Nitrogen budget and statistical entropy analysis of the Tiber River catchment, a highly anthropized environment

Modern farming causes a decline in the recycling of the soil's inorganic matter due to losses by leaching, runoff, or infiltration into the groundwater. The Soil System Budget approach was applied to evaluate the net N budget at the catchment and sub-catchment levels of the Tiber River (central Italy) in order to establish the causes for different N budgets among the sub-catchments. Statistical Entropy Analysis (SEA) was used to evaluate the N efficiency of the Tiber River and its sub-catchments, providing information on the dispersion of different N forms in the environment. The total N inputs exceeded the total outputs, showing a low N retention (15.8%) at the catchment level, although some sub-catchments showed higher N retention values. The Utilized Agricultural Area was important in the determination of the N balance, as it was linked to zoo- and agricultural activities, although the Random Forest analysis showed that the importance ranking changed with the land use. The low N retention of the Tiber catchment was due to the soil characteristics (Cambisols and Leptosols), loads from atmospheric deposition, biological fixation, and the livestock industry. The SEA simulations showed a reduction of the N released into the atmosphere and groundwater compartments from 34% to 6% through a reduction of the N loads by 50%

Impacts of air pollution on human and ecosystem health, and implications for the National Emission Ceilings Directive. Insights from Italy

Across the 28 EU member states there were nearly half a million premature deaths in 2015 as a result of exposure to PM2.5, O3 and NO2. To set the target for air quality levels and avoid negative impacts for human and ecosystems health, the National Emission Ceilings Directive (NECD, 2016/2284/EU) sets objectives for emission reduction for SO2, NOx, NMVOCs, NH3 and PM2.5 for each Member State as percentages of reduction to be reached in 2020 and 2030 compared to the emission levels into 2005. One of the innovations of NECD is Article 9, that mentions the issue of “monitoring air pollution impacts” on ecosystems. We provide a clear picture of what is available in term of monitoring network for air pollution impacts on Italian ecosystems, summarizing what has been done to control air pollution and its effects on different ecosystems in Italy. We provide an overview of the impacts of air pollution on health of the Italian population and evaluate opportunities and implementation of Article 9 in the Italian context, as a case study beneficial for all Member States. The results showed that SO42− deposition strongly decreased in all monitoring sites in Italy over the period 1999–2017, while NO3− and NH4+ decreased more slightly. As a consequence, most of the acid-sensitive sites which underwent acidification in the 1980s partially recovered. The O3 concentration at forest sites showed a decreasing trend. Consequently, AOT40 (the metric identified to protect vegetation from ozone pollution) showed a decrease, even if values were still above the limit for forest protection (5000 ppb h−1), while PODy (flux-based metric under discussion as new European legislative standard for forest protection) showed an increase. National scale studies pointed out that PM10 and NO2 induced about 58,000 premature deaths (year 2005), due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. The network identified for Italy contains a good number of monitoring sites (6 for terrestrial ecosystem monitoring, 4 for water bodies monitoring and 11 for ozone impact monitoring) distributed over the territory and will produce a high number of monitored parameters for the implementation of the NECD

Assessing ozone and nitrogen impact on net primary productivity with a Generalised non-Linear Model

Some studies suggest that in Europe the majority of forest growth increment can be accounted for N deposition and very little by elevated CO2. High ozone (O-3) concentrations cause reductions in carbon fixation in native plants by offsetting the effects of elevated CO2 or N deposition. The cause-effect relationships between primary productivity (NPP) of Quercus cerris, Q. ilex and Fagus sylvatica plant species and climate and pollutants (O-3 and N deposition) in Italy have been investigated by application of Generalised Linear/non-Linear regression model (GLZ model). The GLZ model highlighted: i) cumulative O-3 concentration-based indicator (AOT40F) did not significantly affect NPP; ii) a differential action of oxidised and reduced nitrogen depositions to NPP was linked to the geographical location: iii) the species-specific variation of NPP caused by combination of pollutants and climatic variables could be a potentially important drive-factor for the plant species' shift as response to the future climate change

Landslide monitoring at the Cala Rossa Sea Cliff (Favignana Island, Sicily)

