Energy reduction of a submerged membrane bioreactor using a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) hollow-fiber membrane

The fiber length and packing density of the PTFE membrane element were increased. The MBR was stably operated under an SAD^m of 0.13 m³·m^-2·hr^-1. Specific energy consumption was estimated to be less than 0.4 kWh·m^-3. In this study, we modified a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) hollow-fiber membrane element used for submerged membrane bioreactors (MBRs) to reduce the energy consumption during MBR processes. The high mechanical strength of the PTFE membrane made it possible to increase the effective length of the membrane fiber from 2 to 3 m. In addition, the packing density was increased by 20% by optimizing the membrane element configuration. These modifications improve the efficiency of membrane cleaning associated with aeration. The target of specific energy consumption was less than 0.4 kWh·m^-3 in this study. The continuous operation of a pilot MBR treating real municipal wastewater revealed that the MBR utilizing the modified membrane element can be stably operated under a specific air demand per membrane surface area (SAD_m) of 0.13 m³·m^-2·hr^-1 when the daily-averaged membrane fluxes for the constant flow rate and flow rate fluctuating modes of operation were set to 0.6 and 0.5 m³·m^-2·d^-1, respectively. The specific energy consumption under these operating conditions was estimated to be less than 0.37 kWh·m^-3. These results strongly suggest that operating an MBR equipped with the modified membrane element with a specific energy consumption of less than 0.4 kWh·m^-3 is highly possible.     

Vallisneria natans decomposition rates and associated macroinvertebrates,microbes and microalgae along a vertical depth gradient in an urban lake (Nanhu Lake,China)

Knowledge on aquatic macrophyte decomposition has well developed, yet the decomposition and associated biotic factors along a vertical gradient in waters remain less examined. Here, we used Vallianeria natans leaves to investigate the decomposition rate and associated decomposers and microalgae at different vertical depths, by placing V. natans leaves into litterbags (0.5 and 5?mm meshes) and incubating them at the air–water interface (AW), sediment-water (SW) interface, and 10?cm (B10) or 20?cm (B20) burial in sediment over 60 days in a littoral zone of lake. Decomposition rates decreased with increased depths in each mesh size, with significant differences among and between AW (0.028?d^?1), SW (0.022?d^?1), B10 (0.014?d^?1) and B20 (0.011?d^?1) treatments in 0.5?mm litterbags and no significant difference between B10 (0.027?d^?1) and B20 (0.025?d^?1) in 5?mm litterbags. The average contribution of macroinvertebrates to biomass loss was highest in B20 (44.66%), lowest in AW (22.66%) and midst in both SW (25.35%) and B10 (38.78%), and was much less than that of both microbes and microalgae at each location. We show the importance of macroinvertebrates, microbes and microalgae in mediating macrophyte decomposition rate in response to different vertical locations in freshwaters.     

邻苯二甲酸酯类增塑剂的体外细胞毒性评价

邻苯二甲酸酯(Phthalate esters, PAEs)是环境介质中的一类典型的有机污染物。已有研究表明,PAEs具有明显的内分泌干扰毒性,并会对动物和人体的生殖发育与神经系统造成损伤。体外细胞评价模型因具有高通量、测试周期短、成本低和毒性效应易于探明等技术优点,被广泛应用到PAEs毒理学效应的研究中。本文从内分泌干扰毒性、胚胎发育毒性、神经毒性、免疫毒性、遗传毒性以及致癌作用等方面,对PAEs的一些体外细胞毒性评价模型进行了分类和总结,并对其相应的研究进展进行了综述。本文旨在为体外细胞毒性评价模型的有效利用提供借鉴,并对PAEs毒性作用机制的深入研究提供思路和依据。     

基于生态市建设的生态可持续发展研究——以常州市为例

以常州市为例,探讨了基于生态市建设的生态可持续发展的内涵,提出“生态保育区-生态提升区-生态新建区”的生态建设分区模式和市域生态防护网架是构建区域生态安全格局的基本框架和促进区域生态可持续发展的调控途径。     

氯乙烯生产中的清洁生产分析

结合氯乙烯清洁生产中存在的实际问题,重点对氯乙烯工业生产全过程涉及的工艺技术路线与技术装备的先进性进行分析。通过不同生产工艺的纵向比对,及先进工艺的不同专利技术间的横向对比,对氯乙烯的生产工艺进行清洁生产的分析与评价。     

