盐城湿地保护与生态旅游开发

盐城海滨湿地资源丰富，已成为重要的环境资源和旅游资源。从湿地的变化和现状着手，阐述了保护盐城湿地的必要性和重要性，在保护中倡导自养型经济战略——生态旅游。分析了盐城湿地生态旅游开发的可行性，从而提出规划意见，以实现盐城湿地旅游的可持续发展。     

涨渡湖湿地生态旅游资源评价及发展态势分析

采用层次分析法对涨渡湖湿地生态旅游开发条件进行了分析.资源定量评价的结果显示,湿地旅游资源价值在湿地生态旅游资源综合评价中的权重最大,表明保护和营造旅游资源的重要性.通过SWOT分析,显示涨渡湖湿地生态旅游开发具有一定优势,虽然在开发过程中存在一定制约因素,但可通过湿地生态旅游的科学规划和管理,在保护利用的基础上发挥湖泊湿地的生态旅游资源优势,将资源优势转变为经济优势,加快武汉市湖区旅游经济的发展.     

滨江湖泊湿地生态旅游开发潜力与发展规划——以西凉湖为例

湿地生态旅游对保护湿地资源和促进区域可持续发展具有极其重要的意义。通过构建湿地生态旅游评价指标体系,采用层次分析法确定指标权重,以西凉湖为例对滨江湖泊湿地生态旅游资源进行了评价。结果表明,西凉湖旅游开发目前尚处在起始阶段,综合得分较低,但由于生态环境状况良好,加之便利的交通条件,因此具有较大的开发潜力。根据所在区域近五年的旅游客源变化,对旅游客源市场进行了预测。结果表明,未来五年旅游客源市场将进入快速增长期,成为推动湿地生态旅游快速发展的潜在动力。在此基础上,进一步为西凉湖湿地生态旅游总体发展拟定了规划方案和对策建议。     

青海湖湿地生态旅游资源开发刍议

青海湖湿地是中国国际重要湿地中面积最大、建立最早的湿地之一,但由于开发不当,环境保护意识淡薄,其独特的湿地生态旅游资源景观破坏严重;缺乏湿地保护管理的协调运行机制,导致湿地生态旅游资源的脆弱性,因此处理好青海湖湿地生态旅游资源开发和保护是一个重要的课题。分析了青海湖湿地生态旅游资源开发的开发现状,针对开发利用中的不足提出了促进青海湖湿地生态旅游健康发展的对策。     

南四湖自然保护区生态旅游资源评价与开发

针对南四湖自然保护区生态旅游资源的特点,选取资源价值、旅游效益和开发条件三个综合指标和12个项目指标,建立生态旅游资源评价模型树,采用层次分析法,对南四湖生态旅游资源进行总体评价。在此基础上,通过问卷调查对各景区打分,并进行分级,最后确定南四湖自然保护区生态旅游资源的开发重点是湖泊湿地自然风光和渔乡风情。     

江苏沿海生态旅游产品的开发

生态旅游产品是时尚的高品质旅游产品，江苏沿海地区旅游资源的独特性，为生态旅游产品开发提供了重要基础，文章从分析江苏沿海生态旅游发展现状出发，探讨了海滨生态旅游产品的开发原则和开发模式，提出了建立江苏沿海生态旅游开发产品体系的构想。     

生态旅游资源评价与开发研究——以艾比湖湿地国家级自然保护区为例

生态环境保护与自然资源开发之间的矛盾始终是世界各国在发展经济时面临的一项严峻挑战,这种矛盾在自然保护区中的体现尤为明显.世界11%的保护区出现旅游资源退化,新疆艾比湖湿地国家级自然保护区同样面临着以上问题.作为 "世界重要湿地"的成员单位、国家级林业科普基地、我国生物多样性保护的重要地区、新疆的生态脆弱区,该区域是否具有开发生态旅游的潜力.论证了艾比湖湿地国家级自然保护区的生态旅游资源的开发价值和开发潜力,得出该区域目前尚处于生态旅游开发的前期准备阶段,生态环境是其发展的首要制约因素,其发展必须是在保护的基础上进行.     

白城市旅游资源特征及开发策略

白城市位于吉林省西部,拥有两个国家级自然保护区和一个省级自然保护区,生态旅游资源丰富、类型多样。白城市以湿地生态、风电景观、民俗风情和草原风光四大旅游资源为主,区内旅游资源丰富、资源品位较高、区位优势明显,与邻近区域的旅游资源构成互补,具有一定的比较优势。但由于自然因素和人为因素的共同影响,生态环境不断恶化,旅游季节性明显,因此白城市在旅游业发展过程中还存在诸多问题。立足于白城市旅游资源的特征分析,联系当前旅游业发展实际,对白城市旅游资源开发中的突出问题提出看法,根据其实际情况提出白城市旅游资源开发策略。     

黄土高原地区生态旅游开发的优势及前景分析

黄土高原地区生态环境非常脆弱,该区进行旅游开发必须以生态旅游为指导。该区自然和人文旅游资源丰富而独特,开发生态旅游具有类型多样、功能齐全、有利于组合开发的资源优势;西部大开发、中部崛起战略为其提供了政策优势,同时该区劳动力资源丰富,因此开发生态旅游优势明显。分析了黄土高原地区生态旅游开发的国际、国内及区域市场前景,提出了在该区进行生态旅游开发应注意的问题。     

伊犁河谷生态旅游形象定位及产品设计

生态旅游资源是生态旅游开发的基础,但拥有旅游资源并不等于就拥有旅游产品,旅游资源要成为旅游产品,还必须根据市场需求进行形象设计、加工和再创造。伊犁河谷具有得天独厚的生态环境和世所罕见的生物多样性特征,是开发生态旅游产品、发展生态旅游的理想之地。以伊犁河谷生态旅游源为基础,塑造伊犁河谷生态旅游形象,设计开发特色生态旅游产品。     

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).”     

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.     

Macroalgal Introductions by Hull Fouling on Recreational Vessels: Seaweeds and Sailors

Macroalgal invasions in coastal areas have been a growing concern during the past decade. The present study aimed to assess the role of hull fouling on recreational yachts as a vector for macroalgal introductions. Questionnaire and hull surveys were carried out in marinas in France and Spain. The questionnaires revealed that the majority of yacht owners are aware of seaweed introductions, usually undertake short range journeys, dry dock their boat at least once a year, and use antifouling paints. The hull survey showed that many in-service yachts were completely free of macroalgae. When present, fouling assemblages consisted mainly of one to two macroalgal species. The most commonly found species was the tolerant green seaweed Ulva flexuosa. Most of the other species found are also cosmopolitan and opportunistic. A few nonnative and potentially invasive Ceramiales (Rhodophyta) were found occasionally on in-service yachts. On the basis of the information gathered during interviews of yacht owners in the surveyed area, these occurrences are likely to be uncommon. However they can pose a significant risk of primary or secondary introductions of alien macroalgal species, especially in the light of the increase in yachting activities. With large numbers of recreational yachts and relatively rare occurrences of nonnative species on hulls, comprehensive screening programs do not seem justified or practical. The risks of transferring nonnative species may, however, be minimized by encouraging the behaviors that prevent fouling on hulls and by taking action against neglected boats before they can act as vectors.