Backwater Confluences of the Ohio River: Organic and Inorganic Fingerprints Explain Sediment Dynamics in Wetlands and Marinas

In the Ohio River (OR), backwater confluence sedimentation dynamics are understudied, however, these river features are expected to be influential on the system’s ecological and economic function when integrated along the river’s length. In the following paper, we test the efficacy of organic and inorganic tracers for sediment fingerprinting in backwater confluences; we use fingerprinting results to evidence sediment dynamics controlling deposition patterns in confluences used for wetland and marina functions; and we quantify the spatial extent of tributary drainages with wetland and marina features in OR confluences. Both organic and inorganic tracers statistically differentiate sediment from stream and river end‐members. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes produce greater uncertainty in fingerprinting results than inorganic elemental tracers. Uncertainty analysis of the nonconservative tracer term in the organic matter fingerprinting application estimates an apparent enrichment of the carbon stable isotopes during instream residence, and the nonconservativeness is quantified with a statistical approach unique to the fingerprinting literature. Wetland and marina features in OR confluences impact 42% and 11% of tributary drainage areas, respectively. Sediment dynamics show wetland and marina confluences experience deposition from river backwaters with longitudinally linear and nonlinear patterns, respectively, from sediment sources.     

Sulfur cycle as an electron mediator between carbon and nitrate in a constructed wetland microcosm

• Fe(III) accepted the most electrons from organics, followed by NO₃^‒, SO₄^2‒, and O₂. • The electrons accepted by SO₄^2‒ could be stored in the solid AVS, FeS₂-S, and S⁰. • The autotrophic denitrification driven by solid S had two-phase characteristics. • A conceptual model involving electron acceptance, storage, and donation was built. • S cycle transferred electrons between organics and NO₃^‒ with an efficiency of 15%. A constructed wetland microcosm was employed to investigate the sulfur cycle-mediated electron transfer between carbon and nitrate. Sulfate accepted electrons from organics at the average rate of 0.84 mol/(m³·d) through sulfate reduction, which accounted for 20.0% of the electron input rate. The remainder of the electrons derived from organics were accepted by dissolved oxygen (2.6%), nitrate (26.8%), and iron(III) (39.9%). The sulfide produced from sulfate reduction was transformed into acid-volatile sulfide, pyrite, and elemental sulfur, which were deposited in the substratum, storing electrons in the microcosm at the average rate of 0.52 mol/(m³·d). In the presence of nitrate, the acid-volatile and elemental sulfur were oxidized to sulfate, donating electrons at the average rate of 0.14 mol/(m³·d) and driving autotrophic denitrification at the average rate of 0.30 g N/(m³·d). The overall electron transfer efficiency of the sulfur cycle for autotrophic denitrification was 15.3%. A mass balance assessment indicated that approximately 50% of the input sulfur was discharged from the microcosm, and the remainder was removed through deposition (49%) and plant uptake (1%). Dominant sulfate-reducing (i.e., Desulfovirga, Desulforhopalus, Desulfatitalea, and Desulfatirhabdium) and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (i.e., Thiohalobacter, Thiobacillus, Sulfuritalea, and Sulfurisoma), which jointly fulfilled a sustainable sulfur cycle, were identified. These results improved understanding of electron transfers among carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur cycles in constructed wetlands, and are of engineering significance.     

An Experimental Methodology for Monitoring Contaminant Transport Through Geotechnical Centrifuge Models

In this paper, an attempt has been made to highlight an experimental methodology for monitoring contaminant transport through locally available silty soil and commercially available clay in geotechnical centrifuge models, for different compaction states. Use of multiple depth sensors to determine depth distribution of sodium chloride in the soil column has been detailed. The obtained results have been compared with argentometric method. To validate the centrifuge modelling, modelling of models has been used. The test setup developed can simulate contaminant transport mechanisms through the soil mass, which is approximately 10 m deep, over a period of 600 days. R _e and P _e are found to be N times higher in the centrifuge models. These numbers are found to be several orders less than unity. This indicates that laminar flow prevails and the dominating Cl⁻ transport mechanism in centrifuge is diffusion. The study also highlights the fact that the geotechnical centrifuge modelling can be used as a viable alternative to field scale experimentation.     

Energy-Based Land Use Predictors of Proximal Factors and Benthic Diatom Composition in Florida Freshwater Marshes

The Landscape Development Intensity index (LDI), which is based on non-renewable energy use and integrates diverse land use activities, was compared to other measures of LU (e.g., %agriculture, %urban) to determine its ability for predicting benthic diatom composition in freshwater marshes of peninsular Florida. In this study, 70 small, isolated herbaceous marshes located along a human disturbance gradient (generally agricultural) throughout peninsular Florida were sampled for benthic diatoms and soil and water physical/chemical parameters (i.e., TP, TKN, pH, specific conductance, etc.). Landscape measures of percent agriculture, percent urban, percent natural, and LDI index values were calculated for a 100 m buffer around each site. The strongest relationships using Mantel's r statistic, which ranges from −1 to 1, were found between benthic diatom composition, the combined soil and water variables, and LDI scores (r=0.51, P<0.0001). Although similar, soil and water variables alone (r=0.45, P<0.0001) or with percent agriculture or percent natural were not as strongly correlated (both Mantel's r=0.46, P<0.0001). Little urban land use was found in the areas surrounding the study wetlands. Diatom data were clustered using flexible beta into 2 groups, and stepwise discriminant analysis identified specific conductance, followed by LDI score, soil pH, water total phosphorus, and ammonia, as cluster-separating variables. The LDI explained slightly more of the variation in species composition than either percent agriculture or percent natural, perhaps because the LDI can combine disparate land uses into a single quantitative value. However, the ecological significance of the difference between land use metrics and diatom composition is controvertible, and additional tests including more varied land uses appear warranted.     

