从《生物多样性公约》资金机制战略目标变迁解析生物多样性热点问题

全球环境基金是《生物多样性公约》的唯一资金机制, 它按照《生物多样性公约》要求和基金自身的政策导向为发展中国家和经济转型国家提供资金支持。从其试点期到当前的第7增资期, 全球环境基金在生物多样性领域的战略目标发生了多次变迁, 研究这些资金机制战略目标所涉及的生物多样性热点问题的变迁情况对未来相关工作开展具有一定参考意义。本文梳理了各增资期生物多样性领域战略目标所涉及的生物多样性热点问题, 对每个热点问题在全球环境基金各增资期中资金量和内容的变迁情况进行了分析, 并就中国当前情况与之进行比较, 进而提出了加强对保护地中生态系统代表性的考虑、增强保护地资金可持续性、全面推动生物多样性主流化、加强生物安全相关领域研究、推进遗传资源获取和惠益分享立法并注重知识管理、加强新问题新挑战的应对、深化资金机制研究等建议, 以期为开展《生物多样性公约》履约、生物多样性管理和研究工作提供参考。     

全球变化下植物物候研究的关键问题

总结了全球变化下植物物候研究的主要进展,针对该领域国内外的几个热点问题进行了讨论。植物物候研究的重心从以前的野外观测和初步统计分析逐步过渡到以揭示物候周期的调控机制和环境效应为主,研究手段从植物物候对环境变化做出反应的表象描述转移到多尺度、多要素耦合关系的综合分析。随着学科交叉研究的不断深入,植物物候研究从植物个体及居群适应性研究转向植物物候变化对生态系统、气候演变、农业生产乃至人类健康等方面影响的系统评估。并且在该转变过程中出现了几个关键性问题,如不同温度带大气温度与光周期对植物物候期贡献力问题、植物物候变化对气候变暖的非线性响应特征、群落水平上植物物候研究的复杂性、以及农业生态系统中作物物候研究的重要性等。对我国植物物候研究现状和管理体系中亟待解决的问题提出了建议。     

Data issues in the life sciences

We review technical and sociological issues facing the Life Sciences as they transform into more data-centric disciplines - the "Big New Biology". Three major challenges are: 1) lack of comprehensive standards; 2) lack of incentives for individual scientists to share data; 3) lack of appropriate infrastructure and support. Technological advances with standards, bandwidth, distributed computing, exemplar successes, and a strong presence in the emerging world of Linked Open Data are sufficient to conclude that technical issues will be overcome in the foreseeable future. While motivated to have a shared open infrastructure and data pool, and pressured by funding agencies in move in this direction, the sociological issues determine progress. Major sociological issues include our lack of understanding of the heterogeneous data cultures within Life Sciences, and the impediments to progress include a lack of incentives to build appropriate infrastructures into projects and institutions or to encourage scientists to make data openly available.     

Differences in acquired knowledge and attitudes achieved with traditional,computer-supported and virtual laboratory biology laboratory exercises

This paper reports on the contribution to biological knowledge of three different laboratory technologies and also endeavours to discover which technology students prefer the most. To examine differences in knowledge gained and learners’ preferences for different technologies in biology laboratory work, we prepared three variants (triplets) of three laboratory exercises. Each laboratory variant in a triplet was prepared as a classical laboratory work, a computer-supported laboratory and an interactive virtual simulation. A group of 670 learners at a school for all genders, aged between 11 and 15 (6th to 9th grade) of lower secondary Slovenia schools performed three well-known and easy to perform laboratory exercises that are included in their curriculum (‘Gas Exchange’, ‘Activity of Yeast’ and ‘Heart Rate’) as a traditional, computer-supported laboratory and computer simulation. The data indicated that there were no statistical differences pertaining to students’ knowledge gain between these laboratory technologies with regard to grade, gender or school score. In this study, students preferred a computer-supported laboratory mostly followed by a classic laboratory with a computer simulation in last place, regardless of students’ grade, gender or academic scores.     

Revisiting Patterns of Tree Species Composition and their Driving Forces in the Atlantic Forests of Southeastern Brazil

The elucidation of phytogeographic patterns and their drivers in biodiversity hotspots is essential to the study of ecology and the conservation of these areas. In 2000, an important study by Oliveira‐Filho and Fontes led to changes in the paradigms that define our understanding of the Atlantic Forest (Brazil). Here, our aim was to revisit this study using a more comprehensive set of environmental predictors, an updated and much larger tree species dataset and checklist, and more refined data analyses. We performed exploratory and confirmatory analyses, including the modeling of the spatial components with Moran's Eigenvector Maps, using data from 483 sites in southeastern Brazil, which encompass a total of 3546 species and 33 geo‐climatic variables. We observed strong floristic similarities between rain‐ and seasonal forests and a species distribution continuum across the main gradients. The environmental and spatial variables were significantly correlated with floristic patterns, and we demonstrated that the tree flora of the seasonal forests should no longer be considered a simple subset of the rain forest flora. The findings of the original paper were not only confirmed but we also unveiled additional, important phytogeographic patterns. We also reinforced the main conclusion of the paper that the Atlantic Forest concept must encompass all of the forest types east of the dry corridor in South America, a designation of utmost importance for the conservation of this biodiversity hotspot.     

Woody vegetation of a mosaic of protected areas adjacent to the Kruger National Park,South Africa

Question: How is pattern detected and spatial scale defined in a manner that is meaningful to management? Location: Protected areas to the west of the Kruger National Park, South Africa. Methods: A Two‐Way Indicator Species Analysis (TWIN‐SPAN) based on composition and structure was applied to woody survey data. The resulting TWINSPAN classes for individual monitoring sites were used in a supervised classification of Landsat ETM⁺ imagery across the study area. The training sample's co‐ordinates were fed into a GIS and the resulting TWINSPAN point‐feature shape file was processed using a 1 km theme‐buffer function. Results: The supervised classification using the theme‐buffer signatures yielded a satisfactory overall accuracy (κ= 0.75; r²= 0.80; p= 0.05) using a test sample compiled by reserve wardens throughout the study area. The derived vegetation map was smoothed using a majority filter and after on‐screen digitizing a small gabbro intrusion, it was accepted as the best representation of the woody vegetation of the study area at a scale of 1:250 000. Seven plant communities were identified in the current study and satisfactorily accommodated within various topographical units of four extrapolated Landscapes of the Kruger National Park. Conclusions: Vegetation patterns are described of the areas under conservation management to the west of the KNP at a spatial scale that allows for the meaningful examination and comparison of the structure, functioning, and ultimately effective management, of these savannas. This contribution thus links to the co‐ordinated effort extending into the Trans‐Frontier National Park in Mocambique. A key objective is to better understand the functioning of these savanna systems for effective management and we discuss some of the key ecological issues within the plant communities of each landscape. The latter illustrate the usefulness of the technique in practice.