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Kevin J. Gaston  James P. Duffy  Jonathan Bennie 《Conservation biology》2015,29(4):1132-1141

The nighttime light environment of much of the earth has been transformed by the introduction of electric lighting. This impact continues to spread with growth in the human population and extent of urbanization. This has profound consequences for organismal physiology and behavior and affects abundances and distributions of species, community structure, and likely ecosystem functions and processes. Protected areas play key roles in buffering biodiversity from a wide range of anthropogenic pressures. We used a calibration of a global satellite data set of nighttime lights to determine how well they are fulfilling this role with regard to artificial nighttime lighting. Globally, areas that are protected tend to be darker at night than those that are not, and, with the exception of Europe, recent regional declines in the proportion of the area that is protected and remains dark have been small. However, much of these effects result from the major contribution to overall protected area coverage by the small proportion of individual protected areas that are very large. Thus, in Europe and North America high proportions of individual protected areas (>17%) have exhibited high levels of nighttime lighting in all recent years, and in several regions (Europe, Asia, South and Central America) high proportions of protected areas (32–42%) have had recent significant increases in nighttime lighting. Limiting and reversing the erosion of nighttime darkness in protected areas will require routine consideration of nighttime conditions when designating and establishing new protected areas; establishment of appropriate buffer zones around protected areas where lighting is prohibited; and landscape level reductions in artificial nighttime lighting, which is being called for in general to reduce energy use and economic costs.  相似文献   

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Péter Batáry  Lynn V. Dicks  David Kleijn  William J. Sutherland 《Conservation biology》2015,29(4):1006-1016

Over half of the European landscape is under agricultural management and has been for millennia. Many species and ecosystems of conservation concern in Europe depend on agricultural management and are showing ongoing declines. Agri‐environment schemes (AES) are designed partly to address this. They are a major source of nature conservation funding within the European Union (EU) and the highest conservation expenditure in Europe. We reviewed the structure of current AES across Europe. Since a 2003 review questioned the overall effectiveness of AES for biodiversity, there has been a plethora of case studies and meta‐analyses examining their effectiveness. Most syntheses demonstrate general increases in farmland biodiversity in response to AES, with the size of the effect depending on the structure and management of the surrounding landscape. This is important in the light of successive EU enlargement and ongoing reforms of AES. We examined the change in effect size over time by merging the data sets of 3 recent meta‐analyses and found that schemes implemented after revision of the EU's agri‐environmental programs in 2007 were not more effective than schemes implemented before revision. Furthermore, schemes aimed at areas out of production (such as field margins and hedgerows) are more effective at enhancing species richness than those aimed at productive areas (such as arable crops or grasslands). Outstanding research questions include whether AES enhance ecosystem services, whether they are more effective in agriculturally marginal areas than in intensively farmed areas, whether they are more or less cost‐effective for farmland biodiversity than protected areas, and how much their effectiveness is influenced by farmer training and advice? The general lesson from the European experience is that AES can be effective for conserving wildlife on farmland, but they are expensive and need to be carefully designed and targeted.  相似文献   

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Fuwen Wei  Ronald Swaisgood  Yibo Hu  Yonggang Nie  Li Yan  Zejun Zhang  Dunwu Qi  Lifeng Zhu 《Conservation biology》2015,29(6):1497-1507

Giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) conservation is a possible success story in the making. If extinction of this iconic endangered species can be avoided, the species will become a showcase program for the Chinese government and its collaborators. We reviewed the major advancements in ecological science for the giant panda, examining how these advancements have contributed to panda conservation. Pandas’ morphological and behavioral adaptations to a diet of bamboo, which bear strong influence on movement ecology, have been well studied, providing knowledge to guide management actions ranging from reserve design to climate change mitigation. Foraging ecology has also provided essential information used in the creation of landscape models of panda habitat. Because habitat loss and fragmentation are major drivers of the panda population decline, efforts have been made to help identify core habitat areas, establish where habitat corridors are needed, and prioritize areas for protection and restoration. Thus, habitat models have provided guidance for the Chinese governments’ creation of 67 protected areas. Behavioral research has revealed a complex and efficient communication system and documented the need for protection of habitat that serves as a communication platform for bringing the sexes together for mating. Further research shows that den sites in old‐growth forests may be a limiting resource, indicating potential value in providing alternative den sites for rearing offspring. Advancements in molecular ecology have been revolutionary and have been applied to population census, determining population structure and genetic diversity, evaluating connectivity following habitat fragmentation, and understanding dispersal patterns. These advancements form a foundation for increasing the application of adaptive management approaches to move panda conservation forward more rapidly. Although the Chinese government has made great progress in setting aside protected areas, future emphasis will be improved management of pandas and their habitat.  相似文献   

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Mehregan Ebrahimi  Esmaeil Ebrahimie  C. Michael Bull 《Conservation biology》2015,29(4):1208-1216

