Water Supply Reliability Tradeoffs between Removing Reservoir Storage and Improving Water Conveyance in California

Population growth, climate change, aging infrastructure, and changing societal values alter how water must be managed in the 21st Century. O'Shaughnessy Dam, located in Yosemite National Park, has been identified as a possible candidate for dam removal. It is a component of San Francisco's Hetch Hetchy System and is operated for water supply and hydropower. This article describes a spatially scaled approach to analyze water reliability without O'Shaughnessy Dam, but with improved water conveyance between the Hetch Hetchy System and existing reservoirs and aqueducts at the watershed, regional Bay Area, and statewide scales. It broadens previous research to highlight larger scale implications of removing O'Shaughnessy Dam and evaluates the role of improved water conveyance for water management. CALifornia Value Integrated Network, a large‐scale hydro‐economic model evaluates intertied water management using estimated urban and agricultural water demands for year 2050 with 72‐year historical and warm, dry hydrologic conditions. Results suggest that O'Shaughnessy Dam can be removed with additional conveyance at any spatial scale while maintaining water reliability. With a warm, dry climate, water reliability, and storage decline, indicating removing O'Shaughnessy Dam may have less effect on water management than climate change when conveyance is improved between the Hetch Hetchy System and nearby systems. Improving water conveyance can sometimes substitute for water storage in storage‐rich watersheds.     

“5·12”汶川地震极重灾区生态服务功能恢复总体评估

2008年"5·12"汶川特大地震,对生态系统造成巨大威胁。为了解汶川地震灾区生态恢复总体状况,以期为灾区中长期生态恢复跟踪监测、生态恢复措施的制定和调整提供决策支持,分别以2007年、2009年、2013年代表地震前、地震后以及恢复期3个时期,采用土壤侵蚀敏感性、林冠截留量、生境适宜性等指标,分别评估了汶川地震极重灾区10个县市水土保持功能、水源涵养功能、生物多样性保护功能的状况及变化动态。结果表明:研究区的水土保持功能、水源涵养功能,以及生物多样性保护功能在震后遭到了严重破坏。总体来说5a后,区域生态服务功能得到了一定程度的恢复,但未达到震前水平。在极重灾区10个县市中,地理上位于中南部的6个县市(汶川、都江堰、什邡、彭州、绵竹、安县)在地震中总体受损程度较大。6个县市处于中国西部泥石流、滑坡的活跃区,震后因降雨诱发滑坡泥石流,导致了龙门山、茶坪山局部区域的水土保持功能、水源涵养功能、生物多样性保护功能在恢复期进一步下降,甚至低于震后。其中汶川县草坡乡、银杏乡、耿达乡、卧龙镇、三江乡有较大范围的功能下降,另外,都江堰市、彭州市、什邡市、绵竹市、安县等也分别有较大面积的功能下降区。区域生态服务功能在未来10a内,有可能进一步恶化。灾后重建一定程度上改善了区域生态功能状况,加快了生态功能恢复进程。但是,也存在对生态服务功能的恢复与维持重视不足等问题。部分灾后重建项目的实施,甚至又导致局部地区出现生态服务功能的退化。建议(1)加强汶川地震极重灾区中长期生态恢复遥感及地面监测、评估,进行生态服务功能恢复效应评估;(2)加强干旱河谷、龙门山及茶坪山等重点区域的生态修复。     

矿山生态修复方法及工程措施研究

矿山开采过程中对生态环境破坏极大,从而危及人类的生存与健康.开展矿山生态修复极为必要,对实现科学发展具有重要的现实意义.在叙述国内外矿山生态修复研究进展的基础上,介绍了目前矿山生态修复中的主要方法和工程措施,综合应用矿山生态修复技术,才能使矿山生态环境系统结构合理,功能完整,从而保证修复后矿山生态环境系统自然维持,达到矿山生态修复的目的.     

Brassinosteroid alleviates phenanthrene and pyrene phytotoxicity by increasing detoxification activity and photosynthesis in tomato

