Effects of silica nanoparticles on growth and photosynthetic pigment contents of Scenedesmus obliquus

To assess the aquatic ecosystem safety for silica (SiO2) nanoparticles (NPs), the growth inhibition and photosynthetic pigment contents of Scenedesmus obliquus in logarithm growth phase exposed to SiO2 NPs and SiO2 bulk particles (BPs) suspensions were measured. SiO2 NPs with 10-20 nm diameters were found to be toxic. The 20% effective concentration (EC20) values for 72 and 96 hr were 388.1 and 216.5 mg/L, respectively. The contents of chlorophyll decreased significantly under moderate and high concentratio...     

日粮中铜胁迫对吉富罗非鱼幼鱼抗氧化、脂质过氧化及肝脏组织结构的影响

吉富罗非鱼是我国南方沿海地区水产养殖中的主要经济鱼类之一,但近年来,随着我国城镇化和工业化进程的推进,罗非鱼养殖面临着前所未有的铜富集的挑战。为探明日粮中铜胁迫对吉富罗非鱼幼鱼抗氧化系统和肝脏组织结构的影响,将1 080条罗非鱼幼鱼暴露于6个浓度梯度(0、3、30、300、1 000、3 000 mg·kg-1)的高铜日粮中,通过60 d的暴露试验,实时测定罗非鱼血清与肝脏抗氧化能力,监测肝脏病理变化。结果表明,在本试验条件下,罗非鱼幼鱼血清和肝脏中MDA的含量随日粮中铜含量的增加和胁迫时间的延长显著升高,而SOD、GSH-PX和Cu Zn-SOD的活性表现出先升高后降低的趋势;各组间肝脏表现出不同程度的病变,主要是浊肿变性和脂肪变性,且第Ⅲ、Ⅳ、Ⅴ组肝脏病变严重。综上,日粮中铜胁迫对吉富罗非鱼幼鱼的抗氧化机能有较明显的抑制作用,长时间的暴露能严重损伤其肝脏的组织结构,因此,建议吉富罗非鱼幼鱼日粮中铜的实际含量应控制在42.36 mg·kg-1以下。     

Vocal Activity as a Low Cost and Scalable Index of Seabird Colony Size

Although wildlife conservation actions have increased globally in number and complexity, the lack of scalable, cost‐effective monitoring methods limits adaptive management and the evaluation of conservation efficacy. Automated sensors and computer‐aided analyses provide a scalable and increasingly cost‐effective tool for conservation monitoring. A key assumption of automated acoustic monitoring of birds is that measures of acoustic activity at colony sites are correlated with the relative abundance of nesting birds. We tested this assumption for nesting Forster's terns (Sterna forsteri) in San Francisco Bay for 2 breeding seasons. Sensors recorded ambient sound at 7 colonies that had 15–111 nests in 2009 and 2010. Colonies were spaced at least 250 m apart and ranged from 36 to 2,571 m². We used spectrogram cross‐correlation to automate the detection of tern calls from recordings. We calculated mean seasonal call rate and compared it with mean active nest count at each colony. Acoustic activity explained 71% of the variation in nest abundance between breeding sites and 88% of the change in colony size between years. These results validate a primary assumption of acoustic indices; that is, for terns, acoustic activity is correlated to relative abundance, a fundamental step toward designing rigorous and scalable acoustic monitoring programs to measure the effectiveness of conservation actions for colonial birds and other acoustically active wildlife. La Actividad Vocal como un Índice Escalable y de Bajo Costo del Tamaño de Colonia de las Aves Marinas     

Effects of payments for ecosystem services on wildlife habitat recovery

Conflicts between local people's livelihoods and conservation have led to many unsuccessful conservation efforts and have stimulated debates on policies that might simultaneously promote sustainable management of protected areas and improve the living conditions of local people. Many government‐sponsored payments‐for‐ecosystem‐services (PES) schemes have been implemented around the world. However, few empirical assessments of their effectiveness have been conducted, and even fewer assessments have directly measured their effects on ecosystem services. We conducted an empirical and spatially explicit assessment of the conservation effectiveness of one of the world's largest PES programs through the use of a long‐term empirical data set, a satellite‐based habitat model, and spatial autoregressive analyses on direct measures of change in an ecosystem service (i.e., the provision of wildlife species habitat). Giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) habitat improved in Wolong Nature Reserve of China after the implementation of the Natural Forest Conservation Program. The improvement was more pronounced in areas monitored by local residents than those monitored by the local government, but only when a higher payment was provided. Our results suggest that the effectiveness of a PES program depends on who receives the payment and on whether the payment provides sufficient incentives. As engagement of local residents has not been incorporated in many conservation strategies elsewhere in China or around the world, our results also suggest that using an incentive‐based strategy as a complement to command‐and‐control, community‐ and norm‐based strategies may help achieve greater conservation effectiveness and provide a potential solution for the park versus people conflict.     

The role of digital data entry in participatory environmental monitoring

Many argue that monitoring conducted exclusively by scientists is insufficient to address ongoing environmental challenges. One solution entails the use of mobile digital devices in participatory monitoring (PM) programs. But how digital data entry affects programs with varying levels of stakeholder participation, from nonscientists collecting field data to nonscientists administering every step of a monitoring program, remains unclear. We reviewed the successes, in terms of management interventions and sustainability, of 107 monitoring programs described in the literature (hereafter programs) and compared these with case studies from our PM experiences in Australia, Canada, Ethiopia, Ghana, Greenland, and Vietnam (hereafter cases). Our literature review showed that participatory programs were less likely to use digital devices, and 2 of our 3 more participatory cases were also slow to adopt digital data entry. Programs that were participatory and used digital devices were more likely to report management actions, which was consistent with cases in Ethiopia, Greenland, and Australia. Programs engaging volunteers were more frequently reported as ongoing, but those involving digital data entry were less often sustained when data collectors were volunteers. For the Vietnamese and Canadian cases, sustainability was undermined by a mismatch in stakeholder objectives. In the Ghanaian case, complex field protocols diminished monitoring sustainability. Innovative technologies attract interest, but the foundation of effective participatory adaptive monitoring depends more on collaboratively defined questions, objectives, conceptual models, and monitoring approaches. When this foundation is built through effective partnerships, digital data entry can enable the collection of more data of higher quality. Without this foundation, or when implemented ineffectively or unnecessarily, digital data entry can be an additional expense that distracts from core monitoring objectives and undermines project sustainability. The appropriate role of digital data entry in PM likely depends more on the context in which it is used and less on the technology itself.     

原子吸收法测定海水中铁含量的不确定度评定

为了保证海水中铁元素含量的检测质量,更好地深入了解铁在整个海水体系的生物地球化学中扮演的角色,需科学地评定检测结果的分散性。文章依据《测量不确定度的评定与表示》(JJF1059-1999)的理论,以浙江近海海水为例,评定原子吸收法测定海水中铁含量的不确定度。测得浙江近海样品中铁的浓度为5.2μg/L,扩展不确定度U=0.8μg/L(k=2)。通过对各不确定度分量进行评定发现,利用该方法测定海水中铁含量时,对其合成标准不确定度的主要贡献来自于样品制备过程,尤其是萃取过程。