0000000000746222
AUTHOR
Yosef Steinberger
Designer ecosystems : A solution for the conservation-exploitation dilemma
Increase in human population is accelerating the rate of land use change, biodiversity loss and habitat degradation, triggering a serious threat to life supporting ecosystem services. Existing strategies for biological conservation remain insufficient to achieve a sustainable human-nature relationship and this situation has fueled a debate on the conservation-exploitation dilemma. We need to devise novel strategies, in a mutually inclusive way, which can support biological conservation and secure economic development of deprived populations. Here we propose the use of designer ecosystems which can ensure ecological sustainability while providing ample and some new means of livelihood to loc…
Coupling geochemical, mineralogical and microbiological approaches to assess the health of contaminated soil around the Almalyk mining and smelter complex, Uzbekistan
This study describes the impact of airborne pollution resulting from mining and smelting activities on the soils of the Almalyk mining and industrial area (NE Uzbekistan). Samples were collected along a transect downwind of the industrial area. Enriched contents of some metals were found in the upper soil layers near the metallurgical complex (Zn≤3010 mg kg(-1), Pb≤630 mg kg(-1), Cd≤30 mg kg(-1)) which suggests that these metals were derived from local stack emissions. The morphology and internal microstructure of metal-bearing spherical particles found in the heavy mineral fraction suggest that these particles were probably a result of inefficient flue gas cleaning technique of the smelter…