Pleistocene rewilding: an optimistic agenda for twenty-first century conservation

Large vertebrates are strong interactors in food webs, yet they were lost from most ecosystems after the dispersal of modern humans from Africa and Eurasia. We call for restoration of missing ecological functions and evolutionary potential of lost North American megafauna using extant conspecifics and related taxa. We refer to this restoration as Pleistocene rewilding; it is conceived as carefully managed ecosystem manipulations whereby costs and benefits are objectively addressed on a case-by-case and locality-by-locality basis. Pleistocene rewilding would deliberately promote large, long-lived species over pest and weed assemblages, facilitate the persistence and ecological effectiveness of megafauna on a global scale, and broaden the underlying premise of conservation from managing extinction to encompass restoring ecological and evolutionary processes. Pleistocene rewilding can begin immediately with species such as Bolson tortoises and feral horses and continue through the coming decades with elephants and Holarctic lions. Our exemplar taxa would contribute biological, economic, and cultural benefits to North America. Owners of large tracts of private land in the central and western United States could be the first to implement this restoration. Risks of Pleistocene rewilding include the possibility of altered disease ecology and associated human health implications, as well as unexpected ecological and sociopolitical consequences of reintroductions. Establishment of programs to monitor suites of species interactions and their consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem health will be a significant challenge. Secure fencing would be a major economic cost, and social challenges will include acceptance of predation as an overriding natural process and the incorporation of pre-Columbian ecological frameworks into conservation strategies.     

A framework for the study of zoonotic disease emergence and its drivers: spillover of bat pathogens as a case study

Many serious emerging zoonotic infections have recently arisen from bats, including Ebola, Marburg, SARS-coronavirus, Hendra, Nipah, and a number of rabies and rabies-related viruses, consistent with the overall observation that wildlife are an important source of emerging zoonoses for the human population. Mechanisms underlying the recognized association between ecosystem health and human health remain poorly understood and responding appropriately to the ecological, social and economic conditions that facilitate disease emergence and transmission represents a substantial societal challenge. In the context of disease emergence from wildlife, wildlife and habitat should be conserved, which in turn will preserve vital ecosystem structure and function, which has broader implications for human wellbeing and environmental sustainability, while simultaneously minimizing the spillover of pathogens from wild animals into human beings. In this review, we propose a novel framework for the holistic and interdisciplinary investigation of zoonotic disease emergence and its drivers, using the spillover of bat pathogens as a case study. This study has been developed to gain a detailed interdisciplinary understanding, and it combines cutting-edge perspectives from both natural and social sciences, linked to policy impacts on public health, land use and conservation.     

生态质量与生态系统服务功能

生态系统服务功能是自然生态过程对人类的贡献。文章阐述了生态系统服务功能的定义、内涵及其与生态质量和生态系统键康三者间密不可分的关系。迅猛的人口增长、社会变化和技术发展,已使承载人类社会的生命之舟——大自然受到严重破坏和巨大威胁,减少这些破坏和威胁是整个社会特别是生态学工作者面临的重大挑战。只有深入认识三者之间的关系及其重要性,才能自觉防止和减少带有自我毁灭性的经济和社会活动。     

生态质量与生态系统服务功能

生态系统服务功能是自然生态过程对人类的贡献。文章阐述了生态系统服务功能的定义、内涵及其与生态质量和生态系统健康三者间密不可分的关系。迅猛的人口增长、社会变化和技术发展,已使承载人类社会的生命之舟－大自然受到严重破坏和巨大威胁,减少这些破坏和威胁是整个社会特别是生态学工作者面临的重大挑战。只有深入认识三者之间的关系及其重要性,才能自觉防止和减少带有自我毁灭性的经济和社会活动。     

生态系统健康评价的研究进展

生态系统健康评价是环境管理和生态系统监控的基础,生态系统监控可促进生态系统健康评价。首先介绍了生态系统健康概念的产生,发展及其不同的内涵,并着重回顾和讨论了生态系统健康评价指标及其存在的问题,生态系统健康评价指标包括生态指标,物理化学指标,人类健康与社会经济指标3大类,生态指标是反映生态系统特征和状态的生物指标,它分为生态系统,群落和种群与个体等不同层次的指标或指标体系,物理化学指标是检测生态系统的非生物环境的指标。人类健康与社会经济指标着眼于生态系统对人类生存与社会发展的支持作用,采用经济参数和社会发展的环境压力指标等来衡量生态服务的质量与可持续性,根据其敏感程度和功能性,生态系统健康评价指标分为早期预警指标,适宜程度指标和诊断指标3类,一个完整的生态系统评价应包括上述3大类指标或指标体系,但在具体的评价实践中往往因评价目的和对象的不同而有所选择,生态系统健康评价目前有两个亟待解决的问题,如何有效确立评价标准与参照系以及如何正确区分人为压力和自然干扰。     

