川崎市的生态工业革命

川崎市位于东京正南,人口130万.19世纪晚期日本向西方开放的时候,川崎只是一个小镇.从那以后,多种工业包括钢铁、石油精炼、石化、水泥、造纸、动力生产和冶金等,被引进到这里.各公司管理着这些工厂,进行着非常积极的经营.     

How age and sex drive the foraging behaviour in the king penguin

As predicted by life history theory, once recruited into the breeding population and with increasing age, long-lived animals should be able to manage more efficiently the conflict between self-maintenance and reproduction. Consequently, breeding performances should improve with age before stabilizing at a certain level. Using temperature–depth recorders and isotopic analysis, we tested how age affects the foraging behaviour of king penguin Aptenodytes patagonicus during one trip in the chick-rearing phase. Depending on sex and age, king penguins expressed two different foraging strategies. Older birds gained more daily mass per unit body mass than younger ones. Older females conducted shorter trips, dived deeper and performed more prey pursuits. They also had higher blood levels of δ¹⁵N than younger individuals and males indicating sex- and age-specific dietary regimes. However, we found no differences in carbon isotopic signature, suggesting that individuals exploited the same foraging areas independently of sex and age. Our results suggest that king penguins are able to increase the quantity of energy extracted with increasing age and that such a strategy is sex-related. Our study is the first to reveal of an interaction between age and sex in determining foraging efficiency in king penguins.     

Coadaptive changes in physiological and biophysical traits related to thermal stress in web spiders

Web spiders are considered to have expanded their habitats from dim to bright environments during the evolutionary history. Because they are sedentary predators exposed to the sun, they may have developed a suite of adaptive traits to cope with thermal stress. We examined the critical thermal maximum, spectral reflectance of solar energy by the body surface, and surface–volume ratio (SVR) for 11 spider species. Analysis of the four genera having a pair of species inhabiting both bright and dim environments showed that species in bright environments exhibited higher lethal temperatures, but spectral reflectance and SVR did not differ. Independent contrasts using the 11 species indicated that critical thermal maximum was positively correlated with spectral reflectance and spectral reflectance was negatively correlated with SVR. These results suggest that physiological tolerance to high temperatures and a biophysical mechanism to reduce heat gain evolved jointly during the history of habitat expansion in araneoid spiders.     

Balancing durability and environmental impact in concrete combining low-grade recycled aggregates and mineral admixtures

This paper investigated the effect of various amounts of low-grade recycled aggregates in concrete containing mineral admixtures at three different water-binder ratios on mechanical and environmental performance. The balance between durability and environmental impact for a given strength level similar to normal-use concrete was also examined using analytic hierarchy process. Results showed that increasing the water-binder ratio and volume of recycled aggregates reduced compressive strength and increased air permeability and drying shrinkage relative to normal aggregates. However, compared to normal-use concrete similar or better performance could be achieved, which was attributed to improvement of low-grade recycled aggregate performance when combined with fly ash. Similarly, CO₂ emissions and volume of raw materials were lower than the normal-use concrete for all mixes. Concrete mixes with low air permeability and low CO₂ footprint had the best balance of durability and environmental impact, as decreasing raw material volume tended to more greatly reduce durability.     

Convenient substitute indices to toxic equivalent quantity for controlling and monitoring dioxins in stack gas from waste incineration facilities

It is necessary to develop technical systems for controlling and monitoring dioxins in stack gas from waste incineration facilities. However, it required much labor, high technical skill and extreme cost to measure dioxins for obtaining the toxic equivalent quantity (TEQ) values. In this study, the positive correlations of the WHO-TEQ values of PCDDs/PCDFs/Co-PCBs or PCDDs/PCDFs with the conventional I-TEQ values of PCDDs/PCDFs were confirmed beforehand for a large number of incineration facilities in a wide concentration range of a hundred thousand times. The relationships between the TEQ values and the concentrations of total PCDDs/PCDFs, each toxic isomer of PCDDs/PCDFs, total Cl4-6BZs, or each homologue of Cl4-6BZs were investigated for various incineration facilities. And it was found that positive correlations of the TEQ values with the concentrations of total PCDDs/PCDFs, 2,3,4,7,8-P5CDF, or Cl5BZ for a large number of different incineration facilities and in a wide concentration range. Consequently, the concentrations of total PCDDs/PCDFs, 2,3,4,7,8-P5CDF and Cl5BZ, whose measuring methods are much easier than that of obtaining the TEQ values, could be used as convenient substitute indices to the TEQ values for controlling and monitoring dioxins in stack gas from various waste incineration facilities.     

