土壤中稀土元素的生态毒性研究进展

为了解稀土元素对农田生态系统的影响,综述了近几十年来国内外有关土壤稀土元素生态毒性的研究进展,包括土壤稀土元素的主要来源途径,稀土元素对农田生态系统中植物、动物和微生物生长、发育、繁殖的影响。高浓度的稀土元素会破坏植物细胞膜的性质和结构,影响植物的抗氧化系统,扰乱植物对矿质营养元素的正常吸收和利用,诱使植物细胞发育不良、染色体畸变等现象发生。稀土元素可影响动物的消化、呼吸、生殖、神经、血液和免疫系统等。稀土元素对土壤微生物数量、种类、群落结构与功能多样性等均有影响。探讨了土壤稀土元素的生态毒性诊断方法,目前常见的植物毒性诊断法、蚯蚓毒性诊断法、土壤微生物诊断法、生物标记物诊断法和遗传毒性诊断法等可用来诊断土壤中稀土元素的生态毒性。提出了以后开展土壤稀土元素生态毒性研究应加强的方面:在群落、个体和细胞水平上研究稀土元素对土壤动物和微生物的影响,加强稀土元素生态毒性诊断新方法和新技术的探讨,进行稀土元素生物有效性与土壤因素关系的研究等。     

中国农业净碳汇时空演化特征分析

论文以全国范围县级单元为研究对象,对1991—2011年长达21 a的农业净碳汇时空格局变化规律展开了深入分析。研究表明：1）从时间变化角度可以发现,整体上我国农业在长达21 a内均以净碳汇为主,并且总体上处于波动上升趋势,农业净碳汇净增93.7%;2）我国农业碳汇结构相对比较稳定,稻谷、小麦和玉米三者共同占到了80%左右,而碳源结构则在1991—2011年间发生了较大变化,由1991年农药为主,化肥、牛为辅转变成为化肥为主,农药、地膜、牛为辅的结构;3）空间分布方面,我国县域农业净碳汇量地区间差距在不断缩小,存在4种农业碳生态类型区;4）1991—2011年间净碳汇为负值的县级单元数量增多,并且在空间上主要分布于西南地区与内蒙古。农业种植量相对较小,作物生长碳吸收不明显,单位产量农业投入要素多以及农业类型以畜牧业为主是这些地区农业净碳汇为负值的主要原因。     

Microbiological and mycotoxicological contamination in Slovenian primary grain production

This study was aimed at investigating the contamination of grains, which are grown and used for animal diets by Slovene farmers. A total of 107 samples were examined for mesofilic aerobic molds and yeasts. The leading contaminants among molds were from Fusarium spp., detected in 73 samples, mostly in maize (50). In accordance with the European Feed Microbiology Organisation criteria, 68% of all tested samples were of the quality level I, with normal microbiological flora, and 9% of samples were estimated as quality level IV and not suitable for animal feed. Using liquid and gas chromatography methods, the presence of various mycotoxins (expressed as 12% of moisture content) was found in 77% of all samples; mostly deoxynivalenol (71%) in concentration of 150–14,420 µg kg^?1, followed by zearalenone (32%, 20–640 µg kg^?1), fumonisin B1 (31%, 10–4863 µg kg^?1), fumonisin B2 (22%, 10–1629 µg kg^?1), while HT-2 and T-2 toxins were found in low concentration in two samples, and aflatoxin B1 and ochratoxin A in one sample. By statistical evaluation, significant positive correlations were noted between the presence of deoxynivalenol and zearalenone as well as between fumonisin B1 and B2.     

Effect on benthic communities of a major input of organic matter and other pollutants (coast off Barcelona,Western Mediterranean)

Benthic communities on soft bottoms off Barcelona, at and around two main pollution sources, the mouth of the Besòs River and the outlet of the submarine pipeline draining wastewater and organic sludges from the wastewater treatment plant of Sant Adrià del Besòs, have been studied. Samples were obtained with a Van Veen grab from 36 stations covering a 100 km² grid, between 10 and 70 m in depth. The effect of both pollution sources is clearly seen both at the species (the following macrofauna groups have been studied: Polychaeta, Mollusca, Echinodermata and Crustacea Decapoda) and community levels. The distribution of species and individuals numbers, species diversity and a pollution index, and of some selected (indicator) polychaeta species, all clearly define the degree of environmental degradation and the extent of the areas under the influence of the organic pollution.     

Industrial ecology flows of agriculture and food industry in Finland: utilizing by-products and wastes

Although half of the administrative units in China are said to have implemented their local Agenda 21, the promotion of sustainable communities is not pervasive. In this paper, we adopted a relatively untried mode of analysis and a socio-economic context to illustrate the potentials and failures of China's grassroots local government bodies in achieving sustainable waste management. Our study shows that, among the three main functions of sustainable waste management (ensuring environmental hygiene, provision of recycling logistics and changing the consumption pattern of the local community) for local governments, grassroots local government bodies in mainland China are only able to do the minimum, i.e. ensuring environmental hygiene and handling complaints. One of the reasons for the failure is that, despite the emphasis on capacity building in China's Agenda 21, the reality is that no action is taken to empower grassroots local government. Despite the high profile accorded by the Chinese central government to motivating local governments to formulate their own Agenda 21, local sustainability and waste management performance have little relevance to the appraisal systems of these government agents.     

