Assessment of the Water Quality and Ecosystem Health of the Great Barrier Reef (Australia): Conceptual Models

Run-off containing increased concentrations of sediment, nutrients, and pesticides from land-based anthropogenic activities is a significant influence on water quality and the ecologic conditions of nearshore areas of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, Australia. The potential and actual impacts of increased pollutant concentrations range from bioaccumulation of contaminants and decreased photosynthetic capacity to major shifts in community structure and health of mangrove, coral reef, and seagrass ecosystems. A detailed conceptual model underpins and illustrates the links between the main anthropogenic pressures or threats (dry-land cattle grazing and intensive sugar cane cropping) and the production of key contaminants or stressors of Great Barrier Reef water quality. The conceptual model also includes longer-term threats to Great Barrier Reef water quality and ecosystem health, such as global climate change, that will potentially confound direct model interrelationships. The model recognises that system-specific attributes, such as monsoonal wind direction, rainfall intensity, and flood plume residence times, will act as system filters to modify the effects of any water-quality system stressor. The model also summarises key ecosystem responses in ecosystem health that can be monitored through indicators at catchment, riverine, and marine scales. Selected indicators include riverine and marine water quality, inshore coral reef and seagrass status, and biota pollutant burdens. These indicators have been adopted as components of a long-term monitoring program to enable assessment of the effectiveness of change in catchment-management practices in improving Great Barrier Reef (and adjacent catchment) water quality under the Queensland and Australian Governments’ Reef Water Quality Protection Plan.     

Impact of pre-oxidation on the formation of byproducts in algae-laden water disinfection: Insights from fluorescent and molecular weight

Pre-oxidation has been reported to be an effective way to remove algal cells in water, but the released algal organic matter (AOM) could be oxidized and lead to the increment in disinfection by-product (DBP) formation. The relationship between pre-oxidation and AOM-derived DBP formation needs to be approached more precisely. This study compared the impact of four pre-oxidants, ozone (O₃), chlorine dioxide (ClO₂), potassium permanganate (KMnO₄) and sodium hypochlorite (NaClO), on the formation of nitrogenous (N-) and carbonaceous (C-) DBPs in AOM chlorination. The characterization (fluorescent properties, molecular weight distribution and amino acids concentration) on AOM samples showed that the characterization properties variations after pre-oxidation were highly dependent on the oxidizing ability of oxidants. The disinfection experiments showed that O₃ increased DBP formation most significantly, which was consistent with the result of characterization properties variations. Then canonical correspondent analysis (CCA) and Pearson's correlation analysis were conducted based on the characterization data and DBP formation. CCA indicated that C-DBPs formation was highly dependent on fluorescent data. The formation of haloacetic acids (HAAs) had a positive correlation with aromatic protein-like component while trichloromethane (TCM) had a positive correlation with fulvic acid-like component. Pearson's correlation analysis showed that low molecular weight fractions were favorable to form N-DBPs. Therefore, characterization data could provide the advantages in the control of DBP formation, which further revealed that KMnO₄ and ClO₂ were better options for removing algal cells as well as limiting DBP formation.     

Relationships between regulated DBPs and emerging DBPs of health concern in U.S. drinking water

A survey was conducted at eight U.S. drinking water plants, that spanned a wide range of water qualities and treatment/disinfection practices. Plants that treated heavily-wastewater-impacted source waters had lower trihalomethane to dihaloacetonitrile ratios due to the presence of more organic nitrogen and HAN precursors. As the bromide to total organic carbon ratio increased, there was more bromine incorporation into DBPs. This has been shown in other studies for THMs and selected emerging DBPs (HANs), whereas this study examined bromine incorporation for a wider group of emerging DBPs (haloacetaldehydes, halonitromethanes). Moreover, bromine incorporation into the emerging DBPs was, in general, similar to that of the THMs. Epidemiology studies that show an association between adverse health effects and brominated THMs may be due to the formation of brominated emerging DBPs of heath concern. Plants with higher free chlorine contact times before ammonia addition to form chloramines had less iodinated DBP formation in chloraminated distribution systems, where there was more oxidation of the iodide to iodate (a sink for the iodide) by the chlorine. This has been shown in many bench-scale studies (primarily for iodinated THMs), but seldom in full-scale studies (where this study also showed the impact on total organic iodine. Collectively, the THMs, haloacetic acids, and emerging DBPs accounted for a significant portion of the TOCl, TOBr, and TOI; however, ∼50% of the TOCl and TOBr is still unknown. The correlation of the sum of detected DBPs with the TOCl and TOBr suggests that they can be used as reliable surrogates.     

