Twenty years of stream restoration in Finland: little response by benthic macroinvertebrate communities

The primary focus of many in-stream restoration projects is to enhance habitat diversity for salmonid fishes, yet the lack of properly designed monitoring studies, particularly ones with pre-restoration data, limits any attempts to assess whether restoration has succeeded in improving salmonid habitat. Even less is known about the impacts of fisheries-related restoration on other, non-target biota. We examined how restoration aiming at the enhancement of juvenile brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) affects benthic macroinvertebrates, using two separate data sets: (1) a before-after-control-impact (BACI) design with three years before and three after restoration in differently restored and control reaches of six streams; and (2) a space-time substitution design including channelized, restored, and near-natural streams with an almost 20-year perspective on the recovery of invertebrate communities. In the BACI design, total macroinvertebrate density differed significantly from before to after restoration. Following restoration, densities decreased in all treatments, but less so in the controls than in restored sections. Taxonomic richness also decreased from before to after restoration, but this happened similarly in all treatments. In the long-term comparative study, macroinvertebrate species richness showed no difference between the channel types. Community composition differed significantly between the restored and natural streams, but not between restored and channelized streams. Overall, the in-stream restoration measures used increased stream habitat diversity but did not enhance benthic biodiversity. While many macroinvertebrates may be dispersal limited, our study sites should not have been too distant to reach within almost two decades. A key explanation for the weak responses by macroinvertebrate communities may have been historical. When Fennoscandian streams were channelized for log floating, the loss of habitat heterogeneity was only partial. Therefore, habitat may not have been limiting the macroinvertebrate communities to begin with. Stream restoration to support trout fisheries has strong public acceptance in Finland and will likely continue to increase in the near future. Therefore, more effort should be placed on assessing restoration success from a biodiversity perspective using multiple organism groups in both stream and riparian ecosystems.     

Spatial factors affecting statistical power in testing marine fauna displacement

Impacts of offshore wind farms on marine fauna are largely unknown. Therefore, one commonly adheres to the precautionary principle, which states that one shall take action to avoid potentially damaging impacts on marine ecosystems, even when full scientific certainty is lacking. We implement this principle by means of a statistical power analysis including spatial factors. Implementation is based on geostatistical simulations, accommodating for zero-inflation in species data. We investigate scenarios in which an impact assessment still has to be carried out. Our results show that the environmental conditions at the time of the survey is the most influential factor on power. This is followed by survey effort and species abundance in the reference situation. Spatial dependence in species numbers at local scales affects power, but its effect is smaller for the scenarios investigated. Our findings can be used to improve effectiveness of the economical investment for monitoring surveys. In addition, unnecessary extra survey effort, and related costs, can be avoided when spatial dependence in species abundance is present and no improvement on power is achieved.     

Benthic diversity gradients and shifting baselines: implications for assessing environmental status

The increasing pressure on marine biodiversity emphasizes the importance of finding benchmarks against which to assess change. This is, however, a notoriously difficult task in estuarine ecosystems, where environmental gradients are steep, and where benthic biodiversity is highly variable in space and time. Although recent emphasis on diverse, healthy benthic communities in legislative frameworks has increased the number of indices developed for assessing benthic status, there is a lack of quantitative baselines in benthic diversity that would enable comparisons across broad spatial scales, encompassing different environmental settings and bioregions. By taking advantage of long-term monitoring data, spanning hundreds of stations over the past 40 years, we provide a comprehensive analysis of benthic a, beta, and gamma diversity, encompassing the entire' salinity gradient of the open sea areas of the large, brackish-water Baltic Sea. Using a relatively simple measure, average regional diversity, we define area-specific reference conditions and acceptable deviation against which to gauge current conditions in benthic macrofaunal diversity. Results show a severely impaired condition throughout large areas of the Baltic for the assessment period 2001-2006. All ecosystems are plagued by baselines that shift in time and space, and their definition is not trivial, but average regional diversity may offer a transparent way to deal with such changes in low-diversity systems. Identifying baselines will be of increasing importance given the potential of climatic drivers to interact with local anthropogenic stressors to affect patterns of biodiversity. Our analysis provides an evaluation of the current condition in a system that has been heavily influenced by anthropogenic impact and changing oceanographic conditions, and it provides a basis for future impact assessment and ecosystem-based management.     

Heart rate variability and motion sickness during forklift simulator driving

The goal of the study was to determine the effect of a 1-h hour long forklift truck virtual simulator driving on the mechanism of autonomic heart rate (HR) regulation in operators. The participants were divided into 2 subgroups: subjects with no definite inclination to motion sickness (group A) and subjects with a definite inclination to motion sickness (group B). Holter monitoring of electrocardiogram (ECG) signal was carried out in all subjects during the virtual simulator driving. For 12 consecutive epochs of ECG signal, HR variability analysis was conducted in time and frequency domains. In subjects with a definite inclination to motion sickness after ~30 min of the driving, changes in parameter values were found indicating an increase in sympathetic and parasympathetic activity with parasympathetic dominance.     

