Physical and Temporal Isolation of Mountain Headwater Streams in the Western Mojave Desert,Southern California1

Abstract: Streams draining mountain headwater areas of the western Mojave Desert are commonly physically isolated from downstream hydrologic systems such as springs, playa lakes, wetlands, or larger streams and rivers by stream reaches that are dry much of the time. The physical isolation of surface flow in these streams may be broken for brief periods after rainfall or snowmelt when runoff is sufficient to allow flow along the entire stream reach. Despite the physical isolation of surface flow in these streams, they are an integral part of the hydrologic cycle. Water infiltrated from headwater streams moves through the unsaturated zone to recharge the underlying ground‐water system and eventually discharges to support springs, streamflow, isolated wetlands, or native vegetation. Water movement through thick unsaturated zones may require several hundred years and subsequent movement through the underlying ground‐water systems may require many thousands of years – contributing to the temporal isolation of mountain headwater streams.     

Managing the Commons Texas Style: Wildlife Management and Ground‐Water Associations on Private Lands1

Abstract: As nearly all of Texas’ rural lands are privately owned, landowner associations for the management of white‐tailed deer and ground‐water have become increasingly popular. Deer are a common‐pool resource with transboundary characteristics, requiring landowner cooperation for effective management. Ground‐water reserves are economically important to landowners, but are governed by the “rule of capture” whereby property rights are not defined. One ground‐water association and four wildlife management associations (WMAs) were surveyed to characterize their member demographics, land use priorities, attitudes, and social capital. Members of the ground‐water cooperative were part of a much larger, more heterogeneous, and more recently formed group than members of WMAs. They also placed greater importance on utilitarian aspects of their properties, as opposed to land stewardship for conservation as practiced by members of WMAs. If ground‐water association members could be more locally organized with more frequent meetings, social capital and information sharing may be enhanced and lead to land stewardship practices for improved hydrologic functions and sustained ground‐water supply. This, coupled with pumping rules assigned by the local ground‐water district, could yield an effective strategy that is ecologically and hydrologicaly sound, and that allows rural provision of water supply to urban consumers.     

Frontiers created by ‘the Others’

ABSTRACT

This paper highlights the colonized perspective, and aims to reflect on the consequences of a predominant perspective of land control and use for Amazonian indigenous people. The demarcation of indigenous territories has been presented by external public actors, the ‘Others’ to explicitly support indigenous people defend their territories. However, demarcation effectively creates a frontier and enclosure which contribute to alienate indigenous people within their new territories. Amazonian groups normally maintain that they belong to the Land, and their historical use of a determined land has been asserted by anthropological studies. But they belong to Land. In contrast, occupying a territory to generate profit allows the exploitation of everything inside it. Every form of extraction helps to reproduce the colonial logic. A key question we need to address is, therefore: Why do the ‘others’ not feel that belonging?     

Scale dependency of conservation outcomes in a forest-offsetting scheme

Offset schemes help avoid or revert habitat loss through protection of existing habitat (avoided deforestation), through the restoration of degraded areas (natural regrowth), or both. The spatial scale of an offset scheme may influence which of these 2 outcomes is favored and is an important aspect of the scheme's design. However, how spatial scale influences the trade-offs between the preservation of existing habitat and restoration of degraded areas is poorly understood. We used the largest forest offset scheme in the world, which is part of the Brazilian Forest Code, to explore how implementation at different spatial scales may affect the outcome in terms of the area of avoided deforestation and area of regrowth. We employed a numerical simulation of trade between buyers (i.e., those who need to offset past deforestation) and sellers (i.e., landowners with exceeding native vegetation) in the Brazilian Amazon to estimate potential avoided deforestation and regrowth at different spatial scales of implementation. Allowing offsets over large spatial scales led to an area of avoided deforestation 12 times greater than regrowth, whereas restricting offsets to small spatial scales led to an area of regrowth twice as large as avoided deforestation. The greatest total area (avoided deforestation and regrowth combined) was conserved when the spatial scale of the scheme was small, especially in locations that were highly deforested. To maximize conservation gains from avoided deforestation and regrowth, the design of the Brazilian forest-offset scheme should focus on restricting the spatial scale in which offsets occur. Such a strategy could help ensure conservation benefits are localized and promote the recovery of degraded areas in the most threatened forest landscapes.     