Favignana Island (Sicily, Italy) is a historical and environmental attraction site frequented by tourists especially during the long warm season of the year. Over several centuries the sea cliffs constituted by calcareous sandstone cropping out in the east side of the island have been exploited for the production of building stone. Currently, the quarries used for the rock extraction as well as the natural cliffs are undergoing extensive erosional and gravitational processes. Besides putting at risk the safety of the people attending the area, the widespread rock falls are likely to threaten sites of great historical and anthropological value that, once destroyed, can no longer be reconstructed. The rock mass quality assessment and slope displacement monitoring of cliffs were carried on to identify the most unstable areas providing a support to the local authorities in the implementation of effective and sustainable mitigation measures. If adequate measures will be taken in future, operators and users of the tourist circuit will have the opportunity to enjoy these amazing sites with a reduced risk

Nitrogen Budget and Statistical Entropy Analysis of the Tiber River Catchment, a Highly Anthropized Environment

Modern farming causes a decline in the recycling of the soil’s inorganic matter due to losses by leaching, runoff, or infiltration into the groundwater. The Soil System Budget approach was applied to evaluate the net N budget at the catchment and sub-catchment levels of the Tiber River (central Italy) in order to establish the causes for different N budgets among the sub-catchments. Statistical Entropy Analysis (SEA) was used to evaluate the N efficiency of the Tiber River and its sub-catchments, providing information on the dispersion of different N forms in the environment. The total N inputs exceeded the total outputs, showing a low N retention (15.8%) at the catchment level, although some sub-catchments showed higher N retention values. The Utilized Agricultural Area was important in the determination of the N balance, as it was linked to zoo- and agricultural activities, although the Random Forest analysis showed that the importance ranking changed with the land use. The low N retention of the Tiber catchment was due to the soil characteristics (Cambisols and Leptosols), loads from atmospheric deposition, biological fixation, and the livestock industry. The SEA simulations showed a reduction of the N released into the atmosphere and groundwater compartments from 34% to 6% through a reduction of the N loads by 50%

Quest- Rilievo Macrosismico Per Il Terremoto Dell'Isola Di Ischia Del 21 Agosto 2017

Preliminary report of the Macroseismic field survey after the Ischia island earthquake that occurred on 21 August 2017INGVPublished4T. Sismologia, geofisica e geologia per l'ingegneria sismic

Impacts of air pollution on cultural heritage corrosion at european level: what has been achieved and what are the future scenarios

The interaction of pollutants with Cultural Heritage materials leads to artworks and materials degradation and loss, causing an unpriceless damage. This works aims to estimate the impacts of air pollution and meteorological conditions on limestone, copper and bronze and represents the European risk assessment for corrosion of Cultural Heritage materials. The measures and policies for atmospheric pollution reduction have cut off the SO2 concentration and consequently its impact on materials is drastically reduced. Indeed, in 1980 the number of UNESCO sites in danger was extremely high (94% for limestone, 54% for copper and 1% for bronze) while in 2010 these sites did not exceed the tolerable value of surface recession and corrosion. However, some problem related to air pollution persists. In particular, Random Forest Analysis (RFA), highlights PM10 as the main responsible for materials corrosion, in 2010. Two scenarios in 2030 have been tested, highlighting that the corrosion levels of limestone, copper and bronze exceed the tolerable limits only in the Balkan area and Turkey. Our results show the importance in the air quality modelling as a powerful tool for the UNESCO sites conservation

Quest- Rilievo Macrosismico Per Il Terremoto Dell'Isola Di Ischia Del 21 Agosto 2017

Final report of the Macroseismic field survey after the Ischia island earthquake that occurred on 21 August 2017INGVPublished4T. Sismologia, geofisica e geologia per l'ingegneria sismic

Ozone exposure affects tree defoliation in a continental climate

Ground-level ozone (O-3) affects trees through visible leaf injury, accelerating leaf senescence, declining foliar chlorophyll content, photosynthetic activity, growth, carbon sequestration, predisposing to pests attack and a variety of other physiological effects. Tree crown defoliation is one of the most important parameters that is representative of forest health and vitality. Effects of air pollution on forests have been investigated through manipulative experiments that are not representative of the real environmental conditions observed in the field. In this work we investigated the role of O-3 concentration and other metrics (AOT40 and POD0) in affecting crown defoliation in temperate Romanian forests. The impacts of O-3 were estimated in combination with nitrogen pollutants, climatic factors and orographic conditions, by applying a non-linear modelling approach (Random Forest and Generalised Regression Models). Ozone concentration and AOT40 under Romanian conditions were more important than meteorological parameters in affecting crown defoliation. In these particular conditions, POD0 never exceeded the critical level suggested by previous literature for forest protection, and thus was not important in affecting crown defoliation