桉树人工林与天然林林下植被生物量比较研究

通过对普洱市桉树人工林林下植被和天然林林下植被生物量的对比研究表明，相同立地条件下桉树人工林林下植被生物量小于天然林林下植被生物量，而草本层生物量比重大于天然林林下草本层生物量比重，导致这一结果的主要原因是桉树人工林林下植物多样性下降。因此，在桉树引种的同时必须考虑由此所带来的生态问题，林下生物量的研究为平衡发展桉树经济林和保护生态环境提供了理论依据。     

危机中的云南天然林——云南天然林研究调查报告

绿色和平一直持续关注和研究云南天然林的保护,我们的调查显示,云南森林质量不容乐观。为此,我们呼吁云南省政府和全省各级林业部门加强对原生林保护规划,并提出以下建议:划定生态红线以保护珍贵的原生林;完善低产林改造政策并停止将天然林转换为人工林;落实《全国林地保护利用规划纲要》,严格控制征占用天然林林地。     

秦皇岛开发区生态现状与保护措施

秦皇岛市开发区受开发活动的影响,植被面积和生物多样性减少,生态系统服务功能价值下降,水土流失增加。基于秦皇岛开发区生态保护现状,从敏感生态系统建设、城区绿化、城市综合生态功能廊道、生态补偿、水土保持等方面,加强开发区生态保护,构建和谐生态,实现人与自然的协调发展。     

沿海湿地可持续利用与管理策略

由于人口的快速增长、资源的过度利用、气候干旱化等。特别是湿地的生态保护功能和社会经济价值并未得到足够的重视,使得我国沿海部分湿地生态系统退化和受损,湿地面积减少．湿地环境遭受污染。湿地生物多样性受到负面影响,湿地生态系统面临着严重威胁。湿地生态系统能够提供许多类型的服务,具有公共物品属性,这决定了湿地保护和开发利用过程...     

庐山森林生态系统服务功能探析

在借鉴国内外森林生态系统服务功能基本分析方法的基础上,对庐山自然保护区的森林生态系统的价值进行了评估,得出庐山森林生态系统的服务总价值约为114221.26万元/a.其中,直接经济价值70855万元/a,占总价值的62.03%;生态价值为43357.26万元/a,占总价值的37.97%.此外,庐山的景观游憩价值63600万元/a,占总价值的55.68%,在庐山森林生态系统服务价值中占主要地位.因此,庐山森林生态系统服务功能的保护开发,一方面体现在森林生态功能的保护开发,另一方面要促进生态系统保护和旅游资源开发的有机结合.     

2000—2010年医巫闾山国家级风景名胜区生态系统功能变化评估

以遥感数据和地面数据为基础,借助地理信息系统(GIS)和遥感技术(RS)对医巫闾山国家级风景名胜区2000—2010年生态系统功能进行研究,为能更好地保护风景名胜区的环境提供参考。结果表明,医巫闾山国家级风景名胜区的土地利用基本无明显变化;水源涵养能力和土壤保持能力有少量增强,主要是由于植被覆盖度的增加;植被净初级生产力有所下降,10年间下降5.27%;生物多样性有少量提高。总体来说,10年间,医巫闾山国家级风景名胜区生态系统功能基本处于稳定状态,表明现有的管理条例有效地保护了区域的生态功能。     

论我国生态补偿制度的完善——以生态系统服务功能为视角

生态补偿制度是以保护和可持续利用生态系统服务为目的，调节相关利益者关系的制度安排。生态系统服务功能指自然生态系统及其物种所提供的能够满足和维持人类生活需要的条件和过程。生态系统服务功能与生态补偿制度关系密切，生态补偿制度的最终目标是恢复、维护和改善生态系统服务功能。我国生态补偿制度处于起步阶段，需要学习并借鉴国际上其他国家的先进经验，从而完善我国的生态补偿制度。     

