Coptis teeta-based agroforestry system and its conservation potential: a case study from northwest Yunnan

Coptis teeta (Ranunculaceae), is a nontimber forest product (NTFP) that only grows in northwest Yunnan and northeast India. Its tenuous rhizome, known as "Yunnan goldthread" in the traditional Chinese medicine system, has been used as an antibacterial and as an antiinflammatory medicine for a long time. The increasing demand has resulted in commercial harvesting pressure on wild populations that were already dwindling as a result of deforestation, and wild populations are at risk of extinction. Fortunately, there exists at least 2000 hectares of a C. teeta-based agroforestry system initiated by the Lisu people in Nujiang, northwest Yunnan. This cultivation supplies us with a valuable study case for the balance between conservation and sustainable use. This case study investigated the traditional management system and history of C. teeta in Nujiang through ethnobotanical methods and field investigation. We also contrasted initial costs, economic returns, and labor demands for C. teeta cultivation with other major land uses in the region. Compared with swidden agriculture, the major land-use type in the region, C. teeta cultivation offers high economic returns and low labor and initial costs; moreover, C. teeta cultivation does not interfere with subsistence agricultural duties. This agroforestry system reflected that the cultivation of NTFPs is a conservation strategy for maintaining forest diversity, while providing a stable economic return to local forest communities, and indicates how local people manage biodiversity effectively.     

Gene expression analysis and classification of mode of toxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli is known to respond to certain toxic chemicals through an increased expression of various stress genes. In this study, therefore, the expression of recA, katG, fabA and grpE genes was used as a representative for DNA, oxidative, membrane and protein damage, respectively, after E. coli was exposed to different polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), i.e., phenanthrene, naphthalene and benzo[a]pyrene. To accomplish this, the expression levels of these four genes were quantified using a real-time RT-PCR analysis when E. coli cultures were under stressful conditions, such as those caused by an exposure to mitomycin C, hydrogen peroxide and phenol. It was found that the primary toxic effect of each chemical is clearly seen when the expression levels of the different genes are compared. Tests with the PAHs showed naphthalene and benzo[a]pyrene to be genotoxic, while phenanthrene had no clear effect on the expression of any of these genes. Based on these results, the effects due to these toxic chemicals and the extent of each stress can be evaluated with ease using the expression levels of different stress responsive genes.     

Health risk assessment for polychlorinated biphenyls, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans, and polychlorinated naphthalenes in seafood from Guangzhou and Zhoushan, China

This study determined the concentrations of organochlorine contaminants in common seafood in two Chinese coastal cities (Guangzhou and Zhoushan), and assessed the health risk due to the daily consumption of contaminated seafood. Twenty-six pooled samples, belonging to five food categories (fish, bivalves, shrimp, crab, and cephalopods), were purchased from local markets in Guangzhou and Zhoushan in 2003 and 2004. These samples were analyzed for total polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), non- and mono-ortho-PCBs (coplanar PCBs), polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs), and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDDs/DFs). The concentrations of total PCBs and coplanar PCBs in fish samples were higher in Guangzhou than in Zhoushan, while the levels of PCNs and PCDDs/DFs were comparable between the two cities. The total daily intake values of dioxin-like compounds were 1.05 and 0.86pg WHO-TEQ/kg body weight in Guangzhou and Zhoushan, respectively. Hazard ratios of non-cancer risk in the two cities were all less than unity.     

Determination of trace rare earth elements in coal fly ash and atmospheric particulates by electrothermal vaporization inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry with slurry sampling

A method of fluorination assisted electrothermal vaporization (FETV)-ICP-MS with polytetrafluoroethylene as fluorinating reagent was developed for the direct determination of trace rare earth elements (REEs) in coal fly ash and atmospheric particulates. Under the optimal conditions, the detection limits for REEs were 0.1 pg m(-3)(Eu) to 6.7 pg m(-3)(Nd) with the precisions of 4.1%(Yb) to 10%(La) (c=1 microg L(-1), n=9). The proposed method was applied to determine trace REEs in coal fly ash, airborne particulates and NIES SRM No. 8 Vehicle Exhaust Particulates. It was found that the determined values for Y, La, Pr and Nd obtained by slurry sampling FETV-ICP-MS with external calibration coincided with that obtained by pneumatic nebulization (PN)-ICP-MS and slurry sampling FETV-ICP-MS with standard addition. However, the determined values for Ce and Sm obtained by slurry sampling FETV-ICP-MS with external calibration were lower than that obtained by PN-ICP-MS and slurry sampling FETV-ICP-MS with standard addition.     

溴代二噁英类化合物的环境研究进展

溴代二噁英类化合物是一类剧毒环境污染物,主要来源于溴系阻燃剂与含溴系阻燃剂聚合物的生产、使用和回收等过程.随着溴系阻燃剂的广泛使用,溴代二噁英类化合物的环境和健康风险日益增加,对其环境问题的研究已成为当今环境科学的一大热点,而中国在此方面的研究还相当薄弱.介绍了溴代二噁英类化合物的结构性质,综述了溴代二噁英类化合物的分析方法、污染来源和环境分布,重点探讨了溴代二噁英类化合物的生成机制,介绍了生成溴代二噁英类化合物的影响因素,讨论并总结了当前研究中溴代二噁英类化合物污染来源解析与生成机制所存在的问题,最后展望了未来溴代二噁英类化合物的环境研究趋势.     

