Integrative trophic network assessments of a lentic ecosystem by key ecological approaches of water chemistry, trophic guilds, and ecosystem health assessments along with an ECOPATH model

The objective of this study was to describe the trophic structure and energy flow in a lentic ecosystem in South Korea. Physicochemical water conditions were evaluated along with the reservoir ecosystem health using a multimetric IBI model. Nutrient analyses of the reservoir showed a nutrient rich and hypereutrophic system. Guild analysis revealed that tolerant and omnivorous species dominated the ecosystem. Tolerant fish, as a proportion of the number of individuals, were associated (R² > 0.90, p < 0.01) with TN and TP, the key indicators of trophic state in lentic ecosystems. The mean Reservoir Ecosystem Health Assessment (REHA) score was 19.3 during the study, which was judged as in ‘fair to poor’ condition. A trophic analysis of the reservoir estimated by the ECOPATH model shows that most activity in terms of energy flow occurred in the lower part of the trophic web, where there was intensive use of primary producers as a food source. Consequently, of the 10 consumer groups, nine fell within trophic levels <2.8. Trophic levels (TL) estimated from the weighted average of prey trophic levels varied from 1.0 for phytoplankton, macrophytes, and detritus to 3.25 for the top predator, Pseudobagrus fulvidraco. Our integrated approach to trophic network analysis may provide a key tool for determining the effects of nutrient influx on energy flow pathways in lentic ecosystems.     

Food web structure and trophic interactions of the tropical highland lake Hayq, Ethiopia

We generated a mass-balance model to figure out the food web structure and trophic interactions of the major functional groups of the Ethiopian highland Lake Hayq. Moreover, the study lay down a baseline data for future ecosystem-based investigations and management activities. Extensive data collection has been taken place between October 2007 and May 2009. Ecotrophic efficiency (EE) of several functional groups including phytoplankton (0.8) and detritus (0.85) was high indicating the utilization of the groups within the system. However, the EE of Mesocyclops (0.03) and Thermocyclops (0.30) was very low implying these resources were rather a ‘sink’ in the trophic hierarchy. Flows based on aggregated trophic level sensu Lindeman revealed the importance of both phytoplankton and detritus to higher trophic levels. The computed average transfer efficiency of 11.5% for the first four trophic levels was within the range for highly efficient African lakes. The primary production to respiration (P/R) ratio (1.05) of Lake Hayq indicates the maturity of the ecosystem. We also modeled the food-web by excluding Tilapia and reduced phytoplankton biomass to get insight into the mass balance before Tilapia was introduced. The analysis resulted in a lower system omnivory index (SOI = 0.016) and a reduced P/R ratio (0.13) that described the lake as immature ecosystem, suggesting the introduction of Tilapia might have contributed to the maturity of the lake. Tilapia in Lake Hayq filled an ecological empty niche of pelagic planktivores, and contributed for the better transfer efficiency observed from primary production to fish yield.     

Perturbation methods in optimal control problems

Iteration methods for control improvement in quadratic on state systems are proposed. These methods have been applied for solving the systems of improvement conditions. In order to ground the methods, elements of the theory of perturbations have been applied in this research.     

Optimal control of lake pH for mercury bioaccumulation control

Mercury is recognized internationally as an important pollutant since mercury and its compounds are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic, and pose human and ecosystem risks. A critical aspect of mercury cycling is its bioaccumulation, mainly as methylmercury, along the aquatic food web resulting in high risk of human exposure through contaminated fish consumption. Since lake acidity (pH) and mercury methylation are correlated, control of lake pH through lake liming is a possible option to mitigate mercury bioaccumulation. This work proposes to use optimal control theory to derive time-dependent lake liming strategies for a tighter control of lake pH. Since the behavior of the freshwater ecosystems such as lakes is often associated with considerable uncertainties, a robust and realistic analysis should incorporate such uncertainties. This work models the time-dependent uncertain variations in the basic lake pH value and derives the liming profiles in the presence of such seasonal pH fluctuations. Established techniques from real options theory are employed for modeling the uncertainty as a stochastic process, and stochastic optimal control is used for deriving liming profiles. The approach is critically evaluated through applications to various case study lakes. Considering the substantial costs associated with liming operations, the work formulates a multi-objective problem highlighting the tradeoff between accurate pH control and liming cost. The results of the control problem solution are also compared with heuristics based liming. The results, while highlighting the success of using time-dependent liming, put forth certain interesting aspects that might be helpful to a decision maker. The analysis is expected to make liming operation more reliable, thereby presenting one more tool to manage the harmful effects of mercury pollution.     

