Effectiveness of Scat‐Detection Dogs in Determining Species Presence in a Tropical Savanna Landscape

Abstract: Most protected areas are too small to sustain populations of wide‐ranging mammals; thus, identification and conservation of high‐quality habitat for those animals outside parks is often a high priority, particularly for regions where extensive land conversion is occurring. This is the case in the vicinity of Emas National Park, a small protected area in the Brazilian Cerrado. Over the last 40 years the native vegetation surrounding the park has been converted to agriculture, but the region still supports virtually all of the animals native to the area. We determined the effectiveness of scat‐detection dogs in detecting presence of five species of mammals threatened with extinction by habitat loss: maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), puma (Puma concolor), jaguar (Panthera onca), giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), and giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus). The probability of scat detection varied among the five species and among survey quadrats of different size, but was consistent across team, season, and year. The probability of occurrence, determined from the presence of scat, in a randomly selected site within the study area ranged from 0.14 for jaguars, which occur primarily in the forested areas of the park, to 0.91 for maned wolves, the most widely distributed species in our study area. Most occurrences of giant armadillos in the park were in open grasslands, but in the agricultural matrix they tended to occur in riparian woodlands. At least one target species occurred in every survey quadrat, and giant armadillos, jaguars, and maned wolves were more likely to be present in quadrats located inside than outside the park. The effort required for detection of scats was highest for the two felids. We were able to detect the presence for each of five wide‐ranging species inside and outside the park and to assign occurrence probabilities to specific survey sites. Thus, scat dogs provide an effective survey tool for rare species even when accurate detection likelihoods are required. We believe the way we used scat‐detection dogs to determine the presence of species can be applied to the detection of other mammalian species in other ecosystems.     

Invasive Species Research to Meet the Needs of Resource Management and Planning

Abstract: As zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) continue to spread among inland lakes of the United States and Canada, there is growing interest from professionals, citizens, and other stakeholders to know which lakes are likely to be colonized by zebra mussels. Thus, we developed a classification of lake suitability for zebra mussels on the basis of measured or estimated concentrations of dissolved calcium in lake water and applied the classification to >11,500 lakes in Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The majority of lakes (58%) were classified as unsuitable (<10 mg/L Ca) for survival and reproduction of zebra mussels, 27% were identified as suitable (≥21 mg/L Ca), and 15% were classified as borderline suitable (≥10 and <21 mg/L Ca). Of the 77 inland lakes with confirmed zebra mussel records for which data on dissolved calcium were available, our method classified 74 as suitable and 3 as borderline suitable. To communicate this lake‐specific suitability information and to help prioritize regional efforts to monitor and prevent the expansion of zebra mussels and other invasive species, we developed a web‐based interface (available from http://www.aissmartprevention.wisc.edu/ ). Although we are still uncertain of how access to suitability information ultimately affects decision making, we believe this is a useful case study of building communication channels among researchers, practitioners, and the public.     

昌黎生态监控区夏季浮游植物群落年际变化特征分析

为研究昌黎生态监控区夏季浮游植物群落结构特征及其与环境因子关系,采用2005~2013年夏季(8月)昌黎生态监控区海域浮游植物及环境因子的监测资料,基于Arc GIS 10.0和Canoco软件平台,运用典范对应分析方法,对浮游植物群落结构进行分析.结果表明,近9 a共鉴定出浮游植物3门23科39属105种,其中,硅藻门16科32属90种,占浮游植物总数的85.7%;甲藻门共6科6属14种,占总种类数的13.3%;金藻门1种.各年的优势种存在很大差异,按照优势度Y值的大小包括辐射圆筛藻(Coscinodiscus radiatus)、柔弱角毛藻(Coscinodiscus debilis)、笔尖根管藻(Rhizosolenia styliformis)、柏氏角管藻(Cerataulina bergoni)、威氏圆筛藻(Coscinodiscus wailesii)、海链藻(Thalassiosira sp.)、三角角藻(Ceratium tripos)、洛氏角毛藻(Coscinodiscus wailesii)、中肋骨条藻(Ceratium tripos)等.夏季细胞丰度年际变化较大,呈现逐渐降低的趋势.浮游植物的多样性指数H'值介于0.015~3.889,均匀度指数J值介于0.009~1,年际变化幅度较小;各站位间物种分布不均匀,优势种较少且优势度较大.对浮游植物群落与环境因子进行典范对应分析(CCA),结果表明影响夏季浮游植物群落结构变化的环境因子包括水温、营养盐(磷酸盐、硝酸氮、氨氮)、盐度等,且是各个环境因子相互作用的结果.     

