Comparing disturbance gradients and bird-based indices of biotic integrity for ranking the ecological integrity of Great Lakes coastal wetlands

We compared different methods for generating indices of biotic integrity (IBIs) for Great Lakes coastal wetlands using bird community data collected by participants in Bird Studies Canada's Great Lakes Marsh Monitoring Program (GLMMP) including: rank sum and multivariate approaches for defining landscape disturbance gradients; and generalist-specialist (IBI-1), multimetric (IBI-2), and probabilistic (IBI-3) approaches for calculating IBIs. Scores from the multivariate disturbance gradient, IBI-1, and IBI-3 increased rapidly at the impaired and unimpaired ends of the impaired-to-unimpaired spectrum, whereas scores from the rank sum disturbance gradient and IBI-2 increased rapidly only at the unimpaired end. IBIs with metrics that both increased and decreased along the landscape disturbance gradient were more sensitive for identifying especially impaired and unimpaired sites (i.e., IBI-1 and IBI-3) compared to IBIs with metrics that only increased (i.e., IBI-2). Scores from all but one of the IBIs were significantly correlated with scores of at least one of the landscape disturbance gradients and scores from all three of the IBIs were significantly moderately correlated with each other (r_s = 0.3–0.7). Site ranks arranged from impaired to unimpaired differed by 25–50 positions out of 142 possible positions depending on the pair of IBIs chosen. Much of the variation that we observed could be explained by differences among IBIs in the metrics that contributed most to impaired and unimpaired sites. Thus, we recommend the following not only for IBI users assessing the integrity of Great Lakes coastal wetlands, but also any other ecosystem where multiple landscape disturbance gradients and IBIs are available for use: (1) use multivariate instead of rank sum approaches for defining landscape disturbance gradients; (2) use IBIs with metrics that both increase and decrease along the landscape disturbance gradient instead of IBIs with metrics that only increase or only decrease; and (3) ensure that site-level species lists are reasonably complete, particularly for species that disproportionately contribute to especially impaired and unimpaired scores. Following these guidelines will increase the sensitivity and accuracy of IBIs for identifying especially impaired and unimpaired sites and ultimately result in better conservation.     

A probability-based analysis of temporal and spatial co-occurrence in grassland birds

Aim To test for non‐random co‐occurrence in 36 species of grassland birds using a new metric and the C‐score. The analysis used presence–absence data of birds distributed among 305 sites (or landscapes) over a period of 35 years. This analysis departs from traditional analyses of species co‐occurrence in its use of temporal data and of individual species’ probabilities of occurrence to derive analytically the expected co‐occurrence between paired species. Location Great Plains region, USA. Methods Presence–absence data for the bird species were obtained from the North American Breeding Bird Survey. The analysis was restricted to species pairs whose geographic ranges overlapped. Each of 541 species pairs was classified as a positive, negative, or non‐significant association depending on the mean difference between the observed and expected frequencies of co‐occurrence over the 35‐year time‐span. Results Of the 541 species pairs that were examined, 202 to 293 (37–54%) were positively associated, depending on which of two null models was used. However, only a few species pairs (<5%) were negatively associated. An additional 89 species pairs did not have overlapping ranges and hence represented de facto negative associations. The results from analyses based on C‐scores generally agreed with the analyses based on the difference between observed and expected co‐occurrence, although the latter analyses were slightly more powerful. Main conclusions Grassland birds within the Great Plains region are primarily distributed among landscapes either independently or in conjunction with one another. Only a few species pairs exhibited repulsed or segregated distributions. This indicates that the shared preference for grassland habitat may be more important in producing coexistence than are negative species interactions in preventing it. The large number of non‐significant associations may represent random associations and thereby indicate that the presence/absence of other grassland bird species may have little effect on whether a given focal species is also found within the landscape. In a broader context, the probability‐based approach used in this study may be useful in future studies of species co‐occurrence.     

