Invisible institutions in emergencies: Evacuating the remote Indigenous community of Warruwi,Northern Territory Australia,from Cyclone Monica

Tropical Cyclone Monica is one of the most intense Australian cyclones in recorded history, and threatened several Indigenous communities in April 2006. It prompted the evacuation of the remote island community of Warruwi, and caused considerable damage to the mainland township of Maningrida. The evacuation of Warruwi went smoothly as emergency services personnel, the community and the airline cooperated to airlift some 350 people to designated safe areas on the mainland. We show that local institutions culturally embedded in Indigenous ways of understanding and responding to the world were important in providing essential but ‘unofficial’ services during the emergency. Recognizing and respecting the resilience of the local process involved in everyday Indigenous life is revealed as central to ensuring local cooperation and effective involvement of state and national institutions in delivering effective measures during emergencies. Ensuring that local, state and national authorities offer recognition and understanding of these Indigenous institutions, and develop strong relationships with them, should be a priority in developing approaches that limit conflict and trauma where emergency services risk overriding local protocol.     

The potential for combining indigenous and western knowledge in reducing vulnerability to environmental hazards in small island developing states

The benefits of indigenous knowledge within disaster risk reduction are gradually being acknowledged and identified. However, despite this acknowledgement there continues to be a gap in reaching the right people with the correct strategies for disaster risk reduction.

This paper identifies the need for a specific framework identifying how indigenous and western knowledge may be combined to mitigate against the intrinsic effects of environmental processes and therefore reduce the vulnerability of rural indigenous communities in small island developing states (SIDS) to environmental hazards. This involves a review of the impacts of environmental processes and their intrinsic effects upon rural indigenous communities in SIDS and how indigenous knowledge has contributed to their coping capacity. The paper concludes that the vulnerability of indigenous communities in SIDS to environmental hazards can only be addressed through the utilisation of both indigenous and Western knowledge in a culturally compatible and sustainable manner.     

石油输入对河口芦苇湿地根际微生物的影响

以辽东湾双台子河河口芦苇湿地为对象,以石油污染物作为主要的外源性污染物,采用湿地模拟实验装置进行了为期6个月的室外模拟实验,研究了石油的重要组分正构烷烃和多环芳烃在芦苇根区土壤中的时空分布及对湿地植物根际土壤微生物种群数量和群落结构的影响. 结果表明,石油污染物的输入降低了土壤的含氧量,减少了根际细菌的数量,芦苇根际细菌的数量仅为对照的1/4,同时也改变了微生物群落的优势菌群.经过6个月的含油河水灌溉后,形成了以变形菌门(Proteobacterium spp.)和拟杆菌门(Bacteroidetes spp.)为主要优势菌群的群落结构,而厚壁菌门(Firmicutes spp.)、放线菌门(Actinobacteria spp.)和蓝藻门(Cyanobacteria spp.)则受到不同程度的抑制.     

Characteristics associated with high and low levels of ecological literacy in a western society

The integrity of the relationship between humanity and nature is fundamental to the health and survival of our species. Humans have always required knowledge and understanding of the planet’s life-supporting systems. Such knowledge and understanding form the basis of ecological literacy which, we suggest, is fundamental to the sustainability of human settlements. An assessment of South Australian adults showed positive correlations between ecological literacy and a number of socio-demographic and psychographic factors. An analysis of the most and least eco-literate individuals within a sample of over 1000 adults revealed significant distinguishing characteristics. Our findings indicate that high ecological literacy is strongly correlated with gender, age, education (and in particular, science-based education), employment status, engagement with nature both as children and adults, growing food, outdoor experiences and lifestyles, growing up in small communities and relational learning. In contrast, low ecological literacy is associated with a different set of socio-demographic and psychographic characteristics such as lower levels of education, growing up in large urban communities, and spending little time outdoors or in natural settings. In addition, perceptions about the major contributors to ecological knowledge and understanding were markedly different within the two groups. These patterns of difference between those with high and low ecological literacy among South Australian adults invite serious consideration for a society that aspires to cultivate an informed citizenry with capacity for making effective environmental decisions.     

