Trace elements and organochlorine pollutants in selected fish species from Lake Phewa,Nepal

Lake water and fish livers and gills of sahar (Tor putitora), spiny eel (Mastacembelus armatus), African magur (Clarias gariepinus), and tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) from Lake Phewa, Nepal, were assessed for the concentrations of trace metals/elements and persistent organic pollutants. The lake water was neutral with low ionic and metallic concentrations as compared to high-altitude lakes of Nepal. The four elements Cu, Zn, Se, and Cd had highest concentrations in livers, indicating uptake from diet, whereas four other metallic elements Cr, Mn, Ni, and Pb had highest concentrations in gills, indicating uptake from lake water. O. niloticus tended to have most of trace metals in the liver at higher concentrations than the other species but significant differences among the different species were found only for Mn, Ni, and Zn in the gills. A pilot study on the concentrations of persistent organic pollutants in muscle revealed that dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and related compounds were the dominant organochlorine pesticides, having highest concentrations in C. gariepinus and lowest in O. niloticus.     

Using citizen science in environmental justice: participation and decision-making in a Southern California waste facility siting conflict

Uses of science by environmental justice (EJ) activists reflect struggles to challenge professional scientific expertise, achieve fair outcomes, and effectively participate in decision-making processes. This qualitative research analyses the relationship between citizen science and EJ in a new waste facility siting conflict in urban Los Angeles, namely connections between citizen science and four dimensions of EJ: fair distribution, respect and recognition, participation in decision-making, and community capabilities. Citizen science is one tactic in EJ, yet little research investigates its role in a new facility siting conflict, particularly in relation to multi-faceted EJ goals. The research reveals opportunities for individual empowerment and community capacity building using citizen science, and a small measure of improved respect and recognition for participants who brought their own knowledge, research, and voices to the table. At the same time, the work identifies limitations on citizen science to improve local participatory procedures and decision-making, which also constricted the achievement of outcomes most desired by the EJ group: to prevent approval and construction of the new waste facility. This paper argues that uses of citizen science contributed to partial achievement of EJ goals, while hindered by governance processes that call for public participation yet shield decision-makers from substantive engagement with the volume or content of that participation.     

The social consequences of a natural/technological disaster: evidence from Louisiana and Mississippi

Disaster scholarship shows that people’s relationships stay the same or improve after natural disasters and become worse after technological, or human-induced, events. Using the case of Katrina, this research explores what happens to people’s relationships after a disaster that began with a catastrophic natural event and was followed by numerous failures in the way human institutions responded to the event. Through an analysis of survey data collected in devastated areas of Louisiana and Mississippi in 2008, this study tests how consequences of both natural (damage to the home and having to leave the home) and technological events (distrust in government, stress, concern about toxic exposure, and pursuing litigation) affect people’s relationships with family members and community groups. Damage to the home, distrust in government, and the pursuit of litigation lead to declines in people’s relationships. These experiences are more likely to change intimate relationships (with family) than relationships in the broader community. The relevance that these findings have for creating better social justice outcomes after future disasters is discussed.     

苏州河浮游植物群落结构特征

以正在生态恢复进行中的苏州河水体为研究对象,共设黄渡、华漕、北新泾、武宁路桥、长寿路桥和浙江路桥6个采样点,从2000年10月至2002年10月间按春、夏、秋、冬进行了9次采样,另外,在黄渡、华漕和武宁路桥于2002年的5月和6月增加了5次采样,对苏州河浮游植物群落的种类组成和数量特征进行了调查研究,结果表明：苏州河浮游植物的平均个体数达到了 4.7×10⁶ ind/L,细胞密度平均值为 10.2×10⁶ ind/L,生物量均值为 5.73 mg/L。苏州河浮游植物群落结构的定性和定量组分表达均显示绿藻优势,其密度和生物量分别为 5.774 ind/μL 和 2.159 mg/L;属数、种数和生物量结构以硅藻次之。生物量、个体数与细胞数的Shannon Weaver指数均值分别为3.05、3.22和3.28;生物量、个体数与细胞数的Pielou均匀度指数均值则分别为0.73、0.76和0.77,Margalef和Simposon指数均值分别为1.59和0.84.     

Sustainable Development and Wildlife Conservation in Tanzanian Maasailand

Many current wildlife conservation efforts in Africa focus on providing local communities with economic incentives to utilize wildlife as a form of land use in order to achieve the twin goals of ecological preservation as well as sustainable human economic development. Tanzanian Maasailand is home to some of the greatest concentrations of large mammals remaining outside National Parks and reserves, as well as a uniquely traditional human culture in the form of the Maasai themselves. Both are increasingly threatened by a variety of factors; poaching and habitat loss for wildlife, and the increasing marginalization of their pastoralist economy with regards to the Maasai. The fundamental cause of declining wildlife populations and biodiversity loss is that the Maasai have little economic or social interest in wildlife due to centralized management and financial benefits which are directed primarily to the Tanzanian state. Maasai pastoralism is highly compatible with wildlife, and the potential for the local communities to sustainably manage and benefit from this resource is promising. However, implementation of effective community-based natural resource management in the area faces political, cultural, and economic obstacles which will be critical in determining the outcomes of both conservation and community development efforts in Maasailand.     

