Assessment and mapping of environmental quality in agricultural soils of Zhejiang Province, China

Heavy metal concentrations in agricultural soils of Zhejiang Province were monitored to indicate the status of heavy metal contamination and assess environmental quality of agricultural soils. A total of 908 soil samples were collected from 38 counties in Zbejiang Province and eight heavy metal （Cd, Cr, Pb, Hg, Cu, Zn, Ni and As） concentrations had been evaluated in agricultural soil. It was found 775 samples were unpolluted and 133 samples were slightly polluted and more respectively, that is approximately 14.65% agricultural soil samples had the heavy metal concentration above the threshold level in this province by means of Nemerow＇s synthetical pollution index method according to the second grade of Standards for Soil Environmental Quality of China （GB15618- 1995）. Contamination of Cd was the highest, followed by Ni, As and Zn were lower correspondingly. Moreover, Inverse Distance Weighted （IDW） interpolation method was used to make an assessment map of soil environmental quality based on the Nemerow＇s pollution index and the soil environmental quality was categorized into five grades. Moreover, ten indices were calculated as input parameters for principal component analysis （PCA） and the principal components （PCs） were created to compare environmental quality of different soils and regions. The results revealed that environmental quality of tea soils was better than that of paddy soils, vegetable soils and fruit soils. This study indicated that GIS combined with multivariate statistical approaches proved to be effective and powerful tool in the mapping of soil contamination distribution and the assessment of soil environmental quality on provincial scale, which is beneficial to environmental protection and management decision-making by local government.     

The effects of exogenous salicylic acid on growth and H2O2-metabolizing enzymes in rice seedlings under lead stress

Salicylic acid （SA） was an essential component of the plant resistance to pathogens and also plays an important role in mediating plant response to some abiotic stress. The possible effects of SA on the growth and H2O2-metabolizing enzymes in rice seedlings under lead stress were studied. When rice seedlings grown in nutrient solution containing Pb^2＋ （0, 0.05, 0.15, 0.25 mmol/L） for 18 d, the plant biomass as well as the chlorophyll content of leaves decreased with increasing Pb concentration. The pre-treatment with SA （treated with 0.1 mmol/L SA for 48 h before Pb stress） partially protected seedlings from Pb toxicity. The chlorophyll contents were significant higher in leaves of Pb-exposed with SA pre-treatment seedlings than in Pb-exposed plants at the same Pb intensity. SA pre-treated alone could significantly increase the length of shoot and root of seedlings but the vigour difference was not marked under long-term exposure to Pb toxicity. SA pre-treated influence the H2O2 level in leaves of seedlings by up-regulating the activity of superoxide dismutase （SOD）, repressing the activity of catalase （CAT） and ascorbate peroxidase （APX） depending on the concentrations of Pb^2＋ in the growth medium. The results supported the conclusion that SA played a positive role in rice seedlings against Pb toxicity.     

Analysis of bacterial community structures in two sewage treatment plants with different sludge properties and treatment performance by nested PCR-DGGE method

The bacterial community structures in two sewage treatment plants with different processes and performance were investigated by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis （DGGE） of nested polymerase chain reaction （nested PCR） amplified 16S rRNA gene fragments with group-specific primers. Samples of raw sewage and treated effluents were amplified using the whole-cell PCR method, and the activated sludge samples were amplified using the extracted genomic DNA before the PCR products were loaded on the same DGGE gel for bacterial community analysis. Ammonia-oxidizing bacterial and actinomycetic community analysis were also carried out to investigate the relationship between specific population structures and system or sludge performance. The two plants demonstrated a similarity in bacterial community structures of raw sewage and activated sludge, but they had different effluent populations. Many dominant bacterial populations of raw sewage did not appear in the activated sludge samples, suggesting that the dominant bacterial populations in raw sewage might not play an important role during wastewater treatment. Although the two plants had different sludge properties in terms of settleability and foam forming ability, they demonstrated similar actinomycetic community structures. For activated sludge with bad settling performance, the treated water presented a similar DGGE pattern with that of activated sludge, indicating the nonselective washout of bacteria from the system. The plant with better ammonium removal efficiency showed higher ammonia-oxidizing bacteria species richness. Analysis of sequencing results showed that the major populations in raw sewage were uncultured bacterium, while in activated sludge the predominant populations were beta proteobacteria.     

