塔河下游缺水严重 生态环境令人堪忧

“救救塔河下游,救救绿色走廊”这是日前“1998天山环保世纪行”南疆考察团在塔里木河中下游考察后发出的疾呼。八月中旬,由自治区人大副主任许鹏率领的“1998天山环保世纪行”南疆考察团一行48人对塔河中下游进行了为期3天的考察。考察团听取了35团生态环境急剧恶化的专题汇报后现场采访了当地农民。在阿拉干地区和台特玛湖考察时注意到阿拉干地区水井已干枯,胡杨长势较差,前往台特玛湖的路上,胡杨成片的死亡,台特玛湖仅成为地名,不见一滴水,附近连一棵胡杨树也看不到。考察团在34团听取了气象站关于当地气候情况的汇报。据介绍,1…     

塔河流域森林生态建设存在的主要问题及其策略

随着时间的推移,塔河流域生态环境恶化的现实已被越来越多的人们所认识。造成塔河中下游森林退化,生态环境恶化的主要原因除自然因素外,主要是人为不合理的社会经济活动的影响。目前塔河流域森林生态建设存在的主要问题有:第一水资源不合理的利用成为沙漠化和次生盐渍化的主要原因;第二传统的生活方式和掠夺式的生产方式使生态环境遭到破坏;第三耕地的增加,满足不了人口发展的需求,大面积的无序开荒,导致生态环境进一步恶化。为塔河中下游林地植被恢复、建设及防止退化的策略有:塔河中下游生态工程治理的原则;塔河中下游生态环境治理的基本思路;塔河流域生态环境治理的主要对策,合理利用水资源,坚持生产、生态建设并重,确保生态用水;要积极调整农村产业结构,正确处理林业和农业、林业和牧业以及林业和工业发展的关系;大力发展农村能源建设,从根本上解决农村薪材和生态保护之间矛盾;大力保护、恢复、发展荒漠林草植被,大力发展绿洲林业,建立荒漠生态环境和绿洲共同支撑的稳定的生态体系;积极实施林业生态工程和林果工程,建立较为完备和发达的生态和产业体系。     

防止土地沙化 保护绿洲环境——南疆生态环境考察报告

新疆地处欧亚大陆腹地,气候干旱、植被稀疏,是沙漠化严重威协的地区之一。其中尤以南疆地区为甚。近年来,社会各界就南疆地区无度樵采、破坏植被、塔河下游断流、绿色走廊日趋衰败导致土地沙化加剧、生态环境继续遭受破坏的呼吁、建议越来越多,在自治区六届六次人大常委会上,十八位常委提出的关于保护环境的议案被列为一号议案。     

整治塔里木河上、中游用水结构,恢复和重建下游绿色走廊

塔里木河下游的卡拉到罗布庄(台特马湖口)，河道长度491kin，塔河中、上游大规模水土开发，使其下游的水量不断减少。从20世纪70年代开始，大西海子水库就成了塔里木河最终归宿地，两大沙漠在绿色走廊的多处合拢。绿色走廊生态危机已越来越显露出来，遏制塔河下游生态恶化趋势刻不容缓，重新构筑绿色长城不能在延误了。笔者于2002-10月和2004—05月先后两次对塔河中、下游地区进行实地考察，在实地考察和前人研究资料的基础上，对整治塔河上、中游，恢复和重建下游绿色走廊问题进行探讨。     

塔里木河中游段治理中的牧区水利建设

塔里木河中下游地区生态环境急剧恶化,最主要的原因是中游段河水近一半21×108m3被人为的散失,造成下游河水所剩无几,致使尾闾台特玛湖干涸。解决的根本办法是将中下游段两岸的农牧民迁出,实现人为耗水为零。近期切实可行的办法是积极开展牧区水利建设,改变牧业生产方式,集中高效利用塔河水资源,发展人工草地,改良天然草场,实现牧业生产生态环境的协调发展,人与自然和谐相处。     

新疆副主席艾尔肯·吐尼亚孜要求保质保量完成连片整治项目

据中国环境报报道,新疆维吾尔自治区农村环境连片整治示范工作(南疆片区)现场会日前在巴州和硕县召开。自治区副主席艾尔肯·吐尼亚孜在会上要求,要确保在今年年底前保质保量完成2011年和2012年农村环境连片整治示范项目建设任务。艾尔肯吐尼亚孜说,在开展农村环境连片整治示范工作中,要因地制宜、量力而行、集中力量、整合资源,以改善区域环境质量为目标,合理确定连片整治村庄的规模,大小结合,鼓励突出连片成片推进,有条件的要整体推进。     

皖江城市带农村生态法治建设探究

农村生态建设是落实十九大关于建设美好乡村的重要环节.生态法治建设作为农村生态建设的重要环节,对实现乡村振兴战略起着重要的作用.皖江城市带作为长江经济带中下游的重要组成部分,对带动长江经济带各方面的发展都起到重要的引领作用.通过例举案例、分析现状份研究方法,以皖江城市带农村地区为切入点,列出了当前该城市带农村生态法治建设...     

