全球气候变化背景下祁连山生态问题的地质学探析

祁连山生态问题产生的根源主要在于全球气候变化背景下冰川、冻土、植被、径流等及其水文循环的变化.该文以地球系统科学为指导,在宏观尺度上从系统演化的角度去探讨在全球气候变化条件下祁连山生态问题,认为这些问题的产生与地质过程密不可分,应以生态地质学的理论来研究这些变化的生态地质过程,并指出未来进行祁连山生态问题研究的科学路径,为祁连山的生态保护、河西走廊社会经济的持续健康发展提供科学依据.     

景观生态学在农业景观生态规划中的应用

从景观生态学的基本原理入手 ,阐述景观生态学在农业景观生态规划中的应用。认为农业景观规划设计不仅关注景观的“土地利用”、“土地肥力”以及人类的短期需求 ,更强调景观的生态价值和美学价值及其带给人类的长期效益。农业景观生态规划设计的中心任务就是创建一个可持续发展的整体区域生态系统。以江苏省宝应县为例进行分析     

宏观生态环境动态监测实践--以内蒙古敖汉旗为例

从70年代后期开始,敖汉旗政府和人民开展以植树造林为主的生态环境建设措施,到90年代生态环境已得到明显改善.文章利用RS、GIS技术结合当地政府的统计资料和实测资料分析了生态环境的变化和当地政府建设生态环境的成功经验.     

Distributed Safety Management as a tool for creating a safety culture in university students and future professionals

The main hypothesis of this work is that it is possible to create a safety culture not only in industrial or commercial organizations, but also in educational institutions. The goal is communicating a culture of safety to their students, which will be spread by the new professionals. Consequently, the objective of this paper is showing the results of first steps of application – establishing the baseline – of the Gaining Distributed Safety – GDS – tools to the academic community of the Universidad Centroamericana "José Simeón Cañas" (UCA) of El Salvador. GDS tools establish those aspects to which attention should be posed in order to achieve excellence in safety. Also enables analysis to recognise the weaker aspects of safety, so corrective actions can be taken.Before applying any improvement action according GDS, the initial parameters to measure the culture of safety in UCA were established. Special versions of the AsSeVi Survey Tool were developed and checked out. The first one was adapted to academy and administration of UCA. The second, to students. Both communities showed similar characteristics according GDS, opening the door of improving the safety culture of students working only with academy. Finally, the JST Safety Survey and a traditional behavioural safety observation activity were used to establish reference indicators. Use a handrail in stairs and walking watching cell phone are two excellent potential possibilities to be used as indicators.     

Environmental solutions sparked by environmental history

Environmental solutions require a decision-making process that is ultimately political, in that they involve decisions with uncertain outcomes and stakeholders with conflicting viewpoints. If this process seeks broad alignment between the government and public, then reconciling conflicting viewpoints is a key to the legitimacy of these decisions. We show that ecological baselines can be particularly powerful tools for creating a common understanding for public support (legitimacy) and conformity to new rules or regulations (legality) that enable the solution. They are powerful because they move the discussion of solutions from the abstract to the concrete by providing a conceptual model for a common expectation (e.g., restoring habitat). They provide narratives of the past (ecological histories) that readjust the future expectations of individuals on how to perceive and respond to new policy. While ecological baselines offer scientists benchmarks for reinstating ecological functions, they also normalize public and government discussion of solutions. This social normalization of public issues may assist government policy and influence social views, practices, and behaviors that adopt the policy. For science to more effectively inform conservation, we encourage interdisciplinary thinking (science- and human-centered) because it can provide public support and government legitimacy for investing in environmental solutions.     

Effects of temperature and precipitation on grassland bird nesting success as mediated by patch size

Grassland birds are declining faster than any other bird guild across North America. Shrinking ranges and population declines are attributed to widespread habitat loss and increasingly fragmented landscapes of agriculture and other land uses that are misaligned with grassland bird conservation. Concurrent with habitat loss and degradation, temperate grasslands have been disproportionally affected by climate change relative to most other terrestrial biomes. Distributions of grassland birds often correlate with gradients in climate, but few researchers have explored the consequences of weather on the demography of grassland birds inhabiting a range of grassland fragments. To do so, we modeled the effects of temperature and precipitation on nesting success rates of 12 grassland bird species inhabiting a range of grassland patches across North America (21,000 nests from 81 individual studies). Higher amounts of precipitation in the preceding year were associated with higher nesting success, but wetter conditions during the active breeding season reduced nesting success. Extremely cold or hot conditions during the early breeding season were associated with lower rates of nesting success. The direct and indirect influence of temperature and precipitation on nesting success was moderated by grassland patch size. The positive effects of precipitation in the preceding year on nesting success were strongest in relatively small grassland patches and had little effect in large patches. Conversely, warm temperatures reduced nesting success in small grassland patches but increased nesting success in large patches. Mechanisms underlying these differences may be patch‐size‐induced variation in microclimates and predator activity. Although the exact cause is unclear, large grassland patches, the most common metric of grassland conservation, appears to moderate the effects of weather on grassland‐bird demography and could be an effective component of climate‐change adaptation.     

