太湖北部湖区CDOM光学特性及光降解研究

通过对太湖北部不同湖区2005—2006年4个典型月份水体中有色可溶解性有机物(CDOM)的生物-光学特性进行研究,系统分析了太湖北部湖区水体中CDOM的生物-光学特性和时空分布变异规律,并对CDOM在自然光暴晒下的降解特性进行初步研究. 结果表明,湖水中CDOM的分布,空间上竺山湾>梅梁湾>贡湖湾>大太湖,入湖河道附近要高于其他水面,时间上按冬季到次年秋季逐渐递减;表征CDOM 谱形变化的指数函数S值没有显著性时空差异,冬、春季CDOM吸收系数与ρ(叶绿素a)完全没有相关性,夏、秋季CDOM的空间分布则与ρ(叶绿素a)分布较为一致,吸收系数与ρ(叶绿素a)存在正相关;CDOM定标后的荧光值与其吸收系数在4个月内均存在相对恒定的线性关系;在接受自然光特别是紫外辐射暴晒后,CDOM吸收明显降低,发生显著的光化学降解,其降解过程符合拟一阶动力学衰减反应.      

污泥提取液与普通小球藻相互影响的特性

本研究将普通小球藻低成本培养与污泥提取液处理相结合,探讨使用污泥提取液与BG11混合培养普通小球藻,以实现养藻成本的降低与污泥资源化利用的目的。通过测定小球藻细胞密度、叶绿素a、中性油脂等生长特性以及污泥提取液中总氮(TN)、总磷(TP)、总有机碳(TOC)和毒性等降解指标的变化,来验证污泥提取液与普通小球藻生长的相互影响。结果表明,污泥提取液占总培养基(提取液与BG11)体积的20%(v/v)时,普通小球藻细胞密度最大,细胞中中性油脂积累较好,但不利于藻细胞叶绿素a的合成;普通小球藻对污泥提取液中的TN、TP、总有机碳(TOC)、毒性等都有显著的去除效能,在污泥提取液含量为20%、培养240 h时,TN、TP、毒性的去除率分别为89.91%、92.31%和63.08%。     

一体式铁盐絮体-超滤净水工艺中试运行效能

短流程集成膜滤工艺以其占地面积小、出水稳定等优点成为饮用水处理的研究重点,但目前仍缺乏实际中试运行参数及膜污染特征解析。基于常州某河流的中试运行结果,与直接超滤工艺(仅运行7 d)相比,一体式铁盐絮体-超滤工艺(运行25 d)和强化的絮体-超滤工艺(运行83 d)中的膜污染程度显著降低,分别将膜池稳定运行周期延长2.5倍和10.9倍;扫描电子显微镜和能谱表征结果表明,无论是否投加铁盐絮体,无机物均为滤饼层的主要成分,也是引起膜污染的主要原因。出水水质分析结果表明,一体式铁盐絮体-超滤工艺平均出水浊度低于0.1 NTU,浊度去除率大于99.5%,同时,COD和TP的去除率分别由37%和15%提升至64.58%和40%。此外,强化后的一体式絮体-超滤工艺中絮体的利用率更高,产水成本为0.491元·t ⁻¹。     

污染地块土壤砷与苯并[a]芘生物可给性影响因素研究与模型预测

利用模型预测生物可给性比现场采样测试获取生物可给性检测结果耗时短、成本低。为探究砷 (As) 和苯并[a]芘 (BaP) 生物可给量与土壤性质之间的关系,统计了12篇文献和3份风险评估报告中As和BaP生物可给性、生物可给量和土壤性质数据,分析了生物可给量与土壤性质之间的关系,并基于逐步回归分析法和随机森林回归法构建了生物可给量的预测模型。结果表明：土壤中As的生物可给量与总量呈极显著正相关 (P<0.01) ,与土壤pH和CEC呈极显著负相关,BaP的生物可给量与总量呈极显著正相关,与土壤pH和粘粒质量分数呈极显著负相关性;分别采用逐步回归法和随机森林回归法构建了As和BaP生物可给量预测模型,综合比较2种模型训练集和测试集的R²大小,发现随机森林回归预测模型对生物可给量的预测结果优于逐步回归预测模型,且随机森林预测模型特征重要性与相关性分析结果一致;采用随机森林回归预测模型进行案例地块验证,验证结果表明,随机森林回归预测模型对6个典型污染地块As和BaP的生物可给量预测效果较好 (R²=0.97) 。研究结果可为重金属和半挥发性有机物污染地块中生物可给性的应用提供技术支持。     

