石油污染土壤的生物修复技术研究及其前景

根据污染土壤的生物修复技术具有高效、无二次污染和操作管理简便的优点，本文介绍谊类技术在石油污染治理领域的应用。在概述石油的组成成分及其对环境造成的污染的基础上，重点论述了微生物和植物修复技术有效去除有机污染物的应用条件，并就目前两种技术的最新研究成果即基因技术的应用作了介绍，同时指出了石油污染土壤生物修复技术的发展趋势和应用前景。     

污染治理中的微波诱导催化技术

归纳了微波诱导催化技术在大气羡染控制、水污染控制、固体废弃物处理与处置等污染治理中的应用状况及应用实例，阐述了微波诱导催化技术的基本原理，提出了微波诱导催化技术在实践应用环节中存在的问题及解决措施，展望了微波诱导催化技术在污染治理领域中的应用前景。     

微波技术在污染控制领域的应用

对微波辐射技术在污染物治理领域的应用和研究状况进行了综述，介绍了微波加热的原理，以及微波技术在吸附剂再生、去除挥发性有机物与土壤净化、加速油水分离与污油回收、诱导催化技术应用于污染治理等方面的应用，并对微波技术在环保领域的应用前景进行了展望。     

重金属污染土壤的螯合诱导植物修复技术研究进展

土壤重金属污染来源广泛、危害严重、治理困难，已经成为环境污染中的难点、热点问题。重金属污染土壤的螯合诱导植物修复技术有着绿色环保、经济高效等优点，在污染土壤修复领域具有很大的发展空间。本文综述了螯合诱导修复技术的原理，从螯合剂的选用、超富集植物的筛选、土壤pH值的调节以及田间措施的实施4个方面介绍了螯合诱导修复技术的限制因素，最后对存在问题进行了探讨，并以螯合诱导修复技术理论研究和实践应用2个方面为着力点，详细叙述了此项技术的发展方向和应用前景。     

恶臭气体的治理技术及其进展

本文对近十年来国内外在治理恶臭气体方面的研究、应用治理技术及正在发展中的新技术作了较为全面的介绍，主要方法有物理法、化学法和生物法，如掩蔽法、稀释扩散法、燃烧法、化学氧化法、光催化氧化法、吸收法、吸附法、生物法和其它新的方法。预测了新技术发展趋势和应用前景。     

重金属超积累植物的研究进展

植物修复技术是治理土壤重金属污染的重要手段之一。在倡导绿色技术的今天，人们更看到了它的巨大潜力，而超积累植物则是该技术的关键。文章就超积累植物的概念、特征，修复机制，产后处置技术和开发现状作了详尽的叙述，并对今后超积累植物研究存在的问题和发展方向作了有益的探讨。     

防治油气集输过程中烃类污染的主要途径

烃类是油气田主要的大气污染物,主要来源于油气集输过程中的烃类损耗。降低烃类损耗,回收挥发气体,是减少大气污染的重要途径。孤东油田应用大罐抽气、原油稳定、轻烃回收等工艺对烃类进行回收治理,文章介绍了使用的工艺系统,分析了治理技术的经济效益,得出结论：采用大罐抽气、原油稳定和轻烃回收技术防治油气田烃类污染是可行的,技术成熟,工艺较简单,投资少,见效快,效益明显。在油气田全面推广应用,可以大大降低油气田的烃类污染负荷     

甲醛污染治理技术研究进展

论述了甲醛的来源、危害及污染现状;结合国内外关于甲醛治理技术的研究成果,分析了各类方法的技术原理和特点。通过对不同技术应用范围和技术优势的比较,认为低温催化氧化技术更适用于室内甲醛污染治理工作,并提出了研究展望,指出在保证催化活性基础上应加强降低制备成本和减少副产物产生的研究。     

我国农业面源污染治理技术研究进展

农业面源污染逐渐成为制约我国现代农业和经济社会可持续发展的重大障碍,其治理工作在我国生态环境保护与治理工作中的重要性日益加强。本文概述了农业面源污染的基本概念、特征与成因,根据农业面源污染的"产-流-汇"3个发生发展阶段,总结了现阶段农业面源氮磷污染的治理理论与技术,并根据各阶段治理技术的优缺点提出我国未来农业面源污染治理过程中应该加强污染产生机制和迁移转化过程的研究,同时,通过少量的人工干预,努力提高单项治理技术的治理效率,将农业面源污染发生与发展的"产-流-汇"3个阶段的治理技术结合起来,突出流域治理思路。     

16S rRNA基因技术在环境科学领域中的应用

随着分子生物学的发展，16S rRNA基因技术被逐渐应用到环境科学领域中。目前在环境保护和治理中，该技术主要被用于鉴定污染物的生物降解菌和分析环境样品中的微生物群落多样性，由于它不必将微生物培养分离出来，也就避免了在培养过程中可能出现的微生物去失的情况。本文对16S rRNA基因技术及其在环境科学领域中的应用现状和发展作了一简要介绍，并对16S rRNA基因技术存在的不足进行了讨论。     

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).”     

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.     

Macroalgal Introductions by Hull Fouling on Recreational Vessels: Seaweeds and Sailors

Macroalgal invasions in coastal areas have been a growing concern during the past decade. The present study aimed to assess the role of hull fouling on recreational yachts as a vector for macroalgal introductions. Questionnaire and hull surveys were carried out in marinas in France and Spain. The questionnaires revealed that the majority of yacht owners are aware of seaweed introductions, usually undertake short range journeys, dry dock their boat at least once a year, and use antifouling paints. The hull survey showed that many in-service yachts were completely free of macroalgae. When present, fouling assemblages consisted mainly of one to two macroalgal species. The most commonly found species was the tolerant green seaweed Ulva flexuosa. Most of the other species found are also cosmopolitan and opportunistic. A few nonnative and potentially invasive Ceramiales (Rhodophyta) were found occasionally on in-service yachts. On the basis of the information gathered during interviews of yacht owners in the surveyed area, these occurrences are likely to be uncommon. However they can pose a significant risk of primary or secondary introductions of alien macroalgal species, especially in the light of the increase in yachting activities. With large numbers of recreational yachts and relatively rare occurrences of nonnative species on hulls, comprehensive screening programs do not seem justified or practical. The risks of transferring nonnative species may, however, be minimized by encouraging the behaviors that prevent fouling on hulls and by taking action against neglected boats before they can act as vectors.