Effects of Bioengineered Streambank Stabilization on Bank Habitat and Macroinvertebrates in Urban Streams

Non-structural streambank stabilization, or bioengineering, is a common stream restoration practice used to slow streambank erosion, but its ecological effects have rarely been assessed. We surveyed bank habitat and sampled bank macroinvertebrates at four bioengineered sites, an unrestored site, and a comparatively less-impacted reference site in the urban Peachtree-Nancy Creek catchment in Atlanta, GA, USA. The amount of organic bank habitat (wood and roots) was much higher at the reference site and three of the bioengineered sites than at the unrestored site or the other bioengineered site, where a very different bioengineering technique was used (“joint planting”). At all sites, we saw a high abundance of pollution-tolerant taxa, especially chironomids and oligochaetes, and a low richness and diversity of the bank macroinvertebrate community. Total biomass, insect biomass, and non-chironomid insect biomass were highest at the reference site and two of the bioengineered sites (p < 0.05). Higher biomass and abundance were found on organic habitats (wood and roots) versus inorganic habitats (mud, sand, and rock) across all sites. Percent organic bank habitat at each site proved to be strongly positively correlated with many factors, including taxon richness, total biomass, and shredder biomass. These results suggest that bioengineered bank stabilization can have positive effects on bank habitat and macroinvertebrate communities in urban streams, but it cannot completely mitigate the impacts of urbanization.     

武夷山自然保护区常绿阔叶林优势种对土壤呼吸的影响

为揭示森林土壤呼吸异质性的影响因素,以武夷山自然保护区常绿阔叶林优势种甜槠(Castanopsis eyrei)、细叶青冈(Cyclobalanopsis tenuifolia)、米槠(Castanopsis carlesii)为研究对象,采用LI-8100碳通量系统测定土壤呼吸速率及其影响因子土壤温度、土壤含水量值,...     

北京市河流水生态健康时空异质性及改善路径研究

河流生态系统是人类社会得以生存与发展的基本条件,河流水生态健康对保障区域水安全,避免水灾害具有重要意义.随着城市化的不断推进,河流生态系统面临着巨大挑战,水生态风险及灾害呈现广发、频发和深发态势.通过汇总北京市五大流域河流水生态健康状况评估相关研究,识别区域水生态系统主要问题,诊断水生态健康问题产生的原因.结果表明,北...     

长江经济带环境规制对工业绿色转型的影响研究

本文立足长江经济带环境规制与工业绿色转型实践,分析了双重市场激励型规制影响工业绿色转型的内在机理,并利用2002—2017年长江经济带11个省市面板数据进行实证分析。研究发现：(1)双重市场激励型规制均显著地促进了工业绿色转型,但是费用型规制的促进效应存在递减特征。(2)异质性检验表明,费用型规制对长江中下游地区、人均GDP较高省份以及第二产业占比较高省份的工业绿色转型促进效应更为明显。(3)中介效应模型检验结果显示,提高末端治理技术是工业绿色转型的重要渠道。(4)研究还发现,费用型规制对高能耗行业、二氧化硫排放量和粉尘排放量具有显著的抑制效应,投资型规制对废水排放量和固体废物排放量的抑制效应更明显。(5)随着工业绿色转型程度的不断提升,双重市场激励型规制对工业绿色转型的边际效应先后呈现“L”形骤降特征。因此不断优化与创新环境规制手段,才是持续推进工业绿色转型的关键所在。     

Does time of day matter at highway work zone crashes?

Introduction: It is widely agreed that highway work zones pose significant threats to road users because driving conditions in work zones are quite different from the normal ones, particularly when traffic volumes approach a highway capacity. Therefore, work zone safety is a critical aspect for state agencies and traffic engineers. Method: In the current study, a total of 10,218 crashes that occurred in highway work zones in the state of Washington for the period between 2007 and 2013 were used. Time of day is disaggregated into four subgroups: (1) Morning from 6:00 to 11:00 a.m. (2) Midday from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. (3) Night from 6:00 to 11:00 p.m., and (4) Late night from 12:00 to 5:00 a.m. Then, four mixed logit models were estimated to account and correct for heterogeneity in the crash data by considering three injury severity levels: severe injury, minor injury, and no injury. Results: The estimation results reveal that most contributing factors are uniquely significant in a specific time of day period, whereas three factors affect injury severity regardless of time of day such as the indicators of not deployed airbag, one passenger vehicle involved in the crash, and rear-end collision. Further, some factors were found to affect injury severity into two or three time periods, such as female drivers that found to decrease the probability of no injury in morning and night time periods, while increasing severe injury outcome in midday time. Conclusions: The effect of time of day on injury severity of work-zone related crashes should be modeled separately rather than using a holistic model. Practical applications: As a starting point, findings of the current study can be used by transportation officials to reduce fatalities and injuries of work zone crashes by identifying factors that uniquely contribute to each time of day period.     

