Increased winter-spring precipitation from the last glaciation to the Holocene inferred from a δ~(13)C_(org) record from Yili Basin(Xinjiang,NW China)

The nature and dynamics of climate change in central Asia since the late Pleistocene are controversial. Moreover,most of the published studies focus mainly on the evolution of moisture conditions, and there have been few attempts to address changes in seasonality. In this study, records of δ¹³C_org, TOC, TN, C/N and grain size were obtained from lacustrine sediments at Yili Basin, Xinjiang, NW China. Our aim was to reconstruct the trend in seasonality of precipitation from the last glaciation to the Holocene. The organic matter content of the sediments is derived predominantly from terrestrial plants. The δ¹³C_orgvalues vary from-19.4‰ to-24.8‰, indicating that the vegetation was dominated by C_3 plants. Winter-spring precipitation is identified as the factor determining the relative proportions of C_3 and C_4 plants in the region. A negative trend in δ¹³C_orgcorresponding to an increase in the relative abundance of C_3 plants indicate a trend of increasing winter-spring precipitation from the last glaciation to the Holocene. The increased incidence of wintertime storms in the interior of Asia is suggested to result in the increase of winterspring precipitation in the Holocene.     

金沙江流域水库消落带优势植物生态位及种间关系

近年来水库消落带植被恢复愈发引起关注,消落带植被在固岸护坡、水土保持和截污过滤等方面发挥着重要作用。然而金沙江流域作为我国最大的水电基地,由于地处偏远,现有研究较少,因而对其水库消落带适生植物及其种间关系尚未明确。通过结合生态位理论和种间关系分析方法,包括生态位测定、方差比率法、χ²检验、联结强度系数AC、种间关联指数OI、Pearson相关检验和Spearman秩相关检验等,揭示金沙江水库消落带优势植物的生态适应性、种间内在联系以及群落演替现状,并在此基础上,将优势植物划分了3种生态种组,为本区域消落带适生植物的筛选及其科学配置提供参考。结果表明：1)金沙江流域水库消落带共记录植物19科36属37种,频度≥20%的优势物种为狗牙根(Cynodon dactylon)、酸模叶蓼(Polygonum lapathifolium)、钻叶紫菀(Symphyotrichum subulatum)、牛筋草(Eleusine indica)、莲子草(Alternanthera sessilis)、苘麻(Abutilon theophrasti)、土荆芥(Chenopodium...     

深海多金属硫化物开采作业安全与环境影响分析及对策研究

随着各国对深海多金属硫化物勘探与开发的步伐逐渐加快,为确保并指导承包者在区域内开采多金属硫化物作业安全且符合保护环境规定,首先论述开采深海多金属硫化物的工艺技术,以此为基础结合加拿大鹦鹉螺和美国海王星矿业公司试采多金属硫化物案例,分析其作业过程所涉及的硫矿泄漏、结构失效、机械伤害、火灾爆炸等安全问题和破坏海底动植物群及其栖息地、排放采矿废水尾矿等环境影响,最后就作业安全与环境影响问题分别给出了针对性的对策与建议,可为工程实践提供参考。     

荧蒽与铜对三角褐指藻的单一和联合毒性

在实验室条件下研究了多环芳烃荧蒽和铜对三角褐指藻的单一和联合毒性。结果表明:在本实验所测试的浓度范围内,荧蒽(0~0.315μg/mL)和铜(0~1.262μg/mL)分别对该藻的生长产生了一定的影响,且都呈现较好的剂量-效应关系;其中当荧蒽浓度升高至0.079μg/mL或铜离子浓度升至0.317μg/mL时,开始明显抑制藻种群的增殖。经回归分析求得荧蒽和铜对三角褐指藻的72hEC50分别为(0.103±0.009)μg/mL和(0.531±0.037)μg/mL。在联合毒性实验中,定义0.5×EC50(荧蒽) 0.5×EC50(铜)=1个毒性单位(TU)。荧蒽和铜混合后,对三角褐指藻的72hEC50为(1.093±0.085)TU,其联合毒性效应方式表现为拮抗作用。     

Palaeolimnological evidence for submerged plant loss in a floodplain lake associated with accelerated catchment soil erosion (Murray River,Australia)

Shallow lakes have been described as existing in two alternative equilibrium states, dominated by either submerged plants or phytoplankton. Causes of, often catastrophic, shifts between these states have been widely debated but may often result from displacement of the dominant community by stochastic influence. In Australian cut-off river meanders (also known as ‘billabongs’), anecdotal and palaeolimnological evidence suggests widespread loss of aquatic macrophytes since European occupation of the region c. post-1800. Our detailed and high-resolution stratigraphic study of a sediment core from Hogan’s Billabong (Murray River, Australia) seeks to identify the causes of the loss of aquatic macrophytes. Little direct evidence of the past extent and composition of submerged macrophyte communities was recovered. Nevertheless, results derived from other sediment proxies, including declines in the abundance of epiphytic diatoms and in plant-associated invertebrates, provide further indirect evidence of macrophyte disappearance. Despite limitations with radiometric dating, the sequence of events in the derived record suggests that a period of high abiotic turbidity, leading to a critical reduction in water transparency and caused by widespread erosion during the late 19th century, is the most likely factor contributing to loss of submerged vegetation from this billabong.     

