Floristics, performance and prognosis of historical trees in the urban forest of Guangzhou City (China)

Outstanding historical trees embedded in cities constitute pertinent environmental assets, yet they are widely threatened in third-world cities. Inadequate understanding of this valuable natural-cum-cultural heritage hinders proper conservation. A case study of Guangzhou in south China evaluated floristic composition, age profile and biomass structure of historical trees, assessed their performance in major habitats (institutional, park and roadside), and established a prognosis for future growth and management. The 348 historical trees examined belonged to only 25 species, vis-à -vis 254 trees in the entire urban forest, dominated by five species and native members. Roadside had more trees, followed by institutional and park, with merely the most common four species shared by all habitats. The limited commonality reflected tree-performance differentiation by habitats exerting selection pressure on species. The institutional growth-regime was more conducive to nurturing high-caliber specimens, whereas park is less capable. Individual species achievement by habitats, derived from tree-count ranking and relative-abundance indices, could inform species choice and tree conservation. Few trees exceeded 300 years of age in the millennium-old city, echoing a history of intense tree—city conflicts. Potential life-span, trunk and crown diameters indicated ample opportunities for further expansion of biomass and landscape impacts, which would be straitjacketed by the tightening urban fabric.     

Air Pollution and Heat Exposure Study in the Workplace in a Glass Manufacturing Unit in India

Air pollution in the workplace environment due to industrial operation have been found to cause serious occupational health hazard. Similarly, heat stress is still most neglected occupational hazard in the tropical and subtropical countries like India. The hot climate augments the heat exposure close to sources like furnaces. In this study an attempt is made to assess air pollution and heat exposure levels to workers in the workplace environment in glass manufacturing unit located in the State of Gujarat, India. Samples for workplace air quality were collected for SPM, SO₂, NO₂ and CO₂ at eight locations. Results of workplace air quality showed 8-hourly average concentrations of SPM: 165–9118 μg/m³, SO₂: 6–9 μg/m³ and NO₂: 5–42 μg/m³, which were below the threshold limit values of workplace environment. The level of CO₂ in workplace air of the plant was found to be in the range 827–2886 μg/m³, which was below TLV but much higher than the normal concentration for CO₂ in the air (585 mg/m³). Indoor heat exposure was studied near the furnace and at various locations in an industrial complex for glass manufacturing. The heat exposure parameters including the air temperature, the wet bulb temperature, and the globe parameters were measured. The Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), an indicator of heat, exceeded ACGIH TLVs limits most of the time at all the locations in workplace areas. The recommended duration of work and rest have also been estimated.     

Seasonal characteristics of haze observed by continuous visibility monitoring in the urban atmosphere of Kwangju, Korea

Continuous visibility monitoring has been carried out inKwangju, Korea since May 1999. The total light extinctioncoefficient b _ext measured by a transmissometer andreveals seasonal trends in urban visual air quality,especially under hazy conditions with a visual range of lessthan 15 km. Seasonal atmospheric visibility under lowrelative humidity during the winter was observed to be betterthan during any other seasons. Summertime visibility wasseverely degraded due to highly increased light scattering byhygroscopic particles under high humidity atmosphericconditions. Visibility during spring and fall was alsomoderate. However, yellow sand in spring caused the lowestvisibility conditions over the measurement area for a fewdays. With continuous monitoring using the transmissometer,the daily average seasonal visual range was measured to be13.1, 9.2, 11.0, and 13.9 km in spring, summer, falland winter, respectively. Under the atmospheric humiditycondition less than 60%, visual range was observed tobe 16.1, 13.9, 15.1, and 16.6 km in spring, summer,fall, and winter, respectively. The mean light extinctionbudget by sulfate and nitrate aerosols was determined to bethe highest value of 63.71% during the summer and thelowest value of 27.08% during spring. During the `yellow sand dust' period, a mean light extinction budget by soil particles was estimated to be at an unusually high value of 44.22%.     

Study of Meteorological Aspects and Urban Concentration of SO2 in Atmospheric Environment of La Plata, Argentina

This article presents and discusses SO₂ (ppbv) concentration measurements combined with meteorological data (mainly wind speed and direction) for a five-year campaign (1996 to 2000), in a site near an oil refinery plant close to the city of La Plata and surroundings (aprox. 740.000 inh.), considered one of the six most affected cities by air pollution in the country. Since there is no monitoring network in the area, the obtained results should be considered as medium term accumulated data that enables to determine trends by analyzing together gas concentrations and meteorological parameters. Preliminary characterization of the behaviour of the predominant winds of the region in relation with potential atmospheric gas pollutants from seasonal wind roses is possible to carry out from the data. These results are complemented with monthly averaged SO₂ measurements. In particular, for year 2000, pollutant roses were determined which enable predictions about contamination emission sources. As a general result we can state that there is a clear increase in annual SO₂ concentration and that the selected site should be considered as a key site for future survey monitoring network deployment. Annual SO₂ average concentration and prevailing seasonal winds determined in this work, together with the potential health impact of SO₂ reveals the need for a comprehensive and systematic study involving particulate matter an other basic pollutant gases.     

