徐闻沿海风力发电场对鸟类的影响分析

建设风电场可能会对生态环境和鸟类造成一定的影响。以2003年徐闻县鸟类资源调查资料为基础,结合徐闻县风电场建设规划,研究了徐闻县风电场对鸟类栖息、觅食、迁徙的影响。结果表明:风电场建设通过占用鸟类栖息地,产生噪声等影响风电场周围鸟类的栖息和觅食,但总体来说,其影响较小;风机转速较慢及保护区鸟类飞行高度均高于风机高度,风机与鸟类的碰撞风险较低。为了保护鸟类的安全及保障其正常生存,需要采取设立候鸟监测救护站、将风机及输电线涂成警示色等措施。     

Comparing discriminant analysis, neural networks and logistic regression for predicting species distributions: a case study with a Himalayan river bird

We assessed the occurrence of a common river bird, the Plumbeous Redstart Rhyacornis fuliginosus, along 180 independent streams in the Indian and Nepali Himalaya. We then compared the performance of multiple discrimant analysis (MDA), logistic regression (LR) and artificial neural networks (ANN) in predicting this species’ presence or absence from 32 variables describing stream altitude, slope, habitat structure, chemistry and invertebrate abundance. Using the entire data (=training set) and a threshold for accepting presence in ANN and LR set to P≥0.5, ANN correctly classified marginally more cases (88%) than either LR (83%) or MDA (84%). Model performance was assessed from two methods of data partitioning. In a ‘leave-one-out’ approach, LR correctly predicted more cases (82%) than MDA (73%) or ANN (69%). However, in a holdout procedure, all the methods performed similarly (73–75%). All methods predicted true absence (i.e. specificity in holdout: 81–85%) better than true presence (i.e. sensitivity: 57–60%). These effects reflect species’ prevalence (=frequency of occurrence), but are seldom considered in distribution modelling. Despite occurring at only 36% of the sites, Plumbeous Redstarts are one of the most common Himalayan river birds, and problems will be greater with less common species. Both LR and ANN require an arbitrary threshold probability (often P=0.5) at which to accept species presence from model prediction. Simulations involving varied prevalence revealed that LR was particularly sensitive to threshold effects. ROC plots (received operating characteristic) were therefore used to compare model performance on test data at a range of thresholds; LR always outperformed ANN. This case study supports the need to test species’ distribution models with independent data, and to use a range of criteria in assessing model performance. ANN do not yet have major advantages over conventional multivariate methods for assessing bird distributions. LR and MDA were both more efficient in the use of computer time than ANN, and also more straightforward in providing testable hypotheses about environmental effects on occurrence. However, LR was apparently subject to chance significant effects from explanatory variables, emphasising the well-known risks of models based purely on correlative data.     

机场植被管理与鸟击灾害防范的研究

鸟击灾害是航空“A”类灾难,机场鸟击灾害的根源在于机场生境对鸟类的吸引,减少机场生境中吸引鸟类的生态因子是解决机场鸟击威胁的根本方法。本文通过对南充高坪机场植被和鸟类进行调查,统计分析两者之间的关系,以寻找最适宜的机场植被管理措施。结果显示：植被为鸟类提供食物和栖息场所,植食性鸟类数量与植被的种类和季节变动规律基本吻合,同时植物的繁茂滋生大量昆虫,使肉食性鸟类数量增多。对飞行区植被进行处理,设法控制机场内鸟类的食物来源,对于减少飞行区鸟类的数量非常重要。建议采取的措施有碾压、割草和农药喷洒、挖除高草丛、使用除草剂、草坪植物种类的调控。     

