Ecological indicators for assessing management effectiveness: A case study of horse riding in an Alpine National Park

Recreation activities and visitor use often have deleterious ecological impacts in protected areas. Management agencies then face the difficult task of providing recreation and tourism opportunities without compromising environmental values. This study assessed the success of efforts aimed at conserving alpine vegetation along the Mt Bogong Massif in Victoria, Australia, through controlling the use of horses. Vegetation condition was assessed in 2001 to coinciding with restrictions on the use of horse riding on trails and then resurveyed 10 years later. Sampling was undertaken in track plots that included the trail and surrounding vegetation, and control plots located away from the trail. There were significant differences in the amount of bare ground, the height of shrubs and ground layer vegetation, and shrub cover between track and control plots in 2001. Ten years later, track plots were recovering with reductions in bare ground and changes in vegetation, with improved ground layer vegetation height. Results show that vegetation condition has improved with restrictions of horse numbers. The indicators selected were sensitive to changes in vegetation condition and hence should be used for ongoing assessment of the effectiveness of this and similar management interventions.     

Fuzzy methods for assessing criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management

This paper describes the general concepts, meaning, and definitions of sustainability and proposes the use of soft methodologies, particularly fuzzy set theory, for its assessment. Criteria and indicators (C&I) are described as instruments to assess forest sustainability. Basic elements and concepts of fuzzy sets are described, including membership functions and their interpretations in the context of sustainable forest management. Moreover, fuzzy operators that can combine the operational concepts of sustainability, namely criteria and indicators are described. A simple illustrative example is described to demonstrate the application of these methodologies.     

Inclusion of prevention scenarios in LCA of construction waste management

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment - Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been applied extensively for the environmental evaluation of solid waste management. However, there are only a...     

Ecological indicators for green building construction

Building construction is one of the largest final consumers of environmental resources as well as one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gas and other pollution. This paper aims to propose ecological indicators for green building construction by applying a slack-based data envelop analysis approach, in which resource conservation and environmental protection are both incorporated. We conduct an empirical analysis of ecological indicators for green building construction using China's regional panel dataset during 1995–2012, and use the analysis to further discuss the technological gaps across the regions. The findings show that: (i) half of China's provinces have a substantial potential increase of more than 60% in ecological performance for green building construction; (ii) the developed areas perform better than the developing areas; (iii) the 11th five-year plan period is a turning point for China's green building construction and development as the policies for green construction have significant effects.     

Exploring the effectiveness of grey literature indicators and life cycle assessment in assessing circular economy at the micro level: a comparative analysis

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment - Methods and tools to measure Circular Economy (CE) are in an early stage of development, especially on the micro level, and only limited...     

Analysis of structural and functional indicators for assessing the health state of mountain streams

Mountain streams play a key role in the conservation of aquatic biodiversity and key ecosystem services; however human activities are threatening these ecosystems as mountain areas become more and more developed and intensively used. Many of these streams are not considered in current national monitoring programs due to their small catchment area. However, assessing their status and monitoring their trends is well needed to ensure their proper management and conservation. In this study, we evaluated the use of a range of indicators related to different ecosystem structural and functional components in 2 streams affected by sewage outflows and compared with an unpolluted stream in the Picos de Europa National Park (Spain). We surveyed benthic periphyton, macroinvertebrate communities and fish assemblages and also estimated periphyton growth rates, wood decomposition rates and river metabolism. Additionally, we compared the performance of the selected indicators in different hydraulic conditions. Results revealed an effect of the organic pollution on most of the functional and structural indicators for the most polluted stream. Only the number of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera taxa, the Iberian Biomonitoring Working Party index, the invertebrate multimetric index used by the regional water agency, the fish abundance and biomass were sensitive enough to detect low levels of pollution and followed the expected response to the pollution degree. Moreover, most of the indicators behaved similarly under different hydraulic conditions, without major differences between pools and runs. However, the combination of both pool and run replicates at the reach scale resulted in a higher detection capacity of the effects of organic pollution.     

