Building capacity through action research: reflections on working with low-carbon communities in the UK

This paper describes a four-year programme of “action research” (AR) undertaken with six communities in the UK, referred to as the Evaluating Low-Carbon Communities (EVALOC) project. The research combined a programme of research events with phased household-level monitoring of energy and carbon-reduction interventions. The carbon-reduction interventions were funded by the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change prior to the onset of the research. AR has recently been adopted within the context of environmental behaviour change programmes in the UK, with a number of methodological challenges. The EVALOC project’s challenges included developing a collaborative research design; building reciprocity between the researchers and research participants; dealing with biases and burdens in the research process; ensuring analytical rigour in the interpretation of the primarily qualitative evidence and dealing with the long-term and process-driven outcomes that arise from such interactions. This paper explores and discusses the challenges of AR in relation to selected research outcomes from EVALOC. We conclude by suggesting that the AR approach has helped to build capacity in the participating low-carbon communities (LCCs), through supporting the design, delivery and evaluation of their energy and carbon-reduction activities.     

Using Social Network Analysis to examine the role that institutional integration plays in community-based adaptive capacity to climate change in Caribbean small island communities

Remote island communities in the Caribbean are known to be disproportionately vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. As a result, there is a need to better understand the factors that contribute to increasing local-scale adaptive capacity through large-scale adaptation projects. While it has been argued that strong institutional networks are highly influential in a community’s ability to leverage funds and to implement tailored adaptation projects, limited empirical research has been undertaken. Social Network Analysis was used to retrospectively evaluate the importance of institutional integration for enhancing adaptive capacity in the small island community of Paget Farm in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Paget Farm successfully adapted to a lack of fresh water through the implementation of a funded solar-powered desalination plant – and as a result the community represents an ideal case study for analysis. Results reveal that while the level of vertical integration varied throughout the temporal phases of the adaptation project, horizontal integration was consistently low. These findings suggest that high integration between institutions may not be required during all project phases in order to ensure success and that more consistent rather than high levels of integration between sectors may be more meaningful for enhancing adaptive capacity.     

PFOA与PFOS对厌氧氨氧化污泥特性和微生物群落的影响

通过序批实验研究了不同浓度(0.5,1mg/L)与不同类型的全氟化合物(PFCs)对厌氧氨氧化(anammox)污泥脱氮性能及微生物群落的影响.结果表明,0.5与1mg/L全氟辛酸(PFOA)和全氟辛烷磺酸盐(PFOS)对anammox污泥的脱氮性能无明显抑制作用;1mg/L PFOA(OA1)与PFOS(OS1)添加...     

Development and applications of functional gene microarrays in the analysis of the functional diversity, composition, and structure of microbial communities

Functional gene arrays (FGAs) are a special type of microarrays containing probes for key genes involved in microbial functional processes, such as biogeochemical cycling of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, and metals, biodegradation of environmental contaminants, energy processing, and stress responses. GeoChips are considered as the most comprehensive FGAs. Experimentally established probe design criteria and a computational pipeline integrating sequence retrieval, probe design and verification, array construction, data analysis, and automatic update are used to develop the GeoChip technology. GeoChip has been systematically evaluated and demonstrated to be a powerful tool for rapid, specific, sensitive, and quantitative analysis of microbial communities in a high-throughput manner. Several generations of GeoChip have been developed and applied to investigate the functional diversity, composition, structure, function, and dynamics of a variety of microbial communities from different habitats, such as water, soil, marine, bioreactor, human microbiome, and extreme ecosystems. GeoChip is able to address fundamental questions related to global change, bioenergy, bioremediation, agricultural operation, land use, human health, environmental restoration, and ecological theories and to link the microbial community structure to environmental factors and ecosystem functioning.     

氧化锌纳米颗粒对膜-生物反应器运行性能的影响

考察了城市污水中典型浓度的氧化锌(ZnO)纳米颗粒对膜-生物反应器(MBR)运行、活性污泥性质以及膜污染的影响.结果表明,ZnO纳米颗粒不利于微生物对有机物的去除,但是不会影响微生物对氨氮的去除.由于微滤膜的截留作用,ZnO纳米颗粒对MBR的出水没有影响.ZnO纳米颗粒的投加导致溶解性微生物产物(SMP)浓度从17.9mg/gVSS上升到35.0mg/gVSS左右,污泥粒径由162.9μm下降到105.2μm,引起了外部阻力的上升,造成了膜污染的加剧.ZnO纳米颗粒会抑制微生物活性和改变活性污泥中微生物的种群结构,这主要与ZnO纳米颗粒释放的Zn2+有关.     

