Geese and dietary allelochemicals — food palatability and geophagy

Summary The palatability of plants was studied in young, immature and adult geese of three species,Anser anser, Anser indicus andBranta canadensis, with respect to secondary plant metabolites. In their first 1–4 weeks of life, hand-reared goslings feed on a wide variety of plants, more or less irrespective of their allelochemical contents. Older birds become more selective, but still consume plants which are normally considered to be unpalatable or even toxic for other animals. Choice experiments were performed with pure secondary metabolites which were offered on otherwise highly palatable food items, such as leaves ofTaraxacum officinale. These experiments revealed a similar trend, in that very young goslings discriminate their food much less than older goslings or adult geese. In general, food contaminated with essential oils was rejected, whereas alkaloids, glycosides, amines and sulfur compounds were tolerated to a remarkable degree. In consequence, especially young, but also adult geese must have a high capacity to tolerate and/or to detoxify dietary allelochemicals. Another detoxification mechanism became evident during the experiments: geese ingest soil and mud quite regularly. It could be shown experimentally that the respective soil had a high capacity to bind alkaloids. We assume that geophagy is a means (besides a presumed active detoxification in the liver) to adsorb and thus reduce the contents of dietary allelochemicals.     

Solute transport in crystalline rocks at Äspö — I: Geological basis and model calibration

Water-conducting faults and fractures were studied in the granite-hosted Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory (SE Sweden). On a scale of decametres and larger, steeply dipping faults dominate and contain a variety of different fault rocks (mylonites, cataclasites, fault gouges). On a smaller scale, somewhat less regular fracture patterns were found. Conceptual models of the fault and fracture geometries and of the properties of rock types adjacent to fractures were derived and used as input for the modelling of in situ dipole tracer tests that were conducted in the framework of the Tracer Retention Understanding Experiment (TRUE-1) on a scale of metres. After the identification of all relevant transport and retardation processes, blind predictions of the breakthroughs of conservative to moderately sorbing tracers were calculated and then compared with the experimental data. This paper provides the geological basis and model calibration, while the predictive and inverse modelling work is the topic of the companion paper [J. Contam. Hydrol. 61 (2003) 175].The TRUE-1 experimental volume is highly fractured and contains the same types of fault rocks and alterations as on the decametric scale. The experimental flow field was modelled on the basis of a 2D-streamtube formalism with an underlying homogeneous and isotropic transmissivity field. Tracer transport was modelled using the dual porosity medium approach, which is linked to the flow model by the flow porosity. Given the substantial pumping rates in the extraction borehole, the transport domain has a maximum width of a few centimetres only. It is concluded that both the uncertainty with regard to the length of individual fractures and the detailed geometry of the network along the flowpath between injection and extraction boreholes are not critical because flow is largely one-dimensional, whether through a single fracture or a network. Process identification and model calibration were based on a single uranine breakthrough (test PDT3), which clearly showed that matrix diffusion had to be included in the model even over the short experimental time scales, evidenced by a characteristic shape of the trailing edge of the breakthrough curve. Using the geological information and therefore considering limited matrix diffusion into a thin fault gouge horizon resulted in a good fit to the experiment. On the other hand, fresh granite was found not to interact noticeably with the tracers over the time scales of the experiments.While fracture-filling gouge materials are very efficient in retarding tracers over short periods of time (hours–days), their volume is very small and, with time progressing, retardation will be dominated by altered wall rock and, finally, by fresh granite. In such rocks, both porosity (and therefore the effective diffusion coefficient) and sorption K_ds are more than one order of magnitude smaller compared to fault gouge, thus indicating that long-term retardation is expected to occur but to be less pronounced.     

Distinct potential aerosol masses under different scenarios of transport at a suburban site of Beijing

In order to evaluate the secondary aerosol formation potential at a suburban site of Beijing,in situ perturbation experiments in a potential aerosol mass(PAM) reactor were carried out in the winter of 2014.The variations of secondary aerosol formation as a function of time,OH exposure,and the concentrations of gas phase pollutants and particles were reported in this study.Two periods with distinct secondary aerosol formation potentials,marked as Period Ⅰ and Period Ⅱ,were identified during the observation.In Period Ⅰ,the secondary aerosol formation potential was high,and correlated well to the air pollutants,i.e.,SO_2,NO_2,and CO.The maximal secondary aerosol formation was observed with an aging time equivalent to about 3 days of atmospheric oxidation.In period Ⅱ,the secondary aerosol formation potential was low,with no obvious correlation with the air pollutants.Meanwhile,the aerosol mass decreased,instead of showing a peak,with increasing aging time.Backward trajectory analysis during the two periods confirmed that the air mass in Period Ⅰwas mainly from local sources,while it was attributed mostly to long distance transport in Period Ⅱ.The air lost its reactivity during the long transport and the particles became highly aged,resulting in a low secondary aerosol formation potential.Our experimental results indicated that the in situ measurement of the secondary aerosol formation potential could provide important information for evaluating the contributions of local emission and long distance transport to the aerosol pollution.     

