The role of predation in ecosystem models

Ecosystem models must convert a naturally open system into a theoretically closed one. For phytoplankton-herbivore models the form for the parameterization of predation on the herbivores can have a significant effect on the remainder of the model.     

Discounting in the presence of scarce ecosystem services

The discount rate for cost-benefit analysis has to take account of future scarcity of ecosystem services in consumption and production. Previous literature focuses on the first aspect and shows the importance of the relative price effect, for given growth rates of consumption and ecosystem services. This paper focuses on intermediate ecosystem services in production and shows that for limited substitutability and a low growth rate of these ecosystem services, the growth rate of consumption, and thus the discount rate, declines towards a low value. Using a Ramsey growth model, the paper distinguishes three cases. If ecosystem services can be easily substituted, the discount rate converges to the usual value in the long term. Secondly, if ecosystem services can be easily substituted in production but not in consumption, the relative price effect is important. Finally, and most interestingly, if ecosystem services cannot be easily substituted in production, the discount rate declines towards a low value and the relative price effect is less important. Another part of the previous literature has shown that a declining discount rate is the result of introducing several forms of uncertainty, but this paper reaches that conclusion from an endogenous effect on the growth rate of the economy.     

陆地生态系统含硫气体释放研究进展

由自然生态系统释放的含硫气体在全球硫循环中起着重要作用。陆地生态系统主要的自然硫释放源有湿地、土壤、植被、内陆水体和火山等，由自然源释放的含硫气体主要产生于有机硫化物的降解和硫酸盐的还原，同时受温度、光照等环境因素的影响。文章主要综述了对人类有影响的几种含硫气体(DMS、H2S、COS、CH3SH、CS2和DMDS等)从各种自然源释放的情况，同时简要介绍了环境因素如温度、光照、土壤状况、氧化还原条件等对自然源释放含硫气体的影响，最后结合中国的研究现状，指出今后应开展和加强陆地生态系统含硫气体释放通量监测、释放机理及在大气中的转化等方面的研究，以及在此基础上建立含硫气体释放模型。     

生态系统功能与生态系统服务的概念辨析

"生态系统功能(Ecosystem functions)"和"生态系统服务(Ecosystem services)"已成为生态学中的重要研究领域.针对国内部分研究人员对"生态系统功能"与"生态系统服务(功能)"概念和术语混淆使用的问题,在归纳总结国内外有关的重要研究的基础上,通过分别论述"生态系统功能"与"生态系统服务"的定义和内涵,辨析和阐明了生态系统"功能"与"服务"的区别与关系.生态系统功能是构建系统内生物有机体生理功能的过程,侧重于反映生态系统的自然属性,是维持生态系统服务的基础;生态系统服务是由生态系统功能产生的,是基于人类的需要、利用和偏好,反映了人类对生态系统功能的利用,是生态系统功能满足人类福利的一种表现.因此"生态系统服务功能"这一术语不准确,容易产生误解.     

湿地生态系统硅生物地球化学循环研究进展

硅在地壳中的丰度仅次于氧,是地球表面大多数土壤和岩石的一种基本成分,也是水生植物（特别是硅藻类）以及多种作物生长所必需的营养元素,还是控制陆地、海洋、沿海和内陆水生态系统机能的重要营养元素。目前关于全球硅的生物地球化学循环的研究多集中在陆地和海洋两大生态系统,而湿地生态系统中硅的循环过程、储存量尚不清楚。虽然在河口湿地开展一些关于硅的相关研究,但是硅在湿地的循环机制研究不够全面,尤其相比碳、氮、磷等元素,硅素研究甚少。而且,国内关于硅的相关研究更为匮乏。本文在总结国内外关于湿地生态系统硅素研究的基础上,综述硅在湿地生态系统的存在形态与分布特征,阐述硅在湿地生态系统中的基本循环过程,列举影响硅在湿地生态系统中循环的主要因素,如：湿地类型、水淹时间、季节变化、人类干扰等;提出在今后研究工作中应进一步探索硅在湿地生态系统中迁移、转化的机制,加深研究人类活动对湿地生态系统硅循环的影响,特别是应该加强研究河口潮汐湿地和沿海湿地生态系统硅的生物地球化学循环过程和储存量,有助于明确湿地生态系统对于硅的截留量;并弄清湿地中碳与硅含量之间的关系,从水文学角度分析湿地中排水、蒸发、洪期及滞留时间等因素对硅循环的影响,从而试图建立湿地硅循环模型,有助于预测湿地生态系统硅循环对沿海地区赤潮等富营养化现象和全球气候变化的影响。     

