Land-use dynamics in a southern Illinois (USA) watershed

The Cache River of southernmost Illinois is used as a case study for developing and demonstrating an approach to quantitatively link (1) national agricultural policy and global agricultural markets, (2) landowner's decisions on land use, (3) spatial patterns of land use at a watershed scale, and (4) hydrologic impacts, thus providing a basis to predict, under a certain set of circumstances, the environmental consequences of economic and political decisions made at larger spatial scales. The heart of the analysis is an estimation, using logistic regression, of the affect of crop prices and Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) rental rates on farmland owner's decisions whether to reenroll in the CRP or return to crop production. This analysis shows that reasonable ranges for crop prices (80%–150% of 1985–1995 values) and CRP rental rates (0–125% of 1985–1995 rates) result in a range of 3%–92% of CRP lands being returned to crop production, with crop prices having a slightly greater effect than CRP rental rates. Four crop price/CRP rental rate scenarios are used to display resulting land-use patterns, and their effect on sediment loads, a critical environmental quality parameter in this case, using the agricultural non point source (AGNPS) model. These scenarios demonstrate the importance of spatial pattern of land uses on hydrological and ecological processes within watersheds. The approach developed can be adapted for use by local governments and watershed associations whose goals are to improve watershed resources and environmental quality.     

Home Range Size and Choice of Management Strategy for Lynx in Scandinavia

Annual and seasonal home ranges were calculated for 47 Eurasian lynx in four Scandinavian study sites (two in Sweden and two in Norway). The observed home ranges were the largest reported for the species, with study site averages ranging from 600 to 1400 km² for resident males and from 300 to 800 km² for resident females. When home range sizes were compared to the size of protected areas (national parks and nature reserves) in Scandinavia, it was concluded that very few protected areas contained sufficient forest to provide space for more than a few individuals. As a direct consequence of this, most lynx need to be conserved in the multiuse seminatural forest habitats that cover large areas in Scandinavia. This conservation strategy leads to a number of conflicts with some land uses (sheep and semidomestic reindeer herding, and roe deer hunters), but not all (forestry and moose harvest). Accordingly research must be aimed at understanding the ecology of these conflicts, and finding solutions.     

Ecological Compensation in Dutch Highway Planning

The ecological compensation principle was introduced by the Dutch government in 1993. This principle is designed to enhance the input of nature conservation interests in decision-making on large-scale development projects and to counterbalance the ecological impacts of such developments when implemented. This article evaluates the application of the Dutch compensation principle in highway planning. Six current highway projects reveal consistent implementation of this principle, although provincial policies on compensation and a national method for identifying compensation measures are still under development. As the planning process has not yet been completed for all the projects, no general conclusions can be drawn on the impact of the compensation principle on highway decision-making. Nevertheless, several examples show that the principle stimulates project initiators to develop alternative routes or route sections in order to avoid or reduce ecological impacts and the need for coherent compensation measures. If the compensation principle is to be properly implemented in the context of highway planning, particular attention should be paid to the following aspects: (1) sequential assessment of overall project legitimacy and the necessity of intersecting protected areas and compensation measures, (2) the initiator's attempts to avoid and mitigate ecological impacts in developing alternative routes prior to compensation for impacts, and (3) the role of uncertain ecological impacts in identifying compensation measures, especially those concerning habitat isolation.     

贵清山自然保护区生物多样性现状和可持续发展对策

贵清山自然保护区位于甘肃省漳县境内西南部,地处秦岭-青藏高原-黄土高原的交汇地段,具有丰富的生物多样性,已发现的高等植物有503种,野生哺乳动物有51种,鸟类有168种,两栖类动物有10种,爬行类动物有9种;中国植被区划上,属于亚热带常绿阔叶林区域、暖温带落叶阔叶林区域、温带草原区域和青藏高原高寒植被区域的交汇区,植物区系复杂,物种组成以草本植物为主;哺乳动物和鸟类区系组成以古北界占优势,而两栖爬行类动物中以东洋界物种占优势.在分析了动植物物种分布的区系特征后,探索性地提出了加强生物多样性保护和可持续发展对策.      

克拉克凝析气田开发建设对胡杨林保护区植被的影响

通过对塔里木胡杨自然保护区内吉拉克凝析气田建设进行的生态调查,论述了区域内的植被分布状况和生长特点,对植被生长的地理区域进行了研究,通过对吉拉克凝析气田开发建设对塔里木胡杨自然保护区植被的影响分析,提出了相应的恢复保护措施和建议。     

江苏泗洪洪泽湖湿地自然保护区生态服务功能价值评估

在野外实际调查基础上,运用市场价值、影子工程、旅行费用等方法对江苏泗洪洪泽湖湿地自然保护区生态服务功能进行价值评估.结果显示,该保护区生态服务功能年均总价值约为13.97亿元,占泗洪县2005年国民生产总值的20.82%.重要物种栖息地、水分调节以及大气调节生态服务功能价值分别占总价值的27.49%、25.27%、19.33%,是该保护区的主要核心服务功能.泗洪湿地单位面积生态服务功能价值为28 299元·hm-2·a-1,分别为全球和中国湿地平均单位价值的4.09倍、4.85倍.在发展当地经济过程中,必须从该保护区湿地生态系统的基本特征出发,科学合理地保护、开发湿地资源.     

