Development-Conservation Dilemma in the NilgiriMountains of South India

The Nilgiri Mountains of south India is considered unique by anthropologists, geologists, climatologists, botanists as well as tourists. It has remained a subject of constant study and research over the last two centuries. Man-nature balance had continued undisturbed in the Nilgiris for thousands of years until the early 19th century when it became a British colony attracting, in due course, various developmental activities. Subsequently, the Nilgiris and its popular hill stations emerged as favourite places for the British population in India for rest and recuperation, game and for raising commercial plantations. In the process, the traditional indigenous crops were replaced by “English“ vegetables and the natural forests gave way to commercial plantations of coffee, tea and other exotic species of trees.     

Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Algal and Animal Communities in a Posidonia oceanica Meadow

Abstract. Investigations were carried out in a Posidonia oceanica meadow at Ischia (Gulf of Naples) along a depth gradient from 1 to 32 m in November 1979 and May 1981.
In these two months, different discontinuities were found at the sampling stations (1, 5, 10, 20, 30 m) at 10 m for leaf features, between 1 and 5 m for the algal community and the vagile fauna. The leaf features (length, surface, and biomass) along the transects show a delay in leaf production toward the deeper stations, below the thermocline.
The algal community shows in both seasons and in all stations a persistence of an encrusting layer, mostly represented by Corallinaceae and the brown alga Myrionema orbiculare , while at the shallowest station (1 m) the community is characterized by a more developed upright layer.
The vagile fauna of the leaf stratum, mostly represented by Polychaeta, Mollusca , and Crustacea (Peracarida and Decapoda) , shows a consistent zonation in both seasons along the transect. A superficial community at I m, characterized by a low number of species and individuals and specialized for high environmental energy levels, and a deeper community, persistent in time and more strictly related to the Posidonia oceanica meadows, are identified.
The influence of environmental factors and the importance of meadow structure for the zonation of the algal and animal communities are discussed.     

红树植物白骨壤叶片衰老过程中叶肉细胞Ca2+水平的变化

用焦锑酸钙沉淀的电镜细胞化学方法，研究了白骨壤叶片衰老过程中叶肉细胞Ca^2 水平的变化．结果表明，在白骨壤幼叶和成熟叶叶肉细胞中，焦锑酸钙沉淀颗粒大量出现在液池和细胞间隙中，细胞壁中也可见少量沉淀，而细胞基质中则看不到焦锑酸钙沉淀．在衰老叶中，细胞基质和细胞膜上焦锑酸钙沉淀增加，而液泡和细胞间隙中的锑酸钙沉淀则显著减少，并且叶绿体外膜部分破损，结构破坏，核膜与液泡膜内部结构模糊，叶绿素含量、净光合速率、气扎手率和蒸腾速率显著下降．Ca^2 的区域性分布的变化与植物叶片衰老密切相关。     

西湖茶园茶叶铅污染铅同位素示踪

通过对西湖茶园的植物和土壤样品进行一系列的调查,以着力寻找茶叶的铅污染源。利用铅同位素技术对西湖茶园的土壤、茶叶和城区的燃煤、大气气溶胶、汽车尾气进行铅同位素示踪研究。研究表明,茶园土壤铅物质的可溶相具同源性和残查态偏于多源性。清洗后的茶叶铅含量显著降低,但其同位素组成不发生明显改变,显示出茶叶中的铅与叶面空气沉降物中的铅同源。不同介质铅同位素对比值平均值呈现表土、大气(气溶胶)、煤的w(²⁰⁶Pb)/w(²⁰⁷Pb)与茶叶趋于相近,汽油低之;表土、大气(气溶胶)、汽油的w(²⁰⁸Pb)/〔w(²⁰⁶Pb)+w(²⁰⁷Pb)〕与茶叶趋于相近,煤略高之。不同区域茶叶铅物质具同源性,与种植的农业地质背景无关。在煤燃烧、气化过程中,Pb进入大气,通过大气沉降或被茶树吸收或附着在茶叶叶面;汽车尾气的排放是茶树铅污染的重要原因之一。     

Brick tea and its health impact

Tea bush is one of the plants cultivated in acidic soil, and is a typical hyper-accumulator of F and Al. Brick tea is a kind of brick-formed tea compressed using the older and coarse leaves and branches of tea trees. Brick tea mixed with milk is drunk as a daily indispensable beverage for Mongols, Ewenki, and other minority nationalities in the pastoral and semi-pastoral areas of Northwest China. It is reported that drinking brick tea can result in dental and skeletal fluorosis due to the high F content in it. Because Alzheimer＇s disease （AD） is related with Al in human brain, and Al has potential toxicities for skeletal and neural systems,     