生态系统健康评价——概念构架与指标选择

在探讨生态系统健康概念构架的基础上,寻求对管理景观中的生态系统健康进行整体性评价的合适指标.健康的生态系统不仅在生态学意义上是健康的,并能维持健康的人类群体及有利于社会经济的发展.健康生态系统的一般特征是恢复力、多样性和生产力.建立生态系统健康评价指标的第一步是指标选择原则的确定,根据生态系统健康评价的目的和指标筛选的原则,把生态系统健康指标体系(Ecosystem Health Indicaror,EHI)分为生物物理指标、生态学指标和社会经济指标.     

生态系统健康评价—概念构架与指标选择

在探讨了生态系统健康概念构架的基础上,寻求对管理景观中的生态系统健康进行整体性评价的合适指标,健康的生态系统不仅在生态学意义上是健康的,并能维持健康的人类群体及有利于社会经济的发展,健康生态系统的一般特征是恢复力,多样性和生产力,建立生态系统健康评价指标的第一步是指标选择原则的确定,根据生态系统健康评价的目的和指标筛选的原则,把生态系统健康指标体系（Ecosystem Health Indicator,EHI)分为生物物理指标,生态学指标和社会经济指标。     

内蒙古草原人类福祉与生态系统服务及其动态变化——以锡林郭勒草原为例

以锡林郭勒盟为研究区域,建立人类福祉评价指标体系,通过牧户问卷调查了解牧户对草原生态系统服务和福祉变化的认识,结合当地的自然环境、生态环境和社会经济等多方面的多年统计数据,采用专家打分法对牧民各福祉指标打分,对2001年和2010年牧民福祉变化进行了评估和分析。结果表明:收入、道路覆盖率、农村合作医疗保险和文化教育方面对牧民福祉变化贡献最大;生产资料持续供给能力下降是导致收入减少的主要方面;旗县的犯罪率,环境空气质量,饮食结构,离婚率等是导致牧民福祉下降的主要方面。有关研究结果为提高锡林郭勒盟人类福祉、生态保护和区域可持续发展政策制定提供科学依据。     

Institutions to sustain ecological and social systems

Summary The foundation for a sustainable future is the continuation of ecological processes and functions across landscapes dominated by human activity; whether hunter-gathering, agriculture, pastoralism, suburban living, commercial and industrial centres or wilderness recreation. However, actions to sustain ecological systems, flows and functions must be integrated across the human dimensions of regional landscapes. Such regions encompass natural areas, human living places and a mosaic of other land uses. Institutional change is required to develop new organizational forms, adjust policies and develop adaptive capacity to demonstrate restoration and maintenance of all forms of social, economic and ecological capital. No matter where on the globe, future sustainability will depend on the system of resource governance that mediates the relationship between the society and the economy and, in contrast, the continuation of ecosystem functional processes. The present article examines the forms of capital, social and institutional change that need to be considered to make progress towards sustainable futures. The discussion further considers the spatial management context in which these interweaved social, ecological and economic processes take place.
Key words ecological, forms of capital, governance, institutions, landscape, social.     

The strategic role of ecological research in the design of an environmentally comprehensive plan for a new economic-development area–Meizhou Bay,China

The Government of China is planning a new economic-development area, located at Meizhou Bay on the Chinese mainland, opposite the island of Taiwan. Aspects of this development plant will be subject to an assessment of the potential environmental effects. Especially important considerations are changes in land use associated with urbanization and industrial developments, and any activities that could degrade air and water quality, with potential risks for human health, aquaculture, agriculture, and wildlife. During 1988 to 1990, we conducted studies related to meteorology, environmental geology and engineering, physical oceanography, and marine chemistry and biology.To protect culturally-important orchards of fruit trees (including litchi, orange, and tangerine) from air pollution, and aquaculture facilities for prawn and oyster from oil pollution, these toxic stressors were given priority in our eco-toxicological research, and in the planning of allowable waste discharges. To protect Meizhou Bay from eutrophication, and nutrient-loading eco-dynamic models were developed, to allow simulation of ecological changes potentially associated with nutrient-laden discharges. The results of our ecological research will play a strategic role in reconciling conflicts between economic development and environmental degradation, over both the short- and the long-term.     