深化生态建设推进绿色产业

江苏省姜堰市（原泰县）地处长江中下游北岸,行政区域总面积1051平方公里,辖32个乡镇,总人口92万人,属中等发达地区。改革开放以来,该市坚持经济建设和环境保护协调发展,大力开展污染防治和生态保护。1990年沈高镇河横村荣获联合国环境规划署授予的“全球500佳”称号;1996年完成国家“八五”期间农村环境综合整治试点建设任务;同年,经国家环保总局环然[1996]179号文件批准,被列为首批“全国生态示范区建设试点地区”。几年来,姜堰市积极推广清洁生产技术,加强绿色食品生产基地建设,全面推动绿色产业发展,着力建设生态市,现已…     

在府南河下游修建生态河堤

本文论述了生态河堤的类型、特点以及河堤建设的发展趋势。为了加速成都市的生态建设，建议在二环路至黄龙溪的府河段修建生态河堤，并把河流整治与旅游开发结合起来，统一规则，分步实施，在沿河两岸筑起绿色长廊，重续人类与大自然的亲妮情缘。     

叶尔羌河流域防洪工程措施对环境影响的浅析

新疆南部深居内陆,地处欧亚大陆腹地,是典型的大陆性干旱气候,区域经济是典型的围绕塔里木河流域而展开的绿洲经济。在干旱地区河流是南疆人民生存和经济发展的生命线。本文通过对叶尔羌河防洪治理工程的环境影响评价,分析防洪工程的各种防洪措施对南疆特殊地理环境所产生的影响,从环境保护的角度为新疆干旱地区河流整治提供借鉴。     

Conversion of temperate forests into heaths: Role of ecosystem disturbance and ericaceous plants

Fire and logging in nutrient-poor temperate forests with certain ericaceous understory plants may convert the forests into heaths. The process of disturbance-induced heath formation is documented by using examples ofCalluna in western Europe,Kalmia in Newfoundland, andGaultheria (salal) in coastal British Columbia. In a cool, temperate climate, rapid vegetative growth ofCalluna, Kalmia, and salal following disturbance results in increasing organic accumulation (paludification), nutrient sequestration, soil acidification, and allelochemicals. These are thought to be the main reasons to conifer regeneration failure in disturbed habitats. If continuation in forest is a land-use objective, then temperate forests with an ericaceous understory should not be logged unless effective silvicultural methods are devised to control the ericaceous plants and restore forest regeneration. Preharvest vegetation control may be considered as an option. Failure to control the understory plants may lead to a long-term vegetation shift, from forest to heathland, particularly in nutrient-poor sites. Successful methods of controllingKalmia andGaultheria, however, have yet to be developed. While theKalmia- andGaultheria- dominated heathlands are undesirable in Canada and the Pacific Northwest, a wide range ofCalluna heathlands of western Europe are being conserved as natural and seminatural vegetation.     

BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS AND BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF ESTUARINE/COASTAL POLLUTION1

ABSTRACT: Sustained interest in and concern about the health status of the aquatic environment has resulted in extensive research focused on (1) effects of pollution on survival, growth, and reproduction of resource species at all life stages; (2) diseases of fish and shellfish, as they may be related to pollution and as they may serve as indicators of environmental stress; and (3) contaminant body burdens in fish and shellfish - their effects on the aquatic animals and their potential effects on humans. Effects, lethal and sublethal, of pollutants on life history stages of fish and shellfish have been documented, as have impacts on local stocks in badly degraded habitats, but as yet there has been no adequate quantitative demonstration of effects on entire aquatic species - probably because of the difficulty in sorting out relative effects of the many environmental factors that influence abundance. Sublethal effects, especially those that result in disease, have been examined intensively, and some diseases and disease syndromes have been associated statistically with pollution. Other pollution indicators (biochemical, physiological, genetic, behavioral, and ecological) have also received some attention, as have body burdens of contaminants in aquatic species. Research, especially that conducted during the past decade, has done much to clarify the many pathways and toxic effects of contaminants on aquatic animals, and has also helped to identify mechanisms for survival of fish and shellfish in the presence of environmental changes caused by human activities.     