Mapping ecosystem services potential in Lithuania

This research presents a geographic information systems (GIS)-based method for ecosystem services (ES) potential assessment in a case study for the Lithuanian national territory. The ES potential was assessed for 31 CORINE land-cover classes (CLC2006) together with 31 ES categorized into regulating, provisioning and cultural ES. An expert-based ranking approach using a two-dimensional ES matrix and a geospatial analysis was applied to determine total ES potential, spatial patterns and relations among multiple ES. Results showed that forest areas had the highest potential for ES delivery whereas ES potential in urban areas was lowest. The spatial autocorrelation of regulating and cultural ES were dispersed while provisioning ES were significantly clustered. The principal component analysis (PCA) identified five factors with distinctive geospatial distribution: Factor 1 – forest areas, Factor 2 – aquatic environments, Factor 3 – livestock farming and energy production, Factor 4 – agricultural food production and Factor 5 – mineral extraction sites. The plotting of Factors 1 and 2 accounted for 72.81% of variance and identified three ES bundles composed by specific ES types: Bundle 1 – forest ecosystems, Bundle 2 – marine and freshwater ecosystems and Bundle 3 – mixed provisioning ecosystems. Trade-offs occur between regulating and cultural ES against the provisioning ES crop production and livestock farming. We conclude that the presented ES assessment can support decision-makers in the development of strategies for natural resources management at national and regional level, support the identification of trade-offs and synergies among ES types and foster ES research in Lithuania.     

Limits of monetization in protecting ecosystem services

The monetary valuation of ecosystem services is gaining traction in policy and business communities. Several tools and decision‐making processes have been proposed, including criteria to assess the appropriateness of using monetary valuation for biodiversity conservation outcomes. These criteria include measures such as scale, uniqueness, and threat. We used case studies of monetization projects for which the outcomes were measured to explore the limitations and application of these criteria. There was limited evidence of the effectiveness of such schemes. The majority of the schemes were established in areas where the criteria specifically excluded their use in isolation. Thus, although some aspects of monetization may be beneficial for biodiversity conservation, these schemes were not being used appropriately and require some quantitative minimum (or maximum) measurements to be applied through additional policy or governance measures to ensure biodiversity conservation outcomes.     

生态系统服务价值评估的研究进展

生态系统服务价值评估是当前生态经济学和环境经济学的研究焦点。首先回顾了国内外关于生态系统服务功能的概念和分类的研究;其次根据发展历程分析了国外生态系统服务价值的评估研究;然后从全国、区域以及单个生态系统等方面探讨国内生态系统服务价值评估的研究。最后指出现有生态系统服务价值评估研究中的不足及今后发展方向,以期丰富生态系统服务价值评估理论。     

Crediting uncertain ecosystem services in a market

The margin of safety (MOS) approach is an increasingly prevalent tool for ensuring the integrity of market-based programs for providing ecosystem services. Over-crediting is reduced by setting aside mean estimates of uncertain services in favor of a more conservative estimate. Like many environmental policy problems, ecosystem service markets involve the aggregation of uncertainty over multiple scales, e.g. from landowners to market intermediaries to the overall market. We examine how the MOS instrument affects, and is affected by, an ecosystem services market. We show that the common bottom-up approach of imposing risk preferences at a local, disaggregated level—held over from earlier development in the context of toxics and command and control-style health risk regulation—leads to several unintended consequences. Furthermore, discounting landowner services can actually increase their profits, conditional on the elasticity of credit demand. We illustrate theoretical insights with an empirical application to greenhouse gas offset crediting in agriculture.     

