Positioning human heritage at the center of conservation practice

Conservation projects subscribing to a community-based paradigm have predominated in the 21st century. We examined the context in which the phrase was coined and traced its growth over time. Community-based conservation first appeared in the literature in the early 1990s; but grew little until after the 5th World Parks Congress in 2003. Thereafter, publications describing community-based conservation approaches increased exponentially. The conference theme was Benefits Beyond Boundaries, and its goal was to provide an economic model based on revenue accrued from conservation fundraising and ecotourism to support ecosystems, wildlife, and people, particularly in the Global South. Such models tended not to incorporate, as a core principle, the heritage of local human communities. Human heritage varies substantially over time and space making generalization of conservation principles across scales challenging. Pitfalls that have grown out of the community-based conservation approaches in the Global South include fortress conservation, conservation militarism, consumptive and nonconsumptive ecotourism, and whiz-bang solutions. We propose 10 tenets in a human heritage-centered conservation framework (e.g., engage in conservation practices using local languages, thoughtfully propose and apply solutions consistent with human heritage, provide clear professional development pathways for individuals from local communities, and promote alternative revenue-generating programs centered in local communities, among others). Progressive philosophies can derive from authentic and ethical integration of local communities in conservation practice.     

Efficacy-based and normative interventions for facilitating the diffusion of conservation behavior through social networks

Research suggests that encouraging motivated residents to reach out to others in their social network is an effective strategy for increasing the scale and speed of conservation action adoption. However, little is known about how to effectively encourage large numbers of residents to reach out to others about conservation causes. We examined the influence of normative and efficacy-based messaging at motivating residents to engage in and to encourage others to participate in native plant gardening in their community. To do so, we conducted a field experiment with messages on mailings and tracked native plant vouchers used. Efficacy messages tended to be more effective than normative messages at increasing residents’ willingness to reach out to others to encourage conservation action, as indicated by a several percentage point increase in native plant voucher use by residents’ friends and neighbors. Messages sometimes had different impacts on residents based on past behaviors and perceptions related to native plant gardening. Among these subgroups, efficacy and combined efficacy and norm messages most effectively encouraged individual and collective actions, as indicated by increased voucher usage. Our findings suggest that interventions that build residents’ efficacy for engaging in a conservation behavior and for reaching out to others may be a promising path forward for outreach. However, given our results were significant at a false discovery rate cutoff of 0.25 but not 0.05, more experimental trials are needed to determine the robustness of these trends.     

Understanding implications of consumer behavior for wildlife farming and sustainable wildlife trade

Unsustainable wildlife trade affects biodiversity and the livelihoods of communities dependent upon those resources. Wildlife farming has been proposed to promote sustainable trade, but characterizing markets and understanding consumer behavior remain neglected but essential steps in the design and evaluation of such operations. We used sea turtle trade in the Cayman Islands, where turtles have been farm raised for human consumption for almost 50 years, as a case study to explore consumer preferences toward wild‐sourced (illegal) and farmed (legal) products and potential conservation implications. Combining methods innovatively (including indirect questioning and choice experiments), we conducted a nationwide trade assessment through in‐person interviews from September to December 2014. Households were randomly selected using disproportionate stratified sampling, and responses were weighted based on district population size. We approached 597 individuals, of which 37 (6.2%) refused to participate. Although 30% of households had consumed turtle in the previous 12 months, the purchase and consumption of wild products was rare (e.g., 64–742 resident households consumed wild turtle meat [i.e., 0.3–3.5% of households] but represented a large threat to wild turtles in the area due to their reduced populations). Differences among groups of consumers were marked, as identified through choice experiments, and price and source of product played important roles in their decisions. Despite the long‐term practice of farming turtles, 13.5% of consumers showed a strong preference for wild products, which demonstrates the limitations of wildlife farming as a single tool for sustainable wildlife trade. By using a combination of indirect questioning, choice experiments, and sales data to investigate demand for wildlife products, we obtained insights about consumer behavior that can be used to develop conservation‐demand‐focused initiatives. Lack of data from long‐term social–ecological assessments hinders the evaluation of and learning from wildlife farming. This information is key to understanding under which conditions different interventions (e.g., bans, wildlife farming, social marketing) are likely to succeed.     

