Multi-decadal changes in tundra environments and ecosystems: synthesis of the International Polar Year-Back to the Future project (IPY-BTF)

Understanding the responses of tundra systems to global change has global implications. Most tundra regions lack sustained environmental monitoring and one of the only ways to document multi-decadal change is to resample historic research sites. The International Polar Year (IPY) provided a unique opportunity for such research through the Back to the Future (BTF) project (IPY project #512). This article synthesizes the results from 13 papers within this Ambio Special Issue. Abiotic changes include glacial recession in the Altai Mountains, Russia; increased snow depth and hardness, permafrost warming, and increased growing season length in sub-arctic Sweden; drying of ponds in Greenland; increased nutrient availability in Alaskan tundra ponds, and warming at most locations studied. Biotic changes ranged from relatively minor plant community change at two sites in Greenland to moderate change in the Yukon, and to dramatic increases in shrub and tree density on Herschel Island, and in subarctic Sweden. The population of geese tripled at one site in northeast Greenland where biomass in non-grazed plots doubled. A model parameterized using results from a BTF study forecasts substantial declines in all snowbeds and increases in shrub tundra on Niwot Ridge, Colorado over the next century. In general, results support and provide improved capacities for validating experimental manipulation, remote sensing, and modeling studies.     

Climate capacity:the measurement for adaptation to climate change

This article proposed the concept of"climate capacity"as a way of measuring human’s adaptiveness to climate change.This article also focused on the related concepts like ecological carrying capacity,water resources carrying capacity,land carrying capacity as well as population carrying capacity.The concept of climate capacity was articulated against a background of global climate and environmental change.Essentially,China’s efforts to adapt to climate change was a matter of improving climate capacity,which is the ecosystem as well as the frequency,the intensity and the scale of human’s social activities that the climatic resources of a particular geographic area were supposed to support.The climate capacity has two components.One is the natural climate capacity,which includes temperature,sunlight,precipitation,extreme climatic events,etc.The other is the derived climate capacity,which includes water resources,land resources,ecological systems,climatic risks,etc.The climate capacity can be developed or be transferred between regions by taking engineering,technology or regime-based adaptive measures.However,these adaptive measures must be implemented under the principle of economic rationalism,ecological integrity,climate protection,and social justice.It is expected that by combining the climate capacity and its threshold value with the assessment of climate change risks,we are able to predict the optimal population carrying capacity and the scale of socioeconomic development,and furthermore,provide policy support for the socioeconomic development strategy and adaptive planning.In the regions with high climate capacity,there is a symbiotic relationship between adaptation and socioeconomic development.But,in the regions with limited climate capacity,irrational development may further damage the environment.Taking the Yangtze River delta,a region with high climate capacity,and a region of Ningxia,a region with limited climate capacity,as illustrative examples,the authors of this article analyzed the policy implications of climate capacity and further made suggestions on the problems of capacitylimited adaptation and development-driven adaptation.This article argued that the concept of climate capacity can not only be used as an analytical instrument of climate change economics,but also it can provide research support for planning regional adaptation and development with climate change impact and risk assessments.     

Aerosol concentration and particle size distributions in underground excavations of a hard coal mine

Deposition of aerosols in the respiratory system depends inter alia on their size and the respiratory tract deposition is appreciable for nanometer-sized particles. This article presents the results of measurements of size distributions of aerosols in the range of several nanometers up to about 20?μm in the underground mine excavations of an active hard coal mine. The study included practically all particles of a respirable fraction. The results showed that a high concentration of fine and ultrafine aerosols occurs in key underground workplaces especially during mining machine operations, although their contribution to total mass concentration is usually negligible.     

臭氧/钛酸铋系化合物催化氧化降解橙黄Ⅳ的初步研究

采用化学溶液分解法制备了钛酸铋系化合物,并研究了其催化臭氧化降解橙IV(C18H14KN3O35)溶液的性能.结果表明,在Bi/Ti摩尔比12∶1、热处理温度550℃条件下制备的催化剂性能最优,其COD去除率达40.3%,比单独臭氧作用(20.3%)提高了1倍,并明显优于TiO2和Bi2O3的催化效果(分别为28.9%和21.4%).同时,考察了催化剂投量、橙Ⅳ初始浓度、臭氧投量、pH值、重复使用等反应条件对催化剂性能的影响.初步推断,此催化臭氧化反应为非羟基自由基的含氧自由基作用机理.     

Sediment radioisotope dating across a stratigraphic discontinuity in a mining-impacted lake

Application of radioisotope sediment dating models to lakes subjected to large anthropogenic sediment inputs can be problematic. As a result of copper mining activities, Torch Lake received large volumes of sediment, the characteristics of which were dramatically different from those of the native sediment. Commonly used dating models (CIC-CSR, CRS) were applied to Torch Lake, but assumptions of these methods are violated, rendering sediment geochronologies inaccurate. A modification was made to the CRS model, utilizing a distinct horizon separating mining from post-mining sediment to differentiate between two focusing regimes. (210)Pb inventories in post-mining sediment were adjusted to correspond to those in mining-era sediment, and a sediment geochronology was established and verified using independent markers in (137)Cs accumulation profiles and core X-rays.     

Ambient air quality trends and driving factor analysis in Beijing, 1983–2007

The rapid development in Beijing, the capital of China, has resulted in serious air pollution problems. Meanwhile great efforts have been made to improve the air quality, especially since 1998. The variation in air quality under the interaction of pollution and control in this mega city has attracted much attention. We analyzed the changes in ambient air quality in Beijing since the 1980’s using the Daniel trend test based on data from long-term monitoring stations. The results showed that different polluta...     

退化羊草草地生态恢复过程中大型土壤动物群落生态特征

选取吉林省大安市姜家甸草场天然羊草草地、一年生人工碱茅草地和一年生人工碱茅草地为研究样地，于2002与2003年7月份两次对样地进行野外采样。共捕获大型土壤动物3130只，分别隶属2门5纲10目13类。通过对比研究表明：土壤动物群落间个体密度有一定的差异，鞘翅同在各生境中都有较高个体密度分布，显示其是该草原地带大型土壤动物的特征性类群，土壤动物类群和个体数垂直分布表聚程度群落间有较大不同，土壤动物群落生物多样性存在空间分异。认为水肥干预可以增加土壤动物群落的生物多样性。DG多样性指数更适合表达不同演替阶段土壤动物群落的差异，大型土壤动物群落生物多样性能够指示退化草地生态系统恢复与重建过程。     

中国生物入侵的生态分布

生物入侵已被列为当今世界最为棘手的三大环境难题(生物入侵、全球气候变化和生境破坏)之一。文章阐述了我国生物入侵的现状，以时间和地理区域为尺度，初步探讨了生物入侵的生态分布特征。指出其特征是：生物入侵对生物多样性造成重大影响，入侵生物的数量逐年增加，具有时间动态性；生物入侵的分布具有纬度地带性规律，纬度越低生物入侵的现象越严重；入侵生物的数量具有地理区域性。