Bacterial diversity in Fez tanneries and Morocco’s Binlamdoune River, using 16S RNA gene based fingerprinting

Tannery wastewater causes serious ecological and sanitary damage. Chemical analysis of water from Binlamdoune River of the medina of Fez was conducted and the results revealed the presence of toxic elements from tanneries and other industrial activities, which strongly a ected water quality. To determine the e ectiveness of bioremediation for depollution, we studied the abundance and diversity of bacteria residing in these polluted environments. Conducting denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) of the 16S rDNA area using primers related to bacteria showed a bacterial community belonging to eubacterial groups, that is, Epsilonproteobacteria, Clostridia, Lactobacillales, Bacteroidetes, Gammaproteobacteria, and Alphaproteobacteria. In addition, cloning displayed the presence of clones belonging to the Firmicutes group. Moreover, scanning electron microscopy revealed a significant heterogeneity of microorganism forms and structures. These endogenous microbes could have a significant role in the purification of Binlamdoune River and Fez tannery wastewater.     

氯对医疗废物处置厂废水处理的影响

分析了医疗废物处置厂废水处理中如何消减氯对后续活性污泥处理工艺负面影响的问题。结合山西省某医疗废物高温蒸汽灭菌厂的废水处理实例,提出了一种利用生活污水中的氨氮来消减余氯对后续活性污泥处理影响的有效方法。     

纳板河自然保护区生物多样性及其保护与发展研究

根据纳板河保护区的生物多样性和保护管理现状,提出了加强保护区生物多样性保护和促进保护区发展的对策。     

花椒林地土壤动物多样性及其对凋落物分解的作用——以贵州花江峡谷为例

选择贵州花江喀斯特峡谷为研究区,于2009年5月和9月对不同等级石漠化地的土壤动物多样性和花椒凋落物的分解速率进行研究。共获土壤动物3423只,隶属于3门7纲19目,共21个类群,优势类群为弹尾目(Collembola)、甲螨亚目(Oribatida)、中气门亚目(Mesostigmata);常见类群为前气门亚目(Prostigmata)、鞘翅目(Coleoptera)、双翅目(Diptera)、膜翅目(Hymenoptera)、半翅目(Hemiptera)。研究结果表明:(1)减少人为活动、有效保存地面凋落物、提高生境生物多样性可以迅速改良土壤生态环境,有效恢复土壤动物群落;(2)凋落物分解受土壤动物数量的影响最大,尤其是弹尾目和蜱螨目的数量起决定作用;(3)石漠化治理工程对花江石漠化治理和喀斯特生态环境的重建具有重要意义。     

Safety analysis and risk assessment of a Micro-GtL Plant

Laboratory hydrogen generators, medical oxygen, and micro-breweries are examples of modular and micro technologies that are commercial successes. Researchers, patients, and unskilled workers operate these facilities but more complex processes require highly qualified personnel to ensure they operate safely. Modular-micro processes in isolated locations meet economic objectives when operated remotely thereby minimizing labor costs. Mitigating the risk requires a comprehensive hazards analysis with advanced control systems particularly for explosive and toxic compounds. Here, we propose a method called Failure Mode Risk Decision (FMRD) to review the inherent hazards of a micro-refinery unit (MRU) that converts flared and wasted natural gas to long chain hydrocarbons. This approach combines the Process Flow Failure Mode (PFFM) methodology as a systematic and reliable technique with a novel numerical risk assessment to improve the analytical evaluation of hazardous conditions. The objective is to combine causes and consequences in a single metric, where scaled probability of evident causes and severity of consequences are used to derive a risk level measure. With the proposed metric, the magnitude of a potential hazard is directly correlated with the risk level. This mechanism identifies extra risk scenarios compared to the classical hazard analysis method and provides a straightforward comprehensive numerical assessment to represent the inherent and residual risks to facilitate justifying the hazardous scenarios. Accordingly, we design a safety loop and supply all the required facilities to remove the potential risks at the process plant. Not only the proposed methodology clarifies the risks of the MRU presented in this study, but can be extended to review the hazards of other chemical process plants.     

扰动对水体富营养化的改善作用

利用人工构建的模拟水体系统,观察搅拌和曝气条件下水体中氮磷含量和形态的变化规律,研究和探讨了扰动对水体富营养化的改善。结果表明：（1）扰动对上覆水体氮的去除效果不明显,但是能够有效促进底泥中氨氮向水体扩散,从而使底泥中氮含量明显降低,运行99 d后,曝气反应器中底泥总氮含量从初始3.46 g.kg-1降至0.68 g.kg-1,仅为对照反应器的1/4;（2）搅拌对上覆水中磷的去除效果最佳,反应器运行期间,总磷的平均去除率为37%左右;（3）扰动能增加底泥中微生物的数量和多样性,为污染物的生物降解提供了良好的基础。合理运用扰动能够提高水中溶解氧含量,改善微生态环境,增加微生物的数量和种类,有利于水体富营养化的改善。     

Safeguarding Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in the Little Karoo,South Africa

