Digital technology and human development: A charter for nature conservation

The application of digital technology in conservation holds much potential for advancing the understanding of, and facilitating interaction with, the natural world. In other sectors, digital technology has long been used to engage communities and share information. Human development—which holds parallels with the nature conservation sector—has seen a proliferation of innovation in technological development. Throughout this Perspective, we consider what nature conservation can learn from the introduction of digital technology in human development. From this, we derive a charter to be used before and throughout project development, in order to help reduce replication and failure of digital innovation in nature conservation projects. We argue that the proposed charter will promote collaboration with the development of digital tools and ensure that nature conservation projects progress appropriately with the development of new digital technologies.     

The transition from isolated patches to a metapopulation in the eastern collared lizard in response to prescribed fires

Habitat fragmentation often arises from human-induced alterations to the matrix that reduce or eliminate dispersal between habitat patches. Elimination of dispersal increases local extinction and decreases recolonization. These phenomena were observed in the eastern collared lizard (Crotaphytus collaris collaris), which lives in the mid-continental highland region of the Ozarks (Missouri, USA) on glades: habitats of exposed bedrock that form desert-like habitats imbedded in a woodland matrix. With the onset of woodland fire suppression, glade habitats degenerated and the woodland matrix was altered to create a strong barrier to dispersal. By 1980, lizard populations in the Ozarks were rapidly going extinct. In response to this decline, some glades were restored by clearing and burning. Starting in 1984, collared lizard populations were translocated onto these restored habitats. The translocated populations persisted but did not colonize nearby glades or disperse among one another. In 1994 prescribed woodland fires were initiated, which unleashed much dispersal and colonizing behavior. Dispersal was highly nonrandom by both intrinsic variables (age, gender) and extrinsic variables (overall demography, glade population sizes, glade areas, landscape features), resulting in different classes of lizards being dominant in creating demographic cohesiveness among glades, colonizing new glades on a mountain, and colonizing new mountain systems. A dramatic transition was documented from isolated fragments, to a nonequilibrium colonizing metapopulation, and finally to a stable metapopulation. This transition is characterized by the convergence of rates of extinction and recolonization and a major alteration of dispersal probabilities and pattern in going from the nonequilibrium to stable metapopulation states.     

对环境水体中目标化合物——杀虫剂的快速、灵敏的飞行时间（TOF）筛查

飞行时间（TOF）筛查方式技术以其特有的优势,如全扫描数据采集、非预期化合物历史数据再查询等在环境监测领域的应用已经取得了稳步增长.满足全球食品需求,杀虫剂、除草剂和杀真菌剂使用泛滥.这些化学物质施用到庄稼上,将不可避免地污染土壤和河道.因此需要执行严格的环境监察,以保护环境、植物和野生动物     

Regulating post-implantation fetal sex selection: a UK perspective

This article reviews the current and potential laws relevant to post-implantation fetal social sex selection and considers whether they could provide an effective deterrent and control of the practice, if the United Kingdom decided that such control were desirable. It concludes that enacting, drafting and enforcing of any legislation throws up many difficult practical and ethical issues. These issues need to be debated and further information collected before any legislation is rushed into. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sex selection and non-invasive prenatal testing: A review of current practices,evidence, and ethical issues

Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) can determine the sex of the fetus very accurately and very early in gestation. There are concerns that the ease, timing, and accuracy of NIPT sex determination will facilitate sex-selective termination of pregnancy (TOP). Here, we review current practices, the evidence for a link between NIPT and sex-selective TOP, and associated ethical issues. Sex-selective TOP, usually motivated by son preference, has had serious demographic consequences in countries such as India and China. Currently, ultrasound is the primary method by which parents determine the sex of the fetus. The diffusion of ultrasound technology has had a direct impact on the rates of sex-selective TOP. Although NIPT is currently more costly, it is feasible that increased uptake of this technology could have a similar effect. Partly because NIPT is a relatively recent development in prenatal screening, there is little data on the impact of NIPT on sex selection practices. Evidence that NIPT is playing a role in sex-selective TOP remains largely anecdotal. Further research is required to assess and quantify TOP resulting from NIPT sex determination. The use of these technologies for sex selection raises a number of ethical issues, in addition to practical demographic consequences.     

