Application of the Red List Index for conservation assessment of Spanish vascular plants

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List Index (RLI) is used to measure trends in extinction risk of species over time. The development of 2 red lists for Spanish vascular flora during the past decade allowed us to apply the IUCN RLI to vascular plants in an area belonging to a global biodiversity hotspot. We used the Spanish Red Lists from 2000 and 2010 to assess changes in level of threat at a national scale and at the subnational scales of Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, and peninsular Spain. We assigned retrospective IUCN categories of threat to 98 species included in the Spanish Red List of 2010 but absent in the Spanish Red List of 2000. In addition, we tested the effect of different random and taxonomic and spatial Spanish samples on the overall RLI value. From 2000 to 2010, the IUCN categories of 768 species changed (10% of Spanish flora), mainly due to improved knowledge (63%), modifications in IUCN criteria (14%), and changes in threat status (12%). All measured national and subnational RLI values decreased during this period, indicating a general decline in the conservation status of the Spanish vascular flora. The Canarian RLI value (0.84) was the lowest, although the fastest deterioration in conservation status occurred on peninsular Spain (from 0.93 in 2000 to 0.92 in 2010). The RLI values based on subsamples of the Spanish Red List were not representative of RLI values for the entire country, which would discourage the use of small areas or small taxonomic samples to assess general trends in the endangerment of national biotas. The role of the RLI in monitoring of changes in biodiversity at the global and regional scales needs further reassessment because additional areas and taxa are necessary to determine whether the index is sufficiently sensitive for use in assessing temporal changes in species’ risk of extinction.     

中型污水处理厂中药物和个人护理品的分布与去除

为了解15种药物及个人护理用品(PPCPs)在中小型污水处理厂中的分布及其去除效果,采用液相色谱-串联质谱(LC-MS/MS)技术对3座A2/O工艺的污水处理厂水样进行分析研究。结果显示,除普萘洛尔、吉非罗平和吲哚美辛在3座中小型污水处理厂各个工艺单元中均未被检出外,其余12种目标化合物的检出频率在90%~100%之间。进水水样中PPCPs的平均检出浓度为2 285.4 ng/L,其中咖啡因(CF)的平均检出浓度最高为973.3 ng/L,酮洛芬(KP)的平均检出浓度次之为844.7 ng/L,两者之和占进水水样中PPCPs平均含量的79.5%,表明污水处理厂的主要污染物为CF和KP。3座污水处理厂对CF的去除效果最为显著,平均去除率为95.3%,对15种PPCPs总去除效率在39.3%~82.8%之间。     

利用卫星遥感评估广西壮族自治区SO_2减排成效

基于2005—2012年OMI卫星遥感PBL SO2柱浓度数据分析了广西壮族自治区SO2污染的时空格局和变化特征,并结合燃煤火电厂SO2排放模型估算与工业经济增长数据,在时间、空间尺度上分析了自治区内不同区域的SO2污染对火电厂烟气脱硫政策的响应以及所呈现出的减排成效。结果表明,广西因火电厂脱硫政策驱动的SO2污染改善具有显著的空间异质性,自治区内高污染区的SO2浓度在2011—2012年出现了显著下降,而低污染区的SO2浓度则在8年中持续增长;排放模型估算结果显示,烟气脱硫驱动的火电厂SO2减排贡献将在2008年后持续下降,而遥感观测结果显示,广西全区SO2半年浓度均值总体呈现波动上升趋势,2005—2012年浓度增加了8.6%、年均增长约0.9%;综合工业经济增长数据发现,近年来其他工业源的增量排放已给广西SO2减排带了新挑战,而这一变化仍未得到相关决策部门关注,存在明显缺陷的SO2统计排放量数据尚未得到修正。针对上述污染变化新特征,政府相关部门应引起足够重视,尽快更新完善污染源信息并启动针对其他污染源的限排措施,以确保环境持续改善。     

海南鹦哥岭的外来植物与生态环境影响评价

通过对鹦哥岭外来植物的调查,以及外来植物区系的种类组成、原产地、生长型、生境和危害程度等的分析,阐明鹦哥岭的外来植物现状及其对当地生态环境的影响。分析表明:共有53种外来植物,约占鹦哥岭种子植物总数的2.73%,主要来自新大陆热带地区(35种)。其中草本(36种)和灌木(13种)占优势,藤本(3种)和小乔木(2种)相对不明显。外来种对鹦哥岭自然生态系统的影响较小,对人为干扰严重的生态系统影响较大。最后对外来植物进行评估,并提出防控措施。     

