Applying the zoo model to conservation of threatened exceptional plant species

Maintaining a living plant collection is the most common method of ex situ conservation for plant species that cannot be seed banked (i.e., exceptional species). Viability of living collections, and their value for future conservation efforts, can be limited without coordinated efforts to track and manage individuals across institutions. Using a pedigree-focused approach, the zoological community has established an inter-institutional infrastructure to support long-term viability of captive animal populations. We assessed the ability of this coordinated metacollection infrastructure to support the conservation of 4 plant species curated in living collections at multiple botanic gardens around the world. Limitations in current practices include the inability to compile, share, and analyze plant collections data at the individual level, as well as difficulty in tracking original provenance of ex situ material. The coordinated metacollection framework used by zoos can be adopted by the botanical community to improve conservation outcomes by minimizing the loss of genetic diversity in collections. We suggest actions to improve ex situ conservation of exceptional plant species, including developing a central database to aggregate data and track unique individuals of priority threatened species among institutions and adapting a pedigree-based population management tool that incorporates life-history aspects unique to plants. If approached collaboratively across regional, national, and global scales, these actions could transform ex situ conservation of threatened plant species.     

天津市地表水体与沉积物中7种高关注酚类化合物的污染特征与生态风险分析

为探究地表水体与沉积物中酚类化合物的污染分布特征和生态风险,选择天津市3个水源地与6条主要河流,采集了26个地表水样与6个沉积物样品,利用固相萃取与超声萃取、高效液相色谱-串联质谱法(HPLC-MS/MS)测定了水样及沉积物中1-萘酚(1-naphthol)、壬基酚(nonylphenol, NP)、双酚A(bisphenol A, BPA)、2-苯基苯酚(biphenyl-2-ol)、3,4-二氯酚(3,4-dichlorophenol)、四溴双酚A(tetrabromobisphenol A, TBBPA)和对叔丁基苯酚(p-tert-butylphenol, PTBP)等7种高关注酚类化合物的浓度水平,并应用物种敏感性分布(species sensitivity distribution, SSD)法和熵值法(ecological risk quotient, RQ)评估7种酚类化合物水环境和沉积物的生态风险。结果表明,地表水样中7种酚类化合物均全部检出;其中壬基酚的检出浓度最高,其次为四溴双酚A、对叔丁基苯酚、1-萘酚、2-苯基苯酚、3,4-二氯酚和双酚A。沉积物中酚类化合物的污染分布规律与水样相似,除双酚A外的目标物全部检出。其中,壬基酚浓度比其他物质浓度高2个数量级。风险评估结果显示,壬基酚对水环境与沉积物存在不可接受的风险;而四溴双酚A、对叔丁基苯酚、1-萘酚、2-苯基苯酚、3,4-二氯酚和双酚A则对环境具有较低风险或者存在一定的风险。     

土壤污染物的生态毒理效应和风险评估研究进展

环境生态风险评估（ERA）流程已经被纳入全球环境政策中,既用于规范新化学物质的授权和营销（前瞻性环境生态风险评估）,也用于评估潜在的污染场地（回顾性环境生态风险评估）。将土壤生态毒理学应用于风险评估,能阐明有毒物质对土壤生态系统中生命有机体的危害程度与范围。笔者主要介绍了应用评估因子法和物种敏感度分布法对基于效应数据进行的外推与估算,并综述了欧美等主要国家和地区的土壤生态风险评估框架、相关法律法规及其实施情况等,为中国开展土壤污染物生态毒理效应和风险评估等相关研究提供参考。     

The Influence of Linear Elements on Plant Species Diversity of Mediterranean Rural Landscapes: Assessment of Different Indices and Statistical Approaches

This paper mainly aims to study the linear element influence on the estimation of vascular plant species diversity in five Mediterranean landscapes modeled as land cover patch mosaics. These landscapes have several core habitats and a different set of linear elements -habitat edges or ecotones, roads or railways, rivers, streams and hedgerows on farm land- whose plant composition were examined. Secondly, it aims to check plant diversity estimation in Mediterranean landscapes using parametric and non-parametric procedures, with two indices: Species richness and Shannon index.Land cover types and landscape linear elements were identified from aerial photographs. Their spatial information was processed using GIS techniques. Field plots were selected using a stratified sampling design according to relieve and tree density of each habitat type. A 50×20 m² multi-scale sampling plot was designed for the core habitats and across the main landscape linear elements. Richness and diversity of plant species were estimated by comparing the observed field data to ICE (Incidence-based Coverage Estimator) and ACE (Abundance-based Coverage Estimator) non-parametric estimators.The species density, percentage of unique species, and alpha diversity per plot were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in linear elements than in core habitats. ICE estimate of number of species was 32% higher than of ACE estimate, which did not differ significantly from the observed values. Accumulated species richness in core habitats together with linear elements, were significantly higher than those recorded only in the core habitats in all the landscapes. Conversely, Shannon diversity index did not show significant differences.     

