春季高羊茅草坪节肢动物群落动态研究

从群落生态学的角度对草坪节肢动物群落动态变化作了初步探讨.通过对黄山学院校内草坪的调查,获得了关于草坪节肢动物群落的组成、个体数量及其物种数等数据.通过数据分析,得出草坪节肢动物群落是由植食类亚群落、捕食类亚群落、寄生及中性亚群落组成;对物种丰富度进行分析,为草坪害虫的综合防治提供了科学的理论依据.     

春季草坪节肢动物群落相对丰盛度研究——以高羊茅草坪为例

在2008年4—5月份对春季高羊茅草坪节肢动物群落的相对丰盛度进行了研究，通过对调查数据整理和分析得出高羊茅草坪节肢动物群落总群落及其各亚群落相对丰盛度的动态变化，此研究成果可为草坪害虫的综合防治提供科学的理论依据。     

天津市引滦沿线浮游植物群落结构调查研究

2016年3月,系统调查研究了天津市引滦沿线浮游植物结构群落组成、密度的分布特征及多样性指数。10个采样点中共鉴定出浮游植物7门18种,优势种为梅尼小环藻、尖针杆藻、肾形衣藻、卵形隐藻、多甲藻。各采样点浮游植物密度在0.36×107~20.5×107 ind./L之间。Shannon-Wiener多样性指数(H′)在0.38~2.16之间,Pielou均匀度指数(J′)在0.13~0.77之间,Margalef丰富度指数(d)在0.19~0.35之间。多样性指数评价显示水体为中污染-重污染水平。     

豫北地区城乡结合部庭院绿化模式及物种多样性研究

城乡结合部庭院绿化对改善城市生态环境具有重要作用。以豫北城乡结合部为例,通过调查庭院绿化植物群落、种类数目,运用Margalef丰富度指数(R)、香农—威纳多样性指数(Shannon-Weiner index)(H)和Pielou均匀度指数(E)综合评价庭院植物的物种多样性。结果显示,研究区域庭院绿化以单一草本(46.2%)和灌—草复合型配置模式为主(30.4%),其多样性指数表现为灌—草复合型单一灌木型单一草本型乔—草复合型乔—灌复合型单一乔木型乔—灌—草复合型。村庄的植被物种多样性表现为:杨庄南李万史平陵村钦平陵村仇化庄,可见村庄植被物种多样性总体上与其到城市中心区距离呈逆相关,距离越远,城市化水平越低,物种多样性越高。     

茶园节肢动物群落数量动态研究

从群落生态学的角度对茶园节肢动物群落动态变化进行了初步探讨.通过对安徽省黄山市休宁县农家茶园的调查,获得了关于茶园节肢动物群落的组成、个体数量及其物种数等数据.结果表明,4-5月份茶园一般不需要进行施药防治,此时天敌种类和数量相对较多,对害虫起控制作用,这一时期应做好害虫测报和防治准备,为茶农防治茶园害虫提供科学方法.     

用浮游植物评价淮南市窑河水域的水质状况

利用浮游植物的种类组成、种群数量、优势种和污染指示种,同时运用Margalef多样性指数、shanon wieder多样性指数及硅藻指数等群落生态学的基本方法,结合三种指数之间的相关性,研究得出窑河水域的污染程度依次为高塘湖<窑河<淮河。     

天津独流减河8月浮游植物群落结构与水质评价

2016年8月,系统调查研究了独流减河浮游植物结构群落组成、密度的分布特征及与环境因子的关系。10个采样点中共鉴定出浮游植物5门45种及变种,优势种以蓝藻门为主,包括皮状席藻、细小隐球藻、阿氏颤藻、螺旋藻、铜绿微囊藻和优美平裂藻。各采样点浮游植物密度变化在(4.15~27.5)×106 ind./L之间。Shannon-Wiener指数(H′)在0.94~3.17,Pielou指数(J′)在0.24~0.72,Margalef指数(d)在0.69~1.72。灰关联分析结果表明,对独流减河浮游植物密度影响最大的环境因子是锰,其相关性系数是0.74。     

