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.     

可拓优度评价法在城市区域消防安全评价中的应用

为了解决城市区域消防安全评价的复杂性和不确定性,本文运用可拓优度评价法,根据相关文件并结合城市区域消防的实际情况,从火灾危险程度、城市区域特征、消防实力水平和社会管理状态4个方面选取17个指标,建立了城市区域消防安全评价指标体系并划分了消防安全等级,以洛阳市西工区为例对城市区域消防安全评价的可拓优度方法进行了验证。结果表明,可拓优度方法可以准确反映出该区域消防安全水平。     

江苏省太湖流域水生态健康评估的初步实践及展望

阐述了水生态健康的内涵与意义,从江苏省率先在太湖流域开展水生态环境功能分区管理的顶层设计,构建以水生态健康指标为核心的水生态健康评估技术体系,地方对照水生态环境功能区划的水生态分级管控目标开展的应用与实践结果等3个方面,回顾了江苏省太湖流域水生态健康评估工作的主要进展,提出了完善水生态健康评估技术体系和推进流域水生态健康评估工作的建议。     

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.     

Difference in the net value of ecological services between natural and artificial forests in China

Land degradation is a global problem that seriously threatens human society. However, in China and elsewhere, ecological restoration still largely relies on a traditional approach that focuses only on ecological factors and ignores socioeconomic factors. To improve the effectiveness of ecological restoration and maximize its economic and ecological benefits, a more efficient approach is needed that provides support for policy development and land management and thereby promotes environmental conservation. We devised a framework for assessing the value of ecosystem services that remain after subtracting costs, such as the opportunity costs, costs of forest protection, and costs for the people who are affected by the program; that is, the net value of ecosystem services (NVES). To understand the difference between the value of a resource and the net value of the ecosystem service it provides, we used data on VES, timber sales, and afforestation costs from China's massive national afforestation programs to calculate the net value of forest ecosystem services in China. Accounting for the abovementioned costs revealed an NVES of ¥6.1 × 10¹² for forests in 2014, which was 35.9% less than the value calculated without accounting for costs. As a result, the NVES associated with afforestation was 55.9% less than the NVES of natural forests. In some regions, NVES was negative because of the huge costs of human-made plantations, high evapotranspiration rates (thus, high water opportunity costs), and low forest survival rates. To maximize the ecological benefits of conservation, it is necessary to account for as many costs as possible so that management decisions can be based on NVES, thereby helping managers choose projects that maximize both economic and ecological benefits.     

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.     

Change in avian functional fingerprints of a Neotropical montane forest over 100 years as an indicator of ecosystem integrity

Ecologically relevant traits of organisms in an assemblage determine an ecosystem's functional fingerprint (i.e., the shape, size, and position of multidimensional trait space). Quantifying changes in functional fingerprints can therefore provide information about the effects of diversity loss or gain through time on ecosystem condition and is a promising approach to monitoring ecological integrity. This, however, is seldom possible owing to limitations in historical surveys and a lack of data on organismal traits, particularly in diverse tropical regions. Using data from detailed bird surveys from 4 periods across more than a century, and morphological and ecological traits of 233 species, we quantified changes in the avian functional fingerprint of a tropical montane forest in the Andes of Colombia. We found that 78% of the variation in functional space, regardless of period, was described by 3 major axes summarizing body size, dispersal ability (indexed by wing shape), and habitat breadth. Changes in species composition significantly altered the functional fingerprint of the assemblage and functional richness and dispersion decreased 35–60%. Owing to species extirpations and to novel additions to the assemblage, functional space decreased over time, but at least 11% of its volume in the 2010s extended to areas of functional space that were unoccupied in the 1910s. The assemblage now includes fewer large-sized species, more species with greater dispersal ability, and fewer habitat specialists. Extirpated species had high functional uniqueness and distinctiveness, resulting in large reductions in functional richness and dispersion after their loss, which implies important consequences for ecosystem integrity. Conservation efforts aimed at maintaining ecosystem function must move beyond seeking to sustain species numbers to designing complementary strategies for the maintenance of ecological function by identifying and conserving species with traits conferring high vulnerability such as large body size, poor dispersal ability, and greater habitat specialization. Article impact statement: Changes in functional fingerprints provide a means to quantify the integrity of ecological assemblages affected by diversity loss or gain.     

基于双指标多等级的土壤重金属生态风险评价

采用土壤中重金属的全量和有效态双重指标,建立基于多等级综合评估的土壤中重金属生态风险评价模型,将联合概率曲线法引入土壤评价模型,分析重金属暴露浓度与毒性数据的概率分布,考察重金属对土壤生物的毒害程度,从而确定土壤中重金属对于生态系统的风险。建立从简单到复杂的多等级综合评价方法,表征重金属的污染等级、浓度效应、多种重金属污染物的协同效应、不同重金属的毒性效应和土壤对不同重金属污染物的敏感性。选择典型地区采集有代表性的土壤样品,测定不同重金属的总量和有效态,验证评价模型的实用性和评价分级的合理性。旨在解决土壤重金属风险评价的方法学问题,为土壤环境质量管理提供支持。     

天津市地表水体与沉积物中7种高关注酚类化合物的污染特征与生态风险分析

为探究地表水体与沉积物中酚类化合物的污染分布特征和生态风险,选择天津市3个水源地与6条主要河流,采集了26个地表水样与6个沉积物样品,利用固相萃取与超声萃取、高效液相色谱-串联质谱法(HPLC-MS/MS)测定了水样及沉积物中1-萘酚(1-naphthol)、壬基酚(nonylphenol, NP)、双酚A(bisphenol A, BPA)、2-苯基苯酚(biphenyl-2-ol)、3,4-二氯酚(3,4-dichlorophenol)、四溴双酚A(tetrabromobisphenol A, TBBPA)和对叔丁基苯酚(p-tert-butylphenol, PTBP)等7种高关注酚类化合物的浓度水平,并应用物种敏感性分布(species sensitivity distribution, SSD)法和熵值法(ecological risk quotient, RQ)评估7种酚类化合物水环境和沉积物的生态风险。结果表明,地表水样中7种酚类化合物均全部检出;其中壬基酚的检出浓度最高,其次为四溴双酚A、对叔丁基苯酚、1-萘酚、2-苯基苯酚、3,4-二氯酚和双酚A。沉积物中酚类化合物的污染分布规律与水样相似,除双酚A外的目标物全部检出。其中,壬基酚浓度比其他物质浓度高2个数量级。风险评估结果显示,壬基酚对水环境与沉积物存在不可接受的风险;而四溴双酚A、对叔丁基苯酚、1-萘酚、2-苯基苯酚、3,4-二氯酚和双酚A则对环境具有较低风险或者存在一定的风险。