Population assessment and management strategies for plant-parasitic nematodes

Nematodes exhibit aggregative tendencies mediated by food distribution, feeding and reproductive behavior, and survival strategies. Determination of dispersion indices based on population mean and variance allows estimation of the sampling intensity required for prescribed population assessment precision. Critical point models of expected yield loss relative to pre-plant population density allow management decisions on a single season basis. Selection of optimal cropping sequence across several seasons requires further information on the expected multiplication rate of the population on a crop, and the overwinter survivorship of the population. Three critical point models then formulate the basis for a linear programming approach to cropping sequence selection, while allowing flexibility of management through biological and economic monitoring annually.     

Waste management strategies for concrete

Recycling and reuse of waste such as building rubble, concrete lumps, etc. generated at construction and demolition sites form part of a wider, complex issue, primarily relating to improving supplies of construction material and solving problems of disposal of waste construction material. Within the framework of the sustainable development of the environment, the use of waste materials with minimum environmental impact has received much attention. The conversion of a large amount of demolished waste into an alternative resource will conserve the depleting natural resources of building materials. Demolished waste is mainly used as a non-stabilized base or sub-base in highway construction. The present paper discusses the recycling process and makes an effort to assess a safe and economic use of recycled concrete as a structural grade material for the construction industry. Extensive tests of structural properties such as compressive strength, flexural strength and split tensile strength of recycled concrete were carried out, in which cement and similarly fine aggregate were partially replaced by demolished waste to obtain recycled concrete and recycled aggregate concrete whose properties were compared with results for the conventional concrete.     

Ecological impacts and management strategies for western larch in the face of climate-change

Approximately 185,000 forest inventory and ecological plots from both USA and Canada were used to predict the contemporary distribution of western larch (Larix occidentalis Nutt.) from climate variables. The random forests algorithm, using an 8-variable model, produced an overall error rate of about 2.9 %, nearly all of which consisted of predicting presence at locations where the species was absent. Genetic variation among 143 populations within western larch’s natural distribution was predicted from multiple regression models using variables describing the climate of the seed source as predictors and response data from two separate genetic tests: 1) 15-year height at a field site in British Columbia, Canada, and, 2) two principal components of 8 variables describing growth, disease tolerance, and phenology of 6-year-old trees in a test in Idaho, USA. Presence and absence of the species and genetic variation within the species were projected into future climates provided by three General Circulation Models and two scenarios. Although the projections described pronounced impacts on the species and its populations, concurrence among the six projections pinpointed areas where the probability would be high that the future climate would be suitable for western larch. Concurrence among projections also was used to locate those sources of seed that should be best attuned genetically to future climates. The procedures outline a logical approach for developing management strategies for accommodating climate-change while taking into account the variability imposed by the differences among climatic estimates.     

污染场地修复后再利用的典型安全风险及长期监管策略研究

从国内外工程实践看,部分污染程度较重、污染情况复杂的场地,修复后再利用过程中对人体健康、生态环境或工程建设会产生一定的安全风险。长期监管是保障修复后场地安全再利用的核心措施,目前我国在这方面的研究还很不足。统计分析了我国近年来550个污染场地案例数据,结果表明修复后场地再开发为居住用地类型的占比达58.7%;在此基础上剖析了重金属污染场地固化/稳定化后再释放和有机污染场地修复后蒸气入侵2类典型安全风险。借鉴国外的长期监管经验,结合国内案例实践,从长期监测、制度控制、定期回顾、公众参与及场地档案管理5个方面提出了针对上述典型安全风险的长期监管建议。

     

Economic analysis of adaptive strategies for flood risk management under climate change

Climate change requires reconsideration of flood risk management strategies. Cost-benefit analysis (CBA), an economic decision-support tool, has been widely applied to assess these strategies. This paper aims to describe and discuss probabilistic extensions of CBA to identify welfare-maximising flood risk management strategies under climate change. First, uncertainty about the changes in return periods of hydro-meteorological extremes is introduced by probability-weighted climate scenarios. Second, the analysis is extended by learning about climate change impacts. Learning occurs upon the probabilistic arrival of information. We distinguish between learning from scientific progress, from statistical evidence and from flood disasters. These probabilistic extensions can be used to analyse and compare the economic efficiency and flexibility of flood risk management strategies under climate change. We offer a critical discussion of the scope of such extensions and options for increasing flexibility. We find that uncertainty reduction from scientific progress may reduce initial investments, while other types of learning may increase initial investments. This requires analysing effects of different types of learning. We also find that probabilistic information about climate change impacts and learning is imprecise. We conclude that risk-based CBA with learning improves the flexibility of flood risk management strategies under climate change. However, CBA provides subjective estimates of expected outcomes and reflects different decision-maker preferences than those captured in robustness analyses. We therefore advocate robustness analysis in addition to, or combined with, cost-benefit analysis to support local investment decisions on flood risk reduction and global strategies on allocation of adaptation funds for flood risk management.     

