A climate-change vulnerability and adaptation assessment for Brazil's protected areas

Brazil hosts the largest expanse of tropical ecosystems within protected areas (PAs), which shelter biodiversity and support traditional human populations. We assessed the vulnerability to climate change of 993 terrestrial and coastal-marine Brazilian PAs by combining indicators of climatic-change hazard with indicators of PA resilience (size, native vegetation cover, and probability of climate-driven vegetation transition). This combination of indicators allows the identification of broad climate-change adaptation pathways. Seventeen PAs (20,611 km²) were highly vulnerable and located mainly in the Atlantic Forest (7 PAs), Cerrado (6), and the Amazon (4). Two hundred fifty-eight PAs (756,569 km²), located primarily in Amazonia, had a medium vulnerability. In the Amazon and western Cerrado, the projected severe climatic change and probability of climate-driven vegetation transition drove vulnerability up, despite the generally good conservation status of PAs. Over 80% of PAs of high or moderate vulnerability are managed by indigenous populations. Hence, besides the potential risks to biodiversity, the traditional knowledge and livelihoods of the people inhabiting these PAs may be threatened. In at least 870 PAs, primarily in the Atlantic Forest and Amazon, adaptation could happen with little or no intervention due to low climate-change hazard, high resilience status, or both. At least 20 PAs in the Atlantic Forest, Cerrado, and Amazonia should be targeted for stronger interventions (e.g., improvement of ecological connectivity), given their low resilience status. Despite being a first attempt to link vulnerability and adaptation in Brazilian PAs, we suggest that some of the PAs identified as highly or moderately vulnerable should be prioritized for testing potential adaptation strategies in the near future.     

Sustainability: a Dissent

Abstract:  Broadly conceived and considered in its many usages, sustainability has grave defects as a planning goal, particularly when used by conservationists: it confuses means and ends; it is vague about what is being sustained and who or what is doing the sustaining; it is uninspiring; it is little more than Pinchot-era conservation (and thus ignores the many lessons learned since then); it need not be linked to land, to the land's functioning, or to any ecological science; it need not include a moral component; it is consistent with the view of humans as all-powerful manipulators of the planet; and, in general, it is such a malleable term that its popularity provides only a facade of consensus. When sustainability is defined broadly to include the full range of economic and social aspirations, it poses the particular risk that ecological and biodiversity concerns will be cast aside in favor of more pressing human wants. Given these many defects, the conservation movement should discard the term in favor of a more alluring goal, attentive to nature and its ecological functioning. A sound goal would incorporate and distill the considerable ecological and moral wisdom accumulated since Pinchot's day while giving conservationists the rhetorical tools needed to defend the land against competing pressures. In our view, conservation would be well served by an updated variant of "land health," Aldo Leopold's ecologically grounded goal from the 1940s. Land health as an independent understanding should set the essential terms of how we live and enjoy the earth, providing the framework within which we pursue our many social and economic aims.     

淮河干流及主要支流夏季浮游植物群落生物多样性评价

浮游植物是水生态系统的重要组成部分,其群落变化与水体环境条件密切相关,是反映河流健康的主要生物指标.为揭示淮河流域浮游植物群落特征及其与水质的相互关系,于2015年夏季对淮河流域典型水体—淮河干流、沙颍河、涡河和淠河进行系统的水质及浮游植物调查,探明浮游植物群落及其空间分布特征,并结合水体理化指标和生物指数进行水质评价.结果表明,淮河干流及主要支流27个点位中共获得浮游植物8门71属153种,主要隶属于绿藻门(Chlorophyta)、硅藻门(Bacillariophyta)、蓝藻门(Cyanophyta).浮游植物密度为0.019×10~5~131.824×10~5ind·L~(-1),不同河段浮游植物分布表现出较为显著的空间差异性,平均密度大小呈现沙颖河淮河干流涡河淠河的特点.非参数多维尺度分析(Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling,NMDS)表明,淮河干流、淠河和涡河的浮游植物群落组成和结构的相似性较高,而与沙颍河的浮游植物群落存在一定的差异.Shannon多样性指数H'介于0.78~3.21之间,Margalef丰富度指数D介于1.03~4.79之间,Pielou均匀度指数J介于0.12~0.73之间.水质生物评价结果显示,淮河流域大部分水体处于中等污染状况,部分点位处于重污染状况,其结果与水质综合污染指数评价结果具有较好的一致性.研究结果可为淮河水污染防治和水生态修复提供基础依据.     

