Assessing the suitability of five benthic indices for environmental health assessment in a large subtropical South American estuary

Despite the increased and widespread usage of benthic indices for environmental health assessment, some methodological ambiguities remain to be solved. We tested the congruence and consistency of the benthic indices ITI, BO2A, BENTIX, AMBI and M-AMBI in a subtropical estuary (Paranaguá Bay, Brazil). Indices were applied to non-vegetated tidal flats increasingly contaminated by sewage to test: (i) correlations with molecular biomarkers of sewage (consistency); and (ii) evaluate the overall agreement/similarity of responses (congruence). The responses of the benthic indexes ITI, AMBI and BO2A were congruent among themselves and consistent with molecular biomarkers values. BENTIX and M-AMBI were less consistent and congruent and possibly need a readjustment of boundaries for subtropical habitats. The indices seemed robust to natural background yearly variations not related to contamination. Faecal sterols associated to nutrient contents suitably supported the validation of indices and could integrate reference conditions for sewage impacted coastal habitats. Benthic indices can successfully integrate management guidelines, but their suitable application demands further research on tolerance shifts of key indicator species.     

Changes in vegetation patterns on the margins of a constructed wetland after 10 years

Summary A constructed urban wetland in Adelaide was surveyed 18 months and 10 years after construction to see how shoreline vegetation, soil electrical conductivity (EC), texture and pH changed over time and to provide data for future site management. Multivariate analysis detected four plant associations at 18 months: salt‐tolerant taxa on conductive clays; a weed‐dominated community on lower EC soil; and two smaller waterlogged, low EC clusters dominated by Common Reed (Phragmites australis) and Sea Club‐Rush (Bolboschoenus caldwellii), respectively. At 10 years, site cover and heterogeneity was higher, with the margins dominated by Phragmites and salt‐tolerant species. EC was much lower and more uniform, and the soils were heavier and more alkaline. Managed storm water flushing apparently lowered soil EC, but possibly also disturbed the shoreline. However, weeds were still common, and the potential for domination by Phragmites at the expense of other native shoreline species means that ongoing monitoring and hydrological and vegetation management are essential to maintain site habitat diversity.     

Mangrove blue carbon stocks and dynamics are controlled by hydrogeomorphic settings and land‐use change

Globally, carbon‐rich mangrove forests are deforested and degraded due to land‐use and land‐cover change (LULCC). The impact of mangrove deforestation on carbon emissions has been reported on a global scale; however, uncertainty remains at subnational scales due to geographical variability and field data limitations. We present an assessment of blue carbon storage at five mangrove sites across West Papua Province, Indonesia, a region that supports 10% of the world's mangrove area. The sites are representative of contrasting hydrogeomorphic settings and also capture change over a 25‐years LULCC chronosequence. Field‐based assessments were conducted across 255 plots covering undisturbed and LULCC‐affected mangroves (0‐, 5‐, 10‐, 15‐ and 25‐year‐old post‐harvest or regenerating forests as well as 15‐year‐old aquaculture ponds). Undisturbed mangroves stored total ecosystem carbon stocks of 182–2,730 (mean ± SD: 1,087 ± 584) Mg C/ha, with the large variation driven by hydrogeomorphic settings. The highest carbon stocks were found in estuarine interior (EI) mangroves, followed by open coast interior, open coast fringe and EI forests. Forest harvesting did not significantly affect soil carbon stocks, despite an elevated dead wood density relative to undisturbed forests, but it did remove nearly all live biomass. Aquaculture conversion removed 60% of soil carbon stock and 85% of live biomass carbon stock, relative to reference sites. By contrast, mangroves left to regenerate for more than 25 years reached the same level of biomass carbon compared to undisturbed forests, with annual biomass accumulation rates of 3.6 ± 1.1 Mg C ha^?1 year^?1. This study shows that hydrogeomorphic setting controls natural dynamics of mangrove blue carbon stocks, while long‐term land‐use changes affect carbon loss and gain to a substantial degree. Therefore, current land‐based climate policies must incorporate landscape and land‐use characteristics, and their related carbon management consequences, for more effective emissions reduction targets and restoration outcomes.     

