Marine Protected Areas and Dugong Conservation Along Australia's Indian Ocean Coast

/ The coastal zone of the Indian Ocean is coming under increasing pressure from human activities. Australia may be one of the few countries in this region that can afford to take adequate conservation measures in the near future. As it also has one of the longest Indian Ocean coastlines, Australia has the opportunity, and responsibility, to make a meaningful contribution to the conservation of Indian Ocean biodiversity. Threatened species, including marine turtles, inshore dolphins, and dugongs are an important component of that biodiversity. The dugong has been exterminated from several areas in the Indian Ocean, and it appears to be particularly threatened by mesh netting andhunting. Its long-term survival may depend on adequate protection in Australia, which contains the largest known Indian Ocean populations. This protection will require, in part, an appropriate system of marine protected areas (MPAs). This paper examines the adequacy of MPAs along Australia's Indian Ocean coast. Dugongs occur in two MPAs in Western Australia. The proposed expansion of the system of marine reserves is based primarily on representative samples of ecosystems from each biogeographic region. It is inadequate because it does not take into account the distribution and relative abundance of threatened species. If the conservation of biodiversity is to be maximized, the system of MPAs should incorporate both representativeness and the needs of threatened species. The level of protection provided by MPAs in Western Australia is low. Under current government policy potentially damaging activities, including commercial fishing, seismic surveys, and oil and gas drilling are permitted in protected areas.KEY WORDS: Marine protected areas; Dugongs; Western Australia; Indian Ocean; Conservation; Biodiversity     

青藏高原东北部气候变化的异质性及其成因

利用1961-2016年西宁等青藏高原东北部13个气象台站气温、降水等气象资料以及国家气候中心发布的南海季风指数、西伯利亚高压指数等大气环流特征量数据,分析近56年来气候变化与高原主体的差异性及其可能的气候成因。研究表明：近56年来青藏高原东北部气候变暖趋势十分显著,年平均气温气候倾向率高达0.39 ℃/10 a,呈现出三次明显的阶梯性增高态势,并于1994年前后发生了由冷到暖的突变,同时具有明显的空间差异性;年降水量及四季降水量均没有明显变化趋势,虽然经历了2002年左右由少到多的变化,但并未出现明显突变,年降水量具有3年、5年的准周期,而年降水日数微弱减少,降水强度呈增加趋势;该区域气候变化的年际波动主要受到东亚季风、高原季风和南海季风的年际振荡及其相互作用的影响,而西风环流的作用并不明显,植被覆盖的恢复既是对2002年以来降水量增加的具体反应,同时也对于气候变暖趋势起到了一定的缓和作用。     

Distribution of cadmium in oilseed rape and Indian mustard grown on cadmium contaminated soil

Heavy metal distribution in the specialized accumulating plants was important for phytoextraction technique. Hydroponic and pot experiment were conducted to investigated Cd phytoextraction ability and Cd distribution in the plant of oilseed rape species. The results showed that oilseed rape Chuanyou Ⅱ-10 was more effective in phytoexetraction Cd among 21 varieties of oilseed rape and indicator plant Indian mustard. Cd concentration in the shoot of Chuanyou Ⅱ-10 and Indian mustard gradually decreased with an increase in growth period, while the amount of Cd uptake increased with the increase of growth period. There was constantly decrease in Cd concentration from the base leaves to the top leaves of Chuanyou Ⅱ-10 and Indian mustard, the percentages of Cd uptake in older leaves were higher than those of younger leaves. Older leaves of Chuanyou Ⅱ-10 and Indian mustard extracted more Cd for the Cd contamination soil, leaves should as far as possible develop before they reached the soil and the older leaves were harvested in priority.     

