Restoring naturalness to national parks

National park resource management planning requires ecological information describing the objectives to be achieved. This information must be quantitative and unambiguous. Since most acts creating United States national parks, beginning with the Yellowstone National Park Act of 1872, specify that these parks should be maintained in a natural condition, resource management objectives for each national park must be defined in terms of quantitative standards of naturalness. Such quantitative standards of naturalness do not yet exist for any national park in the United States. Although this article focuses on US national parks, the same problem exists in national parks, reserves, and wilderness areas throughout the world. The physical evidence needed to develop quantitative standards of naturalness is rapidly disappearing because of the effects of management fires, wildfires, decomposition, successional changes, and other disturbances. Therefore, a nationwide rescue ecology program is recommended to recover as much remaining ecological information as possible before it is lost. This information is essential for developing quantitative standards to restore naturalness to national parks.     

浅谈内蒙古环境保护信息化走向

本文对内蒙古自治区和包头市环境保护信息化发展条件、现实状况和不足作了分析；提出了制定“数字环保规划”、推广使用国家环境监理信息系统、建立黄河监测和监理信息系统和提高人员信息化素质等建议。     

Toward Sustainable Management of National Parks in Japan: Securing Local Community and Stakeholder Participation

Japan’s national park system constitutes a potentially viable mechanism for securing local community participation and building stakeholder consensus for sustainable park management, although the potential of this system is yet to be fully maximized. This article gives an overview of the system of protecting natural resources in Japan, focusing on the national park system. Parks are managed by zoning and regulation, which is unique in that land is not “set aside” for nature conservation, but designated as national park wherever the need to preserve “scenic beauty” has been recognized, regardless of land ownership or land use. Although resource conservation under this system has been problematic, it has advantages, especially in terms of community participation. This article demonstrates that in order to reach the system’s potential, the park authority must act as coordinator of stakeholders and facilitator of bottom-up approaches to decision-making. In order to do this, steps that must be taken include the following: identifying the various stakeholders in park management and defining the “local community”; clarifying the roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder; and supporting consensus-building among stakeholders regarding the objectives and long-term vision of each park. By taking these steps, it would be possible to build a park management system that overrides government boundaries and involves local communities. This will enable the park authority to address the challenges facing Japan’s complex system of conserving natural resources, and move towards sustainable management of natural resources in Japan.     

Reference Conditions of Alpine Streams: Physical Habitat and Ecology

Natural and near-natural streams are rare in the densely populated areas of the Alps. A variety of anthropogenic impacts have resulted in the alteration and sometimes even complete destruction of these systems. Nowadays it is difficult to find un-impacted streams that are strongly needed to define the natural variability and ecosystem processes. The results from freshwater inventories and habitat assessments conducted in protected areas in Austria (Nationalpark Hohe Tauern) and Italy (Naturpark Rieserferner-Ahrn) were used to develop a comprehensive typology of Alpine streams. Three different levels were used to discriminate between the distinct stream/river types: source (glacial vs. non-glacial), hierarchy (i.e. location within the stream system) and topography/ channel morphology. Important characters defining the structure and function of these stream types are gradient, substrate composition, flow pattern and riparian vegetation. Benthic fauna assemblages from 99 near-natural stream segments in glacial and non-glacial systems demonstrated the effect of glaciation on abundance levels of the total macroinvertebrate fauna, EPT taxa (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera) and the chironomid subfamily Diamesinae in different altitudes. A general decrease of abundances with increasing altitude was found. While stream segments with a degree of glaciation >10% primarily showed reduced abundances at all altitudes, lower (<10%) or no glaciation did not influence invertebrate abundances at lower reaches. Due to the near-natural conditions of the selected stream segments, a valuable definition of reference conditions of Alpine streams based on habitat characteristics is available. As a basis it offers excellent opportunities to conduct holistic interdisciplinary studies in protected areas in the future.     

基于国家粮食安全的长江三角洲地区耕地保护探讨

从经济增长规律与发展阶段来看,作为中国经济发展的核心区域之一,长江三角洲地区耕地的减少趋势还将持续一定时期。分析了长江三角洲地区粮食及耕地现状,通过相关性分析得到耕地预测模型,并预测了未来耕地变化态势,揭示出耕地损失率高峰值将在“十一五”期间出现。通过国家粮食安全的态势判断以及长江三角洲地区耕地减少与国家粮食安全之间的关系分析,得出长江三角洲地区耕地面积的减少所导致的粮食减产对国家粮食安全的影响较小,而国家粮食安全水平的变化会影响长江三角洲地区的粮食有效供给的结论。从而提出耕地保护的思路：“十一五”期间,长江三角洲地区应采取积极的保护政策;进入“十二五”之后,耕地保护政策应转为严格控制。为此,还提出了重在保护质量、保护其生态景观功能、加大后备资源开发、减少非农占用、加强政策管理等对策建议。     

