Economic Incentives to Conserve Wildlife on Private Lands: Analysis and Policy

Some believe that provision of private property rights in wildlife on private land provides a powerful economic incentive for nature conservation because it enables property owners to market such wildlife or its attributes. If such marketing is profitable, private landholders will conserve the wildlife concerned and its required habitat. But land is not always most profitably used for exploitation of wildlife, and many economic values of wildlife (such as non-use economic values) cannot be marketed. The mobility of some wildlife adds to the limitations of the private-property approach. While some species may be conserved by this approach, it is suboptimal as a single policy approach to nature conservation. Nevertheless, it is being experimented with, in the Northern Territory of Australia where landholders had a possibility of harvesting on their properties a quota of eggs and chicks of red-tailed black cockatoos for commercial sale. This scheme was expected to provide an incentive to private landholders to retain hollow trees essential for the nesting of these birds but failed. This case and others are analysed. Despite private-property failures, the long-term survival of some wildlife species depends on their ability to use private lands without severe harassment, either for their migration or to supplement their available resources, for example, the Asian elephant. Nature conservation on private land is often a useful, if not essential, supplement to conservation on public lands. Community and public incentives for such conservation are outlined.     

A preliminary investigation on the occurrence and distribution of antibiotic resistance genes in the Beijiang River, South China

The occurrence of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) was investigated and quantified in 20 water samples collected in the Beijiang River, South China. Sulfonamide- and tetracycline-resistant bacteria were present in 17 and 14 of the collected 20 samples. For sulfonamide ARGs, sulI and sulII were frequently observed in the Beijiang River. The levels of sulI were higher than sulII (p < 0.05), with the mean values of (1.41 ± 1.12) × 10-2 and (1.58 ± 1.71) × 10-3 copies/16S rDNA, respectively. For tetracycline ARGs, tetG had the highest frequency, 100%, followed by tetA (85%), tetO (85%), tetC (70%), tetX (60%), tetM (40%) and tetQ (20%), while tetE and tetS were not detected in all the samples from the Beijiang River. On the other hand, tetC had the highest concentration, ranging from 8.30 × 10-2 to 13.20 copies/16S rDNA. The poor correlation between ARGs and antibiotic concentrations revealed that the self-amplification and persistence of ARGs were the reasons that made ARGs exist in the water environment even though the antibiotic selecting pressure was absent. Because so few field measurements have been conducted for investigating the levels of ARGs in rivers in South China, this study provides an important insight on better understanding the occurrence and spread of ARGs in such an ecosystem.     

中国、韩国1980～2006年能值足迹与能值承载力

根据基于能值分析理论改进的生态足迹计算模型——能值足迹和能值承载力模型,在空间尺度上从地区一级上升到国家尺度,探讨能值足迹和能值承载力在国家层面上若干年时间序列的变化趋势,并以中国和韩国为例,对两国在1980~2006年（韩国1980~2004年）期间的能值足迹和能值承载力进行了计算与分析,探讨中国和韩国的可持续发展状况.结果表明,中国人均能值承载力由1980年的2.7362hm2下降到2006年的2.0547hm2,同时,人均能值足迹却由1980年的1.7715hm2上升到2006年的5.7903hm2.中国自1987年以来出现能值足迹赤字,且赤字数额逐年增加,到2006年已达到-3.7356hm2.韩国人均能值承载力由1980年度3.1871 hm2下降到2004年度2.5271 hm2,人均能值足迹由1980的1.1339 hm2上升到2004年的4.2419 hm2,韩国自1992年出现能值足迹赤字,之后虽有小幅波动,但总体趋势与中国类似,赤字数额逐年上升,到2004年已达-1.7147hm2.目前,中国已不能满足基本可持续性的要求,而韩国能够满足这一要求.     

用长链烷基苯示踪生活污水对珠江三角洲水域的污染

以长链烷基苯(LABs)作为生活污水排放的示踪剂,测定了珠江三角洲主要河流及邻近南海北部海域表层沉积物中LABs浓度.结果表明,珠江、东江、西江、伶仃洋及南海北部海域样品中LABs的浓度分别为58.5～2332.1,96.9～565.8,20.5～57.0,5.8～25.8,2.5～23.1ng/g.LABs的I/E值表明,研究区域内生活污水基本上未处理或处理效率低下.对LABs与多环芳烃及多溴联苯醚的相关性分析表明,城市污水的排放是该区域内这些有机污染物的重要来源之一.     

近20 a南海赤潮的时空分布特征及原因分析

收集整理了自1980～2004年的南海历次赤潮事件,并对这些赤潮事件在时间和空间的分布特征以及赤潮持续时间长度的变化特征进行了分析;探讨了形成南海赤潮时空分布特征和持续时间长度变化的可能原因.文章认为:赤潮在年度和月份分布不均的原因主要是气候差异以及各月份水文气象要素的主要演变特征不同;赤潮持续时间延长的原因与南海区气候转暖和广东近岸海域水质变差有关.研究发现赤潮事件的月份分布和赤潮持续时间长度存在历史性变异,有关现象值得管理部门和学术界的注意,而其中原因更有待进一步研究.