Progress in the study of mercury methylation and demethylation in aquatic environments

Mercury(Hg) and its compounds are a class of highly toxic and pervasive pollutants.During the biogeochemical cycling of Hg,methylmercury(MeHg),a potent neurotoxin,can be produced and subsequently bioaccumulated along the food chain in aquatic ecosystems.MeHg is among the most widespread contaminants that pose severe health risks to humans and wildlife.Methylation of inorganic mercury to MeHg and demethylation of MeHg are the two most important processes in the cycling of MeHg,determining the levels of MeHg in aquatic ecosystems.This paper reviews recent progress on the study of Hg methylation and demethylation in aquatic environments,focusing on the following three areas:(1) sites and pathways of Hg methylation and demethylation,(2) bioavailability of Hg species for methylation and demethylation,and(3) application of isotope addition techniques in quantitatively estimating the net production of MeHg.     

Prolonged suppression of ecosystem carbon dioxide uptake after an anomalously warm year

Terrestrial ecosystems control carbon dioxide fluxes to and from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and respiration, a balance between net primary productivity and heterotrophic respiration, that determines whether an ecosystem is sequestering carbon or releasing it to the atmosphere. Global and site-specific data sets have demonstrated that climate and climate variability influence biogeochemical processes that determine net ecosystem carbon dioxide exchange (NEE) at multiple timescales. Experimental data necessary to quantify impacts of a single climate variable, such as temperature anomalies, on NEE and carbon sequestration of ecosystems at interannual timescales have been lacking. This derives from an inability of field studies to avoid the confounding effects of natural intra-annual and interannual variability in temperature and precipitation. Here we present results from a four-year study using replicate 12,000-kg intact tallgrass prairie monoliths located in four 184-m(3) enclosed lysimeters. We exposed 6 of 12 monoliths to an anomalously warm year in the second year of the study and continuously quantified rates of ecosystem processes, including NEE. We find that warming decreases NEE in both the extreme year and the following year by inducing drought that suppresses net primary productivity in the extreme year and by stimulating heterotrophic respiration of soil biota in the subsequent year. Our data indicate that two years are required for NEE in the previously warmed experimental ecosystems to recover to levels measured in the control ecosystems. This time lag caused net ecosystem carbon sequestration in previously warmed ecosystems to be decreased threefold over the study period, compared with control ecosystems. Our findings suggest that more frequent anomalously warm years, a possible consequence of increasing anthropogenic carbon dioxide levels, may lead to a sustained decrease in carbon dioxide uptake by terrestrial ecosystems.     

Effects of species and functional group loss on island ecosystem properties

Considerable recent attention has focused on predicting how the losses of species and functional groups influence ecosystem properties, but the extent to which these effects vary among ecosystems remains poorly understood. Island systems have considerable scope for studying how biotic and abiotic factors influence processes in different ecosystems, because they enable the simultaneous study of large numbers of independent replicate systems at ecologically meaningful spatial scales. We studied a group of 30 islands in northern Sweden, for which island size determined disturbance history, and therefore vegetation successional stage and biotic and abiotic ecosystem properties. On each island we conducted a seven-year study that involved experimental removals of combinations of both plant functional groups and plant species. We show that although losses of functional groups and species often impaired key ecosystem processes, these effects were highly context-dependent and strongly influenced by island size. Our study provides evidence that the consequences of biotic loss for ecosystem functioning vary greatly among ecosystems and depend on the specific abiotic and biotic attributes of the system.     

Contributions of microbial biofilms to ecosystem processes in stream mesocosms

In many aquatic ecosystems, most microbes live in matrix-enclosed biofilms and contribute substantially to energy flow and nutrient cycling. Little is known, however, about the coupling of structure and dynamics of these biofilms to ecosystem function. Here we show that microbial biofilms changed the physical and chemical microhabitat and contributed to ecosystem processes in 30-m-long stream mesocosms. Biofilm growth increased hydrodynamic transient storage-streamwater detained in quiescent zones, which is a major physical template for ecological processes in streams-by 300% and the retention of suspended particles by 120%. In addition, by enhancing the relative uptake of organic molecules of lower bioavailability, the interplay of biofilm microarchitecture and mass transfer changed their downstream linkage. As living zones of transient storage, biofilms bring hydrodynamic retention and biochemical processing into close spatial proximity and influence biogeochemical processes and patterns in streams. Thus, biofilms are highly efficient and successful ecological communities that may also contribute to the influence that headwater streams have on rivers, estuaries and even oceans through longitudinal linkages of local biogeochemical and hydrodynamic processes.     