A combination of behavioral and physiological indicators for assessing pig welfare on the farm

The purpose of this research was to identify pig welfare indicators that could help in recognizing stressful practices on farm. The study evaluated behavioral and physiological indicators (cortisol and negative acute phase proteins) in 2 groups of 20 female pigs 4 months old after a 48-hr transport. The first group (A) was transported at the end of May, the second (B) in June. Behavioral observations and blood collection occurred at arrival (D1) and 28 days later (D28). Compared with within-animal control samples obtained 28 days later, pigs of Group A had increased cortisol levels and decreased albumin concentrations after arrival. As demonstrated by lesion and behavior observations, the effect on cortisol and albumin was higher in Group B pigs after a tail-biting episode occurred. The study has reported no evidence of Retinol Binding Protein (RBP) in pigs. A method developed for swine RBP quantification found RBP strongly reduced in D28 samples of Group B, confirming it to be a negative protein in pigs. The suggested combination of physiological and behavioral indicators could provide useful information on the welfare state of an animal.     

Wild bison as ecological indicators of the effectiveness of management practices to increase forage quality on open rangeland

Habitat manipulations through the use of fire or mechanical treatments are often used to combat woody plant encroachment and increase foraging opportunities for wildlife and livestock. This creates spatial heterogeneity in habitat quality that large herbivores should respond to in ways predicted by ideal free distribution theory. We monitored free-ranging bison to test whether, (1) manipulated habitats offer higher quality forage than habitats in undisturbed rangeland, (2) bison respond through changes in herd composition or activity to differences in habitat quality, and (3) burned and mechanically treated habitats offer similar forage qualities. We found that habitat types burned ∼10 years ago continue to produce higher quality forage as evidenced by bison fecal N concentration (14.4 g kg⁻¹ dry mass) than open (10.5 g kg⁻¹), closed (10.6 g kg⁻¹), or mechanically manipulated habitats (11.7 g kg⁻¹). Bison herd composition and activity did not vary across habitat types within seasons, despite some between-season variation in overall group composition with sexual segregation being most evident before mid-summer. For semi-arid rangelands encroached with woody vegetation (e.g. piñon–juniper in the western USA) our evidence from free-ranging bison indicates that burning results in higher quality forage than occurs in both mechanically manipulated and undisturbed habitats. Bison roam widely from water, sample available vegetation continuously, and are long-lived gregarious animals that learn to exploit the spatiotemporal heterogeneity in their large home ranges. Bison also have very similar diets to cattle and so, where bison and cattle are allowed to comingle, we suggest the foraging parameters of free-ranging bison are effective ecological indicators of rangeland quality for both bison and cattle.     

A PCA-based method for construction of composite sustainability indicators

Purpose

Sustainable manufacturing is practiced globally as a comprehensive strategy for improving the sustainability performance of the manufacturing industry. While sustainability is characterized into such three dimensions as economic, environmental, and social, currently, there is no quantitative method yet to measure the so-called ??sustainability?? in the manufacturing industry. The objective of this research is to develop a comprehensive and effective quantitative method to measure the overall sustainability performance of manufacturing companies.

Methods

In this paper, an integrated methodology is presented for the development of composite sustainability indicators based on principal component analysis (PCA). In developing this integrated approach, both industry and academia surveys are conducted to identify what sustainability indicators are favored by the sustainable manufacturing community. A unique index is then generated to measure the overall sustainability performance of industrial practices. The methodology can be used for benchmarking the overall sustainability performance of various manufacturing companies.

Results

A case study is conducted on a total of 11 global electronic manufacturing companies. The overall sustainability performance of these companies are measured, benchmarked, and ranked. The results showed that PCA is an effective approach for constructing composite sustainability indicators across environmental, economic, and social dimensions.

