Current Trends in Plant and Animal Population Monitoring

Abstract:  Animal and plant population monitoring programs are critical for identifying species at risk, evaluating the effects of management or harvest, and tracking invasive and pest species. Nevertheless, monitoring activities are highly decentralized, which makes it difficult for researchers or conservation planners to get a good general picture of what real-world monitoring programs actually entail. We used a Web-based survey to collect information on population monitoring programs. The survey focused on basic questions about each program, including motivations for monitoring, types of data being collected, spatiotemporal design of the program, and reasons for choosing that design. We received responses from 311 people involved in monitoring of various species and used these responses to summarize ongoing monitoring efforts. We also used responses to determine whether monitoring strategies have changed over time and whether they differed among monitoring agencies. Most commonly, monitoring entailed collection of count data at multiple sites with the primary goal of detecting trends. But we also found that goals and strategies for monitoring appeared to be diversifying, that area-occupied and presence–absence approaches appeared to be gaining in popularity, and that several other promising approaches (monitoring to reduce parameter uncertainty, risk-based monitoring, and directly linking monitoring data to management decisions) have yet to become widely established. We suggest that improved communication between researchers studying monitoring designs and those who are charged with putting these designs into practice could further improve monitoring programs and better match sampling designs to the objectives of monitoring programs.     

镉污染农田农业生态整治与安全高效利用模式

传统的镉污染治理策略多以改造和净化环境、恢复土壤质量为宗旨。作者从有效利用污染农田的角度,提出了农业生态整治策略,即将污染农田作为一种特殊资源,通过发掘利用生物（植物）自身的耐（抗）镉基因,使污染土地在农业领域重新获得安全而高效的利用。介绍了对某铀矿区近40hm²镉污染农田进行治理利用的成功实践。通过采用桑蚕生产模式替代粮作生产模式,杜绝了污灌污染,消除了食物链中镉的危害,使土壤生产力得到恢复,农田年均产值比水稻模式提高2880元/hm²,比种玉米提高8880元/hm²,利税增加1980元/hm²,耕层土壤镉含量年平均下降1.33mg/kg。还论述了镉在桑树中的分布特征及其对桑树生长和蚕茧质量的影响。     

The role of local governments before and during chemical accidents,focusing on changes in hazardous chemical management systems

ABSTRACT

Disaster management spans actions before, during, and after disaster events. Changes in the roles and functions of local governments before a disaster can influence other stages of disaster management. After a chemical spill in 2012, South Korean hazardous chemical management tasks were returned to the central government and local governments’ roles and functions were reduced. To identify associated issues and enhance the hazardous chemical management system, this study analyzed changes in laws and policies and conducted interviews with stakeholders. While the changes helped with centralization, reinforcement, and specification, some loopholes were discovered. The information and human resource capacities of local governments and intra – and intergovernmental relations issues have hindered their active participation before and during chemical disasters. These loopholes can be addressed through institutional enhancements for local governments, such as including them in monitoring hazardous chemical handling facilities, developing codes articulating the division of tasks among departments within them, and providing adequate incentives for them to increase their personnel. This study provides empirical data that informs ongoing debates about the centralization and devolution of disaster management by linking local governments’ ordinary management systems to their disaster management activities.     

国内外农用地膜使用政策、执行标准与回收状况

农用地膜覆盖技术具有良好的增温、保墒、除草等作用,已成为中国农业生产上不可或缺的农艺措施,为作物增产增收和保障中国粮食安全做出了巨大贡献。由于长期重使用、轻回收,随着农用地膜的用量和覆膜年限增加,废旧地膜在土壤中的残留量逐年增多,残膜污染已严重影响农业生产和自然环境,成为影响中国农业可持续发展的突出问题。中国的农用地膜污染防治工作总体起步较晚,虽然取得了一定成效,但还面临着政策不健全,监管有难度,执行不到位,回收、替代技术不成熟等困难和问题,防治任务依然艰巨。文章通过深入分析欧美与日本发达国家农用地膜推广使用方面的相关政策及标准,总结归纳了国内外农用地膜管理和回收经验,为今后制定出台适应中国国情的农用地膜管理政策提供参考。建议:(1)推进全程监管,出台相关法律规章,明确生产、流通、使用等各环节的监管责任,建立全程监管体系,从源头上杜绝脱标地膜进入市场、铺进农田;(2)推进源头减量,开展地膜覆盖技术适宜性评价,强化地膜使用控制,对水热资源条件较好的地区,减少地膜覆盖或不再使用地膜,对资源禀赋较差的地区,提高地膜使用效率,降低使用强度;(3)推进回收利用,推动完善政府扶持、市场主导的农膜回收利用体系,探索农膜回收利用长效机制,推动建立区域性绿色补贴政策;(4)推进技术创新,依托科技平台,加大新产品、新设备的研发力度,加强可降解地膜产品和技术跟踪,制定完善评价标准体系。     

