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1.
2.
Radioactive contamination of agricultural land may necessitate long-term changes in food production systems, through application
of selected countermeasures, in order to reduce the accumulation of radionuclides in food. We quantified the impact of selected
countermeasures on habitat diversity, using the hypothetical case of two agricultural areas in Finland. The management scenarios
studied were conversions from grassland to cereal production and from grassland and crop production to afforestation. The
two study sites differed with respect to present agricultural production: one being predominantly cereal production and seminatural
grasslands, while the other was dominated by intensive grass and dairy production. Some of the management scenarios are expected
to affect landscape structures and habitat diversity. These potential changes were assessed using a spatial pattern analysis
program in connection with geographic information systems. The studied landscape changes resulted in a more monotonous landscape
structure compared to the present management, by increasing the mean habitat patch size, reducing the total habitat edge length
and reducing the overall habitat diversity calculated by the Shannon diversity index. The degree of change was dependent on
the present agricultural management practice in the case study sites. Where dairy production was predominant, the landscape
structure changes were mostly due to conversion of intensive pastures and grasslands to cereal production. In the area dominated
by cereal production and seminatural grasslands, the greatest predicted impacts resulted from afforestation of meadows and
pastures. The studied management changes are predicted to reduce biodiversity at the species level as well as diminishing
species-rich habitats. This study has predicted prominent side effects in habitat diversity resulting from application of
management scenarios. These potential long-term impacts should be considered by decision-makers when planning future strategies
in the event of radionuclide deposition. 相似文献
3.
The attitudes and behaviours of private landholders toward the conservation of a highly transformed and critically endangered
habitat, Overberg Coastal Renosterveld (OCR) (a grassy shrubland of the Cape Floral Region, South Africa) are described. Personal,
semistructured interviews were conducted with landholders, representing 40 properties in the Overberg region, on topics such
as management and utilisation of OCR, the depth of their knowledge of its conservation importance, what they perceive its
value to be, and the extent of their willingness to conserve it. General attitudes toward conservation incentives and provincial
conservation authorities were also investigated. Farmers more willing to conserve were younger, did not necessarily have a
better education, and owned larger farms (>500 ha) with a greater amount of remnant renosterveld (>300 ha) than those less
willing to conserve. Attitudes toward the OCR were largely negative, related to associated problem plants and animals and
the fact that it is believed not to be economically advantageous to retain it. However, farmers are of the opinion that provision
of incentives and increased extension support will provide practical positive inducements for conservation. Landholder education
is paramount to prevent further transformation of critically endangered habitats. The success of private-conservation programs
depends on the attitudes of landowners toward (1) the particular habitat or species to be conserved (which can vary depending
on the type of land use practised and the associated benefits and disadvantages of that habitat type); (2) the conservation
agency or extension officers responsible for that area; and (3) willingness of landowners to participate in a conservation
program, which is influenced by landowner age, farm size, and the amount of natural habitat left to conserve. 相似文献
4.
Demand for information that can be used to manage loggerhead shrikes has recently increased because of concern over declining
populations and loss of open, non-forested habitat. A previously-developed habitat model was modified to predict shrike habitat
quality on Fort Riley Military Reservation (FRMR) in Kansas. Shrike habitat suitability indices were calculated based on the
amount of potential and usable foraging habitat, and the number of potential nesting sites within a specified area. Interpretation
of high quality digital photographs was used to delineate land cover classes, hedgerows and tree counts. These data were entered
into a geographic information system (GIS) as individual data sets. The shrike habitat model was then employed to produce
a GIS database predicting low, moderate, and high quality shrike habitat throughout the Reservation. Model results indicated
that 67% of the Reservation was suitable habitat for loggerhead shrikes. Although over 80% of FRMR was mapped as grassland,
the presence of few to several isolated trees or hedgerows was identified as a key factor in modeling habitat suitability.
The accuracy of the GIS model was 82% in predicting suitable (moderate and high quality) loggerhead shrike habitat using an
independent set of 66 recent shrike observations. The number of potential nesting sites and percent cover of usable foraging
habitat were significantly related to habitat suitability of the sites occupied by shrikes. 相似文献
5.
