Nitrogen removal efficiencies and microbial communities in full-scale IFAS and MBBR municipal wastewater treatment plants at high COD:N ratio

• Two IFAS and two MBBR full-scale systems (high COD:N ratio 8:1) were characterized. • High specific surface area carriers grew and retained slow-growing nitrifiers. • High TN removal is related to high SRT and low DO concentration in anoxic tanks. The relative locations of AOB, NOB, and DNB were examined for three different kinds of carriers in two types of hybrid biofilm process configurations: integrated fixed-film activated sludge (IFAS) and moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) processes. IFAS water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) used Anodkalness^TM K1 carriers (KC) at Broomfield, Colorado, USA and polypropylene resin carriers (RC) at Fukuoka, Japan, while MBBR WRRFs used KC carriers at South Adams County, Colorado, USA and sponge carriers (SC) at Saga, Japan. Influent COD to N ratios ranged from 8:1 to 15:1. The COD and BOD removal efficiencies were high (96%–98%); NH₄⁺-N and TN removal efficiencies were more varied at 72%–98% and 64%–77%, respectively. The extent of TN removal was higher at high SRT, high COD:N ratio and low DO concentration in the anoxic tank. In IFAS, RC with high specific surface area (SSA) maintained higher AOB population than KC. Sponge carriers with high SSA maintained higher overall bacteria population than KC in MBBR systems. However, the DNB were not more abundant in high SSA carriers. The diversity of AOB, NOB, and DNB was fairly similar in different carriers. Nitrosomonas sp. dominated over Nitrosospira sp. while denitrifying bacteria included Rhodobacter sp., Sulfuritalea sp., Rubrivivax sp., Paracoccus sp., and Pseudomonas sp. The results from this work suggest that high SRT, high COD:N ratio, low DO concentration in anoxic tanks, and carriers with greater surface area may be recommended for high COD, BOD and TN removal in WRRFs with IFAS and MBBR systems.     

The effectiveness of surrogate taxa to conserve freshwater biodiversity

Establishing protected areas has long been an effective conservation strategy and is often based on readily surveyed species. The potential of any freshwater taxa to be a surrogate for other aquatic groups has not been explored fully. We compiled occurrence data on 72 species of freshwater fishes, amphibians, mussels, and aquatic reptiles for the Great Plains, Wyoming (U.S.A.). We used hierarchical Bayesian multispecies mixture models and MaxEnt models to describe species’ distributions and the program Zonation to identify areas of conservation priority for each aquatic group. The landscape‐scale factors that best characterized aquatic species’ distributions differed among groups. There was low agreement and congruence among taxa‐specific conservation priorities (<20%), meaning no surrogate priority areas would include or protect the best habitats of other aquatic taxa. Common, wideranging aquatic species were included in taxa‐specific priority areas, but rare freshwater species were not included. Thus, the development of conservation priorities based on a single freshwater aquatic group would not protect all species in the other aquatic groups.     

Effects of age and sex ratios on offspring recruitment rates in translocated black rhinoceros

Success of animal translocations depends on improving postrelease demographic rates toward establishment and subsequent growth of released populations. Short‐term metrics for evaluating translocation success and its drivers, like postrelease survival and fecundity, are unlikely to represent longer‐term outcomes. We used information theory to investigate 25 years of data on black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) translocations. We used the offspring recruitment rate (ORR) of translocated females—a metric integrating survival, fecundity, and offspring recruitment at sexual maturity—to detect determinants of success. Our unambiguously best model (AICω = 0.986) predicted that ORR increases with female age at release as a function of lower postrelease adult rhinoceros sex ratio (males:females). Delay of first postrelease reproduction and failure of some females to recruit any calves to sexual maturity most influenced the pattern of ORRs, and the leading causes of recruitment failure were postrelease female death (23% of all females) and failure to calve (24% of surviving females). We recommend translocating older females (≥6 years old) because they do not exhibit the reproductive delay and low ORRs of juveniles (<4 years old) or the higher rates of recruitment failure of juveniles and young adults (4–5.9 years old). Where translocation of juveniles is necessary, they should be released into female‐biased populations, where they have higher ORRs. Our study offers the unique advantage of a long‐term analysis across a large number of replicate populations—a science‐by‐management experiment as a proxy for a manipulative experiment, and a rare opportunity, particularly for a large, critically endangered taxon such as the black rhinoceros. Our findings differ from previous recommendations, reinforce the importance of long‐term data sets and comprehensive metrics of translocation success, and suggest attention be shifted from ecological to social constraints on population growth and species recovery, particularly when translocating species with polygynous breeding systems.     

