Water Footprint of the Palestinians in the West Bank1

Abstract: Water in the West Bank of Palestine is a key issue due to its limited availability. Water is used from own sources for domestic, industrial, and agricultural purposes. Moreover, water is consumed in its virtual form through consumption of imported goods, such as crops and livestock, the production of which used water in the country of production. In addition, wastewater in many parts of the West Bank is disposed off without treatment into the wadis, deteriorating the quality of the water resources in the area and, therefore, further reducing the quantity of good quality water available. This paper calculates the water footprint for the West Bank. The consumption component of the water footprint of the West Bank was found to be 2,791 million m³/year. Approximately 52% of this is virtual water consumed through imported goods. The West Bank per capita consumption component of the water footprint was found to be 1,116 m³/cap/year, while the global average is 1,243 m³/cap/year. Out of this number 50 m³/cap/year was withdrawn from water resources available in the area. Only 16 m³/cap/year (1.4%) was used for domestic purposes. This number is extremely low and only 28% of the global average and 21% of the Israeli domestic water use. The contamination component of the water footprint was not quantified but was believed to be many times larger than the consumption component. According to the official definition of water scarcity, the West Bank is suffering from a severe water scarcity. Therefore, there is a need for a completely new approach towards water management in the West Bank, whereby return flows are viewed as a resource and that is geared towards a conservation oriented approach of “use, treat, and reuse.”     

黑水河干旱河谷沿程土壤物理参数梯度变化特征研究

横断山区干旱河谷是具有典型的旱季和雨季的特殊气候特征的区域,本区域土壤退化和荒漠化极大制约了区域农业的发展。本文研究了金沙江干热河谷区支流黑水河从源头到河口未扰动土壤的物理参数变化特征。结果表明,沿河土壤物理呈现不同变化趋势,砾石在中游部分河段和河口段高,而〉5mm团聚体的变化则相反;5～1mm的团聚体变化不大;〈1mm团聚体河口和源头段高于其余地段;土壤容重沿程增大,非饱和导水率源头地段土壤最高。本研究初步揭示了干旱河谷土壤不均匀,不同水热条件及其组合可能对退化程度有至关重要的影响。这表明横断山区不同的干旱河谷地段土壤和植被退化途径、退化特征和退化过程不同,开发和治理途径与方式也应当不同。     

Audience segmentation to improve targeting of conservation interventions for hunters

Audience segmentation could help improve the effectiveness of conservation interventions. Marketers use audience segmentation to define the target audience of a campaign. The technique involves subdividing a general population into groups that share similar profiles, such as sociodemographic or behavioral characteristics. Interventions are then designed to target the group or groups of interest. We explored the potential of audience segmentation for use in defining conservation target groups with a case study of hunters in Liberia. Using 2 data sets describing households (n = 476) and hunters (n = 205), we applied a clustering method in which infinite binomial mixture models group hunters and households according to livelihood and behavior variables and a simple method to define target groups based on hunting impact (hunting households and high-impact hunters). Clusters of hunters and households differed in their experiences with confiscation of catch at roadblocks and participation in livelihood-support programs, indicating that these interventions operate unevenly across subsets of the population. By contrast, the simple method masked these insights because profiles of hunting households and high-impact hunters were similar to those of the general population. Clustering results could be used to guide the development of livelihood and regulatory interventions. For example, a commonly promoted agricultural activity, cocoa farming, was practiced by only 2% (out of 87) of the largest hunter cluster of nonlocal gun hunters but was prevalent among local trappers, suggesting that assistance aimed at cocoa farmers is less appropriate for the former group. Our results support the use of audience segmentation across multiple variables to improve targeted intervention designs in conservation.     

