Factors affecting river health and its assessment over broad geographic ranges: the Western Australian experience

AusRivAS is an Australia-wide program that measures river condition using predictive models to compare the macroinvertebrate families occurring at a river site with those expected if the site were in natural condition. Results of assessment of 685 sites across all major rivers in Western Australia are presented. Most rivers were in relatively natural condition in the northern half of the state where the human population is low and pastoralism is the major land use. In the south, where the human population is higher and agriculture is more intensive, rivers were mostly more disturbed. AusRivAS assessment produced some erroneous results in rivers of the south-west cropping zone because of the lack of appropriate reference site groups and biased distribution of sampling sites. Collecting low numbers of animals from many forested streams, because of low stream productivity and samples that were difficult to sort, also affected assessments. Overall, however, AusRivAs assessment identified catchment processes that were inimical to river health. These processes included salinisation, high nutrient and organic loads, erosion and loss of riparian vegetation. River regulation, channel modification and fire were also associated with river degradation. As is the case with other assessment methods, one-off sampling at individual sites using AusRivAS may be misleading. Seasonal drought, in particular, may make it difficult to relate conditions at the time of sampling to longer-term river health. AusRivAS has shown river condition in Western Australia is not markedly different from other parts of Australia which, as a whole, lacks the substantial segments of severely degraded river systems reported in England.     

Endpoint ‘floating leaves’ of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Potamogeton natans</Emphasis>: A new method to evaluate the development of macrophytes in pond mesocosms

Goal, Scope and Background One of the advantages of long-term mesocosm experiments as compared to short-term standard toxicity tests in the laboratory is the potential for detecting secondary effects due to the interaction of species and recovery with biomass of macrophytes being an important endpoint. However, generating biomass data by harvesting is often laborious, time-consuming, costly and restricted to the end of the experiment. Moreover, valuable information may get lost, in particular in single application studies, since maximal primary effects and secondary effects or recovery occur per se at different times. Potamogeton natans was used as an example in order to test whether number and area of floating leaves can be reliably measured and be used as intermediate and final endpoints in mesocosm effect studies. Methods Digital photos, which were taken of the water surface in the course of an indoor pond mesocosm study on herbicide effects, were subjected to image analysis. The results were compared to wet weight and ash-free dry weight of Potamogeton at the end of the herbicide study. Results and Discussion Both number and area of floating leaves indicated the same herbicide effects as wet weight and ash-free dry weight of Potamogeton. Error introduced by the different work steps is small and can be further minimised by a number of method improvements. Recommendations and Perspectives In indoor mesocosm studies, errors due to the perspective adjustment may be circumvented by taking the photos perpendicular to the water surface. Correction for lens aberration, identical light conditions and the use of fluorescence images are considered promising. Field applications are proposed.     

Multiple song repertoire characteristics in the willow warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus): correlations with female choice and offspring viability

Male willow warblers have song repertoires which vary in complexity along several dimensions. We examined whether female choice, as measured by date of pairing, was based on these song characteristics in 4 different years. Pairing date was negatively correlated with song repertoire size in 1 year, and with song versatility in another year, but there was no consistent effect of any song characteristic on pairing throughout the years or in the pooled sample. The variable that best explained how soon a male pairs is male arrival date (only males that had settled territories before the first female arrived were considered in the analysis). This correlation is consistently significant in all years. This is most parsimoniously interpreted as females choosing some habitat characteristic in the same way that males do. A small percentage of males (8.3%) attracted and paired with a second female. The likelihood of becoming polygynous was not explained by any measured song characteristic, but it was related to arrival date: early males were more likely to pair with two females. Males with large repertoires fledged more young in their primary nests, and there was a trend for the offspring of these males to have a greater probability of being recruited into the population. In conclusion, the results show that in most years there is no sexual selection by female preference on song characteristics, although the data on reproductive success is consistent with the idea of repertoire size being an indicator of male quality. Received: 4 June 1999 / Received in revised form: 1 December 1999 / Accepted: 31 December 1999     

Nestling provisioning in polygynous great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus): do males bring larger prey to compensate for fewer nest visits?

Most studies of social polygyny in birds have examined male provisioning on the basis of the number of feeding visits. This may be misleading if males compensate for infrequent visits by bringing larger prey at each visit. We investigated nestling provisioning in the socially polygynous great reed warbler, Acrocephalus arundinaceus, in south Central Sweden in 1996–1997. We collected data on rate of feeding visits, prey size and the amount of biomass delivered by males and females. Males had lower rates of feeding visits and provided smaller prey to nestlings in secondary than in monogamous and primary nests. Secondary females had higher rates of feeding visits and brought larger prey than monogamous and primary females. These results confirm that secondary females face a potential cost of polygyny through a lower rate of male feeding, and that this cost was reinforced by the significantly lower male provisioning rate (biomass h^–1) at secondary nests. Secondary females compensated for the lack of male assistance by increasing their rate of feeding and bringing larger prey. As a result, offspring in nests of secondary females received as much food as did those in nests of primary females. Prey load size increased with the parent’s proportion of feeding visits, suggesting that parents use different feeding strategies depending on their amount of responsibility for nestling provisioning. We suggest that parents which take the main responsibility for nestling feeding have to forage further away from the nest, and based on optimal-foraging theory, they should then on average bring larger prey to their nest. Received: 4 April 1999 / Received in revised form: 12 October 1999 / Accepted: 23 October 1999     

