Perceived Impacts of Ecotourism on Environmental Learning and Conservation: Turtle Watching as a Case Study

Using a case study, involving turtle-based ecotourism, we explore the role of ecotourism in promoting environmental learning and in sustaining conservation of nature. Mon Repos Conservation Park (an important marine turtle rookery involved in ecotourism) in Queensland, Australia, was selected for this study and visitors were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. The reported on-site experiences of respondents are analysed to identify important factors that alter their stated conservation attitudes and behaviours. The impact of these factors (such as the amount of environmental education that respondents claimed they obtained, sighting of sea turtles, nationality) is quantified using regression analyses. There has been little previous quantification of such influences. The study reveals that a considerable amount of environmental knowledge is gained by visitors to Mon Repos. The ecotourism experience, involving environmental education and seeing of turtles, was found to have positive and statistically significant impacts on the visitors' stated desire and intended behaviour to protect sea turtles. The study reveals the importance of learning and the interaction of tourists with wildlife as a contributor to their pro-conservation sentiments and actions. It shows how ecotourism can support nature conservation. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

青岛奥运帆船赛区及邻近海域海水环境质量分析与评价

2002年7月对青岛市2008年奥运会帆船赛区及邻近海域监测,结果表明,海水质量总体状况良好,能够满足功能要求,无机氮、铅和粪大肠菌群在局部海域略有超标。今后仍要有针对性的加大治理力度,确保2008年奥运会帆船比赛的顺利进行。     

南钢1~#、2~#高炉出铁场除尘系统风量集中改造的实践

论述了南钢1#、2#炉出铁场除尘风量集中改造技术,并对风量集中改造的原因、改造方案和效果进行评定,利用两个高炉共用一个出铁场除尘器的特点,瞬时将风量集中到单座大喷的高炉,强化异常生产状态下铁口抽风的效果,解决大喷时厂房"冒烟"的问题。     

可燃气体燃爆特性综合试验装置构建与甲烷试验

为研究半开敞空间内可燃气体爆炸过程,设计带有泄压面的气体爆炸室,并在此基础上构建一套可燃气体燃爆特性综合试验装置。运用该试验装置,研究预混塔内甲烷气体分层现象以及甲烷爆炸浓度与最小点火能之间的变化规律。甲烷分层试验结果表明:静置一段时间后,预混塔中甲烷浓度随高度的增加而增大。最小点火能试验结果显示,当甲烷的试验爆炸体积分数在10%～13%时,其浓度与点火能之间呈现比较平缓的变化关系,而当其体积分数小于10%或大于13%时,浓度稍微变化,其点火能将发生明显变化。     

基于高斯模型对氯气泄漏浓度分布的快速估算方法研究

利用高斯模型对氯气泄漏浓度分布进行了较全面地探讨和研究,分析了高斯模型的实用性,探索了通过地面任意两点的浓度测量值快速计算泄漏源流强和泄漏点的高度以及地面浓度最大值及最大值位置的方法。提出了估算浓度等于和大于某一定值的区域的办法,并通过三个不同浓度的等值线的估算值和模拟值进行了比较,证明该方法的合理性。该方法完全可以推广到其它的模型和各种不同的条件,对于提高事故处置的侦检效率具有积极的意义。     

雨雪冰冻灾害后粤北森林各林型凋落物动态

为了考察中国亚热带不同森林类型对雨雪冰冻灾害的响应模式,以粤北天井山3种代表性的林型—针叶林、阔叶林和混交林为对象,于不同森林类型中比较受损森林与未受损森林在凋落物年产量、成分及月际动态方面的差异,从而在凋落物水平上反映不同森林类型在雨雪冰冻灾害后的早期恢复力。研究结果表明,灾后针叶林、阔叶林和混交林的年凋落量分别为0.52、3.21、1.37 t.hm-2,比未受损的同种森林类型年凋落量显著减少,减少程度分别为87.89%、53.46%、76.78%。由此可以看出阔叶林的植被恢复情况最好,说明在凋落物水平上,其灾后恢复的早期阶段恢复力最强。在凋落物成分方面,灾后各森林类型叶凋落物所占比例显著增加,枝凋落物所占比例则显著减少。受损针叶林和阔叶林的凋落物月动态与未受损森林基本一致,但其波动幅度较小;在混交林中,受损和未受损森林其凋落量的季节动态模式则表现出不一致性且为不规则型。根据研究结果,建议在亚热带地区优先考虑种植阔叶林以促进受损森林在类似雨雪冰冻灾害的极端天气后的恢复。     

