Dispersal connectivity and reserve selection for marine conservation

Although larval dispersal is crucial for the persistence of most marine populations, dispersal connectivity between sites is rarely considered in designing marine protected area networks. In particular the role of structural characteristics (known as topology) for the network of larval dispersal routes in the conservation of metapopulations has not been addressed. To determine reserve site configurations that provide highest persistence values with respect to their connectivity characteristics, we model nine connectivity topological models derived from graph theory in a demographic metapopulation model. We identify reserve site configurations that provide the highest persistence values for each of the metapopulation connectivity models. Except for the minimally connected and fully connected populations, we observed two general ‘rules of thumb’ for optimising the mean life time for all topological models: firstly place the majority of reserves, so that they are neighbours of each other, on the sites where the number of connections between the populations is highest (hub), secondly when the reserves have occupied the majority of the vertices in the hub, then select another area of high connectivity and repeat. If there are no suitable hubs remaining then distribute the remaining reserves to isolated locations optimising contact with non-reserved sites.     

Ecological modelling of nitrate pollution in small river basins by spreadsheets and GIS

With the increasing importance and awareness of water quality in the small basins, the modelling system is developed for monitoring and predictions of surface water pollution. The compartment model deals with basin characteristics extended by land cover attributes. The parameters of the model are estimated by experimental data of water quality together with land cover types that serve as nutrient detention media or transformers. The study examines methodology to determine the potential areas of nitrate pollution from point and non-point sources by remote sensing techniques. Classification of water, agricultural, forest and urban areas is processed with satellite images (LANDSAT 7). Whereas the agricultural and urban areas act as sources of pollution, forest zones operate as sinks. The nitrate levels are decreased downstream, if the proportion of the forest inside contribution zones increases. The modelling system is used to simulate amounts of nitrates in each compartment of the stream during the monitored period of one year. The number of compartments and their lengths are estimated on the basis of morphology of the basin. Simulation of the dynamic model is carried out with the TabSim. Geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing tools are used to manage and estimate nitrate inflows from point and non-point sources of pollution. The article presents the spatial and time variation of the nitrate (NO₃⁻) within the basin of the stream Rakovnický (the west part of Bohemia, the whole area of 368 km²). It is shown that the model approach extended by the GIS and remote sensing can support decision-making process for better management practices in the basins.     

天津城区道路雨水径流水质监测及污染特征分析

城市市区道路由于交通活动产生大量的重金属、无机阴离子、营养盐、有机污染物等,对受纳水体的水质造成很大破坏,并影响了水体的生态环境.通过对天津城区不同功能区(商业区、文教区和居住区)的道路降雨径流的30个水质指标进行监测分析,评估天津市区道路雨水径流的污染程度,进而分析天津市区降雨污染的基本特征.结果表明,不同功能区理化指标平均浓度的大小顺序为:商业区>居住区>文教区,天津市区道路雨水pH接近中性;金属离子中铅在3个功能区中均超标,在商业区、文教区和居住区中分别超标1.16、1.05和1.28倍,且天津市区重金属污染浓度与南京和澳门相近;无机阴离子并未超出地表水质量标准V类标准或集中式生活饮用水地表水源地补充项目标准限值.TN、TP、COD和BOD_5最大值分别严重超出国家地表水环境质量V类标准的2.5、2.0、10和50倍.挥发酚在3个功能区中均未超标,而阴离子表面活性剂在商业区、文教区和居住区分别超过地表水质量标准V类标准的37、17和6.3倍.     

Fully integrated approach: an alternative solution of coupling a GIS and diffuse pollution models

As a tool for management, query, visualization and analysis of spatially referred information, GIS has been recognized as a method to aid the modeling of diffuse pollution and visualize the results in a spatial context. A common question in integrating diffuse pollution models and GIS is to choose a suitable coupling approach, in which the feature of diffuse pollution models should be taken into account. In this paper, we report on our experience in coupling a distributed diffuse pollution model with a GIS. A prototype of fully integrated system is developed in this paper. This system has high flexibility, extendibility and great data management efficiency. Differences in applicability of loose coupling, tight coupling and fully integrated approaches are addressed. It is concluded that the fully integrated approach can avoid tanglesome data exchange and routine execution and more robust than loose and tight coupling approaches and is suitable for distributed diffuse pollution modes.     

