Biogeochemical model (BGC-ES) and its basin-level application for evaluating ecosystem services under forest management practices

It is important for humans to live in harmony with ecosystems. Evaluation of ecosystem services (ES) may be helpful in achieving this objective. In Japan, forest ecosystems need to be re-evaluated to prevent their degradation due to lack of forest management.In order to evaluate the effects of forest management on forest ES, we developed a process-based biogeochemical model to estimate water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles in forest ecosystems (BGC-ES). This model consists of four submodels: biomass, water cycle, carbon-nitrogen (CN) cycles, and forest management. The biomass submodel can calculate growth of forest biomass under forest managements.Several parameters of the model were calibrated using data from observations of evapotranspiration flux and quality of stream flow in forests. The model results were compared with observations of runoff water from a dam catchment site and with carbon flux observations.Our model was coupled with a basin-level GIS database of forests. Evaluations under various forest management scenarios were carried out for forests in a basin contained in the Ise Bay basin (Chubu region, Japan), where plantations (artificial forests) seemed to have degraded from poor forest management.Comparing our simulation results with those of forests without management in the basin, we found that the amounts of absorbed carbon and runoff were larger in managed forests. In addition, the volume of harvested timber was larger and its quality (diameter) was better in managed forests. Changes of ES within the various scenarios were estimated for their economic value and were compared with the cost of forest management.     

知识生产视角下应急管理学科建设的使命与路径

为厘清应急管理学科建设机制、推进应急管理学科良性发展,通过回顾学科建设历史,来分析应急管理学科建设面临的困境与肩负的使命,并提出相应的建设路径.研究表明:在知识生产模式转型视角下,应急管理学科建设面临知识生产者离散、知识创新度不足、知识转化率有限的三重困境,需要完成"朝向人才培养的应急管理知识直接再生产""朝向科学研究...     

Identifying priority areas for ecosystem service management in South African grasslands

Grasslands provide many ecosystem services required to support human well-being and are home to a diverse fauna and flora. Degradation of grasslands due to agriculture and other forms of land use threaten biodiversity and ecosystem services. Various efforts are underway around the world to stem these declines. The Grassland Programme in South Africa is one such initiative and is aimed at safeguarding both biodiversity and ecosystem services. As part of this developing programme, we identified spatial priority areas for ecosystem services, tested the effect of different target levels of ecosystem services used to identify priority areas, and evaluated whether biodiversity priority areas can be aligned with those for ecosystem services. We mapped five ecosystem services (below ground carbon storage, surface water supply, water flow regulation, soil accumulation and soil retention) and identified priority areas for individual ecosystem services and for all five services at the scale of quaternary catchments. Planning for individual ecosystem services showed that, depending on the ecosystem service of interest, between 4% and 13% of the grassland biome was required to conserve at least 40% of the soil and water services. Thirty-four percent of the biome was needed to conserve 40% of the carbon service in the grassland. Priority areas identified for five ecosystem services under three target levels (20%, 40%, 60% of the total amount) showed that between 17% and 56% of the grassland biome was needed to conserve these ecosystem services. There was moderate to high overlap between priority areas selected for ecosystem services and already-identified terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity priority areas. This level of overlap coupled with low irreplaceability values obtained when planning for individual ecosystem services makes it possible to combine biodiversity and ecosystem services in one plan using systematic conservation planning.     

大型超市安全管理的定量评价研究

为了有效地评估大型超市的安全管理情况,提高其安全管理水平,根据大型超市的主要危险因素、事故特点等,从安全管理组织和制度、员工的安全管理、设备设施的安全管理、商品安全管理、环境安全管理和事故应急管理六个方面建立了大型超市安全管理定量评估指标体系。该指标体系共分为两级指标,采用层次分析法确定一级指标权重,采用德尔菲专家咨询法确定二级指标权重,建立了大型超市安全管理定量评估模型。为方便对大型超市的安全管理情况进行准确、快速地评估,利用于EXCEL软件建立了大型超市安全管理定量评估系统。     

Suitability of short or long conservation contracts under ecological and socio-economic uncertainty

Acquisition of land rights has become a primary tool used to protect terrestrial biodiversity. Fixed length contracts are often used when trying to secure conservation benefits on private land in agri-environment schemes and payment for environmental services schemes, but the duration of the conservation contracts used in different programmes varies. To date, very little research has been undertaken to determine the situations in which contracts of differing lengths are optimal or when conservation agencies or groups should use a portfolio of different contract lengths rather than relying on a single type. Using stochastic dynamic programming and related heuristic methods, we investigate how the choice between short or long conservation contracts is affected by uncertainty regarding the future availability of sites and their ecological condition. We also examine the benefits offered by using a portfolio of different contract lengths. Conservation agencies must pay private landowners a premium to secure longer agreements and because of this, shorter contracts are advantageous if sites are likely to remain available for conservation in the future. Long contracts are preferred when future site availability becomes more unlikely. In contrast to uncertainty over site availability, uncertainty over future ecological conditions has little effect on contract selection and only markedly influences the choice between short and long contracts when there is heterogeneity across sites in expected conservation outcomes and future availability of sites is also uncertain. Finally, when future site availability is unlikely, the use of a portfolio of short and long contracts would offer greater conservation gains than using either type in isolation, even though this option is not yet one that is commonly found in conservation practice.     

