土地资源的可持续利用——国际经验与中国的借鉴

当前世界各国都面临着土地资源不可持续利用的严峻考验。从土地污染的角度，讨论了土地资源的可持续问题。工业“三废”的排放、城市化进程和土地污染防治法律的滞后是引起土地资源不可持续利用的重要原因。为了防治土地污染，促进土地资源的可持续利用，许多国家都已经建立了相对完善的保护体系。着重介绍了美国、日本、德国等发达国家在治理和防治土壤污染方面的经验，并在此基础上对目前我国土地资源的可持续利用提出了建议。     

宜兴市土地资源的可持续利用

土地资源是人类赖以生存的基本物质基础和十分宝贵的资源，寻求土地资源的可持续发展已成为当今世界土地科学研究的一个重要课题。宜兴市地处长江三角洲经济区，快速的经济发展已对有限的土地资源产生了较大的影响。文章通过对宜兴市土地资源进行可持续利用的初步研究，分析了土地资源的基本特征和可持续利用中存在的制约因素，提出了可持续利用土地资源的对策。     

湛江市耕地资源现状与可持续利用对策

耕地是重要的生产资料,保护和合理利用耕地是农业可持续发展的必要条件.从分析湛江市耕地利用现状和存在问题入手,提出了湛江市耕地资源可持续利用对策.     

论土地资源与区域可持续发展——以广东省徐闻县为例

阐述了可持续发展的涵义及其与土地资源的关系，系统总结了广东省徐闻县土地资源的现状和特点，对其土地资源进行了综合评价，分析了土地资源在可持续利用中面临的主要问题，提出了该县实现土地资源可持续利用的对策和措施。     

工业化、城市化与土地资源可持续利用之间的关系——以长江三角洲地区为例的实证研究

20世纪80年代以来，随着长江三角洲地区工业化和城市化进程的加速，土地资源消耗加快、土地污染日趋严重，对长江三角洲地区土地资源的可持续利用造成了严重威胁。从土地数量和土地质量两个方面实证了工业化和城市化对长江三角洲地区土地资源可持续利用造成的重要影响。     

大城市郊区耕地保护与可持续利用探讨--以成都市郫县为例

以成都市郫县为例，运用资源持续利用原理，分析了大城市郊区耕地资源保护和可持续利用过程中的各种制约因素，并从区域经济和社会可持续发展的角度提出了加强土地法制管理和农田环境保护、科学实施土地利用总体规划、合理开发利用土地资源等耕地可持续利用的基本途径与对策。     

对我区土地资源可持续利用的一点思考

通过对土地资源可持续利用意义的分析，结合我区土地资源利用的现状，阐述我区土地资源利用面临的各种问题及解决的方法，提出一些急需解决的理论问题及实际工作中面临的难题；同时也提出了一些解决问题的对策和土地可持续利用的思路。     

吉林省土地资源的障碍因素及防治对策

介绍了吉林省土地资源特征和利用现状 ,详细分析了土地资源可持续利用的障碍因素 ,提出了具有可操作性的可持续利用对策。     

垫江土地资源可持续利用研究

通过对垫江县目前土地资源利用特点，存在问题及其原因的详细分析，结合垫法实际，提出了垫江县土地资源可持续利用分区的设想，针对各区不同的土地利用特点，提出了土地持续利用方向及主要措施。     

城市土地可持续利用评价研究——以南京市为例

城市土地利用系统是一个典型的“生态-经济-社会”复合系统，对其可持续利用水平进行综合评价涉及到的指标多而复杂。从影响城市土地可持续利用的资源、社会、环境和经济等方面综合考虑，选取了耕地面积、粮食产量和年末总人口等15个相关指标，运用主成分分析方法，对南京市1995-2002年的土地利用状况进行综合评价。结果表明，用主成分分析方法对城市土地可持续利用水平进行综合评价，其评价结果与南京市的实际相符，具有一定的实用性和可操作性。     

BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS AND BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF ESTUARINE/COASTAL POLLUTION1

ABSTRACT: Sustained interest in and concern about the health status of the aquatic environment has resulted in extensive research focused on (1) effects of pollution on survival, growth, and reproduction of resource species at all life stages; (2) diseases of fish and shellfish, as they may be related to pollution and as they may serve as indicators of environmental stress; and (3) contaminant body burdens in fish and shellfish - their effects on the aquatic animals and their potential effects on humans. Effects, lethal and sublethal, of pollutants on life history stages of fish and shellfish have been documented, as have impacts on local stocks in badly degraded habitats, but as yet there has been no adequate quantitative demonstration of effects on entire aquatic species - probably because of the difficulty in sorting out relative effects of the many environmental factors that influence abundance. Sublethal effects, especially those that result in disease, have been examined intensively, and some diseases and disease syndromes have been associated statistically with pollution. Other pollution indicators (biochemical, physiological, genetic, behavioral, and ecological) have also received some attention, as have body burdens of contaminants in aquatic species. Research, especially that conducted during the past decade, has done much to clarify the many pathways and toxic effects of contaminants on aquatic animals, and has also helped to identify mechanisms for survival of fish and shellfish in the presence of environmental changes caused by human activities.     

