Effects of urban greenspace configuration and native vegetation on bee and wasp reproduction

Pollinator welfare is a recognized research and policy target, and urban greenspaces have been identified as important habitats. Yet, landscape-scale habitat fragmentation and greenspace management practices may limit a city's conservation potential. We examined how landscape configuration, composition, and local patch quality influenced insect nesting success across inner-city Cleveland, Ohio (U.S.A.), a postindustrial legacy city containing a high abundance of vacant land (over 1600 ha). Here, 40 vacant lots were assigned 1 of 5 habitat treatments (T1, vacant lot; T2, grass lawn; T3, flowering lawn; T4, grass prairie; and T5, flowering prairie), and we evaluated how seeded vegetation, greenspace size, and landscape connectivity influenced cavity-nesting bee and wasp reproduction. Native bee and wasp larvae were more abundant in landscapes that contained a large patch (i.e., >6 ha) of contiguous greenspace, in habitats with low plant biomass, and in vacant lots seeded with a native wildflower seed mix or with fine-fescue grass, suggesting that fitness was influenced by urban landscape features and habitat management. Our results can guide urban planning by demonstrating that actions that maintain large contiguous greenspace in the landscape and establish native plants would support the conservation of bees and wasps. Moreover, our study highlights that the world's estimated 350 legacy cities are promising urban conservation targets due to their high abundance of vacant greenspace that could accommodate taxa's habitat needs in urban areas.     

The deflectors influence on flow complexity,bed morphology,sediment transport and water quality of urban lotic waters - A laboratory study

In this laboratory study different combinations of bed (sand, pebble gravel [gravel], and a mix of sand and gravel) and flow (typical and overtopping) were experimented with to investigate the impact of porous deflectors in flow diversity, water quality, and fish performance in prismatic open channels. Deflectors changed the gradually varied flow to a rapidly varied flow, as a sudden change in the water depth was observed at the deflectors, and this change was large for smooth beds. With the presence of gravel, the scouring near the downstream deflector was almost twice that of the sand bed, and with the scouring at its own upstream deflector, irrespective of whether the flow was typical or overtopping. This behavior was a result of sand mobilization due to shear stress and sand mobilization aided gravel transport. The mixed bed showed less gravel movement compared to the gravel-only bed. The percentage of sediment washed out was minor for all bed scenarios, indicating that sediment transport was local. Relative to the sand bed without deflectors (representing a typical urban canal), deflectors resulted in reduced and improved water quality (in terms of sediment load) for sand, and mixed bed, respectively. The fishes found refuge and were comfortable in the pool areas created by deflectors unlike in channels without deflectors where they showed exhaustion.     

Oil dependency,political institutions,and urban–rural disparities in access to electricity in Africa

In line with the resource curse literature, this paper examines the effect of oil dependency on the disparities in access to electricity between urban and rural areas in Africa, conditional on the quality of political institutions. Based on data from 36 African countries over the period 2000–2017, our investigation suggests that oil rents (% of GDP) increase urban–rural disparities in access to electricity. However, the quality of institutions shapes the effect of oil dependency on these disparities. Specifically, a 10% increase in the institutional quality score reduces the adverse effects of oil rent on electricity access disparity by around 19%, and the negative impact of oil dependency on urban–rural disparities is reversed when institutional quality reaches a score of 52% on a scale from 0 to 100. The robustness tests support these results and call for strengthening the quality of institutions to overcome the resource curse in Africa.     

Who shapes local climate policy? Unpicking governance arrangements in English and German cities

A new framework for analysing subnational policymaking is applied to climate governance in the ‘twin towns’ of Newcastle upon Tyne and Gelsenkirchen. Low levels of resource interdependence between central and local government in England mean that Newcastle Council has to rely heavily on other horizontal actors to achieve its climate objectives. In contrast, Gelsenkirchen Council receives substantial support from higher tiers of government, which gives it greater control over policymaking within the locality. Greater independence between tiers of government can make it more difficult for subnational bodies to adopt the kind of ambitious policies that may be necessary to combat wicked and/or significant policy challenges such as climate change. Instead, interdependent ‘joint-decision’ systems, which facilitate mutual support across tiers of government, may be better equipped to ensure that subnational public bodies have the capacity to act appropriately.     

2002—2012年京津唐PM10变化规律及差异

对2002年6月—2012年5月京津唐城市群大气可吸入颗粒物(PM10)质量浓度的长期监测数据进行分析,结合3市的地理、气候气象条件,分析了京津唐城市群大气颗粒物质量浓度的变化特征;根据3市PM10相互之间的发散系数,定量分析了3市PM10变化的差异。结果表明,2002—2012年北京市的PM10质量浓度变化范围为0.012~0.600 mg/m3,天津、唐山2市的PM10质量浓度变化范围分别为0.014~0.600、0.019~0.452 mg/m3。2008、2011年天津市PM10质量浓度年平均值达到二级标准,唐山市从2008年后PM10质量浓度年平均值达到二级标准;北京市PM10质量浓度总体变化趋势为春季秋季冬季夏季,天津、唐山市均为冬季春季秋季夏季,但不同年份的变化趋势略不同;北京-唐山、北京-天津、天津-唐山之间PM10的月度发散系数范围分别为0.402 7~0.159 2、0.406 8~0.142 9、0.323 1~0.107 8,说明空间距离最近的天津-唐山之间大气污染的相互影响较北京-天津、北京-唐山之间大。     

