Biological Degradation of Common Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in Soils with High Water Content

Biological degradation rates of six pharmaceuticals and personal care products were examined in soil from a land application site and in adjacent soil with no prior history of effluent exposure. Microbial degradation rates were compared over 2 weeks under standing water or saturated conditions and draining conditions after having been saturated for 3 days. Biological degradation of 17??-estradiol exhibited rapid rates of biological degradation under both saturated and draining conditions. Half-lives for 17??-estradiol ranged from 1.5 to 4 days; 66?C97% was lost from the soils. Estriol showed a pattern of biological degradation in both saturated and draining conditions though the half-lives were longer (8.7?C25.9 days) than those observed for 17??-estradiol. Twenty-eight percent to 73% of estriol was lost over the 14 days treatment period. Estrone and 17??-ethinylestradiol exhibited slower rates of biological transformation under saturated and draining conditions. Half-lives for estrone ranged between 27.5 and 56.8 days with loss of at most 21%. 17??-ethinylestradiol exhibited half-lives of 22.6?C207 days. Half-life data for ibuprofen ranged from 30.4 to 1,706.4 days in this experiment. Losses of up to 17% were observed in draining soils. Triclosan loss was at most 10%, and half-lives were 70.9?C398.8 days. In all cases, soils that were draining from saturated conditions exhibited faster degradation rates than soils that remained saturated. Prior exposure of the soil to effluent did not always result in higher biological degradation rates.     

Special features of humus acids extraction from soils by sodium pyrophosphate solutions of different alkalinity

The regularities of extracting humus acids from soils of different types with solutions of sodium pyrophosphate at the equilibrium pH values of 5–13 were studied. The increase in the humus acids yield from the soils with the increasing alkalinity of the solution applied is directly related to the capability of acid functional groups (carboxyl and phenol hydroxyl) for dissociation at definite pH values. The regularities of the changes in the chemical nature and degree of humification of humus acids extracted from the soils related to the pH of the solution were revealed. A sodium pyrophosphate solution (pH 10) was suggested for extracting the humus acids most active in the given soil.     

Identification and quantification of cyclolinopeptides in five flaxseed cultivars

Cyclolinopeptides are a group of naturally occurring hydrophobic cyclic peptides found in flaxseed and flax oil that have immunosuppressive activity. This study describes the measurement of flaxseed cyclolinopeptide concentrations using an internal standard HPLC method. In addition, the concentration of cyclolinopeptides in the seed of Canadian flax cultivars grown at two locations over two years is reported. The data are consistent with the formation of flaxseed cyclolinopeptides from two ribosome-derived precursors. Each precursor protein includes the sequences corresponding to three cyclolinopeptides from which those cyclolinopeptides are presumably derived by precursor processing. The concentrations of cyclolinopeptides C and E, which are encoded by the same gene sequence, are highly correlated, and the concentrations of cyclolinopeptides D, F, and G, which are encoded by a second gene sequence, are also highly correlated. The strong correlation between the cyclolinopeptides arising from the same gene may prove to be important in understanding how peptide concentration is controlled. Additional research may lead to approaches to improve flax either as a platform for peptide production or as a source of oil with improved drying properties and flavor.     

三峡库区土壤侵蚀经济损失估算

运用环境经济学的理论与方法,计算了三峡库区不同时空,不同土地利用结构下的土壤侵蚀经济损失,并分析了土壤侵蚀经济损失的动态变化规律及其与土地利用结构之间的关系。结果表明:1988,2000和2007年三峡库区土壤侵蚀经济损失总量分别为98.21,99.37和87.99亿元。其中养分经济损失最大,分别占当年库区土壤侵蚀总经济损失的87.44%,88.29%,88.02%。在不同土地利用方式中,耕地经济损失最大;单位面积经济损失以灌草地最大,林地最小。土壤侵蚀经济损失存在空间差异性,云阳县和开县的土壤侵蚀经济损失最大,长寿县最小;单位面积的经济损失以云阳县、武隆县和开县最大,这些区域也是今后土壤侵蚀的重点治理的区域,而夷陵区的单位面积经济损失最小。     

Interaction of silicon,iron, and manganese in rice (oryza sativa L.) rhizosphere at low ph in relation to rice growth

