A binational, supply-side evaluation for managing water quality and invasive fouling species on California's coastal boats

Integrated solutions are needed for sustainable management of risks posed by recreational boats to coastal water quality and ecosystems. Fouling organisms roughen vessel hull surfaces, creating friction that slows sailboats and increases fuel consumption by powerboats. Hull fouling control strategies for recreational boats that are stored in the water may include antifouling hull paints, newer alternative hull coatings, periodic in-water hull cleaning, and excluding propagules by surrounding the boat with a slip liner or raising it above water on a lift. Copper discharged to harbor waters from antifouling paints via passive leaching and in-water hull cleaning may elevate dissolved copper levels above government standards. Invasive species carried among boat-hull fouling organisms may be introduced as boats move among coastal areas. Some of these species tolerate copper in antifouling paints and copper-polluted harbor waters. Policy development must consider supply-side capacity, as well as economic and environmental sustainability, in managing these issues. This paper presents a supply-side evaluation useful in developing policies to co-manage water quality and invasive species risks for recreational boats navigating along the coasts of California, the Baja California peninsula and California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Supply-side perspectives on services, materials, costs, and boat owner behaviors, such as residence and travel patterns, awareness of hull-coating choices and selection of hull coatings, are determined. Analyses include evaluation of risks, risk management capacity and costs, and role of education in risk management. The issues raised are broadly applicable, as they are appearing on research and policy agendas in diverse coastal areas.     

Compliance of Australian threatened species recovery plans with legislative requirements

Recovery plans are the main documents supporting management decision-making for threatened species. We evaluated Australian recovery plans to assess their appropriateness as conservation and management planning instruments. Six legislative requirements (species information and general requirements, species distribution and location, known and potential threats, objectives, performance criteria and actions, duration of the plan, and estimated costs of plan implementation) were used to assess the degree of compliance of recovery plans with the relevant legislation. We assessed all 236 official recovery plans which had been adopted as at January 2006. The results showed that plans were most compliant regarding the setting of objectives, performance criteria, recovery actions, and duration of plan. Most plans included a single performance criterion that was generally related to the population status of target species. Improvement is required in relation to identification of current threats and critical habitats, and the establishment of basic elements of monitoring and evaluation for measuring recovery progress. Gaps in ecological information are the main factors affecting adequate compliance with legislative requirements as opposed to managerial information (e.g. clarity in establishing the implementation schedule, costs and resource allocation). Planning deficiencies could be addressed by improving the recovery planning guidelines and more carefully reviewing the drafting and adoption of new plans.     

Predicting the economic costs and property value losses attributed to sudden oak death damage in California (2010-2020)

Phytophthora ramorum, cause of sudden oak death, is a quarantined, non-native, invasive forest pathogen resulting in substantial mortality in coastal live oak (Quercus agrifolia) and several other related tree species on the Pacific Coast of the United States. We estimate the discounted cost of oak treatment, removal, and replacement on developed land in California communities using simulations of P. ramorum spread and infection risk over the next decade (2010-2020). An estimated 734 thousand oak trees occur on developed land in communities in the analysis area. The simulations predict an expanding sudden oak death (SOD) infestation that will likely encompass most of northwestern California and warrant treatment, removal, and replacement of more than 10 thousand oak trees with discounted cost of $7.5 million. In addition, we estimate the discounted property losses to single family homes of $135 million. Expanding the land base to include developed land outside as well as inside communities doubles the estimates of the number of oak trees killed and the associated costs and losses. The predicted costs and property value losses are substantial, but many of the damages in urban areas (e.g. potential losses from increased fire and safety risks of the dead trees and the loss of ecosystem service values) are not included.     

牛眼虹膜定位算法研究及其在肉食品追溯系统中的应用

为实现动物个体的精确鉴别,提高肉食品的安全性,将动物虹膜识别技术引入到肉食品供应链中,构建了基于虹膜识别的肉食品安全可追溯系统业务流程,实现了肉食品"从农场到餐桌"的安全保障;并以牛眼虹膜为例,根据其非同心椭圆的结构特征和图像仿射变换不变特征的原理,提出了一种牛眼虹膜快速定位方法。将牛眼虹膜内、外边界分别转化为圆形,对内边界采用灰度均值法粗定位与"三点定圆"精定位相结合的方法实现,对外边界设计了一种逐点扫描分层圆环算法来精确拟合。实验结果表明:该方法避免了虹膜信息丢失,减少了空间参数的选择运算。     

对羟基苯甲酸酯雌激素活性物种差异的理论研究

受体功能区结构的分化是导致部分环境污染物内分泌干扰效应种间选择性的主要原因之一.本研究采用同源模建的方法构建了青鳉的雌激素受体α亚型(medERα)配体结合区的三维结构,并与人的hERα结构进行比对.在此基础上,经过分子对接分析了对羟基苯甲酸酯类化合物及其含氯衍生物与两个物种ERα作用模式的差异及其分子基础,并基于此提...     

白水江国家自然保护区野生中药材资源现状研究——基于保护区白马河保护站管辖区的实地调查

通过实地考察、问卷调查和半结构式访谈,对白水江国家自然保护区白马河保护站管辖区的野生中药材资源现状进行了研究.结果表明,项目区共有野生中药材88种,隶属于39科82属,主要采集种有14种,其中社区居民经常采集的有10种.这10种中药材的蕴藏量在2006-2010年间呈下降趋势,但下降幅度在减小;采集量和交易量逐年下降,而收购价格则逐年攀升.     

