Quantifying the conservation gains from shared access to linear infrastructure

The proliferation of linear infrastructure such as roads and railways is a major global driver of cumulative biodiversity loss. One strategy for reducing habitat loss associated with development is to encourage linear infrastructure providers and users to share infrastructure networks. We quantified the reductions in biodiversity impact and capital costs under linear infrastructure sharing of a range of potential mine to port transportation links for 47 mine locations operated by 28 separate companies in the Upper Spencer Gulf Region of South Australia. We mapped transport links based on least‐cost pathways for different levels of linear‐infrastructure sharing and used expert‐elicited impacts of linear infrastructure to estimate the consequences for biodiversity. Capital costs were calculated based on estimates of construction costs, compensation payments, and transaction costs. We evaluated proposed mine‐port links by comparing biodiversity impacts and capital costs across 3 scenarios: an independent scenario, where no infrastructure is shared; a restricted‐access scenario, where the largest mining companies share infrastructure but exclude smaller mining companies from sharing; and a shared scenario where all mining companies share linear infrastructure. Fully shared development of linear infrastructure reduced overall biodiversity impacts by 76% and reduced capital costs by 64% compared with the independent scenario. However, there was considerable variation among companies. Our restricted‐access scenario showed only modest biodiversity benefits relative to the independent scenario, indicating that reductions are likely to be limited if the dominant mining companies restrict access to infrastructure, which often occurs without policies that promote sharing of infrastructure. Our research helps illuminate the circumstances under which infrastructure sharing can minimize the biodiversity impacts of development.     

基于环境影响的绿化物流成本初探

作为物流服务价值的重要组成部分,物流成本受到相关企业的普遍重视,物流成本核算对于制定科学合理的微观物流策略、提高企业经济运行质量和效率具有重要意义。然而作为物流成本核算的基础,当前的微观物流成本构成中并未考虑企业物流活动的环境影响,不能真正反映物流活动的全部成本,从而影响了企业的可持续健康发展。基于资源环境的价值理论,提出应以绿化物流成本来衡量企业物流活动的全部消耗,即在微观物流成本构成中考虑环境成本,并给出了微观绿化物流成本的基本公式。     

泡沫灭火剂生物降解性能研究及发展趋势

阐述了泡沫灭火剂生物降解原理、一般过程及作用机制,分析了影响其生物降解性的主要因素,并对包括OECD 301系列标准在内的可用于泡沫灭火剂生物降解测试的方法和标准进行了综述,进而对目前国内外该领域的研究现状进行比较和分析。基于目前泡沫灭火剂生物降解性能的研究较为缺乏,不同种类泡沫灭火剂生物降解性差异较大的现状,提出了基于生物降解性能筛选的泡沫灭火剂优化体系的建立方法,并分析了其未来研究方向。     

江湖阻隔对涨渡湖区鱼类资源的生态影响

长江中游两岸绝大多数通江湖泊自20世纪50年代以来因水利工程阻隔先后失去与长江的联系而产生一系列的生态问题。我们以涨渡湖为例开展江湖阻隔后对单个湖泊鱼类资源所产生的生态影响进行研究,结果表明：江湖阻隔导致湖泊生产经营方式改变,使得野生渔业产量的比例由1949年的95%,降低到2002年的不足5%;江湖阻隔后湖泊鱼类种类由50年代约80种下降到现在的52种,其中,洄游性和流水型鱼类比重由50%下降至不足30%;迷魂阵渔获物在单位产量、个体大小上极显著(p < 0.01)地高于通江湖泊,但在物种数和多样性指数上则要低得多(p < 0.01)。因此,江湖阻隔对湖泊渔业具明显影响,且正导致野生鱼类资源的进一步衰退。     

