危险废物规范化管理措施研究

危险废物对人类和环境能产生极大的危害,具有"废物"和"资源"的双重属性。危险废物环境管理是从其产生、收集、贮存、转移、处置利用的全过程管理。文章阐述了危险废物的管理现状和特点,结合当前危险废物规范化管理面临的严峻形势,从完善法律法规体系、摸清危险废物底数、提升企业危险废物管理水平、推进危险废物处置项目建设、加强监管能力建设、加强宣传培训等方面提出了一些行之有效的合理化建议、对策,以更好地促进危险废物的管理工作。     

重金属污染土壤的植物修复技术研究进展探讨

大多数传统的重金属污染治理技术成本高,会引起土壤肥力下降,对各类生态系统造成负面影响。植物修复技术是一种成本低、环境友好的方法,不会对土壤性质和生态系统产生不利影响。文章综述了植物修复治理重金属污染土壤的研究进展,探讨如何通过采取物理、化学、生物技术及农艺措施等方法提高修复植物的生物量和重金属积累量并展望了今后的研究方向。     

大型河流大面积死鱼应急监测案例分析研究

以湖南湘江干流大面积死鱼突发环境事件为例,详细阐述了该事件开展应急监测的全过程,并就河流大面积死鱼突发环境事件应急监测方案、监测指标确定、原因分析等内容进行探讨。溶解氧低是死鱼的主要原因,而大体量低溶解氧污染团的形成与持续高温干旱天气、暴雨以及特殊的开闸放水方式有关。所分析的案例为死鱼事件应急监测工作提供借鉴和参考。     

碳排放现状及驱动因素分解实证分析研究——以东莞市为例

根据IPCC碳排放计算指南核算东莞市2005年-2011年期间能源消费的碳排放量,并进行现状分析和采用对数平均权重分解法（LMDI）因素分解分析.研究结果表明：碳排放总量以5.8％速度增长,而碳排放强度以5.8％速度递减;煤是碳排放主源,但所占比重逐年下降;工业碳排放量比重最大,但是增速减慢;交通业、服务业和居民生活碳排放量及所占比重逐年增加;经济规模的扩大是拉动东莞市人均碳排放的决定因素,累计效应远高于能源效率和能源结构对碳减排影响.     

An estimated 400–800 million tons of prey are annually killed by the global spider community

Spiders have been suspected to be one of the most important groups of natural enemies of insects worldwide. To document the impact of the global spider community as insect predators, we present estimates of the biomass of annually killed insect prey. Our estimates assessed with two different methods suggest that the annual prey kill of the global spider community is in the range of 400–800 million metric tons (fresh weight), with insects and collembolans composing >90% of the captured prey. This equals approximately 1‰ of the global terrestrial net primary production. Spiders associated with forests and grasslands account for >95% of the annual prey kill of the global spider community, whereas spiders in other habitats are rather insignificant contributors over a full year. The spider communities associated with annual crops contribute less than 2% to the global annual prey kill. This, however, can be partly explained by the fact that annual crop fields are “disturbed habitats” with a low buildup of spider biomass and that agrobiont spiders often only kill prey over short time periods in a year. Our estimates are supported by the published results of exclusion experiments, showing that the number of herbivorous/detritivorous insects and collembolans increased significantly after spider removal from experimental plots. The presented estimates of the global annual prey kill and the relative contribution of spider predation in different biomes improve the general understanding of spider ecology and provide a first assessment of the global impact of this very important predator group.     

