Range Size and Extinction Risk in Forest Birds

Abstract:  Small geographical range size is the single best predictor of threat of extinction in terrestrial species. Knowing how small a species' range has to be before authorities consider it threatened with extinction would allow prediction of a species' risk from continued deforestation and warming climates and provide a baseline for conservation and management strategies aspiring to mitigate these threats. To determine the threshold at which forest-dependent bird species become threatened with extinction, we compared the range sizes of threatened and nonthreatened species. In doing so, we present a simple, repeatable, and practical protocol to quantify range size. We started with species' ranges published in field guides or comparable sources. We then trimmed these ranges, that is, we included only those parts of the ranges that met the species' requirements of elevation and types of forest preferred. Finally, we further trimmed the ranges to the amount of forest cover that remains. This protocol generated an estimate of the remaining suitable range for each species. We compared these range estimates with those from the World Conservation Union Red List. We used the smaller of the two estimates to determine the threshold, 11,000 km², below which birds should be considered threatened. Species considered threatened that have larger ranges than this qualified under other (nonspatial) red list criteria. We identified a suite of species (18) that have not yet qualified as threatened but that have perilously small ranges—about 11% of the nonthreatened birds we analyzed. These birds are likely at risk of extinction and reevaluation of their status is urgently needed.     

Response of a Group of Sichuan Snub-Nosed Monkeys to Commercial Logging in the Qinling Mountains, China

Abstract:  Habitat destruction is one of the greatest threats to primates worldwide. To understand the impact of forest logging on the habitat use of primates in temperate mixed forest, we compared the range, habitat used, population size, and diet of a troop (ERT) of Sichuan snub-nosed monkeys ( Rhinopithecus roxellana ) in the Qinling Mountains before (1989), during (1997), and after (2002–2003) commercial logging. Logging significantly changed the composition of the forest and the food supply for the troop. Some areas were heavily logged and formed patches in the forest that lacked canopy cover. The troop moved 7 km away from their original range when logging took place and returned to their original range after logging stopped, but they avoided heavily logged areas that lacked canopy cover. Their movement indicated some degree of site fidelity in this species. Diet and home range changed after logging, but the population size remained stable, which suggests that this species has some ability to adapt to habitat changes. Our results may reflect a natural flexibility in primates to adapt to the changing food resources in temperate areas with marked seasonal variations in food availability and distribution. This flexibility may have contributed to their higher degree of resilience to habitat alterations caused by human activities compared with tropical forest primates that have a more specialized diet. Our findings provide important baseline information that will help decision makers in their efforts to conserve primates, especially in temperate regions, and to sustainably manage primate habitat.     

Reluctant pioneers in the European periphery? Environmental activism,food consumption and “growing your own”

East European food self-provisioning (FSP) has fascinated scholars of post-socialism ever since the early 1990s. In keeping with its predominantly economic and cultural conceptualisations, much of this research has been concerned with FSP’s role in household economy and with the social profile of its practitioners. In contrast to western conceptualisations of FSP as an opportunity to expand food activism and foster social justice and environmental sustainability, post-socialist FSP has rarely been considered as such. In Czechia, FSP is practised by 43% of citizens and many of them do so in a relatively environmentally friendly way. Yet, most food-related campaigns run by environmental NGOs (ENGOs) pay little attention to FSP and focus on market-based ethical consumerism and alternative food networks instead. Using insights from actor-network theory, this paper discusses how Czech ENGO activists engage with FSP through discourse and in practice. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with leading activists, we show that FSP does figure in non-food-related campaigns and that the FSP practised by activists themselves or the FSP carried out by relatives and relatives’ friends are not the same as the FSP on which they are reluctant to campaign. These differences, which include controllability and the time-consuming nature of practising FSP according to some of the activists’ ideals, help this paper to come to an initial understanding of why Czech ENGOs do not run campaigns explicitly focused on FSP at the moment and shed some light on how this could change in the future.     

聚合氯化铁-腐殖酸(PFC-HA)冷冻干燥絮体的表面与孔分形研究

采用低温急速冷冻-真空干燥技术制备了PFC-HA絮体的粉末样品,研究了这些样品的物理与分形特征.结果表明,PFC-HA絮体具有晶体结构,SEM图象中有方块状形体;絮体主要组成元素为C、O、Fe,所含的特征官能团保留了絮体组成原料的一些特征;絮体的干燥样品的BET比表面积为51～92 m2·g-1,BJH累积吸附孔体积为0.0638～0.108 cm3·g-1,BJH脱附平均孔径为3.53～4.60nm,PSD峰值对应孔径3.9nm(4#样品还有另外一个PSD峰值53.2nm).PFC-HA絮体的干燥样品具有自相似性的粗糙表面,呈现多尺度分形特征;图象法确定的表面分形维数Ds值远低于N2吸附/脱附等温线法确定的结果,分别为2.14～2.22、2.90～2.96;前者的分形尺度大约处于23～390nm之间,主要属于絮体干燥样品的外表面尺度,后者的分形特征尺度区间的下限大约为0.2nm,属于孔表面尺度,因此,PFC-HA絮体干燥样品的表面粗糙度主要集中于孔表面.另外,对同一絮体,N2吸附法和脱附法确定的孔表面分形维数基本相同.通过热力学模型计算出的4#样品的Ds值接近于FHH理论计算出的结果,但分形尺度的区间变小了.     

