The possible climate impact on the collapse of an ancient urban city in Mu Us Desert, China

Tongwan City is one of the most famous and best-researched archaeological sites in China. By using palaeoclimatology proxy records from China over the last 2,000 years and archaeological/historical documents, we analyse the possible effect of climate on the collapse of Tongwan City, an ancient urban city of the Daxia state (AD 407–427). During Tongwan City’s existence (AD 413–994), two severe cold and drought stages were recorded by both natural proxy data and the synthesis compiled from the historical documents. The first cold and drought stage occurred at about AD 420–550, with the lowest point centred at about AD 500. The second cold and drought stage occurred at about AD 780–950. These periods correspond to the times of climate deterioration, especially weak summer monsoons, which eventually resulted in the intensive desertification and collapse of Tongwan City.     

Stability of alpine timberline ecotone on Taibai Mountain,China

--Landscape boundaries are always indicated by thevegetation boundaries. As an ecotone between closed forest andtreeline, alpine timberline may respond to global climate changessensitively. The stability of timberline and treeline depend notonly on climate change, but also on the interaction of both sidesof the ecosystems. Three natural boundaries existing in thetimberline transitional zone are recognized (1) timberline (upperlimit of closed forest zone); (2) treeline (upper limit of treeislands zone); (3) tree-species line (upper limit of individualtree growth). Paleobotanical and sedimentary evidences suggest thatthere were several times of climate fluctuation during the Holoceneperiod in this area. The timberline of Taibai Mountain must havemoved for four times on the millennium scale. Being a stochasticoscillation boundary, treeline appears in a semi-stable conditionon the century scale. The tree-species line is even more unstable,which appears in an unstable status on the decades scale. Thecomparison of the stability within several landscape boundaries,shed light on the sensibility of these communities to variousperturbation and environmental heterogeneity, i.e., herb community is the most sensitive one, which is followed by shrubs, and forestis the most stable one. Trees and shrubs can adapt to rocky andpoor soils. On the contrary, alpine herbs are able to adapt towetter and cooler soils. Finally, under a scenario of a temperatureof 1.5-4.5℃ increase, the present timberline will be relativelystable but treeline and tree-species line will move upward.     

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers in the serum and breast milk of the resident population from production area, China

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) have been produced in the south coast area of Laizhou Bay, Shandong Province in China, but little is known about the PBDE exposure level of residents to these compounds. We set out to assess potential health risks of PBDEs in the south coast area of the Laizhou Bay by determining the concentrations of PBDEs in serum and breast milk. We measured concentrations of eight PBDE congeners in serum and breast milk. The arithmetic means of Σ₈PBDE in pooled serum and breast milk were 613 ng/g lipid and 81.5 ng/g lipid, respectively. The highest concentration for Σ₈PBDE in all serum pools was 1830 ng/g lipid from the 41–50 year old female group. BDE-209 was the predominant congener, with the mean concentrations of 403 ng/g lipid in serum and 45.6 ng/g lipid in breast milk, respectively. BDE-209 averagely accounted for 65.8% and 54.2% of the total PBDEs, respectively. Our results suggest that high exposures to PBDEs have led to very high PBDE concentrations in serum and breast milk from the residents living in the south coast area of Laizhou Bay. High PBDE concentrations in human serum, particularly in women, pose a potential public health threat to local residents.     

The effect of ageing on the bioaccessibility and fractionation of cadmium in some typical soils of China

Ingestion of contaminated soil has been recognized as an important exposure pathway of cadmium (Cd) for humans, especially for children through outdoor hand-to-mouth activities. The effect of ageing process following the input of Cd into soil on the bioaccessibility of Cd in five typical soils of China was investigated using physiologically based in vitro test in this study. A sequential extraction procedure was employed with attempt to identify the bioaccessible fraction(s) of Cd in soils. The bioaccessibility of Cd in strongly acidic (approximately pH 4.5) soils reached nearly steady levels (76.5-76.9% and 52.0-52.6% in the gastric and small intestinal phases, respectively) after a sharp decline in the first week of ageing. In contrast, the bioaccessibility of Cd in higher pH (>6.0) soils was found to be much lower (53.3-72.7% and 29.9-43.4% in gastric and small intestinal phases, respectively) and took 2 weeks of ageing to reach steady levels. The freshly spiked Cd was more labile than native Cd. The main proportion of spiked Cd was found in exchangeable Cd which was higher in strongly acidic soils (68.6-71.8%) than in higher pH soils (53.4-61.4%) at day 120 after a sharp decline to the nearly steady state in the first 1 and 2 weeks, respectively. Significant correlations between Cd bioaccessibility and either water soluble and exchangeable Cd individually, or the sum of water soluble and exchangeable Cd throughout the incubation period for all soils, indicate that these forms of Cd are likely to constitute the main proportion of bioaccessible Cd in soils.     