The present study was carried out to investigate the effects of exogenously applied 24-epibrassinolide (BR) on growth, gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence characteristics, lipid peroxidation and antioxidant systems of tomato seedlings grown under different levels (0, 10, 30, 100 and 300 μM) of phenanthrene (PHE) and pyrene (PYR) in hydroponics. A concentration-dependent decrease in growth, photosynthetic pigment contents, net photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (Gs), maximal quantum yield of PSII (Fv/Fm), effective quantum yield of PSII (Φ_PSII), photochemical quenching coefficient (qP) has been observed following PHE and PYR exposure. By contrast, non-photochemical quenching coefficient (NPQ) was increased. PHE was found to induce higher stress than PYR. However, foliar or root application of BR (50 nM and 5 nM, respectively) alleviated all those depressions with a sharp improvement in the activity of photosynthetic machinery. The activities of guaicol peroxidase (GPOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and glutathione reductase (GR) as well as content of malondialdehyde (MDA) were increased in a dose-dependent manner under PHE or PYR treatments. Compared with control the highest increments of GPOD, CAT, APX, GR and MDA by PHE/PYR alone treatments were observed following 300 μM concentration, which were 67%, 87%, 53%, 95% and 74% by PHE and 42%, 53%, 30%, 86% and 62% by PYR, respectively. In addition, both reduced glutathione (GSH) and oxidized glutathione (GSSG) were induced by PHE or PYR. Interestingly, BR application in either form further increased enzymatic and non enzymatic antioxidants in tomato roots treated with PHE or PYR. Our results suggest that BR has an anti-stress effect on tomato seedlings contaminated with PHE or PYR and this effect is mainly attributed by increased detoxification activity.     

植被演替下植物组成多样性和群落稳定性与土壤团聚体的关系

为揭示植被自然恢复过程中植物组成多样性和群落稳定性与土壤团聚体的关系,防治水土流失,提高土壤质量.通过野外调查采样,确定并分析黄土高原近150年植被演替不同阶段的植被特征与土壤团聚体数据.结果表明:该过程共有种子植物39科99属128种,优势科是菊科、蔷薇科、禾本科和豆科,优势属是蒿属,单种属是该过程植物属的主体,出现频率较高的植物有大披针薹草、胡枝子、白刺花、水栒子、青蒿、虎榛子、辽东栎、茶条枫、油松、绣线菊、狗娃花等.植物地理成分在属级水平上有11个分布区类型8个变型,温带性质明显,热带性质（R值）与温带性质（T值）的比值（R/T）随恢复年限的增加而降低,R值与R/T值显著正相关,热带成分扩散分布受到限制.植物丰富度呈单峰曲线,在恢复年限为40～70年时最高.依照不同恢复年限对群落稳定性进行排序:70>120>135>150>40>10>20>0年.R值与植物种系分化度（SD值）极显著正相关,T值与稳定性极显著正相关.>5mm粒径团聚体与受热带性质物种驱动的植物丰富度有关.>0.25mm粒径团聚体总体上与群落稳定性保持一致,均受...     

Evaluating the impact of caribou habitat restoration on predator and prey movement

Fragmentation of the boreal forest by linear features, including seismic lines, has destabilized predator–prey dynamics, resulting in the decline of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) populations. Restoration of human-altered habitat has therefore been identified as a critical management tool for achieving self-sustaining woodland caribou populations. However, only recently has testing of the response of caribou and other wildlife to restoration activities been conducted. Early work has centered around assessing changes in wildlife use of restored seismic lines. We evaluated whether restoration reduces the movement rates of predators and their associated prey, which is expected to decrease predator hunting efficiency and ultimately reduce caribou mortality. We developed a new method for using cameras to measure fine-scale movement by measuring speed as animals traveled between cameras in an array. We used our method to quantify speed of caribou, moose (Alces alces), bears (Ursus americanus), and wolves (Canis lupus) on treated (restored) and untreated seismic lines. Restoration treatments reduced travel speeds along seismic lines of wolves by 1.38 km/h, bears by 0.55 km/h, and caribou by 1.57 km/h, but did not reduce moose travel speeds. Reduced predator and caribou speeds on treated seismic lines are predicted to decrease encounter rates between predators and caribou and thus lower caribou kill rates. However, further work is needed to determine whether reduced movement rates result in reduced encounter rates with prey, and ultimately reduced caribou mortality.     

Knowledge coproduction on the impact of decisions for waterbird habitat in a changing climate

Scientists, resource managers, and decision makers increasingly use knowledge coproduction to guide the stewardship of future landscapes under climate change. This process was applied in the California Central Valley (USA) to solve complex conservation problems, where managed wetlands and croplands are flooded between fall and spring to support some of the largest concentrations of shorebirds and waterfowl in the world. We coproduced scenario narratives, spatially explicit flooded waterbird habitat models, data products, and new knowledge about climate adaptation potential. We documented our coproduction process, and using the coproduced models, we determined when and where management actions make a difference and when climate overrides these actions. The outcomes of this process provide lessons learned on how to cocreate usable information and how to increase climate adaptive capacity in a highly managed landscape. Actions to restore wetlands and prioritize their water supply created habitat outcomes resilient to climate change impacts particularly in March, when habitat was most limited; land protection combined with management can increase the ecosystem's resilience to climate change; and uptake and use of this information was influenced by the roles of different stakeholders, rapidly changing water policies, discrepancies in decision-making time frames, and immediate crises of extreme drought. Although a broad stakeholder group contributed knowledge to scenario narratives and model development, to coproduce usable information, data products were tailored to a small set of decision contexts, leading to fewer stakeholder participants over time. A boundary organization convened stakeholders across a large landscape, and early adopters helped build legitimacy. Yet, broadscale use of climate adaptation knowledge depends on state and local policies, engagement with decision makers that have legislative and budgetary authority, and the capacity to fit data products to specific decision needs.     

