水体pH和曝气方式对藻类生长的影响

利用水族箱微宇宙研究了藻类在不同pH和曝气条件下的生长和种类变化.使用天然湖水,一组试验每天调节pH,使其分别保持在8.0、8.5、9.0和9.5;另一组试验是设定不同的曝气方式,分别为不曝气、完全曝气、昼间曝气和夜间曝气,定期测定水体叶绿素a和藻类组成.pH试验结果显示,在pH 8.0～9.5范围内,pH 8.5下藻类生长状况最好,pH 9.5下生长最差,人为改变pH使其远离8.5能够抑制藻类生长.曝气试验结果显示,曝气不能抑制水体中藻类的生长,昼间曝气甚至还有明显的促进作用.     

三丁基锡在河口微宇宙中的环境行为研究

首次建立了实验室河口微宇宙研究三丁基锡（TBT）在多介质环境中的行为。结果表明,进入水体的TBT将在表面微层（SM）、水体、底泥、藻等构成的悬浮物及鱼之间分配。经一定时间后该体系达稳态,此时鱼体富集大量TBT;藻等构成的悬浮物对TBT有显著吸附;底泥也是TBT归趋的重要场所;而在SM中TBT存在一定富集。同时,在各介质中TBT均存在不同程度的降解,在生物体和SM中其降解较快,而在底泥中降解较慢,降解的主要产物为二丁基锡（DBT）。     

Degradation of RPA 202248 [U-14C-phenyl]-α(-(cyclopropylcarbonyl)-2-(methylsulfonyl)-β-oxo-4-(trifluromethyl)benzenepropanenitrile), the Primary Degradation Product of Isoxaflutole,in an Outdoor Aquatic Microcosm System

Abstract

Isoxaflutole, the active ingredient in BALANCE® WDG and BALANCE® PRO corn herbicides and a co-formulant with the herbicide flufenacet in the product EPIC?, is readily degraded in soil and water to RPA 202248 α(-(cyclopropylcarbonyl)-2-(methylsulfonyl)-β-oxo-4-(trifluromethyl)benzenepropanenitrile). Because RPA 202248 is responsible at the molecular level for isoxaflutole's herbicidal activity it is important to understand the environmental behavior of the degradation product. Laboratory studies suggest that RPA 202248 is stable to hydrolysis and photolysis in aqueous systems and hence poses a possible environmental concern. As part of a program of work towards understanding the actual field situation, an outdoor microcosm study was carried out. Over the course of the 29-day study, residues remained predominantly in the aqueous phase. A slow but steady degradation of RPA 202248 was observed leading to the formation of RPA 203328 (2-methylsulfonyl-4-trifluoromethylbenzoic acid), which has no herbicidal activity. The half-life of RPA 202248 was calculated to be 103 days. These findings indicate that aqueous degradation should be considered as a potential route of dissipation when assessing the fate of RPA 202248 in large scale impounded water bodies, such as ponds, lakes, or reservoirs in the Mid-West Corn Belt.     

Cadmium in aquatic microcosms: Implications for screening the ecological effects of toxic substances

A two-phase set of experiments was conducted to address some of the problems inherent in ecological screening of toxic substances in aquatic microcosms. Phase I was a 4×4 factorial experiment dealing with the interactive effects of cadmium and nutrients in static microcosms. Phase II was a 2×4 factorial experiment using flowthrough microcosms to study temporal aspects of system behavior in response to nutrient loading and chronic versus acute cadmium perturbations. Nutrient enrichment resulted in increased biomass and metabolic activity in both static and flowthrough microcosms. Cadmium treatments generally resulted in a decrease in abundance of grazing crustaceans and a subsequent increase in community respiration, suggesting a change in community structure from a grazing to a detritus food chain. Of the variables measured, community metabolism, community composition, and output/input ratios of nitrate-nitrogen were the most useful indicators of system response to cadmium. Nutrient enrichment significantly influenced cadmium effects with respect to most of the variables measured; high levels of enrichment reduced the effects of cadmium. For screening the ecological effects of toxic chemicals, a series of experiments is proposed, including 1) relatively simple static microcosms, 2) flow through microcosms, and 3) more detailed but selective studies in microcosms derived from specific ecosystems. Each step yields increasingly more information and serves as a guide for subsequent experiments; in addition, each step more closely approximates natural ecosystems.     

An energetic perspective on the relationship between disturbance and ecosystem productivity

Previous ecological models for disturbance from energetic perspectives have focused on destructive pulses by which storages in a system are quickly drained during disturbance events and recovered thereafter. However, considering the wide range of disturbance intensities, frequencies, and durations in nature, disturbance effects on ecosystem energetics would be better understood by diversifying the disturbance effects on specific system configurations or energy pathways. Based on two hypotheses, we built simulation models of the variable disturbance-productivity relationships observed in a freshwater aquatic microcosm study. First, we hypothesized that disturbances will differentially alter the intrinsic rates of energy pathways in a system. Second, we hypothesized that there is a disturbance threshold where response of the intrinsic rates changes abruptly. Simulation results showed variable patterns of gross primary productivity (GPP) during the disturbance and post-disturbance periods under the diverse scenarios of disturbance effects on the intrinsic rates. Simulation results confirmed that the second hypothesis (i.e., disturbance threshold) was essential to achieve a U-shaped or peaked disturbance-productivity relationship. We evaluated the models by comparing them with the results of the microcosm tests, and suggested possible mechanisms of the variable disturbance-productivity relationships by varying parameters related to the disturbance effects on the intrinsic rates and the disturbance thresholds.