Landscape consequences of aggregation rules for functional equivalence in compensatory mitigation programs

Mitigation and offset programs designed to compensate for ecosystem function losses due to development must balance losses from affected ecosystems with gains in restored ecosystems. Aggregation rules applied to ecosystem functions to assess site equivalence are based on implicit assumptions about the substitutability of functions among sites and can profoundly influence the distribution of restored ecosystem functions on the landscape. We investigated the consequences of rules applied to the aggregation of ecosystem functions for wetland offsets in the Beaverhill watershed in Alberta, Canada. We considered the fate of 3 ecosystem functions: hydrology, water purification, and biodiversity. We set up an affect‐and‐offset algorithm to simulate the effect of aggregation rules on ecosystem function for wetland offsets. Cobenefits and trade‐offs among functions and the constraints posed by the quantity and quality of restorable sites resulted in a redistribution of functions between affected and offset wetlands. Hydrology and water purification functions were positively correlated with one another and negatively correlated with biodiversity function. Weighted‐average rules did not replace functions in proportion to their weights. Rules prioritizing biodiversity function led to more monofunctional wetlands and landscapes. The minimum rule, for which the wetland score was equal to the worst performing function, promoted multifunctional wetlands and landscapes. The maximum rule, for which the wetland score was equal to the best performing function, promoted monofunctional wetlands and multifunctional landscapes. Because of implicit trade‐offs among ecosystem functions, no‐net‐loss objectives for multiple functions should be constructed within a landscape context. Based on our results, we suggest criteria for the design of aggregation rules for no net loss of ecosystem functions within a landscape context include the concepts of substitutability, cobenefits and trade‐offs, landscape constraints, heterogeneity, and the precautionary principle.     

When and how to use Q methodology to understand perspectives in conservation research

Understanding human perspectives is critical in a range of conservation contexts, for example, in overcoming conflicts or developing projects that are acceptable to relevant stakeholders. The Q methodology is a unique semiquantitative technique used to explore human perspectives. It has been applied for decades in other disciplines and recently gained traction in conservation. This paper helps researchers assess when Q is useful for a given conservation question and what its use involves. To do so, we explained the steps necessary to conduct a Q study, from the research design to the interpretation of results. We provided recommendations to minimize biases in conducting a Q study, which can affect mostly when designing the study and collecting the data. We conducted a structured literature review of 52 studies to examine in what empirical conservation contexts Q has been used. Most studies were subnational or national cases, but some also address multinational or global questions. We found that Q has been applied to 4 broad types of conservation goals: addressing conflict, devising management alternatives, understanding policy acceptability, and critically reflecting on the values that implicitly influence research and practice. Through these applications, researchers found hidden views, understood opinions in depth and discovered points of consensus that facilitated unlocking difficult disagreements. The Q methodology has a clear procedure but is also flexible, allowing researchers explore long‐term views, or views about items other than statements, such as landscape images. We also found some inconsistencies in applying and, mainly, in reporting Q studies, whereby it was not possible to fully understand how the research was conducted or why some atypical research decisions had been taken in some studies. Accordingly, we suggest a reporting checklist.     

Estimating abundance without recaptures of marked pallid sturgeon in the Mississippi River

Abundance estimates are essential for assessing the viability of populations and the risks posed by alternative management actions. An effort to estimate abundance via a repeated mark‐recapture experiment may fail to recapture marked individuals. We devised a method for obtaining lower bounds on abundance in the absence of recaptures for both panmictic and spatially structured populations. The method assumes few enough recaptures were expected to be missed by random chance. The upper Bayesian credible limit on expected recaptures allows probabilistic statements about the minimum number of individuals present in the population. We applied this method to data from a 12‐year survey of pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) in the lower and middle Mississippi River (U.S.A.). None of the 241 individuals marked was recaptured in the survey. After accounting for survival and movement, our model‐averaged estimate of the total abundance of pallid sturgeon ≥3 years old in the study area had a 1%, 5%, or 25% chance of being <4,600, 7,000, or 15,000, respectively. When we assumed fish were distributed in proportion to survey catch per unit effort, the farthest downstream reach in the survey hosted at least 4.5–15 fish per river kilometer (rkm), whereas the remainder of the reaches in the lower and middle Mississippi River hosted at least 2.6–8.5 fish/rkm for all model variations examined. The lower Mississippi River had an average density of pallid sturgeon ≥3 years old of at least 3.0–9.8 fish/rkm. The choice of Bayesian prior was the largest source of uncertainty we considered but did not alter the order of magnitude of lower bounds. Nil‐recapture estimates of abundance are highly uncertain and require careful communication but can deliver insights from experiments that might otherwise be considered a failure.     

