The need for ecocentrism in biodiversity conservation

Over the past 5 decades, scientists have been documenting negative anthropogenic environmental change, expressing increasing alarm, and urging dramatic socioecological transformation in response. A host of international meetings have been held, but the erosion of biological diversity continues to accelerate. Why, then, has no effective political action been taken? We contend that part of the answer may lie in the anthropocentric ethical premises and moral rhetoric typically deployed in the cause of conservation. We further argue that it is essential to advance moral arguments for biodiversity conservation that are not just based on perceived human interests but on ecocentric values, namely, convictions that species and ecosystems have value and interests that should be respected regardless of whether they serve human needs and aspirations. A broader array of moral rationales for biodiversity conservation, we conclude, would be more likely to lead to effective plans, adopted and enforced by governments, designed to conserve biological diversity. A good place to start in this regard would be to explicitly incorporate ecocentric values into the recommendations that will be made at the conclusion of the 15th meeting of the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, scheduled to be held in October 2020.     

Ex situ management as insurance against extinction of mammalian megafauna in an uncertain world

The persistence of endangered species may depend on the fate of a very small number of individual animals. In situ conservation alone may sometimes be insufficient. In these instances, the International Union for Conservation of Nature provides guidelines for ex situ conservation and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) indicates how ex situ management can support the CBD's objectives by providing insurance policies for species. The circumstances that justify its use are uncertain. To evaluate the current in situ extinction risk and ex situ management of 43 critically endangered species of mammalian megafauna, we used nonmetric multidimensional scaling and geopolitical variables related to governance, economics, and national policy within their extant ranges. We then fitted generalized additive models to assess the contribution of each variable to the ordination. Fifteen (almost one-third) of the world's terrestrial mammalian megafauna are not the subject of any ex situ management. Seventy-three percent of these taxa occur in areas characterized by political uncertainty, such as border zones or areas affected by armed conflicts, mainly in Africa and the Middle East. A further 23% of taxa in ex situ programs do not meet sustainability criteria for inbreeding avoidance. Strategic conservation planning, such as the One Plan approach, may improve ex situ management for these taxa. Given the escalating trend in threats afflicting megafauna, ex situ management should be considered more rigorously, particularly in politically unstable regions, to achieve CBD Target 12 (prevent extinction of threatened species).     

National Red Listing Beyond the 2010 Target

Abstract: Following creation of the 2010 Biodiversity Target under the Convention on Biological Diversity and adoption of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, information on status and trends of biodiversity at the national level has become increasingly important to both science and policy. National red lists (NRLs) of threatened species may provide suitable data for reporting on progress toward these goals and for informing national conservation priority setting. This information will also become increasingly important for developing species‐ and ecosystem‐based strategies for climate change adaptation. We conducted a thorough global review of NRLs in 109 countries and analyzed gaps in NRL coverage in terms of geography and taxonomy to determine priority regions and taxonomic groups for further investment. We then examined correlations between the NRL data set and gross domestic product (GDP) and vertebrate species richness. The largest geographic gap was in Oceania, followed by middle Africa, the Caribbean, and western Africa, whereas the largest taxonomic gaps were for invertebrates, fungi, and lichens. The comprehensiveness of NRL coverage within a given country was positively correlated with GDP and negatively correlated with total vertebrate richness and threatened vertebrate richness. This supports the assertion that regions with the greatest and most vulnerable biodiversity receive the least conservation attention and indicates that financial resources may be an integral limitation. To improve coverage of NRLs, we propose a combination of projects that target underrepresented taxa or regions and projects that provide the means for countries to create or update NRLs on their own. We recommend improvements in knowledge transfer within and across regions as a priority for future investment.     

House fly (Musca domestica): A review of control strategies for a challenging pest

Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae), commonly called the house fly, is a major domestic, medical and veterinary pest that causes irritation, spoils food and acts as a vector for many pathogenic organisms. In this paper, the social and health problems related to housefly are introduced with the associated need to control its population. Physical and chemical methods of house fly control are briefly discussed. The main focus of this review is on the biological control methods for house fly control, that comprise botanical, fungal, bacterial and parasitoid agents. Although several biocontrol agents are still in the nascent stage, some of them (especially fungal and parasitoid agents) have shown reliable field performance and seem to be suitable candidates for commercialization. However, the majority of these laboratory and field studies have been conducted in the temperate region. It remains to be seen whether the application of biocontrol agents would be feasible in tropical environments. The integrated pest management practices, which can provide more reliable field performance, have also been discussed. A multi-dimensional approach that exerts control on all the life stages of house fly, but simultaneously preserves the fly's natural enemies could be an ecologically sustainable way of maintaining the fly populations below maximally acceptable limits.     

