Sectorial Water Use Trends in the Urbanizing Pearl River Delta,China

Assessing and managing water use is crucial for supporting sustainable river basin management and regional development. The first consistent and comprehensive assessment of sectorial water use in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) is presented by analysing homogenized annual water use data from 2000 to 2010 in relation to socio economic statistics for the same period. An abstraction of water use, using the concept of water use intensity, and based on equations inspired by those used in global water resource models, is developed to explore the driving forces underlying water use changes in domestic, industrial and agricultural sectors. We do this at both the level of the region as a whole, as well as for the nine cities that constitute the PRD separately. We find that, despite strong population and economic growth, the PRD managed to stabilize its absolute water use by significant improvements in industrial water use intensities, and early stabilisation of domestic water use intensities. Results reveal large internal differentiation of sectorial water use among the cities in this region, with industrial water use intensity varying from -80 to +95% and domestic water use intensity by +/- 30% compared to the PRD average. In general, per capita water use is highest in the cities that industrialised first. Yet, all cities except Guangzhou are expected to approach a saturation value of per capita water use much below what is suggested in recent global studies. Therefore, existing global assessments probably have overestimated future domestic water use in developing countries. Although scarce and uncertain input data and model limitations lead to a high level of uncertainty, the presented conceptualization of water use is useful in exploring the underlying driving forces of water use trends.     

基于CLUE-S模型的不同情景下区域土地利用布局优化

土地利用规划要求把土地资源最终配置在空间上,而现有文献更多是对土地利用结构的优化,很少对全局土地利用布局优化,鉴于此,为减轻土地利用规划的多目标冲突,同时为提高资源配置效率,释放空间效应,对不同情景下的土地利用布局优化进行研究。用非线性优化模型中的理想点法求取了不同情景下最优土地利用结构,用Logistic回归提取了不同用地的优化布局规则,以不同情景下的土地优化结构为数量约束,借助CLUE-S模型的全局配置能力对各情景下的用地布局作优化,并以扬州市为实例进行阐述。结果表明:(1)优先发展经济情景下,2025年扬州土地利用经济产值是10.4×10~7万元,优先保护生态情景下,目标年生态服务价值是9.7×10~5万元,保障公众福利情景下,公众福利大小是351271 hm~2;(2)经济增长目标对土地利用结构的情景变化最为敏感,而公众福利目标的敏感性最小;(3)与基期年比,发展经济与保育生态情景下的土地优化布局变化最大,前者主要是市区城镇工矿用地向东部及西北扩张,后者则是在西南丘陵及南部长江岸边配置了大量园地、林地。提出的不同情景下土地利用布局的优化方法可为土地利用规划及生态规划提供有力技术支持。     

动物使用工具行为研究进展北大核心CSCD

使用工具曾被认为是人类独有的能力,然而,在过去的50年中,学界逐渐认识到工具的使用普遍存在于整个动物界。其中,使用工具最多的类群是哺乳类、鸟类和昆虫。动物使用工具有一定目标性,然而大多数动物仅考虑当前的目标,而非长远目标。动物使用工具的行为受到环境因素和动物自身认知能力、生理特点与进化历史的影响,并可能表现出一定的个体差异。有些动物使用工具的行为是与生俱来的,然而大部分高等动物通过试错学习获得使用工具的能力。通过模仿学习,一些使用工具的行为可以传播和演化,从而在种群中广泛分布。工具的使用是动物认知领域的核心概念之一,开展动物使用工具的研究,能够加深对动物认知能力和行为进化的理解。     

