陆生生态系统对酸沉降的相对敏感性

介绍了敏感性及生态系统对酸沉降的绝对敏感性和相对敏感性的概念，讨论了影响陆生生态系统酸沉降缓冲能力的各种因素，并概述了生态系统相对敏感性评价的基本原理、已建立的评价方法及应用前景。     

基于生态系统医学的城市生态系统健康诊治研究

城市生态系统健康诊治包括评价、诊断和治疗(调控),是融入生态系统医学和人体健康观点的新方法。建立类似于人体系统的健康评价指标体系,运用熵值赋权法和多专家打分赋权法确定指标权重,通过城市生态系统健康评价模型计算健康隶属度值并进行健康状态分级。连云港研究案例表明:连云港生态系统中的城市循环系统以及城市生殖系统仍然处于病态,应对其进行针对性的治疗;城市防御系统虽然有所好转,但仍然不容乐观;城市消化系统现在问题逐步凸现,应该给予足够的重视并做好防御准备。根据诊断结果并结合统计指标的原始数据与评价标准的对比分析,找到城市生态系统健康问题的症结,给出相应的健康诊治建议。     

基于“压力—状态—响应”模型和分形理论的湿地生态健康评价

科学评价湿地生态系统健康是湿地管理和保护的重要前提。以海河流域河北衡水湖湿地为例,采用"压力—状态—响应"(PSR)模型对其健康评价进行探讨研究,并对该模型的压力、状态和响应部分分别建立相应的指标体系;该指标体系不仅将生态、经济、社会要素结合起来,而且考虑了湿地所处地区的社会经济结构、湿地所具有的功能以及管理部门、个人及企业等对保护湿地所采取的措施。同时,根据湿地生态系统具有自组织、自相似的特征,基于分形理论对其进行评价。计算分析时首先对选择的各指标进行归一化处理,然后采用最小二乘法求解拟合曲线斜率的方法来计算分维数(D),由1/D得到脆弱度,以此作为评价健康程度的依据。计算结果表明,D=0.5826,则脆弱度为1.7164,表明衡水湖湿地生态系统处于不健康程度。该湿地亟待开展进一步的科学管理和生态保护。     

农业生态系统中的熵

本文以热力学定律为依据,根据农业生态系统的特性,给农业生态系统的熵下了定义。提出了评价农业生态系统的三个指标。并对二则实例进行了验算,取得了较为满意的结果。     

上海市生态系统质量评价及其演变特征分析研究

城市化发展引起的土地利用方式和生态系统质量的变化逐渐引起人们的重视,人类的社会经济活动已经对生态系统的结构和功能造成了很大影响。以上海市为研究对象,从生态系统结构、功能和胁迫3个方面构建生态系统质量评价模型,研究了2000年、2005年、2010年3个时期生态系统质量变化、空间差异及其影响因素。结果表明,崇明县和中心城区生态结构指数最高;崇明县功能指数最高,中心城区最低;崇明县受城市化胁迫最小,中心城区胁迫最大。崇明县是上海市生态系统质量最好的区域,3个时期生态系统质量指数均处于1级水平,中心城区生态系统质量最差。提供了一种生态系统质量评价的方法,研究结果揭示了上海市2000-2010年生态系统质量演变趋势,可以为上海市生态系统管理提供参考依据。     

基于活力和恢复力的典型草原健康评价和群落退化分级研究

根据群落的不同退化演替状况和物种组成情况,随机选取19个位于锡林郭勒高原和呼伦贝尔高原的调查样地,进行典型草原健康评价和群落退化分级研究。结果表明,处在不同退化演替阶段的草原中的群落的优势种类型、活力和恢复力指数均存在很大差异,活力和恢复力指数不存在明显的相关性,这可能是由于活力指数表现的是植物的地上生物量,而恢复力指数表现的是植物的株/丛数,在株/丛数很多的情况下生物量可能很小;草原群落地上总生物量受放牧强度、刈割程度、围封时间、围封前群落状态和区域降水等因素的综合作用,使得各调查样地群落的活力指数差异显著;以中国科学院草原生态系统定位研究站1981年设置的围封的羊草+大针茅草原当时的状态作为参照系统,评价了呼伦贝尔高原和锡林郭勒高原典型草原的健康状况,并对其退化程度进行了量化分级,可为草原管理、植被恢复重建和生态系统健康评价提供参考。     