非正规就业部门的形成机理研究:理论、实证与政策框架

包括农民工在内的庞大非正规就业部门日益引起关注,传统发展经济学的二元结构理论,已经不能完全解释转型中国的现实。本文运用比较研究、计量经济等方法,对中国独特的四元就业结构进行了分析,梳理了非正规就业理论体系,在此基础上,讨论了中国非正规就业部门的形成机理与主要驱动因素,并提出了消解非正规就业部门就业压力的政策框架。研究表明:中国的非正规就业部门有其独特的形成机理,是多项公共政策综合作用和主动选择的结果。城乡人均收入落差、伪城镇化、经济垄断程度等则是其主要驱动因素。因此,在坚持小城镇化与农业现代化、精细化同时推进的同时,要践行去管制政策以释放自由市场力量,建立统一且平权的劳动力市场以推进非正规就业部门与正规就业部门的融合进程。     

Mineralization of aqueous pentachlorophenolate by anodic contact glow discharge electrolysis

Exhaustive mineralization of pentachlorophenolate ion (PCP) in phosphate buffer was carried out using anodic contact glow discharge electrolysis (CGDE), in which plasma was sustained between the electrolyte and anode. During CGDE, PCP degraded smoothly. The amount of total organic carbon decreased significantly, indicating the eventual conversion of the carbon atoms of benzene nucleus to inorganic carbons. Furthermore, chlorine atoms in PCP were liberated as chloride ions. As a primary intermediate product, 2,3,5,6- tetrachloro-1,4-benzoquinone was detected, and oxalate and formate as byproducts were also found. It was revealed that disappearance of PCP obeyed first-order kinetics. The reaction rate was generally unaffected by both O2 and inert gases in the cell, although it decreased by raising initial pH of solution. In addition, a plausible reaction pathway involving hydroxyl radical was proposed.     

大口子水库的生物学调查与评价

为了解大口子水库水质的污染状况及污染趋势，淮安市环境监测中心站于“九五”期间对大口子水库进行了生物分析指标的监测和生物学评价。结果表明，“九五”期间，大口子水库的水质呈典型富营养化状态，且营养化程度有加重趋势；底栖动物群落的调查结果显示，化学毒性污染稍有好转，有机物污染占主导地位。提出，该水域不宜继续作为养殖基地进行水产养殖，对其污染的治理已刻不容缓。     

一维脉冲波透过压电介质摩擦接触界面的传播

以压电材料为核心的结构和元件在装置中,总是和其他材料组合在一起,常用来传导表面波或承受动荷载,界面是其中的重要组成部分。当扰动很强时,会引起接触界面的局部滑移和分离,对结构安全产生威胁。笔者对一维脉冲波透过横观各向同性压电介质摩擦接触界面的传播进行了研究。利用Fourier分析的方法,将混合边值问题化为非线性代数方程组,通过迭代修正,确定了界面上分离、滑移和粘着3种区域的分布范围,同时计算了界面剪力和相对滑移速度的分布。笔者进一步丰富了压电弹性波动理论,利用波所携带的力学或电学信息,可望无损探测界面的接触状态及接触力等参量,对结构的安全评估与寿命预测具有重要的理论价值与实际意义。     

State-of-the-art of ecological modelling with emphasis on development of structural dynamic models

The paper deals with two major problems in ecological modelling today, namely how to get reliable parameters? and how to build ecosystem properties into our models? The use of new mathematical tools to answer these questions is mentioned briefly, but the main focus of the paper is on development of structural dynamic models which are models using goal functions to reflect a current change of the properties of the biological components in the models. These changes of the properties are due to the enormous adaptability of the biological components to the prevailing conditions. All species in an ecosystem attempt to obtain most biomass, i.e. to move as far away as possible from thermodynamic equilibrium which can be measured by the thermodynamic concept exergy. Consequently, exergy has been proposed as a goal function in ecological models with dynamic structure, meaning currently changed properties of the biological components and in model language currently changed parameters. An equation to compute an exergy index of a model is presented. The theoretical considerations leading to this equation are not presented here but references to literature where the basis theory can be found are given. Two case studies of structural dynamic modelling are presented: a shallow lake where the structural dynamic changes have been determined before the model was developed, and the application of biomanipulation in lake management, where the structural dynamic changes are generally known. Moreover. it is also discussed how the same idea of using exergy as a goal function in ecological modelling may be applied to facilitate the estimation of parameters.