The Challenges of Incorporating Cultural Ecosystem Services into Environmental Assessment

The ecosystem services concept is used to make explicit the diverse benefits ecosystems provide to people, with the goal of improving assessment and, ultimately, decision-making. Alongside material benefits such as natural resources (e.g., clean water, timber), this concept includes—through the ‘cultural’ category of ecosystem services—diverse non-material benefits that people obtain through interactions with ecosystems (e.g., spiritual inspiration, cultural identity, recreation). Despite the longstanding focus of ecosystem services research on measurement, most cultural ecosystem services have defined measurement and inclusion alongside other more ‘material’ services. This gap in measurement of cultural ecosystem services is a product of several perceived problems, some of which are not real problems and some of which can be mitigated or even solved without undue difficulty. Because of the fractured nature of the literature, these problems continue to plague the discussion of cultural services. In this paper we discuss several such problems, which although they have been addressed singly, have not been brought together in a single discussion. There is a need for a single, accessible treatment of the importance and feasibility of integrating cultural ecosystem services alongside others.     

Body burdens of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in childbearing-aged women at an intensive electronic-waste recycling site in China

Background, aim and scope  

This study is the first to investigate PBDE body burden with regard to the concurrent analyses of multiple human matrices, namely milk, placenta, and hair, collected from a group of childbearing-aged women at an electronic waste (e-waste) recycling site to determine the partitioning of PBDEs in these different human matrices and the possible health risks imposed to infants at the e-waste recycling site.     

Comparison of DAYCENT-simulated and measured nitrous oxide emissions from a corn field

Accurate assessment of N(2)O emission from soil requires continuous year-round and spatially extensive monitoring or the use of simulation that accurately and precisely predict N(2)O fluxes based on climatic, soil, and agricultural system input data. DAYCENT is an ecosystem model that simulates, among other processes, N(2)O emissions from soils. The purpose of the study was to compare N(2)O fluxes predicted by the DAYCENT model to measured N(2)O fluxes from an experimental corn field in central Iowa. Soil water content temperature and inorganic N, simulated by DAYCENT were compared to measured values of these variables. Field N(2)O emissions were measured using four replicated automated chambers at 6-h intervals, from day of year (DOY) 42 through DOY 254 of 2006. We observed that DAYCENT generally accurately predicted soil temperature, with the exception of winter when predicted temperatures tended to be lower than measured values. Volumetric water contents predicted by DAYCENT were generally lower than measured values during most of the experimental period. Daily N(2)O emissions simulated by DAYCENT were significantly correlated to field measured fluxes; however, time series analyses indicate that the simulated fluxes were out of phase with the measured fluxes. Cumulative N(2)O emission calculated from the simulations (3.29 kg N(2)O-N ha(-1)) was in range of the measured cumulative N(2)O emission (4.26 +/- 1.09 kg N(2)O-N ha(-1)).     

Anthropogenic N2O production from landfill leachate treatment

The results of a field survey and laboratory study indicated that nitrogenous landfill leachate treatment can be a significant potential source of N2O emission. Nil (raw leachate) to 58.8ngmL(-1)h(-1) (sequential batch reactor) N2O emission was detected at five treatment plants in South China. The production and emission of N2O was especially high soon after the raw leachate was aerated. The emission was positively correlated with the dissolved N2O content in leachate; detected dissolved N2O ranged from 0 to 1309ngmL(-1). All leachate treatment plants studied were effective in NH4+-N removal (>95%); however, the highest N2O emission was estimated to be 0.25g N2Ocapita(-l)year(-1), comparable with the rate of N2O emission in conventional sewage treatment process.     

