Chemical characterization and source apportionment of atmospheric submicron particles on the western coast of Taiwan Strait, China

Taiwan Strait is a special channel for subtropical East Asian Monsoon and its western coast is an important economic zone in China. In this study, a suburban site in the city of Xiamen on the western coast of Taiwan Strait was selected for fine aerosol study to improve the understanding of air pollution sources in this region. An Aerodyne high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer(HR-To F-AMS) and an Aethalometer were deployed to measure fine aerosol composition with a time resolution of 5 min from May 1to 18, 2015. The average mass concentration of PM1 was 46.2 ± 26.3 μg/m~3 for the entire campaign. Organics(28.3%), sulfate(24.9%), and nitrate(20.6%) were the major components in the fine particles, followed by ammonium, black carbon(BC), and chloride. Evolution of nitrate concentration and size distribution indicated that local NOx emissions played a key role in high fine particle pollution in Xiamen. In addition, organic nitrate was found to account for 9.0%–13.8% of the total measured nitrate. Positive Matrix Factorization(PMF)conducted with high-resolution organic mass spectra dataset differentiated the organic aerosol into three components, including a hydrocarbon-like organic aerosol(HOA) and two oxygenated organic aerosols(SV-OOA and LV-OOA), which on average accounted for 27.6%,28.8%, and 43.6% of the total organic mass, respectively. The relationship between the mass concentration of submicron particle species and wind further confirmed that all major fine particle species were influenced by both strong local emissions in the southeastern area of Xiamen and regional transport through the Taiwan Strait.     

南通市重污染过程PM_(2.5)中OC/EC浓度水平及污染特征分析

采用EC/OC在线分析仪连续监测数据,结合空气自动监测站监测的PM_(2.5)浓度数据和气象参数,对南通市几次重污染过程进行了分析。结果表明,OC/EC浓度随PM_(2.5)浓度变化趋势基本一致,重污染过程中明显升高,是导致南通市重污染天气的重要元素之一。重污染过程中存在明显的二次有机碳污染,且重污染程度越高,二次有机污染越严重。单次重污染过程OC/EC来源基本相同,仅凭OC/EC的比值判断污染物来源是不充分的。污染过程中TC(OC+EC)的上升幅度较PM_(2.5)中其他组分低,污染后其下降幅度也相对较低。     

通风及营养元素对多环芳烃污染土壤修复影响

文章在无外源接种体的条件下,评估了强制通风(通风量为1.51 L/min)与营养元素对土壤中多环芳烃(PAHs)降解的交互作用。结果表明:仅靠合适的营养液配方和长时间通风可以刺激污染土壤中的土著微生物生长,并影响微生物菌群的形成。通风同时添加营养液有利于好氧菌生长、加快PAHs的降解;与通风相比,添加营养元素是影响PAHs降解的主要因素。通风和添加营养元素对3环PAHs降解影响不显著,但可促进4环、5环和6环PAHs污染物降解。60 d内,仅通风、仅添加营养元素、同时通风和添加营养元素处理的PAHs分别降解了52%、59%、67%。     

白塔堡河不同粒级有机物的三维荧光特征解析

利用三维荧光扫描(3DEEM)和体积积分法(FRI),分析了辽河流域白塔堡河在春汛期水中溶解性有机物(DOM)、小粒径有机物(0.22~0.7μm)和大粒径有机物(>0.7μm)的分布。结果显示:白塔堡河中有机物以芳香类蛋白质和溶解性微生物代谢产物为主,腐植酸类物质含量极少;5类组分在不同粒径有机物中分布相似,在0.22μm以下的DOM中分布最多;溯源分析显示,DOM来源较单一,表现出较强的内源生物降解特性,而颗粒状有机物则表现出内源和陆源的双重特性;多元统计分析显示,白塔堡河点位有机物分布基本上呈现区域性分布特征。     

