DOM纳滤膜污染及对膜截留卡马西平性能的影响

研究了天然原水中溶解性有机物(DOM)对HL和ESNA1-K两种纳滤膜造成的膜污染及其对膜截留卡马西平(CBZ)性能的影响.结果表明,DOM的存在造成了严重的膜污染和通量衰减.膜污染对CBZ截留率的影响与膜本身的特性和污染物特性有关,DOM通过在膜表面形成污染滤饼层和进入膜孔内部造成的膜孔堵塞,影响弱疏水性的CBZ从水中的分离,青草沙水库原水中的DOM引起的膜污染提高了两种纳滤膜对CBZ的截留效果,而太湖DOM造成的膜污染会降低CBZ的截留效果.研究还发现,中等相对分子质量(1 500~10 000)有机物会紧密地黏附在膜表面形成滤饼层,从而改变膜表面的疏水性能,小分子主要通过进入膜孔导致膜孔径堵塞.滤饼层的疏水性和浓差极化作用以及膜孔径的堵塞造成膜通量衰减并影响CBZ去除率.应用XDLVO理论对DOM造成的膜污染的分析结果表明,太湖DOM的疏水性明显强于青草沙DOM,其分子间的聚合自由能更负,与膜的黏附自由能更负,因而造成的膜污染和通量衰减更严重.     

荷电超滤膜对天然有机物去除及膜污染行为的影响

以Aldrich 腐殖酸溶液为水样,研究比较了溶液环境(pH值、离子强度和钙离子)对荷电改性再生纤维素超滤膜和传统中性未改性再生纤维素超滤膜过滤过程的影响.结果表明, ①pH值主要通过质子化作用影响荷电膜以及腐殖酸分子的荷电量,进而影响荷电超滤过程.溶液pH值从7.5下降到3.5时,荷电超滤膜对腐殖酸的截留率从92%减少到79%,超滤4 h时,膜通量下降从26%增加到36%.②离子强度的改变是通过影响腐殖酸分子的物化性质和静电屏蔽作用来影响超滤过程的.当溶液离子强度为0、 3和100 mmol/L时,初始截留率依次降低,分别为92%、 87%和48%,超滤4 h时,荷电超滤膜的通量下降依次增加,分别为26%、 35%和63%.③Ca2+浓度的影响,需要综合考虑静电屏蔽作用、Ca2+的架桥作用以及滤饼层的压实性等各方面的影响.④pH值、离子强度和钙离子对中性超滤膜过滤行为的影响趋势与荷电超滤膜相似,但其影响程度有着较大的差别.研究结果对荷电超滤膜技术在实际应用中选择合适环境条件提供了参考.     

Radionuclide transfer to animal products: revised recommended transfer coefficient values

A compilation has been undertaken of data which can be used to derive animal product transfer coefficients for radionuclides, including an extensive review of Russian language information. The resultant database has been used to provide recommended transfer coefficient values for a range of radionuclides to (i) cow, sheep and goat milk, (ii) meat (muscle) of cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry and (iii) eggs. The values are used in a new IAEA handbook on transfer parameters which replaces that referred to as ‘TRS 364’. The paper outlines the approaches and procedures used to identify and collate data, and assumptions used. There are notable differences between the TRS 364 ‘expected’ values and the recommended values in the revised Handbook from the new database. Of the recommended values, three milk values are at least an order of magnitude higher than the TRS 364 values (Cr, Pu (cow) Pu (sheep)) and one milk value is lower (Ni (cow)). For meat, four values (Am, Cd, Sb (beef) I (pork)) are at least an order of magnitude higher than the TRS 364 values and eight values are at least an order of magnitude lower (Ru, Pu (beef), Ru, Sr, Zn (sheep), Ru, Sr (pork), Mn (poultry)). Many data gaps remain.     

