100 years of high GEM concentration in the Central Italian Herbarium and Tropical Herbarium Studies Centre (Florence, Italy)

Up to 1980s, the most used preservative for herbaria specimens was HgCl₂, sublimating at ambient air conditions; ionic Hg then reduces to Hg⁰ (gaseous elemental mercury, GEM) and diffuses throughout poor ventilated environments. High GEM levels may indeed persist for decades, representing a health hazard. In this study, we present new GEM data from the Central Italian Herbarium and Tropical Herbarium Studies Centre of the University of Florence (Italy). These herbaria host one of the largest collection of plants in the world. Here, HgCl₂ was documented as plant preservative up to the 1920s. GEM surveys were conducted in July 2013 and July and December 2017, to account for temporal and seasonal variations.Herbaria show GEM concentrations well above those of external locations, with peak levels within specimen storage cabinets, exceeding 50,000?ng/m³. GEM concentrations up to ~ 7800?ng/m³ were observed where the most ancient collections are stored and no ventilation systems were active. On the contrary, lower GEM concentrations were observed at the first floor. Here, lower and more homogeneously distributed GEM concentrations were measured in 2017 than in 2013 since the air-conditioning system was updated in early 2017.GEM concentrations were similar to other herbaria worldwide and lower than Italian permissible exposure limit of 20,000?ng/m³ (8-hr working day). Our results indicate that after a century from the latest HgCl₂ treatment GEM concentrations are still high, i.e., the treatment itself is almost irreversible. Air conditioning and renewing is probably the less expensive and more effective method for GEM lowering.     

基因工程菌生物强化膜-生物反应器工艺启动期影响因素研究

基因工程菌生物强化膜-生物反应器工艺经过启动期之后,可以实现对阿特拉津的高效稳定去除,去除率在90%以上.不同条件下,启动期最短2 d,最长可达12 d.阿特拉津初始进水负荷、运行温度和工程菌接种密度,对启动期具有显著影响.增加阿特拉津初始进水负荷、提高运行温度和增加基因工程菌接种密度,可以实现快速启动.进水水质对启动期影响不大,在人工配水和实际污水2种进水条件下,启动期基本相同,而且稳定期2种进水的阿特拉津去除情况也没有差异,说明进水水质对启动期和稳定期阿特拉津的去除影响都不大.     

固定化GEM/CAS串联工艺强化处理阿特拉津废水

考察了固定化基因工程菌强化处理(GEM)/传统活性污泥处理(CAS)串联工艺对阿特拉津废水的处理效果,水力停留时间(HRT)对处理效果的影响,基因工程菌的生长和流失情况.结果表明,当HRT为4～24h,阿特拉津初始浓度为20mg/L,以实际生活污水为碳源时,串联工艺均可以实现对高浓度高负荷的阿特拉津生物强化处理.水力停留时间为24h时,固定化细胞反应器(串联工艺A段)的处理效果最好,阿特拉津平均去除率为96.64%,出水浓度为0.56ms/L.水力停留时间为12、8和4h时,平均去除率分别为88.59%、89.79%、88.61%.反应器在以上4个HRT时, COD平均去除率分别为72.76%、64.59%、66.16%和65.84%. 在整个反应过程中,没有出现大量工程菌流失的现象,同时在固定化颗粒的表面以及浅层均观察到了大量工程菌菌体,固定化颗粒的表面还出现了生物膜和菌胶团,反应结束时,颗粒形态完好,强度满足本工艺条件下长期使用的需求.     

大气汞浓度升高对水稻叶片生理效应的影响研究

采用大田开顶式气室熏气实验,研究大气汞浓度升高对水稻叶片气体交换参数、脯氨酸、丙二醛的积累以及超氧化物歧化酶活性的影响。实验结果显示,水稻叶片净光合速率(Pn)和气孔导度(Gs)随大气汞浓度的升高均较对照略微下降,表明大气汞浓度的升高对水稻光合作用和气孔开放程度有一定影响;扬花期水稻胞间CO2浓度(Ci)随大气汞浓度的升高明显降低(P0.05)表明Pn的略微下降属于气孔限制,同时蒸腾速率(Tr)显著增加(P0.01)表明大气汞对水稻的蒸腾生理功能有一定的影响。乳熟期水稻叶片气体交换参数与大气汞浓度无显著差异(P0.05),且各指标均低于扬花期。水稻叶片脯氨酸(Pro)含量在拔节期随大气汞浓度的升高而显著增加(P0.05),扬花期先升高后下降,在45 ng·m-3时达到最大,成熟期无显著差异(P0.05);水稻叶片丙二醛(MDA)含量在拔节期先升高后下降,45 ng·m-3时达到最大,扬花期和成熟期均无显著差异(P0.05);水稻叶片超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)活性在拔节期先升高后下降,15 ng·m-3时达到最大,扬花期无显著差异(P0.05)。以上结果表明大气汞浓度的升高可以引起水稻叶片膜脂过氧化以及脯氨酸和丙二醛含量的积累,且随着体内Pro、MDA和SOD对大气汞胁迫的协同反应,水稻对逆境的适应能力增强,对汞胁迫产生了耐受性。     

A global Bayesian sensitivity analysis of the 1d SimSphere soil–vegetation–atmospheric transfer (SVAT) model using Gaussian model emulation

Sensitivity analysis consists of an integral and important validatory check of a computer simulation model before the code is used in performing any kind of analysis operation. The present paper demonstrates the use of a relatively new method and tool for conducting global sensitivity analysis (GSA) for environmental models, providing simultaneously the first GSA study of the widely used 1d soil–vegetation–atmospheric transfer (SVAT) model named SimSphere. A software platform called the Gaussian emulation machine for sensitivity analysis (GEM SA), which has been developed for performing a GSA via Bayesian theory, is applied to SimSphere model in order to identify the most responsive model inputs to the simulation of key model outputs, detect their interactions and derive absolute sensitivity measures concerning the model structure. This study is also very timely in that, use of this particular SVAT model is currently being considered to be used in a scheme being developed for the operational retrieval of the soil surface moisture content by National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), in a series of satellite platforms that are due to be launched in the next 12 years starting from 2016.The employed GSA method was found capable of identifying the most responsive SimSphere inputs and also of capturing their key interactions for each of the simulated target quantities on which the GSA was conducted. The most sensitive model inputs were the topography parameters (slope, aspect) as well as the fractional vegetation cover and soil surface moisture availability. The implications of these findings for the future use of SimSphere are discussed.     

绿色荧光蛋白标记阿特拉津降解基因工程菌的特性

通过转化绿色荧光蛋白基因质粒,对阿特拉津降解基因工程菌进行标记.转化后,绿色荧光蛋白在细胞内表达情况良好.在含抗生素的LB培养基中,绿色荧光蛋白的表达水平高于LB培养基和基础培养基.在细胞生长的稳定期,绿色荧光蛋白表达水平高于停滞期和对数生长期.绿色荧光蛋白基因质粒转化和表达,不会对基因工程菌原有的降解能力产生影响,而且绿色荧光蛋白的表达水平和降解活性存在接近线形的正相关关系.荧光蛋白标记细胞投加到反应器活性污泥中,会以2种状态存在:游离态和附着态,而且初期游离态细胞的数量大于附着态细胞的数量.