Magnetic Properties of Tree Leaves and Their Significance in Atmospheric Particle Pollution in Linfen City,China

Fifty-one tree leaves were sampled in the industrial area,residential area,and Fenhe River ecological zone,for the purpose of a magnetic study on atmospheric pollution in Linfen City,Shanxi Province,China.Measurements of mass-specific magnetic susceptibility(χ) show a significant variation range(from 11.6 × 10-8 m3/kg to 129.7 × 10-8 m3/kg).Overall values of magnetic susceptibility decline in the following sequence:industrial area > residential area > Fenhe River ecological zone.The relatively elevated concentration-related magnetic parameters(saturation isothermal remanent magnetization,anhysteretic remanent magnetization and magnetic susceptibility) appear in the industrial area,with their highest values in the vicinity of Linfen Steel Mill.Magnetic particles are dominated by multidomain,magnetite-like minerals.Magnetic particle concentration and grain size both decrease with the increasing distance from industrial area,indicating the industrial area,especially Linfen Steel Mill,is the main source of atmospheric particle pollution.Residential area and Fenhe River ecological zone are also affected by industrial emission to a certain extent.The results of this study indicate that magnetic measurements of tree leaves are practicable for monitoring and determination of atmospheric pollution in Linfen City.

The steady and vibrating statuses of tulip tree leaves in wind

The study of tree leaf aerodynamics is useful to tree protection, solar panel design and development of new power generation technology. 73 tulip leaves were tested in suspended condition and with front as well as back surface of the lamina facing wind. Three types of vibrating statuses, two types of steady statuses, and five critical wind speeds were observed. The existence probabilities of the statuses and criticals, the probability density distribution of every critical over the range of wind speed 0-27 m/s, and the expected values of the criticals were obtained by statistics. The critical Reynolds number, defined by critical wind speed and lamina length, shows an increasing trend with increasing the lamina area or length to width ratio of the lamina, but it shows no trend of increase or decrease with increasing the length ratio of petiole to lamina.

Radiocarbon Concentration Measurements in Tree Leaves near SOCOCIM (Rufisque, Senegal), A Cement Factory

Radiocarbon content in biogenic samples is widely used to study the variation of atmospheric CO2 due to anthropogenic activities. A total of 20 samples of several types of tree leaves, were analyzed for this study. Sampling was carried out at the end of the rainy season in 2017 from the surrounding of the SOCOCIM cement factory in Rufisque town. Rufisque is located on the peninsula of Cape Verde, 25 km east of Dakar, where it is the 《south gate》 of the agglomeration. Reference samples of five different species were collected during the same period (2017) from a clean zone. The 14C method was used for the determination of Δ14C values. The data show that the 14C concentration in the studied sites was significantly lower than the clean area, due to the release of anthropogenic CO2. To estimate the Suess effect, the fossil fuel fraction was determined based on equations of mass balance for CO2 concentration, stable isotopic composition of carbon, and 14C concentration. The results show that selected locations are affected differently according to their distance from the factory and the wind direction.

Sulfur speciation and bioaccumulation in camphor tree leaves as atmospheric sulfur indicator analyzed by synchrotron radiation XRF and XANES

Analyzing and understanding the effects of ambient pollution on plants is getting more and more attention as a topic of environmental biology.A method based on synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence and X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy was established to analyze the sulfur concentration and speciation in mature camphor tree leaves （CTLs）,which were sampled from 5 local fields in Shanghai,China.Annual SO2 concentration,SO42-concentration in atmospheric particulate,SO42-and sulfur concentration in soil were also analyzed to explore the relationship between ambient sulfur sources and the sulfur nutrient cycling in CTLs.Total sulfur concentration in mature camphor tree leaves was 766-1704 mg/kg.The mainly detected sulfur states and their corresponding compounds were ＋6 （sulfate,include inorganic sulfate and organic sulfate）,＋5.2 （sulfonate）,＋2.2 （suloxides）,＋0.6 （thiols and thiothers）,＋0.2 （organic sulfides）.Total sulfur concentration was strongly correlated with sulfate proportion with a linear correlation coefficient up to 0.977,which suggested that sulfur accumulated in CTLs as sulfate form.Reduced sulfur compounds （organic sulfides,thiols,thioethers,sulfoxide and sulfonate） assimilation was sufficed to meet the nutrient requirement for growth at a balanced level around 526 mg/kg.The sulfate accumulation mainly caused by atmospheric sulfur pollution such as SO2 and airborne sulfate particulate instead of soil contamination.From urban to suburb place,sulfate in mature CTLs decreased as the atmospheric sulfur pollution reduced,but a dramatic increase presented near the seashore,where the marine sulfate emission and maritime activity pollution were significant.The sulfur concentration and speciation in mature CTLs effectively represented the long-term biological accumulation of atmospheric sulfur pollution in local environment.

Removal of Nickel（II） from Aqueous Solution Using Activated Charcoal Derived from the Leaves of Bitter Orange Tree （Citrus aurantium）

The present work deals with the removal of Ni（II） ion using activated charcoal prepared from the dry leaves of bitter orange tree （Citrus aurantium）. The effects of its concentration, adsorbent dosage, particle size, pH and temperature on removal of Ni（II） ion have been studied. The removal of Ni（II） ion is higher at lower concentration and gradually decreases as the concentration increases. The pH of 5 was the most suitable. The removal of Ni（II） ion increases with the increases in the adsorbent dosage. The effect of particle size reveals that the percentage removal of Ni（II） ion decreases with increase in particle size of adsorbent. The effect of temperature shows that as temperature increases, the percentage removal of Ni（II） ion decreases and this is due to the interaction forces weakening at high temperature. Thermodynamic parameters from the effect of temperature were calculated.

Implications of multipurpose tree leaf application on wheat productivity in dry tropics

Leaves of multipurpose tree species （those providing more than one function or product of human use） can serve as sources of fer- tilizer for nutrient supply, especially nitrogen （N）. In this study chopped leaves of tropical tree species （5 N-fixing species, 5 non-N-fixing species and combinations of 5 N-fixing with a non-N-fixing species） were in- corporated in soil to evaluate its effects on wheat biological productivity （including grain yield, GyIELD） under dryland conditions. High quality leaves of N-fixing tree species （e.g. Dalbergia sissoo, Cassia fistula and Prosopis cineraria） had lower carbon/nitrogen （C/N）, lignin/nitrogen （L^o/N）, polyphenol/nitrogen （PPt/N） and lignin＋polyphenol /nitrogen （L~＋PpL/N） ratios than low quality leaves of non-N-fixing species. Com- bination treatments had intermediate values of different parameters, Application of high quality leaves caused greater increases in wheat productivity and yield than other species.

Feature extraction of overlapping hevea leaves:A comparative study

Automation of rubber tree clone classification has inspired research into new methods of leaf feature extraction.In current practice,rubber clone inspectors has been using several leaf features to identify clone types.One of the unique features of rubber tree leaf is palmate leaflets.This characteristic generates different leaflet positions,where the leaves are overlapping or separated.In this research,we propose keypoint extraction and line detection methods to extract shape and axil(angle between petioles)features of leaflet positions.The results of keypoint extraction methods,namely,SIFT,Harris,and FAST,were compared and discussed for shape feature extraction.Next,Hough transformation and boundary-tracing methods were compared to identify the suitable axil detection method.The evaluation result demonstrates the proper keypoint extraction method for shape context and the clear advantages of Hough Transformation in accuracy of angle detection.