Opportunities and challenges for mangrove carbon sequestration in the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam

Increasing value is attributed to mangroves due to their considerable capacity to sequester carbon, known as ‘blue carbon’. Assessments of opportunities and challenges associated with estimating the significance of carbon sequestered by mangroves need to consider a range of disciplinary perspectives, including the bio-physical science mangroves, social and economic issues of land use, local and international law, and the role of public and private finance. We undertook an interdisciplinary review based on available literature and fieldwork focused on parts of the Mekong River Delta (MRD). Preliminary estimates indicate mangrove biomass may be 70–150 t ha^?1, but considerably larger storage of carbon occurs in sediments beneath mangroves. These natural stores of carbon are compromised when mangroves are removed to accommodate anthropogenic activities. Mangroves are an important resource in the MRD that supplies multiple goods and services, and conservation or re-establishment of mangroves provides many benefits. International law and within-country environmental frameworks offer increasing scope to recognize the role that mangrove forests play through carbon sequestration, in order that these might lead to funding opportunities, both in public and private sectors. Such schemes need to have positive rather than negative impacts on the livelihoods of the many people living within and adjacent to these wetlands. Nevertheless, many challenges remain and it will require further targeted and coordinated scientific research, development of economic and social incentives to protect and restore mangroves, supportive law and policy mechanisms at global and national levels, and establishment of long-term financing for such endeavours.     

Spatiotemporal changes and fragmentation of mangroves and its effects on fish diversity in Ca Mau Province (Vietnam)

Mangroves are important economically and ecologically, however mangrove cover has declined dramatically leading to habitat fragmentation and biodiversity loss. Information on mangrove cover change, fragmentation and impacts on fish diversity is poorly understood. The aims of this study are to detect spatiotemporal changes and mangrove status, examine fragmentation changes and associated effects on fish diversity. Landsat images in1989, 2000, and 2013 were used to classify mangrove cover in Ca Mau Province (Vietnam) and validated against high resolution Pleiades imagery. Fragmentation changes in mangrove cover were examined using series of landscape metrics evaluated against fish diversity indices (Simpson’s index, Jaccard’s coefficient and relative abundance). Results show that mangrove cover has declined 24.6% in the province. Currently, high and moderately dense mangroves distribute in southern half of the region while the low density mangroves occurs in the northern half. Over the 24 year study periods, the number of patches and edge density has increased 58% and 53.9%, respectively, while the mean patch size and mean patch edge has decreased 52.3% and 26.6%. Fish diversity in the more highly fragmented mangrove area was 1.78 times lower than the less fragmented mangrove. The study illustrates the applicability of using Landsat satellite imagery for use in mangrove fragmentation studies as well as the impact of fragmentation.     

An automated (novel) algorithm for estimating green vegetation cover fraction from digital image: UIP-MGMEP

Green vegetation cover fraction (VCF) is an important indicator of vegetation status in ecology and agronomy. Digital image analysis (DIA) has been widely accepted as a new VCF measurement technique. In this study, we present a novel fully automatic threshold segmentation algorithm for VCF measurements, which is named as upper inflection point plus mean gradient magnitude of edge pixels (UIP-MGMEP). The algorithm performs VCF estimation upon the vegetation index Excess Green (EXG). UIP-MGMEP optimizes the EXG threshold by searching the upper inflection point (UIP) of the M-Et curve (mean gradient magnitude of edge pixels (MGMEP) vs. EXG threshold), based on the assumption that EXG variance of the boundary pixels between vegetation and background is larger than the variance of the background. Five typical sample images are used to illustrate how ground complexity reduces the distinctness of the UIP. Three controlled experiments are illustrated to test the robustness of UIP-MGMEP to resolution, exposure, and ground complexity. The results show that UIP-MGMEP is a promising algorithm for automatic VCF estimation upon digital images. Compared to broad-leaved grass, narrow-leaved grass is more sensitive to resolution and exposure. To reduce ground complexity, smaller footprint size while more images to cover the same area may be better than one image with large footprint size. UIP-MGMEP is fully automatic, making it promising for batch processing of VCF measurements that is very difficult in any wide-range field survey in the past. UIP-MGMEP algorithm can only extract green vegetation and is not suitable for non-green (even grayish-green) vegetation, due to the limits of vegetation index EXG. In addition, UIP-MGMEP is not recommended for images with VCF less than 0.5% or greater than 99.5%.     

