Landscape consequences of aggregation rules for functional equivalence in compensatory mitigation programs

Mitigation and offset programs designed to compensate for ecosystem function losses due to development must balance losses from affected ecosystems with gains in restored ecosystems. Aggregation rules applied to ecosystem functions to assess site equivalence are based on implicit assumptions about the substitutability of functions among sites and can profoundly influence the distribution of restored ecosystem functions on the landscape. We investigated the consequences of rules applied to the aggregation of ecosystem functions for wetland offsets in the Beaverhill watershed in Alberta, Canada. We considered the fate of 3 ecosystem functions: hydrology, water purification, and biodiversity. We set up an affect‐and‐offset algorithm to simulate the effect of aggregation rules on ecosystem function for wetland offsets. Cobenefits and trade‐offs among functions and the constraints posed by the quantity and quality of restorable sites resulted in a redistribution of functions between affected and offset wetlands. Hydrology and water purification functions were positively correlated with one another and negatively correlated with biodiversity function. Weighted‐average rules did not replace functions in proportion to their weights. Rules prioritizing biodiversity function led to more monofunctional wetlands and landscapes. The minimum rule, for which the wetland score was equal to the worst performing function, promoted multifunctional wetlands and landscapes. The maximum rule, for which the wetland score was equal to the best performing function, promoted monofunctional wetlands and multifunctional landscapes. Because of implicit trade‐offs among ecosystem functions, no‐net‐loss objectives for multiple functions should be constructed within a landscape context. Based on our results, we suggest criteria for the design of aggregation rules for no net loss of ecosystem functions within a landscape context include the concepts of substitutability, cobenefits and trade‐offs, landscape constraints, heterogeneity, and the precautionary principle.     

Effects of law enforcement and community outreach on mammal diversity in a biodiversity hotspot

Management activities such as law enforcement and community outreach are thought to affect conservation outcomes in protected areas, but their importance relative to intrinsic environmental characteristics of the parks and extrinsic human pressures surrounding the parks have not been explored. Furthermore, it is not clear which is more related to conservation outcomes—the management itself or local people's perceptions of the management. We measured objective (reports by park staff) and subjective (reports by local people) levels of community outreach and law enforcement based on responses to 374 questionnaires. We estimated mammal abundance and diversity of 6 protected areas based on data from 115 camera traps in Xishuangbanna, southwest China, a biodiversity hotspot with high hunting and land-conversion pressures. We then examined correlations among them and found that local people's perception of law enforcement was positively related to the local abundance of 2 large, hunted species, wild boar (Sus scrofa) (β = 15.22) and muntjac (Muntiacus vaginalis) (β = 14.82), but not related to the abundance of smaller mammals or to objective levels of enforcement. The subjective frequency of outreach by park staff to local communities (β = 3.42) and park size (β = 3.28) were significantly and positively related to mammal species richness, whereas elevation, human population density, and subjective frequency of law enforcement were not. We could not conclude that community outreach and law enforcement were directly causing increased mammal abundance and diversity. Nevertheless, the patterns we detected are some of the first empirical evidence consistent with the idea that biodiversity in protected areas may be more positively and strongly related to local perceptions of the intensity of park management than to either intrinsic (e.g., elevation, park size) or extrinsic (e.g., human population density) environmental factors.     

航空器场内失事应急演练评估指标体系与评估方法研究

针对目前我国民用运输机场航空器场内失事应急救援综合演练缺乏有效评估体系的现状，通过对演练过程进行系统分析，构建航空器场内失事应急救援演练评估指标体系，涵盖消防、医疗、公安、媒体应对、运行指挥中心、地服、飞行区7个组织部门的2级指标。结合航空器场内失事救援的业务特点以及指标体系内在逻辑，设计相应的评估方法，对开展的航空器场内失事应急演练进行评估；最后，以国内2个机场的相关应急演练过程为典型示例，进行应用分析。研究结果表明:构建的演练评估指标体系及评估方法能较好地应用于实际应急演练过程，进而在演练评估结果和建议的基础上，实现应急演练的持续改进。     