Modeling of freshwater wetland management strategies for building the public awareness at local level in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has a large aerial extent of freshwater wetlands for her deltaic characteristics. In 1970, the total area of wetlands in Bangladesh is estimated to be 70000–80000 km², approximately, i.e., 50 % of total national land area. In the recent years, most of these wetlands are being lost and degraded primarily because of flood control projects, irrigation and agricultural activities and others human interference. Unfortunately, over the last three decades in the name of wetland development, local habitats were not taken care of. In this paper, the stakeholder and scenario analyses are employed for measuring public views towards wetlands degradation in Bangladesh. Involvement of stakeholders helps reconcile their different conflicting interests in wetlands, hence creating a common understanding about the problem under study. An exploratory scenario analysis illustrates different themes fulfilled by the wetlands and their associated services in case study Chalan Beel. The Chalan Beel once covered an area of approximately 651,230 acres in 1967. Currently, the permanent flooded area of the Chalan Beel has been reduced to about 18,120 acres. The scenarios show that most of the wetlands in Bangladesh are converted into agricultural lands, settlements, roads, and highways. Aquatic plants and animals are lost and endangered due to human interference and natural disturbance. The government, policymakers and some private organizations are trying to design suitable policy for wetland management but they are not able to reach this goal. It is observed that the local and national policies are facing complexities to create an effective regime to set aside the wetlands management policy in Bangladesh. In this context, this paper proposed an Increased Public Awareness (IPA) policy model that could be pathways for both short and long-term solutions of wetlands degradation in developing nations like Bangladesh.     

基于动态综合评价的区域环境风险差异化管理

借鉴灾害风险管理理论,运用“纵横向拉开档次法”和“时序加权平均算子法”构建了区域环境风险动态综合评价模型,提出了“风险评价-等级分区-差异化管理”的区域环境风险管理方法,并以河南省为案例研究对象,开展河南省18个市级单元环境风险的动态综合评价和“差异化”管理研究.结果显示：（1）郑州、许昌、漯河等市综合环境风险指数最高,分别为13.79、13.46和13.28,信阳、南阳和三门峡等市综合环境风险指数最低,分别为4.15、4.16和5.01;（2）采用系统分层聚类法将河南省18个市级单元聚为5类环境风险等级区,其中,郑州、许昌、漯河等属于高风险区;焦作、濮阳、鹤壁等属于较高风险区;安阳、开封属于中风险区;平顶山、商丘、周口等市属于较低风险区;洛阳、三门峡、南阳等市属于低风险区;（3）根据河南省各市环境风险等级及主导因素的差异,遵循高、较高风险区“重点控制、优先管理”、中低风险区“逐步控制、加强防范”的原则,提出了“差异化”的风险管理方案.研究结果表明,该方法不仅可实现区域环境风险动态综合评价,识别区域环境风险主要贡献因子,而且“差异化”的风险管理方案更符合地方经济社会环境协调发展的实际需求.     

关于完善我国医疗废物无害化处置和管理的政策思考

该文全面分析了我国医疗废物管理与处理、处置现状、政策法规贯彻执行情况和能力建设情况。医疗废物,作为危险废物管理中相对独立的一个重要组成部分,在我国得到了高度的重视。“十一五”期间,法律、法规的支撑体系趋于完善,环保、卫生分工合作的管理体制基本形成,医疗废物集中处置设施建设取得突破,城市医疗废物处置率快速上升。不过,医疗废物污染防治工作依然严峻。医疗废物环境无害化管理作依然存在医疗废物分类体系不当、收运处置体系不完善、监管能力不足、疫情应急能力缺乏等问题,东中西部地区、城市与偏远农村地区的设施水平、管理能力的差异还较大。对此,作者建议将医疗废物无害化处置纳入“十二五”环境保护规划范围,完善医废分类,规范收集和后续处理、处置,并从完善医疗废物分类和收集管理、全方位提高无害处处置水平、推进设施规范运行和整改淘汰、提升疫情应急应对能力等方面提出了政策建议。     

Adaptation strategies for maize cultivation under climate change in Iran: irrigation and planting date management

