Trait space of rare plants in a fire‐dependent ecosystem

The causes of species rarity are of critical concern because of the high extinction risk associated with rarity. Studies examining individual rare species have limited generality, whereas trait‐based approaches offer a means to identify functional causes of rarity that can be applied to communities with disparate species pools. Differences in functional traits between rare and common species may be indicative of the functional causes of species rarity and may therefore be useful in crafting species conservation strategies. However, there is a conspicuous lack of studies comparing the functional traits of rare species and co‐occurring common species. We measured 18 important functional traits for 19 rare and 134 common understory plant species from North Carolina's Sandhills region and compared their trait distributions to determine whether there are significant functional differences that may explain species rarity. Flowering, fire, and tissue‐chemistry traits differed significantly between rare and common, co‐occurring species. Differences in specific traits suggest that fire suppression has driven rarity in this system and that changes to the timing and severity of prescribed fire may improve conservation success. Our method provides a useful tool to prioritize conservation efforts in other systems based on the likelihood that rare species are functionally capable of persisting.     

Quantifying the squeezing or stretching of fisheries as they adapt to displacement by marine reserves

The designation of no‐take marine reserves involves social and economic concerns due to the resulting displacement of fishing effort, when fishing rights are removed from those who traditionally fished within an area. Displacement can influence the functioning of the fishery and success of the reserve, yet levels of displacement are seldom quantified after reserve implementation and very rarely before that. We devised a simple analytical framework based on set theory to facilitate reserve placement. Implementation of the framework requires maps of fishing grounds, fishing effort, or catch per unit effort for at least 2 years. The framework quantifies the level of conflict that a reserve designation might cause in the fishing sector due to displacement and the opportunities to offset the conflict through fisher spatial mobility (i.e., ability of fishers to fish elsewhere). We also considered how the outputs of the framework can be used to identify targeted management interventions for each fishery. We applied the method in Honduras, where the largest marine protected area in Central America is being placed, for which spatial data on fishing effort were available for 6 fisheries over 3 years. The proposed closure had a greater negative impact on the shrimp and lobster scuba fisheries, which concentrated respectively 28% and 18% of their effort inside the reserve. These fisheries could not accommodate the displacement within existing fishing grounds. Both would be forced to stretch into new fishing grounds, which are available but are of unknown quality. These stakeholders will likely require compensation to offset costly exploratory fishing or to travel to fishing grounds farther away from port.     

鄱阳湖水位-淹水面积关系不确定性的分析

湖泊淹水范围的时空变化特征往往决定了湖泊湿地的景观结构和功能。鄱阳湖是我国最大淡水湖,水位和淹水范围的季节变化悬殊,鄱阳湖淹水特征对研究鄱阳湖湿地生态系统的结构与功能都具有显著意义,过去很多研究关注鄱阳湖水位-淹水面积关系,不同的研究者得到的水位-淹水面积关系各有差异,表现出一定的不确定性。利用多时相的卫星遥感影像提取的鄱阳湖水面面积的基础上,结合鄱阳湖长时间序列的水位观测资料,探讨鄱阳湖水位-淹水面积关系不确定的原因。研究结果表明:(1)尽管鄱阳湖水面面积与水位表现分段线性关系,但在相同水位条件下,鄱阳湖水面面积表现出较大的不确定性;(2)鄱阳湖水位表现南高北低的空间异质性格局,随着水位增加,鄱阳湖水位的空间异质性降低,并且水面坡降具有季相性,相同水位下退水期的水面坡降大于涨水期的水面坡降;(3)受洲滩地形和"堑秋湖"渔业方式的影响,相同水位下退水期出露洲滩中子湖泊的水面范围大于涨水期中子湖泊水面范围;(4)此外,鄱阳湖采砂显著改变采沙场的湖盆地形,从而改变低水位下的主要采沙场的淹水范围。综上所述,鄱阳湖水位-淹水面积关系的不确定性除了受湖盆地形、"五河"来水、长江顶托等自然原因,还有采砂和堑秋湖渔业方式等人类活动的原因。     

近岸海域水质目标考核评价方法研究

为满足《水污染防治行动计划》近岸海域水质考核要求,根据目前近岸海域环境监测工作的实际情况,在考核范围、评价方法、目标分解、计分方法等方面进行了比较,在保证公平、公正的前提下,以一致性、可比性和适应性为原则,提出的考核评价方法以单因子评价法和点位评价法为基础,在未达标情况下,按照水质目标完成比例计分;达标情况下,在达标分值基础上按水质的保持和改善给予不同程度的加分,通过实例研究分析能够适应近岸海域水质状况变化的考核工作要求。     

基于MODIS地面温度数据的成都市热岛时空变化

研究利用2000、2005和2010年逐月的MODIS/Terra和MODIS/Aqua卫星的地表温度数据产品,通过等间距法进行分析,得出成都市建成区2000~2010年间昼夜热岛的时空变化以及相互间差异。研究结果表明:成都市昼夜热岛存在显著差异,日间热岛主要呈散点分布,夜间热岛集中在城市中心区域。日夜间热岛变化趋势有显著不同,日间热岛继续分散而夜间热岛范围则有所扩大。日间热岛分布与植被覆盖存在一定的负相关性,但道路也在一定程度上促使了地面温度的增加,夜间城市热岛范围及变化则与其下垫面组成存在关系。     

Landscape consequences of aggregation rules for functional equivalence in compensatory mitigation programs

