Empirical Trials of Plant Field Guides

We designed 3 image‐based field guides to tropical forest plant species in Ghana, Grenada, and Cameroon and tested them with 1095 local residents and 20 botanists in the United Kingdom. We compared users’ identification accuracy with different image formats, including drawings, specimen photos, living plant photos, and paintings. We compared users’ accuracy with the guides to their accuracy with only their prior knowledge of the flora. We asked respondents to score each format for usability, beauty, and how much they would pay for it. Prior knowledge of plant names was generally low (<22%). With a few exceptions, identification accuracy did not differ significantly among image formats. In Cameroon, users identifying sterile Cola species achieved 46–56% accuracy across formats; identification was most accurate with living plant photos. Botanists in the United Kingdom accurately identified 82–93% of the same Cameroonian species; identification was most accurate with specimens. In Grenada, users accurately identified 74–82% of plants; drawings yielded significantly less accurate identifications than paintings and photos of living plants. In Ghana, users accurately identified 85% of plants. Digital color photos of living plants ranked high for beauty, usability, and what users would pay. Black and white drawings ranked low. Our results show the potential and limitations of the use of field guides and nonspecialists to identify plants, for example, in conservation applications. We recommend authors of plant field guides use the cheapest or easiest illustration format because image type had limited bearing on accuracy; match the type of illustration to the most likely use of the guide for slight improvements in accuracy; avoid black and white formats unless the audience is experienced at interpreting illustrations or keeping costs low is imperative; discourage false‐positive identifications, which were common; and encourage users to ask an expert or use a herbarium for groups that are difficult to identify. Pruebas Empíricas de Guías de Campo de Plantas Hawthorne, Cable & Marshall     

Developing an interdisciplinary and cross‐sectoral community of practice in the domain of forests and livelihoods

Although significant resources are being spent researching and fostering the relationship between forests and livelihoods to promote mutually beneficial outcomes, critical gaps in understanding persist. A core reason for such gaps is that researchers, practitioners, and policy makers lack the structured space to interact and collaborate, which is essential for effective, interdisciplinary research, practice, and evaluation. Thus, scientific findings, policy recommendations, and measured outcomes have not always been synthesized into deep, systemic understanding; learning from practice and implementation does not easily find its way into scientific analyses, and science often fails to influence policy. Communities of practice (CofPs) are dynamic sociocultural systems that bring people together to share and create knowledge around a common topic of interest. They offer participants a space and structure within which to develop new, systemic approaches to multidimensional problems on a common theme. Uniquely informed by a systems‐thinking perspective and drawing from the scientific and gray literatures and in‐depth interviews with representatives of established CofPs in the natural resource management and development domain, we argue that a well‐designed and adequately funded CofP can facilitate interdisciplinary and cross‐sectoral relationships and knowledge exchange. Well‐designed CofPs integrate a set of core features and processes to enhance individual, collective, and domain outcomes; they set out an initial but evolving purpose, encourage diverse leadership, and promote collective‐identity development. Funding facilitates effective communication strategies (e.g., in person meetings). We urge our colleagues across sectors and disciplines to take advantage of CofPs to advance the domain of forests and livelihoods.     

Ecological citizenship and democracy: Communitarian versus agonistic perspectives

Grassroots environmental movements have recently started to question the focus on sustainable consumption as a main strategy to tackle climate change. They prefer to address individuals as citizens rather than as consumers, and focus on collective rather than individual change. Two prominent movements in this regard are Transition Towns and Climate Justice Action. While both movements criticise conventional approaches, they put forward entirely different strategies for what has to happen instead. Based on extensive qualitative research, this article analyses how these movements manifest themselves in Flanders (Belgium). The focus is on their different accounts of how and why collective practices have to be built, and the place they attribute to ‘the political’ in this. The analysis reveals the existence of two different forms of ecological citizenship: one communitarian, the other agonistic.     

农户从事生态循环农业意愿与行为的决定:市场收益还是政策激励?

