The social and spatial distribution of temperature-related health impacts from urban heat island reduction policies

Cities are developing innovative strategies to combat climate change but there remains little knowledge of the winners and losers from climate-adaptive land use planning and design. We examine the distribution of health benefits associated with land use policies designed to increase vegetation and surface reflectivity in three US metropolitan areas: Atlanta, GA, Philadelphia, PA, and Phoenix, AZ. Projections of population and land cover at the census tract scale were combined with climate models for the year 2050 at 4 km × 4 km resolution to produce future summer temperatures which were input into a comparative risk assessment framework for the temperature-mortality relationship. The findings suggest disparities in the effectiveness of urban heat management strategies by age, income, and race. We conclude that, to be most protective of human health, urban heat management must prioritize areas of greatest population vulnerability.     

Are ecosystem service hotspots located in protected areas? Results from a study in Southern Italy

Ecosystems are essential in providing multiple services to society. However, understanding ecosystem services (ESS) in terms of spatial distribution and trade-offs still remains a challenge for landscape planners and natural resource managers. In this paper, we analyzed the supply of a set of ESS – carbon storage, soil erosion protection, biodiversity, and recreation – within the landscape surrounding the city of Bari in Southern Italy. Through an analysis of this landscape, which includes natural protected areas, such as Natura 2000 Network sites, national and regional parks and nature reserves, and in view of the recent Fitness Check of the Nature Directives, we aimed to provide answers to the following questions: (i) Where are the areas of high and low supply of individual ecosystem services located?; (ii) Where do ecosystem service trade-offs (i.e., ‘hotspots’ and ‘coldspots’) occur?; and (iii) To what extent are ecosystem service hotspots and coldspots located within or outside of natural protected areas? Results show that most of the landscape in the study area supplied at least one of the selected ESS and that ESS hotspots were mostly located within forested and/or natural areas. Hotspots occupied 8.0% of the total landscape, with 23.7% located in natural protected areas. Coldspots were scarce and equal to 2.4%; they constituted only 0.1% of natural protected areas. Almost all of the landscape (89.6%) consists of intermediate areas (i.e., between hotspots and coldspots); 76.2% of natural protected areas consists of intermediate areas. This latter finding is relevant because the high intermediate classes are potentially high-performing areas, which lie mainly on the borders of protected spaces; they can positively influence ecological processes and thus enhance a wide-ranging provision of ESS. Our results highlight the importance of analyzing landscapes to facilitate the selection of priority areas where management efforts would yield maximum benefits.     

湖北省自然保护区发展态势与对策研究

湖北省自然保护区建设十分迅速，目前已发展到50余个，占全省国土面积的5．85％。系统分析了湖北省自然保护区的发展态势，并针对保护工作中存在的问题，提出了今后的发展思路与建议。     

Quantifying Loss of Acoustic Communication Space for Right Whales in and around a U.S. National Marine Sanctuary

The effects of chronic exposure to increasing levels of human‐induced underwater noise on marine animal populations reliant on sound for communication are poorly understood. We sought to further develop methods of quantifying the effects of communication masking associated with human‐induced sound on contact‐calling North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) in an ecologically relevant area (～10,000 km²) and time period (peak feeding time). We used an array of temporary, bottom‐mounted, autonomous acoustic recorders in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary to monitor ambient noise levels, measure levels of sound associated with vessels, and detect and locate calling whales. We related wind speed, as recorded by regional oceanographic buoys, to ambient noise levels. We used vessel‐tracking data from the Automatic Identification System to quantify acoustic signatures of large commercial vessels. On the basis of these integrated sound fields, median signal excess (the difference between the signal‐to‐noise ratio and the assumed recognition differential) for contact‐calling right whales was negative (?1 dB) under current ambient noise levels and was further reduced (?2 dB) by the addition of noise from ships. Compared with potential communication space available under historically lower noise conditions, calling right whales may have lost, on average, 63–67% of their communication space. One or more of the 89 calling whales in the study area was exposed to noise levels ≥120 dB re 1 μPa by ships for 20% of the month, and a maximum of 11 whales were exposed to noise at or above this level during a single 10‐min period. These results highlight the limitations of exposure‐threshold (i.e., dose‐response) metrics for assessing chronic anthropogenic noise effects on communication opportunities. Our methods can be used to integrate chronic and wide‐ranging noise effects in emerging ocean‐planning forums that seek to improve management of cumulative effects of noise on marine species and their habitats. Cuantificación de la Pérdida de Espacio de Comunicación Acústica para Ballenas Francas Dentro y Alrededor de un Santuario Marino Nacional en E. U. A.     

