Effect of pressure and atmosphere during hydrothermal treatment on the properties of sewage sludge-derived solid fuel

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - Efforts to improve the performance of hydrothermal treatment (HT) in producing high-quality solid fuel from sewage sludge were carried out by...     

Synthetic organic chemicals (flame retardants and pesticides) with neurotoxic potential induced behavioral impairment on zebrafish (Danio rerio): a non-invasive approach for neurotoxicology

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Behavior responses of organisms can be used as a non-invasive method for neurotoxicology studies since it directly links the nervous system’s...     

Small queens in the ant Ectatomma tuberculatum: a new case of social parasitism

Social parasites exploit the worker force of colonies of other social insects to rear their own young. Social parasitism occurs in several Hymenoptera and is particularly common in several tribes of the ant subfamilies Myrmicinae and Formicinae. Here, we document the occurrence of miniaturized queens (microgynes) in colonies of Ectatomma tuberculatum, an ant belonging to the subfamily Ectatomminae. Behavioral observations and genetic analyses show that microgynes concentrate their reproductive efforts almost exclusively on the production of sexual offspring (microgynes and males), whereas the regular, large queens (macrogynes) produce workers in addition to sexuals. According to mitochondrial and nuclear markers, gene flow between microgynes and macrogynes is extremely limited. Whereas the co-occurrence of microgynes and macrogynes in the related species Ectatomma ruidum constitutes an intraspecific polymorphism associated with alternative dispersal tactics, microgynes found in colonies of E. tuberculatum appear to be a distinct species and to represent the first case of social parasitism in the poneromorph subfamilies of ants.     

长江三峡区间数字流域水系的构建

基于全球陆地一公里基础高程GLOBE数据 ,采用Martz和Garbrecht研制的数字高程流域水系模型自动提取长江三峡万县～宜昌区间的河网水系、各子流域分水线、河网与子流域编码及河网结构拓扑关系 ,从而构成该区域的数字流域和数字水系。结果表明该模型生成的水系是可以接受的 ,与 1:10万地形图上长江三峡万县～宜昌区间的水系一致 ,这为空间分布式模型的建立提供了必备的空间信息数据。最后 ,探讨了数字流域水系在流域生态学中的应用前景 ,构建的数字水系可为中尺度以上流域水体和水生生物的资源保护与合理利用提供决策平台 ,服务于社会经济的可持续发展。     

Material suppliers and industrial metabolism

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is not sufficiently tailored to the analysis of strategic environmental problems of material suppliers. Sustainable development calls for a reduction by a factor of 10 to 20 in the material intensity of the economy, a situation which leads to dramatic shifts in markets for raw materials. Furthermore, a material supplier might have major improvement options in the material’s numerous downstream uses. LCAs, however, can’t cover these two aspects. An adapted form of Substance Flow Analysis (SFA) may be an answer. This approach defines a system in relation to the flow of a specific material through society. All environmental interventions related to the material are inventoried. An emission evaluation indicates the dominant environmental bottlenecks, given the current market volume of each application of the material. This helps to identify improvement options and strategic choices in market portfolios. Scenario analysis on potential measures can further indicate changes of material flows — and thus markets — in the system. The approach is illustrated with a case study on chlorine.     

Gauging the environmental efficiency with ecological compensation in presence of missing data using data envelopment analysis

Environment, Development and Sustainability - The ecological compensation mechanism is regarded as the direction for the future management of the ecological environment of the river basin, which...     

Effects of Different Litter Treatments on Seed Germination and Seedling Growth of Pinus densata in Southeast Tibet,China

Russian Journal of Ecology - The aim of this study is to explore the effects of the litter cover thickness and cleaning methods on seed germination and seedling growth of Pinus densata. The overall...     

蚯蚓对城镇污泥堆肥过程中微型动物群落演替的影响

采用实验对比和除趋势对应分析（DCA）等方法,以城镇污泥中的微型动物为对象,研究蚯蚓对堆肥过程微型动物群落演替的影响.结果表明,蚯蚓仅影响微型动物群落数量,对演替进程无明显影响.堆肥过程微型动物群落演替可分为3个阶段：第1阶段（0~10 d）,固着类纤毛虫为优势类群阶段,该阶段微型动物变化多受限于环境的改变,蚯蚓影响较小;第2阶段（10~30 d）,固着类纤毛虫和轮虫向肉足虫和线虫为优势类群的过渡阶段,该阶段蚯蚓对线虫数量有一定的限制;第3阶段（30 d后）,肉足虫和线虫为优势类群阶段,该阶段蚯蚓对有壳肉足虫的增长产生了明显的抑制作用.群落多样性指数结果显示,蚯蚓在第1和第2阶段作用不明显,在第3阶段增加了微型动物的多样性和均匀度,减小了优势物种的优势程度.对固着类纤毛虫的同化作用是蚯蚓稳定堆肥环境、促进有机质降解的重要因素.