WATER QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM EFFECTIVENESS FOR CARBONATE AQUIFERS IN GRAZED LAND WATERSHEDS1

ABSTRACT: Water quality indicators of two agriculturally impacted karst areas in southeastern West Virginia were studied to determine the water quality effects of grazing agriculture and water quality trends following initiation of water quality improvement programs. Both areas are tributaries of the Greenbrier River and received funding for best management practices under the President's Initiative for Water Quality and then under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). After 11 years of study there was little evidence to suggest that water quality improved in one area. Three and a half years of study in the other area showed little evidence of consistent water quality improvement under EQIP. Lack of consistent water quality improvement at the catchment scale does not imply that the voluntary programs were failures. Increased livestock numbers as a result of successful changes in forage management practices may have overridden water quality improvements achieved through best management practices. Practices that target well defined contributing areas significantly impacting aquifer water quality might be one way to improve water quality at catchment scales in karst basins. For example, a significant decrease in fecal coliform concentrations was observed in subterranean drainage from one targeted sinkhole after dairy cattle were permanently excluded from the sinkhole.     

Mapping shifts in spatial synchrony in grassland birds to inform conservation planning

Spatial synchrony, defined as the correlated fluctuations in abundance of spatially separated populations, can be caused by regional fluctuations in natural and anthropogenic environmental population drivers. Investigations into the geography of synchrony can provide useful insight to inform conservation planning efforts by revealing regions of common population drivers and metapopulation extinction vulnerability. We examined the geography of spatial synchrony and decadal changes in these patterns for grassland birds in the United States and Canada, which are experiencing widespread and persistent population declines. We used Bayesian hierarchical models and over 50 years of abundance data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey to generate population indices within a 2° latitude by 2° longitude grid. We computed and mapped mean local spatial synchrony for each cell (mean detrended correlation of the index among neighboring cells), along with associated uncertainty, for 19 species in 2, 26-year periods, 1968–1993 and 1994–2019. Grassland birds were predicted to increase in spatial synchrony where agricultural intensification, climate change, or interactions between the 2 increased. We found no evidence of an overall increase in synchrony among grassland bird species. However, based on the geography of these changes, there was considerable spatial heterogeneity within species. Averaging across species, we identified clusters of increasing spatial synchrony in the Prairie Pothole and Shortgrass Prairie regions and a region of decreasing spatial synchrony in the eastern United States. Our approach has the potential to inform continental-scale conservation planning by adding an additional layer of relevant information to species status assessments and spatial prioritization of policy and management actions. Our work adds to a growing literature suggesting that global change may result in shifting patterns of spatial synchrony in population dynamics across taxa with broad implications for biodiversity conservation.     

Effectiveness of conservation easements in agricultural regions

Conservation easements are a standard technique for preventing habitat loss, particularly in agricultural regions with extensive cropland cultivation, yet little is known about their effectiveness. I developed a spatial econometric approach to propensity‐score matching and used the approach to estimate the amount of habitat loss prevented by a grassland conservation easement program of the U.S. federal government. I used a spatial autoregressive probit model to predict tract enrollment in the easement program as of 2001 based on tract agricultural suitability, habitat quality, and spatial interactions among neighboring tracts. Using the predicted values from the model, I matched enrolled tracts with similar unenrolled tracts to form a treatment group and a control group. To measure the program's impact on subsequent grassland loss, I estimated cropland cultivation rates for both groups in 2014 with a second spatial probit model. Between 2001 and 2014, approximately 14.9% of control tracts were cultivated and 0.3% of treated tracts were cultivated. Therefore, approximately 14.6% of the protected land would have been cultivated in the absence of the program. My results demonstrate that conservation easements can significantly reduce habitat loss in agricultural regions; however, the enrollment of tracts with low cropland suitability may constrain the amount of habitat loss they prevent. My results also show that spatial econometric models can improve the validity of control groups and thereby strengthen causal inferences about program effectiveness in situations when spatial interactions influence conservation decisions.     