The worlds of tea and coffee: Patterns of consumption

Coffee and tea are both drunk in most countries, but typically one predominates. Coffee is the preferred drink in Europe and the Americas, tea elsewhere. Until the early eighteenth century coffee production and consumption was confined to the Islamic world, tea production to East Asia. European traders altered this pattern dramatically. The present pattern of coffee consumption is influenced by income per capita, that of tea is not. Religious influences played some part in the early development of both tea and coffee but have little relevance at the present. National factors have influenced wider patterns. British preference for tea was taken to all their colonies. In recent years fears about health have had some influence on coffee consumption. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Riparian alder fens — source or sink for nutrients and dissolved organic carbon? — 2. Major sources and sinks

Natural riparian forest wetlands are known to be effective in their ability to remove nitrate by denitrification and sediments with attached phosphorus via sedimentation. On the other hand, litter input and decomposition is a process of crucial importance in cycling of nitrogen and phosphorus in a forest ecosystem.In this study we investigated the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus entering the alder fen ecosystem through leaf litter and its decomposition and the removal capacity of nitrogen and phosphorus by measuring denitrification and sedimentation in the alder fen.We found an average input of leaf litter during fall 1998 of 226 g m⁻² yr⁻¹ DW with nutrient concentration of 0.17% P and 1.6% N. This means a yearly input of 0.4 g m⁻² yr⁻¹ P and 3.6 g m⁻² yr⁻¹ N. The decomposition of leaf litter using litter bags with small and large mesh size resulted in bags with macroinvertebrates (large mesh size) and without macroinvertebrates (small mesh size). After 57 days the litter bags with macroinvertebrates had a decomposition rate of 79%.Denitrification was measured in May and June of 1997 using the acetylene inhibition technique on intact soil cores and slurry-experiments. The average annual denitrification rate was 0.2 g m⁻² yr⁻¹ N using data from the core experiments. The denitrification rate was higher after addition of nitrate, indicating that denitrification in the riparian alder fen is mainly controlled by nitrate supply.The sedimentation rate in the investigated alder fen ranged from 0.47 kg m⁻² yr⁻¹ DW to 4.46 kg m⁻² yr⁻¹ DW in 1998 depending on the study site and method we used. Sedimentation rates were lower in newly designed plate traps than in cylinder traps. The alder fen also showed lower rates than the adjacent creek Briese. Average phosphorus removal rate was 0.33 g m⁻² yr⁻¹ P.Input sources for the surface water of the alder fen are sediment mineralization and decomposition of leaf litter; output sources are sedimentation and denitrification. This study showed that a nutrient input of 24.58 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ N, 8.8 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ P and 419 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ DOC into the surface water of the alder fen is possible. Alder fens cannot improve water quality of an adjacent river system. This is only true for a nearly pristine alder fen with the hydrology of 10 months flooded conditions and 2 months non-flooding conditions a year.     

利用光谱反射率估算叶片生化组分和籽粒品质指标研究

对可见光至短波红外波段(350—2500nm)冬小麦田间冠层光谱反射率与叶片含氮量间的关系进行了相关分析。结果表明，820—1100nm波段的光谱反射率与叶片含氮量极显著正相关；1150—1300hm波段的光谱反射率与叶片含氮量显著正相关，以上两波段为叶片全氮的敏感波段。对各生育时期叶片全氮与其他生化组分的关系进行了回归分析，并建立了相关的回归方程，显著性检验结果表明，方程具有较高的可靠性。小麦的叶片含氮量可以估算其它生化组分及干物质指标含量，开花期叶片含氮量可用来估测籽粒蛋白质和干面筋等品质指标含量。     

铜与间氯偶氮安替比林显色反应研究及铜的形态分析

在ｐＨ４８的邻苯二甲酸氢钾＿ＮａＯＨ缓冲介质中，Ｃｕ（Ⅱ）与间氯偶氮安替比林形成１∶２的蓝色配合物，其最大吸收峰位于６３０ｎｍ处，表观摩尔吸光系数为４２６×１０４Ｌ·ｍｏｌ－１·ｃｍ－１，Ｃｕ（Ⅱ）的质量浓度在０～２ｍｇ／Ｌ时符合比尔定律。应用该法测定了桃叶及牛肝标样中的铜含量，测定值与标准值一致。结合活性炭分离，建立了铜的形态分析流程，并测定了茶汤中铜的各种主要形态及其分布。     

太原东山二叠纪地层中发现最古老大孢子“球果”及其进化意义

与轴相连的苏铁大孢子叶第一次发现太原东册的下二叠系地层中，它出现如此之早，表明这种球果状的结构可能是所有苏铁类雌性生殖器官的祖先形式，苏铁也可能通过古地中海洋流从华北迁移到欧洲。