Biodiversity Conservation in the Thar Desert; with Emphasis on Endemic and Medicinal Plants

The Indian desert, the Thar Desert, has its own importance and specific characteristics with respect to endemic and medicinal plants. Forty-five plant species are considered to be rare and/or endangered. The desert has a large number of plants of economic importance and medicinal use. The Thar Desert is thickly populated in comparison to other hot deserts of the world. 17.44 million people and 23.33 million livestock are recorded from the region. These populations exert pressure on the biological resources of the Thar Desert causing a lack of sustainability and necessitate conservation of biodiversity actions.     

Conservation of Biodiversity: How Are We Doing?

A question rarely raised in discussions on biodiversity conservation, but surely the biggest question of all, is “How much time do we have left before the mass extinction underway surpasses our best efforts to contain it?” This prompts a further prime question because—and unlike all other problems, whether environmental or otherwise—the biotic crisis threatens to leave a severely impoverished planet for millions of years ahead; “Why do we not undertake the necessary actions to get on top of the problem before it gets on top of us?”     

紫外光活化亚硫酸盐降解水中卡马西平

研究了紫外光活化亚硫酸盐高级氧化工艺降解水中典型新污染物——卡马西平（CBZ）的效能和降解机制.探究了不同溶解氧浓度[ρ（DO）]对紫外光活化亚硫酸盐降解CBZ的影响,并在模拟自然水体环境控制初始ρ（DO）为（8.0±0.2） mg·L^-1条件下,考察了不同工艺参数（亚硫酸盐投加量、反应pH）与水环境要素（碳酸氢根离子、氯离子、腐殖酸）对CBZ降解效能的影响.结果表明,紫外光活化亚硫酸盐工艺可在30 min内降解85.3%的CBZ,降解过程遵循拟一级动力学,动力学常数为0.055 7 min^-1.并采用电子顺磁共振波谱技术、活性物质淬灭实验和竞争反应动力学实验发现,CBZ的降解主要来自紫外光活化亚硫酸盐工艺中硫酸根自由基（SO₄^-·）与羟基自由基（·OH）等活性物质,且降解贡献率分别为43.9%和56.1%.而且CBZ降解率随HCO₃^-浓度升高而降低,但Cl^-浓度变化对CBZ降解率影响不大,水中存在的腐殖酸可显著抑制CBZ的降解.反应过程中硫酸盐的积累量显著低于《生活饮用水卫生标准》（GB 5749-2022）限值,且亚硫酸盐消耗速率（0.004 4 min^-1）显著低于CBZ的降解速率,说明亚硫酸盐可被紫外光高效活化用于降解水中存在的CBZ.     

沈阳市某化工园区现状环境风险评估

从风险物质数量、风险诱发因素及风险防控能力角度出发,采用加权评分法,结合周边环境敏感受体情况,对沈阳市某化工园现状做环境风险评估。结果表明:JHYSD和XJHX的区域环境风险值贡献最大,分别为3.08和2.59,约占园区内总风险值的41.2%;该化工园综合环境风险值为13.57,构成该综合风险值的各分项大小不同,其中,RIS_(危险废物)分项环境风险最大,贡献率达到28.89%,其次为RIS_(大气),贡献率达27.34%,其余三者顺序为RIS_(化学品)RIS_水RIS_(累积)。     

Whose Discourse Is It Anyway? Understanding Resistance through the Rise of “Barstool Biology” in Nature Conservation

This study examines what happens when contentious lay citizens harness the technical-ecological repertoire of experts as means of challenging nature conservation policy. The causes, manifestations, and implications of this phenomenon are elucidated through a critical discourse analysis. The case study is based on the wolf reintroduction project in Europe, with particular focus on Sweden, using illegal hunting discussions as a point of entry within the hunting community. It reveals the deployment of three topoi, which are defined as stock arguments situated within a discourse. Analysis shows how while some topoi often incur short-term gains in the debate because of their scientific guise, they are fundamentally relegated as folk science (or “barstool biology”) by government experts and, in some cases, contribute to the further marginalization of other knowledges. Acquiescence to this discourse is shown to greatly impede the debate. Finally, the study shows how lack of trust in the public dialog, which hunters openly recognize to be colonized by ecological expertise, results in increasingly noncommunicative forms of resistance toward policy.     

