有机物生物降解极限浓度的探讨

讨论了有关有机物生物降解极限浓度（Smin)的定义，介绍了热力学测定方法、动力学测定方法和扩散测定方法等3种测定极限浓度的方法。正确测定有机物生物降解极限浓度对开发微量有机物生物高度净化新技术，寻求提高现有生物处理技术净化效果的途径，污染环境的修复等都具有极其重要的意义。     

关于生态毒理学与环境毒理学几个基本概念的见解

对生态毒理学和环境毒理学的几个基本概念进行了论述.首先,论述生态毒理学和环境毒理学的定义和各自的研究范畴,提出二者区分的条件和方法;其次,对“毒物”和“非毒物”的概念进行论述,否定了“物质即毒物”的论点;第三,论述“靶器官”概念的局限性及其对学科发展的不利影响,提出以“敏感器官”概念代替“靶器官”的见解.     

采矿业:事实、数据和环境

前言 本期《产业与环境》千禧年特刊的前瞻文章并没有很详细地叙述采矿工业或其对环境的影响．然而,由于许多读者或许还不了解这个行业,所以此篇事实、数据和环境文章将提供一些背景材料．也要解释一下在下面文章中使用的许多专业术语．第一部分：采矿业——什么是采矿业,在哪里采矿以及如何采矿？ 什么是采矿业？ 对采矿业的一个简单的定义可以是“从地球中采掘出矿石”．在这种情况下的“矿石”一词覆盖了很宽范围的供人类使用的各种天然存在的物质 虽然此定义对于我们的目的是合适的,采矿业也可以看作是一个过程,这个过程从勘探和发…     

碳中和背景下微藻生物固碳技术的研究进展

随着近现代社会的高速发展,人类对于化石燃料的需求日益增加,大量埋藏在海底和地底的“碳”被采掘和利用,进入大气循环,使得温室气体增加、温室效应加剧,带来了冰川融化、海洋酸化等自然灾害,对生态环境和人类健康都造成了严重的威胁。就全球整体的碳循环过程而言,使用生物技术来固定并转化二氧化碳是最符合自然规律的方法。微藻生长速度快、二氧化碳固定效率高,是生物捕集二氧化碳的理想材料。从“碳中和”的定义和实现的必要性出发,综述了国内外微藻生物固碳技术的研究进展,并提出利用微藻进行二氧化碳固定,实现变“碳”为宝的可行方案,为“碳中和”目标的实现开辟新思路。     

试论“废物最少化”

本文对“废物最少化”的提出、内涵、定义、各种模式及引入我国环境管理制度体系的必要性和可能性作了系统的论述。     

事实与数字

引　言“服务业”这一集合术语覆盖种类繁多、有十分不同特征和潜在影响的行业．本期《产业与环境》中每一篇文章详细论述一个特定行业．这个“事实与数字”部分综述了服务业、它们在世界经济中的作用的重要性、及其对环境的潜在影响．服务业的定义讨论服务业时，首要任务是要定义它们——对于这样一系列范围广泛且多种多样的活动来说，这不是一件轻而易举的事情．服务业不仅可以用它们是什么而且可以用它们不是什么来定义．服务业是一种通过执行服务来创造价值的行业．虽然没有任何一种单一国际标准可用来定义服务业或其分支行业，但本期刊…     

生态效益轿车：对可持续的移动性的重要贡献

自从１９８７年Ｂｒｕｎｄｔｌａｎｄ委员会的报告出版以及1992年联合 国里约热内卢环境与发展会议（ＵＮＣＥＤ）之后,可持续发展已经成 为全球的政治主题．尽管在许多场合,“可持续能力”已经变成政 治争论,可是它的定义尚未明确．在大众集团,“可持续”意味着长 期地、均衡地维护生态、经济和社会体系．作为政治议题,可持续 发展也与交通以及人、货物和服务的流动有关． “可持续的移动性”的挑战 在几个层面上,大众集团均面临着“可持续的移动性”的挑 战．从未来的游戏规则讲,它肯定被纳入可持续发展世 界商务理事会（ＷＢＣＳ…     

