An interdisciplinary assessment of private conservation areas in the Western United States

Conservation easements are the fastest growing private conservation strategy in the United States. However, mechanisms to assess private land conservation as well as their support by the general public are not well understood. This study uses the ecosystem services framework for assessing existing private lands in Idaho and identifies areas for future conservation easements. Using conservation targets of the land trust as a guide for selecting ecosystem services, we (a) mapped the spatial delivery of conservation targets across public and private lands, (b) explored public awareness in terms of social importance and vulnerability, and (c) mapped future priority areas by characterizing conservation bundles. We found that public lands provided the highest levels of conservation targets, and we found no difference in conservation target provision between private areas and conservation easements. The spatial characterization of conservation target bundles identified potential future priority areas for conservation easements, which can guide planning of land trust conservation efforts.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01323-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Rabbit biocontrol and landscape‐scale recovery of threatened desert mammals

Funding for species conservation is insufficient to meet the current challenges facing global biodiversity, yet many programs use expensive single‐species recovery actions and neglect broader management that addresses threatening processes. Arid Australia has the world's worst modern mammalian extinction record, largely attributable to competition from introduced herbivores, particularly European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and predation by feral cats (Felis catus) and foxes (Vulpes vulpes). The biological control agent rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) was introduced to Australia in 1995 and resulted in dramatic, widespread rabbit suppression. We compared the area of occupancy and extent of occurrence of 4 extant species of small mammals before and after RHDV outbreak, relative to rainfall, sampling effort, and rabbit and predator populations. Despite low rainfall during the first 14 years after RHDV, 2 native rodents listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the dusky hopping‐mouse (Notomys fuscus) and plains mouse (Pseudomys australis), increased their extent of occurrence by 241–365%. A threatened marsupial micropredator, the crest‐tailed mulgara (Dasycercus cristicauda), underwent a 70‐fold increase in extent of occurrence and a 20‐fold increase in area of occupancy. Both bottom‐up and top‐down trophic effects were attributed to RHDV, namely decreased competition for food resources and declines in rabbit‐dependent predators. Based on these sustained increases, these 3 previously threatened species now qualify for threat‐category downgrading on the IUCN Red List. These recoveries are on a scale rarely documented in mammals and give impetus to programs aimed at targeted use of RHDV in Australia, rather than simply employing top‐down threat‐based management of arid ecosystems. Conservation programs that take big‐picture approaches to addressing threatening processes over large spatial scales should be prioritized to maximize return from scarce conservation funding. Further, these should be coupled with long‐term ecological monitoring, a critical tool in detecting and understanding complex ecosystem change.     

西北干旱区柴窝堡湖干涸湖底粉尘潜在扩散特征

运用HYSPLIT模型,结合美国环境预报中心(NCEP)和大气研究中心(NCAR)2000~2013年的再分析气象资料,对柴窝堡盆地粉尘潜在扩散的时间和空间特征进行了研究.结果表明:柴窝堡湖干涸湖底粉尘潜在扩散范围具有明显的季节分异.春季粉尘潜在扩散范围和密度最大,覆盖我国大部分地区,最远可达朝鲜半岛部分地区,其次是秋季,夏季粉尘潜在扩散以1000m为界表明出明显的高度差异,冬季粉尘潜在扩散范围和密度均是最小的.随高度增加,不同季节气流可能携带粉尘密度均呈降低趋势.受地形影响,粉尘潜在扩散有两个主要通道,100m以下主要向西南方向扩散,而100m以上主要向东南方向扩散.柴窝堡盆地干涸湖底大量的粉尘在气流携带下可以长时间远距离输送,在近源区沉降,严重影响乌鲁木齐及其周边地区,并可能加速天山山区的雪冰消融.     

营养盐与盐双重胁迫下水体中浮游细菌的响应

为阐释干旱地区内陆湖泊微生物群落对营养盐和盐双重胁迫的响应机制,针对干旱、半干旱地区许多湖泊水体受咸化与富营养化双重影响的特点,通过454高通量测序16S rRNA基因和多元统计分析,研究水体营养盐和盐的添加对细菌群落结构、多样性变化的影响. 结果表明,盐与营养盐的输入引起了水体中细菌群落组成和多样性的显著变化, 具体表现为:①随着盐度(以w计)的升高,α-变形菌纲(Alphaproteobacteria)的相对丰度显著增加,从对照处理的16.0%±4.6%增至SO(贫营养-盐水)处理的39.8%±18.1%;但会受到水体营养水平的制约. ②富营养水平下,微咸条件(盐度为1.5‰)有利于细菌类群丰富度的增加,BE-30(微咸-富营养处理培养30 d样品)的Shannon-Wiener多样性指数(4.62)显著高于FE-30(淡水-富营养处理培养30 d样品,2.08)和SE-30(高盐-富营养处理培养30 d样品,1.69);③高盐(盐度为3.0‰)条件下,随着水体中营养盐含量的增加,喜营养的嗜盐细菌类群大量繁殖(SE-30中无法分类的Comamonadaceae科的相对丰度达到69.3%),因而降低了水体中细菌群落的多样性. 研究显示,α-变形菌纲和无法分类的Comamonadaceae科对盐与营养盐的变化较为敏感,可作为干旱区湖泊咸化和富营养化过程的参考类群.      

