Effects of Pond Draining on Biodiversity and Water Quality of Farm Ponds

Farm ponds have high conservation value because they contribute significantly to regional biodiversity and ecosystem services. In Japan pond draining is a traditional management method that is widely believed to improve water quality and eradicate invasive fish. In addition, fishing by means of pond draining has significant cultural value for local people, serving as a social event. However, there is a widespread belief that pond draining reduces freshwater biodiversity through the extirpation of aquatic animals, but scientific evaluation of the effectiveness of pond draining is lacking. We conducted a large‐scale field study to evaluate the effects of pond draining on invasive animal control, water quality, and aquatic biodiversity relative to different pond‐management practices, pond physicochemistry, and surrounding land use. The results of boosted regression‐tree models and analyses of similarity showed that pond draining had little effect on invasive fish control, water quality, or aquatic biodiversity. Draining even facilitated the colonization of farm ponds by invasive red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii), which in turn may have detrimental effects on the biodiversity and water quality of farm ponds. Our results highlight the need for reconsidering current pond management and developing management plans with respect to multifunctionality of such ponds. Efectos del Drenado de Estanques sobre la Biodiversidad y la Calidad del Agua en Estanques de Cultivo     

Evaluating impacts of forage fish abundance on marine predators

Forage fish—small, low trophic level, pelagic fish such as herrings, sardines, and anchovies—are important prey species in marine ecosystems and also support large commercial fisheries. In many parts of the world, forage fish fisheries are managed using precautionary principles that target catch limits below the maximum sustainable yield. However, there are increasing calls to further limit forage fish catch to safeguard their fish, seabird, and marine mammal predators. The effectiveness of these extra-precautionary regulations, which assume that increasing prey abundance increases predator productivity, are under debate. In this study, we used prey-linked population models to measure the influence of forage fish abundance on the population growth rates of 45 marine predator populations representing 32 fish, seabird, and mammal species from 5 regions around the world. We used simulated data to confirm the ability of the statistical model to accurately detect prey influences under varying levels of influence strength and process variability. Our results indicate that predator productivity was rarely influenced by the abundance of their forage fish prey. Only 6 predator populations (13% of the total) were positively influenced by increasing prey abundance and the model exhibited high power to detect prey influences when they existed. These results suggest that additional limitation of forage fish harvest to levels well below sustainable yields would rarely result in detectable increases in marine predator populations.     

Response of stable carbon isotope in epilithic mosses to atmospheric nitrogen deposition

Epilithic mosses are characterized by insulation from substratum N and hence meet their N demand only by deposited N. This study investigated tissue C, total Chl and δ¹³C of epilithic mosses along 2 transects across Guiyang urban (SW China), aiming at testing their responses to N deposition. Tissue C and total Chl decreased from the urban to rural, but δ¹³C_moss became less negative. With measurements of atmospheric CO₂ and δ¹³CO₂, elevated N deposition was inferred as a primary factor for changes in moss C and isotopic signatures. Correlations between total Chl, tissue C and N signals indicated a nutritional effect on C fixation of epilithic mosses, but the response of δ¹³C_moss to N deposition could not be clearly differentiated from effects of other factors. Collective evidences suggest that C signals of epilithic mosses are useful proxies for N deposition but further works on physiological mechanisms are still needed.     

Assessment of impacts of invasive fishes on the food web structure and ecosystem properties of a tropical reservoir in India

A network model of trophic interactions in a tropical reservoir in India was developed with the objective to quantify matter and energy flows between system components and to study the impact of invasive fishes on the ecosystem. Structure of flows and their distribution within and between trophic levels were analysed by aggregating single flows into combined flows for discrete trophic levels. The trophic flows primarily occurred in the first four trophic level (TL) and the food web structure in this reservoir ecosystem was characterized by the dominance of low TL organisms, with the highest TL of only 3.57 for the top predator. Highest system omnivory index (SOI) was observed for indigenous catfishes (0.422), followed by the exotic fish Mozambique Tilapia (0.402). Nile Tilapia and Pearl spots show the highest niche overlap which suggests high competition for similar resources. The mixed trophic impact routine reveals that an increase in the abundance of the African catfish would negatively impact almost all fish groups such as Indian major carps, Pearl spots, indigenous catfishes and Tilapines. The other invasive fish Mozambique Tilapia adversely affects the indigenous catfishes. The most interesting observation in this study is that the most dominant invasive fish in this reservoir, the Nile Tilapia does not negatively impact any of the fish groups. In fact it positively impacts the Indian major carps. The direct and indirect effects of predation between system components (i.e. fish, invertebrates, phytoplankton and detritus) are quantitatively described and the possible influence and role in the ecosystem's functioning of the invasive fish species are discussed.     

Key Role of European Rabbits in the Conservation of the Western Mediterranean Basin Hotspot

Abstract: The Mediterranean Basin is a global hotspot of biodiversity. Hotspots are said to be experiencing a major loss of habitat, but an added risk could be the decline of some species having a special role in ecological relationships of the system. We reviewed the role of European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) as a keystone species in the Iberian Peninsula portion of the Mediterranean hotspot. Rabbits conspicuously alter plant species composition and vegetation structure through grazing and seed dispersal, which creates open areas and preserves plant species diversity. Moreover, rabbit latrines have a demonstrable effect on soil fertility and plant growth and provide new feeding resources for many invertebrate species. Rabbit burrows provide nest sites and shelter for vertebrates and invertebrates. In addition, rabbits serve as prey for a number of predators, including the critically endangered Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) and Spanish Imperial Eagle (Aquila adalberti). Thus, the Mediterranean ecosystem of the Iberian Peninsula should be termed “the rabbit's ecosystem.” To our knowledge, this is the first empirical support for existence of a multifunctional keystone species in a global hotspot of biodiversity. Rabbit populations have declined drastically on the Iberian Peninsula, with potential cascading effects and serious ecological and economic consequences. From this perspective, rabbit recovery is one of the biggest challenges for conservation of the Mediterranean Basin hotspot.     

