Impact of Drip Irrigation Method,Soil, and Virus Type on Tomato and Cucumber Contamination

The goal of this study was to better quantify the degree of viral contamination of tomato and cucumber in relationship to virus type, soil type, and irrigation method. Tomatoes and cucumbers were grown in ten-gallon (37.8 L) buckets filled with Pima clay loam or Brazito sandy loam soils. Plants were irrigated with secondary wastewater effluent using surface drip irrigation or subsurface drip irrigation. At specified time intervals irrigation water was seeded with bacteriophages MS-2 and P22, poliovirus type 1 (PV1), enteric adenovirus 40 (Ead 40), and hepatitis A virus. Surface drip irrigation always resulted in viral contamination of both the above and below ground parts of both crops. The roots showed the greatest level of contamination, followed by leaves and fruits. In contrast, with subsurface drip irrigation no viruses were detected in any of the above ground plant surfaces. It was found that under similar soil type and irrigation method, risk of crop contamination was similar for all of the viruses studied. It can be concluded that method of irrigation is the single most critical factor in the contamination trend of different parts of crop plants. Plant parts can be categorized into three groups (root, stem, and leaf/fruit) based on the risk of viral contamination from irrigation water.     

Uneven Environmental Management: A Canadian Perspective

Advocates of community-based approaches to environmental management argue that by respecting local circumstances, skills, and concerns we may improve the prospects of achieving environmental sustainability; yet, within nation states such as Canada, environmental conditions, management and enforcement costs and capabilities, and power differentials within and among civic and public sectors may result in a highly differentiated capacity for environmental management across different localities and regions. This article draws on insights of political ecology to 1) create a conceptual framework that identifies key elements shaping regional environmental management regimes and to 2) undertake a comparative analysis to assess how elements interact to generate uneven management outcomes. I compare experiences of two Canadian biosphere reserves designated in 2000: Clayoquot Sound, BC; and Redberry Lake, SK. Analysis reveals that differences in governance and institutional capacities in the biosphere reserves are key to explaining uneven local outcomes. Where the public and civic sectors are strong, a robust and publicly vetted form of management will emerge. Where these sectors are weak and land is held as private property, environmental nongovernmental organizations can set the type and level of management, to the exclusion of effective civic and state involvement. This result may improve environmental sustainability but hinder social sustainability of a management regime and raises questions about the efficacy of community-based management.     

Structural Organization of Baculovirus Occlusion Bodies and Protective Role of Multilayered Polyhedron Envelope Protein

Baculoviruses are the ingenious insect pathogens. Outside the host, baculovirus occlusion bodies (OB) provide stability to occlusion-derived viruses (ODV) embedded within. The OB is an organized structure, chiefly composed of proteins namely polyhedrin, polyhedron envelope protein (PEP) and P10. Currently, the structural organization of OB is poorly understood and the role of OB proteins in conferring the stability to ODV is unknown. Here we have shown that the assembly of polyhedrin unit cells into an OB is a rapid process; the PEP forms in multiple layers; the PEP layers predominantly contribute to ODV viability. Full-grown OBs (n = 36) were found to be 4.0 ± 1.0 µm in diameter and possessed a peculiar geometry of a truncated rhombic dodecahedron. The atomic force microscopy (AFM) study on the structure of OBs at different stages of growth in insect cells revealed polyhedrin assembly and thickness of PEP layers. The thickness of PEP layers at 53 h post-transfection (hpt) ranged from 56 to 80 nm. Mature PEP layers filled up approximately one third of the OB volume. The size of ODV nucleocapsid was found to be 433 ± 10 nm in length. The zeta potential and particle size distribution study of viruses revealed the protective role of PEP layers. The presence of a multilayered PEP confers a viable advantage to the baculoviruses compared to single-layered PEP. Thus, these findings may help in developing PEP layer-based biopolymers for protein-based nanodevices, nanoelectrodes and more stable biopesticides.     

海河流域草地生态系统服务功能及其价值评估

草地生态系统为人类提供了畜产品和生命支持两个方面的多种服务功能,但人们常关注产品提供功能而忽视生命支持功能。研究采用联合国千年生态系统评估框架,构建了海河流域草地生态系统服务功能的评估指标体系,并以2005年为基准年,运用市场价值法、影子价格法等多种方法对海河流域草地生态系统进行经济价值评估。结果表明,海河流域草地面积为6.67×10¹⁰ m²,提供产品、固碳、保持土壤、净化环境等8项服务功能的总价值为2 216.28×10⁸元,单位面积价值为3.32元/(m²·a)。其中,提供产品的价值量最大,占总价值的31.3%,其次是固碳和营养物质保持功能的价值,分别占总价值的26.8%、22.2%。海河流域草地生态系统除了具有重要的产品提供功能外,固碳、营养物质保持等生命支持功能的巨大经济价值也不容忽视,平衡兼顾草地生态系统的产品提供功能和生命支持功能有助于促进海河流域经济社会发展与生态保护的协调。     

