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Designed for the protection of major agricultural crops, neonicotinoids are the fastest-growing class of insecticides used against a broad spectrum of insect pests. Although neonicotinoid toxicity toward non-target organisms (e.g., bees, aquatic insects) has been well-studied, less is known about their distribution of use, transport, and fate in North American agroecosystems. This is especially true of neonicotinoid interactions with wetlands in the Canadian Prairies. Between 2009 and 2012, neonicotinoid use as a seed treatment increased by 30% across the Canadian Prairies. During spring 2012 to spring 2013, I sampled water and sediment from 136 wetlands situated in a range of crop types across central Saskatchewan to determine the extent of neonicotinoid contamination. Wetlands situated in oat, canola, and barley fields consistently contained higher neonicotinoid concentrations in water than in grasslands, but no single crop influenced overall detections. Neonicotinoid detections in water varied from 16% (fall 2012) to 91% (spring 2013) with peak concentrations up to 3110 ng/L found in summer. I found numerous detections of neonicotinoids in spring, after ice-off, but before seeding. Through sampling snow, snow meltwater, and soil particulates from previously treated (clothianidin) and untreated fields, meltwater showed the strongest relationship to initial spring concentrations in wetland water. Neonicotinoid concentrations increased with time in shallow temporary wetlands which appeared most at risk for annual contamination. While snowmelt contamination influenced water concentrations in spring, peak concentrations in wetlands were consistently found during summer sampling completed in 2012-2014. Rapid wetland assessments completed on 238 wetlands (summer of 2012 and 2013) revealed key ecological, hydrological and landscape features that influenced neonicotinoid detections and peak concentrations in Prairie wetlands. The results of my exploratory analysis indicated that plant community composition is a key indicator and/or driver of both detection and concentration of neonicotinoids in Prairie wetlands. In particular, specific shallow marsh plants were commonly associated with either higher (e.g., Scirpus validus) or lower (e.g., Mentha arvensis) neonicotinoid concentrations in natural wetlands suggesting wetland macrophytes in this zone may be either indicators of agricultural disturbance intensity or differentially capable of accumulating the insecticide in its tissue. Therefore, in 2014, I conducted an outdoor microcosm experiment to evaluate thiamethoxam uptake from water by Typha latifolia and Alisma triviale using two concentrations over a 7-day period. Experimental results found some trace positive detections but no quantifiable accumulation of the insecticide in plant tissues. This is despite the fact that results of my 2015 field study found species of Typha, Alisma and Equisetum had neonicotinoids more frequently detected in their tissues, at concentrations ranging from 1.01-8.44 ug/kg. My findings demonstrate that neonicotinoid distribution and fate in Canadian Prairie agroecosystems is driven by interactions between ecological, hydrological, and landscape characteristics. Consequently, these drivers regulate neonicotinoid exposure and persistence in ecologically important regional wetlands. In order to effectively conserve these critical waterbodies, conservation planning should consider the importance of maintaining naturally diverse vegetation zones to mitigate insecticide exposure to wetland-dependant organisms.

