Knowledge, values, uses and management of the Araucaria araucana forest by the indigenous Mapuche Pewenche people: A basis for collaborative natural resource management in southern Chile

One of the most important endemic tree species of Chile and at the same time one of the most endangered ones is Araucaria araucana (Mol.) C. Koch, the monkey‐puzzle tree. It grows in the Andes Mountains, homeland of the indigenous Mapuche Pewenche people who depend on this tree. This paper is based on field research that investigated the ecological knowledge, uses and management of the Araucaria araucana forest by indigenous Mapuche Pewenche people based on the socio‐cultural, spiritual and ecological relationships they have with the Araucaria forest, to find out how indigenous people and their knowledge could contribute to sustainable Araucaria forest management. A Mapuche Pewenche community located in the IX region of Chile contributed to this study. Based on the analyses this paper illustrates the nature of indigenous ecological knowledge of Araucaria araucana on the one hand, and its utility in native forest management on the other. The research shows that the Mapuche Pewenche hold ecological knowledge and conduct practices to manage their Araucaria forest in a balanced way. They conserve and use forest biodiversity at one and the same time. This paper provides recommendations for sustainable Araucaria forest management and conservation strategies ex‐situ and in‐situ incorporating indigenous knowledge and scientific knowledge and for promoting a collaborative natural resources management.     

Landscape consequences of aggregation rules for functional equivalence in compensatory mitigation programs

Mitigation and offset programs designed to compensate for ecosystem function losses due to development must balance losses from affected ecosystems with gains in restored ecosystems. Aggregation rules applied to ecosystem functions to assess site equivalence are based on implicit assumptions about the substitutability of functions among sites and can profoundly influence the distribution of restored ecosystem functions on the landscape. We investigated the consequences of rules applied to the aggregation of ecosystem functions for wetland offsets in the Beaverhill watershed in Alberta, Canada. We considered the fate of 3 ecosystem functions: hydrology, water purification, and biodiversity. We set up an affect‐and‐offset algorithm to simulate the effect of aggregation rules on ecosystem function for wetland offsets. Cobenefits and trade‐offs among functions and the constraints posed by the quantity and quality of restorable sites resulted in a redistribution of functions between affected and offset wetlands. Hydrology and water purification functions were positively correlated with one another and negatively correlated with biodiversity function. Weighted‐average rules did not replace functions in proportion to their weights. Rules prioritizing biodiversity function led to more monofunctional wetlands and landscapes. The minimum rule, for which the wetland score was equal to the worst performing function, promoted multifunctional wetlands and landscapes. The maximum rule, for which the wetland score was equal to the best performing function, promoted monofunctional wetlands and multifunctional landscapes. Because of implicit trade‐offs among ecosystem functions, no‐net‐loss objectives for multiple functions should be constructed within a landscape context. Based on our results, we suggest criteria for the design of aggregation rules for no net loss of ecosystem functions within a landscape context include the concepts of substitutability, cobenefits and trade‐offs, landscape constraints, heterogeneity, and the precautionary principle.     

When and how to use Q methodology to understand perspectives in conservation research

Understanding human perspectives is critical in a range of conservation contexts, for example, in overcoming conflicts or developing projects that are acceptable to relevant stakeholders. The Q methodology is a unique semiquantitative technique used to explore human perspectives. It has been applied for decades in other disciplines and recently gained traction in conservation. This paper helps researchers assess when Q is useful for a given conservation question and what its use involves. To do so, we explained the steps necessary to conduct a Q study, from the research design to the interpretation of results. We provided recommendations to minimize biases in conducting a Q study, which can affect mostly when designing the study and collecting the data. We conducted a structured literature review of 52 studies to examine in what empirical conservation contexts Q has been used. Most studies were subnational or national cases, but some also address multinational or global questions. We found that Q has been applied to 4 broad types of conservation goals: addressing conflict, devising management alternatives, understanding policy acceptability, and critically reflecting on the values that implicitly influence research and practice. Through these applications, researchers found hidden views, understood opinions in depth and discovered points of consensus that facilitated unlocking difficult disagreements. The Q methodology has a clear procedure but is also flexible, allowing researchers explore long‐term views, or views about items other than statements, such as landscape images. We also found some inconsistencies in applying and, mainly, in reporting Q studies, whereby it was not possible to fully understand how the research was conducted or why some atypical research decisions had been taken in some studies. Accordingly, we suggest a reporting checklist.     

