Carbon leakage: Grandfathering as an incentive device to avert firm relocation

Emission allowances are sometimes distributed for free in an early phase of a cap-and-trade scheme to reduce adverse effects on the profitability of firms. This paper investigates whether grandfathering can also be used to avert the relocation of firms to countries with lower carbon prices. We show that under certain conditions, relocation can be averted in the long run, even if the grandfathering scheme is phased out over time and immediate relocation is profitable in its absence. This requires that the permit price triggers sufficient investments into low-carbon technologies or abatement capital that create a lock-in effect which makes relocation unprofitable.     

人为干扰对江油地区马尾松人工林群落结构和物种多样性的影响

物种多样性是群落功能复杂性和稳定性的重要量度指标,人为干扰对森林群落的影响可以通过群落结构和物种多样性的变化而直接显现,不同干扰强度下的森林群落结构和物种多样性特征不同。采用典型样地法,对比研究两种人为干扰强度（干扰强和弱）对江油地区的马尾松（Pinus massoniana）人工林群落的物种组成、群落结构和物种多样性的影响,采用物种丰富度指数D值、Shannon-wienner指数H值、Simpson优势度指数H′值和均匀度指数Jsw值来综合衡量群落的物种多样性水平。结果表明,（1）在总面积3200 m2的8个样地中记录到124个物种,隶属于105属56科,干扰强的群落各层次物种数均低于干扰弱的群落。（2）不同强度人为干扰下马尾松人工林的群落结构不同,干扰弱的群落径级结构呈近正态分布,在径级Ⅵ（7 cm≤d〈9 cm）处出现数量的峰值26株,群落结构较稳定;干扰强的群落径级结构不呈正态分布,在径级Ⅶ（13 cm≤d〈15 cm）处出现峰值43株。干扰弱和干扰强的群落高度级结构与其径级结构具有相似性,干扰弱的群落的个体主要集中在低中高度级（3≤H〈17）;干扰强的群落的个体数在各高度级分布不均匀,主要分布在中高高度级（H≥13）;干扰强的群落的个体数在各径级和高度级分布相对不均匀,群落结构趋于不稳定。（3）人为干扰对马尾松人工林群落造成负面影响,随着人为干扰强度的增加,物种丰富度指数D值、Shannon-wiener多样性指数H值、均匀度多样性指数Jsw值降低,Simpson优势度指数H′值增大,物种多样性呈下降趋势。     

六溴环十二烷(HBCD)对H4细胞和SK-N-AS细胞脱碘酶2和3表达的影响

六溴环十二烷(hexabromocyclododecane,HBCD)与多溴联苯醚(polybrominated diethyl ethers,PBDEs)复合污染体系,对人类健康尤其神经系统所造成的潜在危害及其机制一直是笔者课题组的研究方向。HBCD是广泛使用的溴化阻燃剂,与PBDEs一样,会通过干扰内分泌系统、影响甲状腺激素分泌及损伤神经系统,对生物体产生发育神经毒性。作为系列研究之一,本研究以H4人脑神经胶质瘤细胞和SK-N-AS人神经母细胞瘤细胞为体外生物模型,通过观察HBCD对H4细胞Ⅱ型脱碘酶(Dio2)和SK-N-AS细胞Ⅲ型脱碘酶(Dio3)表达的调控,初步探讨了HBCD对神经系统局部甲状腺激素水平的潜在影响。H4细胞和SK-N-AS细胞分别暴露于0、1、3和9μmol·L-1HBCD 24 h后,采用MTT法检测细胞活力,Western Blot和RT-PCR法分别分析Dio2和Dio3蛋白和基因的表达,酶联免疫吸附测定(ELISA)法检测H4细胞脑源性神经细胞营养因子(BDNF)的分泌。结果表明,HBCD以剂量依赖方式降低H4细胞和SK-N-AS细胞生存率,引起H4细胞Dio2蛋白和基因表达下调,而致SK-N-AS细胞Dio3蛋白和基因表达上调。此外,HBCD还降低H4细胞BDNF的分泌。这表明,HBCD很可能通过影响神经和胶质细胞脱碘酶的表达,影响脑局部甲状腺激素水平,从而引起神经系统损伤及发育神经毒性。     

