The Biogeography of Globally Threatened Seabirds and Island Conservation Opportunities

Seabirds are the most threatened group of marine animals; 29% of species are at some risk of extinction. Significant threats to seabirds occur on islands where they breed, but in many cases, effective island conservation can mitigate these threats. To guide island‐based seabird conservation actions, we identified all islands with extant or extirpated populations of the 98 globally threatened seabird species, as recognized on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, and quantified the presence of threatening invasive species, protected areas, and human populations. We matched these results with island attributes to highlight feasible island conservation opportunities. We identified 1362 threatened breeding seabird populations on 968 islands. On 803 (83%) of these islands, we identified threatening invasive species (20%), incomplete protected area coverage (23%), or both (40%). Most islands with threatened seabirds are amenable to island‐wide conservation action because they are small (57% were <1 km²), uninhabited (74%), and occur in high‐ or middle‐income countries (96%). Collectively these attributes make islands with threatened seabirds a rare opportunity for effective conservation at scale. La Biogeografía de Aves Marinas Amenazadas Globalmente y las Oportunidades de Conservación en Islas     

Predicting Extinction Risk of Brazilian Atlantic Forest Angiosperms

Understanding how plant life history affects species vulnerability to anthropogenic disturbances and environmental change is a major ecological challenge. We examined how vegetation type, growth form, and geographic range size relate to extinction risk throughout the Brazilian Atlantic Forest domain. We used a database containing species‐level information of 6,929 angiosperms within 112 families and a molecular‐based working phylogeny. We used decision trees, standard regression, and phylogenetic regression to explore the relationships between species attributes and extinction risk. We found a significant phylogenetic signal in extinction risk. Vegetation type, growth form, and geographic range size were related to species extinction risk, but the effect of growth form was not evident after phylogeny was controlled for. Species restricted to either rocky outcrops or scrub vegetation on sandy coastal plains exhibited the highest extinction risk among vegetation types, a finding that supports the hypothesis that species adapted to resource‐limited environments are more vulnerable to extinction. Among growth forms, epiphytes were associated with the highest extinction risk in non‐phylogenetic regression models, followed by trees, whereas shrubs and climbers were associated with lower extinction risk. However, the higher extinction risk of epiphytes was not significant after correcting for phylogenetic relatedness. Our findings provide new indicators of extinction risk and insights into the mechanisms governing plant vulnerability to extinction in a highly diverse flora where human disturbances are both frequent and widespread. Predicción del Riesgo de Extinción de Angiospermas del Bosque Atlántico Brasileño     

Current Practice and Future Prospects for Social Data in Coastal and Ocean Planning

Coastal and ocean planning comprises a broad field of practice. The goals, political processes, and approaches applied to planning initiatives may vary widely. However, all planning processes ultimately require adequate information on both the biophysical and social attributes of a planning region. In coastal and ocean planning practice, there are well‐established methods to assess biophysical attributes; however, less is understood about the role and assessment of social data. We conducted the first global assessment of the incorporation of social data in coastal and ocean planning. We drew on a comprehensive review of planning initiatives and a survey of coastal and ocean practitioners. There was significantly more incorporation of social data in multiuse versus conservation‐oriented planning. Practitioners engaged a wide range of social data, including governance, economic, and cultural attributes of planning regions and human impacts data. Less attention was given to ecosystem services and social–ecological linkages, both of which could improve coastal and ocean planning practice. Although practitioners recognize the value of social data, little funding is devoted to its collection and incorporation in plans. Increased capacity and sophistication in acquiring critical social and ecological data for planning is necessary to develop plans for more resilient coastal and ocean ecosystems and communities. We suggest that improving social data monitoring, and in particular spatial social data, to complement biophysical data, is necessary for providing holistic information for decision‐support tools and other methods. Moving beyond people as impacts to people as beneficiaries, through ecosystem services assessments, holds much potential to better incorporate the tenets of ecosystem‐based management into coastal and ocean planning by providing targets for linked biodiversity conservation and human welfare outcomes. La Práctica Actual y los Prospectos Futuros para los Datos Sociales en la Planeación Costera y Oceánica     

