Human Diets and Animal Welfare: the Illogic of the Larder

Few moral arguments have been made against vegetarian diets. One exception is the “Logic of the Larder:” We do animals a favor by purchasing their meat, eggs, and milk, for if we did not purchase these products, fewer animals would exist. This argument fails because many farm animals have lives that are probably not worth living, while others prevent a significant number of wild animals from existing. Even if this were not so, the purchase of animal products uses resources that could otherwise be used to bring a much greater number of animals into existence.     

碳素纤维在近岸海洋污染物磷酸盐、硅酸盐处理中的应用

对碳素纤维进行氧化改性,利用改性后的碳素纤维处理近岸污染海水,重点研究了改性碳素纤维对海水中活性磷酸盐和活性硅酸盐的吸附作用。考察了碳素纤维液相改性时间、碳素纤维投加量、活性磷酸盐初始浓度、活性硅酸盐初始浓度、吸附时间、海况、pH值等单因素对近岸海洋污染物磷酸盐、硅酸盐吸附效果的影响。研究结果表明:改性碳素纤维对硅酸盐的吸附效果较好,去除率可达70%,对活性磷酸盐的去除率为31%左右。通过正交实验确定改性碳素纤维材料修复模拟近岸海水的优化条件为:碳素纤维改性时间为1.5 h,投加量为0.01 g,硅酸盐初始浓度为3mg/L,磷酸盐初始浓度为20 mg/L,海况为3级,pH值为8,吸附时间为3 h。在此条件下,碳素纤维对磷酸盐的去除率可达31.06%,硅酸盐去除率可达70.88%。     

Denitrification in anaerobic lagoons used to treat swine wastewater

Anaerobic lagoons are commonly used for the treatment of swine wastewater. Although these lagoons were once thought to be relatively simple, their physical, chemical, and biological processes are very complex. This study of anaerobic lagoons had two objectives: (i) to quantify denitrification enzyme activity (DEA) and (ii) to evaluate the influence of lagoon characteristics on the DEA. The DEA was measured by the acetylene inhibition method. Wastewater samples and physical and chemical measurements were taken from the wastewater column of nine anaerobic swine lagoons from May 2006 to May 2009. These lagoons were typical for anaerobic swine lagoons in the Carolinas relative to their size, operation, and chemical and physical characteristics. Their mean value for DEA was 87 mg N2O-N m(-3) d(-1). In a lagoon with 2-m depth, this rate of DEA would be compatible with 1.74 kg N ha(-1) d(-1) When nonlimiting nitrate was added, the highest DEA was compatible with 4.38 kg N ha(-1) d(-1) loss. Using stepwise regression for this treatment, the lagoon characteristics (i.e., soluble organic carbon, total nitrogen, temperature, and NO3-N) provided a final step model R2 of 0.69. Nitrous oxide from incomplete denitrification was not a significant part of the system nitrogen balance. Although alternate pathways of denitrification may exist within or beneath the wastewater column, this paper documents the lack of sufficient denitrification enzyme activity within the wastewater column of these anaerobic lagoons to support large N2 gas losses via classical nitrification and denitrification.     

Denitrification in a coastal plain riparian zone contiguous to a heavily loaded swine wastewater spray field

Riparian zones are recognized as landscape features that buffer streams from pollutants, particularly nitrogen. The objectives of this experiment were to (i) assess denitrification activity within a riparian zone and (ii) determine the influence of physical, chemical, and landscape features on denitrification. This experiment was conducted from 1994 to 1997 in North Carolina on a riparian zone contiguous to a spray field that was heavily loaded with swine lagoon wastewater. Denitrification enzyme activity (DEA) was measured on soils collected from (i) the soil surface, (ii) midway between the soil surface and water table, and (iii) above the water table. The DEA ranged from 3 to 1660 microg N(2)O-N kg(-1) soil h(-1). The DEA was highest next to the stream and lowest next to the spray field. Nitrate was found to be the limiting factor for denitrification. The DEA generally decreased with soil depth; means for the surface, middle, and bottom depths were 147, 83, and 67 microg N(2)O-N kg(-1) soil h(-1), respectively. These DEA values are higher than those reported for riparian zones adjoining cropland of the southeastern United States, but are lower than those reported for a constructed wetland used for treatment of swine wastewater. Regression analysis indicated that soil total nitrogen was the highest single factor correlated to DEA (r(2) = 0.65). The inclusion of water table depth, soil depth, and distance from the spray field improved the R(2) to 0.86. This riparian zone possessed sufficient soil area with high denitrifying conditions to be a significant factor in the removal of excess nitrogen in the ground water.     