Insights into the role of age and social interactions on the sexual attractiveness of queens in an eusocial bee, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Melipona flavolineata</Emphasis> (Apidae,Meliponini)

The attraction of sexual partners is a vital necessity among insects, and it involves conflict of interests and complex communication systems among male and female. In this study, we investigated the developing of sexual attractiveness in virgin queens (i.e., gynes) of Melipona flavolineata, an eusocial stingless bee. We followed the development of sexual attractiveness in 64 gynes, belonging to seven age classes (0, 3, 6, 9, 15, 18 days post-emergence), and we also evaluated the effect of different social interactions (such as competition between queens and interactions with workers) on the development of attractiveness in other 60 gynes. We used the number of males that tried to mate with a focal gyne as a representative variable of its sexual attractiveness. During the essays, each gyne was individually presented to 10 sexually mature males, and during 3 min, we counted the number of males that everted their genitalia in response to the presence of a gyne. Here, we show that M. flavolineata gynes are capable to (i) maintain their sexual attractiveness for long periods through adult life, (ii) they need a minimum social interaction to trigger the development of sexual attractiveness, and (iii) that gynes express this trait only within a social context. We conclude that the effective occurrence of matings is conditional on potential social interactions that gynes experienced before taking the nuptial flight, when they are still in the nest. These findings bring insights into the factors determining reproductive success in social insects.     

The first direct evidence of a Late Devonian coelacanth fish feeding on conodont animals

We describe the first known occurrence of a Devonian coelacanth specimen from the lower Famennian of the Holy Cross Mountains, Poland, with a conodont element preserved in its digestive tract. A small spiral and phosphatic coprolite (fossil excrement) containing numerous conodont elements and other unrecognized remains was also found in the same deposits. The coprolite is tentatively attributed to the coelacanth. Although it is unclear whether the Late Devonian coelacanth from Poland was an active predator or a scavenger, these finds provide the first direct evidence of feeding on conodont animals by early coelacanth fish, and one of the few evidences of feeding on these animals known to date. It also expands our knowledge about the diet and trophic relations between the Paleozoic marine animals in general.     

Sexual differences in food preferences in the white stork: an experimental study

Sex differences in the foraging ecology of monomorphic species are poorly understood, due to problems with gender identification in field studies. In the current study, we used experimental conditions to investigate the food preferences of the white stork Ciconia ciconia, an opportunistic species in terms of food, but characterised by a low level of sexual dimorphism. During a 10-day experiment, 29 individuals (20 females and 9 males) were studied by means of a ‘cafeteria test’ in which the storks’ diet consisted of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, insects and earthworms. The storks preferred food characterised by high calorific and protein values such as mammals, birds and fish. Sexes differed strongly in their preferences; males preferred mammals, whereas females preferred birds. Moreover, females consumed insects and earthworms less often than males. Interestingly, males spent significantly less time foraging than females. We have demonstrated that the white stork exhibits clear sexual differences in food preferences which are mostly attributable to differences in parental duties, physiology and anatomy.     

Genetic sex determination in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Astatotilapia calliptera</Emphasis>, a prototype species for the Lake Malawi cichlid radiation

East African cichlids display extensive variation in sex determination systems. The species Astatotilapia calliptera is one of the few cichlids that reside both in Lake Malawi and in surrounding waterways. A. calliptera is of interest in evolutionary studies as a putative immediate outgroup species for the Lake Malawi species flock and possibly as a prototype ancestor-like species for the radiation. Here, we use linkage mapping to test association of sex in A. calliptera with loci that have been previously associated with genetic sex determination in East African cichlid species. We identify a male heterogametic XY system segregating at linkage group (LG) 7 in an A. calliptera line that originated from Lake Malawi, at a locus previously shown to act as an XY sex determination system in multiple species of Lake Malawi cichlids. Significant association of genetic markers and sex produce a broad genetic interval of approximately 26 megabases (Mb) using the Nile tilapia genome to orient markers; however, we note that the marker with the strongest association with sex is near a gene that acts as a master sex determiner in other fish species. We demonstrate that alleles of the marker are perfectly associated with sex in Metriaclima mbenjii, a species from the rock-dwelling clade of Lake Malawi. While we do not rule out the possibility of other sex determination loci in A. calliptera, this study provides a foundation for fine mapping of the cichlid sex determination gene on LG7 and evolutionary context regarding the origin and persistence of the LG7 XY across diverse, rapidly evolving lineages.