Enhanced adaptability of Sesbania rostrata to Pb/Zn tailings via stem modulation

Sesbania rostrata is renowned for its stem nodulation, but the role of stem nodulation in the root nodulation and adaptation of S.rostrata to Pb/Zn-enriched tailings environment has been poorly understood.We investigated the effects of inoculating (with stem nodule treatment) and non-inoculating (without stem nodule treatment) Azorhizobium caulinodans on the growth, root nodulation, and N fixation of S.rostrata grown on three different types of soil substrata: Pb/Zn tailings, garden soil amended tailings, and garden soil.The results showed that plant height, stem basal diameter, biomass, chlorophyll content, nitrogen content and N-accumulation per plant were 2.3%-4.9%, 2.2%-7.7%, 27.8%-72.2%, 17.1%-23.5%, 12.3%-34.2%, and 43.1%-131.2% higher in treatments with stem nodule than those without stem nodule for the same soil substrate, respectively.With respect to soil substrata, all the measurements had consistently higher values in tailings than in amended tailings and garden soil, indicating that the poorer the soil condition, the greater the contribution of stem nodule.In contrast, the number and fresh weight of root nodules on plants without stem nodule were 6.9-11.6 times and 5.8-29.0 times higher than those with stem nodule, respectively, especially with respect to the plants grew on Pb/Zn tailings.In general, stem nodulation favored plant growth and nitrogen fixation of S.rostrata, but suppressed root nodulation.With the ability of stem and root nodulation, S.rostrata can be used as a pioneer plant species for remediation of Pb/Zn tailings.     

浙江省“十二五”大气污染物排放增量不确定因素及对策研究

在"十二五"发展过程中,基于经济社会发展规划目标测算的污染物排放增量存在诸多不确定性,极有可能突破预期值,因此在满足社会经济发展规划基础上提出的减排目标可达性也存在一定风险。为确保浙江省"十二五"大气污染物减排目标顺利完成,从GDP、能源消费、机动车保有量等方面分析了可能影响浙江省"十二五"大气污染物排放增量的不确定因素,并从提高经济发展质量、实施煤炭总量控制、试行机动车总量控制、推进排污权有偿使用和交易等方面提出针对性控制对策。     

象山港国华电厂强增温海域浮游动物群落结构和多样性的时空特征

为探明电厂强增温海域浮游动物群落结构和多样性的时空特征,于2011年在象山港国华电厂附近海域,采用浮游生物Ⅱ型网(网目160μm)进行10站位2重复的浮游动物季节性采样.结果表明,共识别出62种浮游动物(含幼体),平均丰度为9 531.1 ind.m-3.该海域浮游动物群落主要由桡足类和浮游幼体类组成,且以浮游幼体类为主,比例高达66.6%.相似性分析显示,各月间浮游动物群落结构差异极显著(P<0.01),控制群落结构的优势种有18种,最重要的判别种有瘦尾胸刺水蚤Centropages tenuiremis、大同长腹剑水蚤Oithona similis、伪长腹剑水蚤Oithona fallax、克氏纺锤水蚤Acartia clausi、长尾基齿哲水蚤Clausocalanus furcatus、针刺拟哲水蚤Paracalanus aculeatus和小拟哲水蚤Paracalanus parvus.GLM分析显示,月份间的多样性指数也存在极显著差异(P<0.01),经计算,各多样性指数随水温增加而下降的拐点水温范围为20.31～22.31℃.在断面上,离排水口0.2 km断面(D02)的平均水温比2 km断面高2.16℃.受温度影响,主要优势种如瘦尾胸刺水蚤和大同长腹剑水蚤倾向于向D02断面移动,克氏纺锤水蚤、尤其是大型浮游动物倾向于远离排水口,并向1.2 km断面聚集,使D02断面的种类数最少(33种)、丰度最低(5 522.8 ind.m-3),而1.2 km断面的种类数(53种)和丰度(16 491.0 ind.m-3)最高;同时,D02断面的多样性指数也明显低于其它断面.经线性回归分析,海域增温使多样性指数极显著下降(P<0.01),每增温1℃浮游动物丰富度下降12.3%.     

HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND RESPONSE TOWARDS STORM HAZARD IN WEST VANCOUVER,BRITISH COLUMBIA1

ABSTRACT: Human behavior and response towards storm hazard are examined in this study. One-hundred and twenty flood victims in West Vancouver, British Columbia, were administered a sentence completion test to ascertain how these victims behaved and responded to the flash flood of July 12, 1972. The sentence completion test consisted of 11 sentence stems. Seven of these dealt with the respondent's behavior toward the storm experience, and four with the issue of internal vs. external locus of control. Completions of the seven sentence stems at three time situations showed that West Vancouverites expressed the normal reactions of fear and anxiety before the storm; showed negative emotions during the storm; and displayed a feeling of mutual cooperation after the storm. Completions of the remaining four sentence stems revealed that West Vancouverites emphasized the importance of internal factors, viz., autonomy, drive and hard work, in controlling their lives. They recognized God as a benevolent - protective and almighty - powerful figure. Forty percent of the respondents did not believe in luck, while 8 percent regarded it as important in their lives. One might conclude that West Vancouverites could cope with natural hazardous threats better than those who rely on external factors in directing their lives.     

铜铁矿井下采掘工程的环境影响及生态保护

对铜铁矿井下采掘工程产生的环境影响进行了分析，外排井下涌水下的铜可对鱼类养殖业水体的地表水质带来不利影响，采用帷幕注浆堵水工艺可防止大面积地表塌陷的发生，对难以避免的局部，小规模塌陷提出了生态安全的预警措施。     

Elevated CO2 changes the moderate shade tolerance of yellow birch seedlings

To demonstrate the existence of light thresholds in plant growth and to examine the effects of elevated CO2 on the shade tolerance of a tree species, an experiment consisting of a completely randomized design for a total of 96 yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis Britton) seedlings was conducted with 3 light levels (2.9%, 7.7%, 26.1% of full sunlight)×2 CO2 levels (350 and 700±10 ppm) with 4 replications in a phytotron. The study proved that thresholds exist and they vary in different plant organs. In ambient CO2, the thresholds were 13.3%, 18.7%, 15.0%, 15.2%, and 15.6% of full sunlight for stem, leaf, root, total plant biomass, and the averaged value, respectively. In 700 ppm CO2, the corresponding thresholds were 16.7%, 21.3%, 18.1%, 21.7% and 19.5% for stem, leaf, root, total plant biomass, and the averaged value, respectively. The lowest threshold in the stem is an indicator of the minimal light intensity for regular growth for seedlings of this species. Below this threshold, light-stressful growth occurs. The result of a paired t-test indicated that the thresholds in elevated CO2 were significantly higher than in ambient CO2. This suggests that yellow birch will lose its moderate shade tolerance, evolutionally becoming a shade-intolerant species, and that it may become more difficult to naturally regenerate in the future.     

Climate changes in the past century and radial increment of pine in the Southern Ural steppe

Changes in the main climatic factors (air temperature and total precipitation) and their effect on the radial increment of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) over the period from 1933 to 2002 were studied in an insular pine forest growing in the steppe zone of the Southern Urals. Evidence for a significant increase in the amount of precipitation and air temperature in the second half of this period was obtained. Functions of response of radial increment indices to climatic parameters were analyzed. Relative contributions of air temperature and precipitation to variation in the radial increment of pine in different time intervals proved to differ in relation to climate changes during the past century.     

Enzymatic hydrolysis of banana stems (Musa acuminata): Optimization of process parameters and inhibition characterization

In current work, an optimum solid loading (solid: liquid = 1:20), pH (4.8), temperature (50°C), and enzyme dosing of 20 filter paper unit (amount of enzyme required to release 1 µmol of glucose as reducing sugar from filter paper in per mL per minute) were enumerated for enzymatic hydrolysis of banana stem using cellulase from Trichoderma reesei. Further, inhibition study on enzymatic hydrolysis of banana stem was investigated by the supplementation of monosaccharides (glucose, galactose, mannose, xylose, and arabinose), disaccharide (cellobiose), and inhibitors (acetic acid and furfural obtained from pre-enzymatic hydrolysis steps). Glucose and cellobiose showed inhibitory effect on enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated banana stem at or above 8 g/L while galactose, mannose, and xylose showed a significant inhibitory effect at or above 4 g/L. Instead of inhibition, arabinose enhanced the enzymatic hydrolysis with increase in total reducing sugars. Acetic acid did not show any significant inhibition while furfural inhibited the system at a comparative low concentration of 2 g/L. Further, scanning electron microscopy analysis was performed to investigate the difference in ultra-structural morphology of raw biomass, pretreated biomass, and biomass obtained after enzymatic hydrolysis.     

Studying developmental neurotoxic effects of bisphenol A (BPA) using embryonic stem cells

There is little to no toxicity information regarding thousands of chemicals to which people are exposed daily. In fact, of the 84,000 chemicals listed in the United States Toxic Substances Control Act Inventory, there is limited information available on their effects on neural development (Betts, 2010 and US EPA, 2015). The number of chemicals tested remains low due to the high cost of conducting multi-generational animal studies and the lack of alternative testing methods.