Sustainability: a Dissent

Abstract:  Broadly conceived and considered in its many usages, sustainability has grave defects as a planning goal, particularly when used by conservationists: it confuses means and ends; it is vague about what is being sustained and who or what is doing the sustaining; it is uninspiring; it is little more than Pinchot-era conservation (and thus ignores the many lessons learned since then); it need not be linked to land, to the land's functioning, or to any ecological science; it need not include a moral component; it is consistent with the view of humans as all-powerful manipulators of the planet; and, in general, it is such a malleable term that its popularity provides only a facade of consensus. When sustainability is defined broadly to include the full range of economic and social aspirations, it poses the particular risk that ecological and biodiversity concerns will be cast aside in favor of more pressing human wants. Given these many defects, the conservation movement should discard the term in favor of a more alluring goal, attentive to nature and its ecological functioning. A sound goal would incorporate and distill the considerable ecological and moral wisdom accumulated since Pinchot's day while giving conservationists the rhetorical tools needed to defend the land against competing pressures. In our view, conservation would be well served by an updated variant of "land health," Aldo Leopold's ecologically grounded goal from the 1940s. Land health as an independent understanding should set the essential terms of how we live and enjoy the earth, providing the framework within which we pursue our many social and economic aims.     

苏打盐碱地养鱼稻田水体微生物区系研究

对松嫩平原苏打盐碱地养鱼稻田水体微生物数量及种类组成进行了初步研究。结果表明,养鱼稻田异养细菌数量为0.280万～30.716万mL-1,高于未养鱼稻田(P<0.05),其平均值的时间分布为水稻生长末期>中期>初期;养鱼稻田和未养鱼稻田放线菌和霉菌数量均较少。养鱼稻田大肠菌群数量为403.6～17934.2L-1,显著高于未养鱼稻田(P<0.01),其平均值的时间分布为水稻生长中期>初期>末期。异养细菌数量与鱼产量、总施肥量和有机肥施用量均呈极显著相关,与化肥施用量相关不显著;大肠菌群数量与鱼产量相关显著,与总施肥量相关不显著,但与有机肥施用量相关极显著。养鱼稻田中检测出10个科(属)异养细菌,优势菌为弧菌属(Vib rion)、气单胞菌属(Aeromonas)和芽孢杆菌属(Bacillus)。     

江汉平原生态环境的保护和发展

本文探讨了江汉平原生态环境保护和发展的主导思想。作者强调该问题应从更高层次和更大范围来考虑,并在经济和社会发展中做好生态环境的保护工作。持续性生态系统的研究是重要的,要结合人类生存和发展考虑生态环境战略;分析了这一地区的农业资源发展、水利及农村能源等的优势及问题,并提出在改革开放新形势下生态环境的保护和发展建议。     

基于蒙特卡罗模拟的土壤环境健康风险评价:以PAHs为例

为获得更为合理的健康风险评价结果,并辨识对健康风险影响最大的因素,基于蒙特卡罗随机模拟,运用概率风险评价模型,定量评估了中国上海某居民区土壤中16种PAHs对居民的健康风险水平,并对各参数进行敏感性分析.结果表明,土壤中PAHs造成的健康风险服从对数正态分布,总的致癌风险为3.43×10~(-5)±2.63×10~(-5),最小值为8.10×10~(-7),最大值为2.39×10~(-4),超过10-6的概率为95%,超过10~(-5)的概率为75%,超过10~(-4)的概率小于5%;总的危害商为4.74×10~(-2)±3.42×10~(-2),不超过1,风险较小;在7种具有致癌效应的PAHs中,苯并(a)芘、二苯并(a,h)蒽和苯并(a)蒽是总致癌风险的主要贡献物质,贡献率分别占60.41%、26.84%和6.56%;3种暴露途径中,经口途径是造成致癌风险的主要途径,贡献率为73.22%;对于总致癌风险,人体暴露参数中每日土壤摄入量、暴露周期、暴露皮肤面积敏感度较大,分别为58.35%、50.21%和20.51%;体重具有负敏感性,敏感度为-11.66%.     

