Nematode-based biomarkers as critical risk indicators on assessing the impact of silver nanoparticles on soil ecosystems

Soil contamination caused by silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) released from sewage treatment plants (STPs) is of great public concern. Understanding the relationships between the physicochemical properties of AgNPs and their toxicity is critical for environmental and health risk analysis. Here we presented an approach for rapidly screening and assessing the potential toxicity risk of AgNPs in general and sludge-treated soils based on the nematode Caenhorhabditis elegans-based probabilistic risk assessment framework. The soil environmental risks were estimated depending on the characteristics of AgNPs and geographic regions. We assessed the risk for soils exceeding a threshold of C. elegans neurotoxicity based on the statistical models. Our results indicated that locomotion inhibition of C. elegans was depending on surface properties, diameter, and exposure time of AgNPs. Here we showed that the overall sewage sludge-released AgNPs-associated soil contamination risk was very low among Europe, U.S., and Switzerland. However, large production and widespread use of AgNPs are highly likely to pose long-term ecotoxicity risk on general and sludge-treated soils, particularly for 26 nm citrate-coated AgNPs. Our approach of integrating probabilistic risk model and C. elegans-based ecological indicator provides an effective tool to rapidly screen and assess the impacts of STPs-released AgNPs on soil environment. We suggest that C. elegans as a proxy for estimating soil risk metrics can help develop methods of management for mitigating the metal NPs-induced toxicity on terrestrial ecosystems.     

西部干旱区煤炭开采环境影响研究

大规模煤炭资源开采与干旱脆弱生态环境的空间耦合将会诱发日益严峻的社会、环境问题。分析了我国西部干旱区煤炭地下开采对植被、土壤水、地下水、土壤等关键环境要素影响的研究进展与不足;指出现有研究主要以单一环境要素、局部尺度为主,缺乏多尺度综合的环境要素协同损伤规律与井上下联动响应机理等基础研究。因此,现有成果还无法满足指导煤炭开采技术改进与控制环境损伤的需要。建议从井下到井上,从工作面、矿井、矿区、流域多尺度综合实现地空一体化同步监测,加强对西部干旱矿区各关键环境要素的协同损伤规律研究;加强对井上下环境要素对开采地质条件响应机理研究;建立不同开采条件、不同评价尺度下,矿区开采环境损伤的评价与预测模型。     

景感生态学在流域生态系统保护与修复实践中的应用——以大凌河流域北票段为例

生态系统保护与修复已成为我国生态文明建设的一项核心内容,自2016年以来,在全国24个省（自治区、直辖市）已开展了25个山水林田湖草生态保护修复工程试点工程。以大凌河流域北票段为研究区,探讨了景感生态学理论在山水林田湖草生态系统保护与修复实践中的应用。基于景感生态学理论,构建大凌河流域北票段生态系统保护与修复综合治理框架,以保持、改善和提升生态系统服务,实现可持续发展为目标,构建了"一中心、二重点、五要素、六工程"的生态系统保护与修复景感空间体系,并基于此将大凌河流域北票段生态系统保护与修复分为5个重要治理区域,形成"一带四区"的生态安全格局,提出了应用景感生态学理论,构建区域居民的共同行为规范,引导并实现人类对自然生态系统的有利影响,进一步提升生态系统保护与修复效果的对策建议。通过大凌河流域北票段的分析案例,以景感营造的理念开展区域生态系统保护与修复顶层设计,为促进区域可持续发展提供思路和途径。     

Interdisciplinary knowledge exchange across scales in a globally changing marine environment

The effects of anthropogenic global environmental change on biotic and abiotic processes have been reported in aquatic systems across the world. Complex synergies between concurrent environmental stressors and the resilience of the system to regime shifts, which vary in space and time, determine the capacity for marine systems to maintain structure and function with global environmental change. Consequently, an interdisciplinary approach that facilitates the development of new methods for the exchange of knowledge between scientists across multiple scales is required to effectively understand, quantify and predict climate impacts on marine ecosystem services. We use a literature review to assess the limitations and assumptions of current pathways to exchange interdisciplinary knowledge and the transferability of research findings across spatial and temporal scales and levels of biological organization to advance scientific understanding of global environmental change in marine systems. We found that species‐specific regional scale climate change research is most commonly published, and “supporting” is the ecosystem service most commonly referred to in publications. In addition, our paper outlines a trajectory for the future development of integrated climate change science for sustaining marine ecosystem services such as investment in interdisciplinary education and connectivity between disciplines.     

