Differential blood counting in fish as a non-destructive biomarker of water contamination exposure

Differential white blood cell counting was performed on blood from the fish species Oreochromis niloticus and was used as an in situ indicator of the species’ exposure to contamination. Ten young fish were collected in an area influenced by the discharge of effluents and from a fish farm (control group). The fish were anesthetized and caudal puncture was used to collect the blood. Differential white blood cell counting was performed, as well as the counting of total leukocytes and thrombocytes (in 2000 cells). Physicochemical parameters of the water from both sites were analyzed. The water from the polluted area was found to have high conductivity and low levels of dissolved oxygen, factors that indicate poor environmental quality. Fish collected from the polluted site presented higher percentages of eosinophils and monocytes and fewer thrombocytes because of exposure to pollution and hypoxic conditions. The differential white blood cell count represents a suitable biomarker of environmental health and provides a tool for biomonitoring water quality.     

Occurrence of benzotriazoles (BTRs) in indoor air from Albany,New York,USA, and its implications for inhalation exposure

Despite the widespread use of benzotriazoles as corrosion inhibitors in many household goods, studies on the occurrence of these compounds in indoor air are scarce. In this study, five benzotriazole derivatives were measured in 83 indoor air samples collected from various locations in Albany, New York, USA. Benzotriazoles were found in a majority of the indoor air samples, and the concentrations of their sum in bulk (vapor plus particulate phases) indoor air ranged from below the method limit of quantification to 492 ng·m^?3 (geometric mean: 5.8 ng·m^?3). The highest geometric mean concentration was found in air samples collected in parking garages (155 ng·m^?3), followed by barbershops (13.6), public places (11.5), auto repair shops (5.2), automobiles (4.5), homes (4.5), offices (3.7), and laboratories (2.8). Inhalation exposure to benzotriazoles was calculated on the basis of the measured geometric mean concentrations and air inhalation rate. The highest exposure dose was found for teenagers, with a geometric mean inhalation exposure dose of 79 ng·day^?1. The body-weight normalized exposure dose, however, was the highest for infants, at 3.2 ng·(kg bw)^?1·day^?1.     

Conservation implications of anthropogenic impacts on visual communication and camouflage

Anthropogenic environmental impacts can disrupt the sensory environment of animals and affect important processes from mate choice to predator avoidance. Currently, these effects are best understood for auditory and chemosensory modalities, and recent reviews highlight their importance for conservation. We examined how anthropogenic changes to the visual environment (ambient light, transmission, and backgrounds) affect visual communication and camouflage and considered the implications of these effects for conservation. Human changes to the visual environment can increase predation risk by affecting camouflage effectiveness, lead to maladaptive patterns of mate choice, and disrupt mutualistic interactions between pollinators and plants. Implications for conservation are particularly evident for disrupted camouflage due to its tight links with survival. The conservation importance of impaired visual communication is less documented. The effects of anthropogenic changes on visual communication and camouflage may be severe when they affect critical processes such as pollination or species recognition. However, when impaired mate choice does not lead to hybridization, the conservation consequences are less clear. We suggest that the demographic effects of human impacts on visual communication and camouflage will be particularly strong when human‐induced modifications to the visual environment are evolutionarily novel (i.e., very different from natural variation); affected species and populations have low levels of intraspecific (genotypic and phenotypic) variation and behavioral, sensory, or physiological plasticity; and the processes affected are directly related to survival (camouflage), species recognition, or number of offspring produced, rather than offspring quality or attractiveness. Our findings suggest that anthropogenic effects on the visual environment may be of similar importance relative to conservation as anthropogenic effects on other sensory modalities.     

石灰对重金属铅影响玉米生长的抑制效应研究

采用盆栽试验,研究了在施用石灰改良的条件下,土壤重金属铅污染对玉米生长的影响。结果表明:土壤重金属铅污染质量分数越高,玉米吸收重金属铅越多,对玉米的生长影响越大。石灰对重金属铅影响玉米生长的抑制效应表现在株高、叶面积、根容积等,改良处理与单一铅污染的处理差异显著。玉米的不同部位对重金属铅吸收由多到少的顺序为根→茎、叶→籽实。     

三江源区草场生态恶化原因新解

上世纪60年代以来三江源区草场“三化”明显,生态恶化,究其原因,既有自然因素的影响,又有人类活动的作用。通过比较分析有测量记录的气温、降雨和年末牲畜存栏数、采金、挖虫草(Cordycepssinensis)规模的变化及其与草原植被覆盖度变化的关系,文章为人为成因说提供了更为翔实可靠的证据。结论:超载是1957—1979年间、采金子和挖虫草是1980—2004年间草场生态恶化的主要原因。     

