The performance of a natural treatment system for landfill leachate with special emphasis on the fate of organic pollutants.

A natural treatment system for the treatment of leachate was studied at Moskogen landfill in southern Sweden. This facility consists of three consecutive ponds and a soil-plant (SP)-system. A test area, receiving water from the third pond with the same hydraulic load as the SP-system, was used for estimation of the latter system. Quality parameters including biochemical oxygen demand, total organic carbon, ammonium, nitrate, orthophosphate, and total suspended solids along the treatment line were determined as well as soluble metals (Cu, Cd, Zn, Cr, Ni, and Pb). In addition a thorough investigation along the treatment line has also been performed concerning volatile organic compounds and semi-volatile organic compounds. Non-polar organic compounds were investigated using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Quantification was based on the assumption of equal response for the compounds found in comparison with the chosen marker substances. For polar, water-soluble compounds the measurements were restricted to phenolic compounds using high-performance liquid chromatography. Several different types of organic compounds were found in the raw leachate including aromatics, benzene-sulfonamides, biphenyls, naphthalene, organic phosphates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, phenols and phthalates. The treatment system efficiently reduced organic pollutants, heavy metals, and nitrogen/phosphorous compounds. Most metals and organic compounds in the leachate were already significantly reduced to a low level in the treatment ponds and ammonium-N was efficiently transformed to nitrate-N in the SP-system.     

不同螯合剂对零价铁活化过硫酸盐降解对氯苯胺的影响

研究了螯合剂EDTA、草酸(OA)、柠檬酸(CA)以及2,2-联吡啶(BPY)对零价铁(ZVI)活化过硫酸盐(PS)降解对氯苯胺(PCA)的影响;考察了溶液中PCA的降解率、PS消耗量和溶液中的Fe2+含量对反应的影响.结果表明,在中性条件下,EDTA、OA、CA等3种螯合剂抑制PCA在零价铁活化过硫酸盐体系中降解.而BPY促进了PCA的降解,增加溶液中BPY浓度,PCA的降解率增大;且PCA的降解是拟一级反应,其速率和BPY浓度呈正比;溶液初始p H值为3.0—11.0时,PCA在中性和碱性条件下的降解效率高于酸性条件.相对未加入BPY的体系,在中性和碱性条件下,BPY促进ZVI中Fe2+的溶出而提高PS活化效率,在酸性条件下,BPY由于减少了溶液中游离的Fe2+浓度,表现出对PCA的降解抑制.本文结果进一步证明了零价铁活化过硫酸盐非均相体系中,零价铁是作为活化PS的Fe2+的替代来源.     

施用生物炭对土壤微生物的影响

作为生物质材料的热解产物,生物炭被认为是很有前景的环境污染治理与生态修复材料.多方面的研究说明,生物炭的多孔、大比表面积、丰富的官能团等性能,使其具有"锁定"碳,固定土壤污染物,改善土质等功能,从而从土壤物理化学的角度证实了生物炭在土壤污染治理与改良方面的作用,但至于生物炭对土壤微生物的影响及其长期效应尚处于起步阶段.本文总结分析了近年来国内外生物炭与土壤微生物相关的研究成果,得出生物炭能通过改变土壤资源储备(如可利用C、营养物质、水分等)、非生命成分(如p H、CEC等)等理化性质,加快土壤细菌和真菌的生长与繁殖,影响土壤微生物群落结构和功能.可见,生物炭土地利用的优点不容置疑,为了实现其规模化应用,生物炭的施用剂量、生物炭-微生物-污染物的作用机理等问题亟待深入地研究,生物炭对土壤微生物及养分循环的长期影响还有待于系统地展开.     

