Looking beyond the flowers: associations of stingless bees with sap-sucking insects

The study addresses in vitro degradation potential of airborne Aspergillus and Penicillium/Talarmyces species originating from cultural heritage conservation premises. A series of rapid, cost effective biodegradation assays were performed to assess production of extracellular pigments, acids, and enzymes. Most of the isolates have demonstrated positive growth in at least one of the preformed tests. Strongest overall degradation potential was demonstrated for Penicillium brevicompactum, P. glabrum, and Talaromyces sayulitensis while Aspergillus domesticus, A. penicillioides, A. pseudoglaucus, and A. ruber did not exhibit positive reaction in any of the employed assays. Majority of isolates exhibited proteolytic and cellulolytic activity while carbonate dissolution was observed for only five tested fungi. Highest alteration of pH value in liquid media was documented for T. sayulitensis while A. niger and P. expansum exhibited strongest acid production on CREA. Certain isolates, mostly Penicillium species, displayed production of extracellular pigments. The results imply that many of the tested fungi have significant biodegradation capacity, indicating their potential to inflict structural and esthetic alterations on cultural heritage objects.

     

“人类世”:为你我寻一个新坐标

说起“地质年代”,我们首先联想到的可能是“寒武纪生命大爆发”、“侏罗纪恐龙”.也可能你知道现在我们人类处于1万年前开始的“全新世”,但由于地质年代主要以化石记录来区分,动辄以百万年为单位,所以对于大多数人而言,不同的“纪”或“世”仅仅区分着静态的过去.     

北京市城镇污水再生利用现状与潜力分析

北京市水资源严重匮乏,污水再生利用是支撑城市可持续发展和生态文明建设的重要途径和必然选择。近年来,北京市总用水量逐年递增,其中生态用水量增幅最大,截至2018年已达到13.4亿m3,占全市用水总量的34.1%。同年,北京市城镇污水处理能力达到19.1亿m3,污水处理率达到93.4%,污水处理量达到16.7亿m3,90%以上处理出水的COD、氨氮、总磷指标均已达到GB/T 18921—2019《城市污水再生利用景观环境用水水质》（湖、库）。目前,北京市的污水再生利用率约为56.3%。如将以色列82%的污水再生利用率作为发展目标,未来仍然有4.9亿m3的增长空间（以2018年北京市污水处理量为计算依据）,相当于2018年南水北调供水量的53%、全市生态用水量的37%。北京市农业、工业、生活和生态用水均存在再生水利用潜力。但污水再生水利用不同于常规水资源利用,目前利用体系仍有需要完善的部分,需要政策、科研、宣传教育等多方面提供支持。污水再生利用是解决北京市水资源短缺问题的重要途径,未来发展潜力巨大。     

波兹南及“台前幕后”

一位略显疲惫的波兹南会议（COP14）与会者称：“联合国描述这类会议时只有两种说法：非常成功或成功”,他接着说：“而描述这次会议将用‘成功’这个词”,COP14是巴厘岛和哥本哈根会议之间的中间点,是迄今为止在欧洲举办的最大的国际峰会,     

沈阳市能源需求预测及潜力分析

本文采用逐步回归分析法预测能源需求，结果表明能源消费量与国民生产总值显著相关，预测到２０００年，沈阳市短缺能源达２００万吨标煤．为此，文中进一步提出了提高能源开发、利用潜力的途径和措施及其环境效益．     