Thesis (Msc Food Sc (Food Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Distilleries are an example of an agricultural industry that generates large volumes of wastewater. These wastewaters are heavily polluted, and due to the seasonal nature of the product, the amount and composition of the wastewater may exhibit major daily and seasonal variations. Wine-distillery wastewaters (WDWWs) typically are acidic (pH 3.5 - 5.0) and have a high organic content (sugars, alcohol, proteins, carbohydrates and lipids), a COD range of 10 000 – 60 000 mg.L-1, have a high suspended solids content as well as containing various inorganic compounds. Additionally refractory compounds present in these wastewaters, such as polyphenols, can be toxic for biological processes, making the selection of a suitable treatment process problematic. Wetlands have been shown to be a feasible treatment for effluent originating from wine, however, they are normally used as a secondary treatment method and not well suited for high volume, high COD (> 5 000 mg.L-1) wastewaters. Ozone has been successfully used as a pre-treatment for WDWW due to its oxidising capabilities to partially biodegrade organics and non-biodegradable organics, and reduce polyphenols, which results in an increase in biodegradability. Currently a wetland system is being used on its own at a distillery to treat wastewater from a series of stabilisation dams, but the legal requirement for discharge into a natural resource (COD < 75 mg.L-1) is not being met. Additional treatments suited for WDWW are therefore being considered. Wine-distillery wastewater was characterised and found to show a large variation over time (COD ranging from 12 609 - 21 150 mg.L-1). Ozonation of WDWWs was found to be effective in decreasing COD over a wide range of organic loads. For pre-wetland wastewater from the distillery, an average COD reduction of 271 mg COD.g O3-1 was found, and for post-wetland effluent, an average of 103 mg COD.g O3-1. The effect of ozone on the biodegradability of the wastewater was monitored by activity tests, and a low ozone dose (200 - 400 mg O3.L-1) was found to increase activity in terms of biogas, methane and cumulative gas volumes. By showing an increase in the biodegradability of WDWW, it was concluded that ozone has potential as a pre-treatment step to increase the effectiveness of a biological wetland system. Lab-scale wetlands were used in trials to determine the effect of pre- and post-ozonation on WDWW. It was found that the efficiency of the wetland receiving the pre-ozonated “off-season” WDWW (2 200 mg COD.L-1) had a higher COD reduction (73%) than the wetland fed with untreated (62% COD reduction) WDWW, and the total polyphenol content was reduced by 40 and 31%, respectively. Treatment efficiency in terms of the reduction of colour, total solids, suspended solids and phosphates were also greatly improved for the pre-ozonated WDWW. Similar results were found when treating high COD “peak season” (7 000 mg COD.L-1) WDWW, with higher reduction rates for the wetland treating pre-ozonated WDWW (84% COD reduction) than for the wetland fed with untreated WDWW (74% COD reduction), and the total polyphenol content was reduced by 76 and 72%, respectively. Post-ozonation was also shown to be beneficial in that it improved the final effluent quality leaving the wetland system. Increasing the hydraulic retention time (HRT) of the wetlands from 9 days to 12 days resulted in similar COD reductions for the control and experimental wetland, highlighting the benefits that pre-ozonation has on reducing the acclimatisation period. Therefore using ozone as a pre-treatment could help in reducing the wetland size, HRT and allow increased volumes of wastewater to be treated. In this study ozone was successfully utilised to reduce COD levels in wine-distillery wastewater, and increase the biodegradability of the wastewater. This study also showed that ozone, used as a pre-treatment to a wetland system, can contribute to improving the performance of a wetland system in terms of higher removal efficiencies. Wetlands are, however, unsuited for treating high strength COD wastewater, and the final effluent was still well above the South African legal limit for direct discharge into a natural resource. The results obtained during this study contributed to developing a method to achieve a more efficient treatment system utilising wetlands for the distillery industry, and can be of value in facilitating efficient environmental management.

The purpose of this study is to show the importance of the geography of demand in ecological economics and to provide guidance for future research efforts to incorporate it. The analysis examines gaps in the literature that deal with the spatial variability of potential beneficiaries to ecosystem services and demonstrates the quantitative importance of defining the geography of demand. Since ecosystem service value is anthropocentric, incorporating those who receive benefits into the economic accounting method is a necessary requirement. As the total benefits received from ecosystem functioning declines over space, so too does its economic value. There are two study areas in Illinois used in the analysis. The first is the Des Plaines River wetlands in the Chicago metropolitan area and the other is the Cache River wetlands in rural southern Illinois. This study finds large ranges of value for ecosystem services when the decay of value over space is incorporated. Also, these findings suggest a minimum spatial requirement depending on the scale of aggregation. For a county level scale, a minimum economic jurisdiction of 1,000 km is suggested. Finally, the presence of large numbers of beneficiaries near an ecosystem has the greatest influence on value when the economic jurisdiction is spatially limited. From the steepest distance decay function to the shallowest the Des Plaines wetlands returned a range of values from approximately $971,000 to $2.3 billion and the Cache wetlands values ranged from $0 to $2.5 billion. This paper is not intended to be a case study for the economic valuation of a specific area but rather a demonstration of the necessity for a spatial economic framework that accounts for the delivery and receipt of ecosystem services over space.