Conclusions

From this research, it is found that industry and academia have different views on the sustainability measurement, evidenced by different weights put on the same indicator in industry and academia. The case study demonstrated that the methodology presented in this paper is an effective tool for comprehensive measurement of sustainability performance of manufacturing companies. Strengths and weaknesses of each company can be identified. Then, the recommended improvements can be suggested based on the study of each of the individual indicators.     

Testing the effectiveness of surrogates for assessing biological diversity of arthropods in cereal agricultural landscapes

Agricultural intensification is altering biodiversity patterns worldwide. Rapid and effective methods are needed to monitor these changes in farmland biodiversity, but it becomes both a cost- and time-prohibitive task, particularly for hyper-diverse groups such as arthropods. We evaluated the effectiveness of surrogates in irrigated and rainfed wheat fields in a Mediterranean farmland in NW Spain in order to get a rapid tool to assess arthropod biodiversity. We studied six groups with different ecological needs (i.e. Aphididae, Aphidiinae, Coccinellidae, Formicidae, Heteroptera and Syrphidae) at species level (147 species), genus (105), family (10, only Heteroptera) and order (19) level. Higher taxa, cross-taxa and subset-taxa or total richness approaches were tested as well as the correlation in composition between levels for the selected groups, and the influence of farming regime. Genus richness was a good surrogate of species richness in all six groups studied (R² = 0.38–0.60), like family and order were for Heteroptera (R² = 0.37 and 0.29, respectively). Cross-taxa analyses showed that Aphididae and Aphidiinae genera (R² = 0.19 and 0.30, respectively) and species (R² = 0.20 and 0.28, respectively) were good surrogates for Aphidiinae and Aphididae species respectively. Coccinellidae genera (R² = 0.26) and species (R² = 0.25) were good surrogates for Heteroptera species. Finally, Aphididae and Coccinellidae both at genera (R² = 0.14 and 0.20, respectively) and at species levels (R² = 0.12–0.22, respectively) were good surrogates for total species richness of all groups. Genera composition was the best surrogate for the species composition within each group. Farming regime had no influence on the relationships between surrogates and species patterns in most cases. Our results suggest that genera level is a useful surrogate for all the studied groups and family is appropriate for Heteroptera. Genus level provided a saving of 15% of identification time in Aphididae and 80% for Coccinellidae. This proves its usefulness to asses and monitor biodiversity in wheat croplands and the possibility to reduce costs.     

Cellular and biochemical indicators assessing the quality of a marine environment

Environmental stressors as well as the direct or combined effects of pollutants could be harmful to the populations living in a marine environment and the reproductive and nutritive processes could be impaired in a deteriorating environment. Sublethal effects of pollutants were studied in the blue mussel Mytilus edulis L., a good bioaccumulator of contaminants. Blue mussels of 3.5 cm were sampled on a rocky substrate at Pointe-Mitis (48° 40N, 68° 02W) along the coast of the St-Lawrence estuary. Mussels were placed in experimental tanks, fed, supplemented with mineral salts and continuous sea water flow and kept 72 h before the exposure to 0.01 µg l^–1 and 0.3 µg l^–1 methylmercury hydroxide in the presence or absence of selenium, at a concentration of 125 µg l^–1, a possible antagonist of methylmercury. The contamination protocol was performed during 45 days and a 14 day period of recuperation was allowed. The stress caused by the transplantation of mussels in the laboratory tanks and/or by the presence of pollutants was evaluated by a general indicator of stress developed in our laboratory, the measure of the lysosomal membrane fragility (LMF) of the digestive gland, according to the method developed by Moore (1976). The effects of contamination on metabolism were measured by the study of the variations of the malate dehydrogenase activity (MDH), a key enzyme of the aerobic metabolism. The first days of the contamination period led to an increased metabolism in the mantle and to a detoxifying mechanism in the hepatopancreas. At days 22 and 29 of the experiment, the affinity of the MDH was greatly decreased with both concentrations of methylmercury and selenium, suggesting a competitive inhibition of the enzymatic activity by the pollutants. LMF increased as the mussels were kept longer in the tanks. Methylmercury increased the stress undergone by the mussels. LMF gives information about the degree of stress of the organism while the biochemical indicator informs about the metabolic effects of sublethal concentrations of pollutants.     

