Parental care compromises feeding in the pumpkinseed (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Lepomis gibbosus</Emphasis>)

Providing parental care is potentially costly. Costs can arise through elevated energy expenditure or from an increased risk of mortality. A cost of parental care can also occur because a parent is compromised in their ability to forage. We used pumpkinseed Lepomis gibbosus, a fish with an alternative male mating strategy, to test whether parental males differed in their feeding in comparison with females and cuckolder males. To address this question, we examined the stomach contents of female, cuckolder male, and parental male pumpkinseed during the breeding season over an entire diel cycle. We showed that parental males had a lower total weight of food in their stomachs in comparison with females, while cuckolder males did not. Parental males also had a lower weight and number of chironomids in their stomachs. The temporal pattern of feeding of parental males diverged from that of females, and they had a lower probability of pupal chironomids in their stomachs, which implies spatial segregation in foraging. Parental males had a greater probability of conspecific eggs in their stomachs than females, while the probability of egg cannibalism did not differ between cuckolder males and females. Overall, these finding meet predictions in accordance with an assumption that parental care and territoriality can compromise feeding.     

The determinants mostly disclosed by companies that are members of the Carbon Disclosure Project

Concerns about climate change as a result of anthropic actions have led to an increase in the volume of information disclosed about it in the reports of companies that are members of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). In this context, the factors most disclosed remain obscure due to both the complexity of climate change impacts and the stakeholders’ different interests. This study aims to identify which factors are most disclosed in the reports of companies that are members of CDP. For this purpose, it is necessary to investigate if the factors indicated by managers and experts are the main ones disclosed in the reports of Brazilian companies that are members of CDP, as well as to identify which companies stand out in climate change disclosure based on these factors. To this end, 463 reports submitted by 48 companies between 2014 and 2016 were examined and 32 factors were investigated using the NVivo® software. Some companies submitted reports with unified titles, which reduced the sample. The results indicate that certain factors—prevention of pollution, prevention of loss, management of environmental assets, volume of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and climate change strategy—account for 50.03% of the total volume of information disclosed about climate change. The main lesson learned from this research is that climate change mitigation strategy is strongly supported by the evidence of corporate annual reports, and it has relation with the following determinant factors: pollution prevention, loss prevention, environmental asset management, GHG emissions, and the strategy chosen by the companies to deal with climate change. Due to the low volume of research related to loss prevention and pollution prevention, we have identified that little attention has been paid to these items. Based on our results, we recommend that climate change mitigation strategies begin to consider these determinant factors in their structure because both have a strong influence in demonstrating how companies are managing these factors for stakeholders. Therefore, companies can benefit from this data to manage their resources for the maintenance of the social contract (legitimacy) through the factors most disclosed, especially companies with lower scores on the scale of ranking presented. Hence, stakeholders can have access to more information on strategies that mitigate climate change and help companies improve the disclosure of the actions that contribute to reduction of GHG emissions.     

污水脱氮除磷工艺发展探讨

去除废水中的氮、磷营养元素,是污水处理工艺发展的必然趋势,在参阅大量国内外文献资料的基础上,介绍了城市污水脱氮除磷新工艺--生物倍增工艺、MSBR工艺.对这2种新工艺的基本原理、特点及今后的发展动向等作了详细阐述.     

浅析水质监测站的若干问题及对策

本文主要通过对水质监测站的人员、技术、服务和资金等方面存在的若干问题进行剖析,结合本人实际工作经验,提出了相应的改革建议.     

渗滤系统处理北方城市生活污水微生物数量变化的研究

本文应用粉煤灰渗滤系统处理北方寒冷地区城市污水,结果细菌数量去除率在89.6%—99.9%之间,粪大肠菌群数量去除率在90%—99.9%之间,此方法成本低、效果好,适合北方中小城镇污水处理。     

四丰山水库污染现状及防治对策

佳木斯四丰山水库是以防洪为主,结合灌溉、养鱼等综合利用水库。近些年随着周边的度假村的开发以及农田施肥量的增加,造成四丰山水库污染日益严重,通过对近些年数据的分析,对污染状况进行分析,找出原因,提出防治对策。     

HP-5毛细管柱气相色谱法分离水中滴滴涕色谱条件研究

本试验利用HP-5毛细管柱,气相色谱法对水中滴滴涕几种衍生体的分离条件进行了研究和优化,找到了最佳仪器条件,为水中滴滴涕的检测提供了一定的试验参考。     

浅议环境保护专项资金效益审计的重点和方法

重点论述了从征、管、用三大环节对环保专项资金进行效益审计。论述了审计方法,提出了存在的问题和建议。     

A comparative investigation of NdSrCu_(1-x) Co_x O_(4-δ) and Sm_(1.8) Ce_(0.2) Cu_(1-x) Co_x O_(4-δ) (x:0–0.4) for NO decomposition