Incorporating basic needs to reconcile poverty and ecosystem services

Conservation managers frequently face the challenge of protecting and sustaining biodiversity without producing detrimental outcomes for (often poor) human populations that depend on ecosystem services for their well-being. However, mutually beneficial solutions are often elusive and can mask trade-offs and negative outcomes for people. To deal with such trade-offs, ecological and social thresholds need to be identified to determine the acceptable solution space for conservation. Although human well-being as a concept has recently gained prominence, conservationists still lack tools to evaluate how their actions affect it in a given context. We applied the theory of human needs to conservation by building on an extensive historical application of need approaches in international development. In an innovative participatory method that included focus groups and household surveys, we evaluated how human needs are met based on locally relevant thresholds. We then established connections between human needs and ecosystem services through key-informant focus groups. We applied our method in coastal East Africa to identify households that would not be able to meet their basic needs and to uncover the role of ecosystem services in meeting these. This enabled us to identify how benefits derived from the environment were contributing to meeting basic needs and to consider potential repercussions that could arise through changes to ecosystem service provision. We suggest our approach can help conservationists and planners balance poverty alleviation and biodiversity protection and ensure conservation measures do not, at the very least, cause serious harm to individuals. We further argue it can be used as a basis for monitoring the impacts of conservation on multidimensional poverty.     

A multispecies assessment of wildlife impacts on local community livelihoods

Conflicts between the interests of agriculture and wildlife conservation are a major threat to biodiversity and human well-being globally. Addressing such conflicts requires a thorough understanding of the impacts associated with living alongside protected wildlife. Despite this, most studies reporting on human–wildlife impacts and the strategies used to mitigate them focus on a single species, thus oversimplifying often complex systems of human–wildlife interactions. We sought to characterize the spatiotemporal patterns of impacts by multiple co-occurring species on agricultural livelihoods in the eastern Okavango Delta Panhandle in northern Botswana through the use of a database of 3264 wildlife-incident reports recorded from 2009 to 2015 by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks. Eight species (African elephants [Loxodonta africana], hippopotamuses [Hippopotamus amphibious], lions [Panthera leo], cheetah [Acinonyx jubatus], African wild dogs [Lycaon pictus], hyenas [Crocuta crocuta], leopards [Panthera pardus], and crocodiles [Crocodylus niloticus]) appeared on incident reports, of which 56.5% were attributed to elephants. Most species were associated with only 1 type of damage (i.e., either crop damage or livestock loss). Carnivores were primarily implicated in incident reports related to livestock loss, particularly toward the end of the dry season (May–October). In contrast, herbivores were associated with crop-loss incidents during the wet season (November–April). Our results illustrate how local communities can face distinct livelihood challenges from different species at different times of the year. Such a multispecies assessment has important implications for the design of conservation interventions aimed at addressing the costs of living with wildlife and thereby mitigation of the underlying conservation conflict. Our spatiotemporal, multispecies approach is widely applicable to other regions where sustainable and long-term solutions to conservation conflicts are needed for local communities and biodiversity.     

Global protected-area coverage and human pressure on tidal flats

Tidal flats are a globally distributed coastal ecosystem important for supporting biodiversity and ecosystem services. Local to continental-scale studies have documented rapid loss of tidal habitat driven by human impacts, but assessments of progress in their conservation are lacking. With an internally consistent estimate of distribution and change, based on Landsat satellite imagery, now available for the world's tidal flats, we examined tidal flat representation in protected areas (PAs) and human pressure on tidal flats. We determined tidal flat representation and its net change in PAs by spatially overlaying tidal flat maps with the World Database of Protected Areas. Similarly, we overlaid the most recent distribution map of tidal flats (2014–2016) with the human modification map (HM_c) (range from 0, no human pressure, to 1, very high human pressure) to estimate the human pressure exerted on this ecosystem. Sixty-eight percent of the current extent of tidal flats is subject to moderate to very high human pressure (HM_c > 0.1), but 31% of tidal flat extent occurred in PAs, far exceeding PA coverage of the marine (6%) and terrestrial (13%) realms. Net change of tidal flat extent inside PAs was similar to tidal flat net change outside PAs from 1999 to 2016. Substantial shortfalls in protection of tidal flats occurred across Asia, where large intertidal extents coincided with high to very high human pressure (HM_c > 0.4–1.0) and net tidal flat losses up to 86.4 km² (95% CI 83.9–89.0) occurred inside individual PAs in the study period. Taken together, our results show substantial progress in PA designation for tidal flats globally, but that PA status alone does not prevent all habitat loss. Safeguarding the world's tidal flats will thus require deeper understanding of the factors that govern their dynamics and effective policy that promotes holistic coastal and catchment management strategies.     