Definition Procedures Have Little Effect on Performance of Environmental Classifications of Streams and Rivers

Mapped environmental classifications are defined using various procedures, but there has been little evaluation of the differences in their ability to discriminate variation in independent ecological characteristics. We tested the performance of environmental classifications of the streams and rivers of France that had been defined from the same environmental data using geographic regionalization and numerical classification of individual river valley segments. Test data comprised invertebrate assemblages, water chemistry, and hydrological indexes obtained from sites throughout France. Classification performance was measured by analysis of similarity (ANOSIM). Geometric regions defined by a regular grid and without regard to environmental variables and a posteriori classifications based on clustering the test datasets defined lower and upper bounds of performance for a given number of classes. Differences in classification performances were generally small. The ANOSIM statistics for the a posteriori classifications were around twice that of all environmental classifications, including geometrically defined regions. The hydro-ecoregions performed slightly better for the invertebrate data and the network classification performed slightly better for the chemistry and hydrological data. Our results indicate that environmental classifications that are defined using different procedures can be comparable in terms of their ability to discriminate variation of ecological characteristics and that alleged differences in performance arising from different classification procedures can be small relative to unexplained variation. We conclude that definition procedures might have little effect on the performance of large-scale environmental classifications and decisions over which procedures to use should be based primarily on pragmatic considerations.     

Journalists' views of advertiser pressures on agricultural news

All major journalism ethical codes explicitly state that journalists should protect editorial copy from undue influence by outside sources. However, much of the previous research on agricultural information has concentrated on what information various media communicate (gatekeeping studies) or communication's role in increasing innovation adoption (diffusion studies). Few studies have concentrated specifically on organizational and structural constraints that might adversely affect agricultural journalists' ethical standards; those that have, focus largely on farm magazines. A study of newspaper reporters who cover agricultural news found that the most pressing ethical concern is the effect of advertiser (agri-business) pressure on editorial copy, and that their concerns in general parallel those of farm magazine writers and editors. The majority reported being in situations in which they might be exposed to advertiser pressure, including pressures to change or withhold editorial copy. Large minorities suggested that advertising pressures affect the overall environment in which agricultural journalists work, and more than one in ten said they allow advertiser pressures to influence editorial decisions. The newspaper reporters who cover agricultural beats showed slightly more resistance to advertiser pressure than did farm magazine editors in a parallel study.     

Effect of Light on Biodegradation of Estrone, 17β‐Estradiol,and 17α‐Ethinylestradiol in Stream Sediment

Biodegradation of [A‐ring ¹⁴C] Estrone (E1), 17β‐estradiol (E2), and 17α‐ethinylestradiol (EE2) to ¹⁴CO₂ was investigated under light and dark conditions in microcosms containing epilithon or sediment collected from Boulder Creek, Colorado. Mineralization of the estrogen A‐ring was observed in all sediment treatments, but not epilithon treatments. No difference in net mineralization between light and dark treatments was observed for ¹⁴C‐E2. Net mineralization of ¹⁴C‐E1 and ¹⁴C‐EE2 was enhanced in light treatments. Extents of ¹⁴CO₂ accumulation and rates of mineralization were significantly greater for E2 than E1 under dark conditions, but were comparable under light conditions. These results indicate substantial differences in the uptake and metabolism of E1 and E2 in the environment and suggest biorecalcitrance of E1 relative to E2 in light‐limited environments. The extent of ¹⁴CO₂ accumulation and rate of mineralization for EE2 in dark treatments were less than half of that observed for E2 and generally lower than for E1, consistent with previous reports of EE2 biorecalcitrance. However, ¹⁴CO₂ accumulation and rates of mineralization were comparable for EE2, E2, and E1 under light conditions. These results indicate photoactivation and/or phototransformation/photodegradation processes can substantially enhance heterotrophic biodegradation of estrogens in sunlit environments and may play an important role in estrogen transport and attenuation.     

Bioremediation of Soils by Plant–Microbe Systems

Abstract

Sustainable ecosystems can be designed to eliminate environmental toxins and reduce pathogen loads through the direct and indirect consequences of plant and microbial activities. We present an approach to the bioremediation of disturbed environments, focusing on petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) contaminants. Treatment consists of incorporating a plant-based amendment to enhance ecosystem productivity and physiochemical degradation followed by the establishment of plants to serve as oxidizers and foundations for microbial communities. Promising amendments for widespread use are entire plants of the water fern Azolla and seed meal of Brassica napus (rapeseed). An inexpensive byproduct from the manufacture of biodiesel and lubricants, rapeseed meal is high in nitrogen (6% wt/wt), stimulates >100-fold increases in populations of resident Streptomyces species, and suppresses fungal infection of roots subsequently cultivated in the amended soil. Synergistic enzymatic and chemical activities of plant and microbial metabolism in root zones transform and degrade soil contaminants. Emphasis is given to mechanisms that enable PHC functionalization via reactive molecular species.     