Transmembrane transport of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by bacteria and functional regulation of membrane proteins

• Explaintheadsorption, uptake and transmembrane transport of PAHs by bacteria. • Analyze functional regulation of membrane proteins inthe transmembrane transport. • Proteomics technology such as iTRAQ labeling was used to access expressed proteins. • Single cell analysis technology wereused to study the morphological structure. In recent years, increasing research has been conducted on transmembrane transport processes and the mechanisms behind the microbial breakdown of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), including the role of membrane proteins in transmembrane transport and the mode of transmission. This article explains the adsorption, uptake and transmembrane transport of PAHs by bacteria, the regulation of membrane protein function during the transmembrane transport. There are three different regulation mechanisms for uptake, depending on the state and size of the oil droplets relative to the size of the microbial cells, which are (i) direct adhesion, (ii) emulsification and pseudosolubilization, and (iii) interfacial uptake. Furthermore, two main transmembrane transport modes are introduced, which are (i) active transport and (ii) passive uptake and active efflux mechanism. Meanwhile, introduce the proteomics and single cell analysis technology used to address these areas of research, such as Isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) technology and Nano Secondary ion mass spectrometry (Nano-SIMS). Additionally, analyze the changes in morphology and structure and the characteristics of microbial cell membranes in the process of transmembrane transport. Finally, recognize the microscopic mechanism of PAHs biodegradation in terms of cell and membrane proteins are of great theoretical and practical significance for understanding the factors that influence the efficient degradation of PAHs contaminants in soil and for remediating the PAHs contamination in this area with biotechnology.     

加大行政奖惩力度是中国环境绩效改善的主要原因吗?

"十一五"、"十二五"规划时期,中国单位GDP能耗、SO_2排放总量、COD排放总量等节能减排指标均实现了国家规划目标,这与"十五"计划三项指标均未完成形成鲜明对比。现有研究对此的解释存在宏观和微观层面上的不一致。其重要原因在于现有研究将环境绩效改善的原因完全归于行政奖惩所体现的正式制度的作用,而忽视了非正式制度对节能减排绩效的积极影响。本文建构了以包含正式激励和非正式激励的二元委托代理激励模型为基础的分析框架,利用基于717名不同级别官员的问卷数据,采用结构方程方法对上述模型进行了检验。实证结果表明,与约束性指标相关的正式制度中规定的11项奖惩措施所产生的激励对官员的环境治理行为力度并没有显著影响,而体现为顺应中央政府导向和上级领导注意力所代表的非正式制度激励对官员环境治理行为力度产生了显著影响。非正式制度激励对环境治理行为力度的影响存在两条路径。在第一条路径中,官员压力是中介变量,即非正式制度产生对官员压力的影响,官员压力又进一步影响官员环境治理行为。在这一路径中,晋升偏好、服从偏好为正向调节变量,正式奖惩的执行严格程度为负向调节变量。这一路径表明,官员晋升偏好越强、正式奖惩执行严格程度越弱,非正式制度激励对地方官员压力的影响越大;官员服从上级偏好程度越强,官员压力对环境治理行为力度的影响越大。在第二条路径中,非正式制度激励被认为直接影响环境治理行为力度,服务偏好是正向调节变量。这一路径表明,地方官员为人民服务的偏好越强,非正式激励对环境治理行为的影响越大。本文的研究发现调和了环境政策执行领域的理论冲突,为深化对中国"压力型"体制的理解提供实证证据。     

