Effect of cadmium on nodulation and N2-fixation of soybean in contaminated soils

The effects of cadmium stress on nodulation, N2-fixation capabilities of the root nodule, the change in ultrastructure of the root nodule, soybean growth, and the distribution of cadmium in plants were studied. The results obtained show that the nodulation of soybean roots was greatly inhibited by the addition of Cd, especially at the addition level of 10 and 20 mg kg(-1) soil. The inhibition of plant growth, especially the root growth, increased as the cadmium concentration increased, with deleterious effects observed for the roots. The weight ratio of soybean root/leaf decreased as the Cd concentration increased, which might explain the reason for nodulation decreases. The results also indicate that N2-fixation of root nodule was stimulated to some extent at the low levels of Cd addition, but decreased sharply with further increase of the Cd concentration. High Cd levels were also associated with changes in the ultrastructure of root nodule, in which the effective N2-fixing area was reduced and the N2-fixing cells in the area also reduced. In addition, the results also reveal that the content of Cd in different parts of the plants was as follows: roots > stems > seeds, indicating that the accumulation of Cd by roots is much larger than that by any other part of the soybean plant, and might cause deleterious effects to root systems.     

Application of nanoparticle tracking analysis for characterising the fate of engineered nanoparticles in sediment-water systems

Novel applications of nanotechnology may lead to the release of engineered nanoparticles (ENPs), which result in concerns over their potential environmental hazardous impact. It is essential for the research workers to be able to quantitatively characterise ENPs in the environment and subsequently to assist the risk assessment of the ENPs. This study hence explored the application of nanoparticle tracking system (NTA) to quantitatively describe the behaviour of the ENPs in natural sediment-water systems. The NTA allows the measurement of both particle number concentration (PNC) and particle size distribution (PSD) of the ENPs. The developed NTA method was applied to a range of gold and magnetite ENPs with a selection of surface properties. The results showed that the positively-charged ENPs interacted more strongly with the sediment than neutral and negatively-charged ENPs. It was also found that the citrate coated Au ENPs had a higher distribution percentage (53%) than 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid coated Au ENPs (20%) and citrate coated magnetite ENPs (21%). The principles of the electrostatic interactions between hard (and soft) acids and bases (HSAB) are used to explain such behaviours; the hard base coating (i.e. citrate ions) will interact more strongly with hard acid (i.e. magnetite) than soft acid (i.e. gold). The results indicate that NTA is a complementary method to existing approaches to characterise the fate and behaviour of ENPs in natural sediment.     

衡阳丰乐五号西瓜空心畸形事件调查及气候影响分析

2009年6月衡阳丰乐五号西瓜出现空心、畸形现象,果农经济损失惨重。经相关部门多次调查发现,5月下旬持续低温阴雨天气是造成该事件发生的主要原因,栽培管理不当导致灾损进一步发展。历史数据分析表明,衡阳5月低温天气发生频率为67.57%,主要出现在上旬后期—中旬前期。进入新世纪以后,低温发生频率减少,强度减弱。对西瓜提前栽种似乎更加有利,但由此所带来的风险更大,为了保险起见,应大力推进设施栽培,采用小拱架双膜覆盖等栽培技术。     

流域水电开发环境影响后评价实践与思考

环境影响后评价必将是未来环境影响评价领导另一新的研究课题,而目前尚未出台相关规范导则。本文根据流域环境影响后评价的工作实践,明确提出开展流域梯级水电开发环境影响后评价的理论框架和评价思路,供国内重点流域梯级水电开发开展环境影响后评价提供经验和参考。     

浅析县级环境监测站的污染状况及防治措施

针对目前中国县级环境监测站存在的污染种类及危害,阐明环境监测站是一种不容忽视的污染源,其污染物种类多样、成分复杂、毒害较大,并针对不同的污染提出相应的治理办法,提出对县级环境监测站加强污染防治,推行绿色实验室。     

