Sustainability Issue #3 October 2009

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How did the research turn out? What were the findings? Researchers themselves report briefly on the research they have undertaken with funding support from the Formas Research Council.

Editor: Margaretha Nordahl

The language of flowers for life and death

Communication among plants and induced resistance – a new mechanism for controlling insect pests
Robert Glinwood (project leader)
Summary of results with list of publications from Ecology, SLU
Email: robert.glinwood@ekol.slu.se

It is not only animals that can communicate with one another. Since plants cannot move from their places of growth, it is of critical importance that they should be able to interpret signals from their surroundings which may result in adaptation to various challenges. Volatile signals from neighbouring plants are such a channel of information. Research has shown that when a plant is attacked by a herbivore it can emit volatile chemical signals which neighbouring plants interpret as warning signals and mobilise their defences.

Similar effects can arise after volatile chemical communication among plants that are not under attack. Secretion of volatiles by the attacked plants can also help in attracting the natural enemies of the herbivores to the attacked plant. Communication among undamaged plants can therefore have a broad ecological impact. In the project, an investigation was made to see how barley seedlings can interact and influence aphids and their natural enemies. The impact on aphid parasitoids by volatile signals from beans attacked by aphids was also studied. In a long term perspective, this knowledge may contribute to the development of better biological control methods and to a better understanding of the importance of volatile chemical signalling in ecological systems.

Sedimentation of organic carbon in lakes – a dominant carbon sink in boreal regions
Lars Tranvik (project leader)
Summary of results with list of publications from Ecology and Evolution, Uppsala University.
Email: lars.tranvik@ebc.uu.se

Up to a few years ago, lakes and inland waters were not considered to have any influence on the global circulation, but now we know that only about one half of the carbon that leaves terrestrial areas ends up in the sea. Large quantities of organic carbon from land areas reach lakes and rivers. Most of this occurs as dissolved organic carbon and gives water a brownish colour. About 75% of the carbon is decomposed and forms carbon dioxide which is emitted to the atmosphere. The remainder is deposited in lake sediment. The fact that dissolved substances flocculate and become so large that they sink under their own weight has not been noted before.

This project presents an alternative route for this carbon  - flocculation of dissolved organic carbon results in reallocation of carbon from the free water mass to the sediment. The role of lake sediment in degrading organic carbon thus increases and influences emission of carbon dioxide from the lakes.

Characterisation of aerosols in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere with CARIBIC as platform
Bengt Martinsson (project leader)
Summary of results with list of publications from Combustion Physics, Lund University.
Email: bengt.martinsson@nuclear.lu.se

Aerosol particles have an important role in the climate system via their direct and indirect effects. In this project, which is a collaboration by over 10 research teams from several European countries, an investigation has been made of aerosols in the upper troposphere and the lowest stratosphere. The collaboration, called CARIBIC, is based on aerial measurements from an intercontinental passenger plane. The measurement programme comprises all the important greenhouse gases, practically all halogenated organic compounds, and the composition and size distribution of aerosols. The multichannel sampler which has been developed has excellent characteristics for the sampling of fine particles, and the analytical methods have low and appropriate detection limits for a challenging measurement situation. The results indicate that very small quantities of particulate matter are lifted to the upper troposphere by tropical convective systems.

Assessment of the environmental hazard of decabromodiphenyl ethane, a new brominated flame retardant
Michael McLachlan (project leader)
Summary of results with list of publications from Stockholm University.
Email: michael.mclachlan@itm.su.se

Decabromodiphenyl ethane (DeBDethane) is a new brominated flame retardant which has been developed to replace other similar products which are being phased out since they are considered to be environmentally harmful. It was found that the previously used decabromodiphenyl ether was able to accumulate in live animals, and this has resulted in their prohibition in the EU from 2008 onwards. The prohibition is expected to result in greater use of DeBDethane, but since this has similar chemical and physical properties it is essential that it is urgently investigated to find whether it behaves in a similar way in the environment.

Long distance dispersion of particulate bound organic pollutants
Ulla Sellström (project leader)
Summary of results with list of publications from Applied Environmental Science, Stockholm University.
Email: ulla.sellstrom@itm.su.se

Global use of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) as flame retardants is on the increase and decabromodiphenyl ethers (DeBDE) are the product that are used most often. In the same way as many other organic environmental pollutants, PBDE is non-biodegradable and persists in the environment for a long time. PBDE with fewer bromine atoms is generally dispersed in the environment and is easily taken up by living organisms. DeBDE, which is a large molecule, is not absorbed quite so easily, but has nevertheless been found in e.g. humans and peregrine falcons. DeBDE can in addition lose bromine atoms when exposed to sunlight and can form lower brominated PBDE which can upset the hormonal balance in mammals and also the development and functions of the nervous system.

Transport via the air is an important route of dispersion for many environmental pollutants which can reach places a long distance from the source areas. This applies primarily to relatively volatile chemicals, but semi-volatile compounds can also bind to particulates in the air and be carried by the winds. How far they are transported depends on the kinds of particles to which they are bound. With new models, an attempt can be made to estimate what will happen to a chemical that is released into the environment. So far it has been assumed that particulate bound organic pollutants such as DeBDE will disappear in the air quite near the source of emission, but our knowledge is insufficient and quite a lot of assumptions must be made. The objective of this project was to investigate whether DeBDE and similar compounds can, with long distance aerial transport, reach Arctic latitudes.

Responsible for this page: Birgitta Bruzelius

Journal links

Sustainability October 2009

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