Risk ranking of multiple-POPs in detritivorous fish from the Río de la Plata

To evaluate the bioaccumulation and the risk associated to consumption of lipid-rich detritivorous fish, a comprehensive set of organic pollutants (n = 213) including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxin like PCBs (dlPCBs), chlorinated pesticides (CHLPs), chlorobenzenes (CBzs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polychlorinated dibenzo dioxins and furans (PCDD/F), resolved (ALI) and unresolved aliphatic hydrocarbons (UCM) and linear alkyl benzenes (LABs) were analyzed in Sábalo fish (Prochilodus lineatus) collected in the polluted Metropolitan Buenos Aires coast and in migrating specimens. Fatty fish muscles (lipids: 74 ± 9.3% dry weight) contained homogeneous (24-51% variability) and very high-concentrations of organic pollutants ranging from 60 to 1300 μg g⁻¹ fresh weight (fw) ALI + UCM; 10-40 μg g⁻¹ fw LABs and PCBs; 0.1-1 μg g⁻¹ fw dlPCBs, DDTs, chlordanes, CBzs and PBDEs; 0.01-0.1 μg g⁻¹ fw mirex, endosulfans, aldrin, dieldrin, endrin and 0.07-0.2 ng g⁻¹ PCDD/F. Total toxicity equivalents (TEQs) ranged from 60 to 395 pg g⁻¹ fw (34 ± 17 and 213 ± 124 pg g⁻¹ TEQs for PCDD/F and dlPCBs respectively). These are among the highest concentrations reported for fish and point out the remarkable ability of Sábalo to feed on anthropogenic organic-enriched particles and tolerate a high pollutant load. Contaminant signatures show partial alteration with still abundant lower molecular weight components indicating that fish feeds directly in the outfalls. Consumption limits based on reference doses ranged from 0.1 (PCBs) to >12 000 g d⁻¹ (endosulfan) allowing a comprehensive risk-based ranking of contaminants in this long-range migrating, detritivorous fish.     

“The right to food is nature too”: food justice and everyday environmental expertise in the Salvadoran permaculture movement

In El Salvador a growing permaculture movement attunes small-scale farming activities to principles of ecological observation. The premise is twofold: close-grained appreciation of already-interacting biophysical processes allows for the design of complementary social and agricultural systems requiring minimum energy inputs. Secondly, the insistence on campesino smallholders as actors in the design of sustainable food systems directly addresses decades of “top-down” developmental interventions, from Green Revolution experiments in the 1960s and 1970s to international food security programmes in the 1990s. Permaculture connects food insecurity to the delegitimisation of smallholder innovation and insists that, through sharing simple techniques, campesino farmers can contribute towards future-oriented questions of environmental sustainability. This repositioning is brought about through the mobilisation of pedagogical techniques that legitimise the experiences and expertise of small-scale farmers, while standardising experimental methods for testing, evaluating and sharing agroecological practices. Like food sovereignty and food justice movements, Salvadoran permaculture links hunger with longer histories of (uneven) capital accumulation and dispossession and renders campesino farmers its protagonists. By modelling a form of expertise premised in intimate involvement with specific environments, permaculture goes still further, seeking to dislodge a pervasive knowledge politics that situates some as knowers and innovators, and others as passive recipients. This grounds human rights in an ethos of caring for the “more-than-human” world and places emphasis on a corollary right as part of food justice, increasingly being demanded “from below”: the right to know.     

Implementation of riverside parks in the city of São Paulo – progress and constraints

The environmental degradation of urban rivers and streams in large cities has led to the development of a variety of public policies. In the city of São Paulo, Brazil, a policy for recovering watercourses and valley floors has been developed with the implementation of riverside parks. This represents a new paradigm for the city in terms of its relationship with rivers and streams. This paper presents the results of an exploratory study, which aimed to analyse riverside parks in the city of São Paulo during the last decade. The study analysed the main management difficulties in relation to these types of urban park during their post-implementation stage, assessing their performance in relation to their social and environmental functions. It addressed issues such as the state of the site before and after the implementation of the riverside park, levels of user satisfaction in relation to the state of the watercourse, sports and leisure facilities, green space, security and the way the park is used. The study showed that riverside parks are recognised as elements that improve the quality of public spaces, socially legitimised as public policies.     

废干电池的回收利用及管理对策

介绍了国内外近年来废旧锌锰电池、镉镍电池的回收利用现状及其技术 ,分析了各种方法的优缺点 ,并提出了废旧干电池的资源化和无害化的管理对策     

Ultraviolet irradiation induced oxidative stress and response of antioxidant system in an intertidal macroalgae Corallina o cinalis L.

The response of the antioxidant defense system of an intertidal macroalgae Corallina officinalis L. to different dosages of UV-B irradiation was investigated. Results showed that superoxide dimutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POX) increased and then maintained at a relatively stable level when subjected to UV-B irradiation. Catalase (CAT) activity under medium dosage of UV-B irradiation (Muv) and high dosage of UV-B irradiation (Huv) treatments were significantly decreased. Ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activity first remained unaltered and then increased in Huv treatment. In addition, the assay on isozymes was carried out using non-denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). The activities of some SOD isoforms were altered by UV-B. Two new bands (POX V and POX Ⅶ) appeared upon exposure to all three UV-B dosages. CAT Ⅲ activity was increased by low dosage of UV-B irradiation (Luv),whereas CAT Ⅲ and CAT Ⅳ disappeared when the alga was exposed to Muv and Huv. Two bands of APX (APX Ⅵ and APX Ⅶ)were increased and a new band (APX X) was observed under Huv exposure. H2O2 and thiobarbituric acid reacting substance (TBARS)increased under Muv and Huv treatments. Overall, UV-B protection mechanisms are partly inducible and to a certain extent sufficient to prevent the accumulation of damage in C officinalis.     

