Re-Shuffling of Species with Climate Disruption: A No-Analog Future for California Birds?

By facilitating independent shifts in species' distributions, climate disruption may result in the rapid development of novel species assemblages that challenge the capacity of species to co-exist and adapt. We used a multivariate approach borrowed from paleoecology to quantify the potential change in California terrestrial breeding bird communities based on current and future species-distribution models for 60 focal species. Projections of future no-analog communities based on two climate models and two species-distribution-model algorithms indicate that by 2070 over half of California could be occupied by novel assemblages of bird species, implying the potential for dramatic community reshuffling and altered patterns of species interactions. The expected percentage of no-analog bird communities was dependent on the community scale examined, but consistent geographic patterns indicated several locations that are particularly likely to host novel bird communities in the future. These no-analog areas did not always coincide with areas of greatest projected species turnover. Efforts to conserve and manage biodiversity could be substantially improved by considering not just future changes in the distribution of individual species, but including the potential for unprecedented changes in community composition and unanticipated consequences of novel species assemblages

Catalytic Activity During Copolymerization of Ethylene and 1-Hexene via Mixed TiO2/SiO2-Supported MAO with rac-Et[Ind]2ZrCl2 Metallocene Catalyst

Activities during ethylene/1-hexene copolymerization were found to increaseusing the mixed titania/silica-supported MAO with rac-Et[Ind]2ZrCl2 metallocenecatalyst. Energy Dispersive X-ray spectorcopy (EDX) indicated that the titania wasapparently located on the outer surface of silica and acted as a spacer to anchor MAO tothe silica surface. IR spectra revealed the Si-O-Ti stretching at 980 cm-1 with low contentof titania. The presence of anchored titania resulted in less steric hindrance and lessinteraction due to supporting effect

Application of activated carbon derived from bacterial cellulose for mesoporous HZSM-5 catalyst synthesis and performances of catalyst in bioethanol dehydration

Bacterial cellulose-derived activated carbon (BC-AC) was used as a hard template for mesoporous HZSM-5 zeolite synthesis. HZSM-5 zeolites were then applied as a catalyst for bioethanol dehydration. HZSM-5 zeolite catalyst obtained at the ratio of BC-AC to SiO2 of 0.4 (HZSM-5-0.4) exhibited very high catalytic performances and stability, in which the bioethanol conversion at 95.5-100%, with ethylene selectivity of 97.2-100% was obtained at the reaction temperature of 250-400 °C; whereas, the bioethanol conversion at 52.1%, with diethyl ether selectivity of 97.8% was obtained at 200 °C. The highly ordered mesoporous structure of HZSM-5-0.4 catalysts was found to promote mass transfer diffusion, resulting in the improved conversion and selectivity as well as the reduction of coke deposits. Consequently, BC-AC has an excellent potential to be used as a hard template for highly efficient and stable mesoporous HZSM-5 zeolite catalyst synthesis

Synthesis of mesoporous MFI zeolite via bacterial cellulose-derived carbon templating for fast adsorption of formaldehyde

Mesoporous ZSM-5 (MFI) zeolite was synthesized by using bacterial cellulose-derived activated carbon (BC-AC500) with a high surface area as a hard template. Different ratios of BC-AC500 and zeolite precursor gel were prepared in a Teflon-lined autoclave and crystallized at 180 ºC for 48 h in a rotating oven. The physicochemical properties of the samples were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning/transmission electron microscopies (SEM/TEM), and N2 physisorption techniques. It was found that the mesoporous ZSM-5 zeolites have a specific surface area of 184-190 m2/g, a high mesopore volume of 0.120-0.956 ml/g and a wide pore size distribution ranging from 5 to 100 nm with a maximum at approximately 25.3 nm. The successfully made mesoporous ZSM-5 was tested as an adsorbent for formaldehyde adsorption in batch mode. The mesoporous ZSM-5 zeolite made from bacterial cellulose-derived activated carbon showed significantly faster adsorption kinetics than conventional ZSM-5 (0.0081 vs. 0.0007 g/mg min, respectively). The prepared material has an adsorption capacity of 98 mg/g and is highly reusable. The reported mesoporous ZSM-5 zeolites can be deployed for the rapid removal of toxic organics from wastewater when urgently needed, e.g., under breakthrough conditions