Spatial Pattern of Ecosystem Function and Ecosystem Conservation

The spatial pattern of ecosystem function can affect ecosystem conservation. Ecosystem functions are often heterogeneous spatially due to physical and biological factors. We can influence ecosystem functions by changing the spatial patterns of the physical and biological elements of an ecosystem and regulating their combinations. The variation–position effect highlights a phenomenon resulting from the spatial pattern of ecosystem function. The effect shows that the identical variation of a factor may produce different effects on the overall situation when this variation occurs in a different spatial position. In a watershed of the Yangtze River, water retention is a primary ecosystem function. The variation–position effect for water retention capacity occurs in the watershed because of the spatial heterogeneity in vegetation, soil, and slope. The change of vegetation that occurs in a complex can affect the overall situation of water retention, and the effect can be different due to the change occurring in the position holding different vegetation-soil-slope complex. To improve the ecosystem in the watershed and to meet the social needs for the ecosystem function of water retention, a strategy called ecosystem function and spatial pattern-based forest extension was proposed to conserve forests. The implementation of the strategy enables the watershed to attain the maximum effective increase in water retention capacity.     

生态系统的服务功能Ⅱ生态系统服务项目与价值

文章比较详细的阐述了生态系统服务的项目，中国不同草地类型的服务价值、不同区域草地生态系统单位面积服务价值和不同区域草地生态系统年服务总价值。     

The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: Challenges for Regional Ecosystem Management

An adaptive management approach is necessary but not sufficient to address the long-term challenges of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). Adaptive management, in turn, has its own particular challenges, of which we focus on two: science input, and stakeholder engagement. In order to frame our discussion and subsequent recommendations, we place the current management difficulties into their historical context, with special emphasis on the 1990 Vision document, which attempted a broad synthesis of management goals for the ecosystem. After examining these two key challenges in the context of the GYE, we make several recommendations that would allow for more effective ecosystem management in the long term. First, we recommend adoption of the GYE as a site for long-term science research and monitoring with an emphasis on integrative research, long-term federal funding, and public dissemination of data. Second, we conclude that a clearer prioritization of legislative mandates would allow for more flexible ecosystem management in the GYE, a region where conflicting mandates have historically led to litigation antithetical to effective ecosystem management. Finally, we recommend a renewed attempt at an updated Vision for the Future that engages stakeholders (including local landholders) substantively from the outset.     

管理景观中的生态系统健康评价

生态系统健康是环保领域中新兴的、正在崭露头角的科学、生态系统健康被理解为生态系统内的内部秩序和组织的整体状况。生态系统健康的整体性评价是指利用生物物理参数、社会经济参数和人类健康参数的综合对生态系统健康进行的综合测定。本文分析了选择一系列适用于管理景观的综合性生态系统健康评价指标体系框架的发展概况。讨论了生态系统健康评价指标的选择原则,并对主要评价指标进行了初步探讨。     

Ecosystem modeling with GIS

Management of natural resources is becoming a complex problem. To ensure sustainability of the resources, the manager must have better tools with which to make decisions. The development of simulation models that make use of GIS data bases is an emerging area of resource management. This paper examines several grid-based models and addresses the use of GIS programs to construct spatial dynamic models. Some considerations for the implementation of modeling using GIS data bases are provided. The capability to simulate ecosystem processes such as fire, erosion, and other factors will allow the resource manager to make more informed decisions by evaluating potential consequences on the computer.     

生态系统的服务功能Ⅰ生态系统服务的概念与特性

人们往往将生态系统功能的相对价值称之为生态系统的服务价值，而将生态系统这一能量、物质和信息的贮存体称之为自然资本。由于传统的价值理论存在着严重的缺陷，只能对生态系统的服务功能给于定性，难以对自然资本及其服务功能价值给以客观的、定量的评价。随着生态系统结构和功能研究的深入，对其评估服务功能的方法也在逐步完善，使生态系统服务功能的客观评价变为可能。文章重点对生态系统服务的基本概念、自然资本和生态系统服务的特性等作简要综述。     