发展生态循环农业是我国新时期转变农业发展方式的战略选择,农户是生态循环农业的经营主体和利益相关者,厘清农户参与生态循环农业的根本动机,对于制定有效的生态循环农业推广措施具有重要意义。文章基于湖北省391份农户调查数据,首先,在文献回顾的基础上提出市场收益、政策激励对农户生态循环农业从事意愿与行为影响路径的基本假设,并利用OLS方法分析市场收益和政策激励对农户从事生态循环农业意愿与行为的影响;其次,运用优势分析法评估市场收益类变量和政策激励类变量影响农户意愿与行为过程中的相对重要性;最后,通过交互效应检验市场收益类变量和政策激励类变量间的交互作用。结果表明:收入预期对农户从事生态循环农业的意愿与行为均有直接的积极影响,是促进农户从事生态循环农业的最重要的因素;焚烧秸秆惩罚政策和废弃物资源化补贴政策对农户从事生态循环农业的意愿有积极影响,沼气池建设补贴政策和废弃物资源化补贴政策对农户生态循环农业行为有促进作用;收入预期与废弃物资源化补贴政策在影响农户生态循环农业行为的过程中存在互补效应。本研究认为,市场收益是刺激农户采纳生态循环农业生产模式的首要因素,因此,要着力完善生态农业市场体系,增强生态农产品的市场竞争力,提升农户对生态循环农业的盈利信心;另外,政策激励对于农户采纳生态循环农业具有促进作用,应该做到约束与激励并行,同时注意加强农业政策的科学设计与落实执行。     

中国典型河湖水体铅的水生生物安全基准与生态风险评价

采用物种敏感度排序法(SSR)对我国铅的淡水水生生物安全基准进行推导,并以太湖为例进行了流域水生生物安全基准推导。对于难以获得的本土生物毒性数据,开展了相应的毒性试验。获得了我国国家与太湖流域铅的水生生物安全基准值,基准最大浓度(CMC)分别为63.92、104.26μg·L-1,基准连续浓度(CCC)分别为1.21、4.06μg·L-1。同时,对我国主要河流以及太湖流域进行了铅的生态风险评价,联合概率曲线法显示影响5%水生生物种类的概率分别为66.22%和43.19%,熵值法则显示中国主要河流存在较大的铅暴露风险,因此,我国铅的潜在生态风险较大,主要河流与太湖流域存在铅污染问题。     

Quantifying the environmental impact of ecovillages and co-housing communities: a systematic literature review

Many intentional communities worldwide, such as ecovillages and co-housing communities, have explicit goals of living in an environmentally sustainable manner, and are taking conscious steps towards these goals in response to the widely discussed unsustainability of the global sociotechnical system. There are numerous claims from researchers and community members, in the academic and grey literature, that intentional communities are making significant improvements towards sustainability goals, particularly in terms of environmental impact. However, actual measures of progress, with evidence supporting these claims, are relatively scarce. This paper presents the findings of a systematic review of quantitative studies of the environmental impact of intentional communities, including comparisons with relevant “mainstream” communities. The review focused on the two indicators that are most commonly reported in studies of the impact of intentional communities – the ecological footprint and the carbon footprint. This review was undertaken as there is a lack of literature reviews that comprehensively compile existing quantitative studies about intentional communities. In total, the review identified 16 separate studies covering 23 communities and 30 footprint measurements, with publication dates ranging from 2000 to 2014. This is a greater number of studies than in any other literature review of this topic. Taken as a whole, these compiled studies provide strong support for claims of greater environmental sustainability within these communities, and reinforce the need for greater research and exploration of the role sustainability-oriented intentional communities can play in the transition to more sustainable sociotechnical systems.     