有机絮凝剂对水中染料的絮凝作用探讨

本文在ＰＡＮ－ＤＣＤ对水中活性染料的絮凝脱色研究基础上,用ＩＲ分析以及平衡渗析实验探讨了ＰＡＮ－ＤＣＤ与多种染料的相互作用。     

菜园土壤铜吸附--解吸特性的研究

研究了菜园土壤铜的吸附—解吸特性。结果表明 ,3种菜园土壤吸附 Cu2 的量均随平衡液中Cu2 浓度的增加而增大 ,可用 L angmuir方程和 Freundlich方程来描述。由 Langmuir方程求得的菜园土壤对 Cu2 的最大吸附量和最大缓冲容量的大小顺序为 :黄松土 >江涂土 >粉泥土 ,菜园土壤对 Cu2 的解吸量和解吸率均随其吸附量的增加而增加 ,吸附量与解吸量之间呈显著或极显著线性正相关。     

Assessing sensitivity of source term estimation

Source term estimation algorithms compute unknown atmospheric transport and dispersion modeling variables from concentration observations made by sensors in the field. Insufficient spatial and temporal resolution in the meteorological data as well as inherent uncertainty in the wind field data make source term estimation and the prediction of subsequent transport and dispersion extremely difficult. This work addresses the question: how many sensors are necessary in order to successfully estimate the source term and meteorological variables required for atmospheric transport and dispersion modeling?The source term estimation system presented here uses a robust optimization technique – a genetic algorithm (GA) – to find the combination of source location, source height, source strength, surface wind direction, surface wind speed, and time of release that produces a concentration field that best matches the sensor observations. The approach is validated using the Gaussian puff as the dispersion model in identical twin numerical experiments. The limits of the system are tested by incorporating additive and multiplicative noise into the synthetic data. The minimum requirements for data quantity and quality are determined by an extensive grid sensitivity analysis. Finally, a metric is developed for quantifying the minimum number of sensors necessary to accurately estimate the source term and to obtain the relevant wind information.     

Biosorption and degradation of decabromodiphenyl ether by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Brevibacillus brevis</Emphasis> and the influence of decabromodiphenyl ether on cellular metabolic responses

There is global concern about the effects of decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE209) on environmental and public health. The molecular properties, biosorption, degradation, accumulation, and cellular metabolic effects of BDE209 were investigated in this study to identify the mechanisms involved in the aerobic biodegradation of BDE209. BDE209 is initially absorbed by wall teichoic acid and N-acetylglucosamine side chains in peptidoglycan, and then, BDE209 is transported and debrominated through three pathways, giving tri-, hepta-, octa-, and nona-bromodiphenyl ethers. The C–C bond energies decrease as the number of bromine atoms on the diphenyl decreases. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) inhibit protein expression or accelerate protein degradation and increase membrane permeability and the release of Cl^?, Na⁺, NH₄ ⁺, arabinose, proteins, acetic acid, and oxalic acid. However, PBDEs increase the amounts of K⁺, Mg²⁺, PO₄ ^3?, SO₄ ^2?, and NO₃ ^? assimilated. The biosorption, degradation, accumulation, and removal efficiencies when Brevibacillus brevis (1 g L^?1) was exposed to BDE209 (0.5 mg L^?1) for 7 days were 7.4, 69.5, 16.3, and 94.6 %, respectively.     

A two-step approach for relating tapered element oscillating microbalance and dichotomous air sampler PM2.5 measurements

A method for transforming continuous monitoring (CM) fine particulate matter (aerodynamic diameter <2.5 μm; PM_2.5) data (i.e., by tapered element oscillating microbalance [TEOM]) obtained from the Canadian National Air Pollution Surveillance (NAPS) program to meet the data quality objective (DQO) of R² > 0.8 against the co-located federal reference method (i.e., dichotomous air sampler) is described. By using a two-step linear regression to account for the effect of the ambient temperature, 16 out of the 23 examined sites met the common model adequacy threshold of R² > 0.8. After the transformation, 20 out of the 23 examined sites met the DQO of R² > 0.7, as recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A combined two-step statistical approach was also examined and revealed similar results. The methods described herein show that the CM data can be successfully transformed to meet DQOs for representative sites across Canada using year-round (both summer and winter) data.

Implications:This study provides a transformation approach to correct ambient TEOM data against the federal reference method without dividing the ambient data according to warm and cold seasons. This transformation approach will significantly improve the correlation coefficient between TEOM and dichotomous air sampler data. It is possible that TEOM data at many Canadian locations can be transformed to meet the EPA data quality objective, thus making this transformation approach useful for comparisons of ambient PM data across jurisdictions.