Conservation implications of physiological carry‐over effects in bats recovering from white‐nose syndrome

Although it is well documented that infectious diseases can pose threats to biodiversity, the potential long‐term consequences of pathogen exposure on individual fitness and its effects on population viability have rarely been studied. We tested the hypothesis that pathogen exposure causes physiological carry‐over effects with a pathogen that is uniquely suited to this question because the infection period is specific and time limited. The fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans causes white‐nose syndrome (WNS) in hibernating bats, which either die due to the infection while hibernating or recover following emergence from hibernation. The fungus infects all exposed individuals in an overwintering site simultaneously, and bats that survive infection during hibernation clear the pathogen within a few weeks following emergence. We quantified chronic stress during the active season, when bats are not infected, by measuring cortisol in bat claws. Free‐ranging Myotis lucifugus who survived previous exposure to P. destructans had significantly higher levels of claw cortisol than naïve individuals. Thus, cryptic physiological carry‐over effects of pathogen exposure may persist in asymptomatic, recovered individuals. If these effects result in reduced survival or reproductive success, they could also affect population viability and even act as a third stream in the extinction vortex. For example, significant increases in chronic stress, such as those indicated here, are correlated with reduced reproductive success in a number of species. Future research should directly explore the link between pathogen exposure and the viability of apparently recovered populations to improve understanding of the true impacts of infectious diseases on threatened populations.     

Considering the needs of indigenous and local populations in conservation programs

Local rural and indigenous communities have assumed increasing responsibility for conservation within and between areas buffering the impacts of agricultural or resource‐extraction zones and protected areas. Empowering local communities as central partners in conservation and climate‐change mitigation has allowed many people to gain access to land and citizenship rights but has provided limited improvements in access to social services and economic opportunities even as expectation about their role as environmental stewards grows. These expectations, however, are inconsistent with reality. We conducted multiple field studies in Brazil since the mid‐1980s to illustrate the discrepancies between conservation programs and local conditions and expectations. We suggest that public policies and conservation programs should not delegate responsibility for managing protected areas to local and indigenous communities without considering local needs and expectations and locals’ attitudes toward conservation. In other words, behavior that maintains or improves the environment should not be treated as traditional based on the expectations of outsiders. Framing local populations as traditional environmentalists creates contradictions and frustrations for local populations and for conservation professionals and policy makers.     

Using environmental heterogeneity to plan for sea‐level rise

Environmental heterogeneity is increasingly being used to select conservation areas that will provide for future biodiversity under a variety of climate scenarios. This approach, termed conserving nature's stage (CNS), assumes environmental features respond to climate change more slowly than biological communities, but will CNS be effective if the stage were to change as rapidly as the climate? We tested the effectiveness of using CNS to select sites in salt marshes for conservation in coastal Georgia (U.S.A.), where environmental features will change rapidly as sea level rises. We calculated species diversity based on distributions of 7 bird species with a variety of niches in Georgia salt marshes. Environmental heterogeneity was assessed across six landscape gradients (e.g., elevation, salinity, and patch area). We used 2 approaches to select sites with high environmental heterogeneity: site complementarity (environmental diversity [ED]) and local environmental heterogeneity (environmental richness [ER]). Sites selected based on ER predicted present‐day species diversity better than randomly selected sites (up to an 8.1% improvement), were resilient to areal loss from SLR (1.0% average areal loss by 2050 compared with 0.9% loss of randomly selected sites), and provided habitat to a threatened species (0.63 average occupancy compared with 0.6 average occupancy of randomly selected sites). Sites selected based on ED predicted species diversity no better or worse than random and were not resilient to SLR (2.9% average areal loss by 2050). Despite the discrepancy between the 2 approaches, CNS is a viable strategy for conservation site selection in salt marshes because the ER approach was successful. It has potential for application in other coastal areas where SLR will affect environmental features, but its performance may depend on the magnitude of geological changes caused by SLR. Our results indicate that conservation planners that had heretofore excluded low‐lying coasts from CNS planning could include coastal ecosystems in regional conservation strategies.     

