Evaluation of a long-range lagrangian dispersion model with ETEX

Performance of a Lagrangian dispersion model was examined in connection with its dependency on the boundary layer modelling and the input data resolution. The European Tracer Experiment (ETEX) data were used as reference. According to the sensitivity analysis of the model performance, the long-range dispersion model with the sparse input data was not noticeably different from that with the finer resolution data. The assumption of the prescribed constant mixing depth did not largely degrade the prediction results as compared with the simulation results with the temporally changing boundary layer. It is, therefore, concluded that the model is practical, considering the limited input data in the operational mode. However, it was also pointed out that the parameterization for the horizontal and vertical diffusion processes used in the present model enhanced the growth of plume. The improvement of input data resolution in time and space caused further dispersion of tracer deterministically. These resulted in the underestimation of the maximum concentration and the unfocussed concentration distribution map although the mean concentration was predicted fairly well.     

氢同位素组成及光合特征对梵净山珙桐水源的解析

珙桐(Davidia involucrata)系我国特有的单科单属植物,为第三纪孑遗种,被列为我国一级珍稀濒危植物。贵州省梵净山地区气候常年温凉湿润,在梵净山国家级自然保护区内,选取人工种植及天然分布的珙桐为研究对象,通过测定珙桐的光合参数,比较阴天和晴天珙桐光合日变化,分析生长地大气降水、土壤水分、地下水以及珙桐树枝水分氢同位素组成,研究了梵净山珙桐的水分利用状况和不同水源利用份额。结果表明,珙桐幼树为阳生植物,蒸腾速率较低,适宜在阴凉的环境生长,且温度不宜超过30℃。人工林种植和天然生长的珙桐利用大气降水分别为76%和58%。低蒸腾速率导致根部对土壤水的拉力小,因此,利用土壤深层水分的份额小。阴凉、多雨、云雾缭绕的环境为梵净山的珙桐生存提供良好的水分条件。     

Effects of Harvest of Nontimber Forest Products and Ecological Differences between Sites on the Demography of African Mahogany

Abstract: The demographic impacts of harvesting nontimber forest products (NTFP) have been increasingly studied because of reports of potentially unsustainable harvest. Nevertheless, our understanding of how plant demographic response to harvest is altered by variation in ecological conditions, which is critical for developing realistic sustainable‐use plans, is limited. We built matrix population models to test whether and how variation in ecological conditions affects population responses to harvest. In particular, we examined the effect of bark and foliage harvest on the demography of populations of African mahogany (Khaya senegalensis) in two contrasting ecological regions of Benin, West Africa. K. senegalensis bark and foliage harvest significantly reduced its stochastic population growth rates, but ecological differences between regions had a greater effect on population growth rates than did harvest. The effect of harvest on population growth rates (Δλ) was slightly stronger in the moist than in the drier region. Life‐table response experiments revealed that the mechanism by which harvesting reduced λ differed between ecological regions. Lowered stasis (persistence) of larger life stages lead to a reduction in λ in the drier region, whereas lowered growth of all life stages lowered λ in moist region. Potential strategies to increase population growth rates should include decreasing the proportion of individuals harvested, promoting harvester‐owned plantations of African mahogany, and increasing survival and growth by promoting no‐fire zones in gallery forests. Our results show how population responses to harvest of NTFP may be altered by ecological differences across sites and emphasize the importance of monitoring populations over the climatic range in which they occur to develop more realistic recommendations for conservation.     

用环境同位素研究灰场灰水对周围地下水的影响

应用环境同位素理论,根据燃煤火电厂灰场灰水中的氢、氧、硫同位素与天然地下水中的氢、氧、硫同位素存在的差异,建立了鉴别天然地下水和灰水的方法,并研究了灰场灰水对周围地下水的影响程度、范围和主要途径,为今后开展灰场对周围地下水影响的研究,确定地下水是否受到污染,提供了一条新的研究途径.      

澳门固体废物管理的经济价值评估——选择试验模型法和条件价值法的比较

以澳门固体废物管理为研究对象,比较研究了选择试验模型法和双边界二分式条件价值法在澳门环境物品经济价值评估中的应用.结果表明,应用选择试验模型法和双边界二分式条件价值法得出的澳门固体废物管理经济价值结果相差不大,但选择试验模型法比双边界二分式条件价值法能更充分地揭示出消费者的偏好信息.     

真空蒸馏回收镍镉电池中镉金属工艺优化模型研究

利用正交试验的方法对真空蒸馏回收镍镉电池进行工艺研究。通过分析温度、压力、蒸馏时间、打孔数目4个因素对镉金属回收比重的影响,确定了真空蒸馏回收镍镉电池中镉金属的最佳试验条件为温度950℃,压力133Pa,蒸馏12h,打孔4个。并在此基础上建立模型对镉金属回收量进行估算,为镍镉电池回收的中试试验奠定了基础。     

Unified correlations for vent sizing of enclosures at atmospheric and elevated pressures

Innovative vent sizing technology is presented for explosion safety design of equipment at atmospheric and elevated initial pressures. Unified correlations for vent sizing are suggested. They are modifications of previously reported correlations verified thoroughly for experimental data on vented gaseous deflagrations under different conditions but only at initial atmospheric pressure. Suggested correlations are based on experimental data on vented deflagrations of quiescent and turbulent propane–air mixtures at initial pressures up to 0.7 MPa. Typical values of turbulence factor and deflagration–outflow interaction number are obtained for experimental vented deflagrations at initial pressures higher than atmospheric.

