Electrochemical and spectroscopic characteristics of dissolved organic matter in a forest soil profile

Dissolved organic matter （DOM） represents one of the most mobile and reactive organic compounds in ecosystem and plays an important role in the fate and transport of soil organic pollutants, nutrient cycling and more importantly global climate change. Electrochemical methods were first employed to evaluate DOM redox properties, and spectroscopic approaches were utilized to obtain information concerning its composition and structure. DOM was extracted from a forest soil profile with five horizons. Differential pulse voltammetry indicated that there were more redox-active moieties in the DOM from upper horizons than in that from lower horizons. Cyclic voltammetry further showed that these moieties were reversible in electron transfer. Chronoamperometry was employed to quantify the electron transfer capacity of DOM, including electron acceptor capacity and electron donor capacity, both of which decreased sharply with increasing depth. FT-IR, UV-Vis and fluorescence spectra results suggested that DOM from the upper horizons was enriched with aromatic and humic structures while that from the lower horizons was rich in aliphatic carbon, which supported the findings obtained by electrochemical approaches. Electrochemical approaches combined with spectroscopic methods were applied to evaluate the characteristics of DOM extracted along a forest soil profile. The electrochemical properties of DOM, which can be rapidly and simply obtained, provide insight into the migration and transformation of DOM along a soil profile and will aid in better understanding of the biogeochemical role of DOM in natural environments.     

Soil microbial community structure and function responses to successive planting of Eucalyptus

Many studies have shown soil degradation after the conversion of native forests to exotic Eucalyptus plantations. However, few studies have investigated the long-term impacts of short-rotation forestry practices on soil microorganisms. The impacts of Eucalyptus successive rotations on soil microbial communities were evaluated by comparing phospholipid fatty acid （PLFA） abundances, compositions, and enzyme activities of native Pinus massoniana plantations and adjacent 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th generation Eucalyptus plantations. The conversion from P. massoniana to Eucalyptus plantations significantly decreased soil microbial community size and enzyme activities, and increased microbial physiological stress. However, the PLFA abundances formed ＂U＂ shaped quadratic functions with Eucalyptus plantation age. Alternatively, physiological stress biomarkers, the ratios of monounsaturated to saturated fatty acid and Gram＋ to Gram- bacteria, formed ＂∩＂ shaped quadratic functions, and the ratio of cy17：0 to 16： 1ω7c decreased with plantation age. The activities of phenol oxidase, peroxidase, and acid phosphatase increased with Eucalyptus plantation age, while the cellobiobydrolase activity formed ＂U＂ shaped quadratic functions. Soil N：P, alkaline hydrolytic nitrogen, soil organic carbon, and understory cover largely explained the variation in PLFA profiles while soil N：P, alkaline hydrolytic nitrogen, and understory cover explained most of the variability in enzyme activity. In conclusion, soil microbial structure and function under Eucalyptus plantations were strongly impacted by plantation age. Most of the changes could be explained by altered soil resource availability and understory cover associated with successive planting of Eucalyptus. Our results highlight the importance of plantation age for assessing the impacts of plantation conversion as well as the importance of reducing disturbance for plantation management.     

Waste oyster shell as a kind of active filler to treat the combined wastewater at an estuary

Estuaries have been described as one of the most difficult environments on Earth. It is difficult to know how to treat the combined wastewater in tidal rivers at the estuary, where the situation is very different from ordinary fresh water rivers. Waste oyster shell was used as the active filler in this study in a bio-contact oxidation tank to treat the combined wastewater at the Fengtang Tidal River. With a middle-experimental scale of 360 ma/day, the average removal efficiency of COD, BOD, NH3-N, TP and TSS was 80.05%, 85.02%, 86.59%, 50.58% and 85.32%, respectively, in this bio-contact oxidation process. The living microbes in the biofilms on the waste oyster shell in this bio-contact oxidation tank, which were mainly composed of zoogloea, protozoa and micro-metazoa species, revealed that waste oyster shell as the filler was suitable material for combined wastewater degradation. This treatment method using waste oyster shell as active filler was then applied in a mangrove demonstration area for water quality improvement near the experiment area, with a treatment volume of 5 × 10^3 m^3/day. Another project was also successfully applied in a constructed wetland, with a wastewater treatment volume of 1 ×10^3 m^3/day. This technology is therefore feasible and can easily be applied on a larger scale,     

