Josef Veselý

Bio: Josef Veselý is an academic researcher from University of Maine. The author has contributed to research in topics: Soil water & Preboreal. The author has an hindex of 16, co-authored 19 publications receiving 1179 citations.

Recovery from acidification in European surface waters

Abstract: . Water quality data for 56 long-term monitoring sites in eight European countries are used to assess freshwater responses to reductions in acid deposition at a large spatial scale. In a consistent analysis of trends from 1980 onwards, the majority of surface waters (38 of 56) showed significant (p ≤0.05) decreasing trends in pollution-derived sulphate. Only two sites showed a significant increase. Nitrate, on the other hand, had a much weaker and more varied pattern, with no significant trend at 35 of 56 sites, decreases at some sites in Scandinavia and Central Europe, and increases at some sites in Italy and the UK. The general reduction in surface water acid anion concentrations has led to increases in acid neutralising capacity (significant at 27 of 56 sites) but has also been offset in part by decreases in base cations, particularly calcium (significant at 26 of 56 sites), indicating that much of the improvement in runoff quality to date has been the result of decreasing ionic strength. Increases in acid neutralising capacity have been accompanied by increases in pH and decreases in aluminium, although fewer trends were significant (pH 19 of 56, aluminium 13 of 53). Increases in pH appear to have been limited in some areas by rising concentrations of organic acids. Within a general trend towards recovery, some inter-regional variation is evident, with recovery strongest in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, moderate in Scandinavia and the United Kingdom, and apparently weakest in Germany. Keywords: acidification, recovery, European trends, sulphate, nitrate, acid neutralising capacity

Response of sulphur dynamics in European catchments to decreasing sulphate deposition

Abstract: Following the decline in sulphur deposition in Europe, sulphate dynamics of catchments and the reversibility of anthropogenic acidification of soils and freshwaters became of major interest Long-term trends in sulphate concentrations and fluxes in precipitation/throughfall and freshwaters of 20 European catchments were analysed to evaluate catchment response to decreasing sulphate deposition Sulphate deposition in the catchments studied declined by 38-82% during the last decade Sulphate concentrations in all freshwaters decreased significantly, but acidification reversal was clearly delayed in the German streams In Scandinavian streams and Czech/Slovakian lakes sulphate concentrations responded quickly to decreased input Sulphate fluxes in run-off showed no clear trend in Germany and Italy but decreased in Scandinavia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia The decrease, however, was less than the decline in input fluxes While long-term sulphate output fluxes from catchments were generally correlated to input fluxes, most catchments started a net release of sulphate during the early 1990s Release of stored sulphate leads to a delay of acidification reversal and can be caused by four major processes Desorption and excess mineralisation were regarded as the most important for the catchments investigated, while oxidation and weathering were of lesser importance for the long-term release of sulphate Input from weathering has to be considered for the Italian catchments Sulphate fluxes in German catchments, with deeply weathered soils and high soil storage capacity, responded more slowly to decreased deposition than catchments in Scandinavia and the Czech Republic/Slovakia, which have thin soils and relatively small sulphate storage For predictions of acidification reversal, soil characteristics, sulphur pools and their dynamics have to be evaluated in future research Keywords: acidification reversal, sulphur, sulphate release, Europe, catchments, deposition, lake, stream

Sulphur and nitrogen fluxes and budgets in the Bohemian Forest and Tatra Mountains during the Industrial Revolution (1850-2000)

Abstract: . Major fluxes of sulphur and dissolved inorganic nitrogen were estimated in Central European mountain ecosystems of the Bohemian Forest (forest lakes) and Tatra Mountains (alpine lakes) over the industrial period. Sulphur outputs from these ecosystems were comparable to inputs during a period of relatively stable atmospheric deposition (10-35 mmol m-2 yr-1) around the 1930s. Atmospheric inputs of sulphur increased by three- to four-fold between the 1950s and 1980s to ~140 and ~60 mmol mm-2 yr-1 in the Bohemian Forest and Tatra Mountains, respectively. Sulphur outputs were lower than inputs due to accumulation in soils, which was higher in forest soils than in the sparser alpine soils and represented 0.8-1.6 and 0.2-0.3 mol m-2, respectively, for the whole 1930-2000 period. In the 1990s, atmospheric inputs of sulphur decreased 80% and 50% in the Bohemian Forest and Tatra Mountains, respectively, and sulphur outputs exceeded inputs. Catchment soils became pronounced sources of sulphur with output fluxes averaging between 15 and 31 mmol m-2 yr-1. Higher sulphur accumulation in the forest soils has delayed (by several decades) recovery of forest lakes from acidification compared to alpine lakes. Estimated deposition of dissolved inorganic nitrogen was 53-75 mmol m-2 yr-1 in the Bohemian Forest and 35-45 mmol m-2 yr-1 in the Tatra Mountains in the 1880- 1950 period, i.e. below the empirically derived threshold of ~70 mmol m-2 yr-1, above which nitrogen leaching often occurs. Dissolved inorganic nitrogen was efficiently retained in the ecosystems and nitrate export was negligible (0-7 mmol m-2 yr-1). By the 1980s, nitrogen deposition increased to ~160 and ~80 mmol m-2 yr-1 in the Bohemian Forest and Tatra Mountains, respectively, and nitrogen output increased to 120 and 60 mmol m-2 yr-1. Moreover, assimilation of nitrogen in soils declined from ~40 to 10-20 mmol m-2 yr-1 in the alpine soils and even more in the Bohemian Forest, where one of the catchments has even become a net source of nitrogen. In the 1990s, nitrogen deposition decreased by ~30% and DIN output decreased to Keywords: emission, deposition, acidification, nitrogen-saturation, recovery, sulphate, nitrate, ammonium, mountain lakes