Plant litter decomposition in a semi-arid ecosystem controlled by photodegradation

The carbon balance in terrestrial ecosystems is determined by the difference between inputs from primary production and the return of carbon to the atmosphere through decomposition of organic matter. Our understanding of the factors that control carbon turnover in water-limited ecosystems is limited, however, as studies of litter decomposition have shown contradictory results and only a modest correlation with precipitation. Here we evaluate the influence of solar radiation, soil biotic activity and soil resource availability on litter decomposition in the semi-arid Patagonian steppe using the results of manipulative experiments carried out under ambient conditions of rainfall and temperature. We show that intercepted solar radiation was the only factor that had a significant effect on the decomposition of organic matter, with attenuation of ultraviolet-B and total radiation causing a 33 and 60 per cent reduction in decomposition, respectively. We conclude that photodegradation is a dominant control on above-ground litter decomposition in this semi-arid ecosystem. Losses through photochemical mineralization may represent a short-circuit in the carbon cycle, with a substantial fraction of carbon fixed in plant biomass being lost directly to the atmosphere without cycling through soil organic matter pools. Furthermore, future changes in radiation interception due to decreased cloudiness, increased stratospheric ozone depletion, or reduced vegetative cover may have a more significant effect on the carbon balance in these water-limited ecosystems than changes in temperature or precipitation.     

Contribution of anthropogenic and natural sources to atmospheric methane variability

Methane is an important greenhouse gas, and its atmospheric concentration has nearly tripled since pre-industrial times. The growth rate of atmospheric methane is determined by the balance between surface emissions and photochemical destruction by the hydroxyl radical, the major atmospheric oxidant. Remarkably, this growth rate has decreased markedly since the early 1990s, and the level of methane has remained relatively constant since 1999, leading to a downward revision of its projected influence on global temperatures. Large fluctuations in the growth rate of atmospheric methane are also observed from one year to the next, but their causes remain uncertain. Here we quantify the processes that controlled variations in methane emissions between 1984 and 2003 using an inversion model of atmospheric transport and chemistry. Our results indicate that wetland emissions dominated the inter-annual variability of methane sources, whereas fire emissions played a smaller role, except during the 1997-1998 El Ni?o event. These top-down estimates of changes in wetland and fire emissions are in good agreement with independent estimates based on remote sensing information and biogeochemical models. On longer timescales, our results show that the decrease in atmospheric methane growth during the 1990s was caused by a decline in anthropogenic emissions. Since 1999, however, they indicate that anthropogenic emissions of methane have risen again. The effect of this increase on the growth rate of atmospheric methane has been masked by a coincident decrease in wetland emissions, but atmospheric methane levels may increase in the near future if wetland emissions return to their mean 1990s levels.     

Increased terrestrial methane cycling at the Palaeocene-Eocene thermal maximum

The Palaeocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM), a period of intense, global warming about 55 million years ago, has been attributed to a rapid rise in greenhouse gas levels, with dissociation of methane hydrates being the most commonly invoked explanation. It has been suggested previously that high-latitude methane emissions from terrestrial environments could have enhanced the warming effect, but direct evidence for an increased methane flux from wetlands is lacking. The Cobham Lignite, a recently characterized expanded lacustrine/mire deposit in England, spans the onset of the PETM and therefore provides an opportunity to examine the biogeochemical response of wetland-type ecosystems at that time. Here we report the occurrence of hopanoids, biomarkers derived from bacteria, in the mire sediments from Cobham. We measure a decrease in the carbon isotope values of the hopanoids at the onset of the PETM interval, which suggests an increase in the methanotroph population. We propose that this reflects an increase in methane production potentially driven by changes to a warmer and wetter climate. Our data suggest that the release of methane from the terrestrial biosphere increased and possibly acted as a positive feedback mechanism to global warming.     