红花酢浆草春季昆虫群落结构研究

系统调查了红花酢浆草草坪春季昆虫群落的情况。结果表明,昆虫群落有53个种,分属于12个目。其中,半翅目、鞘翅目等5类昆虫占昆虫群落的81.9%,它们是该昆虫群落的主体,起着决定性的作用。酢浆草岩螨是该群落的优势种,是综合治理的对象。红花酢浆草草坪春季昆虫群落主要指标在月份间存在着差异,5月昆虫种类多、数量大。     

基于GIS的芜湖城市绿地空间格局特征分析

运用景观生态学的原理与方法,基于GIS技术对芜湖市绿地空间格局特征进行了分析.结果表明,芜湖市绿地景观多样性指数为1.1556、优势度为3.4775、均匀度为0.4977、破碎度为0.4046;城市绿地系统内部景观多样性偏低,优势度明显,类型分布不均,城市绿地生态功能较弱,易受人类活动影响,总体绿地空间布局有待改善.     

黄顶菊入侵对土壤磷细菌多样性的影响

采用选择性培养基和rep—PCR聚类分析等手段,通过盆栽试验,研究了入侵植物黄顶菊对土壤中磷细菌多样性的影响。结果表明,黄顶菊入侵后增加了土壤中无机磷和有机磷细菌的数量,入侵后其数量分别为人侵前的1．17倍和1．08倍。rep—PCR基因指纹分析结果显示,黄顶菊入侵前土壤磷细菌包含19个聚类群,其中无机磷细菌10个聚类群,有机磷细菌9个聚类群;入侵后土壤磷细菌包含22个聚类群,其中无机磷细菌11个聚类群,有机磷细菌11个聚类群。多样性分析结果表明,黄顶菊入侵后土壤中无机磷细菌的丰富度指数、香农一威纳多样性指数分别为11和2．369,高于入侵前的10和2．303;有机磷细菌的丰富度指数、香农一威纳多样性指数分别为11和2．398,高于入侵前的9和2．197,而2种细菌的物种均匀度指数基本不变。本文从土壤微生态学的角度初步探讨了黄顶菊入侵对土壤微生物群落中磷细菌的影响,为进一步研究黄顶菊入侵的地下化感机制和竞争机制提供一定的理论依据。     

AN APPLICATION RUNOFF MODEL STRATEGY FOR UNGAGED WATERSHEDS1

ABSTRACT: Mathematical models for predicting watershed surface flow responses are available, most of which are elaborate nonlinear numerical surface and channel flow models linked with infiltration models. Such models may be used to make predictions for ungaged areas, assuming an acceptable fitting of the model to the topography and roughness of the real system. For some application purposes, these models are impractical because of their complexity and expensive computer solutions. A procedure is developed that uses a complex model of an ungaged area to derive a simpler parametric nonlinear system model for repetitious simulation with input sequences. The predicted flow outputs are obtained with the simpler model at significant savings of money and time. The procedures for constructing a complex kinematic model of a 40 acre (161,880 m²) reference watershed and deriving the simpler system model are outlined. The results of predictions from both models are compared with a selected set of measured events, all having essentially the same initial conditions. Peak discharges ranged from 3 to 118 ft³/sec (0.085 to 3.34 m³/sec), which includes the largest event of record. The inherent limitations of lumped systems models are demonstrated, including the bias caused by their inability to model infiltration losses after rainfall ceases. Computer costs and times for the models were compared. The derived simple model has a cost advantage when repeated use of a model is required. Such an applications hydrologic model has an engineering tradeoff of reduced accuracy, and lumping bias, but is more economical for certain design purposes.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Biodiversity and biotechnology

The maintenance of biodiversity is urged from many quarters and on grounds ranging from aesthetic considerations to its usefulness, particularly for biotechnology. But regardless of the grounds for preserving biodiversity, writers are generally in agreement that it should be preserved. But, in examining the various references biodiversity, such as species diversity, genetic diversity, and habitat diversity, it is apparent that we cannot aim to preserve biodiversityas such, since there are a number of conflicts in any such undertaking. In preserving one aspect of biodiversity, we damage another aspect. Five arguments which attempt to ground our moral concern for biodiversity are reviewed and critiqued, not only for their consistency but also for their power to move us to action. The final section of the paper shows how conflicts in the values of personal and environmental health can impair ethical action and especially policy formation.An earlier version of this paper was read at the conference on Agriculture, Food, and Human Values: Tradition and Change, Orlando, Florida, October 7–9, 1987.     

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.