Associations of Grassland Bird Communities with Black‐Tailed Prairie Dogs in the North American Great Plains

Colonial burrowing herbivores can modify vegetation structure, create belowground refugia, and generate landscape heterogeneity, thereby affecting the distribution and abundance of associated species. Black‐tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) are such a species, and they may strongly affect the abundance and composition of grassland bird communities. We examined how prairie dog colonies in the North American Great Plains affect bird species and community composition. Areas occupied by prairie dogs, characterized by low percent cover of grass, high percent cover of bare soil, and low vegetation height and density, supported a breeding bird community that differed substantially from surrounding areas that lacked prairie dogs. Bird communities on colony sites had significantly greater densities of large‐bodied carnivores (Burrowing Owls [Athene cunicularia], Mountain Plovers, [Charadrius montanus], and Killdeer [Charadrius vociferus]) and omnivores consisting of Horned Larks (Eremophila alpestris) and McCown's Longspurs (Rhynchophanes mccownii) than bird communities off colony sites. Bird communities off colony sites were dominated by small‐bodied insectivorous sparrows (Ammodramus spp.) and omnivorous Lark Buntings (Calamospiza melanocorys), Vesper Sparrows (Pooecetes gramineus), and Lark Sparrows (Chondestes grammacus). Densities of 3 species of conservation concern and 1 game species were significantly higher on colony sites than off colony sites, and the strength of prairie dog effects was consistent across the northern Great Plains. Vegetation modification by prairie dogs sustains a diverse suite of bird species in these grasslands. Collectively, our findings and those from previous studies show that areas in the North American Great Plains with prairie dog colonies support higher densities of at least 9 vertebrate species than sites without colonies. Prairie dogs affect habitat for these species through multiple pathways, including creation of belowground refugia, supply of prey for specialized predators, modification of vegetation structure within colonies, and increased landscape heterogeneity. Asociaciones de Comunidades de Aves de Pastizales con Perros de la Pradera en la Gran Llanura de Norte América     

雅安市荥经县土地生态服务价值变化分析

采用生态服务价值法，以土地利用变更数据为基础，对四川省雅安市荥经县2001--2010年土地生态服务价值的变化情况进行了具体分析。结果表明，全县的土地利用环境整体朝有利方向发展，但是各地类和各单项生态服务价值还存在着较明显差异。该结果对当地新一轮土地利用总体规划编制具有一定的指导意义。     

Influence of Bioenergy Crop Production and Climate Change on Ecosystem Services

Land use change can significantly affect the provision of ecosystem services and the effects could be exacerbated by projected climate change. We quantify ecosystem services of bioenergy‐based land use change and estimate the potential changes of ecosystem services due to climate change projections. We considered 17 bioenergy‐based scenarios with Miscanthus, switchgrass, and corn stover as candidate bioenergy feedstock. Soil and Water Assessment Tool simulations of biomass/grain yield, hydrology, and water quality were used to quantify ecosystem services freshwater provision (FWPI), food (FPI) and fuel provision, erosion regulation (ERI), and flood regulation (FRI). Nine climate projections from Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase‐3 were used to quantify the potential climate change variability. Overall, ecosystem services of heavily row cropped Wildcat Creek watershed were lower than St. Joseph River watershed which had more forested and perennial pasture lands. The provision of ecosystem services for both study watersheds were improved with bioenergy production scenarios. Miscanthus in marginal lands of Wildcat Creek (9% of total area) increased FWPI by 27% and ERI by 14% and decreased FPI by 12% from the baseline. For St. Joseph watershed, Miscanthus in marginal lands (18% of total area) improved FWPI by 87% and ERI by 23% while decreasing FPI by 46%. The relative impacts of land use change were considerably larger than climate change impacts in this paper. Editor's note : This paper is part of the featured series on SWAT Applications for Emerging Hydrologic and Water Quality Challenges. See the February 2017 issue for the introduction and background to the series.     

四川省草地生态系统破坏损失价值评估

本文建立了四川省草地生态系统服务价值评价指标体系,初步估算其年度服务价值,并通过确定人为破坏率来评估四川省草地生态系统破坏损失价值。结果表明,目前,四川省由于人为破坏造成草地生态破坏损失达到370.55亿元,占2010年全省地区GDP的2.16%,其中,水土保持贡献率最大,达到34.52%。过度放牧是造成四川省草地生态系统破坏的重要原因。     

成渝经济区生态系统服务功能重要性评价

选取了生物多样性保护重要性、水源涵养重要性和土壤保持重要性3个重要生态系统服务功能进行分析评价,综合评价了成渝经济区生态系统服务功能的重要性及其区域分异规律. 结果表明:成渝经济区极重要区面积为19 244.00 km2>/sup>,占区域总面积的9.25%,主要为生物核心栖息地、极重要水源涵养区以及土壤保持极重要区;重要区面积为46 814.76 km2>/sup>,占区域总面积的22.56%;一般重要区面积为141 344.08 km2>/sup>,占区域总面积的68.19%.      