池杉在三峡水库消落带生态修复中的适应性

冬季淹没和夏季干旱的交替作用会导致三峡水库消落带生态系统质量下降. 为了探索有效的生态系统修复方式,选用池杉树种开展了消落带林泽工程试验,并采用统计分析和RDA(冗余分析)排序对水淹胁迫下池杉的生长响应进行了研究. 结果表明:种植在海拔169 m以上的池杉经历两轮冬季淹水后成活率约为84.52%;树高、冠幅和枝叶密度平均变化量较小,分别为0.10 m、0.04 m和-0.11%,而胸径和枝下高变化明显,平均改变量分别为0.78 cm和-0.64 m;树高、胸径、冠幅和枝叶密度等指标变化率在没顶和部分淹水情况下存在显著差异. 部分淹水时,池杉对水淹胁迫的适应能力较强,随着淹水深度的增加,各生长指标变化量均呈下降趋势,部分植株有枯梢,没顶和部分淹水情况下枯梢率分别为43.56%和11.76%. RDA结果表明,水力条件和初始生长特征共同对淹水后池杉生长变化产生影响,二者对池杉生长指标变化的总体解释率为31.20%,独立解释率分别为11.90%、14.40%,共同解释率为4.90%. 池杉作为适应三峡水库消落带水位变动的本土耐淹树种,其经历水淹后的生长变化不仅与水位变动有关,同时也与其淹水前的生长状态有关. 研究结果有助于三峡水库消落带类似生态修复工程的进一步深入开展.      

Reduced effect of Tasmanian devil facial tumor disease at the disease front

Pathogen-driven declines in animal populations are increasingly regarded as a major conservation issue. The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is threatened with extinction by devil facial tumor disease, a unique transmissible cancer. The disease is transmitted through direct transfer of tumor cells, which is possible because the genetic diversity of Tasmanian devils is low, particularly in the major histocompatibility complex genes of the immune system. The far northwest of Tasmania now holds the last remaining disease-free wild devil populations. The recent discovery of unique major histocompatibility complex genotypes in the northwestern region of Tasmania has raised the possibility that some animals may be resilient to the disease. We examined the differences in the epidemiology and population effects of devil facial tumor disease at 3 well-studied affected sites in eastern Tasmania and 1 in western Tasmania (West Pencil Pine). In contrast to the 3 eastern sites, there has been no rapid increase in disease prevalence or evidence of population decline at West Pencil Pine. Moreover, this is the only onsite at which the population age structure has remained unaltered 4 years after the first detection of disease. The most plausible explanations for the substantial differences in population effects and epidemiology of the disease between eastern and western sites are geographic differences in genotypes or phenotypes of devils and functional differences between tumor strains in the 2 regions. We suggest that conservation efforts focus on identifying whether either or both these explanations are correct and then, if resistance alleles exist, to attempt to spread the resistant alleles into affected populations. Such assisted selection has rarely been attempted for the management of wildlife diseases, but it may be widely applicable.     

Winter bird use of seed-rich habitats in agri-environment schemes

To assess the effectiveness of over-winter seed provision by agri-environment schemes, bird use of patches of seed-bearing crops was compared with that of other seed-rich habitats on 53 farms in eastern Scotland over three winters. Seed-bearing crops were the most frequently selected habitat, and held 28% of birds of the 10 species recorded. Outside schemes, cereal stubble was the most selected habitat and held 44% of birds. For nine species, seed-bearing crops were used by more birds than expected from the area of crop available in at least one winter, and five species were more likely to occur in first-winter patches, reflecting a greater abundance of cereal grain than in second-winter patches. For cereal grain specialists such as buntings, sowing cereal-based crops annually would ensure that grain is available in each winter, whilst either a 1-year or a 2-year crop would be appropriate for finches that favour oilseeds, and species with a more generalist diet.     

Field-breeding birds on organic and conventional arable farms in the Netherlands

In this study territory densities of field-breeding farmland birds were compared on pairwise-selected organic and conventional arable farms for two years. Differences in territory densities between the two farm types were explained examining the effects of three factors on territory densities: (1) non-crop habitats, (2) crop types and (3) within-crop factors. In both years, densities of most species did not differ between organic and conventional farms. Only skylark and lapwing were more abundant on organic farms, but only skylarks showed a consistent pattern over both years. Differences in crop types grown between the two systems were the only explaining factor for differences in densities of skylark. For lapwing, the difference was only partly due to differences in crop type, but differences in within-crop factors (probably as a result of crop management) were likely to have had an effect as well. There were no significant differences in abundance of non-crop habitats between the two farming systems, so this could not explain differences in territory densities.     

