics involved in the catchment-scale water balance within a sub- humid area in Southern Italy. To meet this objective, precipitation and evapotranspirati n were retrieved through data recorded by a weather station whereas water discharge was monitored at the water reservoir delimited by an earth dam in the outlet of the Alento River 102.5 km 2 catchment. The landuse is dominated by pasture, orchard and grassland and the main terrain attributes have been calculated from a 5 m DEM. Six hillslope transects have been delineated along hillslopes in order to cap ure soil variability. Surface soil water content has been monitored with a portable TDR device along the aforementioned transects with a spatial interval of 50 m in 10 field campaigns, from October 2004 to January 2005. Mediterranean climate is characterized by dry summers with strong water deficit and wet winters with replenishment of the water reservoir. In the dry season, soil water content has high tempora instability and is mainly influenced by the aspect and tangential curvature. On the other hand during the wet season near saturation conditions of soil surface are able to diagnose rapid streamflow response since rainfall events generate runoff and subsurface later flow. Soil water content is more stable and shows a signifi ant correlation with the slope and the wetness index.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Elina Khaertidova , Antonia Longobardi Soil moisture temporal dynamics is the result of the interaction between the stochastic climate forcing and the buffering effect operated by the soil volume, depending on its hydraulics properties. To address an analysis of the soi moisture temporal variability, a number of input and output processes to the representative soil volume have to be modeled. Overall, at the point scale, input process corresponds to the effective rainfall occurrences whereas the output process correspond to the losses function represented by the evapotranspiration, sub-surface and deep percolation fluxes. The number and relative complexity make troublesome both the processes schematization and the interpretation of soil moisture dynamics. In this study, observed soil moisture data, recorded over a 3 years period, have been explored to assess and characterize the dominating processes at an experimental site, locate in Southern Italy, Campania region, with reference to inter-storm periods, when the soil water balance is only driven by the losses fluxes. About thirty inter- storm events, including five or more days, have been selected and the soil moisture depletion process has been explored. Soil moisture depletion over the experimental site occurs following a negative exponential law. The rate of soil water content reduction appears to be different over the seasons, with the highest rate occurring during the spring season, perhaps reflecting the higher vegetation water consumption during this particular period of the year. Initia soil water content seems also to affect the inter-storm dynamic, being the rate of depl tion lower for low initial soi moisture contents. Multilevel recorded data also allowed the investigation of the importance of soil depth, with a depletion process rate being much more smoother in the deeper soil layer.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Belen Gallego-Elvira , Albert Olioso , Maria Mira , Sergio Reyes- Castillo , Gilles Boulet , Olivier Marloie , Sébastien Garrigues , Dominique Courault , Marie Weiss , Philippe Chauvelon , Olivier Boutron Evapotranspiration (ET) is a fundamental variable of the hydrological cycle and its estimation is required for irrigation management, water resources planning and environmental studies. Remote sensing provides spatially distributed cost-effective information for ET maps production at regional scale. We have developed EVASPA too for mapping ET from remote sensing data at spatial and temporal scales relevant to hydrological or agronomica studies. EVASPA includes several algorithms for estimating evapotranspiration and various equations for estimating the required input information (net radiation, ground heat flux, evaporative fraction…), which provides a way to assess uncertainties in the derivation of ET. The tool integrates data from various remote sensing sensors and it can be easily adapted to new sensors. To test the tool, evapotranspiration maps have been produced for the Crau-Camargue pilot site (south-eastern France), where several energy balance stations deployed in contrasted areas provide ground measurements. An overall description of the tool and first results of performance asse sment (comparison to ground data) are presented here.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Gergely Tóth , Melanie Weynants , Marc van Liedekerke , Panos Panagos , Luca Montanarella Parallel to the advancement of soil hydrological models an evolution of soil datasets available for continental scale applications has taken place in Europe in the last two decades. A milestone in this development was the release of the digital European Soil Database, which includes a full coverage of soil information on a 1:1 M scale, a Soil Profile Analytical Database and a Pedotransfer Rules Database. The ESDB allows adaptation of soil hydrological models, such as HYPRES, for spatial representation of soil water properties and for various further modeling applications. The establishment of the European Soil Data Center (ESDAC), hosted in the Joint Research Centre marked the beginning of a new era of soil information provision in Europe. Main aim of the ESDAC is to serve primary and derived, well documented soil information through a harmonized system. The ESDAC - one of the European environmental data centers – is the infrastructural framework to satisfy increased data demand. General (e.g. the ESDB) and thematic (eg. soil organic carbon map; soil salinity map) soil datasets are stored in the ESDAC, which is constantly updated with new data. To answer the increasing need for up-to-date coherent soil data in Europe, the European Commission carried out a topsoil survey in 2009 within the LUCAS (Land use and Land Cover Area Frame Survey). During this survey more than 20,000 soil samples were taken in 25 EU Member States. In 2012 two additional new Member States (Bulgaria and Romania) were sampled applying the same sampling methodology and soil analysis. The LUCAS Soil database, among others, includes measured information on soil attributes which are most needed for soil hydrological models (e.g. particle size distribution, organic carbon and CaCO3 content). Although limited to topsoil, the LUCAS Soil dataset, in combination with other information, has a potential to provide basic soil information for regional scale modeling. Leading institutes in soil hydrological research in Europe have decided to establish a common European Soil Hydropedological Data Inventory (EU-HYDI) in 2012. The EU-HYDI dataset contains information on both basic and hydrological soil properties of over 16,000 soil samples from 18 countries, covering all major biophysical regions of Europe, from Portugal to Russia. The EU-HYDI, being the most comprehensive dataset of its kind is foreseen to yield a series of new research results, including accurate and reliable inputs for soil water models in the coming years. This expected new information, combined with evolving spatial datasets can contribute to a number of applications that build on pan-European soil water models and maps.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Andrew M. Ireson , Garth van der Kamp , Uri Nachshon , Adrian P. Butler Models for the soil-plant-atmosphere system, especially large scale models, frequently ignore interactions with underlying groundwater, and ignore fractures or macropores which may strongly influence the system response. Unsaturated fractured porous media can exhibit a range of behavior, depending on both the characteristics of the porous matrix and the fractures, and the climatic conditions to which they are subject. A dominant characteristic in surficial fractured porous geological formations is the vertical distribution of fractures in the near surface region. This paper explores how these different modes of behavior operate at various field sites and under different climatic conditions. Two diverse fractured porous settings are considered: fractured glacial till of the semi-arid, seasonally frozen Canadian prairies and the Chalk in humid, temperate south east England. Interpretations from hypothetical hillslope scale model simulations provide insights into how the properties of the material, and in particular the distribution of the fractures and the matrix hydraulic conductivity, affect the spatial distribution of evapotranspiration and the timing, magnitude and spatial distribution of groundwater recharge. Such behavior is not captured in conventional large scale models which consider only a shallow, one-dimensional soil moisture balance.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): B. Faybishenko , F. Molz Numerical modeling of a system of 4 ordinary differential equations [1] demonstrated synchronized patterns of temporal oscillations of competing microbial populations along with carbon and oxygen concentrations in the rhizosphere, as affected by exudation dynamics and the model kinetic parameters. Using methods of nonlinear dynamics and chaos, we show that the exudation dynamics serve as a driving force for microbial and biogeochemical excitation phenomena, and lead to the development of the emerging phase space structures/attractors and synchronized oscillations of microbial populations and carbon and oxygen concentrations.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Addolorata Marasco , Annalisa Iuorio , Fabrizio Cartenì , Giuliano Bonanomi , Francesco Giannino , Stefano Mazzoleni The formation of vegetation patterns has been widely studied and discussed over the years and it has been related to two different mechanisms: depletion of water in the center of vegetation patches and production of toxicity by the decomposition of plant residues in soil. In this work we present a spatially explicit model that combines these two processes showing that negative plant-soil feedbacks can explain the development of different vegetation patterns also when water is not a limiting factor. This also demonstrates that the toxicity effects may change the stability properties of the vegetation patterns.