Efficient waste and pollution abatements for regions in Japan

This paper computes efficient industrial waste and air pollutants abatements for 47 regions in Japan for the period 1992–2002. The variable-returns-to-scale (VRS) data envelopment analysis (DEA) with a single output (real GDP) and seven inputs (labor, real public capital stock, real private capital stock, industrial waste, sulfur oxide, nitrogen oxide, and soot and dust) is used to compute target wastes of each region for each year. The efficient abatement ratios of each region in each year are obtained by comparing the actual to the target amount of a pollutant. Our major findings are: (1) Most regions in Japan have significant room to reduce their pollution since there is a wide gap between efficient and inefficient regions; (2) For each air pollutant, approximately 25–33% of Japan's prefectures can reduce their output by more than 50% without harming regional GDP, and approximately one-third of prefectures can reduce industrial waste more than 30%; (3) Hokkaido is the least efficient region for all years studied and for all waste and pollutants, and target abatement ratios there drastically worsened in the last two sample years; (4) Tokyo, Saitama, Yamanashi, Shiga, Nara, and Tottori are efficient with respect to each type of industrial waste and pollution throughout the study period; (5) many regions in the bottom quartile with respect to real per capita income have significant room to reduce their waste and pollution output; and (6) many regions where energy-intensive industries dominate produce excessive amounts of waste and air pollution compared to other regions.     

A model for approving and controlling sea water pollution for recreational activity

A model for assessing approval of a beach for recreational water activity was proposed. The model is based upon a sanitary survey together with intensive microbiological monitoring three times a day, five times a week for a month. In highly populated areas, continuous surveys once a day, five days a week are needed in order to assure the cleanliness and safety of these beaches.

Due to our intensive monitoring system, we can assure that Tel‐Aviv has one of the cleanest beaches near a metropolitan area in the Mediterranean Sea.     

Soil pollution in day-care centers and playgrounds in Norway: national action plan for mapping and remediation

Systematic geochemical mapping based on sampling and analysis of surface soils (0–2 cm) has been carried out in several Norwegian cities. The soils in the oldest parts of the cities are contaminated with metals (especially Pb) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Due to the fact that children are often in contact with surface soil, it was realized that special focus had to be directed towards soils in day-care centers and playgrounds. The first mapping and remedy program was initiated in Trondheim in 1996. Here, the importance of copper–chromium–arsenic (CCA)-pressure-impregnated wood in playing equipment as a pollution source for soils was documented, and a process was started with the aim to ban this product. Soils from day-care centers in the inner city of Bergen were polluted to a degree that required remediation in 45% out of 87 centers, mainly due to high concentrations of Pb and benzo(a)pyrene. In Oslo, 38% of 700 day-care centers needed remediation due to soil pollution by Pb, BaP, Cd, Hg, Ni and PCB. Removal of CCA-impregnated wood was necessary in more than half of the day-care centers The Norwegian parliament has decided to investigate all outdoor playing areas in day-care centers, playgrounds and schoolyards in Norway, starting in 2007 with day-care centers in the ten largest cities and five most important industrial areas. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health has developed quality criteria for soils in day-care centers and playgrounds for As, Cd, Cr⁶⁺, Hg, Ni, Pb, zinc, PAH_sum16, benzo(a)pyrene, and PCB_sum7. The Geological Survey of Norway has developed guidance for mapping of soil pollution (sampling, chemical analysis and reporting) in day-care centers. Especially the sampling strategy has been developed in the period 1996–2007, and the preferred sampling strategy is to collect at least 10 samples of surface soil (0–2 cm) from (1) “original soil” on the site, (2) artificial man-made “hills”, and (3) soils used for growing vegetables. A total number of 2,000 day-care-centres are to be investigated, and necessary remediation should be completed before the end of 2010.     

Use of biomarkers in zooplankton for assessment of the 'health status' of marine and brackish environments: a short overview

The biomarker approach has been used for 25 years to study the environmental quality of marine, brackish and freshwater ecosystems. Biomarkers may indicate health status and can be applied to organisms of all zoological phyla by destructive or non destructive methods. For 5 years we have been using this approach in zooplankton to detect ecotoxicological alterations at low levels of the food chain due to contaminants. Here we review our approach to validate and apply biomarker techniques in zooplankton. We discuss advantages, limitations, some results and future research. We indicate that biomarkers in zooplankton can be used as new indices of trophic status and ecological integrity of Italian marine coastal and lagoon environments, to be included among the tools specified by Italian law D.Lgs. 152/2006.     

