Geochemistry and bioavailability of metals in sediments from northern San Francisco Bay

In this study, metals (Be, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ag, Cd, Pb and Hg) in the fine-grained fraction (<63 microm) from 12 sites at different locations in northern San Francisco Bay over a year period from March 2000 to March 2001 were analyzed after acid extraction. The results showed that metal concentrations in the sediments varied from site to site, whereas some of them were found elevated with respect to the sediment of Tomales Bay, CA, which has little contamination history, indicating an enrichment of the metals in the sediment samples analyzed. Sediment toxicity and bioaccumulation evaluation by a clam species, Macoma nasuta, exposed to the sediment samples collected from the six sampling sites was carried out. The results showed that the sediment samples tested significantly reduced clam survival. Toxicity of the sediments to the clam was, in part, related to elevated metal concentrations in the sediments. In order to examine geochemistry of the metals and to understand potential correlations between metal concentrations and geochemical matrix elements of the sediments, bioavailability and toxicity of the metals, detailed analysis of metal concentrations associated with total organic carbon and the Fe-oxy-hydroxides in the sediment samples was performed. The analysis showed that sediment geochemistry appeared to influence metal bioavailability and may have important impacts on the toxicity of these metals to the clam.     

我国循环经济的发展模式

循环经济发展模式主要是指循环经济的产业发展模式和区域发展模式。根据我国循环经济的内涵、国际做法和国内相关实践探索经验,我国循环经济的产业发展模式涉及生产和消费两个重点领域和四个重点产业。四个重点产业是生态工业、生态农业、绿色服务业和废弃物再利用、资源化及无害化处置产业。循环经济区域发展模式是在区域基础设施体系和生态系统支撑下的两个重点领域和四个重点产业的有机组合和共生。是区域可持续发展的核心组成部分。区域基础设施体系也是应用循环经济原理的重要领域。以资源能源离效和环境影响最小为特征。在目前的实践中。我国出现了三种将发展循环经济作为推动区域可持续发展的助推器而引发的区域社会经济发展战略转型模式：东部发达地区的自发转型模式、辽宁资源型地区的转型模式和西部地区典型的跨越发展转型模式。     

长江上游泥石流灾害的特征

长江上游地区地质条件复杂、新构造运动强烈、地震活跃、地形起伏巨大、降水丰沛而集中,对泥石流发育极为有利;而长期不合理的人类经济活动(如过度采伐森林、毁林开荒、陡坡耕作、建设和采矿不合理弃渣等)则对生态环境造成强烈破坏,加剧了泥石流灾害的发生,使长江上游成为我国泥石流活动最强烈及灾害最严重的地区。据统计,1753~2002年的200多年中,区内仅一场泥石流致死百人以上的特大灾害点就达17个,累计死亡近6 000人;致死百人以下的灾害点更多,致死十人以下的灾害点不计其数,死亡人数总和远远大于上列数字;有60余个市县政府驻地城镇受泥石流危害或威胁,乡镇则多达上百个。由泥石流造成的人员伤亡每年数十到数百人,经济损失10~15(亿元／a)。其灾害的严重性由此可见一斑。泥石流灾害已成为制约长江上游地区经济发展的重要因素之一。研究泥石流灾害,掌握其特征,是长江上游防灾减灾所必需,对促进长江上游地区社会经济发展和西部大开发具有重要意义。长江上游己查明的泥石流沟6 800余条。其特殊的地理位置和巨大的地形高差及岩性差异,使区内发育的泥石流不仅数量众多,而且类型石相当齐全,除无火山泥石流外,几乎 包含了世界上目前己发现的其他各种类型的泥石流。在青藏高原边缘等岭谷高差变化大的地貌过渡带,泥石流极为发育;沿深大断裂带和强烈地震带泥石流集中分布;泥石流主要出现在流域面积小于10 km\+2的小流域内,分布呈非地带性特征。泥石流活动频率高,每年都有成百上千处发生,导致了泥石流灾害频繁。如云南东川的蒋家沟,从1965~2001年的37年中,共发生泥石流459次,平均12．4次／a;甘肃武都柳弯沟平均每年暴发泥石流11次。此外,泥石流搬运泥沙石块的能力惊人,搬运物以粗粒物质为主,据干流和支流的69个泥石流堆积物样品分析,堆积物中粒径大于20 mm 的石块占43.%~64.8%,平均50．4％;由此,常常造成其汇入的主河被堵塞而形成淹没和溃决后水毁等次生灾害。泥石流冲刷与淤积能力极强,运动中可将基岩下切10余m,金沙江、雅砻江、大渡河、岷江及其支流被泥石流堵塞成湖,形成淹没灾害,溃决后对下游造成严重的水毁灾害,均屡见不鲜。     

