Critical Loads of Acidity for Forest Soils and Relationship to Forest Decline in the Northern Czech Republic

Critical load calculations in the Czech part of 'the Black Triangle' show exceedance of critical load in 75% of the forest area. A comparison with forest damage data shows an insignificant tendency toward more forest damage in areas with high exceedance. We conclude that high exceedance of critical load is a probable contributing factor to forest damage in the area.     

波罗的海生态系统的概念化模型:用于环境决策的跨学科研究工具

为解决波罗的海地区与水体富营养化有关的环境和社会问题,加强该区域的跨学科研究的呼声越来越高.开展自然科学、社会经济学,以及管理学领域专家之间的合作是有必要的.解决不同领域专家之间相互交流的一个途径是建立一个内容广泛的概念模型,对富营养化进行综合性描述,并以可视化的方法将富营养化的起因、影响及多重关系连结起来.在现有的概念模型中,富营养化过程被分为1)起因;2)主要影响;3)次要影响;以及4)社会经济响应4个部分.对每一部分分别进行描述和讨论,并与其它层次和内容连结起来.通过模型可以看出从自然科学到人类社会间的可能途径,从而引出管理选项.作为例子,本文列举了对波罗的海富营养化的原因和影响进行观测与研究的关键文献,并对其提出的结论进行了讨论.     

Autumn migratory fuelling: a response to simulated magnetic displacements in juvenile wheatears, Oenanthe oenanthe

Recent experiments exposing migratory birds to altered magnetic fields simulating geographical displacements have shown that the geomagnetic field acts as an external cue affecting migratory fuelling behaviour. This is the first study investigating fuel deposition in relation to geomagnetic cues in long-distance migrants using the western passage of the Mediterranean region. Juvenile wheatears (Oenanthe oenanthe) were exposed to a magnetically simulated autumn migration from southern Sweden to West Africa. Birds displaced parallel to the west of their natural migration route, simulating an unnatural flight over the Atlantic Ocean, increased their fuel deposition compared to birds experiencing a simulated migration along the natural route. These birds, on the other hand, showed relatively low fuel loads in agreement with earlier data on wheatears trapped during stopover. The experimental displacement to the west, corresponding to novel sites in the Atlantic Ocean, led to a simulated longer distance to the wintering area, probably explaining the observed larger fuel loads. Our data verify previous results suggesting that migratory birds use geomagnetic cues for fuelling decisions and, for the first time, show that birds, on their first migration, can use geomagnetic cues to compensate for a displacement outside their normal migratory route, by adjusting fuel deposition.     

Building resilience to climate risks through social protection: from individualised models to systemic transformation

This article analyses the role of social protection programmes in contributing to people's resilience to climate risks. Drawing from desk‐based and empirical studies in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, it finds that social transfers make a strong contribution to the capacity of individuals and households to absorb the negative impacts of climate‐related shocks and stresses. They do so through the provision of reliable, national social safety net systems—even when these are not specifically designed to address climate risks. Social protection can also increase the anticipatory capacity of national disaster response systems through scalability mechanisms, or pre‐emptively through linkages to early action and early warning mechanisms. Critical knowledge gaps remain in terms of programmes’ contributions to the adaptive capacity required for long‐term resilience. The findings offer insights beyond social protection on the importance of robust, national administrative systems as a key foundation to support people's resilience to climate risks.