Causasilty among wildfire,ENSO, timber harvest,and urban sprawl: The vector autoregression approach

This article demonstrates the applicability of vector autoregression (VAR) modeling in probing the causality relationships among wildfire, El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), timber harvest, and urban sprawl in the U.S. The VAR approach allows for the multi-directional, multi-faceted interactions among the variables concerned and enables us to portray the temporal impacts of ENSO, the volume of timber harvested, and urban sprawl on wildfire. The empirical analysis, though intended mainly for illustration, reveals that an individual factor may not affect wildfire activity (number of fires and area burned) when acting alone, but can significantly influence fire activity when coupled with other factors, and that wildfire activity has feedback effects on other variables. The impact of a change in ENSO, the volume of timber harvested, and urban population density on wildfire activity could last two decades with the most noticeable impact occurring in the initial 5–10 years. Though ENSO, timber harvest, and urban sprawl all Granger-cause wildfire activity, the impulse response functions show that wildfire activity is more responsive to urban population density than to the volume of timber harvested or ENSO. Thus, controlling urban sprawl represents another option for wildfire mitigation; and integrative wildfire management is essential.     

Secondary metabolism — evolution and function: Products or processes?

Summary The distinguishing characteristics of secondary metabolism and its associated metabolites are outlined. Current theories relating to the function of secondary metabolism in plants and micro-organisms are enumerated and the view that consideration of the processes rather than the products may best explain the origins of secondary metabolism is discussed.     

Adaptive behaviour of chironomid larvae (Chironomus riparius) in response to chemical stimuli from predators and resource density

Chemical-mediated effects of predatory fish on chironomid larvae behaviour have been ignored so far. Sediment-dwelling chironomid larvae inhabit protective burrows from which they extend their bodies only to feed on deposited detritus and microalgae from the surrounding sediment. Here, we performed factorial laboratory experiments to study whether fish-borne chemical cues (kairomones) are responsible for behavioural trait changes of chironomid larvae, and whether chironomid larvae are able to assess the densities of fish predators and food resources and the trade-off between them. We exposed naïve Chironomus riparius larvae to the chemical presence of zero, one, and ten predator fish (Rutilus rutilus) and offered two resource levels (low food, high food) for each treatment. Kairomones induced significant inherent behavioural trait changes in chironomid larvae. During the first 120 min after exposing chironomids to fish-conditioned water, we found a significant increase in digging activity with increasing predator density. After 3 days of exposure, the deepest chironomid burrows were found in treatments with the highest predator density. Chironomid larvae were significantly able to adjust their foraging behaviour to different predator densities and food concentrations and trade off between them; that is, when fish predators were more abundant or when more food resources were available, the foraging activities of larvae were significantly reduced. Our data suggest that chemically mediated trait changes (burrowing and foraging behaviour) may cascade through the littoral food web.     

Hg2+胁迫下玉米生理生态变化的研究

通过砂培实验,研究汞胁迫下玉米的生理生态指标包括叶绿素含量、根系活力、游离脯氨酸含量的变化.结果表明,汞对玉米的胁迫是浓度和时间双重因子的作用在低汞浓度、短时间内,叶绿素含量、根系活力及游离脯氨酸含量均有上升的趋势;在高汞浓度、长时间内,各生理指标均严重下降.各生理指标对汞的敏感度略有差异游离脯氨酸含量>根系活力>叶绿素含量;其中脯氨酸含量可以作为汞污染的一个监测指标.     

二氧化硫体内衍生物对雄性小鼠精子的毒性效应

为了探讨二氧化硫(SO2)的雄性生殖毒理效应,研究了SO2体内代谢衍生物———亚硫酸钠(Na2SO3)和亚硫酸氢钠(NaHSO3)混合液(物质的量比为3:1)对雄性昆明小鼠精子的毒性作用.采用腹腔注射(i.p.)染毒方法,每天注射一次,连续5 d,于染毒后d 35处死动物,观察和分析小鼠的精子活动度、数量和畸形率.结果表明:(1)SO2衍生物可引起小鼠精子数量尤其是正常活动度精子数量减少,引起不活动精子数量增加,且呈剂量-效应关系;(2)SO2衍生物可引起多种类型的精子畸形增加,尤其可引起不定形畸变精子的频率显著增加,总精子畸变率随染毒剂量的增加而呈剂量依赖性增高.由此推论,SO2污染有一定的雄性生殖毒性.图1表2参14     

