Resource partitioning by reef corals as determined from stable isotope composition

The pattern of resource partitioning vs depth by corals collected in February 1983 from Jamaica and the Red Sea was determined from their stable carbon isotope composition. Observations were made on isolated zooxanthellae and corresponding algae-free animal tissue from eight species at four depths over a 50 m bathymetric range. Zooxanthellae ¹³C was high in shallow water and became lower as depth increased. This trend correlated significantly with the anual integrated photosynthetic rate. The trend is interpreted according to a depletion-diffusion hypothesis; in shallow water, at high rates of photosynthesis, metabolic CO₂ is nearly depleted and the supply of CO₂ from seawater bicarbonate is limited by diffusion. Since most of the available CO₂ is fixed, isotope fractionation is minimal. In deeper water, at lower rates of photosynthesis, metabolic CO₂ is ample, and isotope fractionation is greater. Animal tissue ¹³C was slightly lower than corresponding zooxanthellae values in shallow water. As depth increased the difference between zooxanthellae and animal tissue ¹³C increased and the latter approached the ¹³C of oceanic particulate organic carbon. These data suggest that carbon is translocated at all depths and that deep-water corals draw significantly on allocthonous sources of carbon.Contribution No. 436 of the Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory of the University of the West Indies     

基于厌氧氨氧化的城镇生活污水深度脱氮工艺研究

随着城镇生活污水排放标准的日益严格,现有城市污水处理厂普遍面临提标改造的挑战,较多污水处理厂采用三级脱氮工艺降低出水中氮素含量.本研究以磁混凝预处理后的生活污水为研究对象,采用厌氧氨氧化工艺作为三级脱氮工艺,构建含有生物膜和絮体污泥的UASB反应器,处理A/O（二级生化单元）出水,研究串联、分流进水以及回流等条件下系统的脱氮及有机物去除性能,并通过微生物群落分析揭示各阶段的菌群结构变化.结果表明,当UASB串联A/O时,系统出水氨氮、TN和COD分别为1.21、10.02和30.00 mg·L^-1.当进水分流比为15%时,提升了UASB的脱氮速率（从0.04升高至0.06 kg·m^-3·d^-1）,UASB分别贡献了系统TN、NH₄⁺-N和COD去除总量的23.4%、20%和20.7%,当系统出水回流到A区时,能进一步降低出水污染物浓度,NH₄⁺-N仅为1 mg·L^-1,TN为12.03 mg·L^-1.微生物群落结构分析结果表明,在A/O反应器内Proteobacteria为主要菌门,UASB内Planctomycetes门实现富集,生物膜中Planctomycetes丰度为1.93%~8.39%,厌氧氨氧化细菌（以Candidatus Kuenenia为代表）在生物膜和污泥絮体中丰度分别为0.77%~2.19%和0.01%~1.49%.本研究结果表明,基于厌氧氨氧化的三级脱氮工艺能够实现生活污水的深度脱氮,在不增加曝气与碳源投加成本的同时高效去除氨氮、总氮,可为城市生活污水处理厂改造升级提供技术支撑.     

对新疆某铀伴生煤矿辐射环境影响分析及污染防治探讨

通过对新疆某煤矿辐射环境影响问题的调查与分析,阐明铀伴生煤矿对周围环境存在着不同程度的放射性影响,并在调查与分析的基础上,针对调查煤矿日前存在的问题提出了一些污染防治的对策和措施,以期为今后伴生放射性煤矿的环境管理决策提供有力依据。     

South African mining equipment and specialist services: Technological capacity,export performance and policy

South Africa has developed a technologically sophisticated and globally competitive mining equipment and specialist services sector. The paper provides evidence for and measurement of technological competency and global competitiveness and a brief outline of why South Africa was successful in this regard. While there are significant prospects for future growth, there are, at the same time, a number of constraints and South Africa is becoming a less advantageous site for both production and for innovation. Current government policy does not address these constraints and the sector does not feature in government’s vision for industrial or technology development. An alternative approach is proposed whereby the constraints are addressed and the companies supplying the mining sector that have sophisticated technological competencies are encouraged to spread “laterally” into new products and new global markets. By way of conclusion, the importance of this sector in developing countries where mining plays a major role is outlined.     

Carbon exchange between ecosystems and atmosphere in the Czech Republic is affected by climate factors

By comparing five ecosystem types in the Czech Republic over several years, we recorded the highest carbon sequestration potential in an evergreen Norway spruce forest (100%) and an agroecosystem (65%), followed by European beech forest (25%) and a wetland ecosystem (20%). Because of a massive ecosystem respiration, the final carbon gain of the grassland was negative. Climate was shown to be an important factor of carbon uptake by ecosystems: by varying the growing season length (a 22-d longer season in 2005 than in 2007 increased carbon sink by 13%) or by the effect of short- term synoptic situations (e.g. summer hot and dry days reduced net carbon storage by 58% relative to hot and wet days). Carbon uptake is strongly affected by the ontogeny and a production strategy which is demonstrated by the comparison of seasonal course of carbon uptake between coniferous (Norway spruce) and deciduous (European beech) stands.     

Sequential extraction of cadmium in different soil phases and plant parts from a former industrialized area

Cd concentrations in mobile phases of soil are more representative than total Cd concentration for estimating Cd bioavailability, physicochemical reactivity and mobility. In this study, selective sequential extraction procedures were used to determine Cd in different soil phases. Soil samples and plants grown in these soils were collected from a serpentine and copper-mining area in Maden-Elazig-Turkey. The extracted fractions were exchangeable/carbonate, reducible-iron/manganese oxides, oxidizable-organic matter and sulfides, and residual phases except silicates. Concentrations of Cd in soils and plant samples were determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. We found that Cd concentrations in the EDTA and NH₂OH·HCl extracts are higher in most soil samples compared to the other extracts. We conclude that Cd levels in mobile phases are unexpectedly high. The observed Cd concentrations are in ranges of 0.03–3.4 mg kg⁻¹ for soil and 0.02–2.5 mg kg⁻¹ for plant parts. The percentages of cadmium up to 56% in exchangeable and carbonates fractions were observed to be significantly higher than in those values less than 2% reported in literature. This study has shown that the modified extraction method can be usefully applied to determine Cd concentrations in potentially mobile phase of soil. Furthermore, it was concluded that Brassicasea and Rumex leaves can be used as hyperaccumulator plants because their translocation factor and/or enrichment coefficient values were found to be higher than 1.0.     

部分亚硝化-厌氧氨氧化处理磁混凝生活污水

以磁混凝预处理后的生活污水为处理对象,构建了部分亚硝化-厌氧氨氧化分体式反应器,通过曝气调控与生物强化促进部分亚硝化反应的稳定进行,并耦合厌氧氨氧化反应进行深度脱氮.近100d的运行结果表明,在生物强化和间歇曝气的控制条件下,亚硝酸盐积累率达到了89.93%;提高亚硝化反应器中曝气阶段溶解氧浓度（从0.6~0.8mg/L升高至1.0~1.2mg/L）有利于氨氮与总氮去除.该系统最高能够去除95.45%的氨氮和86.28%的总氮,实现了稳定、高效脱氮;磁混凝预处理后的生活污水在亚硝化反应器中,间歇曝气条件促进了残留的溶解性有机物为反硝化提供碳源,COD总去除率达到64.65%~74.42%,并且亚硝化反应器出水与系统最终出水的有机物组分相似,主要为难降解有机物.