人工湿地系统微生物去除污染物的研究进展

人工湿地污水处理系统具有净化效果显著、建设和运行费用低廉、管理简便等优点,近年来越来越受到人们的重视。人工湿地是利用介质、植物和微生物构成的复合系统来处理污水。微生物在人工湿地系统净化污水过程中发挥着重要作用。介绍了人工湿地系统中微生物去除污染物的研究进展,重点讨论了人工湿地对污染物和特殊有机污染物的去除以及系统基质中微生物的种群和活性等内容,并结合我国研究现状展望了该领域的研究前景。人工湿地系统微生物对污染物去除将成为人工湿地生态系统服务功能评价、人工湿地生态系统健康与稳定的诊断的重要组成部分。     

水生生态系统在污水处理中的应用

利用水生生态系统治理水体污染是污水处理领域的研究热点之一.综述了水生生态系统在处理污水中的应用现状,分析了影响处理效果的主要因素,并探讨了水生生态系统处理废水的运行机理,展望了水生生态系统的发展前景.     

水生生态系统在污水处理中的应用

利用水生生态系统治理水体污染是污水处理领域的研究热点之一.综述了水生生态系统在处理污水中的应用现状,分析了影响处理效果的主要因素,并探讨了水生生态系统处理废水的运行机理,展望了水生生态系统的发展前景.     

基于生态系统服务功能的穿越水源保护区公路设置开口的生态系统影响评估

生态系统服务功能在研究道路交通工程的生态影响方面有着重要的作用,尤其是对于存在交通穿越的饮用水水源保护区的生态系统影响评价。以深圳东部某高速公路设置开口为研究对象,计算公路开口带来的生态系统服务功能(包括调节气候、固碳释氧、土壤保持、涵养水源、净化环境、减弱噪声、农业生产直接经济价值、物种保育8个方面)损失。在此基础上,结合环境污染损失、经济社会效益和工程建设费用进行了损益综合分析,以全面评估饮用水水源保护区公路开口的生态系统影响。结果表明,该穿越水水源保护区的高速公路开口设置方案对于生态系统的影响很大,效益损失比为17.51%,方案的生态环境可行性不足,应予以修改完善。     

Trends in Ecosystem Service Research: Early Steps and Current Drivers

Over the past 50 years, human beings have influenced ecosystems more rapidly than at any similar time in human history, drastically altering ecosystem functioning. Along with ecosystem transformation and degradation, a number of studies have addressed the functioning, assessment and management of ecosystems. The concept of ecosystem services has been developed in the scientific literature since the end of the 1970s. However, ecosystem service research has focused on certain service categories, ecosystem types, and geographical areas, while substantial knowledge gaps remain concerning several aspects. We assess the development and current status of ecosystem service research on the basis of publications collected from the Web of Science. The material consists of (1) articles (n = 353) from all the years included in the Web of Science down to the completion of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and (2) more recent articles (n = 687) published between 2006 and 2008. We also assess the importance of international processes, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Kyoto Protocol and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, as drivers of ecosystem service research. Finally, we identify future prospects and research needs concerning the assessment and management of ecosystem services.     

Assessment of Soil Sealing Management Responses,Strategies, and Targets Toward Ecologically Sustainable Urban Land Use Management

Soil sealing has negative impacts on ecosystem services since urban green and soil get lost. Although there is political commitment to stop further sealing, no reversal of this trend can be observed in Europe. This paper raises the questions (1) which strategies can be regarded as being efficient toward ecologically sustainable management of urban soil sealing and (2) who has competences and should take responsibility to steer soil sealing? The analyses are conducted in Germany. The assessment of strategies is carried out using indicators as part of a content analysis. Legal-planning, informal-planning, economic-fiscal, co-operative, and informational strategies are analyzed. Results show that there is a sufficient basis of strategies to secure urban ecosystem services by protecting urban green and reducing urban gray where microclimate regulation is a main target. However, soil sealing management lacks a spatial strategically overview as well as the consideration of services provided by fertile soils.     