The reliability of a composite biodiversity indicator in predicting bird species richness at different spatial scales

Several biodiversity features can be linked to landscape heterogeneity, that, in turn, can be informative for management and conservation purposes. Usually, the more the landscape is complex the more the biodiversity increases. Biodiversity indicators can be a useful tool to assess biodiversity status, in function of landscape heterogeneity. In this study, we developed a biodiversity indicator, based on Shannon diversity index and built from distribution maps of protected species. With such an approach, we seek to evaluate the feasibility of using a combination of target species as a surrogate for assessing the status of the whole bird community. Our approach was spread over multiple spatial scales, to determine which was the most informative. We selected four species protected by European regulation and generated a presence-absence map from species distribution modelling. We, therefore, used the FRAGSTATS biodiversity metric to calculate Shannon index for the overlapped presence-absence maps, at two spatial scales (500 m and 1000 m). Then, the relationships with the whole community was assessed through generalised least square models, at the spatial scale of 4 ha, 9 ha and 25 ha. Results showed that the higher rate of variability of community was explained by the biodiversity indicator at 1000 m scale. Indeed, the more informative spatial scale for the whole bird community was 9 ha. In addition, a pattern emerged about the relationships between biodiversity indicator and community richness, that is worth of further research. Our study demonstrates that the usefulness of surrogate species for biodiversity and community assessment can become clear only at a certain spatial scales. Indeed, they can be highly predictive of the whole community, and highly informative for conservation planning. Moreover, their use can optimize biodiversity monitoring and conservation, focusing on a small number of noteworthy species.     

Twenty years of invasion: a review of round goby Neogobius melanostomus biology, spread and ecological implications

The round goby Neogobius melanostomus is one of the most wide-ranging invasive fish on earth, with substantial introduced populations within the Laurentian Great Lakes watershed, the Baltic Sea and several major European rivers. Rapid expansion and deleterious ecosystem effects have motivated extensive research on this species; here this research is synthesized. Maps of the global distribution are provided and the invasion history of N. melanostomus, which spread more rapidly at first in North America, but has undergone substantial expansion over the past decade in the Baltic Sea, is summarized. Meta-analyses comparing their size at age, diet, competitors and predators in North American and European ecosystems are provided. Size at age is region specific, with saline habitats typically supporting larger and faster growing individuals than fresh water. Neogobius melanostomus prey differs substantially between regions, demonstrating a capacity to adapt to locally abundant food sources. Neogobius melanostomus comprise at least 50% of the diet of eight taxa in at least one site or life stage; in total, 16 predator taxa are documented from the Laurentian Great Lakes v. five from Eurasia. Invasive N. melanostomus are the only common forage fish to heavily exploit mussels in the Laurentian Great Lakes and the Baltic Sea, facilitating the transfer of energy from mussels to higher trophic levels in both systems. Neogobius melanostomus morphology, life history, reproduction, habitat preferences, environmental tolerances, parasites, environmental effects, sampling strategies and management are also discussed. Neogobius melanostomus inhabit a wide range of temperate freshwater and brackish-water ecosystems and will probably continue to spread via ballast water, accidental bait release and natural dispersal worldwide. Climate change will probably enhance N. melanostomus expansion by elevating water temperatures closer to its energetic optimum of 26° C. Future research needs are presented; most pressing are evaluating the economic effects of N. melanostomus invasion, determining long-term population level effects of egg predation on game-fish recruitment and comparing several variables (density, ecological effects morphology and life history) among invaded ecosystems. This review provides a central reference as researchers continue studying N. melanostomus, often as examples for advancing basic ecology and invasion biology.     

