宝鸡市生态城市建设评价

结合生态城市的相关理论和不同学者的研究,遵循生态城市评价指标选择的原则和研究区域的实际情况,从经济、社会和自然三方面建立了宝鸡市生态城市建设的评价指标体系。通过采用熵权法确定各评价指标的权值,对宝鸡市近几年的生态城市建设进行了简要评价。结果表明,2004—2008年宝鸡市的生态城市建设十分成功,但在集中力量建设生态环境的同时,忽略了对城市的经济建设,使宝鸡市的经济结构开始出现不合理现象。建议宝鸡市在大力建设生态城市的同时,要集中力量在经济建设方面,以达到自然、经济与社会和谐发展的目的。     

基于熵权法的武汉生态城市建设评价

以武汉城市圈“两型”社会建设综合配套改革试验区的核心城市武汉市为例,从自然生态、经济生态和社会生态角度构建了四级“两型”生态城市评价指标体系,并采用熵权法确定指标权重,对武汉生态城市建设进行综合评价.结果表明,近十年武汉生态综合指数(ECI)持续稳健增长,但各子系统发展水平和发展速度不均衡,各具体指标发展差异显著,因此系统协调性是今后武汉生态城市建设应关注的核心.     

生态城市可持续发展动力分析——以徐州市为例

运用熵值法,根据生态城市的内涵,从经济建设、社会建设和环境建设三个方面对徐州市2001—2008年的生态城市建设进行了评价。结果发现,徐州市生态城市建设质量在逐年提高的同时存在着发展动力不足的问题。针对该问题,指出行政推动力、经济推动力、城市经济组织与居民推动力、资源与环境约束力是解决徐州市生态城市建设可持续发展动力不足的关键。     

哈尔滨市生态城市指标体系的构建与评价

随着城市化进程的不断加速和人们生态意识的加强,生态城市已经成为现代城市发展建设的主要模式和方向,生态城市应当是哈尔滨市发展的理想模式.根据哈尔滨市的实际,依据建立生态城市指标体系的原则和方法从资源、环境、经济以及社会4个方面构建生态城市指标体系,在运用层次分析法的基础上对结果进行综合评价.     

京津沪渝生态安全评价指标体系的选择及其评价

以"结构力-发展力-恢复力"为基础,根据"自然-经济-社会"3个子系统将34个城市生态安全评价指标划分为9个二级指标,建立城市生态安全评价指标体系,并使用模糊数学综合评价法分析京津沪渝4个直辖市及其各子系统的生态安全等级。研究结果表明:除了重庆市的经济子系统、社会子系统以及天津市的社会子系统的安全等级属于较不安全外,各城市的其它子系统都属于临界安全范围;京津沪渝4个直辖市中,京津沪3个直辖市的城市生态安全状态属于临界安全等级,而重庆市的城市生态安全属于较不安全等级。4个直辖市的综合生态安全等级特征值排序由大到小依次为:北京、上海、天津、重庆。     

西宁市园林绿地的发展与评价

城市园林绿地建设是城市市政建设的重要组成部分.对改善城市生态环境,提高环境质量和扩大环境容量有着十分重要的意义.在全国重点城市环境综合评价考核工作中,也将城市园林绿化做为考核的一个重要内容和指标.西宁市作为青海省的省会,全国60个重点绿化城市之一,应当有一个清洁、舒适、安静、优美的生态环境.因此,无论从省会城市的地位,还是从社会经济环境,以及生态环境质量的提高等方面,都必须迅速发展西宁市的园林绿地建设.     

资源型城市可持续发展的生态补偿机制研究

资源型城市的经济转型与可持续发展已经成为一个世界性的课题,也是现阶段我国全面建设小康社会过程中凸现出来的一项新课题.在生态环境危机和区域矛盾日益加剧的社会背景下,构建生态补偿机制已成为资源型城市可持续发展的重要措施,有利于缩小区际间的差距,促进环境建设,同时也符合时代发展的主旋律.从资源型城市生态环境问题突出、转型动力不足、社会问题突出、地方财政困难等方面阐述了构建资源型城市生态补偿机制的必要性,在此基础上着重从法律保障、补偿标准、横向财政转移支付、生态保护与经济增长、体制机制等方面分析我国资源型城市生态补偿面临的障碍因素,并对我国资源型城市生态补偿运行机制做了进一步探讨.     

山东省淄博市城市林业综合效益评价研究

城市林业具有服务城市生态、调节城市气候、活化城市景观等生态服务功能,在社会经济快速发展、城市居住环境日益恶化的今天,具有重要的地位和研究意义。利用模糊层次分析法确立城市林业的综合评价指标体系,对淄博市城市林业建设的综合效益进行评价分析。结果表明,淄博市城市林业建设的社会影响显著,其积极的影响在各个方面得到了充分显现。针对淄博市城市林业建设过程中存在的问题提出相应的建议。     

城市生态文明发展进程的综合评价与预测以——广州市2000—2013年纵向追踪数据为例

在界定生态文明建设的内涵基础上,从生态的经济—社会—环境—文化—制度等五个方面构建了城市生态文明评价指标体系。以广州市2000—2013年的纵向数据为评价对象,使用因子分析法对其进行了综合评价,使用回归分析法预测了未来几年广州市的生态文明发展情况。研究结果发现,广州市城市生态文明发展状况呈现逐步上升的趋势。     

生态城市研究进展

近些年来,生态城市的建设在世界各地方兴未艾,随着人们对其研究的深入,其意义发生了很大的变化。生态城市中的“生态”,已不再是单纯生物学的含义,而是综合的、整体的概念,蕴涵社会、经济、自然的复合内容。本文回顾了国内外生态城市建设的背景及其发展的基本情况,阐述了生态城市的本质及内涵,分析了生态城市建设的主要内容,并展望了其发展前景。     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Bioremediation of Soils by Plant–Microbe Systems