Energetics and environmental costs of agriculture in a dry tropical region of India

The present article, based on a study of five village ecosystems, assesses the energy efficiency of rain-fed agriculture in a dry tropical environment and the impact of agricultural activity on the surrounding natural ecosystems. Agronomic yield is insufficient to meet the food requirement of the human population, hence 11.5%–49.7% of the required amount of food grains are imported from the market. Energy requirements of five studied agroecosystems are subsidized considerably by the surrounding forest in the form of fodder and firewood. Natural ecosystems supply about 80%–95% of fodder needs and 81%–100% of fuelwood needs. The output-input ratio of agriculture indicated that, on average, 4.1 units of energy are expended to obtain one unit of agronomic energy. Of this, 3.9 units are supplied by the natural ecosystem. In addition, 38% of the extracted firewood is marketed. The illegal felling and lopping of trees result in ever-increasing concentric circles of forest destruction around the villages and together with excessive grazing results in savannization. The forests can be conserved by encouraging fuelwood plantations (0.7 ha/ha cultivated land) and developing village pastures (1.6 ha/ha cultivated land) and reducing the livestock numbers. Agricultural production in the region can be stabilized by introducing improved dry farming techniques such as intercropping, planned rainwater management, and adequate use of fertilizers.     

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY “METROPOLITAN WATER MANAGEMENT INSTITUTIONS?”1

ABSTRACT The term “institution” and several variants are used frequently in the literature on metropolitan water management. The state-of-the art investigation on which this paper is based revealed that 1) many uses of the term do not include careful definitions; 2) many users of the term seemed unaware of the general, theoretical literature on the subject of institutions; 3) there was little consistency among uses, either in the practical literature dealing with water or in the conceptual literature dealing with theories of institutions or institutionalization; 4) some usages were without significant meaning; 5) in many cases the term was used as a kind of “black box” to account for behavioral, societal, or managerial factors; 6) the term was often used as a synonym for “organization”. This latter use is frequently found in federal reports, including National Water Commission studies, and is most unfortunate because it tends to slight significant social-psychological factors. A suggested definition is: “An institution is the structured result or outcome of a process by which values are articulated, arranged, and communicated, having continuity over time, and influencing behavior of persons who did not necessarily participate in formulating those values (norms).”     

Provincial development plans in Zimbabwe: an analysis of their content,structure and methodology

Zimbabwean provincial plans were instituted to help in the achievement of the national goal of the creation of an egalitarian, socialist and integrated society. The national goal itself was adopted as an antithesis to the dualist society characterised by spatial, economic, social, politican and technological inequalities that Zimbabwe inherited from colonialism. This meant that provincial plans had to play both a functional (or growth allocating/distribution) and a territorial (or redistribution) role.

This paper reviews their role in achieving the national goal by examining their functions, content, structure and methodology. The paper concludes that because of their nature, provincial plans are not suitable tools for the achievement of the national goal.     

Waste minimisation in practice

One of the major hindrances to waste minimisation on a construction site is the difficulty in establishing a methodology and using this methodology to benchmark future construction projects. This paper introduces SMARTWaste, a software tool that has been used to audit, reduce and target waste arisings on a construction site. This tool tries to link the construction process and the waste hierarchy. That is reducing waste on a construction site rather than landfilling it. Three applications of the SMARTWaste software will be discussed using case studies from three different types of construction. An evaluation of these case studies shows that, by implementing a waste minimisation scheme on-site, you can improve material recovery for reuse. Also, by using the waste arisings as a benchmark you can reduce your waste arisings on future sites. Application of SMARTWaste or a similar waste minimisation tool on a wider basis could reduce waste arisings and could result in a built environment that consumed less natural resources and energy, and also produced less pollution and waste. Such a built environment would be environmentally and socially more responsive and responsible.     

COMPARISON OF TRACE ELEMENT CONCENTRATIONS IN TISSUE OF COMMON CARP AND IMPLICATIONS FOR MONITORING1

Common carp (Cyprinus carpio) collected from four sites in the Red River of the North in 1994 were analyzed for arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), selenium (So), and zinc (Zn). Concentrations differed among liver, muscle, and whole body. Generally, trace element concentrations were the greatest in livers while concentrations in whole bodies were greater than those in muscle for Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn, and concentrations in muscle were similar to whole body for As and Se. Concentrations of Cr were lower in liver than either muscle or whole body. Correlations between liver and whole body concentrations were stronger than those between liver and muscle concentrations, but the strongest correlations were between muscle and whole body concentrations. Examination of tissue concentrations by collection sites suggested that, for a general survey, the whole body may be the most effective matrix to analyze.