Capacity estimation and preliminary strategy for reducing the release of dioxins in China

As a party of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, China must submit its national implementation plan (NIP) for this convention. The strategy and action plan for reducing the release of dioxins in China are the most important components of the NIP. Three problems are key points for developing such strategy and action plan—what are the key sources for applying the best available technology/best environmental practice (BAT/BEP) to reduce the release of dioxins? How about the capacity for reducing the dioxins release from the key sources? Where are the areas of priority for applying BAT/BEP? This paper shows the efforts towards the solution of these problems. The list of key sources covering about half of the total dioxins release was determined considering four criteria. The capacity of key sources were estimated based on the difference between the emission factor corresponding to the actual situation in 2004 and that corresponding to the scenario that all key sources have been applied BAT/BEP to reduce the dioxins release. The priority analysis using the geographical information system (GIS) tool has revealed that castern provinces should be of high priority in the future reduction activities of dioxins release in China.     

Amphibian Declines: Judging Stability, Persistence, and Susceptibility of Populations to Local and Global Extinctions

Extinctions are normal biological phenomena. Both mass extinctions in geological time and local extinctions in ecological time are well documented, but rates of extinction have increased in recent years—especially in vertebrates, including amphibians—as illustrated by recent reports of their population declines and range reductions. We suggest that long-term population data are necessary for rigorously evaluating the significance of the amphibian declines. Due to the physiological constraints, relatively low mobility, and site fidelity of amphibians, we suggest that many amphibian populations may be unable to recolonize areas after local extinction.     

Enforcement of pollution regulations in a declining industry

A regulatory agency enforcing compliance in a declining industry might recognize that certain plants would close rather than comply, imposing large costs on the local community. Data on EPA enforcement activity in the U.S. steel industry are examined for evidence of this with a two-equation model linking EPA enforcement decisions and firms' plant-closing decisions. The results indicate that the EPA directed fewer enforcement actions toward plants with a high predicted probability of closing and plants that were major employers in their community; also, plants predicted to face relatively heavy enforcement were more likely to close.     

A study of the genetic relationships within and among wolf packs using DNA fingerprinting and mitochondrial DNA

Summary DNA fingerprinting and mitochondrial DNA analyses have not been used in combination to study relatedness in natural populations. We present an approach that involves defining the mean fingerprint similarities among individuals thought to be unrelated because they have different mtDNA genotypes. Two classes of related individuals are identified by their distance in standard errors above this mean value. The number of standard errors is determined by analysis of the association between fingerprint similarity and relatedness in a population with a known genealogy. We apply this approach to gray wolf packs from Minnesota, Alaska, and the Northwest Territories. Our results show that: (1) wolf packs consist primarily of individuals that are closely related genetically, but some packs contain unrelated, non-reproducing individuals; (2) dispersal among packs within the same area is common; and (3) short-range dispersal appears more common for female than male wolves. The first two of these genetically-based observations are consistent with behavioral data on pack structure and dispersal in wolves, while the apparent sex bias in dispersal was not expected.USA Offprint requests to: N. Lehman at the present address     

A molecular genetic analysis of social structure, dispersal, and interpack relationships of the African wild dog (Lycaon pictus )

The African wild dog is a highly social, pack-living predator of the African woodland and savannah. The archetypal wild dog pack consists of a single dominant breeding pair, their offspring, and non-breeding adults who are either offspring or siblings of one of the breeding pair. Non-breeding adults cooperate in hunting, provisioning and the protection of young. From these observations follows the prediction that the genetic structure of wild dogs packs should resemble that of a multigenerational family, with all same-sexed adults and offspring within a pack related as sibs or half-sibs. Additionally, a higher kinship between females from neighboring packs should be evident if females tend to have small dispersal distances relative to males. We test these predictions through analysis of mitochondrial DNA control region sequences and 14 microsatellite loci in nine wild dog packs from Kruger National Park, Republic of South Africa. We show that as predicted, African wild dog packs generally consist of an unrelated alpha male and female, subdominant close relatives, and offspring of the breeding pair. Sub-dominant wild dogs occasionally reproduce but their offspring rarely survive to 1 year of age. Relatedness influences the timing and location of dispersal events as dispersal events frequently coincide with a change in pack dominance hierarchy and dispersers often move to areas with a high proportion of close relatives. Received: 22 February 1996 / Accepted after revision: 16 November 1996     