国内外生态功能区划理论研究

生态功能区划是生态系统科学管理与持续利用的基础,通过区划能加深对生态系统的了解,有效减少管理的复杂性。对区域生态功能进行甄别,合理划分生态功能区,并按不同功能合理管理资源,已成为协调区域经济发展与生态保护的重要途径。通过分析生态功能区划的概念、内涵和方法的发展,比较国内外分区框架体系的差异和应用,对生态功能区划的未来发展进行初步探讨,提出今后需关注的三个方面:1系统开展流域水生态功能区划研究,促进水环境问题由水质管理向水生态管理转变;2加深对生态功能区划应用方面的研究;3对生态功能区划的使用者或潜在使用者进行额外教育,以一种高效的方法把区划结果用于生态系统管理、保护规划。     

最小生态安全距离在“多规合一”中的地位与作用

"多规合一"是未来规划编制与管理城市的必然发展趋势。最小生态安全距离不仅是探索"多规合一"的重要技术工具,也是"多规合一"中空间管控的重要内容。最小生态安全距离以资源环境承载力为基础核心,是城市开发不能逾越的距离。划定最小生态安全距离是为了满足城市生态系统良性循环、生态系统服务功能正常运转以及环境容量不超载,城市间或城市功能单元间经济社会活动空间间隔的最小距离。利用最小生态安全距离划定出的基本规避空间,可以让环规、城规和土规实现统一的空间管控的最终目标。依靠最小生态安全距离,能够科学地划定城市布局,提升城镇化发展质量和空间管控质量,更好地实现城市规划的编制与管理。     

生态保护的基础、关键及重点

生态保护的基础是生态监测与生态调查，生态保护的关键则是生态系统健康评价，生态系统健康评价因素有组织、结构、活力、恢复力、系统对相邻系统的影响、投入、对人类健康的影响等，其类型有健康、较健康、亚健康、不健康、患病五级；其相应的生态恢复为生态预防、自然恢复、生态修复、生态重建；其相应的生态工程有建立自然保护区、封育、补播与放流、人工林、人工草场、人工湿地等。     

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.     

National minerals policies and stakeholder participation for broad-based development in the southern African development community (SADC)

This paper explains how the well-accepted concept of improved stakeholder participation during mineral policy development leads to a national mineral policy that accommodates the diverging views and interests that allows wide acceptance of decisions, enhancing the success of implementation and, ultimately, national benefits. This process is based on lessons learnt during the South African experience and has been successfully applied in the development of the Namibian and Malawian national minerals policies. An effective policy in the SADC will engineer the delicate balance between poverty reduction and an internationally competitive minerals sector. This balance enhances the possibility of long-term economic growth and development in the SADC region. The overriding advantage of this strategy is that it generates ‘home-grown’ policy instruments and implementation of mineral law with which stakeholders can identify. This process presents a new challenge to traditional policy formulation strategies in emerging economies and the bottom-up approach, linked to wide political support, allows the potential realisation of national objectives.     

A DISTRIBUTED DYNAMIC WATERSHED MODEL1

ABSTRACT: A distributed watershed model was developed to mathematically simulate overland and channel flow for a single-event storm. The modeled watersheds in the study were subdivided into rectangular grid elements. All hydrologically significant parameters, such as land slope, rainfall and precipitation excess, were assumed to be uniform within each element. The Green-Ampt method was adopted to generate precipitation excess for each element during the simulation period. A two-dimensional diffusion wave model was used for overland flow routing and an iterative Alternative Direction Implicit scheme was used to solve the simultaneous overland flow equations. Once the overland flow became inflow to the channel, a one-dimensional dynamic wave flood routing technique, based on a four-point, implicit, non-linear finite difference solution of the St. Venant equation of unsteady flow, was applied. A limited number of comparisons were made between simulated and observed hydrographs for areas of about one square mile. Given the appropriate parameters, the model was able to accurately simulate runoff for single-event storms. This paper describes a distributed watershed model developed to simulate overland and channel flow. Comparisons were made between simulated and observed hydrographs for three watersheds. The model was able to accurately simulate the runoff for single-event storms using 61-m by 61-m (200 ft by 200 ft) watershed grid elements.     

INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT WHO SHOULD LEAD,WHO SHOULD PAY?1

ABSTRACT: Improving water management to meet future global needs will certainly require technical advances, but the main challenge is to integrate the viewpoints of diverse societal interests into decisions about allocation of water resources. The integration cannot be done solely by the market because it requires a balancing among interests which do not respond well to market forces, nor by the state alone because of institutional problems. The concept of “integrated water resources management” has been developed to provide the framework for the required balancing of interests, and, like similar concepts in industries other than water, it has a dual purpose - to link stakeholders and apply best practices to management actions. To clarify the process of integrated water management, the paper focuses on two questions: who should lead integrated water resources management and who should pay for it? Several examples are given to illustrate a range of situations. The paper concludes with a call to improve paradigms of integrated water management, a proposition that water organizations should accept and budget for their external responsibilities as well as their direct missions, affirmation of the need for state and federal agencies to be involved with local interests, a call for better scientific and public information, and identification of the need for continued work to improve the process of integrated water management.     

Green Symbolism in the Genetic Modification Debate

The character of the current controversy over geneticallymodified (GM) agriculture, typified by protesters' use of emotivesymbolism, has been largely inspired by the Green movement'snon-governmental organizations and political parties. This articleexplores the deeper philosophical and spiritual motivations of the Greenmovement, to inquire why it is implacably opposed to GM agriculture. TheGreen movement's anti-capitalism, exemplified by the hate-symbol statusof Monsanto as the company pioneering GM crops, is viewed within thewider context of alienation in the modern era. A complex of meanings isseen in Frankenstein as the focal symbol of GM protests, includingperceptions of risk, fears of the remixing of living identities seen ingenetic engineering, and resentment at the spiritual nihilism of thereduction of life to the digital code of DNA. By contrast, RobertGoodin's Green Theory of Value, which postulates the deep psychologicalimportance of nature in locating the self in a meaningful context largerthan ourselves, can explain the power of the Green symbol of thethreatened environment, Gaia. The advent of GM agriculture seems toimply that capitalism and technology can now enframe nature itself,leaving a world devoid of natural myth or meaning, with no escape fromthe alienation and nihilism of modernity. The central question posed forprotagonists of the GM debate is whether their agenda is based on thesepowerful but mythical conceptions of the environment, or whetherpreservation of the real environment is their primary ethic.     

STATE VARIABLE MODEL FOR URBAN RAINFALL-RUNOFF PROCESS1

ABSTRACT: A nonlinear hydrologic system model has been developed for analyzing the urban rainfall-runoff process. The model is formulated as a state variable model consisting of several parameters. A search technique is employed to find the set of parameters for which the model's response best fits observed data. The model could be used in either a simulation or forecasting mode. The model is applied to observed data for the Waller Creek Watershed in Austin, Texas, to develop the model parameters for various levels of urbanization of the watershed. The trend of each parameter with respect to levels of urbanization is examined.     

Preliminary studies about effects of ELF and TAMMEF electromagnetic fields on human lymphomonocytes

In our paper we studied the effects of exposure to ELF (extremely low frequency) or musically generated TAMMEF (therapeutic application of musically modulated electromagnetic fields) electromagnetic fields on the tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) release induced by a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from cultured human lymphomonocytes of peripheral blood. Lymphomonocytes, isolated from blood donors buffy-coat, were prepared using standard techniques in cell culture flasks, kept in CO₂ incubator, with controlled temperature and humidity for 5 days. Flasks were subjected to an ELF electromagnetic field (100 Hz sinusoidal) or to TAMMEF electromagnetic fields (with intensity, frequency, and wave shape randomly modified in time, so that all possible codes can occur during a single application). The TNF-α release was determined by ELISA test every 24 h for 92 h and the results were evaluated by a non-parametric test. LPS induces a stronger TNF-α release in cultures that were subjected to ELF when compared with cultures subjected to TAMMEF, at each time period of the experimental protocol. These results seem to indicate that TAMMEF is able to induce a complex modulation of LPS-induced TNF-α release, a cytokine with pro inflammatory property whose release during chronic or neoplastic inflammatory diseases has strong negative effects on several organ systems.     