营销近视症的治疗：满足新出现的生态效率产品市场需要

“可持续性”可以定义为生态保障，社会经济保障与资源保障的一种平衡。一家可持续公司必须提供就其对生活质量和环境保护的贡献而言有价值的商品和服务。生态效率能够度使所生产与销售的商品和服务的生态负担最小化同时使其经济价值最大化的努力程度。本文介绍了生态效率分析和“可持续性罗盘”的使用。     

绿色建筑经济学的蓝图

作为一种设计规则和建筑环境性能的衡量标准,绿色建筑的势头发展迅速,尽管几千年前就制定了可持续建筑的一些原则,但是这一概念直到1980年代末期才有了定义并进入全球建筑业中。 不同国家的绿色建筑评级体系为“绿色建筑”提供了最好的定义,许多国家的绿色建筑活动主要发生在公共部门,政府基金的成本很低,公共建筑的平均寿命时间范围很长,建筑一般由政府机构拥有、提供资     

可降解塑料的使用现状及其潜在环境风险

为了减轻传统塑料制品给环境造成的影响,可降解塑料被大规模开发用于取代它们,以此降低传统塑料制品对生态环境的潜在危害.然而,我国可降解塑料研究和行业起步较晚,相关的研究和分析较少.在我国经济高速发展的同时,对可降解塑料的使用现状以及环境风险进行分析评估有利于更好地完成“碳达峰”和“碳中和”的战略目标.本文对典型可降解塑料的定义、分类、生产、应用、面临问题以及环境影响等方面进行了综述,并对降低可降解塑料潜在风险,消除生产和使用中的常见弊端提出了展望.     

遗传算法对QSAR研究中变量选择的应用

将遗传算法引入定量结构活性关系（ＱＳＡＲ）研究中,对变量进行造反选择,可同时建立几种比较好的ＱＳＡＲ模型,并以交互验证的决定系数作为适应函数,以保证模型质量的可靠性。将其分别应用于氯代酚和单取代苯系列化合物,均得到较好的结果。同时,在这些应用中也反映了遗传算法在变量选择中存在的局限性,限不能保证选择的所有变量在模型中都有显著贡献。     

Expanding the limits of the pollen-limitation concept: effects of pollen quantity and quality

Pollination commonly limits seed production, as addition of pollen to stigmas often increases fecundity. This response is usually interpreted as evidence that plants' stigmas receive too few pollen grains to maximize ovule fertilization (quantity limitation); however, many genetic studies demonstrate that poor-quality pollen can also reduce seed production (quality limitation). We explore both aspects of pollen limitation theoretically with a dose-response model that incorporates a saturating negative-exponential relation of seed production to pollen receipt. This relation depends on aspects of ovule production, pollen import, pollen-pistil interactions and seed development, all of which can contribute to pollen limitation. Our model reveals that quantity limitation is restricted to the lowest range of pollen receipt, for which siring success per pollen grain is high, whereas quality limitation acts throughout the range of pollen receipt if plants do not import the highest-quality pollen. In addition to pollinator availability and efficiency, quantity limitation is governed by all post-pollination aspects of seed production. In contrast, quality limitation depends on the difference in survival of embryos sired by naturally delivered pollen vs. by pollen of maximal quality. We briefly illustrate the distinction between these two components of pollen limitation with results from the mistletoe Tristerix corymbosus. Our model also shows that the standard pollen-supplementation technique neither estimates the total intensity of pollen limitation nor distinguishes between its quantity and quality components. As an alternative, we propose a methodological protocol that requires both measurement of seed production following excess pollination with only outcross pollen and quantification of the dose-response relation of seed output to pollen receipt. This method estimates both the total extent of pollen limitation and its two components. Finally, we consider the influences on quantity and quality limitation, which reveals that quantity limitation probably occurs much less often than has been inferred from pollen-supplementation experiments. These interpretations suggest that an expanded perspective that recognizes the fecundity consequences of pollination with poor-quality pollen would promote ecological understanding of pollen limitation.     