A factor analysis study: Air pollution,meteorology, and hospital admissions for respiratory diseases

It is well known that air pollution exerts adverse effects on health and environment. Bal?kesir located in the Marmara region (Turkey) has serious air pollution problems produced by heating in the months of winter. In this study, the effect of exposure to air pollution on hospital admission for respiratory illnesses among children and adults was examined. Epidemiological data from records of hospitals, air pollutants and meteorological data were used. During July 2005–July 2007 period, there was a total of 280,426 hospital admissions for respiratory diseases. In a population-based analysis, 9 children were admitted for asthma, 17 children for acute bronchitis, and 20 children for lower respiratory diseases out of 100 children. There was a significant increase in the hospital admissions for respiratory diseases and air pollutants from October to March. It was concluded that children living in the city suffer from respiratory diseases such as asthma, pneumonia, and lower respiratory diseases. Three factors that account for approximately 90% of total variance of hospital admissions, air pollution, and meteorology were identified by means of principal component factor analysis.     

Bridging biogeochemical and food web models for an End-to-End representation of marine ecosystem dynamics: The Venice lagoon case study

The simultaneous accounting of effects of natural and anthropogenic changes within a common framework calls for the development of new comprehensive tools capable of integrating biological processes that span a huge range of scales, from viruses to fishes, in addition to their interactions with physical–chemical environmental properties, i.e. End-to-End models.     

Biogeochemical model (BGC-ES) and its basin-level application for evaluating ecosystem services under forest management practices

It is important for humans to live in harmony with ecosystems. Evaluation of ecosystem services (ES) may be helpful in achieving this objective. In Japan, forest ecosystems need to be re-evaluated to prevent their degradation due to lack of forest management.In order to evaluate the effects of forest management on forest ES, we developed a process-based biogeochemical model to estimate water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles in forest ecosystems (BGC-ES). This model consists of four submodels: biomass, water cycle, carbon-nitrogen (CN) cycles, and forest management. The biomass submodel can calculate growth of forest biomass under forest managements.Several parameters of the model were calibrated using data from observations of evapotranspiration flux and quality of stream flow in forests. The model results were compared with observations of runoff water from a dam catchment site and with carbon flux observations.Our model was coupled with a basin-level GIS database of forests. Evaluations under various forest management scenarios were carried out for forests in a basin contained in the Ise Bay basin (Chubu region, Japan), where plantations (artificial forests) seemed to have degraded from poor forest management.Comparing our simulation results with those of forests without management in the basin, we found that the amounts of absorbed carbon and runoff were larger in managed forests. In addition, the volume of harvested timber was larger and its quality (diameter) was better in managed forests. Changes of ES within the various scenarios were estimated for their economic value and were compared with the cost of forest management.     

上海市松江镇饮用水水源区农牧业环境污染控制系统

本文系统研究了城乡结合部饮用水水源区的社会经济发展、污染成因、平原感潮河网水文及水质规律，以及污染治理技术和水环境管理。在此基础上进行综合考察与分析，并采用系统工程方法，通过计算机模拟，形成从数据采集到控制对策的实用技术系统。同时建立了以满足一定环境约束、取得最高生态环境效益的有３个层次共７个子模型构成的水环境管理模型，从理论和应用两方面解决经济发展与环境保护结合的问题。     

A 50-year sedimentary record of heavy metals and their chemical speciations in the Shuangtaizi River estuary (China): implications for pollution and biodegradation

Two parallel sediment cores collected from tidal flat located in the Shuangtaizi River estuary were analyzed for heavy metal concentrations and chemical speciations. Based on the ¹³⁷Cs activity profile, mean sedimentation rate at the sampling site during the past 50 years was estimated to be 1.3 cm·a^-1. Correlation analyses show that almost all the metals are associated with each other, suggesting that these metals might be derived from same sources and/or affected by same geochemical processes. Influence of total organic carbon (TOC) content on the concentrations of Cr, Ni, Cu and Cd is evident. Silt and clay contents, instead of sand content, play an important role in the distribution of these metals. The dominant binding phases for most of the metals (except for Cd) are the residual. The relative decrease of the residual fraction of Cd and Pb in the upper 66 cm of the core is striking. The distribution of chemical fraction confirms that the residual fractions of these metals have a natural origin, while only the non-residual fractions of Cd and Pb increased upward the core due to pollution in the past five decades. Pollution assessment on these heavy metals based on Index of Geoaccumulation (I_geo) also demonstrates that most of the metals are unpolluted. The weak pollution as observed in the sediments is perhaps related to a local plant, the Suaeda heteroptera Kitag, which may have played a significant role in the biodegradation of these metals and the metal distribution in the estuary.     