重庆市土地利用冲突多尺度时空演化与多情景演化模拟

土地利用冲突是区域土地开发利用过程中存在的客观问题,对区域经济社会发展和生态安全具有重要影响。识别、测度区域土地利用冲突,明晰其时空演化格局,有助于优化区域土地利用结构,促进土地资源的可持续利用。以重庆市为例,基于景观格局构建了土地利用冲突测度模型,从县域、镇域以及格网3个尺度全面和系统地分析了1995-2020年重庆市土地利用冲突的时空演化特征,并耦合多目标规划(Multi-Objective Programming,MOP)-斑块生成土地利用变化模拟模型(Ptach-generating Land Use Simulation,PLUS)模拟了重庆市2030年不同发展情景下土地利用冲突格局。结果表明:(1)1995-2020年重庆市县域、镇域与格网不同尺度下的土地利用冲突格局具有较大相似性,不同尺度的土地利用重度冲突区主要分布在重庆中心城区及周边地区,区县建成区。土地利用一般冲突区主要分布于渝东南和渝东北地区。研究期内土地利用冲突有所加剧,其中土地利用重度冲突区占比增加了3.09%。(2) 1995-2005年重庆市土地利用冲突区主体位于乡村地域,但冲突程度较低,随着工业化、城市化进程及人口的集聚,2005年后土地利用冲突热点区域的城市地域集聚效应显著,城市及周边地区土地利用冲突区面积和土地利用冲突度均显著提升。(3) 区域土地利用冲突空间格局不仅受到了人为经济社会活动的驱动影响,在空间格局上受自然生态环境基底影响显著,其中地形地貌的限制加剧了土地利用重度冲突区。(4)不同发展情景模拟中经济优先发展情景下土地利用冲突最为严重,生态优先发展情景下土地利用冲突最小,可持续发展情景兼顾了经济和生态发展的用地需求,土地利用冲突强度处于中间范围,但区域发展总福利最大,是未来区域发展路径最优选择。     

Tool Use by Chimpanzees at Ngogo,Kibale National Park,Uganda

Chimpanzees make and use a wide variety of tools in the wild. The size and composition of their toolkits vary considerably among populations and at least to some extent within them. Chimpanzees at several well documented sites mostly use tools in extractive foraging, and extractive tool use can substantially increase their foraging efficiency. They also use tools for hygiene and for several other purposes, including attracting the attention of conspecifics, as in leaf-clipping. Some of the interpopulation variation in toolkits results from ecological variation, but differences in the efficiency of social transmission, perhaps related to differences in social tolerance, presumably also contribute. I describe tool use by chimpanzees in an unusually large community at Ngogo, in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Researchers have described some tool use for the community previously, but this is the most extensive report and is based on observations over 11 yr. The Ngogo chimpanzees have a small toolkit and use tools rarely except in leaf-clipping displays and to clean body surfaces; notably, males often use leaf napkins to wipe their penes after copulation. Extractive tool use is rare and is limited mostly to leaf-sponging and, less often, honey-fishing. Social tolerance is not low at Ngogo, but use of tools for extractive foraging, in ways documented at other field sites, may have little potential to increase foraging efficiency. Future research will undoubtedly show more tool use by females, which were underrepresented in my observations, but will probably not document much increase in the toolkit or in the use of extractive tools.     

城市土地利用异质性对湖泊水质的影响

土地利用类型与水体水质之间存在显著相关关系,这种相关关系受到土地利用类型及其空间分布的影响.人类活动造成流域中不同汇水单元间土地利用异质性,进而影响和改变了汇水单元水质状况.在自然或半自然区域内,采用多个汇水单元的综合分析能够体现出流域土地利用类型与水质的相关关系.然而,在城市区域中,可能存在由于土地利用特征差异而导致这种相关关系的抵消和降低,致使分析结果与实际存在偏差.为证实这一现象的存在,选取武汉市汉阳地区龙阳湖等4个湖泊流域为研究对象,分别从汇水单元综合分析、以影响水质的主要用地类型作为变量进行聚类分析和以湖泊流域为对象的分析等3个角度,分析汇水单元间的土地利用特征差异对水质的影响,结果显示土地利用异质性影响甚至改变了土地利用类型与水质的相关关系.因此,在研究城市土地利用与水体水质相关性时,需要同时考虑土地利用类型的特征和格局.     

