Exploring the risks and benefits of flexibility in biodiversity offset location in a case study of migratory shorebirds

Biodiversity offsets aim to counterbalance the residual impacts of development on species and ecosystems. Guidance documents explicitly recommend that biodiversity offset actions be located close to the location of impact because of higher potential for similar ecological conditions, but allowing greater spatial flexibility has been proposed. We examined the circumstances under which offsets distant from the impact location could be more likely to achieve no net loss or provide better ecological outcomes than offsets close to the impact area. We applied a graphical model for migratory shorebirds in the East Asian–Australasian Flyway as a case study to explore the problems that arise when incorporating spatial flexibility into offset planning. Spatially flexible offsets may alleviate impacts more effectively than local offsets; however, the risks involved can be substantial. For our case study, there were inadequate data to make robust conclusions about the effectiveness and equivalence of distant habitat-based offsets for migratory shorebirds. Decisions around offset placement should be driven by the potential to achieve equivalent ecological outcomes; however, when considering more distant offsets, there is a need to evaluate the likely increased risks alongside the potential benefits. Although spatially flexible offsets have the potential to provide more cost-effective biodiversity outcomes and more cobenefits, our case study showed the difficulty of demonstrating these benefits in practice and the potential risks that need to be considered to ensure effective offset placement.     

Contamination characteristics of trace metals in dust from different levels of roads of a heavily air-polluted city in north China

Concentrations of eight trace metals (TMs) in road dust (RD) (particles?<?25 μm) from urban areas of Xinxiang, China, were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The geometric mean concentrations of Zn, Mn, Pb, As, Cu, Cr, Ni and Cd were 489, 350, 114, 101, 60.0, 39.7, 31.6, and 5.1 mg kg^?1, respectively. When compared with TM levels in background soil, the samples generally display elevated TM concentrations, except for Cr and Mn, and for Cd the enrichment value was 69.6. Spatial variations indicated TMs in RD from park path would have similar sources with main roads, collector streets and bypasses. Average daily exposure doses of the studied TMs were about three orders of magnitude higher for hand-to-mouth ingestion than dermal contact, and the exposure doses for children were 9.33 times higher than that for adults. The decreasing trend of calculated hazard indexes (HI) for the eight elements was As?>?Pb?>?Cr?>?Mn?>?Cd?>?Zn?>?Ni?>?Cu for both children and adults.     

Effects of T-2 toxin on histopathology,fatty acid and water distribution of shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) muscle

T-2 toxin (T-2), one of the naturally occurring mycotoxins, often accumulates in aquatic animals from contaminated feed. Shrimp (n?=?30 per group) were fed with different concentrations (0, 0.5, 1.5, 4.5 and 13.5?mg kg^?1) of T-2 for 20?days. Changes in histopathology, fatty acid and water distribution of shrimp muscle were analyzed. Histopathology of shrimp muscle showed dose-dependent marked degenerative and necrotic changes on exposure to dietary T-2. The T-2 significantly (P?<?0.05) affected the muscle fatty acid composition. ∑SFA, ∑MUFA and ∑PUFA initially decreased and then increased slowly in the high-dosed groups. C16:0, C18:1n-9 and C18:2n-6 were the main saturated fatty acid (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), respectively. Also, T-2 significantly affected water distribution in shrimp muscle. High doses of T-2 reduced free water content, resulting in a reduction in the water holding capacity and hence changes to the shrimp muscle quality. Collectively, these results illustrated that T-2 significantly affects the fatty acid and water distribution, and also muscle histopathology, all of which would result in a reduction in the quality and nutritional value of shrimp.     

The associations of air pollution exposure during pregnancy with fetal growth and anthropometric measurements at birth: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Fetal growth has been demonstrated to be an important predictor of perinatal and postnatal health. Although the effects of maternal exposure to air...     

底泥性质对重金属生物淋滤效果的影响

生物淋滤技术是一项可以将重金属从污染底泥或土壤中分离出来的环境修复技术,具有反应温和、耗酸少、运行成本较低、去除效率高,以及脱毒后底泥的脱水性能好等优点。然而,底泥成分复杂、流域特异性高,这使得相似的生物淋滤工艺对不同底泥的重金属去除效果不尽相同、淋滤技术的工艺参数标准化难度增加。综述了底泥性质对淋滤反应的3方面影响:底泥中的有机质与酸可挥发性硫化物(AVS)会改变重金属的形态;pH、可还原性硫、水溶性有机物(DOM)会对淋滤功能菌的活性产生影响;底泥粒度和耗酸能力(ACC)也会影响重金属的化学淋出效果。在此基础上提出今后该技术有待开展的研究内容,以期为该技术的进一步推广应用提供理论依据和技术支撑。     

聚苯乙烯/CdS/TiO_2双壳层核壳纳米颗粒可见光催化降解甲基橙

采用溶胶-凝胶法,在聚苯乙烯(PS)/CdS核壳纳米颗粒表面包覆致密TiO_2层,制备出具有双壳层结构的PS/CdS/TiO_2纳米复合颗粒,考察了制备条件对材料结构的影响,并利用甲基橙溶液对其光催化性能进行了评价。SEM、TEM、XRD和FTIR分析结果表明,制得的微球单分散性良好,壳层包覆完整,厚度均匀。PS/CdS/TiO_2制备的适宜反应时间为12~18 h,适宜反应pH为7~9。PS/CdS/TiO_2较PS/CdS具有更为优异的可见光催化性能。     