Qiu Z 《Environmental management》2003,32(3):299-311
Conservation buffers have the potential to reduce agricultural nonpoint source pollution and improve terrestrial wildlife habitat, landscape biodiversity, flood control, recreation, and aesthetics. Conservation buffers, streamside areas and riparian wetlands are being used or have been proposed to control agricultural nonpoint source pollution. This paper proposes an innovative strategy for placing conservation buffers based on the variable source area (VSA) hydrology. VSAs are small, variable but predictable portion of a watershed that regularly contributes to runoff generation. The VSA-based strategy involves the following three steps: first, identifying VSAs in landscapes based on natural characteristics such as hydrology, land use/cover, topography and soils; second, targeting areas within VSAs for conservation buffers; third, refining the size and location of conservation buffers based on other factors such as weather, environmental objectives, available funding and other best management practices. Building conservation buffers in VSAs allows agricultural runoff to more uniformly enter buffers and stay there longer, which increases the buffers capacity to remove sediments and nutrients. A field-scale example is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the within-VSA conservation buffer scenario relative to a typical edge-of-field buffer scenario. The results enhance the understanding of hydrological processes and interactions between agricultural lands and conservation buffers in agricultural landscapes, and provide practical guidance for land resource managers and conservationists who use conservation buffers to improve water quality and amenity values of agricultural landscape. 相似文献
6.
Habitat protection for grassland birds is an important component of open space land acquisition in suburban Chicago. We use
optimization decision models to develop recommendations for land protection and analyze tradeoffs between alternative goals.
One goal is to acquire (and restore if necessary) as much grassland habitat as possible for a given budget. Because a viable
habitat for grassland birds consists of a relatively large core area with additional parcels of grassland habitat nearby,
the second goal is to minimize total pairwise distance between newly protected parcels and large existing reserves. We also
use the concept of an effective grassland habitat area, which considers influences that neighboring land covers have on grassland
habitat suitability. We analyze how the parcels selected for protection change as total protected effective area is traded
off against total distance. As area is weighted more heavily, the selected parcels are scattered and unconnected. As total
distance is weighted more heavily, the selected parcels coalesce around core reserves but protect less area. The differences
in selected parcels as we change the objective function weights are caused by the differences in price per unit of effective
habitat area across parcels. Parcels located in close proximity to the existing cores have relatively high prices per hectare
of effective grassland area as a consequence of high restoration costs and adverse influences from roads, urban areas and/or
forestland. As a result, these parcels have lower priority for selection when the area objective is weighted more heavily
for a given budget. 相似文献
7.
Smith PG 《Environmental management》2007,39(3):338-352
Characteristics of urban natural areas and surrounding landscapes were identified that best explain winter bird use for 28
urban natural areas in southern Ontario, Canada. The research confirms for winter birds the importance of area (size) and
natural vegetation, rather than managed, horticultural parkland, within urban natural areas as well as percent urban land
use and natural habitat in surrounding landscapes. Alien bird density and percent ground feeding species increased with percent
surrounding urban land use. Higher percent forest cover was associated with higher percentages of forest, bark feeding, small
(<20 g) and insectivorous species. Natural area size (ha) was related to higher species richness, lower evenness and higher
percentages of insectivorous, forest interior, area-sensitive, upper canopy, bark feeding, and non-resident species. Higher
number of habitat types within natural areas and percent natural habitat in surrounding landscapes were also associated with
higher species richness. Common, resident bird species dominated small areas (<6.5 ha), while less common non-residents increased
with area, indicative of a nested distribution. Areas at least 6.5 ha and more generally >20 ha start to support some area-sensitive
species. Areas similar to rural forests had >25% insectivores, >25% forest interior species, >25% small species, and <5% alien
species. Indicator species separated urban natural areas from rural habitats and ordination placed urban natural areas along
a gradient between urban development and undisturbed, rural forests. More attention is needed on issues of winter bird conservation
in urban landscapes. 相似文献
8.