Modeling military trampling effects on glacial soils in the humid continental climate of southern New York

The purpose of this research is to create a baseline model of soil compaction response to trampling and a methodology to model the effects of trampling on soil. Although trampling studies have been conducted in the past, the analysis of military training in part provides a different perspective and approach. The data showed bulk densities remained relatively constant for a time and then began to increase at an increasing rate for several hundred passes and finally leveled and remained at or below 1.30 g/cm3 through the remainder of the experiment. Mathematical models were created based on empirical data from a trampling experiment using a more standard logistical growth curve as well as curves based on Weibull and gamma cumulative distribution functions (CDFs). The experiment and the resulting models give quantifiable continuous inference on the effects of trampling, as opposed to the existing qualitative assessments. These baseline models will be the foundation for future studies of land management when trampling occurs.     

横断山区干旱河谷大气水资源变化特征与演变趋势研究

利用横断山区干旱河谷内24个气象站逐月降水、气温等观测资料,依托高桥浩一郎陆面蒸发公式,计算了干旱河谷区陆面蒸发、可利用降水等水资源分量,并分析了各分量的未来演变趋势。结果表明:干旱河谷区年均降水量723.7mm,而年均蒸发量高达479.5mm,降水量中有超过84.89%因蒸发而损耗;大气水资源分量P、E及PE季节变化非常明显,夏季各分量最大,多年平均值达404.9mm、239.9mm和164.8mm,各占全年的55.94%、50.04%和67.51%,而冬季各分量最小,占全年的比例也相应最小,仅为2.96%、4.06%和0.79%;大气水资源各分量年代际差异很大,20世纪60年代可利用水资源丰富,70年代相对偏少,80和90年代逐渐增加,进入21世纪后又呈现为偏少特征;未来干旱河谷区的降水量维持减少的概率较转向增加的概率要小,蒸发量将依然维持增加的趋势,而可利用水资源量会继续维持减少的倾向。     

Association of body mass with price of bushmeat in Nigeria and Cameroon

Spatially extensive patterns of bushmeat extraction (and the processes underlying these patterns) have not been explored. We used data from a large sample (n= 87) of bushmeat trading points in urban and rural localities in Nigeria and Cameroon to explore extraction patterns at a regional level. In 7,594 sample days, we observed 61,267 transactions involving whole carcasses. Rural and urban trading points differed in species for sale and in meat condition (fresh or smoked). Carcass price was principally associated with body mass, with little evidence that taxonomic group (primate, rodent, ungulate, or mammalian carnivore) affected price. Moreover, meat condition was not consistently associated with price. However, some individual species were more expensive throughout the region than would be expected for their size. Prices were weakly positively correlated with human settlement size and were highest in urban areas. Supply did not increase proportionally as human settlement size increased, such that per capita supply was significantly lower in urban centers than in rural areas. Policy options, including banning hunting of more vulnerable species (those that have low reproductive rates), may help to conserve some species consumed as bushmeat because carcass prices indicate that faster breeding, and therefore the more sustainable species, may be substituted and readily accepted by consumers.     

惠州西湖生态修复对浮游植物的影响

2007年广东惠州西湖子湖-南湖采用水生植被构建和修复等措施改变湖泊水质。通过2010年2月至11月对南湖和未修复的平湖的浮游植物群落的调查比较,研究湖泊生态系统修复对浮游植物群落结构的影响。结果表明：（1）南湖的浮游植物多样性指数高于平湖,两者峰值分别为1.93（nit）,0.88（nit）,分别在8月和2月,两湖均呈现2、8月高峰,5、11月低谷的变化特征。（2）南湖的浮游植物群落呈隐藻-绿藻（四尾栅藻Scenedesmus quadricuda）-甲藻（多甲藻Peridinium sp.）变化模式,平湖则全年以蓝藻门占绝对优势,优势种为银灰平列藻（Merismipedia sp.）和湖丝藻（Limnolothix sp.）。（3）南湖浮游植物的生物量和细胞丰度的平均值均远低于平湖。由此可知,重建水生植被为主的生态修复手段是抑制浮游植物发展和改善湖泊水环境的有效途径。     