Depth perception,dark adaptation,vigilance and accident proneness of Chinese coal mine workers

To explore the relationships between human factors and accident proneness of coal mine workers, the depth perception, dark adaptation and vigilance abilities of 239 Chinese coal mine workers were tested and their accident proneness was surveyed with an accident proneness questionnaire. The results indicated that dark adaptation and vigilance abilities of the mine workers declined with increasing age. Vigilance had a significant negative relationship with accident proneness. There were significant differences in vigilance between coal mine workers doing different types of work. Individual difference in vigilance was relevant to the type of work that an individual did in a coal mine. The dark adaptation index had a significant positive relationship with accident proneness. Coal mine workers with weaker dark adaptation ability were also more accident prone. Some ergonomics recommendations concerning coal mine safety management in China are proposed.     

In situ electron-induced reduction of NOx via CNTs activated by DBD at low temperature

• An in situ electron-induced deNO_x process with CNT activated by DBD was achieved. • Carbon atoms on CNT surface were verified to be excited by plasma in DBD-CNT system. • Reactions between NO_x and excited C result in synergistic effect of DBD-CNT system. In this study, a new in situ electron-induced process is presented with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as a reduction agent activated by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) for nitrogen oxide (NO_x) abatement at low temperature (<407 K). Compared with a single DBD system and a DBD system with activated carbon (DBD-AC), a DBD system with carbon nanotubes (DBD-CNT) showed a significant promotion of NO_x removal efficiency and N₂ selectivity. Although the O₂ content was 10%, the NO_x conversion and N₂ selectivity in the DBD-CNT system still reached 64.9% and 81.9% at a specific input energy (SIE) of 1424 J/L, and these values decreased to 16.8%, 31.9% and 43.2%, 62.3% in the single DBD system and the DBD-AC system, respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were utilized to investigate surface changes in the CNTs after activation by DBD to explore the NO_x reduction abatement mechanism of this new process. Furthermore, the outlet gas components were also observed via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to help reveal the NO_x reduction mechanism. Experimental results verified that carbon atoms excited by DBD and the structure of CNTs contributed to the synergistic activity of the DBD-CNT system. The new deNO_x process was accomplished through in situ heterogenetic reduction reactions between the NO_x and carbon atoms activated by the plasma on the CNTs. In addition, further results indicated that the new deNO_x process exhibited acceptable SO₂ tolerance and water resistance.     

多点泄漏对天然气管道沿线压力的影响研究

为研究不同的多点泄漏工况对管道流动参数的影响，基于流动方程建立数学模型，讨论泄漏后压力下降幅值与泄漏位置、泄漏点数的关系，在室内输气环道采集多点泄漏工况下的压力信号并对理论分析结果进行验证。结果表明:泄漏点的上游和下游压力均减小，越靠近泄漏点压力降越大；2个泄漏点之间压力也下降，越靠近上游泄漏点，压力下降幅度越大；泄漏点距起点越近，泄漏引起的压力降低幅值越大。压力下降的幅值受距离起点最近的泄漏点位置影响最大，且随着泄漏点数的增多而增大。     

Photosynthesis and related metabolic mechanism of promoted rice (Oryza sativa L.) growth by TiO2 nanoparticles

• The rice growth was promoted by nano-TiO₂ of 0.1–100 mg/L. • Nano-TiO₂ enhanced the energy storage in photosynthesis. • Nano-TiO₂ reduced energy consumption in carbohydrate metabolism and TCA cycle. Titanium dioxide nanoparticle (nano-TiO₂), as an excellent UV absorbent and photo-catalyst, has been widely applied in modern industry, thus inevitably discharged into environment. We proposed that nano-TiO₂ in soil can promote crop yield through photosynthetic and metabolic disturbance, therefore, we investigated the effects of nano-TiO₂ exposure on related physiologic-biochemical properties of rice (Oryza sativa L.). Results showed that rice biomass was increased >30% at every applied dosage (0.1–100 mg/L) of nano-TiO₂. The actual photosynthetic rate (Y(II)) significantly increased by 10.0% and 17.2% in the treatments of 10 and 100 mg/L respectively, indicating an increased energy production from photosynthesis. Besides, non-photochemical quenching (Y(NPQ)) significantly decreased by 19.8%–26.0% of the control in all treatments respectively, representing a decline in heat dissipation. Detailed metabolism fingerprinting further revealed that a fortified transformation of monosaccharides (D-fructose, D-galactose, and D-talose) to disaccharides (D-cellobiose, and D-lactose) was accompanied with a weakened citric acid cycle, confirming the decrease of energy consumption in metabolism. All these results elucidated that nano-TiO₂ promoted rice growth through the upregulation of energy storage in photosynthesis and the downregulation of energy consumption in metabolism. This study provides a mechanistic understanding of the stress-response hormesis of rice after exposure to nano-TiO₂, and provides worthy information on the potential application and risk of nanomaterials in agricultural production.