改性玉米秸秆吸附去除废水中四环素的研究

应用平衡吸附法,研究了不同投加量（改性玉米秸秆）、温度及pH条件下,改性玉米秸秆对水体中四环素的吸附作用,并利用等温曲线及吸附动力学方程对试验结果进行了拟合。结果表明：在吸附剂用量0．4g,温度30℃,振荡时间30min,pH值7的条件下,对水体中四环素浓度为50．136mg／L的吸附率可达93．4％。四环素废水吸附均符合Langmuir及Freundlich等温模式。但Langmuir方程拟合得较好,Elovich方程能更好地拟舍改性玉米秸秆对水体中四环素的吸附动力学曲线。     

高效降氰菌的筛选及其特性研究

本研究从电镀废水中分离出了三株能够高效降解自由氰根的菌种，并对这三株菌的生长曲线和影响其降解氰化物的因素进行了研究。结果表明，这三株菌分别属于青霉属、木霉属和酵母属，并命名为M3、Mw4和Ms；其最大生长量的时间分别为15、20和18小时；当CN^-初始浓度为80mg／L时，M3菌16h内降解氰化物的最优条件是pH为5-7、温度为20℃～30℃、摇床转速为130rpm、接种量为10％。在此条件下，M3菌将80mg/L CN^-降解到0．22mg/L，降氰率达到98．9％。该研究结果可为微生物在处理含氰废水的实际应用提供依据。     

无机离子交换材料对废水中铯的吸附研究

用水热合成法合成钛硅酸钠无机离子交换材料,考察了它对Cs的吸附效果。探讨了体系pH值、温度、吸附时间等因素对吸附的影响。实验表明,所合成的钛硅酸钠对Cs的吸附能力较强,在30℃,1mol／L的H^ 环境下对Cs的吸附分配比为6066,饱和吸附量可达1．7420mmol／g。钛硅酸钠吸附Cs的稳定性实验表明,钛硅酸钠的解吸分配比很小,吸附稳定性很好。     

花生壳对Cr（Ⅵ）的等温吸附模型研究

在花生壳吸附剂量为1.0g、pH2.0、温度30℃、振荡速度140r/min、吸附时间360min条件下,实验研究了不同初始浓度（50 mg/L、75 mg/L、100 mg/L、125 mg/L、150 mg/L）的Cr（Ⅵ）溶液等温吸附曲线。研究结果表明,Langmuir等温吸附模型符合得更好;该吸附是一个优先吸附过程;最大饱和吸附量为6.25mg/g。     

热改性农作物废料对海洋溢油吸附研究

以秸秆和玉米叶为吸油材料,分别经50,100,150,200℃热处理后,进行模拟溢油吸附实验,确定不同温度下热改性材料的吸油能力。实验结果表明:热改性后的农作物材料对原油的饱和吸附时间较短,当温度低于100℃时,热改性后材料对原油的饱和吸附时间为5 min,随着温度的增加,饱和吸附时间减小,在温度达到150℃和200℃时,材料对原油的饱和吸附时间缩短到4 min和3 min。秸秆对原油的平衡吸附量随着温度的升高而增加,但当热处理温度达到200℃时,其对原油的平衡吸附量反而下降。不同温度热改性后的玉米叶对原油的平衡吸附量基本一致。     

Fenton试剂与改性凹凸棒石联合处理微污染水中苯酚的实验研究

研究了Fenton试剂联合聚二甲基二烯丙基氯化铵（PDMDAAC）改性凹凸棒石对模拟微污染水中苯酚的去除效果。考察了pH值、反应时间、投加量、温度等因素对苯酚去除效果的影响。结果表明：先采用Fenton试剂氧化再用改性凹凸棒石吸附对微污染水中苯酚具有较好的去除效果,在pH=9、温度为25℃、改性凹凸棒石投加量为5g／L、吸附时间20min的条件下,苯酚去除率达98．2％。     

活性炭纤维对Cu2＋吸附性能的研究

研究了pH值、吸附接触时间、铜离子的初始浓度及活性炭纤维（ACF）的投加量对活性炭纤维吸附Cu2＋的影响,并选取了最佳的实验条件。用Langmuir方程和Freundlich方程拟合活性炭纤维对Cu2＋吸附等温线,结果表明：活性炭纤维吸附Cu2＋更符合Langmuir等温式,其相关系数为0．9995,以单分子层吸附为主。对活性炭纤维改性能明显提高对Cu2＋的吸附,其中效果最佳的吸附量从4．8mg／g增加到17．32mg／g,提高了3．6倍。     