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Laura Boscarello , Giovanni Ravazzani , Marco Mancini This work has the objective to find and test methodologies for distributed hydrological model calibration starting from discharge measurements. As all distributed models, also FEST-WB demands a large amount of information and parameters. To reduce the calibration effort, in this study we assign a first initial distribution of values for each parameter starting from information about soil type and usage and we let calibration change only the mean value, through a correction factor. The study area in which this methodology has been applied is Piemonte, with a total of 50 flow measurements series. With this large amount of discharge data it is possible to test a multi-site calibration approach. The results show that the use of only one measure for calibration highlight some shortcomings in the validation results, while the use of all the measures together improve model performance in all catchments levels.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Thomas Cornelissen , Bernd Diekkrüger , Heye Bogena Soil moisture is a key variable in the soil-plant-atmosphere system because it interacts with various system components. Both the measurement and the simulation of the soil moisture pattern and its spatio-temporal variability are current challenges in hydrology. This study applies the model HydroGeoSphere in a natural forest ecosystem to assess whether the model can simulate the spatio-temporal variability and pattern of soil moisture. The assessment is performed by comparing the simulation results with soil moisture measurements. The model is used at two different model resolutions to reveal the scale dependency of the calibrated model parameters, the water balance, the discharge components, and the spatial distribution of soil moisture and its variogram parameters. Discharge simulation results show that the model is capable of reproducing the discharge characteristics. A weak correlation is found between simulated and measured soil moisture dynamics in the topsoil, but the correlation is stronger in 20 cm depth. In 50 cm depth, the model is able to simulate the seasonal trend but not the short-term dynamics because preferential flow is not simulated. Furthermore, a decrease in soil moisture variance during continued drying is observed for both simulations and the measurements at both resolutions. In addition, the pattern of measured soil moisture shows a patchy character that does not show in the simulated pattern indicating that using uniform soil properties in the topsoil makes the soil moisture simulation inaccurate.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Francesca Castellví , Simona Consoli , Rita Papa For many years scientists working in fields related to micrometeorology have used the “ Eddy Covariance (EC) ” technique to study the transfer of water vapour, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases between plants, soils, bodies of water and the atmosphere at the boundary layer. This complex statistical technique uses high frequency measurements of the movement of air in the three dimensions along with the analysis of an air sample taken from the same position at the same time to determine the net exchange, or flux, of carbon dioxide, water vapour and sensible heat. Monitoring stations are typically installed above a canopy, field of crop or grassland, where some of the prerequisites of meaningful readings such as homogeneity of terrain can be attained. Acquisition and maintenance of the instrumentation required are expensive. Therefore, alternative methods are of interest and, if proven reliable, they may also be implemented to overcome routinely problems in direct measurements obtained by EC, such as gap filling. On the basis of recent literature, this paper reports the results of experiments carried out to evaluate the reliability of two alternative methods based on surface renewal analysis to estimate sensible heat flux.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Joseph G. Alfieri , William P. Kustas , John Prueger , John Baker , Jerry Hatfield Meeting the competing demands for freshwater of the urban, industrial, and agricultural communities is increasingly challenging as the global population continues to grow and the need for potable water, food, fiber, and fuel grows with it. One of the keys to meeting these demands is maximizing the efficiency of water use in agricultural applications. Toward this end, a thorough understanding of the factors driving evapotranspiration and their response to spatiotemporal variations in local environmental conditions is needed for the development and validation of numerical and remote sensing-based models. Moreover, because these exchange processes are strongly nonlinear, scaling measurements collected at one scale to another remains a nontrivial task. In an effort to identify the key environmental drivers controlling the latent heat flux (λE) from agro-ecosystems and their potential impacts on upscaling in-situ flux measurements, eddy covariance and micrometeorological data collected over maize and soy at three distinct sites located in Maryland, Iowa, and Minnesota, respectively were evaluated for the years between 2007 and 2011. The magnitudes of the evaporative fluxes were comparable for measurements collected during clear-sky days with similar environmental conditions; on average, the measurements of λE agreed to within 50 W m -2 , or approximately 10%. When considered in terms of evaporative fraction ( f e ), however, there were marked differences among the sites. For example, while the magnitude and diurnal pattern of f e for mature maize at the Minnesota site was nearly constant ( f e = 0.66) during the day, f e at both the Maryland and Iowa site increased steadily during the day from a minimum value near 0.68 at midmorning to peak value of 0.87 in the afternoon. These differences appear to be primarily linked to differences in soil moisture and vegetation density at the various sites. As such, this research underscores the impact of local environmental conditions in controlling land-atmosphere exchange processes. It also underscores the importance accurately describing local environmental conditions when modeling surface fluxes.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): A. Comegna , A. Coppola , V. Comegna , A. Sommella , C.D. Vitale Stochastic analysis of flow and mass transport in soil, usually assumes that soil hydraulic properties are stationary homogeneous stochastic processes with a finite variance. Some field data suggest that soil hydraulic distributions may have a fractal character with long-range correlations. In this study new field soil hydraulic data-sets, measured along transects of an Andosol and a Vertic-Fluvent soil, were analyzed for fractal behavior using a stochastic fractal function such as fractional Brownian motion (fBm) and power-law variogram fits to estimate the monofractal Hurst exponent H as a measure of self-similarity. Our analysis lend further support to the hypothesis that horizontal processes, that mimic fBm, will display a power-law variogram.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): B. Majone , F. Viani , E. Filippi , A. Bellin , A. Massa , G. Toller , F. Robol , M. Salucci We describe the deployment of a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), composed of 135 soil moisture and 27 temperature sensors, in an apple tree orchard of about 5000 m 2 , located in the municipality of Cles, a small town in the Alpine region, northeastern Italy. The orchard is divided into three parcels each one subjected to a different irrigation schedule. The objective of the present work is to monitor soil moisture dynamics in the top soil to a detail, in both space and time, suitable to analyze the interplay between soil moisture dynamics and plant physiology. The deployment consists of 27 locations (verticals) connected by a multi hop WSN, each one equipped with 5 soil moisture sensors deployed at the depths of 10, 20, 30, 50 and 80 cm, and a temperature sensor at the depth of 20 cm. The proposed monitoring system is based on totally independent sensor nodes, which allow both real time and historic data management and are connected through an input/output interface to a WSN platform. Meteorological data are monitored by a weather station located at a distance of approximately 100 m from the experimental site. Great care has been posed to calibration of the capacitance sensors, both in the laboratory, with soil samples, and on site, after deployment, in order to minimize the noise caused by small oscillations in the input voltage and uncertainty in the calibration curves. In this work we report the results of a preliminary analysis on the data collected during the growing season 2009. We observed that the WSN greatly facilitates the collection of detailed measurements of soil moisture, thereby increasing the amount of information useful for exploring hydrological processes, but they should be used with care since the accuracy of collected data depends critically on the capability of the system to maintain constant the input voltage and on the reliability of calibration curves. Finally, we studied the spatial and temporal distribution of soil moisture in all the irrigated parcels, and explored how different irrigation schedules influence orchard's production.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Daniele Penna , Omar Oliviero , Rick Assendelft , Giulia Zuecco , Ilja (H. J.) van Meerveld , Tommaso Anfodillo , Vinicio Carraro , Marco Borga , Giancarlo Dalla Fontana We used a dual stable isotope approach ( 2 H and 18 O) and electrical conductivity data in combination with hydrometric measurements to trace water fluxes in the soil, stream and trees in a small forested watershed in the Italian Pre-Alps. The aim was to understand the main water sources for plant transpiration and runoff generation. The data were collected between events and during rainfall events in order to assess the sources of tree uptake under different conditions. Sampling and analysis are still continuing but preliminary results show that the isotopic composition of tree water was similar to soil water and rain water but statistically different from streamflow and groundwater. This suggests that trees used predominantly soil water, rather than groundwater, during the study period. No marked difference was found between the isotopic composition of the sap of trees in the riparian zone and the sap of trees on the hillslope. However, during dry conditions sap in riparian trees slowly became more similar to deep soil water and groundwater, indicating a possible switch in water uptake from shallow to deeper soil water. In contrast to the quick response of the stream, the composition of tree water did not change immediately after a rainfall event, even though the composition of shallow soil water had changed, which may be caused by storage of water in the tree and the low vapor pressure deficit that suppressed transpiration after the rainfall event. Future work will be carried out to monitor the seasonal variability in water uptake and its response to rainfall events in more detail.