Selectivity in Mammalian Extinction Risk and Threat Types: a New Measure of Phylogenetic Signal Strength in Binary Traits

Abstract: The strength of phylogenetic signal in extinction risk can give insight into the mechanisms behind species’ declines. Nevertheless, no existing measure of phylogenetic pattern in a binary trait, such as extinction‐risk status, measures signal strength in a way that can be compared among data sets. We developed a new measure for phylogenetic signal of binary traits, D, which simulations show gives robust results with data sets of more than 50 species, even when the proportion of threatened species is low. We applied D to the red‐list status of British birds and the world's mammals and found that the threat status for both groups exhibited moderately strong phylogenetic clumping. We also tested the hypothesis that the phylogenetic pattern of species threatened by harvesting will be more strongly clumped than for those species threatened by either habitat loss or invasive species because the life‐history traits mediating the effects of harvesting show strong evolutionary pattern. For mammals, our results supported our hypothesis; there was significant but weaker phylogenetic signal in the risk caused by the other two drivers (habitat loss and invasive species). We conclude that D is likely to be a useful measure of the strength of phylogenetic pattern in many binary traits.     

Land‐Cover Change and Avian Diversity in the Conterminous United States

Abstract: Changes in land use and land cover have affected and will continue to affect biological diversity worldwide. Yet, understanding the spatially extensive effects of land‐cover change has been challenging because data that are consistent over space and time are lacking. We used the U.S. National Land Cover Dataset Land Cover Change Retrofit Product and North American Breeding Bird Survey data to examine land‐cover change and its associations with diversity of birds with principally terrestrial life cycles (landbirds) in the conterminous United States. We used mixed‐effects models and model selection to rank associations by ecoregion. Land cover in 3.22% of the area considered in our analyses changed from 1992 to 2001, and changes in species richness and abundance of birds were strongly associated with land‐cover changes. Changes in species richness and abundance were primarily associated with changes in nondominant types of land cover, yet in many ecoregions different types of land cover were associated with species richness than were associated with abundance. Conversion of natural land cover to anthropogenic land cover was more strongly associated with changes in bird species richness and abundance than persistence of natural land cover in nearly all ecoregions and different covariates were most strongly associated with species richness than with abundance in 11 of 17 ecoregions. Loss of grassland and shrubland affected bird species richness and abundance in forested ecoregions. Loss of wetland was associated with bird abundance in forested ecoregions. Our findings highlight the value of understanding changes in nondominant land cover types and their association with bird diversity in the United States.     

超临界锅炉中T23管内氧化皮的生成及剥落机理研究

通过对超临界锅炉中T23管内氧化皮检查和剥落物取样,利用能量色散谱仪和X射线衍射仪对其进行试验研究。分析了T23管内氧化皮的成分和结构特征,阐述了氧化皮生成和剥落机理及其影响因素,并提出了防治氧化皮大面积脱落的措施,为减轻超临界锅炉高温受热面管内氧化皮的生成,避免超温爆管等提供了一定的基础。     

基于GIS的城市公共安全技术平台

城市公共安全系统由管理体制、运行机制和技术平台3个不同的层次所构成,技术平台在整个系统中具有基础和支撑作用。笔者分析了城市公共安全保障中预防、预警预报、应急反应和善后处置等环节的技术需求;在平台要素和结构两方面讨论了基于GIS的城市公共安全技术平台的基本形态;系统介绍了基于地理信息系统(GIS)的城市公共安全技术平台的功能、要素和结构;初步给出了基于GIS的城市公共安全技术平台的基本架构,对该平台在应急救援、城市防灾、重大危险源管理等方面的应用进行了探讨。为城市公共安全技术平台的进一步优化奠定了基础。     

Evaluating surrogates of genetic diversity for conservation planning

Protected-area systems should conserve intraspecific genetic diversity. Because genetic data require resources to obtain, several approaches have been proposed for generating plans for protected-area systems (prioritizations) when genetic data are not available. Yet such surrogate-based approaches remain poorly tested. We evaluated the effectiveness of potential surrogate-based approaches based on microsatellite genetic data collected across the Iberian Peninsula for 7 amphibian and 3 reptilian species. Long-term environmental suitability did not effectively represent sites containing high genetic diversity (allelic richness). Prioritizations based on long-term environmental suitability had similar performance to random prioritizations. Geographic distances and resistance distances based on contemporary environmental suitability were not always effective surrogates for identification of combinations of sites that contain individuals with different genetic compositions. Our results demonstrate that population genetic data based on commonly used neutral markers can inform prioritizations, and we could not find an adequate substitute. Conservation planners need to weigh the potential benefits of genetic data against their acquisition costs.     