宝鸡市麟游县煤矿区周边农田土壤重金属污染安全评价

文章选取麟游县的北马坊煤矿、郭家河煤矿和北王煤矿为研究区域,对其周边的农田土壤进行野外采样和室内分析,测定Zn、Cr、Pb、Cu、Cd、Hg、As 7种重金属的污染状况。结果表明:测定的7种重金属元素的最大值均超过了陕西省土壤背景值和当地的土壤环境背景值。单因子污染指数评价得出,三矿区周边的土壤Hg元素的污染较严重,局部地区已经达到了重度污染;综合污染指数法评价得出,三矿区均达到了中度到重度污染水平,其中北王煤矿污染水平较高;地质累积指数法评价得出,三矿区Hg元素的累积程度属于中度污染到强污染等级,Cd元素次之。因此3矿区周边的耕地土壤已不同程度的受到重金属的污染,相关部门应该采取一定的措施治理该区的土壤。     

Carbon paste electrodes modified with biosolids, soils and biocomposites utilized to study the interaction between organic matter and copper

Carbon paste electrodes (CPEs) modified with a biosolid, two types of soils with different amounts of organic matter (OM), and two biocomposites (soils mixed with a biosolid) were used to assess and compare the Cu(II) ion retention properties of the organic matter contained in the samples. The accumulation of Cu(II) on the surface of the modified carbon paste electrodes (MCPEs) was performed under open-circuit conditions. When comparing the response of the MCPEs while assessing parameters such as pH, preconcentration time, and adsorption/desorption capacity, it was found that the reaction mechanism of the two soils is different between the soils and dissimilar from the biosolid; while the biocomposites show reaction mechanisms that are intermediate between those of the soils and the biosolid. This was proven with the use of infrared spectroscopy, since the FTIR spectra show similarities between the two soils and significant differences between the soils and the biosolid.     

Using pruning residues as mulch: analysis of its adoption and process of diffusion in Southern Spain olive orchards

This paper analyses both the processes of adoption and diffusion of the practice of using the chopped residues of pruning as mulch in the olive orchards of the Southern Spanish province of Granada, one of the major olive-producing areas in the world. Many olive groves in the area are located on steep areas where the risk of soil erosion is high. A majority of farmers have adopted no tillage, as an alternative to traditional tillage, combined with either vegetation soil covers or, more frequently, using the chopped pruning residues as mulch. The data used comes from a survey carried out in 2005 to 215 olive farmers. From farmers' responses we estimate a binomial probit model to identify some socio-economic and institutional factors related to the decision to use the practice of mulching on a regular basis. We also estimate several diffusion models that describe the spatial and temporal spread of mulching among farmers. Our results show that mulching using the pruning residues is adopted by 43% of the surveyed farmers. The diffusion process of this practice has been very intense since the middle nineties, and seems to have been based on the interactions among farmers in the area of study rather than in other external source of information. Some of the relevant identified factors that affect the probability of adoption of this practice are farmer's experience, the level of soil degradation in the farm or the continuity of farming by some relative.     

Sorption of hydrophobic pesticides on a Mediterranean soil affected by wastewater, dissolved organic matter and salts

Irrigation with treated wastewaters as an alternative in countries with severe water shortage may influence the sorption of pesticides and their environmental effects, as wastewater contains higher concentrations of suspended and dissolved organic matter and inorganic compounds than freshwater. We have examined the sorption behaviour of three highly hydrophobic pesticides (the herbicide pendimethalin and the insecticides α-cypermethrin and deltamethrin) on a Mediterranean agricultural soil using the batch equilibration method. We considered wastewater, extracts from urban sewage sludge with different dissolved organic carbon contents, and inorganic salt solutions, using Milli Q water as a control. All pesticides were strongly retained by soil although some sorption occurred on the walls of the laboratory containers, especially when wastewater and inorganic salt solutions were used. The calculation of distribution constants by measuring pesticide concentrations in soil and solution indicated that pendimethalin sorption was not affected whereas α-cypermethrin and deltamethrin retention were significantly enhanced (ca. 5 and 2 times, respectively) when wastewater or salt solutions were employed. We therefore conclude that the increased sorption of the two pesticides caused by wastewater cannot be only the result of its dissolved organic carbon content, but also of the simultaneous presence of inorganic salts in the solution.     

