Toxic metals in sewage sludge-amended soils: has promotion of beneficial use discounted the risks?

Land application of contaminated waste products has been defended as beneficial use by some scientists and regulators, based on the premise that the behavior of any toxins accumulated in soils from this practice is reasonably well understood and will not have detrimental agronomic or environmental impacts into the foreseeable future. In this review, I use the case of toxic metals in sewage sludges applied to agricultural land to illustrate that metal behavior in soils and plant uptake is difficult to generalize because it is strongly dependent on the nature of the metal, sludge, soil properties and crop. Nevertheless, permitted agricultural loadings of toxic metals from sewage sludges are typically regulated using the sole criterion of total metal loading or concentrations in soils. Several critical generalizing assumptions about the behavior of sludge-borne metals in soil-crop systems, built into the US EPA risk assessment for metals, have tended to underestimate risks and are shown not to be well justified by published research. It is argued that, in the absence of a basic understanding of metal behavior in each specific situation, a more precautionary approach to toxic metal additions to soils is warranted.     

Eco-environmental information system of Tianjin City─Design, implementation and applications

Ｅｃｏ－ｅｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔａｌｉｎｆｏｒｍａｔｉｏｎｓｙｓｔｅｍｏｆＴｉａｎｊｉｎＣｉｔｙ─Ｄｅｓｉｇｎ，ｉｍｐｌｅｍｅｎｔａｔｉｏｎａｎｄａｐｐｌｉｃａｔｉｏｎｓＨｕＸｉａｏｌｉｎ；ＹａｎｇＢａｎｇｊｉｅ；ＺｏｎｇＹａｏｇｕａｎｇ；ＬｕＬｉ（Ｒ...     

Landscape structure and land uese on county level in northeastern Yunnan Province of China—a case study of Huize County

Taking Huize County as an example, the paper analyzed the landscape structure(landscape element structure, landscape type structure, landscape spatial structure, landscape succession structure) and the relations between landscape structure and land use. It was pointed out that the agriculture should be developed in harmony with the landscape structure in the study area.     

我国城市污泥中醚类和卤代烃类有机污染物的初步研究

应用GC／MS联机检测技术对我国大陆和香港共11个城市污泥中4种醚类和4种卤代烃类化合物进行分析。结果表明，醚类化合物的总含量在0－7．743mg/kg之间，以双（2－氯异丙基）醚为主，主要分布在兰州污泥和广州污泥中；卤代烃类化合物的总含量在0．007－3．237mg/kg之间，以六氯环戊二烯为主，主要分布在兰州污泥、佛山污泥和沙田（香港）污泥中。污泥中醚类和卤代烃类化合物的种类及其含量与污水来源、污水处理方式、污泥类型、化合物的结构和理化性质等因素有关。     

Total nitrogen and community turnover determine phosphorus use efficiency of phytoplankton along nutrient gradients in plateau lakes

Numerous studies support that biodiversity predict most to ecosystem functioning, but whether other factors display a more significant direct impact on ecosystem functioning than biodiversity remains to be studied. We investigated 398 samples of the phytoplankton phosphorus resource use efficiency (RUE_P = chlorophyll-a concentration/dissolved phosphate) across two seasons in nine plateau lakes in Yunnan Province, China. We identified the main contributors to phytoplankton RUE_P and analyzed their potential influences on RUE_P at different lake trophic states. The results showed that total nitrogen (TN) contributed the most to RUE_P among the nine lakes, whereas community turnover (measured as community dissimilarity) explained the most to RUE_P variation across the two seasons. Moreover, TN also influenced RUE_P by affecting biodiversity. Species richness (SR), functional attribute diversity (FAD2), and dendrogram-based functional diversity (FDc) were positively correlated with RUE_P in both seasons, while evenness was negatively correlated with RUE_P at the end of the rainy season. We also found that the effects of biodiversity and turnover on RUE_P depended on the lake trophic states. SR and FAD2 were positively correlated with RUE_P in all three trophic states. Evenness showed a negative correlation with RUE_P at the eutrophic and oligotrophic levels, but a positive correlation at the mesotrophic level. Turnover had a negative influence on RUE_P at the eutrophic level, but a positive influence at the mesotrophic and oligotrophic levels. Overall, our results suggested that multiple factors and nutrient states need to be considered when the ecosystem functioning predictors and the biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships are investigated.     

