Experimental and Ecological Implications of Evening Bird Surveys in Stream-Riparian Ecosystems

Stream-riparian ecosystems are dynamic and complex entities that can support high levels of bird assemblage abundance and diversity. The myriad patches (e.g., aquatic, floodplain, riparian) found in the riverscape habitat mosaic attract a unique mixture of aquatic, semiaquatic, riparian, and upland birds, each uniquely utilizing the river corridor. Whereas standard morning bird surveys are widely used across ecosystems, the variety of bird guilds and the temporal habitat partitioning that likely occur in stream-riparian ecosystems argue for the inclusion of evening surveys. At 41 stream reaches in Vermont and Idaho, USA, we surveyed bird assemblages using a combination of morning and evening fixed-width transect counts. Student’s paired t-tests showed that while bird abundance was not significantly different between morning and evening surveys, bird assemblage diversity (as measured by species richness, Shannon-Weiner’s index, and Simpson’s index) was significantly higher in the morning than in the evening. NMS ordinations of bird species and time (i.e., morning, evening) indicated that the structure of morning bird assemblages was different from that of evening assemblages. NMS further showed that a set of species was only found in evening surveys. The inclusion of evening counts in surveying bird assemblages in stream-riparian ecosystems has important experimental and ecological implications. Experimentally, the sole use of morning bird surveys may significantly underestimate the diversity and misrepresent the community composition of bird assemblages in these ecosystems. Ecologically, many of the birds detected in evening surveys were water-associated species that occupy high trophic levels and aerial insectivores that represent unique aquatic-terrestrial energy transfers.     

时间因素在安全评价中的作用

安全评价的主要作用是为生产经营单位和监管部门准确反映系统的安全状态,为安全生产管理和监管提供决策依据,但目前的评价结果只能反映某一特定时刻的系统情况,而对未来一段时间系统安全状况的变化情况不能做出预判,如果能有效考虑时间因素,安全评价的结果将更加完善.     

Remediation aspect of microbial changes of plant rhizosphere in mercury contaminated soil

Phytoremediation, an approach that uses plants to remediate contaminated soil through degradation, stabilization or accumulation, may provide an efficient solution to some mercury contamination problems. This paper presents growth chamber experiments that tested the ability of plant species to stabilize mercury in soil. Several indigenous herbaceous species and Salix viminalis were grown in soil collected from a mercury-contaminated site in southern Poland. The uptake and distribution of mercury by these plants were investigated, and the growth and vitality of the plants through a part of one vegetative cycle were assessed. The highest concentrations of mercury were found at the roots, but translocation to the aerial part also occurred. Most of the plant species tested displayed good growth on mercury contaminated soil and sustained a rich microbial population in the rhizosphere. The microbial populations of root-free soil and rhizosphere soil from all species were also examined. An inverse correlation between the number of sulfur amino acid decomposing bacteria and root mercury content was observed. These results indicate the potential for using some species of plants to treat mercury contaminated soil through stabilization rather than extraction. The present investigation proposes a practical cost-effective temporary solution for phytostabilization of soil with moderate mercury contamination as well as the basis for plant selection.     

A GIS-based Study for Optimizing the Total Emission Control Strategy in Lanzhou City

A geographic information system (GIS)-based approach with spatial analysis advantages was developed to optimize the total emission control scheme on air pollution in Lanzhou, combined with Models-3 modeling system and a linear programming model. GIS system is mainly used for establishing a multifactor assessment model to quantitatively divide environmental functional zone, and also used for selecting control sites in linear programming model. The results show that most of the urban area belongs to the second type of function, which is 122.8 km² occupying about 76.5% and the third type of about 32.9 km² occupying 20.5%. To reach the air quality up to the national standard in the entire control area, some large-emission factories need to cut emissions from 19% to 27%. For small but low-emission height sources, the cut may be as high 40%. The improvement of the ecological environment is urgently needed for controlling the background particle pollution in Lanzhou city.     

Study on Management and Control of Nonpoint Source Pollution from Urban Surface Runoff

Urbanization is the dominant form of land-use change in terms of impacts on water quality, hydrology, physical properties of watersheds and their nonpoint source （NPS） pollution po-tential at present. Urbanization has changed the source, process and sink of urban NPS pollution, especially raised the pollution load of urban runoff NPS in receiving water. Urban runoff pollution is a hot spot of research on NPS. This paper analyzed type, source and harm of the NPS pollutants of urban runoff and its influence on the receiving water. Through estimating NPS pollution load of urban runoff and summarizing the law and characteristics of urban runoff NPS systemically, study on management and control of urban runoff NPS pollution was focused on the application of BMPs （best management practices）. It is a fresh methodology that management and control on NPS pollution from urban surface runoff was analyzed by methods of landscape ecology, environmental economics and environmental management. The paper provided a scientific reference for mitigating urban water environment pressure and an effective method for management and control of NPS pollution from urban surface runoff.     

