Evaluating effects of wind-induced pressure fluctuations on soil-atmosphere gas exchange at a landfill using stochastic modelling.

The impact of wind turbulence-induced pressure fluctuations at the soil surface on landfill gas transport and emissions to the atmosphere at an old Danish landfill site was investigated using stochastic modelling combined with soil property and gas transport data measured at the site. The impacts of soil physical properties (including air permeability and volumetric water content) and wind-induced pressure fluctuation properties (amplitude and temporal correlation) on landfill gas emissions to the atmosphere were evaluated. Soil-air permeability and pressure fluctuation amplitude were found to be the most important parameters. Wind-induced gas emissions were further compared with gas emissions caused by diffusion and by long-term pressure variations (due to passing weather systems). Here diffusion and wind-induced gas transport were found to be equally important with wind-induced gas transport becoming the most important at lower soil-air contents.     

分洪区洪灾保险工作初探

本文从洪水过程的随机特点及防洪工作的实际需要等各个方面出发,阐述了在分洪区实行洪灾保险的必要性,结合国内外已有的实践经验,分析了这一工作得以顺利开展的可能性。并在此基础上,提出了二种洪灾保险费用计算方法,实例计算结果表明,这些方法是基本可行的。     

Conspecific flowers of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Sinapis arvensis</Emphasis> are stronger competitors for pollinators than those of the invasive weed <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bunias orientalis</Emphasis>

Biological invasions can affect the structure and function of ecosystems and threaten native plant species. Since most weeds rely on mutualistic relationships in their new environment, they may act as new competitors for pollinators. Pollinator competition is likely to be density dependent, but it is often difficult to disentangle competition caused by flower quality from effects caused by flower quantity. In order to test the effects of the presence and number of flowers of the invasive weed Bunias orientalis on the insect visitation rates in a native species (Sinapis arvensis), we performed two replacement experiments using plants with standardised flower numbers. The visitation rates in S. arvensis were significantly higher than in B. orientalis and the number of insect visits dropped significantly with increasing density of S. arvensis flowers. These results suggest that intraspecific competition among flowers of S. arvensis is stronger than the competitive effect of alien flowers. As flowers of B. orientalis do not seem to distract visitors from S. arvensis, it is unlikely that pollinator competition between these two plant species plays a crucial role. However, it cannot be excluded that mass blossom stands of B. orientalis may distract flower visitors from native species.     

Exchange of hosts: can agaonid fig wasps reproduce successfully in the figs of non-host <Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">Ficus</Emphasis>?

In the obligate mutualism between figs (Ficus) and their specific pollinators (Chalcidoidea, Agaonidae), each species of fig wasp typically reproduces in figs of a single host species. Host specificity is maintained largely because pollinators are attracted to tree-specific volatiles released from their host figs, but whether the wasps can reproduce if they enter figs of non-host species is unclear. We investigated the reproductive success of Ceratosolen emarginatus (associated with Ficus auriculata) and Ceratosolen sp. (associated with F. hainanensis) in atypical hosts by experimentally introducing foundresses into host and non-host figs. F. auriculata figs entered by Ceratosolen sp. were more likely to abort than if entered by C. emarginatus, but abortion of F. hainanensis figs was not affected by pollinator species. Single C. emarginatus foundresses produced more but smaller offspring in F. hainanensis than in their normal host. Conversely Ceratosolen sp. produced fewer but larger offspring in F. auriculata than in their normal host, probably as a result of having longer to develop. Mean style length differences, relative to the lengths of the wasps’ ovipositors, may have dictated the number of offspring produced, with oviposition made easier by the shorter styles in F. hainanensis figs. Our results imply that, in addition to morphological constraints and tree-specific volatiles, reduced reproductive success in atypical hosts can be another factor maintaining host specificity, but for other species only behavioural changes are required for host switching to occur.     

