LONG-TERM WATERSHED RESEARCH AND MONITORING TO UNDERSTAND ECOSYSTEM CHANGE IN PARKS AND EQUIVALENT RESERVES1

ABSTRACT: Integrated watershed ecosystem studies in National Parks or equivalent reserves suggest that effects of external processes on “protected” resources are subtle, chronic, and long-term. Ten years of data from National Park watersheds suggests that temperature and precipitation changes are linked to nitrogen levels in lakes and streams. We envision measurable biotic effects in these remote watersheds, if expected climate trends continue. The condition of natural resources within areas set aside for preservation are difficult to ascertain, but gaining this knowledge is the key to understanding ecosystem change and of processes operating among biotic and abiotic ecosystem components. There is increasing evidence that understanding the magnitude of variation within and between such processes can provide an early indication of environmental change and trends attributable to human-induced stress. The following four papers are case studies of how this concept has been implemented.* These long-term studies have expanded our knowledge of ecosystem response to natural and human-induced stress. The existence of these sites with a commitment to gathering “long-term” ecosystem-level data permits research activities aimed at testing more important hypotheses on ecosystem processes and structure.     

Monitoring The Dynamics Of Coastal Vegetation In Southwestern Taiwan

This study analyzes the results of the first 5 years of long-term environmental monitoring of the dynamics of coastal vegetation communities in southwestern Taiwan. Seven permanent plots were established in major vegetation communities, including grassland, windbreak forest, and secondary succession forest. Results showed that species richness decreased yearly in grasslands but fluctuated moderately in the forest plots. A Jaccard similarity coefficient was used to evaluate the similarities of species composition between different monitoring years. Species composition changed rapidly in grassland sites, with the similarity coefficient dropping from 82 to 29% in 5 years. The similarity coefficient of vegetation in the compositehardwood forest dropped from 80 to 50%, indicating that at least half the species were the same as those in the beginning and that the composition of forest communities was more stable than that of grassland communities. Dominant species in the forest community changed gradually during the monitoring period. The original planting of Casuarina equisetifolia in windbreak forests decreased year by year in most of the plots, while Cerbera manghas and Ficus microcarpa became the dominant species. The trend of replacement of dominant species indicates that most of the vegetation communities are still in successional stages.     

Atmospheric Deposition on Swiss Long-Term Forest Ecosystem Research (LWF) Plots

Atmospheric deposition of the major elements was estimated from throughfall and bulk deposition measurements on 13 plots of the Swiss Long-Term Forest Ecosystem Research (LWF) between 1995 and 2001. Independent estimates of the wet and dry deposition of nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) on these same plots were gained from combined simplified models. The highest deposition fluxes were measured at Novaggio (Southern Switzerland), exposed to heavy air pollution originating from the Po Plain, with throughfall fluxes averaging 29 kg ha^–1 a^–1 for N and 15 kg ha^–1 a^–1 for S. Low deposition fluxes were measured on the plots above 1800 m, with throughfall fluxes lower than 4.5 kg ha^–1 a^–1 for N and lower than 3 kg ha^–1 a^–1 for S. The wet deposition of N and S derived from bulk deposition was close to the modeled wet deposition, but the dry deposition derived from throughfall was significantly lower than the modeled dry deposition for both compounds. However, both the throughfall method and the model yielded total deposition estimates of N which exceeded the critical loads calculated on the basis of long-term mass balance considerations. These estimates were within or above the range of empirical critical loads except above 1800 m.     

A GIS-based approach for the long-term prediction of human health risks at contaminated sites

A Health Index/Risk Evaluation Tool (HIRET) has been developed for the integration of risk assessment and spatial planning using GIS capabilities. The method is meant to assist decision makers and site owners in the evaluation of potential human health risk with respect to land use. Human health risk defined as the potential adverse effects on human life or health is generally accepted as the most important aspect for site assessment and planning of remediation strategies. It concerns polluted sites that endanger human health on one hand and derelict land that does not cause the immediate risk on the other hand. In current state-of-the-art risk-assessment, long-term spatial and temporal changes of risks, in relation to changes in contamination patterns and land use functions, are not taken into account. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the methodology developed for human health risk assessment in aspect of spatial and temporal domain. HIRET was developed as an extension for ESRI software ArcView 3.2 and allows performing dynamic human health risk assessment in long-term period, which is relevant for land use planning. The paper illustrates how such methodology can assist in environmental decision-making to enhance the efficiency of contaminated land management. A case study of contaminated site is given showing how data can be used within a GIS framework to produce maps indicating areas of potential human health risk.     

Long-Term and Seasonal Changes in Chemical Composition of Surface Waters in Latvia

The changes of the chemical composition in Latvianinland waters over the last twenty years weredetermined, based on data of the National MonitoringProgramme. Relationships between the water compositionwere studied. The chemical composition and seasonalchange pattern depend a lot on hydrological factorswhich differed between eastern and western Latvia.Different pattern of long-term changes is found forsubstances which have different sources andsinks, at first for nutrients (decrease only in the lastfew years) and inorganic ingredients (commonlyincreasing trend). An attempt was made to identify themain sources of the major water ingredients and linkchanges of their concentrations with changes inloading to waters.     