Household incidence of pollution control policies: A robust welfare analysis using general equilibrium effects

This study assesses the incidence of pollution control policies on households. In contrast to previous studies, we employ an integrated framework combining a multisector general equilibrium model with a stochastic dominance analysis using household-level data. We consider three policy instruments in a domestic emission trading system: (i) an output-based allocation (OBA) of permits; (ii) the use of the proceeds of permit sales to reduce payroll taxes (RPT); (iii) and the use of these proceeds to reduce consumption taxes instead (UCS). The general equilibrium results suggest that the return to capital is more negatively affected than the wage rate in all simulations, since polluting industries are capital intensive. Abstracting from pollution externalities, the dominance analysis suggests that all three policies have a normatively robust negative (positive) impact on welfare (poverty). Formal dominance tests indicate that RPT first-order welfare dominates OBA over all values of household incomes. UCS also first-order poverty dominates RPT for any choice of poverty line below $CAN 18,600, and poverty dominates for any poverty line (and thus welfare dominates) at the second order. Finally, while the three pollution control policies do not have a numerically large impact on inequality (in comparison to the base run), statistical tests indicate that inequality increases significantly more with OBA and RPT than with UCS.     

EcoTroph: Modelling marine ecosystem functioning and impact of fishing

EcoTroph (ET) is a model articulated around the idea that the functioning of aquatic ecosystems may be viewed as a biomass flow moving from lower to higher trophic levels, due to predation and ontogenetic processes. Thus, we show that the ecosystem biomass present at a given trophic level may be estimated from two simple equations, one describing biomass flow, the other their kinetics (which quantifies the velocity of biomass transfers towards top predators). The flow kinetic of prey partly depends on the abundance of their predators, and a top-down equation expressing this is included in the model. Based on these relationships, we simulated the impact on a virtual ecosystem of various exploitation patterns. Specifically, we show that the EcoTroph approach is able to mimic the effects of increased fishing effort on ecosystem biomass expected from theory. Particularly, the model exhibits complex patterns observed in field data, notably cascading effects and ‘fishing down the food web’. EcoTroph also provides diagnostic tools for examining the relationships between catch and fishing effort at the ecosystem scale and the effects of strong top-down controls and fast-flow kinetics on ecosystems resilience. Finally, a dynamic version of the model is derived from the steady-state version, thus allowing simulations of time series of ecosystem biomass and catches. Using this dynamic model, we explore the propagation of environmental variability in the food web, and illustrated how exploitation can induce a decrease of ecosystem stability. The potential for applying EcoTroph to specific ecosystems, based on field data, and similarities between EcoTroph and Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) are finally discussed.     

An optimized policy for the reduction of CO2 emission in the Brazilian Legal Amazon

The Brazilian government has already acknowledged the importance of investing in the development and application of technologies to reduce or prevent CO₂ emissions resulting from human activities in the Legal Brazilian Amazon (BA). The BA corresponds to a total area of 5 × 10⁶ km² from which 4 × 10⁶ km² was originally covered by the rain forest. One way to interfere with the net balance of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions is to increase the forest area to sequester CO₂ from the atmosphere. The single most important cause of depletion of the rain forest is cattle ranching. In this work, we present an effective policy to reduce the net balance of CO₂ emissions using optimal control theory to obtain a compromising partition of investments in reforestation and promotion of clear technology to achieve a CO₂ emission target for 2020. The simulation indicates that a CO₂ emission target for 2020 of 376 million tonnes requires an estimated forest area by 2020 of 3,708,000 km², demanding a reforestation of 454,037 km². Even though the regional economic growth can foster the necessary political environment for the commitment with optimal emission targets, the reduction of 38.9% of carbon emissions until 2020 proposed by Brazilian government seems too ambitious.     