CO2浓度升高对半干旱区春小麦光合作用及水分生理生态特性的影响

大气CO₂浓度升高已成为世界范围内重要环境问题。为了解大气CO₂浓度升高对春小麦光合作用及水分生理生态特性的影响,在典型半干旱区定西利用开顶式气室(OTC)试验平台,以春小麦“定西24号”为供试品种,开展了CO₂浓度增加模拟试验。试验设对照(390μmol·mol^?1)、480μmol·mol^?1和570μmol·mol^?1等3个CO₂浓度(摩尔分数)梯度。结果表明:在对照和增加CO₂浓度条件下,春小麦叶片净光合速率和蒸腾速率日变化均呈“双峰型”分布,出现明显的“午休”现象;胞间CO₂浓度的日变化表现为斜“V”字型曲线;叶水势日变化呈现反抛物线曲线走向,在中午后出现水势曲线拐点。在不同生育时期内,净光合速率、气孔导度和胞间CO₂浓度均表现为开花期最大,乳熟期最小。而蒸腾速率表现为开花期最大,拔节期最小,叶片水平水分利用效率表现为孕穗期最大,乳熟期最小。随着CO₂浓度升高,春小麦叶片净光合速率、胞间CO₂浓度、水分利用效率和水势提高,气孔导度和蒸腾速率降低。与对照大气CO₂浓度相比,在480μmol·mol^?1浓度和570μmol·mol^?1浓度下,整个生育期净光合速率平均分别提高了14.68%和28.20%,气孔导度平均降低了15.29%和24.83%,胞间CO₂浓度平均提高了10.38%和26.15%,蒸腾速率平均减小了6.63%和12.41%,WUE平均增加了22.9%和46.9%。随着CO₂浓度升高,蒸腾失水减少,叶片水势不断增加,从而增强了春小麦对干旱胁迫的抵御能力。研究结果为我国半干旱区春小麦对全球气候变化下的敏感性及适应性提供理论参考。     

Computing sustainable manufacturing index with fuzzy analytic hierarchy process

The growing industrial interest in adopting sustainability programmes has ushered in studies regarding sustainability indicators which have continually flourished in current literature. However, limited attention is given to the development of priority ranking, which is an important input for any adopting firm. This paper presents a hybrid multi-criteria approach in determining priority areas in sustainable manufacturing (SM). Using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process to address uncertainty in hierarchical decision-making, this paper determines SM priority strategies and eventually identifies even lower level strategies. The computed sustainable manufacturing index is presented at both the organizational and operational levels for a real case study of an industrial plastic manufacturing firm. This work provides a detailed and transparent hierarchical decision-making approach based on SM framework, the use of which could be valuable to practicing managers across industries in their pursuit of greater sustainability.     

Co-treatment of fruit and vegetable waste in sludge digesters. An analysis of the relationship among bio-methane generation,process stability and digestate phytotoxicity

The co-digestion of a variable amount of fruit and vegetable waste in a waste mixed sludge digester was investigated using a pilot scale apparatus. The organic loading rate (OLR) was increased from 1.46 kg VS/m³ day to 2.8 kg VS/m³ day. The hydraulic retention time was reduced from 14 days to about 10 days. Specific bio-methane production increased from about 90 NL/kg VS to the maximum value of about 430 NL/kg VS when OLR was increased from 1.46 kg VS/m³ day to 2.1 kg VS/m³ day. A higher OLR caused an excessive reduction in the hydraulic retention time, enhancing microorganism wash out. Process stability evaluated by the total volatile fatty acids concentration (mg/l) to the alkalinity buffer capacity (eq. mg/l CaCO₃) ratio (i.e. FOS/TAC) criterion was <0.1 indicating high stability for OLR <2.46 kg VS/m³ day. For higher OLR, FOS/TAC increased rapidly. Residual phytotoxicty of the digestate evaluated by the germination index (GI) (%) was quite constant for OLR < 2.46 kg VS/m³ day, which is lower than the 60% limit, indicating an acceptable toxicity level for crops. For OLR > 2.46 kg VS/m³ day, GI decreased rapidly. This corresponding trend between FOS/TAC and GI was further investigated by the definition of the GI ratio (GIR) parameter. Comparison between GIR and FOS/TAC suggests that GI could be a suitable criterion for evaluating process stability.     

Revisiting the national corporate social responsibility index

This paper relies on Gjølberg’s national corporate social responsibility (CSR) index while its purpose is twofold. First, it seeks to extend the methodological instrument for assessing national CSR and, second, it applies the new approach to a much larger pool of countries (n = 86) in an attempt to provide a global CSR outlook. The emergent picture from the study is one of deficient CSR penetration and wide variation among countries where most of the assessed countries are still lagging in the endorsement of international CSR initiatives and schemes. Findings offer fertile ground to theorists and researchers for a deeper investigation of the national specificity of CSR and to further identify institutional determinants that shape the social responsiveness and self-regulation of business entities. The study has also implications for managers and top executives to consider as it infers that the national background can be influential in the development of a CSR agenda and can condition the level of CSR penetration.     

