阿斯旺高坝的生态环境问题

:通过对阿斯旺高坝和尼罗河的实际考察和生态环境监测数据的分析 ,介绍了埃及政府相关管理部门的官员和专家对阿斯旺工程的看法 ,对阿斯旺高坝及其生态环境问题进行了评述。认为阿斯旺工程是一个成功的工程 ,它对埃及发挥的巨大影响和积极作用是有目共睹的。它对生态环境的不利影响 ,确被很多批评者盲目地夸大了 ,其中也包含有政治因素。中国在修建水利工程时 ,要对环境的影响作出客观、科学的评价 ,并采取措施把不利影响减少到最小。阿斯旺高坝运行近 30年 ,在生态环境监测方面积累了丰富的数据 ,这些成果和结论对三峡工程具有直接的借鉴和参考价值。     

Island-based catchment—The Taiwan example

Rapid economic and industrial development in Taiwan over the past five decades has elevated the islands standing and earned it a place in the group known as the Four Small Dragons of Asia. Such growth, however, has been at the expense of the environment. There are currently nearly 23 million people juggling for space on the small island of 35,873 km². Aggravating the matter further, the central mountain ranges and hills take up 73.6% of the land area with some 156 peaks surpassing 3,000 m. As a result, most people live in coastal plains which amount to only 9,490 km². Pressure to move people inland has led to road construction and deforestation, both of which have contributed to an already high denudation rate of topsoil. As a consequence of this, thirteen rivers in Taiwan are now ranked among the top 20 worldwide in terms of sediment yield. Aside from this, the frequency of both floods and droughts increased prior to 1990, perhaps because of deforestation and global warming. Fortunately, the new conservation-orientated forest management policy of 1991 has alleviated the problem, somewhat, and the occurrence of floods and droughts has since decreased. The problem of water shortage, however, has worsened because of the warming trend in atmospheric temperature. Damming may ameliorate the water shortage problem but may affect the shoreline stability, as well as the ecology and water quality in the estuaries. Furthermore, these detrimental effects may go far beyond the estuaries, and even fisheries on the continental shelves may be affected.     

Destruction of Wetlands and Waterbird Populations by Dams and Irrigation on the Murrumbidgee River in Arid Australia

The Lowbidgee floodplain is the Murrumbidgee Rivers major wetland in southeastern Australia. From more than 300,000 ha in the early 1900s, at least 76.5% was destroyed (58%) or degraded (18%) by dams (26 major storages), subsequent diversions and floodplain development. Diversions of about 2,144,000 ML year^–1 from the Murrumbidgee River come from a natural median flow of about 3,380,000 ML year^–1 providing water for Australias capital, hydroelectricity, and 273,000 ha of irrigation. Diversions have reduced the amount of water reaching the Lowbidgee floodplain by at least 60%, from 1888 to 1998. About 97,000 ha of Lowbidgee wetland was destroyed by development of the floodplain for an irrigation area (1975–1998), including building of 394 km of channels and 2,145 km of levee banks. Over 19 years (1983–2001), waterbird numbers estimated during annual aerial surveys collapsed by 90%, from an average of 139,939 (1983–1986) to 14,170 (1998–2001). Similar declines occurred across all functional groups: piscivores (82%), herbivores (87%), ducks and small grebe species (90%), large wading birds (91%), and small wading birds (95%), indicating a similar decline in the aquatic biota that formed their food base. Numbers of species also declined significantly by 21%. The Lowbidgee floodplain is an example of the ecological consequences of water resource development. Yanga Nature Reserve, within the Lowbidgee floodplain, conserved for its floodplain vegetation communities, will lose these communities because of insufficient water. Until conservation policies adequately protect river flows to important wetland areas, examples such as the Lowbidgee will continue to occur around the world.     

Human impacts on the stream-groundwater exchange zone

Active exchanges of water and dissolved material between the stream and groundwater in many porous sand- and gravel-bed rivers create a dynamic ecotone called the hyporheic zone. Because it lies between two heavily exploited freshwater resources—rivers and groundwater—the hyporheic zone is vulnerable to impacts coming to it through both of these habitats. This review focuses on the direct and indirect effects of human activity on ecosystem functions of the hyporheic zone. River regulation, mining, agriculture, urban, and industrial activities all have the potential to impair interstitial bacterial and invertebrate biota and disrupt the hydrological connections between the hyporheic zone and stream, groundwater, riparian, and floodplain ecosystems. Until recently, our scientific ignorance of hyporheic processes has perhaps excused the inclusion of this ecotone in river management policy. However, this no longer is the case as we become increasingly aware of the central role that the hyporheic zone plays in the maintenance of water quality and as a habitat and refuge for fauna. To fully understand the impacts of human activity on the hyporheic zone, river managers need to work with scientists to conduct long-term studies over large stretches of river. River rehabilitation and protection strategies need to prevent the degradation of linkages between the hyporheic zone and surrounding habitats while ensuring that it remains isolated from toxicants. Strategies that prevent anthropogenic restriction of exchanges may include the periodic release of environmental flows to flush silt and reoxygenate sediments, maintenance of riparian buffers, effective land use practices, and suitable groundwater and surface water extraction policies.     

