Long Term Trends in Concentration of Major Pollutants (SO<Subscript>2</Subscript>, CO,NO, NO<Subscript>2</Subscript>, O<Subscript>3</Subscript> and PM<Subscript>10</Subscript>) in Prague – Czech Republic (Analysis of Data Between 1992 and 2005)

To assess the effect of changes in traffic density and fuels used for heating at the beginning of the 1990s, 1992–2005 monthly averages of PM₁₀, SO₂, NO₂, NO, CO and O₃ from Prague, the Czech capital, were analyzed together with long term trends in emissions of major pollutants, fuel consumption and number of vehicles registered in Prague. The data from all monitoring stations were retrieved from the database of the state automated monitoring system. Correlation coefficients between ambient monthly averaged temperature and all pollutants of concern showed distinct seasonal trends. The results showed that while SO₂ and to some extent also CO concentrations dropped namely in the first half of the analyzed period (1992–1997) as a result decreased fossil fuel consumption for local heating, the behaviour of other pollutant concentrations followed a different pattern. PM₁₀ concentrations decreased during the beginning of the 1990s but showed a sign of increase after 2000. Concentrations of ozone and NO₂ did not reveal any significant change throughout the whole studied period. It can be concluded that during the studied period traditional urban sources of pollution, such as coal and oil combustion, lost their importance but were simultaneously substituted by pollutants from automotive transport (namely PM and NO₂) making the problem of air quality even worse.     

Assessment of metal availability in smelter soil using earthworms and chemical extractions

Chemical immobilization is a relatively inexpensive in situ remediation method that reduces soil contaminant solubility, but the ability of this remediation treatment to reduce heavy metal bioavailability and ecotoxicity to soil invertebrates has not been evaluated. Our objectives were to (i) assess the ability of chemical immobilization amendments (municipal sewage sludge biosolids and rock phosphate) to reduce metal bioavailability and toxicity in a toxic metal-contaminated smelter soil and (ii) evaluate soil extraction methods using Ca(NO3)2 solution or ion-exchange membranes coated with diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) as surrogate measures of metal bioavailability and ecotoxicity. We treated a soil contaminated by Zn and Pb milling and smelting operations and an uncontaminated control soil with lime-stabilized municipal biosolids (LSB), rock phosphate (RP), or anaerobically digested municipal biosolids (SS) and evaluated lethality of the remediated soils to earthworm (Eisenia fetida Savigny). Lime-stabilized municipal biosolids was the only remediation amendment to successfully immobilize lethal levels of Zn in the smelter soil (14-d cumulative mortality < or = 15%). Calcium nitrate-extractable Zn in the lethal Zn smelter soil-amendment combinations was 11.5 to 18.2 mmol/kg, compared with the nonlethal LSB amended soil (0.62 mmol/kg). The Ca(NO3)2-extractable Zn-based median lethal concentration (LC50) of 6.33 mmol/kg previously developed in Zn-spiked artificial soils was applicable in the remediated smelter soils despite a 14-fold difference in total Zn concentration. Chelating ion-exchange membrane uptake among the soils was highly variable (mean CV = 39%) compared with the Ca(NO3)2-extraction (mean CV = 1.9%) and not well related to earthworm toxicity.     

Concentration and chemical speciation for the determination of Cu,Zn, Ni,Pb and Cd from refuse dump soils using the optimized BCR sequential extraction procedure

