Das Projekt "Biomass Burning Recorded in Central and North American Lake Sediments and its Impact on Climate" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Istituto per la Dinamica dei Processi Ambientali Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerce durchgeführt. Humans impact fire regimes by changing fire ignition, fuels, and land cover. Although fire regimes dramatically alter interactions between the land surface, biosphere, and atmosphere, the impact of these fires on the climate system is not clear. Biomass burning caused by current human activities emits carbon dioxide equal to 50Prozent of the emissions from fossil-fuel combustion and is therefore highly likely to influence future climate change. The multi-proxy nature of ice and lake cores presents ideal material to investigate the links between biomass burning and climate change. The primary objective of the project is to study temporal and regional evolution of biomass burning during the Holocene in Central and North America to determine anthropogenic fire impacts on the climate system with the advent of agriculture and in a warming climate. This requires high-resolution biomass burning proxy records combined with Holocene climate records at the respective locations. The approach is based on analyses of levoglucosan, an excellent proxy for past biomass burning, on Central and North American lake sediment cores as well as on the Greenland NEEM deep ice core and their interpretation in context with climate records. The Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics, and Statistics of the University of Venice is particularly suited to host this project as it is one of the worldwide leading groups in quantitative investigations of the early impact of humans on the climate system by analyzing past fires recorded in ice and sediment cores.
Die vorliegende Studie hatte zum Ziel, (1) die Auswirkung menschlicher Aktivitäten auf antarktische Bodenorganismengemeinschaften sowie (2) die potentielle Einschleppung von in der Antarktis nicht-einheimischen Arten zu ermitteln. Im antarktischen Sommer der Jahre 2009/2010 und 2010/2011 wurden Bodenorganismen (Pflanzen und Bodentiere der Gruppen Nematoda, Tardigrada, Collembola, Actinedida, Oribatida und Gamasina) aus insgesamt 13 Gebieten in von Menschen beeinflussten und unbeeinflussten Arealen erfasst und verglichen. Eingeschleppte, nicht-einheimische Pflanzenarten konnten nicht festgestellt werden. Bei den Collembola und Actinedida wurden acht Arten hauptsächlich auf Deception Island und Neko Harbour als potentiell nicht-einheimisch identifiziert. Obwohl die Ergebnisse durch hohe Datenvariabilität überlagert waren, konnten signifikante Auswirkungen des Menschen auf die Bodenfauna nachgewiesen werden. Die Beeinflussung durch Menschen führte meist zu verringerten Individuendichten. Der Einfluss von Menschen war bei mittlerer Vegetationsbedeckung am stärksten. Die Reaktion von einzelnen Arten war unterschiedlich, was auf Veränderungen in den Gemeinschaftsstrukturen und somit in der ökologischen Funktion der Bodenfauna hinweist. Aus den erzielten Ergebnissen werden konkrete Empfehlungen für einen verbesserten Schutz antarktischer Ökosysteme vor menschlicher Beeinflussung abgeleitet. Hierzu gehört eine Intensivierung von Präventivmaßnahmen gegen eine Einschleppung nicht-einheimischer Bodenorganismen sowie eine Ausweitung der für Besucher geschlossenen Bereiche um Areale spezieller Mikrohabitate. Eine Einschränkung der Gebiete, die Touristen besuchen dürfen, ist erforderlich, ebenso wie die Etablierung eines internationalen, langfristigen bodenbiologischen Monitoringprogramms.
Das Projekt "Mercury threat in industrially impacted surface water bodies in Romania - integrated approach (MERCURO)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universite de Geneve, Institut F.-A. Forel durchgeführt. Mercury (Hg) is a persistent micropollutant presenting a substantial risk to the environment and an important threat to the human health. Past and present Hg contaminations of surface waters are thus of major concern due to the potential of Hg to accumulate in biota and magnify in the food chain. Therefore, the improved understanding of the relationship between Hg dispersion, distribution among sediments, particles, colloids and dissolved fractions, as well as accumulation and impact to biota is a prerequisite to fully assess the Hg threat to the aquatic systems and human health. By applying an integrated approach including a combination of field studies, laboratory analyses and numerical simulations, the present proposal aims to assess the impact of the Hg in the industrially impacted surface water bodies in Romania and to identify the possible threat on these resources The project focuses on River Olt basin, as one of the most impacted surface water body in Romania, altered by the cascade dam construction and under extensive past and present industrial activity. The Rm Valcea region comprises a high number of industrial companies including a large chlor-alkali plant (Oltchim), which is recognized as important point sources of Hg. A large array of hydro(geo)logical, physical, chemical, and ecotoxicological tools will be used to address the following key issues: - Performance of Hg survey and estimation the pollution extent in water and sediments; - Determination of the transport and dispersion of Hg in water column and sediments; - Improvement of the understanding on the behaviour of Hg associated to colloids, inorganic particles and organic matter; - Assessment of the bioaccumulation and effect of Hg to different organisms with emphasis on the primary producers in particular microalgae and macrophytes; - Evaluation of the food chain transfer and possible risks for the human health. The project will largely contribute to the understanding of mercury fate and impact in the contaminated systems and improved knowledge on complex processes governing the transfer and impact of Hg from the contaminated surface waters to humans. The project is also expected to contribute broadly to solving societal problems in Romania and to provide a scientific base for a sound definition of the existing problem and understand the causal chain, as well as it will help to develop efficient and cost-effective measures for protection. Strengthening the capacity, improving integration of scientists in the international network as well as developing 'best practices' for impact assessment of pollutants are other major outcomes of the project. They will be a significant step forward contaminant assessment in the entire Danube - Black Sea - Caspian Sea region, as it is a commonly accepted that historical industrial pollution from former communist times represents a significant threat for public health.