模拟条件下菹草生长对水质的影响试验研究

为研究菹草生长对水质的影响,在模拟环境下实验桶内培植处于生长期的菹草并进行跟踪监测,结果表明：在菹草生长试验期内,随着菹草生长的逐渐旺盛,水体的pH值明显上升但后期趋于稳定并有所下降;DO在第10天达到最大值,但水体中DO含量在试验后期随菹草生长趋于成熟呈下降趋势;试验前期菹草对总氮（ TN）的去除效果随着时间的延长而不断增强,试验结束时去除率达到74.03％和73.47％;试验中菹草组对总磷（ TP）的去除率在第30天时为69.57％和73.33％。菹草生长能有效降低水中N和P含量,且两者明显低于对照组。     

Energy consumption,emissions and economic growth in Bahrain

This study examines the Granger causality relationships between economic growth, energy consumption and emissions, from 1980 to 2007 in Bahrain, controlling for capital and urban population using Toda and Yamamoto’s approach. It was found that there is unilateral causality which runs from urban population, economic growth, capital and energy consumption to environment. Further, we found strong support for causality running from economic growth to energy consumption, emissions and capital. The existence of these linkages suggests that the government of Bahrain may pursue energy efficiency strategies and carbon emissions reduction policy in the long run without impeding economic growth. Additionally, the long run pursuit of high economic growth given sustained increases in energy efficiency may also reduce CO₂ emissions intensity per unit of her GDP.     

氮磷营养盐因子对缘管浒苔生长、叶绿素荧光特性和氮磷富集的影响

为探讨大型海藻缘管浒苔(Ulva linza)对氮、磷加富的生理响应及其机制,分析了氮、磷浓度变化对藻体相对生长速率(Rr.g),氮、磷富集,叶绿素(Chl)含量,类胡萝卜素(Car)含量,色素比值(Chl a/Chl b、Chl/Car)以及叶绿素荧光参数的影响.结果表明,在30μmol·L-1P浓度不变条件下,随着N浓度的增加,藻体P含量持续降低,而其Rr、g、N含量、Chl含量、Car含量、色素比值(Chl a/Chl b、Chl/Car)和叶绿素荧光参数均逐渐上升,N3处理(500μmol· L-1 N)缘管浒苔Rr.g和叶绿素荧光参数均达到最大值,N4处理(1 000 μmol·L-1)缘管浒苔Chl含量、Car含量和Chl a/Chl b比值均达到最大值.在500 μmol·L-1N浓度不变条件下,依次增加P浓度,缘管浒苔Rr,g没有显著差异,N含量没有显著变化,而P含量则呈明显上升趋势,其他指标变化幅度小.综上所述,与P相比,N的变化对缘管浒苔生长、光合色素和光合作用的影响更明显,在N浓度为500 μmol·L-1、P浓度为30 μmol ·L-1、N/P比值为16.67条件下,藻体生长最佳.当水体富营养化加剧时,缘管浒苔富集氮、磷的能力持续上升.     

Aerobic treatment of palm oil mill effluent

In this study treatment of palm oil mill effluent (POME) was investigated using aerobic oxidation based on an activated sludge process. The effects of sludge volume index, scum index and mixed liquor suspended solids during the acclimatizing phase and biomass build-up phase were investigated in order to ascertain the reactor stability. The efficiency of the activated sludge process was evaluated by treating anaerobically digested and diluted raw POME obtained from Golden Hope Plantations, Malaysia. The treatment of POME was carried out at a fixed biomass concentration of 3900+/-200mg/L, whereas the corresponding sludge volume index was found to be around 105+/-5mL/g. The initial studies on the efficiency of the activated sludge reactor were carried out using diluted raw POME for varying the hydraulic retention time, viz: 18, 24, 30 and 36h and influent COD concentration, viz: 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000 and 5000mg/L, respectively. The results showed that at the end of 36h of hydraulic retention time for the above said influent COD, the COD removal efficiencies were found to be 83%, 72%, 64%, 54% and 42% whereas at 24h hydraulic retention time they were 57%, 45%, 38%, 30% and 27%, respectively. The effectiveness of aerobic oxidation was also compared between anaerobically digested and diluted raw POME having corresponding CODs of 3908 and 3925mg/L, for varying hydraulic retention time, viz: 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 54 and 60h. The dissolved oxygen concentration and pH in the activated sludge reactor were found to be 1.8-2.2mg/L and 7-8.5, respectively. The scum index was found to rise from 0.5% to 1.9% during the acclimatizing phase and biomass build-up phase.     

