Animal agency in wildlife conservation and management

Wildlife conservation and management (WCM) practices have been historically drawn from a wide variety of academic fields, yet practitioners have been slow to engage with emerging conversations about animals as complex beings, whose individuality and sociality influence their relationships with humans. We propose an explicit acknowledgement of wild, nonhuman animals as active participants in WCM. We examined 190 studies of WCM interventions and outcomes to highlight 3 common assumptions that underpin many present approaches to WCM: animal behaviors are rigid and homogeneous; wildlife exhibit idealized wild behavior and prefer pristine habitats; and human–wildlife relationships are of marginal or secondary importance relative to nonhuman interactions. We found that these management interventions insufficiently considered animal learning, decision-making, individuality, sociality, and relationships with humans and led to unanticipated detrimental outcomes. To address these shortcomings, we synthesized theoretical advances in animal behavioral sciences, animal geographies, and animal legal theory that may help conservation professionals reconceptualize animals and their relationships with humans. Based on advances in these fields, we constructed the concept of animal agency, which we define as the ability of animals to actively influence conservation and management outcomes through their adaptive, context-specific, and complex behaviors that are predicated on their sentience, individuality, lived experiences, cognition, sociality, and cultures in ways that shape and reshape shared human–wildlife cultures, spaces, and histories. Conservation practices, such as compassionate conservation, convivial conservation, and ecological justice, incorporate facets of animal agency. Animal agency can be incorporated in conservation problem-solving by assessing the ways in which agency contributes to species’ survival and by encouraging more adaptive and collaborative decision-making among human and nonhuman stakeholders.     

Effects of Amazonian flying rivers on frog biodiversity and populations in the Atlantic rainforest

Given the speed at which humans are changing the climate, species with high degrees of endemism may not have time to avoid extinction through adaptation. We investigated through teleconnection analysis the origin of rainfall that determines the phylogenetic diversity of rainforest frogs and the effects of microclimate differences in shaping the morphological traits of isolated populations (which contribute to greater phylogenetic diversity and speciation). We also investigated through teleconnection analysis how deforestation in Amazonia can affect ecosystem services that are fundamental to maintaining the climate of the Atlantic rainforest biodiversity hotspot. Seasonal winds known as flying rivers carry water vapor from Amazonia to the Atlantic Forest, and the breaking of this ecosystem service could lead Atlantic Forest species to population decline and extinction in the short term. Our results suggest that the selection of morphological traits that shape Atlantic Forest frog diversity and their population dynamics are influenced by the Amazonian flying rivers. Our results also suggest that the increases of temperature anomalies in the Atlantic Ocean due to global warming and in the Amazon forest due to deforestation are already breaking this cycle and threaten the biodiversity of the Atlantic Forest hotspot.     

报废汽车拆解工艺的比对与研究

报废汽车具有良好的资源属性,处理企业选取合理的处理工艺对其进行处置,不仅能够提高经济效益,也可以有效保护生态环境。通过对当前报废汽车处理工艺技术进行分析比对,针对不同拆解企业提出相应的工艺选取建议,为产业发展提供帮助。     

高效率颗粒物微物理模型简介与重污染过程应用分析

中国细颗粒物(PM2.5)导致的空气污染和雾霾天气问题越来越突出,在低层对流层中很多地方都有显著的二次颗粒物生成过程,因此对颗粒物物理化学转化过程的研究具有重要意义,其转化过程对空气质量模式模拟和预报的准确性有重要影响。高效率颗粒物微物理(APM)模型经过近20多年的研究和发展,在全球化学传输模型(GEOS-Chem)、区域性气象和化学预报模型(WRF-Chem)通用地球系统模型(CESM-CAM5)等气象及环境空气质量预报模型中取得了很好的应用验证,能够在全球/区域等不同尺度对粒子生成、长大、凝聚、消除等微物理过程以及气溶胶光学厚度(AOD)、直接/间接辐射强迫等进行模拟。应用GEOS-Chem-APM模式模拟了2014年2月京津冀区域的重污染过程。结果显示,湿度模拟的准确性对其他物理和污染物浓度等模拟结果有重要作用;2月20—26日的重污染过程模拟结果与实际观测较为吻合,主要污染特点是较高的湿度(90%以上),同时,二次颗粒物和包裹了二次物种的一次颗粒物(黑碳/有机碳)是低能见度的最大贡献者。     

