COmmunity-based Management of EnvironmenTal challenges in Latin America

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Characteristics of organic matter sources from Guadiana Estuary salt marsh sediments (SW Iberian Peninsula)

Publication . Kumar, Mukesh; Boski, Tomasz; Gonzalez-Vila, Francisco J.; Jimenez-Morillo, Nicasio T.; Gonzalez-Perez, Jose A.

Estuaries are dynamic interfaces between land, rivers and the ocean that play major roles in the global carbon cycle. These coastal wetlands store huge amounts of organic carbon (OC), commonly known as "blue carbon" and excellent places to study C cycling. The Guadiana river estuary is among the most important tidal salt marshes in the South - Iberian coastal margin. Here, a detailed organic geochemical study is described that includes the identification of sedimentary OM composition at a molecular and isotopic level. Total organic carbon content (TOC) of core sediments ranged from 0.39 to 2.23% and stable carbon isotope composition (delta C-13) also showed a wide range between -22.4 and -27.0 parts per thousand. A(13)C depletion trend observed from the surface to bottom in the core sediments profiles, reflects loss of labile biogenic C-13 enriched compounds i.e. polysaccharides and a selective preservation of more depleted compounds with depth i.e. lignin and lipids in the core sediments. Series of nalkanes were found in the range from C-10 to C-31. Carbon preference index ratio (CPI) calculated for long-chain n-alkanes (C-24-C-31) that ranged between 1.17 and 1.94 reflecting diverse OM inputs to the sediments. A study of the lignin-derived phenolic composition pointed to a recalcitrant OM derived from both gymnosperm and angiosperm plants. Moreover, high abundance of vinyl phenol and vinyl guaiacol points to a dominant contribution of lignins from grasses and aquatic macrophytes to the sediments. A well-resolved series of long-chain linear alkyl benzenes (LABs from C-4 to C-22) were recorded in all core sediment samples indicating direct discharge of untreated domestic and/or industrial effluents to the estuary. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with more than 3 rings reflects the pyrogenic origin of a portion of the sedimentary OM. This study highlights the importance of different OM sources to the lower Guadiana estuarine sediments and contributes to a better knowledge about its origin, dynamics and fate.

2020-06Journal article

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Biomarkers as indicators of sedimentary organic matter sources and early diagenetic transformation of pentacyclic triterpenoids in a tropical mangrove ecosystem

Publication . Kumar, Mukesh; Boski, T.; Lima-Filho, Francisco P.; Bezerra, Francisco H. R.; Gonzalez-Vila, Francisco J.; Alam Bhuiyan, Md Khurshid; Gonzalez-Perez, Jose A.

Mangrove vegetation covers extensive areas along Brazilian tropical coasts and accumulates large amounts of organic carbon in the intertidal sediments. We have investigated the molecular biomarker composition of mangrove sediments from the Potengi estuary North-East Brazil. To characterise sources and fate of sedimentary organic matter (OM), a direct analytical pyrolysis approach was used. The sediment pyrolysates yielded homologous series of aliphatic compounds (n-alkane/n-alkene doublets, n-alkanoic acid and n-alkan-2-ones), triterpenoids and lignin-derived methoxphenols, indicating that most of the sedimentary OM input originates from terrestrial vascular plants. High abundance of long-chain n-alk-1-ene series with an even carbon number predominance peaking at C-28:1-most likely originated from local mangrove vegetation-is found co-eluted with the saturated odd carbon n-alkane series. The occurrence of lignin and n-alkan-2-one biomarkers in the sediments has provided parallel information about the input from vascular plants dominating the intertidal zone. This was further corroborated by the presence of the triterpenols (beta-amyrin, and germanicol), that provided chemotaxonomic information on mangrove derived leaf wax in sedimentary OM. The unsaturated triterpenoid including teraxerol acetate, olean-12-ene, olean-18-ene, oleana-11, 13(18)-diene, a-neoursa-3(5), 12-diene and aneooleana-3(5), 12-diene, were also observed in sediment pyrolysates. The presence of these unsaturated pentacyclic triterpenoids revealed an early diagenetic alteration of terrestrial OM in the sediments. This study has demonstrated that routine application of analytical pyrolysis may provide important insight into the sources of sedimentary OM and its diagenetic fate in mangrove intertidal sediments.

2019-11Journal article

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An overview of ecological status, vulnerability and future perspectives of European large shallow, semi-enclosed coastal systems, lagoons and transitional waters

Publication . Newton, Alice; Icely, John; Cristina, Sónia; Brito, Ana; Cardoso, Ana Cristina; Colijn, Franciscus; Riva, Simona Dalla; Gertz, Flemming; Hansen, Jens Würgler; Holmer, Marianne; Ivanova, Kateryna; Leppäkoski, Erkki; Canu, Donata Melaku; Mocenni, Chiara; Mudge, Stephen; Murray, Nicholas; Pejrup, Morten; Razinkovas, Arturas; Reizopoulou, Sofia; Pérez-Ruzafa, Angel; Schernewski, Gerard; Schubert, Hendrik; Carr, Laishalla; Solidoro, Cosimo; PierluigiViaroli, null; Zaldívar, José-Manuel

The paper gives an overview of some of the large, shallow, semi-enclosed coastal systems (SECS) in Europe, These SECS are important both from the ecological and the economic perspective (socioecological systems) and provide many valuable ecosystem goods and services. Although some of the systems are transitional waters under theWater Framework Directive, this is not the case for all of the systems. The paper adopts a Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response approach to analyse the ecological status, vulnerability and future perspectives of these systems in the context of global change.

2014Journal article

Open access

A systems approach for sustainable development in coastal zones

Publication . Newton, Alice

This Special Feature of Ecology and Society brings together important outcomes of the EU-funded project: Science-Policy Integration for Coastal System Assessment, SPICOSA. The title of the project revealed its innovative nature from the start. The premise was to bind scientific information to policy decisions and to consider the coastal zone as an integrated ecological-social-economic system. As a result, the SPICOSA project was very broad, ambitious, and required multidisciplinary teams of researchers to work together: natural scientists such as oceanographers and ecologists, social scientists, economists, and modelers. In itself, this was a tour de force. In addition, the project required a participatory role from stakeholders or actors, e.g., institutions, NGOs, economic sectors, etc., as well as from coastal managers and decision makers.

2012Journal article

Open access

Building an integrated analytical framework: a new methodology to analysing social-ecological systems

Publication . Gari, Sirak Robele; Newton, Alice; Icely, John David

Appropriate adaptive management frameworks are useful for analyzing social-ecological systems. Natural resource managers and concerned stakeholders can co-design locally adapted, appropriate management systems based on the information obtained using frameworks, which leads to a better understanding of the social-ecological system (SES). However, no single framework addresses all environmental and social issues with equal efficiency. Therefore, the Driver-Activity-Pressure-State-Impact (Welfare)-Response (Measure) framework (DAPSI(W)R(M)), Ostrom's SES Framework (SESF), and the Systems Approach Framework (SAF) were combined to create an integrated analytical framework (IAF). Finally, the integrated analytical framework was tested in the Community Council of Alto and Medio Dagua (AMDA), Colombia, to assess a water quality problem emanating from anthropogenic activities. The approach seems to be valid and useful for the assessment of social-ecological systems.

2024-11-21Journal article

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