Distribution and temporal trends of butyltins monitored by molluscs along the Chinese Bohai coast from 2002 to 2005

Thirteen areas around the Chinese Bohai coast, individuals including ten kinds of bivalves and two kinds of snails were collected during the period of 2002-2005 for the investigation of spatial distribution and temporal variations of butyltin compounds (BTs). BTs including tributyltin (TBT) and its derivates, dibutyltin (DBT) and monobutyltin (MBT) were quantified by gas chromatography/flame photometric detection after extraction and Grignard derivatization. BTs compounds were widely existed in the samples and TBT was the dominant composition, indicating recent TBT input along Bohai coast. As a whole, BTs concentration remained high during the sampling years except a slightly decreased in samples from several sites in 2005. The contamination characteristics of BTs in different sampling sites were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) method, and the species specific bioaccumulation of BTs was also identified using cluster analysis.     

The spatial-temporal differentiation of green land use in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration

ABSTRACT

As the space carrier of the construction of ecological civilization, land’s green and efficient utilization is an important guarantee for realizing national sustainable development. Based on traditional land evaluation, this paper scientifically defines the green land use, puts land as one of the production factors, and brings energy consumption, environmental pollution, etc. into the input-output system to measure the green land utilization efficiency of the urban construction land of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration from 2006 to 2016. The study shows that the overall efficiency variation of the urban agglomeration is related with the land and environment policies. Efficiency of 2016 is higher than that of 2006, and energy and environment are the principal factors affecting the green land use. The efficiency of each city is positively correlated with its economic development, negatively correlated with the construction land expansion. Efficiency gaps in different cities are expanding. There is positive correlation with overall weak space between cities, and the partial spatial agglomeration phenomenon appears. Therefore, the green land use efficiency could be improved by improving land utilization efficiency, coordinating economic growth of construction land utilization with environmental protection and taking feasible ways to transregional renovation of the stock ecological land utilization, etc.     

新民居建设中农村环境教育的发展思路

新民居建设是建设社会主义新农村的重要举措,发展农村环境教育能有效促进农村环境的改善。我国农村环境教育目前存在重视程度不够、教育主体和方式相对单一以及缺乏必要的教育目标等问题。在发展农村环境教育方面明确受教育的主体,并从扩大教育实施主体、开展直接教育和间接教育以及增加政府财经投入等方面入手,才能实现经济发展与农村环境改善的协调发展。     

Incidence of organochlorine pesticides in soils of Shenzhen, China

To determine the incidence of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in soil in a rapid urbanization region, soil samples from various land use types in Shenzhen were collected in winter, 2007. The concentration of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs) and hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) ranged from non-detected to 149 ng g(-1) and 19 to 88 ng g(-1), respectively. The highest levels of OCPs were observed in soil from traffic and industry areas, reflecting that intensive human disturbance make the soil pollution accumulation more disperse. HCHs and DDTs profiles revealed that the sources were associated mainly with lindane and technical DDTs, respectively, while HCHs in the soil of Shenzhen might originate from both recent and historical sources. The loss of OCPs by soil erosion will enter surface runoff and impose impact on the water environment. Non-dietary exposure estimation indicates that children were the most sensitive group. The average daily exposure to OCPs for males was more serious than for females. Non-dietary exposure to DDTs and HCHs in residential blocks of Shenzhen were far below the acceptable daily intake recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization.     

Fate estimation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soils in a rapid urbanization region, Shenzhen of China

Our previous study indicated that the current level of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Shenzhen soil is in the low-end of world soil PAH pollution. In this study, the fate of PAHs in the soil of Shenzhen was investigated. The mass inventories of Σ(27)PAHs and Σ(15)PAHs (defined as the sum of the 27 or 15 PAH compounds sought) in topsoil of Shenzhen were ～204 and ～152 metric tons, respectively. Fate estimation of Σ(15)PAHs shows that air-soil gaseous exchange is the primary environmental process with ～10,076 kg/year diffusing from soil to air. Rain washing (～1131 kg/year from air to soil) is the most important input pathway followed by wet (～17 kg/year) and dry deposition (～8 kg/year) to soils in Shenzhen. The transport of Σ(15)PAHs by soil erosion is a crucial loss process for soil PAHs in Shenzhen (1918 kg/year for water runoff and 657 kg/year for solid runoff from soil). Moreover, degradation is not ignorable at present (95 kg/year). Comparison of inventory and residue (defined as Σ(15)PAHs left in topsoils after all environmental loss processes) suggested that input and loss of high molecular weight PAHs for Shenzhen's soil reached apparent equilibrium. Soil PAH pollution in Shenzhen will stay in a quasi-steady state for a long period and the natural environmental processes can not significantly reduce the pollution.     