Rice (Oryza Sativa L.) nutrition is influenced by the interactions of (Iron) Fe, (Manganese) Mn, and (Silicon) Si in the rhizosphere. A greenhouse experiment was carried out with rice grown in four low‐pH soils (a granitic lateritic red earth, a paddy soil from the red earth, a basaltic latosol, and a paddy soil from the latosol). Rice was grown in pots with the roots confined in rhizobags and the rhizosphere soil and nonrhizosphere soil were analyzed separately for active Si, Fe, and Mn by Tamm's solution. Silicon and Mn concentrations were lower in the rhizosphere soil indicating a depletion which was higher for the basaltic soils and for the paddy soils. Iron concentrations were higher in the rhizosphere soil indicating an accumulation that was higher for granitic soils and for the upland soils. Plant growth response was due mostly to Mn with the basaltic soils supplying toxic amounts and the granitic soils being deficient. Iron accumulation in the rhizosphere caused lower plant uptake of Si, phosphorus (P), and calcium (Ca) and higher Fe and aluminum (Al) absorption leading to the conclusion that Fe deposition on plant roots and in rhizosphere may block the uptake of other nutrients.     

Seasonal dynamics of mineral nutrients and carbohydrates by walnut tree leaves

The dry weight accumulation per leaf as well as the concentration per gram of dry weight and the accumulation of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), and copper (Cu) were determined in walnut tree leaves (Juglans regia L.) during a complete life cycle. Additionally, the dynamics of plant nutrient concentration in leaf petiole sap and carbohydrate accumulation in leaves were studied in relation to the main life cycle events of the walnut tree. Total N, P, K, Cu, and Zn concentrations decreased, whereas that of Ca, Mg, and Mn increased during the season. Iron concentration fluctuated around a mean value. Total N, P, K, Mg, and Cu concentrations detected in younger mature leaves were at the sufficient level, whereas Ca, Fe, Mn, and Zn concentrations were at higher levels as compared to those previously reported. All the detected nutrient accumulations increased abruptly during leaf ontogeny and leaf maturation until a maximum level was attained in the younger mature leaves. Similarly, sucrose, glucose, and fructose accumulation were observed at the same period. The rates of total N, P, Cu, and Zn accumulation were lower than the rates of the observed dry matter accumulation and nutrient concentration dilution. Potassium and Mn accumulation rates were almost equal, whereas those for Ca and Mg were higher as compared to the dry matter accumulation rate. The fast embryo growing phase resulted in a considerable decrease in dry weight, total N, P, K, Cu, Zn, and carbohydrate accumulation, and to a lesser degree in Ca, Mg, and Mn accumulation. Nutrient accumulation reduction in leaves by the influence of the growing fruits were estimated to be: total N 52%, K 48%, P 29.5%, Mg 16.3%, Ca 15%, Fe 51.2%, Cu 55.2%, Zn 37.3%, and Mn 5.4% of the maximum nutrient value of the younger mature leaves. Old leaves preserved nutrients before leaf fall as follows: total N 25.4%, P 45%, K 31%, Ca 74.8%, Mg 76.5%, Mn 89.2%, Fe and Zn 50%, and Cu 37%. Nutrient remobilization from the senescing old leaves before leaf fall were: total N 22.6%, P 25.5%, K 21%, Ca 10.2%, Mg 7%, Fe 3.2%, Mn 5.4%, Cu 8%, and Zn 13.3% of the maximum value in the younger mature leaves. In early spring, the absorption rates of N, P, and Ca were low while those of Mg, Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn were high. During the fast growing pollen phase, the N, P, Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn concentrations were reduced. Calcium concentration is supposed to be more affected by the rate of transpiration rather than during the growing of embryo. Calcium and Mg concentrations in the sap were negatively correlated. The detected K concentration level in the sap was as high as 33 to 50 times that of soluble N, 12 to 21 times to that of P, 5 times to that of Ca, and 10 to 20 times to that of Mg. The first maximum of starch accumulation in mature leaves was observed during the slow growing embryo phase and a second one after fruit ripening. Old senescing leaves showed an extensive carbohydrate depletion before leaf fall.     

