Assessing Land-Use Impacts on Natural Resources

/ Much information is available on changes that occur in natural resources from both spatially-explicit data on environmental conditions and models of the interactions of these conditions and resources with human activities. The strategy for assessing land-use impacts on natural resources developed in this paper provides a framework for using relevant data and models to address questions of how management practices can promote both use and protection of resources. This assessment strategy integrates spatially explicit environmental data using geographic information systems (GIS) with computer models that simulate changes in land cover in response to land-use impacts. The computer models also simulate susceptibility of species to changes in habitat suitability and landscape patterns. The approach is applied to management of limestone barrens on the Oak Ridge Reservation in East Tennessee. Potential limestone barrens habitats are identified by overlaying appropriate soils, geology, slope, and land-use/land-cover conditions. Their validity is tested against known sites containing rare species that occur in these habitats. The location of habitats at risk in the aftermath of human activities is determined by using an available area model that identifies the size and proximity of sites that particular types of species can no longer use as habitat. The resulting risk map can be used in land management planning. The approach uses readily available in situ and remotely sensed data and is applicable to a wide range of locations and land-use scenarios. This approach can be refined based on needs identified by land managers and on the sensitivity of the results to the resolution of available resource information.KEY WORDS: Land management; Assessment; Habitat characterization; Limestone barrens; Ecological modeling; Geographic information systems     

实验条件下生态修复过程中微型生物群落演替研究

在实验室恒流－－修复微生态系统中，通过健康水体来对武汉东湖污染程度不同的水体进行持续替换，以模拟受不同程度污染胁迫的自然水体恢复过程，其间定期测定微型生物群落的中结构和功能参数，通过其变动机制和规律，再现修复过程中微型生物群落的演替过程，并从生态学角度提出了东湖5个受到不同程度污染水体得到修复的换水库。     

滇池水华综合控制对策探讨

水华污染已成为滇池目前面临的主要环境问题，滇池水华治理被国家列为重中之重的项目而予以高度重视，据多年的监测资料，滇池水华的各类主要是蓝藻门的微囊藻，其次为束丝藻和鱼腥藻。该文从多方面分析了滇池水华泛滥的原因，在此基础上提出了滇池水华控制和富营养化治理的综合对策，特别强调了滇池水华必须坚持控制污染源与生态修复相结合的原则。     

Changing the story? The discourse of ecological modernisation in the European Union

ABSTRACT

Over the last three decades, ecological modernisation (EM) has emerged as a powerful political discourse, in which economic growth, environmental protection and energy security are mutually reinforcing. Here, the trajectory of EM in the European Union is traced, using a discourse analysis of the seven Environmental Action Programmes. The discourse articulated in these documents points towards an encroaching ‘double depoliticisation’. First, political decisions are discursively constructed as a matter of market rationality rather than a democratic process that engages with different political positions. Second, EM is reified as the only feasible solution, and alternative and contesting discourses are marginalised. Thus not only are political differences erased from the discourse, but the discourse is itself removed from political debate.     

Comparing aquatic risk assessment methods for the photosynthesis-inhibiting herbicides metribuzin and metamitron

Three different risk assessment procedures are described that aim to protect freshwater habitats from risks of the photosynthesis-inhibiting herbicides metribuzin and metamitron. These procedures are (1) the first-tier approach, based on standard toxicity tests and the application of an assessment factor, (2) the Species Sensitivity Distribution (SSD) approach, based on laboratory tests with a wider array of species and the application of a statistical model to calculate the HCx (the Hazardous Concentration for x% of the species), and (3) the model ecosystem approach, based on the evaluation of treatment-related effects in field enclosures. A comparison of the risk assessment procedures reveals that the first-tier approach is the most conservative for metamitron and metribuzin, and that HC5 values (and even HC10 values) based on acute EC50 values of algae and aquatic vascular plants may be used to derive maximum permissible concentrations for single applications. For both compounds these HC5 values were very similar to the ecological threshold concentrations in the enclosure studies. In contrast to model ecosystem experiments, however, HCx values based on lab toxicity tests do not provide information on the recovery potential of sensitive endpoints and on indirect effects, which may be important for regulatory decision-making. In the enclosure study, indirect effects of metribuzin on invertebrate populations were observed at an exposure concentration that was approximately 20 times lower than the corresponding HC5 value based on lab toxicity data for aquatic invertebrates.     

农药毒死蜱的生态风险及其微生物修复技术研究进展

毒死蜱是替代甲胺磷和对硫磷等高毒农药的高效有机磷杀虫剂,在世界范围得到广泛使用.但是,环境毒理学研究发现,毒死蜱对生态环境具有潜在的危险性,甚至被认为具有干扰内分泌的功能,许多国家对毒死蜱在农产品中的残留量有严格的规定.因此,深入研究毒死蜱的生态风险问题是当务之急.对国内外关于毒死蜱的残留活性、生态毒理、降解机制以及生物修复等方面的研究进行了综述,以期对毒死蜱的合理管理和使用提供科学依据.     

铁路取弃土场生态恢复调查分析

选择我国不同地域6条铁路,现场调查铁路取土、弃土(渣)场的使用及恢复情况,从取弃土场的占地面积及类型、取土量、弃土量等方面分析了其利用现状,并对植被恢复效果和难易程度进行了讨论。调查表明:北方平原区、荒漠区铁路的取土量较多,南部丘陵区的弃土(渣)场及弃渣量较多。从恢复效率和程度看,南部地区植被恢复相对容易且在1年内可以恢复到较好程度,但植被恢复不到位,较易发生水土流失等次生灾害;东北、华北地区植被恢复2年左右可以恢复至良好程度;西北地区植被恢复需求较小;对于部分高原地区,海拔越低、降雨越多,恢复越好,但部分地区降雨量是生态恢复的首要制约因子,保水措施是这类地区生态恢复的重点。     

生态补偿研究现状与进展

回顾和总结了国外生态补偿理论研究和实践发展状况,指出为我国建立生态补偿机制的借鉴作用,分析了我国生态补偿研究现状和实践进程。得出我国生态补偿在理论和实践层面还有需要加强和完善之处,最后提出我国生态补偿研究的主要方向。     

生态建设补偿机制的框架构建

生态补偿机制目前是国内外研究的热点,生态建设补偿机制是生态补偿机制的重要组成部分。本文首先分析了生态建设补偿机制的内涵,研究构建了生态建设补偿机制的框架。     

拜泉县生态环境建设与效果分析

拜泉县在农业生态建设中,坚持科学发展观,走可持续发展之路,狠抓生态环境建设,三十多年如一日,治理穷山恶水,重整拜泉山河。通过对拜泉县生态环境历史和现状的介绍,生态建设的效果分析,得出生态环境的有效保护、合理开发是农业可持续发展的保证。