基于景观生态学的天目湖湿地公园规划

通过野外调查和利用1：1000、1：10000地形图作GIS判读分析，以景观生态学原理为指导，对天目湖湿地公园进行规划。在将天目湖湿地划分成平坦开阔区、岛山、浅冲和廊道4类斑块基础上，以保护和利用湿地资源，发挥廊道的生态功能，突出绿斑、蓝带、开敞空间的整合为规划控制思路，对规划出的水生花卉园、湖滨生态园、平桥河生态廊道、芦苇园、林岛园、“双龙”入湖生态景观带以及生态产业和生态人居园7类用地布局作了描述。     

现代农业示范园区植物景观设计与配置意向--以衡阳市现代农业示范园核心区的园林绿化设计为例

衡阳是湖南省湘南地区最大的区域性城市，2003年衡阳市委市政府决定利用船山名人的旅游品牌效应和区位优势，在城郊衡阳县英陂镇境内建设集科研生产、农业示范、旅游观光于一体的现代农业示范园，实行资源和优势互补，为发展当地农村经济开辟新路子．衡阳市现代农业示范园的园林绿化建设应以景观生态学原理为指导，通过对示范园核心区的规划设计与构思、植物配置、管理措施与规划建设项目等方面的论述。以便为衡阳市委市政府发展观光旅游农业开发的决策和组织实施提供切实可行的理论依据．     

关于农业生态旅游的几点看法

农业生态旅游已逐渐成为普通大众的一种新的旅游消费方式,近年来国内外正在不断兴起。农业生态旅游是农业生产与旅游活动的有机结合,它已日益成为农业的一个新的经济增长点。发展农业生态旅游需要加强旅游地的“软件”(生态旅游规划、广告策划等)和“硬件”(基础配套设施等)的建设,特别是健康优美的农村生态环境的建设与保护,要本着大农业、大生态、大旅游的思想,推动农业生态旅游的产业化进程及其可持续发展。     

基于景观生态学的天目湖湿地公园规划

通过野外调查和利用1∶1000、1∶10000地形图作GIS判读分析,以景观生态学原理为指导,对天目湖湿地公园进行规划。在将天目湖湿地划分成平坦开阔区、岛山、浅冲和廊道4类斑块基础上,以保护和利用湿地资源,发挥廊道的生态功能,突出绿斑、蓝带、开敞空间的整合为规划控制思路,对规划出的水生花卉园、湖滨生态园、平桥河生态廊道、芦苇园、林岛园、"双龙"入湖生态景观带以及生态产业和生态人居园7类用地布局作了描述。     

深圳市滨海湿地两个观光农业系统的能值整合研究

应用能值研究方法对深圳市海上田园旅游区的芦花湖和农家小院两个观光农业系统进行了生态经济分析.从系统和子系统两个层面,进行了能值产出、环境负载、可持续发展能力的评价与比较;与珠三角另一个观光农业系统(百万葵园)、两个基塘农业系统(菜-鱼、菜-猪-鱼)和一个巴西基塘系统(谷-猪-鱼)进行了横向比较.从货币收益的角度看,农家小院系统的费用使用效率、商品生产获利能力要优于芦花湖系统.但能值整合分析却显示出不一样的结果:两系统内旅游业子系统的能值交换率较高,而二者的农牧业子系统及农家小院系统的水产业子系统的能值交换率均较低,其生产效率仍有待提高.芦花湖系统的环境负载率为7.31,能值可持续发展指标为0.255,分别是农家小院的0.25倍和2.26倍,因而更具长远发展优势.与传统农业相比,观光农业的能值交换率和环境负载率整体偏高,表明其在经济效益创造上优于传统农业,但在自然资源利用和环境压力,以及可持续发展能力等方面与传统农业尚存在差距,在今后的发展中需借鉴传统农业的经验并加以改善,防止观光农业发展中绿色产业褐色化现象的发生.     

自然保护区生态旅游开发与规划研究

在论述生态旅游定义、本质特征以及自然保护区概念与建立意义基础上，探讨了自然保护区生态旅游开发程序及规划内容。认为：生态安全原则是自然保护区生态旅游开发的首要原则，生态安全影响评价是自然保护区生态旅游开发的重要环节，社区参与、主管部门的监管以及有关专家的指导是自然保护区生态旅游成功开发的保证；功能分区、生态旅游容量确定、生态旅游项目规划、解说教育系统规划、生态化旅游基础设施规划、社区参与规划是自然保护区生态旅游规划的关键内容。     

景观生态学在农业景观生态规划中的应用

从景观生态学的基本原理入手,阐述景观生态学在农业景观生态规划中的应用。认为农业景观规划设计不仅关注景观的“土地利用”、“土地肥力”以及人类的短期需求,更强调景观的生态价值和美学价值及其带给人类的长期效益。农业景观生态规划设计的中心任务就是创建一个可持续发展的整体区域生态系统。以江苏省宝应县为例进行分析。     