Safeguarding livelihoods or exacerbating poverty? Artisanal mining and formalization in West Africa

In recent years, policy mechanisms to support a formalized artisanal and small‐scale mining (ASM) sector in sub‐Saharan Africa have gained increasing currency. Proponents of formalization argue that most social and environmental problems associated with the sector stem from the fact that ASM is predominantly unregulated and operates outside the legal sphere. This paper critically examines recent efforts to formalize artisanal and small‐scale mining in West Africa, drawing upon recent fieldwork carried out in Sierra Leone, Ghana and Mali. In exploring the sector's livelihood dimensions, the analysis suggests that bringing unregulated, informal mining activities into the legal domain remains a considerable challenge. The paper concludes by confirming the urgent need to refocus formalization strategies on the main livelihood challenges and constraints of small‐scale miners themselves, if poverty is to be alleviated and more benefits are to accrue to depressed communities in mineral‐rich regions.     

陕西秦岭南麓区域发展与生态效率变动研究

分析区域社会经济发展与环境的生态效率关系,描述区域发展对生态环境资源消耗和占用状况,揭示导致生态变化的重要因素,有助于为区域可持续发展政策提出奠定基础.通过对陕西秦岭南麓区域发展与生态足迹影响因素的差异性分析以及区域内2005—2014年城市发展指数CDI和生态足迹EF的测算,分析陕南三市CDI、EF和生态效率的年际变化趋势及相互影响关系.研究表明:陕南三市CDI和人均EF均呈现不断增长态势,2005—2014年,汉中市、安康市、商洛市CDI分别增长34.99%、42.91%、33.39%;人均EF分别增长66.59%、73.59%、67.04%.结果显示,陕南三市生态效率呈现先升后降的趋势,环境效率年际变化波动较大.资源效率是导致陕南三市生态效率波动变化的主要因素,与生态效率的变化趋势基本一致.化石能源消耗和建设用地占用不断增长是导致资源效率降低的主要原因.陕西秦岭南麓区域社会经济发展能力逐步增强,但资源的高消耗和占用使生态环境压力持续增大,发展循环经济、开发生态旅游等成为政策着力点.     

关帝山森林土壤真菌群落结构与遗传多样性特征

土壤微生物群落驱动土壤碳、氮、磷、硫生物地球化学循环,在维持土壤碳汇和生态系统功能等方面发挥重要的作用.分析环境与空间因素在寒温性针叶林土壤微生物群落构建中的作用,可以为区域森林生态系统管理措施的制定提供理论依据.本文利用Illumina高通量测序技术分析了关帝山庞泉沟自然保护区华北落叶松(Larix principis-rupprechtii)林、青杄(Picea wilsonii)林、油松(Pinus tabulaeformis)林以及桦树(Betula spp.)林这4种林型的5个土壤真菌群落(Lp MC1、Lp MC2、Pw MC、Pt MC和BMC)的结构.同时测定林下土壤环境因子及林下植被多样性,分析真菌群落的结构与植被和土壤环境因子的相关性.结果表明:(1)5个样地中共有7个真菌门和33个优势真菌属;(2)冗余分析结果表明:土壤pH、温度、含水率、全氮含量、NH+4含量、全碳含量、蔗糖酶活性、脲酶活性、林下植被优势度和均匀度与土壤真菌群落结构显著相关;(3)聚类分析和PCA分析结果表明,森林植被类型、土壤环境因子和林下植被对土壤真菌群落结构影响显著.(4)空间变量(PCNM)分析结果表明,在局域尺度(local scale)上扩散限制对研究区域真菌群落构建的影响不显著.本研究区森林土壤真菌群落结构主要受到环境选择(土壤pH、温度、含水率、全氮含量、NH+4含量、全碳含量、蔗糖酶活性、脲酶活性、林下植被优势度和均匀度、森林类型)的显著影响.