Recovery of gold by chicken egg shell membrane-conjugated chitosan beads

We have successfully prepared a bead-type adsorbent from two materials with different adsorption characteristics. Heavy metals were removed by greatly swollen egg shell membrane-conjugated chitosan beads. The egg shell membrane accumulated and removed precious metal ions from a dilute aqueous solution with a high affinity in a short contact time. Experiments suggested that chitosan beads could take up gold ions with great capacity and selectivity by conjugation with egg shell membrane. Under certain conditions, the selective removal of gold and copper in a mixture of gold and copper ions by egg shell membrane-conjugated chitosan beads was 100% and 2%, respectively. Egg shell membrane-conjugated chitosan beads can be seen as a promising material to recover gold in wastewater from various industries, such as electroplating.     

EGG PRODUCTION AND HATCHING SUCCESS IN NORTH ADRIATIC SEA POPULATIONS OF THE COPEPOD Acartia clausi

Egg production, fecal pellet production and hatching success are reported for Acartia clausi females sampled during three cruises in February 1997, 1998 and June 1997 at 20-24 stations along 4 transects in the North Adriatic Sea. Dramatically low hatching rates were recorded during both diatom bloom events in February as opposed to much higher rates during post-bloom conditions in June, even though A. clausi productivity during the bloom was apparently high. These results are discussed in the light of recent findings on the negative impact of diatoms on copepod reproductive potential.     

Prelaying maternal condition modifies the association between egg mass and T cell-mediated immunity in kestrels

Theoretical models of parental care predict differential allocation in relation to the expected fitness of the offspring. As birds must allocate all the resources required for embryonic development in self-contained packages, maternal egg allocation takes a central role in avian life histories. It is predicted that mothers can influence offspring performance by varying the size or composition of their eggs. In this context, T cell-mediated immune response has been revealed as a valuable tool to evaluate fledgling fitness. However, little is known about its relationships to egg mass. I describe a negative association between egg mass and cellular immune response in Eurasian kestrel nestlings (Falco tinnunculus) throughout 3 years. To explore how environmental conditions could mediate this relationship, I experimentally supplied food to females before egg formation in the third study year. I found that this relationship turned to positive in food-supplied females without any effect on egg size. This result shows that environmental conditions before egg formation mediate the relationship between egg mass and future immune response of the nestlings. I suggest that females may be constrained in improving the future immune response of their offspring due to resource allocation trade-offs determined by their pre-laying condition.     

Parental effects on carotenoid-based plumage coloration in nestling great tits, Parus major

Carotenoid pigments have attracted much interest in behavioural and evolutionary ecology because of their dual function in immune physiology and as color signals. In vertebrates, carotenoids must ultimately be obtained from the diet, and the mechanisms and magnitude of this environmental dependence are central for understanding carotenoid signal functions and evolution. In the present cross-fostering experiment with great tits Parus major, we investigate pre- and postnatal parental effects (egg yolk carotenoids, parental coloration) on nestling size and carotenoid coloration, using HPLC analysis of egg yolk carotenoids, and a reflectance-based measure of ‘chroma’ that reflects the plumage pigment concentration. Both rearing environment and origin influenced offspring size and plumage chroma. Maternal allocation of carotenoids to eggs had a weak positive effect on nestling plumage chroma, whereas we found no prenatal maternal effects (egg size or yolk carotenoid concentration) on size. Nestling plumage chroma was also significantly predicted by the chroma of the rearing father, but not by the color of the rearing mother or either of the original (genetical) parents. Thus, both prenatal maternal effects and postnatal paternal effects influence the carotenoid-based plumage coloration of nestling great tits. Future studies will reveal if parental effects have long-term consequences for plumage development and associated fitness components.     

