Do Private Conservation Activities Match Science-Based Conservation Priorities?

Background

Private land conservation is an essential strategy for biodiversity protection in the USA, where half of the federally listed species have at least 80% of their habitat on private lands. We investigated the alignment between private land protection conducted by the world''s largest land trust (The Nature Conservancy) and the science driven identification of priority areas for conservation. This represents the first quantitative assessment of the influence of defining priority areas on the land acquisitions of a conservation non-governmental organization (NGO).

Methodology/Principal Findings

The lands acquired by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) were analyzed using GIS to determine to what extent they were in areas defined as priorities for conservation. The spatial analysis of TNC lands was broken up into land known to be acquired in the last five years, five to ten years ago, prior to ten years ago, and anytime during the last sixty years (including previous sets of data plus acquisitions lacking a date). For the entire history of TNC the proportion of TNC lands within the priority areas was 74%. Prior to 10 years ago it was 80%, 5–10 years ago it was 76%, and in the last five years it was 81%. Conservation easements were found to have lower alignment with priority areas (64%) than outright fee simple acquisitions (86%).

Conclusions/Significance

Overall the location of lands acquired was found to be well aligned with the priority areas. Since there was comparable alignment in lands acquired before and after formalized conservation planning had been implemented as a standard operating procedure, this analysis did not find evidence that defining priority areas has influenced land acquisition decisions.     

中国的紫水鸡

自Swinhoe的早期记录横空跨越140余年后, 2012年3月紫水鸡终于在厦门被重新发现并得以确认其繁殖群的存在。继而在检视以往文献过程中, 注意到对于紫水鸡在中国状况的认识, 无论是对其分布、还是亚种认定, 均多存疑问之处。本文对紫水鸡在中国南方各省(区)的发现和记录过程做了大致梳理, 概述了以往对中国东南沿海地区紫水鸡分布认识误区的产生原因, 并指出当今中国鸟类学界对中国紫水鸡亚种分布态势上的不同意见和看法。作者提出这些问题与同行探讨, 以期促成消弭疑问, 并希望鸟学界同仁能够关注紫水鸡在中国的动态变化与发展。     

石家庄市滨河湿地公园秋季增湿效应

滨河湿地公园拥有良好的生态环境和多样化的景观资源。作为城市绿地系统的重要组成部分,它在调节气候、美化环境、维护区域生态平衡等方面具有不可替代的作用。于2012年10月10—12日和2013年9月27—29日、10月2、3、6日晴朗无风(或风速小于0.2 m/s)的天气条件下,在石家庄市太平河滨河湿地公园,选择不同结构的下垫面——水泥路面(宽约14 m)、乔-草绿地(宽约58 m)、灌木林(宽约22 m),对距地面1.5 m高度内的大气湿度变化情况进行了系统监测,并选择了面积相近、无植被和水体等环境因素影响的裸地进行了比测,研究了不同植被类型在秋季白天各时段增湿效应的垂向和横向变化规律,分析了各类下垫面增湿效应的差异性。结果表明:1植被覆盖区的增湿效应随环境温度升高而增强,其相关系数可达0.8以上。白天以10:00—14:00气温较高时段增湿效应最明显,平均较8:00高4%左右,较18:00高8%左右;2植被的增湿效应在近地面处较强,而自0.2 m高度向上各监测高度段以公差为1%—2%的数列递减;3秋季白天,不同下垫面的增湿效应由强到弱依次为灌木林、乔-草林、河流、水泥路面,其中灌木林较乔-草林的增湿效应强约5%—7%;4同一绿地,当结构和郁闭度无明显变化时,其增湿效应在相同季节基本稳定;5虽然秋季绿地增湿效应与夏季相比明显减弱,但绿地增湿效应与环境温度的关系、增湿效应的垂向变化特征以及不同结构绿地的增湿效应差异等在不同季节仍具有一致的规律。滨河湿地公园不同结构类型区域的合理配置,可以更有效地改善大气环境。     

Life After Logging: Strategic Withdrawal from the Garden of Eden or Tactical Error for Wilderness Conservation?