The optimized BCR sequential extraction procedure (proposed by the Standards, Measurements and Testing Programme (SM&T) of the European Union) was applied to seven topsoil samples from refuse dump sites for the determination of Cu, Zn, Ni, Pb and Cd. The metals were partitioned into four operationally defined chemical fractions: acid extractable, reducible, oxidizable and residual, and analysed using flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry, FAAS. The results were compared with total metal concentrations obtained using HNO₃, HClO₄ and HF digestion procedures. Results for total metal analysis ranged from - 15.55 to 43.45 for Cu, 37.15 to 222.35 for Zn, 5.15 to 12.10 for Ni, 10.30 to 93.05 for Pb and 0.35 to 3.75 for Cd in μgg⁻¹ dry weight. The results of the partitioning study showed that zinc prevailed in the more soluble fractions and was distributed between the acid-extractable (32.4%) and the reducible (40.3%) fractions, whereas Pb was distributed mainly in the reducible fraction. Copper and nickel were predominantly associated with the reducible and residual fractions - 53.4, 33.3 and 51.1, 24.1% respectively. The ranking of the four fractions for the partitioning of cadmium was: reducible > residual > oxidizable > acid extractable. The percentage recovery for all metals when comparing total metal concentration with the fractional sum of the optimized BCR procedure, were of the order: Zn(93%) > Pb(83%) > Cu(78) > Cd > (68%) > Ni(63%).     

Assessing Landowner Activities Related to Birds Across Rural-to-Urban Landscapes

Fluctuations of bird abundances in the Midwest region of the United States have been attributed to such factors as landscape change, habitat fragmentation, depredation, and supplemental feeding. However, no attempt has been made to estimate the collective role of landowner activities that may influence birds across a landscape. To investigate how landowners might influence birds when the majority (> 90%) of land is privately owned, we surveyed all 1694 private domestic landowners living on three breeding bird survey routes (120 km) that represent a continuum of rural-to-urban landscapes in Southeastern Michigan from October through December 2000. Our survey was designed to investigate (1) the proportion of landowners involved in bird feeding, providing bird houses, planting or maintaining vegetation for birds, gardening, landscaping, applying fertilizer, and applying pesticides or herbicides; (2) whether differences existed between urban, suburban, and rural landowner activities; and (3) whether landowners that carried out a given activity were sociodemographically different from those who did not. Of the 968 respondents (58.5% response rate), 912 (94%) carried out at least one of the activities on their land and the average landowner carried out 3.7 activities. A total of 65.6% fed birds, 45.7% provided bird houses, 54.6% planted or maintained vegetation for birds, 72.7% gardened, 72.3% landscaped, 49.3% applied fertilizer, and 25.2% applied pesticides or herbicides. Significant differences existed between the landscapes, with rural landowners having more bird houses and applying pesticides or herbicides in greater frequency. Similarly, urban landowners had a greater density of bird feeders and houses, but planted or maintained vegetation in the lowest frequency. Participation in activities varied by demographic factors, such as age, gender, and occupation. Scaling each activity to all landowners, including nonrespondents, across all landscapes indicates that between 14% and 82% of landowners may be engaged in a particular activity, with application of pesticides or herbicides having the least potential involvement (13.9%–55.4%) and gardening having the greatest potential involvement (40.1%–81.6%). Taken collectively, our results indicate that landowners are both intentionally and unintentionally engaged in a wide range of activities that are likely to influence bird populations.     

我国县级地区生活垃圾焚烧设施环境社会风险分析及应对策略研究——基于31省份设施负荷率与网络舆情的分析

在政策支持和实际需求的驱动下,可能会导致县级地区垃圾焚烧项目迅速增多,且带来潜在的环境监管压力和环境社会风险,需要给予持续的特别关注,并对地方做好环境监管和风险管控的指导。本文基于全国精细化的生活垃圾焚烧处理设施、生活垃圾产生量、网络舆情等数据,通过构建泰森多边形等空间分析方法进行了焚烧处理设施的服务范围识别及负荷率计算,通过自然语言处理技术进行了关于生活垃圾焚烧处理设施的情感分析。在此基础上,基于焚烧处理设施的负荷率和负面舆情比例,对31个省份环境社会风险进行定量的评估分析并提出对策建议,一是平衡解决“缺口大”和“吃不饱”问题,合理规划布局县级地区生活垃圾焚烧处理设施;二是聚焦负面舆情高发领域、区域,积极防范县级地区生活垃圾焚烧处理设施环境社会风险。     

