Factors influencing property selection for conservation revolving funds

Finding sustainable ways to increase the amount of private land protected for biodiversity is challenging for many conservation organizations. In some countries, organizations use revolving‐fund programs, whereby land is purchased and then sold to conservation‐minded owners under condition they enter into a conservation covenant or easement. The sale proceeds are used to purchase, protect, and sell additional properties, incrementally increasing the amount of protected private land. Because the effectiveness of this approach relies on selecting appropriate properties, we explored factors currently considered by practitioners and how these are integrated into decision making. We conducted exploratory, semistructured interviews with managers from each of the 5 major revolving funds in Australia. Responses indicated although conservation factors are important, financial and social factors are also highly influential. A major determinant was whether the property could be resold within a reasonable period at a price that replenishes the fund. To facilitate resale, often selected properties include the potential for the construction of a dwelling. Practitioners face with clear trade‐offs between conservation, financial, amenity, and other factors in selecting properties and 3 main challenges: recovering the costs of acquisition, protection, and resale; reselling the property; and meeting conservation goals. Our findings suggest the complexity of these decisions may constrain revolving‐fund effectiveness. Drawing from participant responses, we identified potential strategies to mitigate these risks, such as providing adequate recreational space without jeopardizing ecological assets. We suggest managers could benefit from a shared‐learning and adaptive approach to property selection given the commonalities between programs. Understanding how practitioners deal with complex decisions in the implementation of revolving funds helps identify future research to improve the performance of this conservation tool.     

The Role of Translocation in Recovery of Woodland Caribou Populations

Abstract: Maintenance of viable populations of many endangered species will require conservation action in perpetuity. Efforts to conserve these species are more likely to be successful if their reliance on conservation actions is assessed at the population level. Woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) were extirpated recently from Banff National Park, Canada, and translocations of caribou to Banff and neighboring Jasper National Park are being considered. We used population viability analysis to assess the relative need for and benefits from translocation of individuals among caribou populations. We measured stochastic growth rates and the probability of quasi extinction of four populations of woodland caribou with and without translocation. We used two vital rates in our analysis: mean adult female survival and mean number of calves per breeding‐age female as estimates of mean fecundity. We isolated process variance for each vital rate. Our results suggested the Tonquin caribou population in Jasper is likely to remain viable without translocation, but that translocation is probably insufficient to prevent eventual extirpation of the two other populations in Jasper. Simulated reintroductions of caribou into Banff resulted in a 53–98% probability of >8 females remaining after 20 years, which suggests translocation may be an effective recovery tool for some caribou populations.     

Acoustically detected year-round presence of right whales in an urbanized migration corridor

Species' conservation relies on understanding their seasonal habitats and migration routes. North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis), listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, migrate from the southeastern U.S. coast to Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts, a federally designated critical habitat, from February through May to feed. The whales then continue north across the Gulf of Maine to northern waters (e.g., Bay of Fundy). To enter Cape Cod Bay, right whales must traverse an area of dense shipping and fishing activity in Massachusetts Bay, where there are no mandatory regulations for the protection of right whales or management of their habitat. We used passive acoustic recordings of right whales collected in Massachusetts Bay from May 2007 through October 2010 to determine the annual spatial and temporal distribution of the whales and their calling activity. We detected right whales in the bay throughout the year, in contrast to results from visual surveys. Right whales were detected on at least 24% of days in each month, with the exception of June 2007, in which there were no detections. Averaged over all years, right whale calls were most abundant from February through May. During this period, calls were most frequent between 17:00 and 20:00 local time; no diel pattern was apparent in other months. The spatial distribution of the approximate locations of calling whales suggests they may use Massachusetts Bay as a conduit to Cape Cod Bay in the spring and as they move between the Gulf of Maine and waters to the south in September through December. Although it is unclear how dependent right whales are on the bay, the discovery of their widespread presence in Massachusetts Bay throughout the year suggests this region may need to be managed to reduce the probability of collisions with ships and entanglement in fishing gear.     

