Mapping shifts in spatial synchrony in grassland birds to inform conservation planning

Spatial synchrony, defined as the correlated fluctuations in abundance of spatially separated populations, can be caused by regional fluctuations in natural and anthropogenic environmental population drivers. Investigations into the geography of synchrony can provide useful insight to inform conservation planning efforts by revealing regions of common population drivers and metapopulation extinction vulnerability. We examined the geography of spatial synchrony and decadal changes in these patterns for grassland birds in the United States and Canada, which are experiencing widespread and persistent population declines. We used Bayesian hierarchical models and over 50 years of abundance data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey to generate population indices within a 2° latitude by 2° longitude grid. We computed and mapped mean local spatial synchrony for each cell (mean detrended correlation of the index among neighboring cells), along with associated uncertainty, for 19 species in 2, 26-year periods, 1968–1993 and 1994–2019. Grassland birds were predicted to increase in spatial synchrony where agricultural intensification, climate change, or interactions between the 2 increased. We found no evidence of an overall increase in synchrony among grassland bird species. However, based on the geography of these changes, there was considerable spatial heterogeneity within species. Averaging across species, we identified clusters of increasing spatial synchrony in the Prairie Pothole and Shortgrass Prairie regions and a region of decreasing spatial synchrony in the eastern United States. Our approach has the potential to inform continental-scale conservation planning by adding an additional layer of relevant information to species status assessments and spatial prioritization of policy and management actions. Our work adds to a growing literature suggesting that global change may result in shifting patterns of spatial synchrony in population dynamics across taxa with broad implications for biodiversity conservation.     

Effectiveness of conservation easements in agricultural regions

Conservation easements are a standard technique for preventing habitat loss, particularly in agricultural regions with extensive cropland cultivation, yet little is known about their effectiveness. I developed a spatial econometric approach to propensity‐score matching and used the approach to estimate the amount of habitat loss prevented by a grassland conservation easement program of the U.S. federal government. I used a spatial autoregressive probit model to predict tract enrollment in the easement program as of 2001 based on tract agricultural suitability, habitat quality, and spatial interactions among neighboring tracts. Using the predicted values from the model, I matched enrolled tracts with similar unenrolled tracts to form a treatment group and a control group. To measure the program's impact on subsequent grassland loss, I estimated cropland cultivation rates for both groups in 2014 with a second spatial probit model. Between 2001 and 2014, approximately 14.9% of control tracts were cultivated and 0.3% of treated tracts were cultivated. Therefore, approximately 14.6% of the protected land would have been cultivated in the absence of the program. My results demonstrate that conservation easements can significantly reduce habitat loss in agricultural regions; however, the enrollment of tracts with low cropland suitability may constrain the amount of habitat loss they prevent. My results also show that spatial econometric models can improve the validity of control groups and thereby strengthen causal inferences about program effectiveness in situations when spatial interactions influence conservation decisions.     

农家乐发展带来的环境问题及其对策

根据国内农家乐发展的类型和特征,对农家乐发展带来的水污染、垃圾污染、交通拥堵及噪声和农田污染等环境问题进行有针对性的分析,并提出各种污染的防治措施,大力发展沼气、太阳能等清洁能源,提倡绿色交通,发展生态养殖和种植。结合农家乐地区的发展需求,提出基于沼气利用和污水资源化处置的农家乐旅游循环经济发展模式,在有效处置污染的同时,实现各种资源的合理配置和循环利用,保障农家乐的健康发展。     

祁东经济开发区生态化建设规划研究

工业园生态化建设是发展循环经济走新型工业化道路的重要途径,生态工业园是我国继经济技术开发区、高新技术开发区之后第三代工业园区发展的必然趋势。本文从祁东经济开发区的内部资源和外部环境出发,对其发展生态工业园具备的优势与劣势、面临的机遇与威胁进行了系统分析,并对其建设生态工业园的模式和实施层次进行了探讨,同时提出了相应的保障措施,以利于祁东经开区的可持续发展。     