Tracking changes in the land use,management and drainage status of organic soils as indicators of the effectiveness of mitigation strategies for climate change

The tracking of land use since 1990 presents a major challenge in greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol because there is often limited availability of data, especially for the base year of 1990. There is even less land management and soil moisture data, which are needed to track climate change mitigation activities since soil moisture is one of the main drivers of GHG emissions of organic soils. Information is also needed for the reporting of land-based activities such as grazing land management or wetland drainage and rewetting of organic soils. Different spatial and thematic resolutions of land-use data produce inconsistent time series with a strong overestimation of land-use change (LUC) if not adequately accounted for. Our aim was to create a consistent time series of land use since 1990 that is in line with GHG reporting under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol by combining official cadastral data with colour-infrared aerial photography used for biodiversity monitoring in six federal states in northern and eastern Germany. We developed a generic hierarchical classification by land use, management and drainage status, and a translation key for data harmonisation into a consistent time series. This time series enabled the quantification of LUC on organic soils between 1992 and 2013 in a spatially explicit manner. Furthermore we used this time series to develop indicators for changes in land management and drainage to evaluate the success of protection statuses on peatland restoration.The study area encompassed one million hectares, half of which had some type of legal nature protection status. Areas with no protection status tended to become more intensively farmed and drier, while highly protected areas (e.g. Natura 2000) showed the opposite trend. Land-use trends also differed greatly between federal states. In Schleswig-Holstein organic soils tended to become drier during the study period, while in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania they tended to become wetter overall. The trends and differences in LUC between federal states were linked to German reunification, changes in the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and Germany's Renewable Energy Act (EEG). A large-scale peatland protection programme also had major impact.In conclusion, our study demonstrates how data derived for biodiversity monitoring and other highly detailed land-use data can be used to track changes in land use, management and drainage status in accordance with the reporting requirements under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol.     

中国最受关注濒危物种保护现状快速评价的新方法探讨

本文尝试制订了一套评分标准, 对中国174个国家I级保护动植物物种和IUCN物种红色名录中极危(CR)、濒危(EN)级别的鸟类的保护成效进行了快速评价。选取种群数量和趋势、信息完善程度、模拟分布区中适宜生境面积变化趋势和模拟分布区被保护区覆盖程度等4个指标进行评分。数据来源包括公开发表的研究文献、遥感数据、实地调查和公众收集。结果表明, 174个物种的保护状况整体呈变差趋势, 4项指标平均值均为负值。单个物种保护状况改善的有26种, 维持原状的有32种, 变差的有116种。本文还对2000-2013年间发表的涉及746个受威胁物种的9,338篇研究文献进行了梳理, 结果表明被研究物种数和文献数都逐年上升, 但每年被研究的物种不到1/3。研究集中于明星物种和有经济价值的物种, 如大熊猫(Ailuropoda melanoleuca)的文献占了全部的11.33%, 大多数物种研究不足。分析表明即使是集中了最多保护资源的濒危物种, 其保护状况仍然是变差的。     

Use of the leukocyte adherence inhibition reaction for assessing the effectiveness of vaccination against measles

The reaction of the inhibition of leukocyte adhesion to a glass slide under the action of measles antigen may be used for the evaluation of the activity of antigen-specific T-lymphocytes in the process of immunization against measles and recommended, along with serological studies, for finding out persons susceptible to measles among vaccinees. The immunological effect of booster immunizations against measles can be evaluated by the degree of the inhibition of leukocyte agglutination to a glass slide.     

