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Currently, recycling and re-use of materials is extremely important due to the diminishing of natural resources. The objective of the European Union’s circular economy strategy is to increase recycling and the use of industrial waste materials and side streams as secondary raw materials. In this study, a chemical precipitation method to simultaneously remove ammonium nitrogen and phosphate from the liquid phase of anaerobic digestate using calcined paper mill sludge was studied. Papermill sludge is a waste material that forms in the paper-making process. In addition, commercial calcium oxide (CaO) was used as a reference precipitant. The suitability of the formed precipitate’s composition for recycled fertilizer use was also considered. The study results indicated that calcined paper mill sludge was as effective precipitant as commercial CaO in the removal of ammonium nitrogen and phosphate from the synthetic wastewater. In addition, the results indicated that calcined paper mill sludge removed efficiently phosphate from the liquid phase of anaerobic digestate, which led to the formation of hydroxyapatite, Ca5(PO4)3(OH). In this research we have shown, that calcined paper mill sludge can be used to produce recycled, slow-release, solid fertilizer. Another possible reaction, such as adsorption was also considered. peerReviewed

Currently, recycling and re-use of materials is extremely important due to the diminishing of natural resources. The objective of the European Union’s circular economy strategy is to increase recycling and the use of industrial waste materials and side streams as secondary raw materials. In this study, a chemical precipitation method to simultaneously remove ammonium nitrogen and phosphate from the liquid phase of anaerobic digestate using calcined paper mill sludge was studied. Papermill sludge is a waste material that forms in the paper-making process. In addition, commercial calcium oxide (CaO) was used as a reference precipitant. The suitability of the formed precipitate’s composition for recycled fertilizer use was also considered. The study results indicated that calcined paper mill sludge was as effective precipitant as commercial CaO in the removal of ammonium nitrogen and phosphate from the synthetic wastewater. In addition, the results indicated that calcined paper mill sludge removed efficiently phosphate from the liquid phase of anaerobic digestate, which led to the formation of hydroxyapatite, Ca₅(PO₄4)₃(OH). In this research we have shown, that calcined paper mill sludge can be used to produce recycled, slow-release, solid fertilizer. Another possible reaction, such as adsorption was also considered.

Peace and security are basic conditions for economic and social development. Conflict, on the other hand, can reverse years of economic growth and induce long-term harm on almost all aspects of development. For the past decade, the Lake Chad region has been the setting of conflicts between government forces and armed groups, most notably the Boko Haram. Although the intensity of fighting has petered off in recent years, the conflict has spread from Northern Nigeria and now affects all four countries of the region. Due to the paramount importance of avoiding armed conflict, a large economic literature exists that seeks to find explanations for the onset and prevalence of conflict in developing countries. Blattman and Miguel [2010] list some of the most common theories of conflict including competition for resources, economic grievances, and the possibility of looting. This paper attempts to shed light on the geographical distribution of conflict and its climatic determinants in the Lake Chad region following a sub-national approach where readily available spatial data is employed at two different units of aggregation: Firstly, 90 second level administrative areas, and secondly, around 5,318 grid cells covering the same region. Exposure to conflict is here defined as the intensity (for districts) or incidence (for cells) of conflict in a given unit each year. Parts of the population may not be directly exposed by this definition, but since the units of analysis are relatively small, most will be affected in some ways, for instance by safety concerns when visiting the nearest towns to trade or by the general economic consequences.

The STatistical Analogue Resampling Scheme (STARS) statistical approach was recently used to project changes of climate variables in Germany corresponding to a supposed degree of warming. We show by theoretical and empirical analysis that STARS simply transforms interannual gradients between warmer and cooler seasons into climate trends. According to STARS projections, summers in Germany will inevitably become dryer and winters wetter under global warming. Due to the dominance of negative interannual correlations between precipitation and temperature during the year, STARS has a tendency to generate a net annual decrease in precipitation under mean German conditions. Furthermore, according to STARS, the annual level of global radiation would increase in Germany. STARS can be still used, e.g., for generating scenarios in vulnerability and uncertainty studies. However, it is not suitable as a climate downscaling tool to access risks following from changing climate for a finer than general circulation model (GCM) spatial scale.

