Rethinking assessment of success of mitigation strategies for elephant-induced crop damage

Crop damage is the most common impact of negative interactions between people and elephants and poses a significant threat to rural livelihoods and conservation efforts. Numerous approaches to mitigate and prevent crop damage have been implemented throughout Africa and Asia. Despite the documented high efficacy of many approaches, losses remain common, and in many areas, damage is intensifying. We examined the literature on effectiveness of crop-damage-mitigation strategies and identified key gaps in evaluations. We determined there is a need to better understand existing solutions within affected communities and to extend evaluations of effectiveness beyond measurement of efficacy to include rates of and barriers to adoption. We devised a conceptual framework for evaluating effectiveness that incorporates the need for increased emphasis on adoption and can be used to inform the design of future crop-damage mitigation assessments for elephants and conflict species more widely. The ability to prevent crop loss in practice is affected by both the efficacy of a given approach and rates of uptake among target users. We identified the primary factors that influence uptake as local attitudes, sustainability, and scalability and examined each of these factors in detail. We argue that even moderately efficacious interventions may make significant progress in preventing damage if widely employed and recommend that wherever possible scientists and practitioners engage with communities to build on and strengthen existing solutions and expertise. When new approaches are required, they should align with local attitudes and fit within limitations on labor, financial requirements, and technical capacity.     

网状季胺基阴离子吸附剂制备及吸附性能

以丝瓜络为原料,采用醚化-接枝技术制备出季胺基阴离子交换吸附剂。采用电镜扫描、傅里叶红外光谱、比表面积孔径分布测定仪和元素分析仪等仪器对其进行分析和结构表征,并考察了温度、p H和硝酸盐初始浓度等因素对NO-3去除率的影响。实验结果表明,在20℃,p H值为3~10时,NO-3的吸附率可达90%左右;在不同温度下该吸附过程用Langmuir等温线模型和Freundich等温线模型描述均可;与伪一级动力学方程相比,伪二级动力学方程能更好地描述其吸附动力学方程。     

垃圾焚烧烟气中HCl与消石灰的反应机理研究

测试了两种消石灰与垃圾焚烧烟气中HCl的反应率,得出了消石灰的反应率与反应时间的反应曲线,分析了消石灰与HCl的反应机理及影响消石灰最终反应率的因素。试验结果表明,消石灰与HCl反应初期按灰层扩散控制进行,两种消石灰的最终反应率分别为16％和36％。     

Male-biassed response of garden chafer, Phyllopertha horticola L., to leaf alcohol and attraction of both sexes to floral plant volatiles

Summary. Field tests were performed to evaluate the response of the garden chafer, Phyllopertha horticola (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) to known scarab attractants and to investigate the influence of trap colour and height on the number of captured beetles. Both sexes were attracted by a lure mixture composed of geraniol, eugenol, and 2-phenylethyl propionate (PEP) (ratio 3:7:3). When testing floral volatiles individually, only geraniol, eugenol and methyl anthranilate but not PEP was attractive. Response of garden chafer to (Z)- 3-hexen-1-ol was strongly male-biassed. Both the response to floral volatiles and (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol was increased by using funnel traps with yellow instead of grey vanes. Traps positioned at 50 and 125 cm above ground captured significantly more garden chafers than those at 200 cm. The strongly male-biassed response to (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol suggests that in P. horticola (subfamily Rutelinae) orientation towards plant volatiles emitted upon mechanical damage of plants is part of the male mate finding strategy as recently demonstrated for cockchafers of the genus Melolontha (subfamily Melolonthinae). Possible application of plant volatiles for control of P. horticola is discussed.     

