Economic assessment of rewilding versus agri-environmental nature management

Policies aiming at improving biodiversity often consist of costly agri-environmental schemes, i.e. subsidized grazing or mowing of semi-natural areas. However, these practices have widely been found to be insufficient to mitigate biodiversity loss. Rewilding, i.e. restoring natural processes in self-sustaining biodiverse ecosystems, has been proposed as an alternative and is hypothesized to be a more cost-efficient approach to promote biodiversity conservation. Rewilding requires the availability of large natural areas which are not allocated for farming, forestry, and infrastructure to avoid potential conflicts over the use of the area. We perform an ex-ante private cost–benefit analysis of the establishment of four large nature reserves for rewilding in Denmark. We analyse the economic effects of changing from summer grazing in nature areas in combination with cultivated fields and forestry to the establishment of nature reserves in four case areas. We consider two scenarios involving conversion of agriculture and forestry areas into natural areas in combination with either extensive year-round cattle grazing or rewilding with wild large herbivores. In two case areas, it appears possible to establish large nature areas without incurring extra costs. Additionally, rewilding further reduces costs compared to year-round cattle grazing. Two opposing effects were dominant: increased economic rent occurred from the shift from summer grazing to year-round grazing or rewilding, while cessation of agriculture and forestry caused opportunity costs.     

In vitro immunotoxicity of untreated and treated urban wastewaters using various treatment processes to rainbow trout leucocytes

Municipal effluents are known to impede the immune system of aquatic organisms. The purpose of this study was to examine the immunotoxicity of urban wastewaters before and after 6 treatment processes from 12 cities toward trout leucocytes. Freshly prepared trout leucocytes were exposed to increasing concentrations of solid phase (C18) extracts of wastewaters for 24 hr at 15℃. Immunocompetence was determined by following changes in leucocyte viability and the proportion of cells able to ingest at least one (immunoactivity) and at least three (immunoefficiency) fluorescent beads. The influents were treated by six different treatment strategies consisting of facultative aerated lagoons, activated sludge, biological aerated filter, biological nutrient removal, chemically-assisted physical treatment and trickling filter/solid contact. Water quality parameters of the wastewaters revealed that the plants effectively removed total suspended solids and reduced the chemical oxygen demand. The results revealed that the effluents' immunotoxic properties were generally more influenced by the properties of the untreated wastewaters than by the treatment processes. About half of the incoming influents decreased leucocyte viability while 4 treatment plants were able to reduce toxicity. The influents readily increased phagocytosis activity for 8/12 influents while it was decreased in 4/12 influents. This increase was abolished for 4/12 of the effluents using treatments involving biological and oxidative processes. In conclusion, municipal effluents have the potential to alter the immune system in fish and more research will be needed to improve the treatments of wastewaters to better protect the quality of the aquatic environment.     

成渝地区双城经济圈生态安全格局构建

以成渝双城经济圈为研究对象,基于土地利用数据及生态重要性评价,综合选取生态源地;利用GIS空间分析、最小累积阻力以及夜间灯光优化等方法,构建区域生态综合阻力面;再利用重力模型识别重要生态廊道及生态夹点,最终构建成渝双城经济圈生态安全空间格局.结果表明：成渝双城经济圈生态源地面积占比24.8%,呈半包围圈分布于研究区西南东三面;识别生态廊道193条,总长6441.81km,呈现东密西疏的状态,其中重要廊道占比46.56%,集中在研究区东北方位的达州及巫山巫溪等地;“点-线-面”生态网格构建成渝双城经济区“双核-两轴-半包围”结构的生态安全格局.     

影响经济与环境协调发展的经济根源

环境污染作为一种经济行为,必然受到经济运行规律的制约,它的产生有着深刻的经济根源。影响经济环境协调的因素有市场失效、政策失效等。市场在分配和有效利用环境资源上失效,使得政府通过经济政策进行干预成为必要,但政府政策有强化环境资源市场失真而非纠正的趋势。只有采取各项政策和手段的组合运用才可能促进经济与环境持续发展。     

Integrating Landscape and Metapopulation Modeling Approaches: Viability of the Sharp-Tailed Grouse in a Dynamic Landscape

Abstract:  The lack of management experience at the landscape scale and the limited feasibility of experiments at this scale have increased the use of scenario modeling to analyze the effects of different management actions on focal species. However, current modeling approaches are poorly suited for the analysis of viability in dynamic landscapes. Demographic (e.g., metapopulation) models of species living in these landscapes do not incorporate the variability in spatial patterns of early successional habitats, and landscape models have not been linked to population viability models. We link a landscape model to a metapopulation model and demonstrate the use of this model by analyzing the effect of forest management options on the viability of the Sharp-tailed Grouse (  Tympanuchus phasianellus ) in the Pine Barrens region of northwestern Wisconsin (U.S.A.). This approach allows viability analysis based on landscape dynamics brought about by processes such as succession, disturbances, and silviculture. The landscape component of the model (LANDIS) predicts forest landscape dynamics in the form of a time series of raster maps. We combined these maps into a time series of patch structures, which formed the dynamic spatial structure of the metapopulation component (RAMAS). Our results showed that the viability of Sharp-tailed Grouse was sensitive to landscape dynamics and demographic variables such as fecundity and mortality. Ignoring the landscape dynamics gave overly optimistic results, and results based only on landscape dynamics (ignoring demography) lead to a different ranking of the management options than the ranking based on the more realistic model incorporating both landscape and demographic dynamics. Thus, models of species in dynamic landscapes must consider habitat and population dynamics simultaneously.     

