Using environmental heterogeneity to plan for sea‐level rise

Environmental heterogeneity is increasingly being used to select conservation areas that will provide for future biodiversity under a variety of climate scenarios. This approach, termed conserving nature's stage (CNS), assumes environmental features respond to climate change more slowly than biological communities, but will CNS be effective if the stage were to change as rapidly as the climate? We tested the effectiveness of using CNS to select sites in salt marshes for conservation in coastal Georgia (U.S.A.), where environmental features will change rapidly as sea level rises. We calculated species diversity based on distributions of 7 bird species with a variety of niches in Georgia salt marshes. Environmental heterogeneity was assessed across six landscape gradients (e.g., elevation, salinity, and patch area). We used 2 approaches to select sites with high environmental heterogeneity: site complementarity (environmental diversity [ED]) and local environmental heterogeneity (environmental richness [ER]). Sites selected based on ER predicted present‐day species diversity better than randomly selected sites (up to an 8.1% improvement), were resilient to areal loss from SLR (1.0% average areal loss by 2050 compared with 0.9% loss of randomly selected sites), and provided habitat to a threatened species (0.63 average occupancy compared with 0.6 average occupancy of randomly selected sites). Sites selected based on ED predicted species diversity no better or worse than random and were not resilient to SLR (2.9% average areal loss by 2050). Despite the discrepancy between the 2 approaches, CNS is a viable strategy for conservation site selection in salt marshes because the ER approach was successful. It has potential for application in other coastal areas where SLR will affect environmental features, but its performance may depend on the magnitude of geological changes caused by SLR. Our results indicate that conservation planners that had heretofore excluded low‐lying coasts from CNS planning could include coastal ecosystems in regional conservation strategies.     

Highway toll and air pollution: Evidence from Chinese cities

Most highways in urban China are tolled to finance their construction. During the eight-day National Day holiday in 2012, highway tolls were waived nationwide for passenger vehicles. We use this to identify the effects of highway tolls on air pollution. Using daily pollution and weather data for 98 Chinese cities in 2011 and 2012 and employing both a regression discontinuity design and differences-in-differences method with the 2011 National Day holiday as a control, we find that eliminating tolls increases pollution by 20% and decreases visibility by one kilometer. We also estimate that the toll elasticity of air pollution is −0.15. These findings complement the scant literature on the environmental impact of road pricing.     

Cost‐effectiveness of conservation payment schemes for species with different range sizes

Payments to compensate landowners for carrying out costly land‐use measures that benefit endangered biodiversity have become an important policy instrument. When designing such payments, it is important to take into account that spatially connected habitats are more valuable for many species than isolated ones. One way to incentivize provision of connected habitats is to offer landowners an agglomeration bonus, that is, a bonus on top of payments they are receiving to conserve land if the land is spatially connected. Researchers have compared the cost‐effectiveness of the agglomeration bonus with 2 alternatives: an all‐or‐nothing, agglomeration payment, where landowners receive a payment only if the conserved land parcels have a certain level of spatial connectivity, and a spatially homogeneous payment, where landowners receive a payment for conserved land parcels irrespective of their location. Their results show the agglomeration bonus is rarely the most cost‐effective option, and when it is, it is only slightly better than one of the alternatives. This suggests that the agglomeration bonus should not be given priority as a policy design option. However, this finding is based on consideration of only 1 species. We examined whether the same applied to 2 species, one for which the homogeneous payment is best and the other for which the agglomeration payment is most cost‐effective. We modified a published conceptual model so that we were able to assess the cost‐effectiveness of payment schemes for 2 species and applied it to a grassland bird and a grassland butterfly in Germany that require the same habitat but have different spatial‐connectivity needs. When conserving both species, the agglomeration bonus was more cost‐effective than the agglomeration and the homogeneous payment; thus, we showed that as a policy the agglomeration bonus is a useful conservation‐payment option.     

