面向管理目标的国家公园生态监测指标体系构建与应用

国家公园具有生态系统保护、自然资源可持续利用等管理目标,这些管理目标的实现需要大量监测数据和信息的支持。对国家公园开展生态监测有助于了解国家公园内生态系统的动态变化并揭示管理活动的影响,从而为管理决策的规划和实施提供有用信息。为推动我国国家公园生态监测体系的建立,提出了面向管理目标的国家公园生态监测指标构建方法。该方法由确定国家公园生态监测目标、识别国家公园管理目标、识别国家公园关键生态过程、确定需要监测的生态过程并制定初始监测指标清单、确定最终监测指标清单5个部分组成。该方法在三江源国家公园进行了应用。三江源国家公园的管理目标包括生态系统保育、维持江河径流量持续稳定等13项,在区域、景观、生态系统和种群尺度上共识别出16个关键生态过程。通过匹配三江源国家公园的关键生态过程与管理目标,构建了一个由两级共93个指标组成的三江源国家公园生态监测指标体系,为三江源国家公园生态监测体系的构建奠定了基础。     

我国生态文明建设及其评估体系研究进展

传统的资源利用和环境管理方式已经越来越不能适应人们对于物质文明和精神文明的追求,资源节约型和环境友好型社会是现代区域规划的新需求,生态文明建设是体现这一理念的必然选择。全面认识和理解生态文明建设方法及其跟踪评估机制是加强生态文明建设的前提,但目前研究中提供给管理者的信息还很有限。目前国内对生态文明建设的研究主要集中在3个方面:生态文明建设内涵、生态文明建设指标体系和生态文明建设跟踪评估指标体系。综述了国内当前生态文明建设主要特征,采用评价指标重要值的方法评估生态文明建设和评估指标选取的重要性程度,提出了生态文明建设理论框架、建设与跟踪评估指标体系和今后的研究方向。     

Using a network framework to quantitatively select ecological indicators

Ecological indicators are often constructed as an integrated set to represent key information and characteristics of the ecosystem which are tightly linked to management objectives. As an effective tool, ecological indicators play an increasingly important role in ecosystem monitoring, assessment and management. Reasonable selection of an indicator is a prerequisite for effectively using it. A defined protocol with scientific rigor to select ecological indicators is imperative to solve the challenges in ecological indicator selection. This paper compares the Causal Network (CN) with the Ecological Hierarchy Network (EHN) as a framework to select ecological indicators. These frameworks are not exclusive but interdependent in constructing a network framework. Based on the network framework, a quantitative ecological indicator selection method is demonstrated through a theoretical example. In the selection process, the criteria and requirements considering the balance of science and utility are proposed and translated into quantitative constraints of a selection model. By resolving the model under a mathematical operation, the human arbitrary disturbance will be reduced and random selection minimized.     

Abiotic stress, the field environment and stress combination

Farmers and breeders have long known that often it is the simultaneous occurrence of several abiotic stresses, rather than a particular stress condition, that is most lethal to crops. Surprisingly, the co-occurrence of different stresses is rarely addressed by molecular biologists that study plant acclimation. Recent studies have revealed that the response of plants to a combination of two different abiotic stresses is unique and cannot be directly extrapolated from the response of plants to each of the different stresses applied individually. Tolerance to a combination of different stress conditions, particularly those that mimic the field environment, should be the focus of future research programs aimed at developing transgenic crops and plants with enhanced tolerance to naturally occurring environmental conditions.     

Perspectives for ecosystem management based on ecosystem resilience and ecological thresholds against multiple and stochastic disturbances