福州城市及郊区冬、夏两季大气中多环芳烃特征研究

2010年冬、夏两季,利用大流量采样器和气相色谱-质谱联用仪(GC-MSD),分析了福州市大气中多环芳烃(PAHs)的浓度水平、分布特征及来源.结果表明,福州城郊冬、夏两季大气(颗粒相+气相)中ΣPAHs浓度范围分别为115.45～187.76ng.m-3和45.55～59.20 ng.m-3,整体而言,气相显著高于颗粒相,冬季高于夏季;冬季城区高于郊区,夏季城区则低于郊区,但城郊区差异不显著;气相中PAHs比例夏季高于冬季.整体而言,气相中PAHs主要以2～4环化合物组成,颗粒相中则以4～6环化合物为主.冬季气相中PAHs主要以3环化合物为主,夏季主要以3环和4环化合物为主;颗粒相中PAHs组成无明显的季节特征.毒性当量因子法分析表明福州市空气质量状况总体良好.来源解析表明,福州大气PAHs主要为燃烧源,福州机动车燃料以柴油为主.     

青藏高原隆升对我国西南地区气候的影响——从季风角度研究

青藏高原隆升作为新生代最重要的地质事件,对亚洲乃至全球气候演化产生了深刻的影响。我国西南地区因紧邻青藏高原、地形地貌复杂,该区青藏高原隆升的气候效应至今仍存在许多需要探讨的问题。本文通过整理总结青藏高原隆升与亚洲季风各子系统形成与发展的相关性,从季风的角度分析了高原隆升对西南地区气候的影响。主要结论如下：（1）对西南地区气候起控制性作用的东亚季风、南亚季风以及高原季风的形成与青藏高原的隆升密切相关。虽然东亚夏季偏南风在约22 Ma就因海陆差异形成,但冬季风却是在约7.2 Ma因青藏高原隆升才出现;南亚夏季风（西南季风）约在12 Ma因喜马拉雅山脉及临近山脉形成而出现,而其冬季风形成时间及原因与东亚冬季风相似,同样离不开青藏高原的隆升;高原季风形成的直接因素就是高原隆升,其约在36 Ma青藏高原主体隆升至约1500 m时才开始形成。（2）亚洲季风各子系统对西南地区的气候演变有重要影响。尽管东亚冬季风不能直接影响西南地区,但青藏高原隆升增强了海陆差异及其热源作用,在一定程度上扩大了东亚夏季风的影响范围,并给西南地区带来水汽;南亚冬季风使得西南地区变得相对寒冷干燥,而南亚夏季风因青藏高原的隆升得到进一步加强,其通过形成南北向的水汽通道成为西南地区温暖湿润气候的主导者;高原冬、夏季风随着青藏高原隆升使得西南地区季节性干冷与湿润气候的差异更加显著。     

Economic incentives drive the conversion of agriculture to aquaculture in the Indian Sundarbans: Livelihood and environmental implications of different aquaculture types

Expansion of aquaculture in the Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve (SBR) is irreversibly replacing agricultural land and the drivers of this change are disputed. Based on in-depth interviews with 67 aquaculture farmers, this paper characterizes major aquaculture types in the SBR, their impacts, and identifies drivers of conversion from agricultural land. Aquaculture types included traditional, improved-traditional, modified-extensive, and semi-intensive systems. Extensive capture of wild shrimp larvae is environmentally harmful but constitutes an important livelihood. Semi-intensive aquaculture of exotic shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) has much higher unit-area profitability than other types but involves greater financial risk. Profitability is the main driver for the transition from agriculture, but environmental factors such as lowered crop yields and cyclone impacts also contributed. Many conversions from agriculture to aquaculture are illegal according to the stakeholders. Existing legislation, if enforced, could halt the loss of agriculture, while the promotion of improved-traditional aquaculture could reduce the demand for wild seed.     