三峡地区农业经济监测原理与方法研究

提出了经济系统抟动监测原理，认为受扰动Ｘ作用的系统Ｓ的特征指标（监测指标）Ｏ的变化量△Ｏ分为由系统Ｓ自身发展引起的变化量△Ｏ和由扰动Ｘ的作用引起的变化量△Ｏｘ，即△Ｏ＝△Ｏ＋△Ｏｘ，监测的目的是考察由扰动Ｘ引起的指标Ｏ的变化量△Ｏｘ，提出了建立经济系统监测指标体系。针对５项原则和三峡地区农业经济指标体系。针对不同系统特点和扰动特性，提出８种监测方法。以对三峡库区秭归县水田坝乡眩坝区域柑桔产业开发对     

Swidden agriculture in a protected area: the Matsigenka native communities of Manu National Park, Peru

In this study, we investigate whether traditional swidden agriculture on nutrient-poor tropical soils can sustainably support a growing indigenous population within Manu National Park, Peru. Based on interviews with 50 Matsigenka farmers, as well as GPS mapping and field visits, we established the location and size of all 124 swidden gardens cultivated in 2000 and 2001. Using a GIS-based soil map of Manu Park, we identify the total extent of potential arable land (1) throughout the park zones currently available for Matsigenka habitation, and (2) within the vicinity of the two study communities. Taking into account current per capita garden size, cultivation and fallow practices, we calculate the maximum human carrying capacity of swidden agriculture for (1) all available park zones and (2) the immediate vicinity of the two current communities. Even given the second, highly limited scenario, the sustainable human carrying capacity is estimated to be 2,138 individuals, which is far higher than the current population of about 420 people. Thus, arable land does not appear to be a limiting factor for the growth of the indigenous population in Manu Park at the current time. Other possible limiting factors for population growth are identified and discussed. We conclude that a conservation policy of population stabilization around the current settlements is viable in that it will not result in reduced resource availability over the next few decades, and that the challenge is to identify and mitigate the forces causing population fissioning and spread. Readers should send their comments on this paper to BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Traditional Ecological Knowledge Trends in the Transition to a Market Economy: Empirical Study in the Doñana Natural Areas

Abstract: Researchers and conservation managers largely agree on the relevance of traditional ecological knowledge for natural resource management in indigenous communities, but its prevalence and role as societies modernize are contested. We analyzed the transmission of traditional knowledge among rural local people in communities linked to protected areas in Doñana, southwestern Spain. We studied changes in knowledge related to local practices in agriculture and livestock farming among 198 informants from three generations that cover the period in which the area transited from an economy strongly dependent on local ecosystem services to a market economy with intensified production systems. Our results suggest an abrupt loss of traditional agricultural knowledge related to rapid transformations and intensification of agricultural systems, but maintenance of knowledge of traditional livestock farming, an activity allowed in the protected areas that maintains strong links with local cultural identity. Our results demonstrate the potential of protected areas in protecting remaining bodies of traditional ecological knowledge in developed country settings. Nevertheless, we note that strict protection in cultural‐landscape‐dominated areas can disrupt transmission of traditional knowledge if local resource users and related practices are excluded from ecosystem management.     

Effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas in the Philippines for Biodiversity Conservation

Abstract: Quantifying the extent to which existing reserves meet conservation objectives and identifying gaps in coverage are vital to developing systematic protected‐area networks. Despite widespread recognition of the Philippines as a global priority for marine conservation, limited work has been undertaken to evaluate the conservation effectiveness of existing marine protected areas (MPAs). Targets for MPA coverage in the Philippines have been specified in the 1998 Fisheries Code legislation, which calls for 15% of coastal municipal waters (within 15 km of the coastline) to be protected within no‐take MPAs, and the Philippine Marine Sanctuary Strategy (2004), which aims to protect 10% of coral reef area in no‐take MPAs by 2020. We used a newly compiled database of nearly 1000 MPAs to measure progress toward these targets. We evaluated conservation effectiveness of MPAs in two ways. First, we determined the degree to which marine bioregions and conservation priority areas are represented within existing MPAs. Second, we assessed the size and spacing patterns of reserves in terms of best‐practice recommendations. We found that the current extent and distribution of MPAs does not adequately represent biodiversity. At present just 0.5% of municipal waters and 2.7–3.4% of coral reef area in the Philippines are protected in no‐take MPAs. Moreover, 85% of no‐take area is in just two sites; 90% of MPAs are <1 km². Nevertheless, distances between existing MPAs should ensure larval connectivity between them, providing opportunities to develop regional‐scale MPA networks. Despite the considerable success of community‐based approaches to MPA implementation in the Philippines, this strategy will not be sufficient to meet conservation targets, even under a best‐case scenario for future MPA establishment. We recommend that implementation of community‐based MPAs be supplemented by designation of additional large no‐take areas specifically located to address conservation targets.     

哈密市锅炉烟尘控制区监测验收结果分析

对哈密市区锅炉烟尘验收监测结果作了分析阐述，论述了市区烟尘控制区烟尘排放规律及特点，并对监测统计结果进行了小结，为日后的实测工作积累经验。     

三峡库区扩种龙眼荔枝的适宜性分析

荔枝与龙眼系亚热带水果,集中分布于闽粤两省,三峡库区上段河谷两侧也有零星分布,是该类水果分布的最北界。这类水果在训区栽培始于汉唐时代,并被列为贡品荔枝与龙眼系喜温性水果,库区栽培间冻害发生,成为限制扩大栽培的主要因素,故多分布于万县－重庆江段两海拔２００ｍ上下地段,水库蓄水后,原栽培区部分被淹没,但水体有增温作用,为扩大栽培提供了有利的条件。研究了万县－重庆沿江两岸河谷地段与非河谷地段适宜载种范围