Matching the Multiple Scales of Conservation with the Multiple Scales of Climate Change

Abstract:  To anticipate the rapidly changing world resulting from global climate change, the projections of climate models must be incorporated into conservation. This requires that the scales of conservation be aligned with the scales of climate-change projections. We considered how conservation has incorporated spatial scale into protecting biodiversity, how the projections of climate-change models vary with scale, and how the two do or do not align. Conservation planners use information about past and current ecological conditions at multiple scales to identify conservation targets and threats and guide conservation actions. Projections of climate change are also made at multiple scales, from global and regional circulation models to projections downscaled to local scales. These downscaled projections carry with them the uncertainties associated with the broad-scale models from which they are derived; thus, their high resolution may be more apparent than real. Conservation at regional or global scales is about establishing priorities and influencing policy. At these scales, the coarseness and uncertainties of global and regional climate models may be less important than what they reveal about possible futures. At the ecoregional scale, the uncertainties associated with downscaling climate models become more critical because the distributions of conservation targets on which plans are founded may shift under future climates. At a local scale, variations in topography and land cover influence local climate, often overriding the projections of broad-scale climate models and increasing uncertainty. Despite the uncertainties, ecologists and conservationists must work with climate-change modelers to focus on the most likely projections. The future will be different from the past and full of surprises; judicious use of model projections at appropriate scales may help us prepare.     

Improving visitor management approaches for the changing preferences and behaviours of country park visitors in Hong Kong

This study identified the changing preferences of country park visitors in Hong Kong and the potential for such changes to have further negative impacts on the ecologically sensitive areas of country parks. A questionnaire was used to collect feedback from 644 country park visitors to understand their preferences and visitation patterns. To investigate visitors’ preferences and behaviours and to develop better visitor management strategies, the survey data were compared with studies conducted 20 years ago. The results showed that the most popular nature‐based activities of 20 years ago, namely, picnicking and barbecuing, have significantly declined in popularity, while other activities, namely, nature studies and nature photography, have surged in popularity in recent years. These changes in visitor preferences have directly increased the negative impacts of visitors on country parks as they dispersed away from the high intensity recreation zones to the ecological sensitive areas. This emerging group of country park visitors has not been fully considered in the existing approach to visitor management and may irreversibly impact the ecological value of country parks. In this study, visitor management in Hong Kong's country parks was reviewed based on these research findings, and potential improvements were suggested.     

Blurred Borderlands: Sustainability and the Urban/Nature Divide at the Frick Environmental Center

ABSTRACT

Sustainable development is rhetorically framed as exhibiting natural processes, reflected both symbolically and materially. Taking the Frick Environmental Center of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as a rhetorical artifact, I argue that spaces where sustainable human-made structures and human-cultivated landscapes meet, reflect blurred borderlands of a culturally constructed urban/nature divide. Considering the Frick Environmental Center as an experiential landscape, my mixed methodology of textual analysis and rhetorical field work identifies how naturalized framing of sustainability bridges the urban/nature divide, inviting restoration, preservation, and construction efforts that are more environmentally engaged.     

LQZ型气力输送系统在电厂除灰中的应用

介绍了气力输送系统在电厂660MW机组除灰中的应用,并对飞灰特性,以及除灰系统设计、关键技术运用、运行情况、设备维护和故障处理等问题进行了分析论述。     

基于生态保护的道路规划策略

分析了路段与景观两个尺度上的道路生态环境影响,结合当今景观生态学、道路生态学的研究成果,系统论述了与道路交通规划建设相关的生态策略：（1）在区域尺度上,依据生态敏感度规划路网密度、保持大型自然空间的生态完整性、提倡非生态敏感地段的交通集中、增加路网的区域水平渗透性;（2）在路段规模上,自然空间的生境避让、保持重要地段的自然连续性、打破交通生态瓶颈、减少道路交通的环境影响、补偿道路建设的生态影响等。这些策略旨在为可持续道路交通提供基于生态合理性的规划原则与方法。     

