Understanding implications of consumer behavior for wildlife farming and sustainable wildlife trade

Unsustainable wildlife trade affects biodiversity and the livelihoods of communities dependent upon those resources. Wildlife farming has been proposed to promote sustainable trade, but characterizing markets and understanding consumer behavior remain neglected but essential steps in the design and evaluation of such operations. We used sea turtle trade in the Cayman Islands, where turtles have been farm raised for human consumption for almost 50 years, as a case study to explore consumer preferences toward wild‐sourced (illegal) and farmed (legal) products and potential conservation implications. Combining methods innovatively (including indirect questioning and choice experiments), we conducted a nationwide trade assessment through in‐person interviews from September to December 2014. Households were randomly selected using disproportionate stratified sampling, and responses were weighted based on district population size. We approached 597 individuals, of which 37 (6.2%) refused to participate. Although 30% of households had consumed turtle in the previous 12 months, the purchase and consumption of wild products was rare (e.g., 64–742 resident households consumed wild turtle meat [i.e., 0.3–3.5% of households] but represented a large threat to wild turtles in the area due to their reduced populations). Differences among groups of consumers were marked, as identified through choice experiments, and price and source of product played important roles in their decisions. Despite the long‐term practice of farming turtles, 13.5% of consumers showed a strong preference for wild products, which demonstrates the limitations of wildlife farming as a single tool for sustainable wildlife trade. By using a combination of indirect questioning, choice experiments, and sales data to investigate demand for wildlife products, we obtained insights about consumer behavior that can be used to develop conservation‐demand‐focused initiatives. Lack of data from long‐term social–ecological assessments hinders the evaluation of and learning from wildlife farming. This information is key to understanding under which conditions different interventions (e.g., bans, wildlife farming, social marketing) are likely to succeed.     

Fishing‐gear restrictions and biomass gains for coral reef fishes in marine protected areas

Considerable empirical evidence supports recovery of reef fish populations with fishery closures. In countries where full exclusion of people from fishing may be perceived as inequitable, fishing‐gear restrictions on nonselective and destructive gears may offer socially relevant management alternatives to build recovery of fish biomass. Even so, few researchers have statistically compared the responses of tropical reef fisheries to alternative management strategies. We tested for the effects of fishery closures and fishing gear restrictions on tropical reef fish biomass at the community and family level. We conducted 1,396 underwater surveys at 617 unique sites across a spatial hierarchy within 22 global marine ecoregions that represented 5 realms. We compared total biomass across local fish assemblages and among 20 families of reef fishes inside marine protected areas (MPAs) with different fishing restrictions: no‐take, hook‐and‐line fishing only, several fishing gears allowed, and sites open to all fishing gears. We included a further category representing remote sites, where fishing pressure is low. As expected, full fishery closures, (i.e., no‐take zones) most benefited community‐ and family‐level fish biomass in comparison with restrictions on fishing gears and openly fished sites. Although biomass responses to fishery closures were highly variable across families, some fishery targets (e.g., Carcharhinidae and Lutjanidae) responded positively to multiple restrictions on fishing gears (i.e., where gears other than hook and line were not permitted). Remoteness also positively affected the response of community‐level fish biomass and many fish families. Our findings provide strong support for the role of fishing restrictions in building recovery of fish biomass and indicate important interactions among fishing‐gear types that affect biomass of a diverse set of reef fish families.     

水中总氮测定方法存在问题的研究及改进

碱性过硫酸钾消解紫外分光光度法测定水中总氮采用的消解器皿是玻璃比色管,易造成空白偏高、结果偏低等问题。采用双圆柱状的消解杯对水样进行消解。结果表明,消解杯消解水中总氮,线性相关系数均大于0.999,检出限为0.05 mg/L,相对标准偏差小于5%,相对误差为0.88%~1.00%;改进后的消解器皿具有较好的精密度和准确度,能够更加准确测定水中总氮的含量。     

Developing Effective Decision Support for the Application of “Gentle” Remediation Options: The GREENLAND Project

