Predicting the effects of urbanization on runoff after frequent rainfall events

Urbanization dynamics are commonly subjected to powerful market forces, only partly managed by land-use plans. The density, location and pattern of urbanized areas affect rainfall-runoff relations. Consequently, it is essential to understand future impacts of urbanization on runoff and produce focused regulation. The goal was to analyze land-cover scenarios and their impact on runoff in an urbanized watershed in Israel. Present and predicted land-cover scenarios in a densely populated watershed were produced. The runoff response to rainfall was then simulated using a hydrological model. The impact of implementing afforestation and quarrying national outline plans was considered. By the year 2050, 50% of the watershed will be urbanized with a linear increase in runoff response. Afforestation and quarrying plans show little effect on runoff, although quarries may decrease runoff through percolation. As urbanization is expected to continue spreading in adjacent watersheds, statutory measures should be applied to mitigating runoff.     

National contributions to global ecosystem values

Current conservation templates prioritize biogeographic regions with high intensity ecosystem values, such as exceptional species richness or threat. Intensity-based targets are an important consideration in global efforts, but they do not capture all available opportunities to conserve ecosystem values, including those that accrue in low intensity over large areas. We assess six globally-significant ecosystem values—intact wilderness, freshwater availability, productive marine environments, breeding habitat for migratory wildlife, soil carbon storage, and latitudinal potential for range shift in the face of climate change—to highlight opportunities for high-impact broadly-distributed contributions to global conservation. Nations can serve as a cohesive block of policy that can profoundly influence conservation outcomes. Contributions to global ecosystem values that exceed what is predicted by a nation's area alone, can give rise to countries with the capacity to act as ‘conservation superpowers’, such as Canada and Russia. For these conservation superpowers, a relatively small number of national policies can have environmental repercussions for the rest of the world.     

Examining the relationship between local extinction risk and position in range

Over half of globally threatened animal species have experienced rapid geographic range loss. Identifying the parts of species’ distributions most vulnerable to local extinction would benefit conservation planning. However, previous studies give little consensus on whether ranges decline to the core or edge. We built on previous work by using empirical data to examine the position of recent local extinctions within species’ geographic ranges, address range position as a continuum, and explore the influence of environmental factors. We aggregated point‐locality data for 125 Galliform species from across the Palearctic and Indo‐Malaya into equal‐area half‐degree grid cells and used a multispecies dynamic Bayesian occupancy model to estimate rates of local extinctions. Our model provides a novel approach to identify loss of populations from within species ranges. We investigated the relationship between extinction rates and distance from range edge by examining whether patterns were consistent across biogeographic realm and different categories of land use. In the Palearctic, local extinctions occurred closer to the range edge than range core in both unconverted and human‐dominated landscapes. In Indo‐Malaya, no pattern was found for unconverted landscapes, but in human‐dominated landscapes extinctions tended to occur closer to the core than the edge. Our results suggest that local and regional factors override general spatial patterns of recent local extinction within species’ ranges and highlight the difficulty of predicting the parts of a species’ distribution most vulnerable to threat.     

Spatiotemporal Variability in Water Sources Controls Chemical and Physical Properties of a Semi‐arid Urban River System

We conducted synoptic surveys over three seasons in one year to evaluate the variability in water sources and geochemistry of an urban river with complex water infrastructure in the state of Utah. Using stable isotopes of river water (δ¹⁸O and δ²H) within a Bayesian mixing model framework and a separate hydrologic mass balance approach, we quantified both the proportional inputs and magnitude of discharge associated with “natural” (lake, groundwater, and tributary inputs) and “engineered” (effluent and canal inflows) sources. The relative importance of these major contributors to streamflow varied both spatially and seasonally. Spatiotemporal patterns of dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, calcium, chloride, nitrate, and orthophosphate indicated seasonal shifts in dominant sources of river water played an important role in determining water quality. We show although urban rivers are clearly influenced by novel water sources created by water infrastructure, they continue to reflect the imprint of “natural” water sources, including diffuse groundwater. Resource managers thus may need to account for the quantity of both surface waters and also historically overlooked groundwater inputs to address water quality concerns in urban rivers.     

Long‐Term High‐Resolution Radar Rainfall Fields for Urban Hydrology

Accurate records of high‐resolution rainfall fields are essential in urban hydrology, and are lacking in many areas. We develop a high‐resolution (15 min, 1 km²) radar rainfall data set for Charlotte, North Carolina during the 2001‐2010 period using the Hydro‐NEXRAD system with radar reflectivity from the National Weather Service Weather Surveillance Radar 1988 Doppler weather radar located in Greer, South Carolina. A dense network of 71 rain gages is used for estimating and correcting radar rainfall biases. Radar rainfall estimates with daily mean field bias (MFB) correction accurately capture the spatial and temporal structure of extreme rainfall, but bias correction at finer timescales can improve cold‐season and tropical cyclone rainfall estimates. Approximately 25 rain gages are sufficient to estimate daily MFB over an area of at least 2,500 km², suggesting that robust bias correction is feasible in many urban areas. Conditional (rain‐rate dependent) bias can be removed, but at the expense of other performance criteria such as mean square error. Hydro‐NEXRAD radar rainfall estimates are also compared with the coarser resolution (hourly, 16 km²) Stage IV operational rainfall product. Stage IV is adequate for flood water balance studies but is insufficient for applications such as urban flood modeling, in which the temporal and spatial scales of relevant hydrologic processes are short. We recommend the increased use of high‐resolution radar rainfall fields in urban hydrology.     