Archaeological investigations of the largest urban centers in southern Mesopotamia have excluded collection and detailed interpretation of faunal remains. This exclusion has resulted in a biased interpretation of urban dynamics based largely on architecture, site planning, artifact distribution, and textual evidence. The samples that do exist from these sites are often incomplete. Additionally, textual evidence pertaining to animal exploitation is essentially silent when it comes to pig husbandry and offers little information on the exploitation of fish and other wild resources. While addressing these biases with the analysis of faunal material from the late second millennium (BCE) urban site of Mashkan-shapir, this study also aims to shed light on the complex interplay between urban life and the natural diversity of the southern Mesopotamian wetlands. The site is presented as a model for heterarchical sociopolitical organization and sustainable agroecological approach to subsistence. A fundamental link is made between sustainability and heterarchical organization and consensus. Results of the analysis of over 7000 specimens from excavation, as well as nearly 2900 specimens from systematic flotation, indicate that wetland resources were an integral part of the site economy. The data suggest pigs were a major dietary component, and suggest low intensity cultivation of free roaming "street pigs" as the likely pig rearing strategy. Ovicaprid remains indicate a strong bias towards sheep with the primary goal of wool production. The study attempts to describe and quantify the role of wetlands as a sustainable resource adding to the vitality and success of Mashkan-shapir. The data suggest an urban setting intimately linked to wetland ecosystems. This model of wetland exploitation is compared to both ancient and modern data including modern models of mixed species sustainable agroecosystems to illustrate the efficiency and sustainability of the proposed Mashkan-shapir model. The data from Mashkan-shapir suggest that a heretofore unexamined or hidden portion of the economy based on fishing, hunting, household level pig husbandry, and wetland resource exploitation, played a crucial role in the lives of Mesopotamian urbanites.

In Östersund there are a few stormwater ponds and oil separation units   connected to the stormwater network, but mostly there is no systems for   filtration of stormwater before it is released into a nearby lake which acts   as Östersund’s source of drinking water. In the Industrial area in Lugnvik there   is an oil separation unit connected to the stormwater network but no other   means of filtration. This study will be conducted as a case study for the   industrial part of catchment area 6 of the municipality of Östersund’s   stormwater system, where this area acts as an example to apply the   dimensioning methods on. Aside from grease (O/G) residues that might be   removed by the oil separation unit, pollutants such as heavy metals,   nutrients and suspended solids (SS) are present in the area. Which will make   its way to the lake trough the existing stormwater system. One way to   filtrate stormwater is to construct an open vegetated stormwater system,   where the water is filtered as it passes through the vegetation and/or   infiltrates to the ground and/or trough sedimentation. The purpose of this study is to evaluate some commonly used for Sweden   relevant methods for dimensioning open stormwater systems. The evaluation is   to see if the methods result in a system size that would give a satisfactory   removal of heavy metals, or if the methods is not suitable to use for   dimensioning a vegetated stormwater system if the purpose is to remove heavy   metals. The study should give answers to if currently and commonly used   methods for dimensioning open stormwater systems is suitable to use for   dimensioning of open vegetated stormwater systems by relating the results to   real examples when the purpose of the open stormwater system is to reduce   heavy metal concentrations. Further, the study shall help to identify   important factors that regulates the removal rate of heavy metals as well as   determine what particle size that should be targeted to reach a satisfactory   removal rate of heavy metals. A conclusion if   the dimensioning methods is suitable to use or not is difficult to draw as   the size of the system depends on what values that are used to calculate the   stormwater flow. Therefore, there is a large variation in the resulting   system size. To add to this uncertainty, the projection that is based on   measurements on real systems is not accurate as this only use the size of the   system in relation to the size of the impervious catchment area as a factor   for heavy metal removal. In reality this is not the case, which is indicated   by the R2-values of these projections. Other factors that in this study is   confirmed to have an impact on the removal rate is particle size, surface   load/flow, and in the case of vegetated filter strips the slope of the   filter. The particle size that should be targeted is likely within the range   of 45-65 μm. / <p>20181116</p>

