Moving towards sustainable development: rhetoric,policy and reality of ecological agriculture in China

Past decades have witnessed the rise of sustainable agriculture movements throughout the world. In parallel with this international trend, ecological agriculture (with essential goals of food security, rural employment, poverty alleviation, natural resource management and environmental protection) has been advocated as a workable approach for the realization of sustainable agriculture in China. Two decades of ecological agricultural development have shown that it not only gained legitimacy at the senior policy level but also became a focus of scientific research in fields such as ecological economics, ecology, and agricultural and environmental sciences. However, this endeavour is hardly known in the West and little attention has been paid so far to examining the broader politico-economic and sociocultural contexts within which it has evolved. This paper attempts to provide a general review of the emerging background, development history, policy initiatives and recent tendencies of ecological agriculture. In addition, the extant problems and potential contributions of this alternative practice to China's sustainable agricultural development are discussed. The purpose of this study is to identify the gap between the policy rhetoric and practical implementation of Chinese ecological agriculture and therefore to facilitate its moving towards sustainable development.     

A review of spatial and temporal assessment of PFOS and PFOA contamination in China

The current state of concentrations of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in China is presented. While products that are known to degrade to either PFOS or PFOA have been used in China, concentrations in environmental media have been reported to be relatively low across China. Greater concentrations of PFOS and PFOA were observed in southern and eastern China than in other areas of China. Concentrations of PFOS and PFOA were relatively great in the Huangpu River, with concentrations of 20.5 ng l^?1 and 1590 ng l^?1, respectively. Surface waters of Dongguan and Shanghai were more contaminated by PFOS and PFOA than that of other cities. Dongguan was the only city in China in which PFOS value in surface water exceeded the water quality criterion, while PFOA concentration in Shanghai was 152 ng l^?1. Similar to other contaminants, point-source pollution was also the common pattern of PFOS and PFOA contamination. Concentrations of PFOS in human blood in China were relatively greater in China than other countries, with drinking water contamination given as the most likely source. Concentrations of PFOS in human blood have increased from the 1980s to the 2000s, while such a trend was not observed for PFOA.     

Degradation kinetics of terephthalic acid wastewater with the hybrid strains constructed with Phanerochaete chrysosporium

The degradation kinetic parameters in terephthalic acid (TPA) wastewater for the hybrid strains of Fhh and Fhhh obtained through the protoplast fusion of the fungi Phanerochaete chrysosporium (PC) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae Y99, and the native bacteria YZ1 were measured in this research. The highest level of the specific degradation rate for Fhhh and Fhh during 20h reaction were 0.2238 and 0.2163 h^‐1, which were higher than that of their three parental strains and that of the anaerobic bacteria reported. It suggested that the abilities of growth and degradation for Fhh and Fhhh in TPA wastewater were better than their three parental strains. They could create potentials for the purification of TPA wastewater with higher efficiency.     

Combination system of full-scale constructed wetlands and wetland paddy fields to remove nitrogen and phosphorus from rural unregulated non-point sources

Constructed wetlands (CWs) have been used effectively to remove nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) from non-point sources. Effluents of some CWs were, however, still with high N and P concentrations and remained to be pollution sources. Widely distributed paddy fields can be exploited to alleviate this concern. We were the first to investigate a combination system of three-level CWs with wetland paddy fields in a full scale to remove N and P from rural unregulated non-point sources. The removal efficiencies (REs) of CWs reached 57.3 % (37.4–75.1 %) for N and 76.3 % (62.0–98.4 %) for P. The CWs retained about 1,278 kg N ha^?1 year^?1 and 121 kg P ha^?1 year^?1. There was a notable seasonal change in REs of N and P, and the REs were different in different processing components of CWs. The removal rates of wetland paddy fields adopt “zero-drainage” water management according to local rainfall forecast and physiological water demand of crop growth reached 93.2 kg N ha^?1 year^?1 and 5.4 kg P ha^?1 year^?1. The rice season had higher potential in removing N and P than that in the wheat season. The whole combined system (0.56 ha CWs and 5.5 ha wetland paddy fields) removed 1,790 kg N year^?1 and 151 kg P year^?1, which were higher than those from CWs functioned alone. However, another 4.7-ha paddy fields were needed to fully remove the N and P in the effluents of CWs. The combination of CWs and paddy fields proved to be a more efficient nutrient removal system.     

