A climate-change vulnerability and adaptation assessment for Brazil's protected areas

Brazil hosts the largest expanse of tropical ecosystems within protected areas (PAs), which shelter biodiversity and support traditional human populations. We assessed the vulnerability to climate change of 993 terrestrial and coastal-marine Brazilian PAs by combining indicators of climatic-change hazard with indicators of PA resilience (size, native vegetation cover, and probability of climate-driven vegetation transition). This combination of indicators allows the identification of broad climate-change adaptation pathways. Seventeen PAs (20,611 km²) were highly vulnerable and located mainly in the Atlantic Forest (7 PAs), Cerrado (6), and the Amazon (4). Two hundred fifty-eight PAs (756,569 km²), located primarily in Amazonia, had a medium vulnerability. In the Amazon and western Cerrado, the projected severe climatic change and probability of climate-driven vegetation transition drove vulnerability up, despite the generally good conservation status of PAs. Over 80% of PAs of high or moderate vulnerability are managed by indigenous populations. Hence, besides the potential risks to biodiversity, the traditional knowledge and livelihoods of the people inhabiting these PAs may be threatened. In at least 870 PAs, primarily in the Atlantic Forest and Amazon, adaptation could happen with little or no intervention due to low climate-change hazard, high resilience status, or both. At least 20 PAs in the Atlantic Forest, Cerrado, and Amazonia should be targeted for stronger interventions (e.g., improvement of ecological connectivity), given their low resilience status. Despite being a first attempt to link vulnerability and adaptation in Brazilian PAs, we suggest that some of the PAs identified as highly or moderately vulnerable should be prioritized for testing potential adaptation strategies in the near future.     

Characteristics that make trophy hunting of giant pandas inconceivable

In November 1928, Theodore Jr. and Kermit Roosevelt led an expedition to China with the expressed purpose of being the first Westerners to kill the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca). The expedition lasted 8 months and resulted in the brothers shooting a giant panda in the mountains of Sichuan Province. Given the concurrent attention in the popular press describing this celebrated expedition, the giant panda was poised to be trophy hunted much like other large mammals around the world. Today, however, the killing of giant pandas, even for the generation of conservation revenue, is unthinkable for reasons related to the species itself and the context, in time and space, in which the species was popularized in the West. We found that the giant panda's status as a conservation symbol, exceptional charisma and gentle disposition, rarity, value as a nonconsumptive ecotourism attraction, and endemism are integral to the explanation of why the species is not trophy hunted. We compared these intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics with 20 of the most common trophy-hunted mammals to determine whether the principles applying to giant pandas are generalizable to other species. Although certain characteristics of the 20 trophy-hunted mammals aligned with the giant panda, many did not. Charisma, economic value, and endemism, in particular, were comparatively unique to the giant panda. Our analysis suggests that, at present, exceptional characteristics may be necessary for certain mammals to be excepted from trophy hunting. However, because discourse relating to the role of trophy hunting in supporting conservation outcomes is dynamic in both science and society, we suspect these valuations will also change in future.     

The tree species matters: Biodiversity and ecosystem service implications of replacing Scots pine production stands with Norway spruce

Ambio - The choice of tree species used in production forests matters for biodiversity and ecosystem services. In Sweden, damage to young production forests by large browsing herbivores is helping...     

Correction to: Keeping pace with forestry: Multi-scale conservation in a changing production forest matrix

Ambio - In the original published article, the sentence “Nevertheless, semi-natural forest remnants continue to be harvested and fragmented (Svensson et al. 2018; Jonsson et al. 2019), and...     

Effect of cooking on arsenic concentration in rice

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This study assessed the effect of rinsing and boiling on total content of As (tAs) and of its inorganic and organic forms in different types of rice...     

