三峡库区回水区营养盐和叶绿素a的时空变化及其相互关系

为探讨三峡水库调度运行背景下,库区回水区营养盐和叶绿素a时空变化及其相互关系,于2013年5月~2014年5月在三峡库区北岸最大、也是库区水华频发的支流——澎溪河的回水区高阳平湖进行了定点和高频监测.结果表明水体热分层是高阳平湖水华发生的诱导因素.高阳平湖水体热分层发生于春季(3月初),消亡于夏末(9月中旬),冬季没有分层.2014年春季,随着水体分层的发生和发展,表层叶绿素a在69 d内从14.92μg·L-1骤增至183.73μg·L-1,并暴发水华,之后叶绿素a随着混合层深度增加而下降.水体没有分层时,表、中和底层营养盐浓度相近;水体分层之后,各层磷浓度有了明显差异,表层和底层总磷浓度相差(0.18±0.04)mg·L-1.高水位期(9月至次年4月),高阳平湖硝氮和溶解性磷高于低水位期(5~8月)的含量,分别占总氮、总磷浓度的71.4%~95.4%和42.7%~94.4%,是总氮和总磷的主要组成部分,干流倒灌输入的硝氮和溶解性磷是其主要来源.     

Limb regeneration and subsequent asymmetry in a male secondary sexual character influences sexual selection in wolf spiders

Males of the brush-legged wolf spider Schizocosa ocreata (Hentz) have conspicuously decorated forelegs used in courtship and agonistic displays. Approximately one in five juvenile males has a missing or regenerating foreleg, and regeneration of a leg lost during development usually results in the absence of a decorative tuft on that leg. The subsequent asymmetry in this male secondary character significantly decreases success in both courtship of females and male-male agonistic interactions. Experimental removal of tufts from one leg of previously successful symmetric males produces similar results. As a test for concomitant behavioral effects, female spiders were shown video images of a courting male with symmetric tufts and the same video image altered to have asymmetric tufts. Female receptivity to the asymmetric video image was lower. In contrast to fluctuating asymmetry resulting from developmental instability, leg tuft asymmetry in S. ocreata most likely arises from a single event during ontogeny – possibly leg loss from an aggressive or predator encounter  – and may serve as a quality indicator in female mate choice. Received: 27 July 1995/ Accepted after revision: 19 November 1995     

VALUE OF WOODY RWER CORRIDORS IN LEVEE PROTECTION ALONG THE MISSOURI RWER IN 19931

ABSTRACT: Following the Midwest flood of 1993, a study was initiated along a 39-mile segment of the Missouri River to determine if there was an association between woody corridors and levee stability. A systematic sample of levee failures revealed that primary levees which did not fail had a significantly wider woody corridor than failed levees. Analysis of the total inventory of failed levees revealed that as the width of the woody corridor decreased, the length of the levee failure increased. Number of levee failures and their severity of damage could be reduced if woody corridors were at least 300 feet wide.     

Environmental performance evaluation of agro-industrial innovations – Part 2: methodological approach for performing vulnerability analysis of watersheds

Environmental vulnerability analysis has been sparsely used in environmental performance evaluation (EPE) of technological innovations. The present paper proposes a methodological approach to carry out vulnerability analysis of watersheds and to integrate this analysis into methods of environmental performance evaluation of agro-industrial innovations. This approach is applied to the Ambitec-Life Cycle method, described in Part 1 (this issue) of this study. The case study of green coconut substrate compared to ripe coconut substrate, also described in Part 1 (this issue), is now presented considering the vulnerability analysis of the watersheds where the life cycle stages of these products occur. The integration of vulnerability analysis in Ambitec-Life Cycle contributes to a better understanding of the environmental aspects of agro-industrial technological innovations with potential to cause significant impacts in watersheds where these innovations are implemented.     

Comparative Toxicities of Polar and Non-Polar Organic Fractions From Sediments Affected By the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska

Standardized tests were applied to aromatic and polar fractions of sediment extracts to determine whether polar constituents or oxidative degradation products contributed significantly to the toxicity of sediments oiled by the Exxon Valdez spill. Intertidal sediment and pore-water samples were collected in September 1990 from two heavily oiled sites and an unoiled site in Prince William Sound (PWS). Methylene chloride extracts from these samples were fractionated by liquid chromatography into aliphatic, aromatic and polar fractions, and the aromatic and polar fractions were tested for toxicity using the Microtox^R test, bivalve larval mortality and development (Mytilus); several measures of genotoxicity in Mytilus, including SOS Chromotest^R, anaphase aberrations and sister chromatid exchange; and survival, anaphase aberrations and teratogenicity in coho salmon (Onchorhynchus kisutch). Microtox^R and SOS Chromotest^R protocols were applied in a screening mode to all samples, whereas other tests were applied only to selected fractions from two sites. Samples from Bay of Isles (oiled) were consistently more toxic (usually only 2 to 5-fold) than the Mooselips Bay (unoiled) samples, which gave very low responses in all tests. for both sites, however, responses to polar and aromatic fractions were about the same in most tests, suggesting that while the overall toxicity of the oil was low in these samples, at least part of that toxicity was derived from polar constituents. Compared to the parent hydrocarbons, polar oxidation products partition preferentially into pore-water and are more rapidly diluted and dispersed in the water column. These results suggest that polar oxidation products of petroleum hydrocarbons pose little risk to marine organisms, except possibly for infauna continuously exposed to pore-water in heavily oiled sediments. Independent surveys showed that sediment toxicity in PWS declined during 1989-1991 to near background levels, in accord with previous understanding of oil weathering and toxicity.     

Approaches to environmental aesthetics

A synthesis of current empirical work in environmental aesthetics is overdue. Based on the twin criteria of methodological rigour and social relevance, four major approaches to environmental aesthetics are defined and described. A contemplative humanist approach is matched by goal-oriented activism. The planner, doomed to relevance, confronts the rigorously scientific experimentalist. Advances in environmental aesthetic research and practice will depend upon the fruitful collaboration of the four approaches.     

ESTIMATION OF DAILY TEMPERATURE MEANS USING ELEVATION AND LATITUDE IN MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN1

ABSTRACT A model was developed for predicting mean daily, mean daily minimum, and mean daily maximum temperatures in West Virginia. The model is easily used since the only inputs are elevation, latitude, and julian date. With local calibration, the model is expected to apply to other areas in the Appalachian region.