Environmental resource management on the Munduruku savanna

For 13 years, the Munduruku were observed living in the savanna region located in South America in the Brazilian state of Pará. The area is near the point where the states of Pará, Amazonas, and Mato Grosso join their borders, and is utilized by about 200–300 Munduruku Amerindians. Their subsistence staple is manioc (a cassava), with fruits and meat included in the diet. Gold mining by Brazilians is a disruptive element in the resource management of the savanna habitat on the rim of the Amazon Basin. Direct and indirect results of mining interference are described. A study of the manner in which the Munduruku on the Cururu River (a tributary of the Tapajós) have handled the potentially disruptive rubber tapping suggests possible ways of reversing the interference. Several courses of action are discussed.     

Investigation into atmospheric deposition through precipitation studies at New Delhi (India)

Rain water samples were collected during the monsoon of 1994, using automatic wet-only and manual bulk collectors at a height of 30 m above the ground at the National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi. The average pH of the rain water was 5.7 and its chemical composition was dominated by NH₄ and SO₄. The free acidity of the rain water was found to be due to S04 rather than N03 and it was mainly neutralized by NH₄ and Ca. Calculation of sea salt fraction and enrichment factor revealed that this site is free for marine influence. On an average the bulk samples had 13% higher concentration than that of wet-only samples which may be due to the deposition of soil-derived particles during the 24 h period of exposure. The higher neutralization factors of Ca and Mg in bulk samples and highest dry deposition rates for Ca in comparison to other components, indicated the positive interference of dust particles in neutralization.     

Testing the validity of a critical sulfur and nitrogen load model in southern Ontario, Canada, using soil chemistry data from MARYP

The validity of a steady-state massbalance model (Arp et al., 1996; referred to asARP) was tested using physicochemical soil data fromthe Monitoring Acid Rain Youth Program (MARYP). FourARP sites were matched with ten MARYP sites accordingto proximity, bedrock type and subsoil pH to test thevalidity of the ARP model for critical loadexceedances. Soil solution pH, base concentration andAl concentration from MARYP sites, which were wellmatched to ARP sites, validated the modelled criticalload exceedances. Higher exceedance areas wereassociated with more acidic pH and lower base andhigher Al concentrations from matched MARYP sites andvice versa. One ARP site was inappropriately matchedwith MARYP sites and could not be validated using baseand Al concentrations. This study also confirmed thesouthern limit of the zero critical load exceedanceisopleth from the model. However, variability of theother exceedance isopleths was noted due to thelimited number of sites used in the model. Thevalidation of these sites in the ARP model and thezero critical load exceedance isopleth nonethelessallows greater confidence in using this model as amanagement tool for acidic deposition.     

Effects of heavy rainfall on the composition of airborne bacterial communities

Wet deposition scavenges particles and particle-associated bacteria from the air column, but the impact of raindrops on various surfaces on Earth causes emission of surface-associated bacteria into the air column. Thus, after rainfall, these two mechanisms are expected to cause changes in airborne bacterial community composition (BCC). In this study, aerosol samples were collected at a suburban site in Seoul, Korea before and after three heavy rainfall events in April, May, and July 2011. BCC was investigated by pyrosequencing the 16S rRNA gene in aerosol samples. Interestingly, the relative abundance of non-spore forming Actinobacteria operational taxonomic units (OTUs) was always higher in post-rain aerosol samples. In particular, the absolute and relative abundances of airborne Propionibacteriaceae always increased after rainfall, whereas those of airborne Firmicutes, including Carnobacteriaceae and Clostridiales, consistently decreased. Marine bacterial sequences, which were temporally important in aerosol samples, also decreased after rainfall events. Further, increases in pathogen-like sequences were often observed in post-rain air samples. Rainfall events seemed to affect airborne BCCs by the combined action of the two mechanisms, with potentially adverse effects on human and plant health.

