Determining Ecoregions for Environmental and GMO Monitoring Networks

A representative environmental monitoring network at the regional scale cannot use raster-based or random sampling designs, but requires a stratified sampling procedure integrating different information layers, and it has to occur in ecologically differing homogeneous regions (ecoregions). These we have determined using a set of spatial strata with ecological variables which we analysed with classification and regression trees (CART). We present a framework for environmental monitoring, that covers different scales, and we transfer the framework to a potential GMO (genetically modified organisms) monitoring network. We use ecoregion and other environmental strata together with existing environmental monitoring networks to determine GMO monitoring sites more precisely.     

The Impact of Landsat Satellite Monitoring on Conservation Biology

Landsat 7s recent malfunctioning will result in significant gaps in long-term satellite monitoring of Earth, affecting not only the research of the Earth science community but also conservation users of these data. To determine whether or how important Landsat monitoring is for conservation and natural resource management, we reviewed the Landsat programs history with special emphasis on the development of user groups. We also conducted a bibliographic search to determine the extent to which conservation research has been based on Landsat data. Conservation biologists were not an early user group of Landsat data because a) biologists lacked technical capacity – computers and software – to analyze these data; b) Landsats 1980s commercialization rendered images too costly for biologists budgets; and c) the broad-scale disciplines of conservation biology and landscape ecology did not develop until the mid-to-late 1980s. All these conditions had changed by the 1990s and Landsat imagery became an important tool for conservation biology. Satellite monitoring and Landsat continuity are mandated by the Land Remote Sensing Act of 1992. This legislation leaves open commercial options. However, past experiments with commercial operations were neither viable nor economical, and severely reduced the quality of monitoring, archiving and data access for academia and the public. Future satellite monitoring programs are essential for conservation and natural resource management, must provide continuity with Landsat, and should be government operated.     

层级化环境质量数据网络直报业务系统的设计和应用

分析了目前环境监测部门的数据传输现状,设计了基于VPN互联网络的环境质量数据层级化直报业务系统,介绍了网络直报系统的业务模型、数据审核和存储策略、系统功能设计及其应用等。     

表征室外人体暴露的监测网络设计(续完)

对悬浮颗粒物室外人体暴露的测定一直受到可用资源的限制。设计有效的网络就要求对测定方法的选择、采样点的数量、采样时间、采样频率等进行调整。采样位置要求能表征因周围污染源对附近地区和城市最小影响的空间数值。虽然大多数判定PM是否达标的测定方法是每第3天至第6天的24h监测，但是室外人体暴露的评价要求连续监测一整天。最好有1h或更短时间的监测时段。更详细的粒径大小和化学性质数据也很有必要，因为较小的颗粒及其特殊的化学物质要比总的样品质量更有助于反映对健康的不良影响。     

表征室外人体暴露的监测网络设计(续一)

对悬浮颗粒物室外人体暴露的测定一直受到可用资源的限制，设计有效的网络就要求对测定方法的选择、采样点的数量、采样时间、采样频率等进行调整。采样位置要求能表征因周围污染源对附近地区和城市最小影响的空间数值。虽然大多数判定PM是否达标的测定方法是每第3天至第6天的24h监测，但是室外人体暴露的评价要求连续监测一整天，最好有1h或更短时间的监测时段。更详细的粒径大小和化学性质数据也很有必要，因为较小的颗粒及其特殊的化学物质要比总的样品质量更有助于反映对缝康的不良影响。     

Planning Tools for Developing Comprehensive Regional Monitoring Programs

We present a planning framework that structures thelarge amount of interrelated information involved indeveloping regional monitoring programs. By regionalwe mean programs that recognize the importance ofprocesses that occur on larger geographic scales andthat cut across more than one ecosystem component. Theframework helps visualize functional relationshipsamong qualitative ingredients such as public concernsand more concrete details such as individual dataelements. It portrays the flow of information amongthe components of a regional program and ties eachaspect of the program to management decision-makingneeds. This makes it easier, during the planningprocess, to ensure that monitoring will actuallyproduce useful information. Further, the frameworksnovel, graphically oriented, and readily accessibleformat makes key information equally available to thewide range of participants (regulators, scientists,managers, public) whose input and support arenecessary for program success.     

Biological complexity confounds the separation of point- and non-point sources of human impact on the natural world

Identifying process from pattern is one of the most vexing tasks inenvironmental monitoring. Given information on the distribution of speciesin a pre-defined area, together with comprehensive data on how environmentalconditions in that area have altered through time, is it possible toidentify the factors controlling the species‘ layout? Here, the practicalsignificance of this quandary is demonstrated using a series ofenvironmentally-degraded coastal lagoons in New South Wales. The TuggerahLakes (33°17′S,151°30′E) have over the last 50 yearsexperienced significant changes in species‘ distributions. Seagrasses,macroalgae, phytoplankton, molluscs, prawns and the jellyfish Catostylus mosaicus have altered in spatial pattern. Two human activitieshave been blamed for these perturbations: (1) agricultural clearance ofnative vegetation from the catchment, with associated input of top-soil andnutrients; (2) the commissioning of a coal-fired power station in 1967, withmassive uptake and recirculation of lake water for cooling purposes. In thispaper, spatial changes in macrophyte distributions over the last 50 yearsare reviewed in an attempt to identify the true source(s) of perturbation.The model adopted assumes that the power station is a point source of impactwhile nutrient inputs from the catchment are a diffuse source of impact;changes in species distributions can hypothetically be related back to thesesources according to whether they are localised or widespread. However,after a comprehensive analysis of available macrophyte data derived frominterviews, aerial photography and line transect methodologyies theconclusion is reached that changes in biogeographical pattern around theTuggerah Lakes cannot be attributed to specific anthropogenic pressures atanything beyond the coarsest of levels. This is considered to be the normfor most coastal management situations where natural background variation(’noise‘) and the complexity of linkages between physical, chemical andbiological components confounds the identification of causal relationships.The practical implications of this conclusion are discussed in the contextof litigation and remedial management design. Emphasis is placed on theneed to adopt an adaptive approach to estuarine management, incorporatingexplicit recognition of the limitations of available data, and to developnew techniques for identifying cause-effect relationships.     

我国环境监测仪器向规范化方向发展刍议

从我国环境监测事业发展和建立社会主义市场经济体制的需要，论述了加速我国环境监测仪器规范化的必要和可行性，并阐述了具体实施意见。     

兰州市区大气中TSP及其成分含量的测定与变化规律的研究

报导了兰州市一年内大气中TSP及其成分含量的监测结果、污染程度和变化规律,为兰州市进一步治理大气污染,加强环境管理,提高环境质量提供了科学依据。     

液相化学发光分析在环境监测中的应用

介绍液相化学发光分析法的原理和特点以及十年来在我国环境监测中的应用。收录1983年～1991年国内的应用论文50余篇,作了较为系统全面的评述。