左氧氟沙星的超声/H2O2联合降解研究

采用超声/H2O2高级氧化技术对喹诺酮类抗生素左氧氟沙星进行降解,考察了H2O2浓度、超声功率、溶液初始pH值对反应过程的影响.结果表明,与单独超声和H2O2氧化相比,超声/H2O2对左氧氟沙星具有明显的协同降解作用. H2O2 添加浓度在3.0~20.0mmol/L范围, 左氧氟沙星的降解率随其添加浓度的增加而增加;超声功率在260W时降解效果最佳;左氧氟沙星初始浓度在10~30mg/L范围内,左氧氟沙星的降解量随其初始浓度的增加而增加;超声/H2O2降解左氧氟沙星在未调节(pH 7.14)效果最佳. HPLC分析发现降解过程主要有2种产物生成, 产物的生成和分布受体系pH的影响较大.     

我国沿海地区城镇污水处理厂污泥重金属污染状况及其处置分析

采用ICP-MS分析法测定了我国3个典型沿海城市广州、上海和大连共13个污水处理厂污泥的7种重金属含量,并与2006年和2001年的数据进行了对比,以了解我国沿海城市污水处理厂重金属污染状况、变化趋势和处置方案.结果表明,我国沿海城市污泥中重金属污染分布存在较大差异,7种重金属平均含量大小顺序为Cr>Zn>Cu>Pb>As>Hg>Cd,Cr、Cu和As的含量超出了《城镇污水处理厂污染物排放标准》,污染严重.相对于以前,我国沿海城市污泥中Zn的含量明显减少,Pb、Hg和Cd的含量与没有明显变化,但Cr、Cu、As均明显增加.各区域各类型污水处理厂城市污泥重金属含量分析表明,来源于工业废水的城市污泥中Zn、Cu和Hg的平均含量较生活污水为主的污泥高;广州污水处理厂城市污泥中Cr、Pb、As、Hg和Cd的含量均高于上海和大连.沿海城市污水处理厂中超出《城镇污水处理厂污染物排放标准》中污泥农用标准限值的占总调查污水处理厂的23%,我国沿海城市污泥大部分仍可采用污泥农用的有益处置方式进行处置.同时,本次调查数据也为我国沿海城市开展污水污泥海洋倾倒相关技术标准的制定提供了基础数据.     

Metabolomic analysis of the selection response of Drosophila melanogaster to environmental stress: are there links to gene expression and phenotypic traits?

We investigated the global metabolite response to artificial selection for tolerance to stressful conditions such as cold, heat, starvation, and desiccation, and for longevity in Drosophila melanogaster. Our findings were compared to data from other levels of biological organization, including gene expression, physiological traits, and organismal stress tolerance phenotype. Overall, we found that selection for environmental stress tolerance changes the metabolomic ¹H NMR fingerprint largely in a similar manner independent of the trait selected for, indicating that experimental evolution led to a general stress selection response at the metabolomic level. Integrative analyses across data sets showed little similarity when general correlations between selection effects at the level of the metabolome and gene expression were compared. This is likely due to the fact that the changes caused by these selection regimes were rather mild and/or that the dominating determinants for gene expression and metabolite levels were different. However, expression of a number of genes was correlated with the metabolite data. Many of the identified genes were general stress response genes that are down-regulated in response to selection for some of the stresses in this study. Overall, the results illustrate that selection markedly alters the metabolite profile and that the coupling between different levels of biological organization indeed is present though not very strong for stress selection at this level. The results highlight the extreme complexity of environmental stress adaptation and the difficulty of extrapolating and interpreting responses across levels of biological organization.     

