Tidal driven nutrient exchange between mangroves and estuary reveals a dynamic source-sink pattern.

Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are vital nutrients regulating mangrove productivity and coastal ecosystems. Understanding of the nutrient cycling and interaction between mangroves and estuary is limited. Here we show tidal-driven nutrient exchange and a dynamic source-sink pattern across the mangrove-estuary interface. Lateral nutrient fluxes were quantified based on hourly concentrations observed at a tidal creek outlet during 2016-2018 and water mass estimated by a hydrodynamic model (FVCOM). The results of nutrient fluxes suggested that mangroves always serve as a source of ammonium (NH4-N) and dissolved reactive P (DRP) to estuary, but as a strong nitrate sink (NO3-N). Dissolved organic components (DON and DOP) shifted from net efflux (source) in spring to net influx (sink) in summer, likely due to the changing balance of P input and biological and physicochemical processes. Mangroves decreased the overall loading of dissolved inorganic N (DIN), dissolved total N (DTN) and total P (TP) to the estuary. Nevertheless, the effluents (aquaculture wastewater and domestic sewage) discharged from the upstream area during ebb tide increased the export of nutrients, especially NH4-N and DRP, offsetting the role of mangrove on mitigating coastal eutrophication.

Using generalized additive models to investigate factors influencing cyanobacterial abundance through phycocyanin fluorescence in East Lake, China.

East Lake is a shallow lake (in Wuhan, China) where cyanobacteria blooms occurred frequently from 1970 to 1985. During the study period, all Carlson trophic state index values were > 50, indicating that East Lake is in a eutrophic state. In this study, phycocyanin concentrations were measured through phycocyanin fluorometry for rapid assessment of cyanobacterial abundance. The smoothing splines of the optimal generalized additive model (GAM) indicated that Secchi depth (SD), total phosphorus (TP) and dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations, electrical conductivity (EC), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and ratios of total nitrogen (TN) to TP (TN:TP) were the main environmental factors in a moderate nonlinear relationship with cyanobacterial phycocyanin concentrations in East Lake. The shape of the GAM smoother can be used to quantify the relationship between a response variable and an explanatory variable in the scatterplot. Phycocyanin concentrations were sharply and negatively related to both SD and EC when the SD was 20-80 cm and EC was > 270 mg/L. Phycocyanin concentrations increased with concentrations of TP, DO, and COD. Phycocyanin concentrations increased sharply with TP concentrations when TP concentrations were > 0.10 mg/L and approached to a constant when DO concentrations were > 8.20 mg/L. Approximately, 85% of the phycocyanin concentrations were negatively correlated with TN:TP of < 26. In summary, organic compounds and TP were inferred to the key factors limiting the potential growth of cyanobacteria in East Lake. These change points/thresholds of smoothing splines of aforementioned variables may serve as a framework for managing the cyanobacterial growth.

Effect of Al2O3 mole fraction and cooling method on vitrification of an artificial hazardous material. Part 2: encapsulation of metals and resistance to acid.

This study investigated the encapsulation of metals in vitrified slags using a sequential extraction procedure and how Al ions and slag structure affected the encapsulation of heavy metals. It is found that the substitution of Al ions for Si ions weakened the encapsulation of the glass matrix due to the relatively weaker single bond strength of Al-O. In addition, the substitution also governed the phase distribution of metals that tended to stay slags. In comparison to air cooled slags, water quenched slags were more amorphous and offered relatively better encapsulation of metals. These findings were also supported by the SEM observation and XRD analysis. Although Al(2)O(3) may connect the non-bridging oxygen and polymerize the slag structure, the excess addition of Al(2)O(3) reduced the metal encapsulation and acid resistance of slags.

Effect of Al2O3 mole fraction and cooling method on vitrification of an artificial hazardous material. Part 1: variation of crystalline phases and slag structures.

This study investigated how Al ions affect slag structure. During vitrification, pure Al(2)O(3), CaO, and SiO(2) served as the encapsulation phases with the use of Al mol% as an operating parameter. All specimens with the same basicity (mass ratio of CaO to SiO(2)) of 2/3 were vitrified at 1400 degrees C and cooled by air cooling or water quenching. XRD was used to measure the volume fractions of crystalline and amorphous phases. In a non-Al environment, CaSiO(3) was formed in air-cooled and water-quenched slags. With the addition of Al(2)O(3), no crystalline phases were observed in water-quenched slags. With the increase of Al mol% in specimens, the Al ions in air-cooled slags initially acted as an intermediate linking one tetrahedron chain to another and reducing the amount of crystalline phase, then behaved as a network former making the slags amorphous, and finally replaced Si ions in silicate frames to generate a large amount of CaAl(2)Si(2)O(8). Air cooling improved the formation of crystallize structures with more leachable metal ions. A highly crystallized Al-framed structure is not suitable for encapsulating hazardous metals in vitrified slags.