The floodplain of the river Strymon at Kerkini (northern Greece) was transformed into an irrigation reservoir by the construction
of a dam in 1932 and subsequently enlarged in 1982. The aims of this study were to quantify the changes occurring in the various
habitat types following raising of the waterlevel and to assess the stability of the plant communities present at this Ramsar
site. The current hydrological regime, which has been stable since 1986, is typified by an increase in mean annual reservoir
level of 2.2 m and by an increase in the annual range in level of 1.3 m. Landsat (1980, 1981, 1984, 1986, and 1988) and SPOT
(1990) satellite images show a decrease in the area of grassland and shallow water areas, the very rapid disappearance of
reedbeds, the appearance of beds ofNymphaea and the disappearance of half the forest area.
The flooded forest, dominated bySalix alba, is a key habitat contributing to the biological richness of this wetland of international importance. The decrease in the
forested area will continue because of the death of standing trees, the absence of regeneration under the new regime, the
felling of trees and grazing. Management could be undertaken to ensure the survival of forested habitat and reedbeds at Kerkini,
but this would require that the authorities take into account nature conservation and the protected status of the site and
not raise the water level again. 相似文献
9.
Fish habitat loss has been prevalent over the last century in Canada. To prevent further erosion of the resource base and
ensure sustainable development, Fisheries and Oceans Canada enacted the habitat provisions of the Fisheries Act in 1976. In 1986, this was articulated by a policy that a “harmful alteration, disruption, or destruction to fish habitat”
(HADD) cannot occur unless authorised with legally binding compensatory habitat to offset the HADD. Despite Canada’s progressive
conservation policies, the effectiveness of compensation habitat in replicating ecosystem function has never been tested on
a national scale. The effectiveness of habitat compensation projects in achieving no net loss of habitat productivity (NNL)
was evaluated at 16 sites across Canada. Periphyton biomass, invertebrate density, fish biomass, and riparian vegetation density
were used as indicators of habitat productivity. Approximately 63% of projects resulted in net losses in habitat productivity.
These projects were characterised by mean compensation ratios (area gain:area loss) of 0.7:1. Twenty-five percent of projects
achieved NNL and 12% of projects achieved a net gain in habitat productivity. These projects were characterised by mean ratios
of 1.1:1 and 4.8:1, respectively. We demonstrated that artificially increasing ratios to 2:1 was not sufficient to achieve
NNL for all projects. The ability to replicate ecosystem function is clearly limited. Improvements in both compensation science
and institutional approaches are recommended to achieve Canada’s conservation goal. 相似文献
10.
Little is known about changes in soil inorganic carbon (SIC) stocks with depth and with land use in grassland ecosystems. This study was conducted to determine SIC stocks under different management regimes in the Mollisol, one of the typical soils in grasslands. Four sites were sampled: a native grassland field (not cultivated for at least 300 yr), an adjacent 50-yr continuous fallow field, a yearly cut hay field in the V.V. Alekhin Central-Chernozem Biosphere State Reserve in the Kursk region of Russia, and a continuously cropped field in the Experimental Station of the Kursk Institute of Agronomy and Soil Erosion Control. All sampled soils were classified as fine-silty, mixed, frigid Pachic Hapludolls. Significant differences occurred in SIC stocks between cultivated and grassland soil. The inorganic carbon stocks in the top 2 m were 107 Mg ha(-1) for the native grassland, 91 Mg ha(-1) for the yearly cut hay field, 242 Mg ha(-1) for the continuously cropped field, and 196 Mg ha(-1) for the 50-yr continuous fallow. The SIC was in the form of calcium carbonate and was mostly stored below the 1-m depth. The largest difference between inorganic carbon stocks was observed between the continuously cropped field and native grassland. The increase in inorganic carbon in the continuously cropped field and continuous fallow was attributed to initial cultivation and fertilization. Soil inorganic carbon in Mollisols is not accounted for in the current global carbon estimates. 相似文献
11.
