Decline of traditional rice farming constrains the recovery of the endangered Asian crested ibis (Nipponia nippon)

Traditional agriculture benefits a rich diversity of plants and animals. The winter-flooded rice fields in the Qinling Mountains, China, are the last refuge for the endangered Asian crested ibis (Nipponia nippon), and intensive efforts have been made to protect this anthropogenic habitat. Analyses of multi-temporal satellite data indicate that winter-flooded rice fields have been continuously reduced across the current range of crested ibis during the past two decades. The rate of loss of these fields in the core-protected areas has unexpectedly increased to a higher level than that in non-protected areas in the past decade. The best fit (R² = 0.87) numerical response model of the crested ibis population shows that a reduction of winter-flooded rice fields decreases population growth and predicts that the population growth will be constrained by the decline of traditional winter-flooded rice fields in the coming decades. Our findings suggest that the decline of traditional rice farming is likely to continue to pose a threat to the long-term survival and recovery of the crested ibis population in China.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-015-0649-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

A method to estimate the impact of clear-cutting on nutrient concentrations in boreal headwater streams

Large-scale forestry operations, like clear-cutting, may impair surface water quality if not done with environmental considerations in mind. Catchment and country level estimates of nutrient loads from forestry are generally based on specific export values, i.e., changes in annual exports due to the implemented forestry operations expressed in kg ha⁻¹. We introduce here a specific concentration approach as a method to estimate the impact of clear-cutting on nutrient concentrations and export in headwater streams. This new method is potentially a more dynamic and flexible tool to estimate nutrient loads caused by forestry, because variation in annual runoff can be taken into account in load assessments. We combined water quality data from eight boreal headwater catchment pairs located in Finland and Sweden, where the effect of clear-cutting on stream water quality has been studied experimentally. Statistically significant specific concentration values could be produced for total nitrogen, nitrate, ammonium, and phosphate. The significant increases in the concentrations of these nutrients occurred between 2 and 6 years after clear-cutting. Significant specific concentration values could not be produced for total phosphorus and total organic carbon with the whole dataset, although in some single studies significant increases in their concentrations after clear-cutting were observed. The presented method enables taking into account variation in runoff, temporal dynamics of effects, and the proportional size of the treated area in load calculations. The number of existing studies considering large site-specific variation in responses to clear-cutting is small, and therefore further empirical studies are needed to improve predictive capabilities of the specific concentration values.     

Enhanced science–stakeholder communication to improve ecosystem model performances for climate change impact assessments

In recent years, climate impact assessments of relevance to the agricultural and forestry sectors have received considerable attention. Current ecosystem models commonly capture the effect of a warmer climate on biomass production, but they rarely sufficiently capture potential losses caused by pests, pathogens and extreme weather events. In addition, alternative management regimes may not be integrated in the models. A way to improve the quality of climate impact assessments is to increase the science–stakeholder collaboration, and in a two-way dialog link empirical experience and impact modelling with policy and strategies for sustainable management. In this paper we give a brief overview of different ecosystem modelling methods, discuss how to include ecological and management aspects, and highlight the importance of science–stakeholder communication. By this, we hope to stimulate a discussion among the science–stakeholder communities on how to quantify the potential for climate change adaptation by improving the realism in the models.     

Screening risk areas for sediment and phosphorus losses to improve placement of mitigation measures

Identification of vulnerable arable areas to phosphorus (P) losses is needed to effectively implement mitigation measures. Indicators for source (soil test P, STP), potential mobilization by erosion (soil dispersion), and transport (unit-stream power length-slope, LS) risks were used to screen the vulnerability to suspended solids (SS) and P losses in two contrasting catchments regarding topography, soil textural distribution, and STP. Soils in the first catchment ranged from loamy sand to clay loam, while clay soils were dominant in the second catchment. Long-term SS and total P losses were higher in the second catchment in spite of significantly lower topsoil STP. A higher proportion of areas in the second catchment were identified with higher risk due to the significantly higher risk of overland flow generation (LS) and a significantly higher mobilization risk in the soil dispersion laboratory tests. A simple screening method was presented to improve the placement of mitigation measures.     

