A weed risk assessment model for use as a biosecurity tool evaluating plant introductions

New plant taxa from around the world continue to be imported into Australia and New Zealand. Many of these taxa have the potential to become agricultural or environmental weeds and this risk needs to be assessed before allowing their entry. A weed risk assessment system is described that uses information on a taxon's current weed status in other parts of the world, climate and environmental preferences, and biological attributes. The system is designed to be operated by quarantine personnel via a user-friendly computer interface.The model was tested against experts' scores for weediness for 370 taxa present in Australia, representing both weeds and useful taxa from agriculture, the environment, and other sectors. The model was judged on its ability to correctly ‘reject’ weeds, ‘accept’ non-weeds, and generate a low proportion of taxa which could not be decisively categorised, termed ‘evaluate’. More than 70% of the taxa were rejected or accepted. All taxa classified as serious weeds, and most minor weeds, were rejected or required further evaluation, while only 7% of non-weeds were rejected. The model was modified to New Zealand conditions and evaluated against the opinions of several groups of experts and against economic measures. The model produced a weediness score very similar to the mean of the experts scores. The latter were highly variable: agriculturalists tended to accept known weeds, conservationists tended to reject most adventive taxa, and only botanists produced scores similar to the model. The model scores also tended to be independent of economic value as measured in this study. The model could be adapted for use as a screening tool in any region of the world.     

新西兰猕猴桃科研和产业化状况

通过对新西兰猕猴桃的考察,本文介绍了新西兰猕猴桃的科研、产业化状况及市场情况。     

Forests under the Southern Cross: The forest environmental frontier in Australia and New Zealand

Australia and New Zealand share many historical and contemporary commonalities. These define five contemporary forest environmental frontiers—for First Nations peoples, between agriculture and forestry, in forest management, in urban and peri-urban environments, and in relation to climate change. In both countries, the First Nations frontier is expanding in scale and significance with those peoples’ rights to land and forests. Frontiers with agriculture and in forest management are longstanding but dynamic and as yet little realised in relation to the need for forest and landscape restoration. Both countries are highly urbanised, elevating the significance of the urban and peri-urban frontier, particularly in the context of climate change. In both countries, forests will be profoundly impacted by climate change and are central to mitigation and adaptation strategies. Experience within and intersections between the frontiers offer encouraging prospects for synergies and for learning between the two countries and more widely.     

华北地区城市绿地固碳能力测算研究

文章通过对位于华北地区的7个案例的城市绿地植被固碳能力的研究,形成一套系统的计算方法.结果表明:适用于雄安新区的城市绿地单位面积固碳能力约为2.62 kg/a m2;各个植被群落的固碳能力从大到小依次为乔木(2.66kg/am2)、灌木(2.59kg/a·m2)、地被(2.01 kg/a·m2).研究结果将为实现城市绿...     

Interdependence with the environment: Commitment,interconnectedness, and environmental behavior

Do individuals’ perceptions of their interdependence with the natural environment affect their environmental behaviors? From the perspective of interdependence theory, we introduce a scale to measure commitment to the natural environment. In Study 1, higher levels of commitment to the environment and greater inclusion of nature in the self separately predicted higher levels of pro-environmental behavior, even when controlling for social desirability and ecological worldview. In Study 2, participants primed to experience high commitment to the environment reported greater levels of pro-environmental behavioral intentions as well as pro-environmental behavior relative to participants primed to experience low commitment to the environment. Commitment to the natural environment is a new theoretical construct that predicts environmental behavior.     

Granulometric and Metal Distributions for Post‐Katrina Surficial Particulate Matter Recovered From New Orleans1

