Effects of payments for ecosystem services on wildlife habitat recovery

Conflicts between local people's livelihoods and conservation have led to many unsuccessful conservation efforts and have stimulated debates on policies that might simultaneously promote sustainable management of protected areas and improve the living conditions of local people. Many government‐sponsored payments‐for‐ecosystem‐services (PES) schemes have been implemented around the world. However, few empirical assessments of their effectiveness have been conducted, and even fewer assessments have directly measured their effects on ecosystem services. We conducted an empirical and spatially explicit assessment of the conservation effectiveness of one of the world's largest PES programs through the use of a long‐term empirical data set, a satellite‐based habitat model, and spatial autoregressive analyses on direct measures of change in an ecosystem service (i.e., the provision of wildlife species habitat). Giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) habitat improved in Wolong Nature Reserve of China after the implementation of the Natural Forest Conservation Program. The improvement was more pronounced in areas monitored by local residents than those monitored by the local government, but only when a higher payment was provided. Our results suggest that the effectiveness of a PES program depends on who receives the payment and on whether the payment provides sufficient incentives. As engagement of local residents has not been incorporated in many conservation strategies elsewhere in China or around the world, our results also suggest that using an incentive‐based strategy as a complement to command‐and‐control, community‐ and norm‐based strategies may help achieve greater conservation effectiveness and provide a potential solution for the park versus people conflict.     

东江流域水污染控制与水生态系统恢复技术与综合示范

归纳了水专项东江项目2008—2013年的主要研究成果:针对保护优质水源的国家需求,选择典型的东江流域开展前瞻性的水污染控制技术研发并进行工程示范,创建了由常规水质指标实时在线化,痕量污染物控制指标识别筛选全流域优化,生物毒性指标甄别多属性全程化等成套技术构成的水源流域水质风险识别技术体系;由各类工艺废水脱毒减害,同质污水区域集中强化处理,排水持续净化等成套技术构成的水环境风险控制工程技术体系;由水生物链各物种生长状况评级,生境恢复和物种受损关键环节恢复等成套技术构成的生态健康维护技术体系。集成以上3个技术体系形成成套的流域水环境风险控制技术体系集。基于上述技术创新提出了“控制风险、维护生态、保水甘甜、发展持续”的水源流域管理创新总体策略。研发的技术体系与策略在东江流域的示范与应用,实现了东江主干流水质常年优于Ⅱ类的污染控制目标。     

KS-2000宽频带地震计作为综合观测仪器的可行性探讨

取用安徽省数字地震台网金寨地震台KS-2000宽频带地震计记录到的资料,采用matlab的低通滤波功能对地震计垂直向和水平向记录到的资料进行处理,并利用matlab分别画出其频谱图,发现KS-2000宽频带地震计的垂直向能较为清晰的记录到固体潮汐。     

机场噪声环境影响评价的程序和方法

就机场噪声环境影响评价的程序和常用的预测公式进行了介绍，并将飞机噪声实测和预测结果进行了对照，取得了较为满意的结果。     

煤矿救援队伍业务管理系统研究

为了改善救援队伍业务管理模式,提高煤矿救援队伍的业务管理能力,利用救护队现有的计算机设备,以Windows Server 2003系统和北京龙软科技发展有限公司Longruan GIS 3.0为平台,以Visual C++6.0和SQL Server 2000为开发工具,采用多层次的Client/Server结构,在面向对象思想指导下设计与实现的煤矿救援队伍业务管理系统,文章介绍了业务管理系统的前台软件开发和后台数据库开发的设计思想和步骤。现场应用证明,该系统能够为煤矿救援队业务管理提供强有力的技术支持,有利于提高煤矿救援队管理人员的业务能力。     

The potential implementation of green infrastructure assessment using high-resolution National Agriculture Imagery Program data for sustainable hazard mitigation

