Das Projekt ÖkoKauf der Stadt Wien hat es sich zum Ziel gesetzt, durch die Erstellung von ökologischen Kriterien, Pilotprojekte und durch Bewusstseinsarbeit das Beschaffungswesen im Magistrat Wien weiter zu ökologisieren. In diesem Rahmen widmete sich der Arbeitskreis 'Desinfektionsmittel unter der Leitung der Wiener Umweltanwaltschaft (WUA) der Aufgabe, für Hygienefachleute ein Instrument zur Beurteilung der Auswirkungen von Desinfektionsmitteln auf Gesundheit und Umwelt zu erstellen. Das Österreichische Ökologie-Institut führte eine Daten- und Literaturrecherche durch, das Umweltbundesamt nahm ergän-zende ökotoxikologische Tests an Wirkstoffen und -produkten vor und 'die umweltberatung ermittelte stationsbezogene Desinfektionsmittelverbräuche in Wiener Krankenanstalten. Die Recherche- und Testergebnisse zu Desinfektionsmittelwirkstoffen und -produkten wurden in einer vom IFZ konzipierten und von der Magistratsabteilung 14 realisierten Datenbank zusammengefasst. Um die ökotoxikologischen Produkteigenschaften vergleichbar zu machen, wurde vom IFZ ein Bewertungsraster entwickelt und in die Datenbank integriert. Dabei werden nachteilige Wirkungen auf die Gesundheit anhand von vier Wirkungskategorien erfasst: Akute Giftigkeit; Reizwirkung auf die Haut; Sensibilisierung, allergenes Potenzial sowie Erbgutschädigende, krebserzeugende und fruchtschädigende Eigenschaften. Zusammen mit der Berücksichtigung des Verhaltens in Oberflächengewässern (Abbauverhalten, Bioakkumulationspotenzial, Toxizität für Wasserorganismen) sowie dem Verhalten in Kläranlagen werden insgesamt sechs Bewertungszahlen generiert, die auf einer Skala von 1 (vernachlässigbar) bis 5 (sehr hoch) das gesamte Gefährdungsprofil des Stoffes beschreiben sollen. Das Gefährdungsprofil eines Handelsproduktes errechnet sich aus den Gefährdungsprofilen der darin enthaltenen Wirkstoffe anhand eines Algorithmus: Dabei wird die Annahme getroffen, dass die Produkteigenschaften von der Konzentration der darin enthaltenen Wirkstoffe abhängen. Bei der Bewertung ist außerdem zu gewährleisten, dass ein Wirkstoff mit einem hohen Gefährdungspotenzial angemessen berücksichtigt wird, auch und gerade wenn seine Konzentration im Produkt gering ist. In der Literatur wird dazu eine logarithmische Skalierung vorgeschlagen. Die Bewertung berücksichtigt derzeit die Wirkstoffe sowie Anwendungsverdünnungen. Die Zusammenfassung der Produkte in Verwendungs- bzw. Expositionskategorien ermöglicht letztlich eine vergleichende Bewertung. Da das Bewertungsraster gerade auf eine vergleichende Bewertung von Produkten abzielt, unterliegt er einer ständigen kritischen Diskussion, die auch häufig von den Herstellern geführt wird. Dieser Umstand sowie das Faktum von Produktlebenszyklen erfordern ein ständiges Update der in der Datenbank enthaltenen Informationen und eine Anpassung des Bewertungsmodells an den aktuellen Stand von Forschung sowie Standards der Stoff- und Produktpolitik.
Ziel der Forschungsarbeit ist die Klassifizierung von Boden-Biozönosen in ausgewählten Feldrainen. In drei Naturräumen (Lössböden der Jülicher Börde, Muschelkalkböden in Mainfranken und pleistozäne Sande bei Leipzig) werden typische Lebensgemeinschaften von Collembola und Gamasina (Taxozönosen) beschrieben. Der wesentliche Unterschied zu anderen Klassifikations-Ansätzen liegt in der induktiven Vorgehensweise: Biozönosen werden allein aufgrund der Artenzusammensetzung an den Standorten typisiert. Vegetationskundliche Kriterien dienen als entscheidendes Hilfsmittel zur Vorauswahl von Flächen mit ähnlichen Standortbedingungen. Hierbei wird gleichzeitig die aufgenommene Vegetation als ein weiteres Taxon der zu beschreibenden Biozönose angesehen. Die typische Artenzusammensetzung ist das integrierte Ergebnis aller denkbaren ökologischen Vorgänge. Ein Ziel der Arbeit ist somit die prospektive Formulierung von Erwartungswerten für Collembolen und Raubmilben auf der Basis vegetationskundlicher Daten. Es sollte daher möglich sein, dieses Mehrarten-System mit hoher Sensibilität zur Bioindikation von Standortveränderungen einzusetzen. Die Kenntnis der Artenstruktur wiederkehrender Lebensgemeinschaften kann der funktionellen Ökosystemforschung hilfreiche Hinweise bieten.
