Sources and factors controlling the disposal of biodegradable municipal solid waste in urban and rural areas of Cyprus

An inventory of sources of biodegradable municipal soil waste (BMSW) was constructed for urban and rural areas in the EU accession region of Cyprus. Composition analysis was performed on source-separated BMSW collected from households in the rural Ergates Community and an urban area within the Agglanjia Municipality. The data were statistically scrutinized to identify the main factors influencing the quantities of BMSW disposed by urban and rural communities in Cyprus. The results were extrapolated to predict the quantities and types of BMSW disposed by the entire communities. Significantly more BMSW was disposed in the urban area compared to the rural community due to lower diversion rates for green waste and the disposal of food waste from commercial sources. The quantity of food waste collected from households was influenced by socio-economic (household size, income, percentage of children) and behavioural (feeding of food waste to domestic animals, consuming processed 'ready' food) factors, whereas garden size, the type of vegetation, the reuse of trimmings and home composting were the main factors controlling the disposal of green waste.     

不同施氮处理下旱作农田土壤CH_4、N_2O气体排放特征研究

依托甘肃农业大学布设在定西市李家堡镇的长期施氮定位实验,对不同施氮农田CH4和N2O气体通量,采用静态箱-气相色谱法进行小麦生育期的连续观测,并对影响通量变化的环境因子同期观测.结果表明:5个施氮处理下(0、52.5、105、157.5、210 kg·hm-2),旱作农田土壤在小麦全生育期内表现为CH4累积通量的汇和N2O累积通量的源;且不施氮处理时,CH4累积吸收通量最大;施氮量为210 kg·hm-2时,土壤CH4的累积吸收通量所受抑制最大,即土壤CH4累积吸收通量随施氮量升高而降低.相反,不施氮处理时,土壤N2O的累积排放通量最小,施氮量为210 kg·hm-2时,土壤N2O的累积排放通量最大,土壤N2O累积排放通量随施氮量的增加而增大.综合分析,施氮量增大会抑制全生育期旱作春小麦田土壤CH4吸收通量,提高土壤N2O的排放通量.因此,合理控制施氮量有利于生育期旱作农田土壤减排.CH4平均吸收通量随土壤温度的升高而降低,随土壤水分的升高而升高;相反,N2O平均排放通量随土壤温度的升高而升高,随土壤水分的升高而降低.5~10 cm层次的土壤温度与CH4平均吸收通量呈极显著线性负相关,与N2O平均排放通量呈显著正相关.5~10 cm层次的土壤水分与CH4平均吸收通量呈极显著线性正相关,与N2O平均排放通量呈显著负相关.     

Inventory of Ocean Monitoring in the Southern California Bight

Monitoring of the ocean environment in southern California, USA, has been conducted by a diverse array of public and private organizations with different motivations, working on a variety of spatial and temporal scales. To create a basis from which to integrate information from these diverse programs, we conducted an inventory of ocean monitoring activities in the Southern California Bight to address the following questions: (1) How much money is being expended annually on marine monitoring programs? (2) Which organizations are conducting the most monitoring? (3) How are resources allocated among the different types of monitoring programs? This inventory focused on programs existing, or those expected to be in existence, for at least 10 years and that were active at any time between 1994 and 1997. For each program identified for inclusion in this study, information was collected on the number of sites, sampling intensity, parameters measured, and methods used. Levels of effort were translated into cost estimates based upon a market survey of local consulting firms. One hundred fourteen marine monitoring programs, conducted by 65 organizations and costing US $31 million annually, were identified. Most of the effort (81 programs, 65% of samples, 70% of costs) was expended by ocean dischargers as part of their compliance with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit requirements. Federal programs (11 programs, 25% of samples, 10% of total expenditures) expended more than state or local government programs. More than one quarter of monitoring expenditures were conducted to measure concentrations and mass of effluent inputs to the ocean. The largest effort expended on receiving water monitoring was for measuring bacteria, followed by sediments, fish/shellfish, water quality, and intertidal habitats. The large level of expenditures by individual agencies has presented opportunities for integrating small, site-specific ocean monitoring programs into regional- and national-scale monitoring and assessment programs.     

Predicting System-Scale Impacts of Oyster Clearance on Phytoplankton Productivity in a Small Subtropical Estuary

Oyster populations in south Florida estuaries have declined in part through altered salinity driven by anthropogenic changes in freshwater inputs. In particular, the St. Lucie Estuary (SLE) in southeastern Florida has suffered widespread loss of oyster habitat. With efforts underway to improve water quality and oyster habitat in the SLE, the goal of this study was to develop a model to assess ecosystem level impacts of oyster restoration. Phytoplankton and oyster biomass modeling targets were established from observational data collected from 2005 to 2009. Modeled oyster biomass production and filtration fluctuated with temperature, salinity, and total suspended solids from a combination of observational and predicted input functions in 10-year simulations (1998–2007). Model estimates of oyster biomass fluctuated with salinity from near zero after extreme freshwater discharge in 2002–2003 and 2004–2005 to maximum values near 150.0 and 200.0 g?C?m^?2 in spring 1999 and fall 2006. There was potential for algal blooms as turnover time for the phytoplankton standing stock (15.6 days) was faster than water mass turnover (21.0 days). While >1,000 days were required for 50 ha of oyster habitat to filter the entire volume of the estuarine segment, filter time reduced to <20 days with an estimated fivefold increase in net consumption of phytoplankton if the oyster habitat was increased to 300 ha. Re-establishment of biologically desirable salinity envelopes would stabilize oyster survival allowing the possibility for successful habitat restoration to benefit water quality and faunal attributes of the St. Lucie Estuary.     

Developmental Instability in Fragmented Populations of Prairie Phlox: A Cautionary Tale

Abstract: Considerable attention has recently been focused on using levels of developmental instability among members of a population to detect environmental or genetic stresses on animals or plants. It is not yet clear, however, that high developmental instability in a sample of individuals always indicates environmental stress or poor genetic quality. We studied 13 fragmented populations of prairie phlox (   Phlox pilosa L.) to test the hypothesis that developmental instability should decrease with increasing population size—as expected if small populations suffer genetic problems associated with inbreeding or are exposed to more environmental stress than larger populations. We used two different measures of developmental instability, each calculated for two different traits: radial asymmetry of flowers (for petal width and petal length) and modular fluctuating asymmetry of leaves (  for leaf widths at two points along the leaf  ). There were weak but significant correlations among individuals for four of six pairwise combinations of these measures. Surprisingly, three of our four measures of developmental instability showed strong population size effects that were opposite to those expected: developmental instability increased with population size. We conclude that measures of developmental instability cannot be applied uncritically for biomonitoring without considerable knowledge of developmental mechanisms, natural history, and population biology of the species in question.