Comparison of Microbial Pyrene and Benzo[a]Pyrene Mineralization in Liquid Medium,Soil Slurry,and Soil

The microbial degradation of ¹⁴C-pyrene and ¹⁴C-benzo[a]pyrene by a bacterial mixed culture was studied within a mixture of the PAHs phenanthrene, anthracene, pyrene, fluoranthene, and benzo[a]pyrene as sole carbon source in the different culture systems: (i) liquid medium, (ii) soil slurry (surface and grinding influence), and (iii) soil. The fate of these two labeled compounds was followed in these systems with an emphasis on mineralization to carbon dioxide, extractability, and adsorption to humic materials and formation of unextractable residual. Mineralization showed the most obvious differences: soil slurries achieved the best results both concerning the extent of mineralization and the time required. The highest extent of pyrene mineralization (54% within 21 days) was observed in soil slurries; in liquid media, pyrene mineralization was slower, but reached approximately the same extent (54% in 150 days); in soils, mineralization reached only 36% of added pyrene after 160 days. Benzo[a]pyrene was mineralized in a mixture of PAHs in soil slurries to an extent of 34% within 70 days, whereas mineralization in liquid medium and soil occurred in the range of 5% (70 days). Mineralization of benzo[a]pyrene in sand slurries was lower compared to soil slurries (19% in sand slurries vs. 32% in soil slurries within 50 days).     

Modeled Summer Background Concentration of Nutrients and Suspended Sediment in the Mid‐Continent (USA) Great Rivers1

Angradi, Ted R., David W. Bolgrien, Matt A. Starry, and Brian H. Hill, 2012. Modeled Summer Background Concentration of Nutrients and Suspended Sediment in the Mid‐Continent (USA) Great Rivers. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(5): 1054‐1070. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2012.00669.x Abstract: We used regression models to predict summer background concentration of total nitrogen (N), total phosphorus (P), and total suspended solids (TSS), in the mid‐continent great rivers: the Upper Mississippi, the Lower Missouri, and the Ohio. From multiple linear regressions of water quality indicators with land use and other stressor variables, we determined the concentration of the indicators when the predictor variables were all set to zero — the y‐intercept. Except for total P on the Upper Mississippi River, we could predict background concentration using regression models. Predicted background concentration of total N was about the same on the Upper Mississippi and Lower Missouri Rivers (430 μg l^?1), which was lower than percentile‐based values, but was similar to concentrations derived from the response of sestonic chlorophyll a to great river total N concentration. Background concentration of total P on the Lower Missouri (65 μg l^?1) was also lower than published and percentile‐based concentrations. Background TSS concentration was higher on the Lower Missouri (40 mg l^?1) than the other rivers. Background TSS concentration on the Upper Mississippi (16 mg l^?1) was below a threshold (30 mg l^?1) designed to protect aquatic vegetation. Our model‐predicted concentrations for the great rivers are an attempt to estimate background concentrations for water quality indicators independent from thresholds based on percentiles or derived from stressor‐response relationships.     

复杂环境下浅埋大跨地铁渡线隧道施工地层沉降控制方法研究

以北京地铁4号线白石桥至学院南路区间渡线隧道作为工程背景,阐述在复杂环境下浅埋大跨隧道施工的地层沉降控制方法。该隧道具有"隧道跨度大(最大跨度22.1 m),埋深浅,断面类型多、结构复杂"等特点,隧道上方有雨水管等市政管线,地层沉降控制难度极大。首先介绍了渡线隧道总体施工顺序安排、超前加固方案和各断面施工方法,并利用FLAC3D三维数值模拟程序,对最大断面开挖支护过程进行了模拟计算,研究了地表沉降规律和塑性区分布情况,用于指导施工。在施工期间对地表沉降进行监测,其结果表明:渡线隧道施工方法是合理的,地表沉降在控制范围内,确保了隧道周边环境的安全。     

Effect of Cell-to-matrix Ratio in Polyvinyl Alcohol Immobilized Pure and Mixed Cultures on Atrazine Degradation

Atrazine biodegradation by immobilized pure and mixed cultures was examined. A pure atrazine-degrading culture, Agrobacterium radiobacter J14a (J14a), and a mixed culture (MC), isolated from an atrazine-contaminated crop field, were immobilized using phosphorylated-polyvinyl alcohol (PPVA). An existing cell immobilization procedure was modified to enhance PPVA matrix stability. The results showed that the matrices remained mechanically and chemically stable after shaking with glass beads over 15 days under various salt solutions and pH values. The immobilization process had a slight effect on cell viability. With the aid of scanning electron microscopy, a suitable microstructure of PPVA matrices for cell entrapment was observed. There were two porous layers of spherical gel matrices, the outside having an encapsulation property and the inside containing numerous pores for bacteria to occupy. J14a and MC were immobilized at three cell-to-matrix ratios of 3.5, 6.7, and 20 mg dry cells/mL matrix. The atrazine biodegradation tests were conducted in an aerobic batch system, which was inoculated with cells at 2,000 mg/L. The tests were also conducted using free (non-immobilized) J14a and MC for comparative purpose. The cell-to-matrix ratio of 3.5 mg/mL provided the highest atrazine removal efficiency of 40–50% in 120 h for both J14a and MC. The free cell systems, for both cultures, presented much lower atrazine removal efficiencies compared to the immobilized cell systems at the same level of inoculation.     