BDE-47对斑马鱼胚胎-幼鱼的急性毒性及氧化应激作用

为研究2,2',4,4'-四溴联苯醚(BDE-47)对斑马鱼胚胎-幼鱼急性毒性、氧化应激及细胞凋亡的影响,以受精后3 h的斑马鱼胚胎为染毒对象,用概率单位法计算BDE-47对斑马鱼胚胎-幼鱼的96 h-LC₅₀;再参照96 h-LC₅₀按一定比例级差设置0.25、0.5、1.0、2.0 mg·L^-1 4个浓度组和1个对照组(0 mg·L^-1)进行96 h半静水式毒性试验,检测斑马鱼超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)及过氧化氢酶(CAT)活性、丙二醛(MDA)含量和细胞凋亡情况。结果表明,BDE-47对斑马鱼96 h的急性毒性LC₅₀为3.77 mg·L^-1(95%可信区间1.93～10.27 mg·L^-1);2.0 mg·L^-1剂量组与对照组相比,SOD活性和MDA含量显著增加,且CAT活性与BDE-47染毒浓度之间存在明显的剂量-效应关系;0.5 mg·L^-1 BDE-47染毒96 h后,即观察到斑马鱼幼鱼出现明显细胞凋亡,主要集中于神经管和脑部。研究表明,BDE-47可以影响斑马鱼体内抗氧化防御系统,并能诱导细胞凋亡;BDE-47导致神经组织的氧化损伤可能在动物神经毒性中起重要作用。     

Improvement of the assimilable organic carbon (AOC) analytical method for reclaimed water

Microbial growth is an issue of concern that may cause hygienic and aesthetic problems during the transportation and usage of reclaimed water. Assimilable organic carbon (AOC) is an important parameter which determines the heterotrophic bacterial growth potential of water. Pseudomonas fluorescens P17 and Spirillum sp. NOX are widely used to measure AOC in drinking water. The AOC values of various reclaimed water samples determined by P17 and NOX were compared with those determined by the new strains isolated from reclaimed water in this study. It showed that the conventional test strains were not suitable for AOC measurement of reclaimed water in certain cases. In addition to P17 and NOX, Stenotrophomonas sp. ZJ2, Pseudomonas saponiphila G3 and Enterobacter sp. G6, were selected as test strains for AOC measurement of reclaimed water. Key aspects of the bioassay including inoculum cell density, incubation temperature, incubation time and the pH of samples were evaluated for the newly selected test strains. Higher inoculum density (10⁴ CFU·mL^-1) and higher incubation temperature (25°C) could reduce the time required for the tests. The AOC results of various collected samples showed the advantages of the method proposed based on those five strains in evaluating the biologic stability of reclaimed water.     

原生动物与BOD_5相关性的研究

本文着重研究了原生动物平衡期及密度与ＢＯＤ５浓度的相关性。研究结果表明,原生动物平衡期与ＢＯＤ５的浓度有着ｙ＝１５６２７·ｅ０２４０·ｘ的指数关系,相关性为显著相关;原生动物密度与ＢＯＤ５浓度有着ｙ＝１１３４＋００３６·ｘ的线性关系,相关性为高度相关     

广州市城市森林土壤重金属污染状况及其评价

城市森林土壤能储淤城市环境中的重金属污染元素,影响土壤环境质量.文章对广州市的城市森林区域中土壤重金属的污染状况进行研究,应用单项污染元素指数和综合污染指数对广州市城市森林土壤进行环境质量评价,结果表明:广州市机场高速林带林区土壤中As、Pb、Cd三重金属污染元素超标,广深铁路林带林区土壤中Cd重金属元素超标, 其他各林区严格控制环境重金属污染物未超标;帽峰山森林公园土壤重金属综合污染指数最低,表明森林群落对重金属污染元素的消减作用明显.土壤酶活性可以表征森林土壤中重金属污染状况,森林土壤中As、Cu、Zn含量与过氧化氢酶活性呈显著负相关性;对可能影响城市森林土壤重金属含量因素的10个因子进行主成分分析,建立了城市森林土壤环境质量评价综合模型.     

红壤坡地生态系统恢复过程植被群落的演变

应用样方调查方法,对湘北红壤坡地有人为干扰和无人为干扰两种方式下植被恢复情况进行了初步调查分析,结果表明:无人为干扰的坡地植被恢复在11年间经历了缓慢恢复和快速恢复两个阶段,不同坡位群落生物量稳步增长,正在逐步形成具有稳定群落结构的自然生态系统;人为干扰坡地植被恢复缓慢,由于水土流失,上坡位地下部生物量呈下降趋势,中坡位和下坡位地下部的生物量都大幅度的增加,此外人为干扰使得乔木类植物无法正常生长,从而不能形成具有明显垂直结构的稳定生态系统.     

南京市不同功能区PM10中多环芳烃的污染特征

PM10是衡量大气环境质量好坏的重要指标之一;多环芳烃(PAHs)是具有强烈致癌性的有机污染物,大多吸附在粒径小于10 μm颗粒物上.利用长期定位实验采集了南京市两典型功能区--大厂地区和山西路的PM10样品,对其PAHs质量浓度进行了分析测定,研究了不同功能区PM10中PAHs的时空污染特性.研究结果表明:南京市PM10污染比较严重,其质量浓度变化范围在0.1157 mg·m-3～0.3913 mg·m-3之间;经分析PM10中16种优控多环芳烃(PAHs)发现,全年大厂地区的PAHs的质量浓度与山西路PAHs的质量浓度没有明显的高低之分;PAHs总质量浓度的空间变化不明显,时间变化也没有规律性;比较PM10与PAHs的月平均质量浓度变化趋势,两者之间的变化没有相关性,各自的质量浓度变化也没有规律性,分析其结果可能是由于PAHs的不稳定性造成的.