Reduced Metals Concentrations of Water, Sediment and Hyalella Azteca from Lakes in the Vicinity of the Sudbury Metal Smelters, Ontario, Canada

Hyalella azteca (Crustacea: Amphipoda), water and sediments from 12 circum-neutral lakes between Sudbury and North Bay in Ontario, Canada were sampled in August 1998 and analyzed for 10 metals including Cu, Zn, Cd, Ni, Pb, Co, Mo, V, Ba and Ti. Statistical analyses showed that concentrations of the metals in H. azteca, water and sediment differed significantly (ANOVA, P<0.05) among lakes (except for Zn and Pb in H. azteca and Mo in water). There was a trend of declining metal concentration, especially for Cu, Ni and Co (in water, Hyalella and sediment), with distance from the smelters indicating the reduced impact of atmospheric pollution. Metal concentrations of lakes (water) in the Sudbury area were found to be lower compared to data from the 1970s and 1980s indicating an improvement in water quality. Metal concentrations in field-collected amphipods compared favorably with those measured in the laboratory in animals exposed to deep-water sediments, provided metal concentrations were not extremely low (e.g., Pb) and that water chemistry differences (e.g., pH) were taken into account for some metals (especially Cd). In general bioaccumulation of metals in H. azteca was predicted better from surface water than from sediment total metal.     

洪泽湖水产品中渔药残留量调查

通过对洪泽湖水产品中部分渔药残留的检测和研究,对洪泽湖水产品的渔药残留量以及相关的水质情况有了初步掌握。结果表明,洪泽湖水产品中渔药残留量总体情况较好,但在网箱和围网养殖区域中,土霉素和磺胺类两种渔药在水体中存在量较大。     

Climate Impact Response Functions for Terrestrial Ecosystems

We introduce climate impact response functions as a means for summarizing and visualizing the responses of climate-sensitive sectors to changes in fundamental drivers of global climate change. In an inverse application, they allow the translation of thresholds for climate change impacts (‘impact guard-rails’) into constraints for climate and atmospheric composition parameters (‘climate windows’). It thus becomes feasible to specify long-term objectives for climate protection with respect to the impacts of climate change instead of crude proxy variables, like the change in global mean temperature. We apply the method to assess impacts on terrestrial ecosystems, using the threat to protected areas as the central impact indicator. Future climate states are characterized by geographically and seasonally explicit climate change patterns for temperature, precipitation and cloud cover, and by their atmospheric CO₂ concentration. The patterns are based on the results of coupled general circulation models. We study the sensitivity of the impact indicators and the corresponding climate windows to the spatial coverage of the analysis and to different climate change projections. This enables us to identify the most sensitive biomes and regions, and to determine those factors which significantly influence the results of the impact assessment. Based on the analysis, we conclude that climate impact response functions are a valuable means for the representation of climate change impacts across a wide range of plausible futures. They are particularly useful in integrated assessment models of climate change based on optimizing or inverse approaches where the on-line simulation of climate impacts by sophisticated impact models is infeasible due to their high computational demand. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

洪泽湖溧河洼水生植物体内重金属调查

对洪泽湖溧河洼区域的水生植物进行了Cu、Zn、Pb、Cr和Cd等重金属元素的污染调查与监测分析,结果表明:水生植物对重金属元素的吸收与积累反映了环境中的重金属污染水平,不同水生植物对各种重金属元素的吸收富集状况具有相对一致性,即Zn>Cu>Cr>Pb>Cd。水生植物对各种重金属元素的平均富集系数大小顺序为:Cd>Cu>Zn>Cr>Pb,这与各元素迁移性强弱的顺序也是相一致的,Cd、Cu、Zn等各元素较易为植物所吸收,而Pb的移动性较差。大部分水生植物根部的重金属含量比茎叶部分高。研究表明:可以从中筛选出具有高富集作用的植物,作为修复水体或土壤重金属污染的实验植物,为植物修复作用的研究提供参考。     

辽河流域水生态分区研究

依据河流生态学中的格局与尺度理论,对流域水生态分区的内涵进行辨析,从理论上对区划方法进行了研究.通过对辽河流域自然要素及水生态特征的分析,建立了辽河流域水生态分区体系.明确了各级分区的主要内容与分区依据,提出了各级分区的特征指标,从而建立了流域水生态分区的指标与方法体系.结果表明,辽河流域包括2级水生态区,一级区可根据流域水资源空间特征差异进行划分,其目的是反映大尺度水文格局对水生态统的影响规律,二级区是根据地貌、植被、土壤和土地利用等自然要素进行划分,目的是反映流域尺度的地形、地貌及植被对河流栖息地环境特征的影响.在GIS技术支持下,采用多指标叠加分析和专家判断方法,将辽河流域划分为3个一级区、14个二级区,对不同分区的水生态系统特征及其所面临的生态环境问题进行了总结.对水生态分区在流域管理中的应用进行研究,提出了基于水生态区的环境管理技术支撑体系.     

