Neutron Activation Analysis Applied to the Determination of Heavy Metals and Other Trace Elements in Sediments from Sepetiba Bay (RJ), Brazil

In this work, instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) was applied to the determination of the elements As, Ba, Br, Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Eu, Fe, Hf, La, Lu, Nd, Rb, Sc, Sm, Ta, Tb, Th, U, Yb, Zn in twenty eight bottom sediment samples from Sepetiba Bay, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. With the concentration data obtained, contour maps were prepared, by using Kriging method, to show the spatial distribution of the studied elements in the Bay. The elements Co, Cr, Cs, Fe, Sc, Ta and Zn showed similar behaviour in the sediments, with higher concentrations along the northern coast of the bay, where the fluvial water inputs are concentrated. The distribution of U, rare earth elements and Ba in the Bay indicates that these elements are not deposited as contaminants.     

ROBUST: The ROle of BUffering capacities in STabilising coastal lagoon ecosystems

“Buffer capacities” has been defined in ecology as a holistic concept (e.g., Integration of Ecosystem Theories: A Pattern, second ed. Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1997, 388pp), but we show that it can also be worked out in mechanistic studies. Our mechanistic approach highlights that “buffering capacities” can be depleted progressively, and, therefore, we make a distinction between current and potential “buffering capacities”. We have applied this concept to understand the limited “local stability” in seagrass ecosystems and their vulnerability towards structural changes into macro-algal dominated communities. We explored the following processes and studied how they confer buffering capacities to the seagrass ecosystem: (i) net autotrophy is persistent in Zostera noltii meadows where plant assimilation acts as a sink for nutrients, this contrasted with the Ulva system that shifted back and forth between net autotrophy and net heterotrophy; (ii) the Z. noltii ecosystem possesses a certain albeit rather limited capacity to modify the balance between nitrogen fixation and denitrification, i.e., it was found that in situ nitrogen fixation always exceeded denitrification; (iii) the nitrogen demand of organoheterotrophic bacteria in the sediment results in nitrogen retention of N in the sediment and hence a buffer against release of nitrogen compounds from sediments, (iv) habitat diversification in seagrass meadows provides shelter for meiofauna and hence buffering against adverse conditions, (v) sedimentary iron provides a buffer against noxious sulfide (note: bacterial sulfide production is enhanced in anoxic sediment niches by increased organic matter loading). On the other hand, in the coastal system we studied, sedimentary iron appears less important as a redox-coupled buffer system against phosphate loading. This is because most inorganic phosphate is bound to calcium rather than to iron. In addition, our studies have highlighted the importance of plant–microbe interactions in the seagrass meadows.     

Using historical source data to understand urban flood risk: a socio-hydrological modelling application at Gregório Creek,Brazil

ABSTRACT

The city of São Carlos, state of São Paulo, Brazil, has a historical coexistence between society and floods. Unplanned urbanization in this area is a representative feature of how Brazilian cities have developed, undermining the impact of natural hazards. The Gregório Creek catchment is an enigma of complex dynamics concerning the relationship between humans and water in Brazilian cities. Our hypothesis is that social memory of floods can improve future resilience. In this paper we analyse flood risk dynamics in a small urban catchment, identify the impacts of social memory on building resilience and propose measures to reduce the risk of floods. We applied a socio-hydrological model using data collected from newspapers from 1940 to 2018. The model was able to elucidate human–water processes in the catchment and the historical source data proved to be a useful tool to fill gaps in the data in small urban basins.     

The composition and conservation of Romania's plant cover

Romania is characterised by great floristic diversity and there are many distinctive aspects to the distribution of vegetation units. However, even the sparsely-populated mountainous country has been affected by anthropic activity, increasing in intensity through the expansion of agriculture during the nineteenth century and the recent emphasis on industrial development. It is therefore essential that the diverse plant cover should be given the protection of national park or nature reserve status. The present designations are substantial, though not yet adequate, and careful monitoring is needed to establish the extent or further provision.     

Principal Component Analysis of the Solar Magnetic Field I: The Axisymmetric Field at the Photosphere

A principal component analysis, or proper orthogonal decomposition, of the axisymmetric magnetic field at the photosphere is carried out to find an optimal representation of the observed solar cycle. The 22-year periodic field requires just two modes. NSO Kitt Peak synoptic maps for Carrington rotations 1664–2007 were reduced by taking both the mean and the median field over longitude to produce two sequences of functions of sine latitude spanning 25.7 years. The lowest modes of each are determined by the polar fields. The mean field is most efficient at representing the periodic field, but the median field is more efficient at representing the evolution of the diffuse field patterns.     