Cadmium—Towards a rational use of a toxic element

Because of its toxicity, cadmium creates an environmental problem as well as a health hazard for exposed workers. Most cadmium emissions arise from the intentional use of the element. It is therefore mandatory to reduce cadmium consumption to the lowest possible level. Cadmium pigments, mainly used in plastic processing, can be replaced in all applications where the processing temperature does not exceed 300°C. Newly developed polyvinyl chloride stabilizers promise to be an excellent substitute for cadmium stabilizers in even the most demanding applications. Cadmium plating, still extensively used in the United States and the West Germany, has been virtually abandoned in Japan. Improved lead acid batteries are replacing vented nickel cadmium batteries because of their cost effectiveness. While in these applications cadmium use is declining, more and more cadmium is needed for the manufacturing of sealed nickel cadmium batteries. These relatively small electrochemical cells are used mainly by individual consumers. Here cadmium can only be replaced in some marginal applications. The high cadmium content of these batteries (up to 22%) makes them a good candidate for recycling of the heavy metal.     

Formulation of resource depletion index

A resource depletion index can serve as a quantitative tool to evaluate the level of depletion for natural resources. This study introduces two types of resource depletion indices, the global resource depletion index and the local resource depletion index. Global resource depletion index mainly concerns global reserves and the annual consumption rate of these resources. The local resource depletion index not only considers global reserves and their annual consumption rate, but also considers the local factors such as local reserves, local recycling rates, and local resource import characteristics. This study considers the local resource characteristics of Taiwan and develops calculations for local resource depletion indexes for the resources of cobalt, molybdenum, tungsten, copper, aluminum, lead and zinc.     

LONG-TERM EQUILIBRIUM PHOSPHORUS CONCENTRATIONS IN THE EVERGLADES AS PREDICTED BY A VOLLENWEIDER-TYPE MODEL1

ABSTRACT: Anthropogenic phosphorus loading, mainly from the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA), is believed to be the primary cause of eutrophication in the Everglades. The state of Florida has adopted a plan for addressing Everglades eutrophication problems by reducing anthropogenic phosphorus loads through the implementation of Best Management Practices (BMPs) in agricultural watersheds and the construction of stormwater treatment areas (STAs). Optimizing the effectiveness of these STAs for reducing phosphorus concentrations from agricultural runoff is a critical component of the District's comprehensive Everglades protection effort. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop a simple tool that can be used to estimate STAs’performance and evaluate management alternatives considered in the Everglades restoration efforts. The model was tested at two south Florida wetland sites and then was used to simulate several management alternatives and predict ecosystem responses to reduced external phosphorus (P) loadings. Good agreement between model predictions at the two wetland sites and actual observations indicated that the model can be used as a management tool to predict wetlands’response to reductions in external phosphorus load and long-term P levels in aquatic ecosystems. Model results showed that lowering P content of the Everglades Protection Area (EPA) depends on reducing P loads originating from EAA discharges, not from rainfall. Assuming no action is taken (e.g., no BMPs or STAs implemented), the steady state model predicted that the average concentration within the modeled area of the marsh would reach 20 μg L^?1 within five years. With an 85 percent reduction in P loading, the steady-state model predicted that Water Conservation Area 2A (WCA-2A) P concentration will equilibrate at approximately 10 μ L^?1, while elimination of all loadings is projected to further reduce marsh P to values less than 10 μg L^?1.