不同终点检测5种双酚A类化合物对MCF-7的细胞毒性

双酚A(BPA)及其类似物作为聚碳酸酯的主要合成原料,一直是环境污染的重要问题.其雌激素效应是当今科学研究的重点,而毒性效应研究甚少.为评估环境中BPA类物质的毒性效应,实验采用四唑盐(MTS)比色法检测5种双酚A类化合物对人雌激素受体缺失乳腺癌细胞MCF-7(ER-)增殖活性的影响,2,4-二硝基苯肼法检测细胞乳酸脱氢酶(LDH)露出率,单细胞凝胶电泳(SCGE)检测DNA损伤.用非线性最小二乘法对MTS实验结果拟合剂量-效应曲线,表明所有的剂量-效应曲线(DRC)均能用Weibull或者Logit函数有效表征.以模型估算的半数效应浓度负对数值(pEC50)评估5种化合物的毒性大小依次为:BPB>BPC>TDP>BPE>BPA.LDH检测以及SCGE检测受试化合物对MCF-7(ER-)的损伤作用表明,在效应浓度EC20下,细胞核DNA轻微损伤,细胞增殖受轻微抑制;在效应浓度EC40下,细胞核DNA损伤严重,细胞增殖受到显著抑制,从而导致细胞膜通透性显著改变,使LDH大量露出.     

水钠锰矿的Mn（Ⅲ）分布及Na4P2O7溶液处理对其铅吸附性能的影响

以深入理解水钠锰矿结构中低价锰离子的含量及分布对其铅吸附性能的影响为目的,通过不同pH（pH为2、4、5）的焦磷酸钠溶液络合浸提酸性水钠锰矿结构中的Mn（Ⅱ）和Mn（Ⅲ）,研究了浸提锰离子的形态、含量、矿物的锰平均氧化度和Pb2＋的吸附量及其伴随Mn2＋、H＋释放量的变化.结果表明,锰平均氧化度为3.670的酸性水钠锰...     

K_2Cr_2O_7法和紫外分光光度法测定污水COD的对比研究

分别利用重铬酸钾法、重铬酸钾紫外分光光度法和紫外分光光度法测定污水的COD极差分别为2.43mg/L、1.19 mg/L和4.72 mg/L,RE%分别为0.84%、0.53%和1.36%,重铬酸钾紫外分光光度法和紫外分光光度法的线性范围分别在0~280 mg/L和0~400 mg/L.结果表明:重铬酸钾紫外分光光度法测定的准确度和精密度最高,简化了用标准溶液进行标定的步骤,缩短了实验时间;紫外分光光度法测定的结果准确度和精密度相对差一些,但是快速、操作简单、节省试剂,为广大环境工作者提供借鉴参考的实例。     

垃圾渗滤液中典型内分泌干扰物质(EDCs)细胞毒性分析

垃圾渗滤液的人类健康风险评估日益受到人们重视,也成为研究热点。本文采用一种新型高级氧化技术UV-Fenton处理渗滤液,并用人体乳腺癌细胞(MCF-7)评估处理过程中渗滤液原液以及渗滤液中典型内分泌干扰物质(EDCs)的细胞毒性,对垃圾渗滤液中EDCs的细胞毒性和变化规律进行了研究。结果表明渗滤液中的邻苯二甲酸二丁酯(DBP)、双酚A(BPA)、壬基酚(NP)是产生细胞毒性的主要物质,其毒性大小为DBPBPANP。在同样的氧化降解过程中显示出不同毒性变化规律,通过GC-MS分析,结果显示UV-Fenton过程中产生了大量的中间产物,这也是引起毒性变化的主要原因。实验结果也说明垃圾渗滤液细胞毒性可以通过UV-Fenton过程有效去除。     

