Modeling Hydrologic Benefits of Low Impact Development: A Distributed Hydrologic Model of The Woodlands,Texas

Low Impact Development (LID) is alternative design approach to land development that conserves and utilizes natural resources to minimize the potential negative environmental impacts of development, such as flooding. The Woodlands near Houston, Texas is one of the premier master‐planned communities in the United States. Unlike in a typical urban development where riparian corridors are often replaced with concrete channels, pervious surfaces, vegetation, and natural drainage pathways were preserved as much as possible during development. In addition, a number of detention ponds were strategically located to manage runoff on site. This article uses a unique distributed hydrologic model, Vflo?, combined with historical (1974) and recent (2008 and 2009) rainfall events to evaluate the long‐term effectiveness of The Woodlands natural drainage design as a stormwater management technique. This study analyzed the influence of LID in The Woodlands by comparing the hydrologic response of the watershed under undeveloped, developed, and highly urbanized conditions. The results show that The Woodlands drainage design successfully reflects predeveloped hydrologic conditions and produces peak flows two to three times lower than highly urbanized development. Furthermore, results indicate that the LID practices employed in The Woodlands successfully attenuate the peak flow from a 100‐year design event, resulting in flows comparable to undeveloped hydrologic conditions.     

Unanticipated potential cancer risk near metal recycling facilities

Metal recycling is an important growing industry. Prior to this study, area sources consisting of metal recycling facilities fell in a category of limited regulatory scrutiny because of assumed low levels of annual emissions. Initiating with community complaints of nuisance from smoke, dust and odor, the Houston Department of Health and Human Services (HDHHS) began a monitoring program outside metal recycler facilities and found metal particulates in outdoor ambient air at levels which could pose a carcinogenic human health risk. In a study of five similar metal recycler facilities which used a torch cutting process, air downwind and outside the facility was sampled for eight hours between 6 and 10 times each over 18 months using a mobile laboratory. Ten background locations were also sampled. Iron, manganese, copper, chromium, nickel, lead, cobalt, cadmium and mercury were detected downwind of the metal recyclers at frequencies ranging from 100% of the time for iron to 2% of the time for mercury. Of these metals, chromium, nickel, lead, cobalt, cadmium and mercury were not detected in any sample in the background. Two pairs of samples were analyzed for total chromium and hexavalent chromium to establish a ratio of the fraction of hexavalent chromium in total chromium. This fraction was used to estimate hexavalent chromium at all locations. The carcinogenic risk posed to a residential receptor from metal particulate matter concentrations in the ambient air attributed to the metal recyclers was estimated from each of the five facilities in an effort to rank the importance of this source and inform the need for further investigation. The total risk from these area sources ranged from an increased cancer risk of 1 in 1,000,000 to 6 in 10,000 using the 95th upper confidence limit of the mean of the carcinogenic metal particulate matter concentration, assuming the point of the exposure is the sample location for a residential receptor after accounting for wind direction and the number of shifts that could operate a year. Further study is warranted to better understand the metal air pollution levels in the community and if necessary, to evaluate the feasibility of emission controls and identify operational improvements and best management practices for this industry.This research adds two new aspects to the literature: identification of types and magnitude of metal particulate matter air pollutants associated with a previously unrecognized area source, metal recyclers and their potential risk to health.     

Physical variability among nest foundresses in the polygynous social wasp,Polistes annularis

Summary An individual's rank in a dominance hierarchy is often based on size or weight, especially in insects. Foundresses of the social wasp, Polistes annularis, vary greatly in size as measured by wing length, dry weight, fat weight, and residue weight after fat has been extracted. Females that emerged from the same nest are much more similar in size to each other than they are to females that emerged from other nests. Within nests however queens are usually larger than their subordinates. Queens that emerged from one nest may be smaller than subordinates that emerged from another nest. We found no evidence of a group of females that are forced into being subordinates because of inadequate feeding as larvae. Females are also probably not attempting to begin new nests with females as different in size as possible from themselves since means and variances of winglength of females on new nests do not differ from those of all females emerging from that natal nest.     

