盐城海滨湿地的生态风险评价方法

以盐城海滨湿地这一脆弱生态系统为对象进行了生态风险评价方法的探讨,针对其生态环境的特点,通过对盐城海滨湿地的环境问题的描述,分析了它的风险源、风险受体和评价终点,建立了盐城海滨湿地生态风险评价的评价指标体系,对其生态风险评价方法进行了探索。     

Short-term effects of visitor trampling on macroinvertebrates in karst streams in an ecotourism region

In order to evaluate the potential risks of human visitation on macroinvertebrate communities in streams, we investigated the effect of trampling using two short-term experiments conducted in a Brazilian ecotourism karst region. We asked three questions: (a) Does trampling increase the drift rate of aquatic macroinvertebrates and organic matter? (b) Does trampling change the macroinvertebrate community organization? (c) If trampling alters the community structure, is a short time (5 days, a between weekends interval?-?peaks of tourism activities) sufficient for community restructuring? Analysis of variance of richness, total abundance, abundance of the most abundant genus (e.g., Simothraulopsis and Callibaetis), and community composition showed that trampling immediately affects macroinvertebrate community and that the intervals between the peaks of visitation (5 days) are not sufficient to complete community restructuring. Considering that bathing areas receive thousands of visitors every year and that intervals of time without visitation are nearly nonexistent, we suspect that the negative effects on the macroinvertebrate community occur in a cumulative way. Finally, we discuss some simple procedures that could potentially be used for reducing trampling impacts in lotic environments.     

表征室外人体暴露的监测网络设计(待续)

对悬浮颗粒物室外人体暴露的测定一直受到可用资源的限制，设计有效的网络就要求对测定方法的选择、采样点的数量、采样时间、采样频率等进行调整。采样位置要求能表征因周围污染源对附近地区和城市最小影响的空间数值。虽然大多数判定PM是否达标的测定方法是每第3天至第6天的24 h监测，但是室外人体暴露的评价要求连续监测一整天，最好有1h或更短时间的监测时段。更详细的粒径大小和化学性质数据也很有必要，因为较小的颗粒及其特殊的化学物质要比总的样品质量更有助于反映对健康的不良影响。     

表征室外人体暴露的监测网络设计(续完)

对悬浮颗粒物室外人体暴露的测定一直受到可用资源的限制。设计有效的网络就要求对测定方法的选择、采样点的数量、采样时间、采样频率等进行调整。采样位置要求能表征因周围污染源对附近地区和城市最小影响的空间数值。虽然大多数判定PM是否达标的测定方法是每第3天至第6天的24h监测，但是室外人体暴露的评价要求连续监测一整天。最好有1h或更短时间的监测时段。更详细的粒径大小和化学性质数据也很有必要，因为较小的颗粒及其特殊的化学物质要比总的样品质量更有助于反映对健康的不良影响。     

Artificial Sampling Units: A Tool for Increasing the Sensitivity of Tests for Impact in Soft Sediments

The distribution of benthic organisms in soft sediments is patchy in time and space on many scales. Such variability makes assessment of ecological impacts difficult. Sediment-related variables, such as grain-size and organic content, which can affect colonization by infauna, vary over similar scales. Variations in characteristics of the sediment may contribute to spatial variability in infaunal assemblages, making it difficult to detect the putative impacts of disturbances, such as the production of boat-generated waves (wash), on these organisms. Here, the hypothesis that infaunal assemblages colonizing containers of homogeneous sedimentwould be less spatially variable than those colonizing natural sediment was tested. Containers were deployed at mudflats differing in exposure to wash. If wash does affect colonization, a reduction in variability among sites of similar exposure should enable stronger differences to be seen between wash and no-wash zones. Assemblages colonizing homogeneous sediment were less variable than those colonizing site-specific sediment. No difference in colonization was, however, seen between places differing in their exposure to wash. Nevertheless, this method is of use in the assessment of ecological impacts in sedimentary environments, where it is difficult to detect putative impacts above the great natural variability in assemblages.     

Assessment Of Trampling Simulation Impacts On Native Vegetation In Mediterranean Sclerophyllous Forest

This study examines the effects of visitors on vegetation of natural semi-arid areas of Mediterranean basin using controlled experimental trampling. Impacts were assessed on days 1, 5, 15 and 30 examining presence of plant species, their cover and height in linear transects suffering a constant trampling intensity (25, 75, 100 and 200 passes/day). In addition, the study included the analysis of factors such as plant species, trampling intensity, the cumulative impact (day effect) and the type of footwear on plant variables. The results showed a decrease on plant cover and height influenced by cumulative (day) effect, an effect of trampling intensity and a different effect for each species. In contrast, shoe type affected only slightly the decrease in plant height. The evolution of plant cover revealed which species were most resistant to trampling. The disappearance of plant individuals during trampling appeared to be an impact index better than plant cover, because cover increased in some species when they were trampled thus introducing a bias.     

