Accounting for monogastric livestock as a driver in global land use and cover change assessments

Land systems are described based on various characteristics, including land cover composition and agricultural production. However, it is uncertain to what extent livestock, particularly monogastric livestock, determines land systems. We included monogastrics in a land system classification, and statistically analyzed the land cover composition and agricultural production of otherwise similar land systems with and without monogastric livestock. The results indicate that land systems with monogastrics are statistically different from their counterparts in the classification without monogastrics in terms of grassland area and crop yields, but are less different in terms of tree area, crop area, and ruminant livestock production. We then used a land systems map that includes monogastrics in the classification and a similar map that does not include monogastrics to project future changes in a novel manner that integrates livestock as a determinant of land systems. The results show that including monogastrics in otherwise similar projections yields less cropland intensification and more cropland expansion in several world regions, including Northern Africa and the Middle East. Other regions, such as Europe and Australia, were characterized by less decrease or more increase in tree area in the application with monogastrics, mainly due to the occurrence of open forests with monogastrics. This study prompts a call for improved characterization of land systems for land use and cover change (LUCC) assessments in order to better represent LUCC driven by monogastric livestock.     

红斑顠体虫的污泥减量效果

为了实现红斑顠体虫捕食污泥减量化,对不同条件下红斑顠体虫的污泥减量效果进行实验研究。实验结果表明：红斑顠体虫的污泥减量速率随初始MLSS及温度的增大而增大,初始MLSS越高,污泥减量速率越大。污泥减量速率随红斑顠体虫密度变化率的增大而逐渐增大,当红斑顠体虫的密度增长率出现下降时,污泥减量速率也呈下降趋势。采用间歇曝气（12 h曝气,12 h停曝）方式,红斑顠体虫的污泥减量速率会显著下降。在污泥好氧消化时,红斑顠体虫能捕食污泥中的有机碎片和细菌,达到污泥稳定化的指标要求。     

浅析规模化畜禽集中养殖环境污染现状及防治对策——以安居区玉丰镇为例

通过实地调查取样分析,结果表明:玉丰镇鸡头寺村和金龟村规模化畜禽集中养殖实际出栏量是土地环境容量1.3倍,土壤中含锌、铜、锰、砷量分别为163.05mg/kg、156.00mg/kg、101.13mg/kg和9.19mg/kg,已造成土壤污染,农田灌溉用水化学需氧量超标准限值503%,地下水和大气受到一定程度的污染。     

养殖固体废物在硝酸和磷酸溶液中的水解特性

养殖固体废物掺杂磷肥工艺中养殖固体废物与酸的反应直接影响其有机组成。以鸡粪为研究对象,采用L16(45)正交试验研究了鸡粪粒径、酸浓度、鸡粪与酸溶液质量比、反应温度和反应时间对鸡粪在硝酸和磷酸溶液中水解过程的影响。结果表明,硝酸溶液中影响因素显著性依次为鸡粪与硝酸质量比、反应时间、硝酸浓度、鸡粪粒径、反应温度,最优工艺条件为鸡粪粒径0.20mm、硝酸质量分数15%、鸡粪与硝酸质量比0.2∶1.0、反应温度95℃、反应时间4h;在磷酸溶液中影响因素显著性依次为鸡粪与磷酸质量比、反应温度、鸡粪粒径、磷酸浓度、反应时间,鸡粪水解率与反应温度间呈正相关关系,最优工艺条件为鸡粪粒径0.40mm、磷酸质量分数60%、鸡粪与磷酸质量比0.1∶1.0、反应温度95℃、反应时间8h。鸡粪比表面积及其单位质量耗酸量、美拉德反应是制约鸡粪在硝酸和磷酸中水解反应的内因。研究结果为养殖固体废物掺杂有机磷肥的研发和推广提供了理论基础。     

A Global Model Tracking Water, Nitrogen, and Land Inputs and Virtual Transfers from Industrialized Meat Production and Trade

