Combined effects of deltamethrin, temperature and salinity on oxidative stress biomarkers and acetylcholinesterase activity in the black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon)

This study aimed to investigate the interactions of two abiotic factors (temperature and salinity) and deltamethrin (pyrethroid pesticide) exposure on some oxidative stress biomarkers as well as on acetylcholinesterase activity (AChE) in hepatopancreas, gills and muscle of black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon). A combination of three temperatures (24, 29 and 34 °C), two salinities (15 and 25 ppt), and the absence or presence of 0.1 μg L⁻¹ deltamethrin was applied on shrimp during 4 d under laboratory conditions. Lipid peroxidation level (LPO) and glutathione S-transferase activity (GST) were not affected by combined effect of temperature, salinity and deltamethrin in any of the studied tissues. Deltamethrin impaired other tested oxidative stress biomarkers, i.e. total glutathione (tGSH), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx). tGSH level significantly increased in hepatopancreas due to deltamethrin exposure mainly at 34 °C, while pesticide effects on tGSH and CAT activity in gills were influenced by both temperature and salinity. In addition, GPx activity in hepatopancreas decreased after deltamethrin treatment mainly at 24 °C. Finally, AChE in muscle was strongly inhibited by deltamethrin at all tested temperatures and salinities. These novel findings demonstrate that interactions between abiotic factors and a commonly used pesticide exposure should be taken into account when analyzing some widespread biomarkers in black tiger shrimp.     

Dynamic Discourse Coalitions on hydro-fracking in Europe and the United States

ABSTRACT

Hydraulic fracturing for shale gas is a controversial issue in most countries. In these controversies, actors use discursive boundary work to convince various audiences of their position. Discursive boundary work is a communicative strategy that involves the framing of facts in contrast to other kinds of arguments. In this article we develop the Dynamic Discourse Coalition (DDC) approach to study how discourse coalitions deploy discursive boundary work to confirm, integrate, polarize or disintegrate their own and opposing discourse coalitions. The DDC approach enables a deeper understanding of the dynamics of controversies about hydraulic fracturing and similar contested technologies by illuminating the influence of communicative processes on policy formation. Based on an analysis of policy documents, academic reports, newspapers, interviews and websites we compare the dynamics of contesting discourse coalitions in the Netherlands and New York. This analysis explains why policy formed in different ways in the cases, despite the apparent similarity of the discourse coalitions that emerged in the respective controversies.     

Total arsenic and selenium analysis in Marcellus shale, high-salinity water, and hydrofracture flowback wastewater

Trace levels of arsenic and selenium can be toxic to living organisms yet their quantitation in high ionic strength or high salinity aqueous media is difficult due to the matrix interferences which can either suppress or enhance the analyte signal. A modified thiol cotton fiber (TCF) method employing lower flow rates and centrifugation has been used to remove the analyte from complex aqueous media and minimize the matrix interferences. This method has been tested using a USGS (SGR-1b) certified reference shale. It has been used to analyze Marcellus shale samples following microwave digestion as well as spiked samples of high salinity water (HSW) and flow back wastewater (WRF6) obtained from an actual gas well drilling operation. Quantitation of arsenic and selenium is carried out by graphite furnace atomic spectroscopy (GFAAS). Extraction of arsenic and selenium from Marcellus shale exposed to HSW and WRF6 for varying lengths of time is also reported.     

菌株RB5-M1脱色活性黑5的动力学及固定化条件

通过研究嗜水气单胞菌RB5-M1菌株对活性黑5的脱色过程,探讨了菌株脱色不同初始浓度的活性黑5的动力学模型,并从机械强度、包埋量和渗漏量3个方面,对菌株的固定化条件进行了优化。结果表明,当初始染料浓度为50、100、150、200、250和300 mg/L时,菌株脱色活性黑5的动力学过程均更为符合Monod零级反应模型。当冷却温度为30℃、PVA与海藻酸钠浓度比为10∶1、氯化钙浓度为2%、明胶浓度0.2%时,可以获得机械强度较好、包埋量较多的固定化颗粒。当氯化钙浓度2%、明胶浓度0.3%、PVA与海藻酸钠浓度9∶2、冷却温度20℃,可获得渗漏量较少的固定化颗粒。     

页岩气压裂返排液高效破胶剂的研究

针对页岩气开采过程中产生的非常规压裂返排液具有高粘度、高COD及高稳定性的特点,以Fe(NO3)3和Ca(Cl O)2为原料,采用化学湿法中的两步法合成了一种绿色氧化剂K2Fe O4,并对合成出的K2Fe O4进行了定量分析,得到合成的高铁酸钾产率为67.63%,纯度为93.41%。采用X衍射、红外光谱、扫描电镜及X衍射能谱,对合成的K2Fe O4进行了表征。将K2Fe O4作为某气田页岩气压裂返排液的高效破胶剂,并对影响破胶效果的因素进行了分析。确定了K2Fe O4的加量为3 000 mg/L,体系p H为11.0及反应时间为40 min的最优条件,在最优条件下,得到出水的粘度为1.4 m Pa·s,其COD、SS和色度的去除率分别为59.1%、93.3%和88.9%。通过红外光谱和扫描电镜进行了微观观察,对K2Fe O4氧化非常规压裂返排液中主要成分胍胶的过程进行了机理分析。研究还发现,K2Fe O4在还原分解后,具有比单一铁离子更强的混凝效果。因此,K2Fe O4的应用对页岩气压裂返排液的处理有深远的影响。     

Influence of combustion conditions on yields of solvent-extractable anhydrosugars and lignin phenols in chars: Implications for characterizations of biomass combustion residues

