Using Ecological Function to Develop Recovery Criteria for Depleted Species: Sea Otters and Kelp Forests in the Aleutian Archipelago

Abstract: Recovery criteria for depleted species or populations normally are based on demographic measures, the goal being to maintain enough individuals over a sufficiently large area to assure a socially tolerable risk of future extinction. Such demographically based recovery criteria may be insufficient to restore the functional roles of strongly interacting species. We explored the idea of developing a recovery criterion for sea otters (Enhydra lutris) in the Aleutian archipelago on the basis of their keystone role in kelp forest ecosystems. We surveyed sea otters and rocky reef habitats at 34 island‐time combinations. The system nearly always existed in either a kelp‐dominated or deforested phase state, which was predictable from sea otter density. We used a resampling analysis of these data to show that the phase state at any particular island can be determined at 95% probability of correct classification with information from as few as six sites. When sea otter population status (and thus the phase state of the kelp forest) was allowed to vary randomly among islands, just 15 islands had to be sampled to estimate the true proportion that were kelp dominated (within 10%) with 90% confidence. We conclude that kelp forest phase state is a more appropriate, sensitive, and cost‐effective measure of sea otter recovery than the more traditional demographically based metrics, and we suggest that similar approaches have broad potential utility in establishing recovery criteria for depleted populations of other functionally important species.     

Apoplastic ascorbate contributes to the differential ozone sensitivity in two varieties of winter wheat under fully open-air field conditions

We studied leaf apoplastic ascorbates in relation to ozone (O₃) sensitivity in two winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties: Yangfumai 2 (Y2) and Yangmai 16 (Y16). The plants were exposed to elevated O₃ concentration 27% higher than the ambient O₃ concentration in a fully open-air field from tillering stage until final maturity. The less sensitive variety Y16 had higher concentration of reduced ascorbate in the apoplast and leaf tissue by 33.5% and 12.0%, respectively, than those in the more sensitive variety Y2, whereas no varietal difference was detected in the decline of reduced ascorbate concentration in response to elevated O₃. No effects of O₃ or variety were detected in either oxidized ascorbate or the redox state of ascorbate in the apoplast and leaf tissue. The lower ascorbate concentrations in both apoplast and leaf tissue should have contributed to the higher O₃ sensitivity in variety Y2.     

Fate of atrazine and chlorpyrifos during solid state fermentation—examination of processes

Abstract

Solid state fermentation (SSF) was investigated as a means to dispose of two commonly used pesticides, chlorpyrifos (O, O‐diethyl O‐(3,5,6‐trichloro‐2‐pyridyl) phosphorothioate) and atrazine (2‐chloro‐4‐ethylamino‐6‐isopropylamino‐1,3,5‐triazine). SSF experiments were carried out in bench‐scale bioreaetors (equipped with CO₂ and volatile organic traps) containing a mixture of lignocellulosic materials and a radiolabeled pesticide. Ethyl acetate‐extractable, alkali soluble, and alkali insoluble fractions were evaluated for radioactivity following a 60‐d incubation period at 40°C. The majority of the [2, 6‐pyridyl‐¹⁴C]chlorpyrifos was associated with the ethyl acetate extract (about 74%), 17% was trapped as organic volatiles by polyurethane foam traps and < 0.5% of the chlorpyrifos was mineralized to CO². Only small amounts of the radioactivity were associated with alkali soluble (0.0003%) and alkali insoluble (0.3%) fractions. In the [¹⁴C‐U‐ring] atrazine bioreactors, very little of the radioactivity volatilized (<0.5%) and less than 0.5% was mineralized to CO₂. Approximately 57% of the applied radioactivity was associated with the ethyl acetate extract while 9% and 24% of the radioactivity was associated with the alkali soluble (humic and fulvic acids) and alkali insoluble fractions, respectively. Possible reaction mechanisms by which covalent bonds could be formed between atrazine (or metabolites) and humic substances were investigated. The issue of bound atrazine residue (alkali soluble fraction) was at least partially resolved. Oxidative coupling experiments revealed that formation of covalent bond linkages between amino substituent groups of atrazine residue and humic substances is highly unlikely.     

燃煤锅炉水蒸气促燃的理论研究

针对小型火力热电厂中小吨位燃煤锅炉应用现状 ,结合固体燃煤燃烧的机理 ,在详细分析常见锅炉工作原理和燃烧反应特性的基础上 ,提出了用水蒸气促燃降污节能的理论 ,水蒸气介入后促燃化学模型和物理模型的建立 ,证明了这一理论的可行性     

Transient‐phase and steady‐state kinetics of lipase‐catalyzed ester hydrolysis 1

Abstract

An experimental study has been made of both the steady‐state and the transient‐phase (presteady‐state) kinetics of the hydrolyses of several saturated aliphatic esters of p‐nitrophenol catalyzed by wheat germ lipase. The analysis of the presteady‐state part revealed two transients indicating that lipase‐catalyzed reactions proceed via a two‐intermediate mechanism suggested for other esterases. The possibility of more than one species of the enzyme engaged in catalytic activity is discussed and a reaction mechanism scheme is proposed accordingly.     