Denitrification in constructed wetlands used for treatment of swine wastewater

Constructed wetland treatment of swine wastewater probably involves substantial denitrification. Our objective was to assess denitrification and denitrification enzyme activity (DEA) in such wetlands in relation to plant communities, N loading, carbon or nitrogen limitations, and water depth. Two wetland cells each 3.6 m wide and 33.5 m long were connected in series. One set of cells was planted with rushes and bulrushes, including soft rush (Juncus effusus L.), softstem bulrush [Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani (K.C. Gmel.) Pallal, American bulrush [Schoenoplectus americanus (Pers.) Volkart ex Schinz & R. Keller], and woolgrass bulrush [Scirpus cyperinus (L.) Kunth]. Another set was planted with bur-reeds and cattails, including American bur-reed (Sparganium americanum Nutt.), broadleaf cattail (Typha latifolia L.), and narrowleaf cattail (Typha angustifolia L.). The sets will be referred to herein as bulrush and cattail wetlands, respectively. Denitrification and DEA were measured via the acetylene inhibition method in intact soil cores and disturbed soil samples that were taken during four years (1994-1997). Although DEA in the disturbed samples was greater than denitrification in the core samples, the measurements were highly correlated (r2 > or = 0.82). The DEA was greater in the bulrush wetlands than the cattail wetlands, 0.516 and 0.210 mg N kg(-1) soil h(-1), respectively; and it increased with the cumulative applied N. The DEA mean was equivalent to 9.55 kg N ha(-1) d(-1) in the bulrush wetlands. We hypothesized and confirmed that DEA was generally limited by nitrate rather than carbon. Moreover, we determined that one of the most influential factors in DEA was wetland water depth. In bulrush wetlands, the slope and r2 values of the control treatment were -0.013 mg N kg(-1) soil h(-1) mm(-1) depth and r2 = 0.89, respectively. Results of this investigation indicate that DEA can be very significant in constructed wetlands used to treat swine wastewater.     

Water Resource Management in Botswana: Balancing Sustainability and Economic Development*

Botswana is a rapidly developing country in southern Africa. Over the last three decades, diamond mining and tourism have provided double-digit rates of economic growth. Yet most of Botswana’s land is in the Kalahari desert where the climate is subject to sustained periods of severe drought. In this environment, water resources are the most crucial of all environmental resources. Water use directly affects economic development because water utilization impacts all the major national economic sectors. A sustainable water use resource management plan must stretch several decades into the future to assure the availability of adequate supplies of water to future generations while not compromising the ability of the current generation to reasonable rates of economic development. Yet thinking about sustainability is present in Botswana water policy mostly only in rhetoric. A series of cultural traditions and political constraints, coupled with bureaucratic managerial weaknesses, serve to maintain a system of water allocation that is unsustainable in the long run and inefficient in the short-term. Unless sustainable water use patterns are adopted, the results for the short-term, as well as the long-term, will be devastating. Drawing on data obtained through a series of interviews with government officials, leaders of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and water resource researchers, this paper explores water policy in Botswana within the larger context of sustainable natural resource management practice and the pressures of economic development. This research was partially funded under U.S. Department of State, College and University Affiliations Grant # ASCS-1095.     

