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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Seagrass Soil Archives Reveal Centennial-Scale Metal Smelter Contamination While Acting As Natural Filters, Anna Lafratta, O Serrano, Pere Masque, Miguel Mateo, Milena Fernandes, Sam Gaylard, Paul Lavery
Seagrass Soil Archives Reveal Centennial-Scale Metal Smelter Contamination While Acting As Natural Filters, Anna Lafratta, O Serrano, Pere Masque, Miguel Mateo, Milena Fernandes, Sam Gaylard, Paul Lavery
Research outputs 2014 to 2021
The upper Spencer Gulf in South Australia hosts the world's largest single stream Pb-Zn smelter, which has caused environmental and health issues related to elevated metal concentrations in the surrounding environment. The area also has extensive seagrass meadows, occupying >4000 km2. We reconstructed the fluxes of heavy metals over the last ~3000 years through a multi-parameter study of the soil archives formed by the seagrass Posidonia australis. Pb, Zn and Cd concentrations increased up to 9-fold following the onset of smelter operations in the 1880s, and the stable Pb isotopic signatures confirmed the smelter has been the main …
Biodiversity Offsets In Eia: Getting The Timing Right, Marlene De Witt, Jenny Pope, Francois Retief, Alan Bond, Angus Morrison-Saunders, Carli Steenkamp
Biodiversity Offsets In Eia: Getting The Timing Right, Marlene De Witt, Jenny Pope, Francois Retief, Alan Bond, Angus Morrison-Saunders, Carli Steenkamp
Research outputs 2014 to 2021
Major developments can result in significant impacts on biodiversity, which the mandated process of environmental impact assessment (EIA) aims to mitigate. There has been a recent move towards the application of biodiversity offsets as a last-resort, compensatory measure when options at the earlier stages in the mitigation hierarchy of avoidance, minimisation and restoration have been exhausted. Guidance on biodiversity offset planning available in different jurisdictions, however, demonstrates a lack of consensus about when biodiversity offsets should be formally introduced into the EIA process, and previous research has highlighted the perceived risks associated with commencing detailed offset planning too early as …