WATER-ENERGY LINKAGES IN NEBRASKA1

ABSTRACT Nebraska is well endowed with water, particularly groundwater, but has few fossil fuel reserves. However, it is located adjacent to states which have almost no water but have enormous quantities of coal and oil shale. Recent court cases facilitate the movement of water from water-rich states such as Nebraska to water-short states, such as Colorado and Wyoming. The possibility of an energy-water partnership exists and raise numerous policy questions. Within Nebraska, energy consumption patterns are similar to those of the nation's, with consumption of electricity in the agricultural sector growing fastest. Water consumption in the state is dominated by agriculture, and future development of groundwater for irrigation is expected to be intense. Although water and energy are both factors of economic production, an equivalent amount of water consumption provides more jobs in the energy industries than in agriculture. Water and energy are also interdependent. Each is required to produce the other and conservation of one will cause conservation of the other. If both agriculture and electricity are involved, such as in irrigation, the conservation effects are synergistic. Current water policy in Nebraska is biased toward agriculture relative to the energy industries and provides little incentive for water conservation. Given recent court cases and economic conditions, the advantages and disadvantages of the sale of water for export or the use of water with Wyoming coal for energy development need to be compared systematically with those of using water only for agriculture.     

Integrated Crop–livestock Management Systems in Sub-saharan Africa

This paper outlines the advantages of integrated crop–livestock systems and unsolved problems that need to be studied further. The discussion is subdivided by ecozone with consideration of arid and dry semi-arid areas with extensive livestock management; moist semi-arid and semi-humid areas where integrated crop–livestock systems are common; and humid areas where swine and poultry often predominate. To maintain soil organic matter in all ecozones, efficient recovery and use of nutrients from animal manures, crop residues and green manures is essential. In extensive systems in dry zones, animals transport nutrients from grazing areas to cropland, while in moister regions that are more intensively farmed, the emphasis is on the efficiency of nutrient recovery. Specific research questions relating to the overall ecosystem, nutrient cycling, plants, and animals are posed.     

GOAL-ORIENTED AGRICULTURAL WATER QUALITY LEGISLATION1

ABSTRACT: While significant nonpoint source (NIPS) pollution control progress has been made since passage of Section 319 in the 1987 Water Quality Act, existing federal legislation does not provide for the most timely and cost-effective NIPS pollution reduction. In this paper, we use findings from the Rural Clean Water Program and other nationwide agricultural NIPS pollution control programs, building on legislative history to recommend a coordinated and efficient direction for agricultural water quality legislation. A collaborative framework should be established to accomplish the goals of the Clean Water Act (CWA), Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA), and the Conservation Title of the Farm Bill. Valuable elements of the 1990 CZMA amendments that created a coastal NIPS program should be subsumed into the CWA. The CWA should reemphasize use of receiving water quality criteria and standards and should allow states flexibility to tailor basin-scale NPS program implementation to local needs. Implementation should involve targeting of NIPS pollution control efforts to critical land treatment areas and use of systems of best management practices to address these targeted water quality problems. The 1995 Farm Bill should reorient production incentives toward water quality to support the collaborative framework, implementing ecologically sound source reduction principles. The Farm Bill and the CWA should contain interrelated provisions for voluntary, incentive-assisted producer participation and fallback regulatory measures. Such coordinated national water quality and Farm Bill legislation that recognizes the need for flexibility in state implementation is supported as the most rational and cost-effective means of attaining water quality goals.     

Reviewing University Community Gardens for Sustainability: taking stock,comparisons with urban community gardens and mapping research opportunities

Community gardens (CGs) in university settings are faced with challenges associated with a transient and inexperienced population of student gardeners, but they also have the potential to have a lasting impact on the food behaviours of many young people. This paper undertakes a systematic critical review of literature about University Community Gardens for Sustainability (UCGS) in order to suggest directions of future research in the emerging field research about CGs within and outside of universities. The literature shows that UCGS have similar benefits to those identified in urban CG literature; but with greater emphasis on both the educational and environmental sustainability benefits, suggesting an under-used potential of CGs in these areas. We argue that a better understanding of the particular challenges and benefits of UCGS could improve outcomes of CGs in all settings. Therefore we recommend that future should explore: (1) participant transience in CGs, thereby helping sustainability projects with large volunteer bases learn to cope with challenges this poses in order to maximise the garden’s impacts; (2) whether/how participating in CGs can contribute to changes in attitudes/behaviours with regards to sustainability and be used as a tool for Education for Sustainability in and outside of university settings and (3) failed cases of CGs to genuinely understand factors that contribute to success. By addressing these areas we can improve our understanding of how community gardening can contribute to our communities, universities and environment, and can begin to make these potential contributions a reality.     

