科研成果 by Year: 2009

The increase of biodiversity from poles to equator is one of the most pervasive features of nature. For 2 centuries since von Humboldt, Wallace, and Darwin, biogeographers and ecologists have investigated the environmental and historical factors that determine the latitudinal gradient of species diversity, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. The recently proposed metabolic theory of ecology (MTE) aims to explain ecological patterns and processes, including geographical patterns of species richness, in terms of the effects of temperature and body size on the metabolism of organisms. Here we use 2 comparable databases of tree distributions in eastern Asia and North America to investigate the roles of environmental temperature and spatial scale in shaping geographical patterns of species diversity. We find that number of species increases exponentially with environmental temperature as predicted by the MTE, and so does the rate of spatial turnover in species composition (slope of the species-area relationship). The magnitude of temperature dependence of species richness increases with spatial scale. Moreover, the relationship between species richness and temperature is much steeper in eastern Asia than in North America: in cold climates at high latitudes there are more tree species in North America, but the reverse is true in warmer climates at lower latitudes. These patterns provide evidence that the kinetics of ecological and evolutionary processes play a major role in the latitudinal pattern of biodiversity.

An experimental investigation on the interaction of an ultraintense femtosecond laser pulse at the intensity of 2×1017 W/cm2 (60 fs, 120 mJ at 800 nm) with clusters in a supersonic jet of deuterated methane gas has shown the generation of energetic deuterons and nuclear fusion events. The deuteron density and the average size of the clusters in the gas jet, as well as the fusion neutron yields under different backing pressures were measured simultaneously as a function of the time delays of the laser pulses with respect to the puffing of the gas jet. The results demonstrate that during the development of the gas jet expanding through a conical nozzle, the clusters grew up with time, and the average size of the clusters reached the maximum when the molecular density in the jet started to drop. The fusion neutron yields were found to increase with the larger average cluster size and the higher deuteron density, in accordance with the theoretical prediction. Experimental data indicate the existence of a ~1 ms steady region in which the fusion neutron yields have reached the maximum of 2.0×105 per shot at the backing pressure of 74 bars. Consequently, an efficiency of 1.6×106 neutrons per joule of incident laser energy was realized. ©2009 American Institute of Physics

Emission inventories of sixty-seven speciated non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC) from on-road vehicles in China were estimated for the period of 1980–2005, using seven NMVOC emission profiles, which were summarized based on local and international measurements from published literatures dealing with specific vehicle categories running under particular modes. Results show an exponential growth trend of China's historical emissions of alkanes, alkenes, alkines, aromatics and carbonyls during the period of 1980–2005, increasing from 63.9, 39.3, 6.9, 36.8 and 24.1 thousand tons, respectively, in 1980 to 2778.2, 1244.5, 178.7, 1351.7 and 406.0 thousand tons, respectively, in 2005, which coincided well with China's economic growth. Emission inventories of alkenes, aromatics and carbonyls were gridded at a high resolution of 40 km×40 km for air quality simulation and health risk evaluation, using the geographic information system (GIS) methodology. Spatial distribution of speciated NMVOC emissions shows a clear difference in emission densities between developed eastern and relatively underdeveloped western and inland China. Besides, the appearance and expansion of high-emission areas was another notable characteristic of spatial distribution of speciated NMVOC emissions during the period. Emission contributions of vehicle categories to speciated NMVOC groups showed annual variation, due to the variance in the provincial emissions and in the relative fractions of the seven emission profiles adopted at the provincial level. Highly reactive and toxic compounds accounted for high proportions of emissions of speciated NMVOC groups. The most abundant compounds were isopentane, pentane and butane from alkanes; ethene, propene, 2-methyl-2-butene and ethyne from alkenes and alkines; benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, o-xylene, and m,p-xylene (BTEX) and 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene from aromatics and formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, benzaldehyde and acetone from 

In Canada approximately 45% of ammonia (NH(3)) emissions are attributed to dairy and beef cattle industries. The present study focused on NH(3) emissions from a beef feedlot with a one-time capacity of 17,220 head. The aim was to improve the Canadian NH(3) emission inventories and air quality forecasting capabilities. A Cessna 207. equipped with a fast-response NH(3)/NO(y) detector and a quadrupole aerosol mass spectrometer, was flown in a grid pattern covering an area of 8 x 8 km centered on a feedlot (800 x 800 m) at altitudes ranging from 30 to 300 m above ground. Stationary ground measurements of NH(3) concentration and turbulence parameters were made downwind of the feedlot. Three flights were conducted under varying meteorological conditions, ranging from very calm to windy with near-neutral stratification. NH(3) mixing ratios up to 100 ppbv were recorded on the calm day, up to 300 m above ground. An average feedlot NH(3) emission rate of 76 +/- 4 mu g m(-2) s(-1) (equivalent to 10.2 g head(-1) h(-1)) was estimated. Characteristics of the measured NH(3) plume were compared to those predicted by a Lagrangian dispersion model. The spatially integrated pattern of NH(3) concentrations predicted and measured agreed but the measured was often more complex than the predicted spatial distribution. The study suggests that the export of NH(3) through advection accounted for about 90% of the emissions from the feedlot, chemical transformation was insignificant, and dry deposition accounted for the remaining 10%. Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.