Combining system dynamic model and CLUE-S model to improve land use scenario analyses at regional scale: A case study of Sangong watershed in Xinjiang,China

Uses of models of land use change are primary tools for analyzing the causes and consequences of land use changes, assessing the impacts of land use change on ecosystems and supporting land use planning and policy. However, no single model is able to capture all of key processes essential to explore land use change at different scales and make a full assessment of driving factors and impacts. Based on the multi-scale characteristics of land use change, combination and integration of currently existed models of land use change could be a feasible solution. Taken Sangong watershed as a case study, this paper describes an integrated methodology in which the conversion of land use and its effect model (CLUE), a spatially explicit land use change model, has been combined with a system dynamic model (SD) to analyze land use dynamics at different scales. A SD model is used to calculate area changes in demand for land types as a whole while a CLUE model is used to transfer these demands to land use patterns. Without the spatial consideration, the SD model ensures an appropriate treatment of macro-economic, demographic and technology developments, and changes in economic policies influencing the demand and supply for land use in a specific region. With CLUE model the land use change has been simulated at a high spatial resolution with the spatial consideration of land use suitability, spatial policies and restrictions to satisfy the balance between land use demand and supply. The application of the combination of SD and CLUE model in Sangong watershed suggests that this methodology have the ability to reflect the complex behaviors of land use system at different scales to some extent and be a useful tool for analysis of complex land use driving factors such as land use policies and assessment of its impacts on land use change. The established SD model was fitted or calibrated with the 1987–1998 data and validated with the 1998–2004 data; combining SD model with CLUE-S model, future land use scenarios were analyzed during 2004–2030. This work could be used for better understanding of the possible impacts of land use change on terrestrial ecosystem and provide scientific support for land use planning and managements of the watershed.     

三峡库区不同土地利用方式的养分流失研究

通过两年的定位实验,研究了三峡库工我５种代表性土地利用方式对养分流失的重要性。寝实验表明,不同土地利用方式的养分年输出总量有较大的变异,其变化趋势为坡地农田＞梯田农田＞梯田农田＞坡地果园。不同土地利用方式下,降雨量和降雨强度与系统径流量和含沙量的相关性都达到５％显著性水平。不同土地利用方式,其径流养分输出占系统养分总输出的比例明显不同。土地利用方式对系统Ｎ、Ｐ、Ｋ的径流输出影响显著。三峡库区脆弱生     

东江流域景观格局演变分析及变化预测

以东江流域土地利用解译结果为基础,采用转移矩阵、移动窗口法和景观格局指数对1990—2016年对东江流域的景观格局时空变化进行分析,并结合地形因子、交通通达度因子和限制转化因子采用FLUS(Future Land Use Simulation)模型对流域未来景观格局进行预测。结果表明:(1)自1990年以来,研究区的7种土地利用类型皆发生了变化,其中建设用地由于林地和耕地的大量转入增加最明显。(2)1990—2016年,流域景观破碎化呈现以河道为中心向东西两侧减小的趋势,景观多样性呈现流域上游小,下游大的趋势,且高值区在经济较发达的城镇地区。园地的景观破碎程度最高、林地的优势度减弱,城镇建设用地的集聚度增加。(3)2016—2042年,流域各用地类型变化率不大,景观破碎化和多样性程度虽有增加但增长速度相对放缓。     

Functional responses in polar bear habitat selection

Habitat selection may occur in situations in which animals experience a trade-off, e.g. between the use of habitats with abundant forage and the use of safer retreat habitats with little forage. Such trade-offs may yield relative habitat use conditional on the relative availability of the different habitat types, as proportional use of foraging habitat may exceed proportional availability when foraging habitat is scarce, but be less than availability when foraging habitat is abundant. Hence, trade-offs in habitat use may result in functional responses in habitat use (i.e. change in relative use with changing availability). We used logistic and log-linear models to model functional responses in female polar bear habitat use based on satellite telemetry data from two contiguous populations; one near shore inhabiting sea ice within fjords, and one inhabiting pelagic drift ice. Open ice, near the ice edge, is a highly dynamic habitat hypothesised to be important polar bear habitat due to high prey availability. In open ice-polar bears may experience a high energetic cost of movements and risk drifting away from the main ice field (i.e. trade off between feeding and energy saving or safety). If polar bears were constrained by ice dynamics we therefore predicted use of retreat habitats with greater ice coverage relative to habitats used for hunting. The polar bears demonstrated season and population specific functional responses in habitat use, likely reflecting seasonal and regional variation in use of retreat and foraging habitats. We suggest that in seasons with functional responses in habitat use, polar bear space use and population distribution may not be a mere reflection of prey availability but rather reflect the alternate allocation of time in hunting and retreat habitats.     

