Assessing Respiratory Morbidity Through Pollution Status and Meteorological Conditions for Delhi

The study focuses on assessing the status of respiratory morbidity in Delhi over a four years period from 2000–2003. An attempt was made to investigate the role of important pollutants (SO₂, NO₂, SPM and RSPM) and various meteorological factors (temperature minimum & maximum, relative humidity at 0830 and 1730 hrs. and wind speed) in being responsible for respiratory admissions on account of COPD, asthma and emphysema. The study showed that winter months had greater exposure risk as pollutants often get trapped in the lower layers of atmosphere resulting in high concentrations. Statistical analysis revealed that two pollutants have significant positive correlation with the number of COPD cases viz., SPM (r = 0.474; p < 0.01) and RSPM (r = 0.353; p < 0.05), while a meteorological factor temperature (minimum) has a significant negative correlation (r = −0.318; p < 0.05) with COPD. Stepwise multiple regression analysis was performed for COPD as dependent variable and R² value of 0.33 was obtained indicating that SPM and RH(1730) were able to explain 33 percent variability in COPD. The partial correlation of SPM and RH(1730) on COPD was higher than any other combination and therefore they can be regarded as important contributing variables on COPD.     

Hermaphrodite sex role preferences: the role of partner body size, mating history and female fitness in the sea slug Chelidonura sandrana

Costs and benefits associated with matings and the effects of mating frequency on fitness commonly differ between the sexes. As a result, outcrossing simultaneous hermaphrodites may prefer to copulate in the more rewarding sex role, generating conflicts over sperm donation and sperm receipt between mates. Because recent sex role preference models remain controversial, we contrast here some of their assumptions and predictions in the sea slug Chelidonura sandrana. For this hermaphrodite with sperm storage and internal fertilisation, risk-averse models assume that fitness pay-offs are constantly higher in the female than in the male function in any single mating. Moreover, excluding mutual partner assessment, these models predict male mating behaviour to be independent of receiver traits. The competing gender ratio hypothesis assumes that relative fitness pay-offs, and thus the preferred mating roles, vary and may reverse between matings and predicts that ejaculation strategies co-vary with receiver quality. We found that field mating rates of C. sandrana substantially exceeded what is required to maintain female fertility and fecundity, indicating large variation in direct female benefits between matings. We further demonstrate that male copulation duration adaptively increased with partner body size (i.e. fecundity) but decreased with recent partner promiscuity. These findings are compatible with the gender ratio hypothesis but contradict risk-averse models.     

红壤丘陵区土地利用变化对土壤质量影响

以鄂南红壤丘陵典型区的三个村为代表 ,应用地理信息系统对 1981和 1998年两个时期的土地利用变化和土壤质量进行对比研究 ,分析了土地利用变化对土壤质量的影响。结果表明 :研究区土地利用结构总体上具有农业型特点 ,17a间水田减少了 2 1% ;其余的利用方式则有不同幅度的增加 ,居民地、水域、林地、园地和旱地增加了 4 2 .2 %、99.6 %、8%、5 6 .8%和 8%。土壤质量有从优劣两端向中等靠拢的趋势 ,17a后 、 、 和 等地面积分别减少 18.6 %、12 .2 %、2 9.6 %和 2 5 % ; 等地增幅达 5 1.9%。土地利用方式及管理措施是影响土壤质量演变方向和强度的关键因子 ,园地和林地的土壤质量大多得到明显改善 ,水田的Δ SQI多数呈下降的趋势 ,旱地的土壤质量变化比较复杂 ,与土地利用结构相关。依此 ,本文探讨了定向培育土壤质量的途径     

环境资源的量化模型及估算指标体系

本文依据区划环境标准，提出了环境资源的成本概念－环境成本。     

Quality and Quantity of Suspended Particles in Rivers: Continent-Scale Patterns in the United States

Suspended solids or sediments can be pollutants in rivers, but they are also an important component of lotic food webs. Suspended sediment data for rivers were obtained from a United States–wide water quality database for 622 stations. Data for particulate nitrogen, suspended carbon, discharge, watershed area, land use, and population were also used. Stations were classified by United States Environmental Protection Agency ecoregions to assess relationships between terrestrial habitats and the quality and quantity of total suspended solids (TSS). Results indicate that nephelometric determinations of mean turbidity can be used to estimate mean suspended sediment values to within an order of magnitude (r² = 0.89). Water quality is often considered impaired above 80 mg TSS L^–1, and 35% of the stations examined during this study had mean values exceeding this level. Forested systems had substantially lower TSS and somewhat higher carbon-to-nitrogen ratios of suspended materials. The correlation between TSS and discharge was moderately well described by an exponential relationship, with the power of the exponent indicating potential acute sediment events in rivers. Mean sediment values and power of the exponent varied significantly with ecoregion, but TSS values were also influenced by land use practices and geomorphological characteristics. Results confirm that, based on current water quality standards, excessive suspended solids impair numerous rivers in the United States.     

强化环境监测管理提高环境监测地位

总结和回顾了我国环境监测工作开展近三十年来所取得的非凡成绩,阐述了目前环境监测工作同整个环境保护事业相比较,同国外环境监测相比较存在的不足,并进一步提出了以"强化环境监测管理,提高环境监测地位"为核心的几点建议,旨在使我国的环境监测工作能更好地为环境保护和经济建设服务.     