Rehabilitation and improvement of Guilin urban water environment：Function-oriented management

Economic development and population growth have deeply damaged the urban water environment of Guilin City, China. Main problems involved structural damage and functional deterioration of the urban waters. An integrated technical scheme was developed to rehabilitate the urban water environment and to enhance the waters' functions during 1998-2008. Improvement of waters' functions included water system reconstruction, water pollution control, water safety assurance, and aquatic ecological restoration. The water system was reconstructed to connect different waters and clean water supplies to the lakes. Moreover, water pollution was controlled to improve water quality by endogenous pollutant elimination and extraneous pollutant interception. In addition, ecological measures put in place serve to enhance water system functions and better benefit both nature and humans. The project has brought about sound ecological, economic and social benefits in Guilin City, which can potentially be extended to similar cities.     

新形势下舰载垂直发射装置发展趋势

分析了国内外舰载发射装置发展的基本概况,得到了国内在舰载垂直发射装置发展过程中存在的问题。垂直发射装置通用化、系列化程度低;对舰艇的适装性,安全性不能满足多弹种、大载弹量的需求;不能满足对中远程导弹发射的需要;协同作战能力不足;电磁弹射型垂直发射装置在舰艇上的应用还是空白;贮弹量小,远洋作战补给能力不足。针对上述问题,提出了外围化、通用化、系列化、小型化、模块化、并型化垂直发射装置,并对电磁弹射型和中远程垂直发射装置作了阐述。指出了新形势下多型舰载垂直发射装置适装新型舰艇的发展概况,适应了舰艇在未来作战新需求的需要。     

三峡前置库汉丰湖试运行年水文水质变化特征

汉丰湖是为解决三峡蓄水在重庆市开县(今开州区,下同)境内形成的38 km2消落带修建的前置库,因独特的"库中库"调控模式,季节性大范围消落区湿地、生活污染和农业面源污染源、城市和人口承载,具有特殊的水文特征及生态环境特征.2015年汉丰湖试运行期间,汉丰湖受三峡水位调控影响,兼具湖泊、河流、回水河湾等形态特征,结合水文形态变化特征和水质指标时间聚类分析,结果表明:(1)试运行年水文水质有4个特征变化时期:5~8月为T1(河流形态期),1月、3月和11~12月为T2(湖泊形态期),2月、4月和9月为T3(水位变动期),10月为T4(水华敏感期).(2)通过主成分分析和逐步回归分析发现汉丰湖水体富营养化在不同时期受不同主导成分影响,主成分累积贡献率在上述时期分别为82.93%、77.61%、78.32%、88.40%.T1时期主要水质影响指标为DP、TP、SD、pH;T2时期主要水质影响指标为TN、DN、DP、TP、NO_3~--N;T3时期主要水质影响指标为SD、NH_4~+-N、DN、T;T4时期主要水质影响指标为TN、DN、DO、NH_4~+-N、pH、高锰酸盐指数、H、NO_3~--N.(3)用主成分分析简化水质指标之间的相关性,以因子得分(score values)为自变量用于多元线性回归分析,结果发现各时期Chl-a与因子分值明显相关,T1时期Chl-a主要受水体氮含量影响,主要影响成分为PC2;T2时期Chl-a主要受水体氮、磷营养盐状态影响,主要影响成分为PC1;T3时期Chl-a主要受水深变化影响,主要影响成分为PC3;T4时期Chl-a主要受水动力影响,主要影响成分为PC3.综上所述,汉丰湖试运行期间频繁且大幅度的水位变动是其水文水质变化的重要影响因素.     

分光光度法测定余氯的线性范围探讨

用分光光度法测定水样中的余氯，按照国际GB11898－89中的要求，整个浓度范围内（余氯0－5.00mg/L)所制得的标准曲线的相关系数在0.99-0.999之间。经对其标准曲线的线性范围进行探讨发现，当余氯的浓度范围为0－1.00mg/L时，标准曲线的线性较好，相关系数＞0．999；当余氯的浓度＞1.00mg/L，所绘制的标准曲线呈负偏离现象，相关系数＜0．999。     

Stimulants and donors promote megaplasmid pND6-2 horizontal gene transfer in activated sludge

The activated sludge process is characterized by high microbial density and diversity, both of which facilitate antibiotic resistance gene transfer. Many studies have suggested that antibiotic and non-antibiotic drugs at sub-inhibitory concentrations are major inducers of conjugative gene transfer. The self-transmissible plasmid pND6-2 is one of the endogenous plasmids harbored in Pseudomonas putida ND6, which can trigger the transfer of another co-occurring naphthalene-degrading plasmid pND6-1. Therefore, to illustrate the potential influence of stimulants on conjugative transfer of pND6-2, we evaluated the effects of four antibiotics (ampicillin, gentamycin, kanamycin, and tetracycline) and naphthalene, on the conjugal transfer efficiency of pND6-2 by filter-mating experiment. Our findings demonstrated that all stimulants within an optimal dose promoted conjugative transfer of pND6-2 from Pseudomonas putida GKND6 to P. putida KT2440, with tetracycline being the most effective (100 µg/L and 10 µg/L), as it enhanced pND6-2-mediated intra-genera transfer by approximately one hundred-fold. Subsequently, seven AS reactors were constructed with the addition of donors and different stimulants to further elucidate the conjugative behavior of pND6-2 in natural environment. The stimulants positively affected the conjugal process of pND6-2, while donors reshaped the host abundance in the sludge. This was likely because stimulant addition enhanced the expression levels of conjugation transfer-related genes. Furthermore, Blastocatella and Chitinimonas were identified as the potential receptors of plasmid pND6-2, which was not affected by donor types. These findings demonstrate the positive role of sub-inhibitory stimulant treatment on pND6-2 conjugal transfer and the function of donors in re-shaping the host spectrum of pND6-2.