Positioning human heritage at the center of conservation practice

Conservation projects subscribing to a community-based paradigm have predominated in the 21st century. We examined the context in which the phrase was coined and traced its growth over time. Community-based conservation first appeared in the literature in the early 1990s; but grew little until after the 5th World Parks Congress in 2003. Thereafter, publications describing community-based conservation approaches increased exponentially. The conference theme was Benefits Beyond Boundaries, and its goal was to provide an economic model based on revenue accrued from conservation fundraising and ecotourism to support ecosystems, wildlife, and people, particularly in the Global South. Such models tended not to incorporate, as a core principle, the heritage of local human communities. Human heritage varies substantially over time and space making generalization of conservation principles across scales challenging. Pitfalls that have grown out of the community-based conservation approaches in the Global South include fortress conservation, conservation militarism, consumptive and nonconsumptive ecotourism, and whiz-bang solutions. We propose 10 tenets in a human heritage-centered conservation framework (e.g., engage in conservation practices using local languages, thoughtfully propose and apply solutions consistent with human heritage, provide clear professional development pathways for individuals from local communities, and promote alternative revenue-generating programs centered in local communities, among others). Progressive philosophies can derive from authentic and ethical integration of local communities in conservation practice.     

Village-scale reserves in the forest frontier regions of Chenes and Calakmul,Mexico

ABSTRACT

Sketch-map-facilitated interviews were conducted in 23 villages in two adjacent regions in the southern Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico – the Maya (and increasingly Mennonite) forest-agriculture mosaic of the Chenes, and the late-20^th-century-settlement forest frontier of Calakmul – to determine the frequency and typology of local-scale reserves, including the external (e.g. Payments for Environmental Services programs) and internal sources of their generation. 9% of the study communities are found to satisfy the author’s criteria for deliberate, autochthonous reserves. The static polygon reserve and static map are found to have limited value for understanding the evolving cultural ecologies of these regions. Alternative approaches are discussed, particularly those employed by geographers.     

Historical and contemporary indigenous marine conservation strategies in the North Pacific

Strategies to reduce, halt, and reverse global declines in marine biodiversity are needed urgently. We reviewed, coded, and synthesized historical and contemporary marine conservation strategies of the Kitasoo/Xai'xais First Nation in British Columbia, Canada to show how their approaches work. We assessed whether the conservation actions classification system by the Conservation Measures Partnership was able to encompass this nation's conservation approaches. All first-order conservation actions aligned with the Kitasoo/Xai'xais First Nation's historical and contemporary marine conservation actions; hereditary chief management responsibility played a key role. A conservation ethic permeates Kitasoo/Xai'xais culture, and indigenous resource management and conservation existed historically and remains strong despite extreme efforts by colonizers to suppress all indigenous practices. The Kitasoo/Xai'xais's embodiment of conservation actions as part of their worldview, rather than as requiring actions separate from everyday life (the norm in nonindigenous cultures), was missing from the conservation action classification system. The Kitasoo/Xai'xais are one of many indigenous peoples working to revitalize their governance and management authorities. With the Canadian government's declared willingness to work toward reconciliation, there is an opportunity to enable First Nations to lead on marine and other conservation efforts. Global conservation efforts would also benefit from enhanced support for indigenous conservation approaches, including expanding the conservation actions classification to encompass a new category of conservation or sacredness ethic.     

Priority areas for conservation of and research focused on terrestrial vertebrates

Effective conservation policies require comprehensive knowledge of biodiversity. However, knowledge shortfalls still remain, hindering possibilities to improve decision making and built such policies. During the last 2 decades, conservationists have made great efforts to allocate resources as efficiently as possible but have rarely considered the idea that if research investments are also strategically allocated, it would likely fill knowledge gaps while simultaneously improving conservation actions. Therefore, prioritizing areas where both conservation and research actions could be conducted becomes a critical endeavor that can further maximize return on investment. We used Zonation, a conservation planning tool and geographical distributions of amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles to suggest and compare priority areas for conservation and research of terrestrial vertebrates worldwide. We also evaluated the degree of human disturbance in both types of priority areas by describing the value of the human footprint index within such areas. The spatial concordance between priority conservation and research areas was low: 0.36% of the world's land area. In these areas, we found it would be possible to protect almost half of the currently threatened species and to gather information on nearly 42% of data-deficient (DD) species. We also found that 6199 protected areas worldwide are located in such places, although only 35% of them have strict conservation purposes. Areas of consensus between conservation and research areas represent an opportunity for simultaneously conserving and acquiring knowledge of threatened and DD species of vertebrates. Although the picture is not the most encouraging, joint conservation and research efforts are possible and should be fostered to save vertebrate species from our own ignorance and extinction.     

Boosting freshwater fish conservation with high-resolution distribution mapping across a large territory

The lack of high-resolution distribution maps for freshwater species across large extents fundamentally challenges biodiversity conservation worldwide. We devised a simple framework to delineate the distributions of freshwater fishes in a high-resolution drainage map based on stacked species distribution models and expert information. We applied this framework to the entire Chinese freshwater fish fauna (>1600 species) to examine high-resolution biodiversity patterns and reveal potential conflicts between freshwater biodiversity and anthropogenic disturbances. The correlations between spatial patterns of biodiversity facets (species richness, endemicity, and phylogenetic diversity) were all significant (r = 0.43–0.98, p < 0.001). Areas with high values of different biodiversity facets overlapped with anthropogenic disturbances. Existing protected areas (PAs), covering 22% of China's territory, protected 25–29% of fish habitats, 16–23% of species, and 30–31% of priority conservation areas. Moreover, 6–21% of the species were completely unprotected. These results suggest the need for extending the network of PAs to ensure the conservation of China's freshwater fishes and the goods and services they provide. Specifically, middle to low reaches of large rivers and their associated lakes from northeast to southwest China hosted the most diverse species assemblages and thus should be the target of future expansions of the network of PAs. More generally, our framework, which can be used to draw high-resolution freshwater biodiversity maps combining species occurrence data and expert knowledge on species distribution, provides an efficient way to design PAs regardless of the ecosystem, taxonomic group, or region considered.     

贵阳市不同粒级地表灰尘中As、Ni水平及权重

根据贵阳市城区土地利用的情况,在不同功能区地表采集灰尘样品,分析As、Ni含量及变异规律。结果表明:贵阳市地表灰尘As、Ni含量分别为17.4mg/kg和50.0mg/kg。工业区地表灰尘中As、Ni含量最高,商贸区和校园等区域As、Ni水平较低。贵阳市地表灰尘中不同颗粒物的质量百分比大小为细颗粒(<105μm)>中等颗粒(105～250μm)>粗颗粒(250～425μm)。As在不同粒径灰尘中含量差别不大,Ni在不同粒径灰尘中含量随粒径增加而降低。细颗粒对灰尘As、Ni的贡献分别为42%和47%。除垃圾站外,贵阳市各功能区地表灰尘不同粒径颗粒物百分比随粒径增大而减小,其中交通区地表灰尘细颗粒所占比例最大。垃圾站地表灰尘中不同粒径颗粒百分比则随粒径增大而增大,As、Ni在垃圾站地表灰尘中颗粒物贡献为中等颗粒>粗颗粒>细颗粒,其余功能区不同粒径颗粒物的贡献基本为细颗粒大于粗颗粒。     

以淮安市为例研究中小城市噪声污染现状及趋势

收集2006-2010年淮安市各功能区环境噪声、交通噪声和区域环境噪声监测数据,分析中小城市环境噪声的污染状况,结果表明中小城市的噪声环境质量都有不同程度的好转,与大城市环境噪声比较,各类噪声都明显低于大城市的噪声污染,但随着城市和交通的改造与发展,第4类城市功能区夜间环境噪声有增加趋势。     

高海拔地区生态可持续发展策略刍论

通过生物多样性调查及参照国内外对该区域的研究资料基础上,充分认识了高海拔地区基本特点及其重要性,系统阐述了目前高海拔地区在生态可持续发展过程中所面临的问题及限制因素,提出全面开展生物多样性调查,确立生态保护优先区,建立保护区网络,加强区域物质、科技、人才等基础建设,建立健全生态保护投入机制,加强立法与监管,实行合理的生态移民政策等区域生态可持续发展策略,为当前和今后我国高海拔地区的区域开发及进一步开展生态领域研究提供参考。     

集约化种植区硝态氮在土壤剖面中的分布与累积特征

采用GPS定位、土钻取样的方法,在北京市大兴区14个乡镇的农田土壤中选取了91个土壤剖面,分别在0～20cm、20～40cm、40～60cm、60～80cm4个不同深度取得土壤样品,并在一次种植期结束后,综合考虑种植类型和土壤质地后选取24个重复取样点.在此基础上,分析了种植类型及土壤质地对硝态氮分布及累积情况的影响.结果表明,研究区土壤中的硝态氮含量有随土壤深度的增加呈降低的趋势.露地菜田和设施菜田最容易出现硝态氮淋洗现象,果园和粮田的总体状况较好,但粮田个别地区有一定的污染风险,细质地土壤具有较强的保水保肥能力.大兴区采育镇及长子营镇地区有较高的硝态氮累积量,为硝态氮淋洗污染危险区,应进行合理施肥,以免在一个种植期结束后造成较深层土壤中硝态氮的累积.研究结果可为大兴区地下水环境保护提供参考.     

北运河下游典型河网区水体中氮磷分布与富营养化评价

选择北运河下游典型河网区(闸坝多、水流慢和湖库化)为研究对象,通过为期1 a的水质监控,阐述了河网区氮、磷的时空变化特征,并利用对数型幂函数普适指数公式对其水体营养状态进行了评价.结果表明,河网区水体中TN平均质量浓度为12.50 mg.L-1(NH4+-N占67.41%),TP为1.45 mg.L-1(SRP占80.81%).河网区水体中氮、磷的时空分布特征明显,TN和NO 3--N质量浓度随季节变化特征趋于一致,NH 4+-N稍有不同;TP和SRP质量浓度随季节变化特征基本一致.从河网区进水带至出水带,水体中氮、磷质量浓度均呈逐渐下降趋势,其中TN、NH4+-N和NO3--N平均质量浓度分别从19.30、13.22和2.19mg.L-1降至7.98、4.45和1.50 mg.L-1;TP和SRP分别从1.95和1.59 mg.L-1降至1.11和0.91 mg.L-1.富营养化评价综合指数表明,河网区水体在时空尺度上均处于"极富"营养状态.