Soil Lead and Children’s Blood Lead Levels in Syracuse, NY, USA

A geo-referenced data set of 12 228 first-time blood lead screening values for Syracuse, NY, children was established for the 4-year period 1992–1996. Soil lead values were measured in a 600 m by 600 m tessellation grid covering the city. The two data sets were merged for evaluation of relationships between them. Strong seasonal variation in blood lead levels suggests the importance of contaminated soils as an exposure source. When the data were aggregated at a large geographic scale (3 km²), a logarithmic model showed an R² of > 0.65 for the regression of geometric mean blood lead on median soil lead values. Results showed a striking similarity to those obtained by Mielke et al. (1999) for a study in New Orleans, LA, USA.     

Fitness costs of an immune response in the house martin (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Delichon urbica</Emphasis>)

Immune responses constitute a major way for hosts to defend themselves against parasites. Because hosts do not habitually produce strong responses all the time, immune responses might be costly to produce or maintain. We tested experimentally if the production of a response to a challenge with a novel antigen resulted in a cost in terms of fitness using the highly colonial house martin Delichon urbica as a model system. We injected adult breeding birds during laying of the first clutch with either Newcastle disease virus (NDV) or a control injection, and the clutch was subsequently removed to induce relaying. NDV stimulates the non-specific immune system, causing production of antibodies during a period of more than 2 weeks. Accordingly, we found an increase in leukocyte counts in experimental birds compared to controls. Experimental treatment reduced the frequency of re-laying, caused a delay in timing of relaying and a reduction in brood size. Quality of nestlings in terms of body size, body mass and T-cell-mediated immune response did not differ significantly between treatments. Overall, seasonal reproductive success differed significantly between treatments, showing that the production of an immune response by adult birds is costly in terms of future fecundity.     

Reproductive Investment of a Lacertid Lizard in Fragmented Habitat

Abstract:  We studied the effect of habitat fragmentation on female reproductive investment in a widespread lacertid lizard (  Psammodromus algirus ) in a mixed-forest archipelago of deciduous and evergreen oak woods in northern Spain. We captured gravid females in fragments (≤10 ha) and forests (≥ 200 ha) and brought them to the laboratory, where they laid their eggs. We incubated the eggs and released the first cohort of juveniles into the wild to monitor their survival. Females from fragments produced a smaller clutch mass and laid fewer eggs (relative to mean egg mass) than females of similar body size from forests. Lizards did not trade larger clutches for larger offspring, however, because females from fragments did not lay larger eggs (relative to their number) than females from forests. Among the first cohort of juveniles, larger egg mass and body size increased the probability of recapture the next year. Thus, fragmentation decreased the relative fecundity of lizards without increasing the quality of their offspring. Reduced energy availability, increased predation risk, and demographic stochasticity could decrease the fitness of lizards in fragmented habitats, which could contribute to the regional scarcity of this species in agricultural areas sprinkled with small patches of otherwise suitable forest. Our results show that predictable reduction of reproductive output with decreasing size of habitat patches can be added to the already known processes that cause inverse density dependence at low population numbers.     

A genetic component to size in queens of the ant,<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Formica truncorum</Emphasis>

The genetic basis of morphological traits in social insects remains largely unexplored. This is even true for individual body size, a key life-history trait. In the social insects, the size of reproductive individuals affects dispersal decisions, so that small size in queens is often associated with reduced dispersal, and large size with long-range dispersal and independent colony founding. Worker size is connected to division of labour when workers specialize in certain tasks according to their size. In many species, variation in worker size has been shown to increase colony performance. In this study, we present the first evidence of an additive genetic component to queen size in ants, using maternal half sib analysis. We also compared intra-colony size variation in colonies with high (queen doubly mated) versus low (queen singly mated) genetic variability. We found a high and significant heritability (h²=0.51) for queen size in one of the two study years, but not in the other. Size variation among queens was greater in colonies headed by a doubly mated queen in one of the study years, but not in the other. This indicates that genetic factors can influence queen size, but that environmental factors may override these under some circumstances. The heritability for worker size was low (h²=0.09) and non-significant. Increased genetic diversity did not increase worker size variation in the colonies. Worker size appeared largely environmentally determined, potentially allowing colonies to adjust worker size ratios to current conditions.Communicated by J. Heinze     

Benefits of large broods by higher chick survival and better territories in a precocial shorebird