双(对羧苯基)苯基氧化膦阻燃改性聚酯的热解和燃烧特性实验研究

本文以双(对羧苯基)苯基氧化膦为阻燃单体,合成了阻燃共聚酯(COPET)。通过热失重分析和锥形量热分析,研究了阻燃共聚酯的热降解行为和燃烧特性,并对阻燃剂的阻燃机理进行了简单的讨论。实验结果表明,阻燃剂双(对羧苯基)苯基氧化膦是适于聚酯的较好阻燃剂,但其发烟量有待抑制。     

污染水体重金属化学稳定性的研究

本文采用湘江霞湾重金属污染江段沉积物及其相应体系,模拟实验研究了在静态和动态条件下沉积物中重金属的释放量及释放规律,获得了在50—150d的模拟实验期间沉积物中重金属的释放速率及相关系数,同时讨论了不同水环境条件对污染沉积物中重金属化学稳定性的影响。     

巷道木材火灾试验与数值模拟对比研究

通过应用煤炭科学研究总院重庆研究院某水平巷道全尺寸木材火灾实验和流体力学软件FULENT的数值模拟方法,研究风速为0.7m/s和1.1m/s时8,00kg木材燃烧以及风速为0.7m/s时,400kg木材燃烧火源下风侧各热物理参数变化规律。结果表明:3次燃烧试验和模拟均为富氧燃烧类型,验证了A.罗伯特燃烧判定准则的正确性。同时试验和模拟火源下风侧CO,CH4和H2危害性气体浓度和出口风门处温度,对比结果证明,巷道富氧类燃烧难以产生次生灾害。研究也表明,环境因素或巷道物理结构变化能改变巷道火灾燃烧类型。     

Determination of propineb and its metabolites propylenethiourea and propylenediamine in banana and soil using gas chromatography with flame photometric detection and LC–MS/MS analysis

A sensitive and specific method for the determination of propineb and its metabolites, propylenethiourea (PTU) and propylenediamine (PDA), using gas chromatography with flame photometric detection (GC-FPD) and LC–MS/MS was developed and validated. Propineb and its metabolite residue dynamics in supervised field trials under Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) conditions in banana and soil were studied. Recovery of propineb (as CS₂), PDA and PTU ranged from 75.3 to 115.4% with RSD (n = 5) of 1.3–11.1%. The limit of quantification (LOQ) of CS₂, PDA and PTU ranged from 0.005 to 0.01 mg kg^?1, and the limit of detection (LOD) ranged from 0.0015 to 0.0033 mg kg^?1. Dissipation experiments showed that the half-life of propineb in banana and soil ranged from 4.4 to 13.3 days. PTU was found in banana with a half-life of 31.5–69.3 days, while levels of PDA were less than 0.01 mg kg^?1 in banana and soil. It has been suggested that PTU is the major metabolite of propineb in banana. The method was demonstrated to be reliable and sensitive for the routine monitoring of propineb and its metabolites in banana and soil. It also serves as a reference for the detection and monitoring of dithiocarbamates (DTCs) residues and the evaluation of their metabolic pathway.     

垃圾填埋场生物覆盖材料筛选及甲烷减排

通过模拟柱实验研究了消化污泥、矿化垃圾和黏土作为垃圾填埋场生物覆盖材料的甲烷氧化能力。3种材料的甲烷日氧化率平均值、总氧化率和氧化速率V(CH4)分别是:消化污泥10.27%、75.82%、1.76 mmol/(kg·d);矿化垃圾11.05%、75.61%、2.04 mmol/(kg·d);黏土9.05%、68.15%、1.33 mmol/(kg·d),消化污泥和矿化垃圾对甲烷的氧化能力均大于黏土。进一步探讨了消化污泥中添加粉煤灰、建筑垃圾和黏土进行改性后对甲烷的氧化能力,考察了改性污泥的渗透系数和抗压强度。结果表明:粉煤灰对消化污泥的改性效果最好,其日氧化率平均值、总氧化率和V(CH4)分别达到17.27%、92.37%和2.35 mmol/(kg·d),粉煤灰与消化污泥以1∶1～1.5∶1混配后可满足填埋场对覆盖材料渗透系数和抗压强度的要求。     

Using a Systematic Approach to Select Flagship Species for Bird Conservation

Conservation marketing campaigns that focus on flagship species play a vital role in biological diversity conservation because they raise funds and change people's behavior. However, most flagship species are selected without considering the target audience of the campaign, which can hamper the campaign's effectiveness. To address this problem, we used a systematic and stakeholder‐driven approach to select flagship species for a conservation campaign in the Serra do Urubu in northeastern Brazil. We based our techniques on environmental economic and marketing methods. We used choice experiments to examine the species attributes that drive preference and latent‐class models to segment respondents into groups by preferences and socioeconomic characteristics. We used respondent preferences and information on bird species inhabiting the Serra do Urubu to calculate a flagship species suitability score. We also asked respondents to indicate their favorite species from a set list to enable comparison between methods. The species’ traits that drove audience preference were geographic distribution, population size, visibility, attractiveness, and survival in captivity. However, the importance of these factors differed among groups and groups differed in their views on whether species with small populations and the ability to survive in captivity should be prioritized. The popularity rankings of species differed between approaches, a result that was probably related to the different ways in which the 2 methods measured preference. Our new approach is a transparent and evidence‐based method that can be used to refine the way stakeholders are engaged in the design of conservation marketing campaigns.     

Toward a delineation of the circumstances in which cooperation can be sustained in environmental and resource problems

Play in standard laboratory Public Good games suggests that on average, humans are quite prone to cooperate. Yet cooperation is often absent in real world social dilemmas, including many environmental problems. We propose that this discrepancy arises because in the Public Good game, the worst freeriders can do is to not contribute to the public account, while in many real world environmental situations freeriders can even appropriate contributions made by others before the public good is produced. We introduce the Claim Game that modifies the Public Good game by allowing for appropriating the contributions of others before the public good is produced. The impact of such possible takings on public good production is dramatic. No public good is produced, not even in the initial stages of interaction. We link our findings to the relevance of common pool games for modeling environmental problems, and stress the need to experimentally test environmental institutions within harsher social dilemmas than the standard Public Good game.