丹江口水库表层沉积物不同形态氮的赋存特征及其生物有效性

为了揭示丹江口水库沉积物氮空间分布特征及其生物有效性,采用连续分级提取法研究了表层沉积物中可交换态氮(Exchangeable nitrogen,EN)、酸解态氮(Acid hydrolysable nitrogen,HN)及残渣态氮(Residue nitrogen,RN)的赋存特征,同时结合生物可利用态氮的含量,探讨了各形态氮对生物可利用态氮的贡献。结果表明,丹江口水库沉积物中总氮(Total nitrogen,TN)在425~5796 mg/kg之间,平均为1 319.32 mg/kg,其中EN、HN和RN的平均值相对比例为2.15∶1.95∶1,且各形态氮含量的空间分布呈入库河流大于库区开阔区域的特征,尤其在丹江、老灌河以及犟河-堵河入库口的含量较大。潜在矿化氮(Potential mineralized nitrogen,PMN)含量在40.20~1 468.95 mg/kg之间,平均为275.06 mg/kg,其中EN对丹江口水库沉积物PMN的贡献较大,比例在19.85%~90.80%之间,平均为63.47%。各形态氮在不同的水环境条件下发生迁移转化,保持着水-沉积物界面氮的动态平衡。     

Atrazine contamination in agricultural soils from the Yangtze River Delta of China and associated health risks

Atrazine is one of the most widely applied and persistent herbicides in the world. In view of limited information on the regional contamination of atrazine in soils in China, this study investigated the spatial distribution and environmental impacts of atrazine in agricultural soils collected from the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) as an illustrative analysis of rapidly developing regions in the country. The results showed that the concentrations of atrazine in the YRD agricultural soils ranged from <1.0 to 113 ng/g dry weight, with a mean of 5.7 ng/g, and a detection rate of 57.7 % in soils. Pesticide factory might be a major source for the elevated levels of atrazine in Zhejiang Province. The contamination of atrazine was closely associated with land use types. The concentrations and detection rates of atrazine were higher in corn fields and mulberry fields than in rice paddy fields. There was no significant difference in compositions of soil microbial phospholipids fatty acids among the areas with different atrazine levels. Positive relationship (R = 0.417, p < 0.05, n = 30) was observed between atrazine and total microbial biomass. However, other factors, such as soil type and land management practice, might have stronger influences on soil microbial communities. Human health risks via exposure to atrazine in soils were estimated according to the methods recommended by the US EPA. Atrazine by itself in all the soil samples imposed very low carcinogenic risks (<10^?6) and minimal non-cancer risks (hazard index <1) to adults and children.     

近60a长三角地区极端高温事件变化特征及其对城市化的响应

基于长三角地区1951~2014年56个国家级气象站点逐日气温记录资料,通过计算极端高温事件相关指标(极端最高温TXx,极端最低温TNn,高温日数Htd和低温日数Ltd),利用GIS空间分析技术和Mann-Kendall时间趋势分析方法分析了长三角地区近60 a极端高温事件的空间分异特征和时间变化趋势,并探讨了城市化发展对区域极端高温事件时空变异的影响。结果表明:(1)长三角地区极端高温事件指标均表现为一定的上升趋势,极端低温指标(TNn和Ltd)线性变化趋势比极端高温指标(TXx和Htd)更为显著,变化趋势最显著的地区集中在经济和城市化水平较高的城市及周边地区(如上海、杭州等)。(2)极端高温指标(TXx和Htd)多年平均总体表现为南高北低,西高东低的趋势,而极端低温指标中TNn多年平均为由中部向南北两侧降低,Ltd多年平均呈现自中部向南北南侧增多的趋势。(3)从1990~2000到2000~2010年,城市化对极端高温事件的影响增强,快速城市化对北部城市极端高温事件的影响高于南部城市。     

Valorisation of used cooking oil sludge by codigestion with swine manure

The addition of lipid wastes to the digestion of swine manure was studied as a means of increasing biogas production. Lipid waste was obtained from a biodiesel plant where used cooking oil is the feedstock. Digestion of this co-substrate was proposed as a way of valorising residual streams from the process of biodiesel production and to integrate the digestion process into the biorefinery concept.Batch digestion tests were performed at different co-digesting proportions obtaining as a result an increase in biogas production with the increase in the amount of co-substrate added to the mixture. Semi-continuous digestion was studied at a 7% (w/w) mass fraction of total solids. Co-digestion was successful at a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 50 d but a decrease to 30 d resulted in a decrease in specific gas production and accumulation of volatile and long chain fatty acids. The CH₄ yield obtained was 326 ± 46 l/kg VS_feed at an HRT of 50 d, while this value was reduced to 274 ± 43 l/kg VS_feed when evaluated at an HRT of 30 d. However these values were higher than the one obtained under batch conditions (266 ± 40 l/kg VS_feed), thus indicating the need of acclimation to the co-substrate. Despite of operating at low organic loading rate (OLR), measurements from respirometry assays of digestate samples (at an HRT of 50 d) suggested that the effluent could not be directly applied to the soil as fertiliser and might have a negative effect over soil or crops.     

Temporal and Spatial Variations of Phytoplankton Community Structure in Lake Erhai,a Chinese Plateau Lake,with Reference to Environmental Factors

Russian Journal of Ecology - Temporal and spatial variations of phytoplankton community in Lake Erhai were investigated from May 2010 to April 2011. A total of 124 species belonging to 8 phyla and...