Changes in carbon fractions during composting and maturation of organic wastes

Seven mixtures from four organic residues—an aerobic sewage sludge, a city refuse, a peat residue, and a grape debris—were composted, and the changes undergone by their different carbon fractions during their composting and maturation were studied. In most cases a decrease in carbon fractions during the composting and maturation processes was observed. The extractable carbon, however, increased during maturation. Organic matter mineralization was greater in the composts with city refuse than in those with sewage sludge. The samples with peat residue showed the lowest decreases in carbon fractions. During maturation, an increase of humiclike fraction was observed, which was reflected by a decrease in the soluble carbon-precipitated carbon ratio at pH 2. Water-soluble carbon was the carbon fraction most easily degradable by microorganisms, and its amount correlated significantly with composting time in all the samples.     

Sensitivity of Indices of Biotic Integrity to Simulated Fish Assemblage Changes

Multimetric indices of biotic integrity (IBIs) are commonly used to assess condition of stream fish assemblages, but their ability to monitor trends within streams over time is largely unknown. We assessed the trend detection ability of two IBI formulations (one with traditional scoring and metrics, and one with nontraditional scoring and region-specific metrics) and of similarity and diversity indices using simulations that progressively altered the fish assemblages of 39 streams in the United States mid-Atlantic Highlands region. We also assessed responses to simulated 50% variability in fish abundances, as a measure of background noise. Fish assemblage indices responded little to changes that affected all species proportionally despite substantial changes in total fish number. Assemblage indices responded better to scenarios that differentially affected fish species, either according to life history traits or by increasing dominance of already common species, but even these changes took some time to detect relative to background variability levels. Ordinations of stream fish assemblage data suggested that differences among sites were maintained even after substantial alterations of fish composition within sites. IBIs are designed to detect broad assemblage differences among sites while downplaying abundance changes and variability increases that were the first indications of within-site changes, and they appear more suited to detecting large departures from natural fish assemblages than for monitoring gradual changes such as those our simulations produced. Inferences about causes of assemblage changes should be made with caution because of correlations among species traits and interdependence among IBI component metrics. Site trend assessments should be made based on all available data rather than just by summary indices.     

A Performance Comparison of Metric Scoring Methods for a Multimetric Index for Mid-Atlantic Highlands Streams

When biological metrics are combined into a multimetric index for bioassessment purposes, individual metrics must be scored as unitless numbers to be combined into a single index value. Among different multimetric indices, methods of scoring metrics may vary widely in the type of scaling used and the way in which metric expectations are established. These differences among scoring methods may influence the performance characteristics of the final index that is created by summing individual metric scores. The Macroinvertebrate Biotic Integrity Index (MBII), a multimetric index, was developed previously for first through third order streams in the Mid-Atlantic highlands of the United States. In this study, six metric scoring methods were evaluated for the MBII using measures related to site condition and index variability, including the degree of overlap between impaired and reference distributions, relationships to a stressor gradient, within-sample index variability, temporal variability, and the minimum detectable difference. Measures of index variability were affected to a greater degree than those of index responsiveness by both the type of scaling (discrete or continuous) and the method of setting expectations. A scoring method using continuous scaling and setting metric expectations using the 95th percentile of the entire distribution of sites performed the best overall for the MBII. These results showed that the method of scoring metrics affects the properties of the final index, particularly variability, and should be examined in developing a multimetric index because these properties can affect the number of condition classes (e.g., unimpaired, impaired) an index can distinguish.     

生态安全评价系统及工作程序

全球范围内生态安全形势越来越严峻 ,某些区域生态安全态势已经威胁到人类的生存与可持续发展。生态安全评价研究越来越受到研究人员的关注。笔者从系统工程角度出发 ,提出了生态安全评价系统的新概念 ,介绍了组成生态安全评价系统的 5个要素 ,即评价主体、评价对象、评价目的、评价标准和评价方法 ,并探讨了生态安全评价工作程序 ,将为区域生态安全评价的研究与应用提供理论基础。     