Modelling reversibility of Central European mountain lakes from acidification: Part I - the Bohemian forest

Abstract: . A dynamic, process-based acidification model, MAGIC7, has been applied to three small, strongly acidified lakes in the Bohemian Forest, the Czech Republic. The model was calibrated for a set of experimental records on lake water composition over the 1984–2000 period, and produced hindcast concentrations that compared well, even with older (40-year) irregular determinations of nitrate, chloride and pH. Water and soil chemistry forecasts up to 2050 were based on reductions in S and N emissions presupposed by the Gothenburg Protocol. Modelled sulphate and chloride concentrations were predicted to decrease to the levels at the beginning of the 20th century by 2050. The lake water carbonate buffering system is predicted to be re-established in only two lakes (Cerne and Plesne), with current soil base saturations of 12-15%. Concentrations of ionic aluminium species decreased sharply, from 110 μeq l-1 in the mid-1980s to the current ~40 μeq l-1, and were predicted to decrease below 10 μeq l-1 in the 2020s. Diatom-inferred pH in pre-industrial times was substantially lower than modelled pH. It is suggested that the diatom pH, based almost entirely on non-planktonic species, is biased by inwash of diatoms from more acidic tributaries into the sediment of these small lakes. Generally significant results can be summarised as follows: (1) Simulated sulphate levels agree well with observations during acidification progress and retreat only for values of soil SO42- adsorption capacity three to six times (20 to 40 μeq kg-1) higher than those found experimentally. This implies a further mechanism of S retention and release in addition to physical sulphate adsorption to Fe and Al oxides of soils. (2) The catchments’ ability to retain deposited N appeared to decline after ~1950 but this was not connected with a sufficient change in the C:N ratio of the soils. Agreement between modelled and observed concentrations of nitrate was therefore achieved by empirical restriction of N retention in the soils. Based on their current ability to retain N, the catchments will remain N-saturated and could, temporarily, produce more inorganic N than they receive due to additional nitrate production from soil N-organic pools. This situation has occurred already in the Cerne Lake catchment. (3) Differences in responses of individual lakes can be attributed to different land usages over the past several centuries as well as to differences in geology and primary production. Keywords: MAGIC, atmospheric deposition, N retention, diatom-inferred pH, sulphate, nitrate, base cations, aluminium, Czech Republic

Climate change and water.

Abstract: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Technical Paper Climate Change and Water draws together and evaluates the information in IPCC Assessment and Special Reports concerning the impacts of climate change on hydrological processes and regimes, and on freshwater resources – their availability, quality, use and management. It takes into account current and projected regional key vulnerabilities, prospects for adaptation, and the relationships between climate change mitigation and water. Its objectives are:

Assessment of observed changes and responses in natural and managed systems

Abstract: Contributing Authors: Tarekegn Abeku (Ethiopia), Isabelle Cote (Canada), Mark Dyurgerov (USA), Martin Edwards (UK), Kristie L. Ebi (USA), Nicole Estrella (Germany), Donald L. Forbes (Canada), Bernard Francou (France), Andrew Githeko (Kenya), Vivien Gornitz (USA), Wilfried Haeberli (Switzerland), John Hay (New Zealand), Anne Henshaw (USA), Terrence Hughes (Australia), Ana Iglesias (Spain), Georg Kaser (Austria), R. Sari Kovats (UK), Joseph Lam (China), Diana Liverman (UK), Dena P. MacMynowski (USA), Patricia Morellato (Brazil), Jeff T. Price (USA), Robert Muir-Wood (UK), Peter Neofotis (USA), Catherine O’Reilly (USA), Xavier Rodo (Spain), Tim Sparks (UK), Thomas Spencer (UK), David Viner (UK), Marta Vicarelli (Italy), Ellen Wiegandt (Switzerland), Qigang Wu (China), Ma Zhuguo (China)

Global Synthesis and Critical Evaluation of Pharmaceutical Data Sets Collected from River Systems

Abstract: Pharmaceuticals have emerged as a major group of environmental contaminants over the past decade but relatively little is known about their occurrence in freshwaters compared to other pollutants. We present a global-scale analysis of the presence of 203 pharmaceuticals across 41 countries and show that contamination is extensive due to widespread consumption and subsequent disposal to rivers. There are clear regional biases in current understanding with little work outside North America, Europe, and China, and no work within Africa. Within individual countries, research is biased around a small number of populated provinces/states and the majority of research effort has focused upon just 14 compounds. Most research has adopted sampling techniques that are unlikely to provide reliable and representative data. This analysis highlights locations where concentrations of antibiotics, cardiovascular drugs, painkillers, contrast media, and antiepileptic drugs have been recorded well above thresholds known to cause toxic effects in aquatic biota. Studies of pharmaceutical occurrence and effects need to be seen as a global research priority due to increasing consumption, particularly among societies with aging populations. Researchers in all fields of environmental management need to work together more effectively to identify high risk compounds, improve the reliability and coverage of future monitoring studies, and develop new mitigation measures.