Heavy metal concentrations in plants and soils at roadside locations and parks of urban Guangzhou

Introduction In 2003, 48 per cent of the world's population is estimated to live in urban areas with the proportion that is urban projected to rise to 61 per cent by 2030 (United Nations, 2004). Moreover, during 2000— 2030 the world's urban population is…     

2015-2019年汾渭平原臭氧污染状况分析

基于全国空气质量监测网数据,分析了2015-2019年汾渭平原11个城市臭氧(O3)污染状况.结果 表明:2015-2019年,汾渭平原11个城市O3平均浓度总体呈升高趋势,年平均升高12.2 μg/m3,其中,2017-2019年均超过二级标准限值(160μg/m3).O3单项污染物的空气质量分指数占空气质量指数的比...     

国家公园领域财政事权划分改革研究

随着自然保护地的整合优化和财政体制改革的深入推进,对国家公园领域财政事权和支出责任进行明确划分、界定,对于建立健全国家公园领域资金保障机制具有重要意义,有助于建立政府间权责明晰、协同有序的国家公园治理体系。本文在梳理我国国家公园领域财政事权清单、分析财政支出责任划分现状及存在问题的基础上,根据中央有关国家公园事权的文件以及部门机构职责、中央和地方财政关系的制度特点,提出我国国家公园领域政府间财政事权和支出责任划分的总体思路与政策建议,为建立以国家公园为主体的自然保护地体系提供决策参考。     

Bearing Witness? Polar Bears as Icons for Climate Change Communication in National Geographic

This article investigates how polar bears were established as icons of climate change in the popular science magazine National Geographic. In a multistep process, anthropomorphized depictions first established polar bears as subjects of identification. Then, polar bears were visually connected to the endangered Arctic. Finally, they emerged as ambassadors of a threatened ecosystem and icons of climate change. I highlight the wider political contexts of this process of iconization and the semiotic and cultural resources on which it draws, showing what kind of climate change communication the polar bear icon enables or inhibits. The icon lends itself to being deployed in visual communication strategies creating personal concern and public awareness for climate change. At the same time, the icon fosters an individualized, emotionalized, and localized account of climate change but does not make its wider causes visible.     

Advanced driver assistance systems for teen drivers: A national survey of teen and parent perceptions

Abstract

Objective: Recently developed advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) have the potential to compensate for teen driving errors and reduce overall crash risk. To date, very limited research has been conducted on the suitability of ADAS for teen drivers—the population most likely to benefit from such systems. The opportunity for ADAS to reduce the frequency and severity of crashes involving teen drivers is hindered when there is a lack of trust, acceptance, and use of those technologies. Therefore, there is a need to study teen and parent perceptions of ADAS to help identify and overcome any potential barriers to ADAS use.

Methods: A U.S. national survey was developed based on themes from previously conducted teen and parent ADAS focus groups. Survey topics included trust in ADAS, effect of ADAS on teen driver safety and driving behavior, effect of ADAS on skill development, data privacy, and cybersecurity. Responses included 5-point Likert scales and open-ended questions. The survey was managed through an online respondent panel by ResearchNow. Eligibility criteria included licensed teens (16–19 years) and parents of licensed teens. Teen and parent responses were compared using chi-square statistics in SAS 9.4.

Results: Two thousand and three (teens?=?1,000; parents?=?1,003) respondents qualified for and completed the survey between September 1 and September 20, 2017. Overall, teens (72%) and parents (61%) felt that ADAS would have a positive impact on transportation. However, teens were more likely to exhibit a positive outlook on ADAS, whereas parents were more likely to have a negative outlook (P?<?.01). Teens felt that ADAS would be useful during bad weather or drowsy driving but were less concerned than parents about ADAS intervention during their own risky driving (P?<?.01). The majority of teens (65%) and parents (71%) agreed that teens should learn to drive on vehicles without ADAS, with parents being more likely to agree than teens (P?<?.01). Parents (55%) were more likely than teens (47%) to be concerned about insurance companies keeping track of teen driving data (P?<?.01). Most respondents exhibited some concern of ADAS being susceptible to hacking (57%).

Conclusions: This study represents the first effort to quantify ADAS perceptions among teen drivers and their parents at the U.S. national level. These data highlight potential barriers to ADAS use among teen drivers, including a relative disinterest among teens for ADAS intervention during risky driving as well as concerns among both teens and parents that ADAS will inhibit skill development. These survey findings will help inform educational programs to accelerate fleet turnover and provide the foundation for ADAS optimization and evaluation studies among sociodemographic groups.