Use of Modified Threat Reduction Assessments to Estimate Success of Conservation Measures within and Adjacent to Kruger National Park,South Africa

Abstract: The importance of biodiversity as natural capital for economic development and sustaining human welfare is well documented. Nevertheless, resource degradation rates and persistent deterioration of human welfare in developing countries is increasingly worrisome. Developing effective monitoring and evaluation schemes and measuring biodiversity loss continue to pose unique challenges, particularly when there is a paucity of historical data. Threat reduction assessment (TRA) has been proposed as a method to measure conservation success and as a proxy measurement of conservation impact, monitoring threats to resources rather than changes to biological parameters themselves. This tool is considered a quick, practical alternative to more cost‐ and time‐intensive approaches, but has inherent weaknesses. I conducted TRAs to evaluate the effectiveness of Kruger National Park (KNP) and Limpopo Province, South Africa, in mitigating threats to biodiversity from 1994 to 2004 in 4 geographical areas. I calculated TRA index values in these TRAs by using the original scoring developed by Margoluis and Salafsky (2001) and a modified scoring system that assigned negative mitigation values to incorporate new or worsening threats. Threats were standardized to allow comparisons across the sites. Modified TRA index values were significantly lower than values derived from the original scoring exercise. Five of the 11 standardized threats were present in all 4 assessment areas, 2 were restricted to KNP, 2 to Limpopo Province, and 2 only to Malamulele municipality. These results indicate, first, the need to integrate negative mitigation values into TRA scoring. By including negative values, investigators will be afforded a more accurate picture of biodiversity threats and of temporal and spatial trends across sites. Where the original TRA scoring was used to measure conservation success, reevaluation of these cases with the modified scoring is recommended. Second, practitioners must carefully consider the need and consequences of generalizing threats into generic categories for comparative assessments. Finally, continued refinement of the methodology and its extension to facilitate the transfer of successful conservation strategies is needed.     

Microsatellite length polymorphisms associated with dispersal-related agonistic onset in male wild house mice (Mus musculus domesticus)

Dispersal propensity, reflecting one of the most decisive mammalian life history traits, has been suggested to vary heritably and to locally adapt to prevailing dispersal conditions in wild house mouse populations. Because individual dispersal propensity highly significantly covaries with the developmental timing of the onset of agonistic interactions between littermate brothers, we used agonistic onset as an endophenotype to explore the potential genetic basis of dispersal-related behavioral variation in male house mice. We found significant covariation of microsatellite marker compositions with the probability of fraternal pairs to exhibit agonistic relationships before the age of 2 months. In particular, the presence of two alleles associated with a serotonin transporter protein gene (Slc6a4) and a testosterone dehydrogenase gene (Cyp3a11), respectively, strongly covaried with the probability of early agonistic onset. These results are congruent with recent findings of microsatellite length polymorphisms marking regulatory variation of gene expression that is relevant for social behavior, including dispersal propensity development, in other mammals. Genetic variability for ontogenetic timing of agonistic onset would be in agreement with genotypic differentiation of the dispersive behavioral syndrome in natural populations that could lead to local adaptation.     

浅析我国青少年犯罪的原因及对策

进入新世纪后,我国青少年犯罪出现许多新情况,表现出许多新的特点,究其原因不外乎两个方面:一是客观原因,二是主观原因,因此为了减少和遏止青少年犯罪,必须采取对策进行有效的预防和治理.     

Trophy hunters’ willingness to pay for wildlife conservation and community benefits

In the face of fundamental land‐use changes, the potential for trophy hunting to contribute to conservation is increasingly recognized. Trophy hunting can, for example, provide economic incentives to protect wildlife populations and their habitat, but empirical studies on these relationships are few and tend to focus on the effects of benefit‐sharing schemes from an ex post perspective. We investigated the conditions under which trophy hunting could facilitate wildlife conservation in Ethiopia ex ante. We used a choice experiment approach to survey international trophy hunters’ (n = 224) preferences for trips to Ethiopia, here operationalized as trade‐offs between different attributes of a hunting package, as expressed through choices with an associated willingness to pay. Participants expressed strong preferences and, consequently, were willing to pay substantial premiums for hunting trips to areas with abundant nontarget wildlife where domestic livestock was absent and for arrangements that offered benefit sharing with local communities. For example, within the range of percentages considered in the survey, respondents were on average willing to pay an additional $3900 for every 10 percentage points of the revenue being given to local communities. By contrast, respondents were less supportive of hunting revenue being retained by governmental bodies: Willingness to pay decreased by $1900 for every 10 percentage points of the revenue given to government. Hunters’ preferences for such attributes of hunting trips differed depending on the degree to which they declared an interest in Ethiopian culture, nature conservation, or believed Ethiopia to be politically unstable. Overall, respondents thus expressly valued the outcomes of nature conservation activities—the presence of wildlife in hunting areas—and they were willing to pay for them. Our findings highlight the usefulness of insights from choice modeling for the design of wildlife management and conservation policies and suggest that trophy hunting in Ethiopia could generate substantially more financial support for conservation and be more in line with conservation objectives than is currently the case.     