Vacuum pyrolysis of waste tires with basic additives

Granules of waste tires were pyrolyzed under vacuum (3.5-10kPa) conditions, and the effects of temperature and basic additives (Na(2)CO(3), NaOH) on the properties of pyrolysis were thoroughly investigated. It was obvious that with or without basic additives, pyrolysis oil yield increased gradually to a maximum and subsequently decreased with a temperature increase from 450 degrees C to 600 degrees C, irrespective of the addition of basic additives to the reactor. The addition of NaOH facilitated pyrolysis dramatically, as a maximal pyrolysis oil yield of about 48wt% was achieved at 550 degrees C without the addition of basic additives, while a maximal pyrolysis oil yield of about 50wt% was achieved at 480 degrees C by adding 3wt% (w/w, powder/waste tire granules) of NaOH powder. The composition analysis of pyrolytic naphtha (i.b.p. (initial boiling point) approximately 205 degrees C) distilled from pyrolysis oil showed that more dl-limonene was obtained with basic additives and the maximal content of dl-limonene in pyrolysis oil was 12.39wt%, which is a valuable and widely-used fine chemical. However, no improvement in pyrolysis was observed with Na(2)CO(3) addition. Pyrolysis gas was mainly composed of H(2), CO, CH(4), CO(2), C(2)H(4) and C(2)H(6). Pyrolytic char had a surface area comparable to commercial carbon black, but its proportion of ash (above 11.5wt%) was much higher.     

高校文书档案立卷改革的探索与应用

传统的立卷程序繁琐复杂,既浪费了人力、物力和财力,利用效果也不理想。随着社会的发展,传统的文书立卷方法已不适应档案管理现代化的需要,必须转变观念,把工作重点由“重藏轻用”转移到“简化管理、强化检索、重在利用”的新思路上来。新的规则取消了案卷,以件为单位进行整理归档,简单、易学、实用,有利于档案的保护、查找和利用。在新规则的实践过程中,档案工作者也需灵活掌握,改进工作方法。     

Photocatalytic degradation of lignin using Pt/TiO2 as the catalyst

Photocatalytic degradation of lignin was studied with the use of catalysts TiO(2) and Pt/TiO(2). The influence of several experimental parameters, i.e. pH, catalyst dosage and illumination on lignin degradation was investigated. The results showed that application of UV irradiation alone has almost no effect on the reduction of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and American Dye Manufacture Institute value (ADMI). However, the addition of TiO(2) and Pt/TiO(2) reduced the original DOC (251 mg l(-1)) by more than 40% within 30 min of treatment and the reaction can be simulated with pseudo-first order kinetics. Rapid degradation of lignin was observed in acidic solution using either TiO(2) or Pt/TiO(2) as the catalyst compared to high pH cases. The content of Pt in the Pt/TiO(2) catalyst is 1%. In addition, too much catalyst addition has not increased the DOC and ADMI reduction proportionally. The investigation also indicated that the photocatalytic degradation rates could be enhanced 1-6 times faster after doping TiO(2) with Pt in different pH cases. A modified Nernst type model was adopted to simulate the decoloring process using TiO(2) and Pt/TiO(2) based on the profiles of oxidation reduction potential during the photocatalytic reaction. The developed equation can be used to predict the color removal efficiency of lignin wastewater by the photocatalytic process.     

Kinetic degradation processes of butyl- and phenyltins in soils

The degradation of organotin compounds (OTC) in agricultural and forest soils is studied in sandy soil samples. Individual experiments involving the three butyl- and the three phenyltins were carried out during 90 d in controlled conditions (darkness, 28 degrees C, aerobic conditions, 13% moisture) and with spiking concentration representative of environmental levels (20-50 micrg(Sn) kg(-1)). After the validation of first-order degradation kinetic model, mechanisms involved throughout the study were considered. Degradation pathways are proposed for butyl- and phenyltins and discussed according to literature data. The degradation of mono- (MBT, MPhT), di-organotins (DBT, DPhT) and TBT is clearly identified as a single successive loss of an organic group whereas TPhT is directly degraded to MPhT. The half-life times were dependent on their substitution degree, ranging from 24 (TPhT) to 220 (MBT) d. The less substituted the OTC is, the more persistent it is. In the range 4.3-5.7, pH does not seem to influence OTC degradation under the present operating conditions. Finally this study shows the significant persistence in soil samples in our experimental conditions for most of studied organotins and highlights the potential impact on soil quality.     

A novel sustainable decision making model for municipal solid waste management

This paper reviews several models developed to support decision making in municipal solid waste management (MSWM). The concepts underlying sustainable MSWM models can be divided into two categories: one incorporates social factors into decision making methods, and the other includes public participation in the decision-making process. The public is only apprised or takes part in discussion, and has little effect on decision making in most research efforts. Few studies have considered public participation in the decision-making process, and the methods have sought to strike a compromise between concerned criteria, not between stakeholders. However, the source of the conflict arises from the stakeholders' complex web of value. Such conflict affects the feasibility of implementing any decision. The purpose of this study is to develop a sustainable decision making model for MSWM to overcome these shortcomings. The proposed model combines multicriteria decision making (MCDM) and a consensus analysis model (CAM). The CAM is built up to aid in decision-making when MCDM methods are utilized and, subsequently, a novel sustainable decision making model for MSWM is developed. The main feature of CAM is the assessment of the degree of consensus between stakeholders for particular alternatives. A case study for food waste management in Taiwan is presented to demonstrate the practicality of this model.