How well is farmers’ social situation captured by sustainability assessment tools? A Swedish case study

Recent research indicates that sustainability assessment tools (SAT) for farms need to be contextually adapted to be acceptable and useful. Focusing specifically on social sustainability, this study sought to identify important aspects of relevance for Swedish (livestock) farmers’ social situation and compare these aspects with social indicators used in three existing SATs (RISE, SAFA, IDEA). A survey revealed that social issues of key importance for the self-reported overall life satisfaction of Swedish livestock farmers are: having a good financial situation, having a similar standard of living as others, not experiencing too much stress, having meaningful work, having decent working hours, and having a desirable family situation. Of the three SATs evaluated, RISE appears best equipped to capture the social situation of Swedish farmers but does not fully address the aspect of finding work meaningful. SAFA and IDEA both fail to capture many aspects of importance for describing the social situation of Swedish farmers. We present a novel method for testing the relevance of social indicators for farmers in a specific context. Applying this method before choosing, applying, and adapting SATs for farm-level sustainability assessments would increase the relevance of the social sustainability dimension, but deeper stakeholder engagement than offered by our survey is needed.     

Common property resources in drylands of India

Common property resources are areas of land or water being used by a community or a group of communities. These have special significance to peoples and communities who depend on them for their livelihood. The commons in all arid districts of India include village pastures, community forests, wasteland, common threshing grounds, waste dumps, watershed drainage, village baoris¹, talabs², nadis³ and ponds, and tanks, rivers, rivulets, wetlands, riverbeds, community conserved areas, protected areas, Dhaam⁴ or Dhooni⁵, culturable wastelands, barren & un-culturable land, etc. The area under commons often ranged from 9 to 28% of total village area. Appropriation of the commons by the state for building essential infrastructure such as schools, clinics, veterinary hospitals, housing for government functionaries, SEZ and industrial corridors, etc. is a cause of serious concern. Presently the ownership rights over CPRs are not clear and there are many who claim ownership, some at State level but also like local bodies. The 12^th plan of the Planning Commission of India recognized and highlighted the need for favourable land tenure arrangements, institutional design and programme architecture in order to achieve effective governance and management of the commons. The revitalization of CPRs is crucial for protecting livelihoods, as well as for biodiversity conservation and for the improvement in arid microclimatic conditions. Dialogue continues on the status of common property resources, the available legal framework and some policy related issues for its conservation through strengthening of local institutions and capacity building for stakeholders.     

川南山区土壤与农作物重金属特征及成因

土壤及农作物中的重金属超标会影响人类生存环境和身体健康,为研究重金属在川南山区土壤与农作物中的富集特征及成因,以四川省南部山区的沐川县北部为研究区,采集了耕作土壤样品1699件,水稻籽实样品30件,玉米籽实样品31件,茶叶样品15件,对应农作物根系土壤样品76件,应用数理统计、主成分分析、相关分析等技术,研究土壤和农作...     

Geology-dependent impacts of forest conversion on stream fish diversity

Forest conversion is one of the greatest global threats to biodiversity, and land-use change and subsequent biodiversity declines sometimes occur over a variety of underlying geologies. However, how forest conversion and underlying geology interact to alter biodiversity is underappreciated, although spatial variability in geology is considered an integral part of sustaining ecosystems. We aimed to examine the effects of forest conversion to farmland, the underlying geology, and their interaction on the stream fishes’ diversity, evenness, and abundance in northeastern Japan. We disentangled complex pathways between abiotic and biotic factors with structural equation modeling. Species diversity of stream fishes was indirectly shaped by the interaction of land use and underlying geology. Diversity declined due to nutrient enrichment associated with farmlands, which was mainly the result of changes in evenness rather than by changes in species richness. This impact was strongest in streams with volcanic geology with coarse substrates probably because of the differential responses of abundant stream fishes to nutrient enrichment (i.e., dominance) and the high dependency of these fishes on large streambed materials during their life cycles. Our findings suggest that remediation of deforested or degraded forest landscapes would be more efficient if the interaction between land use and underlying geology was considered. For example, the negative impacts of farmland on evenness were larger in streams with volcanic geology than in other stream types, suggesting that riparian forest restoration along such streams would efficiently provide restoration benefits to stream fishes. Our results also suggest that land clearing around such streams should be avoided to conserve species evenness of stream fishes.     