Investigation on the Degradation of Natural Heritage of Singing Sand Mountain and Crescent Moon Spring at Dunhuang City, China

The main purpose of this study is to put forward a reasonable idea of the general protection for Singing Sand Mountain and Crescent Moon Spring, a rare and unique desert wonder, and of sustainable tourism development based on the research on the ecological environment around. Methods of documentation, case study and comparison were employed. Finally, aiming at solving the problems of natural environment and those existing after the exploitation of Singing Sand Mountain and Crescent Moon Spring the author puts forward three measures： the comprehensive treatment for Crescent Moon Spring （broadening resources of water and reducing expenditures, checking the decreasing depth of Crescent Moon Spring, and improving the geographical environment）, the general protection envisions for Singing Sand Mountain and Crescent Moon Spring and establishing a dynamic monitoring and early-warning system of regional ecosystem.     

石油测井HSE“两书一表”的落实

HSE"两书一表"是HSE管理体系在基层组织实施的作业文件,作为现场作业风险控制的重要要文件,但在实际的落实的过程中,仍不乏出现一些问题。26101在落实HSE"两书一表"的过程中,通过采取属地管理和HSE"两书一表"结合落实的方法,很好的消除了这些不利因素。本文从测井岗位属地划分入手,结合"两书一表"对各个岗位的职责的定义,研究进一步推进HSE"两书一表"落实的工作。     

BaP和DDT暴露对翡翠贻贝胚胎重要酶活性影响的比较研究

为了揭示不同浓度苯并芘(BaP)及滴滴涕(DDT)对海洋贝类胚胎的生态毒理效应,将翡翠贻贝(Perna viridis)胚胎分别暴露于不同浓度BaP及DDT中,检测暴露24 h和48 h后,BaP和DDT对翡翠贻贝胚胎抗氧化及非特异性免疫酶活性的影响,包括超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)、谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶(GSH-Px)、酸性磷酸酶(ACP)、碱性磷酸酶(AKP),并利用综合生物标志物响应(IBR)指数对苯并芘及DDT对翡翠贻贝胚胎的综合毒理效应进行评价。结果表明,BaP和DDT胁迫显著影响翡翠贻贝胚胎抗氧化酶(SOD、GPx)和非特异性免疫酶(ACP、AKP)的活性。与对照组相比,随着暴露浓度的升高,胚胎SOD、AKP的活性呈现先抑制后诱导的趋势。DDT和BaP对ACP酶活性的影响不同,其中BaP对ACP活性的影响表现为先抑制,后恢复,而DDT对翡翠贻贝胚胎ACP的活性影响不显著。IBR分析表明,在胁迫早期随着污染物浓度的升高,RIB值逐渐增大,随着染毒时间延长,处理组RIB值均减小,总体来说,DDT的RIB值比BaP的RIB值大,表明DDT的胚胎毒性较强。通过探究翡翠贻贝胚胎重要酶应答BaP和DDT胁迫的毒理生化响应,评价持久性有机污染物对海洋贝类的毒理效应,为敏感生物标志物的筛选打下一定的基础,且为海洋环境的污染早期预警监测提供了一种新思路。     

自然资源核算的生态足迹模型演进及其评论

生态足迹模型作为从生态角度对自然资源进行核算的方法,其发展经历了从一维模型向二维模型,并从二维模型向三维模型的演进过程,论文从科学问题、模型内涵、应用指向和解释能力等4个方面对生态足迹模型演进作了梳理和评论。研究结果表明：1）生态足迹模型是自然资源核算的一个生物物理性工具,弥补了主流的国民经济核算体系下自然资源价值核算的不足。2）一维模型开创性地引入生态生产性土地概念开展自然资源消费核算,以此来测算人类活动对生态的占用情况;二维模型在自然资源消费核算维度的基础上,引入自然资源生态承载能力维度,开拓了自然资源承载力评价的新视野;三维模型进一步从流量和存量两个维度理解自然资源生态承载能力,以圆柱体体积表达生态足迹,生动刻画人类活动对所处区域的生态压力。3）一维模型是二维、三维模型的基础,但它们解决的科学问题各有不同,从而所适用的研究尺度、应用指向也有所差异。4）生态足迹模型属于静态分析模型,无法解释生态经济社会系统的动态变化情况;二维和三维模型属于封闭模型,其计算结果不能准确反映区域生态的真实状况。最后,探讨了生态足迹模型进一步优化的方向。     

回形障碍物影响火焰的实验和数值研究

在充满甲烷-空气预混气的方形燃烧管内，对火焰穿过回形障碍物的情形进行了实验研究，拍摄到了障碍物附近流场的时序阴影照片。基于k—ε湍流模型和EBU燃烧模型的同位网格SIMPLE算法，进行了三维数值模拟，绘制了火焰阵面三维视图。根据实验结果和数值计算结果，详细讨论了火焰进入到出离障碍物这一过程中，回流区、剪切层、湍流以及火焰形状等的变化特征。     

应用高精度磁法测定灵武某煤田自燃区范围

煤层自燃后产生"热剩磁",基于这一理论,运用地面高精度磁测在灵武某煤田对煤田自燃区的边界范围进行圈定.由钻孔验证的结果来看,地面高精度磁测在圈定煤田自燃区边界范围时效果良好.