香港大气中有毒挥发性有机物研究

用吸附／热脱除－ＧＣ＝／ＭＳ方法研究了香港不同功能区大气中挥发笥有机物的组成。分析结果表明,香港大气中存在６０多种ＶＯＣＳ,其主要成分是苯系物,烷烃和卤代烃。在检出物中有１７种是有毒挥发性有机物,其主要成分是苯系物和氯代烃。其中氯仿,苯,甲苯,四氯乙烯,三氯乙烯和１,２－二氯乙烷是含量最高的组分。     

Analysis of carbon monoxide budget in North China

A global chemical transport model (MOZART-2; model of ozone and related tracers, version 2) was used to assess physical and chemical processes that control the budget of tropospheric carbon monoxide (CO) in North China. Satellite observations of CO from the measurements of pollution in the troposphere (MOPITT) instrument are combined with model results for the analysis. The comparison between the model simulations and the satellite observations of total column CO (TCO) shows that the model can reproduce the spatial and temporal distributions. However, the model results underestimate TCO by 23% in North China. This underestimation of TCO may be caused by the uncertainties of emissions. The tropospheric CO budget analysis suggests that in North China, surface emission is the largest source of tropospheric CO. The main sinks of tropospheric CO in this region are chemical reaction and stratosphere_and_troposphere exchange. The analysis also shows that most of inflow CO to Pacific regions comes from the upwind regions of North China. This transport of CO is significant during Winter and Spring time.     

Removal of phenylurea herbicide monuron via riboflavin-mediated photosensitization

Photodegradation of the phenylurea herbicide monuron by using riboflavin (Rf), a sensitizer, was investigated by varying the doses of monuron and Rf in this work. An enhanced photochemical effect was observed in the process compared with the direct photolysis by using UV irradiation only. The reaction time was greatly shortened from more than 60 min (direct photolysis) to 8-30 min depending on the doses of initial concentration of monuron ([M]0) and Rf. A modified hyperbola model was found to be useful to determine the reaction kinetics and thereafter the performance on the photodegradation of monuron sensitized by Rf. Two measurable characteristic constants (initial decay rate and total removal index) were used to quantify the reaction. The maximum removal difference compared with the direct photolysis and Rf-sensitization was investigated. It was found that the improvement of the process depended on both the [M]0 and the doses of Rf.     

基于CEEMDAN的多时间尺度的北京市PM2.5浓度影响因素研究

研究PM_2.5浓度的主要影响因素,对提升北京市空气质量具有重要意义。与以往仅限于原始时间尺度的研究不同,本文基于CEEMDAN方法考察了多时间尺度下年平均风速、城市绿化、人口密度、产业结构和能源强度对北京市PM_2.5浓度波动的影响,并与原始时间尺度的主导因素进行对比。研究发现：原始尺度的北京市PM_2.5浓度影响因素是不同时间尺度内影响因素合力作用结果,不同时间尺度下影响因素不同。城市绿化、人口密度、产业结构和能源强度在多时间尺度中起到短期增强波动的作用,城市绿化和产业结构是贯穿于各个时间尺度的具有趋势性,决定北京市PM_2.5浓度基本走势的影响因素。     

基于向量相似度原理的湖泊富营养化评价方法及其验证

为准确评价湖泊所处的营养状态,提出了基于向量相似度原理的湖泊富营养化评价方法.将富营养化的各级评价标准视为1个特征向量并进行无量纲化处理,然后计算各级特征向量与实测水质指标向量的相似度,归一化后得出各级评价标准对实测水质指标的权重,加权平均即可得出实测水质指标的富营养化综合评价级别.经全国30个湖库湖泊实测水质资料验证,向量相似度方法与随机评价方法、模糊评价方法、灰色评价方法相比较,有27个湖泊评价结果的差异不大于1个级别,其比例为90%.这说明4种方法的计算精度相当.     

城市机动车排放因子隧道试验研究

选取典型城市隧道进行机动车排放因子测试,应用隧道试验原理,通过连续48h的现场采样监测,获得了隧道内机动车排放污染物NO_x.CO、SO₂、PM₁₀、VOC和HC浓度、交通参数(车型、车速、交通流量)和气象参数(如风速、风量、温度、湿度)等实测数据.通过质量平衡计算出隧道内机动车NO_x.CO、SO₂、PM₁₀和HC的平均排放因子分别为1.379、15.404、0.142、0.637、1.857g·(km·辆)^-1.并在此基础上应用多元回归方法计算出8大类机动车各种排放污染物的单车排放因子.结果反映目前中国城市机动车污染物排放水平及各污染物排放特征.