Genetic engineering and the Moral Status of Non-Human Species

Genetic modification leads to several important moral issues. Up until now they have mainly been discussed from the viewpoint that only individual living beings, above all animals, are morally considerable. The standpoint that also collective entities such as species belong to the moral sphere have seldom been taken into account in a more thorough way, although it is advocated by several important environmental ethicists. The main purpose of this article is to analyze in more detail than often has been done what the practical consequences of this ethical position would be for the use of genetic engineering on animals and plants. The practical consequences of the holistic standpoint (focused on collective entities) of Holmes Rolston, III, is compared with the practical consequences of the individualistic standpoints (focused on individual living beings) of Bernard E. Rollin and Philipp Balzer, Klaus Peter Rippe, and Peter Schaber, respectively. The article also discusses whether the claim that species are morally considerable is tenable as a foundation for policy decisions on genetic engineering.     

开发利用蔗茅野生种质资源的思考

综述了国内外甘蔗种质资源的研究现状,对开发利用蔗茅野生种质提出了一些研究思路.目前,生产上使用的甘蔗品种是由甘蔗属内的3～5个种杂交培育而来,其亲缘关系较近,遗传基础日益狭窄.因此,开发利用具有优异遗传性状的甘蔗种质资源,综合应用新技术、新方法,以扩大甘蔗遗传多样性、提高甘蔗育种效率是解决这一问题的重要途径.     

植物在人工湿地中的作用及物种选择

本文主要阐述了植物在人工湿地中的作用和选取植物的一些原则,并分析了今后所研究的重点。植物在人工湿地中起着非常重要的作用,不但可以去除污染物质,而且具有生态美学和经济价值;选择植物应考虑植物的净化能力、适应性等因素。最后提出了植物研究需要加强的地方。     

四川省海桐花属药用植物的种类与分布

本文介绍了四川省海桐花属药用植物13种1变种的民间疗效和生境分布;首次报道密脉海桐为四川省分布新记录,并列有四川海桐花属药用植物的分种检索表。     

干旱污染型城市绿化树种的选择与优化配置

干旱污染型工业城市的绿化树种选择应符合当地的自然地理条件、美化要求和环境污染特征,树种的优化配置应充分考虑绿化效益和经济可行性.本文以兰州市为例,提出了兰州市绿化树种选择与优化配置的整体思路和合理建议,同时有助于西北地区类似城市绿化措施的调整和优化.     

川芎常见病虫害种类及防治方法

调查了危害川芎的主要病虫害种类及其发生规律,对病菌标本与害虫的蛹、幼虫、成虫标本进行了鉴定。鉴定出川芎病害2种——根腐病、白粉病;虫害5种,除川芎茎节蛾和宽褐齿爪鳃金龟（蛴螬）外,朱砂叶螨（红蜘蛛）、烟草甲、咖啡豆象为首次报道,并介绍了传统防治方法。     

Balancing Army and Endangered Species Concerns: Green vs. Green

A number of endangered, threatened, or at-risk species have been identified on US Army training bases. Before further training is restricted or curtailed under provisions of the US Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Army can explore available proactive options for providing habitat protection and mitigation. This paper investigates the possibility of an Army habitat acquisition program to acquire (by lease or purchase) buffer zones of at-risk species' habitat around its bases and away from training. To identify the most cost-effective manner for acquiring habitat, auction market experiments are utilized for analyzing program design. Laboratory auction experiments provide a powerful and low-cost vehicle for investigating ex ante program design issues. We find the discriminative, as opposed to a uniform price, auction with a minimum quantity requirement to be the least-cost mechanism.     

Can Species Have Capabilities,and What if They Can?

In this article, I apply the environmental or expanded capabilities approach to species and examine whether species as wholes can have capabilities and what are the implications if they can. The examination provides support for the claim that species as evolutionary groups can possess capabilities. They have integrity, which refers to the functionings that enable the self-making and development (evolvement) of species, and it is conceptually possible to identify capabilities that essentially enable or contribute to species integrity. One central capability for species can be identified from conservation literature: adaptive capacity, the ability of species to react to environmental changes by self-regulative evolution. After constructing the main argument that species can have capabilities and that they possess the capability to adaptive capacity, I shortly expound on the implications of these claims. It turns out that there are at least three different ways to apply the notion, and that the claim ‘species have capabilities’ does not entail that species are necessarily recipients of justice.     

Modeling Protected Species Habitat and Assigning Risk to Inform Regulatory Decisions

In the United States, environmental regulatory agencies are required to use “best available” scientific information when making decisions on a variety of issues. However, agencies are often hindered by coarse or incomplete data, particularly as it pertains to threatened and endangered species protection. Stakeholders often agree that more resolute and integrated processes for decision-making are desirable. We demonstrate a process that uses species occurrence data for a federally endangered insect (Karner blue butterfly), a readily available habitat modeling tool, and spatially explicit information about an important Michigan commodity (tart cherries). This case study has characteristics of many protected species regulatory decisions in that species occurrence data were sparse and unequally distributed; regulatory decisions (on pesticide use) were required with potentially significant impacts on a viable agricultural industry; and stakeholder relations were diverse, misinformed, and, in some situations, unjustly contentious. Results from our process include a large-scale, empirically derived habitat suitability map for the focal species and a risk ranking of tart cherry orchards with risk based on the likelihood that pesticide applications will influence the focal protected species. Although the majority (77%) of pesticide-influence zones overlapped Karner blue butterfly habitat, risk scores associated with each orchard were low. Through our process we demonstrated that spatially explicit models can help stakeholders visualize and quantify potential protected species effects. In addition, model outputs can serve to guide field activities (e.g., species surveys and implementation of pesticide buffer zones) that help minimize future effects.     

