The method matters: A guide for indicator aggregation in ecological assessments

Ecological assessment requires the integration of many physical, chemical, and/or biological quality elements. The choice of the aggregation method of such partial assessments into an overall assessment can considerably affect the assessment outcome – an issue that has been controversially discussed within the scientific community for the last decade. Current practice often considers only two different aggregation methods, the weighted arithmetic mean (additive aggregation) and the one-out, all-out method (minimum aggregation). However, both have important drawbacks. Additive aggregation compensates a bad status of one quality element by a number of elements featuring good status. Minimum aggregation can lead to overly pessimistic assessment results, since only the quality element in the worst status is considered. Here, we introduce a toolbox containing current and new aggregation methods, demonstrate and discuss their properties with simple, didactical examples, and suggest in which situations best to use them. Then, we illustrate the consequences of selected aggregation schemes for ecological river assessment with the case study of the Swiss Modular Concept of stream assessment (SMC), which we apply to ten river reaches in the Mönchaltdorfer Aa catchment in Switzerland. To be able to do so, we used multi-criteria decision analysis, i.e., multi-attribute value theory, to arrange the SMC quality elements into an objectives hierarchy, and to translate their individual assessments into value functions. Our case study revealed that choosing the most appropriate aggregation method particularly matters, if objectives with significantly different qualities are aggregated. We argue that redundant objectives (i.e., quality elements), often found at the lower levels of the objectives hierarchy, should best be aggregated additively allowing for compensation to increase the statistical significance of the results. Further, we suggest that complementary sub-objectives that often occur at higher levels may be optimally aggregated with a mixture of additive and minimum aggregation. Such a mixed method will allow some compensation, but nevertheless penalize for very bad states. Since here we compare commonly used aggregation methods with some which we believe have never been discussed in an assessment context before, our study concurrently informs ecological assessment in theory and in practice.     

A Field Study of Animal Behaviour

A dice game for teaching the relationship between water availability and water loss in plant growth     

城市行道树对交通环境的响应

以远离交通环境的公园作为相对清洁区,研究了位于广东佛山种植最普遍的8种城市行道树树黄葛榕(FicusvirensAit.var.sublanceolata(Miq.)Corner),大叶紫薇(Lagerstroemiaspeciosa(L.)Pers.),芒果(MangiferaindicaL.),细叶榕(FicusmicrocarpaL.),阴香(Cinnamomumburmanii(Nees)Bl.),垂叶榕(FicusbenjaminaL.),白兰(MicheliaalbaDC.),红花羊蹄甲(BauhiniablakeanaDunn)在交通密集区生长在不同方位的植物器官对交通环境的响应。结果表明,交通密集区的城市行道树的叶片和树皮器官吸收重金属铅和镉、硫含量、电导率和pH值等指标在不同的方位呈现显著的差别,即城市行道树位于快车道一侧生长的植物的器官(以下简称P1)、位于面向人行道一侧生长的植物的器官(以下简称P2)及相对清洁区采集的植物样品(以下简称P0)各指标测定值的分析结果为:其叶片和树皮硫、重金属铅和镉、电导率等特征值基本呈现P1>P2>P0的大小规律,在显著度为0.05时差异显著;而pH值基本呈现P1相似文献   

三江源地区生态系统服务功能与价值评估

采用谢高地分类系统和评估方法分析了三江源地区生态系统结构和服务功能,并对其价值进行了评估.结果表明:三江源地区生态系统服务功能总价值为3 377.1×108yuan·a-1.从生态系统类型来看,湿地、草地、森林、水体、荒漠和农田占其总价值的比例分别为52.91%、21.97%、15.23%、9.17%、0.67%和0.06%.从服务功能类型来看,主要是废物处理、水源涵养、气候调节、土壤形成与保护、生物多样性、娱乐文化、气体调节、原材料和食物生产.,分别占其总价值的23.9%、21.9%、19.1%、10.1%、8.7%、6.6%、6.4%、2.0%和1.3%.说明三江源地区生态系统具有多种服务功能,保护其生态系统结构和功能对中国江河中下游地区生态环境安全和区域可持续发展都具有重要意义.     