藏西北高寒草原生态资产价值评估

论文基于遥感估算的生态系统净初级生产力(NPP)和植被覆盖率,测算了1992、1995、2000和2006年4期藏西北高寒草原的生态资产价值,并分析了其时空分布规律。结果表明:藏西北地区生态资产在空间格局上由东南向西北逐渐减小。从生态资产构成来看,藏西北地区的生态资产主要体现在大气调节(45%)和涵养水源(40%)两方面,其次为生产有机物质的价值(11%),水土保持和营养物质循环所占比例较小。从生态资产变化趋势来看,藏西北地区生态资产总值由1992年的616.1×10⁸元增长到2006年的1 637.2×10⁸元,单位面积生态资产均值平均每年增加1.06×10⁴元/km²。考虑到多源遥感数据之间存在一定程度的不一致性以及遥感时间序列数据较短等原因,论文所反映的藏西北地区生态资产变化趋势可能比实际情况偏高,其结果还有待于进一步佐证。     

玛曲县土地利用/覆盖变化对区域生态系统服务价值的影响

运用GIS和遥感技术分析了玛曲县1975、1990和2005年的土地利用/覆盖特征,在此基础上使用生态价值系数(C)计算出该县生态系统服务价值.结果表明,该区域1975~2005年间生态系统服务价值从129.713亿元减少到123.961亿元,共损失5.75亿元,且损失量和损失幅度呈持续增加趋势;该区域生态系统服务价值中,废物处理价值最高,气候调节价值次之,原材料价值最低,且30年间各服务类型的价值均呈减小趋势;玛曲县1975、1990和2005年人均生态系统服务价值分别为58.96,42.80,29.51万元,表明玛曲县由于人口的增长,环境压力呈持续增大趋势.草地和湿地退化是导致该区域生态系统服务价值减少的主要原因.CS检验说明本研究所选C值较为合理.     

巢湖流域农田生态系统磷代谢分析

采用物质流分析方法,建立巢湖流域农业种植系统的静态磷代谢分析模型,结合统计数据和文献参数,估算了2008年巢湖流域农田生态系统排水含磷来源分配以及流域各县(市)农田生态系统排水的磷含量.结果表明,巢湖流域整个农田生态系统的排向水体的含磷总量为14125.1158t,其中化肥和还田畜禽粪便是巢湖流域农田生态系统磷输入的主要来源,其排入水体的含磷总量分别为37172.0944t和26230.2336t;而肥西县与合肥市辖区是农田种植对水环境影响最大的区域,其农田生态系统排水含磷总量分别为4077.6575t和2849.133t.     

Application of an evolutionary algorithm to the inverse parameter estimation of an individual-based model

Inverse parameter estimation of individual-based models (IBMs) is a research area which is still in its infancy, in a context where conventional statistical methods are not well suited to confront this type of models with data. In this paper, we propose an original evolutionary algorithm which is designed for the calibration of complex IBMs, i.e. characterized by high stochasticity, parameter uncertainty and numerous non-linear interactions between parameters and model output. Our algorithm corresponds to a variant of the population-based incremental learning (PBIL) genetic algorithm, with a specific “optimal individual” operator. The method is presented in detail and applied to the individual-based model OSMOSE. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated and estimated parameters are compared with an independent manual calibration. The results show that automated and convergent methods for inverse parameter estimation are a significant improvement to existing ad hoc methods for the calibration of IBMs.     

Obscuring Ecosystem Function with Application of the Ecosystem Services Concept

Abstract: Conservationists commonly have framed ecological concerns in economic terms to garner political support for conservation and to increase public interest in preserving global biodiversity. Beginning in the early 1980s, conservation biologists adapted neoliberal economics to reframe ecosystem functions and related biodiversity as ecosystem services to humanity. Despite the economic success of programs such as the Catskill/Delaware watershed management plan in the United States and the creation of global carbon exchanges, today's marketplace often fails to adequately protect biodiversity. We used a Marxist critique to explain one reason for this failure and to suggest a possible, if partial, response. Reframing ecosystem functions as economic services does not address the political problem of commodification. Just as it obscures the labor of human workers, commodification obscures the importance of the biota (ecosystem workers) and related abiotic factors that contribute to ecosystem functions. This erasure of work done by ecosystems impedes public understanding of biodiversity. Odum and Odum's radical suggestion to use the language of ecosystems (i.e., emergy or energy memory) to describe economies, rather than using the language of economics (i.e., services) to describe ecosystems, reverses this erasure of the ecosystem worker. Considering the current dominance of economic forces, however, implementing such solutions would require social changes similar in magnitude to those that occurred during the 1960s. Niklas Luhmann argues that such substantive, yet rapid, social change requires synergy among multiple societal function systems (i.e., economy, education, law, politics, religion, science), rather than reliance on a single social sphere, such as the economy. Explicitly presenting ecosystem services as discreet and incomplete aspects of ecosystem functions not only allows potential economic and environmental benefits associated with ecosystem services, but also enables the social and political changes required to ensure valuation of ecosystem functions and related biodiversity in ways beyond their measurement on an economic scale.