Total ecosystem carbon stocks at the marine‐terrestrial interface: Blue carbon of the Pacific Northwest Coast,United States

The coastal ecosystems of temperate North America provide a variety of ecosystem services including high rates of carbon sequestration. Yet, little data exist for the carbon stocks of major tidal wetland types in the Pacific Northwest, United States. We quantified the total ecosystem carbon stocks (TECS) in seagrass, emergent marshes, and forested tidal wetlands, occurring along increasing elevation and decreasing salinity gradients. The TECS included the total aboveground carbon stocks and the entire soil profile (to as deep as 3 m). TECS significantly increased along the elevation and salinity gradients: 217 ± 60 Mg C/ha for seagrass (low elevation/high salinity), 417 ± 70 Mg C/ha for low marsh, 551 ± 47 Mg C/ha for high marsh, and 1,064 ± 38 Mg C/ha for tidal forest (high elevation/low salinity). Soil carbon stocks accounted for >98% of TECS in the seagrass and marsh communities and 78% in the tidal forest. Soils in the 0–100 cm portion of the profile accounted for only 48%–53% of the TECS in seagrasses and marshes and 34% of the TECS in tidal forests. Thus, the commonly applied limit defining TECS to a 100 cm depth would greatly underestimate both carbon stocks and potential greenhouse gas emissions from land‐use conversion. The large carbon stocks coupled with other ecosystem services suggest value in the conservation and restoration of temperate zone tidal wetlands through climate change mitigation strategies. However, the findings suggest that long‐term sea‐level rise effects such as tidal inundation and increased porewater salinity will likely decrease ecosystem carbon stocks in the absence of upslope wetland migration buffer zones.     

Disentangling the potential effects of land‐use and climate change on stream conditions

Land‐use and climate change are significantly affecting stream ecosystems, yet understanding of their long‐term impacts is hindered by the few studies that have simultaneously investigated their interaction and high variability among future projections. We modeled possible effects of a suite of 2030, 2060, and 2090 land‐use and climate scenarios on the condition of 70,772 small streams in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, United States. The Chesapeake Basin‐wide Index of Biotic Integrity, a benthic macroinvertebrate multimetric index, was used to represent stream condition. Land‐use scenarios included four Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (A1B, A2, B1, and B2) representing a range of potential landscape futures. Future climate scenarios included quartiles of future climate changes from downscaled Coupled Model Intercomparison Project ‐ Phase 5 (CMIP5) and a watershed‐wide uniform scenario (Lynch2016). We employed random forests analysis to model individual and combined effects of land‐use and climate change on stream conditions. Individual scenarios suggest that by 2090, watershed‐wide conditions may exhibit anywhere from large degradations (e.g., scenarios A1B, A2, and the CMIP5 25th percentile) to small degradations (e.g., scenarios B1, B2, and Lynch2016). Combined land‐use and climate change scenarios highlighted their interaction and predicted, by 2090, watershed‐wide degradation in 16.2% (A2 CMIP5 25th percentile) to 1.0% (B2 Lynch2016) of stream kilometers. A goal for the Chesapeake Bay watershed is to restore 10% of stream kilometers over a 2008 baseline; our results suggest meeting and sustaining this goal until 2090 may require improvement in 11.0%–26.2% of stream kilometers, dependent on land‐use and climate scenario. These results highlight inherent variability among scenarios and the resultant uncertainty of predicted conditions, which reinforces the need to incorporate multiple scenarios of both land‐use (e.g., development, agriculture, etc.) and climate change in future studies to encapsulate the range of potential future conditions.     

三门湾大型底栖动物群落结构及其与环境因子的关系

为了解三门湾大型底栖动物群落的现状和动态变化,分别于2015年11月、2016年2月、5月和8月在三门湾海域用阿氏拖网对大型底栖动物进行调查。结果表明: 经鉴定,大型底栖动物有119种,主要类群为鱼类、甲壳类和软体动物,占种类总数的79%。大型底栖动物全年优势种为细螯虾、长额超刺糠虾和六丝钝尾虾虎鱼,不同季节优势种的变化明显,种类差异性较大。大型底栖动物的年平均生物量和平均栖息密度分别为0.025 g·m^-2和0.07 ind·m^-2。三门湾大型底栖动物各季节的Shannon多样性指数为2.21～3.18,Margalef物种丰富度指数为3.25～3.78,Pielou均匀度指数为0.53～0.79。ABC曲线分析显示,在春季和冬季,群落受到中等程度干扰;而在夏季和秋季,群落受到轻微扰动。典范对应分析结果显示,水深、温度、盐度和pH值是影响大型底栖动物群落的最主要环境因子。     