Negotiating environmental agreements under ratification constraints

We analyze the impact of ratification constraints on the optimal terms of international environmental agreements (IEAs). For this, we combine the literature on IEAs with the public choice literature on two-level games. By also incorporating uncertain preferences of the pivotal voter in the ratification stage, we make several important contributions: (i) we contribute to a more realistic modeling of the temporal structure of international agreements, (ii) we show a surprising, yet intuitive non-monotonic relationship between the optimal commitment level and the variance of ratification decisions, (iii) we identify reasons to expect a larger number of countries to join international negotiations than predicted by most of the coalition formation literature based on a representative agent model. Ratification constraints thereby can improve the welfare gains from stable international agreements.     

Robust technology policy against emission leakage: The case of upstream subsidies

Asymmetric regulation of a global pollutant between countries can alter the competitiveness of industries and lead to emissions leakage, which hampers countries’ welfare. In order to limit leakage, governments consider supporting domestic trade-exposed firms by subsidizing their investments in abatement technology. The suppliers of such technologies tend to be less than perfectly competitive, particularly when both emissions regulations and advanced technologies are new. In this context of twin market failures, we consider the relative effects and desirability of subsidies for abatement technology. We find a more robust recommendation for upstream subsidies than for downstream subsidies. Downstream subsidies tend to increase global abatement technology prices, reduce pollution abatement abroad and increase emission leakage. On the contrary, upstream subsidies reduce abatement technology prices, and hence also emissions leakage.     

闽南地区生态环境对酸沉降的临界负荷研究

报道了闽南生态环境对酸沉降临界负荷的研究结果。考虑到干、湿２种沉降形式,试用了１种新的酸沉降临界负荷计算方法:用树木和农作物的SO₂容量代表酸性干沉降的临界负荷,用土壤酸缓冲容量计算酸性湿沉降的临界负荷。结果表明:闽南的干、湿酸沉降临界负荷均大大高于现实酸沉降负荷      

Determination of polychlorinated biphenyl congeners in environmental samples

Ｄｅｔｅｒｍｉｎａｔｉｏｎｏｆｐｏｌｙｃｈｌｏｒｉｎａｔｅｄｂｉｐｈｅｎｙｌｃｏｎｇｅｎｅｒｓｉｎｅｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔａｌｓａｍｐｌｅｓ￥ＣｈｕＳｈａｏｇａｎｇ；ＹａｎｇＣｈｕｎ；ＸｕＸｉａｏｂａｉ（ＲｅｓｅａｒｃｈＣｅｎｔｅｒｆｏｒＥｃｏ－Ｅｎｖ...     

Analysis of relationship between economic growth and environment in Benxi Shiqiaozi Development Zone

ＡｎａｌｙｓｉｓｏｆｒｅｌａｔｉｏｎｓｈｉｐｂｅｔｗｅｅｎｅｃｏｎｏｍｉｃｇｒｏｗｔｈａｎｄｅｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔｉｎＢｅｎｘｉＳｈｉｑｉａｏｚｉＤｅｖｅｌｏｐｍｅｎｔＺｏｎｅ￥ＬｉＢｉｎ；ＲｕＪｉａｎｇ；ＹｅＷｅｎｈｕ；ＸｕＹｕｎｌｉｎ（Ｃｅｎｔｅ...     

Microwave digestion method in environmental analysis

Ｍｉｃｒｏｗａｖｅｄｉｇｅｓｔｉｏｎｍｅｔｈｏｄｉｎｅｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔａｌａｎａｌｙｓｉｓ￥ＺｈａｎｇＹｕｅ（ＷａｄｓｗｏｒｔｈＣｅｎｔｒｅ，ＮｅｗＹｏｒｋＳｔａｔｅＤｅｐａｒｔｍｅｎｔｏｆＨｅａｌｔｈＳｃｈｏｏｌｏｆＰｕｂｌｉｃＨｅａｌｔｈ，Ｓ...     

环境监测是环境监理的技术基础

环境监测和环境监理工作的工作对象、内容、目标、对时、空的要求和所依据的法规、标准都是一致的。要协调的二者的关系，最重要的是建立“四个衔接”的双向工作秩序。