A Comparison of Global Conservation Prioritization Models with Spatial Spending Patterns of Conservation Nongovernmental Organizations

Abstract: In recent decades, various conservation organizations have developed models to prioritize locations for conservation. Through a survey of the spending patterns of 281 conservation nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), we examined the relation between 2 such models and spatial patterns of spending by conservation NGOs in 44 countries in sub‐Saharan Africa. We tested whether, at the country level, the proportion of a country designated as a conservation priority was correlated with where NGOs spent money. For one model (the combination of Conservation International's hotspots and High Biodiversity Wilderness Areas, which are areas of high endemism with high or low levels of vegetation loss respectively), there was no relation between the proportion of a country designated as a priority and levels of NGO spending, including by the NGO associated with the model. In the second model (Global 200), the proportion of a country designated as a priority and the amount of money spent by NGOs were significantly and positively related. Less money was spent in countries in northern and western sub‐Saharan Africa than countries in southern and eastern Africa, relative to the proportion of the country designated as a conservation priority. We suggest that on the basis of our results some NGOs consider increasing their spending on the areas designated as of conservation priority which are currently relatively underfunded, although there are economic, political, cultural, historical, biological, and practical reasons why current spending patterns may not align with priority sites.     

国家自然科学基金“土地科学和自然资源管理”申请代码领域研究格局、热点透视与发展展望

支持基础研究是国家自然科学基金的职责使命。自然资源管理是地理科学交叉融合创新的重要领域。划分国家自然科学基金土地科学和自然资源管理申请代码领域的研究方向,分析该领域申报与资助格局,透视研究热点,提出发展展望。研究发现：2021年以来土地科学和自然资源管理领域的申报格局以交叉且偏向人文要素研究为主,交叉类研究占55%以上,人文要素为主类研究占30%,自然要素为主类研究占15%;以土地资源为对象研究占73%,以生态资源为对象占14%,以其他自然资源为对象的研究占13%。资助格局中土地资源类项目占主导,在75%以上,其他自然资源资助比例不高且资助率不稳定,在土地资源中,农用地、建设用地与土地系统是主要资助领域。为推动自然资源管理领域的健康持续发展,要创新该领域研究范式,增强基础研究属性,树立交叉融合研究典范,坚持申请代码初衷内涵。     

全球高致病性禽流感灾害的时空变异

利用多种资源建立了全球高致病性禽流感灾害数据库,基于ArcGIS的空间分析和统计模块,对全球高致病性禽流感灾害的时空变异进行分析。结果表明:2003年以来全球高致病性禽流感爆发有三个流行高峰期,正好在2004和2005年的冬季;全球高致病性禽流感爆发的频率在最近几年里呈不断上升的趋势,地理空间范围不断扩散;高致病性禽流感的爆发在时间和空间上表现得更加集中。全球高致病性禽流感分布的总体特征表明在家禽密度高的区域,邻近家禽生产地的湖泊和水库附近,或者鸟类迁徒路线的交叉处,特别是那些重叠的区域可能是高致病性禽流感的多发地区。上述结果可为高致病性禽流感灾害的防控提供借鉴和依据。     

遥感与地理信息系统对资源利用热点地区的初步应用——-以印度北部山地小流域为例

资源利用与资源退化在时间及空间领域上的表现有所分异。识别出那些受人为干扰严重且易于发生资源退化的区域(资源利用的热点地区),对这些区域给予重视并采取特殊的管理机制以避免资源的进一步退化和环境的恶化,对资源的可持续利用具有重要的现实意义。论文以印度北部山地小流域的研究为例,根据当地实际情况,选取4个参数作为评价指标,即资源利用的重要性、资源的需求程度、资源利用的可获取性以及人类活动造成的景观生态学的干扰指数,利用遥感技术和地理信息系统对资源利用热点地区的识别进行了初步探讨。通过研究,将该流域划分为3种区域,即高度敏感区、中度敏感区和低敏感区,分别体现了不同的资源退化在空间上的分布。     

Integrating Habitat Status, Human Population Pressure, and Protection Status into Biodiversity Conservation Priority Setting

Abstract:  Priority setting is an essential component of biodiversity conservation. Existing methods to identify priority areas for conservation have focused almost entirely on biological factors. We suggest a new relative ranking method for identifying priority conservation areas that integrates both biological and social aspects. It is based on the following criteria: the habitat's status, human population pressure, human efforts to protect habitat, and number of endemic plant and vertebrate species. We used this method to rank 25 hotspots, 17 megadiverse countries, and the hotspots within each megadiverse country. We used consistent, comprehensive, georeferenced, and multiband data sets and analytical remote sensing and geographic information system tools to quantify habitat status, human population pressure, and protection status. The ranking suggests that the Philippines, Atlantic Forest, Mediterranean Basin, Caribbean Islands, Caucasus, and Indo-Burma are the hottest hotspots and that China, the Philippines, and India are the hottest megadiverse countries. The great variation in terms of habitat, protected areas, and population pressure among the hotspots, the megadiverse countries, and the hotspots within the same country suggests the need for hotspot- and country-specific conservation policies.     

