African bees to control African elephants

Numbers of elephants have declined in Africa and Asia over the past 30 years while numbers of humans have increased, both substantially. Friction between these two keystone species is reaching levels which are worryingly high from an ecological as well as a political viewpoint. Ways and means must be found to keep the two apart, at least in areas sensitive to each species' survival. The aggressive African bee might be one such method. Here we demonstrate that African bees deter elephants from damaging the vegetation and trees which house their hives. We argue that bees can be employed profitably to protect not only selected trees, but also selected areas, from elephant damage.     

国内外海洋生态管理评估方法对海洋生态保护红线制度的借鉴

本文综合分析了国际上对海洋保护区(地)的管理评估指标体系和我国已有的海洋生态管理评估方法,比较了各自的特点和优劣,提取了对海洋生态保护红线管理评估的借鉴之处,建议设置生物与物理、社会、管理三大类指标及具体的指标体系,并设置约束性指标。     

中国海洋保护区的生态环境监测工作

近年来,我国海洋保护区生态环境监测工作逐年加强,监测技术标准稳步发展,监测能力建设逐步推进,已在海洋保护区监管工作中发挥了重要作用。当前一些发达国家在海洋生态环境监测方面更加注重监测的制度建设,在形式上已步入“天-空-海、水面-水体-海底”立体监测时代。我国应借鉴国外的先进经验,着力构建和完善“天空地一体化”海洋保护区生态环境监测体系,加快推进海洋保护区生态环境监测标准化进程,加强海洋保护区信息共享机制建设,为我国海洋保护区生态环境监测工作的开展及海洋保护区监管工作提供有力支撑。     

中国与周边国家边境保护地跨境合作潜力分析

基于《全球跨界自然保护区名录》中涉及中国的16组名录中的10个国家87个保护地,分析其空间分布规律,应用德尔菲法和层次分析法,选取生态完整性、治理结构匹配、制度文化差异和空间距离交通4个层面的9个指标,建立中国与周边国家边境地区保护地跨境合作潜力指标体系,并进行验证。结果表明：黑龙江省与俄罗斯毗邻边境地区保护地分布最集中,喀喇昆仑山—喜马拉雅山脉地区生态系统完整性较好。通过评价结果遴选出中国（兴凯湖）—俄罗斯、中国（西双版纳）—老挝、中国（塔什库尔干）—巴基斯坦、中国（珠穆朗玛峰）—尼泊尔与印度、中国（长白山）—朝鲜与俄罗斯5组未来跨境合作潜力较高的地区,并针对跨境合作存在的难点提出建议措施。研究可为中国边境保护地跨境合作提供方法参考和借鉴依据。     

Reflecting ecological criteria in laws supporting the Baja to Bering Sea marine protected areas network case study

Canadian and US marine conservation law, and other related law, was analyzed to determine if it reflected ecological criteria needed to implement connectivity among marine protected areas of the northeast Pacific in the proposed trilateral Baja to Bering Sea (B2B) initiative. The analysis included both nations’ federal laws and those of California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and British Columbia. While legal provisions exist already to implement marine protected areas for varying reasons, there is little capacity in most laws to create connectivity among them for conservation purposes. Only California's legislation contained explicit provisions for all the criteria. Other federal, state, and provincial laws, while containing provisions for species at risk and vulnerable habitats, generally lacked explicit provisions for the vital criteria, size of area, migratory patterns, and recruitment patterns. Implementation, future management, and protection of the proposed B2B marine network would be facilitated by amendment of both Canadian and US laws. Some of the ecological criteria are already implied implicitly or vaguely, but they need to be made explicit in the amended law. The legislative model of California could serve as a template for amending the laws of other jurisdictions in the B2B venture.     