西南生态安全格局形成机制及演变机理

我国西南地区地形地貌复杂,生态系统多样,生物多样性丰富,是研究地表复杂过程与生态系统演变规律的关键区域,也是我国重要的生态屏障区。但是同时该区域环境复杂、生态脆弱、灾害严重,在全球气候变化背景下,人类活动和经济发展导致该区域的生态环境问题比较突出,同时区域的社会经济发展地域分异大。突出表现在区域生态系统服务功能受损,区域生态安全水平降低。如何维护区域生态安全具有重要意义。针对生态安全问题,我国已开展生态区划、生态功能区划和生态红线等工作,但在生态安全格局的形成机制、与生态系统服务耦合关系、人类活动和气候变化对生态安全格局影响及其适应、区域社会经济可持续发展等方面需要加强深入研究,在我国西南地区的开展研究西南生态安全格局形成机制及演变机理具有典型性、代表性与紧迫性。     

On the adaptive significance of energetic efficiency

Models of energetic efficiency have been widely used by ecological anthropologists to study human subsistence patterns. This paper explicitly tests an hypothesis posed by Smith (1979) about energy utilization in the highland community of Nunoa, Peru. Smith's hypothesis is largely confirmed, as greater energy availability is associated with increased caloric consumption and improved measures of health and well-being among the wealthier sectors of this population. However, an energetics model does not provide a full understanding of the behavior and biology of this population. Interacting social/economic and environmental forces impose different constraints on different sectors of this population. These differences are in turn reflected in variation in adaptive strategies and in biological well-being. Future work in human ecology will benefit from (1) attention to the interaction of ecological and socio-economic forces, (2) greater appreciation of intra-populational variation in adaptive strategies, and (3) explicit linking of variation in adaptive strategies to differences in human biological parameters.     

Qualitative Assessment of Macaque Tourist Sites in Padangtegal,Bali, Indonesia,and the Upper Rock Nature Reserve,Gibraltar

Human tourists share space with, touch, feed, and otherwise interact with Macaca at multiple locations. Across Asia and stretching to Gibraltar and Northern Africa, macaques form a substantial tourist attraction as their ranges become increasingly coincident with human use zones. Residing in or as tourist attractions, macaques frequently generate economic benefits to local humans and compete with them for habitat and specific resources. In addition, health conflicts may emerge from increased overlap and interactions between humans and macaques. There is only a handful of studies on the impact, structure, context, and cultural ecology of macaque tourist sites. We provide a general overview of 2 macaque tourist sites, one in Padangtegal, Bali, Indonesia and one in Gibraltar. Qualitative assessment reveals variability in behavioral, ecological, economic, and politically relevant facets of macaque tourism. Specifically, differences in aggression during interactions, potential health dangers, economic factors, and local human perceptions between Padangtegal and Gibraltar suggest that qualitative assessments can assist in our construction of broader models and conceptualizations of the interaction context.     

Question of Mutual Security: Exploring Interactions between the Health of Coral Reef Ecosystems and Coastal Communities

Coral reefs are the worlds most celebrated indicators of ocean health. While the global trajectory of coral reef degradation is now well documented, and the accompanying loss of economic benefits increasingly demonstrated, the consequences in terms of human health have been largely ignored. Reefs provide a wide array of benefits to humans, contributing most directly to the health of subsistence fishing communities located on adjacent coasts and islands. Interactions between human and marine ecosystem health are complex, bidirectional and nonlinear. We draw on a broad range of data and experience to identify key links in the ecological chain from the coral polyp to the human society. Our conclusions are that humans are components of coral reef ecosystems, few studies of reef health incorporate human health, few data are available to quantify the health services reefs provide to people, and human health security is essential to the preservation of coral reef ecosystems.     

不同发展模式对城市生态系统调节服务价值的影响

快速城市化加快了城市生态系统格局的改变,导致生态系统服务价值下降,对城市可持续发展造成阻碍。为了探究何种城市发展模式能够创造更高的生态系统服务价值,以深圳为案例,利用2010年、2015年和2020年生态系统类型数据,设置经济、惯性和生态3种不同的发展模式,并使用CA-Markov模型对2025年深圳市各类生态系统变化进行预测。在此基础上创新性地核算了不同模式下的关键生态系统服务价值。结果显示：（1）2015年到2020年,各类生态系统呈现不同变化趋势,人类聚落生态系统快速增长,对各类自然生态系统造成侵占,城区绿地呈现自然减少人工增加趋势。（2）2025年3种发展模式对生态系统类型变化影响显著,惯性发展模式下人类聚落、城区绿地出现扩张,经济发展模式下进一步增长,自然生态系统面积显著减少,生态发展模式下自然生态系统面积得到恢复。（3）3种模式下的生态系统服务价值变化差异显著,惯性和经济发展模式下,生态系统服务价值显著下降,分别较2020年下降2.67%和5.25%。生态发展模式下,生态系统服务价值提高,较经济发展模式提升5.5%,3种模式生态系统调节服务总价值差最高达到38.1亿元。综合来看,未来的发展模式应当选择以生态保护为优先的发展模式,通过制定有效的生态空间保护措施如生态保护红线划定、城市潜在开发区调整,实施生态工程等提高城市生态空间面积和质量,维持和提高生态系统服务价值,实现经济发展与生态保护的协调并行。     