Mapping legal authority for terrestrial conservation corridors along streams

Wildlife corridors aim to promote species’ persistence by connecting habitat patches across fragmented landscapes. Their implementation is limited by patterns of land ownership and complicated by differences in the jurisdictional and regulatory authorities under which lands are managed. Terrestrial corridor conservation requires coordination across jurisdictions and sectors subject to site-specific overlapping sources of legal authority. Mapping spatial patterns of legal authority concurrent with habitat condition can illustrate opportunities to build or leverage capacity for connectivity conservation. Streamside areas provide pragmatic opportunities to leverage existing policy mechanisms for riverine and terrestrial habitat connectivity across boundaries. Conservation planners and practitioners can make use of these opportunities by harmonizing actions for multiple conservation outcomes. We formulated an integrative, data-driven method for mapping multiple sources of legal authority weighted by capacity for coordinating terrestrial habitat conservation along streams. We generated a map of capacity to coordinate streamside corridor protections across a wildlife habitat gap to demonstrate this approach. We combined values representing coordination capacity and naturalness to generate an integrated legal-ecological resistance map for connectivity modeling. We then computed least-cost corridors across the integrated map, masking the terrestrial landscape to focus on streamside areas. Streamside least-cost corridors in the integrated, local-scale model diverged (∼25 km) from national-scale least-cost corridors based on naturalness. Spatial categories comparing legal- and naturalness-based resistance values by stream reach highlighted potential locations for building or leveraging existing capacity through spatial coordination of policy mechanisms or restoration actions. Agencies or nongovernmental organizations intending to restore or maintain habitat connectivity across fragmented landscapes can use this approach to inform spatial prioritization and build coordination capacity. Article impact statement: Combined mapping of legal authority and habitat condition reveals capacity to coordinate actions along streams for clean water and wildlife.     

Trends in biodiversity and habitat quantification tools used for market-based conservation in the United States

Market-based conservation mechanisms are designed to facilitate the mitigation of harm to and conservation of habitats and biodiversity. Their potential is partly hindered, however, by the quantification tools used to assess habitat quality and functionality. Of specific concern are the lack of transparency and standardization in tool development and gaps in tool availability. To address these issues, we collected information via internet and literature searchers and through conversations with tool developers and users on tools used in U.S. conservation mechanisms, such as payments for ecosystem services (PES) and ecolabel programs, conservation banking, and habitat exchanges. We summarized information about tools and explored trends among and within mechanisms based on criteria detailing geographic, ecological, and technical features of tools. We identified 69 tools that assessed at least 34 species and 39 habitat types. Where tools reported pricing, 98% were freely available. More tools were applied to states along the U.S. West Coast than elsewhere, and the level of tool transferability varied markedly among mechanisms. Tools most often incorporated conditions at numerous spatial scales, frequently addressed multiple risks to site viability, and required 1–83 data inputs. Most tools required a moderate or greater level of user skill. Average tool-complexity estimates were similar among all mechanisms except PES programs. Our results illustrate the diversity among tools in their ecological features, data needs, and geographic application, supporting concerns about a lack of standardization. However, consistency among tools in user skill requirements, incorporation of multiple spatial scales, and complexity highlight important commonalities that could serve as a starting point for establishing more standardized tool development and feature-incorporation processes. Greater standardization in tool design may expand market participation and facilitate a needed assessment of the effectiveness of market-based conservation.     

Degrader density determines spatial variability of 2,6-dichlorobenzamide mineralisation in soil

The metabolite 2,6-dichlorobenzamide (BAM) is a frequent groundwater pollutant produced during degradation of the herbicide 2,6-dichlorobenzonitrile (dichlobenile). Spatial variability of BAM mineralisation is uncharacterized in surface soil, however, and factors controlling the heterogeneity remain unknown. We addressed these issues by sample-to-sample comparisons of BAM mineralisation rates and a range of soil characteristics at spatial scales ranging from meters to centimetres. For mineralisation assays nano-molar concentrations of labelled BAM were added to determine mineralisation rates under realistic conditions. We found a significant variability of BAM mineralisation which increased with decreasing spatial scale. BAM mineralisation rates were correlated to the density of BAM-degrading bacteria but not to water content, TOC, NH₄⁺, NO₃⁻, or pH. The genus Aminobacter, which contains the only BAM degraders known, was detected in MPN samples of BAM degraders by a specific PCR assay targeting the 16S rRNA gene, confirming a role of Aminobacter in BAM mineralisation.     

Constructing an Interdisciplinary Flow Regime Recommendation1

Bartholow, John M., 2010. Constructing an Interdisciplinary Flow Regime Recommendation. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 1-15. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00461.x Abstract: It is generally agreed that river rehabilitation most often relies on restoring a more natural flow regime, but credibly defining the desired regime can be problematic. I combined four distinct methods to develop and refine month-by-month and event-based flow recommendations to protect and partially restore the ecological integrity of the Cache la Poudre River through Fort Collins, Colorado. A statistical hydrologic approach was used to summarize the river’s natural flow regime and set provisional monthly flow targets at levels that were historically exceeded 75% of the time. These preliminary monthly targets were supplemented using results from three Poudre-specific disciplinary studies. A substrate maintenance flow model was used to better define the high flows needed to flush accumulated sediment from the river’s channel and help sustain the riparian zone in this snowmelt-dominated river. A hydraulic/habitat model and a water temperature model were both used to better define the minimum flows necessary to maintain a thriving cool water fishery. The result is a range of recommended monthly flows and daily flow guidance illustrating the advantage of combining a wide range of available disciplinary information, supplemented by judgment based on ecological principles and a general understanding of river ecosystems, in a highly altered, working river.     

国家级新区发展异质性及驱动机制研究——以上海浦东新区和南京江北新区为例

国家级新区建设是转型期国家推动新型工业化和城镇化战略的重要手段,推动了城市空间重构和功能重组,从而成为城市研究热点。从经济发展、人口集聚规模以及建设用地扩张三个维度刻画对比了上海浦东新区和南京江北新区的发展的异质性,并进一步剖析发展的驱动机制,发现两地发展异质性的表象原因是发展阶段的差异,更深层的是区域发展驱动机制的差异:交通等基础设施建设能强化新区与母城的联系,是实现新区快速健康发展的基础,浦东新区完善的交通运输体系对所在区域及全市的经济快速增长产生了重要影响;而全球资本汇聚、产城融合、城市大事件营销是新区快速发展的重要驱动力;发展型政府的作用及政治精英的影响力对国家级新区发展也具有重要的推动作用。基于上述研究,对于新型工业化和城镇化背景下新区的健康发展提出了政策建议。