Mapping legal authority for terrestrial conservation corridors along streams

Wildlife corridors aim to promote species’ persistence by connecting habitat patches across fragmented landscapes. Their implementation is limited by patterns of land ownership and complicated by differences in the jurisdictional and regulatory authorities under which lands are managed. Terrestrial corridor conservation requires coordination across jurisdictions and sectors subject to site-specific overlapping sources of legal authority. Mapping spatial patterns of legal authority concurrent with habitat condition can illustrate opportunities to build or leverage capacity for connectivity conservation. Streamside areas provide pragmatic opportunities to leverage existing policy mechanisms for riverine and terrestrial habitat connectivity across boundaries. Conservation planners and practitioners can make use of these opportunities by harmonizing actions for multiple conservation outcomes. We formulated an integrative, data-driven method for mapping multiple sources of legal authority weighted by capacity for coordinating terrestrial habitat conservation along streams. We generated a map of capacity to coordinate streamside corridor protections across a wildlife habitat gap to demonstrate this approach. We combined values representing coordination capacity and naturalness to generate an integrated legal-ecological resistance map for connectivity modeling. We then computed least-cost corridors across the integrated map, masking the terrestrial landscape to focus on streamside areas. Streamside least-cost corridors in the integrated, local-scale model diverged (∼25 km) from national-scale least-cost corridors based on naturalness. Spatial categories comparing legal- and naturalness-based resistance values by stream reach highlighted potential locations for building or leveraging existing capacity through spatial coordination of policy mechanisms or restoration actions. Agencies or nongovernmental organizations intending to restore or maintain habitat connectivity across fragmented landscapes can use this approach to inform spatial prioritization and build coordination capacity. Article impact statement: Combined mapping of legal authority and habitat condition reveals capacity to coordinate actions along streams for clean water and wildlife.     

废弃印刷电路板回收拆解过程中的气体排放物分析

为研究废弃印刷电路板(PCB)在回收加热拆解电子元件过程中所产生的气体排放物的主要成分,使用自行设计的废弃PCB拆解装置进行拆解实验,采用傅里叶红外光谱(FTIRS)、气相色谱-质谱(GC/MS)、离子色谱(IC)和电感耦合等离子体质谱(ICP-MS)等分析方法,对实验过程所收集到的气体产物进行成分分析.结果表明,废弃PCB的基板在加热过程中发生了初步分解,基板上的溴化环氧树脂发生了O—C、C—C、C—Br键的断裂,产生了苯酚、2,6-二溴苯酚等有机物;伴随有机气体逸出的还有废弃PCB在加热过程所释放的含有大量S、N、Cl、Br等元素的无机酸性气体;而连续的熔锡过程还使得PCB与焊料中的Sn、Pb、Sb、Hg、Cd、Cr等重金属产生烟尘逸出.     

Reducing multiple-use conflicts on public lands through experimental stewardship

Implementation of a consensus-based management and planning process on three pilot areas has reduced conflicts among interest groups. There are insufficient data to demonstrate biological improvement in range condition on the pilot areas at this time. Economic analysis indicates that recreation values exceed all other resource values in all three pilot areas.     

Transboundary Issues in Wilderness Management

/ The management of lands adjacent to federally designated wilderness is increasingly seen to have the potential to negatively impact wilderness resources and management objectives. This paper first examines the numerous and often conflicting laws and regulations that influence how managers can mitigate transboundary issues. We then examine the various types of transboundary issues, and describe how they impact wilderness resources. Transboundary issues include recreational use, extractive activities, fire management, exotic species introductions, aircraft overflights and military operations, water diversion, urban encroachment, and transported pollutants. KEY WORDS: Adjacent lands; Buffer zones; Ecosystem management; Wilderness; Zones of influence     

山坡农地水土流失防治技术若干进展与成效分析

本文分析了山坡农地水土流失的现状 ,着重介绍了 7种防治农田水土流失的技术措施 ,并详细分析了其研究进展与应用成效。