Patterns of subsidence in the lower Yangtze Delta of China: the case of the Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou Region

Investigation indicates that the subsidence pattern in the lower Yangtze Delta area is related to groundwater extraction. Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou region ("Su-Xi-Chang") belongs to the hinterland of the lower Yangtze Delta that has a total area of 12,000 km2. From 1979 to 2000, long-term pumping of groundwater at Su-Xi-Chang has caused a rapid decline in groundwater table, resulting in large-scale land subsidence. In this paper, establishment of a GPS-based monitoring system for land subsidence using 30 years of data, is presented. The data were obtained through monitoring of 184 wells. Also analyzed herein is the relationship between the observed lowering of the groundwater table and subsidence. Monitoring data indicate that the depression cone of groundwater table and the occurrence of subsidence are basically identical in time and space. The generation of both features is attributed to excessive extraction of ground water in the region. Finally, countermeasures against subsidence are proposed.     

Occupant interactions with self-closing fire doors in private dwellings

Prevention measures to reduce deaths and injuries due to domestic fires have included the provision of self-closing fire doors within dwellings. Such an approach however, is reliant on a behavioural response on behalf of the occupier(s). This research examined occupier behaviour in relation to self-closing fire doors. Forty semi-structured interviews were conducted with individuals inhabiting a new home. In all of the properties with self-closing fire doors, the occupants reported interfering with the self-closing mechanism of the doors. A quantitative survey was subsequently undertaken to obtain frequency data. In the majority of dwellings with fire doors occupiers reported propping these open in some way, or removing the self-closing mechanism from the door. The accounts suggest that, for fire doors to be an effective safety measure within dwellings, a greater emphasis needs to be placed on encouraging occupiers to adopt safe practices in relation to fire doors. Alternatively, other measures will need to be found to address the fire risk.     

How much e-waste is there in US basements and attics? Results from a national survey

The fate of used electronic products (e-waste) is of increasing concern because of their toxicity and the growing volume of e-waste. Addressing these concerns requires developing the recycling infrastructure, but good estimates of the volume of e-waste stored by US households are still unavailable. In this context, we make two contributions based on a national random survey of 2136 US households. First, we explain how much e-waste is stored by US households using count models. Significant explanatory variables include age, marital and employment status, ethnicity, household size, previous e-waste recycling behavior, and to some extent education, home ownership, and understanding the consequences of recycling, but neither income nor knowledge of e-waste recycling laws. Second, we estimate that on average, each US household has 4.1 small (≤10 pounds) and 2.4 large e-waste items in storage. Although these numbers are likely lower bounds, they are higher than recent US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates (based on narrower product categories). This suggests that the backlog of e-waste in the US is likely larger than generally believed; it calls for developing the recycling infrastructure but also for targeted recycling campaigns.     

Use of Standardized Visual Assessments of Riparian and Stream Condition to Manage Riparian Bird Habitat in Eastern Oregon

The importance of riparian vegetation to support stream function and provide riparian bird habitat in semiarid landscapes suggests that standardized assessment tools that include vegetation criteria to evaluate stream health could also be used to assess habitat conditions for riparian-dependent birds. We first evaluated the ability of two visual assessments of woody vegetation in the riparian zone (corridor width and height) to describe variation in the obligate riparian bird ensemble along 19 streams in eastern Oregon. Overall species richness and the abundances of three species all correlated significantly with both, but width was more important than height. We then examined the utility of the riparian zone criteria in three standardized and commonly used rapid visual riparian assessment protocols—the USDI BLM Proper Functioning Condition (PFC) assessment, the USDA NRCS Stream Visual Assessment Protocol (SVAP), and the U.S. EPA Habitat Assessment Field Data Sheet (HAFDS)—to assess potential riparian bird habitat. Based on the degree of correlation of bird species richness with assessment ratings, we found that PFC does not assess obligate riparian bird habitat condition, SVAP provides a coarse estimate, and HAFDS provides the best assessment. We recommend quantitative measures of woody vegetation for all assessments and that all protocols incorporate woody vegetation height. Given that rapid assessments may be the only source of information for thousands of kilometers of streams in the western United States, incorporating simple vegetation measurements is a critical step in evaluating the status of riparian bird habitat and provides a tool for tracking changes in vegetation condition resulting from management decisions.