Decrease of NH4+-N by bacterioplankton accelerated the removal of cyanobacterial blooms in aerated aquatic ecosystem

We used aerated systems to assess the influence of the bacterioplankton community on cyanobacterial blooms in algae/post-bloom of Lake Taihu, China. Bacterioplankton community diversity was evaluated by polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis(PCR-DGGE) fingerprinting. Chemical analysis and nitrogen dynamic changes illustrated that NH4+-N was nitrified to NO2-N and NO3-N by bacterioplankton. Finally, NH4+-N was exhausted and NO3-N was denitrified to NO2-N, while the accumulation of NO2-N indicated that bacterioplankton with completely aerobic denitrification ability were lacking in the water samples collected from Lake Taihu. We suggested that adding completely aerobic denitrification bacteria(to denitrify NO2-N to N2)would improve the water quality. PCR-DGGE and sequencing results showed that more than 1/3 of the bacterial species were associated with the removal of nitrogen, and Acidovorax temperans was the dominant one. PCR-DGGE, variation of nitrogen, removal efciencies of chlorophyll-a and canonical correspondence analysis indicated that the bacterioplankton significantly influenced the physiological and biochemical changes of cyanobacteria. Additionally, the unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic means revealed there was no obvious harm to the microecosystem from aeration. The present study demonstrated that bacterioplankton can play crucial roles in aerated ecosystems, which could control the impact of cyanobacterial blooms in eutrophicated fresh water systems.     

大型底栖动物生物评价指数比较与应用

采用不同生物指数评价河流健康,结果往往有差异,如何识别各种生物指数的关系和适用性成为亟待解决的问题.基于太子河流域大型底栖动物群落研究,比较了5种大型底栖动物生物指数评价结果的差异.结果表明,5种指数具有极显著的相关性,但由于健康等级划分标准差异,造成不同指数的健康评价等级存在一定差异.同时分析了不同指数对不同类型人为活动影响的敏感性,研究其在河流健康评价中的适用性.结果表明在太子河流域中,BI指数与土地利用类型和溶氧具有较好的相关关系,对这两类的干扰具有较好的指示作用;FBI指数对酸污染和氨氮污染具有较强的指示作用;ASPT指数与耗氧相关的水质指标有较强的负相关;B-IBI指数与总氮呈显著的负相关关系,可较好指示氮污染,而且B-IBI指数与其他类型人为干扰活动均呈显著的相关关系,对土地利用和水质污染也具有较好的指示作用.综上所述,大型底栖动物BI指数和ASPT指数应该分别适用于评价流域土地利用和水化学指标对河流生态系统的影响,而B-IBI可用于评估多种类型人为干扰活动.     

2002~2009年兰州PM10人体健康经济损失评估

参考近年来公开发表的国内外流行病学文献,筛选出PM10的健康效应终点和适合于兰州地区的暴露-反应关系系数,对2002~2009年兰州地区PM10人体健康经济损失进行了计算.结果表明2002年以来兰州地区PM10人体健康经济损失并未明显升高,而是逐年波动;年损失值均在10亿元以上,其中2009年最高为16.6亿元; PM10人体健康经济损失与GDP的比值呈明显下降的趋势.     

表观遗传学机制与空气污染的健康效应

空气污染是一个全球性的问题,并且具有深远的环境影响。暴露于空气污染会对人体健康产生许多不同的影响,理解空气污染的健康效应又是一个复杂命题,既要考虑不同类型的污染物同时也要考虑相关疾病的复杂性。然而越来越多的研究表明,表观遗传学在空气污染相关疾病的发生、发展中发挥着重要的作用。空气污染物可引起DNA甲基化、组蛋白修饰和miRNA表达等表观遗传学改变,这种改变往往发生在疾病产生的早期,因此相关研究不仅可以了解疾病的发病机制,而且还为疾病早期诊断和预防筛选可能的标志物。本文综述了表观遗传学的几种修饰方式和空气污染物造成不良健康损伤机制的一些研究进展。     

基于能值-生命力指数的城市生态系统健康集对分析

综合考虑城市的生命体特征及物质能量代谢层面因素,依托城市生命力指数框架,结合能值指标,构建城市能值-生命力指数,以全面反映城市生态系统健康状况.引入集对分析这种不确定理论与方法,比较城市生态系统相对健康状况.采用基于集对分析的城市能值-生命力指数综合评价模型及信息熵权重,比较北京、上海、武汉、广州等16个城市的生态系统相对健康状况,结果表明,厦门、青岛、杭州、上海、北京健康水平相对较高,而乌鲁木齐、成都、哈尔滨健康水平相对较低,其他城市则为中等水平.