Enhanced nitrogen removal upon the addition of volatile fatty acids from activated sludge by combining calcium peroxide and low-thermal pretreatments

This study investigated a combined low-thermal and CaO₂ pretreatment to enhance the volatile fatty acid (VFA) production from waste activated sludge (WAS). The fermentative product was added to a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) as an external carbon source to enhance nitrogen removal. The results showed that the combined pretreatment improved WAS solubilization, releasing more biodegradable substrates, such as proteins and polysaccharides, from TB-EPS to LB-EPS and S-EPS. The maximum VFA production of 3529 ± 188 mg COD/L was obtained in the combined pretreatment (0.2 g CaO₂/g VS + 70 °C for 60 min), which was 2.1 and 1.4-fold of that obtained from the sole low-thermal pretreatment and the control test, respectively. Consequently, when the fermentative liquid was added as an external denitrification carbon source, the effluent total nitrogen decreased to Class A of the discharge standard for pollutants in rural wastewater treatment plants in most areas of China.     

Programmed cell death induced by modified clay in controlling Prorocentrum donghaiense bloom

Modified clay (MC), an effective material used for the emergency elimination of algal blooms, can rapidly reduce the biomass of harmful algal blooms (HABs) via flocculation. After that, MC can still control bloom population through indirect effects such as oxidative stress, which was initially proposed to be related to programmed cell death (PCD) at molecular level. To further study the MC induced cell death in residual bloom organisms, especially identifying PCD process, we studied the physiological state of the residual Prorocentrum donghaiense. The experimental results showed that flocculation changed the physiological state of the residual cells, as evidenced by growth inhibition and increased reactive oxygen species production. Moreover, this research provides biochemical and ultrastructural evidence showing that MC induces PCD in P. donghaiense. Nuclear changes were observed, and increased caspase-like activity, externalization of phosphatidylserine and DNA fragmentation were detected in MC-treated groups and quantified. And the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway was activated in both MC-treated groups. Besides, the features of MC-induced PCD in a unicellular organism were summarized and its concentration dependent manner was proved. All our preliminary results elucidate the mechanism through which MC can further control HABs by inducing PCD and suggest a promising application of PCD in bloom control.     

Fabrication and characterization of lightweight aggregate prepared from steel mill sludge in one step

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - The qualified green lightweight aggregate (LWA) was successfully prepared from steel mill sludge (SMS) and fly ash (FAS) in one step using the...     

Improving protected area effectiveness through consideration of different human-pressure baselines

Previous assessments of the effectiveness of protected areas (PAs) focused primarily on changes in human pressure over time and did not consider the different human-pressure baselines of PAs, thereby potentially over- or underestimating PA effectiveness. We developed a framework that considers both human-pressure baseline and change in human pressure over time and assessed the effectiveness of 338 PAs in China from 2010 to 2020. The initial state of human pressure on PAs was taken as the baseline, and changes in human pressure index (HPI) were further analyzed under different baselines. We used the random forest models to identify the management measures that most improved effectiveness in resisting human pressure for the PAs with different baselines. Finally, the relationships between the changes in the HPI and the changes in natural ecosystems in PAs were analyzed with different baselines. Of PAs with low HPI baselines, medium HPI baselines, and high HPI baselines, 76.92% (n=150), 11.11% (n=12), and 22.86% (n=8) , respectively, showed positive effects in resisting human pressure. Overall, ignoring human-pressure baselines somewhat underestimated the positive effects of PAs, especially for those with low initial human pressure. For PAs with different initial human pressures, different management measures should be taken to improve effectiveness and reduce threats to natural ecosystems. We believe our framework is useful for assessing the effectiveness of PAs globally, and we recommend it be included in the Convention on Biological Diversity Post-2020 Strategy.