Estimating the extinction date of the thylacine with mixed certainty data

The thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus), one of Australia's most characteristic megafauna, was the largest marsupial carnivore until hunting, and potentially disease, drove it to extinction in 1936. Although thylacines were restricted to Tasmania for 2 millennia prior to their extinction, recent so‐called plausible sightings on the Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland have emerged, leading some to speculate the species may have persisted undetected. We compiled a data set that included physical evidence, expert‐validated sightings, and unconfirmed sightings up to the present day and implemented a range of extinction models (focusing on a Bayesian approach that incorporates all 3 types of data by modeling valid and invalid sightings as independent processes) to evaluate the likelihood of the thylacine's persistence. Although the last captive individual died in September 1936, our results suggested that the most likely extinction date would be 1940. Our other extinction models estimated the thylacine's extinction date between 1936 and 1943, and the most optimistic scenario indicated that the species did not persist beyond 1956. The search for the thylacine, much like similar efforts to rediscover other recently extinct charismatic taxa, is likely to be fruitless, especially given that persistence on Tasmania would have been no guarantee the species could reappear in regions that had been unoccupied for millennia. The search for the thylacine may become a rallying point for conservation and wildlife biology and could indirectly help fund and support critical research in understudied areas such as Cape York. However, our results suggest that attempts to rediscover the thylacine will be unsuccessful and that the continued survival of the thylacine is entirely implausible based on most current mathematical theories of extinction.     

Toward an integrative molecular approach to wildlife disease

Pathogens pose serious threats to human health, agricultural investment, and biodiversity conservation through the emergence of zoonoses, spillover to domestic livestock, and epizootic outbreaks. As such, wildlife managers are often tasked with mitigating the negative effects of disease. Yet, parasites form a major component of biodiversity that often persist. This is due to logistical challenges of implementing management strategies and to insufficient understanding of host–parasite dynamics. We advocate for an inclusive understanding of molecular diversity in driving parasite infection and variable host disease states in wildlife systems. More specifically, we examine the roles of genetic, epigenetic, and commensal microbial variation in disease pathogenesis. These include mechanisms underlying parasite virulence and host resistance and tolerance, and the development, regulation, and parasite subversion of immune pathways, among other processes. Case studies of devil facial tumor disease in Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) and chytridiomycosis in globally distributed amphibians exemplify the broad range of questions that can be addressed by examining different facets of molecular diversity. For particularly complex systems, integrative molecular analyses present a promising frontier that can provide critical insights necessary to elucidate disease dynamics operating across scales. These insights enable more accurate risk assessment, reconstruction of transmission pathways, discernment of optimal intervention strategies, and development of more effective and ecologically sound treatments that minimize damage to the host population and environment. Such measures are crucial when mitigating threats posed by wildlife disease to humans, domestic animals, and species of conservation concern.     

A role for selective contraception of individuals in conservation

Contraception has an established role in managing overabundant populations and preventing undesirable breeding in zoos. We propose that it can also be used strategically and selectively in conservation to increase the genetic and behavioral quality of the animals. In captive breeding programs, it is becoming increasingly important to maximize the retention of genetic diversity by managing the reproductive contribution of each individual and preventing genetically suboptimal breeding through the use of selective contraception. Reproductive suppression of selected individuals in conservation programs has further benefits of allowing animals to be housed as a group in extensive enclosures without interfering with breeding recommendations, which reduces adaptation to captivity and facilitates the expression of wild behaviors and social structures. Before selective contraception can be incorporated into a breeding program, the most suitable method of fertility control must be selected, and this can be influenced by factors such as species life history, age, ease of treatment, potential for reversibility, and desired management outcome for the individual or population. Contraception should then be implemented in the population following a step‐by‐step process. In this way, it can provide crucial, flexible control over breeding to promote the physical and genetic health and sustainability of a conservation dependent species held in captivity. For Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii), black‐flanked rock wallabies (Petrogale lateralis), and burrowing bettongs (Bettongia lesueur), contraception can benefit their conservation by maximizing genetic diversity and behavioral integrity in the captive breeding program, or, in the case of the wallabies and bettongs, by reducing populations to a sustainable size when they become locally overabundant. In these examples, contraceptive duration relative to reproductive life, reversibility, and predictability of the contraceptive agent being used are important to ensure the potential for individuals to reproduce following cessation of contraception, as exemplified by the wallabies when their population crashed and needed females to resume breeding.     

