Conservation and management applications of the REEF volunteer fish monitoring program

The REEF Fish Survey Project is a volunteer fish monitoring program developed by the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF). REEF volunteers collect fish distribution and abundance data using a standardized visual method during regular diving and snorkeling activities. Survey data are recorded on preprinted data sheets that are returned to REEF and optically digitized. Data are housed in a publicly accessible database on REEF's Web site (http: //www.reef.org). Since the project's inception in 1993, over 40,000 surveys have been conducted in the coastal waters of North America, tropical western Atlantic, Gulf of California and Hawaii. The Fish Survey Project has been incorporated into existing monitoring programs through partnerships with government agencies, scientists, conservation organizations, and private institutions. REEF's partners benefit from the educational value and increased stewardship resulting from volunteer data collection. Applications of the data include an evaluation of fish/habitat interactions in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, the development of a multi-species trend analysis method to identify sites of management concern, assessment of the current distribution of species, status reports on fish assemblages of marine parks, and the evaluation of no-take zones in the Florida Keys. REEF's collaboration with a variety of partners, combined with the Fish Survey Project's standardized census method and database management system, has resulted in a successful citizen science monitoring program.     

一种超声速气体冲击射流噪声的屏蔽抑制方法

根据对冲击射流离散频率噪声产生的反馈机理的认识，提出了一种能够有效地破坏反馈环的形成，从而抑制冲击射流离散频率噪声的喷嘴屏蔽方法。这种方法是通过阻隔反馈声波使其不能到达喷嘴唇口、同时屏蔽物不与射流接触来实现降噪的目的，实验结果表明，对于合适的屏蔽罩参数，正常降噪效果达5dB以上。分析表明这种降噪方法对射流冲击平板的推力和除尘除水效率的提高有帮助。     

山地生态系统的脆弱性与荒漠化

荒漠化已成为全球性社会环境问题,它与脆弱的生态环境有密切关系。山地系统在景观上为农林交错带,生态系统的脆弱性表现在具有内生型脆弱性、对植被的依附性、景观过渡性以及落后的生产力等方面,荒漠化较严重。作者通过对坡面级联系统以及系统内部的反馈机制分析,讨论了山地荒漠化的运行机制,并进一步就荒漠化的防治提出几点想法。     

森林经营方案实施的反馈控制模型

本文讨论了森林经营方案实施的反馈控制模式，提出了森林经营方案实施的反馈控制模型，这经营方案实施策略的最优调整提供了科学的方法。     

The role of digital data entry in participatory environmental monitoring

Many argue that monitoring conducted exclusively by scientists is insufficient to address ongoing environmental challenges. One solution entails the use of mobile digital devices in participatory monitoring (PM) programs. But how digital data entry affects programs with varying levels of stakeholder participation, from nonscientists collecting field data to nonscientists administering every step of a monitoring program, remains unclear. We reviewed the successes, in terms of management interventions and sustainability, of 107 monitoring programs described in the literature (hereafter programs) and compared these with case studies from our PM experiences in Australia, Canada, Ethiopia, Ghana, Greenland, and Vietnam (hereafter cases). Our literature review showed that participatory programs were less likely to use digital devices, and 2 of our 3 more participatory cases were also slow to adopt digital data entry. Programs that were participatory and used digital devices were more likely to report management actions, which was consistent with cases in Ethiopia, Greenland, and Australia. Programs engaging volunteers were more frequently reported as ongoing, but those involving digital data entry were less often sustained when data collectors were volunteers. For the Vietnamese and Canadian cases, sustainability was undermined by a mismatch in stakeholder objectives. In the Ghanaian case, complex field protocols diminished monitoring sustainability. Innovative technologies attract interest, but the foundation of effective participatory adaptive monitoring depends more on collaboratively defined questions, objectives, conceptual models, and monitoring approaches. When this foundation is built through effective partnerships, digital data entry can enable the collection of more data of higher quality. Without this foundation, or when implemented ineffectively or unnecessarily, digital data entry can be an additional expense that distracts from core monitoring objectives and undermines project sustainability. The appropriate role of digital data entry in PM likely depends more on the context in which it is used and less on the technology itself.     

Population dynamics and regulation in the cave salamander <Emphasis Type="Italic">Speleomantes strinatii</Emphasis>

Time series analysis has been used to evaluate the mechanisms regulating population dynamics of mammals and insects, but has been rarely applied to amphibian populations. In this study, the influence of endogenous (density-dependent) and exogenous (density-independent) factors regulating population dynamics of the terrestrial plethodontid salamander Speleomantes strinatii was analysed by means of time series and multiple regression analyses. During the period 1993–2005, S. strinatii population abundance, estimated by a standardised temporary removal method, displayed relatively low fluctuations, and the autocorrelation function (ACF) analysis showed that the time series had a noncyclic structure. The partial rate correlation function (PRCF) indicated that a strong first-order negative feedback dominated the endogenous dynamics. Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that the only climatic factor influencing population growth rate was the minimum winter temperature. Thus, at least during the study period, endogenous, density-dependent negative feedback was the main factor affecting the growth rate of the salamander population, whereas stochastic environmental variables, such as temperature and rainfall, seemed to play a minor role in regulation. These results stress the importance of considering both exogenous and endogenous factors when analysing amphibian long-term population dynamics.     

