National Park Development in China: Conservation or Commercialization?

The rapid development of parks and ecotourism in China has attracted worldwide attention, not only for the beauty of the landscape that the parks are protecting but also for their abundant and often unique biodiversity. However, in some areas, the development of ecotourism has actually led to the degradation of local ecological, economic, and social systems. Using National Forest Parks for demonstration, this article analyzes the current political, institutional, legal, environmental, and economic issues concerning National Parks in China, and examines their potential future development. Although the intention of National Park systems in China is to raise environmental quality, and to protect biodiversity and social livelihoods, their success has varied. Future success will be measured by their capacity to reduce poverty, to promote long-term rehabilitation of wildlife habitats, and to simultaneously protect Chinese culture and biodiversity.     

MF-UF组合工艺处理再生纸废水的实验研究

针对再生纸废水体系,采用0.2 μm陶瓷微滤膜 （MF）与截留分子量为50 000 Dalton的疏水性PS有机超滤膜 （UF）组合工艺对再生纸废水进行处理。实验结果表明,此组合工艺对再生纸废水COD的去除率可达到846%,处理的废水达到造纸工业水污染物排放标准;根据再生纸废水的性质对膜清洗再生进行了考察,陶瓷膜及超滤膜通量约分别恢复85%与80%左右。     

基于物元理论的自然灾害损失等级划分方法

基于"灾度"概念及其改进算法,结合物元理论,提出了自然灾害损失等级划分的可拓学算法,建立了基于物元理论的自然灾害损失等级划分模型,将物元分析方法应用于自然灾害损失等级划分,作为灾害损失等级评估方法的一种补充,并与之前算法互为验证.不仅论证了物元理论应用于灾害等级划分的可行性,阐述了自然灾害损失评估物元模型的算法过程,而且利用该模型正确评估了2008年中国南方冰冻灾害的损失等级.经过反复验证,证实了该方法的科学性,同时提出了该模型尚存在的细节问题,如灾度上限的取值,权重确定的方法等问题,以便于更好的完善该模型算法.     

China’s Classification-Based Forest Management: Procedures,Problems, and Prospects

China’s new Classification-Based Forest Management (CFM) is a two-class system, including Commodity Forest (CoF) and Ecological Welfare Forest (EWF) lands, so named according to differences in their distinct functions and services. The purposes of CFM are to improve forestry economic systems, strengthen resource management in a market economy, ease the conflicts between wood demands and public welfare, and meet the diversified needs for forest services in China. The formative process of China’s CFM has involved a series of trials and revisions. China’s central government accelerated the reform of CFM in the year 2000 and completed the final version in 2003. CFM was implemented at the provincial level with the aid of subsidies from the central government. About a quarter of the forestland in China was approved as National EWF lands by the State Forestry Administration in 2006 and 2007. Logging is prohibited on National EWF lands, and their landowners or managers receive subsidies of about 70 RMB (US$10) per hectare from the central government. CFM represents a new forestry strategy in China and its implementation inevitably faces challenges in promoting the understanding of forest ecological services, generalizing nationwide criteria for identifying EWF and CoF lands, setting up forest-specific compensation mechanisms for ecological benefits, enhancing the knowledge of administrators and the general public about CFM, and sustaining EWF lands under China’s current forestland tenure system. CFM does, however, offer a viable pathway toward sustainable forest management in China.     

Application of crosswell seismic tomography using difference analysis with data normalization to monitor CO2 flooding in an aquifer

A pilot-scale experiment for carbon dioxide (CO₂) sequestration was undertaken at the Nagaoka test field in Japan. Time-lapse crosswell seismic tomography was conducted to detect and monitor the movement of CO₂ injected into an aquifer. We applied difference analysis with data normalization (DADN) to the time-lapse data to eliminate false images that were apparent in a conventionally processed difference section. Conventional difference analysis calculates travel-time delays after inversion, whereas the DADN method calculates them from raw travel-time records before inversion. Thus, fewer errors are generated with the DADN method compared to a conventional inversion analysis. We applied the DADN method to time-lapse tomography data recorded before and after the injection of CO₂ and computed the velocity variation in a subsurface section, which clearly showed the distribution of CO₂ flooding within a high permeability zone in the aquifer and showed no CO₂ leakage into the caprock. Our results also show the maximum velocity decrease as a result of CO₂ injection was about 9%, which is close to the results obtained in laboratory experiments. Finally, numerical simulations were inverted to test the effectiveness of the conventional and DADN methods in dealing with noise. These tests showed that the DADN method effectively reduces unique coherent noise for particular receiver and source combinations. We concluded that the DADN method provides useful data for monitoring the flow of CO₂ sequestered in underground aquifers.     

