生态足迹方法在县级城市的运用--以成都市龙泉驿区为例

本文以成都市1999年和2003年统计年鉴和龙泉驿区统计年鉴1998年和2003年的数据为依据,采用生态足迹的方法,对龙泉驿区1998年和2003年的可持续发展性进行定量评价,通过计算和分析,结果表明龙泉驿区1998年和2003年人均生态足迹均为赤字,且2003年比1998年的生态足迹赤字更为加剧,这反映出人类的生产、生活强度超过了生态系统的承载能力,此区域生态系统处于过度开发利用和压力之下,随着经济的发展,人口的增加,这种趋势还在继续加大.     

开发区土地生态适宜度评价探讨-以淮安外向型农业综合开发区为例

本文以淮安外向型农业开发区为研究对象,在开发区的环境影响评价和环境保护规划中引入土地利用生态适宜度评价的方法,在详尽调查研究的基础上,选择相应的评价因子,建立开发区生态适宜度评价指标体系,并借助GIS技术将数值计算和图形叠置有机结合,为开发区的合理规划提供决策依据。     

重庆市重要生态功能区生态系统服务动态变化

借助遥感数据和GIS空间分析技术,选取生物多样性维持、土壤保持、水源涵养和固碳4种生态系统服务建立评估模型,对2000—2010年重庆市域内3个重要生态功能区——三峡库区水源涵养重要区(下称三峡重要区)、秦巴山区水源涵养重要区(下称秦巴重要区)和都市区“四山”生态屏障重要区(下称“四山”重要区)生态系统服务的时空变异特征进行综合研究. 结果表明:①2000—2010年,三峡重要区4种生态系统服务均呈增强趋势. ②秦巴重要区内,生物多样性维持和水源涵养功能总体较好,并且持续增强;固碳功能有所减弱,该时段内固碳功能高等级面积减少了931.90 km2. ③“四山”重要区土壤保持和水源涵养功能有所增强,生物多样性维持和固碳功能略有减弱. ④重庆市重要生态功能区生态系统服务以中和较高等级分布为主,空间差异较大,异质性明显. 生态系统服务较好区域主要分布在渝东北秦巴山区以及中西部植被覆盖较好的山脊;市域中部长寿、垫江、涪陵等区县生态系统服务相对较弱. 10 a间,重庆市重要生态功能区生态系统服务总体呈变好趋势,但局部地区有所减弱,主要表现为秦巴和“四山”重要区固碳功能的降低.      

Ecological issues and risk assessment in China

As a result of economic development and population explosion, global ecological environments have been severely disturbed and markedly changed. An ecological crisis involving desertification, soil erosion, degradation of land quality, loss of biodiversity and global climate change has been brought about all over the world. In order to manage ecosystems efficiently, it is necessary to assess ecological risk at multiple scales. Ecological risk is the probability that a region and/or site will experience defined ecological or environmental problems. In this paper, the ecological risks of soil erosion, desertification, and acid deposition have been assessed on a national scale according to natural and human factors, such as topography, soil, vegetation and climate. This assessment has provided very useful information for ecological environmental management in China.     

基于GIS的页岩气开发生态环境数据管理系统设计

分析了数据管理系统在生态环境领域的应用现状,以及页岩气开发生态环境数据的特性和管理需求,提出了基于地理信息系统和关系型数据库有效集成的数据管理系统框架,实现对页岩气开发区域水环境、土壤环境、环境空气及污染源负荷在时间和空间尺度的分析与评价,指出大数据、物联网技术的运用是系统发展的重要方向.     

Impact of the quality of climate models for modelling species occurrences in countries with poor climatic documentation: a case study from Bolivia

The quality of climate models has largely been overlooked as a possible source of uncertainty that may affect the outcomes of species distribution models, especially in the tropics, where comparatively few climatic stations are available. We compared the geographical discrepancies and potential conservation implications of using two different climate models (Saga and Worldclim) in combination with the species modelling approach Maxent in Bolivia. We estimated ranges of selected bird and fern species biogeographically restricted to either humid montane forest of the northern Bolivian Andes or seasonal dry tropical forests (in the Andes and southern lowlands). Saga and Worldclim predicted roughly similar climate patterns of temperature that were significantly correlated. Precipitation layers of both climate models were also roughly similar, but showed important differences. Species ranges estimated with Worldclim and Saga likewise produced different results. Ranges of species endemic to humid montane forests estimated with Saga had higher AUC (Area under the curve) values than those estimated with Worldclim, which for example predicted the occurrence of humid montane forest bird species near Lake Titicaca, an area that is clearly unsuitable for these species. Likewise, Worldclim overpredicted the occurrence of fern and bird species in the lowlands of the Chapare region and well south of the Andean Elbow, where more seasonal biomes occur. By contrast, Saga predictions were coherent with the known distribution of humid montane forests in the northern Bolivian Andes. Estimated ranges of species endemic to seasonal dry tropical forests predicted with Saga and Worldclim were not statistically different in most cases. However, detailed comparisons revealed that Saga was able to distinguish fragments of seasonal dry tropical forests in rain-shadow valleys of the northern Bolivian Andes, whereas Worldclim was not. These differences highlight the neglected influence of climate layers on modelling results and the importance of using the most accurate climate data available when modelling species distributions.     

