“Biological Windows”: A Tribute to W. Ross Adey

Summary We often do not realize how fast the time is running. It is now more than a year since the sad news for the death of William Ross Adey came. With kind agreement of Prof. Kostarakis my presentation at the 3rd International Workshop “Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields” was dedicated to the memory of this remarkable scientist, dear colleague and friend. I would like that this paper will be a tribute to the life and scientific achievements of Dr. Ross Adey. It is astonishing that among all his contributions in the field of Bioelectromagnetics, Dr. Adey introduced the term “window”.     

BASIN SCALE WATER MANAGEMENT AND FORECASTING USING ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS1

ABSTRACT: Water scarcity in the Sevier River Basin in south‐central Utah has led water managers to seek advanced techniques for identifying optimal forecasting and management measures. To more efficiently use the limited quantity of water in the basin, better methods for control and forecasting are imperative. Basin scale management requires advanced forecasts of the availability of water. Information about long term water availability is important for decision making in terms of how much land to plant and what crops to grow; advanced daily predictions of streamflows and hydraulic characteristics of irrigation canals are of importance for managing water delivery and reservoir releases; and hourly forecasts of flows in tributary streams to account for diurnal fluctuations are vital to more precisely meet the day‐to‐day expectations of downstream farmers. A priori streamflow information and exogenous climate data have been used to predict future streamflows and required reservoir releases at different timescales. Data on snow water equivalent, sea surface temperatures, temperature, total solar radiation, and precipitation are fused by applying artificial neural networks to enhance long term and real time basin scale water management information. This approach has not previously been used in water resources management at the basin‐scale and could be valuable to water users in semi‐arid areas to more efficiently utilize and manage scarce water resources.     

Effects of productivity on biodiversity in forest ecosystems across the United States and China

In the global campaign against biodiversity loss in forest ecosystems, land managers need to know the status of forest biodiversity, but practical guidelines for conserving biodiversity in forest management are lacking. A major obstacle is the incomplete understanding of the relationship between site primary productivity and plant diversity, due to insufficient ecosystem‐wide data, especially for taxonomically and structurally diverse forest ecosystems. We investigated the effects of site productivity (the site's inherent capacity to grow timber) on tree species richness across 19 types of forest ecosystems in North America and China through 3 ground‐sourced forest inventory data sets (U.S. Forest Inventory and Analysis, Cooperative Alaska Forest Inventory, and Chinese Forest Management Planning Inventory). All forest types conformed to a consistent and highly significant (P < 0.001) hump‐shaped unimodal relationship, of which the generalized coefficients of determination averaged 20.5% over all the forest types. That is, tree species richness first increased as productivity increased at a progressively slower rate, and, after reaching a maximum, richness started to decline. Our consistent findings suggest that forests of high productivity would sustain few species because they consist mostly of flat homogeneous areas lacking an environmental gradient along which a diversity of species with different habitats can coexist. The consistency of the productivity–biodiversity relationship among the 3 data sets we examined makes it possible to quantify the expected tree species richness that a forest stand is capable of sustaining, and a comparison between the actual species richness and the sustainable values can be useful in prioritizing conservation efforts.     

Level of environmental threat posed by horticultural trade in Cactaceae

Ornamental horticulture has been identified as an important threat to plant biodiversity and is a major pathway for plant invasions worldwide. In this context, the family Cactaceae is particularly challenging because it is considered the fifth most threatened large taxonomic group in the world; several species are among the most widespread and damaging invasive species; and Cactaceae is one of the most popular horticultural plant groups. Based on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna and the 11 largest online auction sites selling cacti, we documented the international cactus trade. To provide an in‐depth look at the dynamics of the industry, we surveyed the businesses involved in the cactus trade in South Africa (a hotspot of cactus trade and invasions). We purchased seeds of every available species and used DNA barcoding to identify species to the genus level. Although <20% of this trade involved threatened species and <3% involved known invasive species, many species were identified by a common name. However, only 0.02% of the globally traded cacti were collected from wild populations. Despite a large commercial network, all South African imports (of which 15% and 1.5% were of species listed as threatened and invasive, respectively) came from the same source. With DNA barcoding, we identified 24% of the species to genus level. Based on our results, we believe that if trade restrictions are placed on the small proportion of cacti that are invasive and there is no major increase in harvesting of native populations, then the commercial trade in cactus poses a negligible environmental threat. However, there are currently no effective methods for easily identifying which cacti are traded, and both the illicit harvesting of cacti from the wild and the informal trade in invasive taxa pose on‐going conservation challenges.     