Integration of system dynamics approach toward deepening and broadening the life cycle sustainability assessment framework: a case for electric vehicles

Purpose

Quantitative life cycle sustainable assessment requires a complex and multidimensional understanding, which cannot be fully covered by the current portfolio of reductionist-oriented tools. Therefore, there is a dire need on a new generation of modeling tools and approaches that can quantitatively assess the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainability in an integrated way. To this end, this research aims to present a practical and novel approach for (1) broadening the existing life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) framework by considering macrolevel environmental, economic, and social impacts (termed as the triple bottom line), simultaneously, (2) deepening the existing LCSA framework by capturing the complex dynamic relationships between social, environmental, and economic indicators through causal loop modeling, (3) understanding the dynamic complexity of transportation sustainability for the triple bottom line impacts of alternative vehicles, and finally (4) investigating the impacts of various vehicle-specific scenarios as a novel approach for selection of a macrolevel functional unit considering all of the complex interactions in the environmental, social, and economic aspects.

Methods

To alleviate these research objectives, we presented a novel methodology to quantify macrolevel social, economic, and environmental impacts of passenger vehicles from an integrated system analysis perspective. An integrated dynamic LCSA model is utilized to analyze the environmental, economic, and social life cycle impact as well as life cycle cost of alternative vehicles in the USA. System dynamics modeling is developed to simulate the US passenger transportation system and its interactions with economy, the environment, and society. Analysis covers manufacturing and operation phase impacts of internal combustion vehicles (ICVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), and battery electric vehicles (BEVs). In total, seven macrolevel indicators are selected; global warming potential, particulate matter formation, photochemical oxidant formation, vehicle ownership cost, contribution to gross domestic product, employment generation, and human health impacts. Additionally, contribution of vehicle choices to global atmospheric temperature rise and public welfare is investigated.

Results and discussion

BEVs are found to be a better alternative for most of sustainability impact categories. While some of the benefits such as contribution to employment and GDP, CO₂ emission reduction potential of BEVs become greater toward 2050, other sustainability indicators including vehicle ownership cost and human health impacts of BEVs are higher than the other vehicle types on 2010s and 2020s. While the impact shares of manufacturing and operation phases are similar in the early years of 2010s, the contribution of manufacturing phase becomes higher as the vehicle performances increase toward 2050. Analysis results revealed that the US transportation sector, alone, cannot reduce the rapidly increasing atmospheric temperature and the negative impacts of the global climate change, even though the entire fleet is replaced with BEVs. Reducing the atmospheric climate change requires much more ambitious targets and international collaborative efforts. The use of different vehicle types has a small impact on public welfare, which is a function of income, education, and life expectancy indexes.

Conclusions

The authors strongly recommend that the dynamic complex and mutual interactions between sustainability indicators should be considered for the future LCSA framework. This approach will be critical to deepen the existing LCSA framework and to go beyond the current LCSA understanding, which provide a snapshot analysis with an isolated view of all pillars of sustainability. Overall, this research is a first empirical study and an important attempt toward developing integrated and dynamic LCSA framework for sustainable transportation research.

     

采矿业对赞比亚的社会经济及环境的影响

采矿业是赞比亚一类非常重要的工业 ,大量的开采和选矿作业给周边地区带来了严重的环境问题。导致了该区域内地表水、空气、土壤的污染 ,并对当地人民的身体健康带来威胁。本文主要分析铜矿开采业对赞比亚的社会经济及环境的影响 ,进一步探讨可以保持当地采矿业的可持续发展的有效措施。     

土壤-作物污染物迁移分配与食物安全的评价模型及其应用

人类对潜在有毒污染物的接触及其健康风险是当今环境科学与医学共同关心的热点问题,而污染土壤中毒污染物在土壤－植物系统迁移与转化是其中的关键基础问题,本文基于对现有资料的分析,提出计算污染物的环境控制标准的数学模型－污染生态模型和环境化学模型,模型计算结果表明,未污染条件下的土壤－植物间元素分配参数不符合污染土壤环境中的土壤－食用作物－人类间污染物分配的特点。因此,制定土壤环境控制标准必须考虑实施土壤的环境化学特点,本文建立的模型有其对污染物的土壤环境控制标准的计算结果,期望于对我国加强污染生态研究和食物安全评价有一定的参考意义。     

Adding value to water resource management through biological assessment of rivers

Water resource management encompasses a variety of regulations and mandates relevant to water protection and restoration. Awareness of the value-added biological monitoring and assessment to water resource management is increasing worldwide, but especially in countries that have implemented proactive water law and regulatory frameworks for protection of surface waters. Biological communities provide an integrated response to pollutants and human disturbance within watersheds through their continuous exposure to the magnitude, duration, and frequency of stressors, and, thus, are important for assessing ecosystem health. The selection of proper bioindicators can provide additional benefits through their use in causal analysis of impaired waters and measurement of ecosystem recovery after restoration. A process for implementing biological indicators in a monitoring and assessment framework is outlined for managers and practitioners of water resource protection and restoration.     