River systems as providers of goods and services: a basis for comparing desired and undesired effects of large dam projects

In developing countries, large dam projects continue to be launched, primarily to secure a time-stable freshwater supply and to generate hydropower. Meanwhile, calls for environmentally sustainable development put pressure on the dam-building industry to integrate ecological concerns in project planning and decision-making. Such integration requires environmental impact statements (EISs) that can communicate the societal implications of the ecological effects in terms that are understandable and useful to planners and decision-makers. The purpose of this study is to develop a basic framework for assessing the societal implications of the river ecological effects expected of a proposed large dam project. The aim is to facilitate a comparison of desired and potential undesired effects on-site and downstream. The study involves two main tasks: to identify key river goods and services that a river system may provide, and to analyze how the implementation of a large dam project may alter the on-site capacity and downstream potentials to derive river goods and services from the river system. Three river goods and six river services are identified. River goods are defined as extractable partly man-made products and river services as naturally sustained processes. By four main types of flow manipulations, a large dam project improves the on-site capacity to derive desired river goods, but simultaneously threatens the provision of desirable river goods and services downstream. However, by adjusting the site, design, and operational schedule of the proposed dam project, undesirable effects on river goods and services can be minimized.     

长江流域生态环境的意义及生态功能区段的划分

中国加入WTO之后,中国经济进一步与国际市场接轨,融入世界经济体系,机遇和挑战同在。欧美各国近年大力推行的环境标志产品认证,对第三世界商品质量设置入关的环境门槛。长江产业带作为世界最大的内河产业带和制造业基地,现在世界通行的环境管理认证体系和环境标志产品的认证,对长江流域产业尤其是外贸出口产业有长远而深刻的影响。这种认证制度,一方面对我出口商品设置了新的障碍,另一方面又将环境保护压力直接施加到企业。重视流域生态环境将从政府行为、公民压力扩展到企业行动,由于流域生态环境的负荷愈来愈重,流域生态环境的自我调节和恢复功能大幅下降,引起了日益严重的流域性生态安全问题。根据长江流域生态环境特征、不同的生态功能及存在的主要生态安全问题,将长江流域划性生态安全问题。根据长江流域生态环境特征、不同的生态功能及存在的主要生态安全问题,将长江流域划分成以下五个不同的生态功能区段,即长江源地区、金少江段（直门达至宜宾）、长江上游段（宜宾至宜昌）、长江中游段（宜昌至湖口段）、长江下游段（湖口至入海口）。针对不同区段主要的生态安全问题,应因地制宜采取相应的防范和整治措施。为保护与恢复生态功能服务。     

岷江上游地区的草地资源与畜牧业发展

岷江上游草地面积837226hm^2,大约占了该区土地面积的35％。这块草地蕴藏着丰富的生物多样性,具有重要的生态学功能,是岷江上游绿色生态屏障的重要组成部分。高山草甸草地和亚高山草甸草地是该区的主要植被类型,其面积分别占草地总面积的54．8％和17．2％,其产草量分别占该区各类草地总产草量的53．47％和26．46％。岷江上游各县天然草地的面积和各县草地畜牧业在经济结构中所占的比重都表现了从高海拔到低海拔递变的趋势,基本上与植被的垂直梯度变化相耦合。指出了当前草地畜牧业发展存在的一些问题：超载过牧现象严重,生产效率低下,集约化水平低。除了饲草的生产与加工、畜种改良和草种改良等措施外,结合岷江上游的实际情况,在发展的思路和技术措施上着重阐述了以下几个方面：发展特色畜牧业,摒弃头数畜牧业;以市场为导向的主动畜群时空周转;结合“天保工程”和“退耕还林工程”,促进农林牧业的紧密结合。     

黄河口治理与“三约束”理论

黄河口治理是黄河治理的重要问题之一,黄河口治理观点有河口提动论、河口相对稳定论、固住河口论。本文分析了固住河口的必要性和可行性,提出了“三约束”理论,认为黄河口治理关键是固住河口。     

Stream Invertebrate Communities, Water Quality, and Land-Use Patterns in an Agricultural Drainage Basin of Northeastern Nebraska, USA

We used invertebrate bioassessment, habitat analysis, geographic information system analysis of land use, and water chemistry monitoring to evaluate tributaries of a degraded northeast Nebraska, USA, reservoir. Bimonthly invertebrate collections and monthly water chemistry samples were collected for two years on six stream reaches to identify sources contributing to reservoir degradation and test suitability of standard rapid bioassessment methods in this region. A composite biotic index composed of seven commonly used metrics was effective for distinguishing between differentially impacted sites and responded to a variety of disturbances. Individual metrics varied greatly in precision and ability to discriminate between relatively impacted and unimpacted stream reaches. A modified Hilsenhoff index showed the highest precision (reference site CV = 0.08) but was least effective at discriminating among sites. Percent dominance and the EPT (number of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera taxa) metrics were most effective at discriminating between sites and exhibited intermediate precision. A trend of higher biotic integrity during summer was evident, indicating seasonal corrections should differ from other regions. Poor correlations were evident between water chemistry variables and bioassessment results. However, land-use factors, particularly within 18-m riparian zones, were correlated with bioassessment scores. For example, there was a strong negative correlation between percentage of rangeland in 18-m riparian zones and percentage of dominance in streams (r ² = 0.90, P < 0.01). Results demonstrate that standard rapid bioassessment methods, with some modifications, are effective for use in this agricultural region of the Great Plains and that riparian land use may be the best predictor of stream biotic integrity.