Quantifying current and potential contributions of Australian indigenous peoples to threatened species management

Formal engagement of indigenous peoples in conservation is increasing globally and leads to multiple benefits to communities while contributing to national and international biodiversity goals and obligations. This and ongoing declines in biodiversity have led to calls to increase opportunities for indigenous people to engage in managing their estates. However, there is no overarching understanding of indigenous peoples’ involvement in conservation, which limits the identification of new opportunities. We amalgamated information across governments and large nongovernmental organizations in the megadiverse country of Australia to quantify the involvement of indigenous people in management of threatened species. We identified 153 Australian‐based projects undertaken by different indigenous groups around the nation in 2015 and 2016 that included explicit funds for management of threatened species or threatened ecosystems. Most were in remote parts of western and northern Australia. Almost one‐quarter of all threatened animals and 2% of threatened plants were the subject of some formal conservation action by indigenous people. Occurrence records for 1574 threatened species showed that 823 (89.2%) of 923 species recorded on indigenous peoples’ lands were not listed in management projects. This gap may represent new opportunities for conservation initiatives. Because at least 59.5% of Australia's threatened species occur on indigenous peoples’ lands, efforts to build appropriate and effective indigenous conservation alliances are vital. However, it is also important to recognize that threatened species are part of complex social, ecological, economic and cultural systems, and to achieve successful outcomes requires consideration of indigenous peoples’ priorities, rights, and obligations and relationships with their traditionally owned land and sea.     

Participatory development of incentives to coexist with jaguars and pumas

Reducing costs and increasing benefits for rural communities coexisting with large carnivores is necessary for conservation of jaguar (Panthera onca) and puma (Puma concolor). To design acceptable incentives, stakeholders must be involved in the process. We conducted an innovative, structured, group communication process based on a Delphi technique as a template for identifying potential incentives. Community workshops with 133 members of 7 communities and surveys with 25 multidisciplinary experts from government, nongovernmental organizations, and academia provided iterative data to design a plan of incentives through 4 rounds of discussion. The final product integrated 862 ideas into 6 types of incentives: organization of communities, mechanisms for improved dialogue, citizen technical assistance, green labeling for community products, payment for the ecosystem service of biodiversity, and an assessment of financial alternatives. We used quantitative and qualitative techniques to indicate support for decisions about the design of incentives, which reduced researcher subjectivity. The diverse incentives developed and the cooperation from multiple stakeholders resulted in an incentive plan that integrated issues of governance, equity, and social norms.     

A test of the substitution–habitat hypothesis in amphibians

Most examples that support the substitution‐habitat hypothesis (human‐made habitats act as substitutes of original habitat) deal with birds and mammals. We tested this hypothesis in 14 amphibians by using percentage occupancy as a proxy of habitat quality (i.e., higher occupancy percentages indicate higher quality). We classified water body types as original habitat (no or little human influence) depending on anatomical, behavioral, or physiological adaptations of each amphibian species. Ten species had relatively high probabilities (0.16–0.28) of occurrence in original habitat, moderate probability of occurrence in substitution habitats (0.11–0.14), and low probability of occurrence in refuge habitats (0.05–0.08). Thus, the substitution–habitat hypothesis only partially applies to amphibians because the low occupancy of refuges could be due to the negligible human persecution of this group (indicating good conservation status). However, low occupancy of refuges could also be due to low tolerance of refuge conditions, which could have led to selective extinction or colonization problems due to poor dispersal capabilities. That original habitats had the highest probabilities of occupancy suggests amphibians have a good conservation status in the region. They also appeared highly adaptable to anthropogenic substitution habitats.     

Using machine learning to disentangle homonyms in large text corpora

Systematic reviews are an increasingly popular decision‐making tool that provides an unbiased summary of evidence to support conservation action. These reviews bridge the gap between researchers and managers by presenting a comprehensive overview of all studies relating to a particular topic and identify specifically where and under which conditions an effect is present. However, several technical challenges can severely hinder the feasibility and applicability of systematic reviews, for example, homonyms (terms that share spelling but differ in meaning). Homonyms add noise to search results and cannot be easily identified or removed. We developed a semiautomated approach that can aid in the classification of homonyms among narratives. We used a combination of automated content analysis and artificial neural networks to quickly and accurately sift through large corpora of academic texts and classify them to distinct topics. As an example, we explored the use of the word reintroduction in academic texts. Reintroduction is used within the conservation context to indicate the release of organisms to their former native habitat; however, a Web of Science search for this word returned thousands of publications in which the term has other meanings and contexts. Using our method, we automatically classified a sample of 3000 of these publications with over 99% accuracy, relative to a manual classification. Our approach can be used easily with other homonyms and can greatly facilitate systematic reviews or similar work in which homonyms hinder the harnessing of large text corpora. Beyond homonyms we see great promise in combining automated content analysis and machine‐learning methods to handle and screen big data for relevant information in conservation science.     

