Speaking across boundaries to explore the potential for interdisciplinarity in ecosystem services knowledge production

Conservation is likely to be most successful if it draws on knowledge from across the natural and social sciences. The ecosystem services concept has been called a boundary object in that it facilitates development of such interdisciplinary knowledge because it offers a common platform for researchers, policy makers, and practitioners. However, a question that remains is to what extent the interdisciplinary knowledge needed is provided by disciplinary diversity within the field. We asked where is knowledge on ecosystem services produced, how interdisciplinary is this knowledge, and which disciplines facilitate the greatest disciplinary integration? We defined interdisciplinarity as the extent to which published research draws on knowledge that crosses disciplinary borders and used citations as a quantitative indicator of communication among disciplines, based on journal classification. We used disciplinary diversity, richness, and heterocitation as measures of interdisciplinarity and betweenness centrality as a measure of disciplinary integration. Our data set contained 22,153 publications on ecosystem services, published from 1983 to 2018. We found that ecosystem services research matured; average yearly output growth was 33.8%, more than the 8–9% growth in scientific output across all fields. Over time, the network clustering coefficient, measuring connectedness of individual disciplines, rose from 0.388 to 0.727, suggesting increased density in the network of citations. Researchers in the field published more articles (3566 in 2018 alone) across more disciplines (77 unique disciplines in 2018). However, this growth was not mirrored by an increase in the diversity (stable at 0.7–0.9) or richness (averaging 0.35 unique disciplines per citation) of citation patterns. Heterocitation scores, or out-of-group citations, for arts, humanities, social sciences, and law ranged from 56% to 64%, which was lower than we expected, although this may serve to protect the integrity of social science disciplines and attract broader engagement from within. Ultimately, a small number of productive disciplines are central to supporting disciplinary integration. However, opportunities exist for conservation practice to draw on a broader field of research, to realize the potential that the diverse body of knowledge of interdisciplinary work offers.     

区域生态安全:概念及评价理论基础

借鉴国内外的研究成果,提出区域生态安全的概念是指在一定时空范围内,在自然及人类活动的干扰下,区域内生态环境条件以及所面临的生态环境问题不对人类生存和持续发展构成威胁,并且自然-经济-社会复合生态系统的脆弱性能够不断得到改善的状态。指出生态安全评价是一个多学科交叉的研究领域,其评价理论基础涉及可持续发展理论、生态系统服务功能理论、生态承载力理论、时空论和系统工程论等;生态安全是可持续发展的基础,两者具有内涵和目标的一致性;区域生态安全研究的目的就是平衡人类的自然资源利用与生存环境质量需求的矛盾,保证生态系统在持续安全的状态下提供服务;应用生态承载力的研究成果有助于补充和完善生态安全评价。区域生态安全评价强调研究对象的时空性和研究方法的系统性。多学科整合能更好地指导区域生态安全评价。     

区域生态监测的概念、方法与应用

区域生态监测是对生态系统类型、结构与功能及各要素的现状与变化进行测定与观察,并对生态系统受胁迫与胁迫效应进行判断和评价的过程。区域生态监测结果将在评价现状和预测发展趋势的基础上,为区域生态保护、生态建设提供决策依据。辨析了区域生态监测的概念,对区域生态监测方法选择及指标体系的建立提出了建议,并就其在生态环境管理中的应用作了探讨和展望。     

An Ecosystem Management Program and Assessment Process for Ontario National Parks

Abstract: An ecosystem management program and assessment process was developed to standardize an ecosystem-based approach to protecting the ecological integrity of Ontario's national parks. The elements of the ecosystem management program collectively represent the dominant planning and technical aspects of ecosystem management. Within the program, 11 specific products—ecosystem conservation plan, greater park ecosystem inventory and analysis, greater park ecosystem scope, area of cooperation, stakeholder analysis, partnership group management guidelines, scientific research program, ecological indicators, ecological integrity monitoring program, information network, and communication strategy—are considered requisite tools to improve the scientific understanding required for park management within the context of greater park ecosystems and to increase communication and coordination among governments and citizens to improve decision making. The formal process uses evaluation criteria associated with the 11 products to assess progress in developing an ecosystem management program and the content of the related products. The assessment process, which provides comprehensive identification of a park's specific ecosystem management needs, has been applied to all national parks in Ontario in the past year, which has had the immediate effect of refining their ecosystem management programs.     

