The red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii in Europe: Impacts on aquatic ecosystems and human well-being

Procambarus clarkii is currently recorded from 16 European territories. On top of being a vector of crayfish plague, which is responsible for large-scale disappearance of native crayfish species, it causes severe impacts on diverse aquatic ecosystems, due to its rapid life cycle, dispersal capacities, burrowing activities and high population densities. The species has even been recently discovered in caves. This invasive crayfish is a polytrophic keystone species that can exert multiple pressures on ecosystems. Most studies deal with the decline of macrophytes and predation on several species (amphibians, molluscs, and macroinvertebrates), highlighting how this biodiversity loss leads to unbalanced food chains. At a management level, the species is considered as (a) a devastating digger of the water drainage systems in southern and central Europe, (b) an agricultural pest in Mediterranean territories, consuming, for example, young rice plants, and (c) a threat to the restoration of water bodies in north-western Europe. Indeed, among the high-risk species, P. clarkii consistently attained the highest risk rating. Its negative impacts on ecosystem services were evaluated. These may include the loss of provisioning services such as reductions in valued edible native species of regulatory and supporting services, inducing wide changes in ecological communities and increased costs to agriculture and water management. Finally, cultural services may be lost. The species fulfils the criteria of the Article 4(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014 of the European Parliament (species widely spread in Europe and impossible to eradicate in a cost-effective manner) and has been included in the “Union List”. Particularly, awareness of the ornamental trade through the internet must be reinforced within the European Community and import and trade regulations should be imposed to reduce the availability of this high-risk species.     

沈阳市街道灰尘中重金属的环境影响与健康风险评价

采集中国沈阳市区主要交通干道街道灰尘样品,在对其重金属Cd、Cu、Pb和Zn环境影响分析的基础上,应用美国EPA人体暴露风险评估方法对街道灰尘重金属的健康风险进行评估。结果表明,手-口接触行为是人体(儿童和成人)摄入街道灰尘重金属的最主要途径,其次为皮肤吸收和呼吸吸入。重金属对人体的非致癌风险表现为：Pb大于Cd大于Cu大于Zn,均小于非致癌风险阈值1,对人体不会造成健康危害,且儿童的非致癌风险大于成人。重金属Cd目前尚未形成致癌风险,但其对儿童的潜在生态危害值得重视。     

北京城市化对夏季大气边界层结构及 降水的月平均影响

为克服针对一次或几次天气过程研究城市化对边界层结构及降水影响的局限性,尝试研究北京城市化对夏季大气边界层结构及降水的月平均影响,本文首先总结了2006年8月份的主要天气过程,分析了气象站观测的10 m高度风速、2 m高度气温、2 m高度比湿和24 h降水的月平均分布特征,然后利用WRF/Noah/UCM模拟系统,进行了该月30个个例的高分辨率数值模拟及检验分析,并通过多组不同城市化情景的敏感性试验对比分析了城市化对夏季大气边界层结构及降水的月平均影响.研究表明:本文所用对高分辨率数值模拟结果进行月平均的方法可以较合理地模拟出城市化对大气边界层结构及降水的影响,并再现观测到的各站风频差异.8月份,北京城市化对气温的影响高度白天约为800 m,近地面气温升高1℃以上;夜间约为200 m,对近地面气温的影响达到最大(1.4℃以上).白天,城市化使城市及下风向的一些区域风速略有减小;夜间,城市及周边区域200 m以下风速明显减小,且在100 m左右高度处风速减小最明显,减小达0.8 m/s以上.城市化白天使700 m以下比湿减小,近地面处减小达1.2g/kg以上,夜间使近地面空气比湿略有减小.城市化对城市区域平均降水量的影响随城市发展的不同阶段而不同.初步模拟分析表明, 北京城市化已使上风向区域以及城区三环以内降水量减少,海淀和昌平降水明显增加.     