影响土壤中微生物体氮的因子

综述了影响土壤微生物体氮的因子,以及微生物体氮与可矿化氮之间的关系。着重讨论了土壤有机质、有机物料、氮肥、作物根系、土壤温度和湿度对微生物体氮的影响及研究进展;评价了土壤微生物体氮与可矿化氮的关系的研究结果。     

Influence of the zebra mussel and fish fry on structural and functional characteristics of microorganisms in experimental ecosystems

The interactions of zebra mussels, invertebrates, fish, and microorganisms were studied experimentally. Trends in the distribution of total bacterial biomass, the abundance of heterotrophic organisms, and their functional activities in water and grounds were analyzed. The most favorable conditions for development of bacteria developed in June, in the presence of fish and without zebra mussels. In experimental ecosystems with zebra mussels, a decrease in the abundance and activity of microorganisms and a change of dominant yeast forms were observed.     

Evaluating the impact of uncertainty and variability on the value chain optimization of a forest biomass power plant using Monte Carlo Simulation

Mathematical programming models have been used to optimize the design and management of forest bioenergy supply chains. A deterministic mathematical model is beneficial for making optimum decisions; however, its applicability to real-world problems may be limited because it does not capture all the complexities, including uncertainties in the parameters, in the supply chain. In this paper, a combination of Monte Carlo Simulation and optimization model is used to evaluate the impact of uncertainty in biomass quality, availability and cost, and electricity prices on the supply chain of a forest biomass power plant. The optimization model is a deterministic mixed integer non-linear model with monthly time steps over a 1-year planning horizon. Variability in biomass quality, i.e. moisture content (MC) and higher heating value (HHV), based on the historical data of a real case study is studied in detail and fitted probability distributions are used in the model, while for electricity prices different scenarios are considered. The results show that the impact of variability in the MC on profit is higher than that of uncertainty in HHV. It is observed that the annual profit ranges between $13.3 million and $17.9 million in the presence of all possible uncertainties while its average is $15.5 million. Uncertainty in biomass availability and cost and electricity price results in the risks of having annual profit of less than $14 million and low monthly storage levels.     

湖北郧西县庹家湾剖面粒度组成特征及其环境意义

对湖北省郧西县庹家湾(TJW)剖面的地层序列、年代、磁化率及粒度组成进行研究。结果表明:TJW剖面具有表土(MS)→全新世黄土(L0)→古土壤(S0)→过渡层(Lt)→马兰黄土(L1)→黄土与砂互层(T1-al2)→砾石层(T1-al1)的地层序列;在马兰黄土层上部的黏粒含量、黏粒/粉砂值以及磁化率值明显高于典型马兰黄土,而接近古土壤(S0),其成壤作用明显,属于较典型的弱古土壤层(L1-S1和L1-S2),其年龄在27.3~21.6 ka B.P.之间。此现象反映了在汉江上游地区,晚更新世时期的冰期气候并不是持续稳定的,在27.3~21.6 ka B.P.期间存在相对短暂的温暖湿润阶段,这次气候事件可与黄土高原地区进行良好对比。     

湿法脱硫系统对烟气中可吸入颗粒物特性影响的实验研究

采用荷电低压颗粒冲击器对4套湿法烟气脱硫(WFGD)系统进出口颗粒物进行在线检测和采样分析,获得烟气中PM10、PM2.5质量浓度以及粒径分布特征,并通过场发射扫描电镜(FESEM)和元素能谱对飞灰颗粒的形貌特征和主要元素含量进行分析。实验结果表明,由于脱硫塔喷淋浆液的洗涤作用,WFGD系统对飞灰颗粒有一定的脱除效果,但喷淋浆液产生的小液滴以及石灰石/石膏颗粒被携带进入烟气,导致WFGD系统对烟气中颗粒物质量浓度及粒径分布影响较大。WFGD系统对飞灰颗粒组成成分也有一定影响,以WFGD系统B为例,出口飞灰颗粒中Ca和S的质量分数从进口的1.60%、2.81%上升到出口的6.12%、10.92%。FESEM观察结果表明,脱硫后小颗粒在脱硫浆液的促进作用下团聚凝并,形成大颗粒,呈现致密的不规则块状、层状或絮状结构。     

300MW燃煤锅炉机组超细颗粒聚并器的实验研究

为了解决燃煤锅炉烟气中超细颗粒难以脱除的问题,基于流体动力学原理设计了一种超细颗粒聚并器,并在300 MW燃煤锅炉机组电除尘器的前置烟道中进行了实验研究。结果表明,聚并器内部存在超细颗粒之间以及超细颗粒与大颗粒之间的相互聚集行为,从而使超细颗粒数量显著减少。例如,对于粒径在2.65和10.48μm以下的颗粒,其体积比例在聚并器出口分别减少了56.7%和62.3%,在电除尘器出口的粉尘浓度减少了26.34 mg/Nm3,这表明,基于流体动力学原理的聚并器对超细颗粒的聚并作用明显,具有良好的应用前景。