Abstract: Global declines in biodiversity and the widespread degradation of ecosystem services have led to urgent calls to safeguard both. Responses to this urgency include calls to integrate the needs of ecosystem services and biodiversity into the design of conservation interventions. The benefits of such integration are purported to include improvements in the justification and resources available for these interventions. Nevertheless, additional costs and potential trade‐offs remain poorly understood in the design of interventions that seek to conserve biodiversity and ecosystem services. We sought to investigate the synergies and trade‐offs in safeguarding ecosystem services and biodiversity in South Africa's Little Karoo. We used data on three ecosystem services—carbon storage, water recharge, and fodder provision—and data on biodiversity to examine several conservation planning scenarios. First, we investigated the amount of each ecosystem service captured incidentally by a conservation plan to meet targets for biodiversity only while minimizing opportunity costs. We then examined the costs of adding targets for ecosystem services into this conservation plan. Finally, we explored trade‐offs between biodiversity and ecosystem service targets at a fixed cost. At least 30% of each ecosystem service was captured incidentally when all of biodiversity targets were met. By including data on ecosystem services, we increased the amount of services captured by at least 20% for all three services without additional costs. When biodiversity targets were reduced by 8%, an extra 40% of fodder provision and water recharge were obtained and 58% of carbon could be captured for the same cost. The opportunity cost (in terms of forgone production) of safeguarding 100% of the biodiversity targets was about US$500 million. Our results showed that with a small decrease in biodiversity target achievement, substantial gains for the conservation of ecosystem services can be achieved within our biodiversity priority areas for no extra cost.     

Perspectives on area-based conservation and its meaning for future biodiversity policy

During 2021, Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) are expected to meet in Kunming, China, to agree on a new global biodiversity framework aimed at halting and reversing biodiversity loss, encouraging the sustainable use of biodiversity, and ensuring the equitable sharing of its benefits. As the post-2020 global biodiversity framework evolves, parties to the convention are being exposed to a range of perspectives on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, relating to the future framework as a whole or to aspects of it. Area-based conservation measures are one such aspect, and there are diverse perspectives on how new targets might be framed in relation to these measures. These perspectives represent different outlooks on the relationship between human and nonhuman life on Earth. However, in most cases there is a lack of clarity on how they would be implemented in practice, the implications this would have for biodiversity and human well-being, and how they would contribute to achieving the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity of “living in harmony with nature.” We sought to clarify these issues by summarizing some of these perspectives in relation to the future of area-based biodiversity conservation. We identified these perspectives through a review of the literature and expert consultation workshops and compiled them into 4 main groups: Aichi+, ambitious area-based conservation perspectives, new conservation, and whole-earth conservation. We found that although the perspectives Aichi+ and whole earth are in some cases at odds with one another, they also have commonalities, and all perspectives have elements that can contribute to developing and implementing the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and achieving the longer term CBD 2050 Vision.     

Global trends in research output by zoos and aquariums

Zoos and aquaria, often regarded as preservation-cum-entertainment enterprises, are also actors in the effort to curb the biodiversity crisis: raising awareness, supporting conservation, and conducting research. We assessed trends in zoo and aquaria research topics and study organisms over time worldwide. For the zoos and aquaria registered in the Species360's Zoological Information Management System and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, we compiled metadata on their research published in the peer-reviewed literature indexed in Scopus and carried out a keyword frequency analysis. The production of scientific papers by zoos increased at a much faster rate than the average accrual of scientific papers in the literature. Evolution of research themes ran parallel to that of biological sciences (e.g., development of molecular genetics or increased awareness about conservation). The focus of 48.5% of zoo-led research was on vertebrates, of which mammal research was 33.7%. Whether zoos are effectively contributing to conservation may still be debatable, but our results highlight their institutional efforts to increase knowledge about the species in their care.     

An agenda for research and action toward diverse and just futures for life on Earth

Decades of research and policy interventions on biodiversity have insufficiently addressed the dual issues of biodiversity degradation and social justice. New approaches are therefore needed. We devised a research and action agenda that calls for a collective task of revisiting biodiversity toward the goal of sustaining diverse and just futures for life on Earth. Revisiting biodiversity involves critically reflecting on past and present research, policy, and practice concerning biodiversity to inspire creative thinking about the future. The agenda was developed through a 2-year dialogue process that involved close to 300 experts from diverse disciplines and locations. This process was informed by social science insights that show biodiversity research and action is underpinned by choices about how problems are conceptualized. Recognizing knowledge, action, and ethics as inseparable, we synthesized a set of principles that help navigate the task of revisiting biodiversity. The agenda articulates 4 thematic areas for future research. First, researchers need to revisit biodiversity narratives by challenging conceptualizations that exclude diversity and entrench the separation of humans, cultures, economies, and societies from nature. Second, researchers should focus on the relationships between the Anthropocene, biodiversity, and culture by considering humanity and biodiversity as tied together in specific contexts. Third, researchers should focus on nature and economies by better accounting for the interacting structures of economic and financial systems as core drivers of biodiversity loss. Finally, researchers should enable transformative biodiversity research and action by reconfiguring relationships between human and nonhuman communities in and through science, policy, and practice. Revisiting biodiversity necessitates a renewed focus on dialogue among biodiversity communities and beyond that critically reflects on the past to channel research and action toward fostering just and diverse futures for human and nonhuman life on Earth.