镇江市古运河河岸沉积物重金属分布特征及潜在生态风险评价

对镇江市古运河河岸7个表层沉积物中重金属As、Cu、Pb、Cd、Zn、Cr含量进行测定,并通过富集系数、地累积指数法、潜在生态风险评价以及主成分分析等对沉积物重金属的分布特征进行综合分析与评价.结果表明:(1)古运河河岸带沉积物Cr、Cu、Zn、As、Pb和Cd元素的含量平均值分别为45.07、41.70、254.06、19.67、45.88、0.75 mg·kg-1,p H平均值为7.98.对比《国家土壤环境质量标准》可知,沉积物中Cu、Zn、Pb、As属于超一级标准,而Cd属于超二级标准.(2)6种重金属的富集系数表现为:AsCdPbZnCuCr,且综合富集系数在空间上表现为:G2G5G1G4G3G7G6;(3)古运河河岸表层沉积物地累积指数表现为AsCdPbCuZnCr,6种重金属中As富集量最大,Cr的富集量最小.(4)单项潜在生态危害系数结果表明,Cr、Cu、Zn、Pb均为轻微生态危害程度,As和Cd处于中等生态危害程度.从RI值判断,古运河河岸沉积物总体处于轻微生态危害.(5)相关性和主成分分析结果表明,Pb、Cu、Cr、Cd是决定第一主成分的4个主要因子,且Cu与Pb、Cd以及Pb与Cd元素具有相同的污染源.As、Zn在第二主成分中具有较高的载荷值,且As与Zn之间的相关性较弱,表明这两种重金属并非来自同一污染源.     

氧氟沙星和诺氟沙星的水环境光化学转化:pH值及溶解性物质的影响

在模拟日光照射下,考察了氧氟沙星和诺氟沙星在纯水和天然水中的光降解行为,结果表明,氧氟沙星和诺氟沙星的光降解随p H增加(p H=4—10)先增快后减慢,两种抗生素以两性离子形态存在时光解最快.氧氟沙星和诺氟沙星在天然水中的光降解显著慢于其在相似p H条件下(p H=8)纯水中的光降解,天然水中的溶解性物质对两种抗生素的光降解总体表现为抑制作用.以Suwannee河富里酸为例,研究了溶解性有机质(DOM)的影响机制,发现淡水中高浓度的DOM主要通过竞争光吸收抑制氧氟沙星和诺氟沙星的光解,而海水中低浓度的DOM可以通过淬灭活性物种抑制两种抗生素的光解.天然水中的金属阳离子(Ca2+和Fe3+)和NO-3分别通过配位作用和光致生成·OH影响氧氟沙星和诺氟沙星的降解.由此可见,氧氟沙星和诺氟沙星在天然水中的光化学行为依赖于水体p H值和溶解性物质的综合影响.     

Pollen foraging: learning a complex motor skill by bumblebees (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Bombus terrestris</Emphasis>)

To investigate how bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) learn the complex motor skills involved in pollen foraging, we observed naïve workers foraging on arrays of nectarless poppy flowers (Papaver rhoeas) in a greenhouse. Foraging skills were quantified by measuring the pollen load collected during each foraging bout and relating this to the number of flowers visited and bout duration on two consecutive days. The pollen standing crop (PSC) in each flower decreased drastically from 0530 to 0900 hours. Therefore, we related foraging performance to the changing levels of pollen available (per flower) and found that collection rate increased over the course of four consecutive foraging bouts (comprising between 277 and 354 individual flower visits), suggesting that learning to forage for pollen represents a substantial time investment for individual foragers. The pollen collection rate and size of pollen loads collected at the start of day 2 were markedly lower than at the end of day 1, suggesting that components of pollen foraging behaviour could be subject to imperfect overnight retention. Our results suggest that learning the necessary motor skills to collect pollen effectively from morphologically simple flowers takes three times as many visits as learning how to handle the most morphologically complex flowers to extract nectar, potentially explaining why bees are more specialised in their choice of pollen flowers.     