Bioconcentration kinetics of PCBs in various parts of the lifecycle of the tadpoles Xenopus laevis

Polychlorinated biphenyls （PCBs） in Xenopus laevis have been reported only for a few congeners. Additionally, there is very little information on the ability of Xenopus laevis to bioconcentrate PCBs. To address these issues, the tadpole Xenopus laevis was exposed to Aroclor 1254 mixtures in water at room temperature for 110 d followed by an additional 110 d of nonspiked PCBs in the water for the control group. During the whole process, bioconcentration factors （BCFs） of PCBs ranged from 1180 to 15670. For most PCB congeners, the highest and lowest bioconcentrations of the kinetic curves were found to be remarkably simultaneous, respectively. All 141 PCB congeners under the same experimental conditions had no linear correlation on the lgBCF versus lgKow relationship. The relationship between lgBCFs and lgKow followed a parabolic pattern indicative of selective bioconcentration, suggesting that the kinetic curves of the PCB congeners observed in the lifecycle of the tadpoles may be concentrated due to the amphibian special species and internal metabolism. In contrast, lgBCFs for PCBs were inversely related to lgKow, suggesting that a metabolism of the higher Kow PCB congeners occurred. These results support the author＇s conclusion that the tadpole Xenopus laevis plays major roles in the bioconcentration of PCB congeners, and demonstrated that the exposure kinetic curves of PCB congeners are complex. Besides the amphibian metamorphous development, the lifecycle of the tadpole Xenopus laevis also may be of importance in determining the bioconcentration of PCB congeners.     

Adsorption behavior of condensed phosphate on aluminum hydroxide

Sodium pyrophosphate （pyro-P, Na4P2OT）, sodium tripolyphosphate （tripoly-P, Na3P3O10）, and sodium hexametaphosphate （meta-P, （NaPO3）6） were selected as the model compounds of condensed phosphate to investigate the adsorption behavior of condensed phosphate on aluminum hydroxide. The adsorption was found to be endothermic and divisible into two stages： （1） fast adsorption within 1 h; and （2） slow adsorption between 1 and 24 h. The modified Freundlich model simulated the fast adsorption stage well; the slow adsorption stage was described well by the first-order kinetics. The activation energies of pyro-P, tripoly-P, and meta-P adsorption on aluminum hydroxide were determined to be 20.2, 22.8 and 10.9 kJ/mol P adsorbed, respectively, in the fast adsorption stage and to be 66.3, 53.5 and 72.5 kJ/mol P adsorbed, respectively, in the slow adsorption stage. The adsorption increased the negative charge of the aluminum hydroxide surface. Transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis analyses provided evidence that the adsorption was not uniform on the surface and that the small crystals contributed more to the fast adsorption than the normal sites did. The results from X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy tests also revealed the uneven adsorption of condensed phosphate as a function of the penetration depth. More condensed phosphates were adsorbed on the outer surface of aluminum hydroxide than in its inner parts.     

Evaluation of oasis ecosystem risk by reliability theory in an arid area： A case study in the Shiyang River Basin, China

Ecosystem risk is a new concept in understanding environmental problems. It is important to study and develop quantitative methods for regional ecosystem risk analysis. In this study, some new indicators and methods for measuring oasis ecosystem risk were established using reliability theory. These indicators are linked to water resource, which is the key restricting factor in arid area oasis ecosystems. They have clear meanings and can also be compared in different arid area oases. A case study in the Liangzhou oasis of the Shiyang River Basin in China shows how to calculate these ecosystem risk indicators. The results of the case study are as follows： the reliability indicator, risk indicator, stability indicator, and integrated loss indicator of the Liangzhou oasis are 0.686, 0.314, 0.743, and 0.301, respectively. This means that the reliability degree of the oasis＇s ecosystem safety is 68.6%; the degree of risk that it is unsafe is 31.4%; the stability degree is 74.3%; and 30.1% of the oasis＇s area is supported by over-exploiting underground water and damaging the lower reaches of the ecosystem. This result can be used as a guide in controlling and managing ecosystem risk in the research area.     

