向挪威南部艾于德纳河中施加石灰:底栖无脊椎动物恢复的大规模试验

本研究描述了1985年向艾于德纳河溯河鱼类所在部分施加石灰后敏感的无脊椎动物的恢复情况.这条河流在1960～1970年间丧失了它的大马哈鱼种群.施加石灰的目的是产生pH＞6.0和ANC＞20μg/L的水质,并减少不稳定铝的含量.施加石灰前,在这条河中找不到像蜉蝣类的Baetis rhodanf等高度敏感的无脊椎动物.施加石灰2年后,一些敏感的无脊椎物种产生了积极的回应.河流下游有两处地点发现了B.rhodanf.在随后的5年里,一些敏感的无脊椎物种开始在施加石灰的整个河段聚集,并且数量越来越大.在向河流施加石灰10年后,出现了蜗牛Lymnaeaperegra.这个物种的扩散也非常迅速,5年后它可以在40km范围内施以石灰的的主要河流的所有调查地点被发现.在这一区域减少硫的沉降也引起了艾于德纳河未施加石灰的各支流水质的提高.施加石灰与未施加石灰的地点的比较说明了水质和敏感物种的临界限制是决定艾于德纳河动物组成的主要因素,而与水质变化的原因无关.     

从富营养化状态中复原：减少对瑞典四大湖磷输入的经验

自20世纪60年代以来,人们一直在研究随着输入的减少韦特恩湖、维纳恩湖、梅拉伦湖以及哈马伦湖中磷(P)和氮(N)的浓度变化.在前两个水更新速度较慢的深水、贫营养湖中,自70年代以来磷输入的急剧减少只是造成较长一段时间内磷浓度的少量减小.同时在水团中出现了非有机氮的积累现象,本文对这一现象的可能原因进行了探讨.在后两个中等营养到高营养的湖中,哈马伦湖中的两个浅盆地由于沉积物释放的氮而显示出恢复较慢.这两个盆地以及梅拉伦湖中的两个盆地有氮缺乏现象,特别是在磷输入减少之前的数年中、而且表明存在固氮现象.在梅拉伦湖的两个盆地中,湖内磷浓度的恢复与用于湖泊从营养物污染中恢复的IMSA模型相比较预期的要好.在其他的5个湖泊/盆地中,20年之后的叶绿素浓度与那些模拟的情况相比类似.     

Behavioral response to predators reverses the outcome of competition between prey species

Summary In a laboratory experiment it was shown that piscivorous predators reversed the outcome of competitive interactions between two fish prey species, juveniles of roach (Rutilus rutilus) and perch (Perca fluviatilis), by behaviorally affecting their use of two available habitats, an open water habitat and a structurally complex refuge. The shift in the competitive relationship was the result of predators forcing the juvenile fishes into a prey refuge with high structural complexity. While roach was competitively superior in the unstructured habitat, perch was superior in the structurally complex prey refuge. The reversal in competitive relationship was demonstrated both with respect to foraging rate and growth rate and resulted from the high structural complexity in the prey refuge interfering with the roach's swimming performance. Because survival and growth patterns through the juvenile stages have profound effects on the population/community dynamics of size-structured populations such as those of fish, behaviorally induced changes in competitive ability should have significant implications also at the population and community levels.     

Inorganic element uptake by barley from soil supplemented with flue gas desulphurization waste and fly ash

To evaluate the influence of waste products from coal- and oil-fired power plants on the inorganic element content of plants, barley was grown in pots each with 22 kg of sandy loam supplied with increasing amounts of six waste products. The plants were harvested at maturity and analysed for a number of inorganic elements. The salinity of the soil was the limiting factor for the amount added in terms of plant growth. Concerning the quality of the plants as fodder, addition of the waste to the soil at levels of about 0.5% by weight increased the Se concentration of the barley from a level deficient for animals to that approaching sufficiency for animals. The increase in Cd from the flue gas desulphurization (FGD) products was deemed undesirable, even though the concentrations following this single addition were far from toxic. All other increases in element concentrations were without any biological significance.Environmental Geochemistry and Health, 1988,10(1), 21–25     

Ammonia-based flue gas desulphurization waste solution as a nitrogen fertilizer

A flue gas desulphurization product based on the absorption of sulphur dioxide by an ammoniacal solution (Am-FGD) was evaluated as a nitrogenous fertilizer. Evaluation was by field trial using barley and rye-grass as test crops. The Am-FGD solution was added to the soil either one week before sowing the barley, at sowing, or one week after. In the grass experiment, the Am-FGD solution was added to the soil surface or sprayed on the plants shortly after the first and after the second cut.The results indicate that nitrogen in the Am-FGD solution had the same fertilizer value as nitrogen in calcium-ammonium-nitrate (CAN). The toxic effect of sulphite is avoided or reduced to insignificant levels when direct contact of the Am-FGD solution with the plants is avoided. When added in combination with CAN there might even be a slight positive effect. The plant content of inorganic elements was unchanged by the experimental treatments.     