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Y. Miyazawa , N. Kobayashi , R.G. Mudd , M. Tateishi , T. Lim , N. Mizoue , T.W. Giambelluca , T. Kumagai In order to reveal the control of tree transpiration by the leaf ecophysiological traits and the hydraulic processes from the soil to leaves, transpiration rates of the tree species in tropical seasonal forests were monitored and modeled using independently measured leaf photosynthetic traits. Stand-level transpiration rate was modeled for rubber trees in a plantation and alien and native species in a community forest using a multilayer biophysical model that couples the energy balance and leaf ecophysiological processes. Model simulation was carried out on the assumption that leaf gas exchange was not limited by the hydraulic processes from the root to the leaves, while transpiration rates, which were independently monitored using sap flux measurements, were influenced both by the seasonal trends in leaf ecophysiological traits and the hydraulic processes. The modeled transpiration rate (Emodel) successfully captured the diurnal trend of the in situ measured one ( E sap) in most rainy seasons in rubber plantation and in dry season in community forests, suggesting the absence of hydraulic limitation in soil-plant continuum. The decoupling between the E model and E sap was observed in mid dry season in rubber plantation and in a native species of the community forest. The daily-scale E model overestimated E sap by 20-40%, mainly due to the midday depression of E sap. On the other hand, in an alien eucalyptus species in community forest, overestimate of E model was observed in mid rainy season, suggesting the failure of water uptake by the roots under flooding conditions. The seasonal decreases in daily E sap matched the timing of the water transport limitation of soil-plant continuum. Under lowered E sap conditions, as high E model as other seasons was observed in each species but could not be met due to the water supply, suggesting the leaf ecophysiological traits oriented for high leaf water demand and their imbalance with the seasonally decreasing water supply capacity. In conclusion, seasonal trends in transpiration rate were strongly characterized by the limitation in the process of soil-plant water transport, rather than the seasonal trends in the leaf ecophysiological traits.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): A. Petroselli , S. Grimaldi , N. Romano A mixed procedure, referred to as CN4GA (Curve Number for Green-Ampt), was recently introduced with the aim of distributing in time the net rainfall volume provided at event scale by the Soil Conservation Service - Curve Number (SCS-CN) method. The proposed method onsists in employing the Green-Ampt infiltration equation and calibrating both the ponding time and the soil hydraulic conductivity using the initial abstraction and the total volume given by the SCS-CN method. The procedure is here applied on several rainfall-runoff events observed in an Italian watershed Results confirms the general behavior already noticed in previous studies: the CN4GA rocedure provides net rainfal intensities consistent with the runoff observations, the SCS-CN method underestimates peak intensity when applied a sub-daily * resolution, and the differences between the two approaches are relevant when the gross rainfall peak occurs at the beginning of the storm and generally in case of multi-peak events.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Hatem Ibrahim , Abdessatar Hatira , Marc Pansu There has been considerable research on organic carbon (OC) stocks in the upper layer of the soil but it has focused on semi-mechanistic predictions of OC stocks in the long term rather than on microbial processes acting on OC transformations. Published data lack of reference concerning the modelling of the short-term exchanges between atmosphere, plants, rhizobia and other microorganisms of soil. We think it is because the mechanistic role of microorganisms is poorly considered in most of the existing models. Compartmental theory is the most used to model the complex system of OC forms, with linear or no-linear propositions. Sometimes, the models did not consider explicitly an active microbial compartment and were often over parameterized. In contrast, the MOMOS proposition defined linearly the functional role of microorganisms with only a no-linear term linked to microbial respiration. It uses only 7 kinetic parameters having a clear ecological definition and being related to climate (all parameters), soil texture or pH (microbial respiration), and biological properties of debris inputs (enzymatic breakdown of plant debris and microbial mortality). The 3 other parameters (rates of humus stabilisation and enzyme assimilation of labile and stable humus) were found linked only to climate, suggesting that quality of humified materials should be more constant than OC forms from living materials. In coupling with soil water and production modules, the model emerges as a new theoretical basis to describe the life cycle and its applications to agro-ecology and global change.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): F. Viola , D. Caracciolo , D. Pumo , L.V. Noto The rainfall reduction and the temperature increase forecasted for Mediterranean regions would likely increase the vegetation water stress and decrease productivity in rainfed agriculture. Olive trees, which have traditionally been grown under rainfed conditions, are one of the most characteristic tree crops from the Mediterranean not only for economical importance but also for minimizing erosion and desertification and for improving the carbon balance of these areas. In order to simulate how climatic change could alter soil moisture dynamics, biomass growth and fruit productivity, a water driven crop model is used in this study. The model quantitatively links olive yield to climate and soil moisture dynamics using an ecohydrological model which simulates soil moisture, evapotranspiration and assimilation dynamics of olive orchards. The model is able to explicitly reproduce two different hydrological and climatic phases in Mediterranean areas: the well-watered conditions and the actual conditions, where the limitations induced by soil moisture availability are taken into account. Annual olive yield is obtained by integrating the carbon assimilation during the growing season, including the effects of vegetation water stress on biomass allocation. The numer cal model, previously calibrated on an olive orchard located in Sicily (Italy) with a satisfactory reproduction of historical olive yield data, has been forced with future climate scenarios generated using a stochastic weather generator which allows for the downscaling of an ensemble of climate model outputs. The stochastic downscaling is carried out using simulations of some Genera Circulation Models adopted in the IPCC 4AR for future scenarios. In particular, 2010, 2050, 2090 and 2130 scenarios have been analyzed.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Luigi Ponti , Andrew Paul Gutierrez , Bruno Basso , Markus Neteler , Paolo Michele Ruti , Alessandro Dell’Aquila , Massimo Iannetta Olive is of major eco-social importance for the Mediterranean Basin, a climate change and biodiversity hotspot of global relevance where remarkable climate change is expected over the next few decades with unknown ecosystem impacts. However, climate impact assessments on terrestrial ecosystems have long been constrained by a narrow methodological basis (ecological niche models, ENMs) that is correlative and hence largely omits key impact drivers such as trophic interactions and the effect of water availability, the latter being especially relevant to desertification- prone Mediterranean ecosystems. ENMs use correlative measures of water availability unsuitable for making projections about the future. To bridge this gap, mechanistic approaches such as physiologically-based weather- driven demographic models (PBDMs) may be used as they embed by design both the biology of trophic interactions and a mechanistic representation of soil water balance. Here we report progress towards assessing climate effects on olive culture across the Mediterranean region using mechanistic PBDMs that project regionally the multitrophic population dynamics of olive and olive fly as affected by daily weather and soil water balance.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): M. Huang , S.L. Barbour , A. Elshorbagy , J. Zettl , B.C. Si Reforestation is a primary end use for reconstructed soils following oil sands mining in northern Alberta, Canada Limited soil water conditions in this climate will restrict plant growth. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of soil texture (gradation and layering) on plant available water and consequently on forest productivity for reclaimed coarse textured soils. A previously validated system dynamics (SD) model of soil water dynamics was coupled with ecophysiological and biogeochemical processes model, Biome-BGC-SD, to simulate forest dynamics for different soil profiles. These profiles included contrasting 50 cm textural layers of finer sand and coarser sand in which the sand layers had either a well graded or uniform soil texture. These were compared to homogeneous profiles of the same sands. Two tree species of jack pine ( Pinus banksiana Lamb) and trembling aspen ( Populus tremuloides Michx. ) were simulated using a 60-year climatic data base from northern Alberta. Av ilable water holding capacity (AWHC) was used to identify soil water regime, while leaf area index (LAI) and net primary production (NPP) were used as indices of forest productivity. Using the published and previously validated physiological parameters, the Biome-BGC-SD was used to study the responses of forest leaf area index and potential productivity to AWHC on different soil profiles. Simulated results indicated that layering of uniform fine sand overlying coarse sand could significantly increase AWHC in the 1-m profile for coarse textured soils. This enhanced AWHC could result in an increase in forest LAI and NPP. The extent of the increase varied with coarse sand g adation and vegetative types The simulated results showed that the presence of 50 cm of uniform fine sand overlyin 50 cm of graded coarse sand would provide an effective reclamation prescription to increase AWHC and forest productivity.