饱和改性沸石再生技术研究

用盐酸溶液和氯化钠溶液的混和溶液作为再生液对吸附铬饱和的改性沸石进行再生，研究了影响改性沸石再生的相关参数。结果表明：再生液中盐酸溶液的浓度为2mol／L，氯化钠溶液的浓度为1mol／L，二者的体积比为1：2；再生时间为1h，再生液温度为15℃-30℃恢复率较好。     

NaCl改性沸石去除水中低浓度铅的研究

实验研究了NaCl改性沸石去除水中铅的效果,比较了沸石改性前后对铅的静态平衡吸附量变化,着重考察了吸附时间、pH值、竞争离子以及有机物对去除铅效果的影响。结果表明:NaCl改性沸石吸附铅速度快,对铅有很好的去除效果,平衡吸附量由改性前的28.57mg/g提高到了32.26mg/g。pH值对NaCl改性沸石去除水中铅的效果有较大影响,在pH=6～7时,去除效果最佳。水中竞争阳离子和有机物的存在,在一定程度上会降低铅的去除效果;随干扰物质浓度的升高,NaCl改性沸石对铅去除率出现了明显的下降,但当干扰物质和水样中铅浓度相当时,NaCl改性沸石可对铅保持很高的去除率。     

系统评价天然蛭石吸附氨氮的效果

采用在人工配置含氨氮的污水中投加蛭石的方法,系统研究了天然蛭石吸附污水中氨氮的饱和吸附容量以及蛭石吸附氨氮的等温吸附曲线,探讨了污水的pH值、温度、浓度对氨氮去除率的影响及各影响因子的大小,结果表明,蛭石的饱和吸附量为20 8mg/g;蛭石吸附量在pH2 0～6 0范围内随着pH的增大而增大,最佳pH为4 0～6 0;温度在15～35℃范围内,吸附量随温度的升高减小,氨氮的去除率随着蛭石用量的增加而增加,影响因素的大小顺序为:pH>蛭石的用量>吸附时间>温度。这为蛭石作为一种新型氨氮吸附材料提供了基础参数。     

Conversion of temperate forests into heaths: Role of ecosystem disturbance and ericaceous plants

Fire and logging in nutrient-poor temperate forests with certain ericaceous understory plants may convert the forests into heaths. The process of disturbance-induced heath formation is documented by using examples ofCalluna in western Europe,Kalmia in Newfoundland, andGaultheria (salal) in coastal British Columbia. In a cool, temperate climate, rapid vegetative growth ofCalluna, Kalmia, and salal following disturbance results in increasing organic accumulation (paludification), nutrient sequestration, soil acidification, and allelochemicals. These are thought to be the main reasons to conifer regeneration failure in disturbed habitats. If continuation in forest is a land-use objective, then temperate forests with an ericaceous understory should not be logged unless effective silvicultural methods are devised to control the ericaceous plants and restore forest regeneration. Preharvest vegetation control may be considered as an option. Failure to control the understory plants may lead to a long-term vegetation shift, from forest to heathland, particularly in nutrient-poor sites. Successful methods of controllingKalmia andGaultheria, however, have yet to be developed. While theKalmia- andGaultheria- dominated heathlands are undesirable in Canada and the Pacific Northwest, a wide range ofCalluna heathlands of western Europe are being conserved as natural and seminatural vegetation.     

BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS AND BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF ESTUARINE/COASTAL POLLUTION1

ABSTRACT: Sustained interest in and concern about the health status of the aquatic environment has resulted in extensive research focused on (1) effects of pollution on survival, growth, and reproduction of resource species at all life stages; (2) diseases of fish and shellfish, as they may be related to pollution and as they may serve as indicators of environmental stress; and (3) contaminant body burdens in fish and shellfish - their effects on the aquatic animals and their potential effects on humans. Effects, lethal and sublethal, of pollutants on life history stages of fish and shellfish have been documented, as have impacts on local stocks in badly degraded habitats, but as yet there has been no adequate quantitative demonstration of effects on entire aquatic species - probably because of the difficulty in sorting out relative effects of the many environmental factors that influence abundance. Sublethal effects, especially those that result in disease, have been examined intensively, and some diseases and disease syndromes have been associated statistically with pollution. Other pollution indicators (biochemical, physiological, genetic, behavioral, and ecological) have also received some attention, as have body burdens of contaminants in aquatic species. Research, especially that conducted during the past decade, has done much to clarify the many pathways and toxic effects of contaminants on aquatic animals, and has also helped to identify mechanisms for survival of fish and shellfish in the presence of environmental changes caused by human activities.     

