Comparative sensitivity of 20 bioassays for soil quality

Increasing evidence suggests that the use of a single bioassay will never provide a full picture of the quality of the environment. Only a test battery, composed of bioassays of different animal and plant species from different trophic levels will reduce uncertainty, allowing an accurate assessment of the quality of the environment. In the present study, a test battery composed of 20 bioassays of varying biological endpoints has been compared Apart from lethality and reproductive failure in earthworms, springtails, nematoda, algae and vascular plants, these endpoints also included bioavailibility of metals (bacteria), heat-shock induction (nematodes, algae), DNA damage (bacteria, earthworm, vascular plants), β-galactosidase (Daphnia) and esterase activity (algae) and a range of immunological parameters (earthworm). Four chemicals (cadmium, phenol, pentachlorophenol and triflurahn) — each representing a different toxic mode of action — were applied in a dilution series (from 1 mg/kg up to 1000 mg/kg) onto OECD standard soil. The tests have been performed both on these artificially contaminated soil samples and on aqueous extracts subsequently obtained from these soils. The results show that the immunological parameters and the loss of weight in the earthworms were among the most sensitive solid phase assays. Esterase inhibition and heat-shock induction in algae were shown to be extremely sensitive when applied to soil extracts. As previously shown at the species level, no single biological endpoint was shown to be the most sensitive for all four modes of toxic action.     

丽水市空气中Pb污染调查

为调查丽水市空气中Pb污染现状，在机动车相对集中的市区布设5个测点，测点高度1．2m；监测周期为1a，每星期采样1d或2d，每天采集1个样，每次采样6h；监测项目为TSP、Pb；评价标准采用GB3095—1996《环境空气质量标准》。结果表明，丽水市各测点空气中Pb最大的季均值、年均值均未超标；常规测点和交通路口测点之间TSP、Pb质量浓度值均存在显著的差异性。     

水环境质量评价方法的比较分析

综述了水环境质量评价的发展及目前常用的各种水环境质量评价方法 ,对目前水环境质量评价中的不同方法进行了比较分析 ,针对各种评价方法的优点和不足做出评述。指出水环境评价方法的发展趋势是与计算机技术的有机结合 ,随着计算机技术的发展而不断深化     

东莞市近岸海域水环境质量评价及变化趋势分析

采用污染分担率法确定污染因子,应用综合污染指数法对2004~2009年东莞市近岸海域水环境质量进行全面评价,并运用秩相关系数法分析其变化趋势。结果表明：CODMn、磷酸盐、无机氮、汞是影响东莞近岸海域水环境质量的主要因子;东莞市近岸海域水环境质量由上游到下游基本呈现依次下降的特征;从2004~2009年,近岸海域环境质量总体呈现好转的态势。     

Quality of life and sustainability: Toward person–environment congruity

In the light of sustainable development requirements, environmental psychology has an increasing role to play in addressing people–environment congruity. People–environment congruity refers to the interrelation between the individual and his or her (especially: residential) environment, considering the match between individual life satisfaction and objective standards of living. Promoting human well-being requires looking beyond singular effects of environmental features and considering people's overall relationship to their environment. This leads us to look at the residential environment as the place where people–environment congruity is crucial, and to propose a framework of analyses of the conditions of congruity between objective and subjective assessment of environmental stressors in relation to the individual and social expression of well-being. The paper concludes with the implications of people–environment congruity for research and policy-making about sustainable development.     

