黄河三角洲自然保护区生物多样性及其保护

介绍了黄河三角洲自然保护区内物种多样性和生态系统的多样性,分析了破坏和威胁生物多样性的因素,提出了自然保护区生物多样性保护措施。     

The Ecological Road-Effect Zone of a Massachusetts (U.S.A.) Suburban Highway

Abstract: Ecological flows and biological diversity trace broad patterns across the landscape, whereas transportation planning for human mobility traditionally focuses on a narrow strip close to a road or highway. To help close this gap we examined the "road-effect zone" over which significant ecological effects extend outward from a road. Nine ecological factors—involving wetlands, streams, road salt, exotic plants, moose, deer, amphibians, forest birds, and grassland birds—were measured or estimated near 25 km of a busy four-lane highway west of Boston, Massachusetts. The effects of all factors extended > 100 m from the road, and moose corridors, road avoidance by grassland birds, and perhaps road salt in a shallow reservoir extended outwards > 1 km. Most factors had effects at 2–5 specific locations, whereas traffic noise apparently exerted effects along most of the road length. Creating a map of these effects indicates that the road-effect zone averages approximately 600 m in width and is asymmetric, with convoluted boundaries and a few long fingers. We conclude that busy roads and nature reserves should be well separated, and that future transportation systems across landscapes can provide for ecological flows and biological diversity in addition to safe and efficient human mobility.     

Rodent Communities in an Exurbanizing Southwestern Landscape (U.S.A.)

Abstract:  Ranches are being converted to exurban housing developments in the southwestern United States, with potentially significant but little-studied impacts on biological diversity. We captured rodents on 48 traplines in grasslands, mesquite savannas, and oak savannas in southeastern Arizona that were grazed by livestock, embedded in exurban housing developments, grazed and embedded in development, or neither grazed nor embedded in development. Independent of habitat or development, rodent species richness, mean rank abundance, and capture rates of all rodents combined were negatively related to presence of livestock grazing or to its effects on vegetative ground cover. Exurban development had no obvious effects on rodent variety or abundance. Results suggest southwestern exurban developments can sustain a rich assemblage of grassland and savanna rodents if housing densities are low and houses are embedded in a matrix of natural vegetation with little grazing.     

Population Status of the Razorback Sucker in the Middle Green River (U.S.A.)

The razorback sucker, Xyrauchen texanus , in the middle Green River (U.S.A.) has been described as a static population consisting of old individuals that will eventually disappear through attrition. Capture data between 1980 and 1992 indicated a constant length frequency despite a slow but positive growth rate of individual fish. Abundance and survival estimates indicated that the population of razorback sucker in the middle Green River is precariously low but dynamic. Although high variation existed among survival estimates, no significant decrease in the population between 1982 and 1992 could be detected. The low level of recruitment occurring in the razorback sucker population of the middle Green River was related to high-flow years, indicating that floodplain habitats may be necessary for survival of the species.     

九寨沟自然保护区鸟类群落结构与多样性

2002年4月～2003年6月,利用样线法对九寨沟自然保护区的鸟类物种多样性进行了调查,并分析了群落结构.调查记录到鸟类172种,结合历史文献可知,保护区内有鸟类14目43科223种,其中国家Ⅰ级重点保护鸟类4种,国家Ⅱ级重点保护鸟类23种,中国特有种17种.居留型组成为夏候鸟63种、冬候鸟14种、留鸟128种和旅鸟18种.鸟类群落多样性指数以针阔叶混交林最高(3.99),落叶阔叶林的最低(1.79);均匀度指数以水域生境的最高(0.87),村落生境的最低(0.61).各生境鸟类群落结构的相似性都很低(＜60%),具有明显的差异.表2参16     

The Lower Susquehanna River Gorge and Floodplain (U.S.A.) as a Riparian Refugium for Vernal, Forest-Floor Herbs

A survey of vernal, forest-understory herbs was conducted on 52 routes, 10 sample sites each, along the Susquehanna River and its major and minor tributaries in southeastern Pennsylvania and northeastern Maryland. Mature forest stands, as compared to younger successional stands, had a greater diversity and cover of native understory herbs and greater frequencies of K -selected species such as Trillium flexipes and Dicentra canadensis . Vernal herbs with a high fidelity to the river corridor were likely to be more mesic in habitat preference, to occupy a more limited range of habitats, and to be less tolerant to disturbance than species that are also common in adjacent upland areas. The best vernal wildflower sites, which are usually in mesic or floodplain forest, may also be the most vulnerable to species loss if the canopy is removed or the forest is otherwise disturbed. Disturbance-sensitive herbs have been nearly extirpated from the Susquehanna tributaries by very intensive human development. Preservation of an appropriate matrix of microhabitats, particularly along the main river and at the mouths of the creeks, is critical to protecting the vernal flora of the region.     

The Quagga Mussel Crisis at Lake Mead National Recreation Area,Nevada (U.S.A.)

