Analysis and Evaluation of Heavy Metal Environmental Quality of Irrigation Water in Vegetable Farmlands of Shandong Province

[Objective] The aim was to evaluate heavy metal environmental quality of irrigation water in vegetable farmlands of Shandong Province. [Method] Heavy metal contents including Hg,Cd,As,Cr (+6),Pb,Cu and Zn in irrigation water of main vegetable farmlands of Shandong Province were investigated by randomly sampling,and the environmental quality conditions of these heavy metals were evaluated by methods of single quality index and complex quality index. [Result] The results showed that the average contents of heavy metals in irrigation water of Shouguang,Laiyang,Jinxiang and Zhangqiu were all far lower than the limit values prescribed by 'Farmland Environmental Quality Evaluation Standards for Edible Agricultural Products' (HJ332-2006),and no heavy metal was found beyond the limit value in every sample. The single quality indices of the 7 elements in the studied 4 places were all lower than 0.5. The comprehensive quality index of the seven elements was 0.317 8 in Shouguang,0.320 4 in Laiyang,0.232 6 in Jinxiang,and 0.260 7 in Zhangqiu. The environmental quality of irrigation water in the studied four places were all set at the first class. [Conclusion] The environmental quality of irrigation water in the 4 places belonged to clean level and were fit for the plantation of no pollution vegetables.

The spatial relationship between salt marsh vegetation patterns,soil elevation and tidal channels using remote sensing at Chongming Dongtan Nature Reserve, China

The analysis of vegetation-environment relationships has always been a study hotspot in ecology. A number of biotic, hydrologic and edaphic factors have great influence on the distribution of macrophytes within salt marsh.Since the exotic species Spartina alterniflora（S. alterniflora） was introduced in 1995, a rapid expansion has occurred at Chongming Dongtan Nature Reserve（CDNR） in the Changjiang（Yangtze） River Estuary, China.Several important vegetation-environment factors including soil elevation, tidal channels density（TCD）,vegetation classification and fractional vegetation cover（FVC） were extracted by remote sensing method combined with field measurement. To ignore the details in interaction between biological and physical process,the relationship between them was discussed at a large scale of the whole saltmarsh. The results showed that Scirpus mariqueter（S. mariqueter） can endure the greatest elevation variance with 0.33 m throughout the marsh in CDNR. But it is dominant in the area less than 2.5 m with the occurrence frequency reaching 98%. S. alterniflora has usually been found on the most elevated soils higher than 3.5 m but has a narrow spatial distribution. The rapid decrease of S. mariqueter can be explained by stronger competitive capacity of S. alterniflora on the high tidal flat. FVC increases with elevation which shows significant correlation with elevation（r=0.30, p〈0.001）. But the frequency distribution of FVC indicates that vegetation is not well developed on both elevated banks near tidal channels from the whole scale mainly due to tidal channel lateral swing and human activities. The significant negative correlation（r=–0.20, p〈0.001） was found between FVC and TCD, which shows vegetation is restricted to grow in higher TCD area corresponding to lower elevation mainly occupied by S. mariqueter communities. The maximum occurrence frequency of this species reaches to 97% at the salt marsh with TCD more than 8 m/m2.

Road effects on vegetation composition in a saline environment

Aims Road effects from maintenance and traffic have the potential to alter plant communities,but the exact relationships between these effects and changes in plant community composition have not often been studied in diverse environments.To determine the direction and level of community composition changes in saline environment due to road effects,we conducted a study along roads of different ages and in nearby non-road(i.e.natural)areas in the Yellow River Delta,China.Additionally,to potentially elucidate the mechanisms underlying the changes in the richness and composition of plant communities along roads,we evaluated physiochemical changes in soil of roadside and non-road areas.Methods Floristic and environmental data were collected along roadside of different ages and nearby non-road areas.To evaluate plant communities at each site,six 2 m 32 m quadrats were placed at 3-m intervals along roads and six quadrats were arranged randomly in non-road areas.To determine the difference in plant community composition betweenroadside andnon-road areas,wemeasuredspecies richness and the abundance of each species,examined species turnover and floristic dissimilarity between the two areas and positioned plant species and sites in an abstract multivariate space.Plant community(species richness,percentage of halophytes)and soil physicochemical properties(pH,salinity,moisture content,bulk density,nitrate and ammonium nitrogen concentration)were compared between roadside and non-road areas(young roadside vs.corresponding non-road areas,old roadside vs.corresponding non-road areas)by using t-tests.Classification and ordination techniques were used to examine the relationship between vegetation and related environmental variables in both roadside and non-road areas.Important Findings For both the young and old roadside areas,species richness in roadside areas was significantly higher than in non-road areas and high floristic dissimilarity values indicated that roadside and non-road areas differed greatly in community composition.In both the young and old roadside areas,the plant communities in roadside areas had lower percentages of halophytes than non-road communities.Correspondence analysis and two-way indicator species analysis showed that halophytes dominated in the non-road areas,while a number of typical non-salt-tolerant species dominated in the roadside areas.Compared to non-road areas,activities associated with roads significantly decreased soil moisture,bulk density and salinity and increased soil pH and nitrate content.Forward selection for the environmental variables in canonical correspondence analysis showed that soil salinity was the most important factor related to the variation of species composition between roadside and non-road areas.Our study demonstrates that road effects have a significant impact on the associated vegetation and soil,and these changes are consistent across roads of different ages in our system.

Effects of Topography and Land use on Woody Plant Species Composition and Beta Diversity in an Arid Trans-Himalayan Landscape, Nepal

Distribution patterns of plant species are believed to be impacted by small-scale habitat heterogeneity. However, there have been few comparative studies examining how woody vegetation composition and diversity varies with aspects of different orientations in the Trans-Himalayan region at a local scale. Here, we examined the effects of incoming solar radiation on variation in woody species composition and compared the diversity between the northeast- and southwest-facing slopes in a Trans-Himalayan valley of Nepal. We also examined the implicit interactions between slope orientation and land use in determining the compositional variations between the slopes. We selected two pairs of northeast- and southwest-facing slopes where the first pair has a similar land use and differs in exposure only(Pisang site) while the other pair has clear differences in land use in addition to slope exposure(Braka site). In each site, we sampled 72 plots(36 on each slope) in which the presence and absence of woody species, environmental variables, and disturbance were recorded. Correspondence Analysis(CA) results suggested that the woody species composition significantly varied between northeast- and southwest-facing slopes at both sites, and was significantly correlated with measured environmental variables such as radiation index, altitude, and canopy openness. In the Braka site,mean alpha diversity was significantly higher on southwest-facing slopes. In contrast, beta diversity and gamma diversity were greater on northeast-facing slopes at both sites. Our results suggest that topographic variables(e.g., radiation index) affect species composition between the slopes, likely due to their influence on small scale abiotic environmental variables. However, the effects of land use, such as livestock browsing/grazing may interact with the effects of slope exposure, effectively reducing differences in species composition within slopes but enhancing the differences in beta diversity between contrasting slopes in the Braka. We conclude that slope orientation and land use are important factors in structuring the woody species composition and diversity in the arid Trans-Himalayan region. We suggest that both environmental and land use variables should be taken into consideration in future studies on plant community structure along the cultural landscapes.