Sequential supercritical fluid extraction (SSFE) for estimating the availability of high molecular weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in historically polluted soils

Sequential supercritical fluid (CO2) extraction (SSFE) was applied to eight historically contaminated soils from diverse sources with the aim to elucidate the sorption-desorption behavior of high molecular weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The method involved five extraction phases applying successively harsher conditions by increasing fluid temperature and density mobilizing target compounds from different soil particle sites. Two groups of soils were identified based on readily desorbing (available) PAH fractions obtained under mildest extraction conditions (e.g., readily desorbing fractions of fluoranthene and pyrene significantly varied between the soils ranging from <10 to >90%). Moreover, extraction behavior strongly correlated with molecular weight revealing decreasing available PAH fractions with increasing weight. Physicochemical soil parameters such as particle size distribution and organic dry mass were found to have no distinct effect on the sorption-desorption behavior of PAHs in the different soils. However, PAH profiles significantly correlated with readily available pollutant fractions; soils with relatively less mobile PAHs had higher proportions of five- and six-ring PAHs and vice versa. Eventually, biodegradability corresponded well with PAH recoveries under the two mildest extraction phases. However, a quantitative relationship was only established for soils with biodegradable PAHs. Out of eight soils, five showed no biodegradation including the four soils with the lowest fraction of readily desorbing PAHs. Only one soil (which was found to be highly toxic to Vibrio fischeri) did not match the overall pattern showing no PAH biodegradability but large fractions of highly mobile PAHs, concluding that mass transfer limitations may only be one of many factors governing biodegradability of PAHs.     

Maintenance of variance in sperm transfer rates in a scorpionfly: food availability,genetic basis,and heritability

Variation in traits closely related to fitness is expected to be low. This is because these traits are under directional selection and the best genotype should prevail. However, there have been a number of studies demonstrating the existence of considerable variance in sexually selected traits, which is generally known as the lek paradox. Accordingly, earlier studies found substantial variation in sperm transfer rates in Panorpa vulgaris. Aiming at finding the mechanism that maintains this variation, we analyzed the condition dependence and the narrow sense heritability of sperm transfer rates. Food deprivation in the larval/adult phase caused a decrease in the males’ capability of saliva secretion resulting in shorter copulations and a reduced number of transferred sperm. There was a positive correlation between mean sperm transfer rates and mean body mass. Additionally, intermale variation in sperm transfer rates decreased with increasing food availability. Hence, we suggest that sperm transfer rates in P. vulgaris are influenced by adult feeding history. Heritability analyses of sperm transfer rates did not provide significant results, which is consistent with the general hypothesis that additive genetic variance in traits closely related to fitness is small. Since a trait’s potential to respond to selection is proportional to the amount of contained additive genetic variance, the ascertained small heritability provides a satisfying explanation for the maintenance of substantial variation in sperm transfer rates.     

Influence of fish on habitat choice of water birds: a whole system experiment

It is notoriously difficult to study population interactions among highly mobile animals that cannot be meaningfully confined to experimental plots of limited size. For example, migratory water birds are believed to suffer from competition with resident fish populations for shared food resources. While observational evidence in support of this hypothesis is accumulating, replicated experiments addressing this issue at the proper spatial scale are lacking. Here, we report from a replicated whole-system experiment in which we stocked large (0.07 km2), shallow (< or =2.5 m deep), highly eutrophic ponds in the bird protection area "Ismaninger Speichersee mit Fischteichen" with different densities of carp and assessed the responses of water birds and their food resources during summer over several years. In all years, the biomasses of benthic macroinvertebrates, macroalgae, and macrophytes as well as the densities of herbivorous, carnivorous, and omnivorous water birds were reduced in carp ponds compared to fishless ponds. The negative effects of carp on food resources and on the numbers of water birds feeding in carp ponds increased over the season (May-September) and were stronger at high than at low stocking densities of carp. Consequently, differences in resource densities between ponds with and without carp increased, and the ranking of ponds with respect to resource densities became more predictable over the season. These factors may have contributed to a seasonal improvement of the birds' abilities to track resource densities across ponds, as suggested by tight correlations of bird numbers on ponds with resource densities late, but not early, in the season.     

分布式电源对配电网静态电压稳定性的影响

为研究分布式电源(Distributed Generation,DG)的接入对配电网电压稳定性的影响,利用一种新的前推回代潮流算法分析配电网各节点的静态电压稳定裕度指标,并通过对 IEEE33 系统的计算,分析 PQ、PV 型 DG 以不同方式并网对配电网静态电压稳定性的影响。分析结果表明:利用本算法可实现配电系统负荷按相同比例增长,正确判断系统所能承受的负荷增长     