乌鲁木齐市汽车尾气污染状况调查

对乌鲁木齐市主要街道受汽车尾气污染的调查和综合分析得到CO、NOx、HC的污染规律,主要街道路中心空气中CO、NOx日均值已超出国家大气环境质量二级标准,市区主要街道的人行道空气中NOx含量已超出二级标准,Ⅱ、Ⅲ类道路人行道空气中CO含量已超标;在三类街道中,Ⅰ类街道车流量最大,Ⅱ类次之,Ⅲ类最少,而汽车排放尾气对街道空气污染状况为Ⅲ类最重、Ⅱ类次之、Ⅰ类最轻。     

盐酸付玫瑰苯胺若干性质讨论

盐酸付玫瑰苯胺是三苯甲烷类染料，分子中存在的共轭体系使其具有以下特性：１．本身带色；２．随介质的ｐＨ变化产生显著的颜色效应，ｐＨ值越高，颜色越深，ｐＨ值越低，颜色越浅；３．对光和水洗的坚牢度较差；４．可发生重氮化反应；５．杂质使其颜色加深。     

Using environmental stressor information to predict the ecological status of Maryland non-tidal streams as measured by biological indicators

In Maryland, U.S., an interim framework has recentlybeen developed for using biologically based thresholds, or `biocriteria', to assess the health of nontidal streams statewide at watershed scales. The evaluation of impairment is based on indices of biological integrity from the Maryland Biological Stream Survey (MBSS). We applied logistic regression to quantify how the biotic integrity of streams at a local scale is affected by cumulative effects resulting from catchment land uses, point sources, and nearby transmission line rights-of-way. Indicators for land use were developed from the remote sensing National Land Cover Data and applied at different scales. We determined that the risk of local impairment in nontidal streams rapidly increases with increased urban land use in the catchment area. The average likelihood of failing biocriteria doubled with every 10% points increment in urban land, thus an increase in urban land use from 0 to 20% quadruples the risk of impairment. For the basins evaluated in this study, catchments with more than 40–50% urban land use had greater than 80% probability of failing biocriteria, on average. Inclusion of rights-of-way and point sources in the model did not significantly improve the fit for this data set, most likely because of their low numbers. The overall results indicate that our predictive modeling approach can help pinpoint stream ecosystems experiencing or vulnerable to degradation.     

温度、盐度、铜、氨对对虾仔虾(Penaues orientalis K)和光滑河兰蛤(Potamocorbula laevis)的影响

在室内模拟条件下,进行了热冲击及其与盐度、铜、氨联合对对虾仔虾和光滑河兰蛤的急性影响研究。结果表明,两种动物的起始致死温度(TL₅₀)和最高临界温度(CTM)随驯化温度的升高而增大;随盐度的降低,仔虾的耐高温能力明显降低,而兰蛤对盐度变化反应不明显;高温明显提高铜、氨对仔虾的毒性。也提高铜对兰蛤的毒性,但降低氨对兰蛤的毒性影响。仔虾对高温、低盐、铜离子及非离子氨反应敏感。     

Promotive effect of pyridine on indole degradation by activated sludge under anoxic conditions

Batch experiments were carried out to investigate the promotive effect of pyridine on indole degradation under denitrifying conditions. The seed sludge was obtained from a local coal-coking wastewater treatment facility and was acclimated in the laboratory. Indole and pyridine were supplemented to the synthetic wastewater at different ratios. The optimum ratio of chemical oxygen demand (COD) to nitrate (C/N) was 8.4–8.9 for both denitrification and indole and pyridine degradation. At a temperature of 28°C and pH of 7.0–7.5, the nitrate reductase activity (NRA) was in the best state. The addition of pyridine could promote NRA and the degradation of indole. When the initial concentration of indole was 150 mg/L, the concentration ratio of indole to pyridine was in the range of 1–10. Under optimum C/N conditions, the degradation of indole could be described with pseudo-zero-order kinetics. There was no accumulation of nitrite during the reaction. When the concentration ratio of pyridine to indole was less than 0.25 with an increase in the pyridine proportion, there were more significant augment rates for NRA and the degradation of indole than the situation when the concentration ratio was more than 0.25. __________ Translated from Environmental Science, 2006, 27(2): 300–304 [译自: 环境科学]     

汕头港水域温排水热扩散的三维数值模拟

本文建立了汕头港水域温排水扩散的三维数学模型，并采用特征差分方法求其解，对该法在三维情况下的稳定作了推导，给出了判断公式，上述模型被应用于汕头热电厂废热水排放的环境影响评价中，实例计算表明，该模型算法程序简单，计算结果合理。