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"Ecological risk assessment"
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Handbook of Uncertainty in Eurasian Forecasting (HEF)
Forecasting is a technique that uses historical data as inputs to make informed estimates that are predictive in determining the direction of future trends. Eurasia comprises about 36% of the world's total area and about 70% of the world population. Eurasia comprises Asia and Europe, although, geographically, it is a single continent with arbitrary geological borders. Eurasia has been a home to the world's oldest civilizations and plays an important part in the mainstream history of the world. Eurasian countries have many common characteristics and forecasting of this region can prove to be of major help in integrated resources management, leading to sustainable development, optimum decision making of international world organizations and achieving goals of world peace. This book deals with the various aspects of social and environmental importance in this region, especially climate change and hydrological modelling and flood forecasting.
eBook
Calculation of Toxicity Coefficient of Potential Ecological Risk Assessment of Rare Earth Elements
Rare earth elements (REEs) are applied in various industries. They have entered the environment through different pathways and caused serious pollutions. So far, due to the lack of calculated toxicity coefficient of rare earth elements, it is still difficult to evaluate their ecological risks. The potential ecological risk index method is commonly used in the pollution assessment of heavy metals. And rare earth elements are similar to heavy metals. Herein, we used this method to calculate the toxicity coefficient of 15 rare earth elements (La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, and Y). The calculation was based on two principles, rare earth elements coexist with each other because of their similar chemical properties, and the elemental abundance and release effect determine their toxicity. The results are as follows: La = 1, Ce = 1, Pr = 5, Nd = 2, Sm = 5, Eu = 10, Gd = 5, Tb = 10, Dy = 5, Ho = 10, Er = 5, Tm = 10, Yb = 5, Lu = 20, Y = 2. Our results can provide a reference to the potential ecological risk assessment of rare earth elements.
Journal Article
Landscape Ecological Risk Assessment and Impact Factor Analysis of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau
The Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP) is one of the most vulnerable ecosystems worldwide. Over the last few decades, the QTP has been subjected to increasing external pressures, such as climate change, human activity, and natural hazards. Therefore, ecological risk assessment is vital for the environmental protection and sustainable development of the QTP. A landscape ecological risk (LER) assessment based on landscape disturbance and vulnerability was performed to explore the spatiotemporal characteristics associated with LER in the QTP from 1990 to 2020. Furthermore, the impact of LER was quantitatively evaluated with a boosted regression tree model. Results showed that more than 70% of the locations in the QTP exhibited below-medium LER. The LER for the QTP demonstrated downward trends from 1990 to 2020. The LER presented downward trends during the periods from 1990 to 2001 and from 2012 to 2020 and no significant trend during the period from 2002 to 2011. Additionally, high-LER areas were concentrated in the northwestern QTP, whereas low-LER areas were mainly in the southeastern QTP. The LER displayed clustering characteristics across the QTP. Changes in climate, topographic distribution, and human activity influenced the ecological stability of the study area. Precipitation and temperature had the strongest effects on the LER, followed by elevation and grazing intensity. Lower precipitation and temperatures were associated with higher LER. Our results provide precise and specific support for the environmental protection and ecological management of the QTP and other ecologically fragile areas.
Journal Article
Heavy Metal Pollution and Ecological Risk Assessment of the Agriculture Soil in Xunyang Mining Area, Shaanxi Province, Northwestern China
Mining is considered to be one of the most significant sources of environmental pollution with regard to heavy metals. Mineral mining causes large quantities of mercury, cadmium, and other elements to be released into the environment and naturally poses a serious threat to environment. This paper will analyze the pollution status of agricultural soil caused by the mining of heavy metals in various mining areas in the Xunyang County in the Shaanxi Province of China, an area in famous for its resource mining. Equally, it will look at the potential ecological risk assessment process that is used to analyze the ecological risks of mining heavy metals in agricultural soil located in the surrounding areas. Based on the soil investigation, As pose a moderate ecological risk on the Au mining area. In addition, the Hg metals pose a significantly high potential ecological risk and Cd metals pose a considerable potential ecological risk on the Hg mining area. In the Pb–Zn mining area, a significantly high potential ecological risk was mainly posed by Cd. These results suggest that many heavy metals pose a high potential ecological risk on the agricultural soil in these three mining areas in the Xunyang County, and may cause elevated heavy metal contents in crops, eventually jeopardizing the health of local residents who consume food grown in polluted soil.