Exploring cyclic changes of the ocean carbon reservoir

A 5-Ma record from ODP Site 1143 has re-vealed the long-term cycles of 400—500 ka in the carbon isotope variations. The periodicity is correlatable all over the global ocean and hence indicative of low-frequency changes in the ocean carbon reservoir. As the same periodicity is also found in carbonate and eolian dust records in the tropical ocean, it may have been caused by such low-latitude proc-esses like monsoon. According to the Quaternary records from Site 1143 and elsewhere, major ice-sheet expansion and major transition in glacial cyclicity (such as the Mid-Brunhes Event and the Mid-Pleistocene Revolution ) were all pre-ceded by reorganization in the ocean carbon reservoir ex-pressed as an episode of carbon isotope maximum (d 13Cmax), implying the role of carbon cycling in modulating the glacial periodicity. The Quaternary glacial cycles, therefore, should no more be ascribed to the physical response to insolation changes at the Northern Hemisphere high latitudes alone; rather, they have been driven by the 揹ouble forcing? a combination of processes at both high and low latitudes, and of processes in both physical (ice-sheet) and biogeochemical (carbon cycling) realms. As the Earth is now passing through a new carbon isotope maximum, it is of vital impor-tance to understand the cyclic variations in the ocean carbon reservoir and its climate impact. The Pre-Quaternary varia-tions in carbon and oxygen isotopes are characterized by their co-variations at the 400-ka eccentricity band, but the response of d 13C and d 18O to orbital forcing in the Quater-nary became diverged with the growth of the Arctic ice-sheet. The present paper is the second summary report of ODP Leg 184 to the South China Sea.     

Increased soil emissions of potent greenhouse gases under increased atmospheric CO2

Increasing concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO(2)) can affect biotic and abiotic conditions in soil, such as microbial activity and water content. In turn, these changes might be expected to alter the production and consumption of the important greenhouse gases nitrous oxide (N(2)O) and methane (CH(4)) (refs 2, 3). However, studies on fluxes of N(2)O and CH(4) from soil under increased atmospheric CO(2) have not been quantitatively synthesized. Here we show, using meta-analysis, that increased CO(2) (ranging from 463 to 780 parts per million by volume) stimulates both N(2)O emissions from upland soils and CH(4) emissions from rice paddies and natural wetlands. Because enhanced greenhouse-gas emissions add to the radiative forcing of terrestrial ecosystems, these emissions are expected to negate at least 16.6 per cent of the climate change mitigation potential previously predicted from an increase in the terrestrial carbon sink under increased atmospheric CO(2) concentrations. Our results therefore suggest that the capacity of land ecosystems to slow climate warming has been overestimated.     

Mercury release flux and its influencing factors at the air-water interface in paddy field in Chongqing, China

The exchange of mercury(Hg) across the air-water interface is an important part of Hg biogeochemical cycle.Mercury fluxes across the air-water interface in paddy fields were measured by a Dynamic Flux Chamber(DFC) coupled with a Lumex multifunctional mercury analyzer RA-915+ at two sites(Chengjiang(CJ) and Caoshang(CS)) in Beibei,Chongqing,China in 2008.The results showed that mercury emission followed a power-law relationship with solar radiation and air temperature,and it increased exponentially with water temperature at both sites.Mercury emission was mainly influenced by the solubility of gaseous elemental Hg,photo-thermal effect,electron activity(Eh) and air Hg concentrations.Solar radiation made the greatest direct contribution to mercury emission during the daytime(0.80),with an 83.60% contribution,whereas at nighttime the water temperature(0.72) contributed to 71.65% of emissions.The temperature gradient between water and air might also influenced mercury emission across the air/water interface at nighttime.These findings suggest that paddy fields could act as a significant source of atmospheric mercury,and it can contribute significantly to the atmospheric mercury in a local region.     

Functional metagenomic profiling of nine biomes

Microbial activities shape the biogeochemistry of the planet and macroorganism health. Determining the metabolic processes performed by microbes is important both for understanding and for manipulating ecosystems (for example, disruption of key processes that lead to disease, conservation of environmental services, and so on). Describing microbial function is hampered by the inability to culture most microbes and by high levels of genomic plasticity. Metagenomic approaches analyse microbial communities to determine the metabolic processes that are important for growth and survival in any given environment. Here we conduct a metagenomic comparison of almost 15 million sequences from 45 distinct microbiomes and, for the first time, 42 distinct viromes and show that there are strongly discriminatory metabolic profiles across environments. Most of the functional diversity was maintained in all of the communities, but the relative occurrence of metabolisms varied, and the differences between metagenomes predicted the biogeochemical conditions of each environment. The magnitude of the microbial metabolic capabilities encoded by the viromes was extensive, suggesting that they serve as a repository for storing and sharing genes among their microbial hosts and influence global evolutionary and metabolic processes.     

