Exploring the role of local community perceptions in sustainability measurements

Measuring sustainability is an integral part of decision-making processes in order to promote sustainable development. The present paper focuses on sustainability indicators as these are measured on local level and explores two main issues: firstly, the subjective measurement of indicators focusing especially on social dimensions of sustainability, secondly, the incorporation of local perceptions in sustainability assessments. These two issues are explored in the Asopos River basin in Greece, an area where significant environmental degradation has been observed in the past decades and is also under financial pressure due to the ongoing national recession. A large-scale research study was conducted measuring environmental, economic and social indicators while, at a second stage, a model was developed, estimating new indicators that incorporate local communities’ perceptions on what they considered as important for their area. The results of the study reveal that the most important indicators for the sustainable development of the area, according to locals’ perceptions, are environmental quality as well as quality of life. By contrast, trust in local and central institutions and also local enterprises were not considered as important by locals. These results illustrate the importance of combining global and national scale assessment with locally focused social measurements of sustainability in order to better understand what is important for local communities prior to embarking on public policy planning.     

毒理学领域的新思维：功能基因组学在毒理学中的应用

功能医学要求应用国际上最先进的检查技术定量检查反应器官功能的各种分子,从而评估器官功能。将功能医学应用到毒理学研究中,必将更早发现环境中有害因素对人体的早期损害,因此它能够将毒理学研究推向一个新高度。     

主体功能区视角下的环境污染时空格局及驱动因素——基于广东省121个县域的实证分析

基于县域污染物排放和人口社会经济数据库,运用熵权法构建水气污染综合指数测度广东省水气环境污染状况,在解析2012—2016年水气环境污染时空变化与主体功能区分异特征的基础上,采用空间计量模型考察水气环境污染的驱动因素及其在不同类型主体功能区之间的差异.研究结果表明：① 2012—2016年,广东省水气污染综合指数降幅达到46.93%,处于污染指数高值区间的县域数量大幅减少,并呈现由边缘向核心收缩的空间变化特征;② 4类主体功能区的水气环境污染均有明显改善,但相对而言,城市化地区和农产品主产区仍是广东省水气污染物排放的主要承压区;③人口规模是各类主体功能区水气环境污染的共性驱动因素,此外,城市化地区、农产品主产区和重点生态功能区还分别受到工业化水平、社会固定资产投资和财政收入分权程度的影响.建议从引导城乡居民绿色生活、持续提升清洁生产技术、增加地方财政分权激励机制中的环境效益考核入手强化区域环境污染综合治理.     

突发事件现场警戒区域的研究

阐述了事故危险区域、现场警戒区域的基本概念、设置目的和原则，提出将突发事故现场警戒区域分为三层，分别对应现场封锁线、警戒封锁线和交通封锁线，并就吸入毒性危害物质泄漏、燃气泄漏、建筑物火灾等事故，制定了具体的设置方法。现场警戒区域的设定，可在较小成本投入的前提下，通过采取积极的防范和应对措施，有效减少人员伤亡和财产损失，提高救援效率和效果。     

Protected Area Safeguard Tree and Shrub Communities from Degradation and Invasion: A Case Study in Eastern Madagascar

Despite their prevalence in both developed and developing countries, there have been surprisingly few field assessments of the ecological effectiveness of protected areas. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a key protected area in eastern Madagascar, Ranomafana National Park (RNP). We established paired 100 × 4-m vegetation transects (400 m²) within RNP and in remnant forests in the park’s peripheral zone. In each 400-m² plot, all woody stems >1.5 cm in diameter at breast height were measured and identified to species. All species were also identified as native or non-native. We identified utilitarian species within all transects and they were sorted into use category. We calculated plot-level taxonomic biodiversity and functional diversity of utilitarian species; the latter was calculated by clustering the multivariate distances between species based on their utilitarian traits, and all metrics were tested using paired t-tests. Our results showed that there was significantly higher biodiversity inside RNP than in remnant forests and this pattern was consistent across all diversity metrics examined. Forests not located within the park’s boundary had significantly higher non-native species than within RNP. There was no statistically significant difference in functional diversity of utilitarian species inside RNP vs. remnant forests; however, the overall trend was toward higher diversity inside park boundaries. These findings suggested that RNP has been effective at maintaining taxonomic diversity relative to surrounding unprotected areas and restricting the spread of non-native plants. The results also suggested that low functional redundancy of forests outside of RNP might be of concern, because residents in surrounding villages may have few other substitutes for the services provided by species that are of critical importance to their livelihoods. This study highlights the challenges of trying to reconcile biodiversity conservation with human use of natural resources in economically poor, remote areas.     

Contribution of the Kodama and 4S pathways to the dibenzothiophene biodegradation in different coastal wetlands under different C/N ratios

Dibenzothiophene (DBT) degradation mechanisms and the transformation of pathways during the incubation of three types of coastal sediments with C/N ratios ranging from 1 to 9 were investigated. The DBT degradation efficiencies were clearly improved with increasing C/N ratio in reed wetland sediments, tidal wetlands sediments and estuary wetland sediments. The quantitative response relationships between DBT degradation rates and related functional genes demonstrate that the Kodama pathway-related gene groups were dominant factors at low C/N ratios, while the 4S-related gene groups mainly determined the degradation rate when the C/N ratio was up to 5. Network analysis also shows that the pathway shifts from the Kodama pathway to the 4S pathway occurred through changes in the connections between functional genomes and rates. Furthermore, there were competition and collaboration between the Kodama and 4S pathways. The 4S pathway-related bacteria were more active in estuary wetland sediments compared with reed wetland sediments and tidal wetland sediments. The higher degradation efficiency in estuary wetland sediments may indicate the greater participation of the 4S pathway in the DBT biodegradation reaction. And the effects of ring cleavage of Kodama pathway caused more complete metabolizing of DBT.     

黄土高原不同植被带人工刺槐林土壤团聚体稳定性及其化学计量特征

为研究黄土高原不同植被带对土壤团聚体稳定性及团聚体化学计量变化特征的影响,本研究选取黄土高原不同植被带人工刺槐林地土壤为研究对象,分析了不同粒径团聚体含量,团聚体化学计量及稳定性指标.结果表明, 2 mm和0. 25～2 mm粒径团聚体含量,机械团聚体的平均重量直径(E_(MWD))和机械团聚体的几何平均直径(E_(GMD))表现为森林带森林草原带草原带,而0. 053～0. 25 mm粒径团聚体含量和可蚀性因子K呈现相反的变化特点;各粒径团聚体有机碳和全氮含量在3个植被带整体表现为森林带显著高于森林草原带和草原带,而全磷含量在各植被带间无明显变化规律;有机碳和全氮含量在草原带以0. 053 mm和0. 25～2 mm粒径占绝对优势,在森林草原带以0. 053～0. 25 mm和0. 25～2 mm粒径为主,而森林带各粒径间均无显著差异;草原带和森林草原带0. 053 mm粒径全磷含量最高,而森林带全磷含量在各粒径间无显著差异;0. 053 mm和0. 053～0. 25 mm粒径团聚体C∶N值以草原带和森林草原带高于森林带,而0. 25～2 mm和 2 mm粒径在3个植被带间无显著差异;各粒径C∶P和N∶P值以森林带显著高于森林草原带和草原带.综上可见,土壤团聚体稳定性和团聚体化学计量在3个植被带间存在较大差异,团聚体稳定性和团聚体有机碳、全氮含量整体表现为森林带显著高于森林草原带和草原带.