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Salvatore Manfreda , Teresa Pizzolla , Kelly K. Caylor The aim of this work is to deepen our understanding on the mutual relationship between climate, vegetation and soil water budget within an ecohydrological framework. To this end a coupled hydrological/ecological model is adopted to describe simultaneously soil water budget and vegetation pattern evolution in a semiarid river basin in New Mexico (USA). This basin represents an ideal area to study the properties of water-controlled ecosystems. Analyses have been carried out using a recently formulated framework for the water balance at the daily level linked with a vegetation model for the description of the spatial organization of vegetation. Using this approach, we identified the dynamic water stress of vegetation during the growing season, taking into account effects of morphology on the spatial distribution of solar radiation and the initial soil moisture condition at the beginning of the growing season. Several different variants of the vegetation model have been tested with the aim to identify the main drivers for the spatial organization of the vegetation. Results clearly show that the observed vegetation patterns emerge from the minimization of water stress and the maximization of water use.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Francesco De Paola , Maurizio Giugni In the last decades, the international scientific literature has focused on the assessment and quantification of trends in average temperature and rainfall, underlining changes in time and space sometimes relevant. The changes concern the yearly average values, the seasonal distribution, the daily values, with marked differences both at a continental and national scale. In this paper, with reference to a database containing the records of about 8000 thermometric stations and 12000 rainfall stations for the period 1895-1997 for the USA, available on the website of the Institute for Mathematics Applied to Geosciences ( http://www.image.ucar.edu/Data/US.monthly.met/ ), an analysis on the spatial correlation between the yearly average rainfall hc and the mean of the yearly average ground temperature T was performed. In particular, with the aid of the copula distribution function, a stochastic model to define the conditional probability distribut * ion P(hc(mm)|T(°C)) was developed, analyzing the dependence of the yearly average rainfall on the thermometric changes.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): O. Salazar , S. Hansen , P. Abrahamsen , K. Hansen , P. Gundersen Land use change alters water and element cycles, but the changes in these cycles after conversion for example from cropland to forest are not fully described in hydrological and nutrient transport models, which usually describe either cropland or forest stands. In the European Union future afforestation is likely to occur on abandoned cropland, and evaluation of the future impacts of this land use change will require projections with models that include combined cropland-forest modules. This study used the agro-based DAISY model (Version 4.93 to investigate changes in the soil water balance over four decades following afforestation of a homogeneous area of former arable land on a sandy loam in Denmark. Hydrological data collected during nine hydrological years (April 2001-March 2010) were used to test the DAISY model. Monthly data on soil water content at 0-90 cm used for calibration were available from April 2001 to December 2002 for six monoculture stands of oak (age 8, 22 and 31 years) and Norway spruce (age 4, 13 and 32 years). Model performance was evaluated by considering uncertainties in model i puts using GLUE procedure The GLUE estimates obtained (uncertainty bands 5% and 95%) agreed satisfactorily with measured monthly soil water content during the calibration period (April 2001- December 2002). Similarly, in the oldest oak stand, long- term monitoring observations and predictions of monthly water content were in satisfactory agreement during the period January 2003-March 2010). Sensitivity analysis showed that the DAISY model was most sensitive to the Kc and soil hydraulic parameters included in the Campbell model. Simulation results during nine hydrological years showed that 16-25% of incoming precipitation led to water recharge in the spruce stands, while the corresponding range for oak stands was 25-27%. A 35-year DAISY simulation revealed that Norway spruce consumed more water than oak, with differences in annual water recharge in the range 31-174 mm year -1 and with greater differences in rainy years (precipitation >900 mm year -1 ).

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Marcella Biddoccu , Stefano Ferraris , Eugenio Cavallo , Francesca Opsi , Maurizio Previati , Davide Canone Agricultural management influences the rainfall-runoff processes and has relevant effect on soil erosion, especially on hillslope vineyards. Mechanization in the inter-row is particularly important in this issues. Vegetation cover, soil structure modification and crust formation dramatically influence the overland flow. In this work ponded infiltration measurements in relation both to soil water content measurements and to long time series of rainfall-runoff were performed. In fact in the case of event scale mathematical models, soil hydrology theory provides the methods to evaluate some key parameters. First of all a long time series of rainfall-runoff data measured by the IMAMOTER-CNR-Torino was analyzed in order to quantify the soil management effects in the Regione Piemonte experimental vineyards “Tenuta Cannona”. Then temporal variability of hydraulic conductivity and soil water content were measured in different soil surface conditions in relation to vineyard management. The analysis of the runoff data set and the infiltration tests showed how the increase in infiltration in tilled inter-rows was limited to rainfall events that occurred immediately after tillage, whilst the grass cover assured better reduction of runoff and higher hydraulic conductivity on a wider temporal scale.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Martine J. van der Ploeg , Adriaan J. Teuling Soil plant atmosphere continuum concepts used in vadose zone hydrology approach plants as physical entities. This approach has proven very valuable in the past decades. The need to upscale such concepts provokes the question if plant functional biology should be considered, as larger scales also imply variation in (micro)climate and soil composition. Habitat manifestation is an expression of its evolutionary history and although the spatial distribution of habitats is largely driven by current climates, a soil's water holding capacity and hence its formation over time may have played a role. Separate mechanisms involved in the soil plant atmosphere continuum are often understood and incorporated in numerical models for predictive purposes, yet interrelationships pose challenges, especially when such relationships cross traditional scientific disciplinary boundaries. In fact, the exact driver for root water uptake is itself subject of scientific debate, as there is no consensus on whether the driver for root water uptake is soil moisture content (e.g. [1] ) or soil water potential (e.g. [2] ). To evaluate soil water availability in relation to crop yield prognoses and the stability of natural vegetation, integrated concepts are sorely needed, especially in the perspective of climate change [3] and global water scarcity [4] . We present considerations and possible approaches for linking plant functional biology and vadose zone processes.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Antonia Longobardi , Paolo Villani Because of the crucial role that plays in the hydrological water balance, evapotranspiration estimation has always represented a field of substantial and con inuous scientific application. Evapotranspiration fluxes are however and objectively difficult to be measured and predicted. Many different models have then been reported in the related literature, which are able to quantify the evapotranspiration process starting from a more or less reduced database of empirical data. The present paper aim at the comparison between models of maximum crop and actua evapotranspiration (ET 0 ) applied to an e dy covariance micrometeorological tower located in Southern Italy. In particular, the Penman-Monteith model, in the simplified version proposal of FAO, and the model of Priestley- Taylor, have been herein considered. On a daily time scale of aggregation, both examined models have good capacity in the estimation of evapotranspiration fluxes. Using a database input of daily average air temperatures and analytically calculating the other relevant parameters, both the simplified method proposed by FAO Penman- Monteithand the Pristley-Taylor model show a comparable fit to the observed data, wi h a similar over-prediction of about respectively 17% and 14%.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Amro Negm , Marco Falocchi , Stefano Barontini , Baldassare Bacchi , Roberto Ranzi An experimental field campaign was performed during summer 2012 in an Alpine environment (Cividate Camuno, Oglio river basin, 274 m a.s.l.) in order to assess the water balance of an anthropized soil at the local scale. A micrometeorological station equipped with traditional sensors coupled with eddy covariance apparatus and TDR was installed in order to measure precipitation, evapotranspiration and soil—water content at different depths. The soil water properties were determined after field and laboratory investigations. Here the preliminary results of the campaign are presented and discussed, focusing on the assessment of the evapotranspiration and of the water exchanges in the vadose zone as ones of the major problems of water imbalance.