西安市重污染与清洁天PM2.5组分及其活性氧物质对比

针对重霾污染,在西安市冬季重污染日(2015-11-30~2015-12-09)和清洁日(2016-01-13~2016-01-22)各进行了为期10d的PM_(2.5)采集,测量其中的有机碳、元素碳,及NH_4~+、NO_3~-、SO_4~(2-)等无机水溶性离子,探讨两种污染条件下的组分特征及其成因.结果表明:观测期,重霾日和清洁日PM_(2.5)质量浓度分别为(170±47.5)μg·m~(-3)和(48.6±17.9)μg·m~(-3),且重霾日伴随低能见度、高湿静风等多种不利气象条件;重霾日二次无机离子(NH_4~+、NO_3~-、SO_4~(2-))组分占PM_(2.5)质量浓度的49.8%±13.1%,而清洁日为19.4%±5.95%,并且重霾日硫氧化速率(sulfur oxidation ratio,SOR)和氮氧化速率(nitrogen oxidation ratio,NOR)分别为0.282±0.157和0.269±0.124,远高于清洁日(SOR和NOR分别为0.189±0.057和0.077±0.046),重霾日二次有机组分浓度[(6.22±3.87)μg·m~(-3)]是清洁日[(1.44±1.63)μg·m~(-3)]的5倍,表明二次污染及不利气象条件是造成重霾期间相关组分浓度升高的重要原因.最后,通过二氯荧光黄双乙酸盐(2',7'-DCFH)化学荧光分析法测定了其中活性氧物质(reactive oxygen species,ROS)的浓度,探讨其对于二次无机组分形成的影响,结果表明观测期ROS平均浓度(以H_2O_2计)分别为(4.99±1.54)nmol·m~(-3)(重霾期),(0.492±0.356)nmol·m~(-3)(清洁期),二次反应及积累效应可能是西安重霾条件下ROS浓度升高的主要原因.NO_3~-、SO_4~(2-)与ROS均呈现正相关(P0.05),表明ROS可能通过二次氧化过程参与到二次无机组分形成过程中.     

Research on the degradation mechanism of pyridine in drinking water by dielectric barrier discharge

Pyridine, an important chemical raw material, is widely used in industry, for example in textiles,leather, printing, dyeing, etc. In this research, a dielectric barrier discharge(DBD) system was developed to remove pyridine, as a representative type of nitrogen heterocyclic compound in drinking water. First, the influence of the active species inhibitors tertiary butanol alcohol(TBA),HCO_3~-, and CO_3~(2-)on the degradation rate of pyridine was investigated to verify the existence of active species produced by the strong ionization discharge in the system. The intermediate and final products generated in the degradation process of pyridine were confirmed and analyzed through a series of analytical techniques, including liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry(LC–MS), high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC), ion chromatography(IC), total organic carbon(TOC) analysis, ultraviolet(UV) spectroscopy, etc. The results showed that the degradation of pyridine was mainly due to the strong oxidizing power of ozone and hydroxyl radical produced by the DBD system. Several intermediate products including 3-hydroxyl pyridine, fumaric acid, 2, 3-dihydroxypyridine, and oxalic acid were detected. Nitrogen was removed from the pyridine molecule to form nitrate. Through analysis of the degradation mechanism of pyridine, the oxidation pathway was deduced. The study provided a theoretical and experimental basis for the application of DBD strong ionization discharge in treatment of nitrogen heterocyclic compounds in drinking water.     