An integrated modeling framework for performing environmental assessments: Application to ecosystem services in the Albemarle-Pamlico basins (NC and VA, USA)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency uses environmental models to inform rulemaking and policy decisions at multiple spatial and temporal scales. As decision-making has moved towards integrated thinking and assessment (e.g. media, site, region, services), the increasing complexity and interdisciplinary nature of modern environmental problems has necessitated a new generation of integrated modeling technologies. Environmental modelers are now faced with the challenge of determining how data from manifold sources, types of process-based and empirical models, and hardware/software computing infrastructure can be reliably integrated and applied to protect human health and the environment.In this study, we demonstrate an Integrated Modeling Framework that allows us to predict the state of freshwater ecosystem services within and across the Albemarle-Pamlico Watershed, North Carolina and Virginia (USA). The Framework consists of three facilitating technologies: Data for Environmental Modeling automates the collection and standardization of input data; the Framework for Risk Assessment of Multimedia Environmental Systems manages the flow of information between linked models; and the Supercomputer for Model Uncertainty and Sensitivity Evaluation is a hardware and software parallel-computing interface with pre/post-processing analysis tools, including parameter estimation, uncertainty and sensitivity analysis. In this application, five environmental models are linked within the Framework to provide multimedia simulation capabilities: the Soil Water Assessment Tool predicts watershed runoff; the Watershed Mercury Model simulates mercury runoff and loading to streams; the Water quality Analysis and Simulation Program predicts water quality within the stream channel; the Habitat Suitability Index model predicts physicochemical habitat quality for individual fish species; and the Bioaccumulation and Aquatic System Simulator predicts fish growth and production, as well as exposure and bioaccumulation of toxic substances (e.g., mercury).Using this Framework, we present a baseline assessment of two freshwater ecosystem services-water quality and fisheries resources-in headwater streams throughout the Albemarle-Pamlico. A stratified random sample of 50 headwater streams is used to draw inferences about the target population of headwater streams across the region. Input data is developed for a twenty-year baseline simulation in each sampled stream using current land use and climate conditions. Monte Carlo sampling (n = 100 iterations per stream) is also used to demonstrate some of the Framework's experimental design and data analysis features. To evaluate model performance and accuracy, we compare initial (i.e., uncalibrated) model predictions (water temperature, dissolved oxygen, fish density, and methylmercury concentration within fish tissue) against empirical field data. Finally, we ‘roll-up’ the results from individual streams, to assess freshwater ecosystem services at the regional scale.     

褐菖鲉肝HSC70基因的环介导等温扩增技术的建立及对石油污染的剂量效应研究

从褐菖鲉肝脏中克隆了热休克蛋白HSC70基因,利用环介导等温扩增技术(loop-mediated isothermal amplification,LAMP)建立HSC70基因的定量检测方法。为检测该方法的可行性,将褐菖鲉分别暴露于石油水溶性成分(water-soluble fraction,WSF) 20、60、180 μg·L^-1 1 d后,利用real-time PCR及LAMP技术同时测定褐菖鲉肝HSC70 mRNA表达量,两种方法测定结果基本一致,证实LAMP技术可用于褐菖鲉肝HSC70基因的定量。为更细致了解石油WSF影响褐菖鲉肝脏HSC70基因表达的剂量－效应关系,将褐菖鲉分别暴露于25、50、75、100、125、150、175 μg·L^-1 WSF中,5天后采样,用LAMP技术定量检测HSC70 mRNA。结果表明,HSC70 mRNA表达量在50 μg·L^-1浓度组即被显著诱导,在75 μg·L^-1浓度下达到最大值,这说明褐菖鲉肝HSC70基因对石油污染较敏感,有潜力作为海洋石油污染的生物标志物。