Conservation management has undergone a dramatic paradigm shift from the strong ‘wilderness conservation’ ethos of the 1980s and 1990s to the ‘biodiversity on degraded lands’ ethos of recent years. Most conservation biologists now consider that wilderness conservation alone is no longer sufficient to conserve biodiversity, and conservation strategies must also demand more effective protection for biodiversity on degraded lands. Recognition of this shifting paradigm in biodiversity conservation has led to an overt change in tone of recent studies, emphasizing relatively modest effects of human disturbance, and high biodiversity values on some degraded lands. A case in point is a series of studies from Southeast Asia reporting relatively modest impacts of logging on biodiversity, with the majority of species (75%) persisting after repeated intensive logging. This is a marked shift in conservation message after >30 yrs of research showing substantial adverse effects of logging on biodiversity, and raises serious questions about the appropriate ways to qualify the conflicting messages that ‘human impact degrades biodiversity’ yet ‘degraded habitats have high biodiversity value.’ Clearly logging is the lesser of two land‐use evils compared with conversion to intensive cattle pastures, crop fields or oil palm plantations, but there is a real risk that overselling the ‘biodiversity on degraded lands’ paradigm might end up being a double‐edged sword for conservation management. After all, if >75 percent of species are resilient to repeated logging, why bother trying to preserve the few remaining wilderness areas from being logged themselves? It remains to be seen whether this new message of ‘weak’ effects of logging on biodiversity will serve its strategic purpose of conserving biodiversity on degraded lands, or simply devalue the last vestiges of wild nature.     

Changes in the orthopteran population over plant cover restoration in the fallow lands of the European steppe

A comparative analysis of the Orthopteran population in virgin and fallow lands of the European steppe has allowed finding out the colonization sources of the fallow lands: the inhabitants of the mesophytic intrazonal plant communities, including the formations of steppe bushes and polytopic species living in intact and disturbed steppe habitats have been found there. It has been shown that the structure of the Orthopteran population in the fallow lands in determined more by the composition of their plant cover than by the actual age of fallow lands or their zonal position. Fundamental changes in the structure of Orthopteran population are associated with the replacement of tall weed communities by an herb-grass cover; the faunistic similarity between the old fallow lands and zonal plots therewith increases. The abundance of Orthopteras in the fallow lands increases southward, while in zonal communities a reverse tendency is observed. The Orthopteran populations in the fallow lands of all the subzones are characterized by higher diversity and evenness if compared to zonal biotopes. A wide distribution of fallow lands with weed cover turns out to increase the faunistic and ecological diversity of the Orthopteran populations in the European steppe.     

The globalization of a ceremonial tree: The case of cacao (Theobroma cacao) among the Mopan Maya

The uses, perceptions, and economic significance of cacao have radically changed in the past 25 years among the Mopan Maya in southern Belize. Cacao was once perceived as a ceremonial crop with little cash value. Over the past 25 years though, cacao has become the most important cash crop grown by the Mopan Maya. The Mopan Maya grow organic cacao that has allowed them to tap into a specialized, high-end chocolate market. However, the emergence of cacao as an important cash crop has altered traditional uses and created conflicts in villages where increasing acreage of reservation lands are planted with cacao, thereby assigning a commercial value to previously communal lands.     

Agro-Successional Restoration as a Strategy to Facilitate Tropical Forest Recovery

With the increasing need to restore former agricultural lands worldwide and in the tropics, in particular, it is critical to explore different models for how to restore these lands in a cost-effective manner which best simulates natural forest recovery and provides for human livelihoods. We propose that agro-successional restoration, which we define as incorporating a range of agroecology and agroforestry techniques as a transition phase early in forest restoration, could be used more widely to overcome socioeconomic and ecological obstacles to restoring these lands. Over centuries, farmers and scientists have developed various agroforestry techniques that aim to cultivate crops and trees, in a range of crop types, time periods of cultivation (a few years to several decades), and complexity of species planted. The management practices used in these systems, such as weeding and increasing soil fertility, parallel those used in many forest restoration efforts. The synergism between these approaches is evidenced by many existing agro-successional examples currently used by smallholders in the tropics. Benefits of the agro-successional model include extending the management period of restoration, offsetting some management costs, providing food security for small landholders, and involving small landholders in the restoration process.     