The effectiveness of different conservation policies is debated, but the policies are rarely evaluated quantitatively. A voluntary or 'soft' policy based mainly on education provides information about ecosystems and effects of land use, to encourage conservation action. Swedish forestry relies mainly on soft policy, with substantial resources for education and advice to more than 200,000 forest owners, while legal regulation is weak. Increased retention of broadleaved trees at clear-cutting, with environmental benefits in the conifer-dominated forestry, is important in the policy. We used the Swedish National Forest Inventory to analyse this policy for young forests in southern Sweden. Between 1983-1987 and 1998-2002 the policy had no positive effect on saplings (1.3m tall to 4.9 cm dbh) of birch, oak, beech and other species that mostly decreased in density, due to planting of conifers and browsing by ungulates. However, broadleaved conservation trees (>or=15 cm dbh) increased in density, e.g. to about one oak and six birches per ha in young coniferous forest in 1998-2002. The relative increase in density was higher for large (>or=20 cm dbh) than for small trees (15-20 cm dbh). The density of conservation trees was higher on forestland of high than of low productivity. Thus, the soft conservation policy did not influence regeneration of saplings in this type of forestry system, but large broadleaved trees were increasingly saved at 'clear-cuttings'. Advice and educational programmes probably contributed to this result. A continued increase in conservation trees at harvest may require economical support to forest owners. 相似文献
12.
Pearlstine LG Smith SE Brandt LA Allen CR Kitchens WM Stenberg J 《Journal of environmental management》2002,66(2):127-144
The Florida Gap (Fl-Gap) project provides an assessment of the degree to which native animal species and natural communities are or are not represented in existing conservation lands. Those species and communities not adequately represented in areas being managed for native species constitute 'gaps' in the existing network of conservation lands. The United States Geological Survey Gap Analysis Program is a national effort and so, eventually, all 50 states will have completed it. The objective of Fl-Gap was to provide broad geographic information on the status of terrestrial vertebrates, butterflies, skippers and ants and their respective habitats to address the loss of biological diversity. To model the distributions and potential habitat of all terrestrial species of mammals, breeding birds, reptiles, amphibians, butterflies, skippers and ants in Florida, natural land cover was mapped to the level of dominant or co-dominant plant species. Land cover was classified from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) satellite imagery and auxiliary data such as the national wetlands inventory (NWI), soils maps, aerial imagery, existing land use/land cover maps, and on-the-ground surveys. Wildlife distribution models were produced by identifying suitable habitat for each species within that species' range. Mammalian models also assessed a minimum critical area required for sustainability of the species' population. Wildlife species richness was summarized against land stewardship ranked by an area's mandates for conservation protection. 相似文献
13.
Forage availability was assessed to determine sustainable stocking rates for eight broadly defined vegetation types (Treed Uplands, Treed Lowlands, Mixed Tall Shrub/Sedge, Closed-canopied Willow, and Open-canopied Willow, Meadow, Wetland Grass, Wetland Sedge) for use by wood bison (Bison bison athabascae), a threatened subspecies, in the Canadian boreal forest of northern Alberta. Clip plots (n=108) were used to sample peak availability of herbs and current annual growth of Salix spp. in late summer. Graminoid wetlands dominated by Carex atherodes, Carex aquatilis, Carex utriculata, Scolochloa festucacea, or Calamagrostis stricta produced 1975-4575 kg ha(-1) of fair to good quality forage, whereas treed stands produced < 250 kg ha(-1) of forb-dominated forage (>85% content), which was below a published 25% foraging efficiency threshold of 263 kg ha(-1) for bison. Upland forests that dominate the region produced < or = 1 animal unit day (AUD) of forage per hectare in summer. Most forest understory plants were of poor forage value, suggesting the potential sustainable stocking rate of such areas was actually < or = 0.3 AUD ha(-1), with even lower rates during winter due to snow cover. Herbaceous wetlands contained approximately 78 AUD ha(-1) of forage, but were considered largely unavailable in summer because of flooding and soft organic soils that make access difficult. Conversion of prime foraging habitat to agricultural land, forest expansion due to fire control, and a warmer and wetter climatic regime after the mid-1900s likely contributed to a regional reduction in carrying capacity. It is hypothesized that substantial recovery of the wood bison population toward historical levels will be constrained in northern Alberta by the availability of summer forage, and the limited extent of graminoid wetlands that provide winter foraging habitat. 相似文献
14.