生态系统的服务Ⅲ影响生态系统服务功能的主要原因

文章全面阐述了影响生态系统服务的主要原因:全球气候变化、改变生态系统的用途、生态系统的破碎化、火、草地退化、鼠害等。     

Forest Ecosystem Services and Eco-Compensation Mechanisms in China

Forests are a major terrestrial ecosystem providing multiple ecosystem services. However, the importance of forests is frequently underestimated from an economic perspective because of the externalities and public good properties of these services. Forest eco-compensation is a transfer mechanism that serves to internalize the externalities of forest ecosystem services by compensating individuals or companies for the losses or costs resulting from the provision of these services. China’s current forest eco-compensation system is centered mainly on noncommercial forest. The primary measures associated with ecosystem services are (1) a charge on destructive activities, such as indiscriminate logging, and (2) compensation for individual or local activities and investments in forest conservation. The Compensation Fund System for Forest Ecological Benefits was first listed in the Forest Law of the People’s Republic of China in 1998. In 2004, the Central Government Financial Compensation Fund, an important source for the Compensation Fund for Forest Ecological Benefits, was formally established. To improve the forest eco-compensation system, it is crucial to design and establish compensation criteria for noncommercial forests. These criteria should take both theoretical and practical concerns into account, and they should be based on the quantitative valuation of ecosystem services. Although some initial headway has been made on this task, the implementation of an effective forest eco-compensation system in China still has deficiencies and still faces problems. Implementing classification-based and dynamic management for key noncommercial forests and establishing an eco-compensation mechanism with multiple funding sources in the market economy are the key measures needed to conquer these problems and improve the forest eco-compensation system and China’s forestry development in sequence.     

Optimal Advanced Credit Releases in Ecosystem Service Markets

Ecosystem service markets are popular policy tools for ecosystem protection. Advanced credit releases are an important factor affecting the supply side of ecosystem markets. Under an advanced credit release policy, regulators give ecosystem suppliers a fraction of the total ecosystem credits generated by a restoration project before it is verified that the project actually achieves the required ecological thresholds. In spite of their prominent role in ecosystem markets, there is virtually no regulatory or research literature on the proper design of advanced credit release policies. Using U.S. aquatic ecosystem markets as an example, we develop a principal–agent model of the behavior of regulators and wetland/stream mitigation bankers to determine and explore the optimal degree of advance credit release. The model highlights the tension between regulators’ desire to induce market participation, while at the same time ensuring that bankers successfully complete ecological restoration. Our findings suggest several simple guidelines for strengthening advanced credit release policy.     

干旱荒漠区油田开发与生态系统服务功能研究

根据干旱荒漠区域自然条件、社会经济条件和资源状况的总体特征,明确其生态环境特征、生态系统服务功能、生态环境功能重要性与敏感性的空间分异规律,确定区域生态功能分区,为制定油田开发生态环境保护与建设规划、维护区域生态安全、促进社会经济可持续发展提供科学依据。     

秦皇岛市森林生态系统现状分析

通过分析秦皇岛市当前森林生态系统的现状、效益,发现秦皇岛市森林生态系统存在着分布不均、林龄结构不合理等问题;提出了退耕还林、封山育林、加大宣传力度等措施,以期秦皇岛森林生态系统走上可持续发展的道路,更好地造福于人民。     

湿地生态系统累积影响评价研究

定量分析湿地生态系统的累积环境影响,确定所要评价的功能,然后定量分析影响该功能的各种累积方式,将湿地生态系统的累积方式分为四种方式进行描述,对各种干扰活动的相互关系予以定性并进行量化,探讨湿地生态系统累积影响评价的步骤,有助于湿地生态系统CEA方法体系的建立与完善.     

Ecosystem approaches to environmental quality assessment

Environmental quality assessment has to focus more on the quality of whole ecosystems, instead of focusing on the direct effects of a specific stressor, because of a more integrated environmetal policy approach. Yet, how can the ecosystem quality be measured? Partly this is a normative question, a question of what is considered good and bad. At the same time, it is a scientific question, dealing with the problem of low the state of a system as complex as an ecosystem could be measured. Measuring all abiotic and biotic components, not to mention their many relationships, is not feasible. In this article we review several approaches dealing with this scientific question. Three approaches are distinguished; they differ in type of variable set and ecosystem model used. As a result of this, the information about the state of the ecosystem differs: ultimate breadth, comprising information about the whole ecosystem, is at the expense of detail, while ultimate detail is at the expense of breadth. We discuss whether the resultant quality assessments differ in character and are therefore suitable to answer different policy questions.     

当前社会实行生态管理的探讨

生态管理作为一种管理理念日益受到关注，生态管理以人为本，以提升人的生活品质、促进人类与社会、自然界的共同进步为终极目标，不仅是实现可持续发展的重要途径，而且对构建和谐社会也有重大意义。     

御临河流域河流湿地生态系统服务价值评价

御临河流域河流湿地具有非常重要的生态服务功能,包括直接使用价值和间接使用价值。直接使用价值有物质生产功能、水资源服务、旅游休闲功能、科研文化功能等,间接使用价值包括气体调节功能、水分调蓄功能及河岸带湿地污染净化功能的价值等。本研究采用市场价值法、碳税法、影子工程法、类比法及旅行费用法对御临河流域河流湿地生态系统服务价值进行了初步估算,其生态系统服务总价值为4.39亿元人民币,是2000年该流域GDP的28.52%。研究结果表明,御临河流域河流湿地生态系统的服务价值是不容忽视的。在进行流域规划管理时必须重视自然生态系统的潜在价值,才能保证流域生态系统的健康及可持续发展。     