NABat: A top-down,bottom-up solution to collaborative continental-scale monitoring

Collaborative monitoring over broad scales and levels of ecological organization can inform conservation efforts necessary to address the contemporary biodiversity crisis. An important challenge to collaborative monitoring is motivating local engagement with enough buy-in from stakeholders while providing adequate top-down direction for scientific rigor, quality control, and coordination. Collaborative monitoring must reconcile this inherent tension between top-down control and bottom-up engagement. Highly mobile and cryptic taxa, such as bats, present a particularly acute challenge. Given their scale of movement, complex life histories, and rapidly expanding threats, understanding population trends of bats requires coordinated broad-scale collaborative monitoring. The North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) reconciles top-down, bottom-up tension with a hierarchical master sample survey design, integrated data analysis, dynamic data curation, regional monitoring hubs, and knowledge delivery through web-based infrastructure. NABat supports collaborative monitoring across spatial and organizational scales and the full annual lifecycle of bats.     

Ethanol mediated As(III) adsorption onto Zn-loaded pinecone biochar: Experimental investigation, modeling, and optimization using hybrid artificial neural network-genetic algorithm approach

Organic matters (OMs) and their oxidization products often influence the fate and transport of heavy metals in the subsurface aqueous systems through interaction with the mineral surfaces. This study investigates the ethanol (EtOH)-mediated As(III) adsorption onto Zn-loaded pinecone (PC) biochar through batch experiments conducted under Box–Behnken design. The effect of EtOH on As(III) adsorption mechanism was quantitatively elucidated by fitting the experimental data using artificial neural network and quadratic modeling approaches. The quadratic model could describe the limiting nature of EtOH and pH on As(III) adsorption, whereas neural network revealed the stronger influence of EtOH (64.5%) followed by pH (20.75%) and As(III) concentration (14.75%) on the adsorption phenomena. Besides, the interaction among process variables indicated that EtOH enhances As(III) adsorption over a pH range of 2 to 7, possibly due to facilitation of ligand–metal(Zn) binding complexation mechanism. Eventually, hybrid response surface model–genetic algorithm (RSM–GA) approach predicted a better optimal solution than RSM, i.e., the adsorptive removal of As(III) (10.47 μg/g) is facilitated at 30.22 mg C/L of EtOH with initial As(III) concentration of 196.77 μg/L at pH 5.8. The implication of this investigation might help in understanding the application of biochar for removal of various As(III) species in the presence of OM.     

Pseudomonas sp. ZXY-1, a newly isolated and highly efficient atrazine-degrading bacterium, and optimization of biodegradation using response surface methodology

Atrazine, a widely used herbicide, is increasing the agricultural production effectively, while also causing great environmental concern. Efficient atrazine-degrading bacterium is necessary to removal atrazine rapidly to keep a safe environment. In the present study, a new atrazine-degrading strain ZXY-1, identified as Pseudomonas, was isolated. This new isolated strain has a strong ability to biodegrade atrazine with a high efficiency of 9.09 mg/L/hr.Temperature, p H, inoculum size and initial atrazine concentration were examined to further optimize the degradation of atrazine, and the synthetic effect of these factors were investigated by the response surface methodology. With a high quadratic polynomial mathematical model(R~2= 0.9821) being obtained, the highest biodegradation efficiency of 19.03 mg/L/hr was reached compared to previous reports under the optimal conditions(30.71°C, pH 7.14, 4.23%(V/V) inoculum size and 157.1 mg/L initial atrazine concentration).Overall, this study provided an efficient bacterium and approach that could be potentially useful for the bioremediation of wastewater containing atrazine.     

