Progressive industrialisation and urbanisation in recent decades have dramatically affected the soil cover and led to significant changes in its properties, which inevitably affect the functioning of ...other components of the forest ecosystems. The total content of Pb, Cd, Zn, Fe, Cr, Cu, Ni, As, and Hg was studied in twenty-five plots at different heights in the topsoil (organic and humus horizons) formed from the Carpathian flysch in the area of the Silesian Beskids (Western Carpathians). The aim of this article is to analyse the spatial distribution of potentially toxic elements in the mountain forest topsoil in different types of plant communities and to determine the relationship between altitude and potentially toxic elements contamination. The soils studied are acidic or very acidic, with an average range of 3.8 (H
O) and 2.9 (KCl). Concentrations of the metals Cd, Zn, Fe, Cr, Cu, Ni, and Hg on the plots that were analysed are within the range of permissible standards for forest ecosystems in Poland, while Pb and As exceed the permissible standards for this type of ecosystem. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient showed a high correlation between Fe-Cr (r(32) = 0.879, Pb-Hg r(32) = 0.772, Ni-Cr r(32) = 0.738, Zn-Cd r(32) = 0.734, and Cu-Hg r(32) = 0.743, and a moderate statistically significant positive correlation between Cu-Pb r(32) = 0.667 and As-Pb r(32) = 0.557. No correlation was found between altitude and the occurrence of potentially toxic elements. The geo-accumulation index (Igeo) index, on the other hand, indicates that Pb, As, and Cd have the highest impact on soil contamination in all study plots: it classifies soils from moderately to strongly polluted. The enrichment factor (EF) obtained for As and Hg indicates significant-to-very high enrichment in all areas studied. The potential ecological risk index (PLI) calculated for the sites indicates the existence of pollution in all areas examined. The highest risk categories (considerable to very high) are associated with cadmium and mercury.
Although population ageing is progressing, seniors migrate with increasing frequency. This paper explores the question why Polish pensioners decide to migrate, as existing research has not provided ...satisfactory explanations. Reasons for migrations were determined on the basis of pensioners' answers to a questionnaire survey. The results show that migration decisions are taken for a number of reasons, which depend, inter alia, on the respondents' education level, age, and sex. For women as well as for men, the economic aspect plays a crucial role (e.g., building or buying a new house). Ward's method was employed to distinguish five main migration types according to the main motivating factor; that is, family and finance, family, environmental, economic, and health. An analysis of internal as well as external migrations of Polish seniors shows that they differ considerably from migrations of seniors in other countries. Due to their unsatisfactory finances as well as deficits in knowledge of foreign languages, Polish pensioners, unlike their peers in other countries, rarely decide to settle down abroad. The Polish model of multigenerational family in which seniors assist their children in raising their grandchildren also contributes to lower emigration.
A demographic view of the ageing process of a population provides an assessmentof the degree of development of this phenomenon and its dynamics at a given time in a given area, such as an ...administrative unit, a country or other territory. In this study, the main research aim was to assess the demographic situation of rural areas in Eastern Poland in the context of an ageing population. Changes in both the number of people and the demographic structure of the population living in the region were analysed. The time period of the research covered the years 2008-2020. Statistical data used in the study were derived from the Local Data Bank of Statistics Poland. The assessment of the regional specificity of the processes of demographic changes in rural areas was based on the study of the relationships in the analyzed parameters, with the use of statistical measures defining the range of variability of the examined characteristics. In order to achieve the main aim of the study, a typology of the areas with a disturbed age structure was developed. Four groups of rural areas have been identified (labelled from A to D) which are characterised by varying degrees of advancement of the examined problem in 2020.
Abstract
The article presents an analysis of directions of internal and international migrations undertaken by Polish pensioners. A typology of migration directions is proposed. We use the method of ...a table of signs to define five major types of pensioner migrations. We show the variability of these types over time, from the Type J (moderately mobile, consistent) in the 1990s to the Type H (moderately mobile, mixed) at present. A detailed analysis reveals a major difference between international and internal migrations: The former are mainly due to economic reasons and the latter to reasons related to housing. The obtained results allow us to conclude that pensioner migrations constitute an important factor in the social and economic development of local communities, especially in the day and age of society ageing and lengthening life expectancy.