Mind,the gap in landscape‐evolution modelling

Despite an increasing recognition that human activity is currently the dominant force modifying landscapes, and that this activity has been increasing through the Holocene, there has been little integrative work to evaluate human interactions with geomorphic processes. We argue that agent‐based models (ABMs) are a useful tool for overcoming the limitations of existing, highly empirical approaches. In particular, they allow the integration of decision‐making into process‐based models and provide a heuristic way of evaluating the compatibility of knowledge gained from a wide range of sources, both within and outwith the discipline of geomorphology. The application of ABMs to geomorphology is demonstrated from two different perspectives. The SPASIMv1 (Special Protection Area SIMulator version 1) model is used to evaluate the potential impacts of land‐use change – particularly in relation to wildfire and subsequent soil conditions, runoff and erosion – over a decadal timescale from the present day to the mid‐twenty‐first century. It focuses on the representation of farmers with traditional versus commercial perspectives in central Spain, and highlights the importance of land‐tenure structure and historical contingencies of individuals' decision‐making. CYBEROSION, however, considers changes in erosion and deposition over the scale of at least centuries. It represents both wild and domesticated animals and humans as model agents, and investigates the interactions of them in the context of early agriculturalists in southern France in a prehistoric context. We evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the ABM approach, and consider some of the major challenges. These challenges include potential process‐scale mismatches, differences in perspective between investigators from different disciplines, and issues regarding model evaluation, analysis and interpretation. If the challenges can be overcome, this fully integrated approach will provide geomorphology a means to conceptualize soundly the study of human–landscape interactions by bridging the gap between social and physical approaches. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impact Excavation and the Search for Subsurface Life on Mars

Because of the ubiquity of subsurface microbial life on Earth, examination of the subsurface of Mars could provide an answer to the question of whether microorganisms exist or ever existed on that planet. Impact craters provide a natural mechanism for accessing the deep substrate of Mars and exploring its exobiological potential. Based on equations that relate impact crater diameters to excavation depth we estimate the observed crater diameters that are required to prospect to given depths in the martian subsurface and we relate these depths to observed microbiological phenomena in the terrestrial subsurface. Simple craters can be used to examine material to a depth of ∼270 m. Complex craters can be used to reach greater depths, with craters of diameters ≥300 km required to reach depths of 6 km or greater, which represent the limit of the terrestrial deep subsurface biosphere. Examination of the ejecta blankets of craters between 17.5 and 260 km in diameter would provide insights into whether there is an extant, or whether there is evidence of an extinct, deep subsurface microbiota between 500 and 5000 m prior to committing to large-scale drilling efforts. At depths <500 m some crater excavations are likely to be more important than others from an exobiological point of view. We discuss examples of impacts into putative intracrater paleolacustrine sediments and regions associated with hydrothermal activity. We compare these depths to the characteristics of subsurface life on Earth and the fossil microbiological record in terrestrial impact craters.     

Distribution of arsenic and other minor trace elements in the groundwater of Ischia Island (southern Italy)

The island of Ischia belongs to the active volcanic area of Naples. It is formed from Quaternary volcanic rocks and exhibits intense hydrothermal activity, which is manifested through numerous springs, fumaroles and sporadic geysers. The content of minor and trace elements in groundwater has been analyzed, including some elements that are considered toxic for humans. Mean concentrations of As, B, Fe, Mn, Sb, and Se in samples from 43 aquifer points exceed the WHO recommended values and the limits set by European and Italian legislation (98/83/CE and DM 471, respectively). In general, the spatial distribution of the elements follows a common pattern: it is governed by a marked structural control, which favors hydrochemical processes that liberate the elements into the water.     

Advantages of longer–term tracing -- three case studies from Slovenia

A variety of human activities can negatively impact on sensitive karst environments, especially on karst water. To protect such water adequately it is necessary to obtain as much information as possible on the extent of the recharge zones and characteristics of the groundwater flow. The authors experience has shown tracer tests to be a very useful tool in acquiring such information. Three examples from Slovenia are presented in this paper. In the first, an estimate was made of the danger of water contamination resulting from a petrochemical storage depot. In the second, the possible impacts of an area used for military training were studied. In the third, the effects of the construction of a railway line on regionally important water resources were assessed. Besides basic information about the direction and velocity of groundwater flow, some methodological principles were also identified by the studies. In all three test areas sampling was carried out for a lengthy period and continued after the detection of the peak concentrations. The results show that only the use of such lengthy tracer tests enable the definition of those flow paths, which are activated in extreme hydrological conditions.     