生物入侵中入侵种与土著种的相互作用

在全球范围内,生物入侵已经成为一个非常严重的环境问题,并产生了生态问题和经济问题。本文阐述了生物入侵中入侵种自身的变化及对土著种的影响,并讨论了生物入侵过程中入侵种与土著种的快速进化问题。     

湛江市寸金公园鸟类多样性与管理建议

2006年12月、2007年1—4月对湛江市寸金公园的鸟类资源状况进行了初步的研究,共记录到鸟类16种,隶属4目10科。其中,雀形目鸟类最多,共7科11种,约占总数的69%;其次为佛法僧目1科2种,约占总数的12.5%;鸡形目和鹃形目各1科1种,约占总数的6.25%。其中有国家Ⅱ级保护鸟类1种,占总数的6.25%。此外,属国家林业局发布的"国家重点保护的有益、有经济价值或有科学研究价值的动物"的鸟类7种,占总数的43.75%;被纳入省级重点保护鸟类的有2种,占总数12.6%;被纳入中澳候鸟协定鸟类的有1种,占总数的6.25%。     

A Strategy for Prioritizing Threats and Recovery Actions for At-Risk Species

Ensuring the persistence of at-risk species depends on implementing conservation actions that ameliorate threats. We developed and implemented a method to quantify the relative importance of threats and to prioritize recovery actions based on their potential to affect risk to Mojave desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii). We used assessments of threat importance and elasticities of demographic rates from population matrix models to estimate the relative contributions of threats to overall increase in risk to the population. We found that urbanization, human access, military operations, disease, and illegal use of off highway vehicles are the most serious threats to the desert tortoise range-wide. These results suggest that, overall, recovery actions that decrease habitat loss, predation, and crushing will be most effective for recovery; specifically, we found that habitat restoration, topic-specific environmental education, and land acquisition are most likely to result in the greatest decrease in risk to the desert tortoise across its range. In addition, we have developed an application that manages the conceptual model and all supporting information and calculates threat severity and potential effectiveness of recovery actions. Our analytical approach provides an objective process for quantifying threats, prioritizing recovery actions, and developing monitoring metrics for those actions for adaptive management of any at-risk species.     

成都市外来入侵物种调查研究

对成都市外来入侵物种的种类、数量、分布和危害进行了调查,初步发现有蔗扁蛾(香蕉蛾)Opogona sacchari(Bojer)、大瓶螺(福寿螺、苹果螺、雪螺)Pomacea canaliculata Spix、空心莲子草(水花生、喜旱莲子草)Altertian-thera philoxeroides(Mart.)Griseb、凤眼莲(水葫芦、凤眼蓝)Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.)Solms、牛蛙Rana cntesbei-ana Shaw等.提出了引入扩散原因及危害分析、防除方法,近期可能入侵成都市的外来物种,防治外来入侵物种工作存在的问题.     

Balancing Energy Development and Conservation: A Method Utilizing Species Distribution Models

Alternative energy development is increasing, potentially leading to negative impacts on wildlife populations already stressed by other factors. Resource managers require a scientifically based methodology to balance energy development and species conservation, so we investigated modeling habitat suitability using Maximum Entropy to develop maps that could be used with other information to help site energy developments. We selected one species of concern, the Lesser Prairie-Chicken (LPCH; Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) found on the southern Great Plains of North America, as our case study. LPCH populations have been declining and are potentially further impacted by energy development. We used LPCH lek locations in the state of Kansas along with several environmental and anthropogenic parameters to develop models that predict the probability of lek occurrence across the landscape. The models all performed well as indicated by the high test area under the curve (AUC) scores (all >0.9). The inclusion of anthropogenic parameters in models resulted in slightly better performance based on AUC values, indicating that anthropogenic features may impact LPCH lek habitat suitability. Given the positive model results, this methodology may provide additional guidance in designing future survey protocols, as well as siting of energy development in areas of marginal or unsuitable habitat for species of concern. This technique could help to standardize and quantify the impacts various developments have upon at-risk species.     

贵州生物质能源树种资源的开发利用

根据贵州省生物质能源树种主要分布区线路调查和典型样地调查的结果，介绍了贵州省生物质能源树种的研究现状和存在问题，对贵州的生物质能源树种进行了分类并报道了资源的分布特点。提出了贵州应重点利用现有生物乙醇树种资源，积极稳妥发展生物柴油树种资源，并对开发利用技术和途径进行了探讨。