转变增长方式,推行清洁生产

从我国资源承载力，环境污染的变化趋势及国际政治和国际贸易等方面，论述了维持我国经济持续发展，必须加速传统工业发展战略转移，走低消耗、低污染、高效益的发展道路。提出了经济增长与工业化战略及环保政策的思考和建议：加快产业结构转换和技术改造，大幅度降低单位产值的能耗物耗和污染物的排放：加速技术改造，推行工业清洁生产；增加环保投入，开辟资金来源。     

科技是促进人口、资源与环境良性循环的关键因素

本文从社会系统工程角度对人口、资源与环境三者的动态依存关系作了全面探讨。认为科技是转变这个系统运动性质的关键因素,人口问题的实质是自身的消耗接近于自身的供给,解决中国人口问题的根本途径是增加科技的投入。科技类似催化剂,可使潜在资源转化为现实资源,因而人均资源占有量不会绝对呈下降曲线。科技这一要素的大量介入,将使封闭的人口、资源与环境系统(就经济学意义而言)转变为一个全方位开放的、充满活力的耗散结构系统。     

WATER-SURFACE PROFILES WITHOUT ENERGY LOSS COEFFICIENTS1

ABSTRACT: This paper describes a new method of computing water-surface profiles, which does not require the assumption of hydrostatic pressure or of roughness coefficients. The method is based upon distributing entropy production values along a channel as uniformly as boundary conditions permit. The method requires a discharge capacity rating at a channel cross-section within the limits of the reach of the channel. A new theoretical relationship between the kinetic and momentum coefficients for the velocity profile is used, together with a dynamic programming technique for optimal distribution of energy losses along the channel. A computer model was developed and was used to verify the methodology for flood flow and channel data at four locations.     

Enrichment of fetal cells from maternal blood by high gradient magnetic cell sorting (double MACS) for PCR-based genetic analysis

For simple and effective isolation of fetal cells from peripheral maternal blood, we combined depletion of maternal cells and enrichment of fetal cells by high-gradient magnetic cell separation (MACS). First CD45⁺ and CD14⁺ cells were depleted from maternal peripheral blood mononuclear cells by MACS. From the depleted fraction, CD71⁺ erythroid cells were enriched up to 80 per cent by MACS. This ‘double-MACS’ procedure yielded an average depletion rate of 780-fold and an average enrichment rate of 500-fold, with approximate recovery rates of 40–55 per cent. For paternity testing, cells from unseparated blood and the various fractions were analysed for polymorphism of the HLA-DQ-A1 locus and D1S80 locus by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In CD45⁻/CD71⁺ sorted cells from maternal blood, but not in unfractionated cells from maternal blood or CD45⁻/CD14⁻ cells, paternal alleles could be detected. In the CD45⁻/CD71⁺ fraction, the relative frequency of paternal alleles compared with maternal alleles ranged from 1 in 20 to 1 in 200 (determined by titration and depending on the quality of separation and biological variation). In 7 out of 11 cases, between weeks 12 and 25 of gestation, we could identify paternal alleles by PCR, either HLA-DQ-A1 or D1S80. This double-MACS procedure is simple, fast, efficient, and reliable for non-invasive prenatal diagnosis.     

天然水中痕量磷酸根、亚砷酸根和砷酸根的浮膜分光光度法测定

本文研究了孔雀绿与磷（砷）酸钼的离子对膜的形成条件。并依此与共存元素分离，进行痕量磷酸根、亚砷酸根和砷酸根的浮膜分光光度法测定。选用硫酸为介质，考察了25种共存离子对测定的影响。拟定了天然水中痕量磷酸根、亚砷酸根和砷酸根的分析方法．操作简便，结果令人满意。     

Chemical forms of cobalt and nickel extracted by M1, M3 and CaCl2 DTPA

Mehlich 1(M1), mehlich 3(M3) and CaCl₂ DTPA have been used to predict the available micronutrient in soil. However, the forms of micronutrient extractable by these extractants are not known. In the present study, ten soils, collected from five provinces and the capital of China, representing a wide range of chemical and physical properties, were analyzed by sequential extraction to isolate five forms of cobalt and nickel, they are exchangeable, carbonate bound, Fe Mn oxide bound, organically bound and residual forms. The chemical forms extracted by M1, M3 and CaCl₂ DTPA were also investigated. The results show strong correlation between the carbonate bound or organically bound forms of Co or Ni and the amounts of extractable by any of the above three extractants. The main forms extracted by these extractants are carbonate and organically bound forms. The ranking of these three extractants for extraction of Co and Ni are M1>M3=CaCl₂ DTPA and M1=M3>CaCl₂ DTPA, respectively.     

浅水湖泊营养盐的释放

对浅水湖泊中营养盐释放的影响因素分别进行了综述和讨论,并认为水动力过程和水-土界面的铁、锰、硫循环与沉积物中磷释放的关系应该给予足够的重视.