Conservation Challenges for the Austral and Neotropical America Section

Abstract:  The Austral and Neotropical America (ANA) section of the Society for Conservation Biology includes a vast territory with some of the largest relatively pristine ecosystems in the world. With more than 573 million people, the economic growth of the region still depends strongly on natural resource exploitation and still has high rates of environmental degradation and biodiversity loss. A survey among the ANA section membership, with more than 700 members, including most of the section's prominent ecologists and conservationists, indicates that lack of capacity building for conservation, corruption, and threats such as deforestation and illegal trade of species, are among the most urgent problems that need to be addressed to improve conservation in the region. There are, however, strong universities and ecology groups taking the lead in environmental research and conservation, a most important issue to enhance the ability of the region to solve conservation and development conflicts .     

Connectivity of wood thrush breeding,wintering, and migration sites based on range‐wide tracking

Many migratory animals are experiencing rapid population declines, but migration data with the geographic scope and resolution to quantify the complex network of movements between breeding and nonbreeding regions are often lacking. Determining the most frequently used migration routes and nonbreeding regions for a species is critical for understanding population dynamics and making effective conservation decisions. We tracked the migration of individual Wood Thrushes (Hylocichla mustelina) (n = 102) from across their range with light‐level geolocators and, for the first time, quantified migration routes and wintering regions for distinct breeding populations. We identified regional and species‐level migratory connectivity networks for this declining songbird by combining our tracking results with range‐wide breeding abundance estimates and forest cover data. More than 50% of the species occupied the eastern wintering range (Honduras to Costa Rica), a region that includes only one‐third of all wintering habitat and that is undergoing intensive deforestation. We estimated that half of all Wood Thrushes in North America migrate south through Florida in fall, whereas in spring approximately 73% funnel northward through a narrow span along the central U.S. Gulf Coast (88–93°W). Identifying migratory networks is a critical step for conservation of songbirds and we demonstrated with Wood Thrushes how it can highlight conservation hotspots for regional populations and species as a whole. Conectividad de Sitios de Reproducción, Invierno y Migración del Zorzal con Base en Rastreo de Cobertura Amplia     

上海市中心城区公园绿地对居住区的社会服务功能定量分析

城市公园绿地的社会服务功能是城市绿地系统生态服务功能的重要组成;评价其社会服务功能需同时考虑服务的公平性和有效性。为科学合理的定量分析城市公园绿地的部分社会服务功能,建立了一套评价体系,包括公园绿地服务范围覆盖率、公园绿地服务重叠度和单位面积公园绿地服务人口数等3项指标。以上海市中心城区为例,介绍了3项指标的定义;基于地理信息系统平台实现了计算流程,并对上海市中心城区主要公园绿地对于居住区的社会服务功能进行了定量分析。研究表明：2009年上海市中心城区的主要公园绿地对于居住区的服务范围覆盖率已超过80%,服务重叠度平均值为221,单位面积公园绿地服务人口数的平均值为117人/m2。3项指标可为城市公园绿地的社会服务功能分析提供有效的定量研究手段     

纵向排烟与集中排烟下烟气控制效果的对比研究

以某特长公路隧道为研究背景,采用缩尺寸试验测试、数值模拟的方法分别对纵向排烟和集中排烟模式下隧道内火灾烟气的蔓延特性进行了研究,并对比分析了两种排烟系统在火灾工况下对烟气的控制效果。结果表明,纵向排烟模式将火灾烟气控制在火源下游并从隧道出口排出,高温烟气蔓延范围较长;集中排烟模式通过排烟阀将烟气抽离行车道,有效地控制了烟气蔓延和沉降,高温烟气维持在行车道的上部空间,主要通过竖井排出隧道。采用纵向排烟模式的坡度隧道烟气控制受烟囱效应影响较大,而在设置排烟道的坡度隧道中,将排烟阀开启进行自然排烟就能有效地减弱烟囱效应。因此,采用集中排烟模式的防灾安全性能要优于采用纵向排烟模式。     

华中地区水库沉积物重金属抗性基因的赋存特征及影响因素分析

环境中重金属抗性基因（Metal resistance genes,MRGs）的迁移转化作为环境及生态领域的重要研究内容近年来备受关注,但目前环境中重金属是否是MRGs的重要驱动因素则尚不明确.本研究采用宏基因组技术对华中地区水库沉积物MRGs进行了定量,并分析了不同形态重金属在MRGs迁移转化过程中起到的作用.结果表明,trcop （抗Cu基因）及arsM （抗砷基因）是水库环境中的主要MRGs,供水水库之间MRGs分布并无地域性差异.czrA （多抗基因）的潜在宿主菌较为广泛,trcop及arsM很可能位于同一种可移动遗传元件上进行水平转移.重金属总量与MRGs之间并无明显联系,而可交换态及碳酸盐结合态（B1）则是环境中MRGs的重要驱动因素.     

