“Biological Windows”: A Tribute to W. Ross Adey

Summary We often do not realize how fast the time is running. It is now more than a year since the sad news for the death of William Ross Adey came. With kind agreement of Prof. Kostarakis my presentation at the 3rd International Workshop “Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields” was dedicated to the memory of this remarkable scientist, dear colleague and friend. I would like that this paper will be a tribute to the life and scientific achievements of Dr. Ross Adey. It is astonishing that among all his contributions in the field of Bioelectromagnetics, Dr. Adey introduced the term “window”.     

Effects of productivity on biodiversity in forest ecosystems across the United States and China

In the global campaign against biodiversity loss in forest ecosystems, land managers need to know the status of forest biodiversity, but practical guidelines for conserving biodiversity in forest management are lacking. A major obstacle is the incomplete understanding of the relationship between site primary productivity and plant diversity, due to insufficient ecosystem‐wide data, especially for taxonomically and structurally diverse forest ecosystems. We investigated the effects of site productivity (the site's inherent capacity to grow timber) on tree species richness across 19 types of forest ecosystems in North America and China through 3 ground‐sourced forest inventory data sets (U.S. Forest Inventory and Analysis, Cooperative Alaska Forest Inventory, and Chinese Forest Management Planning Inventory). All forest types conformed to a consistent and highly significant (P < 0.001) hump‐shaped unimodal relationship, of which the generalized coefficients of determination averaged 20.5% over all the forest types. That is, tree species richness first increased as productivity increased at a progressively slower rate, and, after reaching a maximum, richness started to decline. Our consistent findings suggest that forests of high productivity would sustain few species because they consist mostly of flat homogeneous areas lacking an environmental gradient along which a diversity of species with different habitats can coexist. The consistency of the productivity–biodiversity relationship among the 3 data sets we examined makes it possible to quantify the expected tree species richness that a forest stand is capable of sustaining, and a comparison between the actual species richness and the sustainable values can be useful in prioritizing conservation efforts.     

Characterisation of FOGs in grease trap waste from the processing of chickens in Thailand

Industrial firms that kill and process chickens generate wastewater that contains fat, oil, and grease (FOG). The FOGs are located in the fatty waste that is collected by floatation in grease traps. Chemical and physical characterisation of FOGs would provide useful information that would help in the development of methods designed to decrease the extent of pollution caused by disposal of the waste and to utilise commercially some of its lipid constituents. Employing these methods would enhance the profitability and competitive potential of these commercial organisations. Samples of grease trap waste from 14 firms in central Thailand have been examined. Due to the very different schemes of waste management employed by these firms, the physical appearance of their fatty wastes showed considerable variation. The chemical and physical properties of the FOGs present in these wastes showed considerable variation also. Large amounts of free fatty acids (10–70% as oleic acid) were detected in most of the 14 wastes and palmitic, cis-9-oleic, cis,cis-9,12-linoleic, stearic, and palmitoleic acids were the predominant species of free and esterified acids. Most of the FOGs were solid at temperatures below 40 °C. Many of them contained traces of heavy metals (Cu and Pb) and some contained traces of the pesticides dimethoate and cypermethrin. The content of these potentially hazardous substances would have to be considered very carefully before discarding the fatty wastes and during the development of methods designed to isolate their potentially profitable lipid constituents.     

CO2浓度升高对半干旱区春小麦光合作用及水分生理生态特性的影响

大气CO₂浓度升高已成为世界范围内重要环境问题。为了解大气CO₂浓度升高对春小麦光合作用及水分生理生态特性的影响,在典型半干旱区定西利用开顶式气室(OTC)试验平台,以春小麦“定西24号”为供试品种,开展了CO₂浓度增加模拟试验。试验设对照(390μmol·mol^?1)、480μmol·mol^?1和570μmol·mol^?1等3个CO₂浓度(摩尔分数)梯度。结果表明:在对照和增加CO₂浓度条件下,春小麦叶片净光合速率和蒸腾速率日变化均呈“双峰型”分布,出现明显的“午休”现象;胞间CO₂浓度的日变化表现为斜“V”字型曲线;叶水势日变化呈现反抛物线曲线走向,在中午后出现水势曲线拐点。在不同生育时期内,净光合速率、气孔导度和胞间CO₂浓度均表现为开花期最大,乳熟期最小。而蒸腾速率表现为开花期最大,拔节期最小,叶片水平水分利用效率表现为孕穗期最大,乳熟期最小。随着CO₂浓度升高,春小麦叶片净光合速率、胞间CO₂浓度、水分利用效率和水势提高,气孔导度和蒸腾速率降低。与对照大气CO₂浓度相比,在480μmol·mol^?1浓度和570μmol·mol^?1浓度下,整个生育期净光合速率平均分别提高了14.68%和28.20%,气孔导度平均降低了15.29%和24.83%,胞间CO₂浓度平均提高了10.38%和26.15%,蒸腾速率平均减小了6.63%和12.41%,WUE平均增加了22.9%和46.9%。随着CO₂浓度升高,蒸腾失水减少,叶片水势不断增加,从而增强了春小麦对干旱胁迫的抵御能力。研究结果为我国半干旱区春小麦对全球气候变化下的敏感性及适应性提供理论参考。     