The US Clean Water Act and habitat replacement: evaluation of mitigation sites in Orange County,California, USA 总被引:2,自引:2,他引:0
Both permit requirements and ecological assessments have been used to evaluate mitigation success. This analysis combines
these two approaches to evaluate mitigation required under Section 404 of the United States Clean Water Act (CWA) and Section
10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act, which allow developers to provide compensatory mitigation for unavoidable impacts to wetlands.
This study reviewed permit files and conducted field assessments of mitigation sites to evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation
required by the US Army Corps of Engineers for all permits issued in Orange County, California from 1979 through 1993. The
535 permit actions approved during this period allowed 157 ha of impacts. Mitigation was required on 70 of these actions,
with 152 ha of enhanced, restored, and created habitat required for 136 ha of impacts. In 15 permit actions, no mitigation
project was constructed, but in only two cases was the originally permitted project built; the two cases resulted in an unmitigated
loss of 1.6 ha. Of the remaining 55 sites, 55% were successful at meeting the permit conditions while 11% failed to do so.
Based on a qualitative assessment of habitat quality, only 16% of the sites could be considered successful and 26% were considered
failures. Thus, of the 126 ha of habitat lost due to the 55 projects, only 26 ha of mitigation was considered successful.
The low success rate was not due to poor enforcement, although nearly half of the projects did not comply with all permit
conditions. Mitigation success could best be improved by requiring mitigation plans to have performance standards based on
habitat functions. 相似文献
15.
The northern Great Plains of Saskatchewan is one of the most significantly modified landscapes in Canada. While the majority of anthropogenic disturbances to Saskatchewan’s grasslands are the result of agricultural practices, development of petroleum and natural gas (PNG) resources is of increasing concern for grassland conservation. Although PNG developments require formal assessment and regulatory approval, follow-up and monitoring of the effects of PNG development on grasslands is not common practice. Consequently, the effects of PNG activity on grasslands and the spatial and temporal extent of such impacts are largely unknown. This paper examines the spatial and temporal extent of PNG development infrastructure from 1955 to 2006 in a grassland ecosystem in southwest Saskatchewan. The effects of PNG development on grassland ecology were assessed from measurements of ground cover characteristics, soil properties, and plant community composition at 31sites in the study area. PNG lease sites were found to have low cover of herbaceous plants, club moss (Lycopodiaceae), litter, and shallow organic (Ah) horizons. Lease sites were also characterized by low diversity of desirable grassland plants and low range health values compared to off-lease reference sites. These impacts were amplified at active and highly productive lease sites. Impacts of PNG development persisted for more than 50 years following well site construction, and extended outward 20 m–25 m beyond the direct physical footprint of PNG well infrastructure. These results have significant implications with regard to the current state of monitoring and follow-up of PNG development, and the cumulative effective of PNG activity on grassland ecosystems over space and time. 相似文献
16.
Wetland loss and substitution by the Section 404 permit program in southern California,USA 总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1
To test the effectiveness of the 404 permit program in preventing a net loss of wetland resources, 75 Section 404 projects permitted in the years 1987–1989 and located in a portion of southern California were evaluated. From this group of projects, 80.47 ha of wetlands were affected by Section 404 permits and the Army Corps of Engineers required 111.62 ha of wetland mitigation. To verify the successful completion of each mitigation project, all 75 project sites were visited and evaluated based on the amount of dead vegetation, growth and coverage, and the number of invasive species. Based on the field verification results, the actual amount of completed mitigation area was 77.33 ha, resulting in a net loss of 3.14 ha of wetland resources in the years 1987–1989. By comparing the types of wetlands lost to the types of wetlands mitigated, it is apparent that, in particular, freshwater wetlands are experiencing a disproportionately greater loss of area and that riparian woodland wetlands are most often used in mitigation efforts. The net result of these accumulated actions is an overall substitution of wetland types throughout the region. Results also indicate that, typically, large-scale mitigation projects are more successful compared to smaller projects and that successful compliance efforts are not evenly distributed throughout the region. We recommend that better monitoring, mitigation in-kind, mitigation banking, and planning on a regional or watershed scale could greatly improve the effectiveness of the Section 404 permitting program. 相似文献
17.