2013年北京市PM2.5重污染日时空分布特征研究

根据2013年北京市环境保护监测中心监测的PM2.5数据,系统分析了北京市重污染日PM2.5污染的时空分布特征,并利用克里格插值初步统计了全年和重污染日PM2.5不同浓度区间的国土面积。2013年全市PM2.5年均浓度为89.5μg/m3,重污染日平均浓度为218μg/m3,重污染日主要集中在冬季;PM2.5年均浓度呈现明显的南高北低梯度分布特征,而重污染日空间分布较均匀,南部及城六区存在明显的高污染区,平均浓度在180μg/m3以上;2013年北京市重污染日PM2.5平均浓度为150~250μg/m3,其对应的国土面积约为12 656 km2,PM2.5平均浓度在250μg/m3以上的国土面积约为883 km2,而全年无PM2.5平均浓度在150μg/m3以上所对应的国土面积。     

京津冀地区一次污染过程的星载地基激光雷达联合观测分析

针对2018年3月9—15日京津冀地区的一次空气重污染过程,进行了基于地基颗粒物激光雷达组网的星载-地基联合观测分析。颗粒物激光雷达观测到污染前期为局地污染累积过程,中期有明显的污染物区域传输过程,北京受太行山沿线城市污染输送影响较大。风廓线激光雷达观测结果表明:此次污染过程近地面主要为偏南风且风力较弱,冷空气到来时风向转为较强东北风,导致污染消散。微波辐射计观测到保定在污染过程中出现持续6 d的逆温层,同时在污染过程中近地面相对湿度较高,逆温层被打破后污染开始消散。在污染过程的各个阶段中,污染团的空间分布与变化特征均被很好地反映出来,可见地天联合观测对污染物的累积与输送研究有较大的意义,能对京津冀及周边地区的大气污染联防联控提供有力支持。     

2014年北京市CO浓度水平和时空分布

对北京市地面监测站点的CO浓度进行分析，探讨其浓度水平、变化趋势和时空分布特征。2014年春、夏、秋、冬四季北京市CO平均浓度分别为1.06、0.87、1.34、2.17 mg/m³。CO浓度均呈双峰型变化，第一个峰值出现在07：00-09：00，主要由交通早高峰的排放引起；第二个峰值出现在23：00左右，主要受交通晚高峰排放和夜间边界层高度降低的挤压效应的共同影响。从空间分布来看，全年整体呈现南高北低的分布特征，尤其是秋、冬季较为明显，体现了工业布局和区域传输对CO的影响。从全年来看，湿度对CO浓度的影响最大。对2014年冬季北京市的一次高CO浓度分析结果表明，此次过程是由本地排放和区域传输共同造成的，气象要素中地面气压对CO浓度影响最大。     

The dual discourse of urban resilience: robust city and self-organised neighbourhoods

Resilience has become a dominant disaster governance discourse. It has been criticised for insufficiently addressing systemic vulnerabilities while urging the vulnerable to self-organise. The urban resilience discourse involves a particular disconnect: it evokes ‘robustness’ and unaffectedness at the city scale on the one hand, and self-organisation of disaster-affected people and neighbourhoods on the other. This paper explains and illustrates the dual discourse through a case study on the reconstruction of informal and low-income settlements in the aftermath of the fire in Valparaíso, Chile, in 2014, focusing on the communication contents of two non-governmental organisations (NGOs). These NGOs deployed the discourse differently, yet both called for affected neighbourhoods to build a more robust city through self-organisation, and both suggested their work as the missing link between self-organisation and robustness. A danger in deploying the dual discourse is that it requires people who live in informal and low-income settlements to earn their right to the robust city through ‘better’ self-organisation based on fragmented visions.     

交通限行对大气颗粒物及PM2.5中二NFDA1英的影响

为了研究北京大气颗粒物和二NFDA1英(PCDD/Fs)的污染状况以及评估交通限行对大气颗粒物和PCDD/Fs的影响。利用同位素稀释高分辨率气相色谱/高分辨率质谱(HRGC/HRMS)联用法和USEPA 1613B 标准方法,以中国地质大学(北京)东门为采样点,采集大气PM_2.5、PM₁₀、TSP样品,对北京市交通限行期间以及交通限行前后等不同交通状况下颗粒物浓度及大气PM_2.5中17种2,3,7,8-PCDD/Fs污染特征进行了监测。结果表明,PM_2.5、PM₁₀、TSP的日均质量浓度在交通限行前分别为126、202、304 μg/m³,限行期间分别为39、78、93 μg/m³,限行结束后分别为79、126 μg/m³。PM_2.5中17种PCDD/Fs的质量浓度(毒性浓度)3个时段分别为1 804 fg/m³(70 fg I-TEQ/m³)、252 fg/m³ (9 fg I-TEQ/m³)和1 196 fg/m³ (48 fg I-TEQ/m³)。北京市交通限行期间颗粒物浓度和二 NFDA1 英浓度显著低于交通限行前后,交通源减排措施的实施是大气颗粒物和二 NFDA1英污染水平降低的主要原因,从减排效果看,交通源减排措施对大气细颗粒物(PM_2.5)的控制效果明显好于大气粗颗粒物。