北京农贸市场常见淡水鱼体内抗生素残留调查研究

基于改进的超高效液相色谱-串联质谱(UPLC-MS/MS)的分析方法,通过对不同重量鲤鱼、鲫鱼、草鱼和鲢鱼中四环素类、磺胺类以及喹诺酮类等十种抗生素的残留测定,调查了北京市场水产品中抗生素的污染水平。结果表明,在所有样品中,只有磺胺二甲基嘧啶、麻保沙星、诺氟沙星和恩诺沙星四种抗生素检出,检出率分别为2.1%,4.2%,16.7%,46.9%,其他抗生素未检出。检出的四种抗生素中,磺胺二甲基嘧啶和麻保沙星只在草鱼中有检出,诺氟沙星和恩诺沙星在四种鱼中均有检出。恩诺沙星的浓度在鲤鱼、鲫鱼、草鱼和鲢鱼中依次降低。只有部分检出恩诺沙星超出50μg·kg-1的最大允许残留量。磺胺二甲基嘧啶、麻保沙星、诺氟沙星随着鱼重量的增大而变高,最高浓度为34.8、179.6、39.4μg·kg-1,而在个头小的鱼中未检出,这可能由生物累积造成。总之,北京市场的水产品存在抗生素的污染,但是大多数的抗生素的浓度都低于最大允许残留量。仍需加强水产品养殖环节中抗生素使用的管理。     

Assessment of water quality and identification of pollution sources of plateau lakes in Yunnan (China)

The plateau lakes of Yunnan are important both ecologically and economically in China. Nevertheless, the human impact on water quality in these lakes has become increasingly highlighted. The water quality of 10 plateau lakes was monitored regularly over the period of 2000 through 2004 for 24 parameters. Multivariate statistical techniques, including cluster analysis (CA), factor analysis (FA), and principal component analysis (PCA), were employed to better interpret information about the water quality and its pollution sources. No obvious data reduction from CA/FA was found because three principal components (PCs) needed 14 variables to explain 85.01% of the total variance. However, three latent factors accounted for pollution mainly from the following sources: agricultural activities, residential activities and anthropogenic-toxic pollution from industrial effluents, or other special activities. Box-whiskers plots were employed to visually interpret the spatiotemporal variations of water quality variables, which were highly correlated with three PCs. Three types of water quality (i.e., low-, medium-, and high-polluted lakes) were determined through CA based on the similarity of water quality variables. Our results may provide helpful information for the authorities to effectively manage the water quality and make sound policies.     

美国研制成功未来24小时地震发生概率图

美国地质调查局不久前宣布了一个新的网页,该网页给出了加州未来24小时发生地震的概率图。这些图根据地理位置图解余震和可能的前震型地震概率的变化。     

高絮凝性微生物育种生物技术研究与应用进展

本文从微生物絮凝性遗传学，絮凝基因分子克隆，絮凝菌种资源开发，微生物絮凝剂的研制与絮凝剂的研制与絮凝污染物的优势等方面进行了综述报导，同时对絮凝性微生物产生絮凝性的有关机理和条牛进行了讨论。     

淮南矿区道路环境大气颗粒物重金属污染特征及来源解析

为了解煤矿开采区道路环境中大气颗粒物重金属元素的污染特征及来源,于2016年12月(采暖期)和2017年5月(非采暖期)分别采集了淮南潘集矿区交通主干线周围大气颗粒物样品,采用电感耦合等离子体质谱(ICP-MS)测定了As、Cd、Hg、Mn、Pb、Cu、Zn、Ni、V等9种重金属元素以及参比元素Al的含量,并利用富集因子法和因子分析法解析了其来源。结果表明:(1)Zn、Mn、Pb含量较高,占所测重金属元素的82%(质量分数)以上;采暖期总悬浮颗粒物(TSP)、PM10和PM2.5中重金属含量总体上均高于非采暖期。(2)富集程度较高的元素有Pb、Cd、Hg,随着颗粒物粒径减小,各重金属元素的富集因子呈现增大趋势。(3)通过因子分析法得出,潘集矿区道路环境中重金属主要来源为交通排放、煤炭燃烧和扬尘等。     

混凝和活性炭吸附深度处理制药废水中有机物去除特征

研究了混凝、活性炭吸附及其组合工艺对内蒙古某制药废水二级生化出水中有机物的去除效率,同时采用荧光光谱和凝胶色谱分析了不同技术对废水中有机物的影响。研究显示,污水中主要的有机物为微生物代谢产物、腐殖酸和富里酸,分子量在800~1 250。混凝与吸附对污水中的有机物表现出不同的去除特征,混凝无法有效去除溶解性有机物,而活性炭吸附对3种物质的去除率均达到90%以上。采用混凝和吸附组合处理后,总COD去除率达到76%,满足污水综合排放标准。