罗布泊野骆驼自然保护区的建设及生物多样性保护

新疆罗布泊野骆驼自然保护区位于我国西部极旱荒漠带 ,以保护世界濒危物种———野双峰驼为主要对象 ,同时也保护当地特有的地貌、盐泉、丝绸之路遗迹及其他珍稀动植物物种 ,面积 7 8× 10 4km2 。该保护区在世界生物多样性保护中有重大作用。由于周边地区经济的发展 ,对该保护区的影响逐渐扩大 ,威胁到野生动植物的生存安全 ,急需加强宣传、建卡、检查、巡护等保护管理措施 ,同时需要提高周边贫困社区人民生活水平 ,强化管制非法采矿业     

Non-native Species <Emphasis Type="Italic">DO</Emphasis> Threaten the Natural Environment!

Sagoff [Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 18 (2005), 215–236] argues, against growing empirical evidence, that major environmental impacts of non-native species are unproven. However, many such impacts, including extinctions of both island and continental species, have both been demonstrated and judged by the public to be harmful. Although more public attention has been focused on non-native animals than non-native plants, the latter more often cause ecosystem-wide impacts. Increased regulation of introduction of non-native species is, therefore, warranted, and, contra Sagoff’s assertions, invasion biologists have recently developed methods that greatly aid prediction of which introduced species will harm the environment and thus enable more efficient regulation. The fact that introduced species may increase local biodiversity in certain instances has not been shown to result in desired changes in ecosystem function. In other locales, they decrease biodiversity, as they do globally.     

生物多样性保护及其研究进展（综述）

由于人口的增长和人类经济活动的加剧,致使生物多样性受到了严重的威胁,引起国际社会的普遍关注．生物多样性是生物及其与环境形成的生态复合体以及与此相关的各种生态过程的总和,具有十分重要的价值,是人类生存的物质基础．各国政府和有关的国际组织积极投入到保护生物多样性的全球行动中．为了促进保护工作,国内外都开展了相关的研究工作．综观该领域的研究现状,可以看出以下７个方面已成为当前生物多样性研究的热点：①生物多样性的调查、编目及信息系统的建立;②人类活动对生物多样性的影响;③生物多样性的生态系统功能;④生物多样性的长期动态监测;⑤物种濒危机制及保护对策的研究;⑥栽培植物与家养动物及其野生近缘的遗传多样性研究;⑦生物多样性保护技术与对策．结合我国的具体情况,建议优先考虑以下４个方面的研究：①生物多样性的调查、编目与动态监测;②物种濒危机制及保护对策的研究;③生物多样性的生态系统功能与生态系统管理;④栽培植物与家养动物及其野生近缘的遗传多样性研究．     

喜旱莲子草在中国的入侵机理及其生物防治

喜旱莲子草为全球性恶性杂草,也是中国生物多样性国家报告中首批9种重要外来入侵植物之一.本文综述了喜旱莲子草的起源、分布以及在我国的传播扩散和危害,并分析了入侵机制.鉴于这是我国生物防治外来杂草最成功的项目,还介绍了利用昆虫天敌生物防治的过程、实践和经验,讨论了存在的问题及应对策略. 参60     

莱州湾南岸滨海湿地的生物多样性特征分析

通过2005年、2006年的实地调查和整理相关文献资料分析了莱州湾南岸滨海湿地的生物多样性总体特征,湿地维管束植物和水禽的区系组成特点,并与黄河三角洲滨海湿地的生物多样性特征进行了对比。莱州湾南岸滨海湿地维管束植物区系科的分化程度较低,属的分化程度较高,湿生植物、水生植物在区系中占据重要地位;从生活型角度分析,区系中草本植物、地下芽植物和一年生植物占据优势;从维管束植物区系的地理分布成分看,以温带分布属和世界分布属为主;莱州湾南岸滨海湿地水禽区系的居留型构成以旅鸟和候鸟为主,地理分布成分构成以古北界种为主。莱州湾南岸滨海湿地的维管束植物和水禽种类都明显少于相邻的黄河三角洲滨海湿地。     

基于生态保护的道路规划策略

分析了路段与景观两个尺度上的道路生态环境影响,结合当今景观生态学、道路生态学的研究成果,系统论述了与道路交通规划建设相关的生态策略：（1）在区域尺度上,依据生态敏感度规划路网密度、保持大型自然空间的生态完整性、提倡非生态敏感地段的交通集中、增加路网的区域水平渗透性;（2）在路段规模上,自然空间的生境避让、保持重要地段的自然连续性、打破交通生态瓶颈、减少道路交通的环境影响、补偿道路建设的生态影响等。这些策略旨在为可持续道路交通提供基于生态合理性的规划原则与方法。