基于RS和GIS的武汉市生态系统服务价值变化研究

以武汉市为例,利用从1996年和2001年TM数据中获取的景观数据,估算了武汉市生态服务价值并分析了景观之间的转化所引起的生态服务价值的变化。结果表明:各景观类型中水域景观的生态服务价值贡献系数最大,达到2.869;研究区域生态服务价值总量变化不大,2001年比1996年只下降了3688.79万元,但各景观生态服务价值变动很大,其中库塘生态服务价值增加了2.38亿元,河流的生态服务价值减少了2.33亿元,其变化率分别达到40.74%和-9.16%;由于河湖被占用所造成的生态服务价值损失达到9891.68万元,城市建设占用其它景观类型所带来的生态服务价值损失达到9908.37万元,这说明建设用地的发展对其他自然景观占用已经影响到了武汉市生态系统服务功能发挥。     

Increasing the impact of collective incentives in payments for ecosystem services

Collective payments for ecosystem services (PES) programs make payments to groups, conditional on specified aggregate land-management outcomes. Such collective contracting may be well suited to settings with communal land tenure or decision-making. Given that collective contracting does not require costly individual-level information on outcomes, it may also facilitate conditioning on additionality (i.e., conditioning payments upon clearly improved outcomes relative to baseline). Yet collective contracting often suffers from free-riding, which undermines group outcomes and may be exacerbated or ameliorated by PES designs. We study impacts of conditioning on additionality within a number of collective PES designs. We use a framed field-laboratory experiment with participants from a new PES program in Mexico. Because social interactions are critical within collective processes, we assess the impacts from conditioning on additionality given: (1) group participation in contract design, and (2) a group coordination mechanism. Conditioning on above-baseline outcomes raised contributions, particularly among initially lower contributors. Group participation in contract design increased impact, as did the coordination mechanism.     

The multifunctionality of the natural environment through the basic ecosystem services in the Florina region,Greece

Until the last decade, protecting the environment was seen as a factor contributing to human well-being, and conservation of natural ecosystems was considered to be one of the most important factors of environmental protection. Numerous studies have dealt with the benefits of natural ecosystems and in recent years even more so with ecosystem services, as well as interactions of ecosystem services with each other and with the urban and peri-urban environment. This paper suggests an approach to the spatial unity of the Florina region using basic ecosystem services identified by land use. The aim was, first, to describe the spatial distribution of basic ecosystem services and their interactions and, second, to investigate whether they form important statistical correlations with the basic features of the prefecture. A 1 km × 1 km analysis of 10 ecosystem services covering the surface of the prefecture was carried out.     

The role of water in the information exchange between the components of an ecosystem

Living organisms and ecosystems have been shown to be sensitive to very weak signals originating very far away. The dynamics governing these phenomena is discussed in the framework of Quantum Field Theory. This phenomenon gives an indication on the dynamics responsible for the exchange of information in ecosystems. The peculiar role of coherent water is stressed. It is shown that energy is able to travel in a coherent medium in form of solitons, without any losses.     

Measuring social-ecological dynamics behind the generation of ecosystem services.

The generation of ecosystem services depends on both social and ecological features. Here we focus on management, its ecological consequences, and social drivers. Our approach combined (1) quantitative surveys of local species diversity and abundance of three functional groups of ecosystem service providers (pollinators, seed dispersers, and insectivores) with (2) qualitative studies of local management practices connected to these services and their underlying social mechanisms, i.e., institutions, local ecological knowledge, and a sense of place. It focused on the ecology of three types of green areas (allotment gardens, cemeteries, and city parks) in the city of Stockholm, Sweden. These are superficially similar but differ considerably in their management. Effects of the different practices could be seen in the three functional groups, primarily as a higher abundance of pollinators in the informally managed allotment gardens and as differences in the composition of seed dispersers and insectivores. Thus, informal management, which is normally disregarded by planning authorities, is important for ecosystem services in the urban landscape. Furthermore, we suggest that informal management has an important secondary function: It may be crucial during periods of instability and change as it is argued to promote qualities with potential for adaptation. Allotment gardeners seem to be the most motivated managers, something that is reflected in their deeper knowledge and can be explained by a sense of place and management institutions. We propose that co-management would be one possible way to infuse the same positive qualities into all management and that improved information exchange between managers would be one further step toward ecologically functional urban landscapes.     