Multi-spectral imagery provides a robust and low-cost dataset for assessing wetland extent and quality over broad regions and is frequently used for wetland inventories. However in forested wetlands, hydrology is obscured by tree canopy making it difficult to detect with multi-spectral imagery alone. Because of this, classification of forested wetlands often includes greater errors than that of other wetlands types. Elevation and terrain derivatives have been shown to be useful for modelling wetland hydrology. But, few studies have addressed the use of LiDAR intensity data detecting hydrology in forested wetlands. Due the tendency of LiDAR signal to be attenuated by water, this research proposed the fusion of LiDAR intensity data with LiDAR elevation, terrain data, and aerial imagery, for the detection of forested wetland hydrology. We examined the utility of LiDAR intensity data and determined whether the fusion of Lidar derived data with multispectral imagery increased the accuracy of forested wetland classification compared with a classification performed with only multi-spectral image. Four classifications were performed: Classification A - All Imagery, Classification B - All LiDAR, Classification C - LiDAR without Intensity, and Classification D - Fusion of All Data. These classifications were performed using random forest and each resulted in a 3-foot resolution thematic raster of forested upland and forested wetland locations in Vermilion County, Illinois. The accuracies of these classifications were compared using Kappa Coefficient of Agreement. Importance statistics produced within the random forest classifier were evaluated in order to understand the contribution of individual datasets. Classification D, which used the fusion of LiDAR and multi-spectral imagery as input variables, had moderate to strong agreement between reference data and classification results. It was found that Classification A performed using all the LiDAR data and its derivatives (intensity, elevation, slope, aspect, curvatures, and Topographic Wetness Index) was the most accurate classification with Kappa: 78.04%, indicating moderate to strong agreement. However, Classification C, performed with LiDAR derivative without intensity data had less agreement than would be expected by chance, indicating that LiDAR contributed significantly to the accuracy of Classification B.

Wetlands and streams provide many ecosystem services, yet many of these services have been lost during the process of surface mining. It is often not practical to avoid wetlands and streams, and newer technologies such as large draglines have made it possible to mine through large perennial streams and their associated riparian wetland systems. Laws such as the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act and Clean Water Act require the restoration of these systems in approximately the same location and configuration as before mining, but do not address the long-term replacement of function. In Perry County, Illinois, three stream segments of Bonnie Creek, Galum Creek, and Pipestone Creek and their associated riparian wetland systems were among the largest ever restored following surface mining. The research objective was to determine whether or not function was restored in the three aforementioned streams and riparian wetlands following surface mining reclamation. Wetland soil properties, vegetation, and hydrology at study sites along Bonnie and Galum Creeks were compared to that of nearby natural wetlands and across a chronosequence of soil age. Water quality was assessed [alkalinity, chloride (Cl), fluoride (Fl), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), nitrate (NO3), sulfate (SO4), total dissolved solids (TDS), and total suspended solids (TSS)] in the three restored streams for post restoration trends over time and along the length of the restored channels. Deep basins, called incline pits, were located inline of all three restored channels and are unique to streams restored on surface mines. Stream samples were collected above and below incline pits during storm events to evaluate their ability to reduce sediment concentrations. Two types of wetlands were found at the mine site: mined planned wetlands (MPWs) that had deeper water and fewer or no trees, and mined bottomland forested wetlands (MBFWs) with more shallow water depths and many trees. Significant differences were found between the two wetland types among soil properties, vegetation, and hydrology. Unlike most studies comparing wetlands restored on non-mined sites to natural wetlands, SOM, C, N, and C/N ratio in the surface 15 cm in the MBFWs were not significantly different from the natural wetlands, indicating restoration of function. Plant taxa richness was higher in both mined wetland types than in the natural wetlands at lower elevation sample points where inundation was seasonal. Overall, the mined wetlands also retained water within 30 cm of the surface for more time than the natural wetlands. However, not