The predatory mite Phytoseiulus persimilis manipulates imprinting among offspring through egg placement

A crucial question with respect to imprinting is how animals ensure that kin imprint on kin but not on non-kin. Imprinting takes place in a sensitive ontogenetic phase, usually in an early period of life or when offspring are produced, at which time the recipient imprints on the first referents met. In the predatory mite Phytoseiulus persimilis, imprinting among immature individuals happens in the larval stage immediately after hatching. I tested the hypothesis that adult P. persimilis females manipulate offspring imprinting by influencing the likelihood of encounters among recipients and referents via egg placement and egg aggregation. I conducted two experiments, one of which addressed imprinting and cannibalism, and the other addressed egg placement and egg aggregation. The imprinting experiment suggests that larvae imprint on any conspecific individual met in a sensitive ontogenetic phase and later on treat this individual as kin, irrespective of relatedness. After molting to protonymphs, imprinted individuals preferentially cannibalized unfamiliar to familiar larvae. Irrespective of familiarity, kin were cannibalized earlier than non-kin, suggesting the involvement of self-referent phenotype matching. The egg-placement experiment provides evidence that females adjust the aggregation level of their own eggs according to the degree of relatedness to present eggs from a previously ovipositing female. Both experiments in concert suggest that egg placement is a maternal strategy influencing imprinting among immature individuals. Apart from avoiding kin cannibalism, egg placement and imprinting by larvae may have relevance to other behaviors influenced by kin recognition, such as mate choice, prey-patch choice and dispersal.Communicated by L. Simmons     

Preferential incubation positions for different sized eggs and their influence on incubation period and hatching asynchrony in Snares crested (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Eudyptes robustus</Emphasis>) and yellow-eyed penguins (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Megadyptes antipodes</Emphasis>)

In crested penguins (Eudyptes spp.), second-laid eggs typically hatch before first eggs. Amongst a variety of factors that have been considered as mechanisms underlying this reversal, has been the idea that crested penguins can adjust the degree of hatching asynchrony by manipulating egg positions (i.e. placing the smaller first egg in the supposedly thermally disadvantaged anterior position) during incubation (termed Preferential Incubation Hypothesis). We tested this in the Snares crested penguin (Eudyptes robustus) and the closely related, but synchronously-hatching, yellow-eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes). Snares crested penguins were more likely to place their first eggs, which are smaller than second eggs, in the anterior incubation position than were yellow-eyed penguins, which have a clutch of two similar-sized eggs. But when yellow-eyed penguins, a non-brood reducing species, were provided with an artificial size-dimorphic clutch, they also placed smaller eggs more frequently in the anterior position, suggesting that a general preference exists among penguins to place smaller eggs in the anterior position. Egg temperatures of small first eggs of Snares crested penguins were higher in the anterior than in the posterior position. Large first eggs in lesser size-dimorphic clutches experienced high temperature differences in relation to position, while small first eggs in greater size-dimorphic clutches were incubated at similar temperatures. In yellow-eyed penguins, large eggs within clutches generally had higher egg temperatures than small eggs. Incubation periods of second eggs declined with increasing egg size. Egg-size variation, rather than egg positioning behaviour, influenced hatching patterns in Snares crested penguins. In lesser size-dimorphic clutches, second eggs were more likely to hatch first while in greater size-dimorphic clutches, small first eggs were more likely to hatch at the same time or before the second eggs. This was similar in yellow-eyed penguins, where second eggs hatched earlier in clutches with large first eggs. Our data contradicts the Preferential Incubation Hypothesis and we conclude that this hypothesis is unlikely to explain the reversed hatching asynchrony in crested penguins.Communicated by C. Brown     

Nutritional benefits of filial cannibalism in three-spined sticklebacks (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Gasterosteus aculeatus</Emphasis>)

Although filial cannibalism (eating one’s own offspring) occurs in numerous species, including several teleost fishes, its adaptive value is still not well understood. One often-discussed explanation is that individuals enhance their mass and body condition by consuming part of their eggs. However, evidence for this assumption is scarce thus far. In this study, male three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus), a species with paternal care, were allowed to care for a batch of eggs or for an empty nest under food-deprived conditions. All brood-caring males cannibalised at least part of their eggs and thus preserved their initial mass and body condition. Furthermore, mass as well as body condition was significant positively correlated with the number of cannibalised eggs. In contrast, empty-nest males that had no possibility to cannibalise eggs significantly lost mass and body condition. This is, to our knowledge, the first experimentally documented evidence that mass as well as body condition were preserved by filial cannibalism.