温室土壤食物网静态和动态结构特征

Soil food web structure is fundamental to ecosystem process and function; most studies on soil food web structure have focused on agro-ecosystems under different management practices and natural terrestrial ecosystems, but seldom on greenhouses. This study explored the static and temporal variability of soil food structure in two greenhouses of Shandong Province, North China over a two-year period. The static properties were measured directly by surveying functional group composition and a series of parameters portraying the species properties, link properties, chain properties and omnivory properties of the web, as well as indirectly through calculation of nematode indices, enrichment index （EI）, structure index （SI）, and channel index （CI）. The dynamic variability of greenhouse soil food structure was described by the dynamics of functional groups, Bray-Curtis （BC） similarity and cluster analysis. The results showed that the greenhouse soil food web contained 14 functional groups, with microbes having the highest mean biomass, followed by protozoa. Of the three functional groups of protozoa, flagellates were the dominant group on most sampling dates, amoebae only became the dominant group during the summer, while ciliates were the least prevalent group. All nematodes were assigned into one of the four functional groups, bacterivorous, fungivorous, herbivorous and omnivorous, and the fungivorous nematodes had the lowest mean biomass. Mites were assigned into three functional groups and the omnivorous noncryptostigmatic mites were the dominant group. All the functional groups showed significant seasonal changes. The soil food web connectance was 0.15, the maximum food chain length was 5, and the average food chain length was 3.6. The profiles of the EI and SI showed that the food web was resource- depleted with minimal structure. The results of CI indicated that the bacterial decomposition pathway was the dominant pathway in the food web of the greenhouse soils studied and the results of BC similarity showed that the soil food web had higher variability and instability over time. The cluster analysis showed that the functional groups located at high trophic levels with low biomass were in a cluster, whereas those at low trophic levels with high biomass were closer. Compared with the food web structure of agroecosystem and natural terrestrial ecosystem soils, the structure of greenhouse soil food web was simple and unstable, which was likely driven by high agricultural intensification, particularly over application of fertilizers.     

Drop size dependence of soil-water contact angle in relation to the droplet geometry and line tension

The soil-water contact angle is used as a measure of the surface hydrophobicity of soils. The contact angle for particular solid–liquid combination is considered to vary with the drop size. In this paper, we focused on examining the drop size dependence of contact angle on soil surfaces compared with homogeneous solid surfaces, and determining its relation to the droplet geometry and line tension. The contact angle estimated using geometric parameters of the droplets (θ _G) showed decreasing trend with increasing drop size from 5 to 50?µL irrespective of the deformations in the droplet shape in larger drops. This was considered to be a result of the corresponding deviations of the geometric parameters of the droplets. The directly measured contact angle (θ _A) first decreased and then increased with increasing drop size from 5 to 50?µL. The drop size at lowest θ _A for hydrophobized silica sand with 1?g?kg^–1 stearic acid (SA) and the acryl surfaces was 20?µL, whereas that for hydrophobized silica sand with 5?g?kg^–1 SA and siliconed paper was 30?µL. The decrease in θ _A with increasing drop size was explained as a result of the line tension effect using the modified Young's equation. Despite the surface heterogeneity, all the surfaces tested in this study showed positive line tensions on the order of 10?µJ?m^–1. Irrespective of the heterogeneity of the surfaces, the θ _A in this experiment agreed with the modified Young's equation for drop sizes up to about 20–30?µL, where the θ _A and θ _G were also in good agreement. Drop size dependence of contact angle was independent of the level of surface hydrophobicity. The θ _A on all the examined surfaces started to increase with increasing drop size when the deformation index, I _d, exceeded 5%, where the wetting radius, R exceeded the capillary length. The increase in θ _A with increasing drop size was attributed to the deformations of water drops due to the effect of gravity.     

铅锌尾矿中砷代谢功能基因的多样性

Microbial activities impact arsenic (As) transformation in mine tailings substantially,yet little is understood on the functional diversity of As metabolism genes.This study explored this issue using a metagenomic approach coupled by a local BLASTN procedure established in our recent studies.An assembled metagenome,recovered from hypersaline and sulfidic mine tailings,was screened for As metabolism genes aioA,arrA,arsC and arsM.This was done using a local BLASTN procedure against databases of the As metabolism genes built in this study.Putative As metabolism genes detected in the assembled metagenome included 11 arsM,20 arsC and 1 arrA full-length sequences.Together with the rRNA-based phylogenetic profiling results,a picture depicting microbial As cycling in the tailings to the genus level was obtained.It was found that most of the dominant genera in the tailings potentially harboured the genes for As reduction and/or methylation.In particular,a typical pyrite-eater present in the tailings,Thioalkalivibrio sp.,was found to harbour not only arsC and arsM,but also arrA.These results highlight the unexpected diversity of As metabolism genes in the tailings,especially considering the extremely low species diversity therein.The microbial As cycling picture established here has potential use for guiding the purposeful manipulation of As biogeochemistry in the tailings.     

甘肃西部地区土地与气候资源现状及农业可持续发展战略

甘肃西部地区的土地资源和气候资源十分丰富,对当地经济发展起着重要的作用,但是利用率极低,已经严重制约了该地区的农业和经济发展。因此,在甘肃西部地区合理利用土地资源和气候资源,对该地区农业的可持续发展具有战略意义。调查和研究表明,土地资源和气候资源的合理开发利用与农业可持续发展是相互促进,相辅相成的。为了合理利用甘肃西部地区土地资源和气候资源,促进该地区农业可持续发展,我们必须遵循自然规律,加强政府部门监督和合理开发并重的原则。