Traditional marijuana,high‐potency cannabis and synthetic cannabinoids: increasing risk for psychosis

Epidemiological evidence demonstrates that cannabis use is associated with an increased risk of psychotic outcomes, and confirms a dose‐response relationship between the level of use and the risk of later psychosis. High‐potency cannabis and synthetic cannabinoids carry the greatest risk. Experimental administration of tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient of cannabis, induces transient psychosis in normal subjects, but this effect can be ameliorated by co‐administration of cannabidiol. This latter is a constituent of traditional hashish, but is largely absent from modern high‐potency forms of cannabis. Argument continues over the extent to which genetic predisposition is correlated to, or interacts with, cannabis use, and what proportion of psychosis could be prevented by minimizing heavy use. As yet, there is not convincing evidence that cannabis use increases risk of other psychiatric disorders, but there are no such doubts concerning its detrimental effect on cognitive function. All of the negative aspects are magnified if use starts in early adolescence. Irrespective of whether use of cannabis is decriminalized or legalized, the evidence that it is a component cause of psychosis is now sufficient for public health messages outlining the risk, especially of regular use of high‐potency cannabis and synthetic cannabinoids.     

Knowing the past to predict the future: land‐use change and the distribution of invasive bullfrogs

Biological invasions and land‐use changes are two major causes of the global modifications of biodiversity. Habitat suitability models are the tools of choice to predict potential distributions of invasive species. Although land‐use is a key driver of alien species invasions, it is often assumed that land‐use is constant in time. Here we combine historical and present day information, to evaluate whether land‐use changes could explain the dynamic of invasion of the American bullfrog Rana catesbeiana (=Lithobathes catesbeianus) in Northern Italy, from the 1950s to present‐day. We used maxent to build habitat suitability models, on the basis of past (1960s, 1980s) and present‐day data on land‐uses and species distribution. For example, we used models built using the 1960s data to predict distribution in the 1980s, and so on. Furthermore, we used land‐use scenarios to project suitability in the future. Habitat suitability models predicted well the spread of bullfrogs in the subsequent temporal step. Models considering land‐use changes predicted invasion dynamics better than models assuming constant land‐use over the last 50 years. Scenarios of future land‐use suggest that suitability will remain similar in the next years. Habitat suitability models can help to understand and predict the dynamics of invasions; however, land‐use is not constant in time: land‐use modifications can strongly affect invasions; furthermore, both land management and the suitability of a given land‐use class may vary in time. An integration of land‐use changes in studies of biological invasions can help to improve management strategies.     

Tool use by wild cebus monkeys at Santa Rosa National Park,Costa Rica

Although wild cebus monkeys have been observed to use tools, this behavior has been reported only rarely. No one has systematically examined tool use in wildCebus, and it is not known how prevalent tool use is in the species' natural repertoire. During 300 hr of observation on 21 wild capuchins (Cebus capucinus imitator) at Santa Rosa National Park in Costa Rica, 31 incidents of tool use, including eight different types of tool-use behavior, were observed. These observations indicate that tool use is a notable behavior pattern in this troop. Considering these incidents of tool use in conjunction with other reports on complex food-getting and preparation behavior byCebus suggests that tool use is a manifestation ofCebus' high behavioral adaptability. Since onlyCebus and the great apes (especially chimpanzees) have been observed to show such a diverse tool-use repertoire, to use tools so frequently, or to show such complex food-getting behavior in the wild, these observations also support the notion thatCebus and the great apes have followed a parallel evolutionary development of tool-using capacity.     