Fishing‐gear restrictions and biomass gains for coral reef fishes in marine protected areas

Considerable empirical evidence supports recovery of reef fish populations with fishery closures. In countries where full exclusion of people from fishing may be perceived as inequitable, fishing‐gear restrictions on nonselective and destructive gears may offer socially relevant management alternatives to build recovery of fish biomass. Even so, few researchers have statistically compared the responses of tropical reef fisheries to alternative management strategies. We tested for the effects of fishery closures and fishing gear restrictions on tropical reef fish biomass at the community and family level. We conducted 1,396 underwater surveys at 617 unique sites across a spatial hierarchy within 22 global marine ecoregions that represented 5 realms. We compared total biomass across local fish assemblages and among 20 families of reef fishes inside marine protected areas (MPAs) with different fishing restrictions: no‐take, hook‐and‐line fishing only, several fishing gears allowed, and sites open to all fishing gears. We included a further category representing remote sites, where fishing pressure is low. As expected, full fishery closures, (i.e., no‐take zones) most benefited community‐ and family‐level fish biomass in comparison with restrictions on fishing gears and openly fished sites. Although biomass responses to fishery closures were highly variable across families, some fishery targets (e.g., Carcharhinidae and Lutjanidae) responded positively to multiple restrictions on fishing gears (i.e., where gears other than hook and line were not permitted). Remoteness also positively affected the response of community‐level fish biomass and many fish families. Our findings provide strong support for the role of fishing restrictions in building recovery of fish biomass and indicate important interactions among fishing‐gear types that affect biomass of a diverse set of reef fish families.     

Comparative Analysis of Ecophysiological Characteristics of Stephanodiscus hantzschii Grun. in the Periods of Its Bloom in Recreational Water Bodies

In the periods of summer and autumn bloom of the Stephanodiscus hantzschii Crun. in recreational water bodies, studies on the vertical distribution of chlorophyll a, its contents per unit biomass, efficiency in using photosynthetically active radiation (E_PhAR), and assimilative activity of microalgae were performed. The results confirmed the existence of two ecophysiological forms of St. hantzschii and provided evidence that both forms are typically autotrophic and can efficiently use low-intensity PhAR for photosynthesis.     

湘南地区杂柑天草高接换冠关键技术

天草杂柑的高接换冠的关键技术主要是：注意选择母树并适当修剪；合理采穗和保湿；科学嫁接；嫁接后精心管理．     

构建人类命运共同体、应对气候变化与生态文明建设

全球气候变化给人类社会文明带来严峻挑战,需要人类社会采取共同措施和行动积极应对。应对全球气候变化是当今世界最能体现人类共同命运的领域,深度参与并积极推动全球气候治理体系改革和建设是中国推动构建人类命运共同体的重要实践,也是生态文明理论和实践的重要方面。应对气候变化是我国生态文明建设的重要内容和内在要求;以共同价值理念构建人类命运共同体,凝聚各国力量携手合作应对全球气候变化,是全球生态文明建设和构建人类命运共同体的具体实践,也为应对全球气候变化提供了良好载体和国际平台。文章通过分析可知,应对气候变化、生态文明建设与构建人类命运共同体三者之间,呈现出相互促进、和谐共生的"三位一体"特征;人与自然共生的生命共同体是前提条件,人类的任何实践活动都要以自然生态系统为基础和前提;人类命运共同体在整合各国力量方面,为生态文明建设提供了社会基础;生态文明包容各国文明,凝聚价值共识,成为生命共同体和人类命运共同体的价值导向。中国倡导人类命运共同体理念,是全球生态文明和人类命运共同体的积极倡导者、推动者和践行者,既为应对全球气候变化提供了价值基础,也提供了强有力的实践支撑;应对气候变化是全球生态文明建设和人类命运共同体构建的生动实践。因此,加强生态文明建设和构建人类命运共同体,为全球应对气候变化提供了理论基础和国际平台,也将为全球可持续发展贡献中国智慧和中国案例。     