沉积物记录揭示的深圳湾红树林生态系统稳态转变

稳态转换作为滨海生态系统的一种灾变现象,其过程伴随着生态系统质量下降和功能退化。深圳湾位于粤港澳大湾区的核心区域,深入理解其生态系统演化过程是进行适应性管理的重要前提。2014年于深圳湾福田红树林湿地获得4根岩芯沉积柱,通过分析沉积和生物地球化学指标（包括金属元素、营养盐、粒度和有机质指标）,重建半个世纪以来深圳湾环境的历史变迁,揭示其生态系统发生的稳态转变过程。结果表明：稳态转换发生前（1954-1980）,福田红树林沉积物中重金属、无机营养和有机物含量稳定增加,但处于较低水平;稳态转换发生后（1990-2014）,深圳湾中污染输入增加,沉积物中重金属和营养盐含量发生明显变化,深圳湾生态系统质量持续下降。通过揭示深圳湾生态系统演变过程及其稳态转变的发生规律,为粤港澳大湾区生态系统修复和管理提供重要的理论依据和参考。     

城市绿地对居民身心福祉的影响

城市绿地是人工与自然耦合的城市景观之一,是改善居民居住环境重要组成部分,更是提高居民身心健康的有效途径。以杭州主城区为研究对象,通过GIS技术对城市绿地遥感图像进行解译得到杭州主城区绿地空间布局图,同时,以人口密度为阻力要素,基于交通路网的500m网络距离可达范围内绿地数量和面积作为分类标准。通过对45个高、中、低不同档次的居民区进行问卷调查得到665份居民感知数据并进行统计整理。利用结构方程模型进行以绿地数量及游玩时间为标准的组间分析,区别不同组别的差异及其原因,分析城市绿地数量、面积,居民认知、动机,绿地吸引力等与居民身心健康福祉及满意度之间的关系。结果显示:城市绿地数量、居民游玩绿地次数时间等与居民福祉有显著的正向关系;居民对绿地作用的认知、去往绿地的动机进一步影响居民身心健康福祉;城市绿地的自身引力会激发居民去往绿地的积极性,从而增加去往绿地频次。另外,不同社会属性的个体对绿地需求不同,所产生的福祉效应及满意度也会有所差异。从增加居民区周围的街头绿地及邻里公园数量、提升绿地吸引力、提升居民对城市绿地作用的认知3个方面对城市绿地今后的发展规划提出建议。     

粤港澳大湾区生态系统服务时空演化及其权衡与协同特征

打造国际一流湾区和世界级城市群的粤港澳大湾区,生态保护、环境优化与城市发展、经济开放具有同等重要地位,掌握其城镇化过程中生态系统及其服务变化状况有助于科学合理、有针对性的制定生态保护修复相关政策。基于2000-2015年粤港澳大湾区生态系统宏观格局变化,分析了大湾区生态系统生产力、水源涵养、土壤保持服务的时空演化特征,进而探讨了供给与调节服务之间的权衡与协同关系。结果表明：（1）森林与农田是大湾区的主体生态系统,面积占大湾区国土面积的54.1%和22.8%,近15年由于城镇面积快速增长（增幅达68.6%）,导致森林、农田、湿地面积不断减少。（2）基于净初级生产力的供给服务量和土壤保持量整体上均呈现轻度增加趋势,特别是江门、肇庆等生态服务主要提供区域;东南部最高、北部次之、中部偏低的水源涵养量,除西北部呈现增加趋势以外,其它区域皆呈现减少趋势;城镇扩张是生态系统供给、调节服务明显减少的主要影响因素。（3）大湾区生态系统供给服务与水源涵养、土壤保持调节服务之间的相关关系均以协同为主,然而,在大湾区东北部和南部的广州、惠州、江门等区域呈现明显的权衡关系,提示大湾区发展过程中,需要在这些呈现权衡关系的区域实施有针对性的生态保护修复措施,优化绿地结构、保护生态空间,减少城镇扩张和不合理的人类活动对生态系统服务的消极影响,建设生态优美、文化繁荣的美丽湾区。     

水生植物-微生物联合去除水体有机污染物的研究进展

近年来,随着经济的快速发展,大量有机化合物随着工业废水和生活污水排放进入水体,严重破坏了水环境的生态平衡,威胁着水生生物及人类健康。植物-微生物联合修复技术因具有修复效率高、持续时间长、投入成本低,而且不会产生二次污染等特点,在水体有机污染治理中受到了人们的广泛关注。本文综述了近年来水生植物-微生物联合去除水体有机污染物的应用现状,详细阐述了水生植物-微生物联合修复过程中的研究方法、作用机制及影响因素。以期不断完善和优化水生植物-微生物联合修复技术,为实现水环境有机物污染的统筹高效治理提供参考。