Biomass‐based targets and the management of multispecies coral reef fisheries

The failure of fisheries management among multispecies coral reef fisheries is well documented and has dire implications for the 100 million people engaged in these small‐scale operations. Weak or missing management institutions, a lack of research capacity, and the complex nature of these ecosystems have heralded a call for ecosystem‐based management approaches. However, ecosystem‐based management of coral reef fisheries has proved challenging due to the multispecies nature of catches and the diversity of fish functional roles. We used data on fish communities collected from 233 individual sites in 9 western Indian Ocean countries to evaluate changes in the site's functional composition and associated life‐history characteristics along a large range of fish biomass. As biomass increased along this range, fish were larger and grew and matured more slowly while the abundance of scraping and predatory species increased. The greatest changes in functional composition occurred below relatively low standing stock biomass (<600 kg/ha); abundances of piscivores, apex predators, and scraping herbivores were low at very light levels of fishing. This suggests potential trade‐offs in ecosystem function and estimated yields for different management systems. Current fishing gear and area restrictions are not achieving conservation targets (proposed here as standing stock biomass of 1150 kg/ha) and result in losses of life history and ecological functions. Fish in reefs where destructive gears were restricted typically had very similar biomass and functions to young and low compliance closures. This indicates the potentially important role of fisheries restrictions in providing some gains in biomass and associated ecological functions when fully protected area enforcement potential is limited and likely to fail. Our results indicate that biomass alone can provide broad ecosystem‐based fisheries management targets that can be easily applied even where research capacity and information is limited. Of particular value, is our finding that current management tools may be used to reach key ecosystem‐based management targets, enabling ecosystem‐based management in many socioeconomic contexts.     

An Analysis of the Daily Radial Activity of 7 Boreal Tree Species, Northwestern Quebec

In the `Des Vieux Arbres' ecological reserve situated within northwestern Québec, 40 band dendrometers were installedon 7 of the major boreal tree species. The late Spring–early Summer daily radial activity registered in 1997 was related todaily weather variables. For each tree species, the daily mean i) cumulative radial increment and ii) radial activity indexedseries obtained by first-difference standardization were analyzed. The results indicate the existence of strong similarities among the 7 species. All showed strong synchronousfluctuations in radius during late winter and early spring. Thisperiod ended with a short but sharp increase in radial increments that marked the passage of water into the stem. Thisinitial swelling, less obvious in Pinus species was followed by a prolonged period of little change in radial activity. Meteorological data indicated that air temperature waspositively related to stem swelling during the late winter–earlyspring period. Both air and soil temperatures became negatively related to radial expansion once the passage of water has occurred in the stem. Starting in early June, all species registered a sustained increase in radial increments possiblyassociated with active cell division. After this, radial expansion was negatively related to air temperature and positively to rainfall.     

Variation in spatial pattern of criteria air pollutants before and during initial rain of monsoon

Spatial patterns of various criteria air pollutants,like SO₂, NO₂, O₃, and TSP were studied atShahdara National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring stationin Delhi (India) in July 1999. The minimum pollutantconcentrations were observed during morning hours,whereas the highest concentrations were found during thelate night hours, which seem to be related with thevehicular emission. Pre-monsoon daily ambient airquality spatial pattern was compared with the spatialpattern during initial and subsequent rain shower ofmonsoon. These spatial patterns were found to beessentially the same before and during rain, however asignificant decrease in SO₂, NO₂ and TSPconcentrations (40-45%) was observed after initial andsubsequent rains of the monsoon, demonstrating theimportance of rainfall in the scavenging of thesecriteria air pollutants.     

Precipitation and aerosol studies in India

In India, rain water and atmospheric aerosols are observed to bealkaline in nature due to the influence of soil-derivedparticles which are rich in components like Ca and Mg. Thesecomponents increase the neutralization potential of rain waterand have a greater influence at rural site compared to urbansite. However, if there are continuous rains, the concentrationof crustal components becomes lower resulting in lower pH ofrain water. Unlike the characteristics of rain water oncontinent, the pH of rain water has been observed to be acidicin all the events over the Indian Ocean during Pre-campaigns ofIndian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX). The possible reason for acidicrains over Indian Ocean could be the anthropogenic contributionfrom continent transported by NE winds coming towards the oceanduring this period.