Metal releases from a municipal solid waste incineration air pollution control residue mixed with compost

The influence of 10 wt.% mature compost was tested on the heavy metal leachate emissions from a calcium-rich municipal solid waste incineration air pollution control residue (MSWI APC). Apart from elongated columns (500 and 1250 mm), an otherwise norm compliant European percolation test setup was used. More than 99% of the metals Al, As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe and Ni were left in the APC residue after leaching to a liquid-to-solid ratio (L/S) of 10. Apparent short-term effects of elevated leachate DOC concentrations on heavy metal releases were not detected. Zn and Pb leachate concentrations were one order of magnitude lower for L/S 5 and 10 from the pure APC residue column, which suggests a possible long-term effect of compost on the release of these elements. Prolonging the contact time between the pore water and the material resulted in elevated leachate concentrations at L/S 0.1 to L/S 1 by a factor of 2. Only Cr and Pb concentrations were at their maxima in the first leachates at L/S 0.1. Equilibrium speciation modelling with the PHREEQC code suggested portlandite (Ca(OH)2) to control Ca solubility and pH.     

Flux measurements of volatile organic compounds by the relaxed eddy accumulation method combined with a GC-FID system in urban Houston,Texas

A tall tower flux measurement setup was established in metropolitan Houston, Texas, to measure trace gas fluxes from emission sources in the urban surface layer. We describe a new relaxed eddy accumulation (REA) system combined with a dual-channel GC-FID used for VOC flux measurements, focusing on benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes (BTEX) results. Ambient air sampled from 60 m above the ground next to a sonic anemometer was subsampled by a membrane pump and pushed into an REA valve system with two Teflon bag reservoirs, then transferred to two preconcentration units for thermal desorption. We discuss the performance of our system and the selected BTEX measurement results using approximately 8 weeks of data (May 22–July 22, 2008), presenting diurnal variations of concentrations and fluxes of these traffic tracers. The measured values exhibited diurnal cycles with dominant morning and midday peaks during weekdays related to rush hour traffic and additional weekday daytime toluene and xylenes emissions. Local evaporative emissions, likely from solvent usage, significantly contributed to the measured fluxes. We upscaled measured emissions to the county level using a high resolution land cover data set and compared the results with EPA’s National Emission Inventory (NEI).     

Ecological scenarios analyzed and evaluated by a shallow lake model

We applied the complex ecosystem model EMMO, which was adopted to the shallow lake Müggelsee (Germany), in order to evaluate a large set of ecological scenarios. By means of EMMO, 33 scenarios and 17 indicators were defined to characterize their effects on the lake ecosystem. The indicators were based on model outputs of EMMO and can be separated into biological indicators, such as chlorophyll-a and cyanobacteria, and hydro-chemical indicators, such as phosphorus. The question to be solved was, what is the ranking of the scenarios based on their characterization by these 17 indicators? And how can we handle high quantities of complex data within evaluation procedures? The scenario evaluation was performed by partial order theory which, however, did not provide a clear result. By subsequently applying the hierarchical cluster analysis (complete linkage) it was possible to reduce the data matrix to indicator and scenario representatives. Even though this step implies losses of information, it simplifies the application of partial order theory and the post processing by METEOR. METEOR is derived from partial order theory and allows the stepwise aggregation of indicators, which subsequently leads to a distinct and clear decision. In the final evaluation result the best scenario was the one which defines a minimum nutrient input and no phosphorus release from the sediment while the worst scenario is characterized by a maximum nutrient input and extensive phosphorus release from the sediment. The reasonable and comprehensive results show that the combination of partial order, cluster analysis and METEOR can handle big amounts of data in a very clear and transparent way, and therefore is ideal in the context of complex ecosystem models, like that we applied.