Context dependency and generality of fever in insects

Fever can reduce mortality in infected animals. Yet, despite its fitness-enhancing qualities, fever often varies among animals. We used several approaches to examine this variation in insects. Texas field crickets (Gryllus texensis) exhibited a modest fever (1 °C increase in preferred body temperature, T _pref) after injection of prostaglandin, which putatively mediates fever in both vertebrates and invertebrates, but they did not exhibit fever during chronic exposure to heat-killed bacteria. Further, chronic food limitation and mating status did not affect T _pref or the expression of behavioural fever, suggesting limited context dependency of fever in G. texensis. Our meta-analysis of behavioural fever studies indicated that behavioural fever occurs in many insects, but it is not ubiquitous. Thus, both empirical and meta-analytical results suggest that the fever response in insects ‘is widespread, although certainly not inevitable’ (Moore 2002). We highlight the need for future work focusing on standardizing an experimental protocol to measure behavioural fever, understanding the specific mechanism(s) underlying fever in insects, and examining whether ecological or physiological costs often outweigh the benefits of fever and can explain the sporadic nature of fever in insects.     

The effect of flower-like and non-flower-like visual properties on choice of unrewarding patterns by bumblebees

How do distinct visual stimuli help bumblebees discover flowers before they have experienced any reward outside of their nest? Two visual floral properties, type of a pattern (concentric vs radial) and its position on unrewarding artificial flowers (central vs peripheral on corolla), were manipulated in two experiments. Both visual properties showed significant effects on floral choice. When pitted against each other, pattern was more important than position. Experiment 1 shows a significant effect of concentric pattern position, and experiment 2 shows a significant preference towards radial patterns regardless of their position. These results show that the presence of markings at the center of a flower are not so important as the presence of markings that will direct bees there.     

Bechstein’s bats maintain individual social links despite a complete reorganisation of their colony structure

Several social mammals, including elephants and some primates, whales and bats, live in multilevel societies that form temporary subgroups. Despite these fission–fusion dynamics, group members often maintain long-term bonds. However, it is unclear whether such individual links and the resulting stable social subunits continue to exist after a complete reorganisation of a society, e.g. following a population crash. Here, we employed a weighted network analysis on 7,109 individual roosting records collected over 4 years in a wild Bechstein’s bat colony. We show that, in response to a strong population decline, the colony’s two stable social subunits fused into a non-modular social network. Nevertheless, in the first year after the crash, long-term bonds were still detectable, suggesting that the bats remembered previous individual relationships. Our findings are important for understanding the flexibility of animal societies in the face of dramatic changes and for the conservation of social mammals with declining populations.

     

直接大红4BE的磷钨酸均相光催化还原脱色

以磷钨酸(H3PW12O40,PW12)为光催化剂,异丙醇(Isopropanol)作为电子给体的条件下对偶氮染料直接大红4BE进行均相光催化还原脱色研究,考察PW12用量、IS浓度、直接大红4BE和盐浓度等因素的影响,结果表明杂多蓝(PW1-2)对直接大红4BE具有明显的还原脱色作用.pH=2.0,直接大红4BE初始浓度50 mg·L-1,PW12浓度为600 mg·L-1,IS浓度为0.13mol·L-1,50 min直接大红4BE的脱色率可达到90.39%.4BE的光催化还原脱色速率随PW12和IS浓度的增加而增加,最后趋于恒定;直接大红4BE初始浓度增加,其光反应一级速率常数降低;PW12、IS和4BE浓度之间存在交互影响.离子强度增加,4BE脱色速率减小,表现为负的盐效应,推测4BE与光反应生成的杂多蓝(PW1-2)进行复合,然后发生电子转移引起偶氮染料还原脱色和杂多蓝氧化复原.本研究结果表明PW12/IS/UV能够有效用于偶氮染料直接大红4BE的还原脱色处理.     