Climate change is predicted to negatively influence Moroccan endemic reptile richness. Implications for conservation in protected areas

The identification of species-rich areas and their prognosticated turnover under climate change are crucial for the conservation of endemic taxa. This study aims to identify areas of reptile endemicity richness in a global biodiversity hot spot (Morocco) under current and future climatic conditions and to investigate the role of protected areas in biodiversity conservation under climate change. Species distribution models (SDM) were performed over the distribution of 21 endemic reptiles, combined to estimate current species richness at 1?×?1 km resolution and projected to years 2050 and 2080 according to distinct story lines and ensemble global circulation models, assuming unlimited and null dispersion ability. Generalized additive models were performed between species richness and geographic characteristics of 43 protected areas. SDM found precipitation as the most important factor related to current species distributions. Important reductions in future suitable areas were predicted for 50 % of species, and four species were identified as highly vulnerable to extinction. Drastic reductions in species-rich areas were predicted for the future, with considerable variability between years and dispersal scenarios. High turnover rates of species composition were predicted for eastern Morocco, whereas low values were forecasted for the Northern Atlantic coast and mountains. Species richness for current and future conditions was significantly related to the altitude and latitude of protected areas. Protected areas located in mountains and/or in the Northern Atlantic coast were identified as refugia, where population monitoring and conservation management is needed.

     

美国海洋保护区法律制度探析

本文介绍了美国一些主要的海洋和海岸带法律的基本要求,这些法律制度为美国的海洋环境提供了一定程度的保护,其中多个涉及海洋保护区的建立与管理.但由于美国实行的是多部门分工负责的管理体制,使得法律实施的有效性大打折扣,为此,包括海洋保护区建立与管理等的海洋政策新建议呼之欲出.     

自然保护地的文化景观价值演变与识别—以泰山为例

中国的自然保护地具有生态和文化双重价值,文化景观作为自然与文化的交界面,如何识别其价值对中国自然保护地的管理至关重要。以泰山为例,通过古籍文献和实地勘察等方法,从历时性角度对泰山的文化景观价值演变进行剖析。研究发现,泰山文化景观价值经历了山岳崇拜的自然价值、君权神授的政治价值、佛道信仰的宗教价值、祭祀游居的民俗价值及保护利用的综合价值五个阶段。结论认为：自然保护地文化景观价值的演变具有一定的规律性：名山自然保护地的文化景观价值演变是从自然到文化再到综合、从御到民、从单一到多元、从分离到融合的过程;自然保护地文化景观价值的构成要素包括思想基础、环境条件、行为方式及空间结果四部分,具有鲜明的完整性、系统性和动态性特征。文章还对自然保护地文化景观价值的识别策略进行了讨论,为相应类型的国家公园和其他类型自然保护地建设提供参考。     

Assessment of labile phosphorus fractions and adsorption characteristics in relation to soil properties of West African savanna soils

A large proportion of total P in the soils of the area is unavailable to plants and consequently P is the second most limiting nutrient. The labile and moderately labile phosphorus fractions and adsorption characteristics of surface and subsurface horizons of eleven soil profiles in the derived savanna (DS) and the northern Guinea savanna (NGS) of West Africa were assessed. The labile P fractions are the resin and HCO₃-extractable inorganic (Pi) and organic (Po) P. The moderately labile fractions are the NaOH-extractable portion of soil P in the Hedley sequential procedure. In the DS soils, the resin P, considered the most readily available fraction, varied from 1 to 14 mg kg⁻¹, HCO₃-Pi ranged from 3.3 to 11, and HCO₃-PO was between 4 and 12 mg kg⁻¹ in the surface horizon. In the NGS, the topsoil contained 1.5–3 mg kg⁻¹ of resin P, 5–8 mg kg⁻¹ of HCO₃-Pi, and 7.5–9.7 mg kg⁻¹ of HCO₃-Po. Sodium hydroxide-Po was the largest of the fractions in all the soils studied. It ranged from 23 to 55 mg kg⁻¹ in the topsoil. In general, the labile P levels were higher in soils of the DS than of the NGS and were related to the oxalate-extractable Fe (Fe_ox), and Al (Al_ox) as well as to soil texture. The subsoil of Kasuwan Magani (profile KS 9–21 cm) required 153 mg P kg⁻¹ to maintain 0.2 mg P l⁻¹ in solution (standard P requirement), and Danayamaka (profile DD 7–32 cm) required 145 mg P kg⁻¹. These could translate to 214 and 200 kg P ha⁻¹ if a plow layer of 10 cm is assumed. Because these are within the plow layer, more P fertilizer would be needed for crop production than in the other soils. The standard P requirement and the adsorption maxima were related to Fe_ox and Al_ox, dithionite-Fe (Fe_d), and texture. The increase in labile P content with decreasing Fe_ox and Al_ox could imply that management practices capable of reducing the activities of Fe and Al in solution might improve P availability.     