Minimizing opportunity costs to aquatic connectivity restoration while controlling an invasive species

Controlling invasive species is critical for conservation but can have unintended consequences for native species and divert resources away from other efforts. This dilemma occurs on a grand scale in the North American Great Lakes, where dams and culverts block tributary access to habitat of desirable fish species and are a lynchpin of long‐standing efforts to limit ecological damage inflicted by the invasive, parasitic sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus). Habitat restoration and sea‐lamprey control create conflicting goals for managing aging infrastructure. We used optimization to minimize opportunity costs of habitat gains for 37 desirable migratory fishes that arose from restricting sea lamprey access (0–25% increase) when selecting barriers for removal under a limited budget (US$1–105 million). Imposing limits on sea lamprey habitat reduced gains in tributary access for desirable species by 15–50% relative to an unconstrained scenario. Additional investment to offset the effect of limiting sea‐lamprey access resulted in high opportunity costs for 30 of 37 species (e.g., an additional US$20–80 million for lake sturgeon [Acipenser fulvescens]) and often required ≥5% increase in sea‐lamprey access to identify barrier‐removal solutions adhering to the budget and limiting access. Narrowly distributed species exhibited the highest opportunity costs but benefited more at less cost when small increases in sea‐lamprey access were allowed. Our results illustrate the value of optimization in limiting opportunity costs when balancing invasion control against restoration benefits for diverse desirable species. Such trade‐off analyses are essential to the restoration of connectivity within fragmented rivers without unleashing invaders.     

Emerging conservation challenges and prospects in an era of offshore hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation

Globally, extensive marine areas important for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem functioning are undergoing exploration and extraction of oil and natural gas resources. Such operations are expanding to previously inaccessible deep waters and other frontier regions, while conservation‐related legislation and planning is often lacking. Conservation challenges arising from offshore hydrocarbon development are wide‐ranging. These challenges include threats to ecosystems and marine species from oil spills, negative impacts on native biodiversity from invasive species colonizing drilling infrastructure, and increased political conflicts that can delay conservation actions. With mounting offshore operations, conservationists need to urgently consider some possible opportunities that could be leveraged for conservation. Leveraging options, as part of multi‐billion dollar marine hydrocarbon operations, include the use of facilities and costly equipment of the deep and ultra‐deep hydrocarbon industry for deep‐sea conservation research and monitoring and establishing new conservation research, practice, and monitoring funds and environmental offsetting schemes. The conservation community, including conservation scientists, should become more involved in the earliest planning and exploration phases and remain involved throughout the operations so as to influence decision making and promote continuous monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystems. A prompt response by conservation professionals to offshore oil and gas developments can mitigate impacts of future decisions and actions of the industry and governments. New environmental decision support tools can be used to explicitly incorporate the impacts of hydrocarbon operations on biodiversity into marine spatial and conservation plans and thus allow for optimum trade‐offs among multiple objectives, costs, and risks.     

海水中二甲基硫测定方法的研究

二甲基硫（ＤＭＳ）是雨水天然酸性的贡献者和影响气候变化的重要痕量气体，本文海水中ＤＭＳ测定方法，即采用冷却预浓缩技术处理海水样品，用带有火焰光度检测器气相色谱仪分析，此方法的精密度为１２％，准确度为１０％，对１００ｍｌ海水样品最小检测量为０．０５４ｎｇ（ＤＭＳ）。同时对色谱柱的选取，实验材料的选择，浓缩柱填充材料的选择，鼓气效率，干燥管，样品解析，样品保存等有关实验步骤进行了讨论。     

青藏高原冰川雪冰微生物研究进展

微生物作为青藏高原冰川研究的一个参数,不仅能提供丰富的物种和嗜冷基因资源作用于冰川的能量和化学物质平衡,而且还与气候和环境相关联.近年来,青藏高原冰川雪藻的研究主要在南部的Yala冰川开展,细菌的研究集中在北部冰川.这些研究主要针对冰川雪冰微生物与环境的关系.未来除在研究方法上加以改进外,还应该在微生物多样性、生态意义、嗜冷机制及其与气候和环境的关系等方面进一步深入研究.参36