Rapid determination of phenolic compounds in water samples by alternating-current oscillopolarographic titration

A rapid, simple and sensitive method was demonstrated for the determination of phenolic compounds in water samples by alternating-current oscillopolarographic titration. With the presence of sulfuric acid, phenol could be transferred into a nitroso-compound by reacting with NaNO2. The titration end-point was obtained by the formation of a sharp cut in the oscillopolarographic with infinitesimal NaNO2 on double platinum electrodes. The results showed that phenol concentration had an excellent linear relationship over the range of 4.82×10-6-9.65×10-3 mol/L, the RSD of the proposed method was lower than 1.5%, and the spiked recoveries of three real water samples were in the range of 95.6%-106.9%.     

Effect of copper on the degradation of pesticides cypermethrin and cyhalothrin

The influence of coexisting copper (Cu) ion on the degradation of pesticides pyrethroid cypermethrin and cyhalothrin in soil and photodegradation in water system were studied.Serial concentrations of the pesticides with the addition of copper ion were spiked in the soil and incubated for a regular period of time,the analysis of the extracts from the soil was carried out using gas chromatography (GC).The photodegradation of pyrethroids in water system was conducted under UV irradiation.The effect of Cu~(2 ) on the pesticides degradation was measured with half life (t_(0.5)) of degradation.It was found that a negative correlation between the degradation of the pyrethroid pesticides in soil and Cu addition was observed.But Cu~(2 ) could accelerate photodegradation of the pyrethroids in water.The t_(0.5) for cyhalothrin extended from 6.7 to 6.8 d while for cypermethrin extended from 8.1 to 10.9 d with the presence of copper ion in soil.As for photodegradation,t_(0.5) for cyhalothrin reduced from 173.3 to 115.5 rain and for cypermethrin from 115.5 to 99.0 min.The results suggested that copper influenced the degradation of the pesticides in soil by affecting the activity of microorganisms.However, it had catalyst tendency for photodegradation in water system.The difference for the degradation efficiency of pyrethroid isomers in soil was also observed.Copper could obviously accelerate the degradation of some special isomers.     

Role of the reduction site in the fluorinated or sulfated TiO2 photocatalytic process

In this article,the effects of TiO_2 surface fluorination and sulfation,on the active oxygen species formed at the reduction site in the photocatalytic process,namely O_2~(?) and H_2O_2,were investigated from a new perspective.The superoxide radical,(O_2~(?)),was determined by colorimetry of nitroblue tetrazolium,a prominent O_2~(?) scavenger.Hydrogen peroxide (H_2O_2) was estimated by using the iodide-starch method.In the naked TiO_2 photocatalysis,O_2~(?) though less reactive,was a very important intermediate.When the TiO_2 surface was fluorinated,more O_2~(?) and H_2O_2 were produced,which indicated that the surface modification could greatly reduce the recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes,thus enhancing the photocatalytic rate.In the sulfated system,photocatalysis proceeded with a more complicated mechanism.These results added support to the view of fluoride-induced enhancement and sulfide's nonappreciable inhibition effect.     

Effect of organic matter and pH on mercury release from soils

An investigation was conducted on the effect of organic matter(OM)and pH on mercury(Hg)release from soils.Hg release flux was measured using the dynamic flux chamber(DFC)combined with the Lumex multifunctional mercury analyzer in both laboratory experiment and field monitoring.The results showed that Hg emission from the OM-added soils was apparently low because of the high affinity of OM to Hg,resulting in the reverse order as the amount of OM addition.Meanwhile,Hg release flux from different pH value soils exhibited the same trend for both Hg~(2 )and Hg_2~(2 )treatment,increasing the Hg flux with pH value of soils increasing.The trend of Hg release in the pH dependence experiment has been well in agreement with that from the field test.In addition,Hg release seemed to be related to its species in the soil,the flux from Hg~(2 )-added soil was obviously higher than that of Hg_2~(2 )-added soil by the laboratory experiment.