The Impact of Agriculture On Dissolved Nitrogen and Phosphorus Cycling in Temperate Ecosystems

Although most research has focussed on inorganic nutrient forms of nitrate (NO^-₃) and phosphorus (PO³₄) in runoff and receiving waters, nitrogen loss from agricultural land can also occur in organic and ammonium-nitrogen form; phosphorus losses, although often dominated by particulate transport, may occur in soluble organic and inorganic form. Furthermore, fluxes between different species may take place during transport from the land to the stream and as a result of in-stream, in-river or in-lake transformations. Knowledge of the spatial and temporal variation in all nitrogen species and phosphorus fractions in a drainage basin is therefore essential if the wider environmental significance of elevated nutrient concentrations in natural waters are to be assessed. This paper reviews recent work on N and P losses from agricultural land and presents some results from two intensive agricultural catchments: Slapton, Devon and the river Windrush catchment in the Cotswolds.     

Using Ion-Exchange Resins to Study Soil Response to Experimental Watershed Acidification

Ion-exchange resins (IER) offer alternative approaches to measuring ionic movement in soils that may have advantages over traditional approaches in some settings, but more information is needed to understand how IER compare with traditional methods of measurement in forested ecosystems. At the Bear Brook Watershed in Maine (BBWM), one of two paired, forested watersheds is treated bi-monthly with S and N (28.8 and 25.2kgha⁻¹yr⁻¹ of S and N, respectively). Both IER and ceramic cup tension lysimeters were used to study soil solution responses after ∼11 years of treatment. Results from both methods showed treatments resulted in the mobilization of base cations and Al, and higher SO₄—S and inorganic N in the treated watershed. Both methods indicated similar differences in results associated with forest type (hardwoods versus softwoods), a result of differences in litter quality and atmospheric aerosol interception capacity. The correlation between lysimeter and IER data for individual analytes varied greatly. Significant correlations were evident for Na (r=0.75), Al (r=0.65), Mn (r=0.61), Fe (r=0.57), Ca (r=0.49), K (r=0.41) and NO₃—N (r=0.59). No correlation was evident between IER and soil solution data for NH₄—N and Pb. Both IER and soil solution techniques suggested similar interpretations of biogeochemical behavior in the watershed.     

A new approach to Assess Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition by Way of Standardized Exposition of mosses

A standardized method of moss exposition for assessing variations in nitrogen deposition was tested in the western part of Germany. Six pleurocarpous moss species were transplanted to two sites differing in their deposition rates but being comparable as to their climatic conditions. The mosses were exposed in standardized containers over a period of 12 months; the focus of interest was the effect of N deposition on nitrogen content and on ¹⁵N natural abundance (δ¹⁵N-values). Within the first nine months only trends could be observed. However, after one year all species tested showed significantly higher N concentrations at the highly polluted site. Besides, more negative δ¹⁵N-values possibly reflecting the higher ammonium input were detected at this site. Surprisingly, most of the plants though being kept in plastic containers without a favourable substratum did not show any conspicuous deficiency symptoms. The potential advantages of a standardized moss exposition for N monitoring purposes are discussed. It is concluded that the method presented here can yield significant results in particular if the number of testing sites is increased.     

总氮测定中应注意的几个问题

对总氮测定中影响空白值偏高的因素进行了实验和分析,并提出了改进意见。     

Using improved neural network model to analyze RSP,NOx and NO2 levels in urban air in Mong Kok,Hong Kong