1983-2003年澳门生态系统服务价值的变化

以澳门1983年和2003年的统计数据为基础,在分析澳门土地利用和土地覆盖变化状况的同时,对澳门生态系统服务的价值进行了评估,结果表明,按当前价计算,(1)2003年澳门生态系统服务的价值为1983年的2.5倍;(2)1983年澳门生态系统服务的价值为3.302×106 美元,相当于26.5250×106 MOP(澳门元);2003年澳门生态系统服务的价值为8.3396×106 美元,相当于66.992×106 MOP;(3)将2003年澳门生态系统服务的价值与2003年澳门的年生产总值(GDP)646.54×108 MOP相比,2003年澳门生态系统服务的价值相当于GDP的0.1%,体现了澳门城市经济主导型的特征.由于缺乏对建筑用地服务价值的相关研究数据,该结果是对澳门生态系统服务价值的保守估计;(4)1997年全球年人均生态服务价值为5544.7美元/人,而澳门2002年人均生态服务价值仅为18.9元/人,为全球水平的0.34%,反映澳门辖区生态服务的严重不足.澳门人均生态系统服务价值偏低主要是由于澳门辖区小且无水域(由于澳门地处生态服务价值非常高的珠江口河口区,生态服务并不受行政边界的影响,所以澳门实质上的生态服务价值并不低);(5)澳门1983年至2003年之间填海造地635 hm2,填海使邻近澳门的珠江河口湿地面积减少同样的面积,由于河口潮汐地的生态服务价值高达9990美元/(hm2·a),远高于填海得到的草地和裸地,所以20年中澳门及周边河口区净生态服务价值下降为1.306×106美元.     

Meta-analysis of ecosystem services associated with oyster restoration

Restoration of foundation species promises to reverse environmental degradation and return lost ecosystem services, but a lack of standardized evaluation across projects limits understanding of recovery, especially in marine systems. Oyster reefs are restored to reverse massive global declines and reclaim valuable ecosystem services, but the success of these projects has not been systematically and comprehensively quantified. We synthesized data on ecosystem services associated with oyster restoration from 245 pairs of restored and degraded reefs and 136 pairs of restored and reference reefs across 3500 km of U.S. Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coastlines. On average, restoration was associated with a 21-fold increase in oyster production (mean log response ratio = 3.08 [95% confidence interval: 2.58–3.58]), 34–97% enhancement of habitat provisioning (mean community abundance = 0.51 [0.41–0.61], mean richness = 0.29 [0.19–0.39], and mean biomass = 0.69 [0.39–0.99]), 54% more nitrogen removal (mean = 0.43 [0.13–0.73]), and 89–95% greater sediment nutrients (mean = 0.67 [0.27–1.07]) and organic matter (mean = 0.64 [0.44–0.84]) relative to degraded habitats. Moreover, restored reefs matched reference reefs for these ecosystem services. Our results support the continued and expanded use of oyster restoration to enhance ecosystem services of degraded coastal systems and match many functions provided by reference reefs.     

水电开发对河流生态系统服务功能影响的价值评估初探

提出了计算“流量”,即计算受水电开发影响的河流生态系统服务功能的价值变化量的评估思路和方法,并以广东省河源市风光水利枢纽工程为案例进行了定量分析。在对河流生态系统服务功能进行分类的基础上,根据河流生态系统服务功能可能受到水电开发影响的现实情况和影响特征,选择适当的生态系统服务功能价值核算的方法和参数,计算受影响的生态系统服务功能的价值变化量。案例研究结果表明,风光水利枢纽工程开发方案引起的河流生态服务功能价值变化的正效益为7 676万元/a,负效益为-3 894万元/a,负效益占到其正效益的一半以上,说明该工程开发对东江河流生态系统的消极负面影响也是不容忽视的,应采取适当的生态补偿措施。     

The role of fungi in processing marine organic matter in the upwelling ecosystem off Chile

In a study that spanned from March 2007 through November 2009, we report high fungal biomass and over 90% of extracellular enzymatic activity occurring in the size classes dominated by fungi during periods of high autotrophic biomass in surface waters of the upwelling ecosystem off central-southern Chile (36°30.80′S–73°07.70′W). Fungal biomass in the water column was determined by the abundance of hyphae and was positively correlated with the concentration of the fungal biomarker 18:2ω6. High fungal biomass during active upwelling periods was comparable to that of prokaryotes (bacteria plus archaea) and was associated with an increase in phytoplankton biomass and in extracellular enzymatic hydrolysis in waters from the depth of maximum fluorescence. We show fungi as a new microbial component in the coastal upwelling ecosystem of the Humboldt Current System off central Chile. Our results suggest that the temporal pattern in fungal biomass in the water column during a year cycle is a reflection of their capacity to hydrolyze organic polymers and, in consequence, fungal biomass and activity respond to a seasonal cycle of upwelling in this ecosystem.