Identification of pollution sources in rivers using a hydrodynamic diffusion wave model and improved Bayesian-Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm

● A hydrodynamic-Bayesian inference model was developed for water pollution tracking. ● Model is not stuck in local optimal solutions for high-dimensional problem. ● Model can estimate source parameters accurately with known river water levels. ● Both sudden spill incident and normal sewage inputs into the river can be tracked. ● Model is superior to the traditional approaches based on the test cases. Water quality restoration in rivers requires identification of the locations and discharges of pollution sources, and a reliable mathematical model to accomplish this identification is essential. In this paper, an innovative framework is presented to inversely estimate pollution sources for both accident preparedness and normal management of the allowable pollutant discharge. The proposed model integrates the concepts of the hydrodynamic diffusion wave equation and an improved Bayesian-Markov chain Monte Carlo method (MCMC). The methodological framework is tested using a designed case of a sudden wastewater spill incident (i.e., source location, flow rate, and starting and ending times of the discharge) and a real case of multiple sewage inputs into a river (i.e., locations and daily flows of sewage sources). The proposed modeling based on the improved Bayesian-MCMC method can effectively solve high-dimensional search and optimization problems according to known river water levels at pre-set monitoring sites. It can adequately provide accurate source estimation parameters using only one simulation through exploration of the full parameter space. In comparison, the inverse models based on the popular random walk Metropolis (RWM) algorithm and microbial genetic algorithm (MGA) do not produce reliable estimates for the two scenarios even after multiple simulation runs, and they fall into locally optimal solutions. Since much more water level data are available than water quality data, the proposed approach also provides a cost-effective solution for identifying pollution sources in rivers with the support of high-frequency water level data, especially for rivers receiving significant sewage discharges.     

太湖生态修复治理工程

太湖是我国第三大淡水湖泊,也是流域的重要水体。近年来,随着人口的增长,经济高速发展,人为社会经济活动影响,水资源系统受到很大冲击,水质变劣,湖体富营养过程加剧,生态环境受到明显损害,制约了流域社会经济的可持续发展。要实现流域水资源的可持续利用,必须加快水污染综合治理。除陆域实施严格的达标治理、河网水质调控、农业面源及生活污水治理外,太湖湖体生态修复和富营养化治理已为当务之急。目前应尽早实施：①太湖重污染区底泥的生态疏浚,减少底泥释放二次污染。②利用浮床陆生植物治理太湖典型富营养化水域,利用生物吸收、降解,继而富集营养盐,净化水质。③建立环湖湿地保护带。④恢复和重建湖滨带水生植被,实现长效生态管理和调控。⑤生态渔业工程,有效控制过度养殖,恢复湖泊生态良性循环。⑥藻类采集和资源化再利用。⑦强化流域管理。     

三峡库区典型消落带淹水后草本植被的自然恢复特征

消落带是影响水库生态环境安全的关键区域。利用生物调查方法,对三峡库区典型缓坡型消落带草本植被的自然恢复情况进行了初步研究。结果表明：（1）研究区植被主要为一年生和多年生草本植物,共有29种,其中空心莲子草、狗牙根、稗草、苍耳、狗尾草、鬼针草和马唐是消落带的优势种类,且空心莲子草和狗牙根是消落带成陆初期的建群种。消落带植物群落多呈斑块状集中分布,沿145～175 m高程梯度从下往上大致可分为4条植物带：空心莲子草 狗牙根带、稗草带、苍耳 马唐 狗尾草带和一年生杂草带。（2）淹水后消落带草本植物群落在没有人为干预的情况下可自然恢复,只是群落结构趋于简单,植物物种多样性显著降低。（3）植物群落的物种多样性、地上生物量和盖度均沿水位梯度带从下往上呈先增后减的抛物线状变化,即消落带下部＜消落带上部＜消落带中部。三者的变化趋势有着高度的相关性,并且都与淹水时间呈负相关。（4）沿水位梯度带植物群落的均匀度指数差异不显著,其他物种多样性指数以及地上生物量差异显著