Confronting the angry rock: American Indians' situated risks from radioactivity

Numic people in the western United States are co-adapted with their traditional lands and these lands are spiritually and physically co-adapted with these people. This relationship has been documented through studies funded by the Department of Energy, Nevada Operations. 1 The u.s. Department of Energy Nevada Operations studies of American Indiacultural impacts from the transportation of Low Level Radioactive Waste were managed by Frank DiSanza. Consultation with the involved tribes was guided by Robert Furlow through the American Indian Program. Elders from twenty-six Indian tribes participated in two studies in order to explain why the transportation of radioactive waste poses serious threats. Key in their interpretation is the perception that radioactive material is an angry rock. Indian knowledge and use of this rock goes back for thousands of years. As a powerful spiritual being the angry rock constitutes a threat that can neither be contained nor controlled by conventional means. It has the power to pollute food, medicine, and places, none of which can be used afterwards by Indian people. Spiritual impacts are even more threatening, given that the angry rock would pass along highways where there are animal creation places, access to spiritual beings, and unsung human souls. A most troubling concern is that radioactivity would be transported along the path to the afterlife. The juxtaposition of the angry rock and human spirits being sung to the afterlife is unthinkable.     

黄土丘陵区三种典型退耕还林地土壤固碳效应差异

探讨了黄土丘陵区退耕种植10—40a的柠条、沙棘及刺槐林地土壤总有机碳库及其活性组分密度随退耕时间、土层分布及相对比例的变化差异。结果表明:100 cm深土壤碳库在退耕10a时仅柠条林地碳库未比坡耕地显著增加,但退耕20—40a3种林地比退耕10a时都已有显著增加,且增幅均为刺槐>沙棘>柠条,其中总有机碳的最大增幅分别达到90.92、27.87、14.89Mg/hm2,活性有机碳的分别达到30.28、10.51、9.67 Mg/hm2。各还林地碳库增加在退耕10a时主要来自0—40 cm浅层土,而40—100 cm深层土碳库到退耕20a起才开始显著增加。对比退耕10a时,到退耕40a时柠条、沙棘及刺槐林地0—20 cm表层土分别平均累积了35.4%、27.9%、27.1%的总有机碳,20.2%、45.1%、23.1%的活性有机碳,而20—100 cm各土层间对碳库累积比例大小变化无一致规律,平均每20 cm厚土层累积了17.4%的总有机碳和17.6%活性有机碳。并且相比坡耕地,各林地均使100 cm深土壤活性有机碳占总有机碳的比例提高,改良了碳库质量。综上分析,长期退耕下3种林地固碳效应有明显差异,以刺槐林地碳累积效应较强。     

Opuntia and Other Cacti: Applications and Biotechnological Insights

The cactus family is unusual among tropical plants. Cacti, known for their minimum water requirement, have been grown extensively in arid lands, for food, feeds and medicinal and therapeutic uses.Several food products have cacti as a main ingredient. Cacti biochemical analysis substantiate the high nutritive value of this plant family. Tissue cultures, including micropropagation, callus, and cell suspension cultures have been established for numerous cacti species. Genetic engineering has opened opportunities for gene isolation and integration of genes from other sources for cacti improvement. Cacti might be a store house of stress tolerant genes for other crops. Since cacti can be cultivated easily with minimum agriculture inputs, they hold great potential for cultivation and farming on degraded lands and for at least partial remediation of degraded lands. The present review outlines some of the older and more recent research on the properties and applications for Opuntia and other cacti especially as they might apply towards agricultural sustainability.     