Ecological Integrity of Streams Related to Human Cancer Mortality Rates

Assessments of ecological integrity have become commonplace for biological conservation, but their role for public health analysis remains largely unexplored. We tested the prediction that the ecological integrity of streams would provide an indicator of human cancer mortality rates in West Virginia, USA. We characterized ecological integrity using an index of benthic macroinvertebrate community structure (West Virginia Stream Condition Index, SCI) and quantified human cancer mortality rates using county-level data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Regression and spatial analyses revealed significant associations between ecological integrity and public health. SCI was negatively related to age-adjusted total cancer mortality per 100,000 people. Respiratory, digestive, urinary, and breast cancer rates increased with ecological disintegrity, but genital and oral cancer rates did not. Smoking, poverty, and urbanization were significantly related to total cancer mortality, but did not explain the observed relationships between ecological integrity and cancer. Coal mining was significantly associated with ecological disintegrity and higher cancer mortality. Spatial analyses also revealed cancer clusters that corresponded to areas of high coal mining intensity. Our results demonstrated significant relationships between ecological integrity and human cancer mortality in West Virginia, and suggested important effects of coal mining on ecological communities and public health. Assessments of ecological integrity therefore may contribute not only to monitoring goals for aquatic life, but also may provide valuable insights for human health and safety.     

基于近海健康评价现有体系的我国普适海洋健康评价“双核”新框架的构建

海洋生态环境保持健康状态是人类可持续开发利用海洋资源环境的基础,而近海海洋生态环境的健康状况综合评价可为海洋生态环境良性发展以及社会经济决策提供科学依据。首先对国际上3种代表性的海洋环境健康综合评价方法的应用特点进行了对比分析,并归纳了我国海洋生态环境健康评价的状况,在此基础上,以指标体系法重构了一个双核结构的综合评价框架,其中内核评价以海洋生态系统的自身状态为主,外核评价则主要反映海洋之于人类经济社会的贡献,以期能够科学、准确、全面的评价我国近海海洋环境健康状况。     

Panglobalism and pandemics: ecological and ethical concerns

A pandemic is a human medical problem but must be understood at multiple levels. Analysis of social and commercial forces is vital, and, more comprehensively, an ecological framework is necessary for an inclusive picture. Ecological health webworked with political and social determinants surrounds issues of human health. In this constellation of both natural and social factors, ethical concerns will arise at these multiple levels, from human health to the conservation and health of wild nature.     

基于能值生态足迹的长山群岛人地关系分析

为探究长山群岛人地关系变化特征以及人类活动对海岛资源环境的影响,利用改进能值生态足迹模型,分析了1996—2016年长山群岛人地关系供需平衡变化情况,并利用脱钩效应模型探讨了海岛经济发展与能值生态足迹之间的关系。结果表明:(1)经济发展速度和海岛居民生活水平的提高使长山群岛能值生态足迹增长,经济发展和城镇扩张导致能值生态承载力不断下降;(2)长山群岛人地关系始终处于生态赤字状态并呈扩大趋势,但各账户生态赤字表征涵义不同,应区别对待;(3)长山群岛能值生态足迹与GDP之间经历了"扩张连接-弱脱钩-扩张连接-弱脱钩-强脱钩"的转变过程,经济发展速度、产业结构和增长方式是脱钩状态变化的重要因素。(4)随着产业重心的转移,长山群岛能值生态足迹的影响从海洋转向岛陆。     

Poverty trap formed by the ecology of infectious diseases

While most of the world has enjoyed exponential economic growth, more than one-sixth of the world is today roughly as poor as their ancestors were many generations ago. Widely accepted general explanations for the persistence of such poverty have been elusive and are needed by the international development community. Building on a well-established model of human infectious diseases, we show how formally integrating simple economic and disease ecology models can naturally give rise to poverty traps, where initial economic and epidemiological conditions determine the long-term trajectory of the health and economic development of a society. This poverty trap may therefore be broken by improving health conditions of the population. More generally, we demonstrate that simple human ecological models can help explain broad patterns of modern economic organization.