The emergence of rock outcrops is very common in terrestrial ecosystems. However, few studies have paid attention to their hydrological role in the redistribution of precipitation, especially in karst ecosystems, in which a large proportion of the surface is occupied by carbonate outcrops. We collected and measured water received by outcrops and its subsequent export to the soil in a rock desertification ecosystem, an anthropogenic forest ecosystem, and a secondary forest ecosystem in Shilin, China. The results indicated that outcrops received a large amount of water and delivered nearly half of it to nearby soil patches by means of runoff. No significant difference was found in the ratio of water received to that exported to the soil by outcrops among the three ecosystems annually. When the outcrop area reaches 70 % of the ground surface, the amount of water received by soil patches from rock runoff will equal that received by precipitation, which means that the soil is exposed to twice as much precipitation. This quantity of water can increase water input to nearby soil patches and create water content heterogeneity among areas with differing rock emergence.

Phytoextraction of Cd is a growing biotechnology although we currently know few Cd hyperaccumulators, i.e., plant species able to accumulate at least 0.1 mg Cd g⁻¹ dry weight in aerial organs. Owing their deep root system and high biomass, trees are more and more preferred to herbaceous species for phytoextraction. Assuming that conifers could be relevant models under cold climates, we investigated cadmium tolerance of the hybrid larch Larix × eurolepis Henry (Larix decidua × Larix kaempferi) and the efficiency of this species to store this metal. In vitro grown larches were chosen in order to reduce time of exposure and to more rapidly evaluate their potential efficiency to accumulate Cd. One-month-old plantlets were exposed for 2 and 4 weeks to 250 and 500 μM Cd. Results showed that they tolerated a 4-week exposure to 250 μM Cd, whereas the content of photosynthetic pigment strongly dropped in plantlets growing in the presence of 500 μM Cd. In the presence of 250 μM Cd, shoot growth slightly decreased but photosynthetic pigment and total soluble carbohydrate contents were not modified and no lipid peroxidation was detected. In addition, these plantlets accumulated proline, particularly in shoots (two to three times more than control). In roots, Cd concentration in the intracellular fraction was always higher than in the cell wall fraction contrary to shoots where Cd concentration in the cell wall fraction increased with time and Cd concentration in the medium. In shoots, Cd concentration was lower than in roots with a ratio of 0.2 after 4 weeks of exposure but stayed around 0.2 mg g⁻¹ dry weight, thus a value higher than the threshold requested for Cd hyperaccumulators. Hybrid larch would thus be a relevant candidate for field test of Cd phytoextraction.

Heavy metal contamination of soils has been a long-standing environmental problem in many parts of the world, and poses enormous threats to ecosystem and human health. Speciation of heavy metals in soils is crucial to assessing environmental risks from contaminated soils. In this study, total concentrations and speciation of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn were measured for agricultural soils near mines along the Diaojiang River in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomy Region, China. The sources of heavy metals in soils also were identified to assess their effect on speciation distribution of soil heavy metals. Furthermore, the speciation distribution of Cd and Zn, main soil heavy metal pollutants, in dry land and paddy soils were compared. Results showed that there were two severely polluted regions near mine area reaching alarming pollution level. As, Cd, Pb, and Zn were more affected by mining activities, showing very strong pollution level in soils. The mean percentage of exchangeable and carbonate fraction was highest and up to 46.8 % for Cd, indicating a high environmental risk. Greater bioavailable fractions of As, Cd, Cu, Mn, Pb, and Zn were found in soils heavily polluted by mining activities, whereas Cr and Ni as geogenic elements in the stable residual fraction. In addition, in the dry land soils, reducible fraction proportion of Cd was higher than that in the paddy soils, whereas exchangeable and carbonate fraction of Cd was lower than that in the paddy soils. Oxidizable fraction of Zn was higher in the paddy soils than that in the dry land soils. The results indicate that the sources of soil heavy metals and land types affect heavy metal speciation in the soil and are significant for environmental risk assessment of soil heavy metal pollutions.

