Climate change,adaptive capacity and policy direction in the Canadian North: Can we learn anything from the collapse of the east coast cod fishery?

Scientific evidence gathered over the past five years suggests that northern Canada and the Arctic have undergone, and are undergoing, formidable environmental changes linked to global climate change. Environmental change in the north is expected to persist and intensify over the course of the next century. When large-scale environmental changes take place, they inevitably affect people, especially when the cultures and livelihoods of those people depend on their relationship with the environment. Managing the local impacts of these changes is a matter of adaptation. This paper discusses some of the policy implications of adaptation––government interventions aiming to build communities’ and regions’ capacities to adapt to environmental changes. Three arguments for adaptive capacity building interventions in the north are discussed, and these arguments are augmented by a comparative review of government reactions to the collapse of the cod fishery in Atlantic Canada. Reactive and proactive policy approaches are discussed, and it is suggested from the comparison that proactive approaches to intervention are desirable for building adaptive capacity.

Electropolymerized poly（Toluidine Blue）-modified carbon felt for highly sensitive amperometric determination of NADH in flow injection analysis

Poly(pheniothiazine) films were prepared on a porous carbon felt (CF) electrode surface by an electrooxidative polymerization of three phenothiazine derivatives (i.e.,Tthionine (TN), Toluidine Blue (TB) and Methylene Blue (MB)) from 0.1 mol/L phosphate buffer solution (pH 7.0). Among the three phenothiazies, the poly(TB) film-modified CF exhibited an excellent electrocatalytic activity for the oxidation of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide reduced form (NADH) at +0.2 V vs. Ag/AgCl. The poly(TB) film-modified CF was successfully used as working electrode unit of highly sensitive amperometric flow-through detector for NADH. The peak currents (peak heights) were almost unchanged, irrespective of a carrier flow rate ranging from 2.0 to 4.1 mL/min, resulting in the measurement of NADH (ca. 30 samples/hr) at 4.1 mL/min. The peak current responses of NADH showed linear relationship over the concentration range from 1 to 30 mol/L (sensitivity: 0.318 A/( mol/L); correlation coefficient: 0.997). The lower detection limit was found to be 0.3 mol/L (S/N = 3).     

PBS基共聚物对蚯蚓体内蛋白质含量的影响研究

采用人工土壤法,以蚯蚓体内蛋白质含量的变化为指标,研究了不同分子量可生物降解材料聚丁二酸丁二醇酯/聚己内酯(PBS-co-PCL)共聚物对蚯蚓的急性毒性。研究结果表明:数均分子量为8.0×103和1.6×104实验中,蚯蚓蛋白质均表现出随PBS-co-PCL含量的增大而减小的趋势,但最终蛋白质含量与空白实验基本一致;数均分子量为2.8×104的PBS-co-PCL对蚯蚓的影响比较小,不随共聚物含量的增加而变化,与空白实验基本保持相同水平。以上结果表明:不同分子量PBS-co-PCL对蚯蚓体内蛋白质含量的影响不大,对蚯蚓是安全的。     

光催化/内电解协同处理分散蓝E-4R的研究

建立了微波无极紫外光催化氧化/内电解协同处理印染废水的新工艺。采用微波无极紫外光,以活性炭为光催化剂TiO2的载体,与外加铁屑构成内电解反应,处理分散蓝E-4R模拟废水。研究结果表明:协同工艺中主要是通过内电解过程产生的Fe3+捕获光电子来提高光催化作用的效率,而通过Fe2+催化H2O2形成光Fenton反应生成.OH的效应则较小。在曝气量为0.5 L/min、pH为5、铁屑投加量为40 g、染料初始浓度为50 mg/L时,分散蓝E-4R的脱色率和COD去除率分别达到99.56%、68.45%。     

Adsorptive removal of a synthetic textile dye using cocoa pod husks

The adsorption of a synthetic textile dye (Remazol Brilliant Black Reactive) on cocoa pod husk-based activated carbon was investigated in batch process. The adsorbent prepared was characterized by gas adsorption surface analysis (Brunauer Emmett Teller, BET), scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The effects of initial dye concentration, contact time, solution temperature, and solution pH were evaluated. Equilibrium data were fitted to Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, and Dubinin–Radushkevich isotherm models, the first being the best with maximum monolayer coverage of 111?mg?g^?1. Kinetic data were fitted into pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, intraparticle diffusion, and Elovich models; the pseudo second-order model provided the best correlation. Maximum adsorption was observed at pH 7. Standard free energy, standard enthalpy, and standard entropy were also calculated. The adsorption interaction was found to be endothermic and spontaneous. Both the mean free energy of adsorption and the activation energy show that the mechanism is by physisorption.     

Effects of climate and exurban development on nest predation and predator presence in the southern Appalachian Mountains (USA)

In the eastern United States, land-use and climate change have likely contributed to declines in the abundance of Neotropical migrant birds that occupy forest interiors, but the mechanisms are not well understood. We conducted a nest-predation experiment in southern Appalachian Mountain forests (North Carolina, U.S.A.) during the 2009 and 2010 breeding seasons to determine the effects of exurban development and temperature on predator presence and the average number of days until eggs in an artificial nest were disturbed by predators. We baited artificial nests with quail (Excalfactoria chinensi) eggs and monitored them for 18 days. We used clay eggs, track plates, and motion-triggered cameras to detect and identify nest predators. The average number of days a nest was undisturbed decreased as mean temperature increased and, to a lesser extent, as the density of buildings increased. Nests on the ground were more often depredated than those in trees, likely due to increased predation by opossum (Didelphis virginiana) and other carnivores. Raccoons (Procyon lotor), opossums, corvids (Corvus brachyrhynchos and Cyanocitta cristata), chipmunks (Tamias striatus), black bears (Ursus americanus), and domestic cats (Felis catus) were the most commonly detected predators. Presence of these predators did not vary as a function of mean temperature. Domestic cats and corvids were detected more frequently in plots with high rather than low densities of buildings. Forest-interior specialists and Neotropical migrants often nest in cool, high-elevation areas with low housing density. These bird species, especially those that nest on the ground, may be most vulnerable to increased nest predation if temperature and exurban development increase at higher elevations as anticipated.     