Variability in Population Abundance and the Classification of Extinction Risk

Abstract: Classifying species according to their risk of extinction is a common practice and underpins much conservation activity. The reliability of such classifications rests on the accuracy of threat categorizations, but very little is known about the magnitude and types of errors that might be expected. The process of risk classification involves combining information from many sources, and understanding the quality of each source is critical to evaluating the overall status of the species. One common criterion used to classify extinction risk is a decline in abundance. Because abundance is a direct measure of conservation status, counts of individuals are generally the preferred method of evaluating whether populations are declining. Using the thresholds from criterion A of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List (critically endangered, decline in abundance of >80% over 10 years or 3 generations; endangered, decline in abundance of 50–80%; vulnerable, decline in abundance of 30–50%; least concern or near threatened, decline in abundance of 0–30%), we assessed 3 methods used to detect declines solely from estimates of abundance: use of just 2 estimates of abundance; use of linear regression on a time series of abundance; and use of state‐space models on a time series of abundance. We generated simulation data from empirical estimates of the typical variability in abundance and assessed the 3 methods for classification errors. The estimates of the proportion of falsely detected declines for linear regression and the state‐space models were low (maximum 3–14%), but 33–75% of small declines (30–50% over 15 years) were not detected. Ignoring uncertainty in estimates of abundance (with just 2 estimates of abundance) allowed more power to detect small declines (95%), but there was a high percentage (50%) of false detections. For all 3 methods, the proportion of declines estimated to be >80% was higher than the true proportion. Use of abundance data to detect species at risk of extinction may either fail to detect initial declines in abundance or have a high error rate.     

基于SPAMS探究南京市秋季大气中含草酸重金属颗粒的混合状态

草酸是大气环境中重要的二羧酸,可以与多种非吸湿性的多价金属形成草酸-金属络合物,并对生物健康和大气环境产生重要的影响. 众所周知,光化学反应可以促进草酸的形成. 然而,考虑到草酸与重金属（Heavy Metals, HMs）潜在的络合反应,草酸与HMs颗粒的混合态目前尚不完全清楚. 本研究利用单颗粒气溶胶质谱仪对南京市大气中含有草酸的HMs （Fe、Cu、Pb、Zn） 的粒径和化学组成进行了分析. 结果表明,与采样期间获得的整体颗粒相比（17.16%）,HMs中草酸的数分数（Number fractions, Nfs）更高（29.88%）. 草酸在各类HMs中的Nfs值分别为20.84% （Fe）、45.59% （Cu）、37.16% （Pb）、36.51% （Zn）. 此外,草酸与Cu （ r = 0.53 ）、Pb （ r = 0.55 ）和Zn （ r = 0.79 ）之间存在良好的相关性,这可能归因于它们在环境中可以形成草酸-重金属配合物. 值得注意的是,Fe与草酸在白天（r = 0.29）和夜间（r = 0.71）的相关性差异明显,这可能是因为Fe-草酸配合物在白天发生光解和Fe驱动的Fenton反应有关. 此外,气溶胶酸度（Relative acidity, Ra）和相对湿度（Relative humidity, RH）对形成草酸-重金属配合物也有影响. Ra的增强可能抑制草酸-重金属配合物的形成. 当RH > 70%时,RH增大可能促进草酸-重金属配合物的形成. 本研究为评估草酸在HMs中的增强提供了一些参考依据,同时提高了我们对大气环境中存在的草酸汇的认识.     

STATE FINANCING OF WATER PROJECTS: THE UTAH EXPERIENCE1

ABSTRACT: Dramatic changes in Utah's economy caused by urbanization, large scale energy developments, and other influences will significantly reorient water use patterns. Thus, state water management policies and programs which have evolved over many years should be reevaluated. Several factors have influenced Utah water project financing policy. Among these have been: 1) the prominence of agriculture in the settlement of Utah and the century following, 2) dry cycles and periodic severe droughts, 3) recurring periods of economic depression, and 4) allocation of Colorado River water among the basin states and Mexico, Three revolving funds have been established. The Revolving Construction Fund, created in 1947, provides money for irrigation projects; the Cities Water Loan Fund, created in 1975, provides money to communities for developing culinary systems and improving quality to meet the demands of exploding population growth; and the Water Resources Conservation and Development Fund, created in 1978, provides money for large scale multipurpose water projects costing $1 million or more. The justification for these financing programs seems to be a mixture of rectifying market imperfections and income redistribution. However, trends in the agricultural sector and the multipurpose nature of large scale projects now being funded suggest that earlier justifications may no longer be valid. Rigorous project evaluation procedures, lacking in the past, should be adopted.     

Estimation and comparison of night-time OH levels in the UK urban atmosphere using two different analysis methods

Night-time OH levels have been determined for UK urban surface environments using two methods,the decay and steady state approximation methods.Measurement data from the UK National Environmental Technology Centre archive for four urban sites(Bristol,Harwell,London Eltham and Edinburgh) over the time period of 1996 to 2000 have been used in this study.Three reactive alkenes,namely isoprene,1,3-butadiene and trans-2-pentene were chosen for the calculation of OH levels by the decay method.Hourly measurements o...     

重量法和冷凝法测量烟气含湿量计算公式的改进

本文对现有文献中用重量法和冷凝法测量烟气含湿量的计算公式进行了改进，使改进后的公式更准确、适用。