Monitoring the transport of biomass burning emissions in South America

The atmospheric transport of biomass burning emissions in the South American and African continents is being monitored annually using a numerical simulation of air mass motions; we use a tracer transport capability developed within RAMS (Regional Atmospheric Modeling System) coupled to an emission model. Mass conservation equations are solved for carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate material (PM2.5). Source emissions of trace gases and particles associated with biomass burning activities in tropical forest, savanna and pasture have been parameterized and introduced into the model. The sources are distributed spatially and temporally and assimilated daily using the biomass burning locations detected by remote sensing. Advection effects (at grid scale) and turbulent transport (at sub-grid scale) are provided by the RAMS parameterizations. A sub-grid transport parameterization associated with moist deep and shallow convection, not explicitly resolved by the model due to its low spatial resolution, has also been introduced. Sinks associated with the process of wet and dry removal of aerosol particles and chemical transformation of gases are parameterized and introduced in the mass conservation equation. An operational system has been implemented which produces daily 48-h numerical simulations (including 24-h forecasts) of CO and PM2.5, in addition to traditional meteorological fields. The good prediction skills of the model are demonstrated by comparisons with time series of PM2.5 measured at the surface.     

Estimating the Effect of Protected Lands on the Development and Conservation of Their Surroundings

Abstract:  The fate of private lands is widely seen as key to the fate of biodiversity in much of the world. Organizations that work to protect biodiversity on private lands often hope that conservation actions on one piece of land will leverage the actions of surrounding landowners. Few researchers have, however, examined whether protected lands do in fact encourage land conservation nearby or how protected lands affect development in the surrounding landscape. Using spatiotemporal data sets on land cover and land protection for three sites (western North Carolina, central Massachusetts, and central Arizona), we examined whether the existence of a protected area correlates with an increased rate of nearby land conservation or a decreased rate of nearby land development. At all sites, newly protected conservation areas tended to cluster close to preexisting protected areas. This may imply that the geography of contemporary conservation actions is influenced by past decisions on land protection, often made for reasons far removed from concerns about biodiversity. On the other hand, we found no evidence that proximity to protected areas correlates with a reduced rate of nearby land development. Indeed, on two of our three sites the development rate was significantly greater in regions with more protected land. This suggests that each conservation action should be justified and valued largely for what is protected on the targeted land, without much hope of broader conservation leverage effects.     

Control division of agricultural non-point source pollution at medium-sized watershed scale in Southeast China

This paper presents the study carried out for controlling agricultural non-point source pollution (NSP) in a medium-sized watershed covering 1.47 × 10⁴ km² in Southeast China using quantitative analysis coupled with geographic information system (GIS), universal soil loss equation (USLE), soil conservation service-curve number (SCS-CN), nutrient loss equations, and annualized agricultural nonpoint source model (AnnAGNPS). Based on the quantitative results derived from GIS and environmental models, five control division units were generated for NSP control in Jiulong River watershed, namely, controlling unit for soil losses, controlling unit for livestock breeding and soil losses, controlling unit for excessive fertilizer use and livestock breeding, controlling unit for soil losses and fertilizer use, and controlling unit for excessive fertilizer use and soil losses. This study proved that integrating GIS with environmental models can be adopted to efficiently evaluate major sources and contributors of NSP, and identify the critical source areas of NSP, which enables adjusting measures to local conditions by further control division units developed through such study for control and management of water quality degradation induced by NSP in the Jiulong River watershed. __________ Translated from Research of Environmental Sciences, 2006, 19(4): 119–124 [译自: 环境科学研究]     

江苏沿江地区20年来农业土壤资源缩减特征

在遥感和地理信息技术支持下,对江苏沿江地区1984~2003年城镇扩张侵占农业土壤资源的特征进行了研究。结果表明,1984~2000年,江苏沿江地区农业土壤资源缩减主要围绕重要城市,缩减图斑面积大,且区域分布相对平衡。2001~2003年,农业土壤资源缩减速率显著增快且各地市呈不平衡发展,除南京外主要集中在常州、江阴、泰兴、常熟地区。20年来江苏沿江地区农业土壤资源缩减了891%,缩减面积达到 190 713 hm2,所有土壤类型均受到城镇扩张影响,其中水稻土被侵占的面积最大。该区域农业土壤资源按肥力质量可分为5等,1984~2000年,Ⅰ~Ⅴ等土壤资源受城镇扩张影响程度依次降低。2001~2003年,Ⅰ、Ⅲ等土壤资源受城镇扩张影响程度明显降低,而Ⅱ、Ⅳ、Ⅴ等土壤资源受城镇扩张影响程度增加,按受影响程度排序变为Ⅴ、Ⅱ、Ⅳ、Ⅲ、Ⅰ。     