Trends in weekly reported net use by children during and after rainy season in central Tanzania

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The use of long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) is one of the principal interventions to prevent malaria in young children, reducing episodes of malaria by 50% and child deaths by one fifth. Prioritizing young children for net use is important to achieve mortality reductions, particularly during transmission seasons. METHODS: Households were followed up weekly from January through June 2009 to track net use among children under seven under as well as caretakers. Net use rates for children and caretakers in net-owning households were calculated by dividing the number of person-weeks of net use by the number of person-weeks of follow-up. Use was stratified by age of the child or caretaker status. Determinants of ownership and of use were assessed using multivariate models. RESULTS: Overall, 60.1% of the households reported owning a bed net at least once during the study period. Among net owners, use rates remained high during and after the rainy season. Rates of use per person-week decreased as the age of the child rose from 0 to six years old; at ages 0-23 months and 24-35 months use rates per person-week were 0.93 and 0.92 respectively during the study period, while for children ages 3 and 4 use rates per person-week were 0.86 and 0.80. For children ages 5-6 person-week ratios dropped to 0.55. This represents an incidence rate ratio of 1.67 for children ages 0-23 months compared to children aged 5-6. Caretakers had use rates similar to those of children age 0-35 months. Having fewer children under age seven in the household also appeared to positively impact net use rates for individual children. CONCLUSIONS: In this area of Tanzania, net use is very high among net-owning households, with no variability either at the beginning or end of the rainy season high transmission period. The youngest children are prioritized for sleeping under the net and caretakers also have high rates of use. Given the high use rates, increasing the number of nets available in the household is likely to boost use rates by older children.     

Mark-recapture without estimating population sizes: a tool to evaluate termite baits

The mark-recapture technique is currently being used by many termite researchers. Here its two uses are explained and disentangled. Use 1 is mapping the geographical location of the colony and use 2 is estimating the number of termites in the colony. Use 2 is controversial because the accuracy of the estimates has been widely questioned. In this article, it is explained that use 1 is not controversial and that use 1 (not use 2) is the criterion that is currently being used for evaluating the efficacy of termite baits.     

UNEP-SETAC guideline on global land use impact assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem services in LCA

Purpose

As a consequence of the multi-functionality of land, the impact assessment of land use in Life Cycle Impact Assessment requires the modelling of several impact pathways covering biodiversity and ecosystem services. To provide consistency amongst these separate impact pathways, general principles for their modelling are provided in this paper. These are refinements to the principles that have already been proposed in publications by the UNEP-SETAC Life Cycle Initiative. In particular, this paper addresses the calculation of land use interventions and land use impacts, the issue of impact reversibility, the spatial and temporal distribution of such impacts and the assessment of absolute or relative ecosystem quality changes. Based on this, we propose a guideline to build methods for land use impact assessment in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).

Results

Recommendations are given for the development of new characterization models and for which a series of key elements should explicitly be stated, such as the modelled land use impact pathways, the land use/cover typology covered, the level of biogeographical differentiation used for the characterization factors, the reference land use situation used and if relative or absolute quality changes are used to calculate land use impacts. Moreover, for an application of the characterisation factors (CFs) in an LCA study, data collection should be transparent with respect to the data input required from the land use inventory and the regeneration times. Indications on how generic CFs can be used for the background system as well as how spatial-based CFs can be calculated for the foreground system in a specific LCA study and how land use change is to be allocated should be detailed. Finally, it becomes necessary to justify the modelling period for which land use impacts of land transformation and occupation are calculated and how uncertainty is accounted for.

Discussion

The presented guideline is based on a number of assumptions: Discrete land use types are sufficient for an assessment of land use impacts; ecosystem quality remains constant over time of occupation; time and area of occupation are substitutable; transformation time is negligible; regeneration is linear and independent from land use history and landscape configuration; biodiversity and multiple ecosystem services are independent; the ecological impact is linearly increasing with the intervention; and there is no interaction between land use and other drivers such as climate change. These assumptions might influence the results of land use Life Cycle Impact Assessment and need to be critically reflected.

