Sustainable development and the water–energy–food nexus: A perspective on livelihoods

The water–energy–food nexus is being promoted as a conceptual tool for achieving sustainable development. Frameworks for implementing nexus thinking, however, have failed to explicitly or adequately incorporate sustainable livelihoods perspectives. This is counterintuitive given that livelihoods are key to achieving sustainable development. In this paper we present a critical review of nexus approaches and identify potential linkages with sustainable livelihoods theory and practice, to deepen our understanding of the interrelated dynamics between human populations and the natural environment. Building upon this review, we explore the concept of ‘environmental livelihood security’ – which encompasses a balance between natural resource supply and human demand on the environment to promote sustainability – and develop an integrated nexus-livelihoods framework for examining the environmental livelihood security of a system. The outcome is an integrated framework with the capacity to measure and monitor environmental livelihood security of whole systems by accounting for the water, energy and food requisites for livelihoods at multiple spatial scales and institutional levels. We anticipate this holistic approach will not only provide a significant contribution to achieving national and regional sustainable development targets, but will also be effective for promoting equity amongst individuals and communities in local and global development agendas.     

Nestmate recognition in three species of stenogastrine wasps (Hymenoptera,Vespidae)

The capacity to recognise a conspecific intruder was investigated in Parischnogaster jacobsoni, Liostenogaster flavolineata and L. vechti, three species of primitively social wasps of the subfamily Stenogastrinae. Results of behavioural experiments carried out in the field showed that females of all three species react pacifically if presented with female nestmates, but aggressively reject an intruder from a conspecific colony. As L. flavolineata and L. vechti both build large clusters of nests, often very close to each other, the recognition capacity among females from different nests, but in the same conspecific cluster, was also investigated. Females of both species were more aggressive towards females from a different colony in the same cluster than towards their female nestmates. Additional experiments on L. flavolineata showed that there was no difference in reaction towards females from colonies nearer or further from the tested colony but within the same cluster, nor towards females from a different cluster. The capacity to recognise an alien conspecific nest containing immature brood was investigated in P. jacobsoni. Adult females of this species, invited to land on an alien nest which had experimentally been exchanged for their own, accepted the new nest and partially destroyed the immature brood. The behaviour of the females when they land on an alien nest, however, suggests that they do recognise the nest as foreign. Acceptance of foreign nests coupled with low immature brood destruction is probably due to the high energetic costs of egg-deposition and larval rearing in stenogastrine wasps. These results suggest that nestmate recognition in these wasps is very efficient, even though they belong to the most primitive subfamily of social wasps. Received: 16 April 1996/Accepted after revision: 9 August 1996     

Nanocomposites of Cellulose Acetate Butyrate Reinforced with Cellulose Nanocrystals

Nanocrystals were prepared by acid hydrolysis of bacterial cellulose microfibrils. These were topochemically trimethylsilylated, in an attempt to reduce their hydrophilicity. Composites were made by dispersing either native or silylated crystals in cellulose acetatebutyrate matrixes and solution casting of the dispersions. Particles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy. The composites were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic mechanical analysis. The unmodified cellulose crystals exhibited better reinforcement characteristics than the trimethylsilated crystals.     

Early ultrasound diagnosis of Neu–Laxova syndrome

We report the mid-trimester prenatal diagnosis of Neu–Laxova syndrome (NLS) in two at risk families utilizing serial sonographic examinations. Ultrasound and pathologic findings from seven affected pregnancies, the largest case series of NLS to date, are presented. One fetus had anencephaly and incomplete rachischisis, an anomaly that has not been previously reported in association with NLS. Ultrasonographic detection of severe intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), abnormally postured limbs, microcephaly, and edema allowed prenatal diagnosis of NLS in five of these at risk pregnancies during the mid-trimester. Growth curves derived from serial sonograms reveal abnormalities of all standard biometric measurements. The growth discrepancy was most pronounced in the measurements of the biparietal diameter, which were consistently less than two standard deviations below the mean across all gestational ages. This case series confirms that aberrant growth and anomalies may be detected sufficiently early in gestation to permit prenatal diagnosis of NLS. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prenatal diagnosis of primary anophthalmia with a 3q27 interstitial deletion involving SOX2

We report an interstitial deletion of chromosome 3q26-q28 in a fetus in which anophthalmia had been detected prenatally. FISH analysis, using BAC clones encompassing the SOX2 locus, showed that SOX2 gene was involved in the chromosomal breakpoint of the deletion. This case confirms that haploinsufficiency for SOX2 plays a crucial role in human eye development and emphasizes the necessity of careful chromosomal analysis, including FISH analysis of the 3q region, in case of prenatal discovery of anophthalmia. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

上海市经济-环境系统的物质输入分析

对区域或城市经济-环境系统的物质输入分析。可以判断可持续发展所处的状态。进而为区域或城市制定循环经济发展战略提供依据。利用物质流的理论和方法．依据欧盟指导原则，分析了1990—2003年间上海市经济-环境系统的物质总需求和资源生产率等主要指标。研究结果表明：①上海市巨大的物质总需求和直接物质消耗给上海市的生态环境带来了巨大的压力；②1996年上海市的资源生产率是全国的1．22倍．但2000年日本的资源生产率是上海市的36倍；③影响上海市的物质总需求或者环境质量的关键因素是技术和制度能力。在上述的分析基础上。提出在2020年之前上海市发展循环经济要注重于输入端的减物质化和加强循环绍济的技术支撑研究与开发以及制度能力建设。     