Estimating abundance without recaptures of marked pallid sturgeon in the Mississippi River

Abundance estimates are essential for assessing the viability of populations and the risks posed by alternative management actions. An effort to estimate abundance via a repeated mark‐recapture experiment may fail to recapture marked individuals. We devised a method for obtaining lower bounds on abundance in the absence of recaptures for both panmictic and spatially structured populations. The method assumes few enough recaptures were expected to be missed by random chance. The upper Bayesian credible limit on expected recaptures allows probabilistic statements about the minimum number of individuals present in the population. We applied this method to data from a 12‐year survey of pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) in the lower and middle Mississippi River (U.S.A.). None of the 241 individuals marked was recaptured in the survey. After accounting for survival and movement, our model‐averaged estimate of the total abundance of pallid sturgeon ≥3 years old in the study area had a 1%, 5%, or 25% chance of being <4,600, 7,000, or 15,000, respectively. When we assumed fish were distributed in proportion to survey catch per unit effort, the farthest downstream reach in the survey hosted at least 4.5–15 fish per river kilometer (rkm), whereas the remainder of the reaches in the lower and middle Mississippi River hosted at least 2.6–8.5 fish/rkm for all model variations examined. The lower Mississippi River had an average density of pallid sturgeon ≥3 years old of at least 3.0–9.8 fish/rkm. The choice of Bayesian prior was the largest source of uncertainty we considered but did not alter the order of magnitude of lower bounds. Nil‐recapture estimates of abundance are highly uncertain and require careful communication but can deliver insights from experiments that might otherwise be considered a failure.     

Discounting in the presence of scarce ecosystem services

The discount rate for cost-benefit analysis has to take account of future scarcity of ecosystem services in consumption and production. Previous literature focuses on the first aspect and shows the importance of the relative price effect, for given growth rates of consumption and ecosystem services. This paper focuses on intermediate ecosystem services in production and shows that for limited substitutability and a low growth rate of these ecosystem services, the growth rate of consumption, and thus the discount rate, declines towards a low value. Using a Ramsey growth model, the paper distinguishes three cases. If ecosystem services can be easily substituted, the discount rate converges to the usual value in the long term. Secondly, if ecosystem services can be easily substituted in production but not in consumption, the relative price effect is important. Finally, and most interestingly, if ecosystem services cannot be easily substituted in production, the discount rate declines towards a low value and the relative price effect is less important. Another part of the previous literature has shown that a declining discount rate is the result of introducing several forms of uncertainty, but this paper reaches that conclusion from an endogenous effect on the growth rate of the economy.     

基于格网GIS的重点生态功能区生态系统敏感性研究:以贵州省雷山县为例

为了科学地诊断出存在的环境问题,实现对生态环境的保护,以重点生态功能区雷山县为例,结合地形、地貌与气候等数据,以格网为评价单元,构建生态系统敏感性评价指标体系。采用层次分析法、区域综合法及格网GIS技术,对评价体系中各指标进行10 m×10 m尺度下的格网化表达,运用栅格数据的空间叠加方法及生态系统敏感性评价模型,综合评价雷山县生态系统敏感性空间格局。结果表明:雷山县生态系统敏感性较高,其中非敏感区和轻度敏感区面积较小,仅占总面积的5%和13.4%;其次是中度敏感区和极度敏感区,分别占总面积的26.3%和17%;高度敏感区面积最大,占总面积的38.3%。     

运用批实验研究溶解氧对米酒去除硝酸盐的影响

为了判别不同溶解氧条件下脱氮效果和碳的需求量,在水温为25~30℃条件下,设置了缺氧、微氧和有氧3种输入条件,以及C/N分别为2.0、1.5两种碳源投放量开展实验。研究表明:溶解氧的存在对反硝化作用的启动有延迟作用,但影响较小。溶解氧对于反硝化过程并没有产生明显的抑制作用,但在溶解氧较低的情况下,反硝化速率更为理想。缺氧条件下,C/N的适宜值应低于1.5;微氧条件下的C/N适宜值在1.5~2.0;而在有氧条件下C/N=2.0时可高效去除硝酸盐。该研究可为农村地区家庭自行去除饮用水中硝酸盐的实际应用提供参考。     