QUANTIFICATION OF THE WATER BUDGET AND NUTRIENT LOADING IN A SMALL PEATLAND1

ABSTRACT: Few water budgets exist for specific types of wetlands such as peatlands, even though such information provides the basis from which to investigate linkages between wetlands and upland ecosystems. In this study, we first determined the water budget and then estimated nutrient loading from an upland farm field into a 1.5 ha, kettle-block peatland. The wetland contains highly anisotropic peat and has no distinct, active layer of groundwater flow. We estimated the depth of the active layer using Fick's law of diffusion and quantified groundwater flow using a chemical mass balance model. Evapotranspiration was determined using MORECS, a semi-physical model based on the Penman-Monteith approach. Precipitation and surface outflow were measured using physical means. Groundwater provided the major inflow, 84 percent (44,418 m³) in 1993 and 88 percent (68,311 m³) in 1994. Surface outflow represented 54 percent (28,763 m³) of total outflows in 1993 and 48 percent (37,078 m³) in 1994. A comparison of several published water budgets for wetlands and lakes showed that error estimates for hydrologic components in this study are well within the range of error estimates calculated in other studies. Groundwater inflow estimates and nutrient concentrations of three springs were used to estimate agricultural nutrient loading to the site. During the study period, nutrient loading into the peatland via groundwater discharge averaged 24.74 kg K ha^-1, 1.83 kg total inorganic P ha^d, and 21.81 kg NO₃-N ha^-1.     

Use of Stress‐Hormone Levels and Habitat Selection to Assess Functional Connectivity of a Landscape for an Amphibian

Abstract: The influence of landscape matrix on functional connectivity has been clearly established. Now methods to assess the effects of different land uses on species’ movements are needed because current methods are often biased. The use of physiological parameters as indicators of the level of resistance to animal movement associated with different land uses (i.e., matrix resistance) could provide estimates of energetic costs and risks to animals migrating through the matrix. To assess whether corticosterone levels indicate matrix resistance, we conducted experiments on substrate choice and measured levels of corticosterone before and after exposure of toads (Bufo bufo) to 3 common substrates (ploughed soil, meadow, and forest litter). We expected matrix resistance and hormone levels to increase from forest litter (habitat of the toad) to meadows to ploughed soil. Adult toads had higher corticosterone levels on ploughed soil than on forest litter or meadow substrates. Hormone levels did not differ between forest litter and meadow. Toads avoided moving onto ploughed soil. Corticosterone levels in juvenile toads were not related to substrate type; however, hormone levels decreased as humidity increased. Juveniles, unlike adults, did not avoid moving over ploughed soil. The difference in responses between adult and juvenile toads may have been due to differences in experimental design (for juveniles, entire body used to measure corticosterone concentration; for adults, saliva alone); differences in the scale of sensory perception of the substrate (juveniles are much smaller than adults); or differences in cognitive processes between adult and juvenile toads. Adults probably had experience with different substrate types, whereas juveniles first emerging from the water probably did not. As a consequence, arable lands could act as ecological traps for juvenile toads.     

防灾视角下基于MCR模型的山地生态安全格局优化研究——以京津冀山区为例

区域生态安全格局的优化对改善区域自然生态系统服务功能、减轻区域典型灾害负面影响等有重要作用。该文以京津冀山区为研究对象,在区域山洪灾害背景下运用灾害学、景观生态学等理论,将最小累积阻力模型(MCR)引入山区生态安全格局的构建过程。通过借助GIS技术平台分析了研究区基于MCR模型建立的生态网络,构建了由斑块、生态廊道、基质镶嵌的区域生态化网络格局。针对分析结果,重点从城乡规划视角提出生态安全格局优化的措施,主要包括生态约束条件下生态网络结构优化和区域尺度的山区生态修复,以期为维持山区生态安全、国土综合整治以及实现京津冀区域协同发展提供科学依据。     

安徽省大别山区资源开发与利用

本文运用生态学原理中的系统观点，从资源和山区资源的概念出发，详尽表述了我省大别山区的发展途径，并提出相应的技术措施。     

充分利用平行岭谷区光热资源发展立体农业

本文通过对川东平行岭谷区光、热、水分资源的立体特性分析，提出调整农业结构和作物布局，发展立体农业的几点建议。     

Development of a Cropland Management Dataset to Support U.S. Swat Assessments

The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is widely used in the United States (U.S.) to simulate hydrology and water quality simulation. Process‐based models like SWAT require a great deal of data to accurately represent the natural world, including topography, land use, soils, weather, and management. With the exception of management, all these data are available nationally from multiple sources. To date, credible SWAT studies in the U.S. have assembled suitable management data (operation scheduling, fertilization application rates, and plant growth parameterization). In this research, we develop a national management database for SWAT using existing U.S. Department of Agriculture data sources. These data are compatible with existing SWAT interfaces and are relatively easy to use. Although management data from local sources is preferred, these data are not always available. This work is intended to fill this void with more reasonable management data than the existing defaults. This national database covers all major cultivated crops and should facilitate improved SWAT applications in the U.S. These data were tested in two case studies and found to produce satisfactory SWAT predictions. The database developed in this research is freely available on the web.