套种模式对水土保持效应的影响

在东江中上游低效水土保持林的改造中,营建了不同套种模式的水保林,效益监测结果表明,乔灌草模式、乔灌模式和马尾松纯林模式中,以乔灌草模式的水土保持效果为最佳.乔、灌、草层分别对降水的截留和吸附,以及大量的地上枯落物具有强大的持水能力,有效地减少了雨滴直接冲刷地表,使得乔灌草模式的土壤侵蚀明显减少,套种4 a后土壤侵蚀模数降为960 t/(km2(a),约为乔灌模式的1/3和马尾松纯林的1/5;同时使土壤蓄水能力提高,土壤肥力状况得到改善.     

中国污染控制政策的评估及展望

论文对近10年来中国污染控制政策的演变历程和发展特点进行了分析,指出污染控制政策总体上呈现出由单环节末端治理向全过程污染控制演变,由单纯强调工业"三废"控制向工业、城市和农业全方位污染综合防治演变,由单一指令控制手段向行政、经济与技术综合手段演变等3个显著特点;运用影响因素评价矩阵,对当前的主要污染控制政策进行了系统评估,指出目前我国污染控制政策总体执行效果不显著;最后提出了未来中国污染控制政策的基本走向,一是完善污染控制的法律法规体系,二是建立和完善环境影响评价制度、环境目标责任制度和排污许可证制度等三项重点环境管理制度,三是加强环境税收、排污权交易、环境公共财政、生态补偿、绿色资本市场等七项环境经济政策的改革与创新.     

Water quality in the Red Sea coastal waters (Egypt): Analysis of spatial and temporal variability

In order to provide a background picture of the water quality of the Egyptian Red Sea a number of hydrological and chemical parameters have been measured bimonthly in 2000. Few data are available on this area, which is apparently subjected to an increasing human impact due to recreational (swimming and diving), industrial (mainly phosphate shipping and industry) and fishing/harbor activities. The results of the present study indicate that changes in the salinity and pH were not significant with highly oxygenated seawaters. The levels of suspended solids (as total suspended matter, TSM) and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) were generally low and showed an homogeneous distribution in the study region. The ratio of chlorophyll-a to total suspended matter concentrations increased between November and March and decreased from May to September. Chlorophyll-a was significantly correlated with transparency and total suspended matter concentrations in July, September and November. Nitrogen, phosphorus and reactive silicate concentrations were generally low, and allowed classifying the Egyptian Red Sea coastal water as oligotrophic to mesotrophic. The middle region of the study area, which was located between Safaga and Qusair displayed relatively high phosphate contents when compared with other coastal areas. The high values of N:P ratios indicate that PO 4 -P is the limiting factor for phytoplankton growth in the Red Sea coastal waters, with the possible exception of the middle region. Significant relationships were found between chlorophyll-a concentrations and nutrient levels in different sampling periods. Spatial distribution patterns of the studied variables revealed that productivity of the Red Sea coastal waters is mostly controlled by phosphate concentrations, salinity, temperature and dissolved oxygen.     

The variations of exergies and structural exergies along eutrophication gradients in Chinese and Italian lakes