催化超临界水氧化处理1,5-萘二磺酸

采用Mn2O3/γ-AL2O3和V2O5/γ-Al2O/为催化剂,在一连续流固定床反应器中进行了超临界水氧化1,5-萘二磺酸实验.实验结果表明,在380～440℃,24 MPa条件下,Mn2O3/γ-Al2O3和V2O5/y-Al2O3催化剂对1,5-萘二磺酸的氧化降解具有显著的促进作用,TOC去除率达到90%以上;催化剂的催化效果随反应温度的升高而增强,随pH值的降低而增强,随停留时间的延长先增强后趋于平缓.     

Risk assessment of xenoestrogens in a typical domestic sewage-holding lake in China

Release of domestic sewage leads to accumulation of xenoestrogens in holding waters, especially in closed or semi-enclosed waters such as lakes. In the study, the occurrence, distribution, estrogenic activity and risk of eight xenoestreogens were evaluated in Lake Donghu, China. Nonylphenol (NP), octylphenol (OP), and bisphenol A (BPA) were identified as the main xenoestrogens ranging from tens of ng L⁻¹ (in the surface water) or ng g⁻¹ dw (in the suspended particles and sediment) to tens of μg L⁻¹ or μg g⁻¹ dw. The sum of 17β-estradiol equivalents (∑EEQs) ranged from 0.32 to 45.02 ng L⁻¹ in the surface water, 0.53 to 71.86 ng g⁻¹ dw in the suspended particles, and 0.09 to 24.73 ng g⁻¹ dw in the sediment. Diethylstilbestrol (DES) was determined as the main contributor to ∑EEQs followed by NP. The risk assessment showed a higher risk in the surface water than in the suspended particles and sediment in such domestic sewage-holding lake.     

QSPR prediction of chromatographic retention times of pesticides: Partition and fractal indices

The high‐performance liquid‐chromatographic retentions of red‐wine pesticide residues are modeled by structure–property relationships. The effect of different types of features is analyzed: geometric, lipophilic, etc. The properties are fractal dimensions, partition coefficient, etc., in linear and nonlinear correlation models. Biological plastic evolution is an evolutionary perspective conjugating the effect of acquired characters and relations that emerge among the principles of evolutionary indeterminacy, morphological determination and natural selection. It is applied to design the co‐ordination index that is used to characterize pesticide retentions. The parameters used to calculate the co‐ordination index are the molar formation enthalpy, molecular weight and surface area. The morphological and co‐ordination indices barely improve the correlations. The fractal dimension averaged for non?buried atoms, partition coefficient, etc. distinguishes the pesticide molecular structures. The structural and constituent classification is based on nonplanarity, and the number of cycles, and O, S, N and Cl atoms. Different behavior depends on the number of cycles.     

上海城区二次气溶胶的形成:光化学氧化与液相反应对二次气溶胶形成的影响

二次组分是大气细颗粒物中最重要的组成部分之一.本研究旨在探究上海城区大气气溶胶颗粒物中二次组分的贡献及其形成的主要影响因素.利用高分辨率飞行时间气溶胶质谱仪(HR-TOF-AMS)对上海城区春季及夏季的亚微米颗粒物(PM_1)进行实时的在线表征,发现有机物是PM_1中最主要的组成部分,占比为55%;其次是硫酸盐(24%)与硝酸盐(10%).进一步结合正交矩阵因子解析模型(PMF)对有机组分进行了来源解析.结果表明,一次有机气溶胶(POA)与二次有机气溶胶(SOA)分别占总有机物浓度的34%与66%; POA主要来自机动车源与餐饮源的贡献,且在春季和夏季对有机物的贡献趋于稳定.观测期间共观察到3个二次气溶胶显著生成的过程:其中,春季二次组分的显著增长过程以硫酸盐和老化的有机气溶胶在正午时段上升显著为主要特征,主要受光化学氧化过程的促进;夏季二次组分的显著生成过程主要是液相反应与光化学氧化共同促进的结果,如液相反应过程中,硝酸盐浓度与颗粒相水含量有较好的相关性(R~2=0. 72),而光化学氧化期间SOA浓度与大气氧化性(O_x)有较好的相关性.总体而言,二次组分是上海城市大气气溶胶颗粒物中最重要的组成部分,二次有机与无机组分在PM_1颗粒物中占比分别为35. 5%和43%,光化学氧化与液相反应对二次组分的形成有显著的促进作用.     