Variation in Assemblages of Small Fishes and Microcrustaceans After Inundation of Rarely Flooded Wetlands of the Lower Okavango Delta, Botswana

Water extraction from floodplain river systems may alter patterns of inundation of adjacent wetlands and lead to loss of aquatic biodiversity. Water reaching the Okavango Delta (Delta), Botswana, may decrease due to excessive water extraction and climate change. However, due to poor understanding of the link between inundation of wetlands and biological responses, it is difficult to assess the impacts of these future water developments on aquatic biota. Large floods from 2009 to 2011 inundated both rarely and frequently flooded wetlands in the Delta, creating an opportunity to examine the ecological significance of flooding of wetlands with widely differing hydrological characteristics. We studied the assemblages of small fishes and microcrustaceans, together with their trophic relationships, in temporary wetlands of the lower Delta. Densities of microcrustaceans in temporary wetlands were generally lower than previously recorded in these habitats. Microcrustacean density varied with wetland types and hydrological phase of inundation. High densities of microcrustaceans were recorded in the 2009 to 2010 flooding season after inundation of rarely flooded sites. Large numbers of small fishes were observed during this study. Community structure of small fishes differed significantly across the studied wetlands, with poeciliids predominant in frequently flooded wetlands and juvenile cichlids most abundant in rarely flooded wetlands (analysis of similarity, P < 0.05). Small fishes of <20 mm fed largely on microcrustaceans and may have led to low microcrustacean densities within the wetlands. This result matched our prediction that rarely flooded wetlands would be more productive; hence, they supported greater populations of microcrustaceans and cichlids, which are aggressive feeders. However, the predominance of microcrustaceans in the guts of small fishes (<20 mm) suggests that predation by fishes may also be an important regulatory mechanism of microcrustacean assemblages during large floods when inundated terrestrial patches of wetlands are highly accessible by fish. We predict that a decline in the amount of water reaching the Delta will negatively affect fish recruitment, particularly the cichlids that heavily exploited the rarely flooded wetlands. Cichlids are an important human food source, and their decline in fish catches will negatively affect livelihoods. Hence, priority in the management of the Delta’s ecological functioning should be centred on minimising natural water-flow modifications because any changes may be detrimental to fish-recruitment processes of the system.     

Landscape Development During a Glacial Cycle: Modeling Ecosystems from the Past into the Future

Understanding how long-term abiotic and biotic processes are linked at a landscape level is of major interest for analyzing future impact on humans and the environment from present-day societal planning. This article uses results derived from multidisciplinary work at a coastal site in Sweden, with the aim of describing future landscape development. First, based on current and historical data, we identified climate change, shoreline displacement, and accumulation/erosion processes as the main drivers of landscape development. Second, site-specific information was combined with data from the Scandinavian region to build models that describe how the identified processes may affect the site development through time. Finally, the process models were combined to describe a whole interglacial period. With this article, we show how the landscape and ecosystem boundaries are affected by changing permafrost conditions, peat formation, sedimentation, human land use, and shoreline displacement.     

Wave hydrodynamics around a multi-functional artificial reef at Leirosa

This paper describes an application of the Boussinesq-type COULWAVE model to study the wave hydrodynamics in the vicinity of a multi-functional artificial reef (MFAR). This reef is under investigation and consists of a supplementary protection solution for the Leirosa sand dune system located at South of Figueira da Foz, on the Portuguese West coast. Such installation near the coastline is expected to contribute to enhance the surfing conditions in the area, protect the sand dune system in the surroundings of Leirosa beach, and increase its environmental value. Numerical calculations with the COULWAVE model were performed for four test cases, considering two reef geometries (differing in the reef angle) and two incident wave conditions (storm condition and a common wave condition). Comparisons between the results obtained, in terms of wave heights and breaking line positions allow us to assess the influence of the reef on the hydrodynamics near the beach and around the reef. Moreover, the reef performance was analysed in terms of surfability and coastal protection. The surfability parameters (breaker height, Iribarren number and peel angle) were calculated for each test case using the numerical wave heights, wave directions and wave breaking positions. Comparisons of parameters allow characterizing the most appropriate configuration of the reef to improve the surfing conditions in the study area. A methodology based on numerical free surface elevations and horizontal velocity components was developed to calculate wave directions, since this is not a direct output of the COULWAVE model. Concerning coastal protection, analyses of the mean currents around the reef were used together with observations of the velocity cells near the shoreline as an indication of the sediment transport.