Meta‐Analysis of the Effects of Forest Fragmentation on Interspecific Interactions

Forest fragmentation dramatically alters species persistence and distribution and affects many ecological interactions among species. Recent studies suggest that mutualisms, such as pollination and seed dispersal, are more sensitive to the negative effects of forest fragmentation than antagonisms, such as predation or herbivory. We applied meta‐analytical techniques to evaluate this hypothesis and quantified the relative contributions of different components of the fragmentation process (decreases in fragment size, edge effects, increased isolation, and habitat degradation) to the overall effect. The effects of fragmentation on mutualisms were primarily driven by habitat degradation, edge effects, and fragment isolation, and, as predicted, they were consistently more negative on mutualisms than on antagonisms. For the most studied interaction type, seed dispersal, only certain components of fragmentation had significant (edge effects) or marginally significant (fragment size) effects. Seed size modulated the effect of fragmentation: species with large seeds showed stronger negative impacts of fragmentation via reduced dispersal rates. Our results reveal that different components of the habitat fragmentation process have varying impacts on key mutualisms. We also conclude that antagonistic interactions have been understudied in fragmented landscapes, most of the research has concentrated on particular types of mutualistic interactions such as seed dispersal, and that available studies of interspecific interactions have a strong geographical bias (arising mostly from studies carried out in Brazil, Chile, and the United States). Meta‐Análisis de los Efectos de la Fragmentación del Bosque sobre las Interacciones Interespecíficas     

Effects of Multiple Levels of Social Organization on Survival and Abundance

Abstract: Identifying how social organization shapes individual behavior, survival, and fecundity of animals that live in groups can inform conservation efforts and improve forecasts of population abundance, even when the mechanism responsible for group‐level differences is unknown. We constructed a hierarchical Bayesian model to quantify the relative variability in survival rates among different levels of social organization (matrilines and pods) of an endangered population of killer whales (Orcinus orca). Individual killer whales often participate in group activities such as prey sharing and cooperative hunting. The estimated age‐specific survival probabilities and survivorship curves differed considerably among pods and to a lesser extent among matrilines (within pods). Across all pods, males had lower life expectancy than females. Differences in survival between pods may be caused by a combination of factors that vary across the population's range, including reduced prey availability, contaminants in prey, and human activity. Our modeling approach could be applied to demographic rates for other species and for parameters other than survival, including reproduction, prey selection, movement, and detection probabilities.     

环境内分泌干扰物质的健康影响与作用机制

本文综述了环境内分泌干扰物质与人或动物生殖发育、行为智力、免疫功能、肥胖、糖尿病、癌症等异常或疾病的相关性及相关作用机制,讨论了其"低剂量效应"和"复合效应",对本领域今后发展的方向进行了探讨.     

Fragmentation drives tropical forest fragments to early successional states: A modelling study for Brazilian Atlantic forests

Land use leads to massive habitat destruction and fragmentation in tropical forests. Despite its global dimensions the effects of fragmentation on ecosystem dynamics are not well understood due to the complexity of the problem. We present a simulation analysis performed by the individual-based model FORMIND. The model was applied to the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, one of the world's biodiversity hot spots, at the Plateau of São Paulo. This study investigates the long-term effects of fragmentation processes on structure and dynamics of different sized remnant tropical forest fragments (1-100 ha) at community and plant functional type (PFT) level. We disentangle the interplay of single effects of different key fragmentation processes (edge mortality, increased mortality of large trees, local seed loss and external seed rain) using simulation experiments in a full factorial design.Our analysis reveals that particularly small forest fragments below 25 ha suffer substantial structural changes, biomass and biodiversity loss in the long term. At community level biomass is reduced up to 60%. Two thirds of the mid- and late-successional species groups, especially shade-tolerant (late successional climax) species groups are prone of extinction in small fragments. The shade-tolerant species groups were most strongly affected; its tree number was reduced more than 60% mainly by increased edge mortality. This process proved to be the most powerful of those investigated, explaining alone more than 80% of the changes observed for this group. External seed rain was able to compensate approximately 30% of the observed fragmentation effects for shade-tolerant species.Our results suggest that tropical forest fragments will suffer strong structural changes in the long term, leading to tree species impoverishment. They may reach a new equilibrium with a substantially reduced subset of the initial species pool, and are driven towards an earlier successional state. The natural regeneration potential of a landscape scattered with forest fragments appears to be limited, as external seed rain is not able to fully compensate for the observed fragmentation-induced changes. Our findings suggest basic recommendations for the management of fragmented tropical forest landscapes.     

