Wildfires have increased in the last years and, when caused by intentional illegal burnings, are frequently run out of control. Wildfire has been pointed out as an important source of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and trace elements (TEs) — such as, As, Ni, and Pb — to environmental compartments, and thus may pose a risk to human health and to the ecosystem. In 2020, the Brazilian biome, Pantanal, faced the largest losses by wildfires in the last 22 years. Ashes from the topsoil layer in Pantanal were collected after these wildfires at 20 sites divided into the sediment, forest, PF, PS, and degraded sites. Toxicity and associated risks for human health were also evaluated. The areas highly impacted by wildfires and by artisanal gold mining activities showed higher concentrations for TEs and PAHs than the protected areas. Pb varied from 8 ± 4 to 224 ± 81 mg kg
−1
, and total PAH concentration ranged between 880 ± 314 and 1350 ± 70 ng g
−1
, at sites impacted by anthropogenic activities. Moreover, health risk assessments for TE and PAH indicated a potentially great risk for children and adults, via ingestion, inhalation, and dermal pathway. The carcinogenic risks exceeded reference values, for both TE and PAH, suggesting harmful conditions, especially for vulnerable groups, such as children and the elderly.
Graphical abstract
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11869-022-01248-2.
This scientometric study aimed to outline an overview of studies on ecotourism in the Pantanal published between 1990 and 2020. In this sense, studies published in the form of books, book chapters and scientific articles in journals were selected. Data were collected using the Web of Science, Scopus and, Science Direct databases, as well as the Google Scholar tool. We identified 36 published works on the subject. In 2020, seven studies were published, this being the year with the largest number of publications. 84% (n = 30) of the works were published in scientific journals, 8% (n = 3) in the form of book chapters and 8% (n = 3) in the form of books. Altogether, 92 authors wrote on the subject, but only 13 of them published at least two works. The highlights were C.J.R. Alho, with 4 publications, followed by R. Hoogesteijn and F. R. Tortato, with 3 each. Among the journals, Ecological Economics was the only one to present 3 articles. The most discussed topics were Ecotourism, Conservation, Biodiversity and Pantanal. Similarly, in the works’ keyword network, the words Pantanal, Conservation, Biodiversity and Tourism stood out.Finally, it is suggested that research institutions and Brazilian tourism associations should increase their partnerships to strengthen the research process on ecotourism in the Pantanal.
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