The legacy of large dams in the United States

The sustainability of large dams has been questioned on several grounds. One aspect that has been less explored is that the development of dams and reservoirs often enables agricultural expansion and urban growth, which in turn increase water consumption. As such, dam development influences, while being influenced by, the spatial and temporal distribution of both supply and demand of water resources. In this paper, we explore the interplay between large dams, patterns of population growth and agricultural expansion in the United States over the past two centuries. Based on a large-scale analysis of spatial and temporal trends, we identify three distinct phases, in which different processes dominated the interplay. Then, we focus on agricultural water use in the Southwest region (Arizona, California and Nevada) and explore chicken-and-egg dynamics where water supply partly meets and partly fuels water demand. Lastly, we show that the legacy of dams in the United States consists of a lock-in condition characterized by high levels of water consumption, especially in the Southwest, which leads to severe water crises and groundwater overexploitation when droughts occur.     

Overcoming Contradictions Between Growth and Sustainability:Institutional Innovation in the BRICS

The recent accelerated growth rates or efforts to emulate countries that have achieved a rapid pace of economic growth are widely acclaimed as means to uplift millions from poverty. In so doing, however, this rapid economic growth is most likely to coincide with unsustainable levels of consumption, place excessive pressure on life support systems and terrestrial sinks and foreshorten options for the future. Rather than pursuing the "Environmental Kuznets Curve" (EKC) hypothesis that higher income will bring with it the means to reduce the impacts of greater consumption, ecological economists assert that buying our way out of future scarcity with fast growth is indeed contradictory with sustainability. To better understand these contradictions and explore potential institutional innovations that may enable developing nations to better confront them (in effect, "tunneling under" the EKC), this article refers to recent experience in the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). Beginning with a brief comparative summary of major development and environmental indicators, pressures on resources and society in each of the BRICS are discussed, followed by identification of institutional and policy frameworks each country has evolved to confront the challenges of growth and sustainability. The article closes with general conclusions for further research and information sharing among developing nations.     

Scotch Pine Pollen under Conditions of Environmental Stress

Environmental conditions causing stress have a significant effect on the generative organs of Scotch pine. The parameters characterizing pine pollen are subject to significant interannual variations and are closely connected with weather and climatic conditions in the period of pollen formation. Airborne pollutants affect the quality of pine pollen, which is especially apparent in the years favorable for the formation of microspores. The ability of Scotch pine pollen to germinate and form pollen tubes in the regions with different technogenic loads proved to be significantly lower than in tree stands of the background areas.     

The idea of sustainable development

In this lecture, I demonstrate how very different macroeconomic history begins to look if Nature is included as a capital asset in production activities. The tentative conclusions I draw from the evidence are: (1) high population growth in the world’s poorest regions (South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa) has been an obstacle to the achievement of sustainable economic development there; relatedly, (2) when population growth is taken into account, the accumulation of manufactured capital, knowledge, and human capital (health and education) has not compensated for the degradation of natural capital in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa and, in all probability, even in the UK and the US; (3) China is possibly an exception to (1) and (2). This article is based on the Keynote Lecture delivered at the international symposium on “Sustainability in an Unequal World”, held in Tokyo on November 24, 2006. The exposition relies on my book, Economics: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2007. The author is the Frank Ramsey Professor of Economics at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge.