Mercury accumulation and dynamics in montane forests along an elevation gradient in Southwest China

Understanding atmospheric mercury (Hg) accumulation in remote montane forests is critical to assess the Hg ecological risk to wildlife and human health. To quantify impacts of vegetation, climatic and topographic factors on Hg accumulation in montane forests, we assessed the Hg distribution and stoichiometric relations among Hg, carbon (C), and nitrogen (N) in four forest types along the elevation of Mt. Gongga. Our results show that Hg concentration in plant tissues follows the descending order of litter > leaf, bark > root > branch > bole wood, indicating the importance of atmospheric Hg uptake by foliage for Hg accumulation in plants. The foliar Hg/C (from 237.0 ± 171.4 to 56.8 ± 27.7 µg/kg) and Hg/N (from 7.5 ± 3.9 to 2.5 ± 1.2 mg/kg) both decrease along the elevation. These elevation gradients are caused by the heterogeneity of vegetation uptake of atmospheric Hg and the variation of atmospheric Hg° concentrations at different altitudes. Organic soil Hg accumulation is controlled by forest types, topographic and climatic factors, with the highest concentration in the mixed forest (244.9 ± 55.7 µg/kg) and the lowest value in the alpine forest (151.9 ± 44.5 µg/kg). Further analysis suggests that soil Hg is positively correlated to C (r² = 0.66) and N (r² = 0.57), and Hg/C and Hg/N both increase with the soil depth. These stoichiometric relations highlight the combined effects from environmental and climatic factors which mediating legacy Hg accumulation and selective Hg absorption during processes of organic soil mineralization.     

川中丘陵地区人工桤柏混交林演替过程中有机碳储量变化——以四川省盐亭县为例

川中丘陵地区从20世纪70年代起开始大规模营造人工桤柏混交林，使该区土地利用发生明显变化。在估算人工桤柏混交林不同生长阶段生物量和NPP（净初级生产力）的基础上，探讨了人工桤柏混交林生长过程中年固定有机碳数量以及林地植被有机碳密度的动态变化，并将同期人工桤柏混交林林地植被与农田植被年固定有机碳数量和有机碳密度进行比较。结果表明，该区人工桤柏混交林林地植被早期年固定有机碳的数量比较小，需要到7～8 a树龄，其年固定有机碳数量才与同期耕地植被年固定有机碳数量相当。随着树龄的增加，人工桤柏混交林的植被有机碳密度上升较快，碳汇效应不断增强。3～4 a以上树龄的人工桤柏混交林植被有机碳密度大于同期农田植被的有机碳密度，成熟林（20 a树龄）林地植被有机碳密度是同期农田植被有机碳密度的5倍多。从改善生态环境和减少碳排放的角度看，该区林地合理利用的措施主要包括加强现有人工桤柏混交林的保护和管理，抓好林木的贮存式管理，积极研究和探索人工桤柏混交林改造和合理利用对策等     

Synergies and trade-offs among integrated conservation approaches in Mexico

Integrated conservation approaches (ICAs) are employed by governments, communities, and nongovernmental organizations worldwide seeking to achieve outcomes with dual benefits for biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation. Although ICAs are frequently implemented concurrently, interactions among ICAs and the synergies or trade-offs that result are rarely considered during program design, implementation, and evaluation. In support of more deliberate and effective use of ICAs, we examined interactions among four well-known strategies: biosphere reserves (BRs), voluntary protected areas (VPAs), payments for ecosystem services (PES), and community forest management (CFM). Through a comparative case study, we analyzed interactions among spatially or temporally clustered ICAs implemented on communally held and managed lands in three ecologically and socioeconomically distinct regions of Mexico. Our research methods combined policy analysis with data gathered through participant observation and semistructured interviews (n = 78) and focus groups (n = 5) with government officials, implementers, and participants involved in ICAs in 28 communities. Despite the significant differences among the regions in which they were implemented, we found that key actors at each level of involvement generally perceived interactions among ICAs as synergistic. The PES programs were perceived to strengthen protected areas by reducing forest cover loss in and around BRs, fostering proconservation attitudes, and incentivizing the establishment of VPAs. Communities that invested PES income in CFM were motivated to conserve forests beyond the duration of PES programs, and CFM in buffer zones was perceived to strengthen BRs by maintaining forest cover and generating income for communities. We also identified key social and environmental factors that can influence these interaction effects among ICAs. Based on these findings, we recommend further study of ICA interactions and intentionally complementary policy design to maximize positive environmental and social outcomes.     