Taking 29 Chinese lakes and 29 Italian lakes as two separate case studies, the paper presented the variations of exergies and structural exergies along eutrophication gradients in Chinese and Italian lakes. The exergies (Ex) and structural exergies (Exst) were calculated based on phytoplankton biomass (BA) and zooplankton biomass (BZ). A trophic state index (TSI) scaling from 0 to 100 was developed to classify trophic status for Chinese and Italian lakes based on three indicators, chlorophyll-a concentration (Chl-a, in mg/m³), total phosphorus (TP in mg/m³) and transparency in Secchi disk depth (SD in m). The relationships between TSI and Ex, Exst, total biomass, BZ/BA ratios were analyzed. The following results were obtained: (1) with the increase of TSI in Chinese and Italian lakes, there is an increasing trend for Ex, and a decreasing trend for Exst, generally. The obvious negative correlations exist between TSI and Exst, at the significant level of 0.01 for Italian lakes, and 0.05 for Chinese lakes. The obvious positive correlations exist between TSI and Ex, at the significant level of 0.01 for Chinese lakes, and for Italian lakes in Spring, Autumn and the all-year. (2) The structural exergy is more dependent on the ratio of phytoplankton biomass to zooplankton biomass (BZ/BA) than the exergy, and the exergy is more dependent on total biomass than the structural exergy. (3) The phytoplankton biomass (BA) and zooplankton biomass (BZ) are increased with the increasing TSI in Chinese and Italian lakes, and phytoplankton biomass (BA) increases more rapidly then zooplankton biomass (BZ) does. This results in the definite decrease of BZ/BA ratio with the increasing trophic status index. Such changes of BA, BZ and BZ/BA ratio could explain successfully the variations of exergies and structural exergies along eutrophication gradients in Chinese and Italian lakes. From the two separate case studies of Chinese lakes and Italian lakes, it could be concluded that exergy and structural exergy are feasible to serve as the system-level ecological indicators to give appropriate information on the trophic status of different lakes.     

水温与营养值对水库藻华态势的影响

主要研究了水温和营养值在大沙河水库绿藻、硅藻藻华生物量的影响；提出了用营养值来定量描述水体的富营养状态；通过构筑一定形式的辅助变量，分别提出了在水温20℃和30℃条件下藻华生物量的预测模型；进一步阐述了水温对藻生长态势的影响原理。研究表明水温一方面影响藻生命活动的活性、速率，另一方面影响藻对水中营养物的利用率和自身代谢率。在水温20℃和30℃时，两方面的总体作用结果有所不同。对营养物的利用率和自身代谢率方面更大程度上影响藻华生物量的多少。     

菜田土壤氮素淋失及其调控措施的研究进展

从菜田中硝态氮的动态变化、土壤氮素的矿化、硝态氮对地下水的影响等几方面概述了近年来国内外的研究进展，介绍了渗漏测定计法、土壤溶液提取器和15N同位素示踪技术等3种测定土壤氮素淋失的研究方法其应用前景；论述了影响菜田土壤氮素淋失的主要因素和降低菜田土壤氮素淋失的丰要调控措施；提出了今后菜田土壤氮素淋失应加强的研究方向。     

粉葛根腐病菌的生物学特性及防治研究

粉葛根腐病是粉葛生产上新发现的一种毁灭性土传病害。作者对病原作了人工分离和接菌试验，观测了温度、pH对病原菌菌丝体生长的影响；对防治药剂进行了筛选和试验，探讨了该病的有效防治药物及对策。     

A review of atmospheric mercury emissions,pollution and control in China

Mercury, as a global pollutant, has significant impacts on the environment and human health. The current state of atmospheric mercury emissions, pollution and control in China is comprehensively reviewed in this paper. With about 500-800 t of anthropogenic mercury emissions, China contributes 25%-40% to the global mercury emissions. The dominant mercury emission sources in China are coal combustion, non-ferrous metal smelting, cement production and iron and steel production. The mercury emissions from natural sources in China are equivalent to the anthropogenic mercury emissions. The atmospheric mercury concentration in China is about 2-10 times the background level of North Hemisphere. The mercury deposition fluxes in remote areas in China are usually in the range of 10-50μg·m^-2·yr^-1. To reduce mercury emissions, legislations have been enacted for power plants, non-ferrous metal smelters and waste incinerators. Currently mercury contented in the flue gas is mainly removed through existing air pollution control devices for sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particles. Dedicated mercury control technologies are required in the future to further mitigate the mercury emissions in China.     

