Reclaiming abandoned and unmaintained roads, built originally for forestry and mineral extraction, is an important part of ecological restoration, because the roads running through natural habitats cause fragmentation. The roads can be reclaimed in a passive way by blocking access to the road, but successful seedling recruitment may require additional management due to the physical constraints present at the road. We established a full factorial study to compare the effects of three road reclaiming measures, namely ripping, creation of safe sites by adding mulch and pine seed addition, on soil processes, recovery of understorey vegetation and seedling recruitment in three conservation areas in eastern Finland. We surveyed soil organic matter, frequency and cover of plant functional types, litter and mineral soil, and number of tree seedlings. The soil organic matter was, on average, 1.3-fold in the 50-cm-deep ripping treatment relative to unripped and 20-cm-deep ripping treatments. The germination and survival of deciduous seedlings and grass establishment were promoted by adding mulch. The addition of pine seeds counteracted the seed limitation and enhanced the regeneration of trees. The treatment combination consisting of ripping, adding mulch and pine seed addition enhanced the vegetation succession and tree-seedling recruitment most: the cover of grasses, herbs and ericaceous dwarf shrubs was 1.3–7.6-fold and the number of coniferous tree seedlings was 3.4–7.1-fold relative to the other treatment combinations. Differences between short-term (1–3 years) and longer-term (6 years) results indicate the need for a sufficient observation period in road reclamation studies. 相似文献
Natural steroidal estrogens, such as 17 β-estradiol (E2), as well as antimicrobials such as doxycycline and norfloxacin, are excreted by humans and hence detected in sewage sludge and biosolid. The disposal of human waste products on agricultural land results in estrogens and antibiotics being detected as mixtures in soils. The objective of this study was to examine microbial respiration and E2 mineralization in sewage sludge, biosolid, and soil in the presence and the absence of doxycycline and norfloxacin. The antimicrobials were applied to the media either alone or in combination at total rates of 4 and 40 mg kg?1, with the 4 mg kg?1 rate being an environmentally relevant concentration. The calculated time that half of the applied E2 was mineralized ranged from 294 to 418 days in sewage sludge, from 721 to 869 days in soil, and from 2,258 to 14,146 days in biosolid. E2 mineralization followed first-order and the presence of antimicrobials had no significant effect on mineralization half-lives, except for some antimicrobial applications to the human waste products. At 189 day, total E2 mineralization was significantly greater in sewage sludge (38 ±0.7%) > soil (23 ±0.7%) > biosolid (3 ±0.7%), while total respiration was significantly greater in biosolid (1,258 mg CO2) > sewage sludge (253 mg CO2) ≥ soil (131 mg CO2). Strong sorption of E2 to the organic fraction in biosolid may have resulted in reduced E2 mineralization despite the high microbial activity in this media. Total E2 mineralization at 189 day was not significantly influenced by the presence of doxycycline and/or norfloxacin in the media. Antimicrobial additions also did not significantly influence total respiration in media, except that total CO2 respiration at 189 day was significantly greater for biosolid with 40 mg kg?1 doxycycline added, relative to biosolid without antimicrobials. We conclude that it is unlikely for doxycycline and norfloxacin, or their mixtures, to have a significant effect on E2 mineralization in human waste products and soil. However, the potential for E2 to be persistent in biosolids, with and without the presence of antimicrobials, is posing a challenge for biosolid disposal to agricultural lands. 相似文献
The stability of CuO nanoparticles (NPs) is expected to play a key role in the environmental risk assessment of nanotoxicity in aquatic systems. In this study, the effect of alginate (model polysaccharides) on the stability of CuO NPs in various environmentally relevant ionic strength conditions was investigated by using time-resolved dynamic light scattering. Significant aggregation of CuO NPs was observed in the presence of both monovalent and divalent cations. The critical coagulation concentrations (CCC) were 54.5 and 2.9 mM for NaNO3 and Ca(NO3)2, respectively. The presence of alginate slowed nano-CuO aggregation rates over the entire NaNO3 concentration range due to the combined electrostatic and steric effect. High concentrations of Ca2+ (>6 mM) resulted in stronger adsorption of alginate onto CuO NPs; however, enhanced aggregation of CuO NPs occurred simultaneously under the same conditions. Spectroscopic analysis revealed that the bridging interaction of alginate with Ca2+ might be an important mechanism for the enhanced aggregation. Furthermore, significant coagulation of the alginate molecules was observed in solutions of high Ca2+ concentrations, indicating a hetero-aggregation mechanism between the alginate-covered CuO NPs and the unabsorbed alginate. These results suggested a different aggregation mechanism of NPs might co-exist in aqueous systems enriched with natural organic matter, which should be taken into consideration in future studies.
