Perceived changes in well-being and happiness with gardening in urban organic allotments in Portugal

Urban allotment gardens (AG) in Portugal have increased in recent years, as in many other European countries and worldwide. The contribution of these gardens to the happiness and well-being of urban populations has been recognized, but evaluations of their benefits are still very scarce. The objective of this study was to evaluate this contribution, based on the urban organic AG of the Devesa Park in Vila Nova de Famalicão, Portugal. The sample included 65 gardeners who completed the self-administered questionnaires of Bem-Estar Pessoal (personal well-being scale), Felicidade Subjetiva (subjective happiness scale) and sociodemographic characteristics. Respondents were mainly adults under 65 years, married and academically well qualified and about half of them had a professional activity, with nearly one third being retired. They considered themselves happy with their life (Personal Well-being Index = 74.5%) and revealed an optimistic and positive attitude towards life, regardless of economic or social difficulties. The increased frequency of visits for gardening was positively related to a greater perception of subjective happiness. The gardeners who visited the AG more frequently considered themselves happier from a self-perspective and in comparison with peers. It can be suggested that urban organic AG represent a means for enhancing citizen well-being, contributing positively to their feelings of happiness and life satisfaction, changing behaviours and developing personal capacities. Beyond economic measures, urban AG can be recommended to capture the well-being of societies.     

Traditional agriculture in transition: examining the impacts of agricultural modernization on smallholder farming in Ghana under the new Green Revolution

Following the renewed effort at achieving a new green revolution for Africa, emphasis has been placed on modernizing smallholder agriculture through the deployment of improved inputs especially mechanized technologies. In Ghana, the government has in the last decade emphasized the provision of subsidized mechanized ploughing services to farmers alongside a rapidly growing private sector tractor service market. While mechanized technology adoption rates have increased rapidly, the deployment of these technologies has been without critical analysis of the impacts on production patterns and local agrarian systems. This paper examines the distributional impacts of agriculture mechanization on cropping patterns and farm sizes of smallholder farmers in northern Ghana using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques, and semi-structured interviews with smallholder farmers (n=60). Specifically, comparative analysis of the field sizes and cropping patterns of participant farmers prior to and after the adoption of mechanized technologies was conducted. In-depth interviews were used to contextualize the experiences of smallholder farmers toward understanding how mechanization may be impacting traditional agriculture. Our findings reveal a mechanization paradox in which farm sizes are expanding, while cropping patterns are shifting away from traditional staple crops (pearl millet and sorghum bicolor) to market-oriented crops (maize, rice and groundnuts). This transition we argue, has adverse implications on the cultural dimension of food security, the organization of social life, and climate change adaptation. We recommend a retooling of the current agricultural policy focus to ensure context sensitivity for a more robust battle against food insecurity.     

Difference in the net value of ecological services between natural and artificial forests in China

Land degradation is a global problem that seriously threatens human society. However, in China and elsewhere, ecological restoration still largely relies on a traditional approach that focuses only on ecological factors and ignores socioeconomic factors. To improve the effectiveness of ecological restoration and maximize its economic and ecological benefits, a more efficient approach is needed that provides support for policy development and land management and thereby promotes environmental conservation. We devised a framework for assessing the value of ecosystem services that remain after subtracting costs, such as the opportunity costs, costs of forest protection, and costs for the people who are affected by the program; that is, the net value of ecosystem services (NVES). To understand the difference between the value of a resource and the net value of the ecosystem service it provides, we used data on VES, timber sales, and afforestation costs from China's massive national afforestation programs to calculate the net value of forest ecosystem services in China. Accounting for the abovementioned costs revealed an NVES of ¥6.1 × 10¹² for forests in 2014, which was 35.9% less than the value calculated without accounting for costs. As a result, the NVES associated with afforestation was 55.9% less than the NVES of natural forests. In some regions, NVES was negative because of the huge costs of human-made plantations, high evapotranspiration rates (thus, high water opportunity costs), and low forest survival rates. To maximize the ecological benefits of conservation, it is necessary to account for as many costs as possible so that management decisions can be based on NVES, thereby helping managers choose projects that maximize both economic and ecological benefits.     

Bird conservation and the land sharing-sparing continuum in farmland-dominated landscapes of lowland England

Empirical evidence from many regions suggests that most species would be least negatively affected if human food demand were met through high-yield agricultural production and conservation of nonfarm ecosystems (land sparing), rather than through wildlife-friendly farming over a larger area (land sharing). However, repeated glaciation and a long history of agriculture may lead to different results in regions such as western Europe. We compared the consequences of land sparing and land sharing on breeding bird species in 2 lowland regions of England, The Fens, with 101 species, and Salisbury Plain, with 83. We derived density–yield responses for each species and then estimated regional population size under regional food production strategies, including land sharing and land sparing, a range of intermediate strategies, and a novel mixed strategy. In both regions, more species achieved maximum regional population size under land sparing than land sharing. In The Fens, the majority of birds were loser species (estimated to have smaller populations under all food production strategies than in the preagricultural baseline scenario), whereas in Salisbury Plain the majority were winners (smaller populations in the preagricultural baseline scenario). Loser species overwhelmingly achieved maximum regional population size under land sparing, whereas winner species achieved maximum regional population size under either land sharing or an intermediate strategy, highlighting the importance of defining which groups of species are the target of conservation. A novel 3-compartment strategy (combining high-yield farming, natural habitat, and low-yield farming) often performed better than either land sharing or land sparing. Our results support intermediate or 3-compartment land-sparing strategies to maximize bird populations across lowland agricultural landscapes. To deliver conservation outcomes, any shift toward land sparing must, however, ensure yield increases are sustainable in the long term, do not entail increased negative effects on surrounding areas, and are linked to allocation of land for nature.     