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厦门市春季地面降水的物理与化学特征

1993年3月25日～4月8日,在厦门市后坑村完成了一次降水的物理与化学同步联合观测,分析了降水样品的pH值和离子化学组成?结果表明厦门市后坑村春季降水已被酸化,降水pH加权平均值是4。22?降水中主要离子是NH+4,Ca2+和SO2-₄?厦门市后坑村酸雨是硫酸型的,是由煤烟型大气污染造成的?降水的雨滴谱类型随雨强变化而不同,小雨时是单调递减型,雨强增大时,雨滴谱出现峰值?      

水溶性农药流失的影响因素及污染防治

根据实际室和田间试验结果，分析了水溶性农药稻田流失的影响因素，提出了对水稻生长前期的农药渗滤量、降雨径流量和排水流失量的估算。结果表明，仅渗滤与排水两项流失，占农药用量的１７．２８％～５９．３１％，调查表明，环境水体已受杀虫单的污染，最后提出了防治水溶性农药稻田流失的节水灌溉，控制排水等措施。     

大气中甲磺酸粒子的来源及其对环境的影响

讨论了大气中甲磺酸粒子的来源,分析了甲磺酸粒子的自然循环及其对酸雨形成和气候变化的影响。     

中国暴雨洪涝灾害的统计分析

根据近４０多年来的资料，对我国暴雨洪涝灾害进行了统计分析。分析表明，我国暴雨洪涝灾害面积大，且有随时间而增加的趋势；年均受涝面积最大的地区主要位于江淮流域；暴雨洪涝发生的基本规律，南方早，北方迟，６～８月为暴雨洪涝主要多发期。     

Brazil's Balbina Dam: Environment versus the legacy of the Pharaohs in Amazonia

The Balbina Dam in Brazil's state of Amazonas floods 2360 km² of tropical forest to generate an average of only 112.2 MW of electricity. The flat topography and small size of the drainage basin make output small. Vegetation has been left to decompose in the reservoir, resulting in acidic, anoxic water that will corrode the turbines. The shallow reservoir contains 1500 islands and innumerable stagnant bays where the water's residence time will be even longer than the average time of over one year. Balbina was built to supply electricity to Manaus, a city that has grown so much while the dam was under construction that other alternatives are already needed. Government subsidies explain the explosive growth, including Brazil's unified tariff for electricity. Alternative power sources for Manaus include transmission from more distant dams or from recently discovered oil and natural gas deposits. Among Balbina's impacts are loss of potential use of the forest and displacement of about one third of the surviving members of a much-persecuted Amerindian tribe: the Waimiri-Atroari. The dam was closed on 1 October 1987 and the first of five generators began operation in February 1989. The example of Balbina points to important ways that the decision-making process could be improved in Brazil and in the international funding agencies that have directly and indirectly contributed to the project. Environmental impact analyses must be completed prior to decisions on overall project implementation and must be free of influence from project proponents. The current environmental impact assessment system in Brazil, as in many other countries, has an undesirable influence on science policy, in addition to failing to address the underlying causes of environmentally destructive development processes and inability to halt irreversible projects like Balbina.     

Deposition and Leaching of Tebuthiuron on Sugar Cane Straw Applied with and Without Alkyl Polyglycoside Adjuvant

Abstract

A laboratory experiment was carried out aiming to study the effects of an alkyl polyglycoside adjuvant (APG) on deposition and leaching of the herbicide tebuthiuron applied on sugar cane straw. Tebuthiuron, at concentration of 1200 mg L^?1, was applied separately and in tank mix with the APG adjuvant, at concentrations of 0.07 and 0.09% (wt v^?1), using a spraying volume of 204 L ha^?1. A precipitation equivalent to 20 mm of rain was simulated, 24 h after the applications, to evaluate the herbicide leaching. The quantification of tebuthiuron was carried out by the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). It was observed that the addition of APG adjuvant at 0.07% (wt v^?1) provided an increase of 11.5% in the deposition of tebuthiuron on straw, reduction of 50.4% in the drift of the herbicide and it did not affect significantly the leached amount (68.5%), when compared with the treatment where tebuthiuron was applied alone (70.8%). At the concentration of 0.09% (wt v^?1), the APG adjuvant caused an increase of 22.7% in the deposition; it reduced the drift of the herbicide by 99.9% and reduced the leached amount by 7.6% thereby increasing the retention of the herbicide by straw.