Climate change is affecting the productivity of crops and their regional distribution. Strategies to enhance local adaptation capacity are needed to mitigate climate change impacts and to maintain regional stability of food production. The objectives of this study were to simulate the climate change effects on phenological stages, Leaf Area Index (LAI), biomass and grain yield of maize (Zea mays L.) in the future and to explore the possibilities of employing irrigation water and planting dates as adaptation strategies to decrease the climate change impacts on maize production in Khorasan Razavi province, Iran. For this purpose, we employed two types of General Circulation Models ((United Kingdom Met. Office Hadley Center: HadCM3) and (Institute Pierre Simon Laplace: IPCM4)) and three scenarios (A1B, A2 and B1). Long Ashton Research Station-Weather Generator (LARS-WG) was used to produce daily climatic parameters as one stochastic growing season for each projection period. Also, crop growth under projected climate conditions was simulated based on the Cropping System Model (CSM)-CERES-Maize. The results of model evaluation showed that LARS-WG had appropriate prediction for climatic parameters. Time period from cultivation until anthesis and maturity were reduced in majority of scenarios as affected by climate change. The results indicated that the grain yield of maize may be reduced (11 % to 38 %) as affected by climate change based on common planting date in baseline and changed (?61 % to 48 %) in response to different irrigation regimes in the future climate change, under all scenarios and times. In general, earlier planting date (1 May) and decreasing irrigation intervals in the anthesis stage (11 applications) caused higher yield compared with other planting dates due to adaption to high temperature. Based on our findings, it seems that management of irrigation water and planting dates can be beneficial for adaptation of maize to climate change in this region.     

基于生态系统的海湾综合管理框架及调控策略

海湾是相对独立、完整的生态系统,具有优越的区位和资源优势,面临巨大的开发利用需求,开发与保护问题突出。基于生态系统的综合管理（ecosystem-based management,EBM）是当前国际资源与环境综合管理的主流范式,为解决生态环境危机提供了理论和方法支持。文章在分析海湾生态系统特征和面临的生态环境问题的基础上,根据EBM相关理论和实践,提出基于生态系统的海湾综合管理应该遵循的原则、目标、综合管理框架,以及开展陆海统筹的流域-海湾空间规划,开展基于陆域土地利用的流域-海湾污染物控制,维护海湾水动力条件和保护关键生境,开展流域-海岸-海湾尺度的生态修复,建立海湾综合管理体制机制等具体调控策略,以期为我国海湾综合开发与保护提供参考。     

Chronosequence analysis of two enclosure management strategies in degraded rangeland of semi-arid Kenya

The establishment of enclosures has become an important measure to combat land degradation in many of the world's semi-arid rangelands. In view of the increased pressure exerted by this land reclamation strategy on the neighbouring agricultural lands, knowledge of the time required for restoring vegetation cover and soil health, and of the potential positive impact of an adapted management strategy, is highly required. This paper assesses the vegetation and soil rehabilitation in a 23-year chronosequence of two different enclosure management types. In the severely degraded, semi-arid Njemps Flats plain of the Lake Baringo Basin in Kenya communal enclosures characterised by high quality inputs and strict control, and private enclosures managed by individual farmers, were installed since the 1980s. Six communal enclosures (3–17 years since establishment) and six private enclosures (13–23 years since establishment) were selected. Vegetation cover was estimated along three 50 m transects set within each enclosure and in the adjacent open grazing area using the point-to-line transect method. Five 0.5 m² quadrats systematically placed alongside each transect were sampled for herbaceous standing biomass and topsoil physical, chemical and biological analyses. Grass cover and herbaceous biomass production proved to be the most responsive biotic parameters under both management types, whereas the recovery of the forbs was unsuccessful. Under communal management, the biomass production fully recovered up to its optimal level as recorded in the neighbouring nature reserves. Within private enclosures however, the adopted management strategies seriously restricted biomass production to a significantly lower level. Soil quality generally recovered more slowly with time. Significant improvements compared to the open rangeland were recorded in topsoil bulk density, organic C and total N stocks, and microbial biomass C and N stocks of the communal enclosures. Unlike the communal enclosures, only topsoil bulk density and the microbial biomass C stock showed a significant difference in the private enclosures. With respect to C and total N stocks, and the microbial biomass N a non-significant improving trend was recorded. The level of chemical and biological soil quality obtained under both management types is still low and draws the attention to the importance of careful monitoring of grazing and grass cutting activities under both enclosure management strategies. The chronosequences further highlight the potential of some well-managed private enclosures, whereas intrinsic soil properties such as high alkalinity, as well as changes in management, limit the rehabilitation of some other private as well as communal enclosures.     

Identifying water resources management strategies in adaptation to climate change under uncertainty

In this study, an integrated simulation-based allocation modeling system (ISAMS) is developed for identifying water resources management strategies in response to climate change. The ISAMS incorporates global climate models (GCMs), a semi-distributed land use-based runoff process (SLURP) model, and a multistage interval-stochastic programming (MISP) approach within a general framework. The ISAMS can not only handle uncertainties expressed as probability distributions and interval values but also reveal climate change impacts on water resources allocation under different projections of GCMs. The ISAMS is then applied to the Kaidu-kongque watershed with cold arid characteristics in the Tarim River Basin (the largest inland watershed basin in China) for demonstrating its efficiency. Results reveal that different climate change models corresponding to various projections (e.g., precipitation and temperature) would lead to changed water resources allocation patterns. Variations in water availability and demand due to uncertainties could result in different water allocation targets and shortages. A variety of decision alternatives about water allocations adaptive to climate change are generated under combinations of different global climate models and ecological water release plans. These findings indicate that understanding the uncertainties in water resources system, building adaptive methods for generating sustainable water allocation patterns, and taking actions for mitigating water shortage problems are key adaptation strategies responding to climate change.     