Using soundscapes to detect variable degrees of human influence on tropical forests in Papua New Guinea

There is global concern about tropical forest degradation, in part, because of the associated loss of biodiversity. Communities and indigenous people play a fundamental role in tropical forest management and are often efficient at preventing forest degradation. However, monitoring changes in biodiversity due to degradation, especially at a scale appropriate to local tropical forest management, is plagued by difficulties, including the need for expert training, inconsistencies across observers, and lack of baseline or reference data. We used a new biodiversity remote‐sensing technology, the recording of soundscapes, to test whether the acoustic saturation of a tropical forest in Papua New Guinea decreases as land‐use intensity by the communities that manage the forest increases. We sampled soundscapes continuously for 24 hours at 34 sites in different land‐use zones of 3 communities. Land‐use zones where forest cover was fully retained had significantly higher soundscape saturation during peak acoustic activity times (i.e., dawn and dusk chorus) compared with land‐use types with fragmented forest cover. We conclude that, in Papua New Guinea, the relatively simple measure of soundscape saturation may provide a cheap, objective, reproducible, and effective tool for monitoring tropical forest deviation from an intact state, particularly if it is used to detect the presence of intact dawn and dusk choruses.     

Use of Historical Logging Patterns to Identify Disproportionately Logged Ecosystems within Temperate Rainforests of Southeastern Alaska

The forests of southeastern Alaska remain largely intact and contain a substantial proportion of Earth's remaining old‐growth temperate rainforest. Nonetheless, industrial‐scale logging has occurred since the 1950s within a relatively narrow range of forest types that has never been quantified at a regional scale. We analyzed historical patterns of logging from 1954 through 2004 and compared the relative rates of change among forest types, landform associations, and biogeographic provinces. We found a consistent pattern of disproportionate logging at multiple scales, including large‐tree stands and landscapes with contiguous productive old‐growth forests. The highest rates of change were among landform associations and biogeographic provinces that originally contained the largest concentrations of productive old growth (i.e., timber volume >46.6 m³/ha). Although only 11.9% of productive old‐growth forests have been logged region wide, large‐tree stands have been reduced by at least 28.1%, karst forests by 37%, and landscapes with the highest volume of contiguous old growth by 66.5%. Within some island biogeographic provinces, loss of rare forest types may place local viability of species dependent on old growth at risk of extirpation. Examination of historical patterns of change among ecological forest types can facilitate planning for conservation of biodiversity and sustainable use of forest resources. El Uso de Patrones Históricos de Tala para Identificar Ecosistemas Talados Desproporcionadamente en Bosques Lluviosos Templados del Sureste de Alaska Albert & Schoen 11‐839     

The importance of agricultural lands for Himalayan birds in winter

The impacts of land‐use change on biodiversity in the Himalayas are poorly known, notwithstanding widespread deforestation and agricultural intensification in this highly biodiverse region. Although intact primary forests harbor many Himalayan birds during breeding, a large number of bird species use agricultural lands during winter. We assessed how Himalayan bird species richness, abundance, and composition during winter are affected by forest loss stemming from agriculture and grazing. Bird surveys along 12 elevational transects within primary forest, low‐intensity agriculture, mixed subsistence agriculture, and intensively grazed pastures in winter revealed that bird species richness and abundance were greatest in low‐intensity and mixed agriculture, intermediate in grazed pastures, and lowest in primary forest at both local and landscape scales; over twice as many species and individuals were recorded in low‐intensity agriculture than in primary forest. Bird communities in primary forests were distinct from those in all other land‐use classes, but only 4 species were unique to primary forests. Low‐, medium‐, and high‐intensity agriculture harbored 32 unique species. Of the species observed in primary forest, 80% had equal or greater abundance in low‐intensity agricultural lands, underscoring the value of these lands in retaining diverse community assemblages at high densities in winter. Among disturbed landscapes, bird species richness and abundance declined as land‐use intensity increased, especially in high‐intensity pastures. Our results suggest that agricultural landscapes are important for most Himalayan bird species in winter. But agricultural intensification—especially increased grazing—will likely result in biodiversity losses. Given that forest reserves alone may inadequately conserve Himalayan birds in winter, comprehensive conservation strategies in the region must go beyond protecting intact primary forests and ensure that low‐intensity agricultural lands are not extensively converted to high‐intensity pastures.     