The research of market structures for remanufactured products

The rapid development of technology has made it easier to distribute products directly, and many enterprises excel at executing a multi-channel strategy to distribute products. The introduction of direct channel adds a new competition dimension to the enterprises. This paper considers three market channel structures: R-Channel, D-Channel and H-Channel. In R-Channel, both new products and remanufactured products are sold through a retailer. In D-Channel, new products are sold through retailers and remanufactured products are sold directly to consumers. In H-Channel, new products are sold through retailers, while remanufactured products through dual channel. Using the game theory, we obtain and analyse the equilibrium prices, market demands and the profits gain under these three settings. At the same time, the influence of consumers’ willingness to pay on the environment performance is researched. Our results show that the manufacturer prefers H-Channel. By introducing the direct channel the manufacturer is always economically better off, but it is not for the retailer. The numerical simulation also confirms the theoretical analysis and shows that H-Channel has advantages of economic benefit and environmental performance. It is feasible for practical application.     

On the search for mimetic patterns in environmental disclosure: an international perspective

In this paper, we assert and test the proposition that environmental disclosure (ED) is structured by institutionalised myths and that is why ED is decoupled from environmental performance and media pressures. Focusing on firms from Canada, France and Germany, findings show that ED mimetic isomorphism for different topics varies among countries and by industry sensitiveness to the environment. The results corroborate the institutional presumption that institutionalised myths vary among different contexts. Our findings also suggest that institutionalised ED structures may not reflect environmental performance, mimetic patterns being affected by environmental performance. However, the decoupling between ED mimetic isomorphism and environmental performance decrease when firms’ ED credibility is questioned by the media.     

钙钛矿型La_(0.8)Ce_(0.2)Fe_(1-x)Co_xO_3催化剂的制备及其三效催化活性

采用自燃烧法制备了一组钙钛矿型复合氧化物La_(0.8)Ce_(0.2)Fe_(1-x)Co_xO_3(x=0.9,0.7,0.5,0.3,0.1),并考察了其对CO、C_3H_6和NO的三效催化活性。XRD和SEM表征结果显示,La_(0.8)Ce_(0.2)Fe_(1-x)Co_xO_3具有良好的钙钛矿型晶体结构,晶粒大小为纳米级并自组装成片状结构。催化剂的比表面积为14.73~22.43 m~2/g,含有微孔和介孔结构。催化活性评价结果表明:La_(0.8)Ce_(0.2)Fe_(0.1)Co_(0.9)O_3具有很好的三效催化活性,在理论空燃比的条件下,CO、C_3H_6和NO的起燃温度分别为195℃、264℃和290℃,完全转化温度分别为239℃、418℃和415℃,低温三效催化活性良好;Fe和Co的掺杂量同时影响着La_(0.8)Ce_(0.2)Fe_(1-x)Co_xO_3的催化效果。     

Local hegemonies resisting a green shift and what to do about it: the introduction of a regional park in southern Norway

In the Lister region in the southern part of Norway, attempts are currently being made to facilitate for a green shift. The paper discusses two different approaches towards such a challenge. The first is procedural, where success or failure hinges on the methods applied in the effort to convince locals to incorporate climate considerations. The alternative is to reflect upon how a green ideology blends into pre-existing ideological elements in the region. It is claimed that an important reason for the failure so far to place the environment at the core of regional development, is that too much emphasis has been put on the first approach, on procedure and dialogue, whereas few efforts have been made to understand the structure of the discursive terrain in the region. What prevents a green shift has less to do with methods and is more connected to the dominance of a logic of economic growth and the fact that locals are confident that nature is already dealt with in a sensible manner. The conclusion is that we need to understand what people are concerned about and what prevents them to change, before we start telling them how to think and do development.     

Optimal Absorbent Evaluation for the CO2 Separating Process by Absorption Loading,Desorption Efficiency,Cost, and Environmental Tolerance

The CO₂ absorption capacities of potassium glycinate, potassium sarcosinate (choline, proline), mono-ethanolamine (MEA), and tri-ethanolamine were evaluated to find the optimal absorbent for separating CO₂ from gaseous products by a CO₂ purification process. The absorption loading, desorption efficiency, cost, and environmental tolerance were assessed to select the optimal absorbent. MEA was found to be the optimum absorbent for separating the CO₂ and H₂ mixture in gaseous product. The maximum absorption loading rate was 0.77 mol CO₂ per mol MEA at temperature of 20°C and absorbent concentration of 2.5 mol/L, whereas desorption efficiency was 90% by heating for 3 h at 130°C. MEA was found to be an optimal absorbent for the purification process of CO₂ during gaseous production.