Evaluation of sound exposure and risk of hearing impairment in orchestral musicians

This study aimed to assess exposure to sound and the risk of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) in orchestral musicians. Sound pressure level was measured in 1 opera and 3 symphony orchestras; questionnaires were filled in. On the basis of that data, the risk of NIHL was assessed according to Standard No. ISO 1999:1990. Classical orchestral musicians are usually exposed to sound at equivalent continuous A-weighted sound pressure levels of 81?90 dB (10th?90th percentiles), for 20?45 h (10th?90th percentiles) per week. Occupational exposure to such sound levels over 40 years of employment might cause hearing loss (expressed as a mean hearing threshold level at 2, 3, 4 kHz exceeding 35 dB) of up to 26%. Playing the horn, trumpet, tuba and percussion carries the highest risk (over 20%).     

黄龙自然保护区喀斯特湖泊水色特征及其影响因素

湖泊颜色是黄龙自然保护区喀斯特景观的核心美景.以黄龙自然保护区喀斯特湖泊和高原非喀斯特湖泊(措琼海、夏茹措)为研究对象,通过高光谱设备测定离水辐亮度量化湖泊水色,对比分析黄龙自然保护区与其他高原非喀斯特湖泊水色特征及其水环境因子,进而探究黄龙自然保护区湖泊水色特征及其影响因素.结果显示：(1)黄龙自然保护区喀斯特湖泊水体呈现蓝绿色,湖泊归一化离水辐亮度反射波长主要集中在420-570 nm.(2)黄龙喀斯特湖泊水化学类型为Ca²⁺-HCO₃^-和Mg²⁺-HCO₃^-型,具有高透明度和贫营养化等独特的水环境特征,对可见光的吸收、反射和散射具有强烈的波长选择性,而非喀斯特湖泊光谱曲线的变化没有黄龙喀斯特湖泊明显.(3)对黄龙喀斯特湖泊水色成因分析,黄龙喀斯特湖泊含有丰富的Ca²⁺、Mg²⁺、HCO₃^-,钙华沉积是喀斯特湖泊水色形成的核心过程.冗余分析和相关性分析中,不同的水环...     

长期饲喂钬对鲤鱼非特异性免疫酶活性的影响

以鲤鱼为研究对象,进行为期60 d的饲喂试验,研究了硝酸钬对其非特异性免疫的影响。结果表明:与对照组相比,在实验剂量范围内,超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)、过氧化氢酶(CAT)、谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶(GSH-Px)在肝脏中呈先升高后降低的趋势,SOD、GSH-Px酶活性在20 mg·kg~(-1)时,升高显著(P0.05),三者在65 mg·kg~(-1)时都被显著抑制(P0.05);在肾中都被诱导,在65 mg·kg~(-1)升高显著(P0.05)。肝肾中丙二醛(MDA)含量都变化不显著(P0.05)。抗超氧阴离子自由基、抑制羟自由基能力和单胺氧化酶(MAO)活性都降低,且在65 mg·kg~(-1)时降低显著(P0.05或P0.01)。因此,在饲料中添加稀土元素钬20、42、65 mg·kg~(-1),能够影响非特异性免疫力,且鲤鱼肝组织比肾脏反应更敏感。     

基于仿生防护技术的海底管线悬空治理研究

针对海底管线悬空对海洋油气田安全生产的严重威胁及其对海洋环境构成的重大隐患,文章以海底管线周围的局部冲刷及其冲刷防护与控制技术为研究对象,从海底管线冲刷机理入手,分析了管线一次悬空和二次悬空的原因,从模型实验和工程实践两方面开展仿生防护技术治理海底管线悬空研究,利用高分子材料仿生草叶片的柔性黏滞阻尼作用,减缓流速,降低水流的携沙能力,最终达到固沙、填沙、保护管线的目的。     

三峡库区水环境多环芳烃和邻苯二甲酸酯类有机污染物健康风险评价

为研究三峡库区水环境中持久性有机污染物(POPs)对人体健康产生的潜在危害风险,在介绍健康风险评价方法的基础上,建立了水环境健康风险评价模型,根据三峡库区水质监测资料对水源水主要持久性有机物多环芳烃和邻苯二甲酸酯类污染进行健康风险评价. 结果表明,在所评价断面中,长江和嘉陵江汇合的寸滩断面污染较严重,健康危害的风险相对较大. 水源水6种持久性有机污染物由饮水途径所致健康危害的个人年风险为2.79×10-10～4.44×10-13 a-1,按年风险大小依次为DEHP＞DBP＞Pyr＞NA＞FLA＞DEP;有机污染物对健康危害的年总风险仅为3.70×10-10 a-1,远低于国际辐射防护委员会(ICRP)推荐的最大可接受值(5.0×10-5 a-1). 三峡库区水体中6种POPs污染所致的健康危害年风险度目前还处于很低水平,但应引起管理部门的重视.      

λDNA体外重包装技术检测环境致突变物新方法及机理的研究

首次报道使用λＤＮＡ体外重包装技术检测化学物和环境污染致封变性取得了成功，辅以辅切和电泳技术，还可初步确定λＤＮＡ损伤的机遇。