利用碎片常数和结构因子法估测农药在正辛醇／水相中的分配系数

本文详细阐述了用碎片常数与结构因子法估测农药在正辛醇与水相体系中分配系数的方法，并对６０种农药分配系数的估测结果与用经典的摇瓶测试法得到的实测值进行了比较，结果表明：估测结果与实测值基本吻合，碎片常数和结构因子估测法可以作为获得农药分配系数的另一种途径。     

Mitochondrial DNA Variability of the Gray Wolf: Genetic Consequences of Population Decline and Habitat Fragmentation

The gray wolf is a large, highly mobile predator whose original geographic range included most of the Northern Hemisphere. High rates of genetic exchange probably characterized even distantly-separated populations in the past, but recent population declines and habitat fragmentation have isolated previously contiguous populations, especially in the Old World. We examine mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variability among twenty-six populations of wolves from throughout their geographic range. We find eighteen mtDNA genotypes in gray wolves, seven of these are derived from hybridization with coyotes, four are confined to the New World, six are confined to the Old World and one is shared by both areas. Genetic differentiation among wolf populations is significant but small in magnitude. In the Old World, most localities have a single unique genotype, whereas in the New World several genotypes occur at most localities and three of the five genotypes are nearly ubiquitous. The pattern of genetic differentiation in the gray wolf contrasts with that of another large, highly vagile canid, the coyote, in which genetic differentiation among populations is not significant even among widely separated localities. We suggest that the difference between these two species reflects the rapid, recent increase in coyote numbers and expansion of their geographic range, and the coincident decline in gray wolf populations. Apparent genetic differences among extant wolf populations may be a recent phenomenon reflecting population declines and habitat fragmentation rather than a long history of genetic isolation.     

甲基异柳磷等四种农药的水解特性研究

本文测定了甲基异柳磷、单甲脒、克草胺、嘧啶氧磷等四种农药在不同温度和不同pH条件下的水解速率、探讨了影响水解的主要因素。结果表明,在中性水溶液中,25℃时四种农药的水解半衰期分别为:甲基异柳磷270.8d,单甲脒6.5d,克草胺602.7d,嘧啶氧磷55.9d;当温度升至50℃时,四种农药的水解速率均有不同程度的增加,增幅为原来的2.0—10.8倍;改变pH亦会影响水解速率,甲基异柳磷和单甲脒均随pH增加水解大大加快;克草胺则在中性及碱性条件下很稳定,在酸性条件下稳定性较差;而嘧啶氧磷在酸碱条件下都不如在中性条件下稳定。     

Expanding the benefits of environmental management systems through DFE

Industry's role in environmental protection is changing and growing. Increasing evidence shows that a corporation's understanding and response to environmental issues and concerns can have strategically important consequences for some kinds of businesses.¹ Focusing on concepts of prevention, industry has developed and struggled with a number of environmental approaches, all of which attempt to link the environment with common business practice. Industry has followed and in some cases embraced concepts and approaches like sustainable development, eco-efficiency, green manufacturing, pollution prevention, and extended product responsibility. A particularly timely and promising strategy to reduce the environmental impact of both manufacturing and product use while enhancing business success is the integration of environmental management systems (EMS) with design for the environment (DFE) efforts. A desirable relationship can and should exist between DFE and EMS. This relationship has not been well understood, but is crucial to fulfill the promise of each. In application, the institutionalization of DFE in an organization is difficult and tenuous at best. Some authors suggest that management issues block the implementation of DFE.² Others say that DFE has not been institutionalized to the extent that pollution prevention has.³ This article suggests that through an explicit connection between an EMS and DFE, DFE can extend the promise of EMS to reduce industry's environmental impact and produce business success, and it can do so in an ongoing way. The authors will show the importance of an EMS/DFE linkage, suggest company types that might benefit from investigating these approaches, and then review a series of DFE tool types.