Tropical peatlands in the Peruvian Amazon exhibit high densities of Mauritia flexuosa palms, which are often cut instead of being climbed for collecting their fruits. This is an important type of forest degradation in the region that could lead to changes in the structure and composition of the forest, quality and quantity of inputs to the peat, soil properties, and greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes. We studied peat and litterfall characteristics along a forest degradation gradient that included an intact site, a moderately degraded site, and a heavily degraded site. To understand underlying factors driving GHG emissions, we examined the response of in vitro soil microbial GHG emissions to soil moisture variation, and we tested the potential of pneumatophores to conduct GHGs in situ. The soil phosphorus and carbon content and carbon-to-nitrogen ratio as well as the litterfall nitrogen content and carbon-to-nitrogen ratio were significantly affected by forest degradation. Soils from the degraded sites consistently produced more carbon dioxide (CO2) than soils from the intact site during in vitro incubations. The response of CO2 production to changes in water-filled pore space (WFPS) followed a cubic polynomial relationship with maxima at 60–70% at the three sites. Methane (CH4) was produced in limited amounts and exclusively under water-saturated conditions. There was no significant response of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions to WFPS variation. Lastly, the density of pneumatophore decreased drastically as the result of forest degradation and was positively correlated to in situ CH4 emissions. We conclude that recurrent M. flexuosa harvesting could result in a significant increase of in situ CO2 fluxes and a simultaneous decrease in CH4 emissions via pneumatophores. These changes might alter long-term carbon and GHG balances of the peat, and the role of these ecosystems for climate change mitigation, which stresses the need for their protection.
An important question with respect to the Macondo blowout is whether the accident is a symptom of systemic safety problems in the deepwater drilling industry. An answer to such a question is hard to obtain unless the risk level of the oil and gas (O&G) industry is monitored and evaluated over time. This article presents information and indicators from the Risk Level Project (RNNP) in the Norwegian O&G industry related to safety climate, barriers and undesired incidents, and discusses the relevance for deepwater drilling. The main focus of the major hazard indicators in RNNP is on production installations, whereas only a limited number of incident indicators and barrier indicators are related to mobile drilling units. The number of kicks is an important indicator for the whole drilling industry, because it is an incident with the potential to cause a blowout. Currently, the development and monitoring of safety indicators in the O&G industry seems to be limited to a short list of “accepted” indicators, but there is a need for more extensive monitoring and understanding. This article suggests areas of extensions of the indicators in RNNP for drilling based on experience from the Macondo blowout. The areas are related to schedule and cost, well planning, operational aspects, well incidents, operators’ well response, operational aspects and status of safety critical equipment. Indicators are suggested for some of the areas. For other areas, more research is needed to identify the indicators and their relevance and validity. 相似文献
Based on questionnaires from horse breeders, we found that bringing a pregnant mare which had been mated away from home into
a vicinity of a familiar male who was not the father of her foetus increased probability of pregnancy disruption. These mares
aborted in 31% of cases, while none of those mated within the home stable aborted. Repeated sexual activity either by a stallion
or dominant gelding from the normal home group was observed shortly after the mare came from away-mating. Pregnant mares isolated
from home males by a fence were even seen soliciting them over the fence. We speculate that, once returned to the home “herd”,
and introduced to familiar males, mares were more likely to terminate their pregnancy to save energy and avoid likely future
infanticidal loss of their progeny by dominant male(s) of the home social group. This is a newly discovered phenomenon where
a mare manipulates the male’s paternity assessment by promiscuous mating. It may explain a common increased incidence of foetal
loss in domestic horses occurring in nearly 40% of pregnancies. We conclude that the common practice of transporting the mare
for mating and then bringing her back to an environment with males, stallions or geldings, which did not sire the foetus,
