Unraveling the Nexus: Exploring the Pathways to Combined Resource Use

In response to the unprecedented decline in global natural resource endowments, the so‐called nexus framework is gaining increasing influence on resource management practices. In this research, we approach the resource nexus through the concept of nexus pathways. Nexus pathways are configurations that resource flows follow along supply chains leading to the combined use of two or more resources. Three general types of pathways are identified: direct (on‐site use), dependent (one‐way supply chains), and interdependent (supply‐chain feedbacks). We quantify and compare each pathway by means of multiregional input‐output analysis and structural path analysis, and apply this approach to a comparative case study on the water‐energy nexus (WEN) in the United States and China. Interdependencies or feedbacks are generally thought to be relevant for the WEN, especially between water and energy sectors. Our economy‐wide analysis for both countries indicates, however, that feedbacks neither play an important role in the WEN nor substantially take place between water and energy sectors. The most important feedbacks contribute to less than 1% of total resource use, and these take place mostly between manufacturing sectors. Overall, the studied WEN is mostly driven by dependent pathways and, to a lesser degree, direct resource use. Comparative differences between the two countries are largely explained by differences in economic structure, technology, and resource endowments. Our findings call into question current research and policy focus and suggest greater attention to less complex, but more determining, pathways leading to absolute resource use.     

Managing the middle: A shift in conservation priorities based on the global human modification gradient

An increasing number of international initiatives aim to reconcile development with conservation. Crucial to successful implementation of these initiatives is a comprehensive understanding of the current ecological condition of landscapes and their spatial distributions. Here, we provide a cumulative measure of human modification of terrestrial lands based on modeling the physical extents of 13 anthropogenic stressors and their estimated impacts using spatially explicit global datasets with a median year of 2016. We quantified the degree of land modification and the amount and spatial configuration of low modified lands (i.e., natural areas relatively free from human alteration) across all ecoregions and biomes. We identified that fewer unmodified lands remain than previously reported and that most of the world is in a state of intermediate modification, with 52% of ecoregions classified as moderately modified. Given that these moderately modified ecoregions fall within critical land use thresholds, we propose that they warrant elevated attention and require proactive spatial planning to maintain biodiversity and ecosystem function before important environmental values are lost.     

宁夏东部风沙区沙化草地土壤水分和植被的空间特征

土壤水分作为土壤-植被-大气连续体的关键因子,对沙化草地的演化过程具有重要作用。为探讨宁夏东部风沙区沙化草地土壤水分、物种丰富度指数及植被盖度的空间变异及其相互关系,以哈巴湖自然保护区沙化草地为对象,采用样线法自潜在沙化草地至重度沙化草地进行植被调查和土壤取样,通过经典统计学和地统计学分析,得出以下结果：0—100 m各土层土壤水分含量、植被盖度和物种丰富度指数的分布范围分别为0.82%—28.22%、41.00%—93.00%和0.82—2.80,变异系数范围为0.20—0.48,均属于中等变异。各土层土壤水分和物种丰富度指数表现为中等的空间自相关性,植被盖度则表现为强烈的空间自相关性。Kriging插值结果表明,0—100 cm各土层土壤水分和植被盖度的空间插值图呈条带状和斑块状的梯度变化,物种丰富度呈斑块分布,自潜在沙化草地至重度沙化草地,表现为逐渐降低的趋势。相关分析表明,植被盖度与0—40 cm各土层土壤水分呈显著正相关,与40—100 cm各土层土壤水分呈极显著正相关。宁夏东部风沙区沙化草地土壤水分含量总体较低,由于结构因素和随机因素的共同作用,随草地沙化程度的加重,表现为...     

Importance of an appropriate visual presentation for avoiding a misconception of the menstrual cycle

Family planning, the prevention of unwanted pregnancy, and women’s reproductive health are topics that have received close attention for decades. It would therefore be fair to assume that there exists a good knowledge of the menstrual cycle. However, it is clear that many people have various misconceptions about the menstrual cycle and fertile days or ovulation, and that this process is still largely taught with the aid of materials and images that have not changed for many years. We investigated the effect of moving away from the usual teaching practice of using a 28-day diagram showing ovulation on the 14th day. A total of 184 students from three different high schools, aged between 17 and 18, participated in this research. The students who were taught using three diagrams showing different durations of the menstrual cycle showed a significantly better adoption of the facts and concepts compared to the students who were taught using a diagram of the average 28-day cycle. Our results confirmed that it is highly important to use appropriate visual displays in the teaching of the menstrual cycle and that it is essential to enhance the visual literacy of students and teachers.     

Predicted avian responses to bioenergy development scenarios in an intensive agricultural landscape

Conversion of native prairie to agriculture has increased food and bioenergy production but decreased wildlife habitat. However, enrollment of highly erodible cropland in conservation programs has compensated for some grassland loss. In the future, climate change and production of second-generation perennial biofuel crops could further transform agricultural landscapes and increase or decrease grassland area. Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) is an alternative biofuel feedstock that may be economically and environmentally superior to maize (Zea mays) grain for ethanol production on marginally productive lands. Switchgrass could benefit farmers economically and increase grassland area, but there is uncertainty as to how conversions between rowcrops, switchgrass monocultures and conservation grasslands might occur and affect wildlife. To explore potential impacts on grassland birds, we developed four agricultural land-use change scenarios for an intensively cultivated landscape, each driven by potential future climatic changes and ensuing irrigation limitations, ethanol demand, commodity prices, and continuation of a conservation program. For each scenario, we calculated changes in area for landcover classes and predicted changes in grassland bird abundances. Overall, birds responded positively to the replacement of rowcrops with switchgrass and negatively to the conversion of conservation grasslands to switchgrass or rowcrops. Landscape context and interactions between climate, crop water use, and irrigation availability could influence future land-use, and subsequently, avian habitat quality and quantity. Switchgrass is likely to provide higher quality avian habitat than rowcrops but lower quality habitat than conservation grasslands, and therefore, may most benefit birds in heavily cultivated, irrigation dependent landscapes under warmer and drier conditions, where economic profitability may also encourage conversions to drought tolerant bioenergy feedstocks.