Characterizing Spatial Uncertainty when Integrating Social Data in Conservation Planning

Recent conservation planning studies have presented approaches for integrating spatially referenced social (SRS) data with a view to improving the feasibility of conservation action. We reviewed the growing conservation literature on SRS data, focusing on elicited or stated preferences derived through social survey methods such as choice experiments and public participation geographic information systems. Elicited SRS data includes the spatial distribution of willingness to sell, willingness to pay, willingness to act, and assessments of social and cultural values. We developed a typology for assessing elicited SRS data uncertainty which describes how social survey uncertainty propagates when projected spatially and the importance of accounting for spatial uncertainty such as scale effects and data quality. These uncertainties will propagate when elicited SRS data is integrated with biophysical data for conservation planning and may have important consequences for assessing the feasibility of conservation actions. To explore this issue further, we conducted a systematic review of the elicited SRS data literature. We found that social survey uncertainty was commonly tested for, but that these uncertainties were ignored when projected spatially. Based on these results we developed a framework which will help researchers and practitioners estimate social survey uncertainty and use these quantitative estimates to systematically address uncertainty within an analysis. This is important when using SRS data in conservation applications because decisions need to be made irrespective of data quality and well characterized uncertainty can be incorporated into decision theoretic approaches.     

铬渣处理方法研究现状

铬元素是现代工业最重要的原材料之一,但有钙焙烧工艺产生的铬渣会对环境和人体健康产生巨大的危害。介绍和分析了国内外铬渣处理处置的主要方法及其优缺点,国外集中于铬渣的无害化处理,而国内则以铬渣的综合利用为主。在越来越注重环境效益和资源利用率的今天,铬渣的综合利用更能获得经济效益和环境效益的双赢。     

微生物对放射性核素吸附行为的研究进展

利用微生物处理放射性废物和废水的研究以及应用已成为目前国内外十分关注的一个研究领域,相比于现在的固化处理方法更效率,更环保。通过研究微生物对放射性核素的吸附行为,可实现微生物处理放射性废物和废水的工艺化目标。综述了微生物吸附放射性核素机理,影响吸附行为的因素以及预处理后的微生物细胞对核素的吸附行为等方面的国内外研究进展,讨论了目前微生物吸附放射性核素的应用情况。     

报废CRT中废铅回收的环境效益

为研究报废CRT(阴极射线管)中废铅回收的环境效益,基于治理成本法,从实际治理成本与虚拟治理成本两方面,分别对比研究了废铅单向流动模式与循环利用模式的环境影响. 废铅单向流动模式的环境影响被划分为铅矿开采的污染与生态破坏、粗铅冶炼污染、废铅掺混入建材后的污染,该模式中对废铅的实际治理成本与虚拟治理成本分别为329.20与1 322.56元/t,后者是前者的4倍;在废铅循环利用模式的2种典型工艺中,火法回收工艺对废铅的实际治理成本与虚拟治理成本分别为37.80与3.73元/t,湿法回收工艺的实际治理成本与虚拟治理成本分别为135.10与15.06元/t. 与湿法回收工艺对比,火法回收工艺的治理成本更低、环境效益更好,但其需要在粗铅冶炼阶段中将报废CRT锥玻璃与铅精矿按1∶4(质量比)进行搭配回收. 以典型火法回收与湿法回收工艺治理成本的平均值作为循环利用模式的环境治理成本,与单向流动模式相比,其实际治理成本与虚拟治理成本可分别节省242.75与1 313.16元/t,共节省废铅单向流动模式94.2%的环境治理总成本. 铅矿开采固体废物治理成本、铅矿开采生态破坏治理成本与废铅掺混入建材后产生的地下水污染的治理成本位居前三,三者分别占到了废铅单向流动模式环境治理总成本的47%、19%与17%.      