湿地生态风险评价中生物完整性指数研究进展

湿地是陆地与水域之间的过渡地带,是地球上生产力最高的生态系统。湿地生态风险评价的实际应用将使人们更好地理解物理、化学和生物风险源如何影响湿地,并为湿地管理提供科学支撑,这就要求确定湿地生态健康评价指标的完整性。生物完整性指数以环境生态毒理学数据为依据,是进行生态系统健康风险评价的最有力工具。大中型无脊椎动物作为易选择的分类群,可用于湿地评估的生物完整性指数的建立,土壤动物特别是线虫类群作为湿地土壤和水环境健康评价的指示生物具有广阔前景。通过线虫分子毒理学等研究方法,可优化出生物完整性指数体系,建立扰动背景下的湿地生态风险评价模型,为湿地污染的监测、防控和修复,提供理论依据和实践方法。     

Using social network analysis tools in ecology: Markov process transition models applied to the seasonal trophic network dynamics of the Chesapeake Bay

Ecosystem components interact in complex ways and change over time due to a variety of both internal and external influences (climate change, season cycles, human impacts). Such processes need to be modeled dynamically using appropriate statistical methods for assessing change in network structure. Here we use visualizations and statistical models of network dynamics to understand seasonal changes in the trophic network model described by Baird and Ulanowicz [Baird, D., Ulanowicz, R.E., 1989. Seasonal dynamics of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. Ecol. Monogr. 501 (59), 329–364] for the Chesapeake Bay (USA). Visualizations of carbon flow networks were created for each season by using a network graphic analysis tool (NETDRAW). The structural relations of the pelagic and benthic compartments (nodes) in each seasonal network were displayed in a two-dimensional space using spring-embedder analyses with nodes color-coded for habitat associations (benthic or pelagic). The most complex network was summer, when pelagic species such as sea nettles, larval fishes, and carnivorous fishes immigrate into Chesapeake Bay and consume prey largely from the plankton and to some extent the benthos. Winter was the simplest of the seasonal networks, and exhibited the highest ascendency, with fewest nodes present and with most of the flows shifting to the benthic bacteria and sediment POC compartments. This shift in system complexity corresponds with a shift from a pelagic- to benthic-dominated system over the seasonal cycle, suggesting that winter is a mostly closed system, relying on internal cycling rather than external input. Network visualization tools are useful in assessing temporal and spatial changes in food web networks, which can be explored for patterns that can be tested using statistical approaches. A simulation-based continuous-time Markov Chain model called SIENA was used to determine the dynamic structural changes in the trophic network across phases of the annual cycle in a statistical as opposed to a visual assessment. There was a significant decrease in outdegree (prey nodes with reduced link density) and an increase in the number of transitive triples (a triad in which i chooses j and h, and j also chooses h, mostly connected via the non-living detritus nodes in position i), suggesting the Chesapeake Bay is a simpler, but structurally more efficient, ecosystem in the winter than in the summer. As in the visual analysis, this shift in system complexity corresponds with a shift from a pelagic to a more benthic-dominated system from summer to winter. Both the SIENA model and the visualization in NETDRAW support the conclusions of Baird and Ulanowicz [Baird, D., Ulanowicz, R.E., 1989. Seasonal dynamics of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. Ecol. Monogr. 501 (59), 329–364] that there was an increase in the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem's ascendancy in the winter. We explain such reduced complexity in winter as a system response to lowered temperature and decreased solar energy input, which causes a decline in the production of new carbon, forcing nodes to go extinct; this causes a change in the structure of the system, making it simpler and more efficient than in summer. It appears that the seasonal dynamics of the trophic structure of Chesapeake Bay can be modeled effectively using the SIENA statistical model for network change.     

Invasive species impacts on ecosystem structure and function: A comparison of the Bay of Quinte, Canada, and Oneida Lake, USA, before and after zebra mussel invasion

As invasion rates of exotic species increase, an ecosystem level understanding of their impacts is imperative for predicting future spread and consequences. We have previously shown that network analyses are powerful tools for understanding the effects of exotic species perturbation on ecosystems. We now use the network analysis approach to compare how the same perturbation affects another ecosystem of similar trophic status. We compared food web characteristics of the Bay of Quinte, Lake Ontario (Canada), to previous research on Oneida Lake, New York (USA) before and after zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) invasion. We used ecological network analysis (ENA) to rigorously quantify ecosystem function through an analysis of direct and indirect food web transfers. We used a social network analysis method, cohesion analysis (CA), to assess ecosystem structure by organizing food web members into subgroups of strongly interacting predators and prey. Together, ENA and CA allowed us to understand how food web structure and function respond simultaneously to perturbation. In general, zebra mussel effects on the Bay of Quinte, when compared to Oneida Lake, were similar in direction, but greater in magnitude. Both systems underwent functional changes involving focused flow through a small number of taxa and increased use of benthic sources of production; additionally, both systems structurally changed with subgroup membership changing considerably (33% in Oneida Lake) or being disrupted entirely (in the Bay of Quinte). However, the response of total ecosystem activity (as measured by carbon flow) differed between both systems, with increasing activity in the Bay of Quinte, and decreasing activity in Oneida Lake. Thus, these analyses revealed parallel effects of zebra mussel invasion in ecosystems of similar trophic status, yet they also suggested that important differences may exist. As exotic species continue to disrupt the structure and function of our native ecosystems, food web network analyses will be useful for understanding their far-reaching effects.     

