Understanding the distribution of bushmeat hunting effort across landscapes by testing hypotheses about human foraging

Mitigating the massive impacts of defaunation on natural ecosystems requires understanding and predicting hunting effort across the landscape. But such understanding has been hindered by the difficulty of assessing the movement patterns of hunters in thick forests and across complex terrain. We statistically tested hypotheses about the spatial distribution of hunting with circuit theory and structural equation models. We used a data set of >7000 known kill locations in Guyana and hunter movement models to test these methods. Comparing models with different resistance layers (i.e., different estimates of how terrain and land cover influence human movement speed) showed that rivers, on average, limited movement rather than serving as transport arteries. Moreover, far more kills occurred close to villages than in remote areas. This, combined with the lack of support for structural equation models that included latent terms for prey depletion driven by past overhunting, suggests that kill locations in this system tended to be driven by where hunters were currently foraging rather than by influences of historical harvest. These analyses are generalizable to a variety of ecosystems, species, and data types, providing a powerful way of enhancing maps and predictions of hunting effort across complex landscapes.     

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.     

Effects of sludge retention time, carbon and initial biomass concentrations on selection process: From activated sludge to polyhydroxyalkanoate accumulating cultures

Four sequence batch reactors (SBRs) fed by fermented sugar cane wastewater were continuously operated under the aerobic dynamic feeding (ADF) mode with different configurations of sludge retention time (SRT), carbon and initial biomass concentrations to enrich polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) accumulating mixed microbial cultures (MMCs) from municipal activated sludge. The stability of SBRs was investigated besides the enrichment performance. The microbial community structures of the enriched MMCs were analyzed using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP). The optimum operating conditions for the enrichment process were: SRT of 5 days, carbon concentration of 2.52 g COD/L and initial biomass concentration of 3.65 g/L. The best enrichment performance in terms of both operating stability and PHA storage ability of enriched cultures (with the maximum PHA content and PHA storage yield (Y_PHA/S) of 61.26% and 0.68 mg COD/mg COD, respectively) was achieved under this condition. Effects of the SRT, carbon concentration and initial biomass concentration on the PHA accumulating MMCs selection process were discussed respectively. A new model including the segmentation of the enrichment process and the effects of SRT on each phase was proposed.     

荷电超滤膜对天然有机物去除及膜污染行为的影响

以Aldrich 腐殖酸溶液为水样,研究比较了溶液环境(pH值、离子强度和钙离子)对荷电改性再生纤维素超滤膜和传统中性未改性再生纤维素超滤膜过滤过程的影响.结果表明, ①pH值主要通过质子化作用影响荷电膜以及腐殖酸分子的荷电量,进而影响荷电超滤过程.溶液pH值从7.5下降到3.5时,荷电超滤膜对腐殖酸的截留率从92%减少到79%,超滤4 h时,膜通量下降从26%增加到36%.②离子强度的改变是通过影响腐殖酸分子的物化性质和静电屏蔽作用来影响超滤过程的.当溶液离子强度为0、 3和100 mmol/L时,初始截留率依次降低,分别为92%、 87%和48%,超滤4 h时,荷电超滤膜的通量下降依次增加,分别为26%、 35%和63%.③Ca2+浓度的影响,需要综合考虑静电屏蔽作用、Ca2+的架桥作用以及滤饼层的压实性等各方面的影响.④pH值、离子强度和钙离子对中性超滤膜过滤行为的影响趋势与荷电超滤膜相似,但其影响程度有着较大的差别.研究结果对荷电超滤膜技术在实际应用中选择合适环境条件提供了参考.     

甘油基混合培养物合成PHA及其与OUR的关系

聚β羟基烷酸盐(PHA)以其较好的生物相容性、可生物降解性和再生性成为最有前途的生物高分子材料.本文基于甘油作为基质在饱食-饥饿模式下富集合成PHA的混培物,以乙酸、丙酸、丁酸、乳酸和葡萄糖作为基质考察混培物合成PHA的基质广谱性,结果表明乳酸和乙酸作为基质时PHA的产率系数较高;使用不同比例乙酸/丙酸混合基质时,PHA产量随着乙酸含量的增加而增大,乙酸/丙酸为3∶1时PHA产量最高.通过活性污泥同时贮存与生长模型模拟与线性回归两种方法证实,在单一基质或乙酸/丙酸混合基质情况下,PHA合成速率与OUR存在线性关系,因此,基于在线OUR测量数据可以实时估计PHA合成量.     

中药生产中的综合利用途径

综合利用中药资源,开展中药生产中的废料综合利用工作,是保证中药资源永续利用的重要措施和手段。本文概述了中药生产中的综合利用及研究情况,探讨了中药生产中废料资源化技术的开发。     

Sustainable Agriculture: New Paradigms and Old Practices? Increased Production with Management of Organic Inputs in Senegal

Farmers in Sahelian countries are confronted with a variety of soil fertility and management problems. During the last two decades, NGOs have worked with farmers and research institutions to develop and test practices that will increase food production, while at the same time enhance the natural resource base.Since 1987, The Rodale Institute (RI) has worked closely with farmers' associations and government institutions to promote regenerative agriculture-farming systems that prioritize the use of local resources while improving them as they are used to grow food, using agro-ecological methods. The Senegalese Agricultural Research Institute has collaborated in this program as a partner of RI. The Senegal Regenerative Agriculture Resource Center model has been applied as a new and viable approach that builds on traditional knowledge and farmer-to-farmer exchange.Research results on soil conservation and improvement have shown that fields spread with amended animal manure or compost yield greater harvests than fields farmed with traditional methods.     

Forced migration, processes of return and livelihood construction among pastoralists in northern Sudan

The Hawaweer, a nomadic, pastoralist group in northern Sudan, were seriously affected by the drought in the Sahel during the mid-1980s. Their experience illustrates the connection between internally displaced people, normal mobility, forced migration, dilemmas and opportunities of return and how new livelihoods can be successfully constructed based on traditional rights, strong local institutions and external resources. Some displaced Hawaweer got the chance to return to their homeland as new livelihood opportunities were established; others did not get this opportunity nor would they have returned if they had been given the chance. In both situations, the processes of displacement and return had an impact on the sense of belonging and identity.     

湖南传统村落的防御性特征

防御性在中国传统村落的规划和建设中具有很高的研究价值。通过分析湖南传统村落在选址、空间形态、防火和建筑装饰等方面的防御性特征,指出传统村落的物质防御和精神防卫等防御理念具有明显的先进性与科学性。两个方面共同作用,所营造的传统村落的安全居住环境,是中国传统文化因素中的心理安全防御意识在具体环境中的物化体现,是中国传统哲学观念和生态环境观念的有机统一,指出传统村落的防御性在当今和谐社会宜居社区的规划和建设中的借鉴意义。     

促进山东可持续发展试验带发展的政策选择

山东省可持续发展试验带建设要解决环境窖量小、人口密度大、支撑经济发展资源消耗大等问题。重点是打破行政区域的行政壁垒．减少经济发展对自然资源的依赖。大力发展高新技术产业。高新技术产品的外部性和高风险性要求政府部门的介入和干预。文章从山东省可持续发展试验带建设存在的市场分割、风险投资机制尚未形成、外向依存度低、高技术人才短缺等问题出发,按照“问题——对策”模式探讨试验带建设中促进可持续发展的金融政策、财税政策等政策选择。