长期施肥对不同深度稻田土壤碳氮水解酶活性的影响特征

与稻田土壤碳周转密切相关的酶活性是评价土壤肥力和肥料管理的重要指标.本研究选取秸秆还田(ST)、化肥(NPK)和不施肥(CK)的长期定位试验田,以10 cm的间距分段采集土壤剖面0~40 cm范围内的新鲜土样,利用96微孔酶标板荧光分析法,测定参与土壤碳氮转化过程关键酶β-1,4-葡萄糖苷酶(BG)和β-1,4-N-乙酰氨基葡萄糖苷酶(NAG)活性,探讨不同施肥措施对不同深层土壤酶活的影响.结果表明,相比不施肥的土壤,施用化肥和秸秆土壤的BG酶活性分别提高了35%~118%和55%~342%;NAG酶活性分别提高了9%~30%和102%~484%.同时,随着土层深度的增加,土壤酶活性逐渐降低,0~20 cm深层土壤酶活性显著高于20~40 cm深层土壤.在不同施肥措施中秸秆还田可高程度影响稻田深层土壤.RDA分析表明土壤碳氮含量主要与0~20 cm的土壤酶活性有显著的正相关关系,与20~40 cm的土壤酶活性呈负相关关系.综上所述,随着土壤深度增加土壤微生物量和土壤酶活性显著降低.长期施肥显著提高了不同深层土壤生物量和土壤酶活性,其中秸秆还田作用尤为突出.因此,合理的秸杆还田有利于改善稻田深层土壤肥力,优化农田土壤养分循环,为作物生长提供良好的土壤环境.     

氨氮对反硝化型甲烷厌氧氧化细菌的影响机理研究

反硝化型甲烷厌氧氧化(Denitrifying Anaerobic Methane Oxidation,DAMO)是以甲烷为电子供体和唯一碳源,以硝酸盐或亚硝酸盐为电子受体的一种氧化还原反应,可用于废水脱氮,而氨氮是含氮废水中存在的主要形式.目前的研究认为主导DAMO过程的微生物主要有DAMO细菌和DAMO古菌.本文以DAMO细菌为优势菌种的系统为研究对象,通过短期和长期试验,从宏观和微观上研究了氨氮对该系统短期和长期的影响,并比较了不同pH体系下影响效果差异,揭示了相关影响机理.短期试验研究表明,氨氮对该系统的安全浓度为250 mg·L~(-1).当氨氮浓度为500 mg·L~(-1)时,对该系统的脱氮效率造成明显的抑制作用,并且随着浓度、时间的增加,氨氮对其的抑制效果增强;不同pH条件下抑制效果的差异对比发现,在碱性条件下,真正起抑制作用的是氨氮的质子化形式FA(Free Ammonia),在中性及酸性条件下,真正起抑制作用的抑制因子是离子化的NH_4~+.通过扫描电镜对系统中絮状污泥分析发现,在氨氮的短期抑制后,系统内的微生物出现了明显皱缩,丝状菌的数量增加;采用高通量测序技术分析了长期氨氮抑制后的系统,结果显示,系统内菌群结构发生较大改变,物种的多样性和丰度都大大降低.通过菌属分析认为,系统脱氮效率的降低是由于Methylomonas(甲基单胞菌属)数量的减少引起的.     

“安全公正空间”框架在区域环境管理中的应用——以太白湖流域为例

近年兴起的“安全公正空间”（Safe and Just Operating Space）理论框架突出了环境安全上限,兼顾了社会发展主要指标的达成度,对区域环境安全和社会可持续发展具有重要意义。选择长江中下游太白湖这一典型湖泊流域,整合周边县市社会调查数据及过去近150余年来的沉积记录（包括地球化学、孢粉、硅藻等多指标）,分别从环境安全及社会基础两个方面,构建了该流域社会-生态系统安全公正空间。结果显示：目前,流域内水质、空气质量、耕地面积和水土保持这4个指标超越了环境上限,处于危险状态;清洁能源、产业创新的社会基础完成度相对较低。该框架有助于流域系统的管理和决策,同时也有利于公众理解环境上限和社会基础之间交互复杂的关系。本研究亦展示了多源环境数据,特别是古湖沼学记录,能为区域生态环境管理提供重要的长期背景资料。     

Greening of a campus restaurant at Stockholm University: sustainable development audits by means of the SDR methodology

The aim of this paper is to show how the environmental practices of a restaurant may be evaluated in a quantitative way. For this, a new methodology, sustainable development records (SDR), was used. This allows financial, environmental and social aspects of an operation to be handled in a systematic way. The results of the two sustainable development audits show that the restaurant washes more dishes per unit of chemicals used in 1994 than in 1991. However, there is a negative trend regarding the number of meals served per unit of water used and waste generated, which suggests that the restaurant in 1994 is more wasteful with these resources than in 1991. On the other hand, this might be explained by the fact that the restaurant has increased its use of primary products. The environmental ratios are increasing for both chemicals and energy, which means that more and more of the resources used are environmentally acceptable. The lowest environmental ratios are those for provisions (<2%) and transportation (<5%), which means that not more than 2% of the provisions and 5% of the transportation are environmentally acceptable in the long run. The restaurant's ratio of satisfied customers as well as its environmental image is improving, while the profitability has not changed. The results of this paper point to a general problem of environmental auditing in regard to the evaluation of perceived positive or negative developments of an individual enterprise, since there might be an opposite implication for the larger system. It is therefore crucial to look at several hierarchical levels in order to be able to assess the effects of environmental measures.