Bhadha, Jehangir H., Casey Schmidt, Robert Rooney, Paul Indeglia, Ruben Kertesz, Elizabeth Bevc, and John Sansalone, 2009. Granulometric and Metal Distributions for Post‐Katrina Surficial Particulate Matter Recovered From New Orleans. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 45(6):1434‐1447. Abstract: Hurricane Katrina and the resulting failure of the levees that surrounded and protected New Orleans generated a significant detained volume of stormwater within the urban area of New Orleans. Between the inundation resulting from levee failure and eventual pumped evacuation of stormwater from the urban area of New Orleans, a large mass of storm‐entrained particulate matter (PM) was deposited in the inundated areas. This study examined the granulometry and granulometric distribution of metals for post‐Katrina surficial PM deposits recovered from 15 sites (10 inundated and 5 non‐inundated) in New Orleans. Results of this examination were compared to pre‐Katrina data from New Orleans. While post‐Katrina analysis of PM indicates that Pb, Zn, and Cu concentrations for PM are reduced for all sites, inundated sites had higher Cu, Pb, and Zn concentrations for the settleable (～25‐75 μm) and sediment (>75 μm) size fractions. A comparison between total metal concentration and the bioavailable (leachable) fraction for PM reveals that inundated sites had up to 19% higher leachable metal concentration compared to non‐inundated sites. The reduction in PM‐bound total metal concentrations for recovered PM can be explained through a combination of scouring (and therefore change in granulometry from pre‐Katrina) that resulted from transport of suspended PM by storm flows and pumped evacuation; as well as leaching and PM‐based redistribution from extended contact with rainfall and during stormwater detention. New Orleans has been exposed to elevated levels of metals through decades of activities that include vehicular transportation, chemical, industrial, and oil production facilities resulting in higher metal concentrations for urban soil‐residual complexes. As a result, the influent storm flows associated with Katrina as an episodic event cannot solely explain the distribution and fate of PM‐associated metal concentrations.     

县市域边界地区协调发展研究——以浙江省尖山-南北湖地区为例

随着经济全球化进程的加快,区域协调发展的要求变得日益迫切。作为地理微观区域,县市域边界地区的协调管理尤其困难,在相关研究中还容易被忽略。以CBRs理论为指导,结合浙江省尖山-南北湖地区协调发展实例,对县市域边界地区协调发展的机制进行深入分析,构建了发展机制框架体系。尖山南北湖地区是典型的微观跨边界地区,在空间、功能上都具有协调发展的基础。由于行政体制的分割,现有的规划更加关注自身发展的需求,缺少区域整体统筹发展的眼光,造成了产业定位相互冲突,交通衔接不畅,生态环境共同保护意识不到位等问题。通过对问题的分析,在协调发展机制框架基础上,提出协调发展规划方案,以期通过规划的手段使问题得以解决和落实,希望对微观区域的协调发展研究有所启迪     

“My garden is an expression of me”: Exploring householders' relationships with their gardens

Domestic gardens offer immense potential as sites for native biodiversity conservation. In urban areas they often comprise the largest land use, thus presenting an accessible and immediate way for urban dwellers to connect with nature and to support and enhance native biodiversity. This paper presents findings from a study of 55 domestic gardens undertaken in Dunedin, New Zealand, which explores householders' relationships with their gardens. The study data was derived from two interviews with householders, two photo exercises (approximately a year apart), together with a number of biological studies of the gardens. Gardens proved to be very important for our householders; for physical and mental health, as an expression of ownership and identity, as sites for social relationships, for connecting with nature and as site of domestic produce production. Householders' connections with nature were idiosyncratic, multifaceted and exhibited in ways that are more complex and varied than those usually considered by those working in the natural sciences and indeed biophilia supporters. We emphasize the importance of the people side of nature in seeking to build and support positive ecological change in the urban environment and the value of combining natural and social science approaches.     

湖北省县域迁入人口的空间格局及影响因素

利用第五次和第六次人口普查分县资料,分析湖北省县际迁入人口的空间格局及变化,探讨迁入人口空间格局形成的内生机制。研究发现,2000年以来迁入人口向地级市市辖区以及与其邻接的地区集中,县际分布差异扩大,但是空间集聚程度下降,以武汉市为中心的"中心-外围"空间格局日益明显。在地区名义工资和社会发展水平等其他条件不变的情况下,差异化工业制成品和服务业产品的可获得性是人口迁入的重要原因。而推进区域一体化可以提高本地对差异化产品的可获得性,吸引人口迁入,进而诱发人口与产业向本地同向集聚。     

Impediments to recovery in New Orleans' Upper and Lower Ninth Ward: one year after Hurricane Katrina

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a rapid succession of plans put forward a host of recovery options for the Upper and Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans. Much of the debate focused on catastrophic damage to residential structures and discussions of the capacity of low-income residents to repair their neighbourhoods. This article examines impediments to the current recovery process of the Upper and Lower Ninth Ward, reporting results of an October 2006 survey of 3,211 plots for structural damage, flood damage and post-storm recovery. By examining recovery one year after Hurricane Katrina, and by doing so in the light of flood and structural damage, it is possible to identify impediments to recovery that may disproportionately affect these neighbourhoods. This paper concludes with a discussion of how pre- and post-disaster inequalities have slowed recovery in the Lower Ninth Ward and of the implications this has for post-disaster recovery planning there and elsewhere.