Journal Article
Source apportionment and potential ecological risk assessment of heavy metals in soils on a large scale in China
The properties and sources of soil heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cu, Cd, As, Hg, Cr, and Ni) need to be comprehensively analyzed to take effective steps to control and reduce soil pollutants. In this research, 416 soil samples were collected on a large scale in China. Two receptor models (PCA/MLR and PMF) were utilized to identify pollutant sources and quantify the contributions. The means of soil heavy metals (Zn, Cu, As, Hg, Cr, and Ni) were lower than the corresponding screening values and intervention values. Cd was greater than the intervention value, while Pb was between the screening value and the intervention value. Source apportionments suggested that mine sources were the most polluted (64.28%), followed by traffic sources (38.98%), natural sources (11.41–39.58%), industrial sources (9.8–18.65%), and agricultural sources (2.79–14.51%). Compared to the PCA/MLR model, the PMF model had a better effect in evaluating soil heavy metal pollution. It gave corresponding weights according to the data concentration and its uncertainty, which made the result reasonable. The ecological risk assessment indicated that Cd posed a significant risk, while Hg caused a mild risk and the other six heavy metals posed a low risk. The spatial distribution of ecological risk suggested that severe risk points were mainly distributed in the central area, while high-risk points were distributed in the southern region. The SRI method was developed to link pollution sources and their potential ecological risks and indicated better applicability to the PMF model. The study findings could provide guidelines for monitoring the main sources and reducing the pollution of soil heavy metals.
Journal Article
Ecological risk assessment of surface sediments of Çardak Lagoon along a human disturbance gradient
Lagoons are the hotspot ecosystems whose sustainability should be secured using the ecological assessment indicators. This study aimed to quantify the surface sediment metal distributions of Çardak Lagoon in the Marmara region of Turkey, to characterize their natural and anthropogenic sources and transport mechanisms and to assess their potential ecological risks. The surface sediment samples were collected from 11 stations using Van Veen grab, while for the background values to be determined, core sampling was used from two stations. The analyses of multiple elements, total organic carbon, carbonate, and chlorophyll degradation by-products were carried out to characterize sediments. Enrichment factor and the indices of potential ecological and toxic risks were applied to assess the ecological status of the surface sediments. The operation of the gold mine in the close vicinity was found to be responsible for the enrichment of Au and Hg in the lagoon sediments. Cd, Tl, Sb, and Sr were the other elements responsible for the enrichment. The potential risk levels of the lagoon varied between the low and significant levels. The riskiest elements were found to be Hg and Cd which in turn pointed to the mining and agricultural activities as the most dominant human disturbance. The toxic risk index of Çardak Lagoon was estimated to range from 5.21 to 11.00, with a low mean value of 7.98. The C:N ratio range of 8.52 to 134.93 (a mean of 29.07) indicated that the organic C source was mostly of the terrestrial origin, in particular, from the surrounding agricultural lands.
Journal Article
Regional ecological risk assessment through the application of production-living-ecology land use function indicators: a case study of the eco-economic zone of Yellow River Delta
To date, land use structure information has been employed extensively for ecological risk assessment (ERA) purpose in regional/landscape scales; in contrast, land use function (LUF) information-based ERA research is still scarce. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out more ERA case studies in macroscale with the help of pertinent LUF indicators. As an important way to construct production-living-ecology LUF indexes, this study employs the weighted stacking method and related economic statistical data for regional ecological risk assessment (RERA) purpose within Yellow River Delta High-efficiency Eco-economic Zone (YRDHEZ), China. This YRDHEZ-RERA research pointed out that (1) it was rational to use a series of economic statistical data to more comprehensively and precisely characterize regional production and living function grades in YRDHEZ. (2) The Yellow River Delta had lower agriculture and non-agriculture production functions, whereas the rest of the zone had higher production functions. (3) Most people lived in the south part, whereas north coastal zone had very low population density; the east part had higher per capita disposable income of urban/rural households than that of west. (4) The south part of the zone had higher production/living functions and integrated ecological risk source intensity than those of north coastal zone, whereas the coastal zone had higher ecology function, eco-environmental vulnerability, and final integrated ecological risk than those of inland region. As for regional ecological risk management, establishing nature reserve with strict spatial governance for coastal/estuarine wetlands and coordinating production/ecology functions of coastal salterns/breeding ponds are relevant feasible measures.
Journal Article
Construction and Optimization of Ecological Network Based on Landscape Ecological Risk Assessment: A Case Study in Jinan
Due to the rapid development of urbanization, land-use types have changed greatly, which has led to many ecological problems. Therefore, the current research objective is to solve the problems in existence in Jinan, so as to determine the existing landscape ecological risks and optimize the landscape structure. Using 2 m high-resolution remote sensing images and related natural economic data, this study evaluated the landscape ecological risk and constructed a full-factor ecological network in Jinan with a landscape ecological risk assessment method (ERI) and a minimum cumulative resistance model (MCR) based on landscape ecology theory. The results showed that: (1) The ERI in Jinan presented a spatial concentration of high value areas in the central and central–eastern regions, while other levels in ERI areas presented a spatial distribution around the ecological regions with high risk. (2) The important corridors were mainly distributed in the south of Jinan, which were stable and not easily destroyed. The corridors in other areas were secondary, mainly passing through cultivated land and urban greenways, which were unstable and susceptible to interference.
Journal Article