Industrial ecosystems — some conditions for success

SUMMARY

The development of Industrial Ecology (IE) is based on the philosophy that the two systems, the industrial system and the ecosystem operate through different principles of system development and on the philosophy that IE can serve to reduce the conflict between the two systems as it learns from the model of an ecosystem. In an IE, following the roundput analogy of a natural ecosystem, the industrial actors co-operate by utilising each other's waste material and energy flows and try and reduce the system virgin material and energy input as well as the waste and emission output. In a successful IE, a business-environment win-win might be possible because the raw material and energy costs, waste management costs, costs resulting from environmental legislation, as well as the image costs of the companies in the system and of the system as a whole, can be reduced. In this paper, the IE analogy includes the four basic principles of system development of ecosystems; roundput, diversity, locality and gradual change. The principles are understood as a potential direction in which Regional Industrial Ecosystem Management (RIEM) can be developed.     

Achieving Integrative, Collaborative Ecosystem Management

Abstract:  Although numerous principles have been identified as being important for successfully integrating social and ecological factors in collaborative management, few authors have illustrated how these principles are used and why they are effective. On the basis of a review of the ecosystem management and collaboration literature, we identified eight factors important for integrative, collaborative ecosystem management—integrated and balanced goals, inclusive public involvement, stakeholder influence, consensus group approach, collaborative stewardship, monitoring and adaptive management, multidisciplinary data, and economic incentives.We examined four cases of successful ecosystem management to illustrate how the factors were incorporated and discuss the role they played in each case's success. The cases illustrate that balancing social and ecosystem sustainability goals is possible. Collaborative efforts resulted in part from factors aimed at making plans economically feasible and from meaningful stakeholder participation in ongoing management. It also required participation in monitoring programs to ensure stakeholder interests were protected and management efforts were focused on agreed-upon goals. Data collection efforts were not all-inclusive and systematic; rather, they addressed the ecological, economic, and social aspects of key issues as they emerged over time. Economic considerations appear to be broader than simply providing economic incentives; stakeholders seem willing to trade some economic value for recreational or environmental benefits. The cases demonstrate that it is not idealistic to believe integrative, collaborative ecosystem management is possible in field applications.     

DNA宏条形码(metabarcoding)技术在浮游植物群落监测研究中的应用

保护生物多样性和生态系统健康是维持生态系统功能和实现人类可持续发展的必要条件。浮游植物作为水生生态系统的初级生产者发挥着重要的生态功能,同时有毒藻类的爆发也会威胁水生态安全。然而,基于形态学的物种鉴定方法难以满足日益增长的水生态环境监测的需求。DNA条形码技术利用基因组特定基因的DNA序列来鉴别生物物种,目前已被广泛用于快速物种鉴别。然而其在水生生态系统浮游植物群落的监测中才刚刚起步。由于浮游植物物种多样性高,单基因DNA条形码往往难以识别所有浮游植物种类;近年来,采用多基因条形码、全叶绿体基因组序列的超级条形码,以及特定DNA条形码方法在浮游植物种类鉴别中有很大潜力。本文综述了浮游植物DNA条形码技术在物种鉴别研究方面的进展,以及DNA宏条形码技术(DNA metabarcoding)在水生浮游植物环境监测的应用现状及前景。     

