Public Perception of Flood Hazard in the Niger Delta,Nigeria

Summary Our study had the aim of understanding how floodplain dwellers regard the risk of flooding. About 500 questionnaires were administered to landowners in the selected settlements in the study area using systematic random sampling. The results of analysis show, among other things, that the population regards most important the causes of floods as heavy, prolonged rainfall and river overflow. Nevertheless, they have little knowledge of the frequency of severe floods, and flood alleviation schemes. Most flood victims do not get compensation or relief during flood disaster, and the reason why they remain in the study area is influenced by their occupations, especially fishing, subsistence agriculture, and the presence of crude oil in the region which has attracted many migrants who cannot afford the high cost of accommodation and are therefore forced to live in vulnerable areas of the floodplain. Finally, the study concludes that flood control in the region needs the cooperation of government, community efforts and an enlightenment programmes through environmental education and mass media.     

Assessment of physicochemical parameters and prevalence of virulent and multiple-antibiotic-resistant <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis> in treated effluent of two wastewater treatment plants and receiving aquatic <Emphasis Type="Italic">milieu</Emphasis> in Durban,South Africa

The poor operational status of some wastewater treatment plants often result in the discharge of inadequately treated effluent into receiving surface waters. This is of significant public health concern as there are many informal settlement dwellers (ISDs) that rely on these surface waters for their domestic use. This study investigated the treatment efficiency of two independent wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Durban, South Africa and determined the impact of treated effluent discharge on the physicochemical and microbial quality of the receiving water bodies over a 6-month period. Presumptive Escherichia coli isolates were identified using biochemical tests and detection of the mdh gene via PCR. Six major virulence genes namely eae, hly, fliC, stx1, stx2, and rfbE were also detected via PCR while antibiotic resistance profiles of the isolates were determined using Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion assay. The physicochemical parameters of the wastewater samples ranged variously between 9 and 313.33 mg/L, 1.52 and 76.43 NTUs, and 6.30 and 7.87 for COD, turbidity, and pH respectively, while the E. coli counts ranged between 0 and 31.2?×?10³ CFU/ml. Of the 200 selected E. coli isolates, the hly gene was found in 28 %, fliC in 20 %, stx2 in 17 %, eae in 14 %, with stx1 and rfbE in only 4 % of the isolates. Notable resistance was observed toward trimethoprim (97 %), tetracycline (56 %), and ampicillin (52.5 %). These results further highlight the poor operational status of these WWTPs and outline the need for improved water quality monitoring and enforcement of stringent guidelines.     

Land Evaluation for Maize Based on Fuzzy Set and Interpolation

The objective of this article is to apply fuzzy set and interpolation techniques for land suitability evaluation for maize in Northern Ghana. Land suitability indices were computed at point observations using the Semantic Import (SI) model, whereas spatial interpolation was carried out by block kriging. Interpolated land suitability shows a high correlation (R2 = 0.87) with observed maize yield at the village level. This indicates that land suitability is closely related to maize yield in the study area. Membership functions were further used to assess the degree of limitation of land characteristics to maize. Sixty percent of the data has membership functions ranging from 0.23 for ECEC to 1.00 for drainage. ECEC, organic C, and clay are the major constraints to maize yield. The use of the fuzzy technique is helpful for land suitability evaluation, especially in applications in which subtle differences in soil quality are of a major interest. Furthermore, the use of kriging that exploits spatial variability of data is useful in producing continuous land suitability maps and in estimating uncertainties associated with predicted land suitability indices.     

Enhanced 1,2-dichloroethane degradation in heavy metal co-contaminated wastewater undergoing biostimulation and bioaugmentation

Biostimulation, bioaugmentation and dual-bioaugmentation strategies were investigated in this study for efficient bioremediation of water co-contaminated with 1,2-dichloroethane (1,2-DCA) and heavy metals, in a microcosm set-up. 1,2-DCA concentration was periodically measured in the microcosms by gas chromatographic analysis of the headspace samples, while bacterial population and diversity were determined by standard plate count technique and Polymerase chain reaction and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR–DGGE) analysis, respectively. Dual-bioaugmentation, proved to be most effective exhibiting 22.43%, 26.54%, 19.58% and 30.49% increase in 1,2-DCA degradation in microcosms co-contaminated with As³⁺, Cd²⁺, Hg²⁺ and Pb²⁺, respectively, followed by bioaugmentation and biostimulation. Dual-bioaugmented microcosms also exhibited the highest increase in the biodegradation rate constant (k₁) resulting in 1.76-, 2-, 1.7- and 2.1-fold increase in As³⁺, Cd²⁺, Hg²⁺ and Pb²⁺ co-contaminated microcosms respectively, compared to the untreated microcosms. Dominant bacterial strains obtained from the co-contaminated microcosms were found to belong to the genera Burkholderia, Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Enterobacter and Bradyrhizobium, previously reported for 1,2-DCA and other chlorinated compounds degradation. PCR–DGGE analysis revealed variation in microbial diversity over time in the different co-contaminated microcosms. Results obtained in this study have significant implications for developing innovative bioremediation strategies for treating water co-contaminated with chlorinated organics and heavy metals.     