Conducting conservation social science surveys online

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is affecting the environment and conservation research in fundamental ways. Many conservation social scientists are now administering survey questionnaires online, but they must do so while ensuring rigor in data collection. Further, they must address a suite of unique challenges, such as the increasing use of mobile devices by participants and avoiding bots or other survey fraud. We reviewed recent literature on online survey methods to examine the state of the field related to online data collection and dissemination. We illustrate the review with examples of key methodological decisions made during a recent national study of people who feed wild birds, in which survey respondents were recruited through an online panel and a sample generated via a project participant list. Conducting surveys online affords new opportunities for participant recruitment, design, and pilot testing. For instance, online survey panels can provide quick access to large and diverse samples of people. Based on the literature review and our own experiences, we suggest that to ensure high-quality online surveys one should account for potential sampling and nonresponse error, design survey instruments for use on multiple devices, test the instrument, and use multiple protocols to identify data quality problems. We also suggest that research funders, journal editors, and policy makers can all play a role in ensuring high-quality survey data are used to inform effective conservation programs and policies.     

面向人体暴露评价的植物中抗生素分析进展

抗生素通过动物粪便或生物固体的施用、再生水灌溉进入农业土壤后可以被蔬菜和粮食作物吸收,从而造成人体的被动暴露。为了评估抗生素对人体暴露的健康风险,需要基于植物样品,发展灵敏、稳定且针对性强的分析方法。本文综述了植物样品中抗生素残留分析的研究进展,重点介绍了样品提取、净化等前处理方法及其仪器分析方法,并对植物样品中抗生素分析的研究方向进行了展望。     

升金湖水体优先污染物筛选与风险评价

为保护升金湖国家自然保护区湿地的生态环境,以7大类168种人类化学品为靶向分析目标物,研究其在升金湖水体中的赋存水平及空间分布特征（O）、综合化合物持久性（P）和生物积累性（B）等毒害性评价指标以及生态风险（E）和人体健康风险（H）等毒性参数,采用综合评分法筛选识别升金湖水体优先污染物,构建升金湖水体优控清单,评价升金湖优先污染物水环境生态及健康风险.结果表明,升金湖水体7大类化合物[挥发性有机物（VOCs）、多环芳烃（PAHs）、有机氯农药（OCPs）、多氯联苯（PCBs）、邻-苯二甲酸酯（PAEs）、抗生素（ANTs）以及金属元素（HMs）]污染普遍,其中上湖污染负荷高于中湖和下湖,呈现坝前蓄积现象.以污染物类别计,综合评分法优先污染物筛选结果显示升金湖水体检出化学品优先级顺序为：PAEs > OCPs > HMs > PCBs > PAHs > VOCs > ANTs.高优先级污染物清单中综合得分最高的10种化合物包括：邻-苯二甲酸二乙基己酯（DEMP）、邻-苯二甲酸二环己酯（DCHP）、PCB138、邻-苯二甲酸二正辛酯（DOP）、邻-苯二甲酸二壬酯（DNP）、七氯（HC）、p,p''-滴滴涕（DDT）、钡（Ba）、环氧七氯（HCE）和邻-苯二甲酸二己酯（DHP）.升金湖水体优先污染物生态风险商（RQ）为4.3~15.9,具有较高的生态风险,且上湖区风险高于中、下湖区.人体暴露健康风险评价表明,HMs的非致癌风险最大（风险指数HI>1）,其次为PAEs和OCPs,优先污染物通过饮水和皮肤接触途径暴露对人体健康产生的致癌风险（人体终生致癌风险ILCR<10^-6）可以忽略.本研究优化基于环境监测数据建立的优先污染物综合评分法,全面考虑了化学品毒害特性、生态及人体健康暴露风险（OPBEH）,为开展广泛的湖泊流域水环境优先污染物筛选提供统一的方法学指导,并为建立相应湖泊流域优控清单,制定优先污染物排放和管控标准提供科学依据.     

铅暴露U251细胞差异表达基因分析(Analysis of Differentiation Expressed Genes of Human U251 Glioma Cells Exposed to Lead)

为研究体外培养的人神经胶质瘤U251细胞(human U251glioma cells)铅暴露后基因表达的改变,分析脑中差异表达基因,探讨铅暴露与神经毒性之间的关系,使用浓度为400μg·mL-1乙酸铅暴露U251细胞8h和24h,设置空白对照,提取RNA.应用基因芯片方法寻找差异表达基因,芯片扫描结果经归一化处理,设定Ratio值<0.5或≥2.0为表达有差异基因.结果表明铅暴露U251细胞导致2840条基因差异表达,暴露8h和24h皆上调表达的基因有92条,皆下调表达的基因有85条,其中132条基因在脑中表达;通过与数据库资料比对,109条基因与其在脑表达情况一致,23条基因不一致(15条基因高表达,8条基因低表达).从实验结果可以看出铅暴露能够导致U251细胞基因表达改变,抑制细胞增殖和迁移,促进细胞凋亡,负调控T细胞免疫活性.导致与神经发生、细胞骨架形成相关基因表达下调,神经保护能力下降,铅暴露可能与神经变性疾病及退行性疾病发生有关.