Ecological networks and greenways in Europe: reasoning and concepts

The paper gives an overview of approaches towards ecological networks throughout Europe.It does not intend to present a complete picture,but to highlight comon developments within countries and regions and show common principles and differences between countries and regions that have to be taken into account when developing a joint European intiative,Countries or regions that have not been included can be active in the same way ,but information was not accessible to be authors for different reasons.This overview shows the comparable trends in decline of landscapes and the diversity in approaches to biodiversity conservation and nature conservation planning.Understanding the differences and common issues are of utmost imprtance to generalise common principles and to understand the way neighbours and other European partners approach problems.     

The influence of source and timing of nitrogen fertilizers on yield and nitrogen use efficiency of four sweet potato cultivars

Nitrogen (N) availability is a very important determinant of crop yield. It is also one of the most expensive inputs in crop production. Thus, the efficient management of N by farmers with limited resource is a very important part of successful soil and crop management system. A field study was conducted on a Norfolk sandy loam soil at the George Washington Carver Agricultural Experiment Station, Tuskegee, AL, to evaluate the influence of fertilizer source and timing on the yield of four sweet potato [Ipomoea batatas (L.)] cultivars. Two N sources (urea, CO(NH₂)₂ and ammonium nitrate, NH₄NO₃), four sweet potato cultivars (‘Georgia Jet’, GA-Jet; ‘TU-82-155’, TU-155; ‘TU-1892’; and ‘Rojo Blanco’, Rojo-Bl) and three times (zero, single, and split applications) were used in a factorial designed experiment. Plants were harvested after 80 and 120 days and total and marketable yields determined. Nitrogen recovery efficiency, yield efficiency and physiological efficiency were also determined. Total and marketable yields of early maturing cultivars were significantly higher than of late maturing cultivars (P<0.05). The single application of N resulted in significantly higher yield in storage roots than split application (P<0.05). Physiological efficiency values were highly correlated with total marketable yields. Recovery rates increased with time. Late maturing cultivars tended to have higher N recovery and physiological efficiency than early maturing cultivars. These results suggest that cultivar maturity group should play an important part in N fertilization recommendations for sweet potato.     

Climate anomalies, Indonesian vegetation fires and terrestrial carbon emissions

There was a widespread misconception about the causes of vegetation and land fires in Indonesia. At a certain point, the public perceived that fires and the associated haze pollution were primarily caused by smallholders' agricultural activities. In fact, there was a variety of land-use activities including large-scale land clearing following deforestation for further land development. El Niño events and the associated dry weather were sometimes quoted by officials and the media as the cause of fires. The fire episodes from 1980 to 2000 were analysed in connection with climate anomalies and the implementation of land-use policies related to forest conversions. The analysis employs long-term climatic and sea surface temperature data to reconstruct climate distributions and anomalies including Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and Outgoing Long-wave Radiation (OLR). In this study, the terrestrial carbon emissions from vegetation fires were estimated based on official statistical data on area burnt. The possible incentives for sustainable land management were discussed in the light of fire prevention. The underlying cause neglected in the discussion of Indonesian vegetation fires was forest and land development policy. Legitimated in the early 1980s, it drove massive forest conversions and the use of fires for land clearing. El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) provided dry weather suitable for biomass burning and widespread fire, but it was hardly the cause of fires. The estimate of area burnt in the big fires in 1997 was about 11.6 Mha, resulting in carbon release of 1.45 Gt, equivalent to 0.73 ppmv of CO₂, or almost half the annual global atmospheric CO₂ growth. Based on the current carbon market price such emissions by the 1997 fire episode were worth around US$ 3.6 billion.     

陡坡地灌桑垄槽栽培研究

陡坡地灌桑垄槽栽培研究结果,免除土壤侵蚀的危害,其５０ｃｍ、１００ｃｍ土壤中,比对照区持水量高１０.２０％～３３.６７％、８.２７％～６５.３７％,含全氮率为对照的９０％,含全磷率高２.９％、２６.２％,含全钾率高３.１８％、８.０１％,而水解氮均为对照的６１.５％,速效磷高较对照３９.０２％、９７.７２％,速效钾为对照的９１.４８％、９２.５４％。公顷产桑叶量和蚕茧量均较对照高５～１０倍,经济效益较对照高１１.８８倍。     

城市土地利用下的植物物种资源特征分析

根据对前联邦德国卡尔斯鲁厄市城市自生植被的调查资料,分析了城市植物区系的特征及其与人类活动影响的关系。结论为：①城市植物区系在优势科组成和生态特征方面与其所在地区自然植被明显不同,并在城市之间表现出较大的相似性；②人类活动和城市热岛效应对城市植物区系及其生态特征的作用明显；③城市土地利用和城市绿地管理对许多物种的生存构成威胁