三峡库区常绿落叶阔叶混交林的监测研究

生物多样性的长期动态监测是生物多样性研究的热点之一。陆生植物监测实验站作为长江三峡工程生物与环境监测系统的重点站,完成了大量的野外监测样地建立工作,为今后的长期研究打下了良好的基础。以米心水青冈及曼青冈组成的常绿落叶阔叶林的相关研究为例,介绍了陆生植物观测实验站现阶段关于监测方面的部分研究工作。在多个尺度下对米心水青冈及曼青冈两种优势种进行格局分析,结果表明两者均为聚集分布,米心水青冈的聚集强度高于曼青冈。按1 ～4 cm, 4 ～ 8 cm及8 cm以上3个径级对曼青冈分布格局进行比较,各径级间聚集强度相似,这与群落年龄、特殊的地形环境及种群的生态习性有关。群落的地形异质性研究表明0.96 hm2范围内坡度及坡向存在明显的差异,研究范围内样方的平均坡度在18.2°～ 74.6°之间。坡向可以分为南坡、西南坡及东南坡3部分。地形的异质性影响着群落的内部结构,植物与地形因素的相关分析表明不同的种对地形的适应性不同,群落中的24种主要植物可以分为4个生态种组。     

厦门后溪流域沿城乡梯度浮游细菌多样性及其与环境因子的关系

为研究城市化对河流浮游细菌的影响,选取厦门后溪流域沿城乡梯度采集样品,并利用变性梯度凝胶电泳(Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis,DGGE)和多元统计方法对浮游细菌群落空间分布格局进行分析.结果表明,Shannon-Weiner多样性指数和DGGE条带数随着采样站点和城市中心距离的减小呈现先升高后下降的趋势.聚类分析(Cluster)和多维尺度分析(Multidimensional scaling,MDS)将12个站点的浮游细菌群落分为4组,测序结果显示β-变形菌(Betaproteobacteria)是优势类群,占40.0%.统计分析表明,pH和总氮(Total nitrogen,TN)是影响后溪浮游细菌群落组成最主要的环境因子,他们共同解释了47.6%的群落组成变化.总之,沿城乡梯度随着水体理化指标的变化,浮游细菌群落也发生明显转变,表明后溪浮游细菌受到城市化的强烈影响.此外,结果也提示DGGE可以作为监测与评价河流生态系统健康的重要工具.图6表2参33     

不同填料类型污染源水生物预处理的比较

中国南方水质性缺水地区污染广泛采用生物预处理工艺净化污染水源,微生物载体以固定式填料和流化型填料为主.为考察2种类型填料的运行效能和微型生物多样性,以长江三角洲地区的污染源水为例,利用现场生产性试验和连续流中试研究了半软性弹性立体填料和悬浮填料的主要污染物去除效能、填料的积泥和冲洗、微型动物的生长和分布规律.研究结果表明,夏秋季相同源水水质和运行参数等条件下,悬浮填料和弹性填料对NH3-N的平均去除率分别为80%和65%左右, CODMn的去除率分别为18%和16%左右;悬浮填料上的微型动物种类和数量均低于固定式弹性立体填料,且少见群居性微型动物.生产性装置运行结果表明,源水水质相对较差的条件下,悬浮填料对NH3-N和CODMn的去除率分别比弹性填料高5%~10%;悬浮填料没有出现群居性微型动物大量生长现象,无需定期反冲洗;固定式弹性填料的某些区域出现苔藓虫等群居性微型动物大量生长现象,且积泥严重,需定期反冲洗,甚至使用高压水枪强制冲洗.流化型悬浮填料更有利于污染源水生物预处理工程应用.     