南方典型水源地及水产养殖区抗生素的复合污染特征及生态风险

抗生素作为生长促进剂和疾病预防控制药物在水产养殖领域得到广泛应用,目前在许多环境水体中检测到不同类型的抗生素。环境中抗生素的残留问题也是目前环境研究的热点问题之一。本研究选择南方某市8个水源地和5个典型水产养殖区作为研究对象,采用固相萃取、高效液相色谱串联三重四级杆质谱联用仪方法,调查了32种常用抗生素在水体中的含量水平和空间分布特征,揭示了抗生素的来源,并对其生态风险进行了评价。水源地共检出12种抗生素,浓度范围为0.12～44.6 ng·L~(-1),以磺胺甲噁唑含量最高;水产养殖区检出14种抗生素,浓度范围为0.95～716 ng·L~(-1),以氯四环素检出浓度最高。整体上水产养殖区抗生素的浓度高于水源地。抗生素浓度与环境因子的冗余分析表明,水产养殖和生活污水排放是水体中抗生素的主要来源。对检出的13种抗生素进行生态风险评价,单一抗生素而言,环丙沙星、氧氟沙星、磺胺嘧啶、氯四环素和脱水红霉素的风险商值大于0.01而小于0.1,表现为低风险。总抗生素风险商值加和在大部分水源地大于0.01而小于0.1,表现为低风险;总抗生素风险商值加和在2个水产养殖区大于0.1,表现为中等风险,水产养殖区抗生素的长期生态风险应该引起关注。     

Ecological assessment of cities-procedure and a case study

This paper discusses the scientific background and content of the ecological assessment of cities, and takes Boda, a new town in Xinjiang province, China, as a case study.     

A profile of environmental science in China

This paper concisely introduced the eco-environmental survey in China and the Chinese scientific programme for environmental research which is being practiced or being planned. China has established a nation-wide system relating to environmental scientific research and environmental administration and has taken the following strategies for solving the environment problems: (1) a series of laws and regulations for environmental protection has been promulgated so as to strengthen the legal administration and economic punishment. (2) the idea of ecological construction has been proposed for the purpose of taking the environmental protection work into the consideration of the national and provincial (or regional) economic construction planning. (3) spreading ecological engineering and ecological technologies have reduced the pollutant sources and have increased the industrial and agricultural economic profit.     

旅游对峨眉山生态环境的影响及保护对策

随着旅游业的发展和游人数目的增加,峨眉山的生态环境正受到严重损害,大气中ＳＯ２浓度局部超标,ＮＯｘ浓度日益上升,雨,雾和土壤普遍酸化,高山区主要风景林冷杉衰亡严重。旅游 散地的危害明显高于其他地区。本文提出了坚持保护第一,开发第二的方针,增加旅游容量,合理分流游人;介导以电代煤,生活污水,固体废物集中处理。     

Effects of dimethoate on rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus using multigeneration toxicity tests

As important members of the zooplankton community and sources of food for fish, rotifers are used extensively in ecotoxicological research to assess the health of the environment and safety of compounds. However, most rotifer toxicity tests are only conducted using rotifer neonates derived from unexposed mothers, thus ignoring the potential transfer of contaminants from mother to offspring. To understand better the mother to offspring exposure, a multigenerational study was conducted using three successive generations (F₀, F₁ and F₂) of the common freshwater rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus to investigate the toxic effects of the widely used organophosphate pesticide, dimethoate (O, O-dimethyl S-methylcarbamoylmethyl phosphorodithioate). When the F₀ generation was exposed to five pesticide concentrations, the population growth rate (r) displayed symptoms of hormesis, characterized by the conversion of low-concentration stimulation to high-concentration inhibition. Despite this observation, the exposure to any given concentration of dimethoate reduced the population growth rates of the F₁ and F₂ generation rotifers. Significant differences existed between the F₀, F₁ and F₂ rotifers for the population growth rate under dimethoate stress: F₂ individuals were more sensitive than F₁, whereas the F₁ individuals were more sensitive than F₀. The results indicated that the parental exposure to a given toxic stress could result in increased sensitivity and decreased fitness in the offspring. This study illustrates the utility of multigenerational toxicity tests, which may better reflect and more accurately predict the effects of long-term pesticide exposure to aquatic organisms at the population level.     

Assessing the toxicity of organophosphorous pesticides to indigenous algae with implication for their ecotoxicological impact to aquatic ecosystems

This study aimed to determine the toxicity of three organophosphorous pesticides, chlorpyrifos, terbufos and methamidophos, to three indigenous algal species isolated from local rivers and algal mixtures. The diatom Nitzschia sp. (0.30–1.68 mg L^?1 of EC₅₀ -the estimated concentration related to a 50% growth reduction) and the cyanobacteria Oscillatoria sp. (EC₅₀ of 0.33–7.99 mg L^?1) were sensitive to single pesticide treatment and the chlorophyta Chlorella sp. was the most tolerant (EC₅₀ of 1.29–41.16 mg L^?1). In treatment with the mixture of three pesticides, Chlorella sp. became the most sensitive alga. The antagonistic joint toxic effects on three indigenous algae and algal mixtures were found for most of the two pesticide mixtures. The results suggested that mixture of pesticides might induce the detoxification mechanisms more easily than the single pesticide. The synergistic interactions between terbufos and methamidophos to algal mixtures and between methamidophos and chlorpyrifos to Nitzschia sp. indicated methamidophos might act as a potential synergist. Differential sensitivity of three families of algae to these pesticides might result in changes in the algal community structures after river water has been contaminated with different pesticides, posing great ecological risk on the structure and functioning of the aquatic ecosystem.