Reference EPFL-ARTICLE-226456doi:10.1111/gcb.13559View record in Web of Science Record created on 2017-03-13, modified on 2017-11-20

Variations in leaf morphology and stomatal characteristics have been extensively studied at both inter- and intraspecific levels although not explicitly in the context of paper birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh) populations. The birch populations might have developed the leaf variations that allowed them to adapt to a wide climatic gradient. Therefore, in this study we examined variations in the leaf morphological and stomatal characteristics of sixteen paper birch populations collected across Canada and grown in a common garden. We also examined the relationship between these leaf characteristics and the climate of the population’s origin. Significant genotypic differences were found in the leaf characteristics measured among the birch populations. Thus, we expected that the observed leaf variations may be partly explained as natural diversity in the birch due to differences in environment of origin. We noticed that along mean annual precipitation and aridity gradients, hair density on leaf adaxial surface had decreased whereas stomatal density increased significantly. Our results showed that the populations with larger leaf area and specific leaf area had higher hair density but low stomatal density. These leaf characteristics provided a structural basis in reducing water loss through leaves and increasing water use efficiency. A trade-off between stomatal area and density resulted in this study might be a strategy of the birch to balance stomatal conductance in decreased precipitation.

Copper is a major problem in industrial wastewater streams, seriously affecting the quality of potential drinking water. Several approaches, including continuous membrane processes or batch-wise application of adsorbents, are in use to tackle this problem. Unfortunately, these processes suffer from their particular drawbacks, such as low permeance or disposal of saturated adsorbents. However, a combination of these processes could constitute a step towards a more efficient copper removal solution. Here, we present a nanopaper ion-exchanger prepared from cellulose nanofibrils produced from fibre sludge, a paper industry waste stream, for the efficient, continuous removal of copper from aqueous solutions. This nanopaper ion-exchanger comprises phosphorylated cellulose nanofibrils that were processed into nanopapers by papermaking. The performance of these phosphorylated nanopaper membranes was determined with respect to their rejection of copper and permeance. It was shown that this new type of nanopaper is capable of rejecting copper ions during a filtration process by adsorption. Results suggest that functional groups on the surface of the nanopapers contribute to the adsorption of copper ions to a greater extent than phosphate groups within the bulk of the nanopaper. Moreover, we demonstrated that those nanopaper ion-exchangers could be regenerated and reused and that in the presence of calcium ions, the adsorption capacity for copper was only slightly reduced.

SUMMARY 1. de Senerpont Domis et al. (2013, Freshwater Biology, 58, 463–482) forecasted changes in plankton dynamics in temperate, polar and tropical regions resulting from climate change. For tropical regions, they predicted an increase in precipitation intensity that would increase nutrient loading, increasing phytoplankton biomass and select for plankton adapted to flushing. 2. We do not agree with these predictions, as regional projections from the IPCC did not forecast a major increase in precipitation in tropical regions. The only regions where a slight increase in precipitation was projected were eastern Africa and South-East Asia. In eastern Africa, the major freshwater bodies are large, deep lakes that have very long residence times and are unlikely to be affected by flushing. Moreover, nutrient inputs from their catchment represent a small fraction of their total nutrient loading. 3. Several independent studies carried out in this region have provided evidence of a decrease in primary productivity in some of these large tropical lakes due to climate change. The major process providing nutrients to the euphotic layer is internal loading, which has been reduced as warming of the surface waters has increased the temperature gradient and the water column stability. Moreover, reduced velocity of trade winds during the dry season has affected the mixed layer depth and decreased internal nutrient fluxes. Therefore, the trend for large tropical lakes in a warming climate is oligotrophication, not eutrophication. 4. In tropical South America, the rainfall increase is not the dominant scenario; thus, the predicted changes in plankton dynamics do not stand. 5. Therefore, we believe that the predictions presented in the paper for tropical systems under a changing climate are invalid for most tropical systems.

We present new temperature and precipitation reconstructions for the past 25 000 cal. years BP from across eastern Beringia based on a network of pollen diagrams, an updated modern pollen calibration database, and an improved methodology using the modern analogue technique (MAT). Time series show July temperatures were around 4 °C lower during full glacial and January temperatures were about 2 °C lower than present. Annual temperatures rose beginning around 16 000 cal. years BP, reaching a maximum around 12 000 cal. year BP. The warming was more rapid in southern Beringia. Annual precipitation varied by 250 mm during the past 25 000 cal. years BP. Maps of reconstructed precipitation patterns show increasingly drier conditions since 12 000 cal. years BP. that vary regionally, suggesting Holocene atmospheric circulation changes at multiple time and space scales. Orbitally forced seasonality changes during the late glacial and early Holocene resulted in reversed seasonal temperature reconstructions due to methodological constraints using the MAT and (or) non-analogue conditions. The magnitude of millennial-scale climate variability in this region was greater during the last glacial and late glacial periods than during the past 8000 years.

