Assessment of semi-natural habitats and landscape features on Irish farmland: New insights to inform EU Common Agricultural Policy implementation

Concerns over the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in farmland have prompted the development of agri-environment policy measures aimed at reducing farming pressure and maintaining semi-natural habitats in farmed landscapes. However, further knowledge is needed to guarantee successful agri-environment measures implementation. The current study assessed the quantity and the quality of semi-natural habitats in farms across a gradient of farming intensities in two contrasting regions in Ireland. Policy protection seemed fundamental for semi-natural habitats preservation. Habitats not protected by agricultural policy relied on extensive farming and are in danger of disappearing if they are intensified or abandoned. Due to the lack of policy incentives for habitat quality, no correlations were found between farming intensity and share of semi-natural habitats with habitat quality. Therefore, extensive farming and retention of habitats alone may not reverse the decline of farmland quality and biodiverisity and, thus, measures incentivising the environmental quality may be more successful.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01344-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

The effects of autophagy in rat tracheal epithelial cells induced by silver nanoparticles

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The massive use of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) is potentially harmful to exposed humans. Although previous studies have found that AgNPs can induce...     

Authentication of emission monitoring data and optimization of desulfurization in the molybdenum roasting process based on BAT-OOPN and the response surface method

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This paper presents a quantitative pollutant discharge model for a typical molybdenum roasting plant, which combines the best available technology and...     

CO2 dynamic of Lake Donghu highlights the need for long-term monitoring

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Inland freshwater lakes have been widely considered as significant sources of CO2 to the atmosphere. However, long-term measurements of CO2 dynamics...     

The interaction effects of FEN1 rs174538 polymorphism and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure on damage in exon 19 and 21 of EGFR gene in coke oven workers

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure and genetic susceptibility were conductive to genotoxic effects including gene damage, which can increase mutational probability. We aimed to explore the dose-effect associations of PAH exposure with damage of exons of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and breast cancer susceptibility gene 1 (BRCA1), as well as their associations whether modified by Flap endonuclease 1 (FEN1) genotype. Two hundred eighty-eight coke oven male workers were recruited, and we detected the concentration of 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OH-pyr) as PAH exposure biomarker in urine and examined base modification in exons of EGFR and BRCA1 respectively, and genotyped FEN1 rs174538 polymorphism in plasma. We found that the damage indexes of exon 19 and 21 of EGFR (EGFR-19 and EGFR-21) were both significantly associated with increased urinary 1-OH-pyr (both P_trend < 0.001). The levels of urinary 1-OH-pyr were both significantly associated with increased EGFR-19 and EGFR-21 in both smokers and nonsmokers (both P < 0.001). Additionally, we observed that the urinary 1-OH-pyr concentrations were linearly associated with both EGFR-19 and EGFR-21 only in rs174538 GA+AA genotype carriers (both P < 0.001). Moreover, FEN1rs rs174538 showed modifying effects on the associations of urinary 1-OH-pyr with EGFR-19 and EGFR-21 (both P_interaction < 0.05). Our findings revealed the linear dose-effect association between exon damage of EGFR and PAH exposure and highlight differences in genetic contributions to exon damage and have the potential to identify at-risk subpopulations who are susceptible to adverse health effects induced by PAH exposure.

     

ENSO事件对上海降水中氢氧同位素变化的影响

根据2012年1月至2017年2月上海206个降水样品实测数据,结合全球大气降水同位素网络(GNIP)提供的南京、武汉、福州、香港1961~2012年大气降水同位素数据分析不同强弱程度的ENSO事件对降水中同位素组成影响的差异性.研究时段内上海降水中δD与δ~(18)O夏秋为低值,冬春为高值.El Nino事件期间大气降水线的斜率与截距均大于非El Nino事件期间,La Nina事件期间反温度效应、降水量效应、水汽压效应较非La Nina事件期间显著.不同强弱程度的El Nino和La Nina事件影响下的上海降水中δ~(18)O、d值与海洋尼诺指数(ONI)、海表温度距平值(SSTA)、ONI极值、累积值ΣONI这4个指数具有明显的负相关关系,并且降水中δ~(18)O与ONI、SSTA两个指数相关性大小受ENSO事件的影响较大.     