“Blind” examination of new vent sizing technology on another set of experiments with methane–air and propane–air mixtures has shown that predictions by suggested vent sizing technology are better than by the NFPA 68 guide for “Venting of Deflagrations”.

In the development of recently reported results for initial atmospheric pressure it has been concluded that the innovative vent sizing technology is more reliable compared to the NFPA 68 guide at elevated initial pressures as well. Moreover it is crucial that the calculation procedure remains the same for arbitrary deflagration conditions.     

Protocol for using compound‐specific isotope analysis in environmental forensics

Forensic arguments must be demonstrably objective. A protocol is proposed to supply a framework to achieve this when using data from compound specific isotope analysis (CSIA) in developing forensic arguments about volatile organic carbon (VOC) contamination in groundwater. The protocol uses a “line of evidence” approach to reiteratively refine a hypothesis by testing it against each of three criteria, modifying the hypothesis if it fails or accumulating supporting evidence if it passes. The criteria are intended to organize data interpretation and to maximize use of both site data and supporting literature. Specifically, the criteria are: 1) degradation: enrichment factors and dual isotope plot (DIP) slopes; 2) hydrogeology: groundwater flow and plume shape; and 3) site history: VOC use and previous remediation work. Each of these criteria is described in detail and examples are provided for these criteria to show how each criterion can be used to identify the more plausible explanation when alternate hypotheses are presented. The protocol built upon these criteria is intended to maximize the use of supporting data and to document that support, as well as to ensure that interpretations are self consistent. The protocol is intended to be flexible and provides the framework to use exceptions as a line of evidence supporting an explanation.     

Scientific Gear as a Vector for Non-Native Species at Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents

The fauna of deep-sea hydrothermal vents are among the most isolated and inaccessible biological communities on Earth. Most vent sites can only be visited by subsea vehicles, which can and do move freely among these communities. Researchers assume individuals of the regionally homogeneous vent fauna are killed by the change in hydrostatic pressure the animals experience when the subsea vehicles, which collected them, rise to the surface. After an Alvin dive, we found 38 apparently healthy individuals of a vent limpet in a sample from a hydrothermally inactive area. Prompted by our identification of these specimens as Lepetodrilus gordensis, a species restricted to vents 635 km to the south of our dive site, we tested whether they were from a novel population or were contaminants from the dive made 36 h earlier. The 16S gene sequences, morphology, sex ratio, bacterial colonies, and stable isotopes uniformly indicated the specimens came from the previous dive. We cleaned the sampler, but assumed pressure changes would kill any organisms we did not remove and that the faunas of the 2 areas were nearly identical and disease-free. Our failure to completely clean the gear on the subsea vehicle meant we could have introduced the species and any diseases it carried to a novel location. Our findings suggest that the nearly inaccessible biological communities at deep-sea vents may be vulnerable to anthropogenic alteration, despite their extreme physical conditions.     

Demographic Effects of Harvesting Epiphytic Bromeliads and an Alternative Approach to Collection

Abstract: Hundreds of epiphytic bromeliads species are harvested from the wild for trade and for cultural uses, but little is known about the effects of this harvest. We assessed the potential demographic effects of harvesting from the wild on 2 epiphytic bromeliads: Tillandsia macdougallii, an atmospheric bromeliad (adsorbs water and nutrients directly from the atmosphere), and T. violaceae, a tank bromeliad (accumulates water and organic material between its leaves). We also examined an alternative to harvesting bromeliads from trees—the collection of fallen bromeliads from the forest floor. We censused populations of T. macdougallii each year from 2005 to 2010 and of T. violaceae from 2005 to 2008, in Oaxaca, Mexico. We also measured monthly fall rates of bromeliads over 1 year and monitored the survival of fallen bromeliads on the forest floor. The tank bromeliad had significantly higher rates of survival, reproduction, and stochastic population growth rates (λ_s) than the atmospheric bromeliad, but λ_s for both species were <1, which suggests that the populations will decline even without harvest. Elasticity patterns differed between species, but in both, survival of large individuals had high elasticity values. No fallen bromeliads survived more than 1.5 years on the forest floor and the rate of bromeliad fall was comparable to current harvest rates. Low rates of population growth recorded for the species we studied and other epiphytic bromeliads and high elasticity values for the vital rates that were most affected by harvest suggest that commercial harvesting in the wild of these species is not sustainable. We propose the collection of fallen bromeliads as an ecologically and, potentially, economically viable alternative.