Assessing the capacity of three Bolivian food systems to provide farm-based agroecosystem services

ABSTRACT

Food system activities have modified 40% of the Earth’s terrestrial surface. These activities affect the sustainability of food systems – and their ability to provide agroecosystem services. Here, we compare three food systems in Bolivia. One is agro-industrial (soybean), one is indigenous to a Guarani community (maize and beans), and one is an agroecological, horticulture-based food system. We use the Agroecosystem Service Capacity (ASC) approach, which is based on a list of 23 agroecosystem services that allow the ASC index of farm-based agroecosystems to be estimated. Our findings show that agroecological (ASC = 2.57) and indigenous (ASC = 2.43) farm-based agroecosystems have a higher capacity to provide farm-based agroecosystem services than the agro-industrial (ASC = 0.82). This capacity differs because farmers in the agroecological and indigenous farm-based agroecosystems achieve a higher structural diversity and know how to use more agroecosystem services. These results could promote more sustainable food systems by fostering agricultural landscapes that provide a diversity of farm-based agroecosystem services.     

Conservation of the Toromiro Tree: Case Study in the Management of a Plant Extinct in the Wild

Abstract: We reviewed the history and conservation of Sophora toromiro , a species that has been extinct in the wild since 1960 but has survived as scattered individuals in botanic gardens and private collections. The short-term conservation of S. toromiro is dependent on the management of surviving ex situ stocks. This is being achieved through international collaboration by a working group established to coordinate the conservation management of the species. Molecular evidence indicates that the species retains greater genetic variability than expected. The greatest amount of genetic variability was located in specimens outside botanic garden collections. No unmodified natural habitat survives on Rapa Nui ( Easter Island); so opportunities to establish a viable wild population are limited. Evidence from past reintroductions indicates that the best short-term opportunity for the species is through conventional horticultural management in botanic gardens and traditional farm plots on Rapa Nui. Some extinct-in-the-wild taxa (sensu World Conservation Union 1994), such as the Toromiro, retain genetic variability, and appropriate reintroduction sites exist. These taxa represent valid priorities for conservation management.     

臭氧对农业生态系统影响的综合评估：以长江三角洲为例

如何评价和预测近地层臭氧(O3)浓度持续升高对作物的影响是污染生态学研究的热点之一.依据改进的开顶式气室(Open-top chamber,OTC)实验资料,建立了我国长江三角洲地区O3与3种典型农作物(水稻、冬小麦和油菜)的剂量-响应(Dose-response)函数,并对该地区2003年作物产量损失进行了综合估算.研究结果表明:1)水稻、冬小麦和油菜3种作物的O3临界水平值分别为7.434、2.280和7.328ppm·h,冬小麦最为敏感;2)O3污染已造成该地区较为严重的产量损失,2003年水稻、冬小麦和油菜分别减产3.04%、17.08%和5.92%,经济损失达到5.76、7.68和2.61亿元.长江三角洲地区高浓度O3污染必须引起足够的重视。     

The Role of Suspended Matter in Assessing the Assimilative Capacity Case Study of Two Estuaries in the Adriatic Sea

Suspended particulate matter has been studied in two Adriatic river mouths to assess its role as a transport vehicle for waste disposal into the Adriatic sea.

The larger of the two, the Adige River (northwestern Adriatic coast, Italy), carries large quantities of solids and builds up a prodelta. the Krka River (eastern Adriatic coast, Croatia, Yugoslavia) is a typical karst river, and carries small quantities of suspended matter, since it drains carbonate terrains.

The resulting disposal of contaminants into the Adriatic sea is largely governed by the adsorption/desorption processes occurring in the estuarine mixing region. Surface adsorption properties, the specific surface area, and the nature and reactivity of the organic film coating determine the partitioning of pollutants between the dissolved and particulate state.

The observations reported point to the key role of particulates in transport of pollutants from land to sea. the concept of the assimilative capacity of the estuarine area requires detailed scientific knowledge on the geochemical behaviour of particulates.

In the Adige River mouth, lead, chromium, zinc, and nickel are accumulated in the prodelta sediments, and thus the loading of the sea with these metals is diminished, whereas in the Krka River estuary, desorption and mobilization of some trace metals occurs.     

灾后重建土地利用规划环评重点内容解析与实证

在对四川汶川灾后重建土地利用规划环境影响评价区域与评价对象特征进行分析的基础上,对规划实施的主要资源环境制约因素进行了识别与分析,进而分析并确定了其评价要点;结合灾后重建土地规划环评实践工作,对评价重点内容与要点进行了初步应用。     

Predicting and setting conservation priorities for Bolivian mammals based on biological correlates of the risk of decline

The recognition that growing proportions of species worldwide are endangered has led to the development of comparative analyses to elucidate why some species are more prone to extinction than others. Understanding factors and patterns of species vulnerability might provide an opportunity to develop proactive conservation strategies. Such comparative analyses are of special concern at national scales because this is the scale at which most conservation initiatives take place. We applied powerful ensemble learning models to test for biological correlates of the risk of decline among the Bolivian mammals to understand species vulnerability at a national scale and to predict the population trend for poorly known species. Risk of decline was nonrandomly distributed: higher proportions of large‐sized taxa were under decline, whereas small‐sized taxa were less vulnerable. Body mass, mode of life (i.e., aquatic, terrestrial, volant), geographic range size, litter size, home range, niche specialization, and reproductive potential were strongly associated with species vulnerability. Moreover, we found interacting and nonlinear effects of key traits on the risk of decline of mammals at a national scale. Our model predicted 35 data‐deficient species in decline on the basis of their biological vulnerability, which should receive more attention in order to prevent their decline. Our results highlight the relevance of comparative analysis at relatively narrow geographical scales, reveal previously unknown factors related to species vulnerability, and offer species‐by‐species outcomes that can be used to identify targets for conservation, especially for insufficiently known species. Predección y Definición de Prioridades de Conservación para Mamíferos de Bolivia con Base en Correlaciones Biológicas del Riesgo de Declinación     

Assessing the health risks of aluminum

Aluminum is a ubiquitous substance with over 4,000 uses. Aluminum, as aluminum sulfate, is commonly used in the United States as a coagulant in the treatment of drinking water. For many years aluminum was not considered to be toxic to humans. However, reports associating aluminum with several skeletal and neurological disorders in humans suggest that exposure to aluminum may pose a health hazard. In 1983 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced plans to regulate a number of substances, including aluminum, in drinking water. Aluminum was considered because of its occurrence and apparent toxicity. Upon further evaluation of the health effects data the EPA proposed not to regulate aluminum as a result of the uncertainty of the toxicity of ingested aluminum. Putative causal associations between aluminum exposure and neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease have yet to be substantiated. Although several issues regarding the toxicity of ingested aluminum are unresolved, aluminum has been specified in the 1986 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act, as one of 83 substances in drinking water to be regulated by 1989. Additional data are needed before the potential risk of aluminum can be assessed; therefore the EPA has deferred possible regulation until 1991.     

野生马齿苋种子发芽试验

本文对野生马齿苋种子的发芽特性进行了初步研究,结果表明,马齿苋种子发芽受温度、浸种时间、种子贮藏时间等因素影响.温度低于20℃时,不发芽,20℃时开始发芽,发芽适温为25～30℃,温度超过35℃时发芽受到抑制,在25℃下催芽,其发芽时间集中在24～48h内.温水浸种有利于发芽,浸种时间以12～24h为宜.马齿苋种子存在3～4个月的生理休眠期,用清水浸种可打破休眠,野外播种马齿苋时覆盖塑料小拱棚可明显提高发芽率和出苗率.     

Assessing the Threat Status of Ecological Communities

Abstract: Conservationists are increasingly interested in determining the threat status of ecological communities as a key part of their planning efforts. Such assessments are difficult because of conceptual challenges and a lack of generally accepted criteria. We reviewed 12 protocols for assessing the threat status of communities and identified conceptual and operational issues associated with developing a rigorous, transparent, and universal set of criteria for assessing communities, analogous to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List standards for species. We examined how each protocol defines a community and its extinction and how each applies 3 overarching criteria: decline in geographic distribution, restricted geographic distribution, and changes to ecological function. The protocols vary widely in threshold values used to assess declines and distribution size and the time frames used to assess declines, leading to inconsistent assessments of threat status. Few of the protocols specify a scale for measuring distribution size, although assessment outcomes are highly sensitive to scale. Protocols that apply different thresholds for species versus communities tend to require greater declines and more restricted distributions for communities than species to be listed in equivalent threat categories. Eleven of the protocols include a reduction in ecological function as a criterion, but almost all assess it qualitatively rather than quantitatively. We argue that criteria should be explicit and repeatable in their concepts, parameters, and scale, applicable to a broad range of communities, and address synergies between types of threats. Such criteria should focus on distribution size, declines in distribution, and changes to key ecological functions, with the latter based on workable proxies for assessing the severity, scope, and immediacy of degradation. Threat categories should be delimited by thresholds that are assessed at standard scales and are logically consistent with the viability of component species and important ecological functions.     

Conditioning uncertainty in ecological models: Assessing the impact of fire management strategies

A simple simulation model has been used to investigate whether large fires in Mediterranean regions are a result of extreme weather conditions or the cumulative effect of a policy of fire suppression over decades. The model reproduced the fire regime characteristics for a wide variety of regions of Mediterranean climate in California, France and Spain. The Generalised Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation (GLUE) methodology was used to assess the possibility of multiple model parameter sets being consistent with the available calibration data. The resulting set of behavioural models was used to assess uncertainty in the predictions. The results suggested that (1) for a given region, the total area burned is much the same whether suppression or prescribed fire policies are used or not; however fire suppression enhances fire intensity and prescribed burning reduces it; (2) the proportion of large fires can be reduced, but not eliminated, using prescribed fires, especially in areas which have the highest proportion of large fires.     

Geographic variation in songs of the Bewick's wren: a search for correlations with avifaunal complexity

Summary Song characteristics of the Bewick's wren (Thryomanes bewickii) are compared from nine localities in the western United States. Character shifts, i.e., a difference in means, are evident for all song characters: Arizona and Colorado songs are especially short and long, respectively (Figs. 1, 2); songs of insular (Santa Cruz Is.) and nearby mainland populations in California are very dissimilar (Table 1); excluding the insular population, the frequency range of song phrases is positively correlated with latitude (Fig. 3). Variance shifts, i.e., a difference in repertoire size or Coefficients of Variation (CV's) of measured song characters, are also present; most notably, Arizona males have exceptionally stereotyped songs, with small song phrase repertoires (Table 2) and low CV's. Population densities and/or habitat structure undoubtedly influence signal design, but correlations reported here suggest that the avifaunal complexity and the corresponding vocal milieu should also be examined rigorously as possibly important influences.     

Assessing biological variation from the perspective of diversity

Particularly in ecological and evolutionary genetics, methods of discerning complex traits are improving at a considerable rate. As a consequence, the resolution of intrinsically qualitative traits such as species affiliation or genetic type is increasing to degrees that blur their distinction from continuously varying characteristics. The common notion of diversity, however, relies on distinct features such as the states of qualitative traits, and it aims to assess variation as a counting of these features or types. This situation brings up the question of whether and how the diversity perspective of variation can be broadened to cover higher levels of complexity without sacrificing its concept. The present paper suggests two approaches that refer to established criteria for measures of diversity and that complement each other. The partitions approach treats complexity through general measures of difference between trait states, and the relations approach rests on general binary relations that capture structural aspects of diversity. Both approaches are shown to consistently imply effective numbers of types even in cases where distinct types are not explicitly specified. Practically all of the common methods of measuring diversity can be classified into either of the two approaches, and new opportunities for analyses of the diversity of complex traits are provided. The latter analyses include those of diversity in subdivided collections. Other perspectives of variation (such as dispersion, variances, etc.) are discussed and analyzed for their distinction from the diversity perspective. In many cases, the distinction can be made apparent with the help of diversity portraits.