Ambient volatile organic compounds pollution in China

Owing to rapid economic and industrial development, China has been suffering from degraded air quality and visibility. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are important precursors to the formation of ground-level ozone and hence photochemical smog. Some VOCs adversely affect human health. Therefore, VOCs have recently elicited public concern and given new impetus to scientific interest. China is now implementing a series of polices to control VOCs pollution. The key to formulating policy is understanding the ambient VOCs pollution status. This paper mainly analyzes the species, levels, sources, and spatial distributions of VOCs in ambient air. The results show that the concentrations of ambient VOCs in China are much higher than those of developed countries such as the United States and Japan, especial benzene, which exceeds available standards. At the same time, the ozone formation potential (OFP) and secondary organic aerosol formation potential (SOAFP) of various VOCs are calculated. Aromatics and alkenes have much higher OFPs, while aromatics have higher SOAFP. The OFPs of ambient VOCs in the cities of Beijing, Guangzhou and Changchun are very high, and the SOAFP of ambient VOCs in the cities of Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Changchun are higher.     

Construction of vesicle CdSe nano-semiconductors photocatalysts with improved photocatalytic activity: Enhanced photo induced carriers separation efficiency and mechanism insight

Visible-light-driven photocatalysis as a green technology has attracted a lot of attention due to its potential applications in environmental remediation. Vesicle Cd Se nano-semiconductor photocatalyst are successfully prepared by a gas template method and characterized by a variety of methods. The vesicle Cd Se nano-semiconductors display enhanced photocatalytic performance for the degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride, the photodegradation rate of78.824% was achieved by vesicle Cd Se, which exhibited an increase of 31.779% compared to granular Cd Se. Such an exceptional photocatalytic capability can be attributed to the unique structure of the vesicle Cd Se nano-semiconductor with enhanced light absorption ability and excellent carrier transport capability. Meanwhile, the large surface area of the vesicle Cd Se nano-semiconductor can increase the contact probability between catalyst and target and provide more surface-active centers. The photocatalytic mechanisms are analyzed by active species quenching. It indicates that h+and UO_2~-are the main active species which play a major role in catalyzing environmental toxic pollutants. Simultaneously, the vesicle Cd Se nano-semiconductor had high efficiency and stability.     

玉门油田污染荒漠土壤石油降解菌多样性

为探索石油污染荒漠土壤石油降解微生物多样性、筛选高效石油降解菌,采用涂布平板法从石油污染荒漠土壤分离具有石油降解能力细菌,采用细菌形态观察和16S rRNA基因序列分析其多样性,并设计特异性引物,对分离细菌降解相关基因进行检测.结果表明,分离的37株细菌分别属于放线菌纲(Actinobacteria)、γ变形菌纲(Gammaproteobacteria)、β变形菌纲(Betaproteobacteria)、芽孢杆菌纲(Bacilli)和α变形菌纲(Alphaproteobacteria),分别占35.14%、32.43%、13.51%、13.51%、5.41%,归属于21个属的34个种类.优势菌属为假单胞菌属(Pseudomonas)、红球菌属(Rhodococcus)、微球菌属(Micrococcus)、寡养单胞菌属(Stenotrophomonas)、无色杆菌属(Achromobacter)和葡萄球菌属(Staphylococcus),占总数的51.35%,其中有36株细菌能以石油为唯一碳源稳定生长,对原油有明显的降解能力.在石油质量浓度为1 500 mg/L的基础培养基中,菌株YM43在培养7 d后对石油的降解率达55.47%,另有8株细菌的降解率不低于30.55%,11株细菌的降解率介于10.05%~28.37%,18株细菌的降解率不高于8.05%. PCR检测表明,有25株细菌含有烷烃单加氧酶基因,6株含芳烃双加氧酶基因,6株含联苯双加氧酶基因,4株含萘双加氧酶基因,3株含甲苯双加氧酶基因,2株含邻苯二酚双加氧酶基因.研究显示,石油污染荒漠土壤中可培养细菌具有高度多样性,分离的菌株有较强的石油降解能力,其降解功能与所存在的降解基因有关.