Evaluating weather effects on interannual variation in net ecosystem productivity of a coastal temperate forest landscape: A model intercomparison

Forest productivity is strongly affected by seasonal weather patterns and by natural or anthropogenic disturbances. However weather effects on forest productivity are not currently represented in inventory-based models such as CBM-CFS3 used in national forest C accounting programs. To evaluate different approaches to modelling these effects, a model intercomparison was conducted among CBM-CFS3 and four process models (ecosys, CN-CLASS, Can-IBIS and 3PG) over a 2500 ha landscape in the Oyster River (OR) area of British Columbia, Canada. The process models used local weather data to simulate net primary productivity (NPP), net ecosystem productivity (NEP) and net biome productivity (NBP) from 1920 to 2005. Other inputs used by the process and inventory models were generated from soil, land cover and disturbance records. During a period of intense disturbance from 1928 to 1943, simulated NBP diverged considerably among the models. This divergence was attributed to differences among models in the sizes of detrital and humus C stocks in different soil layers to which a uniform set of soil C transformation coefficients was applied during disturbances. After the disturbance period, divergence in modelled NBP among models was much smaller, and attributed mainly to differences in simulated NPP caused by different approaches to modelling weather effects on productivity. In spite of these differences, age-detrended variation in annual NPP and NEP of closed canopy forest stands was negatively correlated with mean daily maximum air temperature during July-September (T_amax) in all process models (R² = 0.4-0.6), indicating that these correlations were robust. The negative correlation between T_amax and NEP was attributed to different processes in different models, which were tested by comparing CO₂ fluxes from these models with those measured by eddy covariance (EC) under contrasting air temperatures (T_a). The general agreement in sensitivity of annual NPP to T_amax among the process models led to the development of a generalized algorithm for weather effects on NPP of coastal temperate coniferous forests for use in inventory-based models such as CBM-CFS3: NPP′ = NPP − 57.1 (T_amax − 18.6), where NPP and NPP′ are the current and temperature-adjusted annual NPP estimates from the inventory-based model, 18.6 is the long-term mean daily maximum air temperature during July-September, and T_amax is the mean value for the current year. Our analysis indicated that the sensitivity of NPP to T_amax was nonlinear, so that this algorithm should not be extrapolated beyond the conditions of this study. However the process-based methodology to estimate weather effects on NPP and NEP developed in this study is widely applicable to other forest types and may be adopted for other inventory based forest carbon cycle models.     

An inverse model for the analysis of the Venice lagoon food web

A steady-state model of the Venice lagoon food web was constructed, based on a comprehensive set of data, which were collected in the years 2001-2005. Energy flows were estimated by means of an inverse methodology of constrained optimization based on the Minimum Norm criterion, i.e. on the minimization of both the sum of squares of the residuals and of the sum of squares of energy flows. The solution was constrained by a set inequalities, which were derived from general eco-physiological knowledge and site specific data on energy flows. The trophic network was represented by thirty-two nodes, including single-species compartments for the species of high economical or ecological relevance. Mass balance equations were weighted, in order to obtain meaningful results in presence of large differences, up to 5 orders of magnitude, among biomasses. A perturbation technique was applied, with the purpose of reducing the risk of finding solutions heavily affected by the set of constraints and of obtaining a more robust representation of the energy flows. The main patterns of energy flow are consistent with those obtained in previous attempts at modelling the Venice lagoon food web. Micro- and macro-phytobenthos account for the largest fraction of the primary production. Energy is then transferred towards higher trophic levels by means of two main pathways: the recycling of dead biomass through the detritus compartment and the direct consumption by grazers. The first pathway is the most important and accounts for approximately two/thirds of the energy transferred to the second trophic level.