二氧化氯消毒前后污水毒性的变化及消毒条件的影响

采用发光细菌试验和umu试验,分别考察了二氧化氯投加量和反应时间对污水二氧化氯消毒后急性毒性和遗传毒性变化的影响.结果表明,随着二氧化氯消毒剂投加量的增加,消毒后水样的急性毒性不断增大,但遗传毒性逐渐减小后趋于稳定.随着反应时间的延长,二氧化氯的消耗量不断增大,消毒后水样的急性毒性先增大后减小,遗传毒性逐渐减小后趋于稳定.由于消毒条件对污水急性毒性和遗传毒性有着不同的影响,说明污水中产生急性毒性和产生遗传毒性的物质不同,对于某一种污水,通过控制消毒条件可以使消毒后污水的急性毒性和遗传毒性都较低.     

中国地区多溴联苯醚在不同环境介质中的监测进展

多溴联苯醚(Polybrominated diphenyl ethers, PBDEs)为一类新型的溴代阻燃剂,广泛应用于塑料制品、纺织品、电路板和建筑材料等领域。随着生产量和使用量的增加,PBDEs已造成全球环境污染,其带来的环境问题已引起各国关注。同时PBDEs的长距离迁移性和难降解性,使其在环境介质中进行富集,从而加重污染。归纳了中国地区PBDEs的监测进展,分别从大气、水体、沉积物和土壤中PBDEs的污染水平以及原因进行了分析和探讨。在此基础上,对于我国PBDEs的研究方向提出了展望。     

Nitrous oxide accumulation in soils from riparian buffers of a coastal plain watershed carbon/nitrogen ratio control

Riparian buffers are used throughout the world for the protection of water bodies from nonpoint-source nitrogen pollution. Few studies of riparian or treatment wetland denitrification consider the production of nitrous oxide (N2O). The objectives of this research were to ascertain the level of potential N2O production in riparian buffers and identify controlling factors for N2O accumulations within riparian soils of an agricultural watershed in the southeastern Coastal Plain of the USA. Soil samples were obtained from ten sites (site types) with different agronomic management and landscape position. Denitrification enzyme activity (DEA) was measured by the acetylene inhibition method. Nitrous oxide accumulations were measured after incubation with and without acetylene (baseline N2O production). The mean DEA (with acetylene) was 59 microg N2O-N kg(-1) soil h(-1) for all soil samples from the watershed. If no acetylene was added to block conversion of N2O to N2, only 15 microg N2O-N kg(-1) soil h(-1) were accumulated. Half of the samples accumulated no N2O. The highest level of denitrification was found in the soil surface layers and in buffers impacted by either livestock waste or nitrogen from legume production. Nitrous oxide accumulations (with acetylene inhibition) were correlated to soil nitrogen (r2=0.59). Without acetylene inhibition, correlations with soil and site characteristics were lower. Nitrous oxide accumulations were found to be essentially zero, if the soil C/N ratios>25. Soil C/N ratios may be an easily measured and widely applicable parameter for identification of potential hot spots of N2O productions from riparian buffers.     

2003~2018年干旱对中国森林绿度异常的影响

基于卫星观测和气象再分析数据提取2003~2018年间中国森林绿度异常现象(月尺度LAI长期趋势的累积偏差), 并分析干旱对森林绿度异常影响的时空动态变化, 探究不同森林类型的干旱敏感性.结果表明: ①干旱导致的绿度异常现象频率分布呈现出南高北低的空间格局, 而高强度异常现象主要分布于中国的东北与西南地区.②2003~2018年间绿度异常严重程度呈现显著增加趋势(即绿度异常强度指数下降), 变化率为: -0.06/a(P<0.05), 而绿度异常面积比率下降, 变化率为-0.0049/a.③中国森林对干旱胁迫较为敏感的区域主要分布于云南北部与大兴安岭北部, 这是由区域的地质和气候特点以及植被类型共同作用导致的.④干旱主导区不同森林类型的干旱敏感性依次为: 阔叶林>针叶林>混交林, 绿度异常与SPEI回归斜率依次为1.8>1.3>1.2.⑤针叶林遭受的干旱强度最高, 2003~2018年间统计的SPEI中位数为-1.65, 绿度异常现象也最为严重, 多年绿度异常指数中位数为-1.81, 说明干旱强度而非敏感性主导了森林绿度异常的现象.