氨氮在饮用水生物滤池内的去除机制

为探讨饮用水生物滤池对NH4+-N的去除机制,测定生物滤池进出水中NH4+-N、NO2--N、NO3--N、高锰酸盐指数、总磷、单质氮(N2)、温度和溶解氧(dissolved oxygen,DO)等指标,并采集生物滤池不同层高(0、10、20、40、60 cm)活性炭生物填料,应用分子生物学技术,对样品中的细菌种群进行研究.结果表明,根据进水NH4+-N浓度分为3个阶段,第一、二和三阶段都发生了"氮亏损"现象(出水无机氮之和小于进水无机氮之和),氮亏损的量(出水无机氮之和与进水无机氮之和的差值)分别为0.94、0.32和0.15 mg.L-1.氮亏损的量与进水中NH4+-N浓度有很好的正相关性,但与进水中高锰酸盐指数浓度没有线性关系.第一阶段水中N2的平均浓度随着生物滤池填料层高呈上升趋势,进水中N2平均浓度是14.04 mg.L-1,出水N2平均浓度为14.67 mg.L-1.测序结果显示活性炭上生物膜中氨氧化细菌(ammonia-oxidizing bacteria,AOB)全部归为3个常见属:Nitrosococcus、Nitrosomonas和Nitrosospira.当生物滤池进水NH4+-N浓度较高时,生物滤池中发生的"氮亏损"现象是由AOB的作用.     

Setting population targets for mammals using body mass as a predictor of population persistence

Conservation planning and biodiversity assessments need quantitative targets to optimize planning options and assess the adequacy of current species protection. However, targets aiming at persistence require population‐specific data, which limit their use in favor of fixed and nonspecific targets, likely leading to unequal distribution of conservation efforts among species. We devised a method to derive equitable population targets; that is, quantitative targets of population size that ensure equal probabilities of persistence across a set of species and that can be easily inferred from species‐specific traits. In our method, we used models of population dynamics across a range of life‐history traits related to species’ body mass to estimate minimum viable population targets. We applied our method to a range of body masses of mammals, from 2 g to 3825 kg. The minimum viable population targets decreased asymptotically with increasing body mass and were on the same order of magnitude as minimum viable population estimates from species‐ and context‐specific studies. Our approach provides a compromise between pragmatic, nonspecific population targets and detailed context‐specific estimates of population viability for which only limited data are available. It enables a first estimation of species‐specific population targets based on a readily available trait and thus allows setting equitable targets for population persistence in large‐scale and multispecies conservation assessments and planning.     

异味阈值与分子结构特征关系的研究进展

异味阈值和分子结构间的关系,受到阈值准确识别和嗅觉产生机制研究的制约,是一个非常复杂的问题.本文简要介绍了多元线性回归、拓扑指数、神经网络和分子生物学等几种研究异味阈值和分子结构关系的方法,探讨了目前存在的问题以及未来的发展趋势.     

A Geochemical and Biological Basis for Marine Sediment Quality Guidelines

This document describes a basis for the establishment of marine sediment quality guidelines for regulatory applications. It outlines a geochemical basis for identifying potential anomalies in the presence of inorganic contaminants in marine sediments and a biological or ecotoxicological basis for determining concentrations unlikely to result in adverse biological effects. These approaches are discussed in an exploratory fashion. It is intended that both approaches could be combined in a manner that takes account of sedimentary nature and composition as a conceptual and practical approach to the establishment of guidelines for regulatory applications associated with the protection of the marine environment.     

生活垃圾机械-生物预处理工艺优化

以宜昌市垃圾综合处理场为例,分析了通风量和水分对生物预处理的影响,进而优化生物预处理的实际应用工艺。实验结果表明:通风量与水分对预处理过程中堆体温度、pH、堆高变化影响明显,对挥发分变化影响不明显。选取每30 min风机送风8 min的通风方式,处理之前调整垃圾水分在40%～50%之间,可以取得较好的预处理效果。     

Assessing landscape dynamics in a protected area

This article describes an approach to assessing spatial and temporal land-use and land-cover changes in and adjacent to protected areas and to the measurement of landscape stability within a protected area. Methods employed include aerial photographic interpretation and GIS technology. Odum's four-compartment ecosystem model provides the conceptual framework for assessing landscape stability. The study area is a selected sample of the Upper San Pedro National Riparian Conservation Area in the high desert grassland of southeastern Arizona. Significant changes were observed in the landscape matrix and riparian ecosystem. However, when these changes were assessed in the context of Odum's model, the change was nonsignificant. Implications of the approach and potential applications in protected area management are discussed.     

