Advanced Materials Research Vols. 1010-1012

Abstract: Cadmium has wide application in industrial production, and serious environmental pollution was generated. The Sources of Cadmium in water and its harm were introduced in this paper. The bioremediation, phytoremediation, physical and chemical remediation, electrolytic repair of wastewater containing cadmium treatment technology was reviewed, and the advantages and disadvantages of each method have been elaborated. The outlook of cadmium pollution treatment in the future was put forward.

Abstract: Mine tailings is composed of mineral sands and gravel,which usually contains considerable heavy metals[1]. The plants growing in mine tailings area usually have a certain tolerance for heavy metals.According to analyzed the Zoysia sinica Hance and Rumex crispus in the upper reaches of Jialing river, discussed how local environment effect the resistance, migration, transport for heavy metals Pb, Zn, Cu, Cd. The results show that the heavy metal Pb in Zoysia sinica Hance is leaf>root,the heavy metals Zn,Cu,Cd in Zoysia sinica Hance is root>leaf,and the proportion of heavy metal in leaf and root remain stability and keep positive correlation between each other. Zoysia sinica has strong resistance and accumulation for heavy metals Pb, Zn, Cu.Especially it has potential accumulation for Pb, and poor accumulation for Cd.The heavy metal Zn,Cd in Rumex crispus is leaf>root,but for Pb and Cu is root>leaf.Rumex crispus has a certain accumulation for Pb,Zn and Cu,and has a poor accumulation for Cd.Zoysia sinica Hance and Rumex crispus show resistance to various heavy metals and has accumulation for some heavy metals, Zoysia and crispuscan can be used for repairing the soil of mining district or can be used for Soil recovery.

Abstract: To examine the impact of habitat heterogeneity on the bird communities, we investigated the structural differences of various bird communities occurring in heterogeneous habitats in the subtropical hilly areas of southern China. We used indicator Species Analysis (ISA) to test the association of specific bird species to particular habitats. We performed Two-way Cluster Analysis to find species patterning in response to habitat fragmentation. Our results demonstrated that heterogeneous habitats promoted bird diversity and human activities affected bird behavior. Indicator Species Analysis demonstrated that similar habitats had similar bird communities, while different habitats supported various bird indicator species. Although habitat diversity increased bird diversity of a region, it was unfavorable for the maintenance of specialized birds in the forests of the subtropical hilly area.

Abstract: Understanding relationships between vegetation and its substrate environment is helpful for protection of ecosystem integrity. Substrate has been proved as one of good indicators to reveal the inherent interactions between wetland vegetation and its environment. A study was thus conducted to investigate the suitable soil environment for salt cedar (Tamarix chinensis) in order to predict its distribution in the Yellow River Delta in which Tamarix chinensis has been spreading in recent years. This study analyzed the soil parameters as environmental variations, and at the same time used proline content as a physiological indicator to illuminate the condition of the Tamarix chinensis. The habitats were classified into 3 clusters at 95% confident level with K-mean clustering algorithm. The differences in soil conductivity, Cl^-, NO₃^-, Na⁺ and Mg²⁺ among the three clusters were significant as revealed by ANOVA results. The distribution of these clusters and their soil variations were consistent, implying that the clustering illuminates the differences physically. Finally, a range of Tamarix chinensis leaf proline was settled and compared with the clustering results, and it was found that Tamarix chinensis could have positive growth dynamic under moderate soil water and salinity conditions.

Abstract: The paper presents a novel method for the flotation separation of Cu²⁺ using microcrystalline adsorption system and the determination of trace Cu²⁺ in water samples by spectrophotometry. The effects of the dosages of KI, ascorbic acid (AA) and cetyl pyridinium chloride (CPC),various salts and acidity on the flotation yield of Cu²⁺ have been investigated. The possible flotation separation mechanism of Cu²⁺ was discussed.The results showed that under the optimum conditions, CPC cation (CPC⁺) reacted with I^- to produce the microcrystalline matter (Ms-M) of (CPC⁺·I^-),Cu²⁺ could be reduced to Cu⁺ by ascorbic acid,and then Cu⁺ reacted with I^- to form the precipitation of CuI.The precipitation of CuI was quantificationally adsorbed on the surface of Ms-M of (CPC⁺·I^-) and was floated above salt-water phase. While Zn²⁺、Ni²⁺、Co²⁺、Mn²⁺ and Fe²⁺ could not be floated.Therefore, Cu²⁺ was separated completely from the above metal ions. The proposed method has been successfully applied to the determination of trace Cu²⁺ in various environmental water samples after flotation separation using microcrystalline adsorption system, and the results agreed well with those obtained by GFAAS method.The recoveries were 97.9%~100.7%, and the RSD is 0.8%~1.3%.

