Using empirical models of species colonization under multiple threatening processes to identify complementary threat‐mitigation strategies

Approaches to prioritize conservation actions are gaining popularity. However, limited empirical evidence exists on which species might benefit most from threat mitigation and on what combination of threats, if mitigated simultaneously, would result in the best outcomes for biodiversity. We devised a way to prioritize threat mitigation at a regional scale with empirical evidence based on predicted changes to population dynamics—information that is lacking in most threat‐management prioritization frameworks that rely on expert elicitation. We used dynamic occupancy models to investigate the effects of multiple threats (tree cover, grazing, and presence of an hyperaggressive competitor, the Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala) on bird‐population dynamics in an endangered woodland community in southeastern Australia. The 3 threatening processes had different effects on different species. We used predicted patch‐colonization probabilities to estimate the benefit to each species of removing one or more threats. We then determined the complementary set of threat‐mitigation strategies that maximized colonization of all species while ensuring that redundant actions with little benefit were avoided. The single action that resulted in the highest colonization was increasing tree cover, which increased patch colonization by 5% and 11% on average across all species and for declining species, respectively. Combining Noisy Miner control with increasing tree cover increased species colonization by 10% and 19% on average for all species and for declining species respectively, and was a higher priority than changing grazing regimes. Guidance for prioritizing threat mitigation is critical in the face of cumulative threatening processes. By incorporating population dynamics in prioritization of threat management, our approach helps ensure funding is not wasted on ineffective management programs that target the wrong threats or species.     

The role of digital data entry in participatory environmental monitoring

Many argue that monitoring conducted exclusively by scientists is insufficient to address ongoing environmental challenges. One solution entails the use of mobile digital devices in participatory monitoring (PM) programs. But how digital data entry affects programs with varying levels of stakeholder participation, from nonscientists collecting field data to nonscientists administering every step of a monitoring program, remains unclear. We reviewed the successes, in terms of management interventions and sustainability, of 107 monitoring programs described in the literature (hereafter programs) and compared these with case studies from our PM experiences in Australia, Canada, Ethiopia, Ghana, Greenland, and Vietnam (hereafter cases). Our literature review showed that participatory programs were less likely to use digital devices, and 2 of our 3 more participatory cases were also slow to adopt digital data entry. Programs that were participatory and used digital devices were more likely to report management actions, which was consistent with cases in Ethiopia, Greenland, and Australia. Programs engaging volunteers were more frequently reported as ongoing, but those involving digital data entry were less often sustained when data collectors were volunteers. For the Vietnamese and Canadian cases, sustainability was undermined by a mismatch in stakeholder objectives. In the Ghanaian case, complex field protocols diminished monitoring sustainability. Innovative technologies attract interest, but the foundation of effective participatory adaptive monitoring depends more on collaboratively defined questions, objectives, conceptual models, and monitoring approaches. When this foundation is built through effective partnerships, digital data entry can enable the collection of more data of higher quality. Without this foundation, or when implemented ineffectively or unnecessarily, digital data entry can be an additional expense that distracts from core monitoring objectives and undermines project sustainability. The appropriate role of digital data entry in PM likely depends more on the context in which it is used and less on the technology itself.     

Transaction costs and community-based natural resource management in Nepal

Transaction costs in community-based resource management are incurred by households attempting to enforce property right rules over common resources similar to those inherent in private property rights. Despite their importance, transaction costs of community-based management of common pool resources (CPRs) are often not incorporated into the economic analysis of participatory resource management. This paper examines the transaction costs incurred by forest users in community forestry (CF) based on a survey of 309 households belonging to eight different forest user groups (FUGs) in the mid hills of Nepal. The analysis reveals that the average 'poor' household incurred Nepalese rupees (NRS) 1265 in transaction costs annually, while wealthier 'rich' households incurred an average of NRS 2312 per year. Although richer households bear higher proportions of such costs, transaction costs for CF management as a percentage of resource appropriation costs are higher for poorer households (26%) than those of middle-wealth (24%) or rich households (14%). There are also village differences in the level of transaction costs. The results show that transaction costs are a major component of resource management costs and vary according to socio-economic status of resource users and characteristics of the community.     

Ecological citizenship and democracy: Communitarian versus agonistic perspectives

Grassroots environmental movements have recently started to question the focus on sustainable consumption as a main strategy to tackle climate change. They prefer to address individuals as citizens rather than as consumers, and focus on collective rather than individual change. Two prominent movements in this regard are Transition Towns and Climate Justice Action. While both movements criticise conventional approaches, they put forward entirely different strategies for what has to happen instead. Based on extensive qualitative research, this article analyses how these movements manifest themselves in Flanders (Belgium). The focus is on their different accounts of how and why collective practices have to be built, and the place they attribute to ‘the political’ in this. The analysis reveals the existence of two different forms of ecological citizenship: one communitarian, the other agonistic.     