A measuring method of chlorobenzenes as a convenient substitute index of dioxins in stack gas from waste incineration facilities

Much labor, high technical skill and extreme cost are required to measure dioxins for obtaining the toxic equivalent quantity (TEQ) values. On one side, it was found that there were high amounts of chlorobenzenes (CBZs) in the flue gas from waste incineration facilities, and they are also thought to be one of the principal precursors for dioxins. The concentrations of CBZs could be used as a convenient substitute index to the TEQ values for controlling and monitoring dioxins in stack gas from waste incineration facilities as shown in another report. In this study, collection efficiencies in the sampling performed by a convenient train which was composed of two bottles containing water and diethylene glycol in a cooling box, recoveries in the evaporation of the extract by an evaporator, proper procedure of the concentration by nitrogen purge were investigated for measuring CBZs. It was found that tetra-, penta-, and hexa-chlorobenzenes (Cl4-6BZs) whose boiling points are higher than ca. 240 degrees C could be sufficiently collected and recovered in the sampling and the evaporation. For sufficient recoveries of Cl4-6BZs in the concentration by the nitrogen purge, the final volume should be larger than 200 microliters with a proper receiver of the K-D concentrator at 35 degrees C. However, Cl1-3BZs were lost in each of the procedures.     

Intertidal slope of coral sand beach as a unique habitat for fish: meiobenthic diet of the transparent sand dart, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Kraemeria cunicularia</Emphasis> (Gobiidae)

Coral sand beaches harbor gobiid sand darts (genus Kraemeria), the only fish known to live in the sand throughout their adult life. Despite the uniqueness of sand-dwelling habitat as a vertebrate, the biology of this fish remains unclear. To explore how this unique fish utilize an unusual habitat, we investigated diurnal patterns of microhabitat use and prey consumption by the transparent sand dart, Kraemeria cunicularia, at a sandy beach on Iriomote Island, the Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan. Sand darts were found in sediment in the lower intertidal zone throughout the daytime regardless of changes in tidal level, whereas at nighttime these fish were found swimming. Gut content analyses revealed that the sand dart diet was dominated by harpacticoid copepods throughout the day. Analyses of meiobenthic distribution indicated that these copepods were most abundant at lower intertidal zones where highest numbers of sand darts were found during the daytime; thus, it is possible that microhabitat use of the fish is largely determined by food availability. An extensive distributional survey throughout the Ryukyu Archipelago further indicated that sand darts prefer sandy beaches with well-sorted, coarse sand. These results provide novel insights into how sand darts respond to the tidal rhythm and highlight putative key environmental factors that determine their distribution at both regional and microhabitat scales. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Integrated measures for preservation, restoration and improvement of the environmental conditions of the Lagoon Olho d'Água basin

The Lagoon Olho d'Água in Pernambuco State, Northeast Brazil has received increasing environmental concern due to significant stress from pollution in the catchment. The existing environmental problems are the result of great pressure from a broad range of human activities, especially in the last 10 years. Serious pollution exists mainly from some industrial and urban activities, which increased intensively after the eighties. There is a strong social and economical pressure for housing and construction near the lagoon, due to the available land nearby beaches and estuarine zone, and recently by growing tourism activities. Uncontrolled land use by low-income communities and the pressure for construction by developers have led to landfilling and to deterioration of water quality in the lagoon catchment. Improvement of the environmental conditions in the catchment needs integrated measures. Guidelines and some specific actions involving several institutions have been established and refer to sanitation and urban infrastructure as the main priorities. A main target is the construction of low-cost sewage system with smaller and decentralised treatment plants.     

Influence of Indigenous Knowledge and Scientific Climate Forecasts on Arable Farmers’ Climate Adaptation Methods in the Rwenzori region,Western Uganda

Environmental Management - This paper investigates the influence of using indigenous forecasts (IF) and scientific forecasts (SF) on arable farmers’ adaptation methods in the Rwenzori region,...