Adaptation to Climatic Variability and Change: Asian Perspectives on Agriculture and Food Security

The impacts of climate change on potential rice production in Asia are reviewed in the light of the adaptation to climatic variability and change. Collaborative studies carried out by IRRI and US-EPA reported that using process-based crop simulation models increasing temperature may decrease rice potential yield up to 7.4% per degree increment of temperature. When climate scenarios predicted by GCMs were applied it was demonstrated that rice production in Asia may decline by 3.8% under the climates of the next century. Moreover, changes in rainfall pattern and distribution were also found suggesting the possible shift of agricultural lands in the region. The studies however have not taken the impacts of climatic variability into account, which often produce extreme events like that caused by monsoons and El Niño. Shifts in rice-growing areas are likely to be constrained by land-use changes occurring for other developmental reasons, which may force greater cultivation of marginal lands and further deforestation. This should be taken into account and lead to more integrated assessment, especially in developing countries where land-use change is more a top-down policy rather than farmers' decision. A key question is: To what extent will improving the ability of societies to cope with current climatic variability through changing design of agricultural systems and practices help the same societies cope with the likely changes in climate?     

采煤塌陷地的综合开发与协调发展：以淮北矿区为例

采煤与塌陷是资源重叠区域长期存在的工农业矛盾之一。本文通过对淮北矿区采煤塌陷地的实地调研分析认为，这一矛盾在今后15年还将依然尖锐，采取有效措施协调采煤塌陷地区工农业发展矛盾既是区域面临的刻不容缓的重要任务，也是保证同位异类资源得以同时开发与持续利用的关键。     

Precipitation Amount and Intensity Trends Across Southwest Saudi Arabia

This study examines precipitation accumulation and intensity trends across a region in southwest Saudi Arabia characterized by distinct seasonal weather patterns and mountainous terrain. The region is an example of an arid/semiarid area faced with maintaining sustainable water resources with a growing population. Annual and seasonal trends in precipitation amount were examined from 29 rain gages divided among four geographically unique regions from 1945/1946 to 2009. Two of the regions displayed significantly declining annual trends over the time series using a Mann‐Kendall test modified for autocorrelation (α < 0.05). Seasonal analysis revealed insignificant declining trends in at least two of the regions during each season. The largest and most consistent declining trends occurred during wintertime where all regions experienced negative trends. Several intensity metrics were examined in the study area from four additional stations containing daily data from 1985 to 2011. Intensity metrics included total precipitation, wet day count, simple intensity index, maximum daily annual rainfall, and upper/lower precipitation distribution changes. In general, no coherent trends were found among the daily stations suggesting precipitation is intensifying across the study area. The work represents the first of its size in the study area, and one of few in the region due to the lack of available long‐term data needed to properly examine precipitation changes.     

An interdisciplinary assessment of private conservation areas in the Western United States

Conservation easements are the fastest growing private conservation strategy in the United States. However, mechanisms to assess private land conservation as well as their support by the general public are not well understood. This study uses the ecosystem services framework for assessing existing private lands in Idaho and identifies areas for future conservation easements. Using conservation targets of the land trust as a guide for selecting ecosystem services, we (a) mapped the spatial delivery of conservation targets across public and private lands, (b) explored public awareness in terms of social importance and vulnerability, and (c) mapped future priority areas by characterizing conservation bundles. We found that public lands provided the highest levels of conservation targets, and we found no difference in conservation target provision between private areas and conservation easements. The spatial characterization of conservation target bundles identified potential future priority areas for conservation easements, which can guide planning of land trust conservation efforts.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01323-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Identification of Priority Areas for Integrated Management of Semiarid Watersheds in the Ecuadorian Andes

Integrated watershed management (IWM) is a priority, especially in semiarid regions that are concurrently affected by population growth, land use change, soil erosion, and poor governance. In developing countries, IWM is often done without any support tool, scientific data, or deep knowledge of territory characteristics. The aim of this study was to present a case study to apply a decision support tool to prioritize areas for territory management. A simple, quantitative multi‐criteria analysis was applied in a semiarid basin of the Ecuadorian Andes to identify the zones of greatest concern for implementation of resource conservation and management practices at a local and regional scale. In addition to describing the current state of the conditions of this basin, our results suggest scenarios of change in relation to official population projections based on spatial analysis of land use change. Analysis resulted in a scattered distribution of priority values within the watershed, so a hierarchical rule was incorporated to define priorities at the subwatershed (SW) scale. Our analysis identified four SW of very high priority and urgent need to implement management practices. Based on projections of future change due to population growth and land cover change, the number of subbasins that require more attention was doubled. Finally, this study includes zones for management or conservation of the land, according to the Sustainable Development Goals.     

