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.     

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。     

加强建设 量化管理 推进环境监测事业持续发展

介绍了南京市环境监测中心站近年来在拓展监测能力,提升监测现代化水平,优化资源配置,加强队伍建设,强化制度建设,实施目标管理等方面采取的举措,指出在我国环境保护发生历史性转变的关键时期,环境监测站应在社会、经济、环境的协调发展中,充分发挥为管理服务的前瞻性、监测信息上报的及时性及实施环境决策的支持性作用,积极推进环境监测事业持续发展.     

昆明市现阶段突发性污染事故监测报告存在的问题及改进建议

分析了现有应急监测报告存在的问题和改进的意义,提出了从内容格式、提高综合分析能力和加强完整性和连贯性方面改进的建议。     

利用GPRS无线传输，实现我省环境监测传输系统

我省环境监测的远程数据传输也应用多年，但目前普遍存在着设备老化、传输手段落后、设备运行不稳定等状况，急需对现有系统进行换代或改造。通过对目前常用的数据传输方式的比较分析，采用GPRS传输方案实现我省环境监测数据远程传输系统是最优的，是斜学的、可行的。     

中国对流层二氧化硫光化学氧化过程的数值研究

利用一个三维非静力区域大气化学输送模式与中尺度气象模式MM5相连接构成一个数值模拟系统，模拟了中国地区对流层臭氧与其前体物的分布以及二氧化硫转化为硫酸盐的过程，模式扬地面源排放、大气输送和扩散、干沉积、气相化学反应和云雨过程。结果表明：日间，O3浓度主要由NOx和NMHC的源排放和光化学反应过程支配，大气辐射是光化学反应强弱的决定因子，其强度可使SO2、O3和SO4^2-的生成浓度呈现不同的日变化和季节变化，结果表明高浓度的O3对二氧化硫转化为硫酸盐的化学过程有很大的促进作用，然而，这种作用受NMHC浓度的影响很大，较高浓度的NMHC使O3浓度上升，但同时增加了对OH等自由基的消耗，使SO2的转化率降低。