Preliminary results of a classification of fifty-one selected northeastern Wisconsin Lakes (USA) using indicator diatom species

Diatom species lists were generated for 51 lakes in northeastern Wisconsin, and then classified by two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN). The lakes were initially divided into two main groupings: Group I lakes which were alkaline lakes of moderate to high productivity, and Group II lakes which were acid lakes of low productivity. Group I lakes were further divided into two subgroupings, and four levels. In total, twelve indicator diatom species were recognized during the TWINSPAN lake classification, these were: Achnanthes exigua Grun., A. lanceolata var. dubia Grun., Amphora ovalis var. Affinis (Kütz.) V.H. ex Det., A. perpusilla (Grun.) Grun., Cymbella cistula (Ehrenb.) Kirch., Diploneis elliptica (Kütz.) Cl., Eunotia pectinalis (O.F. Mull.) Rabh., Fragilaria vaucheriae (Kütz.) Peters., Frustulia rhomboides var. crassinervia (Bréb. ex W. Sm.) Ross, Navicula capitata Ehrenb., N. decussis Østr., and N. scutelloides W.Sm. ex Gregory.     

A conceptual ecological model to aid restoration of Cootes Paradise Marsh,a degraded coastal wetland of Lake Ontario,Canada

An ecological model is derived from recent studies, based on 60 years of empirical observations and experimental data, that conceptualizes how Cootes Paradise Marsh was transformed from a lush emergent marsh with considerable ecological diversity in all trophic levels, to one that is currently turbid, devoid of vegetation, and dominated by a few exotic plant and fish species. This conceptual model contains 17 key components that interact and contribute to the overall unhealthy state of the marsh. The most influential component is high water level which caused the initial loss of emergent vegetation in the 1940s and 1950s. In the absence of plants to attenuate sediment and assimilate nutrients, the marsh became turbid and windswept, and this led to the disappearance of submergent vegetation over the next two decades. Currently, high water turbidity is being maintained by wind re-suspension, high sediment loading from the watershed during the summer, high algal biomass resulting from excessive nutrient loads from sewage effluent and surface runoff, and the feeding and spawning activities of a very large population of common carp ( Cyprinus carpio). Due to vegetation loss, the substrate has become mostly loose sediment that is no longer suitable for the diverse assemblage of aquatic insect larvae that lived on the plants and detrital material in the 1940s. Benthic grazers have been kept in low abundances due to predation by benthivorous carp; consequently, epiphytic algae have proliferated and further contribute to light limitation of macrophytes. High nutrient loadings contribute to high diurnal fluxes in dissolved oxygen levels that tend to select against less tolerant organisms such as insect larvae (other than chironomids) and piscivores (northern pike and largemouth bass). Without piscivores in the marsh, the planktivores have become dominant and have virtually eliminated all of the large herbivorous zooplankton (e.g., Daphnia), except for a few pockets in the marsh inlets close to residual macrophyte beds. Because of the dominance of small-bodied inefficient grazers (rotifers and small cladocerans), algal biomass is high, and the community has a large proportion of heterotrophic forms that tolerate low light environments. This ecological model suggests that the current turbid un-vegetated state of Cootes Paradise may be very stable. It will persist as long as water levels remain unfavorable for natural re-colonization by the emergent flora, and/or water turbidities remain sufficiently high to suppress the growth of submergent vegetation. Using this conceptual model, I developed a model of how Cootes Paradise Marsh may have functioned as a healthy marsh prior to the 1940s, and use these models as a basis to explore a number of restoration and management options and discuss their implications on the aquatic foodweb.     

Sediment microbial enzyme activity as an indicator of nutrient limitation in Great Lakes coastal wetlands

1. We compared the extracellular enzyme activity (EEA) of sediment microbial assemblages with sediment and water chemistry, gradients in agricultural nutrient loading (derived from principal component analyses), atmospheric deposition and hydrological turnover time in coastal wetlands of the Laurentian Great Lakes. 2. There were distinct increases in nutrient concentrations in the water and in atmospheric N deposition along the gradient from Lake Superior to Lake Ontario, but few differences between lakes in sediment carbon (C), nitrogen (N) or phosphorus (P). Wetland water and sediment chemistry were correlated with the agricultural stress gradient, hydrological turnover time and atmospheric deposition. 3. The N : P ratio of wetland waters and sediments indicated that these coastal wetlands were N‐limited. Nutrient stoichiometry was correlated with the agricultural stress gradient, hydrological turnover time and atmospheric deposition. 4. Extracellular enzyme activity was correlated with wetland sediment and water chemistry and stoichiometry, atmospheric N deposition, the agricultural stress gradient and the hydrological turnover time. The ratios of glycosidases to peptidases and phosphatases yielded estimates of nutrient limitation that agreed with those based solely on nutrient chemistry. 5. This study, the first to link microbial enzyme activities to regional‐scale anthropogenic stressors, suggests that quantities and ratios of microbial enzymes are directly related to the concentrations and ratios of limiting nutrients, and may be sensitive indicators of nutrient dynamics in wetland ecosystems, but further work is needed to elucidate these relationships.     