辽河三角洲地区土地利用及生态服务价值变化研究

以辽河三角洲地区为例,利用修正的生态服务价值当量因子表结合服务价值评估方法,分析了3个时期土地利用格局时空动态变化特征及其服务价值变化状况。结果表明:研究区土地利用以水田为主,占56.76%,其次为湿地和建设用地,分别占15.29%和14.77%,3种土地利用类型占总面积的86.82%;1986~2000年土地利用格局变化较大,而2000~2010年土地利用格局变化程度较小,两个时段内建设用地面积都稳步增加,湿地面积均逐渐下降;研究区土地利用服务的总价值逐年减少,湿地服务价值对总服务价值的贡献度最大,占总服务价值的60%以上。     

浅谈如何加强社区环境建设

阐述了加强社区环境建设的重要性;介绍了加强社区环境建设的主要措施,对社区环境建设有一定的借鉴意义。     

潜流人工湿地填料筛选及其对小城镇微污染水的修复性能评价

为了选择适合小城镇潜流人工湿地的填料,选取小城镇较为常见的材料(废砖、卵石、碎石),结合物化性质,研究25℃下填料对磷的吸附效果,并分析了填料种类对野外潜流人工湿地运行的影响。结果表明:(1)25℃时,3种填料对磷的吸附量随着溶液中初始磷浓度的增加而增加,吸附能力依次为废砖>碎石>卵石;(2)野外潜流人工湿地运行过程中,随HRT的延长,组合填料湿地WL1和废砖填料WL2湿地对总磷的净化效果有所提高,且WL2湿地对总磷的去除效果略优于WL1。因此,可以选择废砖作为小城镇潜流人工湿地系统的填料。     

生态规划在资源型城市转型实践中的作用——以抚顺市为例

目前我国一些资源型城市由于长期开采,资源已近枯竭,即将陷入可持续发展危机,如何实现资源型城市转型成为我国城市发展中十分重要的课题。为了研究生态规划对于资源型城市转型的推动作用,本文以典型资源型城市抚顺市为例,通过分析其城市生态规划的内容及近年的规划举措,得出了城市生态规划是推进城市转型的有效途径这一结论,并分析了该结论的广泛意义。     

金属矿山废弃地类型划分与生态退化特征

由于矿山开采中地表结构扰动、环境污染等因素导致矿山废弃地生态系统极度退化。通过对其产生原因和占地现状、特征的分析,将金属矿山废弃地划分为5大类15个类型,对其生态退化特征进行了评价;其中地表结构的不稳定性、土壤和植被的缺失及重金属离子污染是生态退化的主要限制性特征,也是生态恢复的难点和重点,并对不同类型金属矿山废弃地的生态治理措施进行了探讨。     

Soil fertility dynamics in runoff-capture agriculture, Canary Islands, Spain

In the extremely arid (∼150 mm yr⁻¹) eastern Canary Islands of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and La Graciosa, agriculture has been sustained for decades by a traditional runoff-capture (RC) farming system known as “gavias”. Although the main goal of these systems is to increase water supply for crops, making unnecessary conventional irrigation, a secondary and equally important factor is that this system allows for sustainable agricultural production without addition of chemical or organic fertilizers. A field study was conducted to assess the impact of long-term agriculture (>50 yr) on soil fertility and to evaluate key factors affecting the nutrient sustainability of RC agricultural production. Soil fertility and nutrient dynamics were studied through chemical characterization of the arable layer (0-25 cm) of RC agricultural plots, adjacent natural soils (control) not affected by runoff and cultivation, and sediments contributed by a series of RC events. Results showed that RC soils have enhanced fertility status, particularly because they are less affected by salinity and sodicity (mean electrical conductivity = 1.8 dS m⁻¹ vs. 51.0 dS m⁻¹ in control soils; mean exchangeable sodium percentage = 11.1% vs. 30.6% in control soils), and have higher water and nutrient holding capacities (mean clay plus silt contents ≈87% vs. 69% in control soils). In general, sediments transported with the runoff and deposited in RC plots (average sediment yield ≈ 46 ton ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹), contain sufficient nutrients to prevent a progressive reduction of essential plant nutrients below natural levels in spite of nutrient uptake and removal by the harvested crop. Average additions of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium with the runoff sediments were 33.6, 35.3 and 48.8 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹, respectively. Results of this study show how a crop production system can be sustained in the long term by natural hydrological and biogeochemical catchment processes. This system maintains a nutrient balance that is not based on energy-intensive inputs of fertilizers, but is integrated in natural nutrient cycling processes, unlike other tropical farming agroecosystems.     

东莞市蔬菜基地土壤中喹诺酮类抗生素的污染特征研究

抗生素作为新兴环境污染物在区域农业土壤污染特征研究中鲜见报道.本文利用固相萃取-高效液相色谱-串联质谱分析方法,调查了东莞市18个区镇24个代表性蔬菜基地土壤中喹诺酮类抗生素(QNs)的含量与分布特征.结果表明,4种喹诺酮类化合物的检出率均在90%以上,以环丙沙星(平均含量24.93μg·kg-1)和恩诺沙星(平均含量...