Rising populations and incomes throughout the world have boosted meat demand by over 75% in the last 20years, intensifying pressures on production systems and the natural resources to which they are linked. As a growing proportion of global meat production is traded, the environmental impacts of production become increasingly separated from where the meat is consumed. In this paper, we quantify the use of three important resources associated with industrial livestock production and trade—water, land, and nitrogen—using a country-specific model that combines trade, agronomic, biogeochemical, and hydrological data. Our model focuses on pigs and chickens, as these animals are raised predominantly in intensive systems using concentrated, compound feeds. The results describe the geographical patterns of environmental resource use due to meat production, trade, and consumption. We show that US feed, animal, and meat destined for export require almost as much nitrogen and land, and 20% more water, than products destined for domestic consumption. Model results also demonstrate that among various production factors, improvements in crop yields and animal feed conversion efficiencies result in the most significant reductions in environmental harm. By explicitly tracking the externalities of meat production, we hope to bolster suppliers’ accountability and provide better information to meat consumers.

Interacting Effects of Translocation,Artificial Propagation,and Environmental Conditions on the Marine Survival of Chinook Salmon from the Columbia River,Washington, U.S.A.

Abstract: Captive rearing and translocation are often used concurrently for species conservation, yet the effects of these practices can interact and lead to unintended outcomes that may undermine species’ recovery efforts. Controls in translocation or artificial‐propagation programs are uncommon; thus, there have been few studies on the interacting effects of these actions and environmental conditions on survival. The Columbia River basin, which drains 668,000 km² of the western United States and Canada, has an extensive network of hydroelectric and other dams, which impede and slow migration of anadromous Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) and can increase mortality rates. To mitigate for hydrosystem‐induced mortality during juvenile downriver migration, tens of millions of hatchery fish are released each year and a subset of wild‐ and hatchery‐origin juveniles are translocated downstream beyond the hydropower system. We considered how the results of these practices interact with marine environmental conditions to affect the marine survival of Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha). We analyzed data from more than 1 million individually tagged fish from 1998 through 2006 to evaluate the probability of an individual fish returning as an adult relative to its rearing (hatchery vs. wild) and translocation histories (translocated vs. in‐river migrating fish that traveled downriver through the hydropower system) and a suite of environmental variables. Except during select periods of very low river flow, marine survival of wild translocated fish was approximately two‐thirds less than survival of wild in‐river migrating fish. For hatchery fish, however, survival was roughly two times higher for translocated fish than for in‐river migrants. Competition and predator aggregation negatively affected marine survival, and the magnitude of survival depended on rearing and translocation histories and biological and physical conditions encountered during their first few weeks of residence in the ocean. Our results highlight the importance of considering the interacting effects of translocation, artificial propagation, and environmental variables on the long‐term viability of species.     

Response to the environmental and welfare imperatives by U.K. Livestock production industries and research services

Production methods for food from U.K. livestock industries (milk, dairy products, meat, eggs, fibre) are undergoing substantial change as a result of the need to respond to environmental and animal welfare awareness of purchasing customers, and to espouse the principles of environmental protection. There appears to be a strong will on the part of livestock farmers to satisfy the environmental imperative, led by the need to maintain market share and by existing and impending legislation. There has been support forthcoming in the form of Government-sponsored scientific research and technological development to provide the necessary framework for new environmentally sensitive practices. The agricultural community has itself made substantial responses to market demand through the inception of Farm Assured Quality Assurance Schemes. These appear to have a more sustainable future than the extremes of organic farming and free-range practices. Pollution of agricultural land with nitrate and phosphate by intensive livestock industries is a greater problem in some parts of continental Europe than it is in the U.K. The distribution of livestock out of intensive units and into mixed farming systems, would require substantial restructuring of the industry. Many of the animal welfare requirements which have been forwarded as a part of the environmental agenda for agriculture have been voluntarily accepted by livestock producers. However, some major aspects, such as alternative housing systems for pigs and poultry, remain unresolved. Analysis of the science and technology support for the environmental imperative, especially from Government sources, would suggest that, although dramatically increased in recent years, environmentally orientated research remains a relatively small proportion of the whole. Whilst a movement away from governmental funding of volume production appears to be justifiable, there has not been an equivalent balancing of effort toward funding for product quality, sustainability, environmental protection and animal welfare. Nevertheless, the university education system is producing a generation of more environmentally aware agricultural science graduates who are opting to pursue Government-sponsored environmentally orientated postgraduate research programs.     