Bird based Index of Biotic Integrity: Assessing the ecological condition of Atlantic Forest patches in human-modified landscape

Wooded biomes converted to human-modified landscapes (HML) are common throughout the tropics, yielding small and isolated forest patches surrounded by an agricultural matrix. Diverse anthropogenic interventions in HMLs influence patches in complex ways, altering natural dynamics. Assessing current condition or ecological integrity in these patches is a challenging task for ecologists. Taking the Brazilian Atlantic Forest as a case study, we used the conceptual framework of the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI), a multimetric approach, to assess the ecological integrity of eight small forest patches in a highly disturbed HML with different configurations and histories. The IBI was developed using bird assemblages found in these patches, and its performance was compared with analytical approaches commonly used in environmental assessment, such as general richness and Shannon’s diversity index. As a first step, the IBI procedure identifies an existing gradient of human disturbance in the study region and checks which biotic characteristics (candidate metrics) vary systematically across the gradient. A metric is considered valid when its’ relationship with the gradient provides an ecological interpretation of the environment. Then, the final IBI is elaborated using each valid metric, obtaining a score for each site. Over one year of sampling, 168 bird species were observed, providing 74 different bird candidate metrics to be tested against the disturbance gradient. Seven of them were considered valid:richness of threatened species; richness of species that use both “forest and non-forest” habitats; abundance of endemics, abundance of small understory-midstory insectivores, abundance of exclusively forest species; abundance of non-forest species, and abundance of species that forage exclusively in the midstory stratum. Each metric provided complementary information about the patch’s ecological integrity. The resulting IBI showed a significant linear relationship with the gradient of human disturbance, while total species richness and Shannońs diversity index did not. Application of numerical approaches, such as total species richness and Shannon’s diversity, did not distinguish ecological traits among species. The IBI proved better for assessing and interpreting ecological and environmental condition of small patches in highly disturbed HML. The IBI framework, its multimetric character, and the ease with which it can be adapted to diverse situations, make it an effective approach for assessing environmental conditions in the Atlantic Forest region, and also for many other small forest patches in the tropics.     

Spatial variation in density, mean size and physiological condition of the holarctic amphipod Diporeia spp. in Lake Michigan

• 1 We examined spatial patterns in population characteristics (density, biomass, mean body length) and physiological condition (lipid content, length‐weight) of the amphipod Diporeia spp. in Lake Michigan by collecting samples at up to 85 sites in late summer 1994 and 1995. Variables were examined relative to water depth and three lake regions: south, central and north. Most major river systems are found in the south, and this region is more nutrient‐enriched compared to the north.
• 2 Over all sites, mean density was 5240^‐2, biomass was 4.1g dry wt m^‐2, and mean body length was 5 mm. While maximum densities were related to depth, with a peak at 30–70 m, greatest densities occurred on the west side of the lake, and low densities were found in the south‐east, north‐east and lower Green Bay. High densities in the west probably resulted from upwelling, and reduced densities in the south‐east may reflect food competition with Dreissena polymorpha (zebra mussel).
• 3 Lipid content, weight per unit length, and mean length declined with increased water depth, but depth‐related trends were most evident in the south. Overall, mean lipid content and weight per unit length were significantly lower in the south (16.6% dry wt, 0.59 mg at 5 mm body length) compared to the north (23.7% dry wt, 0.78 mg at 5 mm body length). These regional differences may have resulted from greater diatom availability in the north and competition from D. polymorpha in the south. Triacylglycerols and phospholipids were the dominant lipid classes in all three regions. Although the mean proportion of triacylglycerols, the energy‐storage lipid, was lower in the south than in the north, regional differences in proportions of lipid classes were not significant.
• 4 Mean lipid content and weight per unit length of Diporeia in the south were lower than values found in the late 1980s prior to the establishment of Dreissena. Mean lipid content of mature individuals is now at levels considered a minimum for successful reproduction.