北京市郊区夏季臭氧重污染特征及生成效率

为研究北京郊区夏季O₃(臭氧)重污染过程特征及O₃生成的光化学敏感性,基于2016年夏季在北京郊区开展的针对O₃及其相关污染物的强化观测试验(7月23日—8月31日,共计40 d),分析了观测期间O₃浓度[以φ(O₃)计]变化特征、O₃重污染过程主控因素与O₃敏感性化学特征.结果表明:观测期间φ(O₃)超标时有发生,最大小时φ(O₃)为151.1×10-9,其中有15 d的φ(O₃)最大8 h滑动平均值(O₃-max-8h)超过了GB 3095—2012《环境空气质量标准》二级标准限值,占观测天数的37.5%;不同O₃重污染过程成因有所不同,城市烟羽传输的污染物对郊区O₃重污染过程影响显著(观测期间臭氧重污染过程:过程1,7月27—29日;过程3,8月9—11日;过程4,8月16日;过程5,8月21—24日),区域光化学污染对郊区O₃重污染过程也有贡献(观测期间O₃重污染过程2:8月4—6日);结合后向气流轨迹进一步辅助说明了不同重污染过程中O₃的来源不同.研究还发现,观测区域存在反“周末效应”现象,说明观测区域周末受人为影响较为明显;基于观测数据计算的OPE(O₃生成效率)分析了O₃光化学敏感性表明,在有OPE值的22 d内NO_x控制区和VOCs控制区出现的概率(41%)相等,即观测区域O₃对NO_x和VOCs均敏感;此外还发现,在O₃重污染过程中光化学敏感性会随其反应进程发生改变,由NO_x控制区逐渐转变为VOCs控制区.      

Sensitivity of Precipitation Statistics to Urban Growth in a Subtropical Coastal Megacity Cluster

This short paper presents an investigation on how human activities may or may not affect precipitation based on numerical simulations of precipitation in a benchmark case with modified lower boundary conditions, representing different stages of urban development in the model. The results indicate that certain degrees of urbanization affect the likelihood of heavy precipitation significantly, while less urbanized or smaller cities are much less prone to these effects. Such a result can be explained based on our previous work where the sensitivity of precipitation statistics to surface anthropogenic heat sources lies in the generation of buoyancy and turbulence in the planetary boundary layer and dissipation through triggering of convection. Thus only mega cities of sufficient size, and hence human-activity-related anthropogenic heat emission, can expect to experience such effects. In other words, as cities grow, their effects upon precipitation appear to grow as well.     

地表参数对面源大气预测结果的影响性分析研究

为了研究地表参数取值对AERMOD中面源模拟预测浓度值的影响,文章通过改变粗糙度、反照率和波文比的取值来进行不同地表参数与预测结果的相关性分析,同时采用正交试验法来研究不同地表参数对预测结果的敏感性.相关性分析表明,不同地表参数和预测结果有着很高的相关性.敏感性分析表明,反照率数值变化对小时最大落地浓度的敏感性最大,粗糙度数值变化对日均和年均最大落地浓度的敏感性最大.通过研究可以看出在面源大气预测过程中合理选择地表参数值是准确预测的前提.     

低中放处置场环境评价参数灵敏度分析

选取90Sr、239Pu和14C为代表核素,采用单参数变分法对某低中水平放射性固体废物处置场环境影响评价中与核素迁移相关的主要评价参数开展了参数灵敏度分析.分析结果表明:对于低中放处置场而言,环境影响评价模式中主要评价参数的选择对最终评价结果的影响很大,因此在环境影响评价中开展不确定度及敏感度分析是必要的.     

废弃尾矿库15种植物对重金属Pb、Zn的积累和养分吸收

在废弃的铅锌尾矿库进行人工植被恢复试验.对3年生15种植物重金属积累和养分吸收特性的研究表明,植物对土壤重金属和养分的吸收积累因植物种类、部位、金属种类和种植时间的不同而有显著差异.树木不同器官Pb质量浓度高低的总趋势为根〉叶〉茎,部分树种Zn质量浓度表现为叶〉根和茎;在15种参试植物中,加拿大紫荆根系Pb和Zn质量浓度均处于最高水平（分别为1 803 mg.kg-1和2 120 mg.kg-1）,盐肤木具有最高的茎枝Pb、叶片Pb和Zn质量浓度（分别为280、546和1 507 mg.kg-1）,旱柳具有最高的茎枝Zn质量浓度（729 mg.kg-1）和较高的叶片Zn质量浓度（1 153 mg.kg-1）.枫香、紫花苜蓿对Pb,旱柳、盐肤木、紫花苜蓿对Zn的转移系数TF值均〉1.植物Pb的富集系数BCF值均小于0.17,旱柳、盐肤木、紫花苜蓿Zn的BCF值达0.37～0.43.固氮植物体内N含量显著高于其它植物,火炬树、臭椿对P和夹竹桃对K的吸收积累能力强.随着种植时间的增加,植株体内有重金属质量浓度增加、营养元素含量下降的趋势.盐肤木、旱柳等重金属积累树种及紫穗槐、紫花苜蓿、截叶胡枝子、桤木等固氮植物在铅锌尾矿治理中具有应用前景.