燃煤汞污染监测及控制技术

 燃煤汞排放是全球汞污染的重要人为排放源,中国能源结构以煤为主的格局在今后相当长的时期内难以改变,因此对燃煤过程开展汞污染监测及控制迫在眉睫.本文分析了中国燃煤汞污染排放特征、现状及标准,论述了燃煤烟气中汞的监测技术和汞污染控制技术,探讨了今后燃煤烟气中汞监测及控制技术的发展.认为,在监测技术方面,需要开发长期稳定运行的高精度、高可靠性且价格低廉的仪器,方便中国更多排放源的监测;另外由于中国燃煤高灰、高湿度的特点,需要针对中国燃煤条件开发抗干扰性能强的测试仪器.控制技术方面,应加强协同控制技术的研发,掌握各个环节中化学条件的变化;加强吸附剂喷射技术的研发,开发高效低成本的吸附剂.     

Acclimation of ecosystem CO2 exchange in the Alaskan Arctic in response to decadal climate warming

Long-term sequestration of carbon in Alaskan Arctic tundra ecosystems was reversed by warming and drying of the climate in the early 1980s, resulting in substantial losses of terrestrial carbon. But recent measurements suggest that continued warming and drying has resulted in diminished CO2 efflux, and in some cases, summer CO2 sink activity. Here we compile summer CO2 flux data for two Arctic ecosystems from 1960 to the end of 1998. The results show that a return to summer sink activity has come during the warmest and driest period observed over the past four decades, and indicates a previously undemonstrated capacity for ecosystems to metabolically adjust to long-term (decadal or longer) changes in climate. The mechanisms involved are likely to include changes in nutrient cycling, physiological acclimation, and population and community reorganization. Nevertheless, despite the observed acclimation, the Arctic ecosystems studied are still annual net sources of CO2 to the atmosphere of at least 40 g C m(-2) yr(-1), due to winter release of CO2, implying that further climate change may still exacerbate CO2 emissions from Arctic ecosystems.     

鄂尔多斯东南部延长组致密油储层微观特征及主控因素

通过岩心观察、薄片鉴定、测井、扫描电镜和恒速压汞实验等资料分析,利用储层地质学等理论技术和知识,对鄂尔多斯盆地东南部延长组致密油储层的岩石结构和组分、孔喉结构和类型、孔渗分布等微观特征及其相关性和主控因素进行研究。延长组致密油储层以细粒长石砂岩为主,岩石结构和成分成熟度较低;平均孔隙半径为10μm且孔隙连通性差,孔隙以粒间孔、长石溶孔和裂缝为主,平均喉道半径为0.41μm,喉道以微细-微喉道为主。孔喉结构的非均质性决定了致密油储层的储集和渗流能力,压汞曲线表现出高排驱压力、中值半径偏小、细歪度、分选中等、退汞效率低的特征显示研究区致密油储层储集能力较强,而渗流能力较差;孔隙度均值为8.5%,渗透率均值为0.69 m D,孔隙度和渗透率表现为线性正相关(R2=0.389),微裂缝的存在使部分样品表现出低孔高渗的特征,储层总体表现为特低孔、超低渗、非均质性强的致密性特点。通过相关性分析,岩石组分主要影响储层的孔隙度,岩石组分中(铁)方解石与孔隙度相关性最好;喉道主要影响储层的渗透率,压汞实验分析表明孔喉大小、分布和连通性特征参数中的孔隙体积、分选系数、排驱压力与渗透率的相关性最好,相关系数均大于0.9,沉积作用(埋深、沉积微相)、成岩作用(压实、胶结和溶蚀)、构造作用等是研究区储层特征的主要控制因素,其中水下分流河道的储层物性最好,是研究区"甜点"储层的指向区;压实作用对储层致密性的贡献大于胶结作用,酸性流体大量生成时储层已在压实和胶结作用下接近致密,因此无法与长石等易溶组分充分接触而发生大规模的次生溶蚀;此外,后期构造运动生成的裂缝由于缺乏酸性流体而无次生溶蚀孔隙生成,储层的致密性无法得到根本性的改善。     