环境监测质量控制中精密度控制的探讨

对环境监测精密度控制进行了系统论述,提出了一些适用精密度控制方法,对低浓度样品,空白测定值以及测量记录,计算结果的数据密度控制进行了有益的探讨。     

Assessment of Air Quality, Emissions and Management in a Local Urban Environment

This paper describes one example of how the UK National Air Quality Strategy (NAQS) is implemented in a local urban environment. The paper reviews the beginning of this process, by examining the review and assessment procedures of the NAQS in the London Borough of Barnet. By the application of available UK tools of local air quality management (LAQM), the process began through analysis of the levels of local emissions and progressed onto modelling of current and future air quality. A map showing combined emission hotspot areas for the Borough indicated and higher emission rates occur in the south of the Borough and along the major transport corridors, as road sources dominate emissions. Dispersion modelling studies were also conducted for this purpose, using the screening models GRAM, PGRAM and ADMS Urban for an in-depth assessment. These analyses found that some local point sources and the majority of Borough roads with over 20,000 vehicles per day produced exceedances of the future objectives for air quality for some pollutants.Recommendations for the progression of LAQM in the Borough are made and include the update and expansion of the emissions information held for use in future modelling studies. The paper demonstrates the experience of implementing the Strategy, using the tools and procedures available for this purpose, in a local urban environment that is similar to many in the UK.     

县域生态环境质量考评方法研究

通过对县域生态环境质量的考评方法研究,认为县域生态环境质量评价及其指标体系由重庆环境质量背景、人类对生态环境的影响程度及人类对生态环境的适宜度需求３部分组成。提出了县域生态环境质量考评的指标体系和评价方法。介绍了县域生态环境质量考评指标体系的基本原则,体系组成及部分指标说明和县域生态环境质量的评价方法。     

Ecological quality boundary-setting procedures: the Gulf of Riga case study

Two approaches for setting ecological class boundaries, response curves and a simplified mathematical boundary-setting protocol, were tested for coastal, transitional and open waters in the Gulf of Riga, Baltic Sea. The simplified mathematical boundary-setting protocol defines acceptable ecological status based on expert judgment by a uniform relative deviation from reference conditions. In contrast, response curves derive class boundary definitions from observed changes in biological quality elements along environmental pressure gradients for class boundary definitions. Identification of relevant environmental pressures for the construction of response curves was based on a conceptual model of eutrophication in the Gulf of Riga. Response curves were successfully established for summer chlorophyll a and transparency, as well as for macrozoobenthos abundance in the Central Gulf, macrozoobenthos biotic coefficient in the Southern Gulf, and maximum depth of phytobenthos in the Northern Gulf. In the Gulf of Riga response curves almost always permitted a larger deviation from reference conditions than the 50% deviation applied for the simplified mathematical boundary-setting protocol. The case study clearly demonstrated that class boundary definitions should take into account the sensitivity of the target water body. Also, the class boundaries for different ecological quality elements were internally more consistent than those derived by the simplified mathematical boundary-setting protocol.     

Performance Criteria, Compliance Success, and Vegetation Development in Compensatory Mitigation Wetlands

The US Army Corps of Engineers often requires wetland creation or restoration as compensation for wetlands damaged during development. These wetlands are typically monitored postconstruction to determine the level of compliance with respect to site-specific performance standards. However, defining appropriate goals and measuring success of restorations has proven difficult. We reviewed monitoring information for 76 wetlands constructed between 1992 and 2002 to summarize the performance criteria used to measure progress, assess compliance with those criteria, and, finally, to evaluate the appropriateness of those criteria. Goals were overwhelmingly focused on plant communities. Attributes used to assess the quality of restored plant communities, including percent native species and the Floristic Quality Index, increased over time but were apparently unrelated to the number of species planted. Compliance frequencies varied depending on site goals; sites often failed to comply with criteria related to survival of planted vegetation or requirements that dominant plant species should not be exotic or weedy, whereas criteria related to the establishment of cover by vegetation or by wetland-dependent plants were often met. Judgment of a site’s success or failure was largely a function of the goals set for the site. Some performance criteria were too lenient to be of value in distinguishing failed from successful sites, whereas other criteria were unachievable without more intensive site management. More appropriate goals could be devised for restored wetlands by basing performance standards on past performance of similar restorations, identifying consistent temporal trends in attributes of restored sites, and using natural wetlands as references.