Matching the Multiple Scales of Conservation with the Multiple Scales of Climate Change

Abstract:  To anticipate the rapidly changing world resulting from global climate change, the projections of climate models must be incorporated into conservation. This requires that the scales of conservation be aligned with the scales of climate-change projections. We considered how conservation has incorporated spatial scale into protecting biodiversity, how the projections of climate-change models vary with scale, and how the two do or do not align. Conservation planners use information about past and current ecological conditions at multiple scales to identify conservation targets and threats and guide conservation actions. Projections of climate change are also made at multiple scales, from global and regional circulation models to projections downscaled to local scales. These downscaled projections carry with them the uncertainties associated with the broad-scale models from which they are derived; thus, their high resolution may be more apparent than real. Conservation at regional or global scales is about establishing priorities and influencing policy. At these scales, the coarseness and uncertainties of global and regional climate models may be less important than what they reveal about possible futures. At the ecoregional scale, the uncertainties associated with downscaling climate models become more critical because the distributions of conservation targets on which plans are founded may shift under future climates. At a local scale, variations in topography and land cover influence local climate, often overriding the projections of broad-scale climate models and increasing uncertainty. Despite the uncertainties, ecologists and conservationists must work with climate-change modelers to focus on the most likely projections. The future will be different from the past and full of surprises; judicious use of model projections at appropriate scales may help us prepare.     

Projected Climate Impacts for the Amphibians of the Western Hemisphere

Abstract: Given their physiological requirements, limited dispersal abilities, and hydrologically sensitive habitats, amphibians are likely to be highly sensitive to future climatic changes. We used three approaches to map areas in the western hemisphere where amphibians are particularly likely to be affected by climate change. First, we used bioclimatic models to project potential climate‐driven shifts in the distribution of 413 amphibian species based on 20 climate simulations for 2071–2100. We summarized these projections to produce estimates of species turnover. Second, we mapped the distribution of 1099 species with restricted geographic ranges. Finally, using the 20 future climate‐change simulations, we mapped areas that were consistently projected to receive less seasonal precipitation in the coming century and thus were likely to have altered microclimates and local hydrologies. Species turnover was projected to be highest in the Andes Mountains and parts of Central America and Mexico, where, on average, turnover rates exceeded 60% under the lower of two emissions scenarios. Many of the restricted‐range species not included in our range‐shift analyses were concentrated in parts of the Andes and Central America and in Brazil's Atlantic Forest. Much of Central America, southwestern North America, and parts of South America were consistently projected to experience decreased precipitation by the end of the century. Combining the results of the three analyses highlighted several areas in which amphibians are likely to be significantly affected by climate change for multiple reasons. Portions of southern Central America were simultaneously projected to experience high species turnover, have many additional restricted‐range species, and were consistently projected to receive less precipitation. Together, our three analyses form one potential assessment of the geographic vulnerability of amphibians to climate change and as such provide broad‐scale guidance for directing conservation efforts.     

伊宁市空气中硫酸盐化速率与二氧化硫相关性研究

对伊宁市1999-2002年空气中硫酸盐化速率和二氧化硫监测值进行回归分析,结果表明,二者之间存在显著的线性正相关关系,但对各年度回归方程斜率和截距进行统计检验,则表现出显著的差异。     

提高化学需氧量比色分析精度的研究

CODCr化学分析因其分析速度快、能够反映废水有机污染的程度,在水质监测和废水处理过程中是一种必测和经常测定的指标。测定方法目前有很多种,常用的有滴定法、比色法等。滴定法技术成熟,结果可靠,是我国环境监测标准中规定的测试方法,但是测试过程仍然繁琐、费时、消耗试剂多;比色法测试速度快,方法简单,试剂用量少,但测试的结果有一定的误差。为此,文章针对提高比色法测定CODCr精度进行了研究,并与滴定法进行了同步测试和比较,结果表明,改进后的测试精度有了很大的提高。     

