A climate-change vulnerability and adaptation assessment for Brazil's protected areas

Brazil hosts the largest expanse of tropical ecosystems within protected areas (PAs), which shelter biodiversity and support traditional human populations. We assessed the vulnerability to climate change of 993 terrestrial and coastal-marine Brazilian PAs by combining indicators of climatic-change hazard with indicators of PA resilience (size, native vegetation cover, and probability of climate-driven vegetation transition). This combination of indicators allows the identification of broad climate-change adaptation pathways. Seventeen PAs (20,611 km²) were highly vulnerable and located mainly in the Atlantic Forest (7 PAs), Cerrado (6), and the Amazon (4). Two hundred fifty-eight PAs (756,569 km²), located primarily in Amazonia, had a medium vulnerability. In the Amazon and western Cerrado, the projected severe climatic change and probability of climate-driven vegetation transition drove vulnerability up, despite the generally good conservation status of PAs. Over 80% of PAs of high or moderate vulnerability are managed by indigenous populations. Hence, besides the potential risks to biodiversity, the traditional knowledge and livelihoods of the people inhabiting these PAs may be threatened. In at least 870 PAs, primarily in the Atlantic Forest and Amazon, adaptation could happen with little or no intervention due to low climate-change hazard, high resilience status, or both. At least 20 PAs in the Atlantic Forest, Cerrado, and Amazonia should be targeted for stronger interventions (e.g., improvement of ecological connectivity), given their low resilience status. Despite being a first attempt to link vulnerability and adaptation in Brazilian PAs, we suggest that some of the PAs identified as highly or moderately vulnerable should be prioritized for testing potential adaptation strategies in the near future.     

Evidence of non-DDD pathway in the anaerobic degradation of DDT in tropical soil

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - DDT transformation to DDD in soil is the most commonly reported pathway under anaerobic conditions. A few instances of DDT conversion to products...     

Genetic Diversity of Lepilemur mustelinus ruficaudatus, a Nocturnal Lemur of Madagascar

The genetic polymorphism of natural populations of Lepilemur mustelinus ruficaudatus was studied by protein electrophoresis. We sampled blood from 72 individuals from four populations separated by geographic or anthropogenic barriers from southwestern Madagascar. Six out of 22 enzyme loci showed genetic variation with a degree of polymorphism of 0.273. The expected and observed degree of genetic heterozygosity over all loci is similar to that of other primates (H_e = 0.058, H_o = 0.036). The F-statistics revealed that the four subpopulations were similar with respect to gene structure (F_ST = 0.065, p = 0.016), but the genotypic structures within subpopulations were inconsistent with random mating. For the total of the four subpopulations the proportion of heterozygous individuals was significantly smaller than expected under random mating (F_IS = 0.373, F_IT = 0.414, p < 0.01). These results correspond closely to what is expected considering the low migration ability of individuals of L. m ruficaudatus leading to small and rather isolated inbred populations.     

Processes involved in uptake and release of nitrogen dioxide from soil and building stones into the atmosphere

Atmospheric NO₂ was taken up by samples of various soils and building stones. The NO₂ uptake rate constants were highest in soil samples taken during the summer months. However, the NO₂ uptake rate constants of the soils and building stones were not significantly correlated with any of the following variables: moisture, pH, ammonium, nitrite, or nitrate. NO₂ uptake by soil and stone was not abolished by autoclaving indicating a chemical uptake process. NO₂ uptake by acidic and air-dry soils and stones resulted in nearly stoichiometric reduction of NO₂ to NO. This reduction was enhanced by the addition of ferrous iron and was further enhanced by incubation under 1 ppmv SO₂. The results suggest that NO₂ reduction may be coupled to oxidation of ferrous to ferric iron which may be reduced again by atmospheric SO₂ thus regenerating the ferrous iron content of the soil or stone. Conversion of NO₂ to NO was not observed in neutral or/and moist soils and stones. NO₂ was also taken up by purified and sterilized quartz sand moistend with water. This uptake was enhanced by addition of humic material but not by addition of bacteria which both had been extracted from genuine soil. Under most conditions, only uptake but no release of NO₂ was observed. However, NO₂ was released in air-dry soils that were heated to 45–65°C, or in ammonium-fertilized soil or stone that was drying up at room temperature. Under the latter conditions mimicking field practice, the NO₂ release reached rates that were similar to the NO release rates.     

Wastewater disinfection by peracetic acid: assessment of models for tracking residual measurements and inactivation.

With its potential for low (if any) disinfection byproduct formation and easy retrofit for chlorine contactors, peracetic acid (PAA) or use of PAA in combination with other disinfectant technologies may be an attractive alternative to chlorine-based disinfection. Examples of systems that might benefit from use of PAA are water reuse schemes or plants discharging to sensitive receiving water bodies. Though PAA is in use in numerous wastewater treatment plants in Europe, its chemical kinetics, microbial inactivation rates, and mode of action against microorganisms are not thoroughly understood. This paper presents results from experimental studies of PAA demand, PAA decay, and microbial inactivation, with a complementary modeling analysis. Model results are used to evaluate techniques for measurement of PAA concentration and to develop hypotheses regarding the mode of action of PAA in bacterial inactivation. Kinetic and microbial inactivation rate data were collected for typical wastewaters and may be useful for engineers in evaluating whether to convert from chlorine to PAA disinfection.     