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): E. Benavente , L. García-Toledano , J.M. Carrillo , M. Quemada The annual grass Brachypodium distachyon has been recently recognized as the model plant for functional genomics of temperate grasses, including cereals of economic relevance like wheat and barley. Sixty-two lines of B. distachyon were assessed for response to drought stress and heat tolerance. All these lines, except the reference genotype BD21, derive from specimens collected in 32 distinct locations of the Iberian Peninsula, covering a wide range of geo- climatic conditions. Sixteen lines of Brachypodium hybridum, an allotetraploid closely related to B. distachyon were used as reference of abiotic-stress well-adapted genotypes. Drought tolerance was assessed in a green-house trial. At the rosette-stage, no irrigation was applied to treated plants whereas their replicates at the control were maintained well watered during all the experiment. Thermographic images of treated and control plants were taken after 2 and 3 weeks of drought treatment, when stressed plants showed medium and extreme wilting symptoms. The mean leaf temperature of stressed (LTs) and control (LTc) plants was estimated based upon thermographic records from selected pixels (183 per image) that strictly correspond to leaf tissue. The response to drought was based on the analysis of two parameters: LTs and the thermal difference (TD) between stressed and control plants (LTs – LTc). The response to heat stress was based on LTc. Comparison of the mean values of these parameters showed that: 1) Genotypes better adapted to drought (B. hybridum lines) presented a higher LTs and TD than B. distachyon lines. 2) Under high temperature conditions, watered plants of B. hybridum lines maintained lower LTc than those of B. distachyon. Those results suggest that in these species adaptation to drought is linked to a more efficient stomata regulation: under water stress stomata are closed, increasing foliar temperature but also water use efficiency by reducing transpiration. With high temperature and water availability the results are less definite, but still seems that opening stomata allow plants to increase transpiration and therefore to diminish foliar temperature.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Giuseppe Mendicino , Jessica Pedace , Alfonso Senatore An improved version of a Cellular Automata (CA)-based ecohydrological model developed using a Macroscopic CA approach was applied in a numerical experiment over a large hillslope. The original model was made up of a Vegetation Dynamic Model (VDM) coupled to a Soil–Vegetation–Atmosphere Transfer (SVAT) scheme and to a three-dimensional unsaturated flow and heat diffusion model. It was built in a problem solving environment that uses macroscopic CA both as a tool to model and simulate dynamic complex phenomena and as a computational model for parallel processing. The new version of the ecohydrological model adds flow generation and flow routing modules, allowing to govern liquid water interactions between surface and subsurface domains, to account for depression storage, obstruction storage exclusion and changing surface roughness owing to vegetation dynamics.This paper shows the preliminary results of the analysis of vegetation-hydrology dynamics performed on a ‘reference’ hillslope, with the same morphological characteristics of the Biosphere 2 hillslope experiment, hypothesized fully vegetated with alfalfa grass. Soil moisture and turbulent fluxes spatial and temporal variability was assessed for a period characterized by a single wetting event followed by a dry-down period. The computational performance of the CA-based model allowed a sensitivity analysis over the hillslope, varying both precipitation intensity and soil moisture initial conditions. Surface runoff, soil moisture, evapotranspiration and Leaf Area Index space-time distributions were evaluated for each scenario, highlighting the main differences depending on the changing features of the experiments.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): M. Pirastru , M. Castellini , F. Giadrossich , M. Niedda This experimental research compares the physical and hydraulic properties of two adjacent soils, one covered with a native forest of Mediterranean maquis, and the other with spontaneous grass. The latter replaced the previous natural forest. The aim is to quantify the significant differences in the soil properties caused by the removal of the natural vegetation. Although the soil texture was similar in the different land uses, the soil under the forest had a higher organic matter content, a lower apparent density and a higher water content at saturation than the grassed soil. The analysis of the water retention characteristics indicated that the retained water content of the forest soil exceeded that of the grassed soil in the range from saturation to -50 cm of water tension. This suggests that changing the land use altered the soil pore structure within this range. The hydraulic conductivity of the forest soil exceeded that of the grassed soil at water tensions of -10, -5 and -3 cm. Conversely the hydraulic conductivity of the grassed soil was similar to that of the forest soil at -1 cm of water tension and at saturation. This result was probably due to the hydraulic activation of the desiccation cracks in the grassed soil. This increased the amount of infiltrated water in saturated and near-saturated soil conditions. This work shows that changes in land use have an unfavorable impact on the physical and hydraulic properties of the soil. Soil covered with grass is more vulnerability to water erosion than that under forest, and there is likely to be general worsening of flow regimes.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): G. Manoli , S. Bonetti , E. Scudiero , P. Teatini , P.J. Binning , F. Morari , M. Putti , M. Marani The southern portion of the Venice coastland is a very precarious environment and salt contamination of land and groundwater is a severe problem that is seriously impacting the farmland productivity. Geophysical surveys, lab testing and continuous monitoring of hydrological parameters together with crop yield distribution were performed and acquired from 2010 to 2012 in a 21 ha basin cultivated with maize crop and representative of the area. The dataset is here used to set-up a numerical model of soil moisture dynamics coupled with plant transpiration, photosynthesis and growth. The hydraulic model is linked to the atmosphere by the calculation of the stomatal conductance which is optimized for maximum carbon gain. The model is applied to the field site to understand the impact of land elevation, soil heterogeneities, and seawater contamination on land productivity.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Richard H. Cuenca , Yutaka Hagimoto , Mahta Moghaddam This article will focus on the evolution of soil water monitoring and determination of soil hydraulic properties with emphasis on large-scale soil-plant-atmosphere (SPA) experiments, beginning with the lead author's participation in this work in 1976 at University of California, Davis and evolving to current experiments involving the co-authors. Experiments to be highlighted include the HAPEX-MOBILHY (France, 1986), HAPEX-Sahel (Niger, 1992), NASA BOREAS (Canada, 1994-96), to the current NASA AirMOSS project (2011-15). This article will demonstrate sample data from a wide range of technology from neutron probe, to capacitance probes and other dielectric sensors, to the principle for the P-band radar in the current NASA AirMOSS project.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): S. Garré , I. Coteur , C. Wongleecharoen , K. Hussain , W. Omsunrarn , T. Kongkaew , T. Hilger , J. Diels , J. Vanderborght Contour hedgerow intercropping systems have been proposed to reduce run-off and control soil erosion on steep agricultural land. However, competition for water and nutrients between crops and associated hedgerows may reduce the overall performance of these systems. ERT measurements conducted in Thailand showed that the soils of our experimental plots were very heterogeneous both along the slope as with depth. This observation highlighted some constraints of the ERT method for soil moisture monitoring in the field. Nevertheless, the data indeed revealed contrasting water depletion patterns under monocropping and intercropping systems, which could also be related to plant parameters.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Jacopo Boaga , Matteo Rossi , Giorgio Cassiani In this paper we present the application of time-lapse non invasive 3D micro-electrical tomography (ERT) to monitor soil-plant interactions in the root zone. The goal of the study is to better understand the soil-vegetation interactions by the use of non invasive technique, and how this dynamical process can be monitored by time lapse geophysical measurements to explain water balance exchanges in the upper subsoil critical zone. We designed, built and installed a 3D electrical tomography apparatus for the monitoring of the root zone of a single apple tree in an orchard located in the Trentino region, Northern Italy. The micro-ERT apparatus consists of 48 buried electrodes on 4 instrumented micro boreholes plus 24 mini-electrodes on the ground surface. We collected repeated ERT and TDR soil moisture measurements for about one year and performed three different controlled irrigation tests: one during a very dry summer and, during a highly dynamic plant growing spring period and one during a very wet autumn period. We also performed laboratory analysis on soil specimens, in order to evaluate the electrical response at different saturation steps. The results demonstrate that 3D micro-ERT is able to characterize subsoil conditions and monitor root zone activities, especially in terms of root zone suction regions. In particular, we note that in very dry conditions, 3D micro ERT is able to image water plumes on the shall subsoil produced using a drip irrigation system. In the very dynamic growing season, under induced widespread irrigation, micro 3D ERT can detect the main suction zones caused by the tree root activity. Complex interactions between soil moisture and pore water salinity complicate the interpretation. The presented approach is a very promising tool for a better understanding of hydrological interactions in the shallow subsoil, and for the quantification of the soil-plant-atmosphere mass exchanges.