Bird species and traits associated with logged and unlogged forest in Borneo.

The ecological consequences of logging have been and remain a focus of considerable debate. In this study, we assessed bird species composition within a logging concession in Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. Within the study area (approximately 196 km2) a total of 9747 individuals of 177 bird species were recorded. Our goal was to identify associations between species traits and environmental variables. This can help us to understand the causes of disturbance and predict whether species with given traits will persist under changing environmental conditions. Logging, slope position, and a number of habitat structure variables including canopy cover and liana abundance were significantly related to variation in bird composition. In addition to environmental variables, spatial variables also explained a significant amount of variation. However, environmental variables, particularly in relation to logging, were of greater importance in structuring variation in composition. Environmental change following logging appeared to have a pronounced effect on the feeding guild and size class structure but there was little evidence of an effect on restricted range or threatened species although certain threatened species were adversely affected. For example, species such as the terrestrial insectivore Argusianus argus and the hornbill Buceros rhinoceros, both of which are threatened, were rare or absent in recently logged forest. In contrast, undergrowth insectivores such as Orthotomus atrogularis and Trichastoma rostratum were abundant in recently logged forest and rare in unlogged forest. Logging appeared to have the strongest negative effect on hornbills, terrestrial insectivores, and canopy bark-gleaning insectivores while moderately affecting canopy foliage-gleaning insectivores and frugivores, raptors, and large species in general. In contrast, undergrowth insectivores responded positively to logging while most understory guilds showed little pronounced effect. Despite the high species richness of logged forest, logging may still have a negative impact on extant diversity by adversely affecting key ecological guilds. The sensitivity of hornbills in particular to logging disturbance may be expected to alter rainforest dynamics by seriously reducing the effective seed dispersal of associated tree species. However, logged forest represents an increasingly important habitat for most bird species and needs to be protected from further degradation. Biodiversity management within logging concessions should focus on maintaining large areas of unlogged forest and mitigating the adverse effects of logging on sensitive groups of species.     

Disposition toward environmental hazards in Hong Kong Chinese: validation of a Chinese version of the environmental appraisal inventory (EAI-C)

This paper extends prior research on risk perceptions in the West to the Hong Kong Chinese context by studying the nature of the responses of 229 Hong Kong Chinese to an adapted environmental appraisal inventory (EAI-C), which consisted of three scales with one related to the self and the other two related to the local and global environments, respectively. Results lent support to a local–global dichotomy: hazards were appraised to be more threatening in the global than the local context. Responses to the three-scale adaptation were factor analysed and three subscales were extracted for each of the EAI scales. As with findings reported in a previous study with an Irish sample, the subscales could be considered to represent techno-human, everyday-life and natural hazards. Results also indicated that Hong Kong Chinese appraised environmental hazards as more threatening than did Western samples surveyed in prior studies. This was most striking when hazards were appraised in relation to the self. Similar findings have also been reported in recent studies with Japanese samples. It was suggested that the accentuated threat to self observed in the current study might stem from a heightened sensitivity to environmental hazards in the Chinese people, which is determined by self-construction processes specific to Asian cultures. Using the EAI as a measurement for hazard appraisal may provide insights to how people from different cultures construe the impact of environmental hazards in various contexts.     

Irrigated Agriculture and Wildlife Conservation: Conflict on a Global Scale

/ The demand for water to support irrigated agriculture has led to the demise of wetlands and their associated wildlife for decades. This thirst for water is so pervasive that many wetlands considered to be hemispheric reserves for waterbirds have been heavily affected; for example, the California and Nevada wetlands in North America, the Macquarie Marshes in Australia, and the Aral Sea in central Asia. These and other major wetlands have lost most of their historic supplies of water and some have also experienced serious impacts from contaminated subsurface irrigation drainage. Now mere shadows of what they once were in terms of biodiversity and wildlife production, many of the so-called "wetlands of international importance" are no longer the key conservation strongholds they were in the past. The conflict between irrigated agriculture and wildlife conservation has reached a critical point on a global scale. Not only has local wildlife suffered, including the extinction of highly insular species, but a ripple effect has impacted migratory birds worldwide. Human societies reliant on wetlands for their livelihoods are also bearing the cost. Ironically, most of the degradation of these key wetlands occurred during a period of time when public environmental awareness and scientific assertion of the need for wildlife conservation was at an all-time high. However, designation of certain wetlands as "reserves for wildlife" by international review boards has not slowed their continued degradation. To reverse this trend, land and water managers and policy makers must assess the true economic costs of wetland loss and, depending on the outcome of the assessment, use the information as a basis for establishing legally enforceable water rights that protect wetlands from agricultural development.     

额济纳绿洲生态环境保护对策的探讨

黑河下游额济纳河沿岸绿洲是阿拉善独特的三道生态屏障——额济纳河沿岸绿洲、横贯东西绵延800多公里梭梭林带、贺兰山天然次生林之一。三道生态屏障同时也是我国西北地区的一条重要生态防线。但由于气候旱化和对动植物资源的不合理开发利用等因素的共同作用,目前黑河下游额济纳河沿岸绿洲生态功能退化严重,生态防护功能受损。为改善黑河下游额济纳河沿岸绿洲的生态环境状况,恢复额济纳绿洲生态功能,需要尊重自然规律,遵循生态学原理,在可持续发展原则指导下合理开发、利用自然资源,加大环保监管力度,综合运用经济、工程、法制、宣传等规划管理措施和手段加强生态环境保护与建设,保护额济纳绿洲生态屏障。     

Adaptation to climate change in the Northeast United States: opportunities, processes, constraints

