Exploring metapopulation-scale suppression alternatives for a global invader in a river network experiencing climate change

Invasive species can dramatically alter ecosystems, but eradication is difficult, and suppression is expensive once they are established. Uncertainties in the potential for expansion and impacts by an invader can lead to delayed and inadequate suppression, allowing for establishment. Metapopulation viability models can aid in planning strategies to improve responses to invaders and lessen invasive species’ impacts, which may be particularly important under climate change. We used a spatially explicit metapopulation viability model to explore suppression strategies for ecologically damaging invasive brown trout (Salmo trutta), established in the Colorado River and a tributary in Grand Canyon National Park. Our goals were to estimate the effectiveness of strategies targeting different life stages and subpopulations within a metapopulation; quantify the effectiveness of a rapid response to a new invasion relative to delaying action until establishment; and estimate whether future hydrology and temperature regimes related to climate change and reservoir management affect metapopulation viability and alter the optimal management response. Our models included scenarios targeting different life stages with spatially varying intensities of electrofishing, redd destruction, incentivized angler harvest, piscicides, and a weir. Quasi-extinction (QE) was obtainable only with metapopulation-wide suppression targeting multiple life stages. Brown trout population growth rates were most sensitive to changes in age 0 and large adult mortality. The duration of suppression needed to reach QE for a large established subpopulation was 12 years compared with 4 with a rapid response to a new invasion. Isolated subpopulations were vulnerable to suppression; however, connected tributary subpopulations enhanced metapopulation persistence by serving as climate refuges. Water shortages driving changes in reservoir storage and subsequent warming would cause brown trout declines, but metapopulation QE was achieved only through refocusing and increasing suppression. Our modeling approach improves understanding of invasive brown trout metapopulation dynamics, which could lead to more focused and effective invasive species suppression strategies and, ultimately, maintenance of populations of endemic fishes.     

应用物种敏感性分布评价敌敌畏对淡水生物的生态风险

敌敌畏是一类重要的有机磷杀虫剂,但其对水生生态的影响至今研究较少。为了评价其生态风险,构建了淡水水生生物对敌敌畏的物种敏感性分布(species sensitivity distribution,SSD)模型,在此基础上,讨论了影响SSD模型的主要因素;并分析了该模型的不确定性;推导了敌敌畏对不同类别生物的5%危害浓度HC5(hazardous concentration for 5%the species)阈值;整理收集了我国重要流域水体中敌敌畏的环境浓度;结合SSD模型计算了对淡水生物的潜在影响比例(potentially affected fraction,PAF)。结果表明:1)不同模型的选择会影响HC5的结果,且Burr III模型拟合结果较好,推导的HC5值为0.37μg·L-1;2)无脊椎动物在敌敌畏低浓度范围内的敏感性明显高于脊椎动物。甲壳类动物与昆虫和蜘蛛类相似,敏感度较高,鱼类则较低;3)应用Burr III模型构建SSD时,参数k值对HC5最为敏感,蒙特卡罗随机模拟得到HC5变化范围为0.05~40.57μg·L-1,均值为5.07μg·L-1;4)敌敌畏对我国淡水生态影响较小,PAF均低于1%,其中黄河和太湖流域敌敌畏的生态风险高于其他河流湖泊,珠江口和南海北部较低。上述研究结果为评价敌敌畏对全国不同水体水生生物的潜在生态风险提供了科学依据。     

Metrics for quantifying how much different threats contribute to red lists of species and ecosystems

Red lists are a crucial tool for the management of threatened species and ecosystems. Among the information red lists provide, the threats affecting the listed species or ecosystem, such as pollution or hunting, are of special relevance. This information can be used to quantify the relative contribution of different threat factors to biodiversity loss by disaggregating the cumulative extinction risk across species into components that can be attributed to certain threats. We devised and compared 3 metrics that accomplish this and may be used as indicators. The first metric calculates the portion of the temporal change in red list index (RLI) values that is caused by each threat. The second metric attributes the deviation of an RLI value from its reference value to different threats. The third metric uses extinction probabilities that are inferred from red list categories to estimate the contribution of a threat to the expected loss of species or ecosystems within 50 years. We used data from Norwegian Red Lists to test and evaluate these metrics. The first metric captured only a minor portion of the biodiversity loss caused by threats because it ignores species whose red list category does not change. Management authorities will often be interested in the contribution of a given threat to the total deviation from the optimal state. This was measured by the remaining metrics. The second metric was best suited for comparisons across countries or taxonomic groups. The third metric conveyed the same information but uses numbers of species or ecosystem as its unit, which is likely more intuitive to lay people and may be preferred when communicating with stakeholders or the general public.     