二月兰形态性状的变异分析

二月兰(Orychophragmus violaceus)是集食用、保健、饲用和观赏于一身的优良地被植物。其遗传背景单一、生长周期短,是发展模式植物的优良材料。为了开发其育种价值,我们对二月兰的形态变异式样进行了初步分析。共选取了北京和南京地区的7个居群的34个表型性状进行观测。通过计算分析发现:株高、茎和花序分枝等性状受环境影响较大,因而其分类价值不大;叶形、毛被、叶缘锯齿等性状的变异在居群内是连续的,所以也不是可靠的分类性状;而花部性状的一些变异,包括花瓣的颜色、大小、形态,基本不受环境影响,且这些变异在居群内是不连续的,所以其分类价值相对较高。对17个数值性状的方差分析和多重比较结果表明,在同一年度内,大部分性状在不同地区间差异不显著,在居群间差异极显著;而在不同年度内,居群间差异不显著。最后,对7个居群和30个表型性状进行了数量分类:Q分析表明北京颐和园、南京紫金山山顶公园和南京中山植物园居群比较相似,而北京圆明园、北京海淀区后八家苗圃、南京情侣园和北京天坛公园居群较相似。R分析揭示了二月兰花部、叶部、反映植株毛被和颜色以及表现植株生长量的性状间均具有一定的相关性。这些研究可为种下等级的划分和进一步的遗传研究以及品种培育提供一定的参数资料。     

Does mother really know best? Oviposition preference reduces reproductive performance in the generalist parasitoid Aphidius ervi

The reproductive success of female parasitoids is dependent on their ability to accurately assess the suitability of a host for larval development. For generalist parasitoids, which utilize a broad range of species and instars as hosts, a set of assessment criteria determines whether a host is accepted or rejected. The suitability of a host, however, can only be imperfectly assessed by the female parasitoid, which can result in the selection of lesser quality hosts for oviposition. In this study we explored the disparity between host quality and host preference using the generalist koinobiotic parasitoid Aphidius ervi Haliday (Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae) and the host Aulacorthum solani (Harris) (Homoptera: Aphididae), the foxglove aphid. The second instar hosts produced the highest level of reproductive success, while third and fourth instars resulted in a substantially reduced reproductive performance. When given a choice of host instars, parasitoids preferred the older hosts for oviposition disregarding their reduced suitability for larval development. Results are discussed in context of mechanisms involved in A. ervi host selection and biases in the criteria used to assess hosts that may arise when parasitoids transfer host species between generations.     

Predicting forest grouse distribution taking account of spatial autocorrelation

Spatially explicit, multi-scale models for predictions of species potential distribution can be useful tools for integrating biodiversity considerations in planning and strategic environmental assessment. In such models, the occurrences of focal species are related to habitat and landscape variables, which in urbanising areas should also include effects of urban disturbances. Moreover, the accuracy of the spatial predictive models may be affected by spatial autocorrelation, which means that a part of the variance is explained by neighbouring values. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of habitat and disturbance patterns on the distribution of two forest grouse species, Tetrao urogallus and Bonasa bonasia, and to detect and model the effects of spatial autocorrelation. The distribution of the two species could be explained in terms of reduction of a main predator, habitat quality, quantity and connectivity, including urban disturbances. The residuals of the initial regressions showed positive spatial autocorrelation that could be quantified by using a spatial probit model. The application of the spatial probit model revealed strongly significant spatial dependencies for both species. Furthermore, the model fit could be increased for T. urogallus by applying this model. The results implied that both species distributions might be affected by both reactions to the underlying land-use pattern, but also by interaction with neighbours. The use of the spatial probit model is a way to incorporate spatial interactions that otherwise cannot be captured by the independent variables.