Impact of urbanization on natural ecosystem service values: a comparative study

With rapid population growth and rural to-urban migration in many Chinese cities, a large amount of natural lands have been converted to urban and agricultural lands recently. During this process of land conversion, economic development and quality of life improvement are considered as major goals, and their influences on ecological systems have often been neglected. The degradation of natural ecological systems due to land use change, however, has become severe,and may require immediate attentions from urban planners and local governments. Taking HaDaQi industrial corridor, Heilongjiang Province, China,as a case study area, this paper examined the trend of land use changes during 1990–2005, and quantified their influences on natural eco system service values. In particular, this study applied two major valuation methods, and examined whether different valuation methods generate significantly different results. Analysis of results suggests that human dominated land uses (e.g., urban and agriculture)have expanded rapidly at the cost of natural lands (e.g., wetlands and forest). Due to these land use changes, the total ecosystem service value decreased 29% (2.26% annually) from 1990 to 2005 when the first method was applied, and this rate is estimated to be 15.7% (1.13% annually)with the second approach. Moreover, the annual rate of ecosystem service value decline during 2000–2005 is about four times higher than that in 1990–2000 with both methods, suggesting much more severe ecosystem degradation during 2000–2005.     

Distribution, accumulation and mobility of mercury in superficial sediment samples from Tianjin, northern China

Seventeen sediment samples at three representative sites (the Yuqiao Reservoir, the Haihe River and the Haihe River Estuary) in Tianjin, northern China, were analyzed to investigate the pollution status, accumulation and mobility of mercury (Hg). The results show that the Haihe River has to be considered as moderate to strongly contaminated with Hg (2 < mean I(geo) = 2.35 < 3), where total Hg contents were ca. 3 to 24 orders of magnitude greater than the regional background value. The sediments collected near a coal-fired power plant in an urban area were found to have very high Hg concentrations, which were significantly related to Hg emissions from coal-fired utility boilers. In the Yuqiao Reservoir, the surface sediments have to be considered as unpolluted with Hg (mean I(geo) = -0.05 < 0) and the Haihe River Estuary sediments have to be considered as unpolluted to moderately polluted with Hg (0 < mean I(geo) = 0.18 < 1). Sediment-bound Hg in the Yuqiao Reservoir and the Haihe River Estuary was found to be predominantly associated with the organo-chelated phase of the sediment (38.3% and 50.5%, respectively). However, unlike the Yuqiao Reservoir and the Haihe River Estuary, Hg in the Haihe River sediments existed mainly as sulfide Hg and elemental Hg, which accounted for 54.2% and 30.7% of total Hg, respectively. The availability of this element seemed restricted. The majority of Hg contamination in the Haihe River sediments had been attributed to historic and modern atmospheric deposition and Hg released from the Haihe River sediments didn't seem to be an important pollutant pathway into the Haihe River Estuary. The results provide new insights into Hg contamination in this region.     

Centrifugal study of zone of influence during air-sparging

Air sparging (AS) is one of the groundwater remediation techniques for remediating volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in saturated soil. However, in spite of the success of air sparging as a remediation technique for the cleanup of contaminated soils, to date, the fundamental mechanisms or the physics of air flow through porous media is not well understood. In this study, centrifugal modeling tests were performed to investigate air flow rates and the evolution of the zone of influence during the air sparging under various g-levels. The test results show that with the increase in sparging pressure the mass flow rate of the air sparging volume increases. The air mass flow rate increases linearly with the effective sparging pressure ratio, which is the difference between sparging pressure and hydrostatic pressure normalized with respect to the effective overburden pressure at the sparging point. Also the slope of mass flow rate with effective sparging pressure ratio increases with higher g-levels. This variation of the slope of mass flow rate of air sparging volume versus effective sparging pressure ratio, M, is linear with g-level confirming that the air flow through soil for a given effective sparging pressure ratio only depends on the g-level. The test results also show that with increasing sparging pressure, the zone of influence (ZOI), which consists of the width at the tip of the cone or lateral intrusion and the cone angle, will lead to an increase in both lateral intrusion and the cone angle. With a further increase in air injection pressure, the cone angle reaches a constant value while the lateral intrusion becomes the main contributor to the enlargement of the ZOI. However, beyond a certain value of effective sparging pressure ratio, there is no further enlargement of the ZOI.     

Characteristics of particulate matter pollution in the Pearl River Delta region, China: an observational-based analysis of two monitoring sites

Two-year monitoring data (2006 and 2009), collected at the sub-urban site (WQS) and the background site (TH), were used to study the characteristics of Particulate Matter (PM) pollution in the Pearl River Delta region, China. Similar levels of PM(2.5) concentration measured at both sites seem to confirm that the fine particles have emerged as a major regional pollution issue. The seasonal variation of PM(2.5) concentration is associated with the regional monsoon circulations while the diurnal variation is related to land-sea breeze, traffic emissions and boundary layer development. Negative correlation was found in PM(2.5)-wind speed and PM(2.5)-humidity. Analysis of radiation, temperature and ozone suggests the existence of secondary aerosol formation. Transport effect may be another contributing factor to high PM pollution in the region, such as occasional long-distance dust intrusion and trans-boundary effects from upwind areas.     

