Monitoring the toxicity of phenolic chemicals to activated sludge using a novel optical scanning respirometer.

This paper reports the development of optical scanning respirometer for determining the toxicity of chemicals to activated sludge. The respirometer is used to measure the dissolved oxygen concentration by monitoring the luminescence intensity of ruthenium dye immobilized in a polymer film in contact with the wastewater sample. The intensity is related to the extent of oxygen quenching of luminescence. The toxicity of chemicals can be evaluated by measuring the inhibition on respiration rate of microorganism using the scanning respirometer. The IC50 values (concentration of a chemical that exhibits 50% respiration inhibition) of various phenolic chemicals in activated sludge were determined. The performance of this method is compared with other toxicity methods. The experimental results indicate that the reproducibility and sensitivity of this respirometer are reasonably good.     

Pit structure and trophic relationship of the coral pit crab Cryptochirus coralliodytes

Individuals of the pit crabs Cryptochirus coralliodytes Heller inhabit massive corals of the family Faviidae. Their pit walls were observed to be covered by blue-green algae and fungi. We suggest that the crabs enhance the growth of these algae and fungi with their metabolic excretions, which contain ammonium. The endolithic algae and the fungi may facilitate the abrasion of the coral skeleton by the crabs, by perforating it and thus weakening the skeletal structure. Computerized tomography analysis revealed dense skeletal material around the pits. Transverse sections showed that the calcification around the pit was similar to other parts of the colony, whereas the macro-architecture was different. Such a difference is the result of the crabs' influence on the corals' living tissue, possibly on the calicoblast which deposits the coenosteum. Crabs, which were exposed to carbon-labeled corals for 1, 7 and 18 d, accumulated labeled carbon, indicating transfer of carbon from the coral tissue to the crabs. Histochemical examination of the stomach and gut of crabs revealed the presence of mucopolysaccharids in the gut, supporting the hypothesis that the crabs eat coral products. The findings of this study provide additional evidence that C. coralliodytes are parasites and support the general hypothesis that a nutritional relationship may have served as a basis for selection. Received: 20 October 1998 / Accepted: 29 April 1999     

Study of heavy metal pollution in seawater of Kepez harbor of Canakkale (Turkey)

In this work, the heavy metals cadmium and lead in Kepez harbor were studied with regard to the determination of the environmental pollution levels. Seawater samples of the Dardanelles (Canakkale Strait) were collected from the nearest station to Kepez harbor in July 2007. Then, the concentrations of these metals were determined after simple pretreatment of samples by the proposed inductively coupled plasma?Catomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) method. The analysis of a given sample is completed in about 15 min by the ICP-AES method, and the concentrations of Cd and Pb were found to be 73.80 mg L^???1 (relative standard deviation [RSD], 1.07%) and 9.39 mg L^???1 (RSD, 0.70%), respectively. The accuracy of the applied ICP technique was checked by recovery studies, and good recoveries were obtained. The pollution levels of Cd and Pb recorded in this study were compared with those in other studies to analyze the water sample in Kepez harbor.     

广州街道空气中挥发烃类特征和来源分析

采用固相吸附－热脱附－色谱／质谱检测器联用的方法分析了广州市街道空气中的发挥有机物。样品采自广州市区街道的３２个采样点,主要探讨了其中单环芳烃和正构烷烃的特征和可能来源;选取１３种烃类化合物进行进一步的因子分析,结果表明,这些挥发烃类可能主要来自汽油机车、工业和柴油机车的排放。多元线性回归分析表明３种源对所选挥发烃类的平均贡献分别为６４％、２３％和１３％。     

广州市环境空气监测与预警体系在亚运会中的应用

本文以2010年广州亚运会空气质量监测保障为例,从广州市环境空气质量监测网络、空气质量预报、预警体系和环境质量会商及信息发布管理机制等方面,介绍了广州市环境空气监测与预警体系。通过2010年广州亚运会空气质量保障监测实践,证明广州市环境空气监测与预警体系是适应广州环境保护工作发展,并能满足特殊环境空气质量保障目标需求,具有示范作用和可供全国中心城市借鉴的先进的环境空气质量监测与预警体系。