Spatial and temporal variation of resource limitation in Chesapeake Bay

We report nutrient addition bioassays at 18 stations in Chesapeake Bay (USA) to assess resources limiting phytoplankton growth. Data were pooled from several sampling programs conducted from 1989 to 1994. Spatially, light and P limitation declined from low salinity regions to high salinity regions, as N limitation increased. This spatial pattern was driven primarily by freshwater inflows with high N/P and seawater inflows with low N/P. Seasonally, there was a marked progression of winter light limitation, spring P limitation, and summer N limitation at mesohaline and polyhaline stations. The seasonal pattern appeared to be caused by temperature, mixing, river discharge, and sediment P fluxes. At high salinity stations, we also observed winter N limitation (caused by DIN depletion prior to spring nitrate delivery), and at lower salinity stations there was fall P limitation (caused by reaeration of bottom sediments). At tidal fresh stations, turbidity and nutrient concentrations resulted in continuous light limitation, except at some stations in summer. Interannual decreases in light limitation and increases in N and P limitation appear to represent improvements in water quality. Received: 31 October 1997 / Accepted: 18 December 1998     

Predators, prey, and transient states in the assembly of spatially structured communities

Ecological theory suggests that both dispersal limitation and resource limitation can exert strong effects on community assembly. However, empirical studies of community assembly have focused almost exclusively on communities with a single trophic level. Thus, little is known about the combined effects of dispersal and resource limitation on assembly of communities with multiple trophic levels. We performed a landscape-scale experiment using spatially arranged mesocosms to study effects of dispersal and resource limitation on the assembly dynamics of aquatic invertebrate communities with two trophic levels. We found that interplay between dispersal and resource limitation regulated the assembly of predator and prey trophic levels in these pond communities. Early in assembly, predators and prey were strongly dispersal limited, and resource (i.e., prey) availability did not influence predator colonization. Later in assembly, after predators colonized, resource limitation was the strongest driver of predator abundance, and dispersal limitation played a negligible role. Thus, habitat isolation affected predators directly by reducing predator colonization rate, and indirectly through the effect of distance on prey availability. Dispersal and resource limitation of predators resulted in a transient period in which predators were absent or rare in isolated habitats. This period may be important for understanding population dynamics of vulnerable prey species. Our findings demonstrate that dispersal and resource limitation can jointly regulate assembly dynamics in multi-trophic systems. They also highlight the need to develop a temporal picture of the assembly process in multi-trophic communities because the availability and spatial distribution of limiting resources (i.e., prey) and the distribution of predators can shift radically over time.     

Scale dependence of reproductive failure in fragmented Echinacea populations

I investigated reproduction in a three-year study of Echinacea angustifolia, purple coneflower, growing in a fragmented prairie landscape. I quantified the local abundance of flowering conspecifics at individual-based spatial scales and at a population-based spatial scale. Regression analyses revealed that pollen limitation increased while seed set and fecundity decreased with isolation of individual plants. Isolation, defined as the distance to the k(th) nearest flowering conspecific, was a good predictor of pollen limitation, for all nearest neighbors considered (k = 1-33), but the strength of the relationship, as quantified by R2, peaked at intermediate scales (k = 2-18). The relationship of isolation to seed set and fecundity was similarly strongest at intermediate scales (k = 3-4). The scale dependence of individual density effects on reproduction (density of flowering plants within x meters) resembled that of isolation. Analyses at a population-based scale showed that pollen limitation declined significantly with population size. Seed set and fecundity also declined with population size, but significantly so only in 1998. Whether quantifying local abundance with population- or individual-based measures, reproductive failure due to pollen limitation is a consistent consequence of Echinacea scarcity. However, individual-based measures of local abundance predicted pollen limitation from a wider sample of plants with a simpler model than did population size. Specifically, the largest site, a nature preserve, is composed of plants with intermediate individual isolation and, as predicted, intermediate pollen limitation, but its large population size poorly predicted population mean pollen limitation.     