Relationships between Plant and Animal Species Richness at a Regional Scale in China

Abstract:  Important questions in conservation biology and ecology include whether species diversities of different groups of organisms are correlated and, in particular, whether plant diversity influences animal diversity. I used correlation and partial regression analyses to examine the relationships between species richness of vascular plants and four major groups of terrestrial vertebrates (mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and birds) in 28 provinces in China. Species richness data were obtained from the literature. Environmental variables included normalized difference vegetation index, mean January temperature, mean annual temperature, annual precipitation, May through August precipitation, actual evapotranspiration, potential evapotranspiration, and elevation range. Species richness was strongly and positively correlated among the five groups of organisms. Plant richness was correlated with animal richness more strongly than the richness of different animal groups correlated with each other except for reptile richness, which had a slightly higher correlation with amphibian richness than with plant richness. Plant richness uniquely explained 41 times more variance in the species richness of the four vertebrate groups combined than environmental variables uniquely did, suggesting that plant richness influences terrestrial vertebrate richness at the regional scale examined. Because of strong correlations between the diversity of vascular plants and vertebrates, the diversity of vascular plants may be used as a surrogate for the diversity of terrestrial animals in China. My results have implications for selection of areas to be protected at both regional and local scales.     

The Botanist Effect Revisited: Plant Species Richness, County Area, and Human Population Size in the United States

Abstract:  The "botanist effect" is thought to be the reason for higher plant species richness in areas where botanists are disproportionately present as an artefactual consequence of a more thorough sampling. We examined whether this was the case for U.S. counties. We collated the number of species of vascular plants, human population size, and the area of U.S. counties. Controlling for spatial autocorrelation and county area, plant species richness increased with human population size and density in counties with and without universities and/or botanical gardens, with no significant differences in the relation between the two subsets. This is consistent with previous findings and further evidence of a broad-scale positive correlation between species richness and human population presence, which has important consequences for the experience of nature by inhabitants of densely populated regions. Combined with the many reports of a negative correlation between the two variables at a local scale, the positive relation between plant species richness in U.S. counties and human population presence stresses the need for the conservation of seminatural areas in urbanized ecosystems and for the containment of urban and suburban sprawl.     

大气污染指示植物的研究

自50年代以来.为寻找一种经济、实用和灵敏的方法来监测环境变化,开展了大量大气污染指示植物的研究.这些工作包括用植物叶片典型症状、树皮、草本植物、附生植物指示气体污染(O_3、PANs、NO_x、SO_2、HF、乙烯等)、粉尘以及重金属污染.进入80年代以后,有关研究集中到利用植物富集的污染物含量结合计算机等先进技术指示和监测大气环境变化及进行大气质量评价.本文对国内外开展的大气污染指示植物研究的历史及其主要方法作了简要介绍,并就利用植物指示和监测大气污染的若干问题进行了探讨.     

酸沉降对森林植物影响过程和机理

文章丰要包括如下几方而的内容：（1）概述了酸沉降作用下森林衰退的状况及其相关工作的开展情况；（2）总结了酸沉降对森林植物的影响过程和机理；（3）阐述了酸沉降对森林植物影响研究的模型和临界酸负荷值的确定；（4）探讨了存在的问题和未来值得研究的方向。指山未来的研究方向主要是：酸沉降对森林生态系统的影响机理和森林生态系统对酸沉降的反馈机制；酸沉降对非优势种、稀有种及低等植物的影响；酸沉降与其它环境因子对森林植物的共同影响；酸沉降的监控和预测，建立适合我斟实际情况的研究模型；将常规分析手段和分子生物学技术相结合，加强抗性植物和指示植物的筛选工作；加强受损森林植被的恢复和重建工作；开展酸沉降对森林植被的格局动态及森林演替动态变化研究。     

味精浓废水生物处理优化工艺

本文阐述两相厌氧消化法与缺氧—厌氧消化法处理味精浓废水的比较试验.进水为6×10~4mg/L～8×10~4mg/L时,两相厌氧消化法COD去除率为78%,产气率为0.15m~3/kgCOD,CH_4含量为50%.缺氧—厌氧消化法COD去除率为82.2%,产气率为0.23m~3/kgCOD,CH.含量达65%.两种方法均可使出水pH值由3.2上升至7.0以上.氯离子和氨氮的去除不明显.综合上述结果与运行管理的稳定程度均是缺氧——厌氧消化法优于两相厌氧消化法.