Extremophiles: from abyssal to terrestrial ecosystems and possibly beyond

The anthropocentric term “extremophile” was introduced more than 30 years ago to describe any organism capable of living and growing under extreme conditions—i.e., particularly hostile to human and to the majority of the known microorganisms as far as temperature, pH, and salinity parameters are concerned. With the further development of studies on microbial ecology and taxonomy, more “extreme” environments were found and more extremophiles were described. Today, many different extremophiles have been isolated from habitats characterized by hydrostatic pressure, aridity, radiations, elevated temperatures, extreme pH values, high salt concentrations, and high solvent/metal concentrations, and it is well documented that these microorganisms are capable of thriving under extreme conditions better than any other organism living on Earth. Extremophiles have also been investigated as far as the search for life in other planets is concerned and even to evaluate the hypothesis that life on Earth came originally from space. Extremophiles are interesting for basic and applied sciences. Particularly fascinating are their structural and physiological features allowing them to stand extremely selective environmental conditions. These properties are often due to specific biomolecules (DNA, lipids, enzymes, osmolites, etc.) that have been studied for years as novel sources for biotechnological applications. In some cases (DNA polymerase, thermostable enzymes), the search was successful and the final application was achieved, but certainly further exploitations are next to come.     

焦化厂VOCs的臭氧生成潜势及二次有机气溶胶生成潜势分析

焦化厂因其工艺特殊,SO₂、NO_x、颗粒物及VOCs的排放问题较为突出。故对焦化厂厂界环境空气VOCs排放特征进行分析,并依据最大增量反应活性(MIR)法和等效丙烯浓度(PEC)法对VOCs的臭氧生成潜势(OFP)进行评估,依据气溶胶生成系数(FAC)法对VOCs二次有机气溶胶生成潜势(SOAFP)进行评估。结果表明:1)厂界上、下风向5个点位共分析出包括芳香烃、卤代烃、烯烃、硫化物、酮类在内的17种VOCs; 2)不同区域厂界检出的VOCs差异显著,总质量浓度为28.2~167.9μg/m3,其中芳香烃在各点位TVOCs中占比最大,达到51.01%~84.63%;3)脱硫提盐冷鼓区域边界OFP最大,理论值为335.51μg/m3,办公生活区边界OFP最小,理论值为47.06μg/m3,芳香烃对OFP贡献率为27.21%~62.37%,烯烃为39.17%~61.84%,卤代烃为2.08%~14.56%;通过PEC法估算OFP,结果变化趋势与MIR法结果相一致,等效丙烯浓度为3.11~31.89μg/m3;且1—5点位芳香烃的等效丙烯浓度贡献率分别为37.10%、51.46%、66.79%、58.80%和22.74%;4)1—5点位SOAFP分别为0.452,0.938,2.517,4.055,0.495μg/m3;芳香烃对SOAFP贡献最大。丙烯、甲苯、二甲苯、氯乙烯等质量浓度和反应活性均较大的物质,是需要优先控制的VOCs组分,可作为焦化厂环境空气VOCs的标志物。     

Transdisciplinary sustainability research beyond engagement models: Toward adventures in relevance

Transdisciplinary models of research are increasingly upheld as the gold standard of collaborative science to solve complex social and environmental problems, promising to ‘close the gap’ between knowledge and action, inject science with greater accountability, democratic participation, and include stakeholders as practitioners of research. Absent in transdisciplinary models are more ‘risky’ questions of relevance, subject positionality, and the lived encounters between researchers and stakeholders. Who are the ‘holders’ and who determines the ‘stakes’? This article examines how notions of roles, typologies, and effectiveness constrain relationships between researchers and stakeholders; and document the ways in which research teams, shot through with these tensions, in turn develop new roles, typologies, and markers of ‘success’. In drawing on recent philosophical scholarship on social science practices, we argue that relevance in transdisciplinary research cannot rest on typologies, logics, and templates of collaboration in which effectiveness is determined in advance. The growing business of team science and its predictive aspirations risk rendering transdisciplinary research irrelevant if its practitioners do not loosen the grip on realist perspectives on stakeholder roles, research outcomes, and metrics of success. Instead, we argue for the development of skills for paying attention to the categories, friction, and tensions that are provoked by collaborative interactions, discourses, and techniques with stakeholders. Environmental researchers must learn to be responsive to the durable existence of stakeholders and seek to develop the means to reveal what matters, and therefore is relevant, to them.