Non-native Species <Emphasis Type="Italic">DO</Emphasis> Threaten the Natural Environment!

Sagoff [Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 18 (2005), 215–236] argues, against growing empirical evidence, that major environmental impacts of non-native species are unproven. However, many such impacts, including extinctions of both island and continental species, have both been demonstrated and judged by the public to be harmful. Although more public attention has been focused on non-native animals than non-native plants, the latter more often cause ecosystem-wide impacts. Increased regulation of introduction of non-native species is, therefore, warranted, and, contra Sagoff’s assertions, invasion biologists have recently developed methods that greatly aid prediction of which introduced species will harm the environment and thus enable more efficient regulation. The fact that introduced species may increase local biodiversity in certain instances has not been shown to result in desired changes in ecosystem function. In other locales, they decrease biodiversity, as they do globally.     

FOREST HARVESTING AND STREAMWATER INORGANIC CHEMISTRY IN WESTERN NORTH AMERICA: A REVIEW1

The solution chemistry of forested streams primarily in western North America is explained by considering the major factors that influence this chemistry — geological weathering; atmospheric precipitation and climate; precipitation acidity; terrestrial biological processes; physical/chemical reactions in the soil; and physical, chemical, and biological processes within streams. Due to the complexity of all these processes and their varying importance for different chemicals, stream water chemistry has exhibited considerable geographic and temporal variation and is difficult to model accurately. The impacts of forest harvesting on stream water chemistry were reviewed by considering the effects of harvesting on each of the important factors controlling this chemistry, as well as other factors influencing these impacts ‐ extent of the watershed harvested, presence of buffer strips between streams and harvested areas, nature of post‐harvesting site preparation, revegetation rate following harvesting, pre‐harvesting soil fertility, and soil buffering capacity. These effects have sometimes reinforced one another but have sometimes been counterbalancing or slight so that harvesting impacts on stream water chemistry have been highly variable. Eight major knowledge gaps were identified, two of which — a scarcity of detailed stream chemical budgets and knowledge of longitudinal variation in stream chemistry — relate to undisturbed streams, while the remainder relate to forest harvesting effects.     

巢湖流域河流鱼类群落的时空分布

基于2013年4月和10月对巢湖流域66个河道样点的调查数据,初步研究了巢湖流域河流鱼类群落的时空变化特征。主要研究结果显示,鱼类多样性无显著性的水系间、生态分区间的变化,但随季节和河流级别显著变化:10月份的个体数显著高于4月份,2级河流的物种数和个体数均显著大于1级、3级和4级河流。鱼类群落结构的季节动态显著,随生态分区显著变化,但不受水系、河流级别的显著影响。在二级生态分区水平上,仅西南森林生态亚区的鱼类群落结构与其他5个生态亚区的显著差异;宽鳍鱲、吻虾虎鱼等在西南森林生态亚区具有更高多度,而鲫、鰐、鲤等物种在其他生态亚区多度更高。     

城镇化下平原水系变化及河网连通性影响研究

针对平原区城镇化背景下水系减少及连通受阻等下垫面变化引起的洪涝加剧问题,综合考虑水系结构和水力特性等因素,建立满足行洪排涝需求的平原水系连通度量方法,并以浙东沿海平原河网区为例,分析了城镇化下平原水系特征变化及其对河网连通度的影响。结果表明:1近20a来研究区水系数量和结构复杂性均存在不同程度的衰减,河网密度和水面率分别减少20%和30%左右,水系尤其是低等级河道的减少导致河网结构趋于骨干化;2河网连通度受水面率等数量特征和水系空间连接结构的共同影响,在水系数量持续减少情况下,整个河网连通度呈现先减少后增加的趋势,说明了骨干河道工程对水系空间结构特征的优化,可缓解水系减弱对河网连通的负面效应;3建立的河网连通度方法合理反映了水系数量和结构变化下的河网连通度演变规律,以及水系变化下区域排涝能力的空间差异特征,具有操作性强特点。     

Hot,Salty Water: A Confluence of Issues in Managing Stormwater Runoff for Urban Streams

Research increasingly highlights cause and effect relationships between urbanization and stream conditions are complex and highly variable across physical and biological regions. Research also demonstrates stormwater runoff is a key causal agent in altering stream conditions in urban settings. More specifically, thermal pollution and high salt levels are two consequences of urbanization and subsequent runoff. This study describes a demonstration model populated with data from a high gradient headwaters stream. The model was designed to explain surface water‐groundwater dynamics related to salinity and thermal pollution. Modeled scenarios show long‐term additive impacts from salt application and suggest reducing flow rates, as stormwater management practices are typically designed to do, have the potential to greatly reduce salt concentrations and simultaneously reduce thermal pollution. This demonstration model offers planners and managers reason to be confident that stormwater management efforts can have positive impacts.     