is the main cause of high percentages of pregnancy disruption in domestic horses. 相似文献
Whether parental effort can be negotiated between partners over ecological time and adjusted across different contexts is
not well understood. We manipulated male extra-pair copulation (EPC) opportunity in captive zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata, to test whether males adjust incubation effort to the mating context and to examine how females respond to their partner’s
effort. Birds without previous breeding experience were paired randomly and bred with the same partner twice. In the first
breeding attempt, half the males received EPC opportunities with ‘extra-pair females’ during incubation, while the other half
did not. Males that received EPC opportunities in the first breeding attempt did not in the second breeding attempt and vice
versa. We recorded incubation effort on days when EPC opportunities were not presented. In their first breeding attempt, males
with EPC opportunities incubated less than those without. Females compensated fully for the deficit in male care so that a
pair’s combined incubation effort was unchanged. In the second attempt, when a male’s opportunity for EPCs was switched, individuals
showed the same level of incubation effort that they had previously, irrespective of the current availability of extra-pair
females. This suggests that division of effort was negotiated in the first breeding attempt and maintained without significant
adjustments in the second attempt. The effects of male EPC opportunity in the first breeding attempt on subsequent incubation
effort suggests that individual parental decisions can be shaped by previous experience and this may partly explain conflicting
results in studies where individuals’ histories were not known. 相似文献
Organo-clay complexes in soil are a major sink for xenobiotics and, thus, often enhance their persistence dramatically. However,
the knowledge on environmental processes of non-extractable residue formation on a short time scale is very restricted. Therefore,
this study examined the distribution of 4-(3,5-dimethylhept-3-yl)phenol (NP) and 4-chloro-2-methylphenoxyacetic acid (MCPA)
in soil over a short time period of 48 h and in different soil sub-fractions. The overall proportion of organo-clay-associated
bound residues was not only abundant but also in the same range for both substances (MCPA: 8%; NP: 11% of applied 14C-radioactivity). However, a more detailed view revealed two different distribution patterns: a higher proportion of clay-associated
NP was accompanied by a lower content of bound residues, whereas a smaller fraction of clay-associated MCPA was characterized
by a higher proportion of non-extractable residues. Further on, a selective accumulation of bound residues among clay-associated
humic fractions was observed. NP residues were linked predominantly to humic acids, whereas MCPA residues tended to be incorporated
more into fulvic acids. It was evident that the overall distribution was influenced primarily by the physico-chemical properties
of the contaminants. This study demonstrates in detail a rapid initial incorporation accompanied by a specific distribution
into soil sub-fractions for selected xenobiotics in soil and points to a complex interaction of clay-associated organic matter
with low molecular weight compounds. 相似文献
Lindane (??-hexachlorocyclohexane, ??-HCH) is a recalcitrant and toxic organochlorine insecticide. Due to its non-selective production process and widespread use, HCH isomers and their degradation products have been detected frequently in soils and groundwater. An innovative technology using microbial produced Pd(0) nanoparticles, i.e. bio-Pd, was developed to treat groundwater containing a mixture of HCHs and chlorobenzenes. In a first step, the groundwater was de-ironized and most of the chlorobenzenes were removed in a biological trickling filter. The ??g?L?1 levels of HCHs and chlorobenzenes were removed in a second step by the bio-Pd-based technology. Therefore, a 200-L pilot scale reactor was developed with 100?mg?L?1 bio-Pd encapsulated in alginate beads. Hydrogen gas was bubbled at the bottom of the reactor and served to charge the bio-Pd catalyst. The reactor influent contained 5.2???g?L?1 HCHs and 51.1???g?L?1 chlorobenzenes. During a test period of 10?days, 29% of the HCH isomers and 63% of the chlorobenzenes were removed applying a nominal hydraulic residence time of 4?h. These removal percentages could be increased to 75 and 68% by doubling the nominal hydraulic residence time to 8?h. This study demonstrated that biologically produced nanoparticles of Pd can be applied for the large-scale remediation of groundwater contaminated with HCHs. 相似文献