祁东经济开发区生态工业园建设探讨

生态工业园是最具环保意义和绿色概念的工业园区,是我国继经济技术开发区、高新技术开发区之后第三代工业园区的主要发展形式。基于祁东经济开发区的实际情况,概述了其构建生态工业园的背景,并对其建设生态工业园的优势条件和模式进行了分析与探讨,同时提出了相应的环境管理对策,以利于经济开发区的可持续发展。     

Soil fertility dynamics in runoff-capture agriculture, Canary Islands, Spain

In the extremely arid (∼150 mm yr⁻¹) eastern Canary Islands of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and La Graciosa, agriculture has been sustained for decades by a traditional runoff-capture (RC) farming system known as “gavias”. Although the main goal of these systems is to increase water supply for crops, making unnecessary conventional irrigation, a secondary and equally important factor is that this system allows for sustainable agricultural production without addition of chemical or organic fertilizers. A field study was conducted to assess the impact of long-term agriculture (>50 yr) on soil fertility and to evaluate key factors affecting the nutrient sustainability of RC agricultural production. Soil fertility and nutrient dynamics were studied through chemical characterization of the arable layer (0-25 cm) of RC agricultural plots, adjacent natural soils (control) not affected by runoff and cultivation, and sediments contributed by a series of RC events. Results showed that RC soils have enhanced fertility status, particularly because they are less affected by salinity and sodicity (mean electrical conductivity = 1.8 dS m⁻¹ vs. 51.0 dS m⁻¹ in control soils; mean exchangeable sodium percentage = 11.1% vs. 30.6% in control soils), and have higher water and nutrient holding capacities (mean clay plus silt contents ≈87% vs. 69% in control soils). In general, sediments transported with the runoff and deposited in RC plots (average sediment yield ≈ 46 ton ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹), contain sufficient nutrients to prevent a progressive reduction of essential plant nutrients below natural levels in spite of nutrient uptake and removal by the harvested crop. Average additions of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium with the runoff sediments were 33.6, 35.3 and 48.8 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹, respectively. Results of this study show how a crop production system can be sustained in the long term by natural hydrological and biogeochemical catchment processes. This system maintains a nutrient balance that is not based on energy-intensive inputs of fertilizers, but is integrated in natural nutrient cycling processes, unlike other tropical farming agroecosystems.     

东莞市蔬菜基地土壤中喹诺酮类抗生素的污染特征研究

抗生素作为新兴环境污染物在区域农业土壤污染特征研究中鲜见报道.本文利用固相萃取-高效液相色谱-串联质谱分析方法,调查了东莞市18个区镇24个代表性蔬菜基地土壤中喹诺酮类抗生素(QNs)的含量与分布特征.结果表明,4种喹诺酮类化合物的检出率均在90%以上,以环丙沙星(平均含量24.93μg·kg-1)和恩诺沙星(平均含量...     

生态经济学视角下的循环农业：理论、实践与发展方向

农业经历了生态农业、化学农业到生态农业的变迁,生态农业是起点也是终点。发达国家饱尝了发展化学农业的苦果,随后转轨到生态农业的道路上,最后认识到只有发展循环农业才能够做到农业可持续发展。发达国家的循环农业特别强调生态内涵和变废为宝理念,政府的财政投入和科研投入力度很大。相比之下,我国虽然已经开始发展循环农业,但目前还并不普遍,化学农业还占有很大比例。学习吸收发达国家的经验,会让我国尽早走上循环农业的发展道路。循环农业是我国农业的发展方向,为了做到这一点,需要强化农业产业化力度、加大财政补贴力度和科研投入力度。     

浅谈循环经济立法及再生资源产业化发展

论述了循环经济法制化发展的重要意义.以再生水为例,指出我国再生资源产业化发展潜力巨大,大力发展再生资源产业,对发展我国循环经济,建设循环型社会具有重要意义.     

循环经济工业园区规划环评研究

概括了循环经济工业园区规划环境影响评价的框架思路。归纳总结了规划环评的主要内容,并以山西省长治市襄垣富阳循环经济工业园区为例,对规划环评指标体系的构建进行探讨。