Investigating the bacterial community and amoebae population in rural domestic wastewater reclamation for irrigation

Reclamation of domestic wastewater for agricultural irrigation is viewed as a sustainable option to create an alternative water source and address water scarcity. Free-living amoebae(FLA), which are amphizoic protozoa, are widely distributed in various environmental sources. The FLA could cause considerable environmental and health risks. However, little information is available on the risk of these protozoa. In this study, we evaluated the feasibility using rural domestic wastewater for agricultural irrigation, and analyzed dynamic changes of the microbial community structure and FLA populations in raw and treated wastewater, as well as the phyllosphere and rhizosphere of lettuce production sites that were irrigated with different water sources. The bacterial community dynamics were analyzed by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism(T-RFLP). The bacterial community structures in the influent were similar to that in the effluent, while in some cases relative abundances varied significantly. The populations of Acanthamoeba spp. and Hartmannella vermiformis in the anaerobically treated wastewater were significantly higher than in the raw wastewater. The vegetables could harbor diverse amoebae, and the abundances of Acanthamoeba spp. and H. vermiformis in the rhizosphere were significantly higher than in the phyllosphere. Accordingly, our studies show insight into the distribution and dissemination of amoebae in wastewater treatment and irrigation practices.     

Ecotoxicity evaluation of Cu- and Fe-CNT complexes based on the activity of bacterial bioluminescence and seed germination

The toxic effects of the composites of Fe~0 and Cu~0 with different percentages of CNTs were examined based on the activity of bacterial bioluminescence and seed germination. In terms of the EC_50 values, the toxic effects of Cu~0 on bacterial bioluminescence and seed germination were approximately 2 and 180 times greater than that of Fe~0, respectively. The toxicity increased with increasing CNT content in the Cu-CNT mixtures for both organisms,whereas opposite results were observed with Fe-CNT mixtures. The mean toxic effects of Cu-CNT(6%) were approximately 1.3–1.4 times greater than that of Cu-CNT(0%), whereas the toxic effects of Fe-CNT(6%) were approximately 2.1–2.5 times lower than that of Fe-CNT(0%) for both the bioluminescence activity and seed germination. The causes of this phenomenon are unclear at this point. More research will be needed to elucidate the mechanism of the toxicity of nano-mixture materials and the causes of the different patterns of toxicity with Cu-and Fe-CNT mixtures.     

废水中硝基苯类化合物测定方法的探讨及新方法研究

探讨了废水中硝基苯类化合物的气相色谱法测定方法中的水样预处理操作繁琐,实验耗时长,且萃取时使用易挥发有毒有害的有机物二氯甲烷。另一种常见的测定方法还原-偶氮分光光度法,而染料、印染制革等工业废水的颜色较深,对测定造成干扰,通常通过蒸馏预处理消除水样颜色带来的干扰,而在蒸馏过程中因硝基苯类沸点较高不能将水样中的硝基苯类化合物全部蒸出,导致检测结果偏低。提出了一种经聚己内酰胺脱色,简单又快捷地消除水样中颜色的干扰,又避免了硝基苯类化合物蒸馏不完全的问题,再利用还原-偶氮分光光度法准确测定废水中硝基苯类化合物的方法。     

Guppies and the TIT FOR TAT strategy: preference based on past interaction

Summary The evolution of cooperation requires either (a) nonrandom interactions, such that cooperators preferentially interact with other cooperators, or (b) conditional behaviors, such that individuals act cooperatively primarily towards other cooperators. Although these conditions can be met without assuming sophisticated animal cognition, they are more likely to be met if animals can remember individuals with whom they have interacted, associate past interactions with these individuals, and base future behavior on this information. Here we show that guppies (Poecilia reticulata), in the context of predator inspection behavior, can identify and remember (for at least 4 h) the more cooperative among two conspecifics and subsequently choose to be near these individuals in future encounters. Offprint requests to: L.A. Dugatkin     

Effects of elevated CO2 concentration on the polyamine levels of field-grown soybean at three O3 regimes