基于生态—经济协调发展的乡镇空间功能分区

按提供产品的类别,乡镇尺度空间由生态空间、农业空间和建设空间组成,这3部分空间共同承载着乡镇社会经济发展的重任。坚持生态保护对发展的约束与支撑功能并存的理念,建立以生态约束为前提,并与开发建设协同推进的分区指标体系、技术方法及应用模式,是生态文明战略下空间功能分区的有益探讨。以南京市六合区雄州街道为案例,借助Arc GIS空间分析工具,采用互斥性矩阵分类法,通过对生态约束、农业发展、工业发展与人居环境等建设开发适宜性的单项与综合评价的集成,构建生态、农业和建设空间布局的总体架构,实现了街镇空间功能的整合与科学定位;划分禁止建设区、限制建设区、适宜建设区和已建设区等四大类功能区,并提出各功能区的生态环境保护措施与产业发展导向,为实施区域发展与生态保护的协同推进提供了依据。     

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.     

常州市臭氧污染传输路径和潜在源区

利用NCEP全球再分析资料和HYSPLIT4模式,计算了2013—2015年常州市臭氧(O_3)超标日的气流后向轨迹。结合聚类分析方法和常州市PM2.5、PM10、SO2、NO2、O_3数据,分析了O_3超标日不同类型气团来源对各污染物浓度的影响,并利用引入权重因子后的潜在污染源贡献函数分析了影响常州市O_3超标的潜在污染源区分布特征。结果表明:常州市O_3超标期间易受到东南和西南方向气流影响,其中从东海和黄海途经浙江东北部、上海、江苏南部等地的东南气流占比达50%以上。自内陆途经黄山-湖州-宜兴到常州的气流对应的O_3平均质量浓度最高,为116μg/m3。自山东经枣庄-宿迁-淮安-泰州-苏州-无锡到常州的气流对应的O_3平均质量浓度最低,为78μg/m3,但该气流对应的SO2和NO2平均值为各聚类中的最高。影响常州市O_3的潜在污染源区主要在常州周边200 km以内的区域,且集中在从南京至上海的长江下游沿线区域和杭州湾区域;其中太湖湖区为重点污染源源区之一。O_3超标日影响常州NO2的潜在污染源区主要集中在江苏南部、浙江东北部和上海3个区域,太湖周边的常州、无锡、苏州和湖州等几个临近城市为潜在的重点污染源区。与影响常州O_3的WPSCF高值区相比,影响NO2的高值区分布范围更大、距离更远。影响常州O_3的潜在污染源区分布,与长江三角洲地区人为源大气污染物的高排放区域较为一致,说明长江三角洲地区的O_3污染与本区域的人为源大气污染物排放有着极为密切的关联。     

Injury risk functions for frontal oblique collisions

Objective: The objective of this article was the construction of injury risk functions (IRFs) for front row occupants in oblique frontal crashes and a comparison to IRF of nonoblique frontal crashes from the same data set.

Method: Crashes of modern vehicles from GIDAS (German In-Depth Accident Study) were used as the basis for the construction of a logistic injury risk model. Static deformation, measured via displaced voxels on the postcrash vehicles, was used to calculate the energy dissipated in the crash. This measure of accident severity was termed objective equivalent speed (oEES) because it does not depend on the accident reconstruction and thus eliminates reconstruction biases like impact direction and vehicle model year. Imputation from property damage cases was used to describe underrepresented low-severity crashes―a known shortcoming of GIDAS. Binary logistic regression was used to relate the stimuli (oEES) to the binary outcome variable (injured or not injured).

Results: IRFs for the oblique frontal impact and nonoblique frontal impact were computed for the Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale (MAIS) 2+ and 3+ levels for adults (18–64 years). For a given stimulus, the probability of injury for a belted driver was higher in oblique crashes than in nonoblique frontal crashes. For the 25% injury risk at MAIS 2+ level, the corresponding stimulus for oblique crashes was 40 km/h but it was 64 km/h for nonoblique frontal crashes.

Conclusions: The risk of obtaining MAIS 2+ injuries is significantly higher in oblique crashes than in nonoblique crashes. In the real world, most MAIS 2+ injuries occur in an oEES range from 30 to 60 km/h.     

Emergency shutdown of fluidized bed reaction systems

With several industrial applications of fluidized bed technology recently commercialized worldwide, it becomes essential to develop safe operation methods for fluidized bed reaction systems (FBRSs) to prevent any influence on their process values, which lead to accidents. To preventing any disaster or malfunction in an FBRS, an emergency shutdown system (ESD) is initiated, closing the reaction system in case of any abnormality by effectively isolating the flammable gas. However, an ESD is also prone to the “inactivation problem,” in which in the case of failure it initiates the emergency shutdown, even when the operating conditions of the reaction system are abnormal. It is also vulnerable to a “malfunction problem,” where the emergency shutdown is performed even when the operating conditions of the reaction system are normal. In this study, these problems were solved by investigating a reaction system through the monitoring of appropriate parameters and setting up of trigger levels, which reflect the uniqueness of an FBRS using an ESD. The parameters were identified by analyzing the scenario leading to an accident. The trigger levels were determined as the points at which the loss is smaller in the presence of an ESD, as compared to the value of the loss function in the presence or absence of an ESD. Furthermore, the ESD design model was applied as a case study in the ammoxidation process of propylene. The results showed that an ESD can prevent an approximately 8 billion yen of loss due to accidents in plant operations, against an investment of 200 million yen.