基于GIS的海洋底栖生物栖息密度空间插值方法

在地理信息系统即GIS的支持下,分别采用反距离加权(inverse distance weighted,IDW)、普通克里格(ordinary krig-ing,OK)、规则样条(regularize spline,RS)和张力样条(tension spline,TS)4种插值方法对2006年7月获得的大连湾底栖生物栖息密度的数据进行空间插值处理,并对插值结果的精确度进行交叉验证,分析和比较不同插值方法获得的分布图。结果表明,插值精确度普通克里格>反距离加权>张力样条>规则样条;4种方法均能较客观的模拟出底栖生物栖息密度的分布趋势,但是在整体趋势和局部趋势两方面的综合考虑下,普通克里格的表现效果更好。文章进一步指出,在确定站位数量及分布前提下,插值结果的精确度可以通过选择空间插值方法得以改善,但其根本还是取决于站位布置的数量和其分布合理性。     

Personae and Natural Capitalism: Negotiating Politics and Constituencies in a Rhetoric of Sustainability

This essay critiques natural capitalism, a concept developed as a strategic response to the antagonism of capitalist production and the ideology of sustainability. I trace and critique the second and third personae of the book Natural Capitalism. The second persona of natural capitalism constitutes already dominant capitalists and technocrats as the constituency best prepared to meet the exigencies of sustainability. Simultaneously, civil society and non-propertied classes constitute a marginalized third persona whose interests can be satisfied only if aligned with those of the second persona. This precarious arrangement is possible due to the non-ideological representation of natural capitalism. I argue that such a representation is misleading. Criticism of the tensions between natural capitalism's personae suggests radical potential for environmental rhetoric.     

辽宁省自然灾害及基本特点

辽宁是一个自然灾害较多的省,地质灾害、气象灾害、海洋灾害、农业灾害和林业灾害部比较频繁。本文在总结上述灾害的基础上,指出了辽宁自然灾害的特点,即自然灾害的分布严格受自然地理和地质构造条件的控制;人类生产活动恶化了原有的自然环境,从而加速了灾害的发生和发展;灾害类型多,成灾面积广;灾害的频度逐年增加。     

Advancing urban ecosystem governance in New York City: Shifting towards a unified perspective for conservation management

New York City’s extensive municipal park system is home to forests, wetlands, and grasslands that provide important ecological and social benefits to the city’s population. While efforts and programs exist to restore and protect these spaces, management recommendations are complex due to variable conditions in urban natural areas. To advance the management of urban natural areas, the first comprehensive ecological assessment was conducted through a collaborative effort across 4000 ha of natural areas within New York City parkland. Field and spatial data were collected and analyzed to identify the extent of forests, the types of forests, and their conditions. This approach will help guide decision-making and prioritization of natural area management at the regional level by developing unique quantitative targets for urban forests. This project serves as an example of collaboration between private and public institutions advancing the governance of urban natural areas to achieve citywide conservation and policy goals.     

Corruption in natural resource management: Implications for policy makers

Corruption is the main reason why resource-rich countries perform badly in economic terms. Corruption in resource-rich countries takes two main forms, rent-seeking and patronage. Resource rents induce rent-seeking as individuals compete for a share of the rents rather than use their time and skills more productively. And resource revenues induce patronage as governments pay off supporters to stay in power, resulting in reduced accountability and an inferior allocation of public funds. This paper systematically reviews the literature on natural resources and corruption, and outlines the main policy implications for donors and domestic policy makers. A main conclusion is that priority should be given to policies that address rent-seeking and patronage. In other words, policy in resource-rich countries should be less about macro-economic management and more about institutions to prevent rent-seeking and patronage, and about giving the right incentives to players in the resource sector. Moreover, all policies need to take into account their impact on rent-seeking and patronage, and some current policies may actually be harmful in this respect.     