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): D. Masseroni , C. Corbari , A. Ceppi , C. Gandolfi , M. Mancini Reliable estimation of turbulent evapotranspiration and carbon dioxide fluxes is based on a correction procedure due to eddy covariance methodology and instrumental characteristics. Literature standardized methods for data processing are defined for analyzing the quality of high frequency measurements. However, for operative applications, linked to real time irrigation water management, high frequency data are difficult to manage. So the objective of this paper is to verify the possibility of using eddy covariance data in an operative way in order to understand if averaged data at 30 minutes are still of good quality in relation to those obtained from high frequency measurements. Data have been collected by an eddy covariance station over a maize field at Livraga (Lodi, Italy) for the year 2012. High frequency data (20 Hz) and averaged data (30 minutes) are collected separately in a PCMICA of 2Gb capacity and data logger memory respectively. High frequency data are analyzed with Eddy Pro 4.0 open source software. Effects of different types of corrections, from axis rotation to density fluctuations, are shown. Spectral correction factors have been calculated and flux losses are estimated. Quality of corrected fluxes and energy balance closure are also shown. Averaged data have been analyzed with Polimi Eddy Covariance software (PEC) which accounts only a portion of the correction procedures which can be applied to high frequency data, where the major difference is linked to the absence of the spectra correction. Evapotranspiration and carbon dioxide fluxes from high frequency and average data are then compared and cumulated trends over the growing season are assessed and a small difference is found. So these comparisons highlight the possibility of using averaged data for operative water management without drastically decreasing the quality of fluxes.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): G.B. Chirico , G. Ciollaro , V. Comegna , A. Coppola , G. D’Urso , M. Palladino , N. Romano , G. Severino , A. Sommella During the last four decades, the research group led by Alessandro Santini, at the Department of Agriculture, University of Naples Federico II - Italy, has provided the scientific community with relevant contributions to various fields of hydraulic engineering for agriculture, irrigation and drainage, and agricultural water management. The research activity being carried out by the various units of this group involves the following major topics: - modeling and monitoring water use for irrigation; - soil hydrology; - solute transport in soil and reusing marginal water in irrigation. This paper summarizes some of the contributions of this research group and addresses their major impacts.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): N. Beudez , C. Doussan , G. Lefeuve-Mesgouez , A. Mesgouez Soil water uptake by plant roots results from the complex interplay between plant and soil which modulates and determines transport processes at a range of spatial and temporal scales: at small (single root) scale, uptake is determined by local soil and root hydraulic properties but, at the root system scale, these local processes interact with the macroscopic water flow in soil and the spatial arrangement of roots in the soil. Recent modeling approaches, such as 3D functional architectural models of root systems, are becoming useful tools for integrating plant processes and studying their interactions/responses with the environment. However, integrating efficiently the microscopic flow towards roots is at stake in the coupling of such 3D root models with soil water flow models. The required fine meshing of soil with (large) 3D root systems for the flow solution would result in huge, impracticable, simulations. We show here a way to estimate the “microscopic” gradients around a root, interacting with other adjacent roots, based on the superposition principle of linear PDEs, resulting in an “equivalent model” of root water uptake that avoid the fine meshing of the soil for the flow problem. We test this approach by comparing a detailed finely meshed, explicit modeling of soil and roots, with this equivalent approach using a coarse mesh. The example application is a 2D case (root impacts) which shows how root spatial arrangement (regular, clumped or heterogeneous root distribution) impacts temporal pattern of root water potential, compared to the mean soil water potential, but also the decrease of actual evapotranspiration and the use of available soil water by plants. The good agreement between the equivalent and explicit modeling makes this equivalent approach promising for 3D functional architectural modeling of root systems in soil.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): John M. Norman Prognostic Soil-Plant-Atmosphere (S-P-A) system models should be made as robust as possible; that is, parameters should be independent of variables and constant during applications with similar initial conditions (no calibration). However, avoiding calibration requires more cooperation among neighboring disciplines with a commensurate increase in time and effort for development. An example is provided to illustrate the unfortunate consequences of inadequate cooperation among disciplines. Perhaps institutional disciplinary structures are becoming too overbearing, so that scientists are constantly tempted to take shortcuts that make cooperation with colleagues in different disciplines more unlikely. If practitioner scientists would rekindle a close relationship with philosophers of science, who study the actual conduct of science, a more realistic perspective might evolve to reduce institutional structural impediments and connect scientists more closely to the larger community that needs and supports them. Certainly persistence would be required to begin and sustain such a process of change.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Martha C. Anderson , Carmelo Cammalleri , Christopher R. Hain , Jason Otkin , Xiwu Zhan , William Kustas Drought assessment is a complex undertaking, requiring monitoring of deficiencies in multiple components of the hydrologic budget. Precipitation anomalies reflect variability in water supply to the land surface, while soil moisture, groundwater and surface water anomalies reflect deficiencies in moisture storage. In contrast, evapotranspiration (ET) anomalies provide unique yet complementary information, reflecting variations in actual water use by crops – a useful diagnostic of vegetation health. Here we describe a remotely sensed Evaporative Stress Index (ESI) based on anomalies in actual-to-reference ET ratio. Actual ET is retrieved from thermal remote sensing data using a diagnostic soil-plant-atmosphere modeling system forced by measurements of morning land-surface temperature (LST) rise from geostationary satellites. In comparison with vegetation indices, LST is a relatively fast-response variable, with the potential for providing early warning of crop stress reflected in increasing canopy temperatures. Spatiotemporal patterns in ESI have been compared with patterns in the U.S. Drought Monitor and in standard precipitation-based indices, demonstrating reasonable agreement. However, because ESI does not use precipitation as an input, it provides an independent assessment of evolving drought conditions, and is more portable to data-sparse parts of the world lacking dense rain-gauge and Doppler radar networks. Integrating LST information from geostationary and polar orbiting systems through data fusion, the ESI has unique potential for sensing moisture stress at field scale, with potential benefits to yield estimation and loss compensation efforts. The ESI is routinely produced over the continental U.S. using data from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, with expansion to North and South America underway. In addition drought and ET monitoring applications are being developed over Africa and Europe using land-surface products from the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) platform.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Mushombe Muma , Silvio J. Gumiere , Alain N. Rousseau , Carlotta Scudeler , Claudio Paniconi A root water-extraction module was incorporated into CATHY, a coupled surface-subsurface flow, physically-based, distributed hydrological model, to account for transpiration of annual crops. Four empirical vertical root-density distribution models were used to evaluate the effect of plant transpiration on tile-drain flow and edge-of-field flow. Model 1 uses a uniform distribution for the entire root zone; Model 2, a nonlinear root density distribution function; and Models 3 and 4, two configurations of exponential root water uptake distribution. When comparing simulation results with and without a root water extraction module, we observed that Model 1 produces reasonable reductions in tile-drain and edge-of-field flows. Further analysis indicates that edge-of-field flow is more affected by the root water extraction module than tile-drain flow. Therefore, as the unsaturated zone increases, edge-of-field flow decreases more than tile-drain flow.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Clorinda Cortis , Nicola Montaldo The evapotranspiration is a key term in the hydrological water balance of the Mediterranean ecosystems because can reach the same values of the annual precipitation [2] , [36]. In this work a typical heterogeneous ecosystem is considered, it includes 3 cover types: the bare soil and two different Plant Functional Types (PFTs, e.g., grass and woody vegetation) because the presence of the two PFTs in the same system plays a crucial role in the development of water use strategies. In Mediterranean ecosystems the competition of the different vegetation types for the water use is very important, especially during the water stress periods (spring and summer) that are crucial for the management and the planning of the water resources. In the present work a new ecohydrological model based on Richard equation has been developed to simulate numerically the vertical soil moisture variability and the vertical distribution of plant roots. The root distribution of the two PFTs considered, is an important term to quantify the root water uptake and the different strategies developed by the species in drought conditions. Two vegetation dynamic models (VDMs) coupled with the Richard model simulate the physiological trials of the plants in terms of distribution and evolution of the radical systems in the soil of the two PFTs, using a macroscopic approach. The model has been applied to the experimental site of Orroli in the Mid-West of Sardinia (Italy). Results show a good performance of the model in terms of soil moisture and evapotranspiration. The two species show a different behavior in terms of root distribution during the drought periods (summer).