区域龙头企业对地方政府环境规制影响研究

当政府基于公共利益对企业实施规制,政府所代表的公共利益与龙头企业的经济利益冲突时,政府的规制行为与规制效率是否会受龙头企业影响?已有的研究较少涉及这一公共管理的重要问题。本研究从环境规制视角出发,基于1999—2013年的中国31个省级层面的面板数据,结合工业企业数据库微观数据,在省级层面实证检验了当存在利益冲突和规制能力约束时,区域环境规制水平是否会受到龙头企业以规模衡量的能力影响;如是,其方向和机制又是什么。本文研究发现:(1)龙头企业规模越大,区域环境规制水平越严格;(2)龙头企业规模对区域环境规制的影响主要通过两种路径实现,一是龙头企业所在行业的区域经济地位,行业的区域经济地位越重要,越容易引来政府的环境规制关注;二是龙头企业在所在行业的经济地位,某企业在行业的比重越高,越容易引来政府的环境规制关注;(3)龙头企业规模与区域环境规制水平间关系是政府有限环境规制能力有效运用的结果,当政府规制能力不足时,政府在规制中会"抓大放小",重点加强对龙头企业的环境规制;随着政府规制能力上升,企业规模与区域环境规制水平的正相关关系不仅回归系数会逐步下降,而且会在统计上不再显著;最终,当政府掌握充分的环境规制能力后,企业的规模可能会在降低区域环境规制水平上发挥一定作用。本文的研究结果证实当政府与企业存在利益博弈时,政府的利益首先得到满足,仅当政府的利益得到满足后,企业才可能利用其实力影响政府规制以获取规制利益最大化。本文的研究一方面消除了"政商勾结"污染环境的忧虑,另一方面也提示要严格限制政府这只"看得见的手"的利益诉求范围。     

Off-design performance analysis of a transcritical CO2 Rankine cycle with LNG as cold source

The transcritical CO₂ Rankine cycle with liquefied natural gas (LNG) as cold source is a promising power system to utilize mid- and low-temperature heat source. Most previous works focused on thermodynamic and thermoeconomic analysis or optimization for the system. In this article, an off-design performance analysis for the system is conducted. An off-design mathematical model for the system is established to examine the variation of system performance with the variations of heat source mass flow rate and temperature. A modified sliding pressure regulation control strategy, which regulates turbine inlet pressure to keep the temperature difference between heat source temperature and turbine inlet temperature constant, is applied to control the system when off-design conditions happen. The results show that when the mass flow rate or the temperature of heat source is less or lower than that of design condition, both the net power output of system and the system exergy efficiency decrease, whereas when they are more or higher than the values of design condition, the net power output of system increases but the system exergy efficiency still decreases. In addition, both CO₂ turbine and NG turbine could almost keep the designed efficiency values under the applied control strategy.     

金属熔炼企业辐射安全监管的探讨

随着金属熔炼行业的迅速发展,熔炼企业出现放射性污染事件的风险日益增加,采取有效措施加强金属熔炼企业辐射安全监管,防止放射性污染事件的发生,具有十分重要的意义。为规范金属熔炼企业的辐射安全管理,浙江省开展了"放心熔炼企业"创建工作,对金属熔炼企业从管理机构、管理制度、仪器配备、人员培训、台账管理等方面提出了严格的管理要求。本文在对浙江省金属熔炼企业辐射安全管理现状情况进行详细调查并结合日常监督性检查和监测的基础上,分析了目前金属熔炼企业辐射安全监管中存在的主要问题,提出了建立有效的管理措施、加强人员培训、加强仪器配备、多部门合作共同做好金属熔炼行业辐射安全监管工作等对策、措施和建议。     

Jobs and climate policy: Evidence from British Columbia's revenue-neutral carbon tax

This paper examines the employment impact of British Columbia's revenue-neutral carbon tax implemented in 2008. While all industries appear to benefit from the redistributed tax revenues, the most carbon-intensive and trade-sensitive industries see employment fall with the tax, while clean service industries see employment rise. By aggregating across industries I find the BC carbon tax generated, on average, a small but statistically significant 0.74 percent annual increases in employment over the 2007–2013 period. This paper provides initial evidence showing how a revenue-neutral carbon tax may not adversely affect employment.