共存氯苯类同系物对六氯苯厌氧降解活性的影响

微生物厌氧降解六氯苯已经成为国内外六氯苯污染土壤修复技术研发的前沿和热点.研究了在不同的初始pH值、反应温度及固液比等环境条件下,3种共存氯苯类同系物五氯苯、1,2,4,5-四氯苯、1,2,4-三氯苯对染料厂污染土壤中六氯苯厌氧降解活性的影响.结果表明,在降解过程中,共存氯苯类同系物的累积对六氯苯的厌氧降解产生了反馈抑制作用,影响了六氯苯的降解活性,且在不同的环境条件下,累积规律不同,反馈抑制作用不同.反应的初始pH值较低时,五氯苯的的反馈抑制作用更突出,反应的初始pH值较高时,1,2,4-三氯苯的反馈抑制作用更突出;常温下,五氯苯的反馈抑制作用更突出,较高温度下,1,2,4-三氯苯的反馈抑制作用更突出;固液比越小,五氯苯的反馈抑制作用越突出.因此,针对性地采取提高低氯苯类同系物降解活性的措施,降低共存低氯苯类同系物在六氯苯厌氧降解过程中的累积,不失为提高污染土壤中六氯苯降解率的一种好的选择.     

Better than their reputation: enhancing the validity of contingent valuation mail survey results through citizen expert groups

Although contingent valuation is the dominant technique for the valuation of public projects, especially in the environmental sector, the high costs of contingent valuation surveys prevent the use of this method for the assessment of relatively small projects. The reason for this cost problem is that typically only contingent valuation studies which are based on face-to-face interviews are accepted as leading to valid results. Particularly in countries with high wages, face-to-face surveys are extremely costly considering that for a valid contingent valuation study a minimum of 1000 completed face-to-face interviews is required. This paper tries a rehabilitation of mail surveys as low-budget substitutes for costly face-to-face surveys. Based on an empirical contingent valuation study in Northern Thailand, it is shown that the validity of mail surveys can be improved significantly if so-called Citizen Expert Groups are employed for a thorough survey design.     

PUBLIC INFORMATION AND CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT1

ABSTRACT: Public information, an important contributer to citizen involvement in the governmental decision making process, has traditionally been given a low priority by government agencies. However, citizens are becoming increasingly concerned about governmental decisions that affect their lives and are demanding more information about governmental activities, including information about water resource issues, Because of this active citizen interest and involvement, the role of public information in increasing citizen awareness is becoming more important. Government officials and professionals should recognize that public information efforts also play an important role in achieving increased credibility and respect for their agencies. Once an agency recognizes the importance of public information and decides to initiate a public information program, careful planning is required to develop a program that addresses the needs of both the citizens and the agency. Two of the most flexible and cost effective ways to get information to the publié are through publications and public meetings. Both can be easily adapted to suit the needs of specific audiences and projects. A successful public information program can be carried out at a relatively low cost, but it requires a substantial amount of time and energy. The commitment of time and energy for this purpose is a good investment, however, because an effective public information program can play a significant role in improving the quality of governmental decisions through the increased involvement of the citizenry.     

Deliberation and ecological democracy: from citizen to global system

ABSTRACT

Ecological democracy confronts a challenge of not only reconciling democracy and ecology, but doing so where human activities and their environmental consequences are increasingly global. Deliberative scholars dealing with these issues emphasise reflexive governance, involving the contestation of discourses, as part of the solution, mostly aimed at high-level institutions and intergovernmental cooperation. However, even at this level democracy demands responsiveness to the citizen. To this end, the paper explores citizen-level deliberation to inform possibilities for ecological democracy writ large, via a growing literature on deliberative governance and polycentrism. Different system levels are connected via ecologically reflexive capacity and the discursive conditions under which it is enhanced, including in small-scale minipublics. This understanding informs mechanisms for ‘scaling up’ deliberative quality to the wider public sphere via regulating the manipulation of public discourse. Minipublic deliberation, properly harnessed, can serve to decontaminate public debate of anti-reflexive strategic arguments and reshape public discourse. Such anti-reflexive strategies seek to shape the public will, specifically by de-emphasising ecology via intuitive arguments that short-cut public reasoning. Acting as discursive regulatory trustees, minipublics can improve reflexivity in the wider system via a nested polycentric approach that discursively connects citizens’ deliberation to the global system both horizontally and vertically.