Intelligent infrastructure for sustainable potable water: a roundtable for emerging transnational research and technology development needs

PROBLEM STATEMENT: Recent commercial and residential development have substantially impacted the fluxes and quality of water that recharge the aquifers and discharges to streams, lakes and wetlands and, ultimately, is recycled for potable use. Whereas the contaminant sources may be varied in scope and composition, these issues of urban water sustainability are of public health concern at all levels of economic development worldwide, and require cheap and innovative environmental sensing capabilities and interactive monitoring networks, as well as tailored distributed water treatment technologies. To address this need, a roundtable was organized to explore the potential role of advances in biotechnology and bioengineering to aid in developing causative relationships between spatial and temporal changes in urbanization patterns and groundwater and surface water quality parameters, and to address aspects of socioeconomic constraints in implementing sustainable exploitation of water resources. WORKSHOP OUTCOMES: An interactive framework for quantitative analysis of the coupling between human and natural systems requires integrating information derived from online and offline point measurements with Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based remote sensing imagery analysis, groundwater-surface water hydrologic fluxes and water quality data to assess the vulnerability of potable water supplies. Spatially referenced data to inform uncertainty-based dynamic models can be used to rank watershed-specific stressors and receptors to guide researchers and policymakers in the development of targeted sensing and monitoring technologies, as well as tailored control measures for risk mitigation of potable water from microbial and chemical environmental contamination. The enabling technologies encompass: (i) distributed sensing approaches for microbial and chemical contamination (e.g. pathogens, endocrine disruptors); (ii) distributed application-specific, and infrastructure-adaptive water treatment systems; (iii) geostatistical integration of monitoring data and GIS layers; and (iv) systems analysis of microbial and chemical proliferation in distribution systems. IMPACT: This operational framework is aimed at technology implementation while maximizing economic and public health benefits. The outcomes of the roundtable will further research agendas in information technology-based monitoring infrastructure development, integration of processes and spatial analysis, as well as in new educational and training platforms for students, practitioners and regulators. The potential for technology diffusion to emerging economies with limited financial resources is substantial.     

Improving the dialogue between public health and ecosystem science on antimicrobial resistance

The concept of health has evolved markedly from a bio-medical, mechanistic model to include an interdisciplinary perspective where human, animal and ecosystem health are integrated. One Health, EcoHealth and Planetary Health are examples of approaches to health advocating collaboration and interdisciplinarity at multiple levels. In practice, successful integration has been challenging and in particular, understanding of the ecosystem component of health lags behind the human and animal components. Antimicrobial resistance is an important threat to human health, which develops, is maintained and transmitted at the human–animal–environment interface. While the human and livestock components of resistance are well understood, this is not the case for the ecosystem component. This gap in knowledge leads to a poor representation of the environmental dimension of antimicrobial resistance in key policy documents and in interdisciplinary work around this issue. We interviewed a group of leading researchers in public health and ecology to explore their perceptions on the integration of ecosystem and public health research in the context of antimicrobial resistance. Experts from both fields considered that research on antimicrobial resistance is only beginning to consider ecosystems. They highlighted various barriers that have contributed to limited integration, such as conceptual barriers, and a lack of knowledge translators as facilitators. Better interdisciplinary integration is needed to address the challenge of antimicrobial resistance. Improving the dialogues between the disciplines is a necessary first step in this process. Greater engagement of ecologists is needed to build a more complete understanding of the role of ecosystems in human health, and identify how human interactions with ecosystems can both contribute to, and restrict, the development of antimicrobial resistance.     

A causal examination of the effects of confounding factors on multimetric indices

The development of multimetric indices (MMIs) as a means of providing integrative measures of ecosystem condition is becoming widespread. An increasingly recognized problem for the interpretability of MMIs is controlling for the potentially confounding influences of environmental covariates. Most common approaches to handling covariates are based on simple notions of statistical control, leaving the causal implications of covariates and their adjustment unstated. In this paper, we use graphical models to examine some of the potential impacts of environmental covariates on the observed signals between human disturbance and potential response metrics. Using simulations based on various causal networks, we show how environmental covariates can both obscure and exaggerate the effects of human disturbance on individual metrics. We then examine from a causal interpretation standpoint the common practice of adjusting ecological metrics for environmental influences using only the set of sites deemed to be in reference condition. We present and examine the performance of an alternative approach to metric adjustment that uses the whole set of sites and models both environmental and human disturbance effects simultaneously. The findings from our analyses indicate that failing to model and adjust metrics can result in a systematic bias towards those metrics in which environmental covariates function to artificially strengthen the metric–disturbance relationship resulting in MMIs that do not accurately measure impacts of human disturbance. We also find that a “whole-set modeling approach” requires fewer assumptions and is more efficient with the given information than the more commonly applied “reference-set” approach.     