Abstract: The responses of antioxidant systems after exposing Eisenia fetida to actual soil contaminated with PCBs were investigated. Among antioxidant enzymes, the primary response to early PCBs exposure can be attributed to catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD). These two enzymes could have a combined effect on fighting damage by reactive oxygen species. An obvious increase in the activity of CAT was recorded at 4 mg kg^-1 compared to the control throughout the whole test days. PCBs exposure caused changes in POD activity in 2d and 4d. However, the activity of POD in E. fetida tissues changed little with PCBs concentrations in day 8 and 16d. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) changed little with PCBs in different time. The results suggest that the variations in CAT and POD of E. fetida could be used as early responsive biomarkers for oxidative stress caused by PCBs in a soil environment.

Abstract: Much progress has been made toward understanding plant drought resistance. However, the coordinate responses of plant to drought on the basis of ABA level at physiological, ecological and molecular levels remains unclear. Here, the potted winter wheat (triticum aestivum) was cultivated under relative soil moisture (RSM ) respectively at 85% (well-watered), 65% (moderate stress), and 45% (severe stress), and a series of physiological and ecological parameters including ABA level, stomatal conductance, leaf temperature, leaf water potential, together with transcripts of ABA biosynthesis-metabolism key genes including 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (TaNCED), ABA glucosyltransferase (TaGT), ABA 8'-hydroxylase (TaCYP707A), and β-glucosidase (TaBG) were carried out. We found that ABA contents responsive to soil water loss increased rapidly and showed a significantly-negative correlation with the stomatal conductance and the leaf water potential and a significantly-positive correlation with the leaf-air temperature difference, respectively. The continuous accumulation of ABA was resulted mainly from the increased transcripts of both TaNCEDs and TaBGs genes. The transcripts of TaCYP707A1 and TaGT declined sharply from 85% to 65% RSM and then increased slightly from 65% to 45% RSM, indicating that ABA metabolism not only accelerates the accumulation of ABA level but also contributes to maintain ABA homeostasis. In conclusion, the macroscopic-microscopic changes responsive to water deficient reflects the ABA-regulated, drought-resistance coordinate mechanisms at physiological, ecological and molecular levels in triticum aestivum.

Abstract: Stearoyl-acyl-carrier protein desaturase is one of the key enzymes that irreversibly catalyze the biosynthesis of fatty acids, and has an influence on the proportion of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. In this research, MeSACPD has been cloned from cassava, with 1197 nucleotides and 398 amino acids, respectively. It has high homologous with the stearoyl-acyl-carrier protein desaturase in Ricinus communis. The 3D structure of MeSACPD show a conserve motif related to Fe ion binding. We suppose the motif may be the active center and the substrate binding site area of stearoyl-acyl-carrier protein desaturase.

Abstract: To establish HPLC fingerprint of ZheRong Radix pseudostellariae and the evidence was provided for quality control and identification of the Chinese crude drug. The HPLC method was used,chromatography conditions were Agilent Eclipse XDB-C18( 4. 6 mm ×250 mm,5 μm) column with gradient mobile phase of acetonitrile-water,The detection wavelength was 203 nm and the col-umn temperature was 30 °C with the flow rate of 1. 0 mL/min,the sample injection was 20μL. HPLC fingerprints of 32 sam-ples of ZheRong Radix pseudostellariae were established. 9 common peaks were selected as the fingerprint peaks in all samples. Among the obtained fingerprints,most of the detected peaks were separated effectively. 32 samples had high similarities. The established HPLC fingerprint has desirable accuracy,repeatability and stability,which can be used for one of the quality control methods of ZheRong Radix pseudostellariae.

Abstract: Paulownia tomentosa Steud flowers have been used for many therapeutic purposes in traditional pharmacopeia. The components of the extract of Paulownia tomentosa Steud flowers were separated using ethanol elution. The antioxidant properties of different components (20% component, 40% component, 60% component, and 80% component) and synthetic antioxidants (BHA and BHT) were evaluated by scavenging DPPH, superoxide anions, and hydroxyl radical methods. All components showed strong antioxidant properties, especially the 60% component, which exhibited excellent antioxidant activity. These components may be developed for use as natural antioxidants. The main compounds in these components were identified using UPLC-TOF-MS/MS and UV spectra analysis. Two compounds, abscisic acid and t-abscisic acid, were found in the 20% component. Five compounds, t-abscisic acid, luteolin, apigenin, tricin, and 4′,5,7-trihydroxy-3′-methoxyflavone, were found in the 40% component. Three compounds, t-abscisic acid, apigenin and 4′,5,7-trihydroxy-3′-methoxyflavone, were found in the 60% component. Six compounds, luteolin, apigenin, 4′,5,7-trihydroxy-3′-methoxyflavone, paulownin, 3'-methyldiplacol, and diplacone, were found in the 80% component. The antioxidant activity of these components can be attributed to the main chemical composition of the components of the extract of Paulownia tomentosa Steud flowers.