Abstract: Parks are cornerstones of conservation; and non‐native invasive species drive extensive changes to biological diversity in parks. Knowing this, national park staff at Lake Mead National Recreation Area in the southwestern United States had a program in place for early detection of the non‐native, invasive quagga mussel (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis). Upon finding the mussel in January 2007, managers moved quickly to access funding and the best available science to implement a response. Managers considered four options—doing nothing, closing the park, restricting movement on the lakes, and educating and enforcing park visitors—and decided to focus on education and enforcing existing laws. Nonetheless, quagga spread throughout the park and soon began to appear throughout the western United States. I examined why efforts to control the expansion failed and determined the general lessons to be learned from this case. Concentrating human visitation on the lakes through land‐use zoning opened a pathway for invasion, reduced management options, and led to the rapid spread of quagga. To reconcile competing mandates to protect nature and provide recreation, zoning in parks has become a common practice worldwide. It reduces stress on some areas of a park by restricting and thus concentrating human activity in particular areas. Concentrating the human activity in one area does three things: cements pathways that repeatedly import and export vectors of non‐native invasive species; creates the disturbed area necessary to enable non‐native invasive species to gain a foothold; and, establishes a source of invasions that, without appropriate controls, can quickly spread to a park's wilderness areas.     

自然保护区评价研究的进展

本文论述了自然保护区评价这一新学科在近30年内的发展史,同时介绍了自然保护区评价的几个组成部分和一些基本概念,分析了其存在的不足和有待解决的问题。     

Topology of Extinction and Endangerment of Native Fishes in the Pacific Northwest and California (U.S.A.)

Recent studies have provided a broad data base on extinction and endangerment of species, subspecies, and distinct populations of inland fishes in western North America. Development of a synoptic, regional-scale image of extinction and risk of extinction is complicated by the small size and linear distribution of fluvial aquatic habitats and by interspecific variation in areal extent of populations. I developed a regional map of extinction-risk isopleths based on the number of extinct and persistently declining species in drainage basins of the Pacific Northwest and California. This topological synthesis is useful for delineating and monitoring areas of historic and ongoing loss of aquatic biodiversity, and for relating losses to patterns of land use and habitat modification, climate hydrology, and geomorphology. From an ecological perspective, endangerment of numerous indigenous populations of seven widely distributed species of anadromous salmonids in this region is as important as the more local, diffuse effects of declines in more than 60 endemic, nonanadromous species and subspecies. The simultaneous decline of numerous taxa in basins not afflicted with dams or diversions suggests that cumulative damage to aquatic habitats caused by logging, grazing, urbanization, and other land uses plays a major role in icthyofaunal impoverishment.     

Interactive Effects of Water Diversion and Climate Change for Juvenile Chinook Salmon in the Lemhi River Basin (U.S.A.)

The combined effects of water diversion and climate change are a major conservation challenge for freshwater ecosystems. In the Lemhi Basin, Idaho (U.S.A.), water diversion causes changes in streamflow, and climate change will further affect streamflow and temperature. Shifts in streamflow and temperature regimes can affect juvenile salmon growth, movement, and survival. We examined the potential effects of water diversion and climate change on juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), a species listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA). To examine the effects for juvenile survival, we created a model relating 19 years of juvenile survival data to streamflow and temperature and found spring streamflow and summer temperature were good predictors of juvenile survival. We used these models to project juvenile survival for 15 diversion and climate‐change scenarios. Projected survival was 42–58% lower when streamflows were diverted than when streamflows were undiverted. For diverted streamflows, 2040 climate‐change scenarios (ECHO‐G and CGCM3.1 T47) resulted in an additional 11–39% decrease in survival. We also created models relating habitat carrying capacity to streamflow and made projections for diversion and climate‐change scenarios. Habitat carrying capacity estimated for diverted streamflows was 17–58% lower than for undiverted streamflows. Climate‐change scenarios resulted in additional decreases in carrying capacity for the dry (ECHO‐G) climate model. Our results indicate climate change will likely pose an additional stressor that should be considered when evaluating the effects of anthropogenic actions on salmon population status. Thus, this type of analysis will be especially important for evaluating effects of specific actions on a particular species. Efectos Interactivos de la Desviación del Agua y el Cambio Climático en Individuos Juveniles de Salmón Chinook en la Cuenca del Río Lemhi (E.U.A.)     

A Critical Assessment of the Use of Surrogate Species in Conservation Planning in the Sacramento‐San Joaquin Delta,California (U.S.A.)

Abstract: Conservation biology has provided wildlife managers with a wealth of concepts and tools for use in conservation planning; among them is the surrogate species concept. Over the past 20 years, a growing body of empirical literature has demonstrated the limited effectiveness of surrogates as management tools, unless it is first established that the target species and surrogate will respond similarly to a given set of environmental conditions. Wildlife managers and policy makers have adopted the surrogate species concept, reflecting the limited information available on most species at risk of extirpation or extinction and constraints on resources available to support conservation efforts. We examined the use of surrogate species, in the form of cross‐taxon response‐indicator species (that is, one species from which data are used to guide management planning for another, distinct species) in the Sacramento‐San Joaquin Delta, California (U.S.A.). In that system there has been increasing reliance on surrogates in conservation planning for species listed under federal or state endangered species acts, although the agencies applying the surrogate species concept did not first validate that the surrogate and target species respond similarly to relevant environmental conditions. During the same period, conservation biologists demonstrated that the surrogate concept is generally unsupported by ecological theory and empirical evidence. Recently developed validation procedures may allow for the productive use of surrogates in conservation planning, but, used without validation, the surrogate species concept is not a reliable planning tool.