Use of chemical cues in detection of conspecific predators and prey by newts, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Notophthalmus viridescens</Emphasis>

Summary. Detection of heterospecific predators and prey via chemical cues is well known, but only a few studies have examined the potential for such discrimination in cannibalistic systems. In newts, Notophthalmus viridescens, adults are opportunistic predators of conspecific larvae. I used a laboratory bioassay to determine whether larvae and adults distinguish between chemical stimuli from members of the different age classes. Larvae distinguished between chemical stimuli from larvae and adults by decreasing their activity only following exposure to stimuli from adults. Decreased activity is consistent with an antipredator response in many prey species, including larval newts. In contrast, adults increased their activity and increased time spent in open areas in response to stimuli from larvae, but not to stimuli from adults. Increased activity is consistent with a feeding response; adults also showed increased activity and increased time in open areas in response to chemical stimuli from familiar heterospecific prey (brine shrimp). The proximate cue that allowed the newts to distinguish between the different age classes is not associated with short-term dietary differences because all stimulus animals were fed the same prey. Stimulus strength was controlled by diluting the stimulus solutions according to the volume of the stimulus animal. Therefore, there appear to be intrinsic differences in the chemical signatures of larval and adult newts.     

Key Features and Context‐Dependence of Fishery‐Induced Trophic Cascades

Abstract: Trophic cascades triggered by fishing have profound implications for marine ecosystems and the socioeconomic systems that depend on them. With the number of reported cases quickly growing, key features and commonalities have emerged. Fishery‐induced trophic cascades often display differential response times and nonlinear trajectories among trophic levels and can be accompanied by shifts in alternative states. Furthermore, their magnitude appears to be context dependent, varying as a function of species diversity, regional oceanography, local physical disturbance, habitat complexity, and the nature of the fishery itself. To conserve and manage exploited marine ecosystems, there is a pressing need for an improved understanding of the conditions that promote or inhibit the cascading consequences of fishing. Future research should investigate how the trophic effects of fishing interact with other human disturbances, identify strongly interacting species and ecosystem features that confer resilience to exploitation, determine ranges of predator depletion that elicit trophic cascades, pinpoint antecedents that signal ecosystem state shifts, and quantify variation in trophic rates across oceanographic conditions. This information will advance predictive models designed to forecast the trophic effects of fishing and will allow managers to better anticipate and avoid fishery‐induced trophic cascades.     

Interaction Between Nutrient and Predator Limitation of Production in the Marine Euphotic Zone

Nutrient limitation of phytoplankton growth in nature is a complex phenomenon. the timing of nutrient limitation is a product of matching of algal growth with abiotic and/or biotic events regenerating nutrients, and mismatching with predator activity. the extent of production is governed by the concentration of atomic constituents which, in turn, is a function of the rapidity and quantity of nutrient regeneration by heterotrophs. Excess phytoplankton production over heterotroph demand is lost from the euphotic zone by sinking and from the ecosphere by sedimentation. Phytoplankton growth is therefore always limited by the size and activity of the regenerative food web, either directly through predation, or indirectly by inadequate nutrient regeneration. the open water column is a habitat deplete environment for metazoa, incapable of supporting simultaneous high predator and prey densities. Because of the incompatibility of the temporal and spatial scales of microbial and metazoan processes, and the presence of micro-habitats which can support a full recycling food web on microbial scales, the microbial loop is an important component of euphotic zone ecology. the total marine ecosystem runs at a nutrient sufficient level with nutrient deplete and replete phases dependent on matching of production with predation throughout the food web and subject to abiotic events. Man's release of N and P into coastal waters, if coupled with an increased incidence of mismatch resulting from climatic variation induced by the “greenhouse effect”, could have catastrophic effects on marine ecosystems.