土荆芥不同发育期根际土壤养分、酶活及微生物数量的变化

采用盆栽试验,通过比较土荆芥营养期和果期根际土壤中养分、土壤酶活和微生物数量的变化规律,明确土荆芥入侵对土壤生态系统的影响效应,为进一步了解土荆芥入侵机理和制定防控措施提供理论依据.结果表明：（1）土荆芥入侵对土壤养分具有一定的影响.与对照相比,除了土荆芥营养期根际土壤总钾的含量增加了12.26%外,所测其它土壤养分指标均不同程度下降.其中,果期总钾含量降低3.27%,营养期和果期的有机质含量分别降低20.41%和1.22%、总氮含量分别降低27.87%和16.39%、总磷含量分别降低29.41%和14.71%、速效磷含量分别降低49.24%和34.69%、速效钾含量分别降低76.65%和57.22%;（2）土荆芥的生长对土壤胞外酶具有-定的影响.与对照相比,营养期和果期土壤硝酸还原酶活性显著升高（P〈0.05）,分别升高了87.23%和137.23%;营养期的脲酶活性降低了45.92%,与对照差异显著（P〈0.05）;营养期和果期根际土壤的蔗糖酶、酸性磷酸酶、过氧化氢酶活性的变化均未达到显著程度（P〉0.05）;（3）土壤微生物数量随着土荆芥生长而增加,但只有真菌数量与对照的差异达到显著水平（P〈0.05）,营养期和果期真菌数量分别增加32.11%和86.18%;（4）与果期相比,营养期土壤养分含量、土壤酶活性和微生物数量普遍较低,推测土荆芥生长初期通过降低土壤营养水平,抑制其周围对营养水平要求较高的植物生长,以获得竞争优势,而果期则通过释放根系分泌物增加了土壤微生物数量和土壤酶活,使土壤养分回升,从而为其繁殖提供有利条件.     

Response of bacterial communities to short-term pyrene exposure in red soil

Pyrene, a representative polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compound produced mainly from incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, is hazardous to ecosystem health. However, long-term exposure studies did not detect any significant effects of pyrene on soil microorganism. In this study, short-term microcosm experiments were conducted to identify the immediate effect of pyrene on soil bacterial communities. A freshly-collected pristine red soil was spiked with pyrene at 0, 10, 100, 200, and 500 mg·kg^-1 and incubated for one day and seven days. The bacterial communities in the incubated soils were analyzed using 16S rRNA sequencing and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) methods. The results revealed high bacterial diversity in both unspiked and pyrene-spiked soils. Only at the highest pyrene-spiking rate of 500 mg·kg^-1, two minor bacteria groups of the identified 14 most abundant bacteria groups were completely suppressed. Short-term exposure to pyrene resulted in dominance of Proteobacteria in soil, followed by Acidobacteria, Firmutes, and Bacteroidetes. Our findings showed that bacterial community structure did respond to the presence of pyrene but recovered rapidly from the perturbation. The intensity of impact and the rate of recovery showed some pyrene dosage-dependent trends. Our results revealed that different levels of pyrene may affect the bacterial community structure by suppressing or selecting certain groups of bacteria. It was also found that the bacterial community was most susceptible to pyrene within one day of the chemical addition.     

Disaster risk management: Pro-active financing to reduce vulnerability

This study explores the preparedness of residents livingin a rural community in Victoria, Australia, for wildfires, and the factors influencing their preparedness. Overall, participants were well aware of wildfire risks and appeared well prepared for the event of a fire. However, residents involved in agriculture and with a long-standing association with the area appeared better prepared than were those on small properties and newcomers. Their social networks, previous experiences with wildfires and grassfires, and involvement with the local fire brigade influenced preparedness of long-term residents. Characteristics of agricultural communities, including a culture of self-reliance, experience with fires as part of farming, and social cohesion, appeared to contribute to wildfire preparedness within this community. Included are recommendations encouraging preparedness for wildfires.     

牡丹江中游底栖动物分布及其与栖境因子的关系

2013年秋季对牡丹江中游的3条河流(牡丹江、蛤蟆河、卧龙溪)150km河段进行大型底栖动物野外采样,共采集到大型底栖动物18种,隶属于3门5纲11目16科,其中昆虫纲(Insecta)、腹足纲(Gastropoda)和寡毛纲(Oligochaeta)物种居多.通过典范对应分析(CCA),研究大型底栖动物群落结构与主要的栖息地环境因子之间的相关关系,并通过香农-威纳(Shannon-Wiener)指数等生物多样性指数分析评价河流等级对物种多样性的影响.研究表明,流速、溶解氧、底质中的砾石含量是牡丹江中游影响大型底栖动物分布的关键栖息地环境因子,河流等级对底栖动物群落结构有一定影响,牡丹江干流底栖动物物种多样性高于支流,平均生物密度低于支流,且河流间等级差距越大,差异越显著.