The contribution of policy,law, management,research, and advocacy failings to the recent extinctions of three Australian vertebrate species

Extinctions typically have ecological drivers, such as habitat loss. However, extinction events are also influenced by policy and management settings that may be antithetical to biodiversity conservation, inadequate to prevent extinction, insufficiently resourced, or poorly implemented. Three endemic Australian vertebrate species—the Christmas Island pipistrelle (Pipistrellus murrayi), Bramble Cay melomys (Melomys rubicola), and Christmas Island forest skink (Emoia nativitatis)—became extinct from 2009 to 2014. All 3 extinctions were predictable and probably preventable. We sought to identify the policy, management, research, and other shortcomings that contributed to their extinctions or failed to prevent them. These included a lack within national environmental legislation and policy of explicit commitment to the prevention of avoidable extinctions, lack of explicit accountability, inadequate resources for conservation (particularly for species not considered charismatic or not of high taxonomic distinctiveness), inadequate biosecurity, a slow and inadequate process for listing species as threatened, recovery planning that failed to consider the need for emergency response, inability of researchers to identify major threatening factors, lack of public engagement and involvement in conservation decisions, and limited advocacy. From these 3 cases, we recommend: environmental policy explicitly seeks to prevent extinction of any species and provides a clear chain of accountability and an explicit requirement for public inquiry following any extinction; implementation of a timely and comprehensive process for listing species as threatened and for recovery planning; reservation alone not be assumed sufficient to maintain species; enhancement of biosecurity measures; allocation of sufficient resources to undertake actions necessary to prevent extinction; monitoring be considered a pivotal component of the conservation response; research provides timely identification of factors responsible for decline and of the risk of extinction; effective dissemination of research results; advocacy by an informed public for the recovery of threatened species; and public involvement in governance of the recovery process. These recommendations should be applicable broadly to reduce the likelihood and incidence of extinctions.     

陕西渭北旱塬区农田土壤有机质空间预测方法

准确预测土壤有机质(SOM)含量的空间分布对于改善土壤质量、提高区域土壤管理水平具有重要意义.为探索预测陕西渭北旱塬区农田SOM含量的最优模型,借助地理探测器选取与SOM含量密切相关的影响因子作为建模的协变量,选用普通克里格方法(OK)、地理加权回归模型(GWR)、偏最小二乘回归模型(PLS)、地理加权回归扩展模型(G...     

井冈山重要森林生态系统碳密度对比

采用生物量模型与实际测量相结合的方法,从植被层(包括乔木与林下植被)、枯落层和土壤层(表层1 m)比较了井冈山5种重要森林生态系统碳密度. 结果表明:①森林生态系统平均碳密度为29.047 kg/m2,常绿阔叶林>针阔混交林>人工杉木林>落叶阔叶林>毛竹林;②土壤碳密度平均值为22.453 kg/m2,占森林总碳密度的77.3%,5种森林类型土壤碳密度排序与总碳密度相同,且差异较小;③植被层碳密度差异最大,针阔混交林碳密度最大(12.039 kg/m2),是碳密度最小的落叶阔叶林(1.322 kg/m2)的9.1倍;④乔木层碳密度排序为针阔混交林>常绿阔叶林>人工杉木林>毛竹林>落叶阔叶林,乔木地上碳密度占乔木总碳密度的61.4%(人工杉木林)～75.8%(落叶阔叶林);⑤灌木层总碳密度差异大,常绿阔叶林和落叶阔叶林的灌木总碳密度分别为最大(0.153 kg/m2)和最小(0.027 kg/m2),前者是后者的5.6倍,灌木地上碳密度占灌木总碳密度的78.3%(针阔混交林)～81.0%(常绿阔叶林);⑥草本层总碳密度差异较小,在0.074 kg/m2(人工杉木林)～0.108 kg/m2(毛竹林)之间,地下碳密度略高于地上;⑦枯落层碳密度最低,不同森林类型间枯落层碳密度差异不大,在0.064～0.084 kg/m2之间.      

非木质林产品生产的投入要素及影响因素实证分析

在南方集体林区,非木质林产品资源成为农户增收的主要来源之一,但在农户非木质林产品经营中需要考虑投入要素的有效性以及生产资源如何合理配置问题。论文以临安市山核桃产业和仙居县杨梅产业为例,分别选取两个县(市)共167户林农2009年横截面数据为样本,在农户微观层面运用C-D生产函数,实证分析了投入要素及影响因素在非木质林产品生产中的作用。结果表明,农药化肥投入、地域因素都对两个地区非木质林产品生产有显著影响,而劳动力投入和林业劳动力人均种植面积因素则只对山核桃生产有显著影响。笔者认为需要通过积极推广农户从事非木质林产品的经营,重视农药化肥生产资料投入以及促使劳动力季节性回流等措施促进非木质林产品经营。