The control of emigration and its consequences for the survival of populations

Dispersal is the key process enhancing the long-term persistence of metapopulations in heterogeneous and dynamic landscapes. However, any individual emigrating from a occupied patch also increases the risk of local population extinction. The consequences of this increase for metapopulation persistence likely depend on the control of emigration. In this paper, we present results of individual-based simulations to compare the consequences of density-independent (DIE) and density-dependent (DDE) emigration on the extinction risk of local populations and a two-patch metapopulation. (1) For completely isolated patches extinction risk increases linearly with realised emigration rates in the DIE scenario. (2) For the DDE scenario extinction risk is nearly insensitive to emigration as longs as emigration probabilities remain below ≈0.2. Survival chances are up to half an order of magnitude larger than for populations with DIE. (3) For low dispersal mortality both modes of emigration increase survival of a metapopulation by ca. one order of magnitude. (4) For high dispersal mortality only DDE can improve the global survival chances of the metapopulation. (5) With DDE individuals are only removed from a population at high population density and the risk of extinction due to demographic stochasticity is thus much smaller compared to the DIE scenario.With density-dependent emigration prospects of metapopulations survival may thus be much higher compared to a system with density-independent emigration. Consequently, the knowledge about the factors driving emigration may significantly affect our conclusions concerning the conservation status of species.     

五氯酚对鱼鳃丝组织结构及电解质元素的影响

利用场发射扫描电镜观察了罗非鱼在0．05mg L^-1和0．10mg L^-1五氯酚(PCP)中暴露3d，7d和10d后鳃丝上皮组织结构的变化，以及扫描电镜／X-射线能谱联用仪定量分析鳃丝中主要电解质元素Na，Ca和Cl的变化．与CK比较，随着暴露时问的延长和暴露浓度的增加，泌氯细胞出现的密度增加，部分泌氯细胞个体的面积也增大，扁平上皮细胞的微脊碎片数量增加，排列散乱，细胞受损现象明显；鳃丝中Na，Ca和Cl元素的含量总体上呈下降的趋势，在一定程度上说明与Ca^2 、Na^ 和Cl^-运转有关的酶的活性受到抑制．图2参14     

Dynamics in the global protected-area estate since 2004

Nations of the world have committed to a number of goals and targets to address global environmental challenges. Protected areas have for centuries been a key strategy in conservation and play a major role in addressing current challenges. The most important tool used to track progress on protected-area commitments is the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA). Periodic assessments of the world's protected-area estate show steady growth over the last 2 decades. However, the current method, which uses the latest version of the WDPA, does not show the true dynamic nature of protected areas over time and does not provide information on sites removed from the WDPA. In reality, this method can only show growth or remain stable. We used GIS tools in an approach to assess protected-area change over time based on 12 temporally distinct versions of the WDPA that quantify area added and removed from the WDPA annually from 2004 to 2016. Both the narrative of continual growth of protected area and the counter-narrative of protected area removal were overly simplistic. The former because growth was almost entirely in the marine realm and the latter because some areas removed were reprotected in later years. On average 2.5 million km² was added to the WDPA annually and 1.1 million km² was removed. Reasons for the inclusion and removal of protected areas in the WDPA database were in part due to data-quality issues but also to on-the-ground changes. To meet the 17% protected-area component of Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 by 2020, which stood at 14.7% in 2016, either the rate of protected-area removal must decrease or the rate of protected-area designation and addition to the WDPA must increase.     

Population viability and harvest sustainability for Madagascar lemurs

Subsistence hunting presents a conservation challenge by which biodiversity preservation must be balanced with safeguarding of human livelihoods. Globally, subsistence hunting threatens primate populations, including Madagascar's endemic lemurs. We used population viability analysis to assess the sustainability of lemur hunting in Makira Natural Park, Madagascar. We identified trends in seasonal hunting of 11 Makira lemur species from household interview data, estimated local lemur densities in populations adjacent to focal villages via transect surveys, and quantified extinction vulnerability for these populations based on species-specific demographic parameters and empirically derived hunting rates. We compared stage-based Lefkovitch with periodic Leslie matrices to evaluate the impact of regional dispersal on persistence trajectories and explored the consequences of perturbations to the timing of peak hunting relative to the lemur birth pulse, under assumptions of density-dependent reproductive compensation. Lemur hunting peaked during the fruit-abundant wet season (March–June). Estimated local lemur densities were roughly inverse to body size across our study area. Life-history modeling indicated that hunting most severely threatened the species with the largest bodies (i.e., Hapalemur occidentalis, Avahi laniger, Daubentonia madagascariensis, and Indri indi), characterized by late-age reproductive onsets and long interbirth intervals. In model simulations, lemur dispersal within a regional metapopulation buffered extinction threats when a majority of local sites supported growth rates above the replacement level but drove regional extirpations when most local sites were overharvested. Hunt simulations were most detrimental when timed to overlap lemur births (a reality for D. madagascariensis and I. indri). In sum, Makira lemurs were overharvested. Regional extirpations, which may contribute to broad-scale extinctions, will be likely if current hunting rates persist. Cessation of anthropogenic lemur harvest is a conservation priority, and development programs are needed to help communities switch from wildlife consumption to domestic protein alternatives.