Welfare states and environmental states: a comparative analysis

A framework is presented for thinking about state intervention in developed capitalist economies in two domains: social policy and environmental policy (and, within that, climate-change policy). Five drivers of welfare state development are identified, the ‘five Is’ of Industrialisation: Interests, Institutions, Ideas/Ideologies, and International Influences. Research applying this framework to the postwar development of welfare states in the OECD is summarised, distinguishing two periods: up to 1980, and from 1980 to 2008. How far this framework can contribute to understanding the rise and differential patterns of environmental governance and intervention across advanced capitalist states since 1970 is explored, before briefly comparing and contrasting the determinants of welfare states and environmental states, identifying common drivers in both domains and regime-specific drivers in each. The same framework is then applied to developments since 2008 and into the near future, sketching two potential configurations and speculating on the conditions for closer, more integrated ‘eco-welfare states’.     

中国城市建设用地集聚对利用效率的影响:机理、空间效应与分群差异

为探究城市建设用地集聚对城市建设用地利用效率的作用机理,文章基于2003—2017年中国278个地级及以上城市面板数据,通过构建多产出随机前沿生产函数模型测度城市建设用地利用效率,采用时间-空间双固定的空间杜宾模型探讨了不同程度的城市建设用地集聚对利用效率的影响机理与差异。结果表明:(1)从时空特征上来看,样本考察期内中国城市建设用地利用效率总体上呈稳步提升趋势,东部城市建设用地效率最高,西部次之,中部最低。(2)从全国维度的空间计量模型回归结果来看,城市建设用地集聚所带来的规模效应和外溢效应对城市建设用地利用效率具有改进作用,有利于利用效率进一步提升。(3)从不同城市建设用地集聚度分群回归结果来看,高集聚城市(东部发达地区)的直接效应显示随着城市建设用地集聚度的提高,利用效率也不断提高;间接效应中,建设用地集聚度的提高对周边城市的利用效率产生先带动后抑制的"倒U"形作用。低集聚城市(中西部欠发达地区)的直接效应和间接效应均显示,随着城市建设用地集聚的提高,其利用效率存在"先降后升"的"U"形曲线特征。可见,在城市发展的不同阶段,城市建设用地集聚对城市土地利用效率存在差异化影响。因此,中国城市发展应立足当前发展阶段特征,制定差别化的供地政策,促进城市建设用地集聚,针对性地提升区域要素利用效率,支撑经济社会进一步发展。     

中国环境科学专题文献研究

本文运用文献计量学方法,对我国环境科学10种主要期刊(1989～1991)年间总计刊载的2584篇文献所著录的全部引文及文献著者进行一次统计调查与分析研究,从中寻找出我国环境科学研究文献引文的一般规律和我国环境科学科研作者队伍的构成及分布现状。     

Mercury pollution and macrophage centres in pike (Esox lucius) tissues

From June 1993 to October 1994, studies have been carried out on the effects of mercury in the Oder River and pike tissue contamination (muscle, kidney, liver). The mean mercury contents in the sediment range from 0.03 to 1.1 mg/kg dry weight. In the pike muscle, between 0.22 and 0.85 mg/kg, on a wet weight basis, were found. The measured mercury concentrations were analysed in relation to the number of macrophage centres of the liver, spleen and kidney of the pike. Positive correlations between mercury and MC response (0.54 ≤ r ≤ 0.79, p < 0.05) were found in all of these organs. The suitability of the macrophage-centre-response as a possible bioindicator for mercury pollution is discussed in the literature. In our study, the response of MCs was found to be suitable as a biomarker for the impairment of fish health.     

电气浮含油污水处理工艺工业性试验研究

电解气浮含油污水处理工艺是一种新型的污水处理技术。基于室内试验及现场小试的研究成果,对该技术进行了放大的工业性试验研究,设计了试验流程及装置,取得了阶段性的试验结果。研究结果表明,经电气浮处理后除油率最高可达89%,悬浮固体去除率最高为73%,最低为30%;杀菌率达到99.6%~100%,达到了电气浮除油的要求。电气浮含油污水处理工艺与其他含油污水处理工艺相比,药剂投加量为常规工艺的1/3,运行电耗为0.2 kW.h/m3,总的运行费用约为常规工艺的40%~60%。研究成果为电气浮工艺在石油化工废水处理中的广泛应用奠定了基础。     

深床过滤机理及其在水处理中的应用研究与进展

深床过滤既有过滤功能,又具生物处理作用,具有良好的应用前景;本文阐述了深床过滤的最新研究动向,深床过滤过程的数学模型的构建方法,国内外利用深床过滤技术处理微污染水源水、城市生活污水及污水深度处理的实验研究状况.