Mitigation and offset programs designed to compensate for ecosystem function losses due to development must balance losses from affected ecosystems with gains in restored ecosystems. Aggregation rules applied to ecosystem functions to assess site equivalence are based on implicit assumptions about the substitutability of functions among sites and can profoundly influence the distribution of restored ecosystem functions on the landscape. We investigated the consequences of rules applied to the aggregation of ecosystem functions for wetland offsets in the Beaverhill watershed in Alberta, Canada. We considered the fate of 3 ecosystem functions: hydrology, water purification, and biodiversity. We set up an affect‐and‐offset algorithm to simulate the effect of aggregation rules on ecosystem function for wetland offsets. Cobenefits and trade‐offs among functions and the constraints posed by the quantity and quality of restorable sites resulted in a redistribution of functions between affected and offset wetlands. Hydrology and water purification functions were positively correlated with one another and negatively correlated with biodiversity function. Weighted‐average rules did not replace functions in proportion to their weights. Rules prioritizing biodiversity function led to more monofunctional wetlands and landscapes. The minimum rule, for which the wetland score was equal to the worst performing function, promoted multifunctional wetlands and landscapes. The maximum rule, for which the wetland score was equal to the best performing function, promoted monofunctional wetlands and multifunctional landscapes. Because of implicit trade‐offs among ecosystem functions, no‐net‐loss objectives for multiple functions should be constructed within a landscape context. Based on our results, we suggest criteria for the design of aggregation rules for no net loss of ecosystem functions within a landscape context include the concepts of substitutability, cobenefits and trade‐offs, landscape constraints, heterogeneity, and the precautionary principle.     

Effects of law enforcement and community outreach on mammal diversity in a biodiversity hotspot

Management activities such as law enforcement and community outreach are thought to affect conservation outcomes in protected areas, but their importance relative to intrinsic environmental characteristics of the parks and extrinsic human pressures surrounding the parks have not been explored. Furthermore, it is not clear which is more related to conservation outcomes—the management itself or local people's perceptions of the management. We measured objective (reports by park staff) and subjective (reports by local people) levels of community outreach and law enforcement based on responses to 374 questionnaires. We estimated mammal abundance and diversity of 6 protected areas based on data from 115 camera traps in Xishuangbanna, southwest China, a biodiversity hotspot with high hunting and land-conversion pressures. We then examined correlations among them and found that local people's perception of law enforcement was positively related to the local abundance of 2 large, hunted species, wild boar (Sus scrofa) (β = 15.22) and muntjac (Muntiacus vaginalis) (β = 14.82), but not related to the abundance of smaller mammals or to objective levels of enforcement. The subjective frequency of outreach by park staff to local communities (β = 3.42) and park size (β = 3.28) were significantly and positively related to mammal species richness, whereas elevation, human population density, and subjective frequency of law enforcement were not. We could not conclude that community outreach and law enforcement were directly causing increased mammal abundance and diversity. Nevertheless, the patterns we detected are some of the first empirical evidence consistent with the idea that biodiversity in protected areas may be more positively and strongly related to local perceptions of the intensity of park management than to either intrinsic (e.g., elevation, park size) or extrinsic (e.g., human population density) environmental factors.     

基于超效率DEA模型的三峡库区生态效率评价及空间演化格局分析

本文基于2010—2017年的统计数据,首先采用超效率DEA模型对三峡库区26个区县的生态效率进行测算,然后运用空间自相关分析方法对三峡库区生态效率的演化格局进行了实证分析,探索三峡库区生态效率的时空动态演变特征。研究表明:2010—2017年三峡库区生态效率平均水平处于0.5601～1.1920,整体呈现波动性变化趋势,生态效率在一定程度上有所改善,但是整体水平仍然较低;从区域层面看,各个区县间生态效率水平不平衡,空间分布上呈现"西高东低"的非均衡性特征。局部空间自相关分析表明,三峡库区2010—2017年集聚性呈逐渐减弱态势,空间异质性逐渐增加,整体的生态效率差异变大。最后依据实证研究分析结果,本文对如何提升三峡库区生态效率提出了相应的政策建议。     

铁路沿线可燃重气储罐最小隔离区域划分探讨*

为保护铁路线，以某化工厂距离高铁路线最近的丙烯球罐为例，提出丙烯球罐泄漏最小隔离区域划分方法以及2种保护高铁线路方案，利用重气扩散模型和定量风险评价（QRA）软件分别进行丙烯扩散模拟、爆炸模拟，并进行危险与可操作性分析（HAZOP）和保护层分析（LOPA）。结果表明:球罐发生泄漏及火灾爆炸等事故，会给附近铁路线带来严重破坏；丙烯泄漏或球罐因周围其他设备设施或可燃物质着火而温度升高时，保护措施不足；隧道的安全可靠性要高于仅设1道防爆墙，隧道长度需覆盖最小隔离区域的可及范围，在扩散区域内也需设立普通挡墙，在极度危险情况下，需要实施高铁停开等保护措施。     

Quantifying the rebound effects of residential solar panel adoption

Customers who adopt solar panels can reduce their energy bills and lower the effective average electricity prices they pay. When the price falls, a solar consumer might consume more electricity than before – a solar rebound effect. We provide the first empirical evidence of residential solar rebound effects in the U.S. We use household level hourly and daily electricity meter data as well as hourly solar panel electricity generation data from 277 solar homes and about 4000 non-solar homes from 2013 to 2017 in Phoenix Arizona. Using matching methods and a fixed effects panel regression approach, we find that when solar electricity generation increases by 1 kWh, solar homes increase their total electricity consumption by 0.18 kWh. This indicates that solar rebound effects are estimated at 18%. Building upon our theoretical framework, the increase in consumer surplus from solar panel adoption is estimated at $972/yr.