Elimination of antibiotic resistance genes and control of horizontal transfer risk by UV-based treatment of drinking water: A mini review

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes are in water bodies. UV/chlorination method is better to remove ARGs than UV or chlorination alone. Research on UV/hydrogen peroxide to eliminate ARGs is forthcoming. UV-based photocatalytic processes are effective to degrade ARGs. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have been recognized as one of the biggest public health issues of the 21st century. Both ARB and ARGs have been determined in water after treatment with conventional disinfectants. Ultraviolet (UV) technology has been seen growth in application to disinfect the water. However, UV method alone is not adequate to degrade ARGs in water. Researchers are investigating the combination of UV with other oxidants (chlorine, hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), peroxymonosulfate (PMS), and photocatalysts) to harness the high reactivity of produced reactive species (Clž·, ClOž·ž, Clž₂·ž⁻, žž·OH, and SOž₄ž·⁻€) in such processes with constituents of cell (e.g., deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and its components) in order to increase the degradation efficiency of ARGs. This paper briefly reviews the current status of different UV-based treatments (UV/chlorination, UV/H₂O₂, UV/PMS, and UV-photocatalysis) to degrade ARGs and to control horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in water. The review also provides discussion on the mechanism of degradation of ARGs and application of q-PCR and gel electrophoresis to obtain insights of the fate of ARGs during UV-based treatment processes.     

Integrating blue: How do we make nationally determined contributions work for both blue carbon and local coastal communities?

Blue Carbon Ecosystems (BCEs) help mitigate and adapt to climate change but their integration into policy, such as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), remains underdeveloped. Most BCE conservation requires community engagement, hence community-scale projects must be nested within the implementation of NDCs without compromising livelihoods or social justice. Thirty-three experts, drawn from academia, project development and policy, each developed ten key questions for consideration on how to achieve this. These questions were distilled into ten themes, ranked in order of importance, giving three broad categories of people, policy & finance, and science & technology. Critical considerations for success include the need for genuine participation by communities, inclusive project governance, integration of local work into national policies and practices, sustaining livelihoods and income (for example through the voluntary carbon market and/or national Payment for Ecosystem Services and other types of financial compensation schemes) and simplification of carbon accounting and verification methodologies to lower barriers to entry.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-022-01723-1.     

Enhanced photocatalytic activities of silicon nanowires/graphene oxide nanocomposite: Effect of etching parameters

Homogeneous and vertically aligned silicon nanowires (SiNWs) were successfully fabricated using silver assisted chemical etching technique. The prepared samples were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Photocatalytic degradation properties of graphene oxide (GO) modified SiNWs have been investigated. We found that the SiNWs morphology depends on etching time and etchant composition. The SiNWs length could be tuned from 1 to 42 µm, respectively when varying the etching time from 5 to 30 min. The etchant concentration was found to accelerate the etching process; doubling the concentrations increases the length of the SiNWs by a factor of two for fixed etching time. Changes in bundle morphology were also studied as function of etching parameters. The SiNWs diameter was found to be independent of etching time or etchant composition while the size of the SiNWs bundle increases with increasing etching time and etchant concentration. The addition of GO was found to improve significantly the photocatalytic activity of SiNWs. A strong correlation between etching parameters and photocatalysis efficiency has been observed, mainly for SiNWs prepared at optimum etching time and etchant concentrations of 10 min and 4:1:8. A degradation of 92% was obtained which further improved to 96% by addition of hydrogen peroxide. Only degradation efficiency of 16% and 31% has been observed for bare Si and GO/bare Si samples respectively. The obtained results demonstrate that the developed SiNWs/GO composite exhibits excellent photocatalytic performance and could be used as potential platform for the degradation of organic pollutants.     

Persistent free radicals in humin under redox conditions and their impact in transforming polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

• Regulation of redox conditions promotes the generation of free radicals on HM. • HM-PFRs can be fractionated into active and inactive types depending on stability. • The newly produced PFRs readily release electrons to oxygen and generate ROS. • PFR-induced ROS mediate the transformation of organic contaminants adsorbed on HM. The role of humic substance-associated persistent free radicals (PFRs) in the fate of organic contaminants under various redox conditions remains unknown. This study examined the characterization of original metal-free peat humin (HM), and HM treated with varying concentrations of H₂O₂ and L-ascorbic acid (VC) (assigned as H₂O₂-HM and VC-HM). The concentration of PFRs in HM increased with the addition of VC/H₂O₂ at concentrations less than 0.08 M. The evolution of PFRs in HM under different environmental conditions (e.g., oxic/anoxic and humidity) was investigated. Two types of PFRs were detected in HM: a relatively stable radical existed in the original sample, and the other type, which was generated by redox treatments, was relatively unstable. The spin densities of VC/H₂O₂-HM readily returned to the original value under relatively high humidity and oxic conditions. During this process, the HM-associated “unstable” free radicals released an electron to O₂, inducing the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS, i.e., ^•OH and ^•O₂⁻). The generated ROS promoted the degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons based on the radical quenching measurements. The transformation rates followed the order naphthalene>phenanthrene>anthracene>benzo[a]pyrene. Our results provide valuable insight into the HM-induced transformation of organic contaminants under natural conditions.