Overlapping defense responses to water limitation and pathogen attack and their consequences for resistance to powdery mildew disease in garlic mustard, Alliaria petiolata

Plant responses to abiotic stress can alter their response to biotic stress. We examined changes in the activity of several defense proteins in response to powdery mildew infection of garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) in the greenhouse and in the field. Second, we examined the effects of water limitation on the same defense protein responses, as well as on total soluble protein and glucose concentration, plant growth, and powdery mildew disease development. Similar increases in the activity of peroxidase, chitinase, and β-1-3-glucanase were observed in leaves of plants with substantial powdery mildew disease in both greenhouse- and field-grown plants. In the greenhouse, activities of chitinase and peroxidase as well as total soluble protein and glucose concentrations generally increased with the degree of water limitation. In turn, leaf growth and powdery mildew symptom development decreased as the degree of water limitation increased. This study revealed that plant chemical responses to water limitation and powdery mildew disease can overlap to a large extent, which, in addition to changing microenvironmental conditions and other indicators of plant quality, may underlie the ability of water limitation to inhibit powdery mildew disease symptom development in this wild plant pathosystem.     

Different responses of photosynthesis and flow cytometric signals to iron limitation and nitrogen source in coastal and oceanic Synechococcus strains (Cyanophyceae)

Iron plays an important role in marine primary productivity, and Synechococcus species as major contributors to the total photosynthetic biomass in the world’s oceans might be limited by iron supply in some regions. The present study aimed to compare the photosynthesis and flow cytometric signals of four Synechococcus strains grown under different iron concentrations with either nitrate or ammonium as the sole nitrogen source. Two oceanic strains were much more sensitive to iron limitation than two coastal strains. The inhibition of iron limitation on the growth, maximal PSII photochemical yield, maximal rate of relative electron transport and photochemical quenching of the two oceanic strains was higher than for their coastal counterparts. Under iron limitation condition, the connectivity factor between individual photosynthetic units (ρ) increased for the two coastal strains, while decreased for the two oceanic strains. Furthermore, iron limitation accelerated the Q _A re-oxidation of the two oceanic strains and the PQ pool re-oxidation of the two coastal strains. Under iron limitation condition, the cell size of the two coastal strains and intracellular pigment concentrations of the two oceanic strains decreased, while the side light scatter/front light scatter (SS/FS) ratio of the two coastal strains increased. In contrast to iron limitation, nitrogen source only marginally affected the photosynthesis of the four Synechococcus strains. Ammonium enhanced the growth of the two coastal strains under iron-replete condition. For the two oceanic strains, ammonium increased their cell size and decreased their SS/FS ratio and intracellular pigment concentrations under iron-deplete and iron-replete conditions.     

Marine diatoms grown in chemostats under silicate or ammonium limitation. III. Cellular chemical composition and morphology of Chaetoceros debilis,Skeletonema costatum,and Thalassiosira gravida

