Toward quantifying water pollution abatement in response to installing buffers on crop land

The scientific research literature is reviewed (i) for evidence of how much reduction in nonpoint source pollution can be achieved by installing buffers on crop land, (ii) to summarize important factors that can affect this response, and (iii) to identify remaining major information gaps that limit our ability to make probable estimates. This review is intended to clarify the current scientific foundation of the USDA and similar buffer programs designed in part for water pollution abatement and to highlight important research needs. At this time, research reports are lacking that quantify a change in pollutant amounts (concentration and/or load) in streams or lakes in response to converting portions of cropped land to buffers. Most evidence that such a change should occur is indirect, coming from site-scale studies of individual functions of buffers that act to retain pollutants from runoff: (1) reduce surface runoff from fields, (2) filter surface runoff from fields, (3) filter groundwater runoff from fields, (4) reduce bank erosion, and (5) filter stream water. The term filter is used here to encompass the range of specific processes that act to reduce pollutant amounts in runoff flow. A consensus of experimental research on functions of buffers clearly shows that they can substantially limit sediment runoff from fields, retain sediment and sediment-bound pollutants from surface runoff, and remove nitrate N from groundwater runoff. Less certain is the magnitude of these functions compared to the cultivated crop condition that buffers would replace within the context of buffer installation programs. Other evidence suggests that buffer installation can substantially reduce bank erosion sources of sediment under certain circumstances. Studies have yet to address the degree to which buffer installation can enhance channel processes that remove pollutants from stream flow. Mathematical models offer an alternative way to develop estimates for water quality changes in response to buffer installation. Numerous site conditions and buffer design factors have been identified that can determine the magnitude of each buffer function. Accurate models must be able to account for and integrate these functions and factors over whole watersheds. At this time, only pollutant runoff and surface filtration functions have been modeled to this extent. Capability is increasing as research data is produced, models become more comprehensive, and new techniques provide means to describe variable conditions across watersheds. A great deal of professional judgment is still required to extrapolate current knowledge of buffer functions into broadly accurate estimates of water pollution abatement in response to buffer installation on crop land. Much important research remains to be done to improve this capability. The greatest need is to produce direct quantitative evidence of this response. Such data would confirm the hypothesis and enable direct testing of watershed-scale prediction models as they become available. Further study of individual pollution control functions is also needed, particularly to generate comparative evidence for how much they can be manipulated through buffer installation and management.     

Ecological Information System: Analyzing the Communication and Utilization of Scientific Information in Mexico

/ This study is concerned with the role that communication can play in facilitating the utilization of ecological information by different sectors of society involved in environmental decision-making. The ecological information system is used as a conceptual framework. This system is a model for the analysis of interactions between three sectors involved in the management of natural resources: researchers in ecology, change agents, and rural producers. Two case studies of organizations carrying out scientific research aimed at finding and implementing sustainable strategies of resource management were carried out. The purpose was to examine how real situations function in terms of communication strategies and to analyze such situations in relation to the model proposed. The analysis revealed the importance of promoting the feedback of information from change agents and rural producers to the research sector and the incorporation of this information into the research process. It also emphasized the relevance of having "active utilizer constituencies" within the rural producers who make demands upon the entire system in order to satisfy information needs. The creation of linkage systems facilitating the connection between the generation and utilization of information was supported. In particular, the establishment of special teams within research institutions is proposed, which could promote the links between the sectors through the use of communication as an instrument of work.     

Coupling ecosystem science with management: A Great Lakes perspective from Green Bay,Lake Michigan,USA

Continued resource degradation in various areas of the Great Lakes has led to doubts of the adequacy of conventional science and management approaches. The need for a more holistic approach, identified as an ecosystem approach, appears now to be more widely accepted although progress with implementation is slow. We argue here that ecosystem science is an integral part of an ecosystem approach and is a prerequisite to effective management planning.One of the problems of implementing an ecosystem approach is forging the link between ecosystem based research and management. For Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA, certain structural and functional qualities of the ecosystem have been used to define operational guides and to formulate management objectives. These objectives are being utilized in the development of a remedial action plan for Green Bay.Deceased 5 February 1986.     

胶州湾入海污染物目标总量控制研究

根据对胶州湾水质的实际调查结果,确定DIN,COD为胶州湾的主要污染因子。对胶州湾陆源污染物现状入海量进行调查,并以2008年为基准年,以COD,NH3-N为预测因子,预测2010年胶州湾各排污单元污染物增加情况。提出基于现实、分阶段实行目标总量控制的总量分配原则,根据国家和山东省给青岛市下达的总量控制指标和2008年青岛主要污染物实际排放情况,确定2010年胶州湾COD排放总量控制目标为34675t,NH3-N入海通量总量控制目标为6943t,并对各排污单元的排放总量控制目标值进行了分配。     

Land classification used to select abandoned hazardous waste study sites

The biological effects of hazardous substances in the environment are influenced by climate, physiography, and biota. These factors interact to determine the transport and fate of chemicals, but are difficult to model accurately except for small areas with a large data base. The requirement for a large data base may be reduced locally if the regional influences of these factors were predetermined from existing data. Knowledge of the regional factors would also relax the restriction to considering only small areas. This paper advocates consideration of regional characteristics of the environment in the early stages of waste management strategy development. It presents as an example a procedure for selecting study sites from candidate-abandoned hazardous waste dumpsites in the southeastern United States. It uses small-scale maps of low resolution from the National Atlas to delineate the boundaries and to determine the environmental characteristics that prevail over units of land within the region. A computer map-overlay and graphic approach is used to facilitate the grouping of land types. Abandoned hazardous waste dumpsites found within land types that best represent the region are surveyed for selecting a study site. It is expected that environmental impact data obtained from a representative site would be useful for predicting impact potentials in similar remotely located areas within the same general region.     

科技支撑美丽中国建设的进展和展望

自党的十八大提出美丽中国建设目标以来，为发挥好科技支撑作用，国家组织开展了一系列关于资源、生态和环境等领域的科技计划，有效支撑了美丽中国建设的理论探索、生态环境保护修复和生态文明体制建设决策支持等方面的科技需求。本文在梳理过去十年国际及发达国家生态环境领域科技研发布局情况，以及我国相关领域科技研发计划和推进情况的基础上，重点介绍了中国科学院“美丽中国生态文明建设科技工程”战略性先导科技专项（A类）的主要研发内容及取得的阶段进展，并基于现状与期望分析，辨识有关领域科技前沿动态与发展趋势，提出关于下一步科技发展方向的建议，以期为党的二十大之后科技推进美丽中国建设的方向提供参考。