Vegetation bioshields for tsunami mitigation: review of effectiveness, limitations, construction, and sustainable management

Coastal vegetation has been widely recognized as a natural method to reduce the energy of tsunami waves. However, a vegetation barrier cannot completely stop a tsunami, and its effectiveness depends on the magnitude of the tsunami as well as the structure of the vegetation. For coastal rehabilitation, optimal planning of natural coastal systems, and their maintenance, we need to quantitatively elucidate the capacity of vegetation to reduce the energy of tsunami waves. The limitations of coastal forests in relation to the magnitude of a tsunami and the maintenance of forests as natural disaster buffer zones have to be understood correctly for effective coastal vegetation planning. Demerits of coastal forests have also been revealed: for example, an open gap in a forest (i.e., a road, river, difference in elevation, etc.) can channel and amplify a strong current by forcing it into the gap. Floating debris from broken trees also can damage surrounding buildings and hurt people. However, many studies have revealed that these demerits can be overcome with proper planning and management of mangroves and coastal forests, and that coastal vegetation has a significant potential to mitigate damage in constructed areas and save human lives by acting as buffer zones during extreme natural events. However, mangrove forests have been damaged by anthropogenic activities (i.e., tourism, shrimp farming, and industrial development), making coastal areas increasingly vulnerable to tsunamis and other natural disasters. The effectiveness of vegetation also changes with the age and structure of the forest. This highlights the fact that proper planning and management of vegetation are required to maintain the tsunami buffering function of coastal forests. Although many government and nongovernmental organizations have implemented coastal vegetation projects, many of them have been unsuccessful due to a lack of proper maintenance. A pilot project in Matara City, Sri Lanka, revealed that participation and support from local authorities and communities is essential to make the planting projects successful. An integrated coastal vegetation management system that includes utilization of the materials produced by the forest and a community participation and awareness program are proposed to achieve a sustainable and long-lasting vegetation bioshield.     

A sequential test for assessing the effectiveness of response strategies during an emerging epidemic

In epidemiology, the fatality rate is an important indicator of disease severity and has been used to evaluate the effects of new treatments. During an emerging epidemic with limited resources, monitoring the changes in fatality rate can also provide signals on the evaluation of government policies and healthcare quality, which helps to guide public health decision. A statistical test is developed in this paper to detect changes in fatality rate over time during the course of an emerging infectious disease. A major advantage of the proposed test is that it only requires the regularly reported numbers of deaths and recoveries, which meets the actual need as detailed surveillance data are hard to collect during the course of an emerging epidemic especially the deadly infectious diseases with large magnitude. In addition, with the sequential testing procedure, the effective measures can be detected at the earliest possible time to provide guidance to policymakers for swift action. Simulation studies showed that the proposed test performs well and is sensitive in picking up changes in the fatality rate. The test is applied to the 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone for illustration.     

Ecological indicators for assessing ecological success of forest restoration: a world review

Restoration is increasingly being used to reverse degradation and destruction of forest ecosystems. With increasing investment in restoration, there is an urgent need to develop effective programs to assess treatment efficacy and effects. We conducted a global review of forest restoration assessments, in order to identify geographic trends in the locations where assessments have been implemented and the specific ecological attributes (ecosystem composition, structure, and function) and indicators being used to measure effects. We found that the number of forest restoration assessments varied by region and was not related to degree of degradation or restoration need. Some regions, like Africa, which have experienced high rates of forest loss and degradation, had few assessments. The majority (43%) of assessments included indicators for only two of three key ecological attributes (composition‐structure or composition‐function) and assessments on average used fewer than three indicators per attribute. The most commonly employed indicators for composition were richness and abundance of plant species and for structure were height and diameter of trees, variables that are generally relatively easy to measure. The use of functional indicators has been increasing over time and they are now more commonly used than structural indicators. The most common functional indicators were soil functions. Most investigators evaluated treatment effects for 6–10 years after implementation. Our findings related to gaps in analysis of ecological indicators can serve as a guide for developing monitoring and assessment protocols for current global forest restoration initiatives by 2020–2030.     