滆湖水华初期浮游植物群落特征及与水环境因子相关性分析

为探究滆湖水华初期浮游植物群落特征及与水环境因子的相关性,于2018年5—7月在全湖布设22个点,调查研究滆湖水华初期浮游植物群落时空分布特征,并对引起水华主导环境因子进行分析.结果表明：①共获得7门119属,优势属为绿藻门的小球藻与球团藻、蓝藻门的鞘丝藻与微囊藻,其中湖心区域浮游植物丰度与多样性小,均匀性低,属于中偏重污染区域;湖北区以北属于中污染区域,蓝藻堆积严重;西部沿岸及南端区域属于中偏轻污染区域.②冗余分析得出,湖心藻类与水温（T）有强相关性,与叶绿素a（Chl-a）、溶解性总磷（DTP）、pH、溶解氧（DO）呈一定正相关性;湖北区以北藻类与底泥有机质（OM）、水体悬浮物（SS）、Chl-a及DTP呈强相关性,与T呈一定相关性.T与多项环境因子相关,均值从26.1℃上升到32.4℃;OM与有机磷（OP）呈高度相关性（p<0.05,r=0.892）.水华发生的主导环境因子为T、DTP与pH,底泥OM及OP有一定影响.     

附着在不同微塑料表面的藻类结构与群落组成

选取水环境中常见的4种微塑料介质（聚丙烯（PP）、聚氯乙烯（PVC）、聚乙烯（PE）、聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯（PET））和一种自然介质（鹅卵石）进行野外生物膜的培养,以探究不同类型介质表面附着的生物膜的表观结构和藻类群落组成的差异特征.结果表明,鹅卵石与微塑料介质上的生物膜的形貌结构及藻类含量与组成特性均存在一定差异：在微塑料介质表面附着的藻类叶绿素a浓度普遍低于自然介质.实验进一步发现,不同的微塑料类型同样会对生物膜藻类含量以及功能特性存在一定影响：PET片上附着的藻类叶绿素a浓度最高（613.7μg/L）,PP片上最低（492.5μg/L）;然而,PP片上藻类的光合作用最大量子产量最高（0.443）.以上结论说明微塑料会改变附着藻类的生长情况和初级生产力,进而可能影响生物膜在水体中的碳循环过程,对水体净化及污染治理产生一定影响.     

水体及沉积物氮磷水平对附植藻类的影响

为了探讨湖泊富营养化过程中沉积物及水体氮、磷浓度对附植藻类的影响,通过室内模拟实验,研究了水体及沉积物氮、磷升高对苦草(Vallisnerianatans(Lour.) Hara)上附植藻类生长、群落组成及其体内氮、磷含量的影响.结果表明,在实验条件下,随着水中氮、磷含量升高,附植藻类生物量及附植藻类氮、磷含量均呈极显著增加(p0.01).随着水体可获得的氮、磷浓度升高,附植藻类的相对丰度有所变化,舟形藻(Navicula)、小球藻(Chlorella)及微囊藻(Microcystis)相对丰度随着氮、磷水平的升高而下降,直链藻(Melosira)则相反,但舟形藻、直链藻、微囊藻、小环藻(Cyclotella)和小球藻均为群落的优势属种.沉积物氮、磷含量升高对附植藻类生物量、优势种丰度及群落氮、磷含量影响较小,均未达到显著水平(p0.05).在实验条件下,沉积物氮、磷含量对附植藻类影响不大,而水体氮、磷浓度升高显著地促进了附植藻类生长.研究结果也为解释富营养化湖泊沉水植物衰退及消亡提供了一定的科学依据.