Seasonal and inter-annual variation of Beryllium-7 deposition in birch-tree leaves and grass in the northeast upland area of the Czech Republic

The activity concentrations of Beryllium-7 (⁷Be), a naturally occurring radioisotope produced in the atmosphere, were measured in leaves of birch-trees, above-ground parts of grass, soil and rainwater in the mountain massive Kralicky Sneznik (the northeast of the Czech Republic, altitude about 750 m) in the years of 2005, 2006 and 2007. Dried and ground samples of the plants and soils, and water samples from wet deposition were used to determine the ⁷Be content using a semiconductor gamma spectrometer. The ⁷Be values ranged from 147.0 to 279.6 Bq kg⁻¹, from 48.7 to 740.8 Bq kg⁻¹, from 2.1 to 8.7 Bq kg⁻¹, and from 0.6 to 1.9 Bq kg⁻¹ in birch-tree leaves, grass samples, soils, and rainwater, respectively. Insignificant inter-annual variations but significant increase in the ⁷Be activity concentrations during the spring and summer months were observed in birch-tree leaves and grass samples. The seasonal variation of the ⁷Be concentrations in grass samples correlated (R² = 0.4663 and 0.6489) with precipitation. No similar correlation was found for ⁷Be in birch-tree leaves. Beryllium-7 content in birch-tree leaves and in aerial parts of grass was mainly caused by direct transport of ⁷Be from wet deposition into aerial parts of the observed plants.     

Short-term seasonal variability in Be wet deposition in a semiarid ecosystem of central Argentina

The ⁷Be wet deposition has been intensively investigated in a semiarid region at San Luis Province, Argentina. From November 2006 to May 2008, the ⁷Be content in rainwater was determined in 58 individual rain events, randomly comprising more than 50% of all individual precipitations at the sampling period. ⁷Be activity concentration in rainwater ranged from 0.7 ± 0.3 Bq l⁻¹ to 3.2 ± 0.7 Bq l⁻¹, with a mean value of 1.7 Bq l⁻¹ (sd = 0.53 Bq l⁻¹). No relationship was found between ⁷Be content in rainwater and (a) rainfall amount, (b) precipitation intensity and (c) elapsed time between events. ⁷Be ground deposition was found to be well correlated with rainfall amount (R = 0.92). For the precipitation events considered, the ⁷Be depositional fluxes ranged from 1.1 to 120 Bq m⁻², with a mean value of 32.7 Bq m⁻² (sd = 29.9 Bq m⁻²). The annual depositional flux was estimated at 1140 ± 120 Bq m⁻² y⁻¹. Assuming the same monthly deposition pattern and that the ⁷Be content in soil decreases only through radioactive decay, the seasonal variation of ⁷Be areal activity density in soil was estimated. Results of this investigation may contribute to a valuable characterization of ⁷Be input in the explored semiarid ecosystem and its potential use as tracer of environmental processes.     

趋势分析法评价苯系物标准气体的时间稳定性

根据GB/T 15000.3—2008设计了苯系物标准气体的时间稳定性研究方案,制备了4瓶苯系物标准气体,随着时间的推移进行测定并将结果制图,结果显示量值随时间没有显著的变化趋势。以线性关系为模型,计算线性直线的斜率和斜率的标准偏差,用t检验判断斜率是否显著来评价标准气体的稳定性。计算结果显示,所有斜率均不显著,因此该研究制备的苯系物标准气体能够稳定保存22个月。根据时间稳定性数据计算由不稳定性引起的不确定度,并讨论了这种计算不稳定性引起不确定度的方法对结果有放大的可能性。