煤电一体化开发对锡林郭勒盟环境经济的影响

国家“十二五”规划确定将在内蒙古锡林郭勒盟建设国家重点大型煤电基地.煤电一体化开发将大大地推动锡盟的区域经济发展,但也可能会对这一典型草原地区和重要生态屏障地区的生态环境造成不利影响.采用物料平衡法和指数增长模型对2001-2009年锡林郭勒盟SO2排放量与人均GDP做了相关性分析,发现二者关系基本符合环境库兹涅茨曲线,呈较缓和倒U型曲线,拐点在人均GDP35000-40000元,目前已过曲线拐点,SO2排放量缓步下降.对锡盟煤电一体化开发情景下(2012-2020)的SO2排放及人均GDP进行预测,结果显示SO2排放量将随经济发展呈上升趋势,表明煤电一体化开发会使环境库兹涅茨曲线的拐点后延,虽然到2020年SO2排放量仍然没有超出区域大气环境容量,但将接近环境容量极限,会给当地环境带来明显压力;基于以上判断,进而从制度、技术、市场三方面出发,探讨了促进锡盟煤电一体化产业建设与环境保护协调发展的对策.     

Methodological considerations for determining cleanup limits for uranium in treated and untreated soils

Uranium‐contaminated soils are present at various locations across the U.S. where uranium was processed for nuclear fuels or atomic weapons. Important issues in dealing with such contamination include the assessment of the potential health risks associated with human exposures to the residual uranium and the determination of safe levels of U in soils that have been treated by a given technology. This paper reviews pertinent aspects of the health risks posed by uranium in soils and discusses various methodological considerations that must be dealt with in developing cleanup limits for U in treated soils. Of special concern is the development of remediation limits that are closely tied to a set of monitoring requirements for determining compliance with derived limits. Key issues addressed include characterization of the bioavailability of uranium compounds in food and water, determination of a safe level of uranium in kidney tissue, estimation of the health risks associated with the uranium daughter products radium and radon, assessment of the potential for ground‐water contamination, biogeochemical characterization of soil‐treatment processes, and specification of appropriate monitoring and statistical protocols for analyzing treated and untreated soils.     

Radon sources and impacts: a review of mining and non-mining issues

Radon is a ubiquitous natural carcinogen derived from the three primordial radionuclides of the uranium series (²³⁸U and ²³⁵U) and thorium series (²³²Th). In general, it is present at very low concentrations in the outdoor or indoor environment, but a number of scenarios can give rise to significant radiological exposures. Historically, these scenarios were not recognised, and took many centuries to understand the links between the complex behaviour of radon and progeny decay and health risks such as lung cancer. However, in concert with the rapid evolution in the related sciences of nuclear physics and radiological health in the first half of the twentieth century, a more comprehensive understanding of the links between radon, its progeny and health impacts such as lung cancer has evolved. It is clear from uranium miner studies that acute occupational exposures lead to significant increases in cancer risk, but chronic or sub-chronic exposures, such as indoor residential settings, while suggestive of health risks, still entails various uncertainties. At present, prominent groups such as the BEIR or UNSCEAR committees argue that the ‘linear no threshold’ (LNT) model is the most appropriate model for radiation exposure management, based on their detailed review and analysis of uranium miner, residential, cellular or molecular studies. The LNT model implies that any additional or excess exposure to radon and progeny increases overall risks such as lung cancer. A variety of engineering approaches are available to address radon exposure problems. Where high radon scenarios are encountered, such as uranium mining, the most cost effective approach is well-engineered ventilation systems. For residential radon problems, various options can be assessed, including building design and passive or active ventilation systems. This paper presents a very broad but thorough review of radon sources, its behaviour (especially the importance of its radioactive decay progeny), common mining and non-mining scenarios which can give rise to significant radon and progeny exposures, followed by a review of associated health impacts, culminating in typical engineering approaches to reduce exposures and rehabilitate wastes.     

