Prospects for Reconciling the Conflict between Economic Growth and Biodiversity Conservation with Technological Progress

Abstract: The conflict between economic growth and biodiversity conservation is understood in portions of academia and sometimes acknowledged in political circles. Nevertheless, there is not a unified response. In political and policy circles, the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) is posited to solve the conflict between economic growth and environmental protection. In academia, however, the EKC has been deemed fallacious in macroeconomic scenarios and largely irrelevant to biodiversity. A more compelling response to the conflict is that it may be resolved with technological progress. Herein I review the conflict between economic growth and biodiversity conservation in the absence of technological progress, explore the prospects for technological progress to reconcile that conflict, and provide linguistic suggestions for describing the relationships among economic growth, technological progress, and biodiversity conservation. The conflict between economic growth and biodiversity conservation is based on the first two laws of thermodynamics and principles of ecology such as trophic levels and competitive exclusion. In this biophysical context, the human economy grows at the competitive exclusion of nonhuman species in the aggregate. Reconciling the conflict via technological progress has not occurred and is infeasible because of the tight linkage between technological progress and economic growth at current levels of technology. Surplus production in existing economic sectors is required for conducting the research and development necessary for bringing new technologies to market. Technological regimes also reflect macroeconomic goals, and if the goal is economic growth, reconciliatory technologies are less likely to be developed. As the economy grows, the loss of biodiversity may be partly mitigated with end‐use innovation that increases technical efficiency, but this type of technological progress requires policies that are unlikely if the conflict between economic growth and biodiversity conservation (and other aspects of environmental protection) is not acknowledged.     

不同营养状态水体中生态浮床对浮游植物群落的影响

为研究不同营养状态下水体中浮游植物群落对生态浮床系统的响应关系及其影响因素,设不同营养水平试验组〔A组ρ(COD_Cr)、ρ(NH₄+-N)、ρ(TP)分别为10.0、2.00、0.200 mg/L,B组分别为100.0、20.00、2.000 mg/L〕,每组设对照、框式浮床2个处理,每个处理3个重复. 自2012年8月5日—10月5日,定期对水体营养盐质量浓度、浮游生物群落特征、浮床植物的生长状况进行检测. 结果显示:①2个试验组浮床植物长势良好,其中B组浮床植物茎叶部分干物质量增加7.9倍,浮床系统对水体N、P的净去除率均在60%以上;②浮床系统能明显抑制浮游植物的大量生长(P＜0.05),对浮游植物密度和总生物量在峰值处的最大抑制率可达75.9%(A组)和83.6%(B组);③框式浮床处理中浮游植物的群落结构比对照处理复杂,A组中浮游植物优势种为隐藻门的卵形隐藻(Cryptomonas ovata)、尖尾蓝隐藻(Chroomonas acuta)和绿藻门的四尾栅藻(Scenedesmus quadricauda)、小空星藻(Coelastrum microporum),B组为隐藻门的尖尾蓝隐藻和裸藻门的梭形裸藻(Euglena acus);④B组试验中,框式浮床处理浮游植物Shannon-Wiener多样性指数显著高于对照处理,生态浮床对浮游植物群落的影响更多体现在提升浮游植物的生物多样性上. 研究表明,浮床系统能高效去除水体N、P,抑制浮游植物的增殖,改变浮游植物的群落结构,并且这些作用受到水体营养水平的影响.      

Ecological-Economic Modeling for Biodiversity Management: Potential, Pitfalls, and Prospects

Abstract:  Ecologists and economists both use models to help develop strategies for biodiversity management. The practical use of disciplinary models, however, can be limited because ecological models tend not to address the socioeconomic dimension of biodiversity management, whereas economic models tend to neglect the ecological dimension. Given these shortcomings of disciplinary models, there is a necessity to combine ecological and economic knowledge into ecological-economic models. It is insufficient if scientists work separately in their own disciplines and combine their knowledge only when it comes to formulating management recommendations. Such an approach does not capture feedback loops between the ecological and the socioeconomic systems. Furthermore, each discipline poses the management problem in its own way and comes up with its own most appropriate solution. These disciplinary solutions, however, are likely to be so different that a combined solution considering aspects of both disciplines cannot be found. Preconditions for a successful model-based integration of ecology and economics include (1) an in-depth knowledge of the two disciplines, (2) the adequate identification and framing of the problem to be investigated, and (3) a common understanding between economists and ecologists of modeling and scale. To further advance ecological-economic modeling the development of common benchmarks, quality controls, and refereeing standards for ecological-economic models is desirable.     

论生物多样性的保护问题

当前，任何地区的生物多样性都是自然和社会因素长期综合作用所造成。生物多样性最丰富的地区不一定全部由顶极植被所覆盖，而常常是一些包括所有演替类型的地方。本文通过讨论自然环境的变化和人类生产活动对不同区域景观的影响，探讨有关生物多样性的保护问题。