泛比电阻电除尘器收尘性能实验研究

泛比电阻电除尘器是一种具有辅助电极和交错平板收尘电极的新型电除尘器.通过对其伏安特性及除尘效率的试验研究,并与传统线板式静电除尘器进行比较,结果表明辅助电极对电晕电流具有明显的抑制作用,在相同的外加电压下,泛比电阻电除尘器对高比电阻锅炉飞灰的收尘效率比普通的线板式电除尘器明显要高.     

现行监测方法标准与监测技术规范中存在的问题与改进

研究与分析了现行有效的环境监测方法标准与监测技术规范,指出了一些较早颁布的环境监测方法标准如最经常使用的《水质化学需氧量的测定重铬酸盐法》(GB 11914—1989)等存在的未明确给出检出限、测定下限(即未给出方法的定性、半定量以及定量监测范围)以及使用术语不统一、不规范等问题。研究发现,《地表水和污水监测技术规范》(HJ/T 91—2002)等监测技术规范普遍存在的最大缺陷是没有引入测定下限的概念,未考虑与规定半定量区间内的监测结果报出问题。此外,这些规范也存在着术语使用不统一、不规范的现象,且对于低于检出限的监测结果应如何报出与参与统计的规定存在不一致现象。研究列举了一些存在问题的环境监测方法标准和环境监测技术规范,对其进行剖析,揭示问题,并对其下一步的修改、完善提出建议。     

颗粒物表面酸碱特性与孔表面分形的研究

通过电位滴定试验,证明了5种颗粒物的表面存在着一定量的OH-受体,其表面位浓度(Hs)在0.1219～0.3134 mmo.·L-1之间,表面位密度(DoH)在0.8586～2.1305个·nm-2之间,且不同采样点的颗粒物,其表面位浓度和表面位密度差别很大.所采集的5种颗粒物的孔结构接近平行板狭缝,孔尺寸分布不是均一的,平均孔径分布范围较宽(1.8～76nm);BET比表面积为9.5669～34.5605 m2·g-1,累积脱附孔体积为0.01729～0.06711 cm3·g-1,BJH脱附平均孔径为5.6768～7.7388nm,处于中孔范围,且平均孔径均大于其PSD峰值对应的孔径.通过分形FHH方程模拟N2吸附和脱附等温线数据计算出这些颗粒物的孔表面分形维数Ds比较接近(2.68～2.82之间),但它们的分形标度区间不同.另外,采用热力学模型和分形FHH理论计算出的表面分形维数的差异主要归因于这些样品孔尺寸分布的不均一性.     

工业重大危险源安全与环境影响研究

分析了现有各类安全与环境影响分析方法的不足之处,在此基础上提出一种基于模拟分析思想的事故后果分析方法,选取伤害范围分析法和模拟预测模型对工业重大危险源进行安全与环境影响分析,根据分析结果对其危险性进行分级,并将该方法应用到某工程项目,得到了工业重大危验源的各种事故伤害影响范围以及环境污染影响范围.实践证明,此方法能够对工业重大危险源进行安全与环境影响评价.     

Use of Basic Biological Information for Rapid Prediction of the Response of Species to Habitat Loss

Abstract:  Much research has focused on identifying traits that can act as useful indicators of how habitat loss affects the extinction risk of species, and the results are mixed. We developed 2 simple, rapid-assessment models of the susceptibility of species to habitat loss. We based both on an index of range size, but one also incorporated an index of body mass and the other an index combining habitat and dietary specialization. We applied the models to samples of birds (Accipitridae and Bucerotidae) and to the lemurs of Madagascar and compared the models' classifications of risk with the IUCN's global threat status of each species. The model derived from ecological attributes was much more robust than the one derived from body mass. Ecological attributes identified threatened birds and lemurs with an average of 80% accuracy and endangered and critically endangered species with 100% accuracy and identified some species not currently listed as threatened that almost certainly warrant conservation consideration. Appropriate analysis of even fairly crude biological information can help raise early-warning flags to the relative susceptibilities of species to habitat loss and thus provide a useful and rapid technique for highlighting potential species-level conservation issues. Advantages of this approach to classifying risk include flexibility in the specialization parameters used as well as its applicability at a range of spatial scales.     

双室微生物燃料电池型BOD传感器性能

构建了双室微生物燃料电池(MFC),并应用于污水BOD的检测。优化了MFC型BOD传感器的检测条件,分析了传感器进行污水BOD检测的特征。结果表明,以A2/O污水处理工艺中厌氧段污泥进行接种,双室MFC型BOD传感器2周内完成启动,所产电流达到稳定。传感器的最佳检测条件为外接电阻500Ω,添加缓冲溶液并维持待测水样pH为7.0,添加35 mg/L的L-半胱氨酸作为吸氧剂维持阳极室厌氧环境,阴极室富氧水流量为20 mL/min。利用MFC产生的电流峰值准确检测污水水样BOD浓度,传感器检测范围为10~50 mg/L,检测时间小于3 h;利用MFC产生的电荷量准确检测污水水样BOD浓度,检测范围为10~100 mg/L,检测时间小于10 h。利用MFC电流峰值和电荷量检测污水水样BOD浓度,偏差均小于15%,传感器运行稳定,寿命较长。