预处理烟束曲霉死菌体与Cr的相互作用及机理

采用投加预处理烟束曲霉(Aspergillus fumisynnematus)死菌体的方法去除含铬废水中的Cr(Ⅵ).考察了不同溶液初始pH值、Cr(Ⅵ)初始浓度、死菌体投加量及温度条件下,CTAB预处理烟束曲霉死菌体对Cr(Ⅵ)还原速率和总Cr的平衡吸附率的影响,并根据红外光谱分析初步探讨了CTAB预处理烟束曲霉死菌体与Cr的相互作用机理.结果表明:CTAB预处理烟束曲霉死菌体对总Cr有良好的吸附效果,在30℃.150 r·min-1,pH 2.0的条件下,在100mL浓度20gg·L-1的Cr(Ⅵ)溶液中投加0.5 g CTAB预处理烟束曲霉死菌体,2h内总Cr最大吸附率达到了72%,约为原死菌体总Cr吸附率的2倍,但反应达到平衡后的总Cr吸附率下降到30%左右.吸附平衡后的解吸实验结果表明Cr(Ⅵ)几乎全部被还原为Cr(Ⅲ).在实验pH值范围内,pH值越低、Cr(Ⅵ)初始浓度越小、预处理死菌体投加量越大以及温度越高,越有利于Cr(Ⅵ)的还原;pH值越高、Cr(Ⅵ)初始浓度越小、预处理死菌体投加量越大以及温度越低,对总Cr的平衡吸附率越大.预处理死菌体与Cr的相互作用主要是氨基和羧基与不同形态Cr的吸附作用以及菌体对Cr(Ⅵ)的还原作用.     

珠江三角洲典型城市农业土壤及蔬菜中的多环芳烃分布

2003年5月采集佛山顺德区8个乡镇36个土壤以及29个蔬菜样品,采用气相色谱.质谱仪对其中的16种优先控制多环芳烃(PAH.)进行分析.结果显示,蔬菜中PAHs的平均含量为183.0μg·kg-1,蔬菜中主要的PAHs为低分子量的菲、蒽、(屈)、芘.萘;不同种类蔬菜间PAHs含量差异很大,叶菜类较瓜果、豆荚类蔬菜中的PAHs含量高,这主要取决于蔬菜种类间不同的生长结构特征.蔬菜中PAHs含量与土壤中PAHs含量不相关,蔬菜中的PAHs含量与PAHs的辛醇/水分配系数(10gKow)大小密切相关.土壤中PAHs平均含量为233.0μg·kg-1土壤中主要的PAHs是菲、荧蒽、芘、(屈)、苯并[b]荧蒽,多数土壤中PAHs含量高于蔬菜中PAHs含量.土壤、蔬菜中分别以4环、2-3环PAHs占优势.     

Heavy metal contamination and source in arid agricultural soil in central Gansu Province, China

Concentrations of copper （Cu）, lead （Pb）, chromium （Cr）, mercury （Hg）, and arsenic （As） were measured in arid agricultural and irrigated agricultural soils collected in Daba Village, Shajiawuan Village, Gangou Village and Sifangwu Village, located in central Gansu Province, China. Concentrations except Hg and Pb were lower than the background values in grey calcareous soil in the selected arid agricultural soils. Pb concentration exceeded the threshold of arid agricultural soils in China by 72.46%. These results showed that there was indeed serious pollution with Pb, a slight pollution problem for other selected metals in the irrigated agricultural soils in Daba Village. Principal component analysis （PCA） was used to assess the soil data, applying varimax rotation with Kaiser Normalization. The result showed that the irrigated factor, agricultural factor and anthropogenic factor all contributed to the relations between selected chemical properties. The main factor of accumulation of Cu, Pb, Cr, Hg and As was lithological factor in arid agricultural areas. There is a striking dissimilarity of origin of Cu, Pb, Cr, Hg and As in agricultural soil between the irrigate agriculture and arid agriculture.     