Ecosystem Modeling Applied to Nutrient Criteria Development in Rivers

Threshold concentrations for biological impairment by nutrients are difficult to quantify in lotic systems, yet States and Tribes in the United States are charged with developing water quality criteria to protect these ecosystems from excessive enrichment. The analysis described in this article explores the use of the ecosystem model AQUATOX to investigate impairment thresholds keyed to biological indexes that can be simulated. The indexes selected for this exercise include percentage cyanobacterial biomass of sestonic algae, and benthic chlorophyll a. The calibrated model was used to analyze responses of these indexes to concurrent reductions in phosphorus, nitrogen, and suspended sediment in an enriched upper Midwestern river. Results suggest that the indexes would respond strongly to changes in phosphorus and suspended sediment, and less strongly to changes in nitrogen concentration. Using simulated concurrent reductions in all three water quality constituents, a total phosphorus concentration of 0.1 mg/l was identified as a threshold concentration, and therefore a hypothetical water quality criterion, for prevention of both excessive periphyton growth and sestonic cyanobacterial blooms. This kind of analysis is suggested as a way to evaluate multiple contrasting impacts of hypothetical nutrient and sediment reductions and to define nutrient criteria or target concentrations that balance multiple management objectives concurrently. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the authors alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or of the U.S. Government.     

人工湿地生态系统污水净化研究新进展

人工湿地作为近20年来发展起来的一种传统的污水处理技术是一种廉价的替代方案，已越来越受到各国的普遍重视。在本文中，笔者详细介绍了人工湿地的定义、分类、基本构造类型与工艺流程及其在污水净化中的应用领域和应用前景。同时还详细论述了人工湿地的污水净化机理，并对今后研究的方向进行了展望，可为人工湿地污水净化技术的应用研究提供参考。     

乌苏-奎屯-独山子地区生态系统服务功能变化研究

在3S技术的支持下,以1990年和2005年的TM图像解译数据为基础,采用谢高地的评价方法分析了乌苏-奎屯-独山子地区景观类型与生态系统服务功能的变化特征,为研究该地区水土开发与生态环境演变提供了依据。结果表明,1990-2005年,乌苏-奎屯-独山子地区农田、灌木林地、城镇及工业用地、盐碱地、水域和未利用地面积增加,其他乔木林地、草地、冰川和沼泽面积均减少;区域生态系统服务功能从1990年的9 182.84×106元减少到2005年的8 627.96×106元,减少量为554.87×106元,减少率为6.04%。保护区域生态环境,恢复和提高区域生态系统服务功能是该区域生态环境建设的重要任务。     

Communication in Ecosystem Management: A Case Study of Cross-Disciplinary Integration in the Assessment Phase of the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project

Effective communication is essential to the success of collaborative ecosystem management projects. In this paper, we investigated the dynamics of the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Projects (ICBEMP) cross-disciplinary integration process in the assessment phase. Using a case study research design, we captured the rich trail of experience through conducting in-depth interviews and collecting information from internal and public documents, videos, and meetings related to the ICBEMP. Coding and analysis was facilitated by a qualitative analysis software, NVivo. Results include the range of internal perspectives on barriers and facilitators of cross-disciplinary integration in the Science Integration Team (SIT). These are arrayed in terms of discipline-based differences, organizational structures and activities, individual traits of scientists, and previous working relationships. The ICBEMP organization included a team of communication staffs (CT), and the data described the CT as a mixed group in terms of qualifications and educational backgrounds that played a major role in communication with actors external to the ICBEMP organization but a minor one in terms of internal communication. The data indicated that the CT-SIT communication was influenced by characteristics of actors and structures related to organizations and their cultures. We conclude that the ICBEMP members may not have had a sufficient level of shared understanding of central domains, such as the task at hand and ways and timing of information sharing. The paper concludes by suggesting that future ecosystem management assessment teams use qualified communications specialists to design and monitor the development of shared cognition among organization members in order to improve the effectiveness of communication and cross-disciplinary integration.     

Ecosystem Health as a Moral Requirement

Some writers have suggested that it would be desirable to assess the state of the Earth'senvironments by making use of a concept of ecosystem health. We subject this suggestion toscrutiny first by calling attention to obscurities inthe notion of an ecosystem and then by callingattention to obscurities in and objections to someviews about ecosystem health. Finally, we note, thateven if ecosystem health can be adequately clarified, there are reasons for saying that whetherwe are morally obligated to protect the health ofsome ecosystem depends on other circumstances. In many possible circumstances we would not beobligated to protect the health of a particularecosystem.