某铅锌矿坑口周围具有重金属超积累特征植物的研究

针对目前植物修复中Cd-Pb-Cu-Zn复合污染的超富集植物缺乏研究,采用野外采样系统分析方法,对青城子铅锌矿各主要坑口周围17科31种杂草植物进行其积累特性的初步研究。结果表明,全叶马兰(Kalimeris integrifolia)、蒲公英(Taraxacum mongolicum)和鬼针草(Bidens bipinnata)3种植物地上部对Cd的富集系数均>1,且地上部Cd含量大于根部Cd含量,具备了重金属超富集植物的基本特征,进一步研究的价值很大。以杂草为对象筛选超富集植物很可能获得较大突破。     

以TEOS为硅源的聚硅氯化铝中铝及硅形态分布

以正硅酸乙酯 (TEOS)为硅源 ,合成了新型的聚硅氯化铝 (PASC) ,利用Al Ferron逐时络合比色法和Si Mo逐时络合比色法分别研究了其Al形态及Si形态分布 ,并与常规方法 (以硅酸钠为硅源 )合成的聚硅氯化铝做了比较 .实验结果表明 ,新方法合成的PASC具有铝硅分布均匀 ,分子量较大 ,产品重现性好的优点 .两种方法合成的PASC具有相同的Al形态分布规律 ,即高分子量Al形态含量随B值 (碱化度 )和Si Al摩尔比的增大而增加 ,Al形态随Si Al摩尔比的变化程度随B值的增大而增大 .另外通过新方法发现 ,Si形态分布也具有规律性并和Al形态具有相似的分布特征 ,但Si形态随Si Al摩尔比的变化程度随B值的增大而减小 .     

Basic Principles and Ecological Consequences of Altered Flow Regimes for Aquatic Biodiversity

The flow regime is regarded by many aquatic ecologists to be the key driver of river and floodplain wetland ecosystems. We have focused this literature review around four key principles to highlight the important mechanisms that link hydrology and aquatic biodiversity and to illustrate the consequent impacts of altered flow regimes: Firstly, flow is a major determinant of physical habitat in streams, which in turn is a major determinant of biotic composition; Secondly, aquatic species have evolved life history strategies primarily in direct response to the natural flow regimes; Thirdly, maintenance of natural patterns of longitudinal and lateral connectivity is essential to the viability of populations of many riverine species; Finally, the invasion and success of exotic and introduced species in rivers is facilitated by the alteration of flow regimes. The impacts of flow change are manifest across broad taxonomic groups including riverine plants, invertebrates, and fish. Despite growing recognition of these relationships, ecologists still struggle to predict and quantify biotic responses to altered flow regimes. One obvious difficulty is the ability to distinguish the direct effects of modified flow regimes from impacts associated with land-use change that often accompanies water resource development. Currently, evidence about how rivers function in relation to flow regime and the flows that aquatic organisms need exists largely as a series of untested hypotheses. To overcome these problems, aquatic science needs to move quickly into a manipulative or experimental phase, preferably with the aims of restoration and measuring ecosystem response.     

黄河三角洲湿地土壤微生物群落结构分析

采用末端限制性片段长度多态性分析(T-RFLP)技术和16S rDNA克隆文库的方法,分析了黄河三角洲滨海湿地土壤不同深度细菌和古菌的群落结构.研究表明,随着深度的增加,细菌群落的多样性下降,而古菌群落多样性则有上升的趋势,且土壤的细菌和古菌群落结构都呈现出规律的层状分布.该土壤包括各种硫酸盐还原菌、产甲烷古菌、光合细菌等丰富的细菌和古菌资源.图5参27     

Governmental Provisions to Manage and Eradicate Feral Swine in Areas of the United States

Feral swine (wild hogs) are one of the most widely distributed free-ranging mammals in the world. In the United States, feral swine serve as game animals for the sport of hunting in some areas, while they are nuisance species at other locations. Increasing feral swine populations creates negative impacts to growing crops, native plant communities, and wildlife. Feral swine can also serve as reservoirs for a number of bacterial and viral diseases that can infect wild animals, livestock, and humans. The US state governments are adopting statutes and regulations to reduce the growth and dispersal of feral swine populations. An analysis of these provisions suggests that while they seek to control feral swine populations, they are unlikely to provide any significant relief from damages to crops and native ecosystems. More localized reduction plans and a national disease control program are suggested to assuage damages being wrought by these invasive animals.     

Optimal monitoring and control under state uncertainty: Application to lionfish management

State variables in many renewable resource management problems, such as the abundance of a fish stock, are imperfectly observed over time. In systems characterized by state uncertainty, decision makers often invest in monitoring to learn about the level of a stock. We develop a stochastic bioeconomic model of marine invasive species management under state uncertainty. The decision maker in our model simultaneously evaluates optimal investment in monitoring and population control. Using a recently-devised method for solving continuous-state Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDPs), we find that the ability to learn through monitoring can alter the role of population control in the optimal policy function, for example by reducing control intensity in favor of monitoring. Optimal monitoring depends on the management context, including in our application lionfish population structure. The rich transient dynamics of our model depend critically on the relationship between the initial conditions for information and invader abundance.     

Using adsorption and sulphide precipitation as the principal removal mechanisms of arsenic from a constructed wetland – a critical review

This review has been undertaken to understand the role of various parameters such as redox potential, microbes, and organic matters on the fate and transport of arsenic in the constructed wetland. A conceptual diagram of arsenic fate and transport in the constructed wetland was developed. Role of various minerals which are produced due to microbial activities are described. The role of these minerals on arsenic adsorption is discussed. It was envisaged that iron sulphide would be the main adsorbent for arsenic in microbe-mediated adsorption process. Beside microbe-mediated arsenic adsorption, roles of various microbes, such as sulphate reducers and methane producers, on arsenic transformation are discussed. Role of various organic carbon sources and electron acceptors on the proliferation of the above mentioned microbes with respect to arsenic transformation was envisaged. Role of dissolved organic matters on arsenic transformation and transport was also discussed in details. To strengthen the review, laboratory studies and modelling of arsenic adsorption and transformation using the Visual Minteq were appended.