New Approaches to the Assessment of Structural Organization of Communities in Springtails (Hexapoda: Collembola)

Trends in the diversity of structural organization of soil animal communities are analyzed using an example of the taxocenes of springtails, small soil arthropods. Different methods for describing the structure of communities are considered. On the basis of parameters characterizing specialization and stability of communities, several patterns of their organization in springtails are distinguished. It is shown that the new approach offers new opportunities in forecasting community dynamics under the effects of natural and anthropogenic factors.     

Impact of a small city on the structure of small mammal fauna in forests of the northeastern Moscow region

Forests in and around the reserve located near the city of Chernogolovka (50 km northeast of Moscow), forests adjoining the city, and urban forests were examined during the period from 1992 to 2004. Differences between forests of the reserve proved to be less significant than those resulting from the impact of urban factors. The influence of a small city was found to change the structure of communities of small mammals in surrounding forests by reducing their diversity and enhancing the dominance of ecologically restrained synanthropic species.     

On Characteristics of Production and Destruction Processes in Lowland and Mountain Tundras of the Extreme North

Parameters of the production and destruction processes in different types of tundras are compared. It is shown that there is a fairly high degree of correspondence between the structure of tundra communities and the ecotopes occupied by them. On the other hand, typologically similar lowland and mountain tundras markedly differ in the functional respect. The rate of decomposition processes is higher under environmental conditions of the mountain tundra belt.     

浑河底泥古菌群落结构季节性变化特征

为探究不同水期河流底泥古菌群落结构特征,选取浑河底泥为研究对象,并于2014年4月(枯水期),9月(丰水期),11月(平水期)对浑河流域进行样品采样,通过PCR-DGGE技术获得3个水期古菌的DGGE指纹图谱,并进行数据分析.结果表明,平水期的古菌多样性和种群丰度都要好于枯水期和丰水期,多样性指数均高于2.10,种群丰度均高于0.94,且上游到下游均匀度波动平缓,数值维持在0.90左右,说明平水期浑河底泥古菌群落结构变化相对稳定.聚类分析结果表明,不同水期浑河底泥古菌群落结构多样性并没有明显的地区特征,但3个水期位于城市段的采样点的古菌亲缘性较为接近.冗余梯度分析(RDA)结果表明,枯水期时水中BOD5、p H和DO是影响古菌群落的主要因素;丰水期时水中的p H和NO-3-N是影响古菌群落的主要因素;平水期时水中的TP和NO-2-N是影响古菌群落的主要因素.     

Turning Scientific Approaches into Practical Conservation Actions: The Case of Comunidad Indigena de Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro, Mexico

Optimum natural resource management and biodiversity conservation are desirable goals. These, however, often exclude each other, since maximum economic benefits have promoted drastic reductions in biodiversity throughout the world. This dilemma confronts local stakeholders, who usually go for maximizing economic inputs, whereas other social (e.g., academic) sectors are favor conservation practices. In this paper we describe the way two scientific approaches—landscape and participatory research—were used to develop sound and durable land use scenarios. These two approaches included expert knowledge of both social and environmental conditions in indigenous communities. Our major emphasis was given to detect spatially explicit land use scenarios and capacity building in order to construct a decision support system operated by stakeholders of the Comunidad Indigena de Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro in Mexico. The system for decision-making was fed with data from inventories of both abiotic and biotic biodiversity components. All research, implementation, and monitoring activities were conducted in close collaboration with members of the indigenous community. As a major result we obtained a number of forest alternative uses that favor emerging markets and make this indigenous community less dependent on a single market. Furthermore, skilled members of the community are now running the automated system for decision-making. In conclusion, our results were better expressed as products with direct benefits in local livelihoods rather than pure academic outputs.     

Effects of a tropical cyclone on the drinking-water quality of a remote Pacific island