北京市流动人口聚居区人居环境市民化类型分异

以流动人口聚居区为研究对象,构建流动人口聚居区人居环境市民化评价指标体系,评价北京市典型流动人口聚居区的人居环境市民化程度,分析流动人口聚居区人居环境市民化的类型分异特征,并在研究基础上提出不同空间类型流动人口聚居区人居环境市民化的提升路径。结果表明:流动人口聚居区人居环境市民化进程呈“由近及远”的圈层式空间推移过程,并高度依赖于土地城市化水平;流动人口聚居区人居环境市民化存在显著的类型分异。据此,提出近郊城中村型、近郊城市住宅型和远郊城中村型3类流动人口聚居区应分别采取重建提升模式、优化提升模式和存续提升模式,以高效、有针对性地提升流动人口聚居区人居环境,缩小流动人口与本地户籍人口的人居环境差距,实现流动人口市民化的发展目标。     

温度和搅拌对牛粪厌氧消化系统抗生素抗性基因变化和微生物群落的影响

分别设置中温不搅拌、中温搅拌、高温不搅拌和高温搅拌这4种牛粪厌氧消化处理,探究温度和搅拌对牛粪厌氧消化抗生素抗性基因（antibiotic resistance genes,ARGs）变化及微生物群落的影响.以厌氧消化特性为基础,分析ARGs和可移动遗传元件（mobile genetic elements,MGEs）的丰度变化和微生物群落结构,并利用网络分析和冗余分析探究影响ARGs变化的关键因素.通过双因素方差分析可知,温度对厌氧消化产气的影响（η²=0.934）强于搅拌（η²=0.911）,高温总产气量较中温提高了13.93%,且中温条件下搅拌的总产气量较未搅拌提高了12.63%.温度对ARGs去除的影响（η²=0.992）也强于搅拌（η²=0.920）.高温将ARGs和MGEs的去除量显著提升至0.09~1.53（对数值）,但搅拌对ARGs和MGEs的去除无显著影响.微生物群落受温度的影响也更为显著,门水平微生物Firmicutes成为高温条件下的绝对优势菌,相对丰度高达86%以上.属水平微生物Sedimentibacter、Sphaerochaeta和Pseudomonas等为ARGs的潜在宿主菌,直接影响ARGs的变化.理化因子影响了微生物的分布,尤其是总氨氮和总挥发酸,通过影响ARGs宿主菌间接影响ARGs的变化.整体来看,高温不搅拌的消化条件有利于气体的产生和ARGs的去除.     

Sustainable wastewater management for small communities in the Middle East and North Africa

Accelerated expansion of wastewater services to small communities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is essential in order to address serious concerns over water scarcity and pollution in addition to meeting the demand for convenience and protecting public health. Centralized and conventional wastewater systems are currently the preferred choice of planners and decision-makers in MENA. Water and funding are not available to provide these centralized conventional services to small communities. This paper presents an integrated approach to sustainable wastewater management for small communities in MENA under the severe water resources crisis. The approach calls for a paradigm shift from centralized conventional wastewater systems to decentralized wastewater systems. Management of wastewater in MENA should start at home. Wastewater generation should be reduced through a combination of domestic water conservation measures. On-site systems must be improved and monitored to control pollution and to recover water for non-potable water uses. Should the circumstances not allow the use of on-site systems, wastewater should be transported and managed through a community system applying the principles of decentralized wastewater management and using the settled sewers for wastewater transportation where appropriate. This approach will facilitate the accelerated and sustainable extension of environmentally responsible wastewater services to MENA's small communities. It offers great potential for cost reduction, accommodates the necessary domestic water conservation efforts, reduces freshwater inputs in wastewater transportation thus eliminating unnecessary demand on freshwater, reduces associated environmental risks and increases wastewater reuse opportunities.     

