Habitat edge, land management, and rates of brood parasitism in tallgrass prairie.

Bird populations in North America's grasslands have declined sharply in recent decades. These declines are traceable, in large part, to habitat loss, but management of tallgrass prairie also has an impact. An indirect source of decline potentially associated with management is brood parasitism by the Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater), which has had substantial negative impacts on many passerine hosts. Using a novel application of regression trees, we analyzed an extensive five-year set of nest data to test how management of tallgrass prairie affected rates of brood parasitism. We examined seven landscape features that may have been associated with parasitism: presence of edge, burning, or grazing, and distance of the nest from woody vegetation, water, roads, or fences. All five grassland passerines that we included in the analyses exhibited evidence of an edge effect: the Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum), Henslow's Sparrow (A. henslowii), Dickcissel (Spiza americana), Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus), and Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna). The edge was represented by narrow strips of woody vegetation occurring along roadsides cut through tallgrass prairie. The sparrows avoided nesting along these woody edges, whereas the other three species experienced significantly higher (1.9-5.3x) rates of parasitism along edges than in prairie. The edge effect could be related directly to increase in parasitism rate with decreased distance from woody vegetation. After accounting for edge effect in these three species, we found evidence for significantly higher (2.5-10.5x) rates of parasitism in grazed plots, particularly those burned in spring to increase forage, than in undisturbed prairie. Regression tree analysis proved to be an important tool for hierarchically parsing various landscape features that affect parasitism rates. We conclude that, on the Great Plains, rates of brood parasitism are strongly associated with relatively recent road cuts, in that edge effects manifest themselves through the presence of trees, a novel habitat component in much of the tallgrass prairie. Grazing is also a key associate of increased parasitism. Areas managed with prescribed fire, used frequently to increase forage for grazing cattle, may experience higher rates of brood parasitism. Regardless, removing trees and shrubs along roadsides and refraining from planting them along new roads may benefit grassland birds.     

The influence of pH and household plumbing on water lead concentration

The water lead concentrations measured in the homes of children who were part of the Edinburgh Lead study are related to the characteristics of the water supply and the household plumbing. At the time of the study one of the City of Edinburgh's two water supplies was lime treated to reduce plumbosolvency but in the second supply this treatment had not yet become effective. This allows us to estimate the extent to which this type of water treatment reduces water lead concentrations, in houses with lead plumbing, to comply with existing and proposed limits for lead in water. The kitchen cold water was supplied from a lead storage tank in 69 (15%) of the houses. These houses had the highest lead concentrations and water treTo whom correrspondence should be addressed.     

Frequency of sublethal injury in a deepwater ophiuroid, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ophiacantha bidentata</Emphasis>, an important component of western Atlantic <Emphasis Type="Italic">Lophelia</Emphasis> reef communities

The occurrence and relative abundance of tissue (arm) regeneration in the ophiuroid, Ophiacantha bidentata (Retzius), was examined in individuals collected primarily among colonies of the deep-water coral Lophelia pertusa off the southeastern United States. Seven deep-water coral sites (384–756 m), located between Cape Lookout, NC, and Cape Canaveral, FL, were sampled in June 2004 using a manned submersible. The presence of regenerative tissue was evaluated by visual inspection of each individual ophiuroid, and the proportion of regenerating arms per individual was examined relative to size of individual, geographic location, and depth of collection. Ophiacantha bidentata, the dominant brittle star collected, commonly displayed signs of sublethal injury with over 60% of individuals displaying some evidence of regeneration. These levels of regeneration rival those reported for shallow-water ophiuroids. Larger individuals (>6.5 mm disc size) had a higher incidence of regeneration than smaller individuals. Size of individual and percent of regeneration were negatively correlated with depth. Although O. bidentata was significantly less abundant in southern versus northern sites, ophiuroid abundance did not appear to be influenced by amount or density of coral substratum. Presence of dense aggregations of O. bidentata indicates that they are an important component of the invertebrate assemblage associated with deep-water coral habitat especially in the northern part of the study area. Assuming that observed frequencies of injury and subsequent regeneration represent predation events then dense ophiuroid aggregations in deep-water coral habitats represent an important renewable trophic resource within these communities.     