Refining Biodiversity Conservation Priorities

Abstract:  Although there is widespread agreement about conservation priorities at large scales (i.e., biodiversity hotspots), their boundaries remain too coarse for setting practical conservation goals. Refining hotspot conservation means identifying specific locations (individual habitat patches) of realistic size and scale for managers to protect and politicians to support. Because hotspots have lost most of their original habitat, species endemic to them rely on what remains. The issue now becomes identifying where this habitat is and these species are. We accomplished this by using straightforward remote sensing and GIS techniques, identifying specific locations in Brazil's Atlantic Forest hotspot important for bird conservation. Our method requires a regional map of current forest cover, so we explored six popular products for mapping and quantifying forest: MODIS continuous fields and a MODIS land cover (preclassified products), AVHRR, SPOT VGT, MODIS (satellite images), and a GeoCover Landsat thematic mapper mosaic (jpg). We compared subsets of these forest covers against a forest map based on a Landsat enhanced thematic mapper. The SPOT VGT forest cover predicted forest area and location well, so we combined it with elevation data to refine coarse distribution maps for forest endemic birds. Stacking these species distribution maps enabled identification of the subregion richest in threatened birds—the lowland forests of Rio de Janeiro State. We highlighted eight priority fragments, focusing on one with finer resolved imagery for detailed study. This method allows prioritization of areas for conservation from a region >1 million km² to forest fragments of tens of square kilometers. To set priorities for biodiversity conservation, coarse biological information is sufficient. Hence, our method is attractive for tropical and biologically rich locations, where species location information is sparse.     

基于新闻搜索的城市公共安全及其风险热点主题分析

为了更加清晰地梳理城市公共安全及其风险领域的研究热点,进一步促进相关领域的深入研究,提高城市公共安全管理水平。以新闻搜索方法研究城市公共安全及风险领域的热点主题,首先,借助爬虫软件获取2006-2016年城市公共安全及其风险相关新闻;然后,运用系统分析与文本分析绘制时间、新闻来源、关键词和应用领域标准下的研究热点主题知识图谱。研究结果表明:城市公共安全及其风险领域的热点主题主要包括,城市公共安全风险源特征分析;风险源形成、发展、衰退和演化规律研究;城市公共安全教育与演练和意识培养;应急处置机制探究和应急管理体系建设;大数据驱动的城市公共安全风险监测、预测预警和评估研究。     

A bibliometric review of nitrogen research in eutrophic lakes and reservoirs

The global application of nitrogen is far greater than phosphorus, and it is widely involved in the eutrophication of lakes and reservoirs. We used a bibliometric method to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate nitrogen research in eutrophic lakes and reservoirs to reveal research developments, current research hotspots, and emerging trends in this area. A total of 2695 articles in the past 25 years from the online database of the Scientific Citation Index Expended(SCI-Expanded) were analyzed. Articles in this area increased exponentially from 1991 to 2015.Although the USA was the most productive country over the past 25 years, China achieved the top position in terms of yearly publications after 2010. The most active keywords related to nitrogen in the past 25 years included phosphorus, nutrients, sediment, chlorophyll-a, carbon,phytoplankton, cyanobacteria, water quality, modeling, and stable isotopes, based on analysis within 5-year intervals from 1991 to 2015 as well as the entire past 25 years. In addition, researchers have drawn increasing attention to denitrification, climate change, and internal loading. Future trends in this area should focus on:(1) nutrient amounts, ratios, and major nitrogen sources leading to eutrophication;(2) nitrogen transformation and the bioavailability of different nitrogen forms;(3)nitrogen budget, mass balance model, control, and management;(4) ecosystem responses to nitrogen enrichment and reduction, as well as the relationships between these responses; and(5)interactions between nitrogen and other stressors(e.g., light intensity, carbon, phosphorus, toxic contaminants, climate change, and hydrological variations) in terms of eutrophication.     

Analysis on research trends with dust explosions by bibliometric approach

Highly destructive combustible dust explosions, which is prone to cause secondary explosion, has been a concern in industrial processes. To understand the current development and status of research on dust explosions, 1276 publications related to dust explosions from 1998 to 2021 were indexed through the Web of Science Core Collection database. CiteSpace and VOSviewer were used to visualize and analyze the collected literature information. The number of articles related to dust explosions has increased from 12 in 1998 to 191 in 2021. China, the United States, and Canada are the major contributors in this field. Dalhousie University, Beijing Institute of Technology, and Dalian University of Technology are at the core of dust explosion research. Wei Gao, Paul Amyotte, and Chi-Min Shu are the most prolific researchers. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, Powder Technology, and Process Safety and Environmental Protection are the major sources of publications related to dust explosions. The research topic of dust explosions mainly evolves into four aspects: explosion characteristics and influencing factors, research media, explosion suppression, and numerical simulation. New research hotspots have appeared related to gas–dust hybrid mixtures, nanomaterials, and powder suppressants. The results can help researchers in the dust explosion field to quickly determine the research frontier and the overall situation.