Incorporation of pesticides by soil micro-organisms as a way of bound residues formation

We studied the ¹⁴C-tagged biochemical compartments such as proteins, lipids and polysaccharides from bacterial and fungal cultures supplied with ¹⁴C-pesticides and ¹⁴C-glucose. We showed that ¹⁴C incorporation depends both on the substrate structure and on the nature of the micro-organism. Both bacterial and fungal cells incorporated glucose ¹⁴C mainly into cell wall proteins. By contrast, glyphosate ¹⁴C was mainly incorporated into cytoplasm carbohydrates by fungi. On the other hand, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid ¹⁴C was mainly found in the carbohydrate fractions of the bacteria walls.     

Honey bee foragers as sensory units of their colonies

Forager honey bees function not only as gatherers of food for their colonies, but also as sensory units shaped by natural selection to gather information regarding the location and profitability of forage sites. They transmit this information to colony members by means of waggle dances. To investigate the way bees transduce the stimulus of nectar-source profitability into the response of number of waggle runs, I performed experiments in which bees were stimulated with a sucrose solution feeder of known profitability and their dance responses were videorecorded. The results suggest that several attributes of this transduction process are adaptations to enhance a bee's effectiveness in reporting on a forage site. (1) Bees register the profitability of a nectar source not by sensing the energy gain per foraging trip or the rate of energy gain per trip, but evidently by sensing the energetic efficiency of their foraging. Perhaps this criterion of nectar-source profitability has been favored by natural selection because the foraging gains of honey bees are typically limited by energy expenditure rather than time availability. (2) There is a linear relationship between the stimulus of energetic efficiency of foraging and the response of number of waggle runs per dance. Such a simple stimulus-response function appears adequate because the range of suprathreshold stimuli (max/min ratio of about 10) is far smaller than the range of responses (max/min ratio of about 100). Although all bees show a linear stimulus-response function, there are large differences among individuals in both the response threshold and the slope of the stimulus-response function. This variation gives the colony a broader dynamic range in responding to food sources than if all bees had identical thresholds of dance response. (3) There is little or no adaptation in the dance response to a strong stimulus (tonic response). Thus each dancing bee reports on the current level of profitability of her forage site rather than the changes in its profitability. This seems appropriate since presumably it is the current profitability of a forage site, not the change in its profitability, which determines a site's attractiveness to other bees. (4) The level of forage-site quality that is the threshold for dancing is tuned by the bees in relation to forage availability. Bees operate with a lower dance threshold when forage is sparse than when it is abundant. Thus a colony utilizes input about a wide range of forage sites when food is scarce, but filters out input about low-reward sites when food is plentiful. (5) A dancing bee does not present her information in one spot within the hive but instead distributes it over much of the dance floor. Consequently, the dances for different forage sites are mixed together on the dance floor. This helps each bee following the dances to take a random sample of the dance information, which is appropriate for the foraging strategy of a honey bee colony since it is evidently designed to allocate foragers among forage sites in proportion to their profitability.     

含硫及含氯化肥对湘南水田土壤酸度和养分有效性的影响

1990年5—11月,在湖南祁阳中国农科院红壤实验站水稻田布置田间试验,研究结果证实,在早稻和晚稻生长期间,与含氯化肥相比,施含硫化肥更能降低土壤pH而使土壤酸化,因而在南方水田施用含硫化肥时,必须和石灰及生理碱性肥相配合。同时,施含硫化肥能提高土壤有效性磷和钾的含量,增强土壤保肥与供肥能力。对大田水样中养分离子监测的结果表明,施含硫化肥减少钾离子的淋失;而施含氯化肥则减少硝态氮的淋溶,提高水田氮肥的利用率。     

腐殖酸对土壤挥发汞植物有效性的影响研究

土壤挥发汞对植物是非常有效的,并能通过食物链威胁人体健康,因此,本试验设计了“密闭箱的水培试验”定量研究了腐殖酸及其组份对土壤挥发汞生物活性的影响,结果发现：腐殖酸能有效地抑制土壤汞的挥发,降低植株对土壤挥发汞的吸收,其作用机理在于土壤挥发汞的形态转化,通过对转化条件的调节,可以达到控制土壤挥发汞向食物的链转移的目的。     

PREP-PAC: a nutrient replenishment product designed for smallholders in western Kenya

