Photocatalytic bacterial inactivation by polyoxometalates

The photocatalytic inactivation (PCI) of Escherichia coli (Gram-negative) and Bacillus subtilis (Gram-positive) was performed using polyoxometalate (POM) as a homogeneous photocatalyst and compared with that of heterogeneous TiO₂ photocatalyst. Aqueous suspensions of the microorganisms (10⁷–10⁸ cfu ml⁻¹) and POM (or TiO₂) were irradiated with black light lamps. The POM-PCI was faster than (or comparable to) TiO₂-PCI under the experimental conditions employed in this study. The relative efficiency of POM-PCI was species-dependent. Among three POMs (H₃PW₁₂O₄₀, H₃PMo₁₂O₄₀, and H₄SiW₁₂O₄₀) tested in this study, the inactivation of E. coli was fastest with H₄SiW₁₂O₄₀ while that of B. subtilis was the most efficient with H₃PW₁₂O₄₀. Although the biocidal action of TiO₂ photocatalyst has been commonly ascribed to the role of photogenerated reactive oxygen species such as hydroxyl radicals and superoxides, the cell death mechanism with POM seems to be different from TiO₂-PCI. While TiO₂ caused the cell membrane disruption, POM did not induce the cell lysis. When methanol was added to the POM solution, not only the PCI of E. coli was enhanced (contrary to the case of TiO₂-PCI) but also the dark inactivation was observed. This was ascribed to the in situ production of formaldehyde from the oxidation of methanol. The interesting biocidal property of POM photocatalyst might be utilized as a potential disinfectant technology.     

Invasion of Pinus halepensis Mill. following a wildfire in an Argentine grassland nature reserve

The Ernesto Tornquist nature reserve is a relict of native Pampas vegetation in Argentina. Alien trees were introduced to the reserve in the 1950s, mainly to "improve" the natural landscape, resulting in the arrival of a totally new life form. In 1987, a fire affected an area planted with Pinus halepensis resulting in its massive expansion. In 1999, we removed trees from 17 circular plots of 10 m diameter placed systematically within the area that was colonized after the fire. Trunks were cut 20 cm from the ground and growth rings were counted. We studied the age structure of the population in order to reconstruct the colonizing events after the fire. We found that recruitment occurred throughout this period, except in the three years after the disturbance. We suggest that this delay in recruitment might be caused by low seedling survival under water stress conditions due to low rainfall, combined with scarce vegetation cover after fire. This could have been associated with an initial reduction in propagule pressure due to the scarcity of surviving trees in the vicinity and with the fact that fire occurred after the peak of seed release, during an extremely dry summer, probably killing a great number of seeds that were already in the soil. In the following years, recruitment was probably aided by pioneer trees and later by seeds shed from established pines. Alien trees had been allowed to reach maturity due to wildfire prevention and control in the years preceding the fire and the accumulated dry matter resulted in increased fire intensity that reduced the ability of grasses to re-sprout. As a consequence, the invasion window that allowed the expansion of pines remained open for at least 12 years.     

The impact of human frequentation on coastal vegetation in a biosphere reserve

We aimed to assess the impacts of recreational trampling on rare species, plant communities and landscape structure in the Iroise Biosphere Reserve (western France). Focusing on coastal grasslands, we first identified indicators discriminating human-induced short grasslands (i.e. maintained short by intensive trampling) from natural short grasslands (i.e. maintained by environmental constraints): the presence of lichens and succulent or woody species, which are known to be highly sensitive to trampling, as well as a shallow soil were good indicators of natural short grasslands. Recreational activities affected the majority of plots containing rare species, but one third of rare species (according to their habitat preference) appeared currently not threatened by recreational activities. The other rare species were found in grasslands with low trampling intensity and were not found in grasslands with greater trampling intensity. One lichen species (Teloshistes flavicans) was not affected by trampling intensity, while two plants species (Scilla verna and Ophioglossum lusitanicum) showed higher abundances when trampling was low to medium. When it occurs in natural short grasslands, tourist trampling reduced drastically plant species richness. However, when considering maritime high grasslands, we observed that species richness was higher under low trampling vs. no trampling, but decreased at higher trampling intensity. At a landscape scale, the mean annual rate of path creation was about 1.6% and tourist trampling has already completely destroyed 3.5ha of natural coastal vegetation. Trampling of maritime-high grassland has also created 31ha of short grasslands, which represent 50.8% of the whole short grassland habitat of the island. Moreover trampling affected respectively, 41% and 15% of natural short grasslands and maritime-high grasslands. One of the main suggestions for managers to minimise trampling impacts should be to protect areas of rocky soil covered by short grassland that are still non-trampled and not impacted. Fortunately, this appears compatible with a relatively free access of visitors to coastal areas, as tourists can be redirected towards maritime-high grasslands, an habitat which is less impacted by tourism in terms of affected surface, soil cover, loss of species, or presence of rare species host.     