海南省畜禽养殖污染及其治理分析

畜禽粪便中含有大量畜禽食粮后没有被完全转化的有机质和氮、磷、钾等营养元素,也含有可作为饲料营养物质,流失进入水体环境后会造成水质富营养化,降低河流水质功能。通过实测和估算,研究海南省畜禽养殖粪便产生的主要污染物及其对河流水体的影响情况,同时研究海南省处置畜禽粪便污染的效果。2002年海南省畜禽养殖粪便主要污染物产生量分别为:COD量50.35万t、无机氮8.87万t、磷酸盐2.26万t;主要污染物入河量分别为:COD量19861t、无机氮1953t、磷酸盐365t。目前采用的好氧与厌氧沼气化处理处置畜禽粪便与污水效果较好,COD平均去除率为89%,氨氮平均去除率为88%,总磷平均去除率为75%。国内对畜禽养殖粪便的处理处置和污染问题也有不少研究,但像此文较系统性地研究畜禽养殖粪便污染及其治理问题却为鲜见,计算与估算的方法也与其它研究有所不同。     

Natural control mechanisms in models of aquatic ecosystems

Based on cybernetic categories of natural control mechanisms, four generations of ecosystem models are distinguished: feed-forward, feedback, self-adaptation and self-organization models. The analysis of the natural control mechanisms in aquatic ecosystems suggests that different processes are controlled in different ways, and, although the four mechanisms were identified in historical sequence, they all operate simultaneously. The concept of self-organization of an ecosystem is introduced and specified for a model of an aquatic pelagic ecosystem. The concept of the ecosystem as a multilayer, multigoal and multiechelon hierarchical system with hierarchy of the levels of biological organization is also introduced.     

太湖蓝藻的时空变化规律及治理方法

利用2009─2012年丰水期和平水期的生物调查获取的环境和生物数据,研究太湖蓝藻的时空分布规律,分析蓝藻分布与其他物理、化学和生物因子（如温度、酸碱性、有机物和营养盐含量、浮游植物与浮游动物密度等）的相关关系。结果表明：太湖水质基本上超出V类地表水指标,主要的超标因子是总氮。总氮在丰水期和平水期的质量浓度分别为3.05 mg·L-1和1.65 mg·L-1,总氮在丰水期质量浓度降低的主要原因可能是丰水期蓝藻迅速生长,吸收了大量的营养盐。蓝藻仍是太湖浮游植物的优势种。2009─2012年太湖蓝藻的密度随年份无明显变化,但随季节和区域存在显著差异：丰水期蓝藻密度均值为4.87×10^7cell·L-1,明显高于平水期蓝藻密度（1.51×10^6 cell·L-1）;太湖东部采样点蓝藻密度明显低于其他湖区。影响蓝藻的非生物因素包括温度、酸碱度和营养盐,高温、偏碱性和高营养盐含量都会增加蓝藻的密度。蓝藻与其他浮游植物和大型水生植物之间存在竞争关系,蓝藻密度增加促进了枝角类的生长。推荐利用机械打捞和大型水生植物修复方法,因为这2种方法可在降低蓝藻密度的同时去除水体中的有机物和营养盐,可以从根本上降低太湖蓝藻水华的风险。增加其他藻类和枝角类控制蓝藻水华方法可行性较差：1）蓝藻暴发时期其它藻类对能量和营养的竞争能力弱于蓝藻,难以抑制蓝藻的生长;2）在太湖中增加枝角类可能降低现有蓝藻的密度,但建立完整的食物链体系降低富营养化程度,防范生物调控中可能存在的生态风险（如其他藻类水华等）较困难。     

中国农村环境污染防治研究综述

农村环境污染防治是农村生态环境建设的核心内容,加强农村环境污染防治研究,对解决我国独特的农村环境污染问题,具有积极的理论和现实指导意义。如何进一步探索农村环境污染防治机制的研究范式,需要在理论和方法上均有所突破。采用文献资料法和对比分析法,在简要分析了国外的研究进展基础上,重点总结了中国农村环境污染防治的研究现状,提出当前研究中存在的问题以及今后的探索方向。结果表明,近年来我国农村环境污染防治及其相应的理论与实践研究均取得较大进展,但与农村社会可持续发展的现实要求尚有不小差距。国内学者对于农村环境污染的研究主要集中在污染防治的基础理论、污染状况及质量评价、基于不同层次的农村环境污染影响因素以及污染防治机制和政策4个方面。当前的研究存在诸多不足,例如：综合防控研究的理论体系不完善,较多地关注造成农村环境污染的显性影响因子,而忽视了大量限制因子,研究中采用的数据和参照标准缺乏统一口径,空间尺度选择不一和时间尺度难以衔接等,这些都将成为今后研究亟需解决的问题。