Continuous cropping in the absence of external nutrient inputs to soils has led to the expression of poorly productive patches in farmers’ fields of western Kenya. Farmers attempting to correct these conditions are often confused by the spatial and symptomatic irregularity of affected plants and, until recently, no soil management product was commercially available that is specifically formulated to restore soil fertility to these patches. PREP-PAC consists of 2.0 kg of Minjingu rock phosphate (RP), 200 g of urea, seeds of various symbiotic nitrogen-fixing food legumes, rhizobial inoculant, gum arabic seed adhesive, lime for seed pelleting, and instructions for the use of these materials. It is intended for addition to 25 m² and produced at a cost of $ 0.56 per unit. The general principle is to apply slowly available RP sufficient for several cropping seasons with readily available nitrogenous fertilizer and to intercrop farmer’s maize (Zea mays) with a legume that provides residual fixed-nitrogen and organic inputs to the soil. This approach was tested in on-farm experiments conducted in collaboration with several grassroots rural development organizations. An experiment examined interactions between PREP-PAC components in a maize–soybean (Glycine max) intercrop in nutrient-depleted soils with sandy and clayey surface horizons. The treatments included ±RP, ±urea, and ±inoculants arranged as a 2³ factorial with four replicates at each location. Total value of the intercrops ranged between $ 0.83 in the unamended plots and $ 2.44 in plots treated with PREP-PAC. Significant positive effects were observed with the addition of RP (P<0.001), urea (P=0.04), and inoculant (P=0.01) and in interactions between RP and urea (P=0.02) or inoculant (P=0.07). The return ratio to PREP-PAC investment was 2.6 in the sandy soil and 3.7 in the clay. PREP-PACs were tested on-farm in 52 symptomatic patches containing maize–bean intercrops with and without an improved variety of climbing Phaseolus vulgaris cv. Flora. Unamended patches (25 m²=0.0025 ha) produced 1.6 kg maize and 0.08 kg bean. With addition of PREP-PAC containing Flora, yields increased to 4.1 kg maize and 1.1 kg bean (P<0.001 for both crops). Improvement in bean yield during the first cropping season nearly offset PREP-PAC’s investment costs. PREP-PAC is a strategic approach because all of its ingredients, except for urea, originate from East Africa, and are relatively inexpensive; the product is intended for distribution through existing retail and development networks.     

Remediation of Cu and As contaminated water and soil utilizing biochar supported layered double hydroxide: Mechanisms and soil environment altering

Preparing materials for simultaneous remediation of anionic and cationic heavy metals contamination has always been the focus of research. Herein a biochar supported FeMnMg layered double hydroxide (LDH) composites (LB) for simultaneous remediation of copper and arsenic contamination in water and soil has been assembled by a facile co-precipitation approach. Both adsorption isotherm and kinetics studies of heavy metals removal by LB were applied to look into the adsorption performance of adsorbents in water. Moreover, the adsorption mechanisms of Cu and As by LB were investigated, showing that Cu in aqueous solution was removed by the isomorphic substitution, precipitation and electrostatic adsorption while As was removed by complexation. In addition, the availability of Cu and As in the soil incubation experiments was reduced by 35.54%–63.00% and 8.39%–29.04%, respectively by using LB. Meanwhile, the addition of LB increased the activities of urease and sucrase by 93.78%–374.35% and 84.35%–520.04%, respectively, of which 1% of the dosage was the best. A phenomenon was found that the richness and structure of microbial community became vigorous within 1% dosage of LB, which indirectly enhanced the passivation and stabilization of heavy metals. These results indicated that the soil environment was significantly improved by LB. This research demonstrates that LB would be an imaginably forceful material for the remediation of anionic and cationic heavy metals in contaminated water and soil.     

成都市郊区域农田中土壤镉形态研究

农田土壤是镉生态循环的重要介质，所含镉对人体健康的危害不可忽视。镉在土壤中以多种形态存在．可划分为水溶态、离子交换态，碳酸盐结合态、Fe及Mn氧化物结合态，有机结合态、残留态。不同存在形态镉的生物有效性各不相同，因而对环境和人体健康造成的影响也存在差异。水溶态镉，离子交换态镉具有很高的生物有效性。碳酸盐结合态镉在弱酸性条件下生物有效性较高，Fe及Mn氧化物结合态镉、有机结合态镉、残留态镉生物有效性很低。本研究采用连续提取法和原子吸收法对成都市某郊区基本农田的35份土壤样品中各形态镉进行了提取和测定。结果表明。成都市某郊区农田土壤的镉污染状况较为严重，37．14％的土壤含高生物有效性的水溶态镉或离子交换态镉。土壤中水溶态镉、离子交换态镉的存在与环境污染有密切联系。Fe及Mn氧化物结合态镉，有机结合态镉、残留态镉的存在受耕作因素和成土母质影响较大。     

土壤中铅的平台石墨炉原子吸收法测定

采用悬浮液进样,以平台石墨炉原子吸收法直接测定土壤中的铅。通过180目筛孔的土壤样,可均匀、稳定地悬浮于0.2％(W/V)琼脂液中。方法的相对标准偏差为1.2％～5％;回收率为93％～110％;进样10μl ,检出限为21.4pg。与火焰原子吸收法对照,两者测定结果相吻合。     

石油污染土壤生物修复

概述了石油降解微生物的种群组成，介绍了几种主要的石油污染土壤的生物修复技术以及这一领域的研究现状，讨论了应用前景。     

土壤渗滤处理三格化粪池粪液的可行性论证

农村粪便污水的出路问题，是农村生态环境的保护的一个重要方面。当前我国南方农村已较普遍使用“三格化粪池”厕所，该文以滤坑式土壤渗滤进行就地处理，并对其可行性作了卫生学论证，结果表明，渗坑式土壤渗滤就地处理法，对粪水中的大肠菌群，氨氮及化学耗氧量等指标，均具有良好的净化效果，其处理对土壤浅层地下水污染的卫生防护，以１０ｍ为蹁可认为是安全的。