Birds transport nutrients to fragmented forests in an urban landscape.

The influence of urbanization on nutrient cycling is vaguely known. Here we document that birds, especially those increasing in urban areas (such as crows, Corvus macrorhynchos and C. corone), affect nutrient cycles. Using fecal traps, we measured phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) input from the excrement of birds in fragmented forests in an urban landscape. Sources of avian feces were examined on the basis of carbon (C), N, and P percentages and stable isotopes of delta15N and delta13C. Nitrogen and P input was aggregated in the urban landscape, being especially high at the forest where crows roosted during winter. The annual P input due to bird droppings (range 0.068-0.460 kg x ha(-1) x yr(-1); mean 0.167 kg x ha(-1) x yr(-1)) was 12.4% of the total of other pathways in typical forests and 52.9% in the evergreen forest where crows roosted. The annual N input due to bird droppings (range 0.44-3.49 kg x ha(-1) x yr(-1); mean 1.15 kg x ha(-1) x yr(-1)) was 5.2% of the total of other pathways in typical forests and 27.0% in the evergreen forest used by roosting crows. Expected sources of nutrients in feces included insects in the breeding season, fruits in autumn, and mammals and birds in winter. Stable isotopes suggested that the source of nutrients in forests used by roosting crows was from outside the forest. Therefore, birds played a significant role as transporters of nutrients from garbage (including fish, livestock, and/or C4 plants such as corn, with high delta15N and delta13C) in residential and business areas to fragmented evergreen forests, especially near their winter roosts.     

Biodegradation of synthetic surfactants by river microorganisms

Ｂｉｏｄｅｇｒａｄａｔｉｏｎｏｆｓｙｎｔｈｅｔｉｃｓｕｒｆａｃｔａｎｔｓｂｙｒｉｖｅｒｍｉｃｒｏｏｒｇａｎｉｓｍｓ￥ＨｉｄｅａｋｉＭａｋｉ；ＫｅｎｒｏｕＴｏｋｕｈｉｒｏ；ＹａｓｕｈｉｒｏＦｕｊｉｗａｒａ；ＭｉｃｈｉｈｉｋｏＩｋｅ；ＫｅｎｊｉＦｕｒｕｋ...     

Fungal biodegradation of CCA-treated wood and removal of its metal components

In the present study, 5 isolates of brown-rot fungi were used for fungal bioprocessing (FB) of chromated copper arsenate (CCA)-treated wood wastes: Antrodia vaillantii SEL8501, Fomitopsis palustris TYP0507 and TYP6137, and Crustoderma sp. KUC8065 and KUC8611. The isolates showed notable capacity for the degradation of treated wood and removal of CCA components via the American Wood Protection Association soil block test. Among them, Crustoderma sp. KUC8611 effectively decayed the treated wood, causing a mass loss of up to 60%. F. palustris caused extensive leaching of CrO₃ of up to 79% and As₂O₅ of up to 87%, but only moderate leaching of CuO of up to 50%. This high capacity for removal of CrO₃ and As₂O₅ showed a strong logarithmic relationship with the amount of oxalic acid produced in the decayed wood. The majority of metals removed from treated wood during the decay process were deposited in the soil and feeder strip. Further investigation will be required to establish the capability of selected fungi for FB of full-sized lumber treated with CCA.     

Temporal Trends of Non-sea Salt Sulfate and Nitrate in Wet Deposition in Japan

Temporal trends of non-sea salt (nss-) sulfate and nitrate were analyzed from nationwide precipitation chemistry measurements provided by the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) for the 1988–2002 fiscal years (April–March). The concentrations and deposition of nss-sulfate were found to be decreasing, and those of nitrate were stable or slightly increasing at most sites. These deposition trends were discussed from the viewpoint of emissions of SO₂ and NO_X during the period of interest. Because monitoring techniques have changed in the number of active sites, samplers, and analytical methods during the operation period, the median of all annual depositions measured in Japan in a specific year was selected as the annual representative. The contribution of specific emission sources was also calculated for 1990 on the basis of the nss-sulfate and nitrate deposition in Japan obtained with a model simulation in which the model did not include volcanic emissions from Mt. Oyama, Miyakejima Island, which began to erupt suddenly and violently in 2000. For nss-sulfate, the calculated deposition agrees well with the intensity and trends of the median up to 1999. After 2000, a higher deposition than calculated in the preceding years was evident, which is attributable to the volcanic SO₂ from Mt. Oyama. For nitrate, both the calculated and observed depositions were slightly increasing; however, the calculation was found to exceed the observation.     

