A Modeling System to Assess Land Cover Land Use Change Effects on SAV Habitat in the Mobile Bay Estuary

Estuarine ecosystems are largely influenced by watersheds directly connected to them. In the Mobile Bay, Alabama watersheds we examined the effect of land cover and land use (LCLU) changes on discharge rate, water properties, and submerged aquatic vegetation, including freshwater macrophytes and seagrasses, throughout the estuary. LCLU scenarios from 1948, 1992, 2001, and 2030 were used to influence watershed and hydrodynamic models and evaluate the impact of LCLU change on shallow aquatic ecosystems. Overall, our modeling results found that LCLU changes increased freshwater flows into Mobile Bay altering temperature, salinity, and total suspended sediments (TSS). Increased urban land uses coupled with decreased agricultural/pasture lands reduced TSS in the water column. However, increased urbanization or agricultural/pasture land coupled with decreased forest land resulted in higher TSS concentrations. Higher sediment loads were usually strongly correlated with higher TSS levels, except in areas where a large extent of wetlands retained sediment discharged during rainfall events. The modeling results indicated improved water clarity in the shallow aquatic regions of Mississippi Sound and degraded water clarity in the Wolf Bay estuary. This integrated modeling approach will provide new knowledge and tools for coastal resource managers to manage shallow aquatic habitats that provide critical ecosystem services.     

Implementing SDG 15: Can large‐scale public programs help deliver biodiversity conservation,restoration and management,while assisting human development?

Among the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the proposed SDG 15 promotes activities that, inter alia, “Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems”. An important potential contribution in achieving SDG 15 is through public programmes designed to jointly promote human development through poverty alleviation and improvement of human livelihoods and biodiversity conservation/management/restoration. An analysis of twenty public programmes with such joint objectives yielded twelve lessons learned. In addition to financial commitments, government and intergovernmental agency input for such public programmes includes ensuring political will and appropriate legal frameworks. Local communities and civil society provide input through traditional and indigenous ecological knowledge and stewardship. Appropriate shared inputs in development and the implementation of such public programmes, with communication between local community, broader civil society, the scientific community and governments will result in: better use and management of biodiversity; alleviation of poverty; security of livelihoods and better governance systems. The Ecosystem Approach of the Convention on Biological Diversity provides an ideal framework when planning and implementing new programmes. Application of the lessons learned to new public programmes will ensure that the answer to the question posed in the title is an emphatic “Yes”, and assist with the achievement of SDG 15.     

湿地生态系统基质重金属积累与酶活性的研究现状

湿地生态系统具有净化污水的功能,因其具有高效低耗等优点,在污水处理方面极具开发应用前景,而基质作为湿地生态系统重要组成部分,已成为众多学者的研究热点。本文综合分析了湿地生态系统基质中重金属积累和酶活性的时空分布及影响因素的研究现状,并对相关研究提出了新的认识与展望,以期为湿地生态系统基质去除废水中重金属的深入研究和应用提供综合分析资料。     

Ecologically Functional Floodplains: Connectivity,Flow Regime,and Scale1

Opperman, Jeffrey J., Ryan Luster, Bruce A. McKenney, Michael Roberts, and Amanda Wrona Meadows, 2010. Ecologically Functional Floodplains: Connectivity, Flow Regime, and Scale. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(2):211-226. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00426.x Abstract: This paper proposes a conceptual model that captures key attributes of ecologically functional floodplains, encompassing three basic elements: (1) hydrologic connectivity between the river and the floodplain, (2) a variable hydrograph that reflects seasonal precipitation patterns and retains a range of both high and low flow events, and (3) sufficient spatial scale to encompass dynamic processes and for floodplain benefits to accrue to a meaningful level. Although floodplains support high levels of biodiversity and some of the most productive ecosystems on Earth, they are also among the most converted and threatened ecosystems and therefore have recently become the focus of conservation and restoration programs across the United States and globally. These efforts seek to conserve or restore complex, highly variable ecosystems and often must simultaneously address both land and water management. Thus, such efforts must overcome considerable scientific, technical, and socioeconomic challenges. In addition to proposing a scientific conceptual model, this paper also includes three case studies that illustrate methods for addressing these technical and socioeconomic challenges within projects that seek to promote ecologically functional floodplains through river-floodplain reconnection and/or restoration of key components of hydrological variability.     

Comparison of the Performance of Statistical Models in Forecasting Monthly Total Dissolved Solids in the Rio Grande1

Abudu, S., J.P. King, Z. Sheng, 2011. Comparison of the Performance of Statistical Models in Forecasting Monthly Total Dissolved Solids in the Rio Grande. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(1): 10‐23. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2011.00587.x Abstract: This paper presents the application of autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA), transfer function‐noise (TFN), and artificial neural networks (ANNs) modeling approaches in forecasting monthly total dissolved solids (TDS) of water in the Rio Grande at El Paso, Texas. Predictability analysis was performed between the precipitation, temperature, streamflow rates at the site, releases from upstream reservoirs, and monthly TDS using cross‐correlation statistical tests. The chi‐square test results indicated that the average monthly temperature and precipitation did not show significant predictability on monthly TDS series. The performances of one‐ to three‐month‐ahead model forecasts for the testing period of 1984‐1994 showed that the TFN model that incorporated the streamflow rates at the site and Caballo Reservoir release improved monthly TDS forecasts slightly better than the ARIMA models. Except for one‐month‐ahead forecasts, the ANN models using the streamflow rates at the site as inputs resulted in no significant improvements over the TFN models at two‐month‐ahead and three‐month‐ahead forecasts. For three‐month‐ahead forecasts, the simple ARIMA showed similar performance compared to all other models. The results of this study suggested that simple deseasonalized ARIMA models could be used in one‐ to three‐month‐ahead TDS forecasting at the study site with a simple, explicit model structure and similar model performance as the TFN and ANN models for better water management in the Basin.     