Influence of wall impacts on the Ulysses dust detector on understanding the interstellar dust flux

The Ulysses spacecraft orbits the Sun on a highly inclined orbit, and the impact ionization dust detector on board continuously measures interstellar dust grains with masses up to , penetrating deep into the Solar System. The flow direction is close to the mean apex of the Sun's motion through the local interstellar cloud (LIC), and the grains act as tracers of the physical conditions in the LIC. Previous analysis gave a velocity dispersion of up to 40^° for the interstellar grains. We partially re-analyzed the Ulysses interstellar dust data set, taking into account the detector's inner side walls. As the side walls have a sensitivity for dust impact detection almost identical to that of the instrument's target area, wall impactors must be taken into account for estimating the intrinsic velocity dispersion of the interstellar impactors and the interstellar dust flux value. Neglect of the sensor side walls overestimates the interstellar dust stream velocity dispersion by about 30% and the interstellar dust flux by about 20%.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviewed in this article: Latin America: Case Studies . Richard G. Boehm and Sent Visser Locality and Rurality: Economy and Society in Rural Regions . Tony Bradley And Philip Lowe The City and the Grassroots . Manuel Castells Geopolitics and Conflict in South America. Quarrels among Neighbors . Jack Child Post-Industrial America: A Geographical Perspective . David Clark Coastal Research: UK Perspectives . Malcolm W. Clark A Rural Policy for the EEC? Hugh Clout Peasant Agriculture in Assam: A Structural Analysis . M. M. Das . Environmental Change and Tropical Geomorphology . I. Douglas and T. Spencer Advances in Abandoned Settlement Analysis: Application to Prehistoric Anthrosols in Colombia, South America . Robert C. Eidt Measuring Culture . Jonathan L. Gross and Steve Rayner North America: A Human Geography . Paul Guinness and Michael Bradshaw A Geographical Bibliography for American Libraries . Chauncy D. Harris et al. Geography and the Urban Environment: Progress in Research and Applications, Vol. VI . D. T. Herbert and R. J. Johnston Changes in Global Climate: A Study of the Effect of Radiation and Other Factors During the Present Century . K. Ya . Kondrat'ev . Rural Development and the State: Contradictions and Dilemmas in Developing Countries . David A. M. Lea and D. P. Chaudhri The Martial Metropolis: U.S. Cities in War and Peace . Roger W. Lotchin The Climate of the Earth . Paul E. Lydolph . Weather and Climate . Paul E. Lydolph . Spatial Divisions of Labor: Social Structures and the Geography of Production . Doreen Massey . Panorama of the Soviet Union . N. Mikhailov . Soviet Armenia . K. S. Demirchian . USSR: Geography of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period . K. Spidchenko . Planung und Verwirklichung der Wiener Ringstrassenzone (Planning and Materialization of the Ringstrasse-Zone of Vienna). Kurt Mollik , Hermann Reining , Rudolf Wurzer . The American West Transformed: The Impact of the Second World War Gerald D. Nash . An Overview of the Survey of Income and Program Participation . Dawn Nelson , David Mc Millen, and Daniel Kasprzyk . Phenomenology, Science and Geography: Spatiality and the Human Sciences . John Pickles . Biological Diversification in the Tropics . Ghillean T. Prance Die Wanderviehwirtschaft im gebirgigen Westen der U.S.A. und ihre Auswirkungen im Naturraum . Gisbert Rinschede . Social and Economic Aspects of Radioactive Waste Disposal: Considerations for Institutional Management . World-Wide Weather . K. Takahashi Coastal Geomorphology in Australia . B. G. Thom Settlement System in Rural India: A Case Study of the Lower Ganga-Yamuna Doab . Ram Chandra Tiwari . Computer Programming for Geographers . David J. Unwin and John A. Dawson . Late Quaternary Environments of the Soviet Union . A. A. Velichko, ed . H. E. Wright , Jr. and C. W. Barnosky Ethics in Planning . Martin Wachs     

Groundwater overdraft vulnerability and environmental impact assessment in Arusha

A simple approach is proposed for identifying areas vulnerable to groundwater overdraft. The methodology utilizes GIS techniques to analyze and evaluate controlling factors in areas with little data. The proposed methodology was applied in Arusha. Water demand in Arusha Municipality and its environs has increased to about 5.3% annually since 1999. Groundwater levels have declined. The aquifer hydrogeological variables were evaluated for impact to potential groundwater overdraft by overlay and index techniques. The spatial distribution of overdraft vulnerability was discussed. The northwestern part of Arusha is the most vulnerable to overdraft and possible serious environmental impacts. The Loruvani area has the most potential for aquifer development due to its permeability, high recharge rate, massive aquifer thickness and low drawdown.