Level of environmental threat posed by horticultural trade in Cactaceae

Ornamental horticulture has been identified as an important threat to plant biodiversity and is a major pathway for plant invasions worldwide. In this context, the family Cactaceae is particularly challenging because it is considered the fifth most threatened large taxonomic group in the world; several species are among the most widespread and damaging invasive species; and Cactaceae is one of the most popular horticultural plant groups. Based on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna and the 11 largest online auction sites selling cacti, we documented the international cactus trade. To provide an in‐depth look at the dynamics of the industry, we surveyed the businesses involved in the cactus trade in South Africa (a hotspot of cactus trade and invasions). We purchased seeds of every available species and used DNA barcoding to identify species to the genus level. Although <20% of this trade involved threatened species and <3% involved known invasive species, many species were identified by a common name. However, only 0.02% of the globally traded cacti were collected from wild populations. Despite a large commercial network, all South African imports (of which 15% and 1.5% were of species listed as threatened and invasive, respectively) came from the same source. With DNA barcoding, we identified 24% of the species to genus level. Based on our results, we believe that if trade restrictions are placed on the small proportion of cacti that are invasive and there is no major increase in harvesting of native populations, then the commercial trade in cactus poses a negligible environmental threat. However, there are currently no effective methods for easily identifying which cacti are traded, and both the illicit harvesting of cacti from the wild and the informal trade in invasive taxa pose on‐going conservation challenges.     

Defining the Impact of Non‐Native Species

Non‐native species cause changes in the ecosystems to which they are introduced. These changes, or some of them, are usually termed impacts; they can be manifold and potentially damaging to ecosystems and biodiversity. However, the impacts of most non‐native species are poorly understood, and a synthesis of available information is being hindered because authors often do not clearly define impact. We argue that explicitly defining the impact of non‐native species will promote progress toward a better understanding of the implications of changes to biodiversity and ecosystems caused by non‐native species; help disentangle which aspects of scientific debates about non‐native species are due to disparate definitions and which represent true scientific discord; and improve communication between scientists from different research disciplines and between scientists, managers, and policy makers. For these reasons and based on examples from the literature, we devised seven key questions that fall into 4 categories: directionality, classification and measurement, ecological or socio‐economic changes, and scale. These questions should help in formulating clear and practical definitions of impact to suit specific scientific, stakeholder, or legislative contexts. Definiendo el Impacto de las Especies No‐Nativas     

The data not collected on community forestry

Conservation and development practitioners increasingly promote community forestry as a way to conserve ecosystem services, consolidate resource rights, and reduce poverty. However, outcomes of community forestry have been mixed; many initiatives failed to achieve intended objectives. There is a rich literature on institutional arrangements of community forestry, but there has been little effort to examine the role of socioeconomic, market, and biophysical factors in shaping both land‐cover change dynamics and individual and collective livelihood outcomes. We systematically reviewed the peer‐reviewed literature on community forestry to examine and quantify existing knowledge gaps in the community‐forestry literature relative to these factors. In examining 697 cases of community forest management (CFM), extracted from 267 peer‐reviewed publications, we found 3 key trends that limit understanding of community forestry. First, we found substantial data gaps linking population dynamics, market forces, and biophysical characteristics to both environmental and livelihood outcomes. Second, most studies focused on environmental outcomes, and the majority of studies that assessed socioeconomic outcomes relied on qualitative data, making comparisons across cases difficult. Finally, there was a heavy bias toward studies on South Asian forests, indicating that the literature on community forestry may not be representative of decentralization policies and CFM globally.     