Economic use value of the Belize marine ecosystem: Potential risks and benefits from offshore oil exploration

The announcement of plans for exploratory oil drilling at a number of offshore sites in Belize raised concerns about the risks associated with drilling, particularly given the socio‐economic importance of the marine ecosystem. The current economic value of fisheries and marine ecotourism is estimated, along with the potential revenue from offshore oil and potential economic losses stemming from oil pollution, under various assumptions on risk and uncertainty. Marine fisheries and ecotourism are estimated to generate around US$ 183 million per year. Single‐year estimated maximum revenue is higher for oil extraction initially but quickly declines; during a 50 year (two generation) period, total discounted benefits from marine fisheries and ecotourism are estimated at US$ 5.1 billion, compared to US$ 3.2 billion from offshore oil revenue. Following a hypothetical oil spill, discounted losses in marine fisheries and ecotourism due to perception and ecological impacts are estimated at US$ 912 million, with clean‐up costs and capital losses of US$ 6.1‐10.4 billion. Considering the short extraction life of oil resources compared to fisheries and ecotourism, the difference in benefits increases substantially in favour of the latter with a longer time horizon. A recent public referendum resulted in a 98% vote against oil exploration and a subsequent annulment of oil concessions pending environmental impact assessments.     

Evaluation of carrying capacity of city clusters in China with the example of the Blue Economic Zone of Shandong Peninsula

The conflict between city development and urban carrying capacity is getting ever prominent. In order to study and predict the restriction factors and prominent problems in the development of the Shandong Peninsula Blue Economic Zone as well as promote the transfer of economic development pattern in this region, this study starts from four single factor carrying capacity indicators of water, earth, transportation and environment in the city and its comprehensive carrying capacity indicator, evaluates and analyzes its carrying capacity and then papooses policy suggestions for improving its carrying capacity.     

长江中游城市群区域一体化的测度与比较

实现长江中游城市集群区域一体化,既能承接东部地区产业转移,也能够向西部传递发展势能,缩小西部与中东部的差距。参照了世界银行从密度、距离与分割3个维度对区域一体化的界定,构建了区域一体化评价体系;采用2000～2010年数据,并结合层次分析法对长江中游城市集群内部区域一体化进行测度与比较分析。研究显示：（1）长株潭城市圈区域一体化水平最高,武汉城市圈次之,环鄱阳湖生态经济区最低,但三大城市群一体化水平都呈现逐渐增长趋势;（2）三大城市群在市场一体化、行政一体化及社会一体化变化水平差异明显但总体差距逐渐缩小;（3）武汉城市圈在“两型”社会建设推动下一体化水平稳步提升,长株潭城市群一体化水平进程最快,环鄱阳湖生态经济区后发优势明显。在此基础上,提出了构建长江中游城市集群经济发展联动机制的政策建议     

Influences of natural and anthropogenic processes on the nitrogen and phosphorus fluxes of the Yangtze Estuary, China

Nutrient flux to the sea through the estuary is important to the health of the sea. Combining natural processes with anthropogenic activities, we discuss the influence on the nitrogen and phosphorus fluxes to the Yangtze River basin, to the estuary and to the sea. The fluxes of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) to the estuary through the river/estuary interface are obviously higher than those to the sea through to the estuary/sea interface of the Yangtze estuary. The changes in nutrient fluxes through different interfaces are largely due to the estuarine hydrological and biogeochemical processes. Household, livestock and agricultural runoff are major sources of nitrogen from human activities, and household and livestock contribute to an increase in the anthropogenic phosphorus. The fluxes of DIN and DIP from economic activities account for about one-third of DIN and DIP fluxes to the sea through the Yangtze estuary.     

The Interplay between Climate Variability and Density Dependence in the Population Viability of Chinook Salmon

Abstract:  The viability of populations is influenced by driving forces such as density dependence and climate variability, but most population viability analyses (PVAs) ignore these factors because of data limitations. Additionally, simplified PVAs produce limited measures of population viability such as annual population growth rate (λ) or extinction risk. Here we developed a "mechanistic" PVA of threatened Chinook salmon ( Oncorhynchus tshawytscha ) in which, based on 40 years of detailed data, we related freshwater recruitment of juveniles to density of spawners, and third-year survival in the ocean to monthly indices of broad-scale ocean and climate conditions. Including climate variability in the model produced important effects: estimated population viability was very sensitive to assumptions of future climate conditions and the autocorrelation contained in the climate signal increased mean population abundance while increasing probability of quasi extinction. Because of the presence of density dependence in the model, however, we could not distinguish among alternative climate scenarios through mean λ values, emphasizing the importance of considering multiple measures to elucidate population viability. Our sensitivity analyses demonstrated that the importance of particular parameters varied across models and depended on which viability measure was the response variable. The density-dependent parameter associated with freshwater recruitment was consistently the most important, regardless of viability measure, suggesting that increasing juvenile carrying capacity is important for recovery.