高效液相色谱-三重四级杆/复合线性离子阱质谱法测定饮用水中22种邻苯二甲酸酯

建立了一种同时测定饮用水中22种邻苯二甲酸酯(PAEs)的高效液相色谱-三重四级杆/复合线性离子阱质谱方法:饮用水样品经针头过滤器过滤,选用Biphenyl液相色谱柱进行分离,以含0.1%甲酸的水溶液和含0.1%甲酸的甲醇溶液为流动相,电离模式为电喷雾正离子,选用多反应监测触发增强子离子扫描模式进行检测。结果表明,22种PAEs的灵敏度良好,定量限为0.001～0.1μg/L。配制浓度为0.1～100.0μg/L的混标溶液进行进样分析,分析结果显示,22种PAEs在该范围内的线性关系良好,相关系数均大于0.995,方法的平均回收率为82.9%～108.9%,相对标准偏差为0.9%～11.2%。同时,使用增强子离子扫描谱图进行搜库匹配,定性准确性高。该方法适用于饮用水中PAEs的检测。     

Risk assessment and prioritisation of contaminated sites on the catchment scale

Contaminated sites pose a significant threat to groundwater resources worldwide. Due to limited available resources a risk-based prioritisation of the remediation efforts is essential. Existing risk assessment tools are unsuitable for this purpose, because they consider each contaminated site separately and on a local scale, which makes it difficult to compare the impact from different sites. Hence a modelling tool for risk assessment of contaminated sites on the catchment scale has been developed. The CatchRisk screening tool evaluates the risk associated with each site in terms of its ability to contaminate abstracted groundwater in the catchment. The tool considers both the local scale and the catchment scale. At the local scale, a flexible, site specific leaching model that can be adjusted to the actual data availability is used to estimate the mass flux over time from identified sites. At the catchment scale, a transport model that utilises the source flux and a groundwater model covering the catchment is used to estimate the transient impact on the supply well. The CatchRisk model was tested on a groundwater catchment for a waterworks north of Copenhagen, Denmark. Even though data scarcity limited the application of the model, the sites that most likely caused the observed contamination at the waterworks were identified. The method was found to be valuable as a basis for prioritising point sources according to their impact on groundwater quality. The tool can also be used as a framework for testing hypotheses on the origin of contamination in the catchment and for identification of unknown contaminant sources.     

Studying crop sequences with CarrotAge,a HMM-based data mining software

We have developed a knowledge discovery system based on high-order hidden Markov models for analyzing spatio-temporal data bases. This system, named CarrotAge , takes as input an array of discrete data – the rows represent the spatial sites and the columns the time slots – and builds a partition together with its a posteriori probability. CarrotAge has been developed for studying the cropping patterns of a territory. It uses therefore an agricultural drench database, named Ter-Uti , which records every year the land-use category of a set of sites regularly spaced. The results of CarrotAge are interpreted by agronomists and used in research works linking agricultural land use and water management. Moreover, CarrotAge can be used to find out and study crop sequences in large territories, that is a main question for agricultural and environmental research, as discussed in this paper.     

The People and Landscape Model (PALM): Towards full integration of human decision-making and biophysical simulation models

A model for simulating resource flows in a rural subsistence community is described. The People and Landscape Model (PALM) consists of a number of agents representing households, the landscape, and livestock. The landscape is made up of a number of homogeneous land units, or ‘fields’, each represented by an object containing data, methods and properties relevant to the field. Each field object consists of a number of soil layer objects, each of which contains routines to calculate its water balance and carbon and nitrogen dynamics. Organic matter decomposition is simulated by a version of the CENTURY model, while water and nitrogen dynamics are simulated by versions of the routines in the DSSAT crop models. The soil processes are simulated continuously, and vegetation types (crops, weeds, trees) can come and go in a field depending on its management. Crop growth and development are simulated by a generic model based on the DSSAT crop models, and which can be parameterised for different crops. Similarly, livestock growth and resource use is simulated by a generic model which can be parameterised for buffalo, cows, goats, sheep, chickens and pigs.     

Evaluating the ability of habitat suitability models to predict species presences

Models predicting species spatial distribution are increasingly applied to wildlife management issues, emphasising the need for reliable methods to evaluate the accuracy of their predictions. As many available datasets (e.g. museums, herbariums, atlas) do not provide reliable information about species absences, several presence-only based analyses have been developed. However, methods to evaluate the accuracy of their predictions are few and have never been validated. The aim of this paper is to compare existing and new presence-only evaluators to usual presence/absence measures.