Using Paleo Reconstructions to Improve Streamflow Forecast Lead Time in the Western United States

In water stressed regions, water managers are exploring new horizons that would help in long‐range streamflow forecasts. Oceanic‐atmospheric oscillations have been shown to influence streamflow variability. In this study, long‐lead time streamflow forecasts are made using a multiclass kernel‐based data‐driven support vector machine (SVM) model. The extended streamflow records based on tree ring reconstructions were used to provide a longer time series data. Reconstructed data were used from 1658 to 1952 and the instrumental record was used from 1953 to 2007. Reconstructions for oceanic‐atmospheric oscillations included the El Niño‐Southern Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, and North Atlantic Oscillation. Streamflow forecasts using all four oscillations were made with one‐year to five‐year lead times for 21 gages in the western United States. This is the first study that uses both instrumental and reconstructed data of oscillations in SVM model to improve streamflow forecast lead time. SVM model was able to provide “satisfactory” to “very good” forecasts with one‐ to five‐year lead time for the selected gages. The use of all the oscillation indices helped in achieving better predictability compared to using individual oscillations. The SVM modeling results are better when compared with multiple linear regression model forecasts. The findings are statistical in nature and are expected to be useful for long‐term water resources planning and management.     

Journalists' views of advertiser pressures on agricultural news

All major journalism ethical codes explicitly state that journalists should protect editorial copy from undue influence by outside sources. However, much of the previous research on agricultural information has concentrated on what information various media communicate (gatekeeping studies) or communication's role in increasing innovation adoption (diffusion studies). Few studies have concentrated specifically on organizational and structural constraints that might adversely affect agricultural journalists' ethical standards; those that have, focus largely on farm magazines. A study of newspaper reporters who cover agricultural news found that the most pressing ethical concern is the effect of advertiser (agri-business) pressure on editorial copy, and that their concerns in general parallel those of farm magazine writers and editors. The majority reported being in situations in which they might be exposed to advertiser pressure, including pressures to change or withhold editorial copy. Large minorities suggested that advertising pressures affect the overall environment in which agricultural journalists work, and more than one in ten said they allow advertiser pressures to influence editorial decisions. The newspaper reporters who cover agricultural beats showed slightly more resistance to advertiser pressure than did farm magazine editors in a parallel study.     

Definition Procedures Have Little Effect on Performance of Environmental Classifications of Streams and Rivers

Mapped environmental classifications are defined using various procedures, but there has been little evaluation of the differences in their ability to discriminate variation in independent ecological characteristics. We tested the performance of environmental classifications of the streams and rivers of France that had been defined from the same environmental data using geographic regionalization and numerical classification of individual river valley segments. Test data comprised invertebrate assemblages, water chemistry, and hydrological indexes obtained from sites throughout France. Classification performance was measured by analysis of similarity (ANOSIM). Geometric regions defined by a regular grid and without regard to environmental variables and a posteriori classifications based on clustering the test datasets defined lower and upper bounds of performance for a given number of classes. Differences in classification performances were generally small. The ANOSIM statistics for the a posteriori classifications were around twice that of all environmental classifications, including geometrically defined regions. The hydro-ecoregions performed slightly better for the invertebrate data and the network classification performed slightly better for the chemistry and hydrological data. Our results indicate that environmental classifications that are defined using different procedures can be comparable in terms of their ability to discriminate variation of ecological characteristics and that alleged differences in performance arising from different classification procedures can be small relative to unexplained variation. We conclude that definition procedures might have little effect on the performance of large-scale environmental classifications and decisions over which procedures to use should be based primarily on pragmatic considerations.     

Urban ecological systems: scientific foundations and a decade of progress

Urban ecological studies, including focus on cities, suburbs, and exurbs, while having deep roots in the early to mid 20th century, have burgeoned in the last several decades. We use the state factor approach to highlight the role of important aspects of climate, substrate, organisms, relief, and time in differentiating urban from non-urban areas, and for determining heterogeneity within spatially extensive metropolitan areas. In addition to reviewing key findings relevant to each state factor, we note the emergence of tentative "urban syndromes" concerning soils, streams, wildlife and plants, and homogenization of certain ecosystem functions, such as soil organic carbon dynamics. We note the utility of the ecosystem approach, the human ecosystem framework, and watersheds as integrative tools to tie information about multiple state factors together. The organismal component of urban complexes includes the social organization of the human population, and we review key modes by which human populations within urban areas are differentiated, and how such differentiation affects environmentally relevant actions. Emerging syntheses in land change science and ecological urban design are also summarized. The multifaceted frameworks and the growing urban knowledge base do however identify some pressing research needs.     

