Evaluation of the eco-efficiency of four major urban agglomerations in coastal eastern China

Urban agglomerations in China have become the strategic core of national economic development and the main component of the new type of urbanization. However, they are threatened by a series of eco-environmental problems and challenges, including the severe overexploitation of natural resources. Eco-efficiency, which is defined as accomplishing the greatest possible economic benefit with the least possible resource input and damage to the environment, is used as an indicator to quantify the sustainability of urban agglomerations. In this work, a traditional data envelopment analysis (DEA) model with a slack-based measurement (SBM) model of undesirable outputs, was used to assess and compare the economic efficiency and eco-efficiency of four major urban agglomerations in eastern China (UAECs) in 2005, 2011, and 2014. The spatio-temporal characteristics of the evolution of urban agglomerations were analyzed. Based on the results of a slack analysis, suggestions for improving the eco-efficiency of the four UAECs are provided. The overall economic efficiency of urban agglomerations located in the Shandong Peninsula, Yangtze River Delta, and Pearl River Delta displayed a V-shaped pattern (decreased and then increased). In contrast, the overall economic efficiency of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration declined during the study period. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration had a considerable loss of economic efficiency due to pollution, whereas the Shandong Peninsula urban agglomeration was less impacted. Overall, the eco-environmental efficiency of the four UAECs declined from 2005 to 2011 and then increased from 2011 to 2014. In addition, the urban eco-efficiency in the four coastal UAECs was characterized by different evolution patterns. The eco-efficiency was higher in the peri-urban areas of the core cities, riverside areas, and seaside areas and lower in the inland cities. The core cities of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, and Pearl River Delta urban agglomerations were characterized by high resource consumption, economic benefit output, and eco-efficiency. In most of cities in the urban agglomerations, the emission of pollutants declined, leading to a reduction of pollutants and mitigation of environmental problems. In addition, a differential analysis, from the perspective of urban agglomeration, was performed, and concrete suggestions for improvement are proposed.

     

太湖流域浮游植物功能类群分布特征及其与环境因子的关系

太湖流域地处长江下游,水系发达,是典型的平原水网地区,为明确空间和环境因子对太湖流域浮游植物功能类群分布的影响,本研究于2019年8—9月期间比较太湖流域包括河流、湖泊和水库的85个采样点的浮游植物、空间和环境特征. 首次利用“人工智能图像识别技术”,并结合传统人工镜检,共鉴定浮游植物250个分类单位,隶属于9门13纲28目57科110属,以绿藻门(45.6%)、硅藻门(19.2%)和蓝藻门(16.4%)为主. 共划分功能类群31个,包括M、D、J、S1、C、Y、F、P、MP、H1、SN、W1、G、K和TB共15个优势功能类群. 结果表明：1)太湖流域不同水体功能类群组成差异显著,差异主要来自M、J、S1、Y、P、H1类群;2)浮游植物功能类群分布具有一定的空间异质性,以太湖为中心向外形成3个聚类组,物种组成类型依次为蓝藻型、蓝藻-绿藻-硅藻型、绿藻-硅藻-蓝藻型,主要贡献类群依次为M、S1类群,M、S1、P、J类群,P、S1、J、D、C类群;3)在太湖流域,相对于环境因子而言,空间因子对浮游植物功能类群组成的影响更大. RDA分析表明,COD_Mn、NO₃^--N、TN、SD、pH值和DO与太湖流域浮游植物优势功能类群呈显著相关. 过去十年,以控源截污为主导的环境管理政策已在太湖流域取得显著成效,但是对于以M、S1类群水华为特征的夏季太湖流域而言,蓝藻水华防控仍是必须面对的难题,有机污染物和氮的控制仍是关注重点,不同水体类型和浮游植物功能类群因地制宜的管控模式仍是关键.     

基于分子标记的藻类鉴定研究进展

藻类鉴定被广泛应用于藻类遗传学、生理学、生态学和应用藻类学,尤其是藻类调查和评估.然而,基于形态学的鉴定往往因为分类特征未出现或不典型、设备限制和人员经验欠缺等原因带来较大误差.随着测序技术的不断发展,分子标记已成为藻类鉴定的一个通用工具.由于藻类类群众多且差异很大,分子标记的选择成为藻类鉴定的关键.本文综述了蓝藻、硅藻、绿藻、甲藻、裸藻、隐藻、金藻、黄藻、红藻和褐藻等主要门类分子标记的选择及应用进展,包括分子标记选择原则、常用标记和相应序列数据库,以及各个分子标记在不同类群应用中的优缺点等.藻类分子鉴定源于编码核糖体RNA的基因（rDNA）,发展于细胞核、线粒体、叶绿体DNA等.然而,当前藻类分子鉴定逐渐细化和完善,单一的核糖体DNA、内转录间隔区（ITS）和保守蛋白编码基因等短序列分子标记已经很难满足藻类鉴定的需求,多标记组合成为一种必然选择.同时,线粒体基因组、叶绿体基因组、核基因组、转录组和宏基因组等提供了更多遗传进化信息,弥补了短序列分子标记在系统分类应用中的不足.对于藻类鉴定,单纯依赖分子标记或形态学都不足以保证鉴定的准确性,采用将分子生物学、形态学、生理生化学等结合的多相学方法,才能准确地完成鉴定工作.此外,藻类分子数据库的建立和完善是未来分子鉴定的重要工作,快速鉴定方法也必将在未来获得广泛的应用和发展.