IMPACT ASSESSMENT MODEL FOR CLEAR WATER FISHES EXPOSED TO EXCESSIVELY CLOUDY WATER1

ABSTRACT: A new type of empirical model described here enables real time assessment of impacts caused by excessive water cloudiness as a function of (a) reduced visual clarity (excessive cloudiness) and (b) duration of exposure to cloudy conditions, in fisheries or fish life stages adapted to life in clear water ecosystems. This model takes the familiar form used in earlier suspended sediment dose effect models where z is severity of ill effect (SEV), x is duration of exposure (h), y is black disk sighting range (y BD, m)—a measure of water clarity, a is the intercept, and b and c are slope coefficients. As calibrated in this study the model is Severity of ill effect is ranked on a 15‐step scale that ranges from 0 to 14, where zero represents nil effect and 14 represents 100 percent mortality. This model, based on peer consultation and limited meta analysis of peer reviewed reports, accomplishes the following: (a) identifies the threshold of the onset of ill effects among clear water fishes; (b) postulates the rate at which serious ill effects are likely to escalate as a function of reduced visual clarity and persistence; (c) provides a context (the “visual clarity” matrix, with its cell coordinates) to share and compare information about impacts as a function of visual clarity “climate” (d) demonstrates changes in predator prey interactions at exposures greater than and less than the threshold of direct ill effects; (e) calibrates trout reactive distance (cm) as function of water clarity in the form where y represents reactive distance (cm) and x represents visual clarity (black disk sighting range, cm), and where a and b are intercept and slope respectively, such that (f) identifies black disk sighting range, in meters, and its reciprocal, beam attenuation, as preferred monitoring variables; and (g) provides two additional optical quality variables (Secchi disk extinction distance and turbidity) which, suitably calibrated as they have been in this study, expand the range of monitoring options in situations in which the preferred technology—beam attenuation equipment or black disk sighting equipment—is unavailable or impractical to use. This new model demonstrates the efficacy of peer collaboration and defines new research horizons for its refinement.     

Introduced Species and Management of a <Emphasis Type="Italic">Nothofagus/Austrocedrus</Emphasis> Forest

Isla Victoria (Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina), a large island dominated by native Nothofagus and Austrocedrus forest, has old plantations of many introduced tree species, some of which are famed invaders of native ecosystems elsewhere. There are also large populations of introduced deer and shrubs that may interact in a complex way with the introduced trees, as well as a recently arrived population of wild boar. Long-standing concern that the introduced trees will invade and transform native forest may be unwarranted, as there is little evidence of progressive invasion, even close to the plantations, despite over 50 years of opportunity. Introduced and native shrubs allow scattered introduced trees to achieve substantial size in abandoned pastures, but in almost all areas neither the trees nor the shrubs appear to be spreading beyond these sites. These shrub communities may be stable rather than successional, but the technology for restoring them to native forest is uncertain and probably currently impractical. Any attempt to remove the exotic tree seedlings and saplings from native forest would probably create the very conditions that would favor colonization by exotic plants rather than native trees, while simply clear-cutting the plantations would be unlikely to lead to regeneration of Nothofagus or Austrocedrus. The key to maintaining native forest is preventing catastrophic fire, as several introduced trees and shrubs would be favored over native dominant trees in recolonization. Deer undoubtedly interact with both native and introduced trees and shrubs, but their net effect on native forest is not yet clear, and specific management of deer beyond the current hunting by staff is unwarranted, at least if preventing tree invasion is the goal. The steep terrain and shallow soil make the recently arrived boar a grave threat to the native forest. Eradication is probably feasible and should be attempted quickly.     

A biotechnological agenda for the third world

Third World countries should exploit the genetic information stored in their flora and fauna to develop independent and highly competitive biotechnological and pharmaceutical industries. The necessary condition for this policy to succeed is the reshaping of their universities and hospitals—to turn them into high-caliber research institutions dedicated to the creation of original knowledge and biomedical invention. Part of the service of the Third World foreign debt should be co-invested with the lending banks in high technology enterprises. This should be complemented with an active program of investments in First World biotech companies and university research departments which could contribute to the solving of problems connected with the First World. These strategic alliances would allow effective training of molecular biologists, improvement of South American universities, and education of biotechnologists, managers, and lawyers in the complexities of high-technology business. The establishment of real joint ventures between developed and underdeveloped countries might contribute to change the present strained relations between the North and the South, and science and technology could become real forces of social and economic development.