Experiencing Biodiversity as a Bridge over the Science–Society Communication Gap

Drawing on the idea that biodiversity is simply the diversity of living things, and that everyone knows what diversity and living things mean, most conservation professionals eschew the need to explain the many complex ways in which biodiversity is understood in science. On many biodiversity‐related issues, this lack of clarity leads to a communication gap between science and the general public, including decision makers who must design and implement biodiversity policies. Closing this communication gap is pivotal to the ability of science to inform sound environmental decision making. To address this communication gap, we propose a surrogate of biodiversity for communication purposes that captures the scientific definition of biodiversity yet can be understood by nonscientists; that is, biodiversity as a learning experience. The prerequisites of this or any other biodiversity communication surrogate are that it should have transdisciplinary relevance; not be measurable; be accessible to a wide audience; be usable to translate biodiversity issues; and understandably encompass biodiversity concepts. Biodiversity as a learning experience satisfies these prerequisites and is philosophically robust. More importantly, it can effectively contribute to closing the communication gap between biodiversity science and society at large. Experimentando la Biodiversidad como un Puente sobre el Vacío entre la Comunicación Ciencia‐Sociedad     

Effects of Wind Energy Development on Nesting Ecology of Greater Prairie‐Chickens in Fragmented Grasslands

Wind energy is targeted to meet 20% of U.S. energy needs by 2030, but new sites for development of renewable energy may overlap with important habitats of declining populations of grassland birds. Greater Prairie‐Chickens (Tympanuchus cupido) are an obligate grassland bird species predicted to respond negatively to energy development. We used a modified before–after control–impact design to test for impacts of a wind energy development on the reproductive ecology of prairie‐chickens in a 5‐year study. We located 59 and 185 nests before and after development, respectively, of a 201 MW wind energy facility in Greater Prairie‐Chicken nesting habitat and assessed nest site selection and nest survival relative to proximity to wind energy infrastructure and habitat conditions. Proximity to turbines did not negatively affect nest site selection (β = 0.03, 95% CI = ?1.2–1.3) or nest survival (β = ?0.3, 95% CI = ?0.6–0.1). Instead, nest site selection and survival were strongly related to vegetative cover and other local conditions determined by management for cattle production. Integration of our project results with previous reports of behavioral avoidance of oil and gas facilities by other species of prairie grouse suggests new avenues for research to mitigate impacts of energy development. Efectos del Desarrollo de la Energía Eólica sobre la Ecología de Anidación de Gallinas de la Gran Pradera en Pastizales Fragmentados     

Effect of Rotational Shepherding on Demographic and Genetic Connectivity of Calcareous Grassland Plants

Response to habitat fragmentation may not be generalized among species, in particular for plant communities with a variety of dispersal traits. Calcareous grasslands are one of the most species‐rich habitats in Central Europe, but abandonment of traditional management has caused a dramatic decline of calcareous grassland species. In the Southern Franconian Alb in Germany, reintroduction of rotational shepherding in previously abandoned grasslands has restored species diversity, and it has been suggested that sheep support seed dispersal among grasslands. We tested the effect of rotational shepherding on demographic and genetic connectivity of calcareous grassland specialist plants and whether the response of plant populations to shepherding was limited to species dispersed by animals (zoochory). Specifically, we tested competing dispersal models and source and focal patch properties to explain landscape connectivity with patch‐occupancy data of 31 species. We fitted the same connectivity models to patch occupancy and nuclear microsatellite data for the herb Dianthus carthusianorum (Carthusian pink). For 27 species, patch connectivity was explained by dispersal by rotational shepherding regardless of adaptations to zoochory, whereas population size (16% species) and patch area (0% species) of source patches were not important predictors of patch occupancy in most species. [Correction made after online publication, February 25, 2014: Population size and patch area percentages were mistakenly inverted, and have now been fixed.] Microsite diversity of focal patches significantly increased the model variance explained by patch occupancy in 90% of the species. For D. carthusianorum, patch connectivity through rotational shepherding explained both patch occupancy and population genetic diversity. Our results suggest shepherding provides dispersal for multiple plant species regardless of their dispersal adaptations and thus offers a useful approach to restore plant diversity in fragmented calcareous grasslands. Efectos del Pastoreo Rotacional sobre la Conectividad Genética y Demográfica de Plantas de Pastizales Calcáreos     