Governance of Water Resources in the Phase of Change: A Case Study of the Implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive in Sweden

In this article, focusing on the ongoing implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive, we analyze some of the opportunities and challenges for a sustainable governance of water resources from an ecosystem management perspective. In the face of uncertainty and change, the ecosystem approach as a holistic and integrated management framework is increasingly recognized. The ongoing implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) could be viewed as a reorganization phase in the process of change in institutional arrangements and ecosystems. In this case study from the Northern Baltic Sea River Basin District, Sweden, we focus in particular on data and information management from a multi-level governance perspective from the local stakeholder to the River Basin level. We apply a document analysis, hydrological mapping, and GIS models to analyze some of the institutional framework created for the implementation of the WFD. The study underlines the importance of institutional arrangements that can handle variability of local situations and trade-offs between solutions and priorities on different hierarchical levels.     

Opportunities for Increasing Resilience and Sustainability of Urban Social–Ecological Systems: Insights from the URBES and the Cities and Biodiversity Outlook Projects

Urban futures that are more resilient and sustainable require an integrated social–ecological system approach to urban policymaking, planning, management, and governance. In this article, we introduce the Urban Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (URBES) and the Cities and Biodiversity Outlook (CBO) Projects as new social–ecological contributions to research and practice on emerging urban resilience and ecosystem services. We provide an overview of the projects and present global urbanization trends and their effects on ecosystems and biodiversity, as a context for new knowledge generated in the URBES case-study cities, including Berlin, New York, Rotterdam, Barcelona, and Stockholm. The cities represent contrasting urbanization trends and examples of emerging science–policy linkages for improving urban landscapes for human health and well-being. In addition, we highlight 10 key messages of the global CBO assessment as a knowledge platform for urban leaders to incorporate state-of-the-art science on URBES into decision-making for sustainable and resilient urban development.     

Beyond ‘trees are good’: Disservices,management costs,and tradeoffs in urban forestry

The provision of ecosystem services is a prominent rationale for urban greening, and there is a prevailing mantra that ‘trees are good’. However, understanding how urban trees contribute to sustainability must also consider disservices. In this perspective article, we discuss recent research on ecosystem disservices of urban trees, including infrastructure conflicts, health and safety impacts, aesthetic issues, and environmentally detrimental consequences, as well as management costs related to ecological disturbances and risk management. We also discuss tradeoffs regarding species selection and local conservation concerns, as well as the central role of human perception in the interpretation of ecosystem services and disservices, particularly the uncritical assertion that ‘everybody loves trees’. Urban forestry decision-making that fails to account for disservices can have unintended negative consequences for communities. Further research is needed regarding life cycle assessments, stakeholder decision-making, return-on-investment, and framings of services and disservices in urban forestry.     

Assumptions in ecosystem service assessments: Increasing transparency for conservation

Conservation efforts are increasingly supported by ecosystem service assessments. These assessments depend on complex multi-disciplinary methods, and rely on a number of assumptions which reduce complexity. If assumptions are ambiguous or inadequate, misconceptions and misinterpretations may arise when interpreting results of assessments. An interdisciplinary understanding of assumptions in ecosystem service science is needed to provide consistent conservation recommendations. Here, we synthesise and elaborate on 12 prevalent types of assumptions in ecosystem service assessments. These comprise conceptual and ethical foundations of the ecosystem service concept, assumptions on data collection, indication, mapping, and modelling, on socio-economic valuation and value aggregation, as well as about using assessment results for decision-making. We recommend future assessments to increase transparency about assumptions, and to test and validate them and their potential consequences on assessment reliability. This will support the taking up of assessment results in conservation science, policy and practice.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01379-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