Indicators of sustainability as a tool in agricultural development: partitioning scientific and participatory processes

SUMMARY

Sustainable indicators have become popular tools by which policymakers can assess progress towards a more sustainable agriculture. Varying approaches to defining sustainability lead to disagreement about the value of indicators and yet some form of measurement is required so that society can judge the effects of policy. Environmental and social problems and their causes span national boundaries. An international framework for assessing agricultural activities, their effects and the pressures that drive those activities is therefore required. However, a guiding principle of the UN Agenda for Sustainable Development is that global problems require local action. Thus, indicators must provide information for policymakers as well as guidance for farmers and other practitioners. Many indicator programmes currently proposed do not provide this level of guidance as no evaluation as to what level of activity is sustainable has been agreed. A model is presented, to show how scientific and political or participatory approaches may be combined to meet the multiple objectives of involving people, maintaining scientific integrity and providing guidance for policymakers and practitioners alike.     

Assessing the relative impacts of the factors affecting MIS adoption process

Micro-irrigation systems (MIS) have been at the forefront of policy-making and social research in exploring determinants that could potentially impact the adoption of MIS technologies in the field to fulfil the basic aim of enhanced agricultural productivity and enriched nutritional quality of the produce with optimal adoption of natural resources. Therefore, this study was undertaken to determine why MIS technologies have not been adopted to the extent anticipated, so that suitable policy schemes, promotional schemes and socio-technical frameworks could be formulated for their enhanced adoption to enhance the socio-economic status of the farming community in the Dahod district of Gujarat State, India. A study of 350 non-MIS (NMIS) and 350 MIS farmers was conducted to identify factors affecting the MIS adoption process. The logit model was fitted using XLSTAT software (XLSTAT 2014.1.04) to the explanatory variables (determinants) of the MIS adoption process. Type III analysis and ANOVA were conducted to test the relative significance of the explanatory variables adopted. It was found that total income had the highest weight (or beta coefficient, i.e. 0.625) followed by total land area (0.546), motor horsepower (0.499), dependency ratio (0.397), and education (0.295) and age of household head (0.207). Furthermore, to assess the efficacy of the logit model, the ROC curve was also developed and the AUC was found to be 0.881, and therefore the model was considered to discriminate well in identifying the factors affecting the MIS adoption process. The study found that higher total income and education level increase the likelihood of MIS adoption and agricultural water management, and therefore special training programmes on installation, as well as repair and maintenance, of MIS systems and agricultural water management can be planned at the institutional/organisation level. The total cultivable area is also one of the important determinants in MIS adoption, and therefore the adoption of MIS schemes should not be restricted to large farmers only, but rather should be extended to both small and marginal farmers.     

Facilitating resilient rural-to-urban sustainable agriculture and rural communities

ABSTRACT

This article contributes to efforts to validate a common set of parameters and principles of sustainable agriculture. Comparisons between alternative forms of sustainable agriculture and rural-to-urban community resilience are investigated. Conclusions are drawn between multiple sustainable/alternative agriculture systems and evaluated. A set of common baseline parameters and principles is proposed as a method of evolving a common structural framework for strengthening sustainability of agriculture and rural contexts. Concepts of rural-to-urban community sustainability are proposed, supporting sustainable agriculture contexts as rural and urban. In the twenty-first century, agriculture is becoming more diversified and less typified as a rural occupation. Urban agriculture is expanding as the need for fresh, affordable, accessible agriculture produce increases in urban areas. Evidence supports symbiotic relationships between sustainable agriculture and rural/urban communities, although some claim this relationship has not been clearly defined.

This article investigates sustainable agriculture from two perspectives. We ask ‘what are common parameters and principles of the various forms of sustainable agriculture,’ and ‘why urban-to-rural context.’ Organic agriculture parameters and principles are proposed as a conceptual framework toward establishing baseline parameters and principles for sustainable agriculture. Best management parameters of urban and rural sustainable agriculture in the United States and the United Kingdom are examined for their potential to develop a strengthening framework of parameters and principles of agriculture and rural-to-urban sustainability. These results are compared and evaluated for their effectiveness in redefining current sustainable agriculture practices, and their value in strengthening sustainable agriculture symbiosis with rural-to-urban community systems.     

低碳农业评价指标体系的构建及对广东的评价

本文对低碳农业评价指标体系的构建进行深入探讨,主要从农业生产要素产出效率、能源利用低碳化水平、农业生产方式低碳化水平、农业碳汇效应4个维度构建指标体系,并运用德尔菲法、加乘混合合成法确立综合指标评价值及设定低碳农业发展水平的等级评价标准,以此为科学量化评价农业低碳发展水平提供一个简便工具,实现对低碳农业评价由定性描述向定量分析的转变。在此基础上,将该评价指标体系应用于对广东省低碳农业发展综合评价的实证研究,以期为农业决策者制定和实施科学的低碳发展政策提供依据。研究结果显示,2006-2010年广东省低碳农业发展水平与低碳农业发展要求尚有较大差距,处于从较高碳发展水平向中碳发展水平迈进的阶段;“农业生产方式低碳化水平”成为广东农业低碳发展的最大制约性因素;与全国其他9省区比较,广东省低碳农业发展综合指数属于中等偏下的位次。由此可见,当前广东省高碳化的现代农业发展模式,成为阻碍低碳农业发展的最大因素;而坚持现有耕地的有效保护与合理拓展有效耕地面积,并因地制宜地提高农地的复种指数,对增强广东种植业的碳汇效应,保护和改善生态环境具有关键性的作用。     

农业发展与环境协调性评价及其影响因素分析

利用中国1997~2009年间省际面板数据,在方向性距离函数模型的框架下测度农业环境技术效率,评价农业发展与环境的协调程度,并考察其演变的时空特征和驱动机制.结果表明:农业发展与环境协调性整体偏低,并且研究期内呈现波动状态;不同省(市)环境与农业发展协调性差异较大,其空间分布与经济发展水平、农业生产条件存在着对应关系;经济发展水平、农业结构变动、农业基础设施投资、农业资源禀赋和农业环境管理政策等因素对农业发展-环境协调性产生重要影响,这应是农业环境管理政策创新的重点.