Scientific collectives in region-building processes

During the last 30 years, growing demand for science-based policy making has contributed to the mobilization of scientific cooperation alongside transnational political arrangements for addressing environmental issues. Following the contemporary trend toward regionalizing environmental policy and practice, many of these scientific joint efforts have focused on a regional scale. This article examines regional scientific cooperation in the context of the institutionalization of mountain regions in Europe. Such cooperation can be observed from the Pyrenees to Central Asia, albeit with a degree of variation that largely remains unexplored in scientific research. Sometimes scientific cooperation served to lay the groundwork of a mountain policy initiative, other times it appeared in its wake; some examples appear as loose networks of individual scientists, others are set up as formalized monitoring and observation centers; finally, some scientific joint efforts are formally linked to, or incorporated in a mountain policy initiative, while others are largely independent. The article proposes a new typology for understanding the interactions between regional scientific mobilization and regional policy making and provides up-to-date portraits of six main cases.     

An overview of emissions of SO2 and NOx and the long-range transport of oxidized sulfur and nitrogen pollutants in East Asia

The long-range transport of oxidized sulfur(sulfur dioxide(SO_2) and sulfate) and oxidized nitrogen(nitrogen oxides(NO_x ) and nitrate) in East Asia is an area of increasing scientific interest and political concern. This paper reviews various published papers, including ground- and satellite-based observations and numerical simulations. The aim is to assess the status of the anthropogenic emissions of SO_2 and NO_x and the long-range transport of oxidized S and N pollutants over source and downwind region. China has dominated the emissions of SO_2 and NO_x in East Asia and urgently needs to strengthen the control of their emissions, especially NO_x emissions. Oxidized S and N pollutants emitted from China are transported to Korea and Japan, due to persistent westerly winds, in winter and spring.However, the total contributions of China to S and N pollutants across Korea and Japan were not found to be dominant over longer time scales(e.g., a year). The source–receptor relationships for oxidized S and N pollutants in East Asia varied widely among the different studies. This is because:(1) the nonlinear effects of atmospheric chemistry and deposition processes were not well considered, when calculating the source–receptor relationships;(2) different meteorological and emission data inputs and solution schemes for key physical and chemical processes were used; and(3) different temporal and spatial scales were employed. Therefore, simulations using the same input fields and similar model configurations would be of benefit, to further evaluate the source–receptor relationships of the oxidized S and N pollutants.     

Effects of Land‐Use Change on Community Composition of Tropical Amphibians and Reptiles in Sulawesi,Indonesia

Abstract: Little is known about the effects of anthropogenic land‐use change on the amphibians and reptiles of the biodiverse tropical forests of Southeast Asia. We studied a land‐use modification gradient stretching from primary forest, secondary forest, natural‐shade cacao agroforest, planted‐shade cacao agroforest to open areas in central Sulawesi, Indonesia. We determined species richness, abundance, turnover, and community composition in all habitat types and related these to environmental correlates, such as canopy heterogeneity and thickness of leaf litter. Amphibian species richness decreased systematically along the land‐use modification gradient, but reptile richness and abundance peaked in natural‐shade cacao agroforests. Species richness and abundance patterns across the disturbance gradient were best explained by canopy cover and leaf‐litter thickness in amphibians and by canopy heterogeneity and cover in reptiles. Amphibians were more severely affected by forest disturbance in Sulawesi than reptiles. Heterogeneous canopy cover and thick leaf litter should be maintained in cacao plantations to facilitate the conservation value for both groups. For long‐term and sustainable use of plantations, pruned shade trees should be permanently kept to allow rejuvenation of cacao and, thus, to prevent repeated forest encroachment.     

Deforestation and Avian Extinction on Tropical Landbridge Islands

Abstract: There are few empirical data, particularly collected simultaneously from multiple sites, on extinctions resulting from human‐driven land‐use change. Southeast Asia has the highest deforestation rate in the world, but the resulting losses of biological diversity remain poorly documented. Between November 2006 and March 2008, we conducted bird surveys on six landbridge islands in Malaysia and Indonesia. These islands were surveyed previously for birds in the early 1900s, when they were extensively forested. Our bird inventories of the islands were nearly complete, as indicated by sampling saturation curves and nonparametric true richness estimators. From zero (Pulau Malawali and Pulau Mantanani) to 15 (Pulau Bintan) diurnal resident landbird species were apparently extirpated since the early 1900s. Adding comparable but published extinction data from Singapore to our regression analyses, we found there were proportionally fewer forest bird extinctions in areas with greater remaining forest cover. Nevertheless, the statistical evidence to support this relationship was weak, owing to our unavoidably small sample size. Bird species that are restricted to the Indomalayan region, lay few eggs, are heavier, and occupy a narrower habitat breadth, were most vulnerable to extinction on Pulau Bintan. This was the only island where sufficient data existed to analyze the correlates of extinction. Forest preservation and restoration are needed on these islands to conserve the remaining forest avifauna. Our study of landbridge islands indicates that deforestation may increasingly threaten Southeast Asian biodiversity.     

东北亚主要沿海国家海洋环境管理比较研究

海洋环境管理对于保护和保全海洋环境、推动海洋经济发展、构建生态文明具有重要意义。由于不同国家和地区的政治、经济、海洋战略和文化背景的差异,海洋环境管理的实施没有一个统一的标准模式,所解决的重点问题也不一样。这种多样性使得目前还没有一套通用的海洋环境管理评价体系。为此,本文以东北亚沿海各国为例,借鉴已有研究,从机构设置、法律体系和海洋环境状况三个方面出发,构建了包含定性和定量指标的海洋环境管理效果评价指标体系,在此基础上对东北亚沿海各国海洋环境管理效果进行定量评价与对比分析。结果表明,在机构设置和法律体系方面,日本领先于其他国家;在海洋环境管理方面,朝鲜较优;综合各方面后,日本表现最优,韩国、中国次之,朝鲜、俄罗斯较差。本研究提出的评价方法,可以较为客观地反映不同政治、经济和文化背景下国家在海洋环境管理方面的努力,可为我国审视自身不足、立足国情构建我国特色的海洋环境管理体制提供重要的方法指导和实践经验。     

天山东部雪冰中硝酸根浓度对中亚生物质燃烧的响应研究

研究了天山东部雪冰中NO3-浓度对中亚哈萨克斯坦生物质燃烧的响应情况.在天山乌鲁木齐河源1号冰川持续采集了52组表层雪与雪坑样本,分析了雪样中NO3-等成分的浓度,运用HYSPLIT模型模拟了空气轨迹,目的是考察雪冰中NO3-与2002年哈萨克斯坦草原大火的关系,探讨由生物质燃烧产生的NO3-在高海拔山岳冰川雪层中的沉...