雷州半岛桉林-砖红壤水分动态变化特征研究

根据定位观测数据,对雷州半岛浅海沉积物发育的桉林地砖红壤水分状况及其动态变化进行了初步探讨.结果表明,受水分蒸发量大等因素的影响,0～100 cm土层月均贮水量较低;主要受降雨分布的影响,土壤水分呈明显的季节性变化特征且季节性干旱时间较长,8～     

土壤中苯并[a]芘测定的精密度控制指标研究

通过全国多家实验室的大量监测数据,研究分析了土壤中苯并[a]芘测定的精密度控制指标,并与EPA8270D进行了比较,旨在为环境监测工作提供质量控制依据和质量控制指标。研究表明,标准样品的室内相对标准偏差的质量控制范围≤28%,室内相对偏差的质量控制范围≤34%。     

Defining Historical Baselines for Conservation: Ecological Changes Since European Settlement on Vancouver Island,Canada

Abstract: Conservation and restoration goals are often defined by historical baseline conditions that occurred prior to a particular period of human disturbance, such as European settlement in North America. Nevertheless, if ecosystems were heavily influenced by native peoples prior to European settlement, conservation efforts may require active management rather than simple removal of or reductions in recent forms of disturbance. We used pre‐European settlement land survey records (1859–1874) and contemporary vegetation surveys to assess changes over the past 150 years in tree species and habitat composition, forest density, and tree size structure on southern Vancouver Island and Saltspring Island, British Columbia, Canada. Several lines of evidence support the hypothesis that frequent historical burning by native peoples, and subsequent fire suppression, have played dominant roles in shaping this landscape. First, the relative frequency of fire‐sensitive species (e.g., cedar [Thuja plicata]) has increased, whereas fire‐tolerant species (e.g., Douglas‐fir [Pseudotsuga menziesii]) have decreased. Tree density has increased 2‐fold, and the proportion of the landscape in forest has greatly increased at the expense of open habitats (plains, savannas), which today contain most of the region's threatened species. Finally, the frequency distribution of tree size has shifted from unimodal to monotonically decreasing, which suggests removal of an important barrier to tree recruitment. In addition, although most of the open habitats are associated with Garry oak (Quercus garryana) at present, most of the open habitats prior to European settlement were associated with Douglas‐fir, which suggests that the current focus on Garry oak as a flagship for the many rare species in savannas may be misguided. Overall, our results indicate that the maintenance and restoration of open habitats will require active management and that historical records can provide critical guidance to such efforts.     

Application of Agriculture‐Developed Demographic Analysis for the Conservation of the Hawaiian Alpine Wekiu Bug

Insects that should be considered for conservation attention are often overlooked because of a lack of data. The detailed information necessary to assess population growth, decline, and maximum range is particularly difficult to acquire for rare and cryptic species. Many of these difficulties can be overcome with the use of life table analyses and heat energy accumulation models common in agriculture. The wekiu bug (Nysius wekiuicola), endemic to the summit of one volcanic mountain in Hawaii, is a rare insect living in an environmentally sensitive alpine stone desert, where field‐based population assessments would be inefficient or potentially detrimental to natural and cultural resources. We conducted laboratory experiments with the insects by manipulating rearing temperatures of laboratory colonies and made detailed observations of habitat conditions to develop life tables representing population growth parameters and environmental models for wekiu bug phenology and demographic change. Wekiu bugs developed at temperatures only found in its environment on sunny days and required the thermal buffer found on cinder cones for growth and population increase. Wekiu bugs required approximately 3.5 months to complete one generation. The bug developed optimally from 26 to 30 °C, temperatures that are much higher than the air temperature attains in its elevational range. The developmental temperature range of the species confirmed a physiological reason why the wekiu bug is only found on cinder cones. This physiology information can help guide population monitoring and inform habitat restoration and conservation. The wekiu bug was a candidate for listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, and the developmental parameters we quantified were used to determine the species would not be listed as endangered or threatened. The use of developmental threshold experiments, life table analyses, and degree day modeling can directly inform otherwise unobservable habitat needs and demographic characteristics of extremely rare insects. Aplicación de Análisis Demográfico de Desarrollo Agrícola para la Conservación del Insecto Weiku Alpino Hawaiano     

Changes in bird‐migration patterns associated with human‐induced mortality

Many bird populations have recently changed their migratory behavior in response to alterations of the environment. We collected data over 16 years on male Great Bustards (Otis tarda), a species showing a partial migratory pattern (sedentary and migratory birds coexisting in the same breeding groups). We conducted population counts and radio tracked 180 individuals to examine differences in survival rates between migratory and sedentary individuals and evaluate possible effects of these differences on the migratory pattern of the population. Overall, 65% of individuals migrated and 35% did not. The average distance between breeding and postbreeding areas of migrant individuals was 89.9 km, and the longest average movement of sedentary males was 3.8 km. Breeding group and migration distance had no effect on survival. However, mortality of migrants was 2.4 to 3.5 times higher than mortality of sedentary birds. For marked males, collision with power lines was the main cause of death from unnatural causes (37.6% of all deaths), and migratory birds died in collisions with power lines more frequently than sedentary birds (21.3% vs 6.3%). The percentage of sedentary individuals increased from 17% in 1997 to 45% in 2012. These results were consistent with data collected from radio‐tracked individuals: The proportion of migratory individuals decreased from 86% in 1997–1999 to 44% in 2006–2010. The observed decrease in the migratory tendency was not related to climatic changes (temperatures did not change over the study period) or improvements in habitat quality (dry cereal farmland area decreased in the main study area). Our findings suggest that human‐induced mortality during migration may be an important factor shaping the migration patterns of species inhabiting humanized landscapes.