Influence of dissolved organic matter character on mercury incorporation by planktonic organisms：An experimental study using oligotrophic water from Patagonian lakes

Ligands present in dissolved organic matter （DOM） form complexes with inorganic divalent mercury （Hg^2＋） affecting its bioavailability in pelagic food webs. This investigation addresses the influence of a natural gradient of DOM present in Patagonian lakes on the bioaccumulation of Hg^2＋ （the prevailing mercury species in the water column of these lakes） by the algae Cryptomonas erosa and the zooplankters Brachionus calyciflorus and Boeckella antiqua. Hg^2＋ accumulation was studied through laboratory experiments using natural water of four oligotrophic Patagonian lakes amended with^197Hg^2＋. The bioavailability of Hg^2＋ was affected by the concentration and character of DOM. The entrance of Hg^2＋ into pelagic food webs occurs mostly through passive and active accumulation. The incorporation of Hg^2＋ by Cryptomonas, up to 27% of the Hg^2＋ amended, was found to be rapid and dominated by passive adsorption, and was greatest when low molecular weight compounds with protein-like or small phenolic signatures prevailed in the DOM. Conversely, high molecular weight compounds with a humic or fulvic signature kept Hg^2＋ in the dissolved phase, resulting in the lowest Hg^2＋ accumulation in this algae. In Brachionus and Boeckella the direct incorporation of Hg from the aqueous phase was up to 3% of the Hg^2＋ amended. The dietary incorporation of Hg^2＋ by Boeckella exceeded the direct absorption of this metal in natural water, and was remarkably similar to the Hg^2＋ adsorbed in their prey. Overall, DOM concentration and character affected the adsorption of Hg^2＋ by algae through competitive binding, while the incorporation of Hg^2＋ into the zooplankton was dominated by trophic or dietary transfer.     

Electrochemical and spectroscopic characteristics of dissolved organic matter in a forest soil profile

Dissolved organic matter （DOM） represents one of the most mobile and reactive organic compounds in ecosystem and plays an important role in the fate and transport of soil organic pollutants, nutrient cycling and more importantly global climate change. Electrochemical methods were first employed to evaluate DOM redox properties, and spectroscopic approaches were utilized to obtain information concerning its composition and structure. DOM was extracted from a forest soil profile with five horizons. Differential pulse voltammetry indicated that there were more redox-active moieties in the DOM from upper horizons than in that from lower horizons. Cyclic voltammetry further showed that these moieties were reversible in electron transfer. Chronoamperometry was employed to quantify the electron transfer capacity of DOM, including electron acceptor capacity and electron donor capacity, both of which decreased sharply with increasing depth. FT-IR, UV-Vis and fluorescence spectra results suggested that DOM from the upper horizons was enriched with aromatic and humic structures while that from the lower horizons was rich in aliphatic carbon, which supported the findings obtained by electrochemical approaches. Electrochemical approaches combined with spectroscopic methods were applied to evaluate the characteristics of DOM extracted along a forest soil profile. The electrochemical properties of DOM, which can be rapidly and simply obtained, provide insight into the migration and transformation of DOM along a soil profile and will aid in better understanding of the biogeochemical role of DOM in natural environments.     

Soil microbial community structure and function responses to successive planting of Eucalyptus

Many studies have shown soil degradation after the conversion of native forests to exotic Eucalyptus plantations. However, few studies have investigated the long-term impacts of short-rotation forestry practices on soil microorganisms. The impacts of Eucalyptus successive rotations on soil microbial communities were evaluated by comparing phospholipid fatty acid （PLFA） abundances, compositions, and enzyme activities of native Pinus massoniana plantations and adjacent 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th generation Eucalyptus plantations. The conversion from P. massoniana to Eucalyptus plantations significantly decreased soil microbial community size and enzyme activities, and increased microbial physiological stress. However, the PLFA abundances formed ＂U＂ shaped quadratic functions with Eucalyptus plantation age. Alternatively, physiological stress biomarkers, the ratios of monounsaturated to saturated fatty acid and Gram＋ to Gram- bacteria, formed ＂∩＂ shaped quadratic functions, and the ratio of cy17：0 to 16： 1ω7c decreased with plantation age. The activities of phenol oxidase, peroxidase, and acid phosphatase increased with Eucalyptus plantation age, while the cellobiobydrolase activity formed ＂U＂ shaped quadratic functions. Soil N：P, alkaline hydrolytic nitrogen, soil organic carbon, and understory cover largely explained the variation in PLFA profiles while soil N：P, alkaline hydrolytic nitrogen, and understory cover explained most of the variability in enzyme activity. In conclusion, soil microbial structure and function under Eucalyptus plantations were strongly impacted by plantation age. Most of the changes could be explained by altered soil resource availability and understory cover associated with successive planting of Eucalyptus. Our results highlight the importance of plantation age for assessing the impacts of plantation conversion as well as the importance of reducing disturbance for plantation management.     