     

Stock-Specific Growth Rates of Lake Herring, Coregonus artedi, in Western Lake Superior

We constructed environmental growth histories, termed biochronologies, for lake herring, Coregonus artedi, from four areas of western Lake Superior using scale samples from historical collections. We created chronologies using a linear growth model (LGM) to describe individual somatic growth as the sum of both intrinsic and environmental factors. We built a master chronology using all possible scale samples age five or younger, then examined subsets of the data according to collection site (Bayfield Wisconsin, Black Bay Ontario, French River Minnesota, and Thunder Bay Ontario). The LGM best fit the site-specific data, indicating statistically different stock-specific growth rates. These differences were primarily due to environmental growth, as age effects were similar across sites. We show that the LGM is a useful tool for identifying lake herring stocks in western Lake Superior, a situation where genetic stock identification techniques have been unsuccessful. Our findings demonstrate that the stocks at these four sites are growing at different rates and therefore require different management strategies according to the unit stock concept. Further refinement of these chronologies and coupling with abundance data may allow managers to determine the degree of stock rehabilitation.     

Sampling efficiency of the pale grass blue butterfly Zizeeria maha (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae): A versatile indicator species for environmental risk assessment in Japan

The pale grass blue butterfly, Zizeeria maha (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae), has successfully been employed as an indicator species to evaluate acute biological changes in polluted human-living environments after the Fukushima nuclear accident. Here, we quantitatively examined the field sampling efficiency of the butterfly and its associated sexual sampling bias under different conditions, which may provide important information for environmental risk assessment. Sampling data were obtained in 2014 and 2015 from 87 localities across Japan. Across the localities, the mean capture rate was 17 individuals per hour per person, and males represented approximately 80% of the collected butterflies. No significant difference was detected in the capture rate under different weather conditions. Among the four habitats, the riverside showed a significantly higher capture rate than the city park. A shorter sampling time tended to yield a higher capture rate. Comparisons among prefectures and districts of collection localities revealed that the Kanto district had significantly higher percentages of collected males than 4 other districts. Fukushima prefecture also had high percentage, although not significant. A generalized linear mixed model indicated that the capture rate was significantly negatively affected by the agricultural village, the city park, the rainy weather, and latitude and positively by longitude. Together, the present study showed high sampling efficiency and versatility of this butterfly as an indicator for environmental risk assessment but simultaneously suggested preferable conditions for a field sampling design. This study also suggested a possibility that the Fukushima nuclear accident or other factors might have affected behavioral or population dynamics of the butterfly.     