我国农业面源污染的控制与管理研究

主要通过我国污染源普查和2013年环境公报介绍了我国农业面源污染的现状,并从土壤侵蚀、农业化肥及农药、畜禽粪尿污染、农村生活污水和固体废弃物垃圾、大气干湿沉降、航运污染等方面介绍了我国污染源农业面源污染的成因,结合对土地利用方式、农业活动和田间管理、畜禽粪便及垃圾污染、社会经济因素等农业面源污染的影响因素的分析,分别从技术措施、法律措施和经济措施3方面入手提出了我国面源污染的控制和管理措施。     

The legacy of large dams in the United States

The sustainability of large dams has been questioned on several grounds. One aspect that has been less explored is that the development of dams and reservoirs often enables agricultural expansion and urban growth, which in turn increase water consumption. As such, dam development influences, while being influenced by, the spatial and temporal distribution of both supply and demand of water resources. In this paper, we explore the interplay between large dams, patterns of population growth and agricultural expansion in the United States over the past two centuries. Based on a large-scale analysis of spatial and temporal trends, we identify three distinct phases, in which different processes dominated the interplay. Then, we focus on agricultural water use in the Southwest region (Arizona, California and Nevada) and explore chicken-and-egg dynamics where water supply partly meets and partly fuels water demand. Lastly, we show that the legacy of dams in the United States consists of a lock-in condition characterized by high levels of water consumption, especially in the Southwest, which leads to severe water crises and groundwater overexploitation when droughts occur.     

Environmental Awareness, Economic Orientation, and Farming Practices: A Comparison of Organic and Conventional Farmers

/ This study examines similarities and differences between organic and conventional farmers. We explore the factors that underlie farmers' conservation attitudes and behaviors, including demographic and farm characteristics, awareness of and concern for environmental problems associated with agriculture, economic orientation toward farming, and self-reported conservation practices. A series of intensive personal interviews was conducted with 25 farmers in Washtenaw County, Michigan, USA, using both qualitative and quantitative survey methods. The findings indicate that both groups of farmers share a concern for the economic risks associated with farming, although the organic farmers reported a significantly greater concern for long-term sustainability and a greater willingness to incur present risk to gain future benefits. Organic farmers expressed a greater awareness of and concern for environmental problems associated with agriculture. Organic farmers also scored significantly higher on a multifaceted measure of conservation practices, although both groups had a fairly high adoption rate. Implications of these findings are discussed, relative to economic risks of farming, implications for new farmers, effectiveness of conservation education and government programs, and impact of farm size and crop diversity.KEY WORDS: Environmental attitudes; Conservation behaviors; Organic farming; Agricultural sustainability     

Fatty acids and algal lipids as precursors of chlorination by-products

Six common algal fatty acids (FAs) with different numbers of double bonds, lipophilic fractions and proteins extracted from the diatom Navicula pelliculosa and algal cells were chlorinated to evaluate their potential in generating disinfection by-products (DBPs). The result showed that the more double bonds in the FAs, the higher the amounts of chloroform and dichloroacetic acid (DCAA) produced, but such a pattern was not observed for trichloroacetic acid (TCAA). Based on the previously reported composition of fatty acids in algal lipids, the DBP generation potentials of algal lipids were calculated. These predicted values were much lower than those measured in the chlorinated algal lipophilic fraction, suggesting unknown lipophilic fraction(s) served as potent DBPs precursors. Another calculation attempted to predict DBP production in algal cells based on algal lipid and protein composition, given quantified measured DBP production per unit algal lipid and proteins. The analysis showed that the observed DBP production was similar to that predicted (< 35% difference), suggesting that algal biochemical compositions may serve as a bioindicator for preliminary estimation of chloroform, DCAA and TCAA formation upon chlorinating algae.     