Three marine diatoms, Skeletonema costatum, Chaetoceros debilis, and Thalassiosira gravida were grown under no limitation and ammonium or silicate limitation or starvation. Changes in cell morphology were documented with photomicrographs of ammonium and silicate-limited and non-limited cells, and correlated with observed changes in chemical composition. Cultures grown under silicate starvation or limitation showed an increase in particulate carbon, nitrogen and phosporus and chlorophyll a per unit cell volume compared to non-limited cells; particulate silica per cell volume decreased. Si-starved cells were different from Si-limited cells in that the former contained more particulate carbon and silica per cell volume. The most sensitive indicator of silicate limitation or starvation was the ratio C:Si, being 3 to 5 times higher than the values for non-limited cells. The ratios Si:chlorophyll a and S:P were lower and N:Si was higher than non-limited cells by a factor of 2 to 3. The other ratios, C:N, C:P, C:chlorophyll a, N:chlorophyll a, P:chlorophyll a and N:P were considered not to be sensitive indicators of silicate limitation or starvation. Chlorophyll a, and particulate nitrogen per unit cell volume decreased under ammonium limitation and starvation. NH₄-starved cells contained more chlorophyll a, carbon, nitrogen, silica, and phosphorus per cell volume than NH₄-limited cells. N:Si was the most sensitive ratio to ammonium limitation or starvation, being 2 to 3 times lower than non-limited cells. Si:chlorophyll a, P:chlorophyll a and N:P were less sensitive, while the ratios C:N, C:chlorophyll a, N:chlorophyll a, C:Si, C:P and Si:P were the least sensitive. Limited cells had less of the limiting nutrient per unit cell volume than starved cells and more of the non-limiting nutrients (i.e., silica and phosphorus for NH₄-limited cells). This suggests that nutrient-limited cells rather than nutrient-starved cells should be used along with non-limited cells to measure the full range of potential change in cellular chemical composition for one species under nutrient limitation.Contribution No. 943 from the Department of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.     

Quantifying dispersal and establishment limitation in a population of an epiphytic lichen

Dispersal is a process critical for the dynamics and persistence of metapopulations, but it is difficult to quantify. It has been suggested that the old-forest lichen Lobaria pulmonaria is limited by insufficient dispersal ability. We analyzed 240 DNA extracts derived from snow samples by a L. pulmonaria-specific real-time PCR (polymerase chain reaction) assay of the ITS (internal transcribed spacer) region allowing for the discrimination among propagules originating from a single, isolated source tree or propagules originating from other locations. Samples that were detected as positives by real-time PCR were additionally genotyped for five L. pulmonaria microsatellite loci. Both molecular approaches demonstrated substantial dispersal from other than local sources. In a landscape approach, we additionally analyzed 240 snow samples with real-time PCR of ITS and detected propagules not only in forests where L. pulmonaria was present, but also in large unforested pasture areas and in forest patches where L. pulmonaria was not found. Monitoring of soredia of L. pulmonaria transplanted to maple bark after two vegetation periods showed high variance in growth among forest stands, but no significant differences among different transplantation treatments. Hence, it is probably not dispersal limitation that hinders colonization in the old-forest lichen L. pulmonaria, but ecological constraints at the stand level that can result in establishment limitation. Our study exemplifies that care has to be taken to adequately separate the effects of dispersal limitation from a limitation of establishment.     

Quantifying the importance of local niche-based and stochastic processes to tropical tree community assembly

Although niche-based and stochastic processes, including dispersal limitation and demographic stochasticity, can each contribute to community assembly, it is difficult to quantify the relative importance of each process in natural vegetation. Here, we extend Shipley's maxent model (Community Assembly by Trait Selection, CATS) for the prediction of relative abundances to incorporate both trait-based filtering and dispersal limitation from the larger landscape and develop a statistical decomposition of the proportions of the total information content of relative abundances in local communities that are attributable to trait-based filtering, dispersal limitation, and demographic stochasticity. We apply the method to tree communities in a mature, species-rich, tropical forest in French Guiana at 1-, 0.25- and 0.04-ha scales. Trait data consisted of species' means of 17 functional traits measured over both the entire meta-community and separately in each of nine 1-ha plots. Trait means calculated separately for each site always gave better predictions. There was clear evidence of trait-based filtering at all spatial scales. Trait-based filtering was the most important process at the 1-ha scale (34%), whereas demographic stochasticity was the most important at smaller scales (37-53%). Dispersal limitation from the meta-community was less important and approximately constant across scales (-9%), and there was also an unresolved association between site-specific traits and meta-community relative abundances. Our method allows one to quantify the relative importance of local niche-based and meta-community processes and demographic stochasticity during community assembly across spatial and temporal scales.