Hyperspectral Characteristics of Canopy Components and Structure for Phenological Assessment of an Invasive Weed

Spectral reflectance values of four canopy components (stems, buds, opening flowers, and postflowers of yellow starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis)) were measured to describe their spectral characteristics. We then physically combined these canopy components to simulate the flowering stage indicated by accumulated flower ratios (AFR) 10%, 40%, 70%, and 90%, respectively. Spectral dissimilarity and spectral angles were calculated to quantitatively identify spectral differences among canopy components and characteristic patterns of these flowering stages. This study demonstrated the ability of hyperspectral data to characterize canopy components, and identify different flowering stages. Stems had a typical spectral profile of green vegetation, which produced a spectral dissimilarity with three reproduction organs (buds, opening flowers, and postflowers). Quantitative differences between simulated flower stages depended on spectral regions and phenological stages examined. Using full-range canopy spectra, the initial flowering stage could be separated from the early peak, peak, and late flowering stages by three spectral regions, i.e. the blue absorption (around 480 nm) and red absorption (around 650 nm) regions and NIR plateau from 730 nm to 950 nm. For airborne CASI data, only the red absorption region and NIR plateau could be used to identify the flowering stages in the field. This study also revealed that the peak flowering stage was more easily recognized than any of the other three stages.     

都昌县多宝砂山物种多样性研究及保护初探

对鄱阳湖都昌县多宝砂山地区土地风沙化过程中物种多样性的变化特征进行了分析,依据植物种在各类型风沙化土地的出现频率与不同风沙化阶段各生活型植物种的组成,探讨了风沙化过程中植物种的绝灭与定居特点.物种多样性指数分析表明:风沙化过程是物种多样性衰减的过程,风沙化首先导致特有种的绝灭,其次为稀有种.从植物的生活型来看,多年生草本与乔木类植物受风沙化影响最大,而灌木类植物可存活于风沙化过程的各个阶段,在风沙化过程中植物种的绝灭速率大于定居速率.最后,针对造成多宝砂山生物多样性衰减的原因,提出了治理对策,即在控制人类行为干扰的同时,要加强对固定沙丘的管理与保护.      

长江口沙洲表层沉积物磷的赋存形态及生物有效性

利用磷的连续分级提取方法,研究了长江口沙洲沉积物中磷的赋存形态分布特征,并探讨了沉积物中磷的生物有效性.结果表明,沙洲沉积物中总磷的含量为437.6～1103.7μg·g-1,其中79.5%以无机磷的形式存在,而无机磷中以碎屑态磷灰石磷为主;有机磷约占总磷的20.5%.磷的生物有效性分析结果显示,潜在的生物有效性磷主要包括弱吸附态磷、铁结合态磷和有机磷等3种赋存形态,而长江口沙洲沉积物中潜在的生物有效性磷含量较少,约为60.5～510.9μg·g-1,平均仅占沉积物总磷的28.86%.     

不同氮源和曝气方式对淡水藻类生长的影响

利用水族箱微宇宙研究了2种氮源水体中不同曝气条件对藻类生长的影响.试验使用铵态氮(NH₄⁺-N)和硝态氮(NO₃^--N)作为氮源,每种氮源水体分别设置不曝气、连续曝气、昼间曝气和夜间曝气4个处理.结果显示:试验初期以NH₄⁺-N为主要氮源的水体中藻类生长明显好于以NO₃^--N为主要氮源的水体.试验后期则以NO₃^--N为主要氮源的藻类生长情况更好.连续曝气对于2种氮源水体中藻类生长有着不同的影响;昼间曝气对2种氮源的藻类生长影响不大;而夜间曝气对藻类生长有明显的抑制作用.NH₄⁺-N含量较高的水体中蓝藻容易成为优势种,而NO₃^--N含量高的水体中则以绿藻为主.不同曝气条件下藻类优势种没有明显差别.     

Portrayals of Endangered Species in Advertising: Exercising Intertextuality to Question the Anthropocentric Lens

This paper examines recent advertisements used by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to raise awareness about the predicament of endangered, vulnerable, and threatened species. By engaging in a critical discourse analysis of a selection of advertisements, this study demonstrates how the WWF uses intertextuality as a discourse strategy to articulate its message and objectives. In this paper, I argue that by engaging in the juxtaposition of various paratexts (“layers of meaning”), the WWF produces a narrative which reveals an anthropocentric lens through which we view the world. The advertisements are found to resort to paratexts of anthropomorphism with the intent of extending the bounds of personhood to non-human animal species. In closing, I maintain that intertextuality is employed not only to question the dominant human-centric paradigm, but serve the heuristic function of encouraging a more empathetic identification with the animals in question and the creation of a more holistic worldview.     

广西红树林资源与保护

广西的红树林现有面积为8374.9 hm2,分布于北海市、钦州市和防城港市.红树植物有15种,其中真红树植物11种,半红树植物5种,无瓣海桑为人工引种.红树林的建群种主要有白骨壤、桐花树、秋茄、红海榄、木榄、海漆、老鼠筋和银叶树8种,主要群落可划分为8个群系,15个群落类型.红树林是广西的优势海洋资源之一,其动植物资源潜力大,生态景观旅游价值高,同时是良好的生态养殖场所.如何合理利用红树林资源,本文提出了针对性的建议.