A new context-based approach to assess marine mammal behavioral responses to anthropogenic sounds

Acute effects of anthropogenic sounds on marine mammals, such as from military sonars, energy development, and offshore construction, have received considerable international attention from scientists, regulators, and industry. Moreover, there has been increasing recognition and concern about the potential chronic effects of human activities (e.g., shipping). It has been demonstrated that increases in human activity and background noise can alter habitats of marine animals and potentially mask communications for species that rely on sound to mate, feed, avoid predators, and navigate. Without exception, regulatory agencies required to assess and manage the effects of noise on marine mammals have addressed only the acute effects of noise on hearing and behavior. Furthermore, they have relied on a single exposure metric to assess acute effects: the absolute sound level received by the animal. There is compelling evidence that factors other than received sound level, including the activity state of animals exposed to different sounds, the nature and novelty of a sound, and spatial relations between sound source and receiving animals (i.e., the exposure context) strongly affect the probability of a behavioral response. A more comprehensive assessment method is needed that accounts for the fact that multiple contextual factors can affect how animals respond to both acute and chronic noise. We propose a three-part approach. The first includes measurement and evaluation of context-based behavioral responses of marine mammals exposed to various sounds. The second includes new assessment metrics that emphasize relative sound levels (i.e., ratio of signal to background noise and level above hearing threshold). The third considers the effects of chronic and acute noise exposure. All three aspects of sound exposure (context, relative sound level, and chronic noise) mediate behavioral response, and we suggest they be integrated into ecosystem-level management and the spatial planning of human offshore activities.     

Spatial predictions of phylogenetic diversity in conservation decision making

Considering genetic relatedness among species has long been argued as an important step toward measuring biological diversity more accurately, rather than relying solely on species richness. Some researchers have correlated measures of phylogenetic diversity and species richness across a series of sites and suggest that values of phylogenetic diversity do not differ enough from those of species richness to justify their inclusion in conservation planning. We compared predictions of species richness and 10 measures of phylogenetic diversity by creating distribution models for 168 individual species of a species-rich plant family, the Cape Proteaceae. When we used average amounts of land set aside for conservation to compare areas selected on the basis of species richness with areas selected on the basis of phylogenetic diversity, correlations between species richness and different measures of phylogenetic diversity varied considerably. Correlations between species richness and measures that were based on the length of phylogenetic tree branches and tree shape were weaker than those that were based on tree shape alone. Elevation explained up to 31% of the segregation of species rich versus phylogenetically rich areas. Given these results, the increased availability of molecular data, and the known ecological effect of phylogenetically rich communities, consideration of phylogenetic diversity in conservation decision making may be feasible and informative.     

异常性检测算法在引信干扰信号识别中的应用

目的 解决传统分类引信抗干扰算法因干扰信号难获取、特征信号样本少、正负样本数不平衡而导致计算精度低的问题,克服引信抗干扰算法对样本的依赖性,并提高引信信号识别准确率。方法 通过WVD时频变换的方法,将拆分后的真实含扰引信信号切片进行重组,使其由一维时序信号向二维图片信息进行扩展,基于数据倍增策略,提升算法泛化性,并降低其对真实数据样本的依赖。融合GANomaly与EfficientNet网络,在扩充的引信数据集上进行线下干扰信号特征学习,并对含扰引信图像数据进行线上异常性判断与干扰信号识别。结果 GE-FS网络能够在真实引信小样本信号的基础上进行有效数据扩充,基于扩充数据训练后,引信含扰识别准确率达到98.4%。结论 GE-FS网络能有效针对引信异常信号进行精确检测与识别,可以增强引信系统的抗干扰能力与作战自适应性。     

Designing sustainability for whom? Recent housing developments in Southwest Montréal

This paper sets out to show how urban sustainability issues have been addressed by social, political, and economic actors involved in housing production in Montréal. Specifically, it looks at how the environmental question has been incorporated into the practice and discourse of recent housing schemes. Principles of sustainable development such as adaptive reuse of industrial buildings and infill housing that allow for reinvestment in inner-city neighbourhoods, inclusion of affordable, or social housing in private housing developments to secure social mix, citizen participation, energy, water, and transportation matters have been increasingly circulated. By examining planning documents, design proposals, and briefs presented at public hearings on housing schemes in Southwest Montréal, a former working-class borough undergoing revitalisation, this paper shows that the values of sustainable development have been used by both private developers and local authorities to negotiate urban transformations with community groups.