长江中游水生生物多样性保护面临的威胁和压力

长江中游地区作为世界上最大的淡水生态区之一,生物多样性保护具有非常特殊的地位和作用。分析了长江中游地区生物多样性保护面临的主要威胁与压力,认为生境破碎萎缩、资源不合理开发利用、水环境污染、外来物种入侵等是生物多样性面临的主要威胁,而传统方式下的经济增长、土地利用粗放、人口增长与贫困、政策与管理等方面存在的问题将是生物多样性保护面临的主要压力。     

Effect of rise in spring air temperature on the arrival dates and reproductive success of the Song Thrush, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Turdus philomelos</Emphasis> (C.L. Brehm, 1831) in the forest–steppe of the Russian Plain

The effect of rise in spring air temperature on the breeding phenology and reproductive success of the Song Thrush in the Voronezh Nature Reserve have been studied over the periods of 1987 to 1990 and 2008 to 2012. The results show that relatively high air temperatures provide for earlier arrival of the birds from wintering grounds, earlier and more synchronous breeding of the majority of nesting pairs, and an increase in clutch size and proportion of pairs producing two broods per season. Predation pressure on bird nests decreases under such conditions, which markedly improves reproductive success. Climate warming is conducive to increasing breeding productivity of the Song Thrush population as a whole.     

Effect of temperature and precipitation on linear increment of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Sphagnum fuscum</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">S. magellanicum</Emphasis> in Western Siberia

The linear increment of Sphagnum fuscum and S. magellanicum in ombrotrophic mires of Western Siberia has been measured during two years over a transect about 2500 km long extending from forest–steppe to forest–tundra. Along the latitudinal gradient, the increment of both species has proved to be correlated with annual average air temperature and, in S. magellanicum, also with annual precipitation. The determinants of their growth differ between the southern, central, and northern parts of the study region. At the regional level, the annual and summer precipitation plays a more important role than the average air temperature. The increment of S. fuscum in the southern part is positively correlated with the amount of precipitation and negatively correlated with summer temperature, whereas the situation in the central part is inverse. In S. magellanicum, the linear increment is directly dependent on the annual average temperature and annual and summer precipitation in the south and on the annual and summer precipitation in the north of Western Siberia. The dynamics of linear growth of both species in bog pine forests during the growing season are similar: its rate is the highest in June, when the linear increment of S. fuscum and S. magellanicum amounts to 60 and 85% of the annual total, respectively.     

Carbon fluxes from coarse woody debris in southern taiga forests of the Valdai Upland

Studies in three typical forest biotopes of the Valdai Upland were performed to evaluate the stocks and surface area of coarse woody debris from spruce and birch (in linear transects), its colonization by xylotrophic fungi (during reconnaissance surveys), and CO₂ emission (by a chamber method). The stock and surface area were minimum in a paludal birch forest (46.4 m³/ha and 960 m²/ha) and maximum in a decay area of spruce forest (256.1 m³/ha and 3761 m²/ha, respectively). The assemblages of wood-decay fungi had a composition typically found in southern taiga forests. The total CO₂ flux varied from 145 kg C-CO₂/ha per year in the paludal birch forest to 462 kg C-CO₂/ha per year in small herb–green moss spruce forest. It is concluded that air temperature is an informative predictor of seasonal C-CO₂ flux rate from coarse woody debris.     

Dietary overlap among ruminants,geese, and lemmings of Wrangel Island in summer

Trends in the dynamics of herbivore community related to trophic competition in summer have been analyzed on Wrangel Island. The results show that the trophic spectra overlap considerably, resources are partitioned on the principle “weak competitors after strong competitors,” and community dynamics in the absence of extermination depend on specific competitive advantages related to the width of food spectrum. We conclude that the dynamics of this insular community prior to the establishment of nature reserve on the island have been determined by human activities, as well as the structure of arctic herbivore communities in general.     

Mating systems in the steppe lemming (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Lagurus lagurus)</Emphasis> and narrow-skulled vole (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Microtus gregalis</Emphasis>) from the Northern Kulunda Steppe

A comparative analysis of reproductive behavior has been performed in the steppe lemming (Lagurus lagurus) and narrow-skulled vole (Microtus gregalis). The results show that the species are similar in certain behavioral features indicative of the stability of mating pairs. However, in the narrow-skulled vole, unlike in the steppe lemming, mature males in olfactory tests show preference for receptive sibling females versus non-kin females. Probably, it is the absence of the incest taboo that allows the involvement of young of the year in reproduction within growing family groups and accounts for “coloniality” of the species.     

Phenotypic variation in Ural and Siberian populations of the heath <Emphasis Type="Italic">Coenonympha amaryllis</Emphasis> (Stoll, 1782)

Phenotypic variation in the widespread Siberian and Mongolian butterfly species Coenonympha amaryllis (Stoll, 1782), an indicator of undisturbed steppe communities, is analyzed. It is shown that its size variation is influenced by a complex of climatic factors, the most important of them being the average starting date of the frost-free period and average annual temperature in the region. Longitude-dependent variation in size is described by a “sawtooth curve” characteristic of species with changing voltinism.