不同碳源条件下草菇内切型纤维素酶基因（eg1）转录表达的分析

利用Northernblot方法分析了不同碳源条件下草菇切型纤维素酶基因(eg1)的表达.结果发现,在含有纤维素的液体培养基中生长10d,eg1在草菇菌丝中有高效表达;纤维二糖、α-乳糖、β-乳糖,也能诱导eg1的表达,但和纤维素相比,eg1的表达量相对较低,并且它们的诱导效应在加入这类糖12h后迅速减弱;槐糖和龙胆二糖的诱导作用非常弱.在天然稻草为基质的固体栽培料生长时,草菇eg1的表达和草菇菌丝生长与出菇相对应,在菌丝生长期(d8)可见eg1的表达,d12时菌丝已长满,表达减弱,在出菇及菇体的分化及增大期,eg1的表达量逐渐增强,在成熟期达到最高水平;表明在草菇菇体发育中需要更多碳源及能源的补充,eg1在这方面起着非常重要的作用.图4参14     

Aerobic dechlorination of cis- and trans-dichloroethenes by some indigenous bacteria isolated from contaminated sites in Africa

IntroductionChlorinatedethenesareamongthemostcommoncontaminantsobservedingroundwatersystems (Bouwer,1994;McCarty,1994) .Thesecompoundsvaryinnumberofchlorinesubstituents,fromthemostchlorinated,terachloroethene (PCE ) ,tothemonochlorinatedvinylchloride (VC …     

Quantitative assessment of the toxic effects of heavy metals on 1,2-dichloroethane biodegradation in co-contaminated soil under aerobic condition

1,2-Dichloroethane (1,2-DCA) is one of the most hazardous pollutant of soil and groundwater, and is produced in excess of 5.44 × 10⁹ kg annually. Owing to their toxicity, persistence and potential for bioaccumulation, there is a growing interest in technologies for their removal. Heavy metals are known to be toxic to soil microorganisms at high concentrations and can hinder the biodegradation of organic contaminants. In this study, the inhibitory effect of heavy metals, namely; arsenic, cadmium, mercury and lead, on the aerobic biodegradation of 1,2-DCA by autochthonous microorganisms was evaluated in soil microcosm setting. The presence of heavy metals was observed to have a negative impact on the biodegradation of 1,2-DCA in both soil samples tested, with the toxic effect being more pronounced in loam soil, than in clay soil. Generally, 75 ppm As³⁺, 840 ppm Hg²⁺, and 420 ppm Pb²⁺ resulted in 34.24%, 40.64%, and 45.94% increase in the half live (t_½) of 1,2-DCA, respectively, in loam soil, while concentrations above 127.5 ppm Cd²⁺, 840 ppm Hg²⁺ and 420 ppm of Pb²⁺ and less than 75 ppm As³⁺ was required to cause a >10% increase in the t_½ of 1,2-DCA in clay soil. A dose-dependent relationship between degradation rate constant (k₁) of 1,2-DCA and metal ion concentrations was observed for all the heavy metals tested, except for Hg²⁺. This study demonstrated that different heavy metals have different impacts on the degree of 1,2-DCA degradation. Results also suggest that the degree of inhibition is metal specific and is also dependent on several factors including; soil type, pH, moisture content and available nutrients.     

Aerobic biodegradation of dichloroethenes by indigenous bacteria isolated from contaminated sites in Africa

The widespread use of tetrachloroethene (PCE) and trichloroethene (TCE) as dry cleaning solvents and degreasing agents for military and industrial applications has resulted in significant environmental contamination worldwide. Anaerobic biotransformation of PCE and TCE through reductive dechlorination frequently lead to the accumulation of dichloroethenes (DCEs), thus limiting the use of reductive dechlorination for the biotransformation of the compounds. In this study, seven bacteria indigenous to contaminated sites in Africa were characterized for DCE degradation under aerobic conditions. The specific growth rate constants of the bacterial isolates ranged between 0.346-0.552d(-1) and 0.461-0.667d(-1) in cis-DCE and trans-DCE, respectively. Gas chromatographic analysis revealed that up to 75% of the compounds were degraded within seven days with the degradation rate constants ranging between 0.167 and 0.198d(-1). The two compounds were also observed to be significantly degraded, simultaneously, rather than sequentially, when present as a mixture. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequences of the bacterial isolates revealed their identity as well as their relation to other environmentally-important bacteria. The observed biodegradation of DCEs may contribute to PCE and TCE removal at the aerobic fringe of groundwater plumes undergoing reductive dechlorination in contaminated sites.