水环境承载力方法研究

文章给出水环境承载力概念,以及对现有的水环境承载力研究方法进行分析,提出基于水量水质相关法的水环境承载力计算模型,并对其进行实证研究。结果表明,将水量水质相关法应用于水环境承载力的研究,具有建模方便、直观简单的特点,为水环境承载力研究提供了一种新途径。     

Shrinkage and fragmentation of grasslands in the West Songnen Plain,China

In the past century, especially the past five decades, the grasslands of the West Songnen Plain, Northeast China, were rapidly converted into croplands and salinized wasteland, and experienced a fragmentation process that is still ongoing. Almost no information is available on the spatial-temporal changes of grasslands in this area. In this study, grassland cover change, agricultural reclamation and salinized wasteland expansion were investigated during the past five decades. Grassland fragmentation was studied based on four landscape metrics. The grassland cover change was detected from a time series of topographic maps from 1954, satellite images of Landsat TM in 1986, 1995, and 2000 using remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS). In addition, the land use changes were analyzed using a transition matrix of land use types, while the driving forces were explored according to climatic changes and socioeconomic developments. The results indicated a significant decrease in grassland area. Of the 1 418 945 ha of native grassland in 1954, approximately 64% was removed by 2000, while the number of patches (NP) increased from 865 to 2035 and the mean patch size (MPS) decreased from 1640 ha to 252 ha. During the whole study period, the average annual decrease rate of grassland was 34 894 ha/year. Cropland and salinized wasteland were the two main land use types into which grassland converted. During the past decades, obvious climatic changes occurred, which supplied a favorable potential environment for agricultural development but damaged grassland productivity. On the other hand, population, GDP and livestock number increased significantly as grassland quality decreased. According to the results, the shrinkage and fragmentation of grasslands may well be explained by socioeconomic development and aided by changing climatic conditions.     

微波协同氧化预处理垃圾渗滤液NF膜滤浓缩液研究

针对城市生活垃圾填埋场垃圾渗滤液NF膜处理后产生的浓缩液处理难问题,采用微波协同氧化技术对其进行预处理,探讨了pH值、预反应时间、药剂用量、微波反应时间等因素对浓缩液CODcr及色度去除率的影响.结果表明:当pH=4,预反应时间60 min,药剂用量1g/l、微波反应时间3 min时,CODcr、色度的去除率分别为71.2%,80%.预处理后的出水CODcr及色度指标达到垃圾渗滤液现有生化处理系统的进水要求.     

环境污染型项目中农村移民安置规划研究--以梅城垃圾填埋场为例

在一些环境污染型工程项目中,做好农村移民的安置规划工作尤为重要。借助世行贷款项目,通过持续的实际调研,以梅城垃圾填埋场为例,介绍了项目的建设主要内容及影响。从征地补偿安置、农村住宅房屋拆迁安置及弱势群体及妇女权益保护三个方面论述了农村移民生产生活安置方式。基于此,总结出了以下四个结论：(1)严格遵守相关法律法规、(2)征迁过程与安置工作相协调、(3)合理补偿,适当调整、(4)强化机构建设和人员能力培养。并提出了四条合理化建议。     

胜利油田区水体中环境雌激素生态风险评估

为了评价胜利油田石油开采对水体中雌激素生态风险。首先,检测胜利油田区26个样品中盐度、总氮、总磷、余氯、COD、石油烃类物质含量6个常规水质指标,结果发现水体中总氮及COD的含量均值达到5.2mg/L及64mg/L,这表明该区域有机污染物及富营养化程度比较严重。其次,利用人雌激素受体基因酵母干粉法检测了样品中环境雌激素含量,结果分析发现不同采样点间的雌激素污染水平不同,雌激素含量与水质指标间无显著相关性。样品中雌激素含量范围0.046-0.072ng/L,均值为0.062ng/L,雌激素水平相对较低,这证实胜利油田水体存在环境雌激素生态风险值也较低。