Anhydrosugars, such as levoglucosan and its isomers (mannosan, galactosan), as well as the solvent-extractable lignin phenols (methoxylated phenols) are thermal degradation products of cellulose/hemicellulose and lignin, respectively. These two groups of biomarkers are often used as unique tracers of combusted biomass inputs in diverse environmental media. However, detailed characterization of the relative proportion and signatures of these compounds in highly heterogeneous plant-derived chars are still scarce. Here we conducted a systematic study to investigate the yields of solvent-extractable anhydrosugars and lignin phenols in 25 lab-made chars produced from different plant materials under different combustion conditions. Solvent-extractable anhydrosugars and lignin phenols were only observed in chars formed below 350 °C and yields were variable across different combustion temperatures. The yields of mannosan (M) and galactosan (G) decreased more rapidly than those of levoglucosan (L) under increasing combustion severity (temperature and duration), resulting in variable L/M and L/(M + G) ratios, two diagnostic ratios often used for identification of combustion sources (e.g. hardwoods vs. softwoods vs. grasses). Our observations thus may provide an explanation for the wide ranges of values reported in the literature for these two ratios. On the other hand, the results of this study suggest that the ratios of the major solvent-extractable lignin phenols (vanillyls (V), syringyls (S), cinnamyls (C)) provide additional source reconstruction potential despite observed variations with combustion temperature. We thus propose using a property-property plot (L/M vs. S/V) as an improved means for source characterization of biomass combustion residues. The L/M-S/V plot has shown to be effective in environmental samples (soil organic matter, atmospheric aerosols) receiving substantial inputs of biomass combustion residues.     

Qualitative analysis of volatile organic compounds on biochar

Qualitative identification of sorbed volatile organic compounds (VOCs) on biochar was conducted by headspace thermal desorption coupled to capillary gas chromatographic-mass spectrometry. VOCs may have a mechanistic role influencing plant and microbial responses to biochar amendments, since VOCs can directly inhibit/stimulate microbial and plant processes. Over 70 biochars encompassing a variety of parent feedstocks and manufacturing processes were evaluated and were observed to possess diverse sorbed VOC composition. There were over 140 individual chemical compounds thermally desorbed from some biochars, with hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) and fast pyrolysis biochars typically possessing the greatest number of sorbed volatiles. In contrast, gasification, thermal or chemical processed biochars, soil kiln mound, and open pit biochars possessed low to non-detectable levels of VOCs. Slow pyrolysis biochars were highly variable in terms of their sorbed VOC content. There were no clear feedstock dependencies to the sorbed VOC composition, suggesting a stronger linkage with biochar production conditions coupled to post-production handling and processing. Lower pyrolytic temperatures (?350 °C) produced biochars with sorbed VOCs consisting of short carbon chain aldehydes, furans and ketones; elevated temperature biochars (>350 °C) typically were dominated by sorbed aromatic compounds and longer carbon chain hydrocarbons. The presence of oxygen during pyrolysis also reduced sorbed VOCs. These compositional results suggest that sorbed VOCs are highly variable and that their chemical dissimilarity could play a role in the wide variety of plant and soil microbial responses to biochar soil amendment noted in the literature. This variability in VOC composition may argue for VOC characterization before land application to predict possible agroecosystem effects.     

Adaptation, validation and application of the chemo-thermal oxidation method to quantify black carbon in soils

The chemo-thermal oxidation method at 375 °C (CTO-375) has been widely used to quantify black carbon (BC) in sediments. In the present study, CTO-375 was tested and adapted for application to soil, accounting for some matrix specific properties like high organic carbon (≤39%) and carbonate (≤37%) content. Average recoveries of standard reference material SRM-2975 ranged from 25 to 86% for nine representative Swiss and Indian samples, which is similar to literature data for sediments. The adapted method was applied to selected samples of the Swiss soil monitoring network (NABO). BC content exhibited different patterns in three soil profiles while contribution of BC to TOC was found maximum below the topsoil at all three sites, however at different depths (60-130 cm). Six different NABO sites exhibited largely constant BC concentrations over the last 25 years, with short-term (6 months) prevailing over long-term (5 years) temporal fluctuations.     

页岩气开采水力压裂返排水中化学污染物的组成特征

伴随全球页岩气规模化开发,相关的区域环境问题引起了学界和公众的持续关注.页岩气开采与区域水资源息息相关,水力压裂不仅消耗大量水资源,而且产生返排废水,成分复杂,含数以千计的化学物质.因此,有关返排水中有机单体的相关研究越来越受关注.本文系统总结了近年来的相关文献和成果,重点论述了压裂返排水中有机污染物的来源、种类、浓度...     

Rhetorical Recommendations Built on Ecological Experience: A Reassessment of the Challenge of Environmental Communication

This article reconsiders the challenge of environmental communication by inquiring into the fundamental rhetorical difficulty of thinking in terms of ecology. We discuss two essential yet bewildering aspects of ecology: its focus on interconnection and its use of multiple scales. On this basis, we distil six rhetorical recommendations: a shift from appealing to pre-existing values to avenues for transforming values; a shift from arguments from authority to addressing legitimate resistances; a shift from a focus on mutual agreement to a mutual bewilderment; a shift from intellectual comprehension to personal experience; a shift from negative effects to positive connections; and, finally, a shift from a focus on political results to local transformations. We experiment with this rhetorical approach through two applications: for critical reassessments of past articulations we consider the Gaia Hypothesis and Deep Ecology, and for current refinements to environmental problems we consider controversies around Marcellus Shale gas development