Identifying water resources management strategies in adaptation to climate change under uncertainty

In this study, an integrated simulation-based allocation modeling system (ISAMS) is developed for identifying water resources management strategies in response to climate change. The ISAMS incorporates global climate models (GCMs), a semi-distributed land use-based runoff process (SLURP) model, and a multistage interval-stochastic programming (MISP) approach within a general framework. The ISAMS can not only handle uncertainties expressed as probability distributions and interval values but also reveal climate change impacts on water resources allocation under different projections of GCMs. The ISAMS is then applied to the Kaidu-kongque watershed with cold arid characteristics in the Tarim River Basin (the largest inland watershed basin in China) for demonstrating its efficiency. Results reveal that different climate change models corresponding to various projections (e.g., precipitation and temperature) would lead to changed water resources allocation patterns. Variations in water availability and demand due to uncertainties could result in different water allocation targets and shortages. A variety of decision alternatives about water allocations adaptive to climate change are generated under combinations of different global climate models and ecological water release plans. These findings indicate that understanding the uncertainties in water resources system, building adaptive methods for generating sustainable water allocation patterns, and taking actions for mitigating water shortage problems are key adaptation strategies responding to climate change.     

利用玉米浸泡液产电的微生物燃料电池研究

以玉米淀粉生产过程中的浸泡液（玉米浸泡液）作为接种液和基质,利用“三合一”膜电极的单室空气阴极微生物燃料电池进行试验,采用在线监测电压和废水分析方法对产电功率和化学需氧量（COD）、氨氮进行测定,探讨高COD、高氨氮有机废水产电及废水处理的可行性.结果表明,经过94 d（1个周期）的连续运行（固定外电阻为1 000 Ω）,17 d时输出电压达到最大（525.0 mV）,稳定期最大输出功率可达169.6 mW/m²,此时电池相应的电流密度为440.2 mA/m²,内阻约为350 Ω,开路电压619.5 mV;但燃料电池电子利用效率较低（库仑效率为1.6%）;1个周期结束时浸泡液的COD去除率达到51.6%,氨氮去除率25.8%.本试验利用玉米浸泡液成功获得电能,同时对浸泡液有效地进行了处理,为其资源化利用提供新途径.     

兰州冬季大气污染来源分析

利用WRF(天气研究与预报模式)输出的高分辨率气象数据驱动HYSPLIT_4.9(混合单粒子拉格朗日轨迹模式),结合PSCF(潜在源贡献因子)和CWT(权重浓度轨迹分析)模拟研究复杂地形下兰州城市尺度大气污染物局地输送特征、潜在源区及其对空气质量的影响. 结果表明:2002—2008年影响兰州城区冬季12月空气质量的轨迹可分为5类,输送类型可分为城区内输送和城区外输送. 第1、3类轨迹出现频率均大于20%且污染轨迹出现频率均大于38%,是污染物的主要输送路径,对应潜在源区为兰州城关区东北部和榆中县东部,这2个源区对ρ(PM₁₀)的影响最大,对ρ(SO₂)的影响最小,对ρ(PM₁₀)、ρ(SO₂)和ρ(NO₂)的贡献分别超过200、80和60 μg/m3. 来自榆中县的第4类轨迹和兰州西固区的第5类轨迹易造成大气重污染,而来自皋兰县的第2类轨迹属于清洁轨迹. 兰州冬季污染既受局地输送的影响,也与地面天气形势密切相关.      

Report on the fifth meeting of INRA’s national network of ecotoxicologists,ECOTOX

The fifth meeting of INRA’s national network of ecotoxicologists took place on 25 to 27 November 2014 in Biarritz, France. The main aim of the meeting was to bring together ecotoxicologists from INRA and associated partners, providing them ample opportunity to share and discuss their latest scientific results as well as the national policy of research in ecotoxicology and to precise perspectives for the network.