湖南怀化地区96.7城市特大洪涝灾害成因分析

湖南省怀化地区地形以山地为主,该地区１９９６年７月发生了城市特大洪涝灾害,本文概述了该地区９６．７城市洪涝灾情,并以区域灾害系统论为指导,从孕灾环境、致害因子、承灾能力和人类活动的不利影响等方面,对这次灾害的成因进行了分析,认为其主要成因是：（１）易洪涝的山丘区环境;（２）９６．７降雨强度大、覆盖面广、持续时间长的异常雨情和高洪峰水位、流量的异常水情;（３）城市防洪标准低、水利水电工程防洪效益差和抗洪害意识不强等原因造成的城市防洪能力低;（４）砍伐森林、人为侵占河道和大型水库超常规蓄水等人类活动造成的不利影响。     

苏黎世:破解城市交通瓶颈的楷模

苏黎世——瑞士最大的城市，是瑞士经济、文化和金融的中心。苏黎世靠山临水，自然环境十分优美，难能可贵的是，城市的发展和进步并不是以历史遗迹的消失为代价。古朴的教堂、历史悠久的老市场、素净的碎石路面随处可见。更令世人赞叹的是，这样一个保存完整的古城，却拥有一套快捷、安全和价格合理的公共交通系统，苏黎世与巴西的库里提巴和美国的波特兰并称为全球公共交通样板城市。在我们正面临城市化带来的诸如环境污染、交通堵塞等难题时，苏黎世城市发展的实践，无疑会给我们以启发。     

中加高等环境教育比较研究

通过对加拿大大学有关环境专业的教育层次、专业配置和课程设置的分析，并与我国的高等环境教育现状相比，得出了以下结论：环境科学类专业在加拿大高校中设置频度比我国高；从分布特征和培养层次上看，加拿大高校中环境类专业与我国类似，偏工程和综合性，且都以本科—硕士—博士三个层次为主体；从培养方式上看，加拿大高等环境教育与我国在这方面的差异较大，许多经验值得我们借鉴．     

废纸造纸废水处理工程应用

报道了自制混凝剂产品处理废纸造纸废水的工程应用情况。经过 1年多的运行结果表明 ,当进水CODCr、悬浮物浓度分别为 972mg/L、82 5mg/L以及色度为 3 0 0倍时 ,采用该工艺处理后 ,CODCr去除率平均为 95 .7% ,SS去除率平均为 98.9% ,色度去除率平均为 99.3 % ,出水水质远低于国家一级排放标准 (GB3 5 44 - 92 ) ,并且工厂实践表明 ,对生产有显著的效益 ,从而证明该方法对于废纸造纸废水的处理是可行的。该处理工艺设备简单 ,系统运行稳定 ,操作方便 ,成本低     

The characterisation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons emissions from burning of different firewood species in Australia

Four kinds of woods used for residential heating in Australia were selected and burned under two burning conditions in a domestic wood heater installed in a laboratory. The selected wood species included pine (Pinus radiata), red gum (Eucalvptus camaldulensis), sugar gum (Eucalyptus cladocalyx) and yellow box (Eucalyptus melliodora). The two different burning conditions represented fast burning and slow burning, with the air inlet of the combustion chamber respectively 'full open' and 'half open'. By sampling and analysing particulate and gaseous emissions from the burning of each load of wood under defined experimental conditions, PAHs emissions and their profiles in the particulate and gaseous phases were obtained. 16 species out of the 18 selected PAHs were detected. Of these, seven species were detected in the gaseous phase and most were lower molecular weight compounds.Similarly, more than 10 species of PAHs were detected in the particulate phase and these were mostly heavier molecular weight compounds. Under both burning conditions, emission levels for total PAHs and total genotoxic PAHs were the highest for pine and lowest for sugar gum, with red gum being the second highest, followed by yellow box. Using the specific sampling method, gaseous PAHs accounted for above 90% mass fraction of total PAHs in comparison to particulate PAHs (10%). The majority of the genotoxic PAHs were present in the particulate phase. PAHs emission levels in slow burning conditions were generally higher than those in fast burning conditions.