all function was fully regained in the mined wetlands. Several soil properties were significantly different in the mined wetlands compared to the natural wetlands. SOM, N and the C/N ratio was significantly lower in the 15-30 cm depth, and in the surface 15 cm of the lower elevation samples of the MPW. Soil texture was significantly different in the MPW. There was more sand and less silt. Plan taxa richness was also lower in the higher elevation sample points of the MPW due to the presence of the invasive Phragmites australis. Few trends were found in the soil properties across a chronosequence of soil age. Only pH showed a significant negative linear trend in both mined wetland types across soil age. Assessment of the water chemistry of the restored streams showed that for some parameters, water quality remained stable or improved with distance or time along the restored streams. However, along Bonnie and Galum Creek, a significant positive trend was seen by length of relocated channel in SO4, Fe, Mn, Zn, TDS, conductivity, and Cl. On the other hand, at Pipestone Creek, significant negative trends were evident in TDS, Mn, water temperature, conductivity, and SO4 levels over time or along the length of the relocated channel. Trends along the length of the Pipestone Creek were only found in monitoring conducted twenty years after the channel relocation was complete. Sediment concentration above and below the incline pits inline of Bonnie and Galum Creek were not significantly different based on the sampling of two storm events. An additional input from an agricultural drainage ditch to the Bonnie Pit increased sediment concentrations at the downstream sample point counteracting the reductions that were seen in the Galum pit. Research on the mined stream and riparian systems indicated that reclamation of wetlands and streams to a stable or condition similar to a natural system is possible and sets a standard for future mining operations to follow. However, several shortcomings were identified. Reduced levels of SOM and soil N in the MPWs in the surface 15 cm of the lower sample points may have been the result of longer periods of inundation that reduced nitrification and vegetation recruitment. SOM, soil N, and the C/N ratio in the 15-30 cm depth were lower in the mined wetlands suggesting that these properties take longer to recover at deeper depths, but the significant linear trend in pH show that soil in the deeper strata is changing with time. Invasion by P. Australis reduced taxa richness suggesting that invasive plants are still a problem even more than twenty years after restoration. In addition, the increase in conductivity and SO4 downstream of a visible seep in Bonnie Creek highlight the potential for contaminated groundwater to affect surface water. More consideration should be given to reclaiming not just the surface and subsoils, but also the deeper water bearing strata to ensure that surface water chemistry is not impacted by mining.

Burning of fossil fuels by coal-fired power plants (CFPPs) is one of the largest sources of environmental mercury in the United States and there have been conflicting reports of local impacts due to CFPPs in the US. Illinois has 23 coal-fired electrical generating plants that may be contributing to elevated environmental mercury concentrations that have contributed to mercury advisories for 13 bodies of water located throughout the state. The objective of the current study is to determine if there is a pattern of total mercury concentrations in sediment and tadpoles collected from ponds located upwind and downwind of 4 coal-fired electrical generating plants in Illinois. Baldwin, Joppa, Newton, and Southern Illinois Power Cooperative (SIPC) coal-fired power plants were chosen for study. Three sediment samples were collected from ponds located 3-5, 8-10, and 13-15 km downwind and from ponds located 3-5 km upwind of each power plant and analyzed for total mercury concentration. Temperature of overlying water (C), pH, oxidation-reduction potential (mV), and texture were determined for each sediment sample. Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeiana) or Green frog (Lithobates clamitans) tadpoles were collected opportunistically from 29 of the 44 ponds chosen for study. Each tadpole was identified to species and Gosner stage, and then weighed and measured for total length prior to total mercury analysis. For Baldwin, Joppa, and SIPC power plants, no significant pattern of total mercury could be determined from either sediment or tadpole data. For Newton power plant, total mercury concentrations were significantly greater 3-5 km downwind for sediment, and 8-15 km downwind for tadpoles compared to concentrations at upwind locations. Sediment total mercury concentrations were not significantly correlated with any of the characteristic variables (e.g. pH). Tadpole total mercury was significantly negatively correlated with length and weight, but not significantly correlated with any of the sediment variables. Sediment and tadpole concentrations were not significantly correlated.