北京冬奥会同期空气污染数值模拟

第24届冬季奥运会将于2022年2月4—20日在我国北京市和河北省张家口市联合举办,主要会场有北京奥体中心、北京延庆县和张家口市崇礼县.为了模拟分析冬奥会空气质量情况,利用冬奥会同期(2006—2016年2月)北京市和张家口市空气质量资料及韩国气象厅天气图资料(2013—2016年2月),分析该时段重污染发生的频次,统计不利于污染物扩散的天气形势出现概率及污染传输路径,并结合嵌套网格空气质量预报模式(NAPQMS),评估不同减排方案对ρ(PM_2.5)的影响.结果表明:① 2006—2016年冬奥会同期,北京奥体中心和延庆县发生重污染天气的概率分别为17%和9%,污染发生的风险频率为北京奥体中心>延庆县>张家口市,并且北京奥体中心和延庆县在2月13—16日易出现持续的重污染天气过程;② 2013—2016年2月不利于污染扩散的天气形势出现概率较为频繁,尤其在850 hPa高度和地面,不利天气形势出现的概率分别为35%和41%;地面偏南风易将在北京西南方滞留较长时间的污染气团沿太行山输送至北京;③ 冬奥会期间,若于2月2—12日及17—20日将京津冀及周边城市污染物排放量在当前的基础上减排50%、2月13—16日减排75%,将可能不出现重污染日.严格控制北京及周边地区的大气污染物排放是保障冬奥会期间空气质量的必要措施.      

流体剪切与超声空化破解剩余污泥的参数优化

为提高剩余污泥的破解效果并降低能耗,采用FS（fluid shear,流体剪切）、UC（ultrasonic cavitation,超声空化）、FS和UC联合工艺（FS-UC,UC-FS）破解剩余污泥,并应用单因素试验结合响应面法对联合工艺进行优化.结果表明:FS对剩余污泥破解效果一般,只在开始阶段具有较好效果,随作用时间延长,破解效果未有显著提高甚至下降.UC对剩余污泥破解效果明显,随作用时间延长,破解效果显著提升,但能耗也随之增大,EDR（energy disintegration ratio,效能比）明显下降.相同作用时间下,UC破解效果优于FS破解效果,UC破解剩余污泥的DD_COD（degree of disintegration,破解率）与EDR均明显高于FS方法.单因素试验得出的较优FS作用时间范围为2~8 min,较优UC作用时间范围为5~15 min.响应面法试验结果显示,联合工艺的剩余污泥破解效果和能量利用率均优于单一方法,联合工艺中FS-UC工艺的破解效果优于UC-FS工艺.FS-UC工艺的最佳参数:FS处理5.6 min再UC处理15.0 min,该条件下剩余污泥实际DD_COD为50.8%,EDR为26.8%.UC-FS工艺的最佳参数:先UC作用15.0 min再FS作用7.8 min,该条件下剩余污泥实际DD_COD为36.5%,EDR为17.1%.研究显示,以DD_COD和EDR为指标,4种工艺的高效性顺序为FS-UC > UC-FS > UC > FS,其中FS-UC工艺具有能耗低、破解效率高的特点,是4种工艺中剩余污泥破解效果最好的一种工艺.      

某城市污水处理厂二期污水处理工程设计研究

详细介绍了某城市第一污水处理厂在现有工程的基础上二期工程的工艺设计以及构筑物、设备参数;二期工程充分利用原有工程场地,本着现有、新建运行管理便捷统一原则,采用改良型A/A/O生化池作为二级处理主体工艺;二期工程投入运营后,某城市污水处理厂达到20×104 m3/d的污水设计规模.最终污水厂出水水质达到了《城镇污水处理厂污染物排放标准》(GB 18918-2002)一级 A排放标准.污水处理厂运营后,经济效益显著,可保本经营,并具有企业自我发展的能力.     

飞行器环境适应性设计方法研究与实践

目的针对飞行器环境适应性设计不足的现状提出对策。方法分析飞行器环境适应性设计的特点和当前存在的不足,以某电气设备为对象开展应用研究。结果提出环境适应性设计工作内容、工作流程、设计原则和技术手段等方面的对策。环境适应性设计应采用环境仿真和验证试验相结合的手段,并逐步形成环境适应性设计准则。结论飞行器环境适应性设计应采用系统工程的思路,覆盖产品层级、环境因素和研制阶段。技术手段方面应大力推进环境仿真研究和应用,建立产品环境适应性设计规范。