The Quagga Mussel Crisis at Lake Mead National Recreation Area,Nevada (U.S.A.)

Abstract: Parks are cornerstones of conservation; and non‐native invasive species drive extensive changes to biological diversity in parks. Knowing this, national park staff at Lake Mead National Recreation Area in the southwestern United States had a program in place for early detection of the non‐native, invasive quagga mussel (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis). Upon finding the mussel in January 2007, managers moved quickly to access funding and the best available science to implement a response. Managers considered four options—doing nothing, closing the park, restricting movement on the lakes, and educating and enforcing park visitors—and decided to focus on education and enforcing existing laws. Nonetheless, quagga spread throughout the park and soon began to appear throughout the western United States. I examined why efforts to control the expansion failed and determined the general lessons to be learned from this case. Concentrating human visitation on the lakes through land‐use zoning opened a pathway for invasion, reduced management options, and led to the rapid spread of quagga. To reconcile competing mandates to protect nature and provide recreation, zoning in parks has become a common practice worldwide. It reduces stress on some areas of a park by restricting and thus concentrating human activity in particular areas. Concentrating the human activity in one area does three things: cements pathways that repeatedly import and export vectors of non‐native invasive species; creates the disturbed area necessary to enable non‐native invasive species to gain a foothold; and, establishes a source of invasions that, without appropriate controls, can quickly spread to a park's wilderness areas.     

Modeling a spatially restricted distribution in the Neotropics: How the size of calibration area affects the performance of five presence-only methods

We here examine species distribution models for a Neotropical anuran restricted to ombrophilous areas in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest hotspot. We extend the known occurrence for the treefrog Hypsiboas bischoffi (Anura: Hylidae) through GPS field surveys and use five modeling methods (BIOCLIM, DOMAIN, OM-GARP, SVM, and MAXENT) and selected bioclimatic and topographic variables to model the species distribution. Models were first trained using two calibration areas: the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (BAF) and the whole of South America (SA). All modeling methods showed good levels of predictive power and accuracy with mean AUC ranging from 0.77 (BIOCLIM/BAF) to 0.99 (MAXENT/SA). MAXENT and SVM were the most accurate presence-only methods among those tested here. All but the SVM models calibrated with SA predicted larger distribution areas when compared to models calibrated in BAF. OM-GARP dramatically overpredicted the species distribution for the model calibrated in SA, with a predicted area around 10⁶ km² larger than predicted by other SDMs. With increased calibration area (and environmental space), OM-GARP predictions followed changes in the environmental space associated with the increased calibration area, while MAXENT models were more consistent across calibration areas. MAXENT was the only method that retrieved consistent predictions across calibration areas, while allowing for some overprediction, a result that may be relevant for modeling the distribution of other spatially restricted organisms.     

三峡蓄水期间汉丰湖消落区营养状态时间变化

为探明三峡蓄水后汉丰湖消落区水质营养状态的变化特征,于2013年10月至2014年2月对水质进行连续观察,测定了水质物理参数、营养盐与叶绿素(Chl-a)的质量浓度.结果表明,水体中营养盐与Chl-a质量浓度的增加,在淹水后营养程度有升高现象,2014年2月与2013年10月相比,TN、TP、高锰酸盐指数与Chl-a质量浓度分别增加了4.7、1.0、0.2、3.27倍,TN、TP质量浓度均超过藻类生长限值,随滞留时间延长易造成水体富营养化,应引起重视.Chl-a单因子评价反映出水质由贫营养向富营养演变.TN/TP结果表明,TN、TP分别在不同时间内制约着藻类的生长;2013年10~12月与2014年2月,藻类生长受TN限制;2014年1月,藻类生长受TP限制.Chl-a与p H、DO、NH+4-N、NO-3-N、TN、高锰酸盐指数及TP呈显著正相关,而与SD、水温呈显著负相关;蓄水期间,水质受到了同一污染源的影响.因子分析结果表明,汉丰湖消落区水质主要受p H、DO、NO-3-N、TN的影响,同时Chl-a、TP、NH+4-N与好氧性有机物的污染不可忽视;在蓄水稳定初期水体具有自净能力,随蓄水滞留时间的延长,水质污染程度整体上呈现逐步恶化的趋势,应加以控制;三峡蓄水期间,南河、东河营养程度相对较高,应加强治理.