松嫩平原西部湿地自然保护区保护有效性遥感分析

以松嫩平原西部国家级湿地自然保护区为研究对象,以Landsat MSS/TM/OLI遥感影像为基础信息源,综合运用最小均方差、变异系数、景观指数、信息熵模型、地理信息系统空间分析和景观发展强度指数,研究保护区保护有效性变化及其影响因素.结果表明:松嫩平原西部国家级湿地自然保护区保护有效性大致呈递减趋势;1987~2013年人类活动对保护区的干扰强度不断增加,且与保护区保护有效性呈显著负相关;耕地和草地为湿地转出的主要类型,分别占总转出面积的63.71%和21.69%;湿地自然保护区保护有效性的降低是自然环境变化和人类活动影响共同作用的结果,自然环境变化是内因,而人为活动干扰,尤其是开垦造田和水利修建加速了湿地退化.最后,论文就研究中存在的不足以及保护区管理建设中应关注的问题进行了阐述.     

IMPASEA: A methodological framework to monitor and assess the socioeconomic effects of marine protected areas. An English Channel case study

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are increasingly regarded as socio-ecological systems. In addition to their reported ecological effects, MPAs may have important social, economic and cultural effects on local communities and marine and coastal stakeholders. Those effects should be considered within an ecosystem approach to MPA planning, designation and management. Here we present a new framework to monitor and assess the socioeconomic effects of MPAs saliently and soundly: the Integrated MPA Socio-Economic Assessment (IMPASEA). The IMPASEA considers and analyses those factors deemed most important for marine and coastal stakeholders in a spatially referenced, sound and cost-effective manner. The development of the IMPASEA followed a mixed-methods research design in 3 phases: literature review, stakeholder survey and geo-statistical analysis using a Multiple-Paired-Before-After-Control-Impact design (MPBACI). The framework was tested on a set of 6 multiple-use MPAs on the French side of the English Channel. Of the eight socioeconomic variables analysed at the scale of ‘commune’ in the geo-statistical phase, only one variable (‘number of hotel rooms’) might have been affected by the designation of MPAs. Factors such as MPA designation category and management status are likely to have contributed to the non-significant differences shown at the scale of commune for the selected MPAs. In contrast, most of the six variables related to fishing showed differences between ports inside and outside MPAs, although these results need further ground truthing to discriminate attribution of effects. The characteristics of the IMPASEA make it a sound monitoring and assessment framework that could be applied in different contexts and to different types of sustainability assessments involving protected areas or other spatially-defined entities under certain conditions: existence of consistent time series of fine-scale socioeconomic data and avoidance of overlap of designation categories over single spaces.     

Forest conservation and the clean development mechanism: Lessons from the Costa Rican protected areas project

Deforestation is currentlythe source of about 20% of anthropogenicCO₂ emissions. Avoided deforestationhas, nonetheless, been ruled out as a CleanDevelopment Mechanism (CDM) category in theKyoto Protocol's first commitment period,because several methodological issues wereconsidered too difficult to resolve. Thispaper explores whether CDM issues such as(1) carbon quantification, (2)additionality and baseline setting, (3)leakage risks, (4) non-permanence risks,and (5) sustainable development can beadequately dealt with in large, diversifiedforest conservation projects. To this aim,it studies the case of the Costa RicanProtected Areas Project (PAP), anActivities Implemented Jointly (AIJ)project which was meant to consolidate thenational park system to avoiddeforestation, promote the growth ofsecondary forests and regenerate pastureson an area that, in total, covers 10% ofthe national territory. The case studyexamines how the issues mentioned abovehave been addressed in the project designand in the certification process. It isfound that baseline uncertainties are themajor problem in this case. Nonetheless,the case suggests the possibility toaddress CDM issues by specific requirementsfor project design and very conservativeand temporary crediting. Provided thatother case studies support this conclusion,eligibility of well-designed forestconservation projects under the CDM in thesecond commitment period may be worthconsidering, given the secondary benefitsof avoided deforestation.     