基于市场机制的农产品生态敏感度识别与政策建议——以云南西双版纳为例

关于生态农业的研究,已经在农学、生物学、地理学等领域积累了丰硕的成果。但是,这些研究大都着眼于生态农业的生产过程,即更多关注供给的角度,而很少从需求的角度来分析。本文从市场机制的角度出发,构建了消费者偏好与生产者策略的"传导模型",依据消费者对农产品生态敏感度的不同对其进行区分。对于"生态不敏感"的农产品,消费者对产品的生态敏感度低,这一偏好通过价格信号传导到生产者,使生产者采取大规模标准化的生产策略,对生态环境造成损耗;对于"生态强敏感"的农产品,消费者对产品的生态敏感度高,这一偏好能够通过价格信号传导到生产者,并使生产者采取生态化生产的策略,是绿色可持续的;对于"生态弱敏感"的农产品,市场存在分层现象,使得上述两种传导机制同时并存。消费者的偏好与愿意支付的溢价,生产者采用生态化生产方式的成本,以及证明产品品质的交易费用,是决定农产品生产能否在市场环境下自发实现绿色可持续的三个关键环节。培育绿色消费观念、提高生态农业的产出、健全产品质量监督体系是促进生态农业发展的三个着力点。     

中国农业生态效率测度及时空差异研究

农业生态效率测度对于促进农业生态化和可持续发展具有重要作用。基于1993—2013年农业投入产出相关数据,采用劳动、土地、化肥、农药、农膜、机械动力、灌溉、役畜八类投入指标,农业碳排放和农业污染两类非期望产出指标以及农业总产值作为期望产出指标,利用SBM-Undesirable扩展模型测算全国、东中西、八经济区及省际农业(种植业)生态效率,并分解无效率项。结果显示:1样本期内中国农业生态效率总体呈现"降-升-降-升"平缓右偏型"W"结构,总体上中国农业生态效率趋于提升;2东中西部三个地区和八大经济区农业生态效率总体趋势与全国基本一致,但又各具特点,三区域中东部地区差异较大,八经济区中西北地区和西南地区差异较大;3省际农业生态效率总体上也存在差别,农业生态效率总体较高的省份既有上海、江苏等经济发达的沿海地区,又有贵州、新疆等经济落后地区。从效率损失结构来看,农业生态效率损失总体上主要是由投入冗余和非期望产出冗余导致的,但投入和非期望产出冗余内部结构又存在诸多不同。总体而言,化肥、农药、农膜过度使用及其负面作用在较多地区表现较为突出。农业生态效率测度实质是平衡农业投入、期望产出和非期望产出三者的关系,提升农业生态效率,促进农业生态化发展和可持续发展。同时,在农业生态效率评价中,要基于资源禀赋现实、基于要素替代关系、基于生态负面影响等,结合地区发展现实和不同的发展阶段进行相应调整,有区别地促进农业生态化发展。     

Beyond a bottle of liquid: pesticide dependence in transitional rural China

Pesticide dependence is a major threat to food safety and local environment. Although numerous studies have explored different causes of pesticide dependence, few have examined how pesticides are locked into agricultural modernisation and rural transformation. Based on a case study of a Chinese village, this paper demonstrates how agricultural modernisation trajectory and rural changes have perpetuated the use of pesticides as necessities in agriculture as well as for farmers' livelihoods. Modern technologies, such as hybrid rice, conservation tillage, changes in crop structure, and reduction of intercropping all contribute highly towards pesticide dependence. The household responsibility system in China has provided the institutional foundation for increased pesticide use. Rural transformations driven by livelihoods diversification have created conducive social spaces for pesticide application. To step out of pesticide dependence, promotion of genetic diversity in agriculture, a reassessment of locational suitability of conservation tillage, institutional strengthening and the promotion of integrated pest management methods are suggested.