Illegal fishing and territorial user rights in Chile

Illegal fishing poses a major threat to conservation of marine resources worldwide. However, there is still limited empirical research that quantifies illegal catch levels. We used the randomized response technique to estimate the proportion of divers and the quantities of loco (Concholepas concholepas) they extracted illegally. Loco have been managed for the past 17 years through a territorial user rights for fisheries system (TURFs) in Chile. Illegal fishing of loco was widespread within the TURFs system. Official reported landings (i.e., legal landings) accounted for 14–30% of the total loco extraction. Our estimates suggest that ignoring the magnitude of illegal fishing and considering only official landing statistics may lead to false conclusions about the status and trends of a TURFs managed fishery. We found evidence of fisher associations authorizing their members to poach inside TURFs, highlighting the need to design TURFs systems so that government agencies and fishers’ incentives and objectives align through continuous adaptation. Government support for enforcement is a key element for the TURFs system to secure the rights that are in place.     

Alternatives to biodiversity offsets for mitigating the effects of urbanization on stream ecosystems

Globally, offset schemes have emerged in many statutory frameworks relating to development activities, with the aim of balancing biodiversity conservation and development. Although the theory and use of biodiversity offsets in terrestrial environments is broadly documented, little attention has been paid to offsets in stream ecosystems. Here we examine the application of offset schemes to stream ecosystems and explore whether they suffer similar shortcomings to those of offset schemes focused on terrestrial biodiversity. To challenge the applicability of offsets further, we discuss typical trajectories of urban expansion and their cascading physical, chemical and biological impacts on stream ecosystems. We argue that the highly connected nature of stream ecosystems and urban drainage networks can transfer impacts of urbanization across wide areas, complicating the notion of like‐for‐like exchange and the prospect of effectively mitigating biodiversity loss. Instead, we identify in‐catchment options for stormwater control, which can avoid or minimize the impacts of development on downstream ecosystems, while presenting additional public and private benefits. We describe the underlying principles of these alternatives, some of the challenges associated with their uptake, and policy initiatives being trialed to facilitate adoption. In conclusion, we argue that stronger policies to avoid and minimize the impacts of urbanization provide better prospects for protecting downstream ecosystems, and can additionally, stimulate economic opportunities and improve urban liveability.     

Identifying conservation priorities for threatened Eastern Himalayan mammals

To augment mammal conservation in the Eastern Himalayan region, we assessed the resident 255 terrestrial mammal species and identified the 50 most threatened species based on conservation status, endemism, range size, and evolutionary distinctiveness. By using the spatial analysis package letsR and the complementarity core‐area method in the conservation planning software Zonation, we assessed the current efficacy of their protection and identified priority conservation areas by comparing protected areas (PAs), land cover, and global ecoregion 2017 maps at a 100 × 100 m spatial scale. The 50 species that were most threatened, geographically restricted, and evolutionarily distinct faced a greater extinction risk than globally nonthreatened and wide‐ranging species and species with several close relatives. Small, medium‐sized, and data‐deficient species faced extinction from inadequate protection in PAs relative to wide‐ranging charismatic species. There was a mismatch between current PA distribution and priority areas for conservation of the 50 most endangered species. To protect these species, the skewed regional PA distribution would require expansion. Where possible, new PAs and transboundary reserves in the 35 priority areas we identified should be established. There are adequate remaining natural areas in which to expand current Eastern Himalayan PAs. Consolidation and expansion of PAs in the EH requires strengthening national and regional transboundary collaboration, formulating comprehensive regional land‐use plans, diversifying conservation funding, and enhancing information sharing through a consolidated regional database.