Effectiveness of Vegetation Surrogates for Parasitoid Wasps in Reserve Selection

Abstract:  Selecting suitable nature reserves is a continuing challenge in conservation, particularly for target groups that are time-consuming to survey, species rich, and extinction prone. One such group is the parasitoid Hymenoptera, which have been excluded from conservation planning. If basic characteristics of habitats or vegetation could be used as reliable surrogates of specific target taxa, this would greatly facilitate appropriate reserve selection. We identified a range of potential habitat indicators of the species richness of pimpline parasitoid communities (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Pimplinae, Diacritinae, Poemeniinae) and tested their efficiency at capturing the observed diversity in a group of small woodlands in the agricultural landscape of the Vale of York (United Kingdom). Eight of the 18 vegetation-based reserve-selection strategies were significantly better at parasitoid species inclusion than random selection of areas. The best strategy maximized richness of tree species over the entire reserve network through complementarity. This strategy omitted only 2–3 species more (out of 38 captured in the landscape as a whole) than selections derived from the parasitoid survey data. In general, strategies worked equally well at capturing species richness and rarity. Our results suggest that vegetation data as a surrogate for species richness could prove an informative tool in parasitoid conservation, but further work is needed to test how broadly applicable these indicators may be.     

富阳地区水资源自然支持力分析评价

以富阳地区为例,采用主成分分析法,寻找出影响水资源自然支持力的主要驱动因子;再根据富阳地区某一时段内的水资源量(因变量)与其驱动力(自变量)之间存在的线性关系,利用统计资料,对可能引起水资源自然支持力变化的各种驱动力因子进行多变量分析。得出,对富阳地区水资源自然支持力影响较大的指标是水资源可利用量、地表水资源量、地下水资源量、水资源的剩余开采程度和化学需氧量。从计算结果可以看出:富阳地区的水资源自然支持力总体来看在逐年减弱,原因在于近年来富阳地区造纸行业异军突起,用水量急剧加大,总污水排放量增多,使得水资源支持力系统变得越来越脆弱。最后,针对目前的水资源现况提出了一些提高富阳地区水资源自然支持力的措施。     

加强生态环境保护建设走可持续发展道路

加强生态环境保护建设走可持续发展道路的客观依据是人与自然必须协调发展。如何正确对待人与自然之间的关系问题,实质上是一个如何正确处理人类社会实践的问题。本文列举了我国生态环境恶化的现状,分析了造成这种状况的主要原因。同时就我国生态环境保护建设中应如何增强全民的生态环境保护意识、依靠科技进步、建立和完善生态环境保护建设的法律及监督体系进行了全面阐述,提出了在整体上形成生态环境保护建设工作机制,走可持续发展道路的对策与措施。     

海峡两岸自然保护区比较研究

８０ 年代以来,海峡两岸在自然保护区建设方面都取得了较大成绩,但双方交流甚少,缺乏相互了解。本文重点对海峡两岸的自然保护区建设现状以及管理体制、分类系统、管理状况等进行了比较分析,并就如何进一步加强相互交流和促进中国自然保护区事业的发展提出相应的对策建议。     

Biomimicry: How the environment serves as a guide for technological advancements

Multiple ecological tactics, like the ones described here, can be imitated to strongly affect these two components in the construction sector. This article provides an in-depth examination of the literature on biomimicry-based strategies intended to enhance building designs. This analysis is motivated by the rising need for energy legislation to achieve future local goals and provide a framework for use in Panama. These biomimicry-based methods have undergone more review and evaluation, and the incorporation of organism-based design for three of Panama's climate types has been proposed. Therefore, a SWOT analysis assisted in realizing the full potential that biomimicry-based techniques might have in raising the likelihood of satisfying local and international regulatory standards. In order to design constructions using biomimicry, multidisciplinary collaboration is required. This gives a competitive edge for better-trained human resources and expands horizons in the conventional construction industry. Finally, the analysis provided here might act as the preliminary step for the additional technical assessment using numerical and experimental procedures.