"植物-土壤"相互反馈的关键生态学问题:格局、过程与机制

植物与土壤之间相互反馈的格局、过程与机制,不但是决定生态系统结构、功能及过程的关键科学问题,而且是陆地生态系统响应全球变化的重要组成部分。基于目前国内外研究现状,从养分循环角度剖析“植物-土壤”间的反馈效应,探明相互反馈在空间尺度(根面、根际、种类、生态系统以及区域等)与时间尺度(秒至千年)上的级联效应及其变化格局;阐明根际、植物种类、生态系统及区域地理等水平上“植物-土壤”的相互反馈机制,重点揭示根系分泌、共生、生长及代谢的根际界面过程对植物水分/养分吸收与土壤物理学修饰的调控机制,剖析“植物种类-凋落物化学-土壤生物-土壤有机质”相互作用对地上-地下养分循环过程的驱动机制,运用“上行-下行控制理论及腐屑食物网模型”揭示地上-地下生物群落交互作用的过程与机制,以及土壤地质演变(岩石风化模式、土壤形成模式及土壤养分格局的变化)与区域植被演替(优势种更替及植被分布模式、地上-地下凋落物输入格局等的变化)相互反馈的过程与机制;从“植物-土壤”相互反馈的理论视角,分析生态退化与恢复、外来物种生态入侵、大气氮沉降、二氧化碳浓度升高以及植物多样性减少等全球生态问题的特征、形成机制以及可能的应对策略,揭示生态系统“地上-地下”相互反馈的生态学过程,以及陆地生态系统对全球生态环境变化的响应特征与机理。     

Catastrophic shifts in ecosystems

All ecosystems are exposed to gradual changes in climate, nutrient loading, habitat fragmentation or biotic exploitation. Nature is usually assumed to respond to gradual change in a smooth way. However, studies on lakes, coral reefs, oceans, forests and arid lands have shown that smooth change can be interrupted by sudden drastic switches to a contrasting state. Although diverse events can trigger such shifts, recent studies show that a loss of resilience usually paves the way for a switch to an alternative state. This suggests that strategies for sustainable management of such ecosystems should focus on maintaining resilience.     

集中供热对大气汞协同减排效果分析

集中供热代替分散供热是节能减排的重要措施,能够有效促进大气汞的协同减排.本文从集中供热锅炉节约煤炭和集中供热锅炉采用高效污染治理设施2个方面分析集中供热对大气汞的协同减排效果,为制订相关的政策标准提供依据.本研究结果表明,2011年全国集中供热锅炉因节约煤炭所产生的大气汞减排4.6 t;同时,由于集中供热锅炉基本上都采用较为先进的污染物治理设施,由此产生的大气汞的协同减排量为7.5 t;由此可见,仅集中供热锅炉替代分散燃煤小锅炉即可实现大气汞协同减排12.1 t.     

农田土壤固碳及其影响因子研究进展

固碳过程对于改善土壤质量、维持农田生态系统、保障全球粮食安全、缓解气候变化趋势等至关重要。本文介绍了农田土壤的生物与非生物固碳过程,阐述了土壤质地、水热变化、全球变暖和人为因素对农田土壤固碳过程的影响。总结了目前较受重视的一些农田固碳措施（施肥、灌溉、秸秆还田、生物炭质施入等）及其对农田土壤固碳能力的改善和应用中存在的问题,并对今后的相关研究作出展望。     

乐安油田草13断块沙四段储集层微观特征及其与驱油效率的关系

利用岩石物性分析、薄片、铸体薄片、扫描电镜和压汞资料,对乐安油田草13断块沙四段储层及其微观结构进行了研究。结果表明,研究区沙四段储层岩性混杂、岩石疏松,属中偏低渗储层。其储层孔隙类型有原生粒间孔隙、晶间微孔隙和溶蚀孔隙,孔隙结构以中孔细喉类型为主;孔隙和喉道分布区间宽,孔喉参数变化范围大,分选和均质程度低,孔喉比偏大,孔隙结构的非均质性较强。利用相关分析法进行的定量分析结果表明,沙四段储层退汞效率与各孔隙结构参数之间存在正相关关系,其中随孔隙度、渗透率增大,退汞效率迅速增加;而随孔喉增大,退汞效率缓慢增加,喉道分选性与驱油效率虽也呈正相关,但相关性较差。总体上,研究区沙四段储层驱油效率随储集物性的变好而增加。     

Getting the measure of biodiversity

The term 'biodiversity' is a simple contraction of 'biological diversity', and at first sight the concept is simple too: biodiversity is the sum total of all biotic variation from the level of genes to ecosystems. The challenge comes in measuring such a broad concept in ways that are useful. We show that, although biodiversity can never be fully captured by a single number, study of particular facets has led to rapid, exciting and sometimes alarming discoveries. Phylogenetic and temporal analyses are shedding light on the ecological and evolutionary processes that have shaped current biodiversity. There is no doubt that humans are now destroying this diversity at an alarming rate. A vital question now being tackled is how badly this loss affects ecosystem functioning. Although current research efforts are impressive, they are tiny in comparison to the amount of unknown diversity and the urgency and importance of the task.