The ROHP-PAZ mission will collect, for the first time, GPS radio occultations at two polarizations with the aim of characterizing rain. Prior to the mission's launch (2016), a field campaign has been conducted to identify and understand the measurements. In this study we present the set-up and the results of such a campaign: the main finding is the confirmation of sensitivity to heavy rain and, unexpectedly, to other frozen hydrometeors. This is key information for the spaceborne experiment. This study was conducted under the Spanish ACI2010-1089 and AYA2011-29183-C02-02 grant, with contributions from EUMETSAT’s ROM SAF CDOP2.

"In-situ" observation of precipitation in the steel containing Cu, Mn and S was made on heating and cooling using a confocal scanning laser microscope. In low Cu steel (less than 0.5mass%Cu), MnS precipitates appeared but Cu precipitates did not appear on cooling. MnS precipitation occurred in two steps. In first step, some large precipitates appeared with the δ/γ transformation. During this transformation, S was concentrated in δ phase, so MnS precipitation occurred. In second step, some small precipitates appeared at lower temperature. The temperature became low, the equilibrium solubility products of MnS decreased and MnS precipitation occurred. In Fe-10 mass%Cu steel, some holes appeared on heating and MnS and Cu precipitates appeared on cooling. The solid Cu precipitates appeared on heating and they melted and sank into grain boundaries at 1094℃, so some holes were left. The behavior of Cu precipitation on cooling changed with the difference of the MnS content. In the case that MnS content was very low, Cu precipitates were mainly at the γ grain boundary. But in the case that MnS content was high, Cu precipitates were not only at the grain boundary but also in the grain. It was because MnS precipitates in the grain acted as the nucleation site of Cu precipitates.

The Western Ghats form a 1,600 km long escarpment that runs parallel to the southwestern coast of Peninsular India. This relief barrier, which orographically exacerbate the summer monsoon rains, is responsible for steep bioclimatic gradients that have long been recognized as one of the major ecological determinants for the forest vegetation of the region. We report here gridded topographic and bioclimatic data at 30' lat/lon (ca. 1 km) resolution that cover an area of about 70,000 km2 of the southern Western Ghats, between 74 to 78° E and 8 to 16° N. These data have been extracted from three main sources: the SRTM (NASA Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) 90 m Digital Elevation Data, version 4 (http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org/) from which were secondarily derived aspect and slope; a digitized version of the bioclimatic maps of the Western Ghats by Pascal (1982) based on various sources of long series of climatic records over the period 1950-1980, from which were derived annual rainfall, mean temperature of the coldest month and dry season length; the WORLDCLIM database, version 1.4 (http://www.worldclim.org/), which provides monthly interpolated rainfall and temperature data from series of at least 10 years records over the 1950–2000 period. Key-words: Digital Elevation Model, India, long-term bioclimatic interpolations, SRTM, Southern Western Ghats, WOLDCLIM.