基于门限-STIRPAT扩展模型的区域碳排放达峰研究

中国政府提出要力争在2030年前实现碳达峰,因此积极探索不同发展模式下典型地区的碳达峰时间和峰值十分必要.将门限回归模型与STIRPAT模型相结合,构建门限-STIRPAT扩展模型,分析华东地区7个省市2005-2019年的碳排放,结合情景分析法,分别预测华东地区各省市2020-2040年的碳排放.结果表明:在基准情景的发展模式下,华东地区各省市均可在2030年实现碳达峰目标;在节能发展情景和绿色发展情景的模式下,各省市可以提前4～5年实现碳达峰目标.对于华东地区的7个省份,建议上海、江苏和浙江应以节能发展情景为标准进行产业发展规划;安徽、福建、江西和山东适合选择基准情景,并力争以节能发展情景为标准,布局产业发展.     

Impacts of climate variability and changes on domestic water use in the Yellow River Basin of China

We present a methodology for using a domestic water use time series that were obtained from Yellow River Conservancy Commission, together with the climatic records from the National Climate Center of China to evaluate the effects of climate variability on water use in the Yellow River Basin. A suit of seven Global Circulation Models (GCMs) were adopted to anticipate future climate patterns in the Yellow River. The historical records showed evidences of rises in temperature and subsequent rises in domestic water demand in the basin. For Upstream of Longyangxia region, the impact was the least, with only 0.0021?×?10⁸ m³ for a temperature increase of 1 °C; while for Longyangxia-Lanzhou region, domestic water use was found to increase to 0.18?×?10⁸ m³ when temperature increases 1 °C. Downstream of Huayuankou was the region with the most changes in temperature that gave the highest increase of 1.95?×?10⁸ m³ in domestic water demand for 1 °C of change of temperature. Downstream of Huayuankou was identified as the most vulnerable area, where domestic water demand increases nearly by 42.2 % with 1 °C increase of temperature. Judging from the trends of temperature range, we concluded that future temperature in Yellow River Basin has an increasing tendency. This could worsen the existing issues of domestic water demand and even more to trigger high competition among different water-using sectors.     

Effects of irrigation,fertilization and crop straw management on nitrous oxide and nitric oxide emissions from a wheat–maize rotation field in northern China

One-year winter wheat–summer maize rotation is the most popular double cropping system in north-central China, and this highly productive system is an important source of nitrous oxide (N₂O) and nitric oxide (NO) emissions due to the high fertilizer N and irrigation water inputs. To sustain the high crop production and mitigate the detrimental impacts of N₂O and NO emissions, improved management practices are extensively applied. The aim of this study is therefore to evaluate the effects of an improved management practice of irrigation, fertilization and crop straw on grain yield and N₂O and NO emissions for a wheat–maize rotation field in northern China. Using automated and manual chamber measuring systems, we monitored N₂O and NO fluxes for the conventional (CT, 2007–2008), improved (IT, 2007–2008), straw-amended (WS, 2008–2009), straw-not-amended (NS, 2008–2009), and no N-fertilizer treatments (WS–NN, 2008–2009), respectively, for one rotation-year. The grain yields were determined for CT and IT for three rotation-years (2005–2008) and for WS, NS and WS–NN for one rotation-year (2008–2009). The improved management of irrigation and fertilization reduced the annual N fertilization rate and irrigation amount by 17% and 30%, respectively; increased the maize yield by 7–14%; and significantly decreased the N₂O and NO emissions by 7% (p < 0.05) and 29% (p < 0.01), respectively. The incorporation of wheat straw increased the cumulative N₂O and NO emissions in the following maize season by 58% (p < 0.01) and 13%, respectively, whereas the effects of maize straw application were not remarkable. The N₂O and NO emission factors of applied N were 2.32 ± 2.32% and 0.42 ± 1.69% for wheat straw and 0.67 ± 0.23% and 0.54 ± 0.15% for chemical N-fertilizers, respectively. Compared to conventional management practices using high application rates of irrigation water and chemical N-fertilizer as well as the field burning of crop straw, the improved management strategy presented here has obvious environmentally positive effects on grain yield and mitigation of N₂O and NO emissions.     

城市复杂环境下涡度相关通量观测的适用性分析

利用涡度相关技术,于2008—2009年对北京325 m铁塔47 m、140 m和280 m高度处CO2和能量通量进行了观测.研究了涡度相关技术应用于城市环境通量长期观测中的理论问题和方法适用性.结果表明,平面拟合方法受地面建筑物的影响明显,不同的坐标旋转方法所计算CO2通量差异在15%以内,这种差异随着观测高度的增加而减小.稳态检验表明,城市环境下低质量的数据分布没有明显的日变化趋势.CO2通量在各自通量贡献区内明显受到平流输送的影响,47~140 m之间的平流约占140 m日累计CO2通量的33%.白天对流混合,污染物浓度梯度很小,垂直平流不大,水平平流占据了平流输送的绝大多数,夜间水平平流和垂直平流则具有相同量级.