Waste oyster shell as a kind of active filler to treat the combined wastewater at an estuary

Estuaries have been described as one of the most difficult environments on Earth. It is difficult to know how to treat the combined wastewater in tidal rivers at the estuary, where the situation is very different from ordinary fresh water rivers. Waste oyster shell was used as the active filler in this study in a bio-contact oxidation tank to treat the combined wastewater at the Fengtang Tidal River. With a middle-experimental scale of 360 ma/day, the average removal efficiency of COD, BOD, NH3-N, TP and TSS was 80.05%, 85.02%, 86.59%, 50.58% and 85.32%, respectively, in this bio-contact oxidation process. The living microbes in the biofilms on the waste oyster shell in this bio-contact oxidation tank, which were mainly composed of zoogloea, protozoa and micro-metazoa species, revealed that waste oyster shell as the filler was suitable material for combined wastewater degradation. This treatment method using waste oyster shell as active filler was then applied in a mangrove demonstration area for water quality improvement near the experiment area, with a treatment volume of 5 × 10^3 m^3/day. Another project was also successfully applied in a constructed wetland, with a wastewater treatment volume of 1 ×10^3 m^3/day. This technology is therefore feasible and can easily be applied on a larger scale,     

Formation of THMs and HANs during bromination of Microcystis aeruginosa

Bromine-contained disinfectants and biocides are widely used in swimming pools, recreational waters and cooling towers. The objective of this study was to evaluate the formation of thrihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetonitriles (HANs) and their cytotoxicity in algae solutions during free bromine disinfection. Disinfection by-products formation potential experiments were conducted using model solutions containing 7 mg/L (as total organic carbon) Microcystis aeruginosa cells. Effects of free bromine dosage, pH and ammonia were investigated. The results showed that brominated disinfection by-products were the major products when free bromine was applied. The total THMs formed during bromination was much as that formed during chlorination, whereas HANs were elevated by using bromination instead of chlorination. Dibromoacetonitrice (C2H2NBr2 ) and bromoform (CHBr3 ) were the only detected species during free bromine disinfection. The production of C2H2NBr2 and CHBr 3 increased with disinfectant dosage but decreased with dosing ammonia. CHBr3 increased with the pH changing from 5 to 9. However, C2H2NBr2 achieved the highest production at neutral pH, which was due to a joint effect of variation in hydrolysis rate and free bromine reactivity. The hydrolysis of C2H2NBr2 was base-catalytic and nearly unaffected by disinfectant. Finally, estimation of cytotoxicity of the disinfected algae solutions showed that HANs formation was responsible for the majority of toxicity. Considering its highest toxicity among the measured disinfection by-products, the elevated C2H2NBr2 should be considered when using bromine-related algaecide.     

Eutrophication development and its key regulating factors in a water-supply reservoir in North China