Urban lakes in China have suffered from severe eutrophication over the past several years, particularly those with relatively small areas and closed watersheds. Many efforts have been made to improve the understanding of eutrophication physiology with advanced mathematical models. However, several eutrophication models ignore zooplankton behavior and treat zooplankton as particles, which lead to the systematic errors. In this study, an eutrophication model was enhanced with a stoichiometric zooplankton growth sub-model that simulated the zooplankton predation process and the interplay among nitrogen, phosphorus, and oxygen cycles. A case study in which the Bayesian method was used to calibrate the enhanced eutrophication model parameters and to calculate the model simulation results was carried out in an urban lake in Tianjin, China. Finally, a water quality assessment was also conducted for eutrophication management. Our result suggests that (1) integration of the Bayesian method and the enhanced eutrophication model with a zooplankton feeding behavior sub-model can effectively depict the change in water quality and (2) the nutrients resulting from rainwater runoff laid the foundation for phytoplankton bloom.

Rapid start-up of biofilter is essential for intensive marine recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) production. This study evaluated the nitrifying biofilm formation using mature biofilm as an inoculum to accelerate the process in RAS practice. The effects of inoculation ratios (0–15 %) on the reactor performance and biofilm structure were investigated. Complete nitrification was achieved rapidly in reactors with inoculated mature biofilm (even in 32 days when 15 % seeding ratio was applied). However, the growth of target biofilm on blank carrier was affected by the mature biofilm inoculated through substrate competition. The analysis of extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) and nitrification rates confirmed the divergence of biofilm cultivation among reactors. Besides, three N-acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs) were found in the process, which might regulate the activities of biofilm. Multivariate analysis based on non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) also indicated the great roles of AHLs and substrate supply which might fundamentally determine varied cultivation performance on target biofilm.

Study on the mechanism of coal spontaneous combustion is significant for controlling fire disasters due to coal spontaneous combustion. The free radical reactions can explain the chemical process of coal at low-temperature oxidation. Electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy was used to measure the change rules of the different sorts and different granularity of coal directly; ESR spectroscopy chart of free radicals following the changes of temperatures was compared by the coal samples applying air and blowing nitrogen, original coal samples, dry coal samples, and demineralized coal samples. The fragmentation process was the key factor of producing and initiating free radical reactions. Oxygen, moisture, and mineral accelerated the free radical reactions. Combination of the free radical reaction mechanism, the mechanical fragmentation leaded to the elevated CO concentration, fracturing of coal pillar was more prone to spontaneous combustion, and spontaneous combustion in goaf accounted for a large proportion of the fire in the mine were explained. The method of added diphenylamine can inhibit the self-oxidation of coal effectively, the action mechanism of diphenylamine was analyzed by free radical chain reaction, and this research can offer new method for the development of new flame retardant.

Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were studied to determine occurrence, levels and spatial distribution in the marine atmosphere and surface seawater during cruises in the German Bight and the wider North Sea in spring and summer 2009–2010. In general, the concentrations found in air are similar to, or below, the levels at coastal or near-coastal sites in Europe. Hexachlorobenzene and α-hexachlorocyclohexane (α-HCH) were close to phase equilibrium, whereas net atmospheric deposition was observed for γ-HCH. The results suggest that declining trends of HCH in seawater have been continuing for γ-HCH but have somewhat levelled off for α-HCH. Dieldrin displayed a close to phase equilibrium in nearly all the sampling sites, except in the central southwestern part of the North Sea. Here atmospheric deposition dominates the air-sea exchange. This region, close to the English coast, showed remarkably increased surface seawater concentrations. This observation depended neither on riverine input nor on the elevated abundances of dieldrin in the air masses of central England. A net depositional flux of p,p′-DDE into the North Sea was indicated by both its abundance in the marine atmosphere and the changes in metabolite pattern observed in the surface water from the coast towards the open sea. The long-term trends show that the atmospheric concentrations of DDT and its metabolites are not declining. Riverine input is a major source of PCBs in the German Bight and the wider North Sea. Atmospheric deposition of the lower molecular weight PCBs (PCB28 and PCB52) was indicated as a major source for surface seawater pollution.