Valuing high-seas ecosystem conservation

The high seas provide a variety of ecosystem services that benefit society. There have, however, been few attempts to quantify the human welfare impacts of changes to the delivery of these benefits. We assessed the values of several key ecosystem service benefits derived from protecting ecosystems in the high seas of the Flemish Cap through choice experiments conducted in Canada, Norway, and Scotland. Rather than solely eliciting public willingness to pay, we also explored the determinants of variance in the estimates of willingness to pay. We aimed to determine how much respondents were willing to pay for high-seas ecosystems conservation, which factors influence individuals’ willingness to pay, and whether individuals in Canada had a higher willingness to pay relative to those living in Norway and Scotland. This latter point captures distance-decay effects. On average, the public placed positive value on conserving high-seas ecosystems and on developing economic activities related to the exploitation and exploration of marine resources, despite a lack of awareness and familiarity with these environments. Distance-decay effects on willingness to pay were not clear. Scots had the highest willingness to pay and the Norwegians the lowest willingness to pay for all attributes, with the only exception being willingness to pay for a large increase in new jobs, in which case Canadians’ willingness to pay was higher than Scots’. The public's willingness to pay was influenced by sociodemographic characteristics and their perceptions of high-seas ecosystems. Our results provide evidence of the impacts of high-seas governance on human welfare and that improved governance could increase the value people place on high-seas ecosystems and the services they produce.     

Valuing Ecosystem Services in Terms of Ecological Risks and Returns

Abstract: The economic valuation of ecosystem services is a key policy tool in stemming losses of biological diversity. It is proposed that the loss of ecosystem function and the biological resources within ecosystems is due in part to the failure of markets to recognize the benefits humans derive from ecosystems. Placing monetary values on ecosystem services is often suggested as a necessary step in correcting such market failures. We consider the effects of valuing different types of ecosystem services within an economic framework. We argue that provisioning and regulating ecosystem services are generally produced and consumed in ways that make them amenable to economic valuation. The values associated with cultural ecosystem services lie outside the domain of economic valuation, but their worth may be expressed through noneconomic, deliberative forms of valuation. We argue that supporting ecosystem services are not of direct value and that the losses of such services can be expressed in terms of the effects of their loss on the risk to the provision of the directly valued ecosystem services they support. We propose a heuristic framework that considers the relations between ecological risks and returns in the provision of ecosystem services. The proposed ecosystem‐service valuation framework, which allows the expression of the value of all types of ecosystem services, calls for a shift from static, purely monetary valuation toward the consideration of trade‐offs between the current flow of benefits from ecosystems and the ability of those ecosystems to provide future flows.     

A Watershed Approach to Improve Water Quality: Case Study of Clean Water Services’ Tualatin River Program1

Cochran, Bobby and Charles Logue, 2011. A Watershed Approach to Improve Water Quality: Case Study of Clean Water Services’ Tualatin River Program. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 47(1):29‐38. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2010.00491.x Abstract: Over the last five years, Clean Water Services developed and implemented a program to offset thermal load discharged from its wastewater facilities to the Tualatin River by planting trees to shade streams and augmenting summertime instream flows. The program has overcome challenges facing many of the nation’s water quality trading programs to not only gain consensus on the frameworks needed to authorize trading, but also provide a broad range of ecosystem services. This paper compares the Tualatin case study with some of the commonly cited factors of successful trading programs.     

流域突发污染事件的生态服务价值损失评估方法研究

生态系统服务价值损失评估是流域突发水污染事件生态损害定量、污染事故责任认定的重要依据.针对流域突发污染事件损失定量问题,基于生态系统服务价值理论,构建了包含不同主导服务偏好的生态系统服务价值损失指标评估方法,提出了受损服务识别、评估指标筛选、损失价值核算三步评估程序,并以浙江省某河段苯酚泄漏事件造成的流域生态系统服务损失为例进行实际测算,结合实例以1-9标度层次分析法(AHP)验证了该方法偏好系数计算方法的可靠性.结果表明,本方法与AHP法的水体生态系统服务损失评估额相对偏差为2.5％,单项指标损失额排序相同,并且在保证评估结果可靠性的前提下更具易操作性优势.     

草海湿地生态系统健康评价

贵州省威宁草海是贵州最大的天然高原淡水湖泊,同时也是我国亚热带高原湿地生态系统的典型代表,成为中国西南地区迁徙水禽的重要越冬地和停歇地。但草海湿地生态系统由于人类活动加剧引起的其功能作用会削弱、生物多样性会降低、水体富营养化等生态环境问题多方面的影响导致其表现出明显的生态脆弱性,尤其是在其生态系统的生态环境方面表现尤为突出。如果草海受到多方面的影响不及时加以制止和消除,将直接威胁着草海湿地生态系统的稳定。本文首先从湿地的生态特征、功能和社会经济环境三个方面的30个主要影响草海生态健康的因子进行分析,并对每个因子的健康状况进行调查、分析说明。其次,利用模糊综合评价模型中的层次分析法对草海生态健康影响的30个主要因子进行了整合分析,并对草海现在的健康状况应用平均加权原则进行了评估。最后,针对草海目前的健康状况,对草海今后的防治提出了相关建议。