Atmospheric-particulates-bound mercury Hg(p) study at five characteristic sampling sites in Taiwan

The main purpose for this study is to observe the seasonal and month variations for particulates-bound mercury Hg(p) in total suspended particulates (TSP) concentration, dry deposition at five characteristic sampling sites during years of 2009-2010 in central Taiwan. The results show that the highest and lowest monthly average particulates-bound mercury Hg(p) concentrations in TSP were occurred in Dec. and Oct. at Gao-mei (wetland), Chang-hua (downtown) and He-mei (residential) sampling site. In addition, the results show that the highest and lowest monthly average particulates-bound mercury Hg(p) dry deposition was occurred in Feb. and Oct. at Quan-xing (industrial) sampling site. This study reflected that the mean highest particulates-bound mercury Hg(p) concentrations in TSP and mean highest particulates-bound mercury Hg(p) dry deposition were occurred at Gao-mei (wetland) and Quan-xing (industrial). However, the mean lowest particulates-bound mercury Hg(p) concentrations in TSP and mean lowest particulates-bound mercury Hg(p) dry deposition were also occurred at Gao-mei (wetland). Regarding seasonal variation, the order of mean-particulates-bound mercury Hg(p) concentrations in TSP in winter and spring were Gao-mei (wetland) > Quan-xing (industrial) > Bei-shi (suburban/coastal) > Chang-hua (downtown) > He-mei (residential). Finally, the order of mean-particulates-bound mercury Hg(p) dry deposition in fall, spring and summer were Quan-xing (industrial) > Bei-shi (suburban/coastal) > Chang-hua (downtown) > He-mei (residential) > Gao-mei (wetland).     

有机污染物在多孔介质中的残留

土壤、地下水中的有机污染物主要以自由态、挥发态、溶解态和残留态等四种形态存在 ,其中残留态的部分是最难以去除的 ,残留量的多少是关系治理费用及治理时间长短的最关键因素。本文以柴油为代表 ,对地下水饱和区中有机物的残留进行了试验模拟 ,与非饱和区的残余饱和度进行了比较 ,揭示了饱和区中有机污染物残余的特点 ,并深入分析了其机理。结果表明 ,砂性介质中 ,地下水饱和区中有机污染物的残余饱和度显著大于非饱和区中的残余饱和度 ,因此可以有效地利用这一特性 ,通过降低地下水位使饱和区中部分残留态污染物转化为自由态 ,提高去除效率 ;与非饱和区中多孔介质粒径越小 ,残留量越大的特性相反 ,饱和区中测得的残余柴油饱和度随介质粒径的增大而增大。不同水位变动速度的试验结果表明 ,水位变动速度对粘性大于水的柴油的残余饱和度影响可以忽略不计。     

长江常熟段排污口布置方案数值模拟论证研究

为合理确定常熟氟化工项目排污口布置方案 ,本文在分析长江常热段水环境特征的基础上 ,针对其复杂的水下地形和水流流场 ,建立了较为准确和实用的平面二维水流水质耦合数学模型 ,预测计算了三套方案污水对重点保护水域影响程度和范围 ,并从水流流场、水质影响评价、技术经济多角度对方案进行了比较论证 ,最终推荐污水江中排放的方案 ,为项目的工程设计和环境管理提供了科学依据。     

偏二甲肼污染及治理方法评价

阐述了偏二甲肼 (Unsymmetricaldimethyl-hydrazine ,简称UDMH)对人体致毒机理 ,对环境的污染特征 ,着重对偏二甲肼污染治理中的臭氧氧化法、自然降解法、离子树脂交换法、活性炭吸附法等技术进行了综合评价 ,并提出了TiO2 光催化氧化法及光和细菌降解偏二甲肼的研究方向。     

我国可持续设计及其实践的探讨

可持续设计超越了传统设计和生态设计，要求平衡经济、环境、社会３方面的发展需要，在可持续设计的基本工具产品生命周期评价尚需进一步发展的同时，建立适当的设计准则是当前发展可持续设计的可行途径。     

定量风险评价标准探讨

围绕定量评价标准对风险的度量和制定风险评价标准的基本原则等方面的进展和存在的问题进行了初步的探讨，分析归纳了国处有着的个人风险和社会风险标准，提出具有重大危害性的工业设施对员工或公众造成的风险，不应显著高于人们在日常生活中接触到其他风险；每年１０＾－６的死亡风险是可以忽略不计的个人风险水平等观点。