Conclusions and recommendations

In this and the other papers of the special issue, we presented the principles and recommendations for the calculation of land use impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services on a global scale. In the framework of LCA, they are mainly used for the assessment of land use impacts in the background system. The main areas for further development are the link to regional ecological models running in the foreground system, relative weighting of the ecosystem services midpoints and indirect land use.     

Habitat preference in the critically endangered yellow‐tailed woolly monkey (Lagothrix flavicauda) at La Esperanza,Peru

Habitat loss is one of the main threats to wildlife. Therefore, knowledge of habitat use and preference is essential for the design of conservation strategies and identification of priority sites for the protection of endangered species. The yellow‐tailed woolly monkey (Lagothrix flavicauda Humboldt, 1812), categorized as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, is endemic to montane forests in northern Peru where its habitat is greatly threatened. We assessed how habitat use and preference in L. flavicauda are linked to forest structure and composition. The study took place near La Esperanza, in the Amazonas region, Peru. Our objective was to identify characteristics of habitat most utilized by L. flavicauda to provide information that will be useful for the selection of priority sites for conservation measures. Using presence records collected from May 2013 to February 2014 for one group of L. flavicauda, we classified the study site into three different use zones: low‐use, medium‐use, and high‐use. We assessed forest structure and composition for all use zones using 0.1 ha Gentry vegetation transects. Results show high levels of variation in plant species composition across the three use zones. Plants used as food resources had considerably greater density, dominance, and ecological importance in high‐use zones. High‐use zones presented similar structure to medium‐ and low‐use zones; thus it remains difficult to assess the influence of forest structure on habitat preference. We recommend focusing conservation efforts on areas with a similar floristic composition to the high‐use zones recorded in this study and suggest utilizing key alimentation species for reforestation efforts.     

The impact of diet,habitat use,and behaviour on head shape evolution in homalopsid snakes

An organism's morphology is driven by selection on function while being constrained by phylogenetic and developmental factors as well as functional trade‐offs. If selection on function is strong and solutions limited, then convergence is expected. In this paper we quantify head shape in a group of ecologically diverse snakes (homalopsid snakes) differing in habitat use and diet using three‐dimensional geometric morphometric approaches. Using data on head shape we explore whether snakes eating different prey show different morphologies. Moreover, we test whether head shape is constrained by other factors such as habitat use, burrow use, or activity pattern. Our results demonstrate similar head shapes in species consuming similar prey. Snakes that capture elusive prey under water differ from those that capture and swallow prey like frogs or crustaceans. Moreover, habitat use, the use of burrows, and activity pattern also significantly impact head shape in this group of snakes. However, this signal appears to be partly confounded by the diet signal. For axes discriminating specifically between habitat use groups or animals that use burrows vs. those that do not shapes were in accordance with our predictions. Our results suggests an adaptive signal in the evolution of head shape in homalopsid snakes with diet, habitat use and the use of burrows all influencing the evolution of head shape in the group.     

新疆库尔勒市土地利用变化对土壤性状的影响研究

土地利用与土地覆被变化是全球变化研究的热点问题。在新疆库尔勒市选择土地利用变化后已持续利用15－20a的9种典型利用方式,11个剖面,与荒漠、原始胡杨林2各参照利用方式3个标准剖面进行对比分析。结果显示土地利用变化对土壤养分、土壤盐分、土壤侵蚀、土壤水分和土地生产力有明显的影响,荒漠开垦后土壤养分呈下降趋势,土壤侵蚀强度也呈下降趋势,土地生产力与土壤有水分含量呈上升趋势。同时发现土壤侵蚀强度与生产力呈负相关关系,土地生产力与土壤水分呈正相关关系。林、草有利于保护干旱区生态环境,调整土地利用结构,合理开垦,加之预防和治理措施在一定程度上可防止或减弱土地退化（荒漠化）进程。