外源锌对水稻各部位镉吸收与累积的拮抗效应

为探明外源锌(Zn)对镉(Cd)污染稻田系统Cd吸收累积的影响,采用盆栽试验,向轻度(Cd含量为0.50 mg·kg~(-1))和中度(Cd含量为1.50 mg·kg~(-1))Cd污染土壤中施用不同浓度的外源Zn,研究Zn对土壤、水稻根表铁膜和水稻各部位中Cd、Zn含量变化的影响,探讨外源Zn对Cd污染稻田系统Cd吸收累积的交互作用.结果表明,在2种Cd污染土壤中,施用外源Zn显著降低了湘晚籼12糙米Cd含量,降低幅度为13.4%～78.4%;在轻度Cd污染土壤中,施用外源Zn显著降低了威优46糙米Cd含量,降低幅度为14.7%～79.8%,而在中度Cd污染土壤中,当外源Zn浓度超过40 mg·kg~(-1)将增加威优46糙米Cd含量;在2种Cd污染土壤下均显著增加2种水稻根表铁膜数量,分别增加14.7%～85.9%、5.8%～61.2%;但对土壤交换态Cd含量无显著影响.在2种Cd污染土壤中,2种水稻各部位Cd/Zn比值与Cd含量正线性相关,且各部位Cd/Zn比值呈下降趋势,2种水稻糙米、茎叶间Cd-Zn拮抗作用显著.轻度Cd污染土壤中,施加外源Zn可以降低湘晚籼12和威优46糙米中的Cd含量;中度Cd污染土壤中,外源Zn仍然可以降低湘晚籼12糙米Cd含量,而当外源Zn施加量高于40 mg·kg~(-1)时将增加威优46糙米的Cd含量.     

抗水稻主要真菌病害的H50的分类鉴定

从水稻田土壤中筛选到一株编号为H50的链霉菌，表现了对水稻纹枯病和水稻稻瘟病病菌有强烈的拮抗作用，其次生代谢产物对病菌菌丝有断裂，扭曲，缢缩等有效致畸效应。根据菌株形态特征，细胞壁化学成分，培养特征及生理生化特性，鉴定该菌株为：球孢链霉菌（Streptomyces globisporus)。图3表2参7     

Impact of cannibalism on predator-prey dynamics: size-structured interactions and apparent mutualism

Direct and indirect interactions between two prey species can strongly alter the dynamics of predator-prey systems. Most predators are cannibalistic, and as a consequence, even systems with only one predator and one prey include two prey types: conspecifics and heterospecifics. The effects of the complex direct and indirect interactions that emerge in such cannibalistic systems are still poorly understood. This study examined how the indirect interaction between conspecific and heterospecific prey affects cannibalism and predation rates and how the direct interactions between both species indirectly alter the effect of the cannibalistic predator. I tested for these effects using larvae of the stream salamanders Eurycea cirrigera (prey) and Pseudotriton ruber (cannibalistic predator) by manipulating the relative densities of the conspecific and heterospecific prey in the presence and absence of the predator in experimental streams. The rates of cannibalism and heterospecific predation were proportional to the respective densities and negatively correlated, indicating a positive indirect interaction between conspecific and heterospecific prey, similar to "apparent mutualism." Direct interactions between prey species did not alter the effect of the predator. Although both types of prey showed a similar 30% reduction in night activity and switch in microhabitat use in response to the presence of the predator, cannibalism rates were three times higher than heterospecific predation rates irrespective of the relative densities of the two types of prey. Cumulative predation risks differed even more due to the 48% lower growth rate of conspecific prey. Detailed laboratory experiments suggest that the 3:1 difference in cannibalism and predation rate was due to the higher efficiency of heterospecific prey in escaping immediate attacks. However, no difference was observed when the predator was a closely related salamander species, Gyrinophilus porphyriticus, indicating that this difference is species specific. This demonstrates that cannibalism can result in the coupling of predator and prey mortality rates that strongly determines the dynamics of predator-prey systems.     

Density-mediated, context-dependent consumer-resource interactions between ants and extrafloral nectar plants

Interspecific interactions are often mediated by the interplay between resource supply and consumer density. The supply of a resource and a consumer's density response to it may in turn yield context-dependent use of other resources. Such consumer-resource interactions occur not only for predator-prey and competitive interactions, but for mutualistic ones as well. For example, consumer-resource interactions between ants and extrafloral nectar (EFN) plants are often mutualistic, as EFN resources attract and reward ants which protect plants from herbivory. Yet, ants also commonly exploit floral resources, leading to antagonistic consumer-resource interactions by disrupting pollination and plant reproduction. EFN resources associated with mutualistic ant-plant interactions may also mediate antagonistic ant-flower interactions through the aggregative density response of ants on plants, which could either exacerbate ant-flower interactions or alternatively satiate and distract ants from floral resources. In this study, we examined how EFN resources mediate the density response of ants on senita cacti in the Sonoran Desert and their context-dependent use of floral resources. Removal of EFN resources reduced the aggregative density of ants on plants, both on hourly and daily time scales. Yet, the increased aggregative ant density on plants with EFN resources decreased rather than increased ant use of floral resources, including contacts with and time spent in flowers. Behavioral assays showed no confounding effect of floral deterrents on ant-flower interactions. Thus, ant use of floral resources depends on the supply of EFN resources, which mediates the potential for both mutualistic and antagonistic interactions by increasing the aggregative density of ants protecting plants, while concurrently distracting ants from floral resources. Nevertheless, only certain years and populations of study showed an increase in plant reproduction through herbivore protection or ant distraction from floral resources. Despite pronounced effects of EFN resources mediating the aggregative density of ants on plants and their context-dependent use of floral resources, consumer-resource interactions remained largely commensalistic.