Geographic variation in resource allocation to the abdomen in geometrid moths

A resource allocation trade-off is expected when resources from a common pool are allocated to two or more traits. In holometabolous insects, resource allocation to different functions during metamorphosis relies completely on larval-derived resources. At adult eclosion, resource allocation to the abdomen at the expense of other body parts can be seen as a rough estimate of resource allocation to reproduction. Theory suggests geographic variation in resource allocation to the abdomen, but there are currently no empirical data on it. We measured resource allocation to the abdomen at adult eclosion in four geometrid moths along a latitudinal gradient. Resource (total dry material, carbon, nitrogen) allocation to the abdomen showed positive allometry with body size. We found geographic variation in resource allocation to the abdomen in each species, and this variation was independent of allometry in three species. Geographic variation in resource allocation to the abdomen was complex. Resource allocation to the abdomen was relatively high in partially bivoltine populations in two species, which fits theoretical predictions, but the overall support for theory is weak. This study indicates that the geographic variation in resource allocation to the abdomen is not an allometric consequence of geographic variation in resource acquisition (i.e., body size). Thus, there is a component of resource allocation that can evolve independently of resource acquisition. Our results also suggest that there may be intraspecific variation in the degree of capital versus income breeding.     

Communities of different plant diversity respond similarly to drought stress: experimental evidence from field non-weeded and greenhouse conditions

Accelerating rate of species loss has prompted researchers to study the role of species diversity in processes that control ecosystem functioning. Although negative impact of species loss has been documented, the evidence concerning its impact on ecosystem stability is still limited. Here, we studied the effects of declining species and functional diversity on plant community responses to drought in the field (open to weed colonization) and greenhouse conditions. Both species and functional diversity positively affected the average yields of field communities. However, this pattern was similar in both drought-stressed and control plots. No effect of diversity on community resistance, biomass recovery after drought and resilience was found because drought reduced biomass production similarly at each level of diversity by approximately 30?%. The use of dissimilarity (characterized by Euclidean distance) revealed higher variation under changing environments (drought-stressed vs. control) in more diverse communities compared to less species-rich assemblages. In the greenhouse experiment, the effect of species diversity affected community resistance, indicating that more diverse communities suffered more from drought than species-poor ones. We conclude that our study did not support the insurance hypothesis (stability properties of a community should increase with species richness) because species diversity had an equivocal effect on ecosystem resistance and resilience in an environment held under non-weeded practice, regardless of the positive relationship between sown species diversity and community biomass production. More species-rich communities were less resistant against drought-stressed conditions than species-poor ones grown in greenhouse conditions.     

Characterization of maspardin, responsible for human Mast syndrome, in an insect species and analysis of its evolution in metazoans

Mast syndrome is a complicated form of human hereditary spastic paraplegias, caused by a mutation in the gene acid cluster protein 33, which encodes a protein designated as “maspardin.” Maspardin presents similarity to the α/β-hydrolase superfamily, but might lack enzymatic activity and rather be involved in protein–protein interactions. Association with the vesicles of the endosomal network also suggested that maspardin may be involved in the sorting and/or trafficking of molecules in the endosomal pathway, a crucial process for maintenance of neuron health. Despite a high conservation in living organisms, studies of maspardin in other animal species than mammals were lacking. In the cotton armyworm Spodoptera littoralis, an insect pest model, analysis of an expressed sequence tag collection from antenna, the olfactory organ, has allowed identifying a maspardin homolog (SlMasp). We have investigated SlMasp tissue distribution and temporal expression by PCR and in situ hybridization techniques. Noteworthy, we found that maspardin was highly expressed in antennae and associated with the structures specialized in odorant detection. We have, in addition, identified maspardin sequences in numerous “nonmammalian” species and described here their phylogenetic analysis in the context of metazoan diversity. We observed a strong conservation of maspardin in metazoans, with surprisingly two independent losses of this gene in two relatively distant ecdysozoan taxa that include major model organisms, i.e., dipterans and nematodes.     