Quantitative Assessment of the Intertidal Environment of Kuwait I: Integrated Environmental Classification

Quantitative analysis of physical, chemical and biological data of the intertidal zone in Kuwait was undertaken to develop an integrated basis for assessing and protecting this sensitive coastal ecosystem. Cluster analyses were performed to determine the resemblance between the sampling stations based on the sediment composition, the benthic macrofauna and the physico-chemical characteristics of the intertidal sediment/water. Five distinct sub-environments were delineated within the intertidal zone of Kuwait. Each sub-environment was described in terms of number of taxa, mean density of organisms, sediment type, tidal level and dominant organisms. The physico-chemical parameters investigated were found to be unimportant in the distribution of the intertidal benthic macrofauna. On the other hand, sediment type was found to be a major factor in the overall composition of the benthic community. The benthic fauna and related characteristics of the sub-environments could be used as indicators to monitor changes in the intertidal ecosystem and as guides to protection and management of the different coasts. The approach described in this paper could also be adopted elsewhere to provide a sound basis for evaluating environmental impacts and for developing sustainable coastal management.     

碳中和目标下海洋地球工程的国际法规制和政策启示

碳中和目标的实现需要充分开发海洋碳汇的潜力。海洋施肥、人工海洋上升流、海洋碱化是三种旨在提升海洋碳汇的地球工程技术。本文从海洋地球工程活动合法性、海洋环境保护义务和气候变化公约体系三个方面论述海洋地球工程的国际法框架。首先,《伦敦倾倒公约》和《伦敦议定书》中关于“倾倒”的定义不适用于海洋地球工程活动涉及的以吸收二氧化碳为目的投放铁或碱性物粉末或放置管道的行为。《关于规制以海洋施肥和其他以海洋地球工程活动为目的投放物质的伦敦议定书修正案》将海洋施肥活动限制在通过了完整的环境影响评价的“合理科学研究”范围内。目前这一限制不适用于其他海洋地球工程技术,但随着对其他技术研究的深入,修正案限制范围有可能会扩大。其次,《联合国海洋法公约》和《生物多样性公约》中有关海洋环境和海洋生态保护的公约条款适用于海洋地球工程活动,其中有关环境影响评价的义务与海洋地球工程的发展密切相关。再次,《联合国气候变化框架公约》以及《巴黎协定》中关于国家自主贡献的规定为实施海洋地球工程提供了鼓励性规则。最后,本文就中国关于该技术的实验活动以及未来应用该技术的场景下涉及的遵约和治理问题进行展望。当前不与国际法冲突的发展模式是进行小规模试验研究、建立海洋碳汇方法学标准、核算海洋碳汇经济价值,推动海洋碳汇换算核证自愿减排量进入碳市场交易;在实践中鼓励将开发海洋碳汇与低碳渔业养殖、陆海统筹增汇等方法相结合。未来能否大规模实施海洋地球工程技术取决于对海洋生态环境相关影响研究的进展。     

Implementation of the ecosystem services approach in Swedish municipal planning

While ecosystem-based planning approaches are increasingly promoted through international and national policies, municipalities are still struggling with translating them into practice. Against this background, this paper aims to increase the knowledge of current advances and possible ways to support the implementation of the ecosystem services (ES) approach at the municipal level. More specifically, we analyze how ES have been integrated into comprehensive planning within the municipality of Malmö in Sweden over the last 60 years, a declared forerunner in local environmental governance. Based on a content analysis of comprehensive plans over the period 1956–2014 and interviews with municipal stakeholders, this paper demonstrates how planning has shifted over time toward a more holistic view of ES and their significance for human well-being and urban sustainability. Both explicit and implicit applications of the ES concept were found in the analyzed comprehensive plans and associated programs and projects. Our study shows how these applications reflect international, national, and local policy changes, and indicates how municipalities can gradually integrate the ES approach into comprehensive planning and facilitate the transition from implicit to more explicit knowledge use.     

根据土壤蓄水能力探讨若尔盖重要生态服务功能区的水源涵养功能

若尔盖水源涵养重要生态服务功能区是全国50个重要生态服务功能区域之一,具有极重要的水源涵养生态服务功能。该区涵盖四川省境内的黄河流域区,面积约1.6×104km2,区内分布有涵水能力极强的沼泽土和泥炭土,对调节黄河径流时空分布具有非常重要的作用。本文利用地理信息系统技术,用土壤饱和蓄水量指标评价了本区的水源涵养生态服务...     

GEP核算：理论内涵与现实挑战

当前学术界对于GEP的概念内涵和核算方法仍在探索之中,而地方实践已然走在理论研究之前。GEP核算是生态服务价值的货币化评价,主要是为了科学认识生态系统服务的潜在价值,不等同于生态服务价值的市场显现;核算的出发点是为了更好保护自然资本,而非生态产品价值转化。GEP核算通过货币化评价生态服务价值,将自然资本保护更好地纳入经济社会发展决策,为完善生态补偿机制、进行生态文明绩效考核、引导人造资本和人力资本进入生态产业化提供重要参考依据。GEP和GDP都是流量,将GEP直接转化为GDP在逻辑上不成立。如何使GEP核算更好地服务于生态产品价值实现,需要在理论上厘清逻辑关联,在实践中明晰政策边界。