铜陵某富硫尾矿库周边土壤重金属污染特征及风险评价

铜陵某尾矿库堆积大量富硫尾矿,为研究其氧化状况及对周边土壤的污染情况,在尾矿库和周边采集尾矿及土壤样品,测试分析尾矿及土壤样品典型重金属(Hg、As、Cr、Cd、Pb、Zn)含量和赋存形态,并基于单因子污染指数法和内梅罗综合污染指数法对土壤污染状况进行了评价。结果表明:(1)尾矿中Fe_2O_3平均占比达到38.08%(质量分数,下同),S平均占比达到5.34%;(2)尾矿库周边土壤中Cd、As、Zn、Hg严重超标,分别为《土壤环境质量农用地土壤污染风险管控标准(试行)》(GB 15618—2018)风险筛选值的6.3、3.7、1.8、1.5倍;(3)土壤中重金属主要以残渣态形式存在,但Cd、Hg、Zn的非残渣态平均占比均达到25%以上,生物有效性较高,对周边环境存在潜在危害;(4)两种污染指数法评价结果表明,尾矿库周边土壤以Cd、As、Zn污染为主,该富硫尾矿库已对周边环境造成重度污染。     

Global Warming-Related Dynamics of Infection by Eubothrium rugosum (Plathelminthes,Cestoda) in the Burbot from the Rybinsk Reservoir

Russian Journal of Ecology - Abstract—Long-term observations (1968–2019) on the dynamics of infection by the cestode Eubothrium rugosum in the burbot (Lota lota) have been performed in...     

含锌废物综合利用项目环境影响评价工程探索

工业生产的废物当中包含多种重金属,例如钢铁厂的粉尘当中就含有锌。含锌粉尘不仅会在高炉内循环和富集,影响高炉的运行,还会造成环境污染。基于此,本文主要分析含锌废物综合利用,对该项目进行环境评价,探讨有效的对策,以提高含锌废物综合利用的科学性,提高环境保护等级。     

The impact of global change on economic values of water for Public Irrigation Schemes at the São Francisco River Basin in Brazil

Economic values of water for the main Public Irrigation Schemes in the sub-middle region of the São Francisco River Basin, in northeastern Brazil, are determined in this study using an integration of a global agro-economic land and water use (MAgPIE) with a local economic model (Positive Mathematical Programming). As in the latter, the water values depend on the crops grown, and as Brazilian agriculture is strongly influenced by the global market, we used a regionalized version of the global model adapted to the region in order to simulate the crop land use, which is in turn determined by changes in global demand, trade barriers, and climate. The allocation of sugarcane and fruit crops projected with climate change by the global model, showed an impact on the average yields and on the water costs in the main schemes resulting in changes in the water values locally. The economic values for all schemes in the baseline year were higher than the water prices established for agricultural use in the basin. In the future, these water values will be higher in all the schemes. The highest water values currently and in the future were identified in municipalities with a significant proportion of area growing irrigated sugarcane. Being aware of current water values of each user in a baseline year and in a projected future under global climate and socioeconomic changes, decision makers should improve water allocation policies at local scale, in order to avoid conflicts and unsustainable development in the future.     

A Microscopic Study of Paper Decayed by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Trichoderma harzianum</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Paecilomyces variotii</Emphasis>

The current study is interested in evaluating the decay of cotton, Whatman and chemical pulp caused by Trichoderma harzianum and Paecilomyces variotii. The structural changes of the paper were evaluated by Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The SEM results show differences in hyphae colonization and paper decay patterns between studied species under the current study; P. variotii caused an eroded structure in the cotton (cavity forming), whereas the initial T. harzianum colonization produced rupture and erosion (soft-rot decay type II) for the three types of paper ,the gaps were elongated with sharp pointed ends, which consisted either of individual cavities or in chains. Moreover, FTIR results confirmed that there a relationship could be observed between fungal decay and crystalline cellulose content because the intensity of peaks at 1335 and 1111 cm^?1 significantly decreased due to the fungal decay. Furthermore, the intensity of O–H stretching absorption slightly decreased, and this may be attributed to hydrolysis of cellulose molecules.