The oral cone of Anomalocaris is not a classic ‘‘peytoia’’

The Cambro-Ordovician anomalocaridids are large ecdysozoans commonly regarded as ancestors of the arthropods and apex predators. Predation is indicated partly by the presence of an unusual “peytoia”-type oral cone, which is a tetraradial outer ring of 32 plates, four of which are enlarged and in perpendicular arrangement. This oral cone morphology was considered a highly consistent and defining characteristic of well-known Burgess Shale taxa. It is here shown that Anomalocaris has a different oral cone, with only three large plates and a variable number of smaller and medium plates. Its functional morphology suggests that suction, rather than biting, was used for food ingestion, and that anomalocaridids in general employed a range of different scavenging and predatory feeding strategies. Removing anomalocaridids from the position of highly specialized trilobite predators forces a reconsideration of the ecological structure of the earliest marine animal communities in the Cambrian.     

Characteristics and recent trends of sulfur dioxide at urban, rural, and background sites in North China: Effectiveness of control measures

SO₂ measurements made in recent years at sites in Beijing and its surrounding areas are performed to study the variations and trends of surface SO₂ at different types of sites in Northern China. The overall average concentrations of SO₂ are (16.8 ± 13.1) ppb, (14.8 ± 9.4) ppb, and (7.5 ± 4.0) ppb at China Meteorological Administration (CMA, Beijing urban area), Gucheng (GCH, relatively polluted rural area, 110 km to the southwest of Beijing urban area), and Shangdianzi (SDZ, clean background area, 100 km to the northeast of Beijing urban area), respectively. The SO₂ levels in winter (heating season) are 4-6 folds higher than those in summer. There are highly significant correlations among the daily means of SO₂ at different sites, indicating regional characteristics of SO₂ pollution. Diurnal patterns of surface SO₂ at all sites have a common feature with a daytime peak, which is probably caused by the downward mixing and/or the advection transport of SO₂-richer air over the North China Plain. The concentrations of SO₂ at CMA and GCH show highly significant downward trends (-4.4 ppb/yr for CMA and -2.4 ppb/yr for GCH), while a less significant trend (-0.3 ppb/yr) is identified in the data from SDZ, reflecting the character of SDZ as a regional atmospheric background site in North China. The SO₂ concentrations of all three sites show a significant decrease from period before to after the control measures for the 2008 Olympic Games, suggesting that the SO₂ pollution control has long-term effectiveness and benefits. In the post-Olympics period, the mean concentrations of SO₂ at CMA, GCH, and SDZ are (14.3 ± 11.0) ppb, (12.1 ± 7.7) ppb, and (7.5 ± 4.0) ppb, respectively, with reductions of 26%, 36%, and 13%, respectively, compared to the levels before. Detailed analysis shows that the differences of temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and wind direction were not the dominant factors for the significant differences of SO₂ between the pre-Olympics and post-Olympics periods. By extracting the data being more representative of local or regional characteristics, a reduction of up to 40% for SO₂ in polluted areas and a reduction of 20% for regional SO₂ are obtained for the effect of control measures implemented for the Olympic Games.     

Sewage sludge disintegration by high-pressure homogenization: A sludge disintegration model

High-pressure homogenization (HPH) technology was applied as a pretreatment to disintegrate sewage sludge. The effects of homogenization pressure, homogenization cycle number, and total solid content on sludge disintegration were investigated. The sludge disintegration degree (DDCOD), protein concentration, and polysaccharide concentration increased with the increase of homogenization pressure and homogenization cycle number, and decreased with the increase of sludge total solid (TS) content. The maximum DDCOD of 43.94% was achieved at 80 MPa with four homogenization cycles for a 9.58 g/L TS sludge sample. A HPH sludge disintegration model of DD_COD= kN^aP^b was established by multivariable linear regression to quantify the effects of homogenization parameters. The homogenization cycle exponent a and homogenization pressure exponent b were 0.4763 and 0.7324 respectively, showing that the effect of homogenization pressure (P) was more significant than that of homogenization cycle number (N). The value of the rate constant k decreased with the increase of sludge total solid content. The specific energy consumption increased with the increment of sludge disintegration efficiency. Lower specific energy consumption was required for higher total solid content sludge.