城市绿地结构与鸟类栖息生境的营造

城市化对城市鸟类多样性产生了诸多不利影响。城市绿地结构是鸟类栖息生境选择的重要因素之一。在分析公园面积、连通性、岛屿化等影响城市鸟类多样性的城市绿地结构特征基础上,提出通过优化绿地结构营造鸟类栖息生境的原则,探讨了保护城市自然保留地、建设环城绿化带、构建河岸带与道路绿色廊道、复层植物群落配置、特殊空间绿化等途径作为鸟类生境营造的方法。     

Establishing IUCN Red List Criteria for Threatened Ecosystems

Abstract: The potential for conservation of individual species has been greatly advanced by the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) development of objective, repeatable, and transparent criteria for assessing extinction risk that explicitly separate risk assessment from priority setting. At the IV World Conservation Congress in 2008, the process began to develop and implement comparable global standards for ecosystems. A working group established by the IUCN has begun formulating a system of quantitative categories and criteria, analogous to those used for species, for assigning levels of threat to ecosystems at local, regional, and global levels. A final system will require definitions of ecosystems; quantification of ecosystem status; identification of the stages of degradation and loss of ecosystems; proxy measures of risk (criteria); classification thresholds for these criteria; and standardized methods for performing assessments. The system will need to reflect the degree and rate of change in an ecosystem's extent, composition, structure, and function, and have its conceptual roots in ecological theory and empirical research. On the basis of these requirements and the hypothesis that ecosystem risk is a function of the risk of its component species, we propose a set of four criteria: recent declines in distribution or ecological function, historical total loss in distribution or ecological function, small distribution combined with decline, or very small distribution. Most work has focused on terrestrial ecosystems, but comparable thresholds and criteria for freshwater and marine ecosystems are also needed. These are the first steps in an international consultation process that will lead to a unified proposal to be presented at the next World Conservation Congress in 2012.     

鄱阳湖湿地候鸟栖息地微塑料污染特征

微塑料(粒径5 mm的塑料)污染问题日益严重.以鄱阳湖湿地候鸟栖息地之一的白沙湖为研究区,采集了湖岸边、湖中心和候鸟活动区域的湖水、底泥和候鸟粪便,利用浮选分离法对其中的微塑料进行分离,分析其微塑料污染特征.结果表明:(1)研究区不同采样点水体和底泥中微塑料丰度有较大差异,表现为湖中心湖岸边候鸟活动区域,水体和底泥中微塑料平均丰度分别为263.28个·m~(-3)和215.9个·kg~(-1),候鸟粪便中微塑料平均丰度为4.93个·g~(-1).研究区存在颗粒、薄膜、碎片和纤维这4种不同形貌的微塑料.(2)水体中微塑料以颗粒类最多,颜色主要为红色,微塑料粒径丰度表现为1 mm1～2 mm2～3 mm3～5 mm,且基本呈随粒径增大丰度减小的趋势.(3)底泥中微塑料以纤维类为主,颜色主要为紫色,湖岸边和鸟类栖息地微塑料粒径以1 mm为主,湖中心以1～2 mm为主.(4)候鸟粪便内微塑料以颗粒类为主,颜色主要为红色,粒径以1 mm为主.(5)水体、底泥和候鸟粪便中微塑料类型分布无一致性,水体和候鸟粪便颜色和粒径分布保持一致.可见,鄱阳湖鸟类栖息地已经受到了微塑料的污染,鸟类也无可避免地接触到了微塑料,警示人们微塑料将会是候鸟的新兴威胁.