景观生态学在农业景观生态规划中的应用

从景观生态学的基本原理入手 ,阐述景观生态学在农业景观生态规划中的应用。认为农业景观规划设计不仅关注景观的“土地利用”、“土地肥力”以及人类的短期需求 ,更强调景观的生态价值和美学价值及其带给人类的长期效益。农业景观生态规划设计的中心任务就是创建一个可持续发展的整体区域生态系统。以江苏省宝应县为例进行分析     

系统动力学与农业生态经济系统设计

石油农业的弊病促使人们寻找农业发展的新途径,生态农业应运而生。目前国内外正大力进行这方面的研究和试验。对农业生态经济系统进行定性定量研究,预测其演进方向,确定其发展形式,这是农业生态经济研究中的一项重要课题。对农业生态经济系统进行定量研究的方法很多,诸如回归分析、列斯里矩阵和规划方法等等。本文介绍用系统动力学进行农业生态经济系统设计的程序。     

新书简介

《城市生态与旅游经济导论》李建龙教授主编的《城市生态与旅游经济导论》一书已于2007年3月由化学工业出版社出版,ISBN:978 -7-5025-9919-5。该书主要阐述了城市生态与旅游学的主要基础理论和原理,城市生态系统组成、结构与功能,生态城市构建理论与规划技术,城市生态问题与环保策略,开展城市生态旅游的目的、意义和主要内容,详细论述了生     

Rapid,recurring, structured survey versus bioblitz for generating biodiversity data and analysis with a multispecies abundance model

A bioblitz inexpensively and quickly generates biodiversity data, but bioblitzes are often conducted with haphazard, unreplicated sampling. Results tend to be taxonomically, geographically, or temporally biased, lack metadata, and consist of lists of observed taxa that do not enable further analyses or correction for imperfect detection. A rapid, recurring, structured survey (RRSS) uses a structured sampling design and temporal and spatial replication to survey randomly selected sites on a conservation property. We participated in a loosely structured bioblitz and a subsequent RRSS at Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve in Springville (St. Clair County), Alabama (USA) to compare observed richness derived from the 2 survey approaches. The RRSS data structure enabled us to fit models that accounted for imperfect detection to estimate abundances, occupancy probabilities, and habitat associations. The loosely structured bioblitz data could not be used in such models. We present a new integrated multispecies abundance model that we applied to avian RRSS data. Our model extension enables estimation for the community, employs data augmentation to estimate the number of undetected species, and incorporates covariates. The RRSS generated a more comprehensive and less biased list of observed taxonomic richness than the loosely structured bioblitz (e.g., 73 vs. 45 bird species and 104 vs. 63 insect families from the RRSS vs. loosely structured bioblitz, respectively). Models fit to the RRSS data identified seasonal patterns in avian community composition and allowed for estimation of habitat–occupancy relationships for insect taxa. The RRSS protocol has potential for broad transferability as a standardized, quick, and inexpensive way to inventory biodiversity and estimate ecological parameters while providing an outreach opportunity.     

Compliance with and ecosystem function of biodiversity offsets in North American and European freshwaters

Land-use change via human development is a major driver of biodiversity loss. To reduce these impacts, billions of dollars are spent on biodiversity offsets. However, studies evaluating offset project effectiveness that examine components such as the overall compliance and function of projects remain rare. We reviewed 577 offsetting projects in freshwater ecosystems that included the metrics project size, type of aquatic system (e.g., wetland and creek), offsetting measure (e.g., enhancement, restoration, and creation), and an assessment of the projects’ compliance and functional success. Project information was obtained from scientific and government databases and gray literature. Despite considerable investment in offsetting projects, crucial problems persisted. Although compliance and function were related to each other, a high level of compliance did not guarantee a high degree of function. However, large projects relative to area had better function than small projects. Function improved when projects targeted productivity or specific ecosystem features and when multiple complementary management targets were in place. Restorative measures were more likely to achieve targets than creating entirely new ecosystems. Altogether the relationships we found highlight specific ecological processes that may help improve offsetting outcomes.     

