Using GIS to Generate Spatially Balanced Random Survey Designs for Natural Resource Applications

Sampling of a population is frequently required to understand trends and patterns in natural resource management because financial and time constraints preclude a complete census. A rigorous probability-based survey design specifies where to sample so that inferences from the sample apply to the entire population. Probability survey designs should be used in natural resource and environmental management situations because they provide the mathematical foundation for statistical inference. Development of long-term monitoring designs demand survey designs that achieve statistical rigor and are efficient but remain flexible to inevitable logistical or practical constraints during field data collection. Here we describe an approach to probability-based survey design, called the Reversed Randomized Quadrant-Recursive Raster, based on the concept of spatially balanced sampling and implemented in a geographic information system. This provides environmental managers a practical tool to generate flexible and efficient survey designs for natural resource applications. Factors commonly used to modify sampling intensity, such as categories, gradients, or accessibility, can be readily incorporated into the spatially balanced sample design.     

中国旅游业绿色发展效率时空演变特征及影响机理

绿色发展是旅游业可持续发展理念的重要组成部分,是旅游业奉行以人为本、生态至上和全面发展的新价值观。在梳理旅游业绿色发展概念及内涵基础上,构建旅游业绿色发展效率评价体系,运用SBM-Undersirable模型、核密度估计、空间马尔科夫链等方法,探讨2008—2018年中国31个省（市、自治区）旅游业绿色发展效率（TGDE）时空演化特征及影响机理。研究发现：（1）时间和空间变化方面,TGDE总体处于中等偏下水平,时间上呈“W”型变化形态,“下降—上升—调整”阶段特征显著;空间呈“东—中—西”递减分布,内部差异为西部地区>东部地区>中部地区,低、中、高效率由“金字塔”向“菱形”结构转变,高效率地区集中于东部沿海,中等效率多分布于中西部地区,低效率位于胡焕庸线两侧。（2）动态演进方面,TGDE始终存在两极分化现象,但区域协调性逐步增强,具有较强平稳性,难以实现跨越式发展,空间向上转移省份比较集中,以中西部为主,向下调整省份较少,且存在明显的空间溢出效应,溢出影响具有不对称性。（3）影响机理方面,总体上,经济水平、产业结构、政府规制、教育水平和旅游资源影响因子与TGDE间存在显著的正向关系,对外开放程度的作用不显著,但各因子的影响程度、作用机理及条件具有较强地域性。     

Medium Scale Spatial Structures of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the Topsoil of Tianjin Area

The spatial distribution patterns of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soil are important to regional environmental assessment. In this paper, the spatial structural features of sixteen prior PAH compounds in the topsoil of Tianjin area, as well as soil properties, were studied. Results shown that medium scale spatial autocorrelations were well revealed. Spherical models with sills could be used to fit all experimental variograms. The spatial structures of PAHs contents demonstrated significant anisotropy. Air precipitation caused by the combustion of coal was the key factor in the formation of the spatial structural patterns of PAHs in the topsoil of Tianjin area.     

北京山区主体功能区协调发展的区域背景分析

主体功能区划主要在于解决区域问题，用科学发展观协调区域发展。本文从区域发展的整体性出发，用空间发展的相互作用理论分析了北京山区各主体功能区协调发展的区域背景。     

Hunting in unfamiliar space: echolocation in the Indian false vampire bat, Megaderma lyra, when gleaning prey

The literature suggests that in familiar laboratory settings, Indian false vampire bats (Megaderma lyra, family Megadermatidae) locate terrestrial prey with and without emitting echolocation calls in the dark and cease echolocating when simulated moonlit conditions presumably allow the use of vision. More recent laboratory-based research suggests that M. lyra uses echolocation throughout attacks but at emission rates much lower than those of other gleaning bats. We present data from wild-caught bats hunting for and capturing prey in unfamiliar conditions mimicking natural situations. By varying light level and substrate complexity we demonstrated that hunting M. lyra always emit echolocation calls and that emission patterns are the same regardless of light/substrate condition and similar to those of other wild-caught gleaning bats. Therefore, echoic information appears necessary for this species when hunting in unfamiliar situations, while, in the context of past research, echolocation may be supplanted by vision, spatial memory or both in familiar spaces.Communicated by T. Czeschlik     

Leaching of atrazine, metolachlor and diuron in the field in relation to their injection depth into a silt loam soil