Expanding the Global Network of Protected Areas to Save the Imperiled Mediterranean Biome

Abstract:  Global goals established by the Convention on Biological Diversity stipulate that 10% of the world's ecological regions must be effectively conserved by 2010. To meet that goal for the mediterranean biome, at least 5% more land must be formally protected over the next few years. Although global assessments identify the mediterranean biome as a priority, without biologically meaningful analysis units, finer-resolution data, and corresponding prioritization analysis, future conservation investments could lead to more area being protected without increasing the representation of unique mediterranean ecosystems. We used standardized analysis units and six potential natural vegetation types stratified by 3 elevation zones in a global gap analysis that systematically explored conservation priorities across the mediterranean biome. The highest levels of protection were in Australia, South Africa, and California-Baja California (from 9–11%), and the lowest levels of protection were in Chile and the mediterranean Basin (<1%). Protection was skewed to montane elevations in three out of five regions. Across the biome only one of the six vegetation types—mediterranean shrubland—exceeded 10% protection. The remaining vegetation types—grassland, scrub, succulent dominated, woodland, and forest—each had <3% protection. To guard against biases in future protection efforts and ensure the protection of species characteristic of the mediterranean biome, we identified biodiversity assemblages with <10% protection and subject to >30% conversion and suggest that these assemblages be elevated to high-priority status in future conservation efforts.     

IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING AND HEALTH1

ABSTRACT: We review published analyses of the effects of climate change on goods and services provided by freshwater ecosystems in the United States. Climate-induced changes must be assessed in the context of massive anthropogenic changes in water quantity and quality resulting from altered patterns of land use, water withdrawal, and species invasions; these may dwarf or exacerbate climate-induced changes. Water to meet instream needs is competing with other uses of water, and that competition is likely to be increased by climate change. We review recent predictions of the impacts of climate change on aquatic ecosystems in eight regions of North America. Impacts include warmer temperatures that alter lake mixing regimes and availability of fish habitat; changed magnitude and seasonality of runoff regimes that alter nutrient loading and limit habitat availability at low flow; and loss of prairie pothole wetlands that reduces waterfowl populations. Many of the predicted changes in aquatic ecosystems are a consequence of climatic effects on terrestrial ecosystems; shifts in riparian vegetation and hydrology are particularly critical. We review models that could be used to explore potential effects of climate change on freshwater ecosystems; these include models of instream flow, bioenergetics models, nutrient spiraling models, and models relating riverine food webs to hydrologic regime. We discuss potential ecological risks, benefits, and costs of climate change and identify information needs and model improvements that are required to improve our ability to predict and identify climate change impacts and to evaluate management options.     

Advances on Toxicological Mechanism of AhR Pathway and Early Biomonitoring of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)in Aquatic Animals

过去30年,随着工农业的不断发展,由持久性有机污染物(POPs)导致的癌症患者不断增加.目前POPs已广泛存在于水生态系统中,对水生动物的生长发育、种群繁衍、群落结构等产生重要影响.虽然POPs对水生动物的毒理机制非常复杂,但研究表明其毒理机制主要通过芳香烃受体通道(Ah Rpathway)来进行调控.为全面理解水生动物AhR通道中每一个基因在毒理调控过程中的作用,论文从水生动物芳香烃通道的角度详细阐述了POPs的毒理机制,同时对水生动物中POPs的早期监测进行了讨论,最后提出了未来POPs毒理机制研究的发展方向.     

酸化模型在国内的发展与应用进展

酸沉降与环境的酸化模型在国外已有较大进展,在我国尚属起步阶段。本文系统介绍了国内在酸化模型方面研究进展。这方面成果主要是适合于大尺度区域评估的指标评价模型的建立和将国外成熟的酸化模型应用于中国具体实践。希望尽快建立我国的酸化水化学研究体系。