Uneven Environmental Management: A Canadian Perspective

Advocates of community-based approaches to environmental management argue that by respecting local circumstances, skills, and concerns we may improve the prospects of achieving environmental sustainability; yet, within nation states such as Canada, environmental conditions, management and enforcement costs and capabilities, and power differentials within and among civic and public sectors may result in a highly differentiated capacity for environmental management across different localities and regions. This article draws on insights of political ecology to 1) create a conceptual framework that identifies key elements shaping regional environmental management regimes and to 2) undertake a comparative analysis to assess how elements interact to generate uneven management outcomes. I compare experiences of two Canadian biosphere reserves designated in 2000: Clayoquot Sound, BC; and Redberry Lake, SK. Analysis reveals that differences in governance and institutional capacities in the biosphere reserves are key to explaining uneven local outcomes. Where the public and civic sectors are strong, a robust and publicly vetted form of management will emerge. Where these sectors are weak and land is held as private property, environmental nongovernmental organizations can set the type and level of management, to the exclusion of effective civic and state involvement. This result may improve environmental sustainability but hinder social sustainability of a management regime and raises questions about the efficacy of community-based management.     

Predicting Opportunities for Greening and Patterns of Vegetation on Private Urban Lands

This paper examines predictors of vegetative cover on private lands in Baltimore, Maryland. Using high-resolution spatial data, we generated two measures: “possible stewardship,” which is the proportion of private land that does not have built structures on it and hence has the possibility of supporting vegetation, and “realized stewardship,” which is the proportion of possible stewardship land upon which vegetation is growing. These measures were calculated at the parcel level and averaged by US Census block group. Realized stewardship was further defined by proportion of tree canopy and grass. Expenditures on yard supplies and services, available by block group, were used to help understand where vegetation condition appears to be the result of current activity, past legacies, or abandonment. PRIZM™ market segmentation data were tested as categorical predictors of possible and realized stewardship and yard expenditures. PRIZM™ segmentations are hierarchically clustered into 5, 15, and 62 categories, which correspond to population density, social stratification (income and education), and lifestyle clusters, respectively. We found that PRIZM 15 best predicted variation in possible stewardship and PRIZM 62 best predicted variation in realized stewardship. These results were further analyzed by regressing each dependent variable against a set of continuous variables reflective of each of the three PRIZM groupings. Housing age, vacancy, and population density were found to be critical determinants of both stewardship metrics. A number of lifestyle factors, such as average family size, marriage rates, and percentage of single-family detached homes, were strongly related to realized stewardship. The percentage of African Americans by block group was positively related to realized stewardship but negatively related to yard expenditures.     

Conceptual Models as Hypotheses in Monitoring Urban Landscapes

Many problems and challenges of ecosystem management currently are driven by the rapid pace and spatial extent of landscape change. Parks and reserves within areas of high human population density are especially challenged to meet the recreational needs of local populations and to preserve valued environmental resources. The complex problem of managing multiple objectives and multiple resources requires an enormous quantity of information, and conceptual models have been proposed as tools for organizing and interpreting this information. Academics generally prefer a bottom-up approach to model construction that emphasizes ecologic theory and process, whereas managers often use a top-down approach that takes advantage of existing information to address more pragmatic objectives. The authors propose a formal process for developing, applying, and testing conceptual models to be used in landscape monitoring that reconciles these seemingly opposing perspectives. The four-step process embraces the role of hypothesis testing in the development of models and evaluation of their utility. An example application of the process to a network of national parks in and around Washington, DC illustrates the ability of the approach to systematically identify monitoring data that would both advance ecologic theory and inform management decisions.     

Gathering “wild” food in the city: rethinking the role of foraging in urban ecosystem planning and management

Recent “green” planning initiatives envision food production, including urban agriculture and livestock production, as desirable elements of sustainable cities. We use an integrated urban political ecology and human–plant geographies framework to explore how foraging for “wild” foods in cities, a subversive practice that challenges prevailing views about the roles of humans in urban green spaces, has potential to also support sustainability goals. Drawing on research from Baltimore, New York City, Philadelphia, and Seattle, we show that foraging is a vibrant and ongoing practice among diverse urban residents in the USA. At the same time, as reflected in regulations, planning practices, and attitudes of conservation practitioners, it is conceptualised as out of place in urban landscapes and an activity to be discouraged. We discuss how paying attention to urban foraging spaces and practices can strengthen green space planning and summarise opportunities for and challenges associated with including foragers and their concerns.     