Effects of seascape connectivity on reserve performance along exposed coastlines

Seascape connectivity (landscape connectivity in the sea) can modify reserve performance in low-energy marine ecosystems (e.g., coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrass), but it is not clear whether similar spatial linkages also shape reserve effectiveness on high-energy, exposed coastlines. We used the surf zones of ocean beaches in eastern Australia as a model system to test how seascape connectivity and reserve attributes combine to shape conservation outcomes. Spatial patterns in fish assemblages were measured using baited remote underwater video stations in 12 marine reserves and 15 fished beaches across 2000 km of exposed coastline. Reserve performance was shaped by both the characteristics of reserves and the spatial properties of the coastal seascapes in which reserves were embedded. Number of fish species and abundance of harvested fishes were highest in surf-zone reserves that encompassed >1.5 km of the surf zone; were located < 100 m to rocky headlands; and included pocket beaches in a heterogeneous seascape. Conservation outcomes for exposed coastlines may, therefore, be enhanced by prioritizing sufficiently large areas of seascapes that are strongly linked to abutting complementary habitats. Our findings have broader implications for coastal conservation planning. Empirical data to describe how the ecological features of high-energy shorelines influence conservation outcomes are lacking, and we suggest that seascape connectivity may have similar ecological effects on reserve performance on both sheltered and exposed coastlines.     

Land‐use history as a guide for forest conservation and management

Conservation efforts to protect forested landscapes are challenged by climate projections that suggest substantial restructuring of vegetation and disturbance regimes in the future. In this regard, paleoecological records that describe ecosystem responses to past variations in climate, fire, and human activity offer critical information for assessing present landscape conditions and future landscape vulnerability. We illustrate this point drawing on 8 sites in the northwestern United States, New Zealand, Patagonia, and central and southern Europe that have undergone different levels of climate and land‐use change. These sites fall along a gradient of landscape conditions that range from nearly pristine (i.e., vegetation and disturbance shaped primarily by past climate and biophysical constraints) to highly altered (i.e., landscapes that have been intensely modified by past human activity). Position on this gradient has implications for understanding the role of natural and anthropogenic disturbance in shaping ecosystem dynamics and assessments of present biodiversity, including recognizing missing or overrepresented species. Dramatic vegetation reorganization occurred at all study sites as a result of postglacial climate variations. In nearly pristine landscapes, such as those in Yellowstone National Park, climate has remained the primary driver of ecosystem change up to the present day. In Europe, natural vegetation–climate–fire linkages were broken 6000–8000 years ago with the onset of Neolithic farming, and in New Zealand, natural linkages were first lost about 700 years ago with arrival of the Maori people. In the U.S. Northwest and Patagonia, the greatest landscape alteration occurred in the last 150 years with Euro‐American settlement. Paleoecology is sometimes the best and only tool for evaluating the degree of landscape alteration and the extent to which landscapes retain natural components. Information on landscape‐level history thus helps assess current ecological change, clarify management objectives, and define conservation strategies that seek to protect both natural and cultural elements.     

Characteristics of Urban Natural Areas Influencing Winter Bird Use in Southern Ontario,Canada

Characteristics of urban natural areas and surrounding landscapes were identified that best explain winter bird use for 28 urban natural areas in southern Ontario, Canada. The research confirms for winter birds the importance of area (size) and natural vegetation, rather than managed, horticultural parkland, within urban natural areas as well as percent urban land use and natural habitat in surrounding landscapes. Alien bird density and percent ground feeding species increased with percent surrounding urban land use. Higher percent forest cover was associated with higher percentages of forest, bark feeding, small (<20 g) and insectivorous species. Natural area size (ha) was related to higher species richness, lower evenness and higher percentages of insectivorous, forest interior, area-sensitive, upper canopy, bark feeding, and non-resident species. Higher number of habitat types within natural areas and percent natural habitat in surrounding landscapes were also associated with higher species richness. Common, resident bird species dominated small areas (<6.5 ha), while less common non-residents increased with area, indicative of a nested distribution. Areas at least 6.5 ha and more generally >20 ha start to support some area-sensitive species. Areas similar to rural forests had >25% insectivores, >25% forest interior species, >25% small species, and <5% alien species. Indicator species separated urban natural areas from rural habitats and ordination placed urban natural areas along a gradient between urban development and undisturbed, rural forests. More attention is needed on issues of winter bird conservation in urban landscapes.     

江西省公路网规划对景观格局的影响分析

公路网作为廊道网络,对于景观格局的破碎化影响巨大.景观格局的破碎化会缩小景观斑块的尺寸,增加斑块之间的分离度,提高外界对斑块的干扰机率,最终导致生态系统生物多样性的降低,危害生态安全.提出了基于GIS的公路网景观格局影响分析的叠图法,并将其应用到江西省公路网规划环境影响评价中.该方法包括绘制景观图件、景观分类、景观指数计算以及景观影响分析4个步骤.