Neighbourhood characteristics and urban gardens in the Toledo metropolitan area: staffing and voluntarism,food production,infrastructure, and sustainability practices

Urban gardens are important sources of sustenance for communities with limited access to food. Hence, this study focuses on food production in gardens in the Toledo metropolitan area in Northwest Ohio. We administered surveys to 150 garden managers from November 2014 to February 2015 in our attempt to better understand how neighbourhood racial composition and poverty levels are related to staffing and voluntarism, food production and distribution, the development of infrastructure, and the adoption of sustainability practices in urban gardens. The results from 30 gardens are presented in this paper. We used Geographic Information Systems to map the gardens and overlay the map with 2010 census data so that we could conduct demographic analyses of the neighbourhoods in which the gardens were located. Though the gardens were small – two acres or less – up to 46 varieties of food were grown in a single garden. Gardens also operated on small budgets. Food from the gardens was gifted or shared with friends, family, and neighbourhood residents. Gardens in predominantly minority neighbourhoods tended to have fewer institutional partners, less garden infrastructure, and had adopted fewer sustainable practices than gardens in predominantly White neighbourhoods. Nonetheless, residents of predominantly minority and high-poverty neighbourhoods participated in garden activities and influenced garden operations. Volunteering and staffing were racialised and gendered.     

Predicting deer-vehicle collisions in an urban area

Collisions with deer and other large animals are increasing, and the resulting economic costs and risks to public safety have made mitigation measures a priority for both city and wildlife managers. We created landscape models to describe and predict deer-vehicle collision (DVCs) within the City of Edmonton, Alberta. Models based on roadside characteristics revealed that DVCs occurred frequently where roadside vegetation was both denser and more diverse, and that DVCs were more likely to occur when the groomed width of roadside right-of-ways was smaller. No DVCs occurred where the width of the vegetation-free or manicured roadside buffer was greater than 40 m. Landscape-based models showed that DVCs were more likely in more heterogeneous landscapes where road densities were lower and speed limits were higher, and where non-forested vegetation such as farmland was in closer proximity to larger tracts of forest. These models can help wildlife and transportation managers to identify locations of high collision frequency for mitigation. Modifying certain landscape and roadside habitats can be an effective way to reduce deer-vehicle collisions.     

MANGANESE CYCLE IN IMPOUNDMENT WATER

Manganese entering impounded water will undergo a cyclic transformation. Oxidation precipitates manganese from top waters. At the bottom of the lake, biological activity will render manganese soluble by both intracellular as well as extracellular activity. The study was made to demonstrate that biological reduction and transformation, organometallic complexation, together with the presence of carbon dioxide and the lowering of pH all have some effect on the solubility of manganese. Dissolved manganese may be brought back to top waters during the lake overturn and therefore deteriorates the water quality.     

Effect of Light on Biodegradation of Estrone, 17β‐Estradiol,and 17α‐Ethinylestradiol in Stream Sediment

Biodegradation of [A‐ring ¹⁴C] Estrone (E1), 17β‐estradiol (E2), and 17α‐ethinylestradiol (EE2) to ¹⁴CO₂ was investigated under light and dark conditions in microcosms containing epilithon or sediment collected from Boulder Creek, Colorado. Mineralization of the estrogen A‐ring was observed in all sediment treatments, but not epilithon treatments. No difference in net mineralization between light and dark treatments was observed for ¹⁴C‐E2. Net mineralization of ¹⁴C‐E1 and ¹⁴C‐EE2 was enhanced in light treatments. Extents of ¹⁴CO₂ accumulation and rates of mineralization were significantly greater for E2 than E1 under dark conditions, but were comparable under light conditions. These results indicate substantial differences in the uptake and metabolism of E1 and E2 in the environment and suggest biorecalcitrance of E1 relative to E2 in light‐limited environments. The extent of ¹⁴CO₂ accumulation and rate of mineralization for EE2 in dark treatments were less than half of that observed for E2 and generally lower than for E1, consistent with previous reports of EE2 biorecalcitrance. However, ¹⁴CO₂ accumulation and rates of mineralization were comparable for EE2, E2, and E1 under light conditions. These results indicate photoactivation and/or phototransformation/photodegradation processes can substantially enhance heterotrophic biodegradation of estrogens in sunlit environments and may play an important role in estrogen transport and attenuation.