Are women reservoirs of traditional plant knowledge? Gender,ethnobotany and globalization in northeast Brazil

This study examines the degree to which knowledge of traditional plant medicine is gendered among communities settled near Chapada Diamantina National Park in eastern Bahia state, northeast Brazil. Employing a quantitative analysis of a sample plant pharmacopoeia, I focus on the relationship between gender, age and the socioeconomic impacts of globalization in this tropical region. Results indicate that women are more familiar with both the field identities and the medicinal values of the local flora than are men. This division is pronounced among older participants (30–80 years) who represent a reservoir of medicinal plant knowledge that is in danger of disappearing. I suggest that this heightened understanding among women is due to historical gender divisions of space and labour; the inherently high potential for medicinal plant identification and collection in anthropogenic habitats; and the role of women as primary healthcare givers for the family.     

Reconstructing the response of C3 and C4 plants to decadal-scale climate change during the late Pleistocene in southern Illinois using isotopic analyses of calcified rootlets

The δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O values of well-preserved carbonate rhizoliths (CRs) provide detailed insights into changes in the abundance of C₃ and C₄ plants in response to approximately decadal-scale changes in growing-season climate. We performed stable isotope analyses on 35-40 CRs sampled at 1-cm intervals from an 18-cm-thick paleosol formed in southern Illinois during Wisconsin interstadial 2. Minimum δ¹³C values show little variation with depth, whereas maximum values vary dramatically, and average values show noticeable variability; maximum δ¹⁸O values vary less than the minimum δ¹⁸O values. These findings indicate that a diverse and stable C₃ flora with a limited number of C₄ grass species prevailed during this interval, and suggest that the maximum growing-season temperatures were relatively stable, but minimum growing-season temperatures varied considerably. Two general patterns characterize the relationships between the δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O values obtained from the 1-cm samples. In some cases, low δ¹³C values correspond to low δ¹⁸O values and high δ¹³C values correspond to high δ¹⁸O values, suggesting that cooler growing-season temperatures favored C₃ and warmer growing-season temperatures favored C₄ plants. In other cases, low δ¹³C values correspond to high δ¹⁸O values, likely suggesting that wetter growing-season conditions were favorable to C₃ plants. The high density of well-preserved CRs in this paleosol provides a unique opportunity to study detailed ecological responses to high-resolution variability in growing-season climate.     

The variations of stable carbon isotope ratio of land plant-derived n-alkanes in deep-sea sediments from the Bering Sea and the North Pacific Ocean during the last 250,000 years

Two piston cores, one located far from the continents (The North Pacific Ocean: ES core), and another located comparatively closer to the continents (The Bering Sea: BOW-8a core) were investigated to reconstruct environmental changes on source land areas. The results show significant contribution of terrestrial organic matter to sediments in both cores. The δ¹³C values of n-C₂₇, n-C₂₉, and n-C₃₁ alkanes in sediments from the North Pacific ES core show significant glacial to interglacial variation whereas those from the Bering Sea core do not. Variations of δ¹³C values of land plant n-alkanes are related to the environmental or vegetational changes in the source land areas. Environmental changes, especially, aridity, rainfall, and pCO₂ during glacial/interglacial transitional periods can affect vegetation, and therefore C₃ / C₄ plant ratios, resulting in δ¹³C changes in the preserved land plant biomarkers. Maximum values of δ¹³C as well as maximum average chain length values of long chain n-alkanes in the ES core occur mostly at the interglacial to glacial transition zones reflecting a time lag related to incorporation of living organic matter into soil and transportation into ocean basins via wind and/or ability of C₄ plants to adapt for a longer period before being replaced by C₃ plants when subjected to gradual climatic changes. Irregular variations with no clear glacial to interglacial trends in the BOW-8a core may result from complex mixture of aerosols from westerly winds and riverine organic matter from the Bering Sea catchments. In addition, terrestrial organic matter entering the Bering Sea could originate from multiple pathways including eolian, riverine, and ice rafted debris, and possibly be disturbed by turbidity and other local currents which can induce re-suspension and re-sedimentation causing an obliterated time relation in the Bering Sea biomarker records.