环渤海潮间带秋季大型底栖动物生态学研究

对2008年9月在环渤海11个潮间带进行生态调查所获得的30个生物样品,以及对现场测定的温度,pH和ρ(DO)与沉积物样品分析的基础上,阐述了环渤海潮间带大型底栖动物群落的结构特点,并进一步分析了大型底栖动物与环境因子的关系. 调查共发现大型底栖动物76种,其中多毛类动物25种,软体动物24种,甲壳动物19种,其他类动物8种. 大型底栖动物的栖息密度和生物量分别为(367.40±187.30)m-2与(100.90±56.40)g/m2. 数据分析显示,环渤海潮间带大型底栖动物群落的优势种不明显,优势度大于1%的仅有4种,分别为托氏昌螺、四角蛤蜊、哈氏美人虾和中华近方蟹. 物种多样性指数则以位于渤海口的莱州湾最高,为1.909. 11个采样区域的大型底栖动物群落结构相似性总体较低,相似系数约为20%. 相关分析表明,大型底栖动物的种类数量、栖息密度和生物量与底质类型显著相关,而与温度,pH和ρ(DO)无明显的对应关系. 与历史资料相比,过去的30 a,环渤海潮间带大型底栖动物的种类数量因周围生存环境的变化以及污染等因素的影响而明显减少.      

Protected area downgrading,downsizing, and degazettement as a threat to iconic protected areas

Protected areas (PAs) are expected to conserve nature and provide ecosystem services in perpetuity, yet widespread protected area downgrading, downsizing, and degazettement (PADDD) may compromise these objectives. Even iconic protected areas are vulnerable to PADDD, although these PADDD events are often unrecognized. We identified 23 enacted and proposed PADDD events within World Natural Heritage Sites and examined the history, context, and consequences of PADDD events in 4 iconic PAs (Yosemite National Park, Arabian Oryx Sanctuary, Yasuní National Park, and Virunga National Park). Based on insights from published research and international workshops, these 4 cases revealed the diverse pressures brought on by competing interests to develop or exploit natural landscapes and the variety of mechanisms that enables PADDD. Knowledge gaps exist in understanding of the conditions through which development pressures translate to PADDD events and their impacts, partially due to a lack of comprehensive PADDD records. Future research priorities should include comprehensive regional and country-level profiles and analysis of risks, impacts, and contextual factors related to PADDD. Policy options to better govern PADDD include improving tracking and reporting of PADDD events, establishing transparent PADDD policy processes, coordinating among legal frameworks, and mitigating negative impacts of PADDD. To support PADDD research and policy reforms, enhanced human and financial capacities are needed to train local researchers and to host publicly accessible data. As the conservation community considers the achievements of Aichi Target 11 and moves toward new biodiversity targets beyond 2020, researchers, practitioners, and policy makers need to work together to better track, assess, and govern PADDD globally.     

Effects of human demand on conservation planning for biodiversity and ecosystem services

Safeguarding ecosystem services and biodiversity is critical to achieving sustainable development. To date, ecosystem services quantification has focused on the biophysical supply of services with less emphasis on human beneficiaries (i.e., demand). Only when both occur do ecosystems benefit people, but demand may shift ecosystem service priorities toward human-dominated landscapes that support less biodiversity. We quantified how accounting for demand affects the efficiency of conservation in capturing both human benefits and biodiversity by comparing conservation priorities identified with and without accounting for demand. We mapped supply and benefit for 3 ecosystem services (flood mitigation, crop pollination, and nature-based recreation) by adapting existing ecosystem service models to include and exclude factors representing human demand. We then identified conservation priorities for each with the conservation planning program Marxan. Particularly for flood mitigation and crop pollination, supply served as a poor proxy for benefit because demand changed the spatial distribution of ecosystem service provision. Including demand when jointly targeting biodiversity and ecosystem service increased the efficiency of conservation efforts targeting ecosystem services without reducing biodiversity outcomes. Our results highlight the importance of incorporating demand when quantifying ecosystem services for conservation planning.     