DNA宏条形码（metabarcoding）技术在浮游植物群落监测研究中的应用

保护生物多样性和生态系统健康是维持生态系统功能和实现人类可持续发展的必要条件。浮游植物作为水生生态系统的初级生产者发挥着重要的生态功能,同时有毒藻类的爆发也会威胁水生态安全。然而,基于形态学的物种鉴定方法难以满足日益增长的水生态环境监测的需求。DNA条形码技术利用基因组特定基因上、短的DNA序列来鉴别生物物种,目前已广泛用于快速物种鉴别。然而其在水生生态系统浮游植物群落的监测中才刚刚起步。由于浮游植物物种多样性高,单基因DNA条形码往往不足以识别所有浮游植物种类;近年来,采用多基因条形码、全叶绿体基因组序列的超级条形码,以及特定DNA条形码方法在单物种和群落水平上区分浮游植物种类的潜力很大。本文综述了浮游植物DNA条形码技术在物种鉴别研究方面的进展,以及DNA宏条形码技术（DNA metabarcoding）在水生浮游植物环境监测的应用现状及前景。     

Scale Mismatches,Conservation Planning,and the Value of Social‐Network Analyses

Many of the challenges conservation professionals face can be framed as scale mismatches. The problem of scale mismatch occurs when the planning for and implementation of conservation actions is at a scale that does not reflect the scale of the conservation problem. The challenges in conservation planning related to scale mismatch include ecosystem or ecological process transcendence of governance boundaries; limited availability of fine‐resolution data; lack of operational capacity for implementation; lack of understanding of social‐ecological system components; threats to ecological diversity that operate at diverse spatial and temporal scales; mismatch between funding and the long‐term nature of ecological processes; rate of action implementation that does not reflect the rate of change of the ecological system; lack of appropriate indicators for monitoring activities; and occurrence of ecological change at scales smaller or larger than the scale of implementation or monitoring. Not recognizing and accounting for these challenges when planning for conservation can result in actions that do not address the multiscale nature of conservation problems and that do not achieve conservation objectives. Social networks link organizations and individuals across space and time and determine the scale of conservation actions; thus, an understanding of the social networks associated with conservation planning will help determine the potential for implementing conservation actions at the required scales. Social‐network analyses can be used to explore whether these networks constrain or enable key social processes and how multiple scales of action are linked. Results of network analyses can be used to mitigate scale mismatches in assessing, planning, implementing, and monitoring conservation projects. Discordancia de Escalas, Planificación de la Conservación y el Valor del Análisis de Redes Sociales     

Use of Acoustic Tools to Reveal Otherwise Cryptic Responses of Forest Elephants to Oil Exploration

Abstract: Most evaluations of the effects of human activities on wild animals have focused on estimating changes in abundance and distribution of threatened species; however, ecosystem disturbances also affect aspects of animal behavior such as short‐term movement, activity budgets, and reproduction. It may take a long time for changes in behavior to manifest as changes in abundance or distribution. Therefore, it is important to have methods with which to detect short‐term behavioral responses to human activity. We used continuous acoustic and seismic monitoring to evaluate the short‐term effects of seismic prospecting for oil on forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) in Gabon, Central Africa. We monitored changes in elephant abundance and activity as a function of the frequency and intensity of acoustic and seismic signals from dynamite detonation and human activity. Elephants did not flee the area being explored; the relative number of elephants increased in a seasonal pattern typical of elsewhere in the ecosystem. In the exploration area, however, they became more nocturnal. Neither the intensity nor the frequency of dynamite blasts affected the frequency of calling or the daily pattern of elephant activity. Nevertheless, the shift of activity to nocturnal hours became more pronounced as human activity neared each monitored area of forest. This change in activity pattern and its likely causes would not have been detected through standard monitoring methods, which are not sensitive to behavioral changes over short time scales (e.g., dung transects, point counts) or cover a limited area (e.g., camera traps). Simultaneous acoustic monitoring of animal communication, human, and environmental sounds allows the documentation of short‐term behavioral changes in response to human disturbance.     

Using a Bayesian network to clarify areas requiring research in a host–pathogen system

Bayesian network analyses can be used to interactively change the strength of effect of variables in a model to explore complex relationships in new ways. In doing so, they allow one to identify influential nodes that are not well studied empirically so that future research can be prioritized. We identified relationships in host and pathogen biology to examine disease‐driven declines of amphibians associated with amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis). We constructed a Bayesian network consisting of behavioral, genetic, physiological, and environmental variables that influence disease and used them to predict host population trends. We varied the impacts of specific variables in the model to reveal factors with the most influence on host population trend. The behavior of the nodes (the way in which the variables probabilistically responded to changes in states of the parents, which are the nodes or variables that directly influenced them in the graphical model) was consistent with published results. The frog population had a 49% probability of decline when all states were set at their original values, and this probability increased when body temperatures were cold, the immune system was not suppressing infection, and the ambient environment was conducive to growth of B. dendrobatidis. These findings suggest the construction of our model reflected the complex relationships characteristic of host–pathogen interactions. Changes to climatic variables alone did not strongly influence the probability of population decline, which suggests that climate interacts with other factors such as the capacity of the frog immune system to suppress disease. Changes to the adaptive immune system and disease reservoirs had a large effect on the population trend, but there was little empirical information available for model construction. Our model inputs can be used as a base to examine other systems, and our results show that such analyses are useful tools for reviewing existing literature, identifying links poorly supported by evidence, and understanding complexities in emerging infectious‐disease systems.     