Gentle remediation options (GRO) are risk management strategies/technologies that result in a net gain (or at least no gross reduction) in soil function as well as risk management. They encompass a number of technologies, including the use of plant (phyto‐), fungi (myco‐), and/or bacteria‐based methods, with or without chemical soil additives or amendments, for reducing contaminant transfer to local receptors by in situ stabilization, or extraction, transformation, or degradation of contaminants. Despite offering strong benefits in terms of risk management, deployment costs, and sustainability for a range of site problems, the application of GRO as practical on‐site remedial solutions is still in its relative infancy, particularly for metal(loid)‐contaminated sites. A key barrier to wider adoption of GRO relates to general uncertainties and lack of stakeholder confidence in (and indeed knowledge of) the feasibility or reliability of GRO as practical risk management solutions. The GREENLAND project has therefore developed a simple and transparent decision support framework for promoting the appropriate use of gentle remediation options and encouraging participation of stakeholders, supplemented by a set of specific design aids for use when GRO appear to be a viable option. The framework is presented as a three phased model or Decision Support Tool (DST), in the form of a Microsoft Excel‐based workbook, designed to inform decision‐making and options appraisal during the selection of remedial approaches for contaminated sites. The DST acts as a simple decision support and stakeholder engagement tool for the application of GRO, providing a context for GRO application (particularly where soft end‐use of remediated land is envisaged), quick reference tables (including an economic cost calculator), and supporting information and technical guidance drawing on practical examples of effective GRO application at trace metal(loid) contaminated sites across Europe. This article introduces the decision support framework. ©2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

不同培养条件下锰过氧化物酶(MnP)的合成及其对甲基橙的降解

高效、大规模、低成本合成木质素降解酶是直接采用其降解难降解有机污染物所必须解决的问题.对锰过氧化物酶(MnP)降解甲基橙和在非灭菌的反应器中连续合成MnP的可行性进行考察.结果表明,在采用2 mmol H2O2和1.5 mmol MnSO4的降解体系中,获最大脱色效果,且100、200和300 U/L的MnP可在8h内将甲基橙分别脱色18％、23％和35％;在非灭菌的反应器水平上实现了固定化培养的P.chrysosporium连续23 d合成MnP,但MnP酶活仅为2～ 23 U/L,难以酶解甲基橙;然而,在摇瓶培养条件下固定化的P.chrysosporium合成的MnP却能达1 152 U/L.因此,直接采用MnP对污染物进行降解以及在非灭菌的反应器中持续合成MnP是可行的,但就在非灭菌条件下如何提高MnP的合成量还有待开展深入的研究.     

气质联用法测固定污染源中三氟甲烷、四氟甲烷、六氟乙烷和六氟化硫

建立了固定污染源排气中三氟甲烷、四氟甲烷、六氟乙烷和六氟化硫的采样和气质联用分析方法,检出限分别为0.06、0.15、0.21、0.71 mg/m3,精密度在3.2%以下,相关系数大于0.999 6,并对浙江省内2家典型企业排放的温室气体进行了监测,实际样品监测结果表明,该方法能够满足废气中4种温室气体的监测要求。     

The case for variable density: a new perspective on activated sludge settling.

A new, simple method for directly measuring activated sludge density was developed and applied, and the effects of biomass density on activated sludge settling in full-scale systems were evaluated. The driving force of sedimentation is the physical weight of the biological solids, but the role of biomass density in sedimentation has been largely ignored. Biomass density varied amongst treatment systems and this variability was correlated with settleability. Floc densities were approximately normally distributed within individual samples. Nonsoluble phosphorus content was a major contributor to density, and plants with enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) configurations generally had higher densities and better settleability than non-EBPR plants with similar filament contents. These results suggest that future work may benefit from consideration of density as a factor affecting activated sludge settling.     

Fe0/厌氧微生物联合体系处理2,4,6-三氯酚影响因素的研究

利用Fe⁰/厌氧微生物联合体系对2,4,6-三氯酚(2,4,6-TCP)进行降解研究。结果表明，Fe0/厌氧微生物联合体系可以有效降解2,4,6-TCP，Fe⁰与厌氧微生物之间存在明显的协同效应。Fe⁰/厌氧微生物联合体系处理2,4,6-TCP的最优条件为：微生物接种量0.434 g VSS/L，Fe⁰投加量15 g/L，体系初始pH值7.0～8.0。