A Retrospective Evaluation of the Global Decline of Carnivores and Ungulates

Assessing temporal changes in species extinction risk is necessary for measuring conservation success or failure and for directing conservation resources toward species or regions that would benefit most. Yet, there is no long‐term picture of genuine change that allows one to associate species extinction risk trends with drivers of change or conservation actions. Through a review of 40 years of IUCN‐related literature sources on species conservation status (e.g., action plans, red‐data books), we assigned retrospective red‐list categories to the world's carnivores and ungulates (2 groups with relatively long generation times) to examine how their extinction risk has changed since the 1970s. We then aggregated species’ categories to calculate a global trend in their extinction risk over time. A decline in the conservation status of carnivores and ungulates was underway 40 years ago and has since accelerated. One quarter of all species (n = 498) moved one or more categories closer to extinction globally, while almost half of the species moved closer to extinction in Southeast Asia. The conservation status of some species improved (toward less threatened categories), but for each species that improved in status 8 deteriorated. The status of large‐bodied species, particularly those above 100 kg (including many iconic taxa), deteriorated significantly more than small‐bodied species (below 10 kg). The trends we found are likely related to geopolitical events (such as the collapse of Soviet Union), international regulations (such as CITES), shifting cultural values, and natural resource exploitation (e.g., in Southeast Asia). Retrospective assessments of global species extinction risk reduce the risk of a shifting baseline syndrome, which can affect decisions on the desirable conservation status of species. Such assessments can help conservationists identify which conservation policies and strategies are or are not helping safeguard biodiversity and thus can improve future strategies. Una Evaluación Retrospectiva de la Declinación Global de Carnívoros y Ungulados     

Integrating Biological and Social Values When Prioritizing Places for Biodiversity Conservation

The consideration of information on social values in conjunction with biological data is critical for achieving both socially acceptable and scientifically defensible conservation planning outcomes. However, the influence of social values on spatial conservation priorities has received limited attention and is poorly understood. We present an approach that incorporates quantitative data on social values for conservation and social preferences for development into spatial conservation planning. We undertook a public participation GIS survey to spatially represent social values and development preferences and used species distribution models for 7 threatened fauna species to represent biological values. These spatially explicit data were simultaneously included in the conservation planning software Zonation to examine how conservation priorities changed with the inclusion of social data. Integrating spatially explicit information about social values and development preferences with biological data produced prioritizations that differed spatially from the solution based on only biological data. However, the integrated solutions protected a similar proportion of the species’ distributions, indicating that Zonation effectively combined the biological and social data to produce socially feasible conservation solutions of approximately equivalent biological value. We were able to identify areas of the landscape where synergies and conflicts between different value sets are likely to occur. Identification of these synergies and conflicts will allow decision makers to target communication strategies to specific areas and ensure effective community engagement and positive conservation outcomes. Integración de Valores Biológicos y Sociales al Priorizar Sitios para la Conservación de la Biodiversidad     

Managing organizations for sustainable development in emerging countries: an introduction

This introduction article is for the special issue ‘Managing organizations for sustainable development in emerging countries: natural resources, biodiversity, and climate change’ in the International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology and presents an introduction to the topics and summarizes accepted contributions in the special issue. The accepted works may contribute with organizational management in the search for more sustainable organizations. The works focus on the challenges of managing organizations in a context of degradation of natural resources, loss of biodiversity, and climate change. Accepted papers discuss these issues, based on the reality of emerging economies (e.g. Brazil, India, and China).     

Integrating livelihoods and conservation in protected areas: understanding the role and stakeholder views on prospects for non-timber forest products,a Bangladesh case study

Protected areas (PAs) represent a key global strategy in biodiversity conservation. In tropical developing countries, the management of PAs is a great challenge as many contain resources on which local communities rely. Collection and trading of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) is a well-established forest-based livelihood strategy, which has been promoted as a potential means for enhanced conservation and improved rural livelihoods in recent years, even though the sustainability or ecological implications have rarely been tested. We conducted an exploratory survey to understand the role and stakeholder views on conservation prospects and perceived ecological feasibility of NTFPs and harvesting schemes in a northeastern PA of Bangladesh, namely the Satchari National Park. Households (n?=?101) were interviewed from three different forest dependency categories, adopting a stratified random sampling approach and using a semi-structured questionnaire. The study identified 13 locally important NTFPs, with five being critically important to supporting local livelihoods. Our study suggests that collection, processing and trading in NTFPs constitutes the primary occupation for about 18% of local inhabitants and account for an estimated 19% of their cash annual income. The household consensus on issues relating to NTFPs and their prospective role in conservation was surprisingly high, with 48% of respondents believing that promotion of NTFPs in the PA could have positive conservation value. The majority (71%) of households also had some understanding of the ecological implications of NTFP harvesting, sustainability (53%) and possible management and monitoring regimes (100%). With little known about their real application in the field, our study suggests further investigations are required to understand the ecological compatibility of traditional NTFP harvesting patterns and management.