甲胺磷和乙草胺对产甲烷菌种群数量及其活性的影响

采用厌氧培养箱、气相色谱技术和MPN计数法,研究了甲胺磷和乙草胺在4种浓度(0 1、0 2、0 5和1 0mg·L-1)下对水稻田土壤产甲烷菌种群数量及其活性的影响。加甲胺磷后7d内刺激产甲烷菌种群的生长,数量增加0.2～44.1倍,每管的产甲烷量增加0.8～2.1倍,且刺激作用随药剂浓度的增加而增强;加乙草胺后7d内,产甲烷菌的生长受到抑制,数量下降了50%～99%,每管的产甲烷量显著减少,且抑制作用随药剂浓度的增加而增强。随着加药时间的延长,甲胺磷和乙草胺逐渐降解,产甲烷菌数量又恢复至原有水平。     

影响微生物絮凝剂生成的条件研究

从污水中筛选到了一株絮凝活性较好的絮凝剂产生菌 ,分别研究了碳源、氮源、供氧量、培养温度等条件对其产絮凝剂的影响。结果表明 ,葡萄糖、淀粉是较好的碳源 ,蛋白胨等有机氮作氮源较好 ,供氧量较大有利于产絮凝剂 ,最适宜培养温度为 30℃ ,最佳pH为 6 .5～ 7.5。     

Preparation and characterization of visible-light-active nitrogen-doped TiO2 photocatalyst

A visible-light photocatalyst was prepared by calcination of the hydrolysis product of Ti(SO4)2 with ammonia as precipitator. The color of this photocatalyst was vivid yellow. It could absorb light under 550 nm wavelength. The crystal structure of anatase was characterized by XRD. The structure analysis result of X-ray fluorescence(XRF) shows that doped-nitrogen was presented in the sample. The photocatalytic activities were evaluated using methyl orange and phenol as model pollutants. The photocatalytic activities of samples were increasing gradually with calcination temperature from 400℃ to 700℃ under UV irradiation. It can be seen that the degradation of methyl orange follows zero-order kinetics. However, the calcination temperatures have no significant influence on the degradation of phenol under sunlight. The N-doped catalyst shows higher activity than the bare one under solar irradiation.     

Pencycuron application to soils: degradation and effect on microbiological parameters

Clay loam soil from agricultural fields of alluvial (AL) soil (typic udifluvent) and coastal saline (CS) soil (typic endoaquept) were investigated for the degradation and effect of pencycuron application at field rate (FR), 2-times FR (2FR) and 10-times FR (10FR) with and without decomposed cow manure (DCM) on soil microbial variables under laboratory conditions. Pencycuron degraded faster in CS soil and in soil amended with DCM. Pencycuron spiking at FR and 2FR resulted in a short-lived (in case of 10FR slightly longer) and transitory toxic effect on soil microbial biomass-C (MBC), ergosterol content and fluorescein diacetate hydrolyzing activity (FDHA). Amendment of DCM did not seem to have any counteractive effect of the toxicity of pencycuron on the microbial variables. The ecophysiological status of the soil microbial communities as expressed by microbial metabolic quotient (qCO2) and microbial respiration quotient (Q(R)) changed, but for a short period, indicating pencycuron induced disturbance. The duration of this disturbance was slightly longer at 10FR. Pencycuron was more toxic to the metabolically activated soil microbial populations, specifically the fungi. It is concluded that side effects of pencycuron at 10FR on the microbial variables studied were only short-lived and probably of little ecological significance.     

A microcosm approach to assessing the effects of earthworm inoculation and oat cover cropping on CO2 fluxes and biological properties in an amended semiarid soil

We designed a microcosm experiment to assess the influence of inoculation with Eisenia foetida earthworms and the establishment of an Avena sativa cover crop on biological (enzyme activities and labile carbon fractions) soil quality indicators in a soil treated with a composted organic residue, and to determine the contribution of these treatments to carbon dioxide emissions from the soil to the atmosphere of the microcosm. The microcosms were incubated for 53 days under 28 °C/18 °C day/night temperatures. The addition of earthworms and the planting of A. sativa increased dehydrogenase activity of compost amended soil by about 44% after 23 days of incubation. The metabolic potential, calculated as the ratio dehydrogenase activity/water soluble C, was higher in the compost amended soil planted with A. sativa. The highest total amount of CO₂–C evolved occurred in the soil treated with composted residue and earthworms (about 40% of the total amount of CO₂ evolved came from earthworm activity). The planting of A. sativa increased the decomposition rate constant of organic matter in the amended soil but decreased the potentially mineralizable C pool. In conclusion, the establishment of an A. sativa cover crop and the addition of E. foetida to a degraded agricultural soil treated with composted residue were effective treatments for improving the biological and biochemical quality and the metabolic potential of the soil.