The role of soil organic matter in maintaining the productivity and yield stability of cereals in China

The role of soil organic matter (SOM) in agricultural systems has been widely studied in conjunction with the potential for greenhouse gas mitigation. However, the link between SOM accumulation in croplands, crop productivity and yield stability has not yet been clearly established. In this paper, we collected data on provincial yearly crop productivity (yields, total cropland area) during 1949–1998 and the average SOM contents in croplands sampled and determined from the National Soil Survey in 1979–1982 of mainland China. The cereal productivity was assessed both with an overall mean of 1949–1998 and with the mean values for different time periods within this overall time, respectively. The yield variability within a single stabilizing stage, and between the fluctuating years, was calculated as a negative measure of yield stability. The correlation between SOM and cereal productivity was very significant for most provinces, but the relationship has become less significant as we approach the present. Moreover, the average yield variability was very significantly and negatively correlated with the cropland SOM level. The findings support our previous hypothesis from case studies, that C sequestration in China's croplands may provide win–win benefits, by enhancing crop productivity and stabilizing yield. This offers a sound basis as a greenhouse gas mitigation strategy by promoting C sequestration in croplands, and enhancing food security in China's agriculture.     

流域水生态风险评价及管理对策

流域水生态风险评价是流域水环境管理急需解决的难题和研究热点,与传统风险管理的主要不同点在于流域的异质性和复合污染问题.依靠单一污染物研究不足以提供全面风险信息,无法适应我国流域水环境改善和生态恢复的管理需求.本文通过对复合污染的联合毒性效应及其研究方法的分析,综述和比较了生态风险评价方法的实用性和不足,探讨适合于建立流域不同生态单元质量和复合污染效应间关系的方法,发展和构建反映流域时空尺度变化规律的生态风险评价模型.并就流域水生态毒理机理、水环境的生态响应时空异质性变化规律和流域多目标优化管理提出研究展望及管理对策.     

Approaches to developing risk management objectives: an analysis of international strategies

Risk assessment/management frameworks employed around the world to guide environmental decision-making were analyzed for their approaches to developing risk management objectives and the decision criteria necessary for environmental policy implementation. Frameworks from the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden, Australia/New Zealand, Canada, and the USA were considered. Progress in refining the scientific basis for risk assessment/management has been made, but there has been little parallel development in defining the mechanisms by which available scientific information may be used to define risk management goals or identify and select between management options using a priori decision criteria. The lack of detailed guidance on the setting and achievement of risk management goals that appropriately balance technical information and public input remains an important challenge to the use and practice of all risk assessment/management frameworks.     

西安市污水处理厂回用水工程的工艺方案选择

该文通过对几种具有脱氮除磷功能的工艺比较，结合该厂改造的实际情况，按照技术先进经济合理、高效节能、便于操作的原则，选择改良A^2/O工艺 过滤作为本厂的回用水处理工艺。     

The cost of mitigation strategies for agricultural adaptation to global change

Land recovery and the improvement of lands affected by desertification for agricultural use, is achieved when a sustained recovery of agricultural productivity over time is obtained. In the areas affected by desertification and drought, it is common that the ecosystems do not have enough funding for water management and irrigation. This situation leads to an inadequate assessment of the environmental goods and services in arid zones. As a result we have a misuse of these dry lands. Many countries are implementing policies and making investments and efforts to mitigate arid land degradation and desertification through the National Action Programs (NAP). However, for the long term planning of mitigation and adaptation strategies, it is necessary to know the cost of recovery and land improvement in certain areas in order to forecast the budgets. This is the main objective of this paper in order to combat desertification and drought in central northern Chile. We have calculated a recovery cost per hectare by region and for each of the agriculture, livestock and forestry (ALF) promotion agencies. The results indicate that the cost of land reclamation in the northern regions is much higher than in the southern regions of this studied area. The cost is especially high for Region II, where investment per hectare is almost to 3000 US$ per hectare. At the other extreme is the Region VII, in the south of the studied area where the investment required per hectare barely reaches 500 US$. The contribution of the promotion agencies to the total cost also varied among regions and agencies. We discuss the results within a context of recovery cost per hectare depending on the different environmental characteristics and agricultural development of each of the studied regions.