Environmental Indication: A Field Test of an Ecosystem Approach to Quantify Biological Self-Organization

In this study, we take an ecosystem approach to examine the degree of biological self-organization at the ecosystem level. An integrated set of indicators is derived from a theoretical framework and tested by field data from an ecosystem research project focusing on the Bornhöved Lake district in northern Germany. This field test is based on a comparison of the self-organized phenomena that comprise the carbon, water, and energy budgets of two adjacent edaphically and climatically similar ecosystems, that have vastly different levels of human interference—a crop field and a beech forest. In terms of biomass storage, biologically incorporated nitrogen and phosphorus, species number, total ecosystem respiration per total biomass (qCO₂), total ecosystem assimilation per available nutrients, and transpiration per total evapotranspiration, we found clear differences between the systems. Ecosystem surface temperature and R_n/K* were found to be of limited utility in characterizing the two systems. The study is rooted in the concept of ecological integrity, an influential idea at the interface of ecological and environmental debate that has acquired a number of different meanings. Among other interpretations, it can be viewed as a guiding principle for sustainable land use that aims at long-term protection of ecological life-support systems. Effective use of any interpretation of this concept requires a theoretically consistent and applicable set of indicators. Therefore, we also discuss the integration of the indicator set and its potential use in monitoring programs.     

推进生物多样性保护与人类健康的共同发展——One Health

随着新冠肺炎(COVID-19)的暴发, 野生动物、生物多样性和人类健康的关系再次引起广泛讨论。近20年来, 国际社会对于生物多样性与健康的研究日益增多, 并将它作为生物多样性保护与研究的重要方向之一。One Health作为一个新的理念框架, 通过交叉学科的研究和行动来推动包括人、所有其他动物及环境的健康。这个理念被不同国家、国际组织及协定所接纳及推广, 包括《生物多样性公约》等。本文通过总结近些年生物多样性对健康的影响方式、One Health的定义与发展历史、进入生物多样性议程的过程, 提出中国应用One Health改进相关野生动物管理以降低公共卫生危机的可能性的建议, 以及One Health框架内增强生物多样性保护所需的研究方向。One Health在中国的应用与发展应重视生物多样性研究和保护在其中的作用, 利用在景观生态学、群落内物种关系动态变化、气候变化影响、土地利用变化模式与趋势的研究, 与人类健康相结合, 提高One Health在应对公共健康和环境健康风险方面的准确性与及时性。同时, 需要加强我国在野生动物管理方面的投入和力度, 增强生物多样性保护与公共健康的联系, 将预警与干预措施前移, 减少疾病暴发带来的社会经济成本。     

Integration of Effects-Based and Stressor-Based Approaches into a Holistic Framework for Cumulative Effects Assessment in Aquatic Ecosystems

As the density of development increases, there is a growing need to address the cumulative effects of project developments on the environment. In Canada this need has been recognized in legislation whereby new project developments that require an environmental assessment under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act are required to address the cumulative effects of proposed project activities relative to the existing environmental condition. Unfortunately, existing stressor-based and effects-based approaches to environmental assessment do not adequately address cumulative effects as defined under the Act when used in isolation. However, elements from each approach can be conceptually incorporated into a holistic cumulative effects assessment framework. Key framework components include: (1) an effects-based assessment to determine existing accumulated environmental state, (2) a stressor-based assessment to predict potential impacts of new development relative to the existing environmental state, (3) post-development monitoring to assess the accuracy of impact predictions and to provide an avenue for adaptive management, and (4) decision-making frameworks to link scientific information to public opinion and managerial action. The key advantage of this framework is that it provides a more holistic, systematic approach for incorporation of ecological information into a scientific and management framework for cumulative effects assessment.     

Estimating causal effects of air quality regulations using principal stratification for spatially correlated multivariate intermediate outcomes

Methods for causal inference regarding health effects of air quality regulations are met with unique challenges because (1) changes in air quality are intermediates on the causal pathway between regulation and health, (2) regulations typically affect multiple pollutants on the causal pathway towards health, and (3) regulating a given location can affect pollution at other locations, that is, there is interference between observations. We propose a principal stratification method designed to examine causal effects of a regulation on health that are and are not associated with causal effects of the regulation on air quality. A novel feature of our approach is the accommodation of a continuously scaled multivariate intermediate response vector representing multiple pollutants. Furthermore, we use a spatial hierarchical model for potential pollution concentrations and ultimately use estimates from this model to assess validity of assumptions regarding interference. We apply our method to estimate causal effects of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments among approximately 7 million Medicare enrollees living within 6 miles of a pollution monitor.