Dryland characteristics and its optimized eco‐productive paradigms for sustainable development in China

Dryland area occupies 37% of the national territory in China. Desertification and other disasters have limited dryland sustainable development. Here we overview the dryland characteristics and desertification status and introduce four regionally optimized eco‐productive paradigms for dryland sustainable development, i.e., the mountain‐oasis paradigm in arid desert; the small watershed‐based paradigm on the Loess Plateau; the integrated animal husbandry paradigm on the Inner Mongolia Steppe and the agro‐pastoral transitional region; and three circle paradigm on the Ordos Plateau. These paradigms are established on the basis of regional landscape patterns and their underlying material and energy flow rules, and different functional belts are determined and capitalized upon with the integrated consideration of regional biogeophysical processes, biogeochemical cycles and biogeosocial relations. These paradigms cannot cover all complex landscape types, but provide theoretical frameworks and practicable models for dryland sustainable development in China.     

电感耦合等离子体质谱法在环境监测中的应用

针对ICP-MS技术的使用特点及其近年来在环境监测领域的应用进行综合阐述，并对ICP-MS技术的发展前景作出简单的评述。     

外源8''-炔基脱落酸强化东南景天吸收重金属的研究

为探究脱落酸类似物8''-炔基脱落酸[8''-（C₂H）ABA]强化东南景天富集重金属的效应,通过水培的方法研究了外源8''-（C₂H）ABA分别对Cd（20 mg·L^-1）、Zn（160 mg·L^-1）单一胁迫下东南景天Cd/Zn积累和生理特性的影响,以及初步探讨了8''-（C₂H）ABA在植物重金属胁迫响应中的作用.实验结果表明：与天然ABA相比,外源8''-（C₂H）ABA能达到与ABA类似的作用效果,且对Cd胁迫下东南景天促进效果好于Zn;在Cd胁迫下,与对照相比,外源8''-（C₂H）ABA能显著增加东南景天根、叶中的Cd含量（44.2%、27.5%）,以及光合色素（10.7%）和叶中过氧化物酶（SOD）活性（52.9%）、超氧化物歧化酶（POD）（24.7%）和过氧化氢酶（CAT）活性（27.9%）抗氧化酶活性,使可溶性糖（SS）（13%）和游离脯氨酸（Pro）（37.4%）含量增加,而叶中丙二醛（MDA）（40%）含量明显降低.上述结果表明,一定浓度的8''-（C₂H）ABA可以提高东南景天抗氧化酶活性来增强其对重金属Cd的抗性及吸收和转运能力,在强化东南景天修复重金属污染方面具有应用潜力.     

厌氧填埋垃圾降解阶段指标体系的建立

以厌氧填埋场中垃圾的降解过程为依托点,从渗滤液的水质特征和填埋气的组成两个方面筛选出判断指标,最后建立判断填埋垃圾降解阶段的指标体系.结果表明,ρ(BOD5)/ρ(COD)可以反映出渗滤液的可生化性,从而间接反映出填埋垃圾所处的降解阶段,是判断填埋垃圾降解阶段的重要定量指标.     

基于N，N─二甲基苯胺与NO_2~－─对氨基苯磺酸重氮盐的偶联反应示波极谱法测定NO_2~－

报道了利用Ｎ，Ｎ─二甲基苯胺为偶联试剂的Ｃｒｉｅｓｓ反应以示波极谱法测定ＮＯ_２~－的测试方法。在拟定的实验条件下，ＮＯ_２~－在４．０×１０~－３～４．８×１０~－１μｇ／ｍｌ范围内与极谱波波高呈良好的线性关系。环境水测定的相对标准偏差小于ｌ％，回收率在９７％～１０１％之间。     

Fractionation of heavy metals and phosphorus in suspended sediments of the Yamuna river,India

The Yamuna river is the largest tributary of the Ganges river system. It originates in the Himalayas and flows through a varied geological terrain encompassing a large basin area. Metals Fe, Mn, Pb, Zn, Cu in different chemical fractions of suspended sediments such as exchangeable, carbonates, Fe–Mn oxides, organics and residual fractions were studied. Phosphorus associated with different chemical forms are discussed. The metals are mostly associated with residual fractions in the sediments followed by organics, Fe–Mn oxides, exhangeable and carbonates. Intensive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture in the basin affects the high inorganic phosphorus content in sediments.