As the health impact of air pollutants existing in ambient addresses much attention in recent years, forecasting of airpollutant parameters becomes an important and popular topic inenvironmental science. Airborne pollution is a serious, and willbe a major problem in Hong Kong within the next few years. InHong Kong, Respirable Suspended Particulate (RSP) and NitrogenOxides NO_x and NO₂ are major air pollutants due to thedominant diesel fuel usage by public transportation and heavyvehicles. Hence, the investigation and prediction of the influence and the tendency of these pollutants are ofsignificance to public and the city image. The multi-layerperceptron (MLP) neural network is regarded as a reliable andcost-effective method to achieve such tasks. The works presentedhere involve developing an improved neural network model, whichcombines the principal component analysis (PCA) technique and theradial basis function (RBF) network, and forecasting thepollutant levels and tendencies based in the recorded data. Inthe study, the PCA is firstly used to reduce and orthogonalizethe original input variables (data), these treated variables arethen used as new input vectors in RBF neural network modelestablished for forecasting the pollutant tendencies. Comparingwith the general neural network models, the proposed modelpossesses simpler network architecture, faster training speed,and more satisfactory predicting performance. This improvedmodel is evaluated by using hourly time series of RSP, NO_x and NO₂ concentrations collected at Mong Kok Roadside Gaseous Monitory Station in Hong Kong during the year 2000. By comparing the predicted RSP, NO_x and NO₂ concentrationswith the actual data of these pollutants recorded at the monitorystation, the effectiveness of the proposed model has been proven.Therefore, in authors' opinion, the model presented in the paper is a potential tool in forecasting air quality parameters and hasadvantages over the traditional neural network methods.     

Test of a Modelling System for Estimating Nitrogen Leaching – A Pilot Study in a Small Agricultural Catchment

Nitrogen leaching is a world-wide concern for the quality of ground- and surfacewater. Measures to abate this is still limited by a lack of understanding mechanisms behind all factors describing the leaching process, time lags between countermeasures and improvement in waterquality and spatial distribution of nitrogen leaching. The purpose of this study was to do an initial test of the SOILNDB model system which is built on the existing mechanistic SOIL and SOILN models and an automatic parameterization procedure for use of simplified input data. The test was done by simulating nitrogen leaching from each of the 150 fields in a small catchment during a three-year study period. The simulated mean root-zone nitrogen leaching rate from all the fields in the catchment was compared to measurements of nitrogen flow in the stream draining the catchment and showed good agreement in between-year dynamics.     

吖啶黄褪色分光光度法测定环境水样中的亚硝酸盐氮

利用在酸性介质中,吖啶黄与亚硝酸根反应并在波长436啪处的吸光度与亚硝酸根浓度呈线性关系,提出并建立了测定亚硝酸盐氮的新方法。亚硝酸盐氮含量在0～300μg/L内符合比尔定律。本方法的检出限为0．004mg/L。实验室内相对标准偏差不超过2．7％,加标回收率在93％～112％之间。     

Terpenes and phenolics in response to nitrogen fertilization: A test of the carbon/nutrient balance hypothesis

Nitrogen fertilization resulted in a linear increase in the growth ofAbies grandis seedlings, but linear decrease in foliage concentrations of phenolic compounds. These data are consistent with the inverse relationship between growth and production of carbonbased secondary chemicals predicted by the carbon/nutrient balance (CNB) hypothesis. However, in contrast to predictions of the CNB hypothesis, nitrogen fertilization had no effect on foliage terpene concentrations. The results suggest that not all carbon-based chemicals respond in the same manner to environmental variation, and that the carbon/nutrient balance hypothesis does not adequately explain all patterns of environmentally-induced variation in secondary metabolism.     

Study of Cause-and-Effect Relationships in the Formation of Biocenoses: Their Use for the Control of Eutrophication

The cause-and-effect relationships existing in freshwater biogeocenoses and changing with time are conventionally divided into three groups: direct, directly mediated, and indirect. The possibility of using the indirect relationships for the control over natural systems is exemplified by a new scheme of eutrophication control and water quality improvement.     

城市污水生物脱氮除磷的新理论与技术

评述了近年来城市污水生物脱氮除磷理论和功能微生物的研究进展,重点介绍了生物处理的新方法：短程硝化反硝化处理法、厌氧氨氧化处理法、同步硝化反硝化处理法、同步反硝化除磷脱氮法,并总结了各处理工艺的应用状况。对生物脱氮除磷微生物学和新的理论技术发展趋势做出了展望。