Representation of the world's biophysical conditions by the global protected area network

Protected areas (PAs) are often implemented without consideration of already existing PAs, which is likely to cause an overrepresentation of certain biophysical conditions. We assessed the representativeness of the current PA network with regard to the world's biophysical conditions to highlight which conditions are underprotected and where these conditions are located. We overlaid terrestrial and marine PAs with information on biophysical conditions (e.g., temperature, precipitation, and elevation) and then quantified the percentage of area covered by the PA network. For 1 variable at a time in the terrestrial realm, high temperature, low precipitation, and medium and very high elevation were underrepresented. For the marine realm, low and medium sea surface temperature (SST), medium and high sea surface salinity (SSS), and the deep sea were underrepresented. Overall, protection was evenly distributed for elevation across the terrestrial realm and SST across the marine realm. For 2 variables at a time, cold and very dry terrestrial environments had mostly low protection, which was also the case for low SST and low and medium SSS across most depths for marine environments. Low protection occurred mostly in the Sahara and the Arabian Peninsula for the terrestrial realm and along the Tropic of Capricorn and toward the poles for the marine realm. Although biodiversity measures are of prime importance for the design of PA networks, highlighting biophysical gaps in current PAs adds a frequently overlooked perspective. These gaps may weaken the potential of PAs to conserve biodiversity. Thus, our results may provide useful insights for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to establish a more comprehensive global PA network.     

Quantitative composition of the defensive secretion ofBledius species (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Oxytelinae) is adapted to naturally occurring predators

Summary The adaptation of defensive secretions to their target organisms was examined for the abdominal gland secretions ofBledius furcatus, B. spectabilis andB. arenarius. Therefore the target organisms of the secretion of theseBledius species (i.e. their predators) had to be identified. At the collection sites examined these were the earwigLabidura riparia, the antCataglyphis bicolor, the flyLispe candicans, different carabids of the generaPogonus, Dichirotrichus, Dyschirius, Bembidion andCalathus and the wading birdsHaematopus ostralegus andCalidris alba. The secretion of the abdominal glands contains the toxin ptoluquinone dissolved in either-dodecalactone and 1-undecene (B. furcatus andB. spectabilis) or in octanoic acid and octyloctanoate (B. arenarius). The ratio of these solvents is species-specific. Application experiments using some of the natural insect predators (L. riparia, C. bicolor, Pogonus, Di. gustavii, Dyschirius) revealed that these solvent ratios provided a more effective deterrent than other possible ratios. Thus by combining the solvents in certain ratios, the capability of cuticular penetration and therefore the effectiveness of the defensive secretions are adapted to their natural targets.     

Democracy versus development: New urban debates

The politics of development includes subtexts of choice, as underpinned by community consensus (or lack of it), against the larger backdrop of a liberal democracy, with its intricate power structures that influence the choice of concepts and often lead to complicity rather than consent. A dilemma exists between the understanding of field-level practitioners and that of academics, whose understandings of progress differ. Progress can (and often does) imply long-term change across generations whereas development is often more a matter of crisis management and delivering tangible results to end-users. This makes it a bone of contention across political systems, irrespective of local or global dynamics. Development can emerge as a tool to be wielded for power and further political mileage at the expense of progress. Progress cannot be studied as a counterpoint to development as the sense of history is often missing in development interventions. Development tends to be piecemeal as its very logic often stems from the rationale of power. This is not to suggest, however, that development is only about politics; it is definitely more than the politics of everyday life and involves all of civil society that requires its critical and immediate attention. In this sense, it has become a priority for politicians with an underlying agenda designed to out-manouevre dissent and all statements of protest.     

A palaeo-hydrogeological model for arsenic contamination in southern and south-east Asia

An argument is presented in which areas of natural arsenic contamination of modern groundwaters throughout Asia have a common origin. Arsenic originally accumulated in oceanic ferro-manganoan sediments of the eastern Palaeo-Tethys. This was further concentrated through oceanic crustal extinction in what later became the south-east Chinese accreted mineralised terrain. Proto-Himalayan uplift of this area created the palaeo-drainage systems of the Ganges – Brahmaputra, Irrawaddy, Mekong, and Red Rivers, with consequent headwater erosion of arsenic-rich sediments. Their downstream deposition as immature and easily redistributed Neogene sandstones, silts, and iron-rich clays has created secondary and tertiary reservoirs of adsorbed and authigenic arsenic, from which the current arsenic-rich groundwaters have evolved. Considering river basins within the above palaeo-hydrogeological framework provides a basis for assessing the risk of arsenic in groundwater basins of south and south-eastern Asia.     

A framework to measure the wildness of managed large vertebrate populations

As landscapes continue to fall under human influence through habitat loss and fragmentation, fencing is increasingly being used to mitigate anthropogenic threats and enhance the commercial value of wildlife. Subsequent intensification of management potentially erodes wildness by disembodying populations from landscape-level processes, thereby disconnecting species from natural selection. Tools are needed to measure the degree to which populations of large vertebrate species in formally protected and privately owned wildlife areas are self-sustaining and free to adapt. We devised a framework to measure such wildness based on 6 attributes relating to the evolutionary and ecological dynamics of vertebrates (space, disease and parasite resistance, exposure to predation, exposure to limitations and fluctuations of food and water supply, and reproduction). For each attribute, we set empirical, species-specific thresholds between 5 wildness states based on quantifiable management interventions. We analysed data from 205 private wildlife properties with management objectives spanning ecotourism to consumptive utilization to test the framework on 6 herbivore species representing a range of conservation statuses and commercial values. Wildness scores among species differed significantly, and the proportion of populations identified as wild ranged from 12% to 84%, which indicates the tool detected site-scale differences both among populations of different species and populations of the same species under different management regimes. By quantifying wildness, this framework provides practitioners with standardized measurement units that link biodiversity with the sustainable use of wildlife. Applications include informing species management plans at local scales; standardizing the inclusion of managed populations in red-list assessments; and providing a platform for certification and regulation of wildlife-based economies. Applying this framework may help embed wildness as a normative value in policy and mitigate the shifting baseline of what it means to truly conserve a species.     