Pesticide contamination profiles of water, sediment and aquatic organisms in the effluent of Gaobeidian wastewater treatment plant

Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs, including DDT, HCH and HCB) and six indicator polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB 28, 52, 101, 138, 153, and 180) were measured in water, sediment, zooplankton, fish and Chinese softshell turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis) from Gaobeidian Lake, which is located in the effluent of Gaobeidian wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Beijing, China. DDTs were dominant except for in water. In water, the concentrations of DDTs (6.22 ng l(-1)) and HCHs (18.0 ng l(-1)) were less than the limits (l000 ng l(-1) for DDTs and 5000 ng l(-1) for HCHs). However, PCBs concentration (20.8 ng l(-1)) exceeded the limit (14 ng l(-1)) suggested by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). The high ratio of p,p'-DDT/DDTs (0.80) in water suggested that DDTs had recently been discharged into the ambient environment despite a longtime ban in China. For fish and Pelodiscus sinensis, the accumulation patterns of OCPs and PCBs were different in muscle and liver. And HCB and PCB 153 were significant different in different species (p<0.05). PCBs were dominated by PCB 52 in zooplankton, but by PCB 138 and 153 in Pelodiscus sinensis. The highest food web magnification factor (FWMF) was 4.83 for p,p'-DDT and the second highest was 4.36 for PCB 101 in Gaobeidian Lake. As compared with the other studies, biomagnification in the present study was not obvious. Trophic levels and age were two important factors that might contribute to the bioaccumulation in the present study.     

Accumulation of perfluorinated compounds in captive Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris tigris) and African lions (Panthera leo Linnaeus) in China

The accumulation of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in the sera of captive wildlife species Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris tigris) and African lions (Panthera leo Linnaeus) from Harbin Wildlife Park, Heilongjiang Province, in China were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). Perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) was the predominant contaminant with a mean serum concentration of 1.18 ng mL(-1) in tigers and 2.69 ng mL(-1) in lions. Perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) was the second most prevalent contaminant in both species. The composition profiles of the tested PFCs differed between tigers and lions, and the percentages of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) were greater in lions than in tigers, indicating different exposures and/or metabolic capabilities between the two species. Assessments of the risk of PFC contamination to the two species were obtained by comparing measured concentrations to points of departure or toxicity reference values (TRVs). Results suggest no risk of PFOS exposure or toxicity for the two species.     

Light-induced variation in environmentally persistent free radicals and the generation of reactive radical species in humic substances

• Light irradiation increased the concentration of free radicals on HS. • The increased spin densities on HS readily returned back to the original value. • The “unstable” free radicals induced the formation of reactive radical species. • Reactive radicals’ concentration correlated strongly with EPFRs’ concentration. Environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs) in humic substances play an essential role in soil geochemical processes. Light is known to induce EPFRs formation for dissolved organic matter in aquatic environments; however, the impacts of light irradiation on the variation of EPFRs in soil humic substances remain unclear. In this study, humic acid, fulvic acid, and humin were extracted from peat soil and then in situ irradiated using simulated sunlight. Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy results showed that with the increasing irradiation time, the spin densities and g-factors of humic substances rapidly increased during the initial 20 min and then gradually reached a plateau. After irradiation for 2h, the maximum spin density levels were up to 1.63 × 10¹⁷, 2.06 × 10¹⁷, and 1.77 × 10¹⁷ spins/g for the humic acid, fulvic acid, and humin, respectively. And the superoxide radicals increased to 1.05 × 10¹⁴–1.46 × 10¹⁴ spins/g while the alkyl radicals increased to 0.47 × 10¹⁴–1.76 × 10¹⁴ spins/g. The light-induced EPFRs were relatively unstable and readily returned back to their original state under dark and oxic conditions. Significant positive correlations were observed between the concentrations of EPFRs and reactive radical species (R² = 0.65–0.98, p<0.05), which suggested that the newly produced EPFRs contributed to the formation of reactive radical species. Our findings indicate that under the irradiation humic substances are likely to be more toxic and reactive in soil due to the formation of EPFRs.     

Reduced cadmium accumulation in tobacco by sodium chloride priming

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Cadmium (Cd) pollution threatens agricultural security worldwide. This study tested the efficacy of priming chemicals to decrease Cd uptake by tobacco...     

Fe~0协同生物麦饭石的PRB系统井下原位处理煤矿酸性废水

针对煤矿酸性废水(AMD)具有污染组分多、危害程度严重、地面处理成本高等特点,以固定SRB污泥的生物麦饭石作为PRB活性填料,并添加Fe0构建生物-非生物协同去污的新型PRB井下原位修复系统,对AMD开展了连续动态、变负荷的模拟修复研究。实验结果表明,3个动态柱对p H均具有较强的调节能力,同时仅以麦饭石作为活性填料的PRB-3对Fe2+、Mn2+、NH3-N具有较好的去除效果,最大去除速率分别为45.77、9.23和12.10 mg/(L·d);以Fe0协同生物麦饭石的PRB-2在碳源充足时对SO2-4、Fe2+、Mn2+、NH3-N最高去除速率分别为552.29、57.64、14.51和7.05mg/(L·d),而相同条件下只以生物麦饭石作为活性填料的PRB-1对上述污染物的最高去除速率分别为446.62、57.20、10.87和3.53 mg/(L·d);应用PRB-2系统处理AMD不仅可以实现多种污染物的同步去除,还能实现无外加碳源的井下原位长效修复。