国家保护地体系建设：西方标准反思与中国路径探讨

借鉴西方标准曾对我国保护地制度的建立起到了重要作用。然而,当前国际标准对我国已建立起来的保护地体系已经显现出不适用,因此有必要对其进行反思。回溯我国及世界保护地制度的建立过程及其关联,由于我国在国际保护地标准制定过程中参与度过低,导致我国保护地的特性与发展阶段需求在国际标准中体现不足。我国保护地具有的文化景观属性,即传统的“天人合一”的环境观与西方人和自然对立的思想截然不同。我国保护地面临着保护与发展双重挑战,直接将基于特定人口状况和发展阶段的保护地所制定的标准用于其他状况下的保护地,其合理性存在着问题。应更加批判地看待西方标准,积极探讨可持续和平发展的中国路径。     

“半个地球”愿景下的保护地识别——基于全球主要优先保护模块

设立保护地是保护生物多样性的最有效举措。“半个地球”愿景提出将50%的面积纳入保护地,并有效保护85%的物种,是全球生态保护的目标。IUCN保护地分类系统是国际通用的标准,一系列优先保护模块研究则对保护地的识别进行着探索。本文旨在通过对这些模块的保护目标、识别标准等进行分析,为保护地科学识别提供合理参考。主要结论如下:（1）物种、栖息地与人类活动是各模块的主要考虑要素,识别标准包括物种丰富度、生境转变率、人类活动强度等;（2）各模块对生境转变率的考虑有“亡羊补牢”和“未雨绸缪”两种思路,对人类活动强度的考虑有直接和间接之分;（3）各模块分布面积占比在5.77%~25.32%之间,总范围占全球陆表的55.59%,超过了“半个地球”愿景的目标比例。     

保护地生态承载力不确定性多目标优化模型研究——以黄河源区玛多县为例

为明确给出保护地综合生态承载力的实质内涵"人类活动强度阈值",利用不确定性多目标优化方法,建立了区域保护地生态承载力优化模型.应用该模型对黄河源区玛多县进行区域保护地生态承载力评价及规模结构优化.结果表明:草畜矛盾是制约玛多县社会经济发展的瓶颈;根据《三江源国家公园总体规划》目标,在保证野生动物种群数量发展的同时畜牧业...     

基于CVM的海洋保护区生态补偿标准及影响因素研究——以嵊泗马鞍列岛为例

生态补偿标准的核定是海洋保护区生态补偿研究的关键,而利益主体的生态补偿意愿与水平及其影响因素是制定合理的生态补偿标准和提高补偿效率的重要基础。本文以嵊泗马鞍列岛海洋保护区为例,根据利益相关者分析,确定该生态补偿的主要受偿者为居民,主要补偿者为政府、游客和外来经商人员。在此基础上,根据条件价值评估法,通过对保护区内居民和游客的问卷调查,并结合Logit和Tobit模型对影响居民和游客的生态补偿意愿与水平的关键因素进行识别。结果表明:68.54%的被调查居民具有受偿意愿,平均受偿水平约为248.03元/（人·年）。其受偿意愿主要受年龄、职业等因素影响,而受偿水平主要受年龄、家庭年收入等因素影响。绝大部分游客（97.62%的被调查者）具有支付意愿,平均支付水平约为203.55元/（人·年）。其支付水平主要受家庭年收入、居住地和对生态补偿的了解程度等因素影响。     

廊道与源地协调的国土空间生态安全格局构建

构建生态联系紧密且生态干扰更小的生态安全格局,是平衡国土空间规划中生态保护与经济社会发展的重要手段。在国土空间中,为形成廊道与源地的协调与保护兼顾的生态安全格局,以环洞庭湖区域33个县（区）为例,针对核心生态源地与自然廊道、经济社会源地与人工廊道分别形成的生态格局、城镇格局,揭示两者之间生态关键点及生态干扰点的分布特征,并差异化应对。结果表明：（1）为促进生态要素的空间联系,1537条生态廊道应纳入生态安全格局中,908处生态关键点需要保护,而0.48%的经济社会源地面积应退让给自然廊道。（2）受干扰的核心生态源地面积占比和自然廊道长度占比分别为1.36%、12.95%,8800处生态干扰点可采取缓冲、预警等主要应对策略,以协同发展自然—人工系统。（3）为满足生态保护用地应持续增加的需求,非核心生态源地内,面积分别为203.22 km²、125.67 km²、35.59 km²的一、二、三级自然廊道可分批作为生态安全格局未来发展的储备用地。研究结果可为协调国土空间规划体系中生态用地与城镇建设用地提供参考。