Sexual Predators,Energy Development,and Conservation in Greater Yellowstone

Abstract: In the United States, as elsewhere, a growing debate pits national energy policy and homeland security against biological conservation. In rural communities the extraction of fossil fuels is often encouraged because of the employment opportunities it offers, although the concomitant itinerant workforce is often associated with increased wildlife poaching. We explored possible positive and negative factors associated with energy extraction in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), an area known for its national parks, intact biological diversity, and some of the New World's longest terrestrial migrations. Specifically, we asked whether counties with different economies—recreation (ski), agrarian (ranching or farming), and energy extractive (petroleum)—differed in healthcare (gauged by the abundance of hospital beds) and in the frequency of sexual predators. The absolute and relative frequency of registered sex offenders grew approximately two to three times faster in areas reliant on energy extraction. Healthcare among counties did not differ. The strong conflation of community dishevel, as reflected by in‐migrant sexual predators, and ecological decay in Greater Yellowstone is consistent with patterns seen in similar systems from Ecuador to northern Canada, where social and environmental disarray exist around energy boomtowns. In our case, that groups (albeit with different aims) mobilized campaigns to help maintain the quality of rural livelihoods by protecting open space is a positive sign that conservation can matter, especially in the face of rampant and poorly executed energy extraction projects. Our findings further suggest that the public and industry need stronger regulatory action to instill greater vigilance when and where social factors and land conversion impact biological systems.     

Cost‐effective conservation of an endangered frog under uncertainty

How should managers choose among conservation options when resources are scarce and there is uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of actions? Well‐developed tools exist for prioritizing areas for one‐time and binary actions (e.g., protect vs. not protect), but methods for prioritizing incremental or ongoing actions (such as habitat creation and maintenance) remain uncommon. We devised an approach that combines metapopulation viability and cost‐effectiveness analyses to select among alternative conservation actions while accounting for uncertainty. In our study, cost‐effectiveness is the ratio between the benefit of an action and its economic cost, where benefit is the change in metapopulation viability. We applied the approach to the case of the endangered growling grass frog (Litoria raniformis), which is threatened by urban development. We extended a Bayesian model to predict metapopulation viability under 9 urbanization and management scenarios and incorporated the full probability distribution of possible outcomes for each scenario into the cost‐effectiveness analysis. This allowed us to discern between cost‐effective alternatives that were robust to uncertainty and those with a relatively high risk of failure. We found a relatively high risk of extinction following urbanization if the only action was reservation of core habitat; habitat creation actions performed better than enhancement actions; and cost‐effectiveness ranking changed depending on the consideration of uncertainty. Our results suggest that creation and maintenance of wetlands dedicated to L. raniformis is the only cost‐effective action likely to result in a sufficiently low risk of extinction. To our knowledge we are the first study to use Bayesian metapopulation viability analysis to explicitly incorporate parametric and demographic uncertainty into a cost‐effective evaluation of conservation actions. The approach offers guidance to decision makers aiming to achieve cost‐effective conservation under uncertainty.     

Comparison of the insecticidal effects of water extracted and intact aromatic plants onAcanthoscelides obtectus,a bruchid beetle pest of kidney beans

Summary Acanthoscelides obtectus (Say) is one of the most damaging pests of kidney beans,Phaseolus vulgaris L. worldwide. However, aromatic plants from the families Lamiaceae, Lauraceae, Myrtaceae and Poaceae can protect kidney beans by direct or delayed insecticidal effect, through increased adult mortality and inhibition of beetle reproduction (both oviposition and adult emergence). The efficiency of hydrodistillated and intact plants fromThymus vulgaris andT. serpyllum, Mentha piperata, Rosmarinus officinalis, Satureia hortensis, Eucalyptus globulus, Laurus nobilis, Origanum vulgare, andCymbopogon nardus was compared. For both extracts,Origanum vulgare had the best effect. The insecticidal effect was induced by more than the essential oils because no significant difference was noticed between distilled and intact plants extract. Inhibition of reproduction was particularly important. These results suggest that lipidic as well as non lipidic, allelochemicals, such as phenolics, or non-protein amino-acids, or flavonoids may be involved in the toxicity of aromatic plants to this beetle.