Mapping and quantifying habitat fragmentation in small coastal areas: a case study of three protected wetlands in Apulia (Italy)

In the Mediterranean Region, habitat loss and fragmentation severely affect coastal wetlands, due to the rapid expansion of anthropogenic activities that has occurred in the last decades. Landscape metrics are commonly used to define landscape patterns and to evaluate fragmentation processes. This investigation focuses on the performance of a set of landscape pattern indices within landscapes characterized by coastal environments and extent below 1,000 ha. The aim is to assess the degree of habitat fragmentation for the monitoring of protected areas and to learn whether values of landscape metrics can characterize fine-resolution landscape patterns. The study areas are three coastal wetlands belonging to the Natura 2000 network and sited on the Adriatic side of Apulia (Southern Italy). The Habitat Maps were derived from the Vegetation Maps generated integrating phytosociological relevés and Earth Observation data. In the three sites, a total of 16 habitat types were detected. A selected set of landscape metrics was applied in order to investigate their performance in assessing fragmentation and spatial patterns of habitats. The final results showed that the most significant landscape patterns are related to highly specialized habitat types closely linked to coastal environments. In interpreting the landscape patterns of these highly specialized habitats, some specific ecological factors were taken into account. The shape indices were the most useful in assessing the degree of fragmentation of habitat types that usually have elongated morphology along the shoreline or the coastal lagoons. In all the cases, to be meaningful, data obtained from the application of the selected indices were jointly assessed, especially at the class level.     

The ecological impact assessment of a proposed road development (the Slovak approach)

The construction of roads is one of the most widespread forms of natural landscape modification. Over the last 20 years, dozens of road constructions have been assessed in Slovakia, which makes it possible to talk about methodological positives and negatives. A special feature of Slovakia is that many planned or renovated roads are located in protected areas or are in contact with them (including Natura 2000 sites). Therefore, it is important to understand the scope of the roads' ecological impacts and find ways for their appropriate evaluation and incorporation into the Environmental Impact Assessment process. For this reason, the Ecological Impact Assessment methodology can be used as a basis for our research, which consists of three stages. In the first stage (scoping), a buffer circumventing the proposed road is created to determine the area for impact prediction and evaluation. Subsequently, the landscape structure and baseline landscape conditions are discussed, a map of current landscape structure is created and the current ecological status of the affected area is calculated. In the second stage (the evaluation of ecological resources), important ecological parts of the landscape are delineated. This step is based on the importance of previous information and its vulnerability, and leads to the mapping of the road ecological impact zone. In the third stage (impact assessment), important ecological parts are spatially correlated with the proposed road construction. Finally, the significance of ecological impacts of the activity is evaluated by applying specific criteria (duration, reversibility, magnitude, size and road ecological impact zone significance). A scale is proposed for each criterion to evaluate the total significance of impacts. In this way, detailed significant ecological impacts can be found which will help lead to proposed correct mitigation measures and a post-project analysis.     

表征室外人体暴露的监测网络设计(续一)

对悬浮颗粒物室外人体暴露的测定一直受到可用资源的限制，设计有效的网络就要求对测定方法的选择、采样点的数量、采样时间、采样频率等进行调整。采样位置要求能表征因周围污染源对附近地区和城市最小影响的空间数值。虽然大多数判定PM是否达标的测定方法是每第3天至第6天的24h监测，但是室外人体暴露的评价要求连续监测一整天，最好有1h或更短时间的监测时段。更详细的粒径大小和化学性质数据也很有必要，因为较小的颗粒及其特殊的化学物质要比总的样品质量更有助于反映对缝康的不良影响。     

Climate Impact Response Functions for Terrestrial Ecosystems

We introduce climate impact response functions as a means for summarizing and visualizing the responses of climate-sensitive sectors to changes in fundamental drivers of global climate change. In an inverse application, they allow the translation of thresholds for climate change impacts (‘impact guard-rails’) into constraints for climate and atmospheric composition parameters (‘climate windows’). It thus becomes feasible to specify long-term objectives for climate protection with respect to the impacts of climate change instead of crude proxy variables, like the change in global mean temperature. We apply the method to assess impacts on terrestrial ecosystems, using the threat to protected areas as the central impact indicator. Future climate states are characterized by geographically and seasonally explicit climate change patterns for temperature, precipitation and cloud cover, and by their atmospheric CO₂ concentration. The patterns are based on the results of coupled general circulation models. We study the sensitivity of the impact indicators and the corresponding climate windows to the spatial coverage of the analysis and to different climate change projections. This enables us to identify the most sensitive biomes and regions, and to determine those factors which significantly influence the results of the impact assessment. Based on the analysis, we conclude that climate impact response functions are a valuable means for the representation of climate change impacts across a wide range of plausible futures. They are particularly useful in integrated assessment models of climate change based on optimizing or inverse approaches where the on-line simulation of climate impacts by sophisticated impact models is infeasible due to their high computational demand. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.