中国北方农牧交错带农村土地利用变化因子分析--以内蒙古尧勒甸子村为例

以北方农牧交错带典型生态示范村尧勒甸子村为例,应用参与式农村评估法(PRA)并结合GPS与野外测量,恢复了该村1949年后50 a来的土地利用历史过程与格局,利用GIS分析其1950-1999年的土地利用变化特点.运用因子分析和逐步回归分析方法揭示了人类活动因素对土地利用变化的作用.结果发现1985年以前耕地面积扩大,草地面积减小,沙地面积迅猛持续增加;1985年以后土地利用变化向相反的方向发展,土地利用结构趋向合理.     

土肥基础与持续发展农业

论述土肥基础与持续发展农业的基本内涵和特征；从历史的经验教训、片面发展经济的现实、地力监测的情况等方面，论证了土肥基础对持续发展农业的重要性；分析了广东省土肥基础的现状，提出了一系列加强土肥基础的对策：建立健全有关法规、有计划地扩大耕地面积、加强地力建设、改造中低产田和保护耕地环境等．     

农业高等职业教育成本补偿问题研究

提升农业职业教育水平和提高农业职业院校办学效益,要本着收益原则与承受能力原则相结合、公平原则与效率原则相结合、确实原则与透明度原则相结合.在对农业高等职业教育成本补偿的现状进行了较为充分的分析研究后,建议通过合理确定学费补偿标准、增加国家财政负担份额、利用贷款制、发展教育储蓄、实行订单式培养、积极拓展经费来源等途径来完善农业高等职业教育成本补偿.     

Enhancement of Farmland Biodiversity within Set-Aside Land

Abstract:  The efficacy of agricultural set-aside policies for protecting farmland biodiversity is widely debated. Based on a meta-analysis of 127 published studies, we found that land withdrawn from conventional production unequivocally enhances biodiversity in North America and Europe. The number of species of birds, insects, spiders, and plants is 1–1.5 standard deviation units higher on set-aside land, and population densities increase by 0.5–1 standard deviation units. Set-aside land may be especially beneficial for desirable taxa because North American bird species that have exhibited population declines react most positively to set-aside agricultural land. Larger and older plots protect more species and higher densities, and set-aside land is more effective in countries with less-intensive agricultural practices and higher fractions of land removed from production. Although policies specifically designed to protect biodiversity might work even better, current incentives clearly improve the standing of plants and animals in farmland.     

《绿色食品产地环境质量现状评价纲要（试行）》刍议

绿色食品产地生态环境质量评价中优化监测方案和评价标准与方法的合理确定尤为重要。现行的《评价纲要》中监测布点偏多、所选取的某些评价标准与方法欠佳，需加以修订和改进，以提高我国绿色食品产地生态环境质量评价的科学性与实用性。     

Effect of Human Disturbance on Bee Communities in a Forested Ecosystem

Abstract:  It is important for conservation biologists to understand how well species persist in human-dominated ecosystems because protected areas constitute a small fraction of the Earth's surface and because anthropogenic habitats may offer more opportunities for conservation than has been previously thought. We investigated how an important functional group, pollinators (bees; Hymenoptera: Apiformes), are affected by human land use at the landscape and local scales in southern New Jersey (U.S.A.). We established 40 sites that differed in surrounding landscape cover or local habitat type and collected 2551 bees of 130 species. The natural habitat in this ecosystem is a forested, ericaceous heath. Bee abundance and species richness within forest habitat decreased, not increased, with increasing forest cover in the surrounding landscape. Similarly, bee abundance was greater in agricultural fields and suburban and urban developments than in extensive forests, and the same trend was found for species richness. Particular species groups that might be expected to show greater sensitivity to habitat loss, such as floral specialists and bees of small or large body size, did not show strong positive associations with forest habitat. Nevertheless, 18 of the 130 bee species studied were positively associated with extensive forest. One of these species is a narrow endemic that was last seen in 1939. Our results suggest that at least in this system, moderate anthropogenic land use may be compatible with the conservation of many, but not all, bee species.