A framework for the social valuation of ecosystem services

Methods to assess ecosystem services using ecological or economic approaches are considerably better defined than methods for the social approach. To identify why the social approach remains unclear, we reviewed current trends in the literature. We found two main reasons: (i) the cultural ecosystem services are usually used to represent the whole social approach, and (ii) the economic valuation based on social preferences is typically included in the social approach. Next, we proposed a framework for the social valuation of ecosystem services that provides alternatives to economics methods, enables comparison across studies, and supports decision-making in land planning and management. The framework includes the agreements emerged from the review, such as considering spatial–temporal flows, including stakeholders from all social ranges, and using two complementary methods to value ecosystem services. Finally, we provided practical recommendations learned from the application of the proposed framework in a case study.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-014-0555-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Patagonian Fjord Ecosystems in Southern Chile as a Highly Vulnerable Region: Problems and Needs

Southern Chile encompasses one of the most extensive fjord regions of the world, the Patagonia, currently exposed to natural and anthropogenic perturbations. These fjord ecosystems provide important services to humans, which have not been adequately measured and valued. As a consequence, ecosystem services are commonly ignored in public policy design and in the evaluation of development projects. Here we tackle questions that are highly relevant for the nation’s development, namely (1) understanding fjord functioning, and (2) developing management strategies based on ecosystem services, in order to secure simultaneous and adequate use of these ecosystems which area influenced by ecological (e.g., biogeochemical) and productive (e.g., aquaculture, fisheries) processes. We also seek to strengthen the analysis of fjord ecosystem value from the economical (including coastal zoning), socio-cultural, institutional, and governmental points of view. In addition, the investigation of current and future effects of climate change on this large region offers a unique opportunity to understand the social and economic consequences of a global phenomenon at local to regional scales. Biogeochemical and socio-economic models will be used to simulate future scenarios under a gamut of management options.     

Integrated Ocean Management as a Strategy to Meet Rapid Climate Change: The Norwegian Case

The prospects of rapid climate change and the potential existence of tipping points in marine ecosystems where nonlinear change may result from them being overstepped, raises the question of strategies for coping with ecosystem change. There is broad agreement that the combined forces of climate change, pollution and increasing economic activities necessitates more comprehensive approaches to oceans management, centering on the concept of ecosystem-based oceans management. This article addresses the Norwegian experience in introducing integrated, ecosystem-based oceans management, emphasizing how climate change, seen as a major long-term driver of change in ecosystems, is addressed in management plans. Understanding the direct effects of climate variability and change on ecosystems and indirect effects on human activities is essential for adaptive planning to be useful in the long-term management of the marine environment.     

The missing pieces for better future predictions in subarctic ecosystems: A Torneträsk case study

Arctic and subarctic ecosystems are experiencing substantial changes in hydrology, vegetation, permafrost conditions, and carbon cycling, in response to climatic change and other anthropogenic drivers, and these changes are likely to continue over this century. The total magnitude of these changes results from multiple interactions among these drivers. Field measurements can address the overall responses to different changing drivers, but are less capable of quantifying the interactions among them. Currently, a comprehensive assessment of the drivers of ecosystem changes, and the magnitude of their direct and indirect impacts on subarctic ecosystems, is missing. The Torneträsk area, in the Swedish subarctic, has an unrivalled history of environmental observation over 100 years, and is one of the most studied sites in the Arctic. In this study, we summarize and rank the drivers of ecosystem change in the Torneträsk area, and propose research priorities identified, by expert assessment, to improve predictions of ecosystem changes. The research priorities identified include understanding impacts on ecosystems brought on by altered frequency and intensity of winter warming events, evapotranspiration rates, rainfall, duration of snow cover and lake-ice, changed soil moisture, and droughts. This case study can help us understand the ongoing ecosystem changes occurring in the Torneträsk area, and contribute to improve predictions of future ecosystem changes at a larger scale. This understanding will provide the basis for the future mitigation and adaptation plans needed in a changing climate.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01381-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.