Sediments are the ultimate sink for many toxic organic contaminants released into aquatic environment. The present study evaluated the toxicity effect of 13 surface sediment samples from Huangpu River and Suzhou River, East China using two-hybrid yeast bioassays for estrogenic and thyroidal effects and H4IIE rat hepatoma cell bioassay for ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD) activity. Toxicity was expressed as 17β-estradiol equivalent (E₂-EQ), 3,3′,5-triiodothyronine equivalent (T₃-EQ), and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) equivalent (TEQ). At the same time, the causality between the observed EROD activity and concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was examined. The results showed that the total estrogenic effects in sediments ranged from 0.06 to 1.21 μg E₂-EQ kg⁻¹ dᵣy wₑᵢgₕₜ ₍dw₎, the thyroidal effects ranged from 4.68 to 69.9 μg T₃-EQ kg⁻¹ dw, and significantly positive correlations were found between lgT₃-EQs and lgE₂-EQs. The AhR agonist effects varied from 26.5 to 148.3 ng TEQ kg⁻¹ dw. Chemical analysis-derived TEQs contributed by PAHs ranged from 13.8 to 66.0 ng kg⁻¹ dw accounting for 27.2–109.9 % with mean of 48.9 % of TEQbᵢₒ, indicating that PAHs made important contributions to the EROD effects of sediment extracts from the two rivers. The present study would provide meaningful information for further analysis and risk evaluation for organic pollutants in Huangpu River and Suzhou River.

The removal of Cu²⁺, Ni²⁺, and Zn²⁺ ions from their multi-component aqueous mixture by sorption on activated carbon prepared from date stones was investigated. In the batch tests, experimental parameters were studied, including solution pH, contact time, initial metal ions concentration, and temperature. Adsorption efficiency of the heavy metals was pH-dependent and the maximum adsorption was found to occur at around 5.5 for Cu, Zn, and Ni. The maximum sorption capacities calculated by applying the Langmuir isotherm were 18.68 mg/g for Cu, 16.12 mg/g for Ni, and 12.19 mg/g for Zn. The competitive adsorption studies showed that the adsorption affinity order of the three heavy metals was Cu²⁺ > Ni²⁺ > Zn²⁺. The test results using real wastewater indicated that the prepared activated carbon could be used as a cheap adsorbent for the removal of heavy metals in aqueous solutions.

Based on the data analysis of the water environmental quality and economic development from 2002 to 2012 in the Nansi Lake basin, the correlation and change between the water environmental quality and economic development were studied. Results showed that the GDP and wastewater emissions of point source in the Nansi Lake basin had an average annual growth of 7.30 and 7.68 %, respectively, from 2002 to 2012. The emissions of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia nitrogen (NH₃-N) had the average annual decrease of 7.69 and 6.79 % in 2012, respectively, compared to 2002. Basin water quality overall improved, reaching the Class III of the “Environmental quality standards for surface water (GB3838-2002),” in which the main reason was that sewage treatment rate increased gradually and was above 90 % in 2012 (an increase of 10 % compared to 2002) with the progress of pollution abatement technology and the implementation of relevant policies and regulations. The contribution of water environmental pollution was analyzed from related cities (Ji’ning, Zaozhuang, Heze). Results indicated that Ji’ning had the largest contribution to water pollution of the Nansi Lake basin, and the pollutant from domestic sources accounted for a higher percentage compared to industrial sources. The wastewater, COD, and NH₃-N mainly came from mining and washing of coal, manufacture of raw chemical materials and chemical products, papermaking industry, and food processing industry. According to the water pollution characteristics of the Nansi Lake basin, the basin pollution treatment strategy and prevention and treatment system were dissected to provide a scientific basis for prevention and control of lakeside point source pollution along the Nansi Lake.