海伦撂荒地植物生物量的季节变化

对海伦20年和7年撂荒地的地上生物量和地下生物量,以及农田地上生物量和地下生物量的田间定位调查和实验室分析对比研究结果表明,随着农田撂荒时间的延长,植被生物量（根生物量和地上生物量之和）具有明显增加趋势;地上生物量之间的差异不显著,而根生物量的差异达到显著水平,表明不同撂荒年限样地的生物量差异主要体现在根生物量,撂荒时间越长,生态系统抵抗环境胁迫的能力越强,生态系统越稳定,根生物量的周转值越小,表明生态系统具有更加稳定地供应养分和能量的能力。     

Apoptosis drives cancer cells proliferate and metastasize

Cancer has been considered to be the result of accumulated gene mutations, which result in uncontrolled cell proliferations for a long time. Cancers are also regarded to be capable of immune evasion. Furthermore, resistance to apoptosis was recognized as an important trait of cancer in the last score of years. However, there are numerous paradoxical issues in this whole set of theory. For example, there is no known set of genes of which mutations are responsible for human cancers. As for the trait of ‘resistance to apoptosis’, the fact is that cancer has increased frequency of apoptosis. The more malignant the tumour is, the more apoptosis shows. In this study, we propose a new theory that apoptosis plays a key role in the malignant progression and metastasis of cancer. The growth of tumour is the difference between tumour cell proliferation and attrition plus the hyperplastic growth of stroma. Increased and unpreventable death caused by innate or environmental factors such as ischaemia and inflammation drives the tumour cells to proliferate relentlessly, move to new lands to establish colonies. In short, increased cell death is the origin of malignancy.     

Studies on cellulosic ethanol production for sustainable supply of liquid fuel in China

As the biggest developing country, China faces a serious challenge in satisfying its need for huge amounts of energy resources, especially for liquid fuel. The Chinese government has recently started a bioethanol project, and has produced about 1 million tons of ethanol fuel from corn and wheat in 2005. As it has the largest population in the world and limited lands for food production, cellulosic ethanol would be a more suitable choice for China. Many research projects in China on biodegradation and biotransformation of lignocellulosics have been carried out. Furthermore, understanding the biodegradation mechanism of lignocellulosics and developing practical processes for ethanol production have been ongoing. After more than 30 years of research, several pilot scale facilities have been set up, and lots of experience has been acquired. However, the calculated production cost of cellulosic ethanol is still higher than that of corn ethanol. To overcome this problem, the biorefinery conception has been introduced into research on lignocellulosics transformation. A corncob biorefinery process has been developed in Shandong University. By combining the cellulase and ethanol production with a xylose-related products production, the total production cost can be reduced. A scale of 50,000-ton/year cellulosic ethanol biorefinery is being planned to be built at Yucheng.     

The importance of conserving biodiversity outside of protected areas in mediterranean ecosystems

Mediterranean-type ecosystems constitute one of the rarest terrestrial biomes and yet they are extraordinarily biodiverse. Home to over 250 million people, the five regions where these ecosystems are found have climate and coastal conditions that make them highly desirable human habitats. The current conservation landscape does not reflect the mediterranean biome's rarity and its importance for plant endemism. Habitat conversion will clearly outpace expansion of formal protected-area networks, and conservationists must augment this traditional strategy with new approaches to sustain the mediterranean biota. Using regional scale datasets, we determine the area of land in each of the five regions that is protected, converted (e.g., to urban or industrial), impacted (e.g., intensive, cultivated agriculture), or lands that we consider to have conservation potential. The latter are natural and semi-natural lands that are unprotected (e.g., private range lands) but sustain numerous native species and associated habitats. Chile has the greatest proportion of its land (75%) in this category and California-Mexico the least (48%). To illustrate the potential for achieving mediterranean biodiversity conservation on these lands, we use species-area curves generated from ecoregion scale data on native plant species richness and vertebrate species richness. For example, if biodiversity could be sustained on even 25% of existing unprotected, natural and semi-natural lands, we estimate that the habitat of more than 6,000 species could be represented. This analysis suggests that if unprotected natural and semi-natural lands are managed in a manner that allows for persistence of native species, we can realize significant additional biodiversity gains. Lasting biodiversity protection at the scale needed requires unprecedented collaboration among stakeholders to promote conservation both inside and outside of traditional protected areas, including on lands where people live and work.     