The effect of a cyclone (Ami, January 2003) on drinking-water quality on the island of Vanua Levu, Fiji was investigated. Following the cyclone nearly three-quarters of the samples analysed did not conform to World Health Organisation (WHO) guideline values for safe drinking-water in terms of chlorine residual, total and faecal coliforms, and turbidity. Turbidity and total coliform levels significantly increased (up 56 and 62 per cent, respectively) from pre-cyclone levels, which was likely due to the large amounts of silt and debris entering water-supply sources during the cyclone. The utility found it difficult to maintain a reliable supply of treated water in the aftermath of the disaster. Communities were unaware they were drinking water that had not been adequately treated. Circumstances permitted this cyclone to be used as a case study to assess whether a simple paper-strip water-quality test (the hydrogen sulphide, H(2)S) kit could be distributed and used for community-based monitoring following such a disaster event to better protect public health. The H(2)S test results correlated well with faecal and total coliform results as found in previous studies. A small percentage of samples (about 10 per cent) tested positive for faecal and total coliforms but did not test positive in the H(2)S test. It was concluded that the H(2)S test would be well suited to wider use, especially in the absence of water-quality monitoring capabilities for outer island groups as it is inexpensive and easy to use, thus enabling communities and community health workers with minimal training to test their own water supplies without outside assistance. The importance of public education before and after natural disasters is also discussed.     

Forest Restoration and Forest Communities: Have Local Communities Benefited from Forest Service Contracting of Ecosystem Management?

Conservation-based development programs have sought to create economic opportunities for people negatively impacted by biological diversity protection. The USDA Forest Service, for example, developed policies and programs to create contracting opportunities for local communities to restore public lands to replace jobs lost from reduced timber harvest. This article examines 12 years of Forest Service land management contracting in western Oregon, Washington, and northern California to evaluate if contractors located in communities near national forests have been awarded more land management contracts and contract value over time. We find that land management contracting spending has declined dramatically and, once we control for intervening factors, we find that local contractors have received a smaller proportion of land management contracts over time.     

毛竹混交林主要种群多维生态位特征

应用生态位空间分割法，分别考虑资源利用率与否测定毛竹混交林多维资源空间中主要种群多维生态位宽度及多维生态位重叠，结果表明：考虑资源利用率与否对多维生态位宽度的测定有较大的影响，毛竹混交林中主要种群的多维生态位宽度与物种的生物学特性及竞争力密切相关，同一生境中物种的多维生态位重叠可通过生态位分化而减少竞争，研究毛竹混交林主要种群多维生态位特征对毛竹混交林营造具有指导作用．表8参24．     

铜尾矿复垦后土壤微生物活性及其群落功能多样性研究

对安徽铜陵五公里尾矿区三叶草复垦后的土壤微生物活性和群落的功能多样性研究表明,复垦后每克土壤微生物细菌数已达2.3×107个,并存在一定量耐Cu2 、Cd2 、Zn2 、Cr6 、Pb2 、Ni2 的菌株,但种类少,主要为芽孢杆菌属、假单胞菌属和短杆菌属。BIOLOG测试结果显示,铜镉重金属离子的复合污染使土壤微生物群落丰富度降低;外源耐铜镉微生物菌剂的添加使尾矿区土壤微生物群落代谢剖面(AWCD)变化明显,提高微生物对单一碳源底物的利用能力,增加利用不同碳底物的微生物数量,减轻了重金属污染引起的土壤微生物群落功能多样性的下降,为尾矿区生境加速恢复提供一条有效途径。     

The Northwest Forest Plan as a Model for Broad-Scale Ecosystem Management: a Social Perspective

Abstract:  I evaluated the Northwest Forest Plan as a model for ecosystem management to achieve social and economic goals in communities located around federal forests in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. My assessment is based on the results of socioeconomic monitoring conducted to evaluate progress in achieving the plan's goals during its first 10 years. The assessment criteria I used related to economic development and social justice. The Northwest Forest Plan incorporated economic development and social justice goals in its design. Socioeconomic monitoring results indicate that plan implementation to achieve those goals met with mixed success, however. I hypothesize there are two important reasons the plan's socioeconomic goals were not fully met: some of the key assumptions underlying the implementation strategies were flawed and agency institutional capacity to achieve the goals was limited. To improve broad-scale ecosystem management in the future, decision makers should ensure that natural-resource management policies are socially acceptable; land-management agencies have the institutional capacity to achieve their management goals; and social and economic management goals (and the strategies for implementing them) are based on accurate assumptions about the relations between the resources being managed and well-being in local communities. One of the difficulties of incorporating economic development and social justice goals in conservation initiatives is finding ways to link conservation behavior and development activities. From a social perspective, the Northwest Forest Plan as a model for ecosystem management is perhaps most valuable in its attempt to link the biophysical and socioeconomic goals of forest management by creating high-quality jobs for residents of forest communities in forest stewardship and ecosystem management work, thereby contributing to conservation.