Fatty acids and algal lipids as precursors of chlorination by-products

Six common algal fatty acids (FAs) with different numbers of double bonds, lipophilic fractions and proteins extracted from the diatom Navicula pelliculosa and algal cells were chlorinated to evaluate their potential in generating disinfection by-products (DBPs). The result showed that the more double bonds in the FAs, the higher the amounts of chloroform and dichloroacetic acid (DCAA) produced, but such a pattern was not observed for trichloroacetic acid (TCAA). Based on the previously reported composition of fatty acids in algal lipids, the DBP generation potentials of algal lipids were calculated. These predicted values were much lower than those measured in the chlorinated algal lipophilic fraction, suggesting unknown lipophilic fraction(s) served as potent DBPs precursors. Another calculation attempted to predict DBP production in algal cells based on algal lipid and protein composition, given quantified measured DBP production per unit algal lipid and proteins. The analysis showed that the observed DBP production was similar to that predicted (< 35% difference), suggesting that algal biochemical compositions may serve as a bioindicator for preliminary estimation of chloroform, DCAA and TCAA formation upon chlorinating algae.     

三峡库区大宁河沉积物营养盐时空分布及其与叶绿素的相关性分析

为研究大宁河底泥营养盐时空分布与藻细胞分布的关系,本研究在大宁河选择4个代表性的取样点:菜子坝、白水河、双龙和大昌,利用垂直重力采泥器,按照2 cm厚度分层选取底泥,检测底泥中总氮,氨氮、硝态氮、亚硝态氮、总磷、无机磷、有机磷和叶绿素的垂向分布,分析叶绿素与营养盐的相关性.结果表明,菜子坝底泥0.0~2.0 cm总氮浓度最高,白水河底泥2.0~4.0 cm的总氮浓度最高;菜子坝底泥2.0~4.0 cm氨氮浓度最高,1和2月白水河底泥4.0~6.0 cm浓度较高;硝酸氮和亚硝酸氮(除3月)在菜子坝底泥2.0~4.0 cm浓度最高;氨氮、硝酸氮和亚硝酸氮浓度在同一个采样点底泥4.0 cm以下分层差异不显著;白水河底泥总磷0.0~6.0 cm呈增加趋势,菜子坝底泥表层的总磷和无机磷的浓度显著高于其它分层,而且每一分层中总磷、无机磷浓度都高于其他3个取样点相应的分层;有机磷在菜子坝和大昌的浓度高于白水河和双龙的浓度,但是同一采样点底泥不同分层的有机磷浓度差异不显著;同一深层底泥中的叶绿素a浓度在大昌最高,其次是白水河,再次菜子坝,双龙处的叶绿素浓度最低;只有1月在大昌取样点处无机磷和叶绿素a的浓度显著正相关,相关系数为0.87,底泥中的营养盐不是影响底泥藻细胞分布的主要影响因素.     

香溪河库湾水质特征与非回水区水华响应关系

为探究香溪河在受倒灌影响较弱的河段水华暴发征兆及机理,于水华高发期5~8月对香溪河进行监测,分析电导率、水温、叶绿素a（Chl-a）以及流速.结果表明,在6~8月,香溪河倒灌现象于XX05点（峡口镇）处基本结束,XX06~XX09受倒灌来水影响较弱;香溪河于7月暴发水华,各个监测点位上Chl-a含量均值达到100μg/L以上,XX05~XX06与XX07-XX09点位上暴发不同种水华;在水华暴发前后,水体温度无显著变化,且并无明显分层现象,说明水温分层是水华暴发的主要原因这一理论并不能很好的适用于非回水区;通过对电导率数值的研究发现,数值在垂向上出现显著拐点,而拐点出现在临界层与光补偿层之间,同时与叶绿素a含量分布呈现显著负相关性.香溪河总氮（TN）、总磷（TP）平均值为1.849mg/L和0.157mg/L,均超过富营养化的阈值,水体氮磷含量与Chl-a浓度无显著相关性,水体中除N、P营养盐外的其它离子对香溪河水华的暴发起着重要作用.在水华消退后,电导率数值又逐渐恢复表层高底层低的垂向线性分布特性,与水华的暴发、消退有着明显的响应.     

Proposal of Indicators to Assess Urban Sustainability in Brazil

The research related here focuses on municipal situations where problems of sustainability may be defined and tackled on the basis of bottom-up management procedures with the participation of organized society. The aim is to build management models that may be implemented with reasonable administrative effort and cost. Implementation pursues the target of approaching a sustainable situation in the municipality. Environmental parameters for an ideal municipality with undefined geographical location are presented. For each parameter, a set of indicators is developed that can measure the prospect of sustainability. The indicators are defined in terms of numbers or literal concepts according to the possibility of measurement. Examples of management models are presented, which are able to approach the situation defined as sustainable by the indicators. The basic management tool is the learning curve of targeted communities, which is experimentally developed and applied. The indicators are grouped according to their range of applicability.     