Simulation of urban expansion and encroachment using cellular automata and multi-agent system model—A case study of Tianjin metropolitan region,China

The combination model of cellular automata and multi-agent system were used in this paper for simulating spatio-temporal dynamics of urban expansion and its encroachment on other lands at the regional scale. The human system(contain authorities and residents) and their behavior, the landscape system and its behavior as well as the inter actions between them were all simulated in this paper. The behavior of human system is established based on multi-agent system, the authority agent and the resident agent were both regarded as abstract entities. The cellular automata is embedded into the model for simulating the spontaneous urban growth. The impact of neighbor cells were considered so that the expansion of urban lands can be limited near the existed urban lands. Moreover, the rural residential lands have higher probability to convert to urban lands if they were close to the cities or towns. Simulation of urban expansion is undertaken on the time series from 2000 to 2020 for Tianjin metropolitan region, the largest open coastal city in northern China. The results show that Tianjin’s urban lands focus on the epitaxial expansion around the central city accompanied with the growing exurb expansion distributing in multiple districts and counties. The croplands are taken the most area of the land-use types, 1764.03 km² are converted to urban lands, and more than one fourth of the rural residential lands are changed to urban lands in 2000–2020. The urban development and the cropland protection should be both taken into account to minimize the threats on food security and ecological environment.     

Carbon sequestration and soil restoration potential of grazing lands under exclosure management in a semi‐arid environment of northern Ethiopia

Exclosures are used to regenerate native vegetation as a way to reduce soil erosion, increase rain water infiltration and provide fodder and woody biomass in degraded grazing lands. Therefore, this study assessed the impact of grazing exclosure on carbon sequestration and soil nutrients under 5 and 10 years of grazing exclosures and freely grazed areas in Tigray, northern Ethiopia. Carbon stocks and soil nutrients increased with increasing grazing exclusion. However, open grazing lands and 5 years of grazing exclosure did not differ in above‐ and belowground carbon stocks. Moreover, 10 years of grazing exclosure had a higher (p < 0.01) grass, herb and litter carbon stocks compared to 5 years exclosure and open grazing lands. The total carbon stock was higher for 10 years exclosure (75.65 t C ha^‐1) than the 5 years exclosure (55.06 t C ha^‐1) and in open grazing areas (51.98 t C ha^‐1). Grazing lands closed for 10 years had a higher SOC, organic matter, total N, available P, and exchangeable K + and Na + compared to 5 year's exclosure and open grazing lands. Therefore, establishment of grazing exclosures had a positive effect in restoring degraded grazing lands, thus improving carbon sequestration potentials and soil nutrients.     

不同规模城镇的扩展过程分析——以北京为例

基于遥感和地理信息系统技术,利用Landsat系列遥感图像的解译成果,分析了北京地区1984～2002年不同规模城镇的扩展过程。研究表明,（1）北京近18a来,各区县城镇规模对其扩展度具有较大的正面影响,且随着城市化的进程其影响程度日益增长。（2）北京近18a来,各区县的城镇用地的扩展强度是以城区为中心,四周辐射逐渐变慢,且对扩展度起到重要作用的是空间位置和地形条件,也就是说地形条件越趋向于平原,空间位置越接近于市中心,城镇用地扩展机会将越大。（3）北京近18a来,大部分区（县）城镇用地不断向外扩张,迅速侵占、同化周边其他土地利用类型（以农业用地、草地、其他用地为主）,原有城镇扩展迅速,城镇分布局部集中,范围也不断扩大。     