Ethyl thiosemicarbazide intercalated organophilic calcined hydrotalcite as a potential sorbent for the removal of uranium(VI) and thorium(IV) ions from aqueous solutions

This work was conducted to determine the practicability of using a new adsorbent 4-ethyl thiosemicarbazide intercalated,organophilic calcined hydrotalcite(ETSC-OHTC) for the removal of uranium(U(VI)),and thorium(Th(IV)) from water and wastewater.The FTIR analysis helped in realizing the involvement of nitrogen and sulphur atoms of ETSC in binding the metal ions through complex formation.Parameters like adsorbent dosage,solution pH,initial metal ions concentration,contact time and ionic strength,that influence adsorption phenomenon,were studied.The optimum pH for maximum adsorption of U(VI) and Th(IV) was found to be in the range 4.0-6.0.The contact time required for reaching equilibrium was 4 hr.The pseudo second-order kinetic model was the best fit to represent the kinetic data.Analysis of the equilibrium adsorption data using Langmuir,Freundlich and Sips models showed that the Freundlich model was well suited to describe the metal ions adsorption.The K F values were 25.43 and 29.11mg/g for U(VI) and Th(IV),respectively,at 30°C.The adsorbent can be regenerated effectively from U(VI) and Th(IV) loaded ones using 0.01mol/L HCl.The new adsorbent was quite stable for many cycles,without much reduction in its adsorption capacity towards the metals.     

Decrease of NH4+-N by bacterioplankton accelerated the removal of cyanobacterial blooms in aerated aquatic ecosystem

We used aerated systems to assess the influence of the bacterioplankton community on cyanobacterial blooms in algae/post-bloom of Lake Taihu, China. Bacterioplankton community diversity was evaluated by polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis(PCR-DGGE) fingerprinting. Chemical analysis and nitrogen dynamic changes illustrated that NH4+-N was nitrified to NO2-N and NO3-N by bacterioplankton. Finally, NH4+-N was exhausted and NO3-N was denitrified to NO2-N, while the accumulation of NO2-N indicated that bacterioplankton with completely aerobic denitrification ability were lacking in the water samples collected from Lake Taihu. We suggested that adding completely aerobic denitrification bacteria(to denitrify NO2-N to N2)would improve the water quality. PCR-DGGE and sequencing results showed that more than 1/3 of the bacterial species were associated with the removal of nitrogen, and Acidovorax temperans was the dominant one. PCR-DGGE, variation of nitrogen, removal efciencies of chlorophyll-a and canonical correspondence analysis indicated that the bacterioplankton significantly influenced the physiological and biochemical changes of cyanobacteria. Additionally, the unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic means revealed there was no obvious harm to the microecosystem from aeration. The present study demonstrated that bacterioplankton can play crucial roles in aerated ecosystems, which could control the impact of cyanobacterial blooms in eutrophicated fresh water systems.     

Changes in heavy metal contents in animal feeds and manures in an intensive animal production region of China

The 360 feed and manure samples were collected from 150 animal farms in Jiangsu Province, China and analyzed for heavy metals. Concentrations of Zn and Cu in animal feeds were 15.9-2041.8 and undetected-392.1 mg/kg respectively, while Hg, As, Pb, Cd, and Cr in all feeds were below 10 mg/kg. Concentrations of Cu, Zn, and Cr in animal manures were 8.4-1726, 39.5-11379, and 1.0-1602 mg/kg respectively, while As, Cd, Hg, and Pb were 〈 10 mg/kg. The concentration of Cu, Zn, As and Cr in animal feed and manure were positively correlated （p 〈 0.001）, but the Cd, Hg, and Pb were not statistically correlated between the feed and the manure. Concentrations of Cu and Zn were highest in pig feed and manure, followed by poultry and dairy feeds and manures. During 1990- 2008, Cu, Zn, As, Cr, Cd contents increased by 771%, 410%, 420%, 220%, and 63% in pig manure, 212%, 95%, 200%, 791%, and -63% in dairy manure, and 181%, 197%, 1500%, 261, and 196% in poultry manure. Most of the increases occurred from 2002 to 2008, which reflects the extensive use of feed additives after 2002. In contrast, Pb and Hg in manures continuously decreased from 1990 to 2008. The results suggest that the heavy metal contents in animal manure have been greatly increased over 18 years and the contribution of manures to soil should be considered.