Scientific evidence accumulating over the past decade documents that climate change impacts are already being experienced in the US Northeast. Policy-makers and resource managers must now prepare for the impacts from climate change and support implementing such plans on the ground. In this paper we argue that climate change challenges the region to maintain its economic viability, but also holds some opportunities that may enhance economic development, human well-being, and social justice. To face these challenges and seize these opportunities effectively we must better understand adaptation capacities, opportunities and constraints, the social processes of adaptation, approaches for engaging critical players and the broader public in informed debate, decision-making, and conscious interventions in the adaptation process. This paper offers a preliminary qualitative assessment, in which we emphasize the need for (1) assessing the feasibility and side effects of technological adaptation options, (2) increasing available resources and improving equitable access to them, (3) increasing institutional flexibility, fit, cooperation and decision-making authority, (4) using and enhancing human and social capital, (5) improving access to insurance and other risk-spreading mechanisms, and (6) linking scientific information more effectively to decision-makers while engaging the public. Throughout, we explore these issues through illustrative sectoral examples. We conclude with a number of principles that may guide the preparation of future adaptation plans for the Northeast.     

Light environment and mating behavior in Trinidadian guppies (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Poecilia reticulata</Emphasis>)

Male guppies, Poecilia reticulata, have color patterns that result from a balance between natural selection for crypsis to avoid predators and sexual selection for bright, complex patterns that attract females. Males use displays to show off these patterns to potential mates, but their conspicuousness also depends on the light environment in which they are viewed. We investigated variation in natural underwater guppy light environments in Trinidad, West Indies, and found that mating behavior is correlated with both the ‘quantity’ (total irradiance) and ‘quality’ (spectral composition) of light: light intensity and the proportion of ultraviolet light were negatively related to display rates. Experimental manipulation of light environment to mimic natural daily changes demonstrated that these relationships are causal and are independent of time of day effects. At lower light levels, when guppies are less detectable by visually hunting predators, females had more opportunity for active mate choice, because males displayed more. However, these light conditions may reduce the ability of females to accurately discriminate between males. Guppy mating behavior is therefore strongly affected by light environment, and this may have important effects on sexual selection.     

小麦叶片表面蜡质及其与品种抗蚜性的关系

建立了一套适宜小麦表面蜡质的提取和气相色谱-质谱联用(GC-MS)分离和鉴定的方法,测定了16种不同小麦品种的叶表蜡质成分,初步分析了不同抗虫品种及不同生育期各组分的变化动态与趋势.从小麦表面蜡质的提取物中分离和鉴定出30余种化合物,为9种烷烃、7种脂肪醇、10种脂肪酸、2种醛和2种酮;并以GC-MS进行组分鉴定,以峰面积值为指标,定量计算和比较表面蜡质各组分的含量,其中主要成分是脂肪醇,占68.1%,仅C28醇就占分离物质总量的50.14%,其次为烷烃, 再次为脂肪酸和醛,酮含量最低.抗蚜与感蚜小麦品种表面蜡质的组成变化不大,但大多数组分的含量差异明显,其中醇、酸和醛的含量均有随小麦品种抗蚜性增强而升高的趋势;不同生育期,小麦表面蜡质各组分的含量也存在明显差异,在小麦孕穗-抽穗期,抗蚜小麦品种中C28醇、C30醇及总醇的含量高于感蚜小麦品种.室内、田间小麦苗期及孕穗-抽穗期表面蜡质中的C28醇, C28酸、C18酸、C18烯酸, C26醛、C28醛的含量则随抗性增加而升高.研究结果可为进一步开展小麦表面蜡质单一组分对麦蚜寄主选择和抗蚜作用影响研究奠定基础.图4表1参33     

Social Demand for Ecosystem Services and Implications for Watershed Management

We performed a sociocultural preference assessment for a suite of ecosystem services provided by the Kiamichi River watershed in the south‐central United States, a region with intense water conflict. The goal was to examine how a social assessment of services could be used to weigh tradeoffs among water resource uses for future watershed management and planning. We identified the ecosystem services beneficiaries groups, analyzed perception for maintaining services, assessed differences in the importance and perceived trends for ecosystem services, and explored the perceived impact on ecosystem services arising from different watershed management scenarios. Results show habitat for species and water regulation were two ecosystem services all beneficiaries agreed were important. The main discrepancies among stakeholder groups were found for water‐related services. The identification of potential tradeoffs between services under different flow scenarios promotes a dynamic management strategy for allocating water resources, one that mitigates potential conflicts. While it is widely accepted the needs of all beneficiaries should be considered for the successful incorporation of ecosystem services into watershed management, the number of studies actually using the sociocultural perspective in ecosystem service assessment is limited. Our study demonstrates it is both possible and useful to quantify social demand of ecosystem services in watershed management.     

Waste prevention for sustainable resource and waste management

Although the 2Rs (reduce and reuse) are considered high-priority approaches, there has not been enough quantitative research on effective 2R management. The purpose of this paper is to provide information obtained through the International Workshop in Kyoto, Japan, on 11–13 November 2015, which included invited experts and researchers in several countries who were in charge of 3R policies, and an additional review of 245 previous studies. It was found that, regarding policy development, the decoupling between environmental pressures and economy growth was recognized as an essential step towards a sustainable society. 3R and resource management policies, including waste prevention, will play a crucial role. Approaches using material/substance flow analyses have become sophisticated enough to describe the fate of resources and/or hazardous substances based on human activity and the environment, including the final sink. Life-cycle assessment has also been developed to evaluate waste prevention activities. Regarding target products for waste prevention, food loss is one of the waste fractions with the highest priority because its countermeasures have significant upstream and downstream effects. Persistent organic pollutants and hazardous compounds should also be taken into account in the situation where recycling activities are globally widespread for the promotion of a material-cycling society.