Public Nutrition from an Approach to a Discipline: Concern's Nutrition Case Studies in Complex Emergencies

The Public Nutrition approach, like that of Public Health, is context specific. It places an emphasis on populations rather than individuals and is inter-disciplinary in nature. Both approaches seek to understand the complex aetiology of a clinical outcome such as malnutrition within the widest possible framework. Public Nutrition uses the UNICEF conceptual framework and adapts and expands it. The authors of this article argue – through the examination of a number of case studies taken from the work of Concern Worldwide (hereafter referred to as Concern) in southern Sudan, Rwanda, Angola, Tanzania and DRC – that there are two critical constituents of the Public Nutrition approach. These are: a contextual analysis (including the use of surveillance information for programme design and advocacy) and community involvement at all stages of the project cycle. Some of the key obstacles to the adoption of the Public Nutrition approach are identified by illustrating two practical programme settings. For the Public Nutrition approach to be more widely used, the authors recommend a number of key strategies including the further dissemination of case studies and the clarification of the scope and boundaries of the approach. These strategies will enable Public Nutrition to evolve both as a practical programme framework as well as an academic discipline.     

赣江流域浮游植物群落结构与功能类群划分

2009~2010年3次对赣江流域浮游植物群落特征进行淡水生态学调查,鉴定出包括绿藻门、硅藻门、蓝藻门、裸藻门、甲藻门、隐藻门、黄藻门及金藻门在内的浮游植物共8门109属312种(包括变种、变型)。硅藻门和绿藻门无论是在物种数还是在种群密度上均为赣江流域的优势类群。对所鉴定出的种类按功能类群划分,共划分出功能类群32个,以此建立赣江流域浮游植物功能类群特征表(基于生境、耐受性和敏感性)。本研究首次在国内大型河流中开展浮游植物功能类群的划分,划分结果显示赣江流域浮游植物种数和密度占优势的功能类群,多适宜生活在中营养-富营养化水体,这反映出赣江水体环境已经受到了一定程度的人为干扰,水体呈现富营养化趋势。功能类群划分是理解浮游植物群落的重要工具,但是使用该方法必须检查物种的分类是否符合该生物体的个体生态特征     

Analysis of bacterial community structures in two sewage treatment plants with different sludge properties and treatment performance by nested PCR-DGGE method

The bacterial community structures in two sewage treatment plants with different processes and performance were investigated by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis （DGGE） of nested polymerase chain reaction （nested PCR） amplified 16S rRNA gene fragments with group-specific primers. Samples of raw sewage and treated effluents were amplified using the whole-cell PCR method, and the activated sludge samples were amplified using the extracted genomic DNA before the PCR products were loaded on the same DGGE gel for bacterial community analysis. Ammonia-oxidizing bacterial and actinomycetic community analysis were also carried out to investigate the relationship between specific population structures and system or sludge performance. The two plants demonstrated a similarity in bacterial community structures of raw sewage and activated sludge, but they had different effluent populations. Many dominant bacterial populations of raw sewage did not appear in the activated sludge samples, suggesting that the dominant bacterial populations in raw sewage might not play an important role during wastewater treatment. Although the two plants had different sludge properties in terms of settleability and foam forming ability, they demonstrated similar actinomycetic community structures. For activated sludge with bad settling performance, the treated water presented a similar DGGE pattern with that of activated sludge, indicating the nonselective washout of bacteria from the system. The plant with better ammonium removal efficiency showed higher ammonia-oxidizing bacteria species richness. Analysis of sequencing results showed that the major populations in raw sewage were uncultured bacterium, while in activated sludge the predominant populations were beta proteobacteria.     

氧化还原介体强化厌氧活性污泥发酵产氢特征

为提高厌氧污泥的发酵产氢能力,采用间歇培养方式考察了氧化还原介体(ROMs)对厌氧污泥发酵葡萄糖产氢效能的影响,并通过川umina MiSeq测序揭示了ROMs对微生物群落的影响.结果 表明,在发酵液体积为100mL及葡萄糖初始浓度500mg/L条件下,对照的累计产氢量和最大产氢速率(Rmax)分别为11.0mL和0....     

黄河干流全河段浮游植物群落特征与水质生物评价

为明晰水利工程修建后的黄河干流生态完整性与多样性状况,于2019年春季及秋季对黄河干流自源区至河口全河段浮游植物群落进行了调查.共鉴定浮游植物8门130属350种,春季(229种)和秋季(307种)物种数分别占总物种数的65.43％和87.71％,硅藻门和绿藻门均为两季浮游植物优势门类;春秋两季所有断面浮游植物密度及生...