Optimal monitoring and control under state uncertainty: Application to lionfish management

State variables in many renewable resource management problems, such as the abundance of a fish stock, are imperfectly observed over time. In systems characterized by state uncertainty, decision makers often invest in monitoring to learn about the level of a stock. We develop a stochastic bioeconomic model of marine invasive species management under state uncertainty. The decision maker in our model simultaneously evaluates optimal investment in monitoring and population control. Using a recently-devised method for solving continuous-state Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDPs), we find that the ability to learn through monitoring can alter the role of population control in the optimal policy function, for example by reducing control intensity in favor of monitoring. Optimal monitoring depends on the management context, including in our application lionfish population structure. The rich transient dynamics of our model depend critically on the relationship between the initial conditions for information and invader abundance.     

Using adsorption and sulphide precipitation as the principal removal mechanisms of arsenic from a constructed wetland – a critical review

This review has been undertaken to understand the role of various parameters such as redox potential, microbes, and organic matters on the fate and transport of arsenic in the constructed wetland. A conceptual diagram of arsenic fate and transport in the constructed wetland was developed. Role of various minerals which are produced due to microbial activities are described. The role of these minerals on arsenic adsorption is discussed. It was envisaged that iron sulphide would be the main adsorbent for arsenic in microbe-mediated adsorption process. Beside microbe-mediated arsenic adsorption, roles of various microbes, such as sulphate reducers and methane producers, on arsenic transformation are discussed. Role of various organic carbon sources and electron acceptors on the proliferation of the above mentioned microbes with respect to arsenic transformation was envisaged. Role of dissolved organic matters on arsenic transformation and transport was also discussed in details. To strengthen the review, laboratory studies and modelling of arsenic adsorption and transformation using the Visual Minteq were appended.     

Characterisation of early responses to cadmium in roots of Salix matsudana Koidz

This study deals with the characterisation of early responses of roots of Salix matsudana in respect to oxidative stress, subcellular distribution, and chemical forms when exposed to 50 μmol/L Cd. Within 12 h, the root length is reduced and the contents of O₂^??, H₂O₂, and malondialdehyde are increased by 49%, 43%, and 35%. Cd is mainly retained in the cell walls; small amounts are distributed into other cell organelles. The largest proportion of Cd is found in the NaCl extractable, pectate-, and protein-integrated fraction.     

基于物种敏感性分布法的毒死蜱对稻田生态系统生态风险评价

生物敏感性分布法(Species Sensitivity Distributions,SSD)是一种基于单物种测试和概率统计学的、较高级的外推风险评估方法。该方法在国内外均被广泛应用于各种污染物风险评价中。本文选取了采用logistic和normal这2种SSD分布模型,分析了国内外毒死蜱对3组水生生物组合的毒性数据;并且获得各自SSD的HCx值。3组毒性数据分别为:浙江稻田水生生物组,长三角地区水生生物组和美国水生生物组。浙江稻田水生物SSD分布的HC5为:0.32μg·L~(-1)(logistic模型)和0.35μg·L~(-1)(normal模型);HC10为1.50μg·L~(-1)(logistic模型)和1.26μg·L~(-1)(normal模型);HC20为8.13μg·L~(-1)(logistic模型)和5.96μg·L~(-1)(normal模型);HC50为145.44μg·L~(-1)(logistic模型)和115.74μg·L~(-1)(normal模型)。据此判断水稻种植季节,稻田水域毒死蜱对食蚊鱼、鳑鲏、泽蛙蝌蚪、轮虫、常见腹足类和双壳类软体动物以及绝大多数藻类等的风险较小。利用冗余分析研究了生物物种数量、物种组成结构和拟合模型对HCx影响。结果表明:物种组成结构对HCx有较为明显的影响。具体表现为对毒死蜱较为敏感物种数量与HCx存在明显的负相关性;对毒死蜱不敏感的物种则与HCx呈现正相关性。     

淡水沉积物的生物测试方法研究

描述了淡水沉积物毒性的生物测试方法。沉积物基质可以通过直接采样法和掺入法制备,储存会影响其生物可利用性。全底泥相,间隙水相和复溶相是目前沉积物毒理学研究常用的试验相,其中,间隙水相被认为是进行沉积物毒理学研究较为理想的试验相。同时推荐采用离心法制备间隙水。此外,为增加试验结果的可比性,文中还讨论了试验生物的选择问题。