Defining the Impact of Non‐Native Species

Non‐native species cause changes in the ecosystems to which they are introduced. These changes, or some of them, are usually termed impacts; they can be manifold and potentially damaging to ecosystems and biodiversity. However, the impacts of most non‐native species are poorly understood, and a synthesis of available information is being hindered because authors often do not clearly define impact. We argue that explicitly defining the impact of non‐native species will promote progress toward a better understanding of the implications of changes to biodiversity and ecosystems caused by non‐native species; help disentangle which aspects of scientific debates about non‐native species are due to disparate definitions and which represent true scientific discord; and improve communication between scientists from different research disciplines and between scientists, managers, and policy makers. For these reasons and based on examples from the literature, we devised seven key questions that fall into 4 categories: directionality, classification and measurement, ecological or socio‐economic changes, and scale. These questions should help in formulating clear and practical definitions of impact to suit specific scientific, stakeholder, or legislative contexts. Definiendo el Impacto de las Especies No‐Nativas     

微气泡臭氧催化氧化-生化耦合工艺深度处理煤化工废水

采用微气泡臭氧催化氧化-生化耦合工艺对煤化工废水生化出水进行深度处理,考察耦合系统处理性能及不同臭氧投加量和进水COD量比值的影响.结果表明,微气泡臭氧催化氧化处理能够有效降解废水中难降解含氮芳香族污染物,去除部分COD并释放氨氮,显著提高废水可生化性,臭氧利用率接近100%,无需进行臭氧尾气处理;同时为生化处理提供充足溶解氧(DO),实现生化处理对COD和氨氮的进一步有效去除,生化处理无需曝气.在系统出水回流比为30%、臭氧投加量和进水COD量之比为0.44 mg·mg~(-1)的运行条件下,耦合系统处理性能较好.微气泡臭氧催化氧化处理对COD去除率为42.5%,臭氧消耗量与COD去除量比值为1.38 mg·mg~(-1),臭氧利用率为98.0%;生化处理对COD去除率为42.3%;耦合系统整体COD去除率为66.7%,最终平均出水COD浓度为91.5 mg·L~(-1),估算整体臭氧消耗量与COD去除量比值为0.68 mg·mg~(-1),具有较优的技术经济性能.     

污泥基生物炭对垃圾渗滤液的吸附性能研究

以城镇污水处理厂剩余污泥为原料制备生物炭,研究了其对垃圾渗滤液中污染物吸附性能,旨在探索市政污泥综合利用方法和"以废治废"的治理技术途径。结果表明:当生物炭投加量为20 g/L时,垃圾渗滤液的COD和TP去除效果最佳,去除率分别为36.76%和78.36%,NH_4~+-N去除率随生物炭投加量增加而增加;上述三者不同污染物去除的最佳反应接触时间分别为50 min、30 min和≥2 h;生物炭对重金属离子的吸附机理主要表现为离子交换作用。     

污染场地地下水抽出处理技术研究

地下水污染控制与修复是场地修复的重点内容。我国在地下水污染控制与修复领域尚处于起步阶段,简述了我国地下水污染场地类型、污染特点以及国外地下水污染控制与修复的主要技术,重点研究整理了国外最为常用的地下水修复技术,即抽出处理技术的技术原理、适用条件、技术优势和限制条件,以及系统设计与运行重点关注内容,为我国的地下水污染控制与修复技术研究和工程实践提供参考。     

不同污水处理工艺N_2O减排方法研究进展

污水处理过程中产生强温室气体N_2O的问题已经受到广泛关注,如何在保证处理效率的同时实现N_2O有效减排成为水处理领域面临的重要问题。综述了传统生物脱氮除磷工艺和同步硝化反硝化、反硝化除磷、厌氧氨氧化等新型污水处理工艺运行过程中N_2O的产生机理、减排方法和减排量,为相关领域的研究人员提供参考。     

复合生物阴极型微生物燃料电池处理废水及同步产电性能

为研究生物阴极在MFC（微生物燃料电池）中的应用,分别以粒径为2~4 mm的颗粒活性炭和粒径为2~4、4~8、8~12 mm的颗粒石墨为阴极基质材料,构建升流复合生物阴极型单室MFC,研究阴极基质材料的种类和粒径对MFC的产电性能和净水效能的影响.结果表明:当阳极基质材料为2~4 mm粒径的颗粒活性炭时,燃料电池中利用玻璃纤维取代离子交换膜,阴极基质材料为选用4~8 mm粒径颗粒石墨的反应柱产电量最大,为534 mV（外电阻为1 000 Ω）,最大功率密度达到631.6 mW/m3,库伦效率为3.82%;阴极的pH越低越有利于阴极的产电反应;不同阴极基质材料的MFC对COD_Cr去除率均在80%左右,TN、NH₄+-N及TP的去除率最高可分别达到79%、93%和34%.研究显示,阴极基质材料的种类和粒径对MFC的产电性影响较大,但对其净水效能的影响不大.