Search results for "ANTHROPOGENIC"
showing 10 items of 105 documents
LUMINESCENCE STUDY OF DETERGENT OPTICAL BRIGHTENERS IN THE CONTEXT OF DEVELOPING OPTICAL ENVIRONMENTAL SENSORS FOR WATER QUALITY CONTROL
2006
Water quality and anthropogenic loads in many, but not all, cases are related. Some water quality monitoring programs analyse samples for the presence of Escherichia coli. These bacteria can come from humans and animals. Human‐attributable effluent contains optical brighteners (OBs) from detergents. A convenient and affordable optical quantitative method giving a linear luminescence outcome over several orders of detergent concentrations in the water solution is demonstrated. The proposed method uses the common presence of OBs in detergents. Detergent concentration in water can be used as a surrogate indicator of resultant anthropogenic loads in water bodies. The proposed optical method wit…
Wastewater constituents impact biofilm microbial community in receiving streams
2022
Microbial life in natural biofilms is dominated by prokaryotes and microscopic eukaryotes living in dense association. In stream ecosystems, microbial biofilms influence primary production, elemental cycles, food web interactions as well as water quality. Understanding how biofilm communities respond to anthropogenic impacts, such as wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent, is important given the key role of biofilms in stream ecosystem function. Here, we implemented 16S and 18S rRNA gene sequencing of stream biofilms upstream (US) and downstream (DS) of WWTP effluents in four Swiss streams to test how bacterial and eukaryotic communities respond to wastewater constituents. Stream biofil…
Typhetum laxmannii (Ubrizsy 1961) Nedelcu 1968 - The new plant association in Poland
2011
<em>Typhetum laxmannii</em> (Ubrizsy 1961) Nedelcu 1968 is a plant association new to Poland, built by an expansive kenophyte - <em>Typha laxmannii</em> Lepech. This paper presents the general distribution of both, the species and the association, paying particular attention to the area of Europe and Poland where, in recent years, many new locations as well as an increasing participation in vegetation cover have been observed. The habitat preferences of <em>Typhetum laxmannii</em>, the floristic composition of the association and its geographical differentiation within the occupied area are described. The current distribution of the association in Poland …
Microbiological analysis and metagenomic profiling of the bacterial community of an anthropogenic soil modified from typic haploxererts
2022
This work aimed to characterize the microbial communities of an anthropogenic soil originating from application of pedotechniques to Vertisols in a Mediterranean environment. Bare soil profiles were sampled at three depths (0–10 cm, 10–30 cm, and 30–50 cm) and compared with the original soil not transformed at the same depths. The anthropogenic soils were characterized by a higher CaCO3 concentration (360–640 g/kg) than control soil (190–200 g/kg), while an opposite trend was registered for clay, where control soil showed a higher concentration (465 g/kg on average) than anthropogenic soil (355 g/kg on average). Organic carbon content was much higher in the unt…
Multidisciplinary Approaches to Study Ancient Cities in a Seismic Region
2022
The paper focuses on the strong connections between natural resources, environment, and urban development in the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine city of Hierapolis of Phrygia (Pamukkale, Turkey). The ancient city was founded on a travertine terrace crossed by an active fault, responsible for impressive geothermal phenomena, i.e., flowing of thermal water, emission of gases, and frequent earthquakes, while the surrounding territory offered various stone qualities (travertine, alabaster, marbles, etc.). These environmental features affected the cultural identity of Hierapolis and its urban layout, conditioning also the construction techniques and the monumentalization of the city. In recent…
Arsenic Pollution in the Southwest of Tuscany: Monitoring of Cornia Catchment Basin
2006
The territory of Colline Metallifere, in SW Tuscany, is characterized by the presence of strong arsenic anomalies. Some hypotheses, formulated in the last 20 years, based on geological and mineralogical factors have failed to explain the peculiar distribution of this toxic element in soil, fluvial sediments and ground water. Our research group has been studying for four years the problem of arsenic pollution in this district to investigate the origin and the mechanism of As diffusion in the environment. In particular we started a comparative study based on the extensive sampling of the stream sediments of the main waterways of Colline Metallifere (Pecora, Bruna and Cornia and their tributar…
Is land-use change a cause of loss of pedodiversity? The case of the Mazzarrone study area, Sicily
2011
Anthropogenic soils created ex novo by land-us e change in large scale farming are, from a pedogenetic point of view, catastrophic events that bring the soils to time zero and change the natural pattern of the soilscape, remarkably, in some cases. The qu antitative aspects of pedodiversity of a soilsc ape in South-East Sicily, where some types of soils, in recent decades, have suffered a consistent reduction due to the transformations by large scale farming, are considered. The evolution of pedodiversity over a 53-year period (1955 to 2008 ) is examined using a dedicated statistical method and a space – time model based on Markov analysis and cellular autom ata in order to predict the evolu…
Anthropogenic processes in the evolution of a soil chronosequence on marly-limestone substrata in an Italian Mediterranean environment
2007
Due to anthropic pressure, many areas of the world are affected by a process of soil “entisolization” that leads to the formation of “anthropogenic soils”. In order to investigate Man's role in soil evolution, a survey was carried out in Southeastern Sicily (Italy), where, for years, there have been wide farming areas with anthropogenic soils. A chronosequence of anthropogenic soils in a vineyard area, cultivated for 22 years, was investigated. The first stage of the chronosequence was made by the original soils which, in the study area, had been undisturbed till the 1980's. These soils, classified as Entic Haploxerolls under the American Soil Taxonomy (ST) or Calcaric Kastanozem according …
The effects of long-term drainage and subsequent restoration on water table level and pore water chemistry in boreal peatlands
2014
Summary Degradation by drainage threatens biodiversity and globally important peatland ecosystem functions such as long-term carbon sequestration in peat. Restoration aims at safeguarding peatland values by recovering natural hydrology. Long-term effects of drainage and subsequent restoration, especially related to within-site variation of water table level and pore water chemistry, are poorly known. We studied hydrological variation at 38 boreal Sphagnum peatland sites (pristine, drained and restored) in Finland. The average water table level was significantly lower at Drained than Pristine sites especially near the ditches. We also observed large pore water chemical differences between Dr…
Human-induced changes in the soil cover at the mouth of the Vistula River Cross-Cut (northern Poland)
2015
Celem badań było określenie wpływu działalności człowieka na powstawanie gleb w rejonie ujęcia Przekopu Wisły. Szczegółowe badania przeprowadzono na obszarze testowym (około 500 ha), dla którego została wykonana mapa gleb. Wydzielono trzy główne pasy grupujące gleby wytworzone z osadów morskich, eolicznych i technogenicznych, naturalnie i antropogenicznie zdeponowanych w wyniku regulacji hydrotechnicznych. Do dominujących gleb należą: gleby inicjalne, arenosole, glejowe,marsze i gleby industrialne, które charakteryzują się dużą zmiennością przestrzenną oraz występowaniem profili wieloczłonowych. Ich właściwości odzwierciedlają zróżnicowaną dynamikę środowiska w skali lokalnej po obu stronac…