微气泡臭氧催化氧化-生化耦合工艺深度处理煤化工废水

采用微气泡臭氧催化氧化-生化耦合工艺对煤化工废水生化出水进行深度处理,考察耦合系统处理性能及不同臭氧投加量和进水COD量比值的影响.结果表明,微气泡臭氧催化氧化处理能够有效降解废水中难降解含氮芳香族污染物,去除部分COD并释放氨氮,显著提高废水可生化性,臭氧利用率接近100%,无需进行臭氧尾气处理;同时为生化处理提供充足溶解氧(DO),实现生化处理对COD和氨氮的进一步有效去除,生化处理无需曝气.在系统出水回流比为30%、臭氧投加量和进水COD量之比为0.44 mg·mg~(-1)的运行条件下,耦合系统处理性能较好.微气泡臭氧催化氧化处理对COD去除率为42.5%,臭氧消耗量与COD去除量比值为1.38 mg·mg~(-1),臭氧利用率为98.0%;生化处理对COD去除率为42.3%;耦合系统整体COD去除率为66.7%,最终平均出水COD浓度为91.5 mg·L~(-1),估算整体臭氧消耗量与COD去除量比值为0.68 mg·mg~(-1),具有较优的技术经济性能.     

典型生活垃圾处理设施恶臭排放特征及污染评价

为研究生活垃圾处理设施恶臭污染排放特征,分别在北京市生活垃圾填埋、焚烧、堆肥3种工艺的前处理车间采集恶臭样品,利用冷阱富集-气质联用(GC/MS)技术对恶臭气体进行分析.结果表明,检测到的恶臭物质主要分为6大类:芳香烃化合物、硫化物、卤代物、烯烃、烷烃和含氧有机物.其中,填埋工艺的前处理车间共检测出50种物质,质量浓度为100.069mg·m~(-3),理论臭气浓度OU_T为350.611,综合臭气指数N为25.448.焚烧工艺的前处理车间共检测出55种物质,质量浓度为36.052 mg·m~(-3),理论臭气浓度OU_T为141.434,综合臭气指数N为21.506.堆肥工艺的前处理车间共检测出34种物质,质量浓度为25.382 mg·m~(-3),理论臭气浓度OU_T为27.547,综合臭气指数N为14.401.利用阈稀释倍数的恶臭贡献值计算方法,初步识别填埋工艺的前处理车间特征恶臭污染物质为:二甲二硫醚、乙酸丁酯、对二乙苯和乙醇;焚烧工艺的前处理车间特征恶臭污染物质为:甲硫醇、二甲二硫醚、乙醇和柠檬烯;堆肥工艺的前处理车间特征恶臭污染物质为:乙醇、二甲二硫醚、乙酸丁酯和柠檬烯.     

北京市铺装道路降尘污染特征及来源

为研究北京市道路降尘在不同季节的污染特征及来源,选取北京市4条典型道路得到64个采样点的道路尘样品,采集的道路尘样品经过预处理得到75 μm以下的颗粒物,经过再悬浮及实验室分析得到PM_2.5的粒径分布和化学成分谱.结果表明:不同采样高度及不同道路类型的颗粒物粒径大体分布规律一致,颗粒物质量频率存在三个峰值,分别为0.75 μm（微粒径）、2.50 μm（小粒径）、4.50 μm（大粒径）;各季节的降尘颗粒物的化学组分中质量分数最大的是元素,主要元素（含量>1%）季节变化为冬季>春季>秋季>夏季,元素富集因子法得到污染元素为Cr、Cd、Sn、Cu、Zn、Pb、As,双重元素为Bi、Ti、Ni、W、Mg、Ca、TI、Mo、V、Fe、Zr、Ba,其余16种为非富集元素;颗粒物中离子质量分数在夏季最大为9.31%,春季、秋季、冬季的离子质量分数相差不大,其中Ca2+、NO₃-、Cl-、SO₄2-占总离子质量的80%左右;碳素中w（OC）和w（EC）的季节变化均为夏季>秋季>春季>冬季,OC/EC[w（OC）/w（EC）]的季节变化规律为冬季>春季>秋季>夏季.不同季节w（OC）和w（EC）的相关性大小为夏季>秋季>春季>冬季.对PM_2.5中化学组分来源分析表明,污染元素受机动车和建筑尘影响较大,与机动车尾气相比,机动车磨损造成的污染也不容小视;燃煤影响一直存在,但供暖期污染有所改善.机动车尾气、建筑尘及土壤尘对离子均有贡献,在夏季土壤尘、建筑尘、二次反应的综合影响较大,春季土壤尘影响更为突出.碳在夏秋季节受汽车尾气和建筑尘的影响较大,夏季二次反应影响不大;冬季除气象因素外,燃煤和生物质燃烧也不可忽视;春季土壤尘影响较为突出.