The near-closure of a lagoon in western Iceland: how accurate were predictions of impacts on environment and biota?

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) project instigated in connection with the near-closure of the large fjord-like lagoon Gilsfjörður in sub-arctic western Iceland with a road is described and discussed. Three phases were involved: a survey of pre-impact conditions of areas possibly affected as well as control areas, predictions of impacts of the road, and assessment of impacts up to 5–6 years after completion of the project. Emphasis was placed on birds and benthic flora and fauna. Although several predictions were upheld, others were not. The most unexpected changes were the elimination of kelp forest and some associated fauna inside the road as well as from large areas outside it. Feeding areas of the knot (Calidris canutus) and female eiders (Somateria mollissima) with ducklings also changed in unexpected ways. Unforeseen changes can partly be traced to inadequate knowledge of communities and their functioning in the area. The ecological requirements of many species involved, e.g. with respect to salinity, were imperfectly known. The predictions of engineers on the effects of the project on physical factors were not as accurate or detailed as desired. Some critical predictions of the engineers failed to make an impact on the ecologists, who then failed to predict some major changes in the biota, such as the disappearance of kelp forest outside the road. This study highlights some problems probably shared by many EIAs: (a) the near impossibility of finding suitable control areas, (b) the lack of ecological understanding of even common species, and possibly (c) inadequate communication between engineers and ecologists.     

涉及国家级自然保护区建设项目的累积生态影响研究

通过对近一年来我国涉及国家级自然保护区建设项目的统计分析,探析了多个建设项目对单个自然保护区累积生态影响的具体内容,并以内蒙古西鄂尔多斯国家级自然保护区为例,探讨了累积生态影响的评价方法。最后为严格控制建设项目对国家级自然保护区的累加生态影响,提出了4条有针对性的建议对策。     

Citizens of local jurisdictions enhance plant community preservation through ballot initiatives and voter-driven conservation efforts

Open space areas protected by local communities may augment larger scale preservation efforts and may offer overlooked benefits to biodiversity conservation provided they are in suitable ecological condition. We examine protected areas established by local communities through ballot initiatives, a form of direct democracy, in California, USA. We compare ecological conditions of wooded habitats on local ballot protected sites and on sites protected by a state-level conservation agency. Collectively, we found few differences in ecological conditions on each protected area type. Ballot sites had greater invasive understory cover and larger trees. Community dissimilarity patterns suggested ballot sites protect a complementary set of tree species to those on state lands. Overall, geographic characteristics influenced onsite conditions more than details of how sites were protected. Thus, community-driven conservation efforts contribute to protected area networks by augmenting protection of some species while providing at least some protection to others that might otherwise be missed.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01469-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

扎龙湿地丹顶鹤繁殖栖息地的选择及扩散

景观演变对野生动物栖息地质量和连接度造成的影响,一直是威胁全球生物多样性保护的关键问题,开展扎龙湿地丹顶鹤（Grus japonensis）繁殖栖息地选择及繁殖期生境间的扩散研究,对野生丹顶鹤的保护具有重要的意义。首先利用需要“出现点”的生态位MAXENT模型,进行适宜栖息地选择研究。从水源、食物、干扰、隐蔽物四个方面选择明水面距离、土壤湿度、NDVI、道路距离和居民地距离五个环境变量作为丹顶鹤繁殖栖息地选择的影响因子,预测扎龙保护区可供丹顶鹤进行营巢繁殖的栖息地分布,并分析各影响因子的反应曲线。结果显示：丹顶鹤易于选择远离道路和居民地干扰且靠近明水面的区域作为营巢栖息地,栖息地土壤湿度较高并且植被覆盖较多。从MAXENT模型中提取了38个适宜栖息地斑块,基于电路理论模拟丹顶鹤繁殖期失去飞行能力时的多路径扩散,最大电流密度图突出了可能的“夹点”,模拟出具有一定宽度范围的连接区域,可供丹顶鹤在繁殖期间进行扩散。累积电流密度图突出了在维持网络连通性方面起到积极作用的斑块,并进行面积加权来评估适宜栖息地斑块的综合重要性。结果表明,在MAXENT模型预测出的适宜栖息地斑块基础上,考虑丹顶鹤繁殖期的迁移扩散行为,利用累积电流密度面积加权来评估适宜栖息地斑块的综合重要性,得到的适宜性等级更符合丹顶鹤真实巢址的分布。研究成果可为保护区丹顶鹤栖息繁殖生境的恢复和保护提供科学依据。