Fuel type preference of taxi driver and its implications for air emissions

Natural gas became an available fuel for taxis in 2005 and had occupied a market share of 43.6% in taxi industry till 2010 in Nanjing, China. To investigate the energy replacement pattern as well as the pollutants reduction potential of the taxi industry, first, the fuel preference determinants of taxi drivers for their next taxis are analyzed. Results show that as an important alternative for the traditional gasoline, natural gas is widely accepted (75%) by taxi drivers. Different from the previous studies which focused on the early stage of cleaner fuel replacement, taxi drivers with various characteristics (such as age, working experience, and education level) are consistent with their fuel preference when they choose their next taxis. Result suggests that policies that concern consumers with specific characteristics may have little effects on the change of the market share, when the alternative fuel market has been developed well. In addition, the increased share of gas in the fuel market achieves a 7.2% reduction of energy consumption. Considering life cycle emissions, the following air pollutants, namely Greenhouse Gases (GHGs), carbonic oxide (CO), nitrogen oxide (NO_x), particulate matters (PM) and hydrocarbons (C_xH_y), gain 10.0%, 3.5%, 20.5%, 36.1%, and 26.4% of reduction respectively. Assuming all taxi fleets powered by natural gas with local policy intervention, the energy conservation and the five major air pollutant emissions could achieve the maximum reductions with 12.2%, 16.0%, 8.8%, 22.5%, 44.2%, and 49.4% correspondingly.     

太阳能级多晶硅生命周期环境影响评价

采用生命周期评价法对太阳能级多晶硅生产过程的环境影响进行评价. 基于Eco-Indicator99,建立了适用于我国的终点破坏类影响评价模型(Chinese endpoint damage model,CEDM). 对影响评价模型的资源属性参数进行了本地化研究,核算出以2010年为基准年、以我国为基准区域的资源属性本地化人均年度基准值(4.33×105 MJ). 采用现场和问卷调研的方式获得太阳能级多晶硅所有生命周期阶段的能量物质的输入、输出和环境外排数据,调研样本总产量达到2012年全国产量的80%. 结果表明:从环境影响的最终破坏受体来看,太阳能级多晶硅生命周期环境影响主要集中在对人体健康损害方面,占其整个环境影响的72.31%;其次是对资源衰竭方面的影响,占24.23%;对生态系统的损害最小,仅占3.46%. 在所有环境要素中,电的环境影响最高,占79.48%;其次是蒸汽消耗、工业硅原料,二者分别占13.18%、5.97%. 我国太阳能级多晶硅生命周期环境影响是欧洲平均水平的2倍多,主要是受电力结构所致,但在技术先进性和污染防治水平方面要优于欧洲平均水平.      

Conservation and social outcomes of private protected areas

Government administered protected areas (PAs) have dominated conservation strategies, discourse, and research, yet private actors are increasingly managing land for conservation. Little is known about the social and environmental outcomes of these privately protected areas (PPAs). We searched the global literature in English on PPAs and their environmental and social outcomes and identified 412 articles suitable for inclusion. Research on PPAs was geographically skewed; more studies occurred in the United States. Environmental outcomes of PPAs were mostly positive (89%), but social outcomes of PPAs were reported less (12% of all studies), and these outcomes were more mixed (65% positive). Private protected areas increased the number or extent of ecosystems, ecoregions, or species covered by PAs (representativeness) and PA network connectivity and effectively reduced deforestation and restored degraded lands. Few PPA owners reported negative social outcomes, experienced improved social capital, increased property value, or a reduction in taxes. Local communities benefited from increased employment, training, and community-wide development (e.g., building of schools), but they reported reduced social capital and no significant difference to household income. The causal mechanisms through which PPAs influence social and environmental outcomes remain unclear, as does how political, economic, and social contexts shape these mechanisms. Future research should widen the geographical scope and diversify the types of PPAs studied and focus on determining the casual mechanisms through which PPA outcomes occur in different contexts. We propose an assessment framework that could be adopted to facilitate this process.     