The chemical basis for trail recognition in Lasius nipponensis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Summary. In this paper we report on the chemical basis for trail recognition in Lasius nipponensis. On and near trails in the field, workers became aggressive against conspecific intruders and succeeded in protective contests, while intruders usually avoided confrontation. Such asymmetric interactions were also observed in the laboratory when two non-nestmate workers were sequentially placed in a clean glass dish, while mutual aggression was observed when they were placed simultaneously. Asymmetric aggression was also observed when the workers were placed in a dish previously conditioned by other workers, or when the dish was treated with the hexane rinse of the conditioned dish. The rinse contained a series of hydrocarbons, in which components and proportion were almost identical to those of the cuticular hydrocarbons of the workers, except for a lack of n-alkanes. Amounts of the hydrocarbons that remained on the dish were very small when all the tarsi of the workers were incapacitated. We therefore consider that the hydrocarbons are not adhesion of the cuticular hydrocarbons but secretion from the tarsi of workers, and serve as a key signal for trail recognition in this ant.     

Responses of protists with different feeding habits to the changes of activated sludge conditions: A study based on biomass data

Changes of protists, which were categorized into different functional groups primarily according to their feeding habits, in two full-scale municipal wastewater treatment systems experiencing sludge bulking were investigated over a period of 14 months. Protist biomass represented 3.7% to 5.2% of total biomass on average under normal sludge conditions, and the percentage increased significantly (p < 0.05) under sludge bulking conditions. The biomass of Chilodonella spp., capable of eating filamentous bacteria, tended to decrease in both systems when sludge bulking occurred, showing that the abnormal growth of filamentous bacteria did not lead to a biomass bloom of this group of protists. On the other hand, the bactivorous protists represented more than 96% of total protist biomass, and the biomass of this group, particularly the attached ciliates, increased significantly (p < 0.05) when sludge bulking occurred. The significant increase of the attached ciliates may have possibly facilitated the growth of filamentous bacteria through selectively preying on non-filamentous bacteria and further exacerbated sludge bulking. The redundancy analysis and correlation analysis results showed that the biomass changes of the attached ciliates were primarily related to the sludge volume index and to some extent related to five-day biochemical oxygen demand loading and hydraulic retention time.     

梯度负荷下果蔬垃圾厌氧消化性能及微生物群落结构的研究

为优化果蔬垃圾厌氧消化工艺,提高厌氧消化性能,本文通过逐级提高CSTR反应器进料负荷,研究不同负荷下的厌氧消化性能及相应的微生物群落结构变化规律.结果表明,随着进料负荷的增高,容积产气率、甲烷产气量、氨氮、碱度、TCOD、SCOD均逐渐增高,在最高负荷(负荷以VS计)2.50g·L-·1d-1时分别达到最大值:1.22L·L-1d-1,5.10L·d-1,1563.86mg·L-1,7572.23mg·L-1,13283.26mg·L-1,2075.03mg·L-1,甲烷含量及VFA分别稳定在52.46%～54.59%和(879.30±18.69)mg·L-1;同时利用PCR-DGGE技术系统分析了厌氧消化中细菌与古细菌的群落结构,测序结果表明,整个过程中拟杆菌(Bacteroidetes)、甲烷鬃菌(Methanosaeta)及甲烷螺菌(Methanospirillum)为优势微生物,随着负荷的提高,甲烷鬃毛菌(Methanosaeta)活性逐渐降低;聚类分析及主成分分析表明,低负荷条件下(1.50g·L-·1d-1、1.75g·L-·1d-1),微生物种类(细菌、古细菌)差别不明显,且基本处于同一阶段.     

某集约化肉鸡饲养场PM2.5中抗生素抗性基因的分布特征

集约化家禽饲养场是抗生素抗性基因(ARGs)的重要来源,而PM_(2.5)作为ARGs可能向人体暴露的重要途径还未得到很好地研究.本文采集了集约化肉鸡饲养场舍内PM_(2.5)和粪便以及舍外PM_(2.5)样品,利用荧光定量PCR(q PCR)进行一类整合子(int I1)、总细菌(16S r DNA)和6类共19种ARGs丰度的检测.结果显示,除blaGES-1和blaSHV-1之外,其余17种ARGs在6类样品中均有检出.磺胺类、四环素类、大环内酯类和氨基糖苷类抗性基因在舍内粪便中丰度较高,达到1. 04×109～3. 27×1010copies·g-1,粪便是饲养场PM_(2.5)中ARGs的主要来源.舍内PM_(2.5)中以磺胺类和大环内酯类抗性基因丰度较高,分别为(8. 9±1. 9)×107copies·m-3和(5. 6±3. 1)×107copies·m-3,且舍内PM_(2.5)中ARGs丰度明显高于舍外. PM_(2.5)质量浓度与16S r DNA、int I1和ARGs丰度呈显著正相关,表明集约化饲养场中PM_(2.5)是空气传播细菌、ARGs和int I1的储存库和传播者. 6类样品中int I1丰度均高于ARGs,同时int I1和ARGs的共存关系表现出了多药耐药性的威胁,易对饲养人员和家禽健康及周边空气环境造成危害.