Using classification trees to analyze the impact of exotic species on the ecological assessment of polder lakes in Flanders, Belgium

Polder lakes in Flanders are stagnant waters that were flooded by the sea in the past. Several of these systems are colonized by exotic species, but have hardly been studied until present. The aim of the present study was: (1) to assess the influence of exotic macrobenthic species on the outcome of the Multimetric Macroinvertebrate Index Flanders (MMIF) and (2) to use classification trees for evaluating to what extent physical-chemical characteristics affect the presence of exotic species.In total, 27 mollusc and 10 macro-crustacean species were present in the monitored lakes of which respectively five and four were exotic. The exclusion of the exotic species from the MMIF resulted in a significant decline of this ecological index (−0.03 ± 0.04; p = 0.00). This elimination often resulted into a lower ecological water quality class and more samples were classified into the bad and poor ecological water quality classes.Single-target classification trees for Gammarus tigrinus and Potamopyrgus antipodarum were constructed, relating environmental parameters and ecological status (MMIF) to the occurrence of both exotic invasive species. The major advantages of using single-target classification trees are the transparency of the rule sets and the possibility to use relatively small datasets. However, this classification technique only predicts a single-target attribute and the trees of the different species are often hard to integrate and use for water managers. As a solution, a multi-target approach was used in the present study. Exotic molluscs and crustaceans communities were modelled based on environmental parameters and the ecological status (MMIF) using multi-target classification trees. Multi-target classification trees can be used in management planning and investment decisions as they can lead to integrated decisions for the whole set of exotic species and avoid the construction of many models for each individual species. These trees provide general insights concerning the occurrence patterns of individual crustaceans and molluscs in an integrated way.     

An island biogeography approach for understanding changes in compositional similarity at present scenario of biotic homogenization

Local extinction of native species and colonization of non-native species are commonly invoked as responsible for changes in species similarity among biotas of different regions. In this study we used a model of species similarity between islands to assess the emergent, and unexplored, effects of changes in colonization by native species, extinction of non-native species, and propagule pressure on species similarity among insular communities. The model predicts that extinction probability of endemic species has a positive but asymptotic effect on species similarity, which is exacerbated by increasing colonization and reducing extinction of non-native species. Species similarity tends to increase with increasing colonization probability by non-native species, however this effect may be reduced, or even reverted, when the islands are exposed to an elevated number of non-native species that are prone to extinction, high levels of endemic species loss, and an initially large number of native species shared between islands. Species similarity was positively affected by the propagule pressure rate of non-native species only when their colonization and extinction probabilities were large and small enough, respectively. A negative effect of propagule pressure rate can be caused by an increase in the pool size of non-native species, which involves the introduction of different species into different islands, promoting biotic differentiation between islands. Our results indicate that the interactions between colonization, extinction and species pool lead to nonlinear responses and unexpected scenarios of biotic change. In order to validate model predictions, future research programs should focus on understanding the dynamics on such complex meta-communities where coexist native, non-native and endemic species.     

高浓度难降解工业废水菌种筛选及其降解特性

使用富集、稀释涂平板的方法从制药、染料、化工及精细化工、食品等多家工厂的混合高浓度难降解化工废水中筛选到8株细菌,经16S rDNA鉴定为Bacillus aquimaris、Enterobacter、Pseudomonas putida、Microbacterium、Agrobacterium、Alpha proteobacterium、Planococcus rifietoensis,其中两株细菌为Bacillus aquimaris。对各单一菌种生长条件的研究表明,各菌种生长的最适pH为7,最适接种量为15%（v/v）,最适生长温度为37℃,其中Pseudomonas putida的最适生长温度为30℃。在最适生长条件下,研究了各单一菌种及不同组合的混合菌种对废水的降解效果,结果表明在单一菌种中Pseudomonas putida对废水的降解效果最优,混合菌的降解效果优于单一菌种的降解效果,混合菌可将废水COD由1 249 mg/L降至97 mg/L,比普通活性污泥对废水的去除率提高了14.7%。     

Translating effects of inbreeding depression on component vital rates to overall population growth in endangered bighorn sheep

Evidence of inbreeding depression is commonly detected from the fitness traits of animals, yet its effects on population growth rates of endangered species are rarely assessed. We examined whether inbreeding depression was affecting Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis sierrae), a subspecies listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Our objectives were to characterize genetic variation in this subspecies; test whether inbreeding depression affects bighorn sheep vital rates (adult survival and female fecundity); evaluate whether inbreeding depression may limit subspecies recovery; and examine the potential for genetic management to increase population growth rates. Genetic variation in 4 populations of Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep was among the lowest reported for any wild bighorn sheep population, and our results suggest that inbreeding depression has reduced adult female fecundity. Despite this population sizes and growth rates predicted from matrix-based projection models demonstrated that inbreeding depression would not substantially inhibit the recovery of Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep populations in the next approximately 8 bighorn sheep generations (48 years). Furthermore, simulations of genetic rescue within the subspecies did not suggest that such activities would appreciably increase population sizes or growth rates during the period we modeled (10 bighorn sheep generations, 60 years). Only simulations that augmented the Mono Basin population with genetic variation from other subspecies, which is not currently a management option, predicted significant increases in population size. Although we recommend that recovery activities should minimize future losses of genetic variation, genetic effects within these endangered populations-either negative (inbreeding depression) or positive (within subspecies genetic rescue)-appear unlikely to dramatically compromise or stimulate short-term conservation efforts. The distinction between detecting the effects of inbreeding depression on a component vital rate (e.g., fecundity) and the effects of inbreeding depression on population growth underscores the importance of quantifying inbreeding costs relative to population dynamics to effectively manage endangered populations.