The evolution of sustainability

Six separate but related strains of thought have emerged prominently since 1950 in discussions of such phenomena as the interrelationships among rates of population growth, resource use, and pressure on the environment. They are the ecological/carrying capacity root, the resources/environment root, the biosphere root, the critique of technology root, the no growth/slow growth root, and the ecodevelopment root.Each of these strains of thought was fully developed before the word sustainable itself was used. Many of the roots are based on fundamentally opposing assessments of the future of mankind. Many of the roots, such as the ecology/carrying capacity root, are based on physical concepts, and they exclude normative values. Others, such as the ecodevelopment root, include such values as equity, broad participation in governance, and decentralized government.When the word sustainability was first used in 1972 in the context of man's future, in a British book,Blueprint for Survival, normative concepts were prominent. This continued to be the case when the word was first used in 1974 in the United States to justify a no growth economy.Sustainability was first used in a United Nations document in 1978. Normative concepts, encapsulated in the term ecodevelopment, were prominent in the United Nations publications.After about 1978, the term sustainability began to be used not only in technological articles and reports but also in policy documents culminating in the use of the term in the report of the summit meeting of the Group of Seven in 1989.The roots of the term sustainability are so deeply embedded in fundamentally different concepts, each of which has valid claims to validity, that a search for a single definition seems futile. The existence of multiple meaning is tolerable if each analyst describes clearly what he means by sustainability.     

蚯蚓对城镇污泥堆肥过程中微型动物群落演替的影响

采用实验对比和除趋势对应分析（DCA）等方法,以城镇污泥中的微型动物为对象,研究蚯蚓对堆肥过程微型动物群落演替的影响.结果表明,蚯蚓仅影响微型动物群落数量,对演替进程无明显影响.堆肥过程微型动物群落演替可分为3个阶段：第1阶段（0~10 d）,固着类纤毛虫为优势类群阶段,该阶段微型动物变化多受限于环境的改变,蚯蚓影响较小;第2阶段（10~30 d）,固着类纤毛虫和轮虫向肉足虫和线虫为优势类群的过渡阶段,该阶段蚯蚓对线虫数量有一定的限制;第3阶段（30 d后）,肉足虫和线虫为优势类群阶段,该阶段蚯蚓对有壳肉足虫的增长产生了明显的抑制作用.群落多样性指数结果显示,蚯蚓在第1和第2阶段作用不明显,在第3阶段增加了微型动物的多样性和均匀度,减小了优势物种的优势程度.对固着类纤毛虫的同化作用是蚯蚓稳定堆肥环境、促进有机质降解的重要因素.     

基于OMI数据的东南沿海大气臭氧浓度时空分布特征研究

基于臭氧监测仪(OMI)卫星反演数据,对2005—2018年东南沿海5省区域大气臭氧柱浓度数据进行提取及分析,探讨其时空分布格局及影响因素.结果表明:①在时间变化上,14年间,该区域大气臭氧柱浓度整体呈先上升后下降的趋势,2005—2013年臭氧柱浓度持续升高,最高值为324.52 DU,高值区不断向南部区域扩大;2013—2018年臭氧柱浓度呈下降趋势,最低值为228.27 DU,但在2017、2018年略有上升.②在空间分布上,臭氧柱浓度自北向南逐渐降低,高值区集中分布在江苏及浙江省北部;低值区集中于福建省南部及广东省大部分地区.③在季节变化上,大体呈现出春夏季高于秋冬季,高值区在春夏季交替出现,秋季略高于冬季,但差异不明显.④稳定性分析表明:研究区臭氧柱浓度整体呈现中部分散、南北部集聚、差异较显著的分布格局.⑤自然因素中,风向、气温均呈现显著正相关,江淮地区的梅雨季节(降水)及华南地区的台风和暴雨也起到显著作用.⑥人文因素中,臭氧柱浓度与地区生产总值、各产业生产总值及机动车保有量均表现出正相关,其中,臭氧柱浓度与第二产业的相关度最高.另外,臭氧柱浓度与NO_x排放量表现出显著相关性.VOC_s对臭氧柱浓度的影响中,工业源是主控因素,交通源和居民源次之,电厂源对臭氧柱浓度的影响最弱.这进一步说明臭氧浓度的变化受到了诸多因素的综合影响,但气温、NO_x及VOC_s的排放是臭氧浓度变化的主导因素.     

供水管网生物膜有机物的二氯乙腈与二氯乙酰胺生成特性

在饮用水输配系统中,来源于管壁生物膜的有机物可能耗氯并生成消毒副产物(DBPs),包括二氯乙腈(DCAN)与二氯乙酰胺(DCAcAm)等高毒性含氮DBPs(N-DBPs).研究考察管网常见的细菌与其胞外聚合物(EPS)以及模拟管壁生物膜氯化与氯胺化后DCAN与DCAcAm的生成,并与天然有机物(NOM)和水源水有机物进行比较.结果显示,铜绿假单胞菌、恶臭假单胞菌与藤黄微球菌与氯反应生成的DCAN、DCAcAm浓度分别为1.48～2.02、0.21～0.38μg·mg~(-1)(mg~(-1)以TOC计),高于同反应条件下NOM的生成量;相比于氯化反应,3株细菌细胞氯胺化生成的DCAN与DCAcAm浓度明显更低.3株菌的EPS也是氯与氯胺化反应生成DCAN与DCAcAm的前体物,且其氯胺化反应生成的DCAcAm浓度高于氯化反应生成的.与NOM、水源水相比,模拟管壁生物膜氯化后生成的N-DBPs与三氯甲烷(TCM)浓度比更高,表明生物膜有机物比NOM与水源水有机物更倾向生成DCAN与DCAcAm类N-DBPs,且模拟管壁生物膜氯胺化的DCAcAm生成量高于氯化反应的,说明管壁生物膜有机物是供水管网系统中DCAN与DCAcAm类N-DBPs的重要前体物.