“Measuring Sustainability”: A Multi-Criterion Framework

So far, the elementary question of whether one country’s or region’s economy is moving towards sustainability or away from it cannot be answered with unanimous consensus on the ‘measuring rod(s)’ to be employed. The main assumption of this article is that sustainability assessment needs a set of multi-dimensional indicators. From this assumption a question arises: how could such indicators be aggregated? Often, some indicators improve while others deteriorate. For instance, when incomes grow, SO₂ might go down while CO₂ increases. It has to be noted that this is the classical conflictual situation studied in multi-criteria decision theory. The use of a multi-criterion framework for making operational the ‘measuring of sustainability’ is discussed here by means of illustrative examples and more formal arguments.     

Application of the Red List Index for conservation assessment of Spanish vascular plants

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List Index (RLI) is used to measure trends in extinction risk of species over time. The development of 2 red lists for Spanish vascular flora during the past decade allowed us to apply the IUCN RLI to vascular plants in an area belonging to a global biodiversity hotspot. We used the Spanish Red Lists from 2000 and 2010 to assess changes in level of threat at a national scale and at the subnational scales of Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, and peninsular Spain. We assigned retrospective IUCN categories of threat to 98 species included in the Spanish Red List of 2010 but absent in the Spanish Red List of 2000. In addition, we tested the effect of different random and taxonomic and spatial Spanish samples on the overall RLI value. From 2000 to 2010, the IUCN categories of 768 species changed (10% of Spanish flora), mainly due to improved knowledge (63%), modifications in IUCN criteria (14%), and changes in threat status (12%). All measured national and subnational RLI values decreased during this period, indicating a general decline in the conservation status of the Spanish vascular flora. The Canarian RLI value (0.84) was the lowest, although the fastest deterioration in conservation status occurred on peninsular Spain (from 0.93 in 2000 to 0.92 in 2010). The RLI values based on subsamples of the Spanish Red List were not representative of RLI values for the entire country, which would discourage the use of small areas or small taxonomic samples to assess general trends in the endangerment of national biotas. The role of the RLI in monitoring of changes in biodiversity at the global and regional scales needs further reassessment because additional areas and taxa are necessary to determine whether the index is sufficiently sensitive for use in assessing temporal changes in species’ risk of extinction.     

A Global Indicator for Biological Invasion

Abstract:  "Trends in invasive alien species" is one of only two indicators of threat to biodiversity that form part of the Convention on Biological Diversity's (CBD) framework for monitoring progress toward its "2010 target" (i.e., the commitment to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction in the current rate of biodiversity loss). To date, however, there is no fully developed indicator for invasive alien species (IAS) that combines trends, derived from a standard set of methods, across species groups, ecosystems, and regions. Here we provide a rationale for the form and characteristics of an indicator of trends in IAS that will meet the 2010 framework goal and targets for this indicator. We suggest single and composite indicators that include problem-status and management-status measures that are designed to be flexible, readily disaggregated, and as far as possible draw on existing data. The single indicators at national and global scales are number of IAS and numbers of operational management plans for IAS. Global trends in IAS are measured as the progress of nations toward the targets of stabilizing IAS numbers and the implementation of IAS management plans. The proposed global indicator thus represents a minimum information set that most directly addresses the indicator objective and simultaneously aims to maximize national participation. This global indicator now requires testing to assess its accuracy, sensitivity, and tractability. Although it may not be possible to achieve the desired objective for a global indicator of biological invasion by 2010 as comprehensively as desired, it seems possible to obtain trend estimates for a component of the taxa, ecosystems, and regions involved. Importantly, current indicator development initiatives will also contribute to developing the mechanisms necessary for monitoring global trends in IAS beyond 2010.     

海洋病毒--一种新的、潜力巨大的赤潮防治工具

概述了海洋病毒尤其是藻类病毒(包括原核藻类病毒和真核藻类病毒)的研究进展,以及赤潮发生的新态势和目前赤潮防治方法的不足,评析了海洋病毒与赤潮生物的关系,介绍了藻类病毒在赤潮控制方面所取得的一些成果,强调了海洋病毒在生态环境中的重要作用,提出了利用病毒防治赤潮的可能性及有效性,展望了以病毒调控赤潮的前景.参54     

Long-term temporal-spatial dynamics of marine coastal water quality in the Tolo Harbor, Hong Kong, China

IntroductionToloHarborislocatedinthenortheasternpartofHongKong .Itisanearlyland lockedwaterbodywithonlyonenarrowexittotheopenseaatMirsBay(Fig .1) .Itslengthandsurfaceareaareapproximately 15kmand 5 2km2 ,respectively .Theaveragedepthvariesfromlessthan10min…