The imperiled fish fauna in the Nicaragua Canal zone

Large‐scale infrastructure projects commonly have large effects on the environment. The planned construction of the Nicaragua Canal will irreversibly alter the aquatic environment of Nicaragua in many ways. Two distinct drainage basins (San Juan and Punta Gorda) will be connected and numerous ecosystems will be altered. Considering the project's far‐reaching environmental effects, too few studies on biodiversity have been performed to date. This limits provision of robust environmental impact assessments. We explored the geographic distribution of taxonomic and genetic diversity of freshwater fish species (Poecilia spp., Amatitlania siquia, Hypsophrys nematopus, Brycon guatemalensis, and Roeboides bouchellei) across the Nicaragua Canal zone. We collected population samples in affected areas (San Juan, Punta Gorda, and Escondido drainage basins), investigated species composition of 2 drainage basins and performed genetic analyses (genetic diversity, analysis of molecular variance) based on mitochondrial cytb. Freshwater fish faunas differed substantially between drainage basins (Jaccard similarity = 0.33). Most populations from distinct drainage basins were genetically differentiated. Removing the geographic barrier between these basins will promote biotic homogenization and the loss of unique genetic diversity. We found species in areas where they were not known to exist, including an undescribed, highly distinct clade of live bearing fish (Poecilia). Our results indicate that the Nicaragua Canal likely will have strong impacts on Nicaragua's freshwater biodiversity. However, knowledge about the extent of these impacts is lacking, which highlights the need for more thorough investigations before the environment is altered irreversibly.     

基于多源数据的PM2.5浓度时空分布预测与制图

随着我国经济、工业化、城市化进程迅速发展,PM_(2.5)污染在中国已经成为一个极端的环境和社会问题,并引起广泛关注.采用新技术估算的地表PM_(2.5)质量浓度,收集并处理了遥感反演的气溶胶光学厚度(AOD),气象数据,其他地理数据和污染物排放数据,采用贝叶斯最大熵(BME)结合地理加权回归(GWR)来分析2015年冬季的PM_(2.5)暴露在我国东部大范围区域的时空变异特征.结果表明,BME模型的十折交叉验证结果的决定系数R~2为0.92,均方根误差(RMSE)为8.32μg·m~(-3),平均拟合误差(MPE)为-0.042μg·m~(-3),平均绝对拟合误差(MAE)为4.60μg·m~(-3),与地理加权回归模型的结果相比(R~2=0.71,RMSE=15.68μg·m~(-3),MPE=-0.095μg·m~(-3),MAE=11.14μg·m~(-3)),BME的预测结果有极大的提高.空间上,PM_(2.5)高浓度地区主要集中在华北、长江三角洲、四川盆地,低浓度地区主要集中在中国的最南部如珠江三角洲和云南的西南部;时间上,不同月份的研究区域PM_(2.5)空间分布所有差别,2015年的12月、2016年1月PM_(2.5)污染最为严重,2015年的11月,2016年的2月污染相对较低.     

Uranium and neptunium retention mechanisms in Gallionella ferruginea/ferrihydrite systems for remediation purposes

The ubiquitous β-Proteobacterium Gallionella ferruginea is known as stalk-forming, microaerophilic iron(II) oxidizer, which rapidly produces iron oxyhydroxide precipitates. Uranium and neptunium sorption on the resulting intermixes of G. ferruginea cells, stalks, extracellular exudates, and precipitated iron oxyhydroxides (BIOS) was compared to sorption to abiotically formed iron oxides and oxyhydroxides. The results show a high sorption capacity of BIOS towards radionuclides at circumneutral pH values with an apparent bulk distribution coefficient (K_d) of 1.23 × 10⁴ L kg^?1 for uranium and 3.07 × 10⁵ L kg^?1 for neptunium. The spectroscopic approach by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and ATR FT-IR spectroscopy, which was applied on BIOS samples, showed the formation of inner-sphere complexes. The structural data obtained at the uranium L_III-edge and the neptunium L_III-edge indicate the formation of bidentate edge-sharing surface complexes, which are known as the main sorption species on abiotic ferrihydrite. Since the rate of iron precipitation in G. ferruginea-dominated systems is 60 times faster than in abiotic systems, more ferrihydrite will be available for immobilization processes of heavy metals and radionuclides in contaminated environments and even in the far-field of high-level nuclear waste repositories.

     

基于摩擦纳米发电机的微塑料实时检测实验研究

采用基于自供电的摩擦纳米发电机(TENG)技术,设计开发了一种利用间断液柱检测水样内微塑料颗粒尺寸和丰度的实时快速检测方法和装置,并通过实验测试完成了对微塑料的尺寸形貌表征和化学元素组成的实时高效检测.研究发现,去离子水中加入微塑料颗粒时,溶液中zeta电位降低,改变了管壁表面的极化电场方向;随着水溶液中微塑料颗粒直径或丰度的增加,开路电压呈现减小趋势,50μm时减小了43.1%,0.250%浓度时减小了79.6%;微塑料颗粒对自来水的开路电压影响显著,以10μm微塑料颗粒为例,开路电压减小了20%,证明了TENG技术对海洋微塑料检测的可行性.