The project's objective is to support JRC IPTS in revising the existing Ecolabel and GPP criteria of personal computers and notebook computers. The priority in this revision process is to first analyse which of the existing criteria and the supporting evidence are still valid and to identify the additional research that should be carried out. Potential additional criteria can be developed, if identified as necessary in the course of the study. The study starts with a definition of the scope; the necessarity for new or revised Ecolabel and GPP criteria is based on a market analysis and a technical analysis with research on the most significant environmental impacts during the whole life cycle of the products. This also includes the application of a consistent methodological approach regarding the hazardous substances criteria. Based on these findings, the improvement potential will be derived resulting in a proposal for a revised Ecolabel and GPP criteria set for desktop and notebook computers which will be discussed in a European stakeholder process.
The project's objective is to support JRC IPTS in revising the existing Ecolabel and GPP criteria of televisions. The priority in this revision process is to first analyse which of the existing criteria and the supporting evidence are still valid and to identify the additional research that should be carried out. Potential additional criteria can be developed, if identified as necessary in the course of the study. The study starts with a definition of the scope; the necessarity for new or revised Ecolabel and GPP criteria is based on a market analysis and a technical analysis with research on the most significant environmental impacts during the whole life cycle of the products. This also includes the application of a consistent methodological approach regarding the hazardous substances criteria. Based on these findings, the improvement potential will be derived resulting in a proposal for a revised Ecolabel and GPP criteria set for televisions which will be discussed in a European stakeholder process.
The overall aim of the project ForEVAS is the evaluation of the exposure and sensitivity of goods and services provided by the forest sector to global change, the analysis of the adaptation capacity of forestry to future global change and the role of forestry in mitigation and adaptation strategies at regional scales. The demand for forest goods and services is determined by a wide array of user groups (as forest owners, ground water administration, general public seeking recreation, consumers of wood and fibre products, groups interested in nature conservation). At the same time the object of climate impact, i.e. the forests with a given species-composition and structure, are the result of landscape and forest management measures. Therefore, the capacity for adaptation to climate change has to be described in the context of a multi-purpose, multi-user setting. ForEVAS will analyse vulnerability based on indicators, criteria and decisions on demand and preferred management options that are assessed in a dialogue with user groups. To do this, methods of scenario analyses with simulation models, of multi-criteria analysis, and uncertainty analysis of decision making with regard to the adaptive measures will be applied.
Objective: Healthy housing and good indoor air quality are important goals of public health. However, biological indoor pollution due to dampness, moisture and mold is an emerging environmental health issue, as recognized in EU indoor air policy documents. Prevalence of dampness is remarkable, and may still increase due to demands of energy savings and extreme weather periods and floods associated with climate change. The exposure may lead to long-term impacts such as asthma. The documentation is strong on association between building mold and health, but the causative agents and disease mechanisms are largely unknown, which impedes recognition of a mold-affected patient in health care. Efficient control and regulation are hampered by the insufficient understanding of these causalities. Understanding of the links between building practices and health is lacking. There is an urgent need for European-wide knowledge to form a basis for establishing building-associated criteria for healthy indoor environments. The aim of this proposal is to clarify the health impacts of indoor exposures on children and adults by providing comprehensive exposure data on biological and chemical factors in European indoor environments.
The GENESIS Project has the objective of providing Environment management and Health actors with an innovative solution based on advanced ICT. Relying on interoperability standards and harmonization process, GENESIS helps to constitute complex information networks, by combining benefits of various information systems with a collaborative systems approach. The proposed generic solution allows easy deployment and customization to thematic needs on a wide range of applications, at regional, national or Europe levels for various thematic fields. The main benefits of GENESIS solution are two-fold: -to improve and facilitate actors daily practices in relation with the management of environmental data; -to perform an essential step in the deployment of the Single Information Space for the environment in Europe. The GENESIS solution will be validated through dedicated scenarios addressing thematic fields of Air Quality, Water Quality and their impact on Health. For the final benefits and information of European citizens, the needs of Environment and Health stakeholders are covered through fundamental services like: -environment monitoring, -multi-criteria finding of the information; -visualization and combination of static or near-real-time information; -fusion of various sources of environmental data; -correlation between environmental with health data; -support of decision making processes; -support of the risk management and response to crisis; -near-real-time information of citizens. The GENESIS generic solution is open and sustainable as based on de facto and emerging standards (OGC, OASIS, INSPIRE,...). Moreover, the GENESIS project development integrates current state of the art and innovative researches of major EC or ESA projects. GENERIS project represents an important step in operational environmental management in Europe thus paving the way to an effective wide deployment of the solution as part of the future Single European Information Space for Environment.