A field experiment was conducted on a Calcaric Cambisol soil to study the consequences of the penetration depth and properties of pesticides on the risk of subsequent leaching. Three pesticides with different mobility characteristics and bromide were injected at 30 cm (where soil organic matter (OM) was 2%) and 80 cm (soil OM 0.5%) on irrigated plots without a crop. The migration of injected solutes was assessed for two years by sampling the soil solution using six porous cups installed at 50 and 150 cm depth and by relating solute contents to drainage water flux estimated by the STICS model (Simulateur mulTIdisciplinaire pour les Cultures Standard). Pesticides injected at 30 cm were strongly retained so that no metolachlor or diuron was detected at 50 and 150 cm. The ratio of atrazine peak concentration in the soil solution to concentration in the injected solution (C/C₀) was 1 × 10⁻³ and 0.2 × 10⁻³, respectively, at 50 and 150 cm. When injected at 80 cm, (C/C₀) of atrazine, metolachlor and diuron were 10 × 10⁻³, 1 × 10⁻³ and 0.3 × 10⁻³ at 150 cm, respectively; 1/(C/C₀) was correlated with K_oc values reported from databases. The ratio of drainage volume to the amount of water at field capacity in the soil layer between the injection point at 30 cm and the water sampling level (V/V₀) at 50 and 150 cm was 0.6 and 0.9, respectively, for bromide and 1.6 and 1.0 for atrazine. V/V₀ of the injected solutes at 80 cm was for bromide, atrazine, metolachlor and diuron 0.6, 0.9, 1.2 and 1.7, respectively; pesticide V/V₀ was correlated with K_oc. The retardation factor was a good indicator of migration risk, but tended to overestimate retardation of molecules with high K_oc. Atrazine desorption represented an additional leaching risk as a source of prolonged low contamination. The large variability in soil solution of bromide and pesticide concentrations in the horizontal plane was attributed to flow paths and clods in the tilled soil layer. This heterogeneity was assumed to channel water fluxes into restricted areas and thereby increase the risk of groundwater contamination. The methodology used in the field proves to provide consistent results.     

Spatial interactions in habitat conservation: Evidence from prairie pothole easements

We examine the role of spatial interactions in conservation easements placed on prairie pothole habitat in western Canada. One of the goals of the conservation easement program we study is to protect contiguous habitat. We identify endogenous spatial interactions among conservation easements and government protected land, independent of spatially correlated landscape features and local economic shocks that influence easement enrollment. We present evidence that easements increase the likelihood of subsequent easements on neighboring land. Government-protected land appears to have little effect on the location of conservation easements. These results imply that conservation agencies have leveraged past conservation investment to enroll more contiguous habitat in permanent easements through a combination of targeting and positive social interactions among neighboring landowners.     

On the Estimation of Dispersal Kernels from Individual Mark-Recapture Data

We present a new method for estimating a distribution of dispersal displacements (a dispersal kernel) from mark-recapture data. One conventional method of calculating the dispersal kernel assumes that the distribution of displacements are Gaussian (e.g. resulting from a diffusion process) and that individuals remain within sampled areas. The first assumption prohibits an analysis of dispersal data that do not exhibit the Gaussian distribution (a common situation); the second assumption leads to underestimation of dispersal distance because individuals that disperse outside of sampling areas are never recaptured. Our method eliminates these two assumptions. In addition, the method can also accommodate mortality during a sampling period. This new method uses integrodifference equations to express the probability of spatial mark-recapture data; associated dispersal, survival, and recapture parameters are then estimated using a maximum likelihood method. We examined the accuracy of the estimators by applying the method to simulated data sets. Our method suggests designs for future mark-recapture experiments. Received: January 2004 / Revised: July 2005     

Scenarios of major terrestrial ecosystems in China

The spatial pattern and mean-center shift of major terrestrial ecosystems, termed Holdridge Life Zones (HLZ), during the periods from 1961 to 1990 (T1), from 2010 to 2039 (T2), from 2040 to 2069 (T3) and from 2070 to 2099 (T4) were analyzed by combining the zonal patterns of climatic change in China and the climatic change scenarios of HadCM2 and HadCM3. The results showed that nival area would decrease rapidly with temperature increase in the future. HadCM2 and HadCM3 predicted that the nival areas might disappear in 552 years and 204 years, respectively. Using both HadCM2 and HadCM3, the five HLZ types with the largest areal extent are nival zone, cool temperate moist forest, warm temperate moist forest, subtropical moist forest and boreal wet forest, which collectively account for more than 50% of China's land mass. Among these five HLZ types, nival zone, warm temperate moist forest and boreal wet forest would decrease continuously, whereas subtropical moist forest and cool temperate forest would increase continuously during the four periods. HLZ diversity and patch connectivity would increase continuously in the 21st century. The shift distances of mean centers of HLZ types simulated using HadCM3 were markedly greater than those simulated using HadCM2, in general. The results from both HadCM2 and HadCM3 showed that boreal wet forest, subtropical moist forest, tropical dry forest, warm temperate moist forest and subtropical wet forest had bigger shift ranges, indicating that these HLZ types are more sensitive to the climatic change scenarios of HadCM2 and HadCM3.     

Model-based combination of spatial information for stream networks

Evolutionary improvements in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) now routinely allow the management and mapping of spatial-temporal information. In response, the development of statistical models to combine information of different types and spatial support is of vital importance to environmental science. In this paper we develop a hierarchical spatial statistical model for environmental indicators of stream and river systems in the United States Mid-Atlantic Region by combining information from separate monitoring surveys, available contextual information on hydrologic units and remote sensing information. These models are used to estimate the indicators throughout the riverine system based on information from multiple sources and aggregate scales. The analysis is based on information underlying the Landscape Atlas of the mid-Atlantic region produced by the US Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP). We also combine information from two overlapping separate monitoring surveys, the EMAP Stream and River Survey and the Maryland Biological Streams Survey. We present a general framework for comparative distributional analysis based on the concept of a relative spatial distribution. As an application, the spatial model is used to predict spatial distributions and relative spatial distributions for a watershed.