High performance liquid chromatographic determination of pesticides in soluble phase and suspended phase in river water

A high performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed to determine pesticides in river water as both dissolved phase and suspended phase. The target pesticides were eight herbicides, asulam, diuron, flazasulfuron, linuron, MCPB, mecoprop, pyrazosulfuron‐ethyl and siduron, and two fungicides, oxine‐copper and thiram. The pesticides in filtered river water were extracted with styrene‐divinylbenzene copolymer and were eluted with acetonitrile. The pesticides on suspended solids were extracted ultrasonically with acetonitrile. Each eluate was concentrated and analyzed by HPLC with multiwavelength detector. Recoveries of the pesticides in the overall procedure of this method were 78–114% for filtered river water and 75–107% for suspended solids. The limits of detection in water and suspended solids ranged from 0.1 to 0.9 μg/L and 1 to 7 μg/g, respectively. Pesticide distribution between soluble phase and suspended phase in river water was measured by this method.     

Estimation and validation of biomass of a mountainous agroecosystem by means of sampling,spectral data and QuickBird satellite image

Biomass estimation in agroecosystems (AESs) is important to understand their role in carbon exchange for a sustainable environment. We used field spectra and sampled biomass of an AES including cultivated and abandoned croplands to develop a simple biomass estimation model. The digital number (DN) of a QuickBird (QB) satellite image was converted to a reflectance factor using the dark object subtraction method and the spectral reflectance of asphalt. The relationship between the reflectance factor of field-based spectra and the QB image obtained in early July 2007 was insignificant in the blue (R ² = 0.15) and green (R ² = 0.18) bands but was significant (p < 0.05) in the red (R ² = 0.57) and near-infrared (NIR, R ² = 0.45) bands in the AES. Better correlations were obtained between field-based and QB-based vegetation indices (VIs). The best correlations were obtained with the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) (R ² = 0.97, p < 0.001) and the ratio vegetation index (RVI) (R ² = 0.99, p < 0.001). Biomass was significantly correlated with both field-based NDVI and RVI (R ² = 0.79 and 0.72, respectively, p < 0.001). Although RVI saturated at higher biomass densities (>600 g m^?2), NDVI showed a linear relationship. Other field-based VIs showed poorer correlations with biomass. The model was evaluated by incorporating it into high-resolution QB images to obtain the observed biomass. The relationship between field-estimated and QB-observed biomass appeared to be a one-to-one linear relationship (R ² = 0.79). Thus, models using field spectra and sampled biomass can be applied to QB images for remote estimation of biomass in an AES.     

Leaching of indium from obsolete liquid crystal displays: Comparing grinding with electrical disintegration in context of LCA

In order to develop an effective recycling system for obsolete Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs), which would enable both the leaching of indium (In) and the recovery of a pure glass fraction for recycling, an effective liberation or size-reduction method would be an important pre-treatment step. Therefore, in this study, two different types of liberation methods: (1) conventional grinding, and (2) electrical disintegration have been tested and evaluated in the context of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). In other words, the above-mentioned methods were compared in order to find out the one that ensures the highest leaching capacity for indium, as well as the lowest environmental burden. One of the main findings of this study was that the electrical disintegration was the most effective liberation method, since it fully liberated the indium containing-layer, ensuring a leaching capacity of 968.5mg-In/kg-LCD. In turn, the estimate for the environmental burden was approximately five times smaller when compared with the conventional grinding.     

Accumulation and excretion of chloroanilines by carp

Accumulation and excretion of chloroanilines were studied for carp ( L.). The average bioconcentration factors (BCF) in the whole body of the fish after 24 – 336 hr exposure were 2.0 and 3.7 for o-chloroaniline. 0.8 and 2.2 for m-chloroaniline and 0.8 and 1.7 for p-chloroaniline at high and low concentrations of the chemicals, respectively. The excretion rate constants (k) from the whole body of the fish were 0.19 hr⁻¹ for o-chloroaniline, 0.21 hr⁻¹ for m-chloroaniline and 0.16 hr⁻¹ for p-chloroaniline. The experimental data on the accumulation and excretion of the chloroanilines were consistent with the field data.     

Investigation of unsaturated water flow in a deep vadose zone by applying quasi-partition law to 222Rn

This paper describes an application of the quasi-partition law of radon-222 (222Rn) to a deep unsaturated vadose zone in a field. 222Rn is a very useful tracer to investigate not only saturated but also unsaturated water flows in vadose zones. Concentrations of 222Rn in water in unsaturated soils are, based on the quasi-partition law, lower than those in saturated soils. However, no study has previously applied quasi-partition law of 222Rn to analyze saturated and unsaturated water flows in vadose zones. In this study, we observed the applicability of existing theoretical equations of quasi-partition law of 222Rn experimentally. After confirming the validity of the theoretical equation, we applied this equation to estimate the unsaturated water flow in an actual vadose zone. By comparing the estimated degree of saturation from 222Rn measurement with that from a neutron moisture meter measurement, we obtained a beautiful agreement between them.     

Eco-friendly recovery process of lithium from reduction roasting residue powder based on hydrothermal extraction

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - To cater to the increasing demand for secondary lithium-ion batteries, the recovery of valuable metal species in spent batteries is increasingly...