Postemergence Control of Microstegium vimineum on Riparian Restoration Sites with Aquatic‐Use Registered Herbicides

Microstegium vimineum is an invasive grass introduced from Asia that has spread throughout riparian areas of the eastern United States threatening native riparian vegetation. Postemergence (POST) herbicides registered for aquatic use were evaluated for control of M. vimineum on two riparian restoration sites in the Piedmont and Upper Coastal Plain of North Carolina. This study found that standard and lower than standard rates of diquat, fluridone, flumioxazin, glyphosate, imazamox, and imazapyr reduced weed stem density and biomass at 6 and 30 weeks after treatment (WAT). Both rates of bispyribac and penoxsulam provided less control of M. vimineum. Visual ratings showed both rates of diquat, flumioxazin, imazamox, and imazapyr controlled 63‐100% of M. vimineum at 6 WAT and 84‐100% at 30 WAT. Fluridone and glyphosate provided slightly less control. Bispyribac and penoxsulam treatments provided less control at 6 and 30 WAT compared to the other treatments. Plots treated with both rates of diquat, flumioxazin, imazamox, and imazapyr were nearly devoid of all vegetation at 30 WAT. Recommendations include POST application of lower than standard rates of diquat, flumioxazin, fluridone, glyphosate, imazamox, and imazapyr on riparian restoration sites infested with M. vimineum. Immediate vegetation management measures including temporary and permanent plant cover should be employed on treated sites where weeds are completely eradicated to prevent erosion.     

Does Riparian Forest Restoration Thinning Enhance Biodiversity? The Ecological Importance of Large Wood

Intact riparian ecosystems are rich in biological diversity, but throughout the world, many have been degraded. Biodiversity declines, particularly of vertebrates, have led to experimental efforts to restore riparian forests by thinning young stands to accelerate creation of large diameter live trees. However, many vertebrates depend on large diameter deadwood that is standing as snags or fallen to the forest floor or fallen into streams. Therefore, we reviewed the sizes of deadwood and live trees used by different vertebrate species to understand which species are likely to benefit from different thinning treatments. We then examined how riparian thinning affects the long‐term development of both large diameter live trees and deadwood. To this end, we used a forest growth model to examine how different forest thinning intensities might affect the long‐term production and abundance of live trees and deadwood. Our results suggest that there are long‐term habitat tradeoffs associated with different thinning intensities. Species that utilize large diameter live trees will benefit most from heavy thinning, whereas species that utilize large diameter deadwood will benefit most from light or no thinning. Because far more vertebrate species utilize large deadwood rather than large live trees, allowing riparian forests to naturally develop may result in the most rapid and sustained development of structural features important to most terrestrial and aquatic vertebrates.     

Echolocation call design and limits on prey size: a case study using the aerial-hawking bat Nyctalus leisleri

The echolocation calls used by Nyctalus leisleri during search phase in open air space are between 9 and 14 ms long, with the peak energy between 24 and 28 kHz. The pulses are shallowly frequency-modulated with or without an initial steep frequency-modulated component. The diet consists primarily of small flies (Diptera), including many chironomids (wingspan 9–12 mm) and yellow dung flies (Scatophaga; wingspan 24 mm), but also of some larger insects such as dung beetles (Coleoptera; Scarabaeoidea), caddis-flies (Trichoptera) and moths (Lepidoptera). The echo target strength of some prey items was measured. Contrary to models based on standard targets such as spheres or disks, the echo strength of real insects was found to be virtually independent of the emitted frequency within the 20–100 kHz frequency range. A model was used to calculate probable detection distances of the prey by the bat. Using narrow-band calls of 13.7 ± 2.7 ms duration, a bat would detect the two smallest size classes of insect at greatest range using calls of 20 kHz. The results may therefore explain why many species of large and medium sized aerial-hawking bats use low-frequency calls and still eat mostly relatively small insects. The data and model challenges the assumption that small prey are unavailable to bats using low-frequency calls.     

Ecotypes in Graylings (Thymallidae,Salmoniformes)

The ecotypic structure of two grayling species in Eurasia is considered. Based on original and published data, the development of ecological forms in water bodies of different kinds is analyzed. Parallelism in the emergence of highly similar forms in different sites of the ranges is demonstrated. Distinctive features of ecotypes and their internal structure are described. The causes and rate of establishment of forms with a short life cycle are discussed.     

土地资源利用保护与农业生态建设

本文阐述了国内外土地后备资源现状及存在问题,解剖了土壤肥力演化机制和土壤资源保护的关系,介绍了我国生态农业建设的研究进展,指出了今后的主攻方向。     

五种水生植物对水中铀的去除作用

采用水培实验,研究了浮叶植物野生水葫芦(Eichhornia crassipes)、漂浮植物浮萍(Lemna minor L)、满江红(Azolla imbircata)、沉水植物菹草(Potamogeton crispus)、挺水植物空心莲子草(Alligator Alternanthera Herb)在初始铀浓度分别为0.15、1.50和15.00 mg·L^-1水中的生长状况及它们对水中铀的去除能力.结果表明,在21 d的水培试验期内,满江红对铀表现出了最强的抗性,0.15、1.50和15.00 mg·L^-1的铀对满江红的生长抑制率分别只有4.56%、2.48%和6.79%,而满江红对水中铀的去除率分别达到了94%、97%和92%.进一步的试验表明,每1 L水中种植7.5 g满江红,可以获得最大的铀去除率,将初始铀浓度为1.25、2.50、5.00和10.00 mg·L^-1的水体降至国家排放标准(GB 23727—2009)规定值(0.05 mg·L^-1)以下分别需要17、19、23和25 d.研究结果为进一步开展铀污染水体植物修复的研究打下了基础.