Assessing citizen contributions to butterfly monitoring in two large cities

Citizen science may be especially effective in urban landscapes due to the large pool of potential volunteers. However, there have been few evaluations of the contributions of citizen scientists to knowledge of biological communities in and around cities. To assess the effectiveness of citizen scientists' monitoring of species in urban areas, we compared butterfly data collected over 10 years in Chicago, Illinois (U.S.A.), and New York City, New York (U.S.A.). The dates, locations, and methods of data collection in Chicago were standardized, whereas data from New York were collected at any location at any time. For each city, we evaluated whether the number of observers, observation days (days on which observations were reported), and sampling locations were associated with the reported proportion of the estimated regional pool of butterfly species. We also compared the number of volunteers, duration of volunteer involvement, and consistency of sampling efforts at individual locations within each city over time. From 2001 to 2010, there were 73 volunteers in Chicago and 89 in New York. During this period, volunteers observed 86% and 89% of the estimated number of butterfly species present in Chicago and New York, respectively. Volunteers in New York reported a greater proportion of the estimated pool of butterfly species per year. In addition, more species were observed per volunteer and observation day in New York, largely due to the unrestricted sampling season in New York. Chicago volunteers were active for more years and monitored individual locations more consistently over time than volunteers in New York. Differences in monitoring protocol--especially length of sampling season and selection protocol for monitoring locations--influenced the relationship between species accrual and sampling effort, which suggests these factors are important in volunteer-based species-monitoring programs.     

Inadvertent advocacy

Policy advocacy is an issue regularly debated among conservation scientists. These debates have focused on intentional policy advocacy by scientists, but advocacy can also be unintentional. I define inadvertent policy advocacy as the act of unintentionally expressing personal policy preferences or ethical judgments in a way that is nearly indistinguishable from scientific judgments. A scientist may be well intentioned and intellectually honest but still inadvertently engage in policy advocacy. There are two ways to inadvertently engage in policy advocacy. First, a scientist expresses an opinion that she or he believes is a scientific judgment but it is actually an ethical judgment or personal policy preference. Second, a scientist expresses an opinion that he or she knows is an ethical judgment or personal policy preference but inadvertently fails to effectively communicate the nature of the opinion to policy makers or the public. I illustrate inadvertent advocacy with three examples: recovery criteria in recovery plans for species listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, a scientific peer review of a recovery plan for the Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina), and the International Union for Conservation of Nature's definition of threatened. In each example, scientists expressed ethical judgments or policy preferences, but their value judgments were not identified as such, and, hence, their value judgments were opaque to policy makers and the public. Circumstances suggest their advocacy was inadvertent. I believe conservation scientists must become acutely aware of the line between science and policy and avoid inadvertent policy advocacy because it is professional negligence, erodes trust in scientists and science, and perpetuates an ethical vacuum that undermines the rational political discourse necessary for the evolution of society's values. The principal remedy for inadvertent advocacy is education of conservation scientists in an effort to help them understand how science and values interact to fulfill the mission of conservation science.     

西安市生态文明建设评价及预测

根据生态文明的涵义和生态市建设的总体思路,提出了生态文明建设3（系统层、子系统层、单项指标层）×3（经济发展,社会进步,环境保护）评价体系,其中包括25个单项指标。对西安市1998-2007年生态文明建设进行了定量评价研究,结果表明西安市生态文明建设处于整体上升的趋势;在此基础上,应用自回归预测模型对西安市经济、社会、环境和生态文明建设发展进行了预测,为西安市全面协调发展提供参考借鉴。     

1979—2006年泰安市建成区扩展特征及影响因素分析

在遥感和GIS技术支持下,采用扩展强度指数、紧凑度指数、象限分割方法研究了泰安市建成区1979—2006年的时空扩展变化特征及形态模式。结果表明,泰安市建成区自1979年以来呈现快速扩展趋势,建成区紧凑度指数呈现逐渐下降趋势。对自然和社会经济发展资料分析后认为,泰山对建成区北部的扩展形成天然屏障,而其他方位的快速扩展与泰安市固定资产投资、旅游业发展和人口增长等社会经济发展因素具有密切联系。针对紧凑度指数逐渐下降趋势,提出今后泰安市城市建设应当在城市合理布局的前提下,进一步加强土地的集约利用。     

Evaluating unintended consequences of intentional species introductions and eradications for improved conservation management

Increasingly intensive strategies to maintain biodiversity and ecosystem function are being deployed in response to global anthropogenic threats, including intentionally introducing and eradicating species via assisted migration, rewilding, biological control, invasive species eradications, and gene drives. These actions are highly contentious because of their potential for unintended consequences. We conducted a global literature review of these conservation actions to quantify how often unintended outcomes occur and to elucidate their underlying causes. To evaluate conservation outcomes, we developed a community assessment framework for systematically mapping the range of possible interaction types for 111 case studies. Applying this tool, we quantified the number of interaction types considered in each study and documented the nature and strength of intended and unintended outcomes. Intended outcomes were reported in 51% of cases, a combination of intended outcomes and unintended outcomes in 26%, and strictly unintended outcomes in 10%. Hence, unintended outcomes were reported in 36% of all cases evaluated. In evaluating overall conservations outcomes (weighing intended vs. unintended effects), some unintended effects were fairly innocuous relative to the conservation objective, whereas others resulted in serious unintended consequences in recipient communities. Studies that assessed a greater number of community interactions with the target species reported unintended outcomes more often, suggesting that unintended consequences may be underreported due to insufficient vetting. Most reported unintended outcomes arose from direct effects (68%) or simple density-mediated or indirect effects (25%) linked to the target species. Only a few documented cases arose from more complex interaction pathways (7%). Therefore, most unintended outcomes involved simple interactions that could be predicted and mitigated through more formal vetting. Our community assessment framework provides a tool for screening future conservation actions by mapping the recipient community interaction web to identify and mitigate unintended outcomes from intentional species introductions and eradications for conservation.     

实用作业场所危险性评价方法

探讨一种操作简便、实用性强,既可定量评价又可在评价过程中得出定性评价结果的全新的安全评价方法,并阐述了其理论依据.     

失地农民土地权益流失的经济学分析

城市扩张速度的加快带来越来越多的农民丧失土地,从而引发的农民土地权益流失．这与我国“一切与农业为本,一切为农民着想”的扶农政策想违背,为解决这一问题,笔者从经济学角度探讨失地农民土地权益流失的原因,图1,参5．     

硬木地板材料和棉花秆的变氧浓度热解燃烧表观动力学的实验研究

本文采用TG-FTIR分析方法深入研究了火场中硬木地板材料和棉花秆变氧浓度燃烧过程,深入分析了氧浓度对纤维物质燃烧表观热失重影响;通过大量的动力学参数计算得出了可燃物的表观活化能与实际氧浓度成线性关系;分析了氧浓度对木材燃烧气体产物的影响,并探索了氧浓度影响热解和燃烧的机理。     

燃煤锅炉湿式脱硫除尘一体化设备的综合分析

本文对湿式脱硫除尘一体化设备的结构和性能进行了较为全面的分析,指出了该设备存在的诸多弊病,提出了解决方案--脱硫、除尘分体组合式的思路.     

拉萨市近49年气温变化特征研究

2019年6月24日拉萨市出现了30.8℃的高温,创历史新高.为了更好的了解拉萨市气候变暖的机理以及评估该区域未来气候的变化状况,本文基于拉萨市自动气象站近49年的观测数据,采用线性趋势法、Mann-Kendall (M-K)突变检验、小波分析、R/S分析等方法深入研究了多时间尺度上气温的时空演变特征.结果 显示:(a...