Pavel Vlach

Toxic and heavy metals as a cause of crayfish mass mortality from acidified headwater streams

Mining activities are responsible for high concentrations of metals in river networks in many parts of the world. Mining activities and the resulting high loads of heavy metals interact with intensive acid rain, and often have great consequences for biodiversity. However, considering the frequently episodic nature of these heavy acid rains, there is little detailed evidence of direct impacts. In 2011 we observed a massive mortality of noble crayfish and stone crayfish in Padrťsko Special Area of Conservation (SAC) in the Brdy Mountain region of the Czech Republic. Based on concentrations of metals (Al, Fe, As, Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn and Hg) in various tissues (gills, hepatopancreas, muscle) of both dead and live crayfish in this locality compared to reference populations, these crayfish had experienced long-term exposure to increased levels of these metals. Here we give detailed documentation of crayfish mortality associated with high metal concentrations in the gills and other tissues of these endangered invertebrates.

SDI4Apps Points of Interest Knowledge Base

The SDI4Apps project has collected a large number of points of interest (POIs). The Smart Points of Interest (SPOI) represents a seamless and open resource of POIs covering all the world. Its principal target has been to provide information for cycling as Linked data together with other data sets containing road network. But the current version can be used for any purposes related to tourism. The article presents the data model for POIs as a basis for harmonization of external data sources into this data model. The current version of the SPOI data set includes a harmonized combination of selected OpenStreetMap data, GeoNames.org, experimental geo-ontologies developed at the University of West Bohemia and local data. The data model follows the recommendations for RDF data sets, semantic data, and Linked Data as well as the data model published in Points of Interest Core. The SPOI knowledge base complies with the 5-star rating system of Linked Open Data. The data model re-uses several important, respected and standardized formats and vocabularies such as XML, XML Schema, RDF, RDFS, SKOS (Simple Knowledge Organization System), GeoSPARQL or FOAF (Friend of a Friend).