Spectral heterogeneity of honeybee ommatidia

The honeybee compound eye is equipped with ultraviolet, blue, and green receptors, which form the physiological basis of a trichromatic color vision system. We studied the distribution of the spectral receptors by localizing the three mRNAs encoding the opsins of the ultraviolet-, blue- and green-absorbing visual pigments. The expression patterns of the three opsin mRNAs demonstrated that three distinct types ommatidia exist, refuting the common assumption that the ommatidia composing the bee compound eye contain identical sets of spectral receptors. We found that type I ommatidia contain one ultraviolet and one blue receptor, type II ommatidia contain two ultraviolet receptors, and type III ommatidia have two blue receptors. All the three ommatidial types contain six green receptors. The ommatidia appear to be distributed rather randomly over the retina. The ratio of type I, II, and III ommatidia was about 44:46:10. Type III ommatidia appeared to be slightly more frequent (18%) in the anterior part of the ventral region of the eye. Retinal heterogeneity and ommatidial randomness, first clearly demonstrated in butterflies, seems to be a common design principle of the eyes of insects.     

Spatial simulation and LCA evaluation on the plastic waste recycling system in Tianjin

With the rapid economic development in China, the amount of plastic waste (PW) generated has greatly increased and much of the waste is currently not treated. To reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from recycling of PW, we estimated the PW flow and considered methods to improve the household PW recycling system in Tianjin by adjusting processes during transportation and establishing a PW recycling factory in Zi’ya Industrial Park. The goal of the study was to identify reasonable improvements for the recycling system and clarify the environmental load. Geographic information system (GIS) technology was used to simulate transport processes for comparing GHG emissions from the transport processes between the present case and an improved case. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to compare GHG emissions between a projected scenario and a baseline scenario. Estimated GHG emissions during transport processes in the improved case were reduced by about 12,197 t CO₂ eq per year compared to the present case, equivalent to about 65.9 % of the total emissions in the present case. GHG emissions in the projected scenario were about 101,738 t CO₂ eq less per year than the baseline scenario, equivalent to about 75.5 % of the total emissions in the baseline scenario.     

Impact assessment of human diet changes with rapid urbanization on regional nitrogen and phosphorus flows—a case study of the megacity Shanghai

Regional material flows are strongly influenced by human diets. To diagnose and prevent environmental problems that threaten urban sustainability, the impact of human diet changes with rapid urbanization on the regional nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) flows were quantitatively evaluated. A survey of day-to-day activities was conducted of 450 individuals surveyed (adults over 18 years old) in three representative areas (the central district, the new district, and the suburban/rural areas) of Shanghai, a megacity which has attracted worldwide attention. The lifestyle (eating habits, domestic sanitation, drainage facilities, etc.) pattern was determined and the potential N and P loads from human diets on the environment were calculated. The daily potential nitrogen and phosphorus loads from human diets was 19.36 g-N, 1.80 g-P in the central district, 16.48 g-N, 1.52 g-P in the new district, and 13.04 g-N, 1.20 g-P in the suburban/rural areas of Shanghai. Respondents in all three areas, especially those in the suburban/rural areas reported a preference for increasing the intake of animal-derived as well as processed foods, which means that the potential N and P load from human diets to the environment will increase further. In addition, most respondents consider industrial wastewater discharge as the main cause of eutrophication of waterbodies, though in recent years water pollution caused by domestic wastewater has increased rapidly, but this has received much less attention. Environment-friendly eating habits and improvements in the environmental awareness will be required.     