Decisions to build or remove dams and other large engineered hydraulic infrastructures are always entangled in social and environmental impacts, which are often evaluated formally through ...bureaucratic processes. In Europe dam removals are relatively infrequent, even though extensive hydraulic infrastructure has degraded biodiversity and water quality. The Wilkówka dam in southern Poland was required to be removed rapidly, primarily due to engineering failures during its construction. Using survey methods, we examine the local community's perceptions of the net environmental and social impacts of the Wilkówka dam removal. In surveying the opinions of households, 62% of respondents expressed that decisions about the removal were taken without sufficient community consultation, and 92% felt that the dam had been removed despite their opposition. Although the dam had been built recently and had failed to operate at design capacity, respondents reported strong attachments to the services they perceived it to provide, including water supply, flood regulation and cultural significance. In spite of the possibility of an environmental disaster and long‐term environmental degradation, most surveyed households would have preferred it to have been renovated or reconstructed. In short, the removal of the Wilkówka dam was perceived by local households but also by local officials as bringing about a net loss in socially relevant ecosystem services, despite the urgent need for removal perceived by regional and national authorities. The local community's rapid attachment to the dam despite its potential negative impacts on biodiversity and the local environment were primarily attributable to the high expectations as to the hydrological services that the dam was to provide (water supply, flood regulation and its larger symbolic value as an infrastructural investment in the community). This work provides an empirical demonstration of the importance of understanding the social, ecological and technological context within decision‐making processes regarding dam removals, and its implications may improve the planning and implementation of future dam removal projects.
Reducing bias in risk indices for COVID-19 Michalak, Michał Paweł; Cordes, Jack; Kulawik, Agnieszka ...
Geospatial health,
01/2022, Letnik:
17, Številka:
s1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Spatiotemporal modelling of infectious diseases such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) involves using a variety of epidemiological metrics such as regional proportion of cases and/or regional ...positivity rates. Although observing changes of these indices over time is critical to estimate the regional disease burden, the dynamical properties of these measures, as well as crossrelationships, are usually not systematically given or explained. Here we provide a spatiotemporal framework composed of six commonly used and newly constructed epidemiological metrics and conduct a case study evaluation. We introduce a refined risk estimate that is biased neither by variation in population size nor by the spatial heterogeneity of testing. In particular, the proposed methodology would be useful for unbiased identification of time periods with elevated COVID-19 risk without sensitivity to spatial heterogeneity of neither population nor testing coverage.We offer a case study in Poland that shows improvement over the bias of currently used methods. Our results also provide insights regarding regional prioritisation of testing and the consequences of potential synchronisation of epidemics between regions. The approach should apply to other infectious diseases and other geographical areas.
Brownfields are remnants of the functional and spatial transformations of urban areas in Poland. They are particularly abundant in old industrial districts, based on coal mining and metallurgy. The ...aim of this study is to identify the transformation directions and functional changes of brownfields in the former Upper Silesian Industrial Region in southern Poland, which has evolved into the Górnośląsko-Zagłębiowska Metropolis (GZM) through the process of socio-economic transformation. The study makes use of the χ2 test of independence and Cramer’s V as a post-test, and the method of in-depth interviews. The results indicate that the most popular new functions of post-industrial sites are production and services. When we consider large brownfields such as, in particular, disused mine dumps, dumping sites, settling ponds and workings, the most popular new form of land use is green spaces. Moreover, the study shows that the size of brownfields impacts their new forms of land use.
This paper aimed to present a model of natural environment management in national parks in Poland in the context of increased tourist traffic. The research area comprised Polish national parks as ...they are characterized by barely altered nature, little human impact, and undisturbed natural phenomena. The methods involved the observational method, literature analysis and criticism, and the in-depth interview method employed in November 2019. The respondents included national park management staff. The questions were prepared in accordance with the Berlin Declaration principles of sustainable tourism development and were extended with the authors’ own items. The questionnaire contained 17 questions, grouped in four parts: science and documentation; tourism; cooperation and education; environmental threats. The results indicate that in order for actions to prove efficient in a park, a conservation plan should be carefully developed. Its correctness requires monitoring the state of the environment, tourist traffic size and trends, and tourists’ impact on the environment. An important condition for effective tourism management in parks is to increase the competences of the administering bodies and knowledge regarding individuals’ responsibilities. Boards should be able to evaluate and modify conservation plans, spatial development plans, municipality development strategies, and projects for investments within the parks.
PDF