基于MSPA与MCR模型的余江县生态网络构建基于MSPA与MCR模型的余江县生态网络构建

在我国社会经济快速发展的背景下，城市化进程的不断推进导致城市生态斑块日益减少，生态环境问题正在逐年增加，构建生态网络是改善城市生态环境与服务功能的有效方法之一。以余江县为研究区，采用形态学空间格局分析(MSPA)方法和景观指数法，提取对生态网络具有重要意义的生态源地，并基于MCR模型构建综合阻力面，采用最小成本路径方法生成潜在廊道，再基于重力模型、中介中心度等对关键廊道及踏脚石斑块进行识别并提取，从而构建研究区潜在生态网络。结果表明：MSPA方法能够与MCR模型有机的结合，通过定量的分析识别出研究区潜在生态廊道，并根据斑块的中介作用选定踏脚石斑块，明确研究区景观要素的保护优先度，将景观中的潜在生态源地及廊道作为生态网络构建的主要依据，能够更加科学地为余江县生态网络的构建提供指导，同时也可为其他区域提供参考。     

应用底栖动物为指示生物的松花江干流水生态预警研究

指示生物监测及水生态预警是利用水环境中指示物种的数量、群落结构指标和个体生理指标等描述水生态系统的健康状态,其相比于常规理化监测和预警更直接地反映水体的生态质量。本研究在松花江干流2012—2015年大型底栖无脊椎动物监测结果的基础上,结合各监测点生态质量管理目标,通过分析物种的种类、出现的频次、物种污染敏感性(耐污值),尝试提出了松花江干流监控断面以底栖动物为指示生物的水生态预警模式,研究思路和结果对流域水环境风险管理指标的拓展有积极作用。     

基于工业生态化建设的工业园区环境管理研究

工业园区是产业集聚的载体,是区域经济发展的引擎。工业园区同时又是污染产生排放集中地,我国工业园区在发展过程中随着经济总量扩大、资源和能源消耗的增加,出现了大量的环境问题,阻碍了园区的可持续发展。工业园区的环境管理可以从园区层面出发解决污染问题,这是个既复杂又重要的工作。本文在分析工业园区发展历程的基础上揭示了目前工业园区存在的环境问题,以及管理方面存在的缺陷和不足,发现总体上园区环境管理水平较差。工业生态化建设为进行合理的园区环境管理提供了一个契机,本文针对我国工业园区的发展现状及发展趋势,提出基于工业生态化建设的工业园区环境管理的对策:1提升生态工业的意识,鼓励公众参与;2确立生态化建设思想,以生态化建设促进环境管理效率的提升;3加强工业生态化建设相关政策法规、规划的完善和实施;4构建工业生态化建设信息服务平台,以生态化建设来实现工业园区科学的环境管理。     

北京与津冀之间隐性土地资源流动研究

京津冀区域面临着严重的资源紧缺、生态环境恶化和发展失衡的问题,亟需制定科学合理的区域合作新机制。京津冀之间紧密的产品贸易背后隐藏的土地资源流动情况可以为新机制的建立提供科学支撑。这种隐性土地资源的流通情况可以用生态足迹来表征。因此,本研究主要运用京津冀三省市之间的投入产出矩阵来计算北京与津冀之间的生态足迹转入和转出量,并进行分析。研究结果表明,北京的社会经济发展需要周边津冀生态生产性土地资源的支撑,尤其是河北的农用地资源,包括耕地、林地和水产养殖用地。从生态贸易类型来看,2002年和2007年,就北京和河北之间生态足迹流通情况而言,北京是净生态输入型,属于"贸易逆差";河北是净生态输出型,属于"贸易顺差"。2007年北京对津冀生态资源的使用量比2002年有所下降。总体而言,北京对河北生态生产性土地资源的消耗对河北的生态压力不大,其中,水产养殖用地的生态压力最大,2007年水产养殖净流量占河北水产养殖土地的54.27%。2002年北京对天津生态生产性土地资源的依赖加大了天津的生态压力,林业用地和水产养殖用地的净流出量分别是天津相应承载土地面积的4.96倍和3.57倍;2007年,北京对天津生态土地资源利用程度降低,随之,北京对天津生态生产性土地资源的压力变小。尽管2007年与2002年相比,北京对河北生态生产性土地的消耗量降低了,但是,由于河北土地利用结构的变化影响着北京和区域的可利用的土地资源质量和生态环境质量,国家和北京应该帮助河北保护其土地资源,尤其是河北东南部的农田资源在区域中承担着重要的绿色隔离作用,应该受到严格的保护。此外,京津冀区域应该制定整体空间开发战略,加强土地资源保护力度,合理布局产业结构,构建生态安全格局。