人工湿地系统微生物去除污染物的研究进展

人工湿地污水处理系统具有净化效果显著、建设和运行费用低廉、管理简便等优点,近年来越来越受到人们的重视。人工湿地是利用介质、植物和微生物构成的复合系统来处理污水。微生物在人工湿地系统净化污水过程中发挥着重要作用。介绍了人工湿地系统中微生物去除污染物的研究进展,重点讨论了人工湿地对污染物和特殊有机污染物的去除以及系统基质中微生物的种群和活性等内容,并结合我国研究现状展望了该领域的研究前景。人工湿地系统微生物对污染物去除将成为人工湿地生态系统服务功能评价、人工湿地生态系统健康与稳定的诊断的重要组成部分。     

盘锦温地保护、恢复与永续利用研究

随着盘锦地区经济的发展和人口的增加,盘锦湿地出现不同程度的退化,主要表现在湿地淡水的短缺,植被的退化;湿地面积减少和湿地受到污染;人类对湿地认识不足,出现人与鸟争食等现象。为了更好地保护湿地,以保持湿地生态系统的完整性、连续性、生物多样性、生态功能性、永续利用性和景区特色性为理念,对盘锦湿地进行保护与规划。     

The contribution of ship emissions to air pollution in the North Sea regions

As a consequence of the global distribution of manufacturing sites and the increasing international division of labour, ship traffic is steadily increasing and is becoming more and more important as an origin of air pollution.This study investigates the impact of ship emissions in coastal areas of the North Sea under conditions of the year 2000 by means of a regional chemistry transport model which runs on a sufficiently high resolution to study air pollution in coastal regions. It was found that northern Germany and Denmark in summer suffer from more than 50% higher sulphate, nitrate and ammonium aerosol concentrations due to contributions from ships. The implementation of a sulphur emission control area (SECA) in the North Sea, as it was implemented at the end of 2007, directly results in reduced sulphur dioxide and sulphate aerosol concentrations while nitrate aerosol concentrations are slightly increased.     

Inferring chemical effects on carbon flows in aquatic food webs: Methodology and case study

The majority of ecotoxicological enclosure experiments monitor species abundances at different chemical concentrations. Here, we present a new modelling approach that estimates changes in food web flows from such data and show that population- and food web level effects are revealed that are not apparent from abundance data alone. For the case of cypermethrin in freshwater enclosures, photosynthesis and excretion (d⁻¹) of phytoplankton at 3.643 μg L⁻¹ cypermethrin were 30% lower and 100% higher than in the control, respectively. The ingestion rate of mesozooplankton (d⁻¹) was 6 times higher in the treated enclosures than in the control as food concentration increased with insecticide exposure. With increasing cypermethrin concentrations, nanoflagellates progressively relied on phytoplankton as their main food source, which rendered the food web less stable. We conclude that this tool has excellent potential to analyse the wealth of enclosure data as it only needs species abundance and general constraints.     

Monod kinetics rather than a first-order degradation model explains atrazine fate in soil mini-columns: Implications for pesticide fate modelling

Pesticide transport models commonly assume first-order pesticide degradation kinetics for describing reactive transport in soil. This assumption was assessed in mini-column studies with associated batch degradation tests. Soil mini-columns were irrigated with atrazine in two intermittent steps of about 30 days separated by 161 days application of artificial rain water. Atrazine concentration in the effluent peaked to that of the influent concentration after initial break-through but sharply decreased while influx was sustained, suggesting a degradation lag phase. The same pattern was displayed in the second step but peak height and percentage of atrazine recovered in the effluent were lower. A Monod model with biomass decay was successfully calibrated to this data. The model was successfully evaluated against batch degradation data and mini-column experiments at lower flow rate. The study suggested that first-order degradation models may underestimate risk of pesticide leaching if the pesticide degradation potential needs amplification during degradation.     

太湖湿地生态系统服务功能价值评估

随着生物资源价值估算方法的日益成熟,生态系统的服务评估成为生态系统研究的热点。运用市场价值、影子工程、碳税法等方法对太湖湿地生态系统的物质生产功能、环境调节功能和文化社会功能等直接与间接价值进行评估。结果表明：太湖湿地生态系统具有巨大和多重服务价值,总价值为112.39×10⁸元。其中,生态环境调节与维护功能价值最大,占总服务价值的48.98%;其次是物质生产与供给功能,占29.1%;文化社会功能最小,占21.91%。通过对9项子功能进行评估得出,调蓄洪水的功能价值最大,约占26.23%,供水功能其次,约占24.56%,气候调节功能,约占18.23%,科研教育价值约占13.16%,植被资源生产功能价值最小,约占0.09%。此项研究首次定量评估了太湖湿地生态系统的服务功能价值,研究成果对于认识太湖湿地的价值,有针对性地保护太湖湿地具有现实意义。