As green infrastructure gets its attention in hazard mitigation, it is necessary to improve general understanding on what makes green infrastructure important for hazard and resiliency research. To better understand how green infrastructure fits with more traditional notions of structural and nonstructural mitigation, this study examines the relationship between green infrastructure and ‘structural and nonstructural’ mitigation approaches for hazard mitigation. Also, this study discusses a new measurement of locational aspects and spatial patterns of green infrastructure by utilizing high-resolution data in urban areas, and its potential implementation in hazard mitigation. Compared to previous research using land-use land-cover datasets, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) utilizing National Agriculture Imagery Program dataset provides an ability to capture green infrastructure in greater detail. A visual comparison suggests that the NDVI data are able to capture and identify more types of ‘green’ land uses in Harris County. The total green infrastructure percentages for Harris County, Texas, based on 1-m high resolution were found to be 61.5% of the area, compared to the 51.5% based on the National Land Cover Database. This study provides support for utilizing high-resolution data to establish guidelines for green infrastructure’s spatial characteristics and sustainable hazard mitigation. The outcomes of this study will be helpful in the strategic planning and implementation of green infrastructure in urban areas with hazard issues.     

Ecological risk and accessibility analysis to assess the impact of roads under Habitats Directive

We propose a method for the appropriate assessment of adverse effects of roads in compliance with the European Union Habitats Directive. The method incorporates an analysis of ecological risk of edge effects by the proposed roads with the related increase in accessibility. The method was tested on 30 km of planned forest roads inside an 8,000-ha reserve included in two Natura 2000 sites. As a result, the cumulative effect of 19 road segments was judged as not significantly affecting the integrity of the sites, although they made accessible an extra 314 ha. On the basis of the accessibility calculation, 20 ha of land were set aside from forest exploitation as a mandatory mitigation measure. The method objectively determined the cumulative adverse effects, enabled comparison of plan revisions and alternatives and proved to measure direct and indirect significant effects with a realistic effort in terms of field survey and geographic information system processing.     

Integrated analysis of the effects of agricultural management on nitrogen fluxes at landscape scale

The integrated modelling system INITIATOR was applied to a landscape in the northern part of the Netherlands to assess current nitrogen fluxes to air and water and the impact of various agricultural measures on these fluxes, using spatially explicit input data on animal numbers, land use, agricultural management, meteorology and soil. Average model results on NH₃ deposition and N concentrations in surface water appear to be comparable to observations, but the deviation can be large at local scale, despite the use of high resolution data. Evaluated measures include: air scrubbers reducing NH₃ emissions from poultry and pig housing systems, low protein feeding, reduced fertilizer amounts and low-emission stables for cattle. Low protein feeding and restrictive fertilizer application had the largest effect on both N inputs and N losses, resulting in N deposition reductions on Natura 2000 sites of 10% and 12%, respectively.     

Horizontal lifelines – review of regulations and simple design method considering anchorage rigidity

Among the many occupational risks construction workers encounter every day falling from a height is the most dangerous. The objective of this article is to propose a simple analytical design method for horizontal lifelines (HLLs) that considers anchorage flexibility. The article presents a short review of the standards and regulations/acts/codes concerning HLLs in Canada the USA and Europe. A static analytical approach is proposed considering anchorage flexibility. The analytical results are compared with a series of 42 dynamic fall tests and a SAP2000 numerical model. The experimental results show that the analytical method is a little conservative and overestimates the line tension in most cases with a maximum of 17%. The static SAP2000 results show a maximum 2.1% difference with the analytical method. The analytical method is accurate enough to safely design HLLs and quick design abaci are provided to allow the engineer to make quick on-site verification if needed.     

县域土地利用规划生态环境影响评价研究——以陇县为例

以生态服务价值理论为指导,从土地利用变化动态度、生态系统服务总价值和生态价值敏感度3个方面评价陇县土地利用总体规划(2006～2020年)对区域生态环境的影响。结果表明,林地、耕地在规划期内生态系统服务价值都呈增长趋势,区域生态系统服务总价值增加了30700万元。