The use of risk containment procedures can provide a basis for preventing and limiting the consequences of accidental releases of pathogenic agents, enabling the risks to be dealt with in a coherent way. All over Europe, different strategies for analysing specific risk categories exist. The objective of this co-ordination action is to provide data for the harmonisation of safety assurance (risk containment - risk assessment) criteria, definitions and schemes and corresponding legal frameworks applicable to biosafety level (containment level) 3 and 4 laboratories in the various member states. To achieve this overall aim a pan European network of biosafety and biosecurity experts and a consortium website including an updateable inventory of biosafety and biosecurity relevant elements will be created. The cost-effectiveness of measures and methods designed to ensure the safety of the public and private research infrastructures will be assessed. The information will be compiled in a report. Together with national and international organizations in the field of biosafety and Biosecurity, the consortium will prepare as part of the project 'Exploitation Plan' a program for training and seminars. Conclusions and recommendations which could be used for future policy making as well at the European level as well on the national level will be the outcome of this project.
Also in the Amazon, regulations demand for sustainable management of the forests. The implementation of these regulations, however, depend on effective enforcement mechanisms. But, there has been a lack of simple and manageable tools for assessing the forest management projects. In cooperation with IBAMA, such an instrument has been successfully developed, tested and implemented, on the basis of criteria and indicators for assessing sustainability. Currently the developed tools is used by the Brazilian authorities to assess forest management projects all over the Amazon.
The main goal of the study presented here was to test whether extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) are a key innovation in plant defense strategies. EFNs occur in greater than 90 flowering plant families, typically in Leguminosae (=Fabaceae). Located commonly on vegetative parts, EFNs secrete nectar, attracting ants and forming ecologically important ant-plant mutualisms. These mutualisms may confer a higher fitness to EFN-plants and, thus, an increased potential for survival, dispersal, and adaptation, and ultimately to undergo speciation. Key innovations are one of the most important triggers of radiations and large-scale diversifications in nature. But, unraveling the diversification history of old, species-rich and widespread clades is difficult, because of extinction, undersampling and taxonomic problems. In the context of these challenges, we investigated the timing and mode of lineage diversification in the widespread legume genus Senna to gain insights into the evolutionary role of its EFNs. In Senna, EFNs characterize one large clade (EFN clade), including 80Prozent of its 350 species. Fossil evidence indicates that Senna dates from the Eocene, predating many legume genera. We outlined a novel powerful framework for key innovation hypothesis testing in old, widespread and species-rich clades, like Senna. This consists of the combination of a list of four criteria for morphological novelties to qualify as key innovation, together with an accurate inference of the diversification history of the entire study group (i.e. accurate estimation of divergence times, diversification rates, and clade sizes), and an adequate method for testing shifts in diversification rates. Our molecular dating analyses suggest that Senna originated in the early Eocene (ca. 50 Million years (My) ago), and its major lineages appeared during early/mid Eocene to early Oligocene. EFNs evolved in the late Eocene (ca. 35-40 My ago), after the main radiation of ants. The EFN clade diversified faster, becoming significantly more species-rich than non-EFN clades. The shift in diversification rates associated with EFN evolution supports the hypothesis that EFNs represent a (relatively old) key innovation in Senna. EFNs may have promoted the colonization of new habitats appearing with the early uplift of the Andes. This would explain the distinctive geographic concentration of the EFN clade in South America (144 species). Evolution of the EFNs may have helped the EFN clade to undergo a rapid radiation leading to the outstanding floral diversity observed in extant taxa. The study is the first to provide evidence for the role of a plant-ant protective mutualism in triggering plant diversification.
| Organisation | Count |
|---|---|
| Bund | 59 |
| Europa | 22 |
| Wissenschaft | 24 |
| Zivilgesellschaft | 3 |
| Type | Count |
|---|---|
| Förderprogramm | 59 |
| License | Count |
|---|---|
| Offen | 59 |
| Language | Count |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | 19 |
| Englisch | 57 |
| Resource type | Count |
|---|---|
| Keine | 46 |
| Webseite | 13 |
| Topic | Count |
|---|---|
| Boden | 47 |
| Lebewesen und Lebensräume | 58 |
| Luft | 36 |
| Mensch und Umwelt | 59 |
| Wasser | 42 |
| Weitere | 59 |