Effects of increased ozone (O3) and carbon dioxide (CO2) on polyamine levels were determined in soybean (Glycine max L. Merr. cv. Clark) grown in open-top field chambers. The chamber treatments consisted of three O3 regimes equal to charcoal filtered (CF), non-filtered (NF), and non-filtered plus 40 nl litre(-1) O3 and CO2 treatments equal to 350, 400 and 500 microl litre(-1) for a total of nine treatments. Leaf samples were taken at three different times during the growing season. Examination of growth and physiological characteristics, such as photosynthesis, stomatal resistance, and shoot weight, revealed that increasing CO2 ameliorated the deleterious effects of increased O3. Results from the initial harvest, at the pre-flowering growth stage (23 days of treatment), showed that increasing O3 at ambient CO2 caused increases in putrescine (Put) and spermidine (Spd) of up to six-fold. These effects were lessened with increased CO2. Elevated CO2 increased polyamines in plants treated with CF air, but had no effect in the presence of ambient or enhanced O3 levels. Leaves harvested during peak flowering (37 days of treatment) showed O3-induced increases in Put and Spd at ambient CO2 concentrations. However, increased CO2 levels inhibited this response by blocking the O3-induced polyamine increase. Leaves harvested during the pod fill stage (57 days of treatment) showed no significant O3 or CO2 effects on polyamine levels. Our results demonstrate that current ambient O3 levels induce the accumulation of Put and Spd early in the growing season and that further increases in O3 could result in even greater polyamine increases. These results are consistent with a possible antiozonant function for polyamines. The ability of increased CO2 to protect soybeans from O3 damage, however, does not appear to involve polyamine accumulation.     

Separation of selected PAHs by using high performance capillary electrophoresis with modifiers

The effect of varying SDS concentration in a micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatographic system (MECC) is investigated. In addition, the introduction of -cyclodextrin as modifier to the electrophoretic medium, containing SDS and a phosphate-borate buffer, is shown to give satisfactory separation of the seven selected PAHs. The separation efficiency is increased with the addition of -cyclodextrin.     

Development of monitoring technology for airborne particulate matter

Particulate matter suspended in the air has adverse effects onhuman health. Its level of concentration is an important parameter in evaluating the degree of hazard it poses to the atmosphere. Conventional methods used in measuring particulatematter are often filter-based, which indicates some disadvantagesbecause such a base requires labor and time. In this study, to achieve real-time measurements, a new electrical method was developed for measuring PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations. The basicprinciple is to electrically charge particles passing through thePM inlet using a corona charger and measure the currents createdby charged particles to obtain the number concentration of particulate matter. A new type inlet based on the particle cupimpactor configuration was designed and its performance was evaluated. A unipolar diffusion charger was developed and thecharger's efficiency was determined experimentally in terms ofPn, which represents the penetration through the charger,P, times the average charge number acquired by a particle,n, for different particle sizes. The correlation was constructed between the PM10 (or the PM2.5) mass concentrationsand the electrical currents due to particles, which were chargedby the diffusion charger.     

湿法吸收测定大气中的五氧化二磷

用２％ＮａＯＨ溶液吸收大气中的Ｐ２Ｏ５，用钼锑抗试剂显色定量。对样品的稳定性、方法的显色条件、精密度、准确度以及检出限进行反复试验，结果令人满意。     

超临界二氧化碳萃取－GC／MS测定土壤中的多环芳烃

本文开发了一种采用超临界二氧化碳萃取土壤中多环芳烃、不须经过纯化步骤，直接可用于ＧＣ／ＭＳ分析的简便、高效的方法。本实验中超临界革取的流体是二氧化碳，改善剂是５％的二氯甲烷／甲醇，萃取温度为１２０℃、压力为３４ＭＰａ。ＧＣ／ＭＳ分析时除了采用外标外，还加入了６种同位素ＰＡＨｓ内标以校正各段ＰＡＨｓ的响应因子。采用本方法成功地测定了我国未开垦森林土壤中的ＰＡＨｓ。     

雨天硫酸盐化速率样品扩散分析

选择采样期不同降雨天数的碱片，测定余边的硫酸盐化速率含量，其结果为：采样期全月无雨时，余边上的硫酸盐均未检出；半月以上至全月有雨时检出率为１００％，检出量占样品量的２．７０～１５．９５％。经扩散试验，查清了余边上的硫酸盐主要是有效面积上采集的样品的扩散，并提出了相应的修正方法。