Using Paleo Reconstructions to Improve Streamflow Forecast Lead Time in the Western United States

In water stressed regions, water managers are exploring new horizons that would help in long‐range streamflow forecasts. Oceanic‐atmospheric oscillations have been shown to influence streamflow variability. In this study, long‐lead time streamflow forecasts are made using a multiclass kernel‐based data‐driven support vector machine (SVM) model. The extended streamflow records based on tree ring reconstructions were used to provide a longer time series data. Reconstructed data were used from 1658 to 1952 and the instrumental record was used from 1953 to 2007. Reconstructions for oceanic‐atmospheric oscillations included the El Niño‐Southern Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, and North Atlantic Oscillation. Streamflow forecasts using all four oscillations were made with one‐year to five‐year lead times for 21 gages in the western United States. This is the first study that uses both instrumental and reconstructed data of oscillations in SVM model to improve streamflow forecast lead time. SVM model was able to provide “satisfactory” to “very good” forecasts with one‐ to five‐year lead time for the selected gages. The use of all the oscillation indices helped in achieving better predictability compared to using individual oscillations. The SVM modeling results are better when compared with multiple linear regression model forecasts. The findings are statistical in nature and are expected to be useful for long‐term water resources planning and management.     

Journalists' views of advertiser pressures on agricultural news

All major journalism ethical codes explicitly state that journalists should protect editorial copy from undue influence by outside sources. However, much of the previous research on agricultural information has concentrated on what information various media communicate (gatekeeping studies) or communication's role in increasing innovation adoption (diffusion studies). Few studies have concentrated specifically on organizational and structural constraints that might adversely affect agricultural journalists' ethical standards; those that have, focus largely on farm magazines. A study of newspaper reporters who cover agricultural news found that the most pressing ethical concern is the effect of advertiser (agri-business) pressure on editorial copy, and that their concerns in general parallel those of farm magazine writers and editors. The majority reported being in situations in which they might be exposed to advertiser pressure, including pressures to change or withhold editorial copy. Large minorities suggested that advertising pressures affect the overall environment in which agricultural journalists work, and more than one in ten said they allow advertiser pressures to influence editorial decisions. The newspaper reporters who cover agricultural beats showed slightly more resistance to advertiser pressure than did farm magazine editors in a parallel study.     

Definition Procedures Have Little Effect on Performance of Environmental Classifications of Streams and Rivers

Mapped environmental classifications are defined using various procedures, but there has been little evaluation of the differences in their ability to discriminate variation in independent ecological characteristics. We tested the performance of environmental classifications of the streams and rivers of France that had been defined from the same environmental data using geographic regionalization and numerical classification of individual river valley segments. Test data comprised invertebrate assemblages, water chemistry, and hydrological indexes obtained from sites throughout France. Classification performance was measured by analysis of similarity (ANOSIM). Geometric regions defined by a regular grid and without regard to environmental variables and a posteriori classifications based on clustering the test datasets defined lower and upper bounds of performance for a given number of classes. Differences in classification performances were generally small. The ANOSIM statistics for the a posteriori classifications were around twice that of all environmental classifications, including geometrically defined regions. The hydro-ecoregions performed slightly better for the invertebrate data and the network classification performed slightly better for the chemistry and hydrological data. Our results indicate that environmental classifications that are defined using different procedures can be comparable in terms of their ability to discriminate variation of ecological characteristics and that alleged differences in performance arising from different classification procedures can be small relative to unexplained variation. We conclude that definition procedures might have little effect on the performance of large-scale environmental classifications and decisions over which procedures to use should be based primarily on pragmatic considerations.     

Urban ecological systems: scientific foundations and a decade of progress

Urban ecological studies, including focus on cities, suburbs, and exurbs, while having deep roots in the early to mid 20th century, have burgeoned in the last several decades. We use the state factor approach to highlight the role of important aspects of climate, substrate, organisms, relief, and time in differentiating urban from non-urban areas, and for determining heterogeneity within spatially extensive metropolitan areas. In addition to reviewing key findings relevant to each state factor, we note the emergence of tentative "urban syndromes" concerning soils, streams, wildlife and plants, and homogenization of certain ecosystem functions, such as soil organic carbon dynamics. We note the utility of the ecosystem approach, the human ecosystem framework, and watersheds as integrative tools to tie information about multiple state factors together. The organismal component of urban complexes includes the social organization of the human population, and we review key modes by which human populations within urban areas are differentiated, and how such differentiation affects environmentally relevant actions. Emerging syntheses in land change science and ecological urban design are also summarized. The multifaceted frameworks and the growing urban knowledge base do however identify some pressing research needs.     