中型污水处理厂中药物和个人护理品的分布与去除

为了解15种药物及个人护理用品(PPCPs)在中小型污水处理厂中的分布及其去除效果,采用液相色谱-串联质谱(LC-MS/MS)技术对3座A2/O工艺的污水处理厂水样进行分析研究。结果显示,除普萘洛尔、吉非罗平和吲哚美辛在3座中小型污水处理厂各个工艺单元中均未被检出外,其余12种目标化合物的检出频率在90%~100%之间。进水水样中PPCPs的平均检出浓度为2 285.4 ng/L,其中咖啡因(CF)的平均检出浓度最高为973.3 ng/L,酮洛芬(KP)的平均检出浓度次之为844.7 ng/L,两者之和占进水水样中PPCPs平均含量的79.5%,表明污水处理厂的主要污染物为CF和KP。3座污水处理厂对CF的去除效果最为显著,平均去除率为95.3%,对15种PPCPs总去除效率在39.3%~82.8%之间。     

磷酸铵镁碱促(Mg(OH)_2)热解产物氨氮去除性能

磷酸铵镁热解循环技术可以有效降低磷酸铵镁结晶技术的药剂费用。同时,在磷酸铵镁热解过程中添加Mg(OH)2碱促媒介,能阻止磷酸氢镁向焦磷酸镁的转化,并降低热解产物氨氮去除过程中上清液磷酸盐的残留。在Mg(OH)2∶NH+4摩尔比为1∶1,热解温度为110℃条件下,热解产物沉氨效率接近84%,上清液磷酸盐残留量为0.02 mg/L。     

高效液相色谱-串联质谱法同时检测地表水中13种药物及个人护理品

采用高效液相色谱-串联质谱(HPLC-MS/MS)检测,建立了地表水中13种药物及个人护理品的测定方法。水样用盐酸与氢氧化钠溶液调p H值至7.0左右,过固相萃取小柱进行富集,用14 m L甲醇洗脱。以C18柱为分离柱,0.01%甲酸的甲醇-0.01%甲酸水溶液为流动相,目标物在10 min内分离,在0.50~250μg/L范围内,13种化合物峰面积与内标物质峰面积之比与质量浓度的线性关系良好(0.99),检出限在0.05~0.5 ng/L范围内。基质加标实验结果表明,13种化合物在水中的回收率分别在56.2%~123.2%之间(加标水平5 ng/m L)和58.0%~107.8%(加标水平50 ng/m L),相对标准偏差在1.60%~19.9%(n=6)之间。应用该方法测定了从2条纳污河流采集的10份水样,结果表明,除美托诺尔和普洛萘尔未被检出外,其余11药物的检出频率在30%~100%之间。在13种目标物质中,咖啡因的检测浓度最高达287.5ng/L,舒必利次之,为277.5 ng/L。本方法快速、准确,适用于地表水中PPCPs类的快速测定。     

藻渣添加对玉米秸秆厌氧发酵特征的影响

厌氧发酵是农业废弃物资源化的有效途径之一.将农业废弃物同其他富含氮元素的有机废物混合发酵能够有效地提高产气效率.以玉米秸秆为例,尝试利用藻渣作为添加剂,提高农业废弃物厌氧发酵的性能.实验主要研究了混合发酵比例对沼气产量、甲烷产量、沼渣沼液特征的影响.当玉米秸秆、藻渣和接种污泥的挥发性固体质量分数为10∶ 2∶2时,沼气产率最高可达421.0 mL/g,甲烷产率为218.7 mL/g.沼渣组分分析表明,纤维素和半纤维素降解效率分别为83.7％和68.4％,和对照相比纤维素的降解效率显著提高.结果表明,藻渣的添加能够有效地促进玉米秸秆厌氧发酵产甲烷过程.     

循环序批式活性污泥反应器的调试及运行

介绍了循环序批式活性污泥反应器的工艺流程及设计参数、调试和运行情况,分析探讨了系统运行中出现的一些问题。稳定运行期间的检测结果表明,反应器对COD和NH3-N具有较好的去除效果,平均去除率分别达到86.2%和92.1%,但对TP的去除率有待提高。