Geochemistry of heavy metals in bottom sediments from streams of the western coast of the rio de la plata estuary, Argentina

The fluvial system within the southwestern coastal sector of the Río de la Plata interacts with a very large and efficient mixing basin known as the Río de la Plata estuary. The region is a densely populated and productive sector of Argentina and is characterised by a temperate humid climate. The streams Carnaval, Martín, Del Gato and El Pescado of the study area drain two main geomorphologic units: a higher inner zone and the low lands of the coastal plain. In particular, the Del Gato stream receives heavily polluted discharges from agricultural, urban and industrial point and non-point sources of pollution, while the other streams collect a lower and variable discharge input. As a part of an initial assessment of the role of fluvial bottom sediments in the fate of metals through the stream ecosystems, the spatial distribution of trace and major elements related to particles in the accumulation areas was examined. Concentration of Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Hg, Pb, Fe and Mn, grain size, mineralogy (clay-X ray diffraction) and organic matter content were analysed in the four streams considering both geomorphologic units at different depositional time. Untreated and iron-normalised trace metal concentrations in the most polluted streams show higher levels in the upper layers of most contaminated sectors and accumulation areas associated to topographic low lands. The coastal plain sector behaves as a regional sink between the upstream area and the estuary.     

Ni／Fe／Al2O3·PVDF催化还原剂的表征及制备过程优化

在PVDF基体改性的基础上,采用浸渍法制备出Ni／Fe／Al2O3PVDF催化还原剂。通过对一氯乙酸的脱氯效果研究,对交联液配比及交联时间、不同浓度硫酸镍浸渍时间、镍铁比等因素进行优化,实验优化结果表明,Ni／Fe／Al2O3PVDF催化还原剂对一氯乙酸脱氯60min脱氯率达到64％。经SEM表征,制备出的双金属在膜载体表面及断面分布均匀,呈球状和片状结构且双金属未发生团聚。     

Sources of Volatile Organic Compounds in a University Building

A total of 34 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were measured in the indoor of laboratories, offices and classrooms of the Chemical Engineering Department of Hacettepe University in Ankara in 2 week-day passive sampling campaigns. The average concentrations ranged from 0.77 to 265 μg m^?3 at the different indoor sites, with the most abundant VOC found to be toluene (119.6 μg m^?3), followed by styrene (21.24 μg m^?3), 2-ethyltoluene (17.11 μg m^?3), n-hexane (10.21 μg m^?3) and benzene (9.42 μg m^?3). According to the factor analysis, the evaporation of solvents used in the laboratories was found to be the dominant source.     

Cr（Ⅵ）、Ni耐性植物筛选及其吸收富集特性研究

采用营养液培养法和二因素完全实验设计,在5 mg.L-1Cr（Ⅵ）、Ni复合污染条件下对22种植物进行筛选实验,选取富集量较高且生长较快的旱伞草Cyperus alternifolius,分析其对Cr（Ⅵ）、Ni的累积规律及生理生化效应。结果表明：（1）在Cr（Ⅵ）、Ni复合污染胁迫下,旱伞草生长状况良好,对铬、镍具有较高的富集能力;（2）在Cr（Ⅵ）、Ni复合污染下,Cr（Ⅵ）抑制旱伞草对Ni的吸收,Ni促进旱伞草对Cr的吸收;（3）分别在单因素Cr（Ⅵ）、Ni的胁迫下,SOD和CAT活性随着Cr（Ⅵ）、Ni质量浓度（0-50 mg.L-1）的增加都是先上升后下降,MDA总体都呈增加的趋势;（4）在Cr（Ⅵ）胁迫下,旱伞草地上部富集总铬的含量较高,但六价铬含量较低,对Cr（Ⅵ）的转化率最大可达到97.00%。研究表明,旱伞草是一种修复Cr（Ⅵ）、Ni污染很有潜力的物种。     

Combined effects of life-history traits and human impact on extinction risk of freshwater megafauna

Megafauna species are intrinsically vulnerable to human impact. Freshwater megafauna (i.e., freshwater animals ≥30 kg, including fishes, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians) are subject to intensive and increasing threats. Thirty-four species are listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Red List of Threatened Species, the assessments for which are an important basis for conservation actions but remain incomplete for 49 (24%) freshwater megafauna species. Consequently, the window of opportunity for protecting these species could be missed. Identifying the factors that predispose freshwater megafauna to extinction can help predict their extinction risk and facilitate more effective and proactive conservation actions. Thus, we collated 8 life-history traits for 206 freshwater megafauna species. We used generalized linear mixed models to examine the relationships between extinction risk based on the IUCN Red List categories and the combined effect of multiple traits, as well as the effect of human impact on these relationships for 157 classified species. The most parsimonious model included human impact and traits related to species’ recovery potential including life span, age at maturity, and fecundity. Applying the most parsimonious model to 49 unclassified species predicted that 17 of them are threatened. Accounting for model predictions together with IUCN Red List assessments, 50% of all freshwater megafauna species are considered threatened. The Amazon and Yangtze basins emerged as global diversity hotspots of threatened freshwater megafauna, in addition to existing hotspots, including the Ganges-Brahmaputra and Mekong basins and the Caspian Sea region. Assessment and monitoring of those species predicted to be threatened are needed, especially in the Amazon and Yangtze basins. Investigation of life-history traits and trends in population and distribution, regulation of overexploitation, maintaining river connectivity, implementing protected areas focusing on freshwater ecosystems, and integrated basin management are required to protect threatened freshwater megafauna in diversity hotspots.