The Influence of a Coal-Fired Power Plant in Turkey on the Chemical Composition of Rain Water in a Certain Region

In this study, the chemical composition of the rainwater in Yatağan, which is a region surrounding a coal power plant was investigated from February to April 2002. Rainwater samples were obtained from Yatağan, located northwest of Muğla City in Turkey. pH values and concentrations of major ions (Ca²⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, , , ) in the rainwater samples were analyzed. The pH varied from 5.1 to 7.9 with an average of 6.7 which was in alkaline range considering 5.6 as the neutral pH of cloud water in equilibrium with atmospheric CO₂. In the total of 30 rain events, only three events were observed with water in the acidic range (<5.6), which occurred after continuous rains. The equivalent concentration of components followed the order: Ca²⁺ > > Na⁺ > > > K⁺ > H⁺. The anion and cation concentrations in the rainwater samples showed a high sulphate concentration (131 μEq/l), as well as high sodium (40 μEq/l) and calcium (298 μEq/l) concentrations. These values indicate that one probable source of the high sodium concentration is fly ash, after the coal burning process and the power plant can be effective on level concentrations in rainwater. In addition, the dust-rich local and surrounding limestone environment might have caused the high concentration of Ca²⁺ in rainwater of the Yatağan Basin. Due to a large contribution of these cations to the sulphate neutralization action, the rainwater of this region displays only a moderate acidity, which does not cause significant environmental impact.     

羊角月芽藻摄取磷形态的动力学研究

将湖水中的磷分成总溶解磷,溶解反应磷,总反应磷、溶解的水解性磷,溶解的光解性磷。研究其在羊角月芽过程中的变化。     

海南省几种草本植物微量元素的组成

海南省位于我国热带地区,草本植物微量元素组成可反映热带区域生物地球化学特点。海南植物微量元素含量属正常范围值,仅个别植物Ｃｄ、Ｈｇ含量偏高。植物Ｚｎ、Ｃｕ、Ｍｏ含量大多在５ｍｇ／ｋｇ以上,Ｐｂ、Ｃｕ、Ｃｄ含量一般低于２ｍｇ／ｋｇ,Ｈｇ、Ａｓ、Ｎｉ通常不足１ｍｇ／ｋｇ。雀稗（Ｐａｓｐａｌｕｍｃｏｍｍｅｒｓｏｎｉ）、地胆草（Ｅｌｅｐｈａｎｔｏｐｕｓｓｃａｂｅｒ）等微量元素含量普遍较高。红裂稃草（Ｓｃｈｉｚａｃｈｙｒｉｕｍｓａｎｇｕｉｎｅｕｍ）、白茅（Ｉｍｐｅｒａｔａｃｙｌｉｎｄｒｉｃａ）等微量元素含量一般较低。植物微量元素组成与植物种类及其生境条件有关。生物吸收系数反映植物摄取元素的强度,Ｍｏ、Ｃｄ、Ｈｇ、Ｚｎ、Ｃｕ的生物吸收系数通常大于１．０,属强积聚元素,Ｐｂ、Ｃｒ、Ｎｉ、Ａｓ的生物吸收系数大多低于０．３,是弱摄取元素。     

坡地赤红壤物理退化及其机理研究──Ⅲ.土壤物理退化机理分析

主要通过相关统计和综合分析,探讨坡地赤红壤物理退化的内部和外部环境的影响因素．指出养分贫瘠化,尤其是贫有机质化是坡地赤红壤物理性状退化的主要内部原因,植被破坏则是坡地赤红壤物理性状退化的外部因素、而人类活动的影响对坡地赤红壤的物理退化有重要作用。     

pH、温度和水土比对酸性土壤溶液中铝离子形态分布的影响

溶液中Al3 、Al-F和有机络合态铝（Al-OM的浓度随pH降低而增加,Al3 在总单核铝中所占比例随pH的降低而增加,而Al-F络合物呈相反的变化趋势.土壤中铝的溶解度与土壤中铝氧化物的结晶形态有关,处于较高纬度地区的土壤,由于铝氧化物的结晶形态较差,在相同pH下,其铝的溶解度较大.土壤溶液中有机络合态铝的浓度随温度升高而增加,在pH不变的情况下,土壤中无机铝的溶解量随温度降低而增加.随水土比增加,土壤溶液中Al3 、Al-F络合物和Al-OM浓度减小,但按每kg土计算的铝溶解量随水土比的增加而增加.     

土壤与酸的反应时间对土壤酸度及土壤溶液中铝离子形态分布的影响

用两种土壤研究土壤与酸的反应时间对土壤酸度及土壤溶液中铝离子形态分布的影响。结果表明,土壤溶液pH随反应时间增加而增加,安徽红壤pH的增幅大于江西红壤。在pH3.0的HNO3溶液中,土壤溶液中的总铝及Al3 均随反应时间增加而减少,而在pH3．5的HNO3溶液中,土壤溶液中总铝及Al－F络合物先随反应时间的增加而减小．然后又有所增加。