The high number of failures is one reason why translocation is often not recommended. Considering how behavior changes during translocations may improve translocation success. To derive decision‐tree models for species’ translocation, we used data on the short‐term responses of an endangered Australian skink in 5 simulated translocations with different release conditions. We used 4 different decision‐tree algorithms (decision tree, decision‐tree parallel, decision stump, and random forest) with 4 different criteria (gain ratio, information gain, gini index, and accuracy) to investigate how environmental and behavioral parameters may affect the success of a translocation. We assumed behavioral changes that increased dispersal away from a release site would reduce translocation success. The trees became more complex when we included all behavioral parameters as attributes, but these trees yielded more detailed information about why and how dispersal occurred. According to these complex trees, there were positive associations between some behavioral parameters, such as fight and dispersal, that showed there was a higher chance, for example, of dispersal among lizards that fought than among those that did not fight. Decision trees based on parameters related to release conditions were easier to understand and could be used by managers to make translocation decisions under different circumstances. Minimizar el Costo del Fracaso de la Reubicación con Modelos de Árboles de Decisión que Predigan la Respuesta Conductual de la Especie en los Sitios de Reubicación  相似文献   

    

《Journal of Environmental Planning and Management》2012,55(2):161-175

Waste generated from electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) is increasing due to the demand for information and communication technologies (ICT), rapid product obsolescence, coupled with rapid economic growth, urbanisation and technology advancement. Developed countries have reacted actively to manage this waste, while developing countries are still in the early stages of recognising this problem. This paper gauges Jordanian household WEEE awareness levels, their electric and electronic equipment (EEE) consumption patterns, and estimates the lifetime of EEE using questionnaire and interview methods. Based on these findings, the WEEE generation rate in Jordan is predicted.  相似文献   

    

《Journal of Environmental Planning and Management》2012,55(6):769-783

Using the goal of a 10% reduction of SO₂ emissions in China's 11th Five-Year Plan (2006–2010) as a case study, this paper analyses how environmental goals are used in a large country with multi-level governments and insufficient rule of law. After the central government set up the goal, the mitigation burden was shared among local governments, and mechanisms were designed to enhance their commitment to the goal. This paper found that in the 11th Five-Year Plan, both the central and local governments were much more committed to SO₂ mitigation than previously, which could help to explain China's recent significant reduction of SO₂ emissions. The case indicates that goals can effectively plan and manage environmental protection and other national government agendas.  相似文献   

    

《Journal of Environmental Planning and Management》2012,55(8):1022-1046

This paper describes a Delphi methodology to generate a number of broadly consensual low carbon scenarios for 2050. This approach to ‘creating’ the future, rather than predicting, is useful when dealing with profound and uncertain change over a long period of time and is therefore suited to carbon management. The methodology is described, and the first stage of the consultation process is discussed with reference to its application in the UK city region of Bristol. Findings from the first round have resulted in the identification of seven working scenarios and patterns in the responses of individuals from different backgrounds, suggesting that strong world-views and agendas are present within groups. Subsequent rounds of a questionnaire and a backcasting workshop will refine these working scenarios and identify pathways to achieve them.  相似文献   

    

《Journal of Environmental Planning and Management》2012,55(5):563-581

Taking an economic-geographical perspective, through a panel analysis of Italian municipal solid waste (MSW) data, we show that although decoupling for waste generation from income is absent, there are some signs of absolute decoupling for landfilled waste. Within this general picture, geographical and socio-economic differentiation across Italian provinces seems to matter. Spatial effects at the level of provinces – the institutions that primarily manage waste regulations – seem to be negligible, especially for landfilled waste. This is consistent with the fact that the definition and implementation of landfill policy effectively happened at sub-provincial (even municipal) levels; as a result, the recent waste policy decentralisation process has been characterised by fragmented actions. In light of this fragmentation, we note that although North-South waste performances show some signs of convergence, greater co-ordination aimed at complete convergence in waste performance, in a decentralised policy scenario, will be needed for the effective achievement of EU national based targets by a federal country.  相似文献   

    

《Journal of Environmental Planning and Management》2012,55(8):1152-1179

The aim of this paper is to identify the critical enablers to high performance environmental management (EM). Using empirical data, we explore green operational practices associated with both self-regulatory and voluntary environmental standards and their impacts on firms’ performances in China under different operating conditions (i.e. with Internal EM Programmes or Supply-Chain-Wide EM Programmes). Our data show that both self-regulatory (e.g. adopting environmentally conscious operations) and voluntary environmental standard (e.g. adopting ISO 14001 guidelines) approaches positively related to the overall performance of the firm. Voluntary environmental standards seem to be more highly associated with the overall performance of the firm. A major reason for this is the awareness and understanding of environmental sustainability. Applications of voluntary environmental standards, such as ISO 14001, thus offer and open up continuous improvement opportunities to impose greener standards for organisations in China. By focusing on the critical enablers, firms in China could become more environmentally responsible while improving their economic and operational performance.  相似文献   

    

《Journal of Environmental Planning and Management》2012,55(7):1101-1121

In the present study, the REC (Risk reduction, Environmental Merit and Costs), ReCiPe and PRINCE^TM methods for the estimation of the environmental, health and financial impacts of a soil remediation process have been evaluated. The evaluation was based on a case study in which a choice had to been made between soil excavation and steam extraction for the remediation of a former oil and fat processing plant. The example shows that it is complicated to come to one overall best remediation option, especially when different stakeholder preferences have to be taken into account. Results of the case study suggest that, besides environmental and human health and cost, the financial risk associated with the remediation project is also an important aspect to include in the evaluation.  相似文献