Limnological aspects of the St. Clair River

The St. Clair River is a major navigable waterway transporting water southwards for 63 km from Lake Huron to Lake St. Clair at an average flow of 5 100 m3 s^-1. Water entering the river is low in suspended solids, organic carbon, phosphorus and nitrates, typical of clear, oligotrophic waters. In contrast to many large rivers, dissolved and colloidal solids account for 90 to 95 percent of the total solids load transported by the river, giving the river a turquoise colour common of glacial meltwater streams.The river supports a diverse floral and faunal community that includes 20 taxa of submergent macroflora, at least 300 benthic macroinvertebrates and 83 fishes. A number of exotic (European) species, including 3 plants, 4 molluscs and 11 fishes, occur in the river with the macroalga, Nitellopsis obtusa, zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorphora), Asian clam (Corbicula fluminea), and white perch (Morone americana) being the most recent invaders. Production is estimated to be 200 g m^-2 a^-1 ash-free dry mass for submergent macrophytes and periphyton, 7 g for macroinvertebrates and 5 g for fishes.The river also supports a variety of water-oriented recreational activities, is a source of municipal and industrial water, a receiver of municipal and industrial wastes, and a shipping corridor. Industrial discharges have adversely affected aquatic life, particularly in the nearshore areas along the Canadian shoreline south of Sarnia, Ontario. In addition, channel dredging and shoreline modifications (bulk-heading and backfilling) have destroyed large areas of valuable habitat in the main channel and along the shoreline. Improvements in the nearshore benthic macroinvertebrate community of the river over the past 20 years show that the river will respond to reductions in contaminants loadings.     

The evaluation indicator of ecological development transition in China's regional economy

Based on slacks-based measure (SBM) mechanism, this paper builds a dynamic indicator to evaluate the ecological economic transition in Chinese provinces since the reform. The measurement indicates that Chinese ecological economic development could be divided into five stages since the reform: the poor development during 1985–1992 and the beginning of this century (2003–2009), and the good performance in early reform period (1981–1984), the period of 1993–2002 and in present years (2010–2012). The evaluation indicator of ecological transition, produced from the economic theory, takes both the growth quality and speed into account and thus could be employed as a more appropriate alternative of conventional GDP evaluation criterion. The heterogeneity and inconsistency of evaluation for each province revealed that Chinese ecological economic transition is still at the unstable early stage and more appropriate environmental regulations should be implemented to support the long-run process of ecological economic development in China.     

Evaluating the ecological realism of plant species distribution models with ecological indicator values

Species distribution models (SDMs) are routinely applied to assess current as well as future species distributions, for example to assess impacts of future environmental change on biodiversity or to underpin conservation planning. It has been repeatedly emphasized that SDMs should be evaluated based not only on their goodness of fit to the data, but also on the realism of the modeled ecological responses. However, possibilities for the latter are hampered by limited knowledge on the true responses as well as a lack of quantitative evaluation methods. Here we compared modeled niche optima obtained from European-scale SDMs of 1476 terrestrial vascular plant species with empirical ecological indicator values indicating the preferences of plant species for key environmental conditions. For each plant species we first fitted an ensemble SDM including three modeling techniques (GLM, GAM and BRT) and extracted niche optima for climate, soil, land use and nitrogen deposition variables with a large explanatory power for the occurrence of that species. We then compared these SDM-derived niche optima with the ecological indicator values by means of bivariate correlation analysis. We found weak to moderate correlations in the expected direction between the SDM-derived niche optima and ecological indicator values. The strongest correlation occurred between the modeled optima for growing degree days and the ecological indicator values for temperature. Correlations were weaker for SDM-derived niche optima with a more distal relationship to ecological indicator values (notably precipitation and soil moisture). Further, correlations were consistently highest for BRT, followed by GLM and GAM. Our method gives insight into the ecological realism of modeled niche optima and projected core habitats and can be used to improve SDMs by making a more informed selection of environmental variables and modeling techniques.     