网络化关键基础设施依存关系建模与仿真方法研究

针对关键基础设施(CI)依存关系导致的系统级联效应这一问题,在系统化分析网络化CI依存关系建模与仿真的各种方法之上,通过比较各种研究方法的优缺点、适用范围、存在问题,提出采用系统动力学和Multi-Agents混合建模方法,来模拟系统之间的动态关联关系的变化。最后,以一个水资源系统的突发安全事件为例,利用Any-Logic软件对事故所涉及影响到事故系统间的参数进行优化与数值模拟。结果表明:通过该方法优化试验确定事故水系统对其他关联系统的最优供给量,优化该地区的基础设施网络运作能力,同时有效防御系统的级联损失。     

介质阻挡放电等离子协同TiO_2-GAC降解甲基橙的研究

采用介质阻挡放电(DBD)等离子协同颗粒活性炭负载TiO2(TiO2-GAC)对甲基橙进行降解,研究了该体系的协同处理效果,探讨了放电电压、初始pH、初始电导率、初始浓度和TiO2-GAC投加量等操作参数的影响,并建立了协同体系的表观反应动力学模型.实验结果表明,DBD与TiO2-GAC联合处理表现出明显的协同效应,处理25min后,协同体系对甲基橙的降解率和COD去除率分别为96.2%和90%,与单独DBD体系相比,分别提高了52.7%和50.4%;协同体系降解甲基橙的过程符合表观反应动力学模型,模型值与实验值吻合良好,总级数为2.352;体系中H2O2、O3浓度测定结果表明,与单独DBD体系对比,协同体系的H2O2浓度增高,而O3浓度降低,说明TiO2-GAC起到了催化作用;TiO2-GAC在DBD体系中获得了原位再生,五次再生循环后再生率达80%.     

Economic assessment of rewilding versus agri-environmental nature management

Policies aiming at improving biodiversity often consist of costly agri-environmental schemes, i.e. subsidized grazing or mowing of semi-natural areas. However, these practices have widely been found to be insufficient to mitigate biodiversity loss. Rewilding, i.e. restoring natural processes in self-sustaining biodiverse ecosystems, has been proposed as an alternative and is hypothesized to be a more cost-efficient approach to promote biodiversity conservation. Rewilding requires the availability of large natural areas which are not allocated for farming, forestry, and infrastructure to avoid potential conflicts over the use of the area. We perform an ex-ante private cost–benefit analysis of the establishment of four large nature reserves for rewilding in Denmark. We analyse the economic effects of changing from summer grazing in nature areas in combination with cultivated fields and forestry to the establishment of nature reserves in four case areas. We consider two scenarios involving conversion of agriculture and forestry areas into natural areas in combination with either extensive year-round cattle grazing or rewilding with wild large herbivores. In two case areas, it appears possible to establish large nature areas without incurring extra costs. Additionally, rewilding further reduces costs compared to year-round cattle grazing. Two opposing effects were dominant: increased economic rent occurred from the shift from summer grazing to year-round grazing or rewilding, while cessation of agriculture and forestry caused opportunity costs.     

静态清灰袋式除尘技术的产业化推广问题探讨

介绍了由我国自主研制的静态清灰袋式除尘技术,并从该技术自身的技术经济优势以及趋严的工业烟尘排放标准两个方面分析得出静态清灰袋式除尘技术的产业化推广应用具有良好的基础,进而结合该专利技术拥有企业自身的情况,探讨了4种可能的产业化推广模式,并对相应的市场效果进行了分析和预测。结果表明对该技术实施产业化推广是可行的。