High-risk ecosystems as foci for considering biodiversity and ecological integrity in ecological risk assessments

Ecological risk management historically focused on risks to human health and the immediate human environment. Increasingly, societal interest in biodiversity and ecological integrity demands that risk assessors and managers take a broader view of the environment and include non-human species and ecosystems within their realm of concern. The greatest threats to biodiversity in the USA and much of the world are habitat alteration (including conversion, degradation, and fragmentation) and exotic species invasions. This paper reviews and integrates the results of several recent studies (e.g. by The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, Defenders of Wildlife, and the National Biological Service) that have identified regions and ecosystems that are highly distinct biologically, are rare or declining, contain high numbers of imperiled species, face immediate threats, and stand to lose considerable biodiversity in the near future. These studies converge on a set of regions that warrant urgent attention from risk managers. Focal species and functional groups of species can be selected within these regions to characterize ecological effects and track recovery of ecosystems along the same axes (e.g. habitat structure, disturbance frequency) that led to biotic impoverishment. The most fruitful approach to risk management ultimately will be one that addresses the most urgent threats at several levels of biological organization, from focal species to communities to ecoregions.     

Glass buildings on river banks as “polarized light traps” for mass-swarming polarotactic caddis flies

The caddis flies Hydropsyche pellucidula emerge at dusk from the river Danube and swarm around trees and bushes on the river bank. We document here that these aquatic insects can also be attracted en masse to the vertical glass surfaces of buildings on the river bank. The individuals lured to dark, vertical glass panes land, copulate, and remain on the glass for hours. Many of them are trapped by the partly open, tiltable windows. In laboratory choice experiments, we showed that ovipositing H. pellucidula are attracted to highly and horizontally polarized light stimulating their ventral eye region and, thus, have positive polarotaxis. In the field, we documented that highly polarizing vertical black glass surfaces are significantly more attractive to both female and male H. pellucidula than weakly polarizing white ones. Using video polarimetry, we measured the reflection-polarization characteristics of vertical glass surfaces of buildings where caddis flies swarmed. We propose that after its emergence from the river, H. pellucidula is attracted to buildings by their dark silhouettes and the glass-reflected, horizontally polarized light. After sunset, this attraction may be strengthened by positive phototaxis elicited by the buildings' lights. The novelty of this visual-ecological phenomenon is that the attraction of caddis flies to vertical glass surfaces has not been expected because vertical glass panes do not resemble the horizontal surface of waters from which these insects emerge and to which they must return to oviposit.     

Plant surface wax affects parasitoid’s response to host footprints

The plant surface is the substrate upon which herbivorous insects and natural enemies meet and thus represents the stage for interactions between the three trophic levels. Plant surfaces are covered by an epicuticular wax layer which is highly variable depending on species, cultivar or plant part. Differences in wax chemistry may modulate ecological interactions. We explored whether caterpillars of Spodoptera frugiperda, when walking over a plant surface, leave a chemical trail (kairomones) that can be detected by the parasitoid Cotesia marginiventris. Chemistry and micromorphology of cuticular waxes of two barley eceriferum wax mutants (cer-za.126, cer-yp.949) and wild-type cv. Bonus (wt) were assessed. The plants were then used to investigate potential surface effects on the detectability of caterpillar kairomones. Here we provide evidence that C. marginiventris responds to chemical footprints of its host. Parasitoids were able to detect the kairomone on wild-type plants and on both cer mutants but the response to cer-yp.949 (reduced wax, high aldehyde fraction) was less pronounced. Experiments with caterpillar-treated wt and mutant leaves offered simultaneously, confirmed this observation: no difference in wasp response was found when wt was tested against cer-za.126 (reduced wax, wt-like chemical composition) but wt was significantly more attractive than cer-yp.949. This demonstrates for the first time that the wax layer can modulate the detectability of host kairomones.     

Reflecting ecological criteria in laws supporting the Baja to Bering Sea marine protected areas network case study

Canadian and US marine conservation law, and other related law, was analyzed to determine if it reflected ecological criteria needed to implement connectivity among marine protected areas of the northeast Pacific in the proposed trilateral Baja to Bering Sea (B2B) initiative. The analysis included both nations’ federal laws and those of California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and British Columbia. While legal provisions exist already to implement marine protected areas for varying reasons, there is little capacity in most laws to create connectivity among them for conservation purposes. Only California's legislation contained explicit provisions for all the criteria. Other federal, state, and provincial laws, while containing provisions for species at risk and vulnerable habitats, generally lacked explicit provisions for the vital criteria, size of area, migratory patterns, and recruitment patterns. Implementation, future management, and protection of the proposed B2B marine network would be facilitated by amendment of both Canadian and US laws. Some of the ecological criteria are already implied implicitly or vaguely, but they need to be made explicit in the amended law. The legislative model of California could serve as a template for amending the laws of other jurisdictions in the B2B venture.