When reproductive success is constant in one breeding phase, different tactics that increase variation in reproductive success among individuals may evolve in other phases. For instance, in shorebirds, which usually have a limited clutch size of four eggs, variation in reproductive tactics among individuals is expected either before egg-laying (e.g. diverse mating systems) or after hatching of the young (e.g. diverse parental care). In this paper, I studied the pied avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta), a shorebird with a modal clutch size of four eggs, to test whether post-hatch chick adoption as an alternative tactic can be linked to increased variation in annual reproductive success. When predation was high, naturally adopting pairs produced more filial fledglings than did pairs not adopting chicks and not losing chicks to adoption. The number of filial fledglings increased with the number of adopted young, possibly through diluting the chances of predation on filial young. Experimental chick addition did not lead to more fledged young due to low brood integrity as shown by the frequent loss of chicks from some experimental broods. When predation was low, larger broods occupied feeding territories with higher prey abundance than smaller broods, possibly due to their dominance over smaller ones. Pairs that lost chicks to adoption (donors) fledged as many filial young in their broods as did non-adopters/non-donors, whereas the total number of donors’ filial fledglings, including those raised in adopting broods, approached that of adopters. These findings show, for the first time, that post-hatch alternative reproductive tactics can lead to variation in annual reproductive success and to higher success for some pairs even in species where past adaptations limit variation in reproductive success in a certain phase of reproduction.     

中小型燃煤陶瓷窑炉烟气治理技术

介绍了一种针对中小型燃煤陶瓷窑炉烟气的治理方案。该方案通过采用自成型型煤作燃料，多管旋风除尘器和湍流塔消烟除尘，采用双碱法及往吸收液中加入活性剂等措施，除去烟气中的粉尘，SOx,NOx等，进而达标排放。     

锅炉型煤质量的影响因素分析

分析了配煤组分、成型工艺条件、型料粒度等方面对工业型煤质量的影响，指标合理确定惰性组分含量、成型水分和型料粒度组成是型煤生产的关键，并对实际生产提供帮助。     

不同粒径污泥生物质炭对水体中Zn污染的吸附效应研究

为了探究3种不同粒径的污泥生物质炭(S1:大粒径 0.165 mm;S2:中粒径为0.025～0.165 mm;S3:小粒径0.025 mm)对Zn的吸附效率和固化稳定的机理,以此为污泥生物质炭在水污染控制方面的应用提供科学依据.利用实验室模拟法,研究不同反应时间、溶液初始pH和重金属浓度对生物炭吸附效果的影响,并运用四步萃取法分析生物炭上Zn的吸附形态.结果表明:①生物炭在4 h左右达到吸附平衡,吸附率呈先增加后平缓的趋势,最终吸附量S1S2S3;②溶液初始浓度为0～2 mmol·L~(-1)时Zn~(2+)的吸附量呈线性增长趋势,但随溶液浓度超过2 mmol·L~(-1)时吸附量开始趋于饱和;③3种不同粒径生物炭的水溶性组分Zn分别占总萃取量的1.70%、5.02%和7.47%,可交换态组分分别占25.27%、32.35%和27.29%,酸溶性组分分别占35.06%、38.63%和27.90%,非生物利用组分分别占37.97%、24.00%和37.34%.④污泥生物质炭的动力学吸附特征更符合准二级动力学吸附模型,单位质量的污泥生物质炭粒径越小吸附量越大;⑤污泥生物质炭的等温吸附特征更符合Langmuir模型,小粒径的生物质炭最大吸附量最优;⑥在酸性条件下随着pH的上升污泥生物质炭的吸附率在逐渐增加,碱性条件下吸附率的增加可能是形成锌的络合物沉淀导致的;⑦Zn的吸附形态以酸溶性和非生物利用态为主,水溶性占比较小.污泥生物质炭对Zn的吸附以化学吸附为主,S1吸附的Zn酸溶性组分和非生物利用组分占比最大,吸附效果较为稳定.     

不同粒度飞灰中16种微量元素的含量分布

研究了不同粒级的燃煤飞灰中的Ｂａ、Ｂｅ、Ｃｄ、Ｃｒ、Ｃｕ、Ｈｇ、Ｌｉ、Ｍｎ、Ｎｉ、Ｐｂ、Ｓｒ、Ｔｉ、Ｖ、Ｚｎ、Ｚｒ元素的含量分布,煤中元素的含量比及富集因子。     

基于精细化观测的沙尘通量分布特征

研究沙尘随高度的变化特征对揭示沙尘物质在近地层分布特征具有重要意义。为揭示0—80 m沙尘通量的垂直分布规律,在野外实测的基础上,选取2008年7月20日、8月7日、8月19日、8月29日4次沙尘天气,对贴地层（0—0.05 m）、中间层（0.05—2 m）、近地层（2—80 m）的沙尘通量进行对比分析。结果表明：贴地层（0—0.05 m）,沙尘通量随着高度的增高呈增加趋势,最大值为1604.29 g?mm^?2。中间层（0.05—2 m）,沙尘通量随高度分布的关系为幂函数关系,且随着高度的升高沙尘通量减小,决定系数R²值均在0.9以上。近地层（2—80 m）,沙尘通量随高度增加呈分段函数分布,32 m、48 m处为沙尘通量的拐点高度。由此看出,研究沙尘通量对阐明沙尘输送机制非常重要,不仅可加强对沙尘输送的定量研究,还可为沙尘输送的数值模拟提供重要参数。