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): J. Rings , T. Kamai , M. Kandelous , P. Hartsough , J. Simunek , J.A. Vrugt , J.W. Hopmans To better understand root-soil water interactions, a mature white fir (Abies concolor) and the surrounding root zone were continuously monitored (sap flow, canopy stem water potential, soil moisture, and temperature), to characterize tree hydrodynamics. We present a hydrodynamic flow model, simulating unsaturated flow in the soil and tree with stress functions controlling spatially distributed root water uptake and canopy transpiration. Using the van Genuchten functions, we parameterize the effective retention and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity functions of the tree sapwood and soil, soil and canopy stress functions, and radial root zone distribution. To parameterize the in-situ tree water relationships, we combine a numerical model with observational data in an optimization framework, minimizing residuals between simulated and measured observational data of soil and tree canopy. Using the MCMC method, the HYDRUS model is run in an iterative process that adjusts parameters until residuals are minimized. Using these optimized parameters, the HYDRUS model simulates diurnal tree water potential and sap flow as a function of tree height, in addition to spatially distributed changes in soil water storage and soil water potential.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 19 Author(s): Wolfgang Schaaf , Michael Elmer , Anton Fischer , Werner Gerwin , Rossen Nenov , Hans Pretzsch , Markus K. Zaplata Our investigations at the artificial catchment ‘Chicken Creek’ in Lusatia/Germany aim to disentangle and understand the feedback mechanisms and interrelationships of processes and their co-development with spatial and temporal structures and patterns by studying this initial, probably less complex ecosystem. Intensive measurements were carried out in the catchment with regard to the development of surface structures, hydrological patterns, and vegetation dynamics. During the first seven years, considerable changes within the catchment were observed. Both internal and external factors could be identified as driving forces for the formation of structures and patterns in the artificial catchment. Initial structures formed by the construction process and initial substrate characteristics were decisive for the distribution and flow of water. External factors like episodic events triggered erosion and dissection during this initial phase, promoted by the low vegetation cover and the unconsolidated sandy substrate. The transformation of the initial geo-system into areas with evolving terrestrial or aquatic characteristics and from a very episodic to a more permanent stream network and discharge, together with the observed vegetation dynamics increased site diversity and heterogeneity with respect to water and nutrient availability and transformation processes compared to the more homogenous conditions at point zero. The processes and feedback mechanisms in the initial development of a new landscape may deviate in rates, intensity and dominance from those known from mature ecosystems. It is therefore crucial to understand these early phases of ecosystem development and to disentangle the increasingly complex interactions between the evolving terrestrial and aquatic, biotic and abiotic compartments of the system. Artificially created catchments could be a suitable tool to study these initial developments at the landscape scale under known, designed and defined boundary conditions.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Subhas Chandra Santra , Alok Chandra Samal , Piyal Bhattacharya , Satabdi Banerjee , Anirban Biswas , Jayjit Majumdar Arsenic, a potent carcinogen, can cause malignant arsenical skin lesions may be Bowen's disease, basal cell carcinoma, or squamous cell carcinoma. Apart from carcinoma and melanoma, chronic arsenic exposure can cause respiratory disease, gastrointestinal disorder, liver malfunction, nervous system disorder, haematological diseases like anaemia, leucopaenia and thrombocytopaenia, diabetes and severe cardiovascular malfunction. Vegetables and crops grown in arsenic contaminated groundwater can add many fold daily arsenic intake through human food apart from drinking water. The main economy of highly arsenic affected areas of West Bengal depends on agriculture, so uncontrolled uplifting of groundwater for irrigation is being practised over past few decades. Our research group studied on various aspects of arsenic entry into human foodchain and its health effects. By studying arsenic accumulation in different vegetables, we found that tuberous vegetables accumulated higher amount of arsenic than leafy vegetables and leafy vegetables followed by fruity vegetable. The highest arsenic accumulation was observed in potato, brinjal, arum, amaranth, radish, lady's finger, cauliflower whereas lower level of arsenic accumulation was observed in beans, green chilli, tomato, bitter guard, lemon, turmeric. The major oil seed of this region is mustard and was found to accumulate arsenic in the range 0.339-0.373 mg/kg. In pulses group, pea showed the highest arsenic content of 1.30 mg/kg whereas moong (Mung bean) found the lowest value (0.314 mg/kg). Rice, the principal crop of this region, accumulated arsenic irrespective to its varieties. The arsenic accumulation was found to be more in Boro rice than in Aman, while high yielding rice varieties were found to accumulate more arsenic than local. From dietary study we found that a total daily intake of 560 μg and 393 μg of arsenic for adult and children respectively. The people having poor nutrition were found to be affected more from arsenic toxicity than the people having adequate nutrition. The present review represents the current scenario of arsenic contamination and suggests probable sustainable mitigation strategies to battle against the curse of arsenic contamination.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): S.H. Fauziah , M. Nor Izzati , P. Agamuthu In many parts of the developing world, leachate treatment system is not properly installed and managed that landfill leachate usually flows into existing water bodies. Consequently, heavy metal in leachate could lead to biomagnification of heavy metals as the components travel higher within the food chain. Thus, it is necessary to understand the characteristics of leachate and its toxicity potential prior to its release to the water bodies. This paper aims to determine the toxicity effect of different types of landfill leachate on Anabas testudineus . Also, the behavioural changes towards leachate toxicity will be recorded. To achieve the objectives, toxicity tests were conducted on A . testudineus . It involved three main stages namely acclimatisation, range finding test, and short-term definitive test. For the purpose of the study, leachate samples were collected from an active sanitary landfills and a closed sanitary landfill. Ten A . testudineus with average weight of 4.2 g and average length of 4.0 cm were introduced into leachate with five different concentrations ranging from 3.125% to 5.625%. The mortality rate was observed and recorded after 96 hours exposure. The LC50 of A . testudineus was calculated using EPA Probit software. Leachate from non-active landfill is alkaline (pH 8.2) as compared to that of the active landfill (pH 7.35). As expected, COD from the closed landfill is much lower (10,000 mg/l) than the active landfill (24,800 mg/l) while the BOD5 was 3,500 mg/l and 12,500 mg/l, respectively. However, the result of ammoniacal nitrogen was highly different between these landfills, where closed landfill is releasing higher concentration of ammoniacal nitrogen (880 mg/l) than the active landfill (0.085 mg/l). The toxicity test indicated that both landfill leachates are highly toxic to A . testudineus . In fact, leachate from the closed landfill was more toxic than leachate from the active landfill. Results indicated that the LC50 of the leachate from closed landfill on A . testudineus was 4.71% v/v while LC50 of the leachate from active landfill was 5.1%. Discolouration of exposed fishes was observed in the study, and it could be due to the loss of colouring pigment caused by ammonia poisoning. Other observation of behavioural changes included swimming disorder, loss of equilibrium, unusual leaping action, and declination in the general activities. These are most probably due to neurotoxin effect inflected by the leachate exposure. In conclusion, leachate from active and non- active landfills is toxic to A . testudineus based on the behavioural changes and the high mortality rate

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Qinzhong Feng , Zhiyong Zhang , Yang Chen , Liyuan Liu , Zhengjie Zhang , Chaozhong Chen Adsorption and desorption of arsenic on different soils may affect the mobility, toxicity and bioavailability of arsenic in soil meia. In this study, laboratory batch experiments were carried out to study the adsorption and desorption of arsenic in three soils in China with different physicochemical properties. The results show that the adsorption was relatively fast for Beijing soil and Hainan soil, the reactions almost completed within the first few hours, while it was relatively slow for Jilin soil. The adsorption isotherms for three soils fitted very well to both the Langmuir and Freundlich models. The content of organic mater in the soils was of the major factor to determine the adsorption capacity. The thermodynamic parameters for the adsorption of arsenic were determined at three different temperatures of 283 K, 303 K and 323 K. The adsorption reactions were endothermic and the process of adsorption was favored at high temperature. The adsorption behavior of arsenic on soils was strongly dependent on the concentrations of Fe(OH)3 and H2SiO3 colloid. Phosphate suppressed the adsorption of arsenite and arsenate, especially for BJ soil. The desorption data showed that desorption hysteresis occurred at the concentration studied. These findings improve our knowledge in modeling arsenic adsorption to common soil minerals.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Huilan Yi , Lihong Li Sulfur dioxide (SO2) exposure causes alterations of DNA cytosine methylation in Arabidopsis genome. Analysis of methylation-sensitive amplified polymorphism (MSAP) revealed that SO2 induced methylation changes of cytosine in CCGG sites, in which hypermethylation is more than hypomethylation. Bisulfite sequencing showed that the methyaltion levels of cytosine in promoter regions of Arabidopsis genes encoding 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid synthase 6 and nitrilase 2 decreased accompanying with enhanced transcript levels. The global genome hypermethylation and locus-specific hypomethylation in Arabidopsis cells, which contribute to genome stability and gene regulation, can be considered as a very important regulatory mechanism for plants adaption to environmental stress.