Ecosystem mapping for the implementation of the European Biodiversity Strategy at the national level: The case of Italy

Several international initiatives, including the European Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, promote the identification and mapping of ecosystems as basic tools for the conservation of biodiversity and related services. On coarse scales, the spatial representation of ecosystems is usually based on broad land cover categories that largely overlook important ecological and biogeographic features of the biotic communities they are meant to exemplify. This paper presents a nationwide ecosystem mapping approach that promotes a degree of thematic detail, which is more suited than that found in the continental maps to meeting biodiversity conservation targets in Italy. The approach is based on the rationale that current and potential vegetation cover are valuable proxies for outlining ecosystems. The resulting Ecosystem Map of Italy includes 43 types of forest ecosystems instead of the 5 woodland, forest and other wooded land types recognized at the European level. We outline the expected advantages of this enhanced thematic detail for a number of conservation purposes and highlight how the resulting maps may help to meet biodiversity conservation targets at the national level. In particular, we refer to the assessment of conservation status, the definition of restoration priorities, the planning of green infrastructure and the identification of collapse risks for the ecosystems identified. Comprehensively, the definition, characterization and assessment of ecosystem types represent the carrying structure of the recently launched national system of natural capital accounting.     

Bioaccumulation and biological effects in the earthworm Eisenia fetida exposed to natural and depleted uranium

The accumulations of both natural (U) and depleted (DU) uranium in the earthworms (Eisenia fetida) were studied to evaluate corresponding biological effects. Concentrations of metals in the experimental soil ranged from 1.86 to 600 mg kg⁻¹. Five biological endpoints: mortality, animals’ weight increasing, lysosomal membrane stability by measuring the neutral red retention time (the NRRT), histological changes and genetic effects (Comet assay) were used to evaluate biological effects in the earthworms after 7 and 28 days of exposure. No effects have been observed in terms of mortality or weight reduction. Cytotoxic and genetic effects were identified at quite low U concentrations. For some of these endpoints, in particular for genetic effects, the dose (U concentration)-effect relationships have been found to be non-linear. The results have also shown a statistically significant higher level of impact on the earthworms exposed to natural U compared to depleted U.     

The idea of sustainable development

In this lecture, I demonstrate how very different macroeconomic history begins to look if Nature is included as a capital asset in production activities. The tentative conclusions I draw from the evidence are: (1) high population growth in the world’s poorest regions (South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa) has been an obstacle to the achievement of sustainable economic development there; relatedly, (2) when population growth is taken into account, the accumulation of manufactured capital, knowledge, and human capital (health and education) has not compensated for the degradation of natural capital in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa and, in all probability, even in the UK and the US; (3) China is possibly an exception to (1) and (2). This article is based on the Keynote Lecture delivered at the international symposium on “Sustainability in an Unequal World”, held in Tokyo on November 24, 2006. The exposition relies on my book, Economics: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2007. The author is the Frank Ramsey Professor of Economics at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge.     

A “measurable” definition of sustainable development based on closed cycles of resources and its application to energy systems

Human society consumes resources that it is not able to reproduce. Human activities are still based on “open cycles,” starting from a condition of natural environmental balance and reaching an environmental imbalance. The challenging scope of scientific and technological research towards sustainability appears clear if it is based on this analysis: to find development systems based on “closed cycles” of resources. The challenging objective of realizing closed cycles leads to a definition of sustainability that indicates the path to sustainable development, as well as stating the general principle. It also provides a key to the qualitative measurement of sustainability. This means that the sustainability level of a system can be measured by measuring its capacity to avoid the consumption of resources. Zero consumption is a necessary condition for sustainability, and brings about as a side effect the highly desired “zero-waste” result. Materials entering the proposed endless scheme pass through the process of usefulness without losing their capacity to feed the system again after being used. Thus, the concept of “consumption” itself is replaced by one of “use” when resources are inserted into closed loops capable of feeding human development. The application of the closed cycle sustainability criterion particularly displays its feasibility, and a theoretical guiding role, in the energy sector. Energy vectors such as hydrogen and electricity enable the closure of the energy resources loop by effectively approaching the objective of “zero consumption” (and the side result of “zero waste”) through already demonstrated technological solutions.