Associations of Grassland Bird Communities with Black‐Tailed Prairie Dogs in the North American Great Plains

Colonial burrowing herbivores can modify vegetation structure, create belowground refugia, and generate landscape heterogeneity, thereby affecting the distribution and abundance of associated species. Black‐tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) are such a species, and they may strongly affect the abundance and composition of grassland bird communities. We examined how prairie dog colonies in the North American Great Plains affect bird species and community composition. Areas occupied by prairie dogs, characterized by low percent cover of grass, high percent cover of bare soil, and low vegetation height and density, supported a breeding bird community that differed substantially from surrounding areas that lacked prairie dogs. Bird communities on colony sites had significantly greater densities of large‐bodied carnivores (Burrowing Owls [Athene cunicularia], Mountain Plovers, [Charadrius montanus], and Killdeer [Charadrius vociferus]) and omnivores consisting of Horned Larks (Eremophila alpestris) and McCown's Longspurs (Rhynchophanes mccownii) than bird communities off colony sites. Bird communities off colony sites were dominated by small‐bodied insectivorous sparrows (Ammodramus spp.) and omnivorous Lark Buntings (Calamospiza melanocorys), Vesper Sparrows (Pooecetes gramineus), and Lark Sparrows (Chondestes grammacus). Densities of 3 species of conservation concern and 1 game species were significantly higher on colony sites than off colony sites, and the strength of prairie dog effects was consistent across the northern Great Plains. Vegetation modification by prairie dogs sustains a diverse suite of bird species in these grasslands. Collectively, our findings and those from previous studies show that areas in the North American Great Plains with prairie dog colonies support higher densities of at least 9 vertebrate species than sites without colonies. Prairie dogs affect habitat for these species through multiple pathways, including creation of belowground refugia, supply of prey for specialized predators, modification of vegetation structure within colonies, and increased landscape heterogeneity. Asociaciones de Comunidades de Aves de Pastizales con Perros de la Pradera en la Gran Llanura de Norte América     

Effects of More Frequent and Prolonged El Niño Events on Life-History Parameters of the Degu, a Long-Lived and Slow-Reproducing Rodent

Abstract:  Global climate change (GCC) can have profound effects on species whose ecology is governed primarily by climatic factors. The ecology of small mammals inhabiting semiarid Chile is strongly affected by the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). During La Niña events in this area, dry conditions prevail and species may disappear from the thorn-scrub habitat. Conversely, El Niño events bring high rainfall, and associated pulses of food trigger small-mammal population increases. We used capture–mark–recapture to study responses of the degu ( Octodon degus ), a dominant small mammal, to variation in rainfall over 18 years. In response to a recent trend toward wetter conditions, degus reached record-high densities and maintained more stable numbers in the area. Underlying mechanisms involved variation in adult survival, juvenile persistence, and fecundity linked to rainfall changes during consecutive years (i.e., rainfall phases). During prolonged droughts, degus had low survival and produced fewer offspring, with low persistence. Following high rainfall, these parameters reversed; consecutive wet years resulted in further increases. Weak declines in fecundity and adult survival and high persistence of juveniles explained delayed responses to deteriorating conditions in initial dry years. If GCC leads to increased frequency of El Niño events, we anticipate greater numerical dominance of degus in semiarid Chile and possible range expansion. Furthermore, degus have strong impacts on other small mammal and some plant species, are important prey species, and are agricultural pests and disease reservoirs. Hence, GCC has the potential to dramatically influence their ecology in northern Chile and to have cascading effects on other components of this system.     

Protection of biota on nonpark public lands: Examples from the US Department of Energy Oak Ridge Reservation

Security buffers of Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Energy (DOE) reservations provide long-term habitat protection for many rare and endangered species. The importance of these government-owned reservations as nationally valuable resources has been relatively unrecognized. During the last 50 years, the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) has been a relatively protected island in a region of rapidly expanding urbanization and land clearing. Consisting of the Oak Ridge National Environmental Research Park and associated lands surrounding DOE facilities at Oak Ridge Tennessee, the unique nature of the ORR in the surrounding landscape is clearly visible from the air and has been documented using remote sensing data. Although forests dominate much of other regions of eastern Tennessee, this 15,000-ha tract of mostly natural forest habitat is unique in the southern Ridge and Valley physiographic province, which is otherwise widely developed for pasture, marginal cropland, woodlot, and urban uses. Twenty state-listed and federal-candidate plant species are known to be present on the ORR. This richness of species, which are provided protection by state and federal laws, exceeds that of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on a species area basis and is an index of the value of the ORR both regionally and nationally in conserving biodiversity. With the end of the Cold War, changing DoD and DOE missions combined with increasing development pressure contribute to uncertainty in the future management of security reservations.     

Cooperation or conflict? Interagency relationships and the future of biodiversity for US parks and forests

Cooperation between the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service and the United States Department of Interior (USDI) National Park Service is most often advocated to protect biological diversity on national forests and parks, but the agencies, so far, have done little to implement the biodiversity mandates of such laws as the Endangered Species Act and the National Forest Management Act. The ideological and political history of the Forest Service and Park Service is explored to determine the roots of interagency conflicts. Several recent models of cooperative reform are also critiqued and found to be insufficient to stimulate better working relationships. To protect biodiversity, cooperation must be framed within conservation biology and must place primary emphasis on ecosystem patterns and processes as well as on individual species. Increased education of agency managers, ecosystem-level research, local and regional public participation, scientific oversight committees, new legislation, and enlightened leadership also play important roles. Ultimately, management policies must be reframed within a context of ecocentric values.