Formation of THMs and HANs during bromination of Microcystis aeruginosa

Bromine-contained disinfectants and biocides are widely used in swimming pools, recreational waters and cooling towers. The objective of this study was to evaluate the formation of thrihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetonitriles (HANs) and their cytotoxicity in algae solutions during free bromine disinfection. Disinfection by-products formation potential experiments were conducted using model solutions containing 7 mg/L (as total organic carbon) Microcystis aeruginosa cells. Effects of free bromine dosage, pH and ammonia were investigated. The results showed that brominated disinfection by-products were the major products when free bromine was applied. The total THMs formed during bromination was much as that formed during chlorination, whereas HANs were elevated by using bromination instead of chlorination. Dibromoacetonitrice (C2H2NBr2 ) and bromoform (CHBr3 ) were the only detected species during free bromine disinfection. The production of C2H2NBr2 and CHBr 3 increased with disinfectant dosage but decreased with dosing ammonia. CHBr3 increased with the pH changing from 5 to 9. However, C2H2NBr2 achieved the highest production at neutral pH, which was due to a joint effect of variation in hydrolysis rate and free bromine reactivity. The hydrolysis of C2H2NBr2 was base-catalytic and nearly unaffected by disinfectant. Finally, estimation of cytotoxicity of the disinfected algae solutions showed that HANs formation was responsible for the majority of toxicity. Considering its highest toxicity among the measured disinfection by-products, the elevated C2H2NBr2 should be considered when using bromine-related algaecide.     

Eutrophication development and its key regulating factors in a water-supply reservoir in North China

Yanghe Reservoir is an important source of drinking water for Qinhuangdao City,North China;however,in recent decades this water source has been eutrophic with recurrent summer cyanobacterial blooms.The trophic grade of the system in summer was mesotrophiceutrophic in 1990 and became hypertrophic in 2011.The nutrient availability is extremely high during the entire year,and the water temperature should be the primary driver of the summer blooms.In May-October of 2010 and 2011,abrupt variations were observed in the Secchi depth(SD) and chlorophyll a(Chl-a),and both the correlated analysis of Chl-a-SD and trophic status indices(TSI) deviation(TSI Chl-a-TSI SD) showed that algal cell density dominated light attenuation.During the algal bloom outbreak,the microcystin concentration was found to vary between 0.35-2.12 μg/L in 2010 and 0.11-1.86 μg/L in 2011.The maximum microcystin content was more than two times the safety limit required for drinking water.Inflow discharges were most concentrated in the summer,with periods of lower residence time and the largest water level fluctuation over the entire year.When a high availability of nutrients promoted a high Chl-a concentration in the whole system,it appeared that the instability caused by the decrease in residence time could not produce effective changes in the cyanobacterial abundance.The results indicated that nutrient enrichment in the aquatic systems of Yanghe Reservoir is the most serious problem and that the status would not been modified effectively by increasing hydrological fluctuations(e.g.,decreasing the residence time).Therefore,decreasing the nutrient concentrations is the only route to improve the water quality of this reservoir.     