Актуальность исследования обусловлена необходимостью оценки уровня воздействия крупного целлюлозно-бумажного предприятия, расположенного к северу от г. Сыктывкара, на основе экохимического анализа зимних атмосферных осадков (снега), продемонстрировать целесообразность применения такого подхода в экологических исследованиях. Цель: показать динамику аэротехногенной нагрузки на территорию вблизи АО «Монди СЛПК» по данным о химическом составе снежного покрова за период мониторинга. Объекты: образцы снежного покрова, отобранные в зоне воздействия предприятия и на условно фоновых территориях. Методы: снегосъемка с использованием трансект на постоянных пунктах отбора проб, применение аналитических методов согласно руководству по контролю загрязнения атмосферы (РД 52.04.186-89), картографические методы оценки распространения загрязнения в снежном покрове с использованием метода интерполяции (метод обратных взвешенных расстояний), применение алгебры карт для расчета площадей зон воздействия. Результаты. Представлены результаты экохимического мониторинга снежного покрова в зоне воздействия выбросов АО «Монди СЛПК» за многолетний период. Дана общая характеристика распределения компонентов выбросов относительно источника эмиссии. Мониторинг снежного покрова в импактной зоне предприятия позволил провести анализ динамики аэротехногенной нагрузки. Результаты расчета поступления веществ на территорию предприятия в 2019 г. показали наиболее низкий уровень загрязнения снежного покрова за весь период наблюдений, 66 % относительно объемов 2002 г. Отмечено снижение поступления загрязнителей, начиная с 2016 г. после реконструкции предприятия. Концентрации примесей в талой воде за пределами санитарно-защитной зоны не превышали санитарно-гигиенических нормативов. По данным мониторинга снежного покрова показан тренд к снижению аэрогенного воздействия. The relevance of the research is caused by the need to assess the level of impact of a large pulp and paper enterprise located north of the Ezhvinsky district of Syktyvkar on the basis of ecochemical analysis of winter precipitation (snow), to show the feasibility of using this approach in environmental studies. The main aim is to show the dynamics of the aerotechnogenic load on the territory near the Syktyvkar timber industry complex based on the data on snow cover chemical composition during the monitoring period. Objects: snowpack samples, selected in the zone of influence of emissions of Mondi Syktyvkar JSC and conditionally background areas. Methods: snow survey using transect, adhering to constant sampling points, application of analytical methods according to the air pollution control manual (GD 52.04.186-89), cartographic methods for estimating the spread of pollution in the snow cover using the interpolation method (inverse weighted distance method), application of map algebra for calculating the areas of impact zones. Results. The authors present the results of ecochemical monitoring of snow cover in the zone of aerotechnogenic impact of emissions Mondi Syktyvkar JSC for a multi-year period. A general description of the distribution of individual components of emissions relative to the emission center is given. Long-term monitoring of snow cover in the impact and sanitary protection zones of the enterprise allowed us to analyze the dynamics of the aerotechnogenic load on the territory. The results of the calculation of the modules of substances entering the territory of the enterprise in 2019 showed the lowest level of contamination of the snow cover for the entire observation period, 66 % compared to the volumes of 2002. A significant decrease in the content of components in the snow was noted, starting in 2016 after the reconstruction of the enterprise. Samples of snowmelt water outside the territory of the sanitary protection zone do not exceed the sanitary and hygienic standards for fisheries reservoirs for all components. In general, based on the results of ecochemical monitoring of snow cover, the trend towards reducing the aerogenic impact of the enterprise on the adjacent territory is shown.

Long-term and short-term changes in ambient temperature can cause stress in birds, leading to changes in the level of hematological parameters. The H:L ratio (heterophil-to-lymphocyte ratio) is a hematological index that allows for the assessment of the stress induced by environmental changes, including weather conditions. In this paper, we examined the influence of temperatures and the sum of precipitation on the health of nestling pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) by using the H:L ratio reflecting the body’s response to stress. All examined temperature indicators influenced the H:L ratio, yet the average value of daily minimum temperature during the first 12 days of nestling life had the strongest influence, maximum temperature had the weakest effect, while precipitation had no significant influence. Our research indicates that even a small increase in temperature caused a stress reaction in nestling pied flycatchers, which was reflected by an increase in the H:L ratio. The increase in the stress index (H:L ratio) was probably a result of poor weather conditions (precipitation, low temperature), which prevented the adult birds from actively foraging and properly feeding the nestlings.

The environmental relations of rainforest struc- tural and physiognomic characteristics (in the Wet Tropics of Queensland, Australia) were quantified using the Monomax algorithms. The probabilities of occurrence for these characteristics were predicted in relation to indices of soil parent material and long-term mean monthly climate estimated at the point of survey for a set of 256 sites. A relatively small number of indices proved the best predic- tors (minimum temperature of coldest month; maximum temperature of hottest month; precipitation seasonality; precipitation of driest quarter; nutrient supply index). Spatial predictions of potential distributions were generat- ed by coupling the predictive functions to gridded esti- mates of the indices used as independent variables. Landsat MSS data were used to restrict the analysis to forested land. Numerical classification and ordination tech- niques were also employed to gain further insight into the spatial relationships. The assumptions of monotonicity required by the Monomax algorithms drew upon hypothe- ses of plant-environmental relations. The results supported the notion that as long as moisture is not limiting, the like- lihood of both larger leaf size and complex structure increases with increasing values of temperature and nutri- ent supply. The potential distributions of structural types were suggested as useful biological units for ecological comparison and conservation evaluation.