Simulation of socio-ecological impacts: Modeling a fishing village

The interrelationship of society and environment is addressed here through the study of a remote fishing village of 750 people. An interdisciplinary study evaluated demographic, economic, and social aspects of the community, and simulation modeling was used to integrate these societal characteristics with environmental factors.The population of the village had grown gradually until the 1960's, when a decline began. Out-migration correlated with declining fish harvests and with increased communications with urban centers. Fishing had provided the greatest economic opportunity, followed by logging. A survey was conducted to investigate the costs and revenues of village fishermen. Diversification characterized the local fleet, and analysis showed that rates of return on investment in the current year were equal between vessel types.The variable levels and rate parameters of the demographic, economic, and social components of the model were specified through static and time series data. Sensitivity analysis to assess the effects of uncertainty, and validation tests against known historical changes were also conducted. Forecast scenarios identified the development options under several levels of fish abundance and investment. The weight given to ecological versus economic resource management registered disproportionate effects due to the interaction between investment and migration rates and resource stochasticity. This finding argues against a golden mean rule for evaluating policy trade-offs and argues for the importance of using a dynamic, socio-ecological perspective in designing development policies for rural communities.     

Montréal's Eco-quartier environmental program: local action and municipal management

This article assesses the City of Montréal's éco-quartier program from the viewpoint of managing the urban environment and improving living environments. It evaluates the actual achievements of the program, looking especially at the ability of local communities to take effective action to improve their living environments, while under the guidance of the associations mandated to manage the program at the local level. Our research concentrated on three main areas: a) the development of the City of Montréal's environmental program; b) the effectiveness of the éco-quartiers in carrying out their mandate; c) the actual impacts of the program in improving living environments.     

Spatial characteristics analysis by PCR-DGGE for bacterial communities in surface sediments of Tangxi River,Hefei City北大核心CSCD

Microbes play an important role in material circulation and pollutant release in urban sediments, and its community structure can provide an important basis for evaluating the pollution load and ecosystem health of an urban river. In this study, bacterial communities in sediments from different locations of Tangxi River in Anhui Province were analyzed and compared, with an objective of evaluating the effects of aquatic environment on spatial characteristics of bacterial communities and the feasibility of using bacterial community composition as an indicator of urban river health. PCR-DGGE was applied to analyze the bacterial communities; fifteen major bands of 16S rDNA genes fragments from DGGE profiles of sediment samples were further eluted from gel, reamplified and sequenced. The sequences of these fragments were compared with the database in GenBank (NCBI). The collected samples were clustered based on UPGM Aanalysis. In addition, relationships between bacterial communities and environmental factors were analyzed by Monte Carlo test and redundancy analysis (RDA). The DGGE profiles indicated that upstream surface sediments had about 30 bands, but the differences in brightness were not significant. Although midstream surface sediments had only 18 bands on average, the brightness of some bands was relatively high, indicating that some dominant species of bacteria existed in these sediments. The amounts of bands in downstream sediments were between those of upstream and midstream, with some bands of high brightness. The NCBI comparison results showed that ten sequences shared 98-100% homology with known sequences, one with 97%, and the other four with uncultured bacteria. Shannon index (H) of bacterial diversity from upstream surface sediments was 3.31 on average, which was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than that of midstream surface sediments, and slightly higher than that of downstream surface sediments. UPGMA results showed both the distribution of bacteria communities and the diversity were strongly related with the sampling locations (Eigenvalue = 0.188, P = 0.134). Monte Carlo test and RDA analysis showed that the ion exchangeable form of nitrogen (IEF-N) was the main factor influencing the spatial characteristics of bacterial communities in the sediments. The aquatic plants had a significant effect on the richness of bacterial communities in the sediments, and the effectiveness of plant species was more notable than that of the vegetation coverage. The above results indicated that bacterial community structure and diversity in the surface sediments can well reflect the degree of urbanization development and effectiveness of ecological restoration in Tangxi River region.