Speciation of organic phosphorus in a sediment profile of Lake Taihu II. Molecular species and their depth attenuation

The understanding of organic phosphorus(P) dynamics in sediments requires information on their species at the molecular level,but such information in sediment profiles is scarce.A sediment profile was selected from a large eutrophic lake,Lake Taihu(China),and organic P species in the sediments were detected using solution phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy(31 P NMR) following extraction of the sediments with a mixture of 0.25 mol/L NaOH and 50 mmol/L EDTA(NaOH-EDTA) solution.The results showed that P in the NaOH-EDTA extracts was mainly composed of orthophosphate,orthophosphate monoesters,phospholipids,DNA,and pyrophosphate.Concentrations of the major organic P compound groups and pyrophosphate showed a decreasing trend with the increase of depth.Their half-life times varied from 3 to 27 years,following the order of orthophosphate monoesters > phospholipids DNA > pyrophosphate.Principal component analysis revealed that the detected organic P species had binding phases similar to those of humic acid-associated organic P(NaOH-NRP HA),a labile organic P pool that tends to transform to recalcitrant organic P pools as the early diagenetic processes proceed.This demonstrated that the depth attenuation of the organic P species could be partly attributed to their increasing immobilization by the sediment solids,while their degradation rates should be significantly lower than what were suggested in previous studies.     

2,2′-二硝基联苄生产废水的处理研究

对十六烷基三甲基溴化铵改性凹凸棒土、凹凸棒土负载TiO2采用XRD、FTIR以及TG等手段进行了分析和表征,对比了改性凹凸棒土、活性炭、大孔树脂等不同吸附剂和凹凸棒土负载TiO2对二硝基联苄生产废水的处理效果。结果表明:十六烷基三甲基溴化铵改性凹凸棒土的废水中污染物的去除率比凹凸棒土提高了2.5倍;凹凸棒土负载TiO2在波长λ=254 nm下光照0.5 h,对废水中污染物的去除率是凹凸棒土的2.0倍;投加量为3%活性炭在pH为2.0⁵.0时,对该类废水中污染物的去除率可达80%以上。     

溶解氧变化对底泥酶活性及微生物多样性的影响

采用室内静态实验考察了溶解氧变化对底泥酶活性影响,同时采用BIOLOG ECO微平板构造了不同溶解氧水平下底泥微生物多样性指数。结果表明:高溶解氧条件下,底泥多酚氧化酶及过氧化物酶活性显著高于缺氧条件及厌氧条件(P<0.01),脱氢酶活性高于背景值;厌氧条件下脱氢酶、脲酶及碱性磷酸酶活性显著高于高溶解氧组、缺氧组及背景值(P<0.05);缺氧条件下硝酸盐还原酶活性显著高于高溶解氧组及厌氧组(P<0.05);蛋白酶活性受溶解氧水平变化的影响较小。BIOLOG ECO微平板法分析表明,溶解氧变化对底泥微生物多样性有不同程度的负面影响,微生物多样性的降低程度从大到小依次为高溶解氧组>厌氧组>缺氧组。主成分分析结果表明:缺氧条件及厌氧条件下,底泥微生物对大分子有机物的利用出现不同程度的降低,相对地,高溶解氧条件下微生物对大分子有机物的利用程度呈现先下降后上升的趋势;高溶解氧组及缺氧组底泥微生物对碳水化合物利用程度升高,厌氧组对碳水化合物利用程度降低。总之,高溶解氧条件更有利于形成底泥有机物完整的代谢循环,提高大分子有机物的利用程度。     

昆明市主城区三种温室气体的月份和干、湿季的小时变化规律及原因分析

研究了昆明市主城区3种温室气体浓度的最新变化情况,采用2009年、2010年和2011年的月份和小时平均浓度数据,结合昆明市气候特点,对3种温室气体浓度的月份和干、湿季的小时变化规律及原因进行了分析。     

双水相浮选-HPLC法测定水中氯硝柳胺

文章建立了双水相浮选-高效液相色谱法来测定环境水中氯硝柳胺的含量。选择丙酮为亲水有机溶剂,40%(NH4)2SO4溶液为分相剂。当pH为3.0,氮气流速为20 min/mL,浮选时间为30 min时,萃取率达93.4%。该方法具有高效、绿色环保以及低成本等优点,是一种测定水样中氯硝柳胺含量的新方法。