Protection of biota on nonpark public lands: Examples from the US Department of Energy Oak Ridge Reservation

Security buffers of Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Energy (DOE) reservations provide long-term habitat protection for many rare and endangered species. The importance of these government-owned reservations as nationally valuable resources has been relatively unrecognized. During the last 50 years, the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) has been a relatively protected island in a region of rapidly expanding urbanization and land clearing. Consisting of the Oak Ridge National Environmental Research Park and associated lands surrounding DOE facilities at Oak Ridge Tennessee, the unique nature of the ORR in the surrounding landscape is clearly visible from the air and has been documented using remote sensing data. Although forests dominate much of other regions of eastern Tennessee, this 15,000-ha tract of mostly natural forest habitat is unique in the southern Ridge and Valley physiographic province, which is otherwise widely developed for pasture, marginal cropland, woodlot, and urban uses. Twenty state-listed and federal-candidate plant species are known to be present on the ORR. This richness of species, which are provided protection by state and federal laws, exceeds that of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on a species area basis and is an index of the value of the ORR both regionally and nationally in conserving biodiversity. With the end of the Cold War, changing DoD and DOE missions combined with increasing development pressure contribute to uncertainty in the future management of security reservations.     

Cooperation or conflict? Interagency relationships and the future of biodiversity for US parks and forests

Cooperation between the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service and the United States Department of Interior (USDI) National Park Service is most often advocated to protect biological diversity on national forests and parks, but the agencies, so far, have done little to implement the biodiversity mandates of such laws as the Endangered Species Act and the National Forest Management Act. The ideological and political history of the Forest Service and Park Service is explored to determine the roots of interagency conflicts. Several recent models of cooperative reform are also critiqued and found to be insufficient to stimulate better working relationships. To protect biodiversity, cooperation must be framed within conservation biology and must place primary emphasis on ecosystem patterns and processes as well as on individual species. Increased education of agency managers, ecosystem-level research, local and regional public participation, scientific oversight committees, new legislation, and enlightened leadership also play important roles. Ultimately, management policies must be reframed within a context of ecocentric values.     

MUNICIPAL AND INDUSTRIAL WATER SUPPLY IN CIUDAD JUAREZ,MEXICO1

Rapid industrialization and population growth in the north Mexican desert city of Ciudad Juarez are placing a serious strain on the city's municipal water resources. Water deliveries and service area have more than doubled over the past decade, and plans for additional expansion are presently being implemented. This expansion is already contributing to water table declines and salinity increases in the Mexican portion of the Heuco Bolson, the sole source of water for the city. Continued mining of the limited fresh water reserves should produce serious water supply problems in the near future. New estimates of future water consumption incorporated into a digital aquifer simulation model indicate that these problems may show up much sooner than was anticipated in previous investigations. The results of this study point to the need to accelerate the gathering of basic data on alternative water resources. The problems faced by Cd. Juarez are illustrative of the kinds of difficulties likely to confront other rapidly developing cities of the arid zone.     

广西近年高温干旱气象灾害及对电力供求的影响

通过对广西2003~2005年高温、干旱天气气候事件及其对电力供求影响的分析发现:广西2003~2005年高温、干旱灾害强度偏强,频率增大;最高气温与最大电力负荷有明显的正相关关系,高温灾害天气造成电力负荷呈大幅度增加的趋势;季节性、持续性的干旱造成广西水电发电量呈负增长状态。由于电力负荷加大,水电发电量供应不足,使广西电力供求呈紧张的局面,2003~2005年出现了不同程度的拉闸限电现象。     

哈尔滨市区绿地对交通噪声衰减效果研究

2007年4月6日-5月30日,采用HS-5633型数字声级仪分别对哈尔滨市区六处主要交通干道进行交通噪声测量,同时在干道周围的绿地进行对比测量,并将所得数据进行分析统计。结果表明,绿地（包括各类林地、草坪、隔离带及其不同组合）对交通噪声的衰减可达2dB（A）以上,减噪效果十分明显,减噪数值与绿地宽度和绿地植被组成有密切关系。因此,应对城市中各种类型的绿地及其组成的混合林地种植予以足够、有效的重视,如高大乔木＋灌木、常绿树＋草坪、乔木＋灌木＋草坪等配置紧凑的绿地类型,并应加大保护力度。     

干旱区内陆河流水电规划环境影响评价指标体系及其在方案环境比选中的应用

在总结分析干旱区内陆河流水电规划环境影响特征及环境影响评价工作重点的基础上,建立了干旱区内陆河流水电规划环评指标体系,以新疆盖孜河中游河段水电规划为例,应用指标体系开展不同规划方案的环境比选。实践表明指标体系能够以相对直观、可量化的形式体现各方案的环境影响程度和结果。