Method of creating a model for assessing the effectiveness of preparing the wound surface for autodermoplasty in an experiment

Twenty rabbits and fourty male rats were used for the development of the autodermoplasty model: two symmetrical semilunar skin incisions, turned to one another, with 1 cm space between the ends of the arches, were made on the back of the animal. The skin with subcutaneous fat was exfoliated from above the muscular tissue in the area between the incisions. Elastic arched net-shaped fluoroplastic plate, matching to the size of the exfoliated skin graft and raising it 1.5 cm above the wound surface was introduced into the cavity emerged. As soon as any method of wound surface purification was used, the plate was removed and the the skin graft above (conditional autodermograft) was applied and fixed to the edges of the wound with 4 interrupted sutures. It was stated that the model used for testing various methods of preparing the wound surface for autodermoplasty not only decreased the duration of experiment and the number of animals employed but cut their keeping and dressing expenditures.     

Searching for effective indicators of ecosystem function in urban streams: assessing cellulose decomposition potential

1. Urbanisation and landuse changes threaten the ecological integrity of rivers and streams globally. A major challenge in such impacted environments is to develop functional indicators for use by waterway managers. We first reviewed cellulose decomposition potential (CDP) as one such indicator, and here present current understanding and highlight the knowledge gaps which hinder its widespread incorporation into programmes monitoring stream health. In a field study, we also evaluated two differing cellulose materials (Shirley soil burial test material and unbleached calico) and measurement techniques. 2. We also investigated the effects of urbanisation and riparian cover on CDP as a standardised indicator of ecosystem function. Cotton fabrics were deployed in paired open and closed reaches across six stream catchments varying in degree of urbanisation (in south‐eastern Australia). After 7, 14 and 21 days materials were retrieved and their decomposition assessed in conjunction with a number of physicochemical variables. 3. We observed a strong positive relationship between the decomposition of Shirley and calico materials, thus indicating unbleached calico is an effective substitute for Shirley test cloth, which is no longer available. 4. Across sites, CDP was positively correlated with ammonium concentrations and also, to a lesser extent, with filterable reactive phosphorus and sediment silt and clay content/carbon availability. Despite these relationships, cellulose decomposition was not correlated with urbanisation or riparian cover. 5. Cellulose decomposition is a simple, rapid and sensitive functional indicator of water quality and associated anthropogenic landuse changes and is thus a valuable tool for monitoring stream health.     

A methodological improvement for assessing petrochemical projects through life cycle assessment and eco-costs

Purpose

As the debate on how to effectively link life cycle analysis (LCA) and negative externalities of the products or processes is still unsolved, an improved methodology that involves the private and social (environment) profitability to petrochemical projects in Mexico is presented. We incorporate both environmental impacts, identified through the LCA, using the eco-costs model, within a project appraisal analysis. The eco-costs are a single LCA-based indicator of environmental burden, based on the concept of marginal prevention costs, i.e. costs required to bring back the environmental degradation to a sustainable level.

Methods

The methodology was carried out in four steps. First, the potential environmental impacts (in physical units) were assessed through life-cycle assessment. Second, the marginal prevention costs of pollution (eco-costs) of impact categories were estimated. Third, since these monetary values are given for a European income level, eco-costs were adjusted to Mexican income levels (i.e., benefit transfer). Fourth, these adjusted values were used for assessing the financial viability of two petrochemical projects at two stages of installed capacity.

Results and discussion

The costs of marginal prevention (eco-costs) changed from 1.62 USD/kg of acrylonitrile in the old design to 0.926 USD/kg in the redesign. In case of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), the eco-costs were from 16.08 USD/kg of VCM for the stage design to 1.62 USD/kg for the operational stage (ex post). The sensitivity analysis identified that only 15 % of these eco-costs, in the case of acrylonitrile, and 1.5 % for the VCM, could be incorporated to the costs of the project without affecting the profit on the investment.

Conclusions

The developed methodology was helpful to express potential environmental impacts in monetary units as financial indicators in a project appraisal. Thus, the methodology can be used to internalize the eco-costs into product prices, shifting the financial burden to firms and consumers, in order to offset the high costs of the green net national product.