Monitoring and modelling walking track impacts in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, Australia

A program has been developed for monitoring the condition of unimproved walking tracks on a 1000-km track system in Western Tasmania, and it has been used as the basis of an eight-year study of track-impact development. The monitoring technique involves measuring track depth and two track-width indicators at permanently marked and widely dispersed sites, each site comprising ten transects located at 2-m intervals. Sites have been 'typed' on the basis of track slope, drainage and substrate characteristics, and the typing scheme has been tested and refined by assessing the relationship between type-usage groups and observed impacts. Analysis reveals that track depth and rates of erosion are strongly influenced by track type and to a lesser extent by usage, while track width is influenced mainly by usage and track bogginess. The time-invariant variable 'usage gradient' was introduced to compensate for the fact that usage levels on most walking tracks in Western Tasmania have varied over time. Data derived from multiple inspections at 2-3 year intervals since 1994 from over 250 sites have been used to derive impact/time curves for different type-'usage gradient' groups. Each of the impact variables can be approximated by the formula m = alphatBeta, where m is the expected value of the impact variable, t is chronological time, and alpha and Beta are constants characteristic of the impact variable and type-'usage gradient' group in question. The typing scheme and impact-development model have the potential to be used for systematically describing and predicting impacts over extensive systems of 'typed' tracks. The implications of these findings for the ongoing monitoring, sitting and management of walking tracks are discussed.     

A Model of Navigation-Induced Currents in Inland Waterways and Implications for Juvenile Fish Displacement

The likely extension of commercial inland navigation in the future could increase hazards directly impacting on the nurseries of freshwater fish, especially for smaller individuals with limited swimming abilities. One limitation of the evaluation of inland navigation on fish assemblages is the lack of suitable hydraulic models. This article presents a hydraulic model to assess the increase of navigation-induced physical forces due to higher vessel speed, length, and drought in a low-flowing waterway related to maximum swimming performance of fish to (1) foresee hazards of enhancement of inland navigation, (2) derive construction measures to minimize the hydraulic impact on small fish, and (3) improve fish recruitment in waterways.The derived model computed current velocities induced by passing commercial vessels in inland waterways experimentally verified and parameterized in a German lowland waterway. Results were linked with a model of maximum fish swimming performance to elucidate consequences for freshwater fish populations. The absolute magnitude of navigation-induced current limits the availability of littoral habitats for small fish. Typical navigation-induced current velocities of 0.7–1 m/s in the straight reaches of waterways will be maintained by fish longer than 42 mm only. Smaller juveniles unable to withstand those currents could become washed out, injured, or displaced. In contrast, in small local bays, the navigation-induced current declined significantly. According to our model, in a 20-m extended bay, the return current drops below 0.11 m/s, corresponding to the maximum swimming speed of a 9-mm-long fish. Thus, enhancing shoreline development by connecting oxbows, tributaries, and especially by purpose-built bays limits the impact on fish recruitment without restricting navigation resulting in more precautionary and sustainable inland navigation.     

SPATIAL CLUSTERS OF SUBSURFACE DRAINAGE WATER NO3‐N LEACHING LOSSES1

ABSTRACT: Grouping of nitrate‐nitrogen (NO₃‐N) leaching losses from agricultural fields into spatial clusters can help determine the cause/effect relationships for their occurrence. This study was designed to investigate the spatial relationships of low, medium, and high NO₃‐N leaching losses clusters with soil and landscape attributes using cluster and discriminant analysis and the map overlay capability of a geographical information system (GIS). Field measured data of a six‐year (1993 through 1998) study on NO₃‐N leaching losses from 36 experimental fields at the Iowa State University's northeastern research center near Nashua, Iowa, were normalized on an annual basis to compare over the years. The cluster analysis resulted in the formation of three clusters based on the satisfactory evaluation criteria of pseudo‐F statistic, cubic clustering criterion, and R² values. The discriminant analysis, carried out on the basis of clusters, identified elevation and subsurface drainage as the factors that contributed significantly (p > 0.01) in discriminating among these clusters. The verification of discriminant functions developed on these factors predicted the cluster membership for all the groups with an overall accuracy of 86 percent. The map overlay analyses of GIS showed that spatial occurrence of the clusters transporting high NO₃‐N leaching losses was affected by the interaction of soil type and elevation levels.