Habitat Split as a Cause of Local Population Declines of Amphibians with Aquatic Larvae

Abstract:  Most amphibian species have biphasic life histories and undergo an ontogenetic shift from aquatic to terrestrial habitats. In deforested landscapes, streams and forest fragments are frequently disjunct, jeopardizing the life cycle of forest-associated amphibians with aquatic larvae. We tested the impact of habitat split—defined as human-induced disconnection between habitats used by different life-history stages of a species—on four forest-associated amphibian species in a severely fragmented landscape of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. We surveyed amphibians in forest fragments with and without streams (referred to as wet and dry fragments, respectively), including the adjacent grass-field matrix. Our comparison of capture rates in dry fragments and nearby streams in the matrix allowed us to evaluate the number of individuals that engaged in high-risk migrations through nonforested habitats. Adult amphibians moved from dry fragments to matrix streams at the beginning of the rainy season, reproduced, and returned at the end of the breeding period. Juveniles of the year moved to dry fragments along with adults. These risky reproductive migrations through nonforested habitats that expose individuals to dehydration, predation, and other hazards may cause population declines in dry fragments. Indeed, capture rates were significantly lower in dry fragments compared with wet fragments. Declining amphibians would strongly benefit from investments in the conservation and restoration of riparian vegetation and corridors linking breeding and nonbreeding areas.     

江苏生物多样性保护的重点领域和政策创新

分析了江苏生物多样性保护现状,解读了省委办公厅、省政府办公厅《关于进一步加强生物多样性保护的实施意见》,主要涵盖完善政策法规、优化空间格局、提升系统稳定性、构建监测评估体系、提升安全管理水平、创新开发利用机制、严格执法监督评估、推动公众参与等8大工作任务,加强生态岛试验区、生态安全缓冲区等10大领域政策创新,整体提升全省生态系统质量。     

Status,stigma and energy practices in the home

Domestic energy practices are a topical policy issue, with implications for climate change, energy security and fuel poverty. Accordingly, a growing body of literature examines ways of promoting energy conservation and generation by individuals. However, there has been relatively little discussion of how status and stigma are implicated in these practices, and may act as facilitators or barriers to “behaviour change”. To help address this gap, this article draws both on existing literature and a new UK-based study of people who are attempting to live sustainable lives, to provide insights into how domestic energy practices may be status-enhancing or stigmatising, and how these risks and opportunities can be managed. While energy practices are often understood as “inconspicuous”, it is argued here that in some circumstances individuals may actively manage the visibility of their energy practices. The discussion considers these findings with regard to social power relations, and identifies issues warranting further exploration within the emerging research agenda on energy and equity.     

我国自然遗产保护中的产权问题研究

从经济学角度看,自然遗产保护中必然涉及产权问题,建立合理的自然遗产产权制度是自然遗产保护的关键。我国目前的自然遗产产权制度暴露出许多弊端,如所有权基础上的自然遗产管理混乱,自然遗产经营权配置不合理,以及欠缺对自然遗产相邻权的规定等。这些产权制度方面暴露的问题,对于自然遗产的保护无疑是不利的。通过对自然遗产保护中产权问题的探析和国外在自然遗产保护方面经验的借鉴,对我国自然遗产保护产权权利束中的所有权、经营权和相邻权的完善提出了几点建议。     

Shaped by race: why “race” still matters in the challenges facing biodiversity conservation in Africa

This article uses experiences from South Africa to argue that, despite progress made in making biodiversity conservation compatible with social, political and economic changes, progress could still be limited by reluctance of social actors to acknowledge and engage with the issue of race. The article argues that acknowledging the history of conservation in Africa, including close ties to racially charged colonialism, could be a positive impetus in the transformation of conservation to make it more socially, economically and politically justifiable.     

Monitoring and environmental modeling of earthwork impacts: A road construction case study

This study presents the contributions of materials, earth engineering machines and construction techniques to potential environmental impacts from the main items of typical road earthworks. To achieve this goal, the overall activity at a 1.9-km long French earthworks project site for a heavily trafficked highway was surveyed during its 2007–2009 construction period. Using data collected and a numerical model of road life cycle assessment (LCA), i.e. ECORCE, six indicators could be evaluated, namely: energy consumption, global warming potential, acidification, eutrophication, photochemical ozone creation, and human chronic toxicity. When available, several life cycle inventories were implemented in order to appraise indicator sensitivity with respect to the considered panel of pollutants. Results also allowed estimating from an LCA point of view: (i) the conservation of both aggregates and soil as induced by quicklime treatment and (ii) the duration necessary for projected traffic levels to offset the potential environmental impacts of the earthworks stage.     

环境温度对车用压缩天然气瓶火烧试验的影响

环境温度是研究车用压缩天然气瓶火烧试验机理的一个重要因素,因此有必要定量的研究环境温度对火烧试验的影响。在已有火烧试验数据的基础上,分析了环境温度对车用压缩天然气瓶火烧试验安全泄放压力和火烧持续时间两个关键指标的影响,结果表明安全泄放压力、火烧持续时间和环境温度均呈反比关系。     

世界自然遗产地面临的威胁及中国的保护对策

中国的自然遗产事业方兴未艾,但自然遗产地的保护状况令人担忧。论文以广泛的基础资料收集为前提,分析论证了自然遗产地保护的完整性原则,并对全球范围内世界自然遗产地的威胁因素进行了定量化统计评价。结合中国世界自然遗产地的保护状况,提出了中国自然遗产地的保护对策。     

Degradation and mineralization of 2-chloro-, 3-chloro- and 4-chlorobiphenyl by a newly characterized natural bacterial strain isolated from an electrical transformer fluid-contaminated soil

A bacterium classified as Achromobacter xylosoxidans strain IR08 by phenotypic typing coupled with 16S rRNA gene analysis was isolated from a soil contaminated with electrical transformer ?uid for over sixty years using Aroclor 1221 as an enrichment substrate. The substrate utilization profiles revealed that IR08 could grow on all three monochlorobiphenyls (CBs), 2,4'- and 4,4'-dichlorobiphenyl as well as 2-chlorobenzoate (2-CBA), 3-CBA, 4-CBA, and 2,3-dichlorobenzoate. Unusually, growth was poorly sustaine...     

川气东送管道工程建设水土流失成因与防治措施

分析了川气东送管道工程建设过程中水土流失的特点,对工程区地形地貌进行了区域划分。针对不同防治分区采取相应的防治措施即采用分层开挖、设排水沟、护坡、种树、修建拦渣墙等方式防治水土流失。同时坚持水土保持三同时制度,有效减少因本工程建设所引起的水土流失。