Air Pollution Effects on Forest Trees in Balikesir,Turkey

Air pollution has become an actual problem in Balikesir because of rapid urbanisation and increasing of the polluting sources. Air pollutionproblems occur under the unfavorable meteorological conditions which increase in frequency of occurrence in winter due to use of low quality lignite coals for heating. The `Protection of Air Quality' in Turkey dated 1986 is based on the human health criteria. But the critical limit values are lethal for the forest trees as far as SO₂ is concerned. The field observations showed that leaves of the trees have yellow spots indicating acid burns in Balikesir. This study aims at determining the relationships between the SO₂ concentrationsin the air under selected climatic conditions, and the effects of air pollution on forest trees in Balikesir. Samples of leaves were collected from the City Parks in Balikesir, Deirmenboaz forested area located 10 km far fromBalikesiron the Balikesir-Bursa highway, and from the forestation areas near the Balikesir-Edremit highway. Sulfur contents of the leaves were very high especially in the city (2650–5300 g m^-3).Samples from other areas had values lower than this range but above the usual values (850–3612 g m^-3). The diameter increments of the trees were found to be lower and these results clearly showed the adverse impacts. Negative correlations were found between these sulfur concentrations and the daily mean temperatures and wind speeds. Positive correlation was seen between these concentrations and pressures, humidities. Emission sources must be controlled in order to safeguard the forests which protects the soil, facilitate water production, assimilate carbon dioxide in air and produce oxygen. It must be considered that the problems are not only regional but have a global identity.     

Watershed scale assessment of nitrogen and phosphorus loadings in the Indian River Lagoon basin,Florida

There is a growing evidence that the ecological and biological integrity of the lagoon has declined during the last 50 years, probably due to the decline in water quality. Establishment of a watershed scale seagrass-based nutrient load assessment is the major aim of water quality management in the Indian River Lagoon (IRL). Best estimate loadings incorporate wet and dry deposition, surface water, groundwater, sediment nutrient flux, and point source effluent discharge data. On the average, the IRL is receiving annual external loadings of 832, 645 and 94,476kg of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP), respectively, from stormwater discharges and agricultural runoff. The average internal cycling of TN and TP from sediment deposits in the IRL was about 42,640kg TN and 1050kg TPyr(-1). Indirect evidence suggests that atmospheric deposition has played a role in the ongoing nutrient enrichment in the IRL. The estimated total atmospheric deposition of TN and TP was about 32,940 and 824kgyr(-1), while groundwater contribution was about 84,920 and 24,275kgyr(-1), respectively, to the surface waters of the IRL. The estimated annual contribution of point effluent discharge was about 60,408kg TN and 7248kg TP. In total, the IRL basin is receiving an annual loading of about 1,053,553kg TN and 127,873kg TP. With these results, it is clear that the current rate of nutrient loadings is causing a shift in the primary producers of the IRL from macrophyte to phytoplankton- or algal-based system. The goal is to reverse that shift, to attain and maintain a macrophyte-based estuarine system in the IRL.     

A VSA-Based Strategy for Placing Conservation Buffers in Agricultural Watersheds

Conservation buffers have the potential to reduce agricultural nonpoint source pollution and improve terrestrial wildlife habitat, landscape biodiversity, flood control, recreation, and aesthetics. Conservation buffers, streamside areas and riparian wetlands are being used or have been proposed to control agricultural nonpoint source pollution. This paper proposes an innovative strategy for placing conservation buffers based on the variable source area (VSA) hydrology. VSAs are small, variable but predictable portion of a watershed that regularly contributes to runoff generation. The VSA-based strategy involves the following three steps: first, identifying VSAs in landscapes based on natural characteristics such as hydrology, land use/cover, topography and soils; second, targeting areas within VSAs for conservation buffers; third, refining the size and location of conservation buffers based on other factors such as weather, environmental objectives, available funding and other best management practices. Building conservation buffers in VSAs allows agricultural runoff to more uniformly enter buffers and stay there longer, which increases the buffers capacity to remove sediments and nutrients. A field-scale example is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the within-VSA conservation buffer scenario relative to a typical edge-of-field buffer scenario. The results enhance the understanding of hydrological processes and interactions between agricultural lands and conservation buffers in agricultural landscapes, and provide practical guidance for land resource managers and conservationists who use conservation buffers to improve water quality and amenity values of agricultural landscape.     

Assessing Biological Integrity Using Freshwater Fish and Decapod Habitat Selection Functions

Comparison between the number of taxa observed and the number expected in the absence of human impact is an easily understood and ecologically meaningful measure of biological integrity. This approach has been successfully applied to the assessment of the biological quality of flowing water sites using macroinvertebrates with the river invertebrate and classification system (RIVPACS) and its derivatives. In this paper, we develop a method similar to the RIVPACS predictive model approach to assess biological integrity at flowing-water sites using freshwater fish and decapod assemblages. We extend the RIVPACS approach by avoiding the biotic classification step and model each of the individual species separately. These assemblages were sampled at 118 least impacted (reference) sites in the Auckland region, New Zealand. Individual discriminant models based on the presence or absence of the 12 most common fish and decapod species were developed. Using the models, predictions were made using environmental measures at new sites to yield the probability of the capture of each of the 12 species, and these were combined to predict the assemblage expected at sites. The expected assemblage was compared to that observed using an observed over expected ratio (O/E). The models were evaluated using a number of internal tests including jackknifing, data partitioning, and the degree to which O/E values differed between reference sites and a set of sites perceived to be impaired by human impacts.