Abstract

Sustainable ecosystems can be designed to eliminate environmental toxins and reduce pathogen loads through the direct and indirect consequences of plant and microbial activities. We present an approach to the bioremediation of disturbed environments, focusing on petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) contaminants. Treatment consists of incorporating a plant-based amendment to enhance ecosystem productivity and physiochemical degradation followed by the establishment of plants to serve as oxidizers and foundations for microbial communities. Promising amendments for widespread use are entire plants of the water fern Azolla and seed meal of Brassica napus (rapeseed). An inexpensive byproduct from the manufacture of biodiesel and lubricants, rapeseed meal is high in nitrogen (6% wt/wt), stimulates >100-fold increases in populations of resident Streptomyces species, and suppresses fungal infection of roots subsequently cultivated in the amended soil. Synergistic enzymatic and chemical activities of plant and microbial metabolism in root zones transform and degrade soil contaminants. Emphasis is given to mechanisms that enable PHC functionalization via reactive molecular species.     

Energetics and environmental costs of agriculture in a dry tropical region of India

The present article, based on a study of five village ecosystems, assesses the energy efficiency of rain-fed agriculture in a dry tropical environment and the impact of agricultural activity on the surrounding natural ecosystems. Agronomic yield is insufficient to meet the food requirement of the human population, hence 11.5%–49.7% of the required amount of food grains are imported from the market. Energy requirements of five studied agroecosystems are subsidized considerably by the surrounding forest in the form of fodder and firewood. Natural ecosystems supply about 80%–95% of fodder needs and 81%–100% of fuelwood needs. The output-input ratio of agriculture indicated that, on average, 4.1 units of energy are expended to obtain one unit of agronomic energy. Of this, 3.9 units are supplied by the natural ecosystem. In addition, 38% of the extracted firewood is marketed. The illegal felling and lopping of trees result in ever-increasing concentric circles of forest destruction around the villages and together with excessive grazing results in savannization. The forests can be conserved by encouraging fuelwood plantations (0.7 ha/ha cultivated land) and developing village pastures (1.6 ha/ha cultivated land) and reducing the livestock numbers. Agricultural production in the region can be stabilized by introducing improved dry farming techniques such as intercropping, planned rainwater management, and adequate use of fertilizers.     

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY “METROPOLITAN WATER MANAGEMENT INSTITUTIONS?”1

ABSTRACT The term “institution” and several variants are used frequently in the literature on metropolitan water management. The state-of-the art investigation on which this paper is based revealed that 1) many uses of the term do not include careful definitions; 2) many users of the term seemed unaware of the general, theoretical literature on the subject of institutions; 3) there was little consistency among uses, either in the practical literature dealing with water or in the conceptual literature dealing with theories of institutions or institutionalization; 4) some usages were without significant meaning; 5) in many cases the term was used as a kind of “black box” to account for behavioral, societal, or managerial factors; 6) the term was often used as a synonym for “organization”. This latter use is frequently found in federal reports, including National Water Commission studies, and is most unfortunate because it tends to slight significant social-psychological factors. A suggested definition is: “An institution is the structured result or outcome of a process by which values are articulated, arranged, and communicated, having continuity over time, and influencing behavior of persons who did not necessarily participate in formulating those values (norms).”     

Provincial development plans in Zimbabwe: an analysis of their content,structure and methodology

Zimbabwean provincial plans were instituted to help in the achievement of the national goal of the creation of an egalitarian, socialist and integrated society. The national goal itself was adopted as an antithesis to the dualist society characterised by spatial, economic, social, politican and technological inequalities that Zimbabwe inherited from colonialism. This meant that provincial plans had to play both a functional (or growth allocating/distribution) and a territorial (or redistribution) role.

This paper reviews their role in achieving the national goal by examining their functions, content, structure and methodology. The paper concludes that because of their nature, provincial plans are not suitable tools for the achievement of the national goal.     

Waste minimisation in practice

One of the major hindrances to waste minimisation on a construction site is the difficulty in establishing a methodology and using this methodology to benchmark future construction projects. This paper introduces SMARTWaste, a software tool that has been used to audit, reduce and target waste arisings on a construction site. This tool tries to link the construction process and the waste hierarchy. That is reducing waste on a construction site rather than landfilling it. Three applications of the SMARTWaste software will be discussed using case studies from three different types of construction. An evaluation of these case studies shows that, by implementing a waste minimisation scheme on-site, you can improve material recovery for reuse. Also, by using the waste arisings as a benchmark you can reduce your waste arisings on future sites. Application of SMARTWaste or a similar waste minimisation tool on a wider basis could reduce waste arisings and could result in a built environment that consumed less natural resources and energy, and also produced less pollution and waste. Such a built environment would be environmentally and socially more responsive and responsible.     

COMPARISON OF TRACE ELEMENT CONCENTRATIONS IN TISSUE OF COMMON CARP AND IMPLICATIONS FOR MONITORING1

Common carp (Cyprinus carpio) collected from four sites in the Red River of the North in 1994 were analyzed for arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), selenium (So), and zinc (Zn). Concentrations differed among liver, muscle, and whole body. Generally, trace element concentrations were the greatest in livers while concentrations in whole bodies were greater than those in muscle for Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn, and concentrations in muscle were similar to whole body for As and Se. Concentrations of Cr were lower in liver than either muscle or whole body. Correlations between liver and whole body concentrations were stronger than those between liver and muscle concentrations, but the strongest correlations were between muscle and whole body concentrations. Examination of tissue concentrations by collection sites suggested that, for a general survey, the whole body may be the most effective matrix to analyze.