Neighbourhood characteristics and urban gardens in the Toledo metropolitan area: staffing and voluntarism,food production,infrastructure, and sustainability practices

Urban gardens are important sources of sustenance for communities with limited access to food. Hence, this study focuses on food production in gardens in the Toledo metropolitan area in Northwest Ohio. We administered surveys to 150 garden managers from November 2014 to February 2015 in our attempt to better understand how neighbourhood racial composition and poverty levels are related to staffing and voluntarism, food production and distribution, the development of infrastructure, and the adoption of sustainability practices in urban gardens. The results from 30 gardens are presented in this paper. We used Geographic Information Systems to map the gardens and overlay the map with 2010 census data so that we could conduct demographic analyses of the neighbourhoods in which the gardens were located. Though the gardens were small – two acres or less – up to 46 varieties of food were grown in a single garden. Gardens also operated on small budgets. Food from the gardens was gifted or shared with friends, family, and neighbourhood residents. Gardens in predominantly minority neighbourhoods tended to have fewer institutional partners, less garden infrastructure, and had adopted fewer sustainable practices than gardens in predominantly White neighbourhoods. Nonetheless, residents of predominantly minority and high-poverty neighbourhoods participated in garden activities and influenced garden operations. Volunteering and staffing were racialised and gendered.     

Predicting deer-vehicle collisions in an urban area

Collisions with deer and other large animals are increasing, and the resulting economic costs and risks to public safety have made mitigation measures a priority for both city and wildlife managers. We created landscape models to describe and predict deer-vehicle collision (DVCs) within the City of Edmonton, Alberta. Models based on roadside characteristics revealed that DVCs occurred frequently where roadside vegetation was both denser and more diverse, and that DVCs were more likely to occur when the groomed width of roadside right-of-ways was smaller. No DVCs occurred where the width of the vegetation-free or manicured roadside buffer was greater than 40 m. Landscape-based models showed that DVCs were more likely in more heterogeneous landscapes where road densities were lower and speed limits were higher, and where non-forested vegetation such as farmland was in closer proximity to larger tracts of forest. These models can help wildlife and transportation managers to identify locations of high collision frequency for mitigation. Modifying certain landscape and roadside habitats can be an effective way to reduce deer-vehicle collisions.     

Effect of Light on Biodegradation of Estrone, 17β‐Estradiol,and 17α‐Ethinylestradiol in Stream Sediment

Biodegradation of [A‐ring ¹⁴C] Estrone (E1), 17β‐estradiol (E2), and 17α‐ethinylestradiol (EE2) to ¹⁴CO₂ was investigated under light and dark conditions in microcosms containing epilithon or sediment collected from Boulder Creek, Colorado. Mineralization of the estrogen A‐ring was observed in all sediment treatments, but not epilithon treatments. No difference in net mineralization between light and dark treatments was observed for ¹⁴C‐E2. Net mineralization of ¹⁴C‐E1 and ¹⁴C‐EE2 was enhanced in light treatments. Extents of ¹⁴CO₂ accumulation and rates of mineralization were significantly greater for E2 than E1 under dark conditions, but were comparable under light conditions. These results indicate substantial differences in the uptake and metabolism of E1 and E2 in the environment and suggest biorecalcitrance of E1 relative to E2 in light‐limited environments. The extent of ¹⁴CO₂ accumulation and rate of mineralization for EE2 in dark treatments were less than half of that observed for E2 and generally lower than for E1, consistent with previous reports of EE2 biorecalcitrance. However, ¹⁴CO₂ accumulation and rates of mineralization were comparable for EE2, E2, and E1 under light conditions. These results indicate photoactivation and/or phototransformation/photodegradation processes can substantially enhance heterotrophic biodegradation of estrogens in sunlit environments and may play an important role in estrogen transport and attenuation.     

MANGANESE CYCLE IN IMPOUNDMENT WATER

Manganese entering impounded water will undergo a cyclic transformation. Oxidation precipitates manganese from top waters. At the bottom of the lake, biological activity will render manganese soluble by both intracellular as well as extracellular activity. The study was made to demonstrate that biological reduction and transformation, organometallic complexation, together with the presence of carbon dioxide and the lowering of pH all have some effect on the solubility of manganese. Dissolved manganese may be brought back to top waters during the lake overturn and therefore deteriorates the water quality.