Yanghe Reservoir is an important source of drinking water for Qinhuangdao City,North China;however,in recent decades this water source has been eutrophic with recurrent summer cyanobacterial blooms.The trophic grade of the system in summer was mesotrophiceutrophic in 1990 and became hypertrophic in 2011.The nutrient availability is extremely high during the entire year,and the water temperature should be the primary driver of the summer blooms.In May-October of 2010 and 2011,abrupt variations were observed in the Secchi depth(SD) and chlorophyll a(Chl-a),and both the correlated analysis of Chl-a-SD and trophic status indices(TSI) deviation(TSI Chl-a-TSI SD) showed that algal cell density dominated light attenuation.During the algal bloom outbreak,the microcystin concentration was found to vary between 0.35-2.12 μg/L in 2010 and 0.11-1.86 μg/L in 2011.The maximum microcystin content was more than two times the safety limit required for drinking water.Inflow discharges were most concentrated in the summer,with periods of lower residence time and the largest water level fluctuation over the entire year.When a high availability of nutrients promoted a high Chl-a concentration in the whole system,it appeared that the instability caused by the decrease in residence time could not produce effective changes in the cyanobacterial abundance.The results indicated that nutrient enrichment in the aquatic systems of Yanghe Reservoir is the most serious problem and that the status would not been modified effectively by increasing hydrological fluctuations(e.g.,decreasing the residence time).Therefore,decreasing the nutrient concentrations is the only route to improve the water quality of this reservoir.     

Speciation of organic phosphorus in a sediment profile of Lake Taihu II. Molecular species and their depth attenuation

The understanding of organic phosphorus(P) dynamics in sediments requires information on their species at the molecular level,but such information in sediment profiles is scarce.A sediment profile was selected from a large eutrophic lake,Lake Taihu(China),and organic P species in the sediments were detected using solution phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy(31 P NMR) following extraction of the sediments with a mixture of 0.25 mol/L NaOH and 50 mmol/L EDTA(NaOH-EDTA) solution.The results showed that P in the NaOH-EDTA extracts was mainly composed of orthophosphate,orthophosphate monoesters,phospholipids,DNA,and pyrophosphate.Concentrations of the major organic P compound groups and pyrophosphate showed a decreasing trend with the increase of depth.Their half-life times varied from 3 to 27 years,following the order of orthophosphate monoesters > phospholipids DNA > pyrophosphate.Principal component analysis revealed that the detected organic P species had binding phases similar to those of humic acid-associated organic P(NaOH-NRP HA),a labile organic P pool that tends to transform to recalcitrant organic P pools as the early diagenetic processes proceed.This demonstrated that the depth attenuation of the organic P species could be partly attributed to their increasing immobilization by the sediment solids,while their degradation rates should be significantly lower than what were suggested in previous studies.     

昆钢制氢站二次净化系统的优化改进

针对昆钢动力能源分公司制氢站建成投产后出现的环保污染和所带来的生产运行问题,对制氢系统原装置技术存在问题进行分析,提出优化改进方案,并对实施后的效果、环境效益、经济效益等进行分析。优化方案的实施彻底解决了制氢站建成后产生的环保污染问题。     

粪便源指纹及其鉴别研究

利用气相色谱-质谱联用仪检测了人和32种动物粪便中以及5个不同排污口表层沉积物中10种粪固醇,以10种粪固醇含量和9个粪固醇比值为指标,分别应用层次聚类分析法对人和32种动物粪便以及5个沉积物的粪便污染来源进行了鉴别,结果表明:草食动物粪便中主要含C29-甾醇,5β-甾醇比5α-甾醇含量多,草食动物粪便的主要指示物是24-乙基粪醇和谷甾醇;肉食动物粪便中主要含C27-甾醇,胆固醇是肉食动物的主要指示物;杂食粪便中粪固醇组成多变;人粪便中主要含粪醇,占总粪固醇的51.5%;应用10种粪固醇含量和9个粪固醇比值以及层次聚类分析法,可以准确地鉴别人和32种动物粪便以及5个沉积物样品的粪便污染来源。     

巴布亚新几内亚浅成低温热液型金矿概述

巴布亚新几内亚大地构造位置上位于欧亚板块、印度-澳大利亚板块和太平洋板块三大板块结合部位,自白垩纪以来经历了复杂的构造演化过程,形成了特有的沟-弧-盆体系,使得区内广泛发育了岩浆弧有关的浅成低温热液型金矿。区内的浅成低温热液型金矿可分为低硫型和高硫型两种,而根据矿物组成、形成深度的不同,低硫型矿床又可分为石英-硫化物型、碳酸盐-贱金属型、浅成低温石英型和冰长石-绢云母型四个亚类型,低硫型金矿的不同的矿化亚类型常相互叠加,对于形成大型、超大型的金矿具有重要的意义。