ADAPTING EXISTING MODELS TO EXAMINE EFFECTS OF AGRICULTURAL CONSERVATION PROGRAMS ON STREAM HABITAT QUALITY1

Annual expenditures by the federal government in the United States for agricultural conservation programs increased about 80 percent with passage of the 2002 Farm Bill. However, environmental benefits of these programs have not been quantified. A national project is under way to estimate the effect of conservation practices on environmental resources. The watershed models intended for use in that project are focused on water quantity and quality and have minimal habitat assessment capability. Major impairments to aquatic ecosystems in many watersheds consist of physical habitat degradation, not water quality, suggesting that current models for this national initiative do not address one of the most significant aspects of aquatic ecosystem degradation. Currently used models contain some components relevant to aquatic habitat, and this paper describes specific components that should be added to allow rudimentary stream habitat quality assessments. At least six types of variables could be examined for ecological impact: land use, streamflow, water temperature, streambed material type, large woody debris, and hydraulic conditions at base flow. All of these variables are influenced by the presence, location, and quality of buffers. Generation of stream corridor ecological or habitat quality indices might contribute to assessments of the success or failure of conservation programs. Additional research is needed to refine procedures for combining specific measures of stream habitat into ecologically meaningful indices.     

Environmental Indicators of Habitat Quality in a Migratory Freshwater Fish Fauna

/ In general, diadromous (and particularly amphidromous and catadromous) freshwater fishes decline in frequency of occurrence, change age/size structure, and probably also decline in abundance with increasing elevation and distance upstream from the sea. In freshwater fish faunas with a high proportion of migratory species, as in New Zealand, these changes in occurrence and abundance result in a breakdown of the relationship between fish abundance and habitat quality, making application of the index of biotic integrity (IBI) as a measure of habitat quality problematical since the index depends on the relationship between population metrics and habitat quality. An alternative approach applicable to assessing temporal changes in habitat quality and that uses a large database on fish distributions, involves analysis of the distribution of species across their natural distributions. In this paper we generate curves of occurrence of species across ranges of altitude and distance inland and show, through comparisons of data subsets, that the curves are consistent estimators of species' occurrence and therefore useful as indicators of habitat quality.     

关于环境空气质量和谐度的研究与应用

在目前我国城市都在应用空气污染指数来评价空气质量的基础上,提出应用环境空气质量和谐度来评价大、中型城市环境空气质量,详细阐述了环境空气质量和谐度的定义、评价依据、级别划分、评价方法以及定性描述,并对环境空气质量和谐度对城市环境空气质量评价进行了应用。     

锰矿废弃地重金属污染土壤的评价及修复措施探讨

采用地积累指数及LarsHakanson潜在生态危害指数法对湘潭锰矿废弃地重金属的生态危害进行评价与比较。结果表明,CA、Mn、Pb、Zn、的地积累指数均大于5,达到极严重污染水平,Cu为中等污染水平。5种重金属的潜在生态危害系数和潜在生态危害指数表明,Mn、Pb、CA为极强的生态危害,Zn为中等生态危害,Cu为轻微生态危害,Mn、Pb、CA生态危害系数均高于极强生态危害系数的临界值,为该地区产生生态危害的主要因子。多种重金属潜在生态危害指数表明,该地区重金属污染属于极强的生态危害。两种评价方法对比,潜在生态危害指数法略为保守,两者结合更具实际应用意义。     

北江中上游底泥重金属污染及其潜在生态危害评价

为全面了解北江中上游底泥沉积物中重金属含量及其潜在生态危害程度,在北江干流及支流共采集了25个底泥样品,测试了Cu、Pb、Zn、Cd、Ni、Cr、As、Hg共8种重金属元素,采用地积累指数法和潜在生态危害指数法对北江中上游底泥重金属污染进行分析和评价.结果表明,北江中上游无论是干流还是支流其底泥受多种重金属污染而且污染程度相当严重,各种重金属的污染程度由强至弱依次为:Cd HgZnAsPb≈CuNiCr;金属污染物对北江中上游构成的潜在生态危害由强至弱依次为:Cd HgPb≈AsCuZnCr,其中Cd的影响占绝对主导地位.总体而言,北江干流由于纳污量最大,长期的积累使得北江干流段的重金属污染程度较支流严重;支流中马坝河的污染程度最高,其次是浈江和江.