微生物对饮用水典型消毒副产物前体物的降解效能及其群落特征

相对于CF（氯仿）等C-DBPs（含碳消毒副产物）,DCAN（二氯乙腈）等N-DBPs（含氮消毒副产物）具有更高的毒性.控制DBPs（消毒副产物）的前体物是抑制DBPs产生的最有效方法之一.为考察微生物降解DBPs前体物对生成DBPs的影响,分别选取C-DBPs和N-DBPs的典型代表物CF和DCAN及其相应的典型前体物Tyr（酪氨酸）和Asp（天冬氨酸）为研究对象,采用微生物培养前体物的方式,探究微生物对典型前体物Tyr和Asp的降解效果及其对生成CF和DCAN的控制效果.结果表明:①Tyr和Asp两种前体物经微生物降解后,DOC（溶解性有机碳）的去除率分别为94.0%和85.6%,DON（溶解性有机氮）的去除率分别为69.0%和81.0%.②在前体物经微生物降解后的水样中,氯化或氯胺化消毒后生成CF和DCAN的量较降解前均大大减少.以Tyr为前体物,水样经微生物降解、氯化消毒后生成CF和DCAN的量分别降低了56.1%和89.5%,氯胺化消毒后生成CF的量降低了68.5%;以Asp为前体物,水样经微生物降解、氯化消毒后生成DCAN的量最高可降低99.9%,经微生物降解、氯胺化消毒后生成的CF可降低50.7%.③对水样中微生物菌群分析发现,在门水平上的菌群主要有变形菌门（Proteobacteria）、放线菌门（Actinobacteria）和拟杆菌门（Bacteroidetes）,在属水平上的菌属主要有伯克氏菌属（Burkholderia-paraburkholderia）、半角藻属（Haliangium）、分枝杆菌属（Mycobacterium）、沉积小杆菌属（Sediminibacterium）、norank_f_Chitinophagaceae和动胶菌属（Zoogloea）.研究显示,微生物降解对DBPs典型前体物Tyr和Asp的去除,以及对生成CF和DCAN的控制具有较大的潜力,变形菌和放线菌在降解DBPs前体物中起到了重要作用.      

Air pollution and young children's inhalation exposure to organophosphorus pesticide in an agricultural community in Japan

Assessment of airborne organophosphorus pesticides in houses of young children (1-6 years old) and childcare facilities was conducted following pesticide applications in an agricultural community in Japan. Trichlorfon and fenitrothion, applied in two separate periods, were frequently detected from outdoor and indoor air. Dichlorvos, the primary degradation product of trichlorfon, was also detected after the application of trichlorfon. Both the outdoors and indoor concentration of applied pesticide were shown to increase with decreasing distance from the pesticide-applied farm. Indoor concentration of these pesticides significantly correlated with outdoor concentration (p=0.001 for trichlorfon and p=0.001 for fenitrothion), indicating infiltration of applied pesticide inside. Ratio of indoor to outdoor concentration (I/O ratio) of fenitrothion was higher for houses with windows open during the application than those with closed windows (median value: 0.74 vs. 0.16, p=0.003). However, a similar trend was not observed for trichlorfon as well as dichlorvos in the first period. Dichlorvos was found to have a higher I/O ratio than trichlorfon during the period, and clear correlation between indoor concentrations of dichlorvos and those of trichlorfon suggested increased decomposition of trichlorfon in the indoor environment. Daily inhalation exposure estimated by using the fixed measurement data and time-activity questionnaire ranged from 0 to 35 ng/kg/day for trichlorfon, from 0 to 26 ng/kg/day for dichlorvos, and from 0 to 44 ng/kg/day for fenitrothion. Median inhalation exposure from indoor air accounted for 74%, 86.3%, and 45% of the daily inhalation exposure, respectively. For kindergarteners or nursery school children, inhalation exposure at childcare facilities was comparable with or more than that at home, indicating that pollution level at childcare facilities had potential of high impact on children's exposure. Estimated daily inhalation exposures were inversely correlated to the proximity of their activity location to the pesticide-applied farm.     

Implications of a simple competition model for the stability of an intercropping system

It is a common view that intercropping systems of agricultural crops produce more stable yields than do systems in which the same crops are grown in monoculture. This paper discusses a modelling approach which has been used to support the notion that whether or not intercropping is more stable than monoculture depends on the mode of interaction among crops, i.e. whether two different crops suppress or enhance each other. It is shown here that this notion is not supported by the model used. We conclude that the relative merits of the two cropping systems depend on the proportion of land allocated to each crop rather than on the mode of interaction. The model suggests that if the optimum allocation of land is considered, both systems will be equally stable.