多级机站通风系统集中控制技术的实验研究

金属矿山井下多级机站通风系统多采用传统的人工巡检、监控方式,给设备管理和设备监控维护带来了不便,同时也使得多级机站通风系统的优越性得不到充分发挥。介绍了利用远程I／O模块及通讯网络技术在井下现有控制设备基础上实现对井下多级机站通风系统进行集中监控的一种技术。该装置经过一年多的现场运行,性能稳定,检修维护量小,节能效果显著。     

EVAPOTRANSPIRATION CONCEPTUALIZATION IN THE HSPF‐MODFLOW INTEGRATED MODELS1

In 1988, the Florida Institute of Phosphate Research (FIPR) funded project to develop an advanced hydrologic model for shallow water table systems. The FIPR hydrologic model (FHM) was developed to provide an improved predictive capability of the interactions of surface water and ground water using its component models, HSPF and MODFLOW. The Integrated Surface and Ground Water (ISGW) model was developed from an early version of FHM and the two models were developed relatively independently in the late 1990s. Hydrologic processes including precipitation, interception, evapotranspiration, runoff, recharge, streamflow, and base flow are explicitly accounted for in both models. Considerable review of FHM and ISGW and their applications occurred through a series of projects. One model evolved, known as the Integrated Hydrological Model IHM. This model more appropriately describes hydrologic processes, including evapotranspiration fluxes within small distributed land‐based discretization. There is a significant departure of many IHM algorithms from FHM and ISGW, especially for soil water and evapotranspiration (ET). In this paper, the ET concepts in FHM, ISGW, and IHM will be presented. The paper also identifies the advantages and data costs of the improved methods. In FHM and IHM, ground water ET algorithms of the MODFLOW ET package replace those of HSPF (ISGW used a different model for ground water ET). However, IHM builds on an improved understanding and characterization of ET partitioning between surface storages, vadose zone storage, and saturated ground water storage. The IHM considers evaporative flux from surface sources, proximity of the water table to land surface, relative moisture condition of the unsaturated zone, thickness of the capillary zone, thickness of the root zone, and relative plant cover density. The improvements provide a smooth transition to satisfy ET demand between the vadose zone and deeper saturated ground water. While the IHM approach provides a more sound representation of the actual soil profile than FHM, and has shown promise at reproducing soil moisture and water table fluctuations as well as field measured ET rates, more rigorous testing is necessary to understand the robustness and/or limitations of this methodology.     

Rapid Assessment of Soil Erosion in the Rio Lempa Basin, Central America, Using the Universal Soil Loss Equation and Geographic Information Systems

Soil erosion is a severe problem for many developing regions that lack adequate infrastructure to combat the problem. The authors established a first-order method for prioritizing areas to be examined and remediated using preexisting data and expert knowledge where data are lacking. The Universal Soil Loss Equation was applied to the Rio Lempa Basin in Central America using geographic information systems and remote sensing technologies, and the estimated erosion rates were compared with sediment delivery ratios. Spatial analysis indicates that agriculture on very steep slopes contributes only a small fraction to the total estimated soil erosion, whereas agriculture on gentle and moderately steep slopes contributes a large fraction of the erosion. Although much of the basin is in El Salvador, the greatest estimated amount of erosion is from Honduras. Data quality and availability were impaired by a lack of coordination among agencies and across countries. Several avenues for improving the authors’ methods are described.     

中部六省居民生活水平聚类分析

运用主成分分析方法对我国中部6省2005年居民生活水平进行了评价，提取了3个基本的主成分进行综合评分和排序。按照基于绝对值距离的层次方法进行聚类，并按照居民生活水平的高低将中部6省分为两类地区，湖南省、湖北省、江西省为生活水平较高的地区，安徽省、山西省、河南省为生活水平较低的地区。     

中央空调系统中微生物控制技术简介

在总结前人研究的基础上提出了对中央空调系统中微生物新的控制方法。在控制中央空调系统微生物污染源头的基础上,再通过用常规技术和新技术来对中央空调系统中的微生物加以控制．新的控制技术能较好地控制系统中的微生物数量,既保护了管道系统又净化了室内空气。