单一重金属污染对灯心草生长及重金属积累特性的影响

盆栽试验结果表明:在设置的低浓度范围内,Cd、Pb、Cu能够刺激灯心草的生长。而As(地上部除外)、Zn在整个浓度设置范围内对灯心草的生长都表现出抑制作用,且各重金属对灯心草地下部生物量影响不显著。各重金属对灯心草生长抑制程度为:Zn>As>Cu>Pb>Cd。以灯心草生物量减产10%为依据,将土壤中Cd、Pb、Cu3种重金属临界值分别设定为10、100、100~200 mg.kg-1。灯心草不适合在Zn污染的土壤中种植,土壤中As临界值尚需作进一步的研究来确定。除Cd外,其余4种重金属主要累积于灯心草根部。回归分析表明,Cd、Pb在灯心草地上和地下部以及As在灯心草地下部的积累量与土壤中各重金属添加量之间存在显著线性关系(P<0.05)。     

川中丘陵区典型小流域地下水硝酸盐污染分析

对川中丘陵区典型小流域地下水N素含量及形态分配的监测结果表明,硝酸盐(NO3--N)是该地区地下水N素存在的主要形态。川中丘陵区54.5%的地下水NO3--N含量超过世界卫生组织(WHO)饮用水准则规定的10mg.L-1标准,另有27.3%的地下水NO3--N含量接近这一标准,表明该区地下水已经大范围地受到NO3--N污染的威胁。土地利用状况可能是影响川中丘陵区地下水NO3--N含量的主要因素。降雨量和水井深度也影响该区地下水NO3--N含量。紫色土坡耕地NO3--N随壤中流向浅层地下水迁移,可能是造成该区地下水NO3--N含量较高的最重要原因。     

Heavy metals associated with reduced sulfur in sediments from different deposition environments in the Pearl River estuary, China

Distribution of acid volatile sulfur (AVS) and the simultaneously extracted metals (SEM: Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, Ni) in sediment profiles has been studied at five sites in Pearl River estuary, China. Of the five sampling locations, Nos.1 and 2 are in the middle shoal, Nos.3 and 4 in the west shoal and No. 5 locates to the south of the estuary. The AVS content in the sediments of the middle shoal varies in a small range (0.25–4.06 μmol g⁻¹), while that of west shoal increases with depth from 0 to ultimately 26.09 μmol g⁻¹. The SEM concentration in the sediment profiles at location Nos. 1, 2 and 5 is generally in the range of 0.95±0.2 μmol g⁻¹ with a slight upward increase, while that in the sediment of west shallows are much higher (1.43–2.42 μmol g⁻¹) with a significant upward increase, especially in the upper layer of ca. 15 cm. The observed upward increase of SEM content at all the sites implies that heavy metal contamination of sediment in the Pearl River estuary is increasing. Calculations of the excess heavy metal content which is defined by SEM-AVS molar difference suggests that the upper sediment in the Pearl River estuary, especially on the west shallows, could be a source of heavy metal contaminants and may cause toxicity to the benthos. The site-specific distribution patterns in the AVS and SEM profiles were interpreted according to the hydrogeochemistry of deposition environments.     

Efficient and sustainable management of complex forest ecosystems

A large range of models has been developed for the analysis of optimal forest management strategies, with the well-known Faustmann models dating back to the mid-19th century. To date, however, there has been relatively little attention for the implications of complex ecosystem dynamics for optimal forest management. This paper examines the implications of irreversible ecosystem responses for efficient and sustainable forest management. The paper is built around two forest models that comprise two ecosystem components, forest cover and topsoil, the interactions between these components, and the supply of the ecosystem services ‘wood’ and ‘erosion control’. The first model represents a forest that responds in a reversible way to overharvesting. In the second model, an additional ecological process has been included and the ecosystem irreversibly collapses below certain thresholds in forest cover and topsoil depth. The paper presents a general model, and demonstrates the implications of pursuing efficient as well as sustainable forest management for the two forest ecosystems. Both fixed and variable harvesting cycles are examined. Efficient and sustainable harvesting cycles are compared, and it is shown that irreversible ecosystem behaviour reduces the possibilities to reconcile efficient and sustainable forest management through a variable harvesting cycle.     

The People and Landscape Model (PALM): Towards full integration of human decision-making and biophysical simulation models

A model for simulating resource flows in a rural subsistence community is described. The People and Landscape Model (PALM) consists of a number of agents representing households, the landscape, and livestock. The landscape is made up of a number of homogeneous land units, or ‘fields’, each represented by an object containing data, methods and properties relevant to the field. Each field object consists of a number of soil layer objects, each of which contains routines to calculate its water balance and carbon and nitrogen dynamics. Organic matter decomposition is simulated by a version of the CENTURY model, while water and nitrogen dynamics are simulated by versions of the routines in the DSSAT crop models. The soil processes are simulated continuously, and vegetation types (crops, weeds, trees) can come and go in a field depending on its management. Crop growth and development are simulated by a generic model based on the DSSAT crop models, and which can be parameterised for different crops. Similarly, livestock growth and resource use is simulated by a generic model which can be parameterised for buffalo, cows, goats, sheep, chickens and pigs.