The problem of estimating recent genetic connectivity in a changing world

Accurate understanding of population connectivity is important to conservation because dispersal can play an important role in population dynamics, microevolution, and assessments of extirpation risk and population rescue. Genetic methods are increasingly used to infer population connectivity because advances in technology have made them more advantageous (e.g., cost effective) relative to ecological methods. Given the reductions in wildlife population connectivity since the Industrial Revolution and more recent drastic reductions from habitat loss, it is important to know the accuracy of and biases in genetic connectivity estimators when connectivity has declined recently. Using simulated data, we investigated the accuracy and bias of 2 common estimators of migration (movement of individuals among populations) rate. We focused on the timing of the connectivity change and the magnitude of that change on the estimates of migration by using a coalescent‐based method (Migrate‐n) and a disequilibrium‐based method (BayesAss). Contrary to expectations, when historically high connectivity had declined recently: (i) both methods over‐estimated recent migration rates; (ii) the coalescent‐based method (Migrate‐n) provided better estimates of recent migration rate than the disequilibrium‐based method (BayesAss); (iii) the coalescent‐based method did not accurately reflect long‐term genetic connectivity. Overall, our results highlight the problems with comparing coalescent and disequilibrium estimates to make inferences about the effects of recent landscape change on genetic connectivity among populations. We found that contrasting these 2 estimates to make inferences about genetic‐connectivity changes over time could lead to inaccurate conclusions.     

Assessing the Risk of Ships Striking Large Whales in Marine Spatial Planning

Marine spatial planning provides a comprehensive framework for managing multiple uses of the marine environment and has the potential to minimize environmental impacts and reduce conflicts among users. Spatially explicit assessments of the risks to key marine species from human activities are a requirement of marine spatial planning. We assessed the risk of ships striking humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae), blue (Balaenoptera musculus), and fin (Balaenoptera physalus) whales in alternative shipping routes derived from patterns of shipping traffic off Southern California (U.S.A.). Specifically, we developed whale‐habitat models and assumed ship‐strike risk for the alternative shipping routes was proportional to the number of whales predicted by the models to occur within each route. This definition of risk assumes all ships travel within a single route. We also calculated risk assuming ships travel via multiple routes. We estimated the potential for conflict between shipping and other uses (military training and fishing) due to overlap with the routes. We also estimated the overlap between shipping routes and protected areas. The route with the lowest risk for humpback whales had the highest risk for fin whales and vice versa. Risk to both species may be ameliorated by creating a new route south of the northern Channel Islands and spreading traffic between this new route and the existing route in the Santa Barbara Channel. Creating a longer route may reduce the overlap between shipping and other uses by concentrating shipping traffic. Blue whales are distributed more evenly across our study area than humpback and fin whales; thus, risk could not be ameliorated by concentrating shipping traffic in any of the routes we considered. Reducing ship‐strike risk for blue whales may be necessary because our estimate of the potential number of strikes suggests that they are likely to exceed allowable levels of anthropogenic impacts established under U.S. laws. Evaluación del Riesgo de Colisiones de Barcos y Ballenas en la Planificación Marina Espacial     

苯酚降解菌红球菌PNAN5菌株(Rhodococcus sp.strain PNAN5)的分离鉴定、降解特性及其开环双加氧酶性质研究

分离到一株能以苯酚、苯甲酸、对甲酚、萘为唯一碳源和能源生长、具有同时降解单环和双环芳烃能力的细菌菌株,经生理生化、16SrRNA基因序列分析等鉴定为红球菌PNAN5菌株(Rhodococcussp.strainPNAN5).在实验条件下和在温度为20～40℃、pH7 0～9 0范围内菌株PNAN5降解苯酚的效率保持在80%～100%之间,苯酚浓度在2～10mmol·L-1范围内变化对降解效率没有明显的影响.该菌株通过邻苯二酚1,2 双加氧酶催化的开环途径降解芳烃,不同于已知的浑浊红球菌(R.opacus)是通过邻苯二酚2,3 双加氧酶催化芳烃降解.以细胞裂解液测定该酶的酶促反应动力学常数Km值为35 94μmol·L-1,Vmax为0 84μmol·L-1·min-1·mg-1.