锑对土壤跳虫(Folsomia candida)的毒性效应

为了解Sb（锑）对土壤无脊椎动物的毒性效应及对比不同类型土壤中Sb毒性的差异,选取死亡率、逃避率、繁殖数三组个体水平的评价指标研究了3种典型土壤（海伦黑土、祁阳红壤、北京潮土）中外源添加Sb对模式生物——跳虫（Folsomia candida）的急性毒性和慢性毒性效应.结果表明,基于实测w（Sb_总）求得的上述3种土壤中Sb影响跳虫逃避的2 d-EC₅₀（EC₅₀为半数效应浓度）分别为298、>431[高于土壤中最高w（Sb_总）]和132 mg/kg;影响跳虫死亡的7 d-LC₅₀（LC₅₀为半数致死浓度）分别为3 352、4 007、2 105 mg/kg;影响跳虫死亡的28 d-LC₅₀分别为2 271、1 865、703 mg/kg,影响跳虫繁殖的28 d-EC₅₀分别为1 799、1 323、307 mg/kg.由上述毒性阈值大小可知,跳虫逃避率的敏感性高于死亡率和繁殖数的敏感性,不同土壤中Sb对跳虫的毒性大小具有显著差异,北京潮土中Sb对跳虫的毒性与海伦黑土、祁阳红壤相比最大差别接近6倍,表明不同土壤理化性质对Sb生态毒性效应具有显著影响.但基于w（Sb_水提）求得的上述3种土壤中Sb的毒性阈值差异减小,说明水提态Sb与其毒性具有显著相关性,可以较好地解释不同土壤间Sb毒性的差异.该研究结果可为建立我国土壤中Sb的毒性预测模型及制订Sb的质量标准值提供依据.      

九龙江口滨海湿地生源要素空间分布特征

为了揭示亚热带典型滨海湿地生源要素的空间分布特征及影响因素,选取九龙江口滨海湿地为研究对象,于2009年夏采集表层沉积物及柱状样,利用元素分析仪和流动注射分析仪对主要生源要素碳、氮、磷、硫(C、N、P、S)进行分析.结果表明,九龙江口滨海湿地生源要素含量较高,总碳、总氮、总磷、总硫(TC、TN、TP、TS)的均值分别为(12.64±2.66)、(1.57±0.29)、(0.48±0.06)、(2.61±1.37)g·kg-1,空间分布差异性显著.红树林植被区表层沉积物的TC、TN、TP含量高于米草植被及光滩,高潮位TC、TN、TP含量>中潮位>低潮位,TS在米草植被及中潮位含量较高.柱状样的TC、TN具有相似的垂直变化趋势,均表现为由表层向下逐渐降低,且不同植被间的柱状样TC、TN含量在同一深度上都表现为:红树区>米草区>光滩区;柱状样TP平均值是光滩最低,TS平均值是光滩最高.冗余分析表明,植被类型、pH及潮位是影响表层沉积物生源要素(C、N、P、S)分布最显著的环境因子,解释量分别为24.0%、19.0%和11.6%.     

固载化瓜环的制备及其对磺胺间甲氧嘧啶的吸附性能研究

在微波无极灯下将烯氧基瓜环固载到巯基硅胶(MSG)上,制得固载化瓜环(ACB[6]-SG).通过红外光谱表征固载产物,并研究固载化瓜环对磺胺间甲氧嘧啶(SMM)的吸附性能.结果表明,SMM在固载化瓜环上的吸附基本在2 min内即可达到平衡;Henry方程和Freundlich方程均能较好地拟合SMM在固载化瓜环和巯基硅胶上的等温吸附曲线,但是SMM在固载化瓜环上的吸附主要是在瓜环中的分配,而SMM在巯基硅胶上的吸附则主要是多分子层的表面吸附作用;SMM在固载化瓜环上的平衡吸附量远大于在巯基硅胶上的平衡吸附量;SMM在两者上的吸附过程是一个放热过程,温度越低吸附效果越好.