An indicator system to assess ecological integrity of managed forests

Ecological integrity of managed forests includes the ability of an ecosystem to support a community of organisms with a similar species composition and functional organization as found in nearby natural systems. We developed an indicator system for ecological integrity based on simulated natural disturbance and indicator species to test if forest condition and habitat in managed forests are similar to that found or expected in natural systems. We then applied the method in an area of the boreal forest (Ontario, Canada) where the objective of Ontario's strategic forest management planning approach is, in part, to conserve ecological integrity through the emulation of the natural disturbance process. Forest condition controls the supply of habitat to support the diversity of native organisms, and historically in boreal forests the natural disturbance process drove forest condition. We selected indicators of forest condition (landscape pattern and compositional mosaic) and habitat function (occupancy rates for a broad range of forest birds), and applied our assessment system to test whether indicators of forest condition and habitat function reflect outcomes expected if natural disturbance processes were successfully emulated. We collected occupancy data in natural and managed forest disturbance types using autonomous acoustic recorders, applied occupancy/detection modeling to estimate corrected occupancy rates (ψ), and then tested for differences in ψ between disturbance types. Some indicators of forest condition were within the range expected under natural disturbance, but we found relatively less old conifer, more young deciduous and greater edge density in managed forests relative to forests of natural disturbance origin. Most species (11 of 14) occurred with equal ψ in habitat originating from the two disturbance types. Brown creeper (Certhia americana), bay-breasted warbler (Mniotilta varia) and red-eyed vireo (Vireo olivaceus) differed between disturbance types. Brown creeper uses older conifer and occurred at lower rates in managed forest, while red-eyed vireo uses a range of deciduous forest ages, and occurred at higher rates in managed forest. Differences in quantity and/or quality of specific habitat types likely explain the responses. The results suggest what directional changes in the forest pattern and compositional mosaic would improve ecological similarity with natural systems, but also indicate what further research is required. We believe this approach to assessing ecological integrity can be adapted to study the effectiveness of conservation management strategies in other systems, and will contribute to adaptive management approaches and evidence-based policy development.     

A model for developing a target integrated low carbon city indicator system: The case of Xiamen,China

Carbon intensity targets, namely carbon emissions per unit of GDP, are used as macro-level indicators of low carbon performance at the province- and city-level in China. However, this measure is too aggregated to provide a meaningful indication of low carbon performance and inform practical management strategies. Most traditional low carbon city indicators have no direct relationship with national carbon intensity reduction targets and do not provide municipal government administrators with the practical information they need to inform low carbon development at the local level. This paper integrates city-level carbon intensity targets with a low carbon city indicator system by means of a decomposed method to offer a better approach for carbon intensity reduction performance evaluation. Using Xiamen as a case study, one of the NDRC's low-carbon project areas, a target integrated indicator system is presented, including indicator values which have been determined through scenario analysis and calculation. The indicators and values can help local municipal governments to meet their carbon intensity reduction targets by providing an indication of current performance and identifying sectors where there is scope for further improvement. The methodology provides the theoretical basis and reference values for the evaluation of a city's low carbon performance within the context of achieving a carbon reduction target, thereby enhancing the potential for scientific and operational evaluation at the local level.     

大中型鸟类标本修复翻新方法探索

本文报道一种修复与翻新大中型鸟类标本的方法,包括以下步骤:1.拆标本;2.皮张回软、清洗;3.皮张修复缝合;4.涂抹防腐剂;5.支撑架制作与固定;6.填充与缝合;7.整形与标本固定.皮张回软时,利用药液浸泡可使皮张保持弹性,保证翻新后皮张仍保持完好形态.珍珠棉水果网作为填充物,既环保又可免招虫蛀,亦能使做出的标本形态更加逼真.     

Ecological indicator values and life history traits of terricolous lichens of the Western Carpathians

Plant indicator values are widely used in ecological studies, but they are not well developed for cryptogams, what prevents their application in some environments such as lichen-rich habitats. The aim of this study was to determine the ecological indicator values of terricolous lichens occurring in the Western Carpathians. A total of 271 lichen taxa from the eastern part of Central Europe in Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria are listed and evaluated. Their known indicator values for light conditions, climate (temperature, continentality), substratum (humidity, soil reaction-pH, nutrients, eutrophication) were reviewed or modified, and original values were established for taxa with missing information. Besides the traditional ordinal scale, the index of variability was established to distinguish between generalists and specialists in particular applications. Our list further contains important species traits such as ecological strategies (growth and life forms, photobiont type, substrate, reproduction) and geographic values (geographical elements, threat, frequency) allowing applications in functional ecology and macroecology. Our database can be easily associated with widely used software for the analysis of vegetation data allowing the indication of ecological conditions in lichen-rich vegetation types in currently developed large-scale vegetation surveys.