Expanding Kenya's protected areas under the Convention on Biological Diversity to maximize coverage of plant diversity

Biodiversity is highly valuable and critically threatened by anthropogenic degradation of the natural environment. In response, governments have pledged enhanced protected‐area coverage, which requires scarce biological data to identify conservation priorities. To assist this effort, we mapped conservation priorities in Kenya based on maximizing alpha (species richness) and beta diversity (species turnover) of plant communities while minimizing economic costs. We used plant‐cover percentages from vegetation surveys of over 2000 plots to build separate models for each type of diversity. Opportunity and management costs were based on literature data and interviews with conservation organizations. Species richness was predicted to be highest in a belt from Lake Turkana through Mount Kenya and in a belt parallel to the coast, and species turnover was predicted to be highest in western Kenya and along the coast. Our results suggest the expanding reserve network should focus on the coast and northeastern provinces of Kenya, where new biological surveys would also fill biological data gaps. Meeting the Convention on Biological Diversity target of 17% terrestrial coverage by 2020 would increase representation of Kenya's plant communities by 75%. However, this would require about 50 times more funds than Kenya has received thus far from the Global Environment Facility.     

活性污泥工艺的多目标优化分析

研究了多目标优化方法在活性污泥工艺优化中应用的可行性,以国际水协(IWA)发布的基准仿真模型BSM1的工艺流程为对象,以出水水质、过程能耗和反应池体积的指标为优化目标,以反应池池容(5个)、混合液回流量、污泥回流量、污泥排放量、反应池氧气传质系数(3个)等11个变量为决策变量,构建了基于BSM1的多目标优化模型,并利用MatLab非支配排序遗传算法NSGA-II进行求解,获得了BSM1多目标优化模型的Pareto解.研究结果表明,在Dry进水条件下,通过将体积指标增大4.1%,可以明显改善出水水质指标(降低81.5%),能耗指标也能得到一定改善(降低13.3%);在3种进水条件(Dry,Rain,Storm)下,相对于BSM1工艺参数的缺省值,利用本研究的优化解作为工艺参数,均能不同程度改善出水水质、降低能耗.研究结果显示,在活性污泥过程不同目标之间进行权衡可以通过多目标优化方法来实现.     

MBR中活性污泥对雌酮E1的吸附性能研究

研究了MBR中灭活污泥对雌酮(El)的吸附行为,考察了污泥浓度、污泥粒径和El初始浓度对E1吸附效果的影响,并探讨了不同污泥组分(悬浮颗粒、胶体和溶解物)对E1的吸附作用贡献.结果表明,在E1初始浓度为l～500μg·L-1,4h左右达到吸附平衡;E1的吸附符合Freundlich吸附模型,呈线性吸附;E1初始浓度越大,吸附速率越小.随着污泥浓度升高,单位污泥对E1的吸附量显著下降,出现了固体浓度效应;而吸附去除率却随着污泥浓度的升高而显著增加,且两者之间呈显著正相关(p＜0.05).活性污泥对E1的单位吸附容量随着污泥粒径增大而减小.污泥中悬浮颗粒、胶体和溶解物的含量分别为87.8％、9.6％和2.6％,吸附平衡时,E1在3种组分中的浓度分别为13.9 μg·g-1、24.1 g·g-1和12.5 μg· g-1,胶体吸附效果最好.不同组分对E1的吸附贡献与其含量正相关,吸附贡献为:悬浮颗粒＞胶体＞溶解物.     

社区化粪池污水能量转化估算与分析研究

以化粪池单元为研究对象,基于ADM1模型的反应过程,建立了社区化粪池污水能量转化核算模型(WeMax-STK模型),对污水能量在化粪池中的赋存、转化以及去向进行了分析,并评估了污水能量的回收潜力.结果表明,WeMax-STK模型整体可靠,模拟值与监测值的平均误差不超过24%,不确定性低于18%,模型准确率在70%以上.化粪池进水有机物转化为热能和内部微生物能量的比例约占进水总化学能量的17%,污水化学能的主要去向是转化为慢速降解基质的能量,化粪池内有机物转化为气态甲烷的能量仅占进水化学能总量的4%左右.污水热能的回收强度约4.6kWh/m³,热能回收潜力约为24%～25%,大约是污水化学能回收潜力的3～6倍.