Silvicultural guidelines are presented for the management of intermountain Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) stands for sawtimber production and goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) nesting habitat in the northern Rocky Mountains. Data from 14 goshawk nest stands in Douglas-fir forests on the Targhee
National Forest in Idaho (Patla 1991) were used to characterize the range of stand conditions considered suitable for goshawk
nesting. A density management regime is presented using Reineke's stand density index that includes a technical rotation designed
to produce sawlogs with a single commercial thinning. On average timber-growing sites, stands reach goshawk habitat suitability
when site height is 25 m at age 75 and provide 65 years of goshawk nesting habitat until the final harvest at age 140. Approximately
1320 m3/ha are harvested over the rotation. On higher-quality sites, rotation length declines from 140 to 85 years, of which roughly
35 years are suitable for goshawk nesting. 相似文献
18.
Putten IE Jennings SM Louviere JJ Burgess LB 《Journal of environmental management》2011,92(10):2647-2656
An empirical model of landowners' conservation incentive program choice is developed in which information about landowners' socio-economic and property characteristics and their attitudes, is combined with incentive program attributes. In a Choice survey landowners were presented with the choice of two incentive programs modelled as 'bundles of attributes' mimicking a voluntary choice scenario. Landowner behaviour and decision and the type of conditions and regulations they preferred were analyzed. Based on choice survey data, landowner heterogeneity was accounted for using a latent class approach to estimate the preference parameters. Three latent classes of landowners with different attitudes to the role and outcome of establishing conservation reserves on private land were identified: multi-objective owners; environment owners; and production owners. Only a small proportion of landowners, mostly environment owners, would voluntarily join a program. Although compensation funding contributed to voluntary program choice for multi-objective owners and environment owners, welfare losses were around 4000 AUD per hectare, which is less than the average agricultural land value in Tasmania. Landowners for whom compensation funding contributed to voluntary program choice were also most likely to set aside land for conservation without payment. This raises the possibility that the government's compensation expenditure could potentially be either reduced or re-allocated to landowners who will not voluntarily take conservation action. Increasing participation in conservation incentive programs and minimizing the welfare losses associated with meeting conservation targets may be best achieved by offering programs that allow flexibility in terms of legal arrangements and other program attributes. 相似文献
19.
Species-rich semi-natural grasslands have rapidly declined and become fragmented in Northern Europe due to ceased traditional agricultural practices and animal husbandry. Restoration actions have been introduced in many places to improve the habitat conditions and increase the area to prevent any further losses of their ecological values. However, given the limited resources and long time span needed for successful restoration, it is essential to target activities on sites having a suitable initial state and where the effects of restoration are most beneficial for the habitat network. In this paper we present a conceptual framework for evaluating the restoration potential of partially overgrown and selectively managed semi-natural grasslands in a moderately transformed agricultural environment in south-western Finland. On the basis of the spatio-temporal landscape trajectory analysis, we construct potential restoration scenarios based on expected semi-natural grassland characteristics that are derived from land productivity, detected grassland continuum, and date of overgrowth. These scenarios are evaluated using landscape metrics, their feasibility is discussed and the effects of potential restoration are compared to the present extent of open semi-natural grasslands. Our results show that landscape trajectory analysis and scenario construction can be valuable tools for the restoration planning of semi-natural grasslands with limited resources. The approach should therefore be considered as an essential tool to find the most optimal restoration sites and to pre-evaluate the effects. 相似文献
20.
PUA KUTIEL 《Environmental management》1999,23(3):401-408
area cells (the areas between the tracks) increased geometrically in the unprotected area, while the increase in the protected area
was linear; and (3) most area cells (50%–70%) in the protected area in each of the years analyzed (except 1944) were smaller
than 10 ha in size. However, an area cell greater than 100 ha has always been observed. In contrast, in the unprotected site
the number of area cells increased with time while their area size decreased. Twenty-seven percent of the unprotected area
is composed at present of area cells smaller in size than 1 ha. The development of a track system in the protected site changed
moderately with a few peaks during the past 50 years. This trend is a result of land management policies that actively promote
sustainable ecotourism. However, in the unprotected open area, the track system has changed continuously and drastically due
to a lack of land conservation management. 相似文献