Antecedents and outcomes of contingent workers' attitudes toward their temporary help services firm: A unit level longitudinal investigation

This study explored the unit‐level antecedents and outcomes of contingent workers' attitudes toward their temporary help services (THS) firm. It was proposed that (a) client‐orientation levels of the THS firm's full‐time staff would influence the level of support received by contingent workers, (b) staff supportiveness would be reciprocated by these workers in the form of favorable firm‐directed attitudes, and (c) contingent workers' attitudes toward the THS firm would influence two unit‐level outcomes—client reported service failure, and voluntary turnover rates of THS staff. Support was found for all the hypothesized relationships in a longitudinal study utilizing survey data gathered from 1324 full‐time employees, 570 contingent workers, and 1951 clients; and archival data on staff turnover from 46 strategic business units (SBUs) of a THS firm. These results are discussed within the context of employee–organization relationship (EOR), contingent workforce, and service management literatures. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

秦岭生态屏障产水服务时空演变特征及驱动要素

秦岭是我国重要的“中央水塔”,是南水北调的重要水源地。基于InVEST模型评估2000—2018年秦岭地区产水服务,分析其时空演变特征,利用相关性分析和地理加权回归方法（GWR）探究不同因素对秦岭地区产水服务变化的影响。结果表明：秦岭地区多年平均产水量为235.16 mm,19年间产水量呈现微弱下降趋势,产水量在空间上表现为由南部向北减少的特点。秦岭地区产水量波动程度和变化趋势都较弱,产水服务整体比较稳定。各因素对产水量的影响具有明显的空间异质性,降水主导的范围最大（33.18%）,且集中分布于产水量较多的秦岭南侧。其次为NPP（17.90%）和实际蒸散量（16.71%）,两者在中北部地区是主要影响因素。研究结果对促进区域生态安全和可持续发展具有一定的指导意义。     

Developing sustainable products and services

In light of increasing pressures to adopt a more sustainable approach to product design and manufacture, the requirement to develop sustainable products is one of the key challenges facing industry in the 21st century. Hence, the concept of developing sustainable products as well as services is evolving as a key element of Cleaner Production. Sustainable product development initiatives (mainly through eco-design) have been evolving for some time to support companies develop more sustainable products. Ireland has been running the highly successful Environmentally Superior Products (ESP) initiative that supports industrial companies to incorporate a more sustainable approach to the development of products and/or services. The lessons learned from the ESP and other global Sustainable Product and Service Developments in industry and research, are being used to develop a method for effective sustainable product and/or service development (SPSD) in industry. The method is designed to provide pragmatic guidance to business and industry for developing sustainable products and services as well as incorporating this approach within existing corporate strategy, cleaner production and product development systems. This method is being developed by the authors at the Environmental Policy and Management Group (EPMG), Department of Environmental Science and Technology, Imperial College London, UK in conjunction with industry and practitioners. The method provides a framework for implementing SPSD throughout the entire lifecycle of a product and/or service. It can be used to identify, assess and implement the options for optimum sustainability in the design and development of a product and/or service. This paper describes the key features of this method.     

高寒草地土壤保持功能的风洞模拟及其定量评估

青藏高原高寒草地的土壤保持功能对于保护生态环境具有重要的作用。为了研究人类活动不同干扰方式对高寒草地土壤保持功能的影响,利用大型风洞,对不同干扰方式下高寒草甸、草原化草甸和高寒草原3个类型的土壤保持功能定量评估,以侵蚀率作为土壤保持功能的测度指标。实验结果表明,随着风速的增大,3个样品的土壤侵蚀率均呈现增大趋势,但不同处理下侵蚀率的增幅不同。当植被根系破坏后,土壤侵蚀率大小为高寒草甸<草原化草甸<高寒草原,说明,高寒草甸土壤的可蚀性低,高寒草原土壤的可蚀性高,极易遭到破坏。从总体来看,土壤保持功能的强弱依次为高寒草甸>草原化草甸>高寒草原。风蚀前后土壤中有机质和养分含量的变化分析表明,土壤有机质和养分含量显著下降,其中速效K2O的养分含量下降幅度最大。对3个草地类型单位面积土壤保持经济价值进行计算,计算主要包括保持有机碳、保持养分和减少土壤流失对河流湖泊淤积3个方面的价值。结果表明,高寒草原化草甸单位面积的土壤保持价值最高,其次为高寒草甸,高寒草原单位面积土壤保持价值最低。     

Ecological service assessment of human-dominated freshwater ecosystem with a case study in Yangzhou Prefecture, China

Freshwater ecosystems provide a host of services to humanity. These services are now rapidly being lost, not least because of the inability of making the impacts measurable. To overcome this obstacle, assessment frameworks for freshwater ecosystem services are needed. A simple water equivalent framework to assess the ecological services provided by freshwater ecosystems was developed in this study. It translated the occupation of freshwater ecosystem services into biologically freshwater volumes and then compares this consumption to the freshwater throughput, that is, the ecological capacity available in this region. In this way, we use the example of Yangzhou Prefecture, to account the main categories of human occupation of water ecosystem services. The result showed that there is a huge gap between the consumption and the supply of freshwater ecosystem services. This must encourage local government to make land-use and water management decisions both economically rational and environmentally sound.