Digital data sources and methods for conservation culturomics

Ongoing loss of biological diversity is primarily the result of unsustainable human behavior. Thus, the long-term success of biodiversity conservation depends on a thorough understanding of human–nature interactions. Such interactions are ubiquitous but vary greatly in time and space and are difficult to monitor efficiently at large spatial scales. However, the Information Age also provides new opportunities to better understand human–nature interactions because many aspects of daily life are recorded in a variety of digital formats. The emerging field of conservation culturomics aims to take advantage of digital data sources and methods to study human–nature interactions and thus to provide new tools for studying conservation at relevant temporal and spatial scales. Nevertheless, technical challenges associated with the identification, access, and analysis of relevant data hamper the wider adoption of culturomics methods. To help overcome these barriers, we propose a conservation culturomics research framework that addresses data acquisition, analysis, and inherent biases. The main sources of culturomic data include web pages, social media, and other digital platforms from which metrics of content and engagement can be obtained. Obtaining raw data from these platforms is usually desirable but requires careful consideration of how to access, store, and prepare the data for analysis. Methods for data analysis include network approaches to explore connections between topics, time-series analysis for temporal data, and spatial modeling to highlight spatial patterns. Outstanding challenges associated with culturomics research include issues of interdisciplinarity, ethics, data biases, and validation. The practical guidance we offer will help conservation researchers and practitioners identify and obtain the necessary data and carry out appropriate analyses for their specific questions, thus facilitating the wider adoption of culturomics approaches for conservation applications.     

The challenge of biased evidence in conservation

Efforts to tackle the current biodiversity crisis need to be as efficient and effective as possible given chronic underfunding. To inform decision-makers of the most effective conservation actions, it is important to identify biases and gaps in the conservation literature to prioritize future evidence generation. We used the Conservation Evidence database to assess the state of the global literature that tests conservation actions for amphibians and birds. For the studies in the database, we investigated their spatial and taxonomic extent and distribution across biomes, effectiveness metrics, and study designs. Studies were heavily concentrated in Western Europe and North America for birds and particularly for amphibians, and temperate forest and grassland biomes were highly represented relative to their percentage of land coverage. Studies that used the most reliable study designs—before-after control-impact and randomized controlled trials—were the most geographically restricted and scarce in the evidence base. There were negative spatial relationships between the numbers of studies and the numbers of threatened and data-deficient species worldwide. Taxonomic biases and gaps were apparent for amphibians and birds—some entire orders were absent from the evidence base—whereas others were poorly represented relative to the proportion of threatened species they contained. Metrics used to evaluate effectiveness of conservation actions were often inconsistent between studies, potentially making them less directly comparable and evidence synthesis more difficult. Testing conservation actions on threatened species outside Western Europe, North America, and Australasia should be prioritized. Standardizing metrics and improving the rigor of study designs used to test conservation actions would also improve the quality of the evidence base for synthesis and decision-making.     

Motivations for the use and consumption of wildlife products

The dominant approach to combating the illegal wildlife trade has traditionally been to restrict the supply of wildlife products. Yet conservationists increasingly recognize the importance of implementing demand-side interventions that target the end consumers in the trade chain. Their aim is to curb the consumption of wildlife or shift consumption to more sustainable alternatives. However, there are still considerable knowledge gaps in understanding of the diversity of consumer motivations in the context of illegal wildlife trade, which includes hundreds of thousands of species, different uses, and diverse contexts. Based on consultation with multiple experts from a diversity of backgrounds, nationalities, and focal taxa, we developed a typology of common motivations held by wildlife consumers that can be used to inform conservation interventions. We identified 5 main motivational categories for wildlife use: experiential, social, functional, financial, and spiritual, each containing subcategories. This framework is intended to facilitate the segmentation of consumers based on psychographics and allow the tailoring of interventions—whether behavior change campaigns, enforcement efforts, or incentive programs—to the specific context in which they will be used. Underlining the importance of consumer research and collaborating with local actors is an important step toward promoting a more systematic approach to the design of demand reduction interventions.     

可降解塑料研究现状与发展前景

可降解塑料是近年来随着环保呼声的日渐增强而发展起来的新研究热点,主要介绍可降解塑料的种类及其推广中存在的问题,并对前景作了展望。     

Integrating Economic Development and the Environment: Artisan Fishing Production in Guanabara Bay,Rio de Janeiro

The adoption of environmentally sustainable techniques by cooperatives and small companies results in specific difficulties rarely discussed in the literature. This paper describes an action-research carried out by seafood cultivators and university researchers in Guanabara Bay, which resulted in the substitution of the previous technique, based on extraction, by one without negative environmental impacts. The economic results have been satisfactory, so it can be expected that this activity may become more widespread in the region.