Cost shifting and other perverse incentives in biodiversity offsetting in India

Biodiversity offsetting aims to compensate for development‐induced biodiversity loss through commensurate conservation gains and is gaining traction among governments and businesses. However, cost shifting (i.e., diversion of offset funds to other conservation programs) and other perverse incentives can undermine the effectiveness of biodiversity offsetting. Additionality—the requirement that biodiversity offsets result in conservation outcomes that would not have been achieved otherwise—is fundamental to biodiversity offsetting. Cost shifting and violation of additionality can go hand in hand. India's national offsetting program is a case in point. Recent legislation allows the diversion of offset funds to meet the country's preexisting commitments under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). With such diversions, no additional conservation takes place and development impacts remain uncompensated. Temporary additionality cannot be conceded in light of paucity of funds for preexisting commitments unless there is open acknowledgement that fulfillment of such commitments is contingent on offset funds. Two other examples of perverse incentives related to offsetting in India are the touting of inherently neutral offsetting outcomes as conservation gains, a tactic that breeds false complacency and results in reduced incentive for additional conservation efforts, and the clearing of native vegetation for commercial plantations in the name of compensatory afforestation, a practice that leads to biodiversity decline. The risks accompanying cost shifting and other perverse incentives, if not preempted and addressed, will result in net loss of forest cover in India. We recommend accurate baselines, transparent accounting, and open reporting of offset outcomes to ensure biodiversity offsetting achieves adequate and additional compensation for impacts of development.     

A habitat‐based approach to predict impacts of marine protected areas on fishers

Although marine protected areas can simultaneously contribute to biodiversity conservation and fisheries management, the global network is biased toward particular ecosystem types because they have been established primarily in an ad hoc fashion. The optimization of trade‐offs between biodiversity benefits and socioeconomic values increases success of protected areas and minimizes enforcement costs in the long run, but it is often neglected in marine spatial planning (MSP). Although the acquisition of spatially explicit socioeconomic data is perceived as a costly or secondary step in MSP, it is critical to account for lost opportunities by people whose activities will be restricted, especially fishers. We developed an easily reproduced habitat‐based approach to estimate the spatial distribution of opportunity cost to fishers in data‐poor regions. We assumed the most accessible areas have higher economic and conservation values than less accessible areas and their designation as no‐take zones represents a loss of fishing opportunities. We estimated potential distribution of fishing resources from bathymetric ranges and benthic habitat distribution and the relative importance of the different resources for each port of total catches, revenues, and stakeholder perception. In our model, we combined different cost layers to produce a comprehensive cost layer so that we could evaluate of trade‐offs. Our approach directly supports conservation planning, can be applied generally, and is expected to facilitate stakeholder input and community acceptance of conservation.     

NH3再生提高蜂窝状V2O5/ACH催化剂脱硝活性的机理

对NH3再生提高V2O5/ACH催化剂脱硝活性的微观机理进行了分析.结果表明,在初次同时脱硫脱硝过程中,V2O5/ACH催化剂表面会形成一定量的含氧官能团和有利于NH3化学吸附的SO2-4离子,进而在330℃NH3再生过程中,含氧官能团与吸附的NH3反应转化为含氮官能团;在二次同时脱硫脱硝过程中,NO不仅与NH3反应,而且也与催化剂表面形成的含氮官能团反应,从而提高了V2O5/ACH催化剂的脱硝活性.     

碱金属氧化物对V2O5-WO3/TiO2催化剂脱硝性能的影响

在V2O5-WO3/TiO2催化剂上负载碱金属氧化物（K2O,Na2O）,通过BET,XRD和SEM等方法对微观结构进行表征,研究不同含量碱金属氧化物对催化剂脱硝活性、N2O生成率和SO2氧化率的影响.结果发现,较大含量的碱金属对催化剂微观结构有一定影响.碱金属氧化物与催化剂表面V物种的结合生成部分碱金属盐（如KVO3）,改变了催化剂的表面结构,使催化剂中有效活性位的数量大大降低,从而导致催化剂活性降低.两种碱金属氧化物对催化剂的毒性顺序为K2O〉Na2O.     

嗜麦芽寡养单胞菌降解羽毛5 L发酵罐工业小试过程研究

为了将微生物处理羽毛工艺产业化,在摇瓶发酵条件优化的基础上进行5 L发酵罐工业小试研究,确定了放大发酵条件并根据发酵条件记录对发酵过程进行分析,推测代谢过程中的物质及能量变化及产物形成的动力学模型。在通气气压为0.08 MPa,空气流量为2.5 L/min及恒温40℃的条件下,产物得率比摇瓶发酵提高了2～3倍,发酵周期缩短了1 d。为羽毛废弃物的利用提供了可靠的依据。     

基于遥感的上海崇明东滩湿地典型植被净初级生产力估算

湿地是具有丰富的生物多样性和较高生产力的生态系统,在全球碳循环中占有重要地位。湿地植被净初级生产力（NPP）是衡量湿地生态系统健康状况的重要指标。以上海崇明东滩湿地3种典型植被--芦苇、海三棱藨草、互花米草为研究对象,结合实地调查、实验室测定和遥感技术进行湿地植被净初级生产力估算研究。首先,设置湿地3种典型植被样方,测量植被鲜重、高度、密度、盖度和叶面积指数（LAI）等反映植被生物学特性的特征参数,按不同植被类型分别建立基于LAI的样方NPP回归模型;其次,利用一景相近时相的SPOT5影像,经过几何纠正和辐射定标后,采用面向对象分类方法对影像分类,同时,计算出能较好地反映植被特征和消除土壤背景影响的修正土壤调节植被指数（MSAVI）,建立了基于MSAVI的3种典型植被LAI遥感估测模型;最后,分别根据样方3种典型植被的NPP估测模型以及LAI遥感估测模型,进行尺度化转换,估算出崇明东滩湿地典型植被净初级生产力。模型简单可行,精度较高,可为快速定量评估湿地植被碳贡献及碳储量提供依据