Marine pollution: Let us not forget beach sand

A continuous task of the working group "Environmental Monitoring" is the development of methods and guidelines for a systematic and long-term analytical control of the chemical burden of environmental compartments and biota A new recommendation regarding the substance-related environmental monitoring is published in "Environmental Science and Pollution Research" (Rüdel et al., 2009). The "Chemical and Biological Monitoring Series", published in the same journal, originates from the working group or from its individual members also. Some central points of these articles are picked up and updated in this report. Current topics of major concern are the transformation of pharmaceuticals and its consequences for environmental monitoring and the monitoring of biocides and nanoparticles. Besides other objectives the working group "Soil Chemistry and Soil Ecology" focuses on the development and standardisation of methods for the chemical, physical, and biological characterisation of soil pollution by specific contaminants as well as on the elaboration of methods for the assessment of potential harmful effects on soil, soil ecology, and on other potentially targeted environmental media. Recently the working group has summarized its main outcomes and conclusions in the position paper "Target Orientated Exposition Estimation in Soil Assessment" which is part of this report. Furthermore several other initiatives and activities of the working group are presented.     

Trend,seasonal variation and sources of suspended particulated matter (SPM) in Spain

In this study we analyze the temporal evolution of the suspended particulated matter (SPM) in the air of the six Spanish remote stations belonging to the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme network. A negative trend is observed in three of them and a positive trend in one. Another objective of this work was to know the geographical sources of SPM in Spain. To do this we used the conditional probability functions (cf. Ashbaugh et al. (1985), Atmos. Environ., 19, 1263–1270) and information about air masses trajectories. The North of Africa and regions inside Spain are the main sources while Continental Europe and the British Islands are less important.     

Assessment of regional ecological security based on ecological footprint and influential factors analysis: a case study of Chongqing Municipality,China

In recent years, it has been important to objectively evaluate the degree of regional ecological security with regard to resource depletion and to analyse influential factors to assess sustainable development. This paper tries to assess ecological security in Chongqing while investigating the main influencing factors. Calculations of the consumption footprint, production footprint and ecological capacity for Chongqing from 1996 to 2007 based on an ecological footprint approach were carried out. An ecological security index was also calculated from these results and factors influencing security were analysed using factor analysis. Both the consumption and production footprints present an upward trend, contrary to the gradually decreasing trend of ecological capacity. In addition, the ecological security index shows that Chongqing has deteriorated from a level of less risk to that of risk. Factor analysis suggests that the deterioration of ecological security could primarily be ascribed to socio-economic factors and industrialisation. With socio-economic development and industrialisation, appropriate measures must be taken to improve the ecosystem in Chongqing so as to achieve sustainable development. The limitations of the methodology are also discussed and areas that require further research are presented.     

Upper level set scan statistic for detecting arbitrarily shaped hotspots

A declared need is around for geoinformatic surveillance statistical science and software infrastructure for spatial and spatiotemporal hotspot detection. Hotspot means something unusual, anomaly, aberration, outbreak, elevated cluster, critical resource area, etc. The declared need may be for monitoring, etiology, management, or early warning. The responsible factors may be natural, accidental, or intentional. This proof-of-concept paper suggests methods and tools for hotspot detection across geographic regions and across networks. The investigation proposes development of statistical methods and tools that have immediate potential for use in critical societal areas, such as public health and disease surveillance, ecosystem health, water resources and water services, transportation networks, persistent poverty typologies and trajectories, environmental justice, biosurveillance and biosecurity, among others. We introduce, for multidisciplinary use, an innovation of the health-area-popular circle-based spatial and spatiotemporal scan statistic. Our innovation employs the notion of an upper level set, and is accordingly called the upper level set scan statistic, pointing to a sophisticated analytical and computational system as the next generation of the present day popular SaTScan. Success of surveillance rests on potential elevated cluster detection capability. But the clusters can be of any shape, and cannot be captured only by circles. This is likely to give more of false alarms and more of false sense of security. What we need is capability to detect arbitrarily shaped clusters. The proposed upper level set scan statistic innovation is expected to fill this need