Marginal lands for bioenergy in China; an outlook in status,potential and management

Energy consumption and CO₂ emissions have been increasing continuously over the past few decades in China and there is a pressing need to replace the fossil fuel‐based economy with an efficient low‐carbon system, tailor‐made to future requirements. China is starting an energy transition with the aim of building an energy system for the future. China has made tremendous progress in increasing the amount of renewable energy and reducing the cost of renewable energy over the last 20 years. According to the 14th 5 year plan, China aims to incorporate 20% of renewable energy to the primary energy mix and attain 27% reduction in CO₂ emissions. Bioenergy crops constitute a significant proportion of biomass‐based bioenergy and have recently been promoted by the Chinese Government to help overcome food and fuel conflict. Steps are being taken to promote bioenergy crops on marginal lands in China, and various regions across the country with soil marginality have been evaluated for bioenergy crop cultivation. The present paper reviews the status of bioenergy in China and the potential status of marginal lands from different regions of China. It also elaborates on some of the policies, subsidies and incentives allocated by the Chinese Government for the promotion of biomass‐based energy. Land management and plant improvement strategies were discussed, which are effective in making marginal lands suitable for bioenergy crop cultivation. Managing planting strategies, intercropping and crop rotation are effective management practices used in China for the utilization of marginal lands. A national investigation is desirable for creating an inventory of technical and economic potential of biomass feedstocks that could be planted on marginal lands. This would assist with highlighting the pros and cons of using marginal lands for bioenergy production and effective policy making.     

Changes in soil macrofaunal community composition under selective afforestation in shifting sand lands in Horqin of Inner Mongolia, northern China

Large-scale afforestation programs have had some beneficial effects on reducing severity of dust storms and controlling desertification in arid and semi-arid regions. However, the influences of selective afforestation on soil arthropod community are largely unknown in desertified ecosystems. Soil macrofaunal communities, soil physico-chemical properties, and herb vegetation were investigated in afforested shrublands and woodlands (both approximately 30 years old post-afforestation), which were compared to shifting sand lands in Horqin, northern China. In the shrublands, environmental parameters (soil and vegetation properties) indicated a significant improvement of soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, and herbaceous density and cover, in comparison to the woodlands and shifting sand lands. The improved shrubland habitat maintained significantly higher soil macrofaunal abundance and group richness together with higher diversity compared with the woodlands and shifting sand lands. There were no significant differences in soil macrofaunal diversity between the woodlands and shifting sand lands. The results suggest that shrubs can facilitate macrofaunal assemblies and improve soil and vegetation properties when planted in shifting sand lands. Shrub afforestation is beneficial for the restoration of shifting sand lands, and is recommended for management of artificial plantations in these sandy ecosystems.     

平顶山新区生态用地的识别与安全格局构建

生态用地对城市生态安全具有重要意义,关键性生态用地的识别与安全格局的构建是实现城市精明增长和生态保护的重要途径。以河南省平顶山新区为例,结合GIS(Geographic Information System)空间技术,分析得到基于水资源安全、地质灾害规避、生物多样性保护三种单一过程的生态用地,进而综合叠加并重分类为理想型、缓冲型和底线型三类生态用地,并以底线型生态用地为源,现状土地覆被为阻力因子,应用最小累积阻力模型构建了平顶山新区生态用地的安全格局。结果表明:新区内最小生态用地,即底线型生态用地的面积为88.44 km2,占研究区总面积的29.35%;缓冲型和理想型生态用地的面积分别为22.28 km2和43.87 km2。确定了三种安全水平的生态用地范围、"源"与外部联系的辐射道、"源"间连接的生态廊道、关键的生态节点等。关键性生态用地综合安全格局的构建,旨在为研究区城市生态规划和城镇空间布局规划等提供科学参考。