Global evaluation of the effects of agriculture and water management adaptations on the water-stressed population

Fresh water is one of the most important resources required for human existence, and ensuring its stable supply is a critical issue for sustainable development. The effects of a general set of agriculture and water management adaptations on the size of the world’s water-stressed population were assessed for a specific but consistent scenario on socio-economic development and climate change during the 21st century. To maintain consistency with agricultural land use change, we developed a grid-based water supply–demand model integrated with an agro-land use model and evaluated the water-stressed population using a water withdrawals-to-availability ratio for river basins. Our evaluation shows that, if no adaptation options are implemented, the world’s water-stressed population will increase from 1.8 billion in 2000 to about 3.3 billion in 2050, and then remain fairly constant. The population and economic growth rather than climate change will be dominant factors of this increase. Significant increase in the water-stressed population will occur in regions such as North Africa and the Middle East, India, Other South Asia, China and Southeast Asia. The key adaptation options differ by region, depending on dominant crops, increase in crop demand and so on. For instance, ‘improvement of irrigation efficiency’ and ‘enhancement of reclamation water’ seem to be one of important options to reduce the water stress in Southeast Asia, and North Africa and the Middle East, respectively. The worldwide implementation of adaptation options could decrease the water-stressed population by about 5 % and 7–17 %, relative to the scenario without adaptations, in 2050 and 2100, respectively.     

Risk of Hunger Under Climate Change, Social Disparity, and Agroproductivity Scenarios

Considering the projected population growth in the twenty-first century, some studies have indicated that global warming may have negative impacts on the risk of hunger. These conclusions were derived based on assumptions related to social and technological scenarios that involve substantial and influential uncertainties. In this paper, focusing on agrotechnology and food access disparity, we analyzed food availability and risk of hunger under the combined scenarios of food demands and agroproductivity with and without climate change by 2100 for the B2 scenario in the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios. The results of this study suggest that (1) future food demand can be satisfied globally under all assumed combined scenarios, and (2) a reduction of food access disparity and increased progress in productivity are just as important as climate change mitigation for reducing the risk of hunger.     

Non-intrusive characterization methods for wastewater-affected groundwater plumes discharging to an alpine lake

Streams and lakes in rocky environments are especially susceptible to nutrient loading from wastewater-affected groundwater plumes. However, the use of invasive techniques such as drilling wells, installing piezometers or seepage meters, to detect and characterize these plumes can be prohibitive. In this work, we report on the use of four non-intrusive methods for this purpose at a site in the Rocky Mountains. The methods included non-invasive geophysical surveys of subsurface electrical conductivity (EC), in-situ EC measurement of discharging groundwater at the lake-sediment interface, shoreline water sampling and nutrient analysis, and shoreline periphyton sampling and analysis of biomass and taxa relative abundance. The geophysical surveys were able to detect and delineate two high-EC plumes, with capacitively coupled ERI (OhmMapper) providing detailed two-dimensional images. In situ measurements at the suspected discharge locations confirmed the presence of high-EC water in the two plumes and corroborated their spatial extent. The nutrient and periphyton results showed that only one of the two high-EC plumes posed a current eutrophication threat, with elevated nitrogen and phosphorus levels, high localized periphyton biomass and major shifts in taxonomic composition to taxa that are commonly associated with anthropogenic nutrient loading. This study highlights the need to use non-intrusive methods in combination, with geophysical and water EC-based methods used for initial detection of wastewater-affected groundwater plumes, and nutrient or periphyton sampling used to characterize their ecological effects.     

Consistent assessments of pathways toward sustainable development and climate stabilization

Many of the numerous difficult issues facing the world today involve relationships entailing trade‐offs and synergies. This study quantitatively assesses some alternative scenarios using integrated assessment models, and provides several indicators relating to sustainable development and climate change, such as indicators of income (per capita GDP), poverty, water stress, food access, sustainable energy use, energy security, and ocean acidification, with high consistencies among the indicators within a scenario. According to the analyses, economic growth helps improve many of the indicators for sustainable development. On the other hand, climate change will induce some severe impacts such as ocean acidification under a non‐climate intervention scenario (baseline scenario). Deep emission reductions, such as to 2°C above the pre‐industrial level, could cause some sustainable development indicators to worsen. There are complex trade‐offs between climate change mitigation levels and several sustainable development indicators. A delicately balanced approach to economic growth will be necessary for sustainable development and responses to climate change.