Elevated CO2 facilitates C and N accumulation in a rice paddy ecosystem

Elevated CO2 can stimulate wetland carbon(C) and nitrogen(N) exports through gaseous and dissolved pathways, however, the consequent influences on the C and N pools are still not fully known. Therefore, we set up a free-air CO2 enrichment experiment in a paddy field in Eastern China. After five year fumigation, we studied C and N in the plant–water–soil system. The results showed:(1) elevated CO2 stimulated rice aboveground biomass and N accumulations by 19.1% and 12.5%, respectively.(2) Elevated CO2 significantly increased paddy soil TOC and TN contents by 12.5% and 15.5%, respectively in the 0–15 cm layer, and22.7% and 26.0% in the 15–30 cm soil layer.(3) Averaged across the rice growing period,elevated CO2 greatly increased TOC and TN contents in the surface water by 7.6% and 11.4%,respectively.(4) The TOC/TN ratio and natural δ15N value in the surface soil showed a decreasing trend under elevated CO2. The above results indicate that elevated CO2 can benefit C and N accumulation in paddy fields. Given the similarity between the paddies and natural wetlands, our results also suggest a great potential for long-term C and N accumulation in natural wetlands under future climate patterns.     

The Role of Prices in Conserving Critical Natural Capital

Abstract: Until recent decades, economic decision makers have largely ignored the nonmarket benefits provided by nature, resulting in unprecedented threats to ecological life‐support functions. The economic challenge today is to decide how much ecosystem structure can be converted to economic production and how much must be conserved to provide essential ecosystem services. Many economists and a growing number of life scientists hope to address this challenge by estimating the marginal value of environmental benefits and then using this information to make economic decisions. I assessed this approach first by examining the role and effectiveness of the price mechanism in a well‐functioning market economy, second by identifying the issues that prevent markets from pricing many ecological benefits, and third by focusing on problems inherent to valuing services generated by complex and poorly understood ecosystems subject to irreversible change. I then focus on critical natural capital (CNC), which generates benefits that are essential to human welfare and have few if any substitutes. When imminent ecological thresholds threaten CNC, conservation is essential and marginal valuation becomes inappropriate. Once conservation needs have been met, remaining ecosystem structure is potentially available for economic production. Demand for this available supply will determine prices. In other words, conservation needs should be price determining, not price determined. Conservation science must help identify CNC and the quantity and quality of ecosystem structure required to ensure its sustained provision.     

Quantification and valuation of ecosystem services in diverse production systems for informed decision-making

The empirical evidence of decline in ecosystem services (ES) over the last century has reinforced the call for ES quantification, monitoring and valuation. Usually, only provisioning ES are marketable and accounted for, whereas regulating, supporting and cultural ES are typically non-marketable and overlooked in connection with land-use or management decisions. The objective of this study was to quantify and value total ES (marketable and non-marketable) of diverse production systems and management intensities in Denmark to provide a basis for decisions based on economic values. The production systems were conventional wheat (Cwheat), a combined food and energy (CFE) production system and beech forest. Marketable (provisioning ES) and non-marketable ES (supporting, regulating and cultural) ES were quantified by dedicated on-site field measurements supplemented by literature data. The value of total ES was highest in CFE (US$ 3142 ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) followed by Cwheat (US$ 2767 ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) and beech forest (US$ 2328 ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹). As the production system shifted from Cwheat - CFE–beech, the marketable ES share decreased from 88% to 75% in CFE and 55% in beech whereas the non-marketable ES share increased to 12%, 25% and 45% of total ES in Cwheat, CFE and beech respectively, demonstrating production system and management effects on ES values. Total ES valuation, disintegrated into marketable and non-marketable share is a potential way forward to value ES and ‘tune’ our production systems for enhanced ES provision. Such monetary valuation can be used by policy makers and land managers as a tool to assess ES value and monitor the sustained flow of ES. The application of ES-based valuation for land management can enhance ES provision for maintaining the productive capacity of the land without depending on the external fossil-based fertilizer and chemical input.     

Sustaining co-operation for coastal sustainability

Coastal-zone sustainability policies are socially constructed. It follows that their effective implementation depends on the sustainable voluntary co-operation of stakeholders with competing interests and priorities. No form of integrated coastal-zone management can nurture such co-operation as long as the objective is to determine ‘best’ policies, derived by expert-based rational analysis, instead of seeking to identify ‘correct’ policies, ones that can draw the maximum possible stakeholder support. The latter task requires a co-operative coastal-zone management that incorporates the relevant public discourse into the policy formation process in a direct, proactive and conflict minimizing manner. Towards this end, four major challenges are examined for maximizing the stakeholders' motivation for voluntary co-operation: (1) optimism about the level of optimism; (2) agenda setting; (3) value discourse; and (4) information and empowerment.     

VOLUNTARY AGREEMENTS IN WATERSHED PROTECTION EXPERIENCES FROM COSTA RICA

This article analyses the application of voluntary environmental agreements (VEAs) in watershed protection in Costa Rica. Next to an involvement of private energy firms, the Costa Rican state, and farmers, the participation of NGOs is a remarkable feature. From an analysis of these multi-stakeholder arrangements, it is concluded that these arrangements bring benefits to all actors involved. VEAs have been able to grow as powerful policy instruments, generating positive environmental effects. Essential is their embedded ness in a broader set of environmental policies, especially related to forest management Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

科尔沁沙地生态系统服务价值变化研究

研究土地利用变化引起的区域生态系统服务价值的改变。可定量评价土地利用活动对区域生态环境的影响。基于1995年和2000年的土地利用数据．应用谢高地等人制定的中国陆地生态系统单位面积服务价值表．估算了科尔沁沙地土地利用变化引起的生态系统服务价值的改变。结果表明。从1995—2000年5年间。科尔沁沙地的耕地增加4．87％。林地减少2．25％。草地减少0．03％．水域减少1．32％．湿地增加0．54％，城乡工矿居民用地减少3．21％。未利用地减少8．83％；研究区内土地利用变化的区域差异性很大．表现为大部分旗县仍维持着毁林毁草开荒的不合理土地利用活动。科尔沁沙地生态系统服务价值从1995年的1463．67亿元增加到2000年的1467．36亿元。净增加值为3．69亿元，增幅为0．25％；其增加值并非因耕地面积增大所产生．而是个别旗县的大面积沙荒地得到有效治理所致。     

Serving one another: Are shared and self‐leadership the keys to service sustainability?

Service has received increasing attention in the management literature, yet sustainability of service is often overlooked. In this Incubator we examine the potential for client involvement through shared and self‐leadership to foster empathy enhanced service and reduced costs, both of which may support a more sustainable service delivery process. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

对应分析在CFIT事故致因研究中的应用

为揭示可控飞行撞地(CFIT)事故致因规律,根据Reason-SHEL模型得出的10个CFIT事故致因因子,分析从飞行安全基金会数据库中整理出的2006—2011年间40起CFIT事故。在此基础上建立CFIT事故年份-成因列联表,再利用SPSS软件对表格进行对应分析。将事故成因和年份同时反映在二维散点图中,实现数据可视化。最后对图形进行向量、圆心接近点以及区域化等3项分析。根据结果得出,CFIT事故的主成因是人因操作和外界环境;随着年份增加,飞行员状态(药物/疲劳、经验不足)对造成CFIT事故的重要性越来越明显;不同年份有不同的重要致因因子。