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Shri Dinabandhu Gouda , Shri Paritosh Kumar Dioxins and Furans are generated unintentionally during incineration of halogenated hazardous waste which warrants adequate pollution control measures. International Agency for Research in Cancer(IARC) reported that population exposed to the most highly carcinogen 2,3,7,8-TCDD (one of the congener of dioxin) is more prone to increased risk of cancer, beyond this, societal risks are enhanced to people living in nearby areas even if they are not exposed directly. The study compares societal costs of dioxin & furan emission with events such as water borne diseases, rail and road accidents etc. The basic approach is adopted to convert impact of various risks into reduction in life span of the total population to form a common basis for comparison. This paper find out the “break even” standard for dioxin and furan emission where emission control costs and societal costs are equal. This is an attempt to develop a conceptual approach to consider societal cost as one of the determinants for developing emission standard in future. The reason is that the break even number 0.15 ng TEQ/Nm3 should not be taken as sacrosanct since studies are based on a variety of assumptions.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Lu He , Na Liu , Yong Wang , Hong bo Xu , Na Yu The aim of this study was to isolate the endophytic fungi from Sophora flavescens and define its antimicrobial action and structure. The effects of this active substance on soil microorganism circumstances were also conducted. Column chromatography and freeze drying were used to isolate and purify the antimicrobial substance. TLC biological autoradiography was applied to trace. HPLC method was employed to measure the purity. Analysis of the structure used 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR and LC-MS methods. Plate method was applied to measure the effect on microorganism circumstances. The results showed that after isolating and purifying the fermentation liquor of BS001, the structure of bacteriostatic active composition was 6,7-(2′E)dibutenyl-5,8-dihydroxy-(Z)-cyclooct-2-ene-1,4-dione, which was identified by spectroscopy. The substance could increase the number of bacteria and fungi while decreased the number of antinomies in soil. A new antimicrobial substance 6,7-(2′E)dibutenyl-5,8 -dihydroxy- (Z)- cyclooct - 2- ene-1,4-dione was extracted from fermenting liquor of BS001 which was an endophytic fungi of Sophora flavescens. It could promote the beneficial flora but detrimental flora. This conclusion provides exploiture foreground for biopharmaceuticals and biopesticide.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Zhiguang Zhang , Xinyong Li In this work, spindle-like Zn-TPyP sample was synthesized by a facile solution-phase method with CTAB as the surfactant. The Zn-TPyP particles with spindle shape showed photocatalytic activity. The structural properties of spindle-like Zn-TPyP sample were systematically investigated by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), transmission electronic microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectra (EDS), X- ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) techniques. The photocatalytic performance of the spindle-like Zn-TPyP sample was studied by degrading toluene under xenon lamp irradiation by in-situ FTIR spectroscopy. The results indicate that the spindle-like Zn-TPyP particles exhibited favorite photocatalytic degradation activity.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Li Jun Pan , Yuan Bo Xie , Wei Li Energy consumption and air pollution, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are closely related, it is inevitable to control and reduction of multiple air pollution and GHG by optimization the structure energy consumption. Combined energy consumption structure and demand with long-term development planning of Beijing, this research set two scenarios which included low, medium energy saving and pollution reduction policies respectively. Then the long-range energy alternatives planning system (LEAP) model was applied to predict the reduction effect of chief atmospheric pollutants and GHG in 2010-2020 under two scenarios. The results of the study show that energy consumption can be optimized through the policy of energy-saving and emission reduction and environment protection, and up to 2020, Beijing energy demand will reduce by 10 million tons of coal equivalents. Under the energy scenario with moderate restrictions, the anticipated emissions of SO2, NOX, PM10, PM2.5 will be respectively reduced to 10.02, 21.87, 13.38, 9.60 ten thousand tons. Compared with the same period time under low scenario, air pollutants will reduce by 53%, 50%, 33% and 25% respectively. Beijing city should focus on adjusting the structure of energy consumption in industry, service and transport department, which can effectively relieve the energy supply pressure and remarkably reduce emission of chief air pollutants and GHG, evidently improve the environmental air quality, it has significant multiple positive effect to the long-term energy environment construction.

Description: Publication date: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 18 Author(s): Zhiyong Zhou , Xiaoju Zhang , Wenyi Dong Two-steps fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model was constructed by developing evaluating indicators system on guarding quality safety of reclaimed water and weighting evaluating indicators with analytic hierarchy process(AHP). By employing the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model to reclaimed water demonstrate base in Liantang of Shenzhen, the following results were acquired: when calculating weights of evaluating indicators, AHP displays these virtues, such as independence of evaluation personnel's diathesis, authority and ability, possessing scientific test methods and having tiny error; further, safety guarantee system is comprehensively appraised with fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model combining qualitative appraisal with quantitative appraisal, so it avoids subjective arbitrariness and is coincident to actual circs.

Description: 2013 Publication year: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 17 Fish samples were collected from local fish cultivation in the upper area of Citarum Watershed, West Java Province, Indonesia. The analytical method for organochlorine pesticides residue in fish samples were based on liquid-liquid extraction method. Except endrin, heptachlor, endosulfan, aldrin were detected in all sampling points compare with other OCPs. OCPs concentration in fish cultivated in dominated agricultural area tends to be higher than the fish from mixed agriculture and urban area. Risk analysis of organochlorine pesticides residue in fish processed with comparison between the estimated daily intake (EDI) with acceptable daily intake (ADI) proposed by Agriculture Organization and World Health (FAO/WHO) and Minimum Risk Level (MRL) formulated by US FDA to evaluate the chronic effects.

Description: 2013 Publication year: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 17 One of the contemporary major problems is food security. In urban areas, particularly related to urbanization in developing countries, this problem has a clear impact to underprivileged inhabitants. Urban agriculture could be potentially re-raised as one of the answers. This study described urban agriculture development in Jakarta. The objective of this study was to identify potentials of urban agriculture development in Jakarta. Institutional perspective was used to observe the possibility, with comparison to Havana (Cuba) and Accra (Ghana). This study concluded that development of urban agriculture in Jakarta required legal support of cross sectoral stakeholders.

Description: 2013 Publication year: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 17 Merapi eruption occurred in 2010 resulted in damage to a variety of community-owned assets on the Mount Merapi slope. Paralysis of profitable activity, further exacerbate the socio-economic conditions. Therefore, it is necessary to recover socio economic condition by optimizing the potential resources in there. One of them is the development of the horticulture agribusiness region. Agribusiness development of horticultural crop's purposes are to (1) stimulate the growth of geographical investment potential by involving all actors of agribusiness, government, farmers/agribusiness and private groups, (2) formulate a mutual work program between the groups in the central areas of agribusiness with other relevant parties on the joint development of a regional, integrated and sustainable. The study aimed to (1) determine the comparative advantage of selected horticultural commodities in Boyolali, (2) formulate the development effort selected commodities.Determination of commodities was conducted in stages, namely (1) the selection of candidates for local commodities through field observation and consultation with the Ministry of Agriculture, (2) the determination of selected commodities by the Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM). The method was used to analyze the comparative advantage of a commodity in terms of the resources used to produce these commodities, the resulting output, the prevailing economic policies and market distortions that occur.Carrot and chili have comparative advantage and can be developed further to secure the future of community on Mount Merapi slope. The non-tradeable inputs have been used efficiently and give added value to the farmers.Domestic demand of carrot and chili were more profitable provided by domestic production rather than import.Farmers received prices of carrot and chili lower than they should. Carrot and chili farmers did not get product price protection. Both carrot and chili farming have not received adequate protection.

Description: 2013 Publication year: 2013 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 17 This research aims to seek for the prime condition to produce liquid smoke and analyze its components. Liquid smoke is a potential substrate as biopesticide for agriculture and wood preservatives. The process of maximizing the production of liquid smoke from the bark of Durio was conducted using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) while the process of identifying the compound of liquid smoke was by Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry. RSM used three variable designs as introduced by Box-Behnken including pyrolysis temperature at 350C, 400C and 450C, pyrolysis duration within 75, 90 and 105 minutes and moisture contents of 10%, 12.5% and 15% with 15 runs. Maximum production of liquid smoke was obtained at temperature of 421 C; 72.9 minutes and at moisture contents of 13.95% and the rendemen of production was 39.46%. Predominant component in liquid smoke was acetic acid and the other main components were methyl alcohol, 2-propanone,1-hydroxy (acetol), carbonyl derivatives, and phenol derivatives.