Spatial variability of soil nutrients in disturbed riverine mangrove forests at different stages of regeneration in the San Juan River estuary,Venezuela

Geostatistical analysis of selected soil properties were performed in two mangrove sites (B7 and B9) dominated by the mangrove speciesRhizophora mangle along the San Juan River, Venezuela, to evaluate the effect of forest disturbance on nutrient spatial distributions. Plots within area B7 were clear-cut in 1972–1973 and in area B9 in 1982–1983. Four plots within each area were systematically selected and represented natural (2) and regenerated (2) forests. Individual plots were 1.5 ha in B7 and 1.25 ha in B9 and sampled at a resolution of 25 m. Soil samples were obtained at the intersection of an aligned grid with 90 points in B7 and 78 points in B9. Measured soil properties included salinity, total nitrogen, total carbon, total phosphorus, osmolality, and pore water cation concentrations (potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sodium). Sites were sampled in May 1996 and 1997, although spatial analysis was performed only for the data obtained in May 1997. Geostatistical analysis showed that most of the variables tested were spatially auto-correlated within each area and that there were no differences between regenerated and natural plots. Structural variance as a proportion of sample variance ranged from 55–99% for most of the properties. The significant spatial dependence observed for most of the variables in natural and regenerated plots, despite management schedules, indicates that clear-cutting did not have an effect on modifying the distribution of nutrient concentrations. These results suggest that after 15 and 25 yr following forest disturbance nutrient distributions were reestablished either there was not a net effect on patterns of element loss or tidal input was stronger than plant modifications of soils.     

Sensitivity of Spatial Analysis Neural Network Training and Interpolation to Structural Parameters

A Spatial Analysis Neural Network (SANN) algorithm was applied for the analysis of geospatial data, on the basis of nonparametric statistical analysis and the concepts of traditional Artificial Neural Networks. SANN consists of a number of layers in which the neurons or nodes between layers are interconnected successively in a feed-forward direction. The Gaussian Kernel Function layer has several nodes, and each node has a transfer or an activation function that only responds (or activates) when the input pattern falls within its receptive field, which is defined by its smoothing parameter or width. The activation widths are functions of the model structural parameters, including the number of the nearest neighbor points P and a control factor F. The estimation method is based on two operational modes, namely, a training-validation mode in which the model structure is constructed and validated, and an interpolation mode. In this paper we discuss the effect of varying F and P upon the accuracy of the estimation in a two-dimensional domain for different input field sizes, using spatial data of wheat crop yield from Eastern Colorado. Crop yield is estimated as a function of the two-dimensional Cartesian coordinates (easting and northing). The results of the research led to the conclusion that optimal values of F and P depend on the sample size, i.e., for small data sets F=1.5 and P=7 while for large data sets F=2.5 and P=9. In addition, the accuracy of the interpolated field varies with the sample size. As expected for small sample sizes, the interpolated field and its variability may be significantly underestimated.     

Preliminary magnetic studies of lagoon and stream sediments from Chascomús Area (Argentina)—magnetic parameters as indicators of heavy metal pollution and some results of using an experimental method to separate magnetic phases

Magnetic properties of lagoon and stream sediments from Chascomús area (Buenos Aires Province) and the relevance of various magnetic parameters as giving pollution status are studied in the present work. This work is focussed on magnetic parameters, such as concentration-dependent (magnetic susceptibility, saturation anhysteric and isothermal remanent magnetisation) and feature-dependent parameters (S-ratio, coercivity of remanence, anhysteric susceptibility/magnetic susceptibility-ratio), as pollution indicators. Firstly and most importantly, different magnetic parameters and chemical measurements were correlated in order to investigate their goodness, obtaining the best results for feature-dependent magnetic parameters. Coercivity of remanence correlate very well with chemical variables, showing correlations at high level of significance up to 0.9094, and the anhysteric susceptibility/magnetic susceptibility-ratio also shows very good correlations (up to 0.8376). Some results and advantages of using a new experimental method in order to discriminate hard and soft magnetic phases are also shown. This method uses alternately backfield isothermal remanent magnetisation and alternating field demagnetisation. From the experimental separation, the presence of hard magnetic phases in some samples was confirmed.     

Morphology of star formation regions in irregular galaxies

The location of H  II regions, which indicates the locus of present star formation in galaxies, is analysed for a large collection of 110 irregular galaxies (Irr) imaged in Hα and nearby continuum. The analysis is primarily by visual inspection, although a two-dimensional quantitative measure is also employed. The two different analyses yield essentially identical results. H  II regions appear preferentially at the edges of the light distribution, predominantly on one side of the galaxy, contrary to what is expected from stochastic self-propagating star formation scenarios. This peculiar distribution of star-forming regions cannot be explained by a scenario of star formation triggered by an interaction with extragalactic gas, or by a strong one-armed spiral pattern.     

The occurrence and toxicity of herbicides in reef building corals

Herbicide residues including 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T have been detected in the tissues of corals subject to massive mortality in the Gulf of Chiriquí, Panamá. Tolerance tests conducted using Pocillopora damicornis demonstrated a toxic effect of a commercial herbicide (incorporating 2,4-D) on this coral.