A series of single-phase T-structured NdSrCu 1-x Co x O 4-δ with oxygen vacancies and T -structured Sm 1.8 Ce 0.2 Cu 1-x Co x O 4-δ (x: 0–0.4) with oxygen excess were prepared using ultrasound-assisted citric acid complexing method, and characterized by means of techniques such as thermogravimetric analysis and NO temperature-programmed desorption (NO-TPD). The catalytic activities of these materials were evaluated for the decomposition of NO. It was found that the NdSrCu 1-x Co x O 4-δ catalysts were of oxygen vacancies whereas the Sm 1.8 Ce 0.2 Cu 1-x Co x O 4-δ ones possessed excessive oxygen (i.e., over-stoichiometric oxygen); with a rise in Co doping level, the oxygen vacancy density of NdSrCu 1-x Co x O 4-δ decreased while the over-stoichiometric oxygen amount of Sm 1.8 Ce 0.2 Cu 1-x Co x O 4-δ increased. The NO-TPD results revealed that NO could be activated much easier over the oxygen-deficient perovskite-like oxides than over the oxygen-excessive perovskite-like oxides, with the NdSrCuO 3.702 catalyst showing the best efficiency in activating NO molecules. Under the conditions of 1.0% NO/helium, 2800 hr -1 , and 600–900°C, the catalytic activity of NO decomposition followed the order of NdSrCuO 3.702 NdSrCu 0.8 Co 0.2 O 3.736 NdSrCu 0.6 Co 0.4 O 3.789 Sm 1.8 Ce 0.2 Cu 0.6 Co 0.4 O 4.187 Sm 1.8 Ce 0.2 Cu 0.8 Co 0.2 O 4.104 Sm 1.8 Ce 0.2 CuO 4.045 , in concord with the sequence of decreasing oxygen vacancy or oxygen excess density. Based on the results, we concluded that the higher oxygen vacancy density and the stronger Cu 3+ /Cu 2+ redox ability of NdSrCu 1-x Co x O 4-δ account for the easier activation of NO and consequently improve the catalytic activity of NO decomposition over the catalysts.     

Soil moisture determines the effectiveness of two urease inhibitors to decrease N<Subscript>2</Subscript>O emission

Among the mitigation strategies to prevent nitrogen (N) losses from ureic fertilizers, urease inhibitors (UIs) have been demonstrated to promote high N use efficiency by reducing ammonia (NH₃) volatilization. In the last few years, some field experiments have also shown its effectiveness in reducing nitrous oxide (N₂O) losses from fertilized soils under conditions of low soil moisture. An incubation experiment was carried out with the aim of assessing the main biotic mechanisms behind N₂O emissions once that the UIs N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamid (NBPT) and phenil phosphorodiamidate (PPDA) were applied with Urea (U) under different soil moisture conditions (40, 60 and 80 % water-filled pore space, WFPS). In the same study we tried to analyze to what extent soil WFPS regulates the effect of these inhibitors on N₂O emissions. The use of PPDA in our study allowed us to compare the effect of NBPT with that of another commercially available urease inhibitor, aiming to see if the results were inhibitor-specific or not. Based on the results from this experiment, a WFPS (i.e. 60 %) was chosen for a second study (i.e. mesocosm experiment) aiming to assess the efficiency of the UIs to indirectly affect N₂O emissions through influencing the pool of soil mineral N. The N₂O emissions at 40 % WFPS were almost negligible, being significantly lower from all fertilized treatments than that produced at 60 and 80 % WFPS. When compared to U alone, NBPT+U reduced the N₂O emissions at 60 % WFPS but had no effect at 80 % WFPS. The application of PPDA significantly increased the emissions with respect to U at 80 % WFPS whereas no significant effect was found at 60 %. At 80 % WFPS, denitrification was the main source of N₂O emissions for all treatments. In the mesocosm study, the application of NBPT+U was an effective strategy to reduce N₂O emissions (75 % reduction compared to U alone), due to a lower soil ammonium (NH₄ ⁺) content induced by the inhibitor. These results suggest that adequate management of the UI NBPT could provide, under certain soil conditions, an opportunity for mitigation of N₂O emissions from fertilized soils.