Ecosystem resilience is the inherent ability to absorb various disturbances and reorganize while undergoing state changes to maintain critical functions. When ecosystem resilience is sufficiently degraded by disturbances, ecosystem is exposed at high risk of shifting from a desirable state to an undesirable state. Ecological thresholds represent the points where even small changes in environmental conditions associated with disturbances lead to switch between ecosystem states. There is a growing body of empirical evidence for such state transitions caused by anthropogenic disturbances in a variety of ecosystems. However, fewer studies addressed the interaction of anthropogenic and natural disturbances that often force an ecosystem to cross a threshold which an anthropogenic disturbance or a natural disturbance alone would not have achieved. This fact highlights how little is known about ecosystem dynamics under uncertainties around multiple and stochastic disturbances. Here, we present two perspectives for providing a predictive scientific basis to the management and conservation of ecosystems against multiple and stochastic disturbances. The first is management of predictable anthropogenic disturbances to maintain a sufficient level of biodiversity for ensuring ecosystem resilience (i.e., resilience-based management). Several biological diversity elements appear to confer ecosystem resilience, such as functional redundancy, response diversity, a dominant species, a foundation species, or a keystone species. The greatest research challenge is to identify key elements of biodiversity conferring ecosystem resilience for each context and to examine how we can manage and conserve them. The second is the identification of ecological thresholds along existing or experimental disturbance gradients. This will facilitate the development of indicators of proximity to thresholds as well as the understanding of threshold mechanisms. The implementation of forewarning indicators will be critical particularly when resilience-based management fails. The ability to detect an ecological threshold along disturbance gradients should therefore be essential to establish a backstop for preventing the threshold from being crossed. These perspectives can take us beyond simply invoking the precautionary principle of conserving biodiversity to a predictive science that informs practical solutions to cope with uncertainties and ecological surprises in a changing world.     

Butterflies (Papilionoidea and Hesperioidea) as potential ecological indicators of riparian quality in the semi-arid western United States

Ecological indicators can be used to detect, diagnose, and summarize information about environmental problems. Despite these important values, few indicators have been systematically validated. Broad information on relevance, feasibility, estimates of variance, and interpretation of the ecological indicator is needed for initial validation. Comparisons of ecological indicators can only be accomplished if they are contrasted with standard published criteria. In this paper, information on the potential use of butterflies as indicators of riparian quality is provided within a standard framework. Additionally, data from riparian areas along the Arkansas, Green, Pecos, Rio Grande, and Yampa rivers were collected to validate some specific criterion, such as ease of measurement and information on response to stressors. Information on sampling protocols and a butterfly metric, the Riparian Butterfly Index, is presented along with time needed to characterize butterfly sites. Sensitivity of butterfly assemblages to riparian environmental characteristics was examined using ordination of butterfly data and environmental variables. Characteristic assemblages were associated with high quality versus low quality riparian habitats. Response specificity to habitat and weather was tested with sites on the Arkansas river, which were repeatedly sampled over a 3-year period. An index of abundance varied between years and appeared to be related to weather; however, richness metrics for a given habitat type were consistent between years. Butterflies as ecological indicators were easily measured, integrated floodplain characteristics, and had low variability in response.     

Conditional heteroscedasticity as a leading indicator of ecological regime shifts

Regime shifts are massive, often irreversible, rearrangements of nonlinear ecological processes that occur when systems pass critical transition points. Ecological regime shifts sometimes have severe consequences for human well-being, including eutrophication in lakes, desertification, and species extinctions. Theoretical and laboratory evidence suggests that statistical anomalies may be detectable leading indicators of regime shifts in ecological time series, making it possible to foresee and potentially avert incipient regime shifts. Conditional heteroscedasticity is persistent variance characteristic of time series with clustered volatility. Here, we analyze conditional heteroscedasticity as a potential leading indicator of regime shifts in ecological time series. We evaluate conditional heteroscedasticity by using ecological models with and without four types of critical transition. On approaching transition points, all time series contain significant conditional heteroscedasticity. This signal is detected hundreds of time steps in advance of the regime shift. Time series without regime shifts do not have significant conditional heteroscedasticity. Because probability values are easily associated with tests for conditional heteroscedasticity, detection of false positives in time series without regime shifts is minimized. This property reduces the need for a reference system to compare with the perturbed system.     

生态流量方法应用现状研究

水资源是制约国家经济社会发展的重要因素。长期以来,水资源的过度开发利用直接影响了流域的生态保护和高质量发展。生态流量(Ecological Flow)是保障流域水生态环境可持续发展和管理的重要指标。然而当前研究方法众多,尚未进行系统性梳理。以生态流量为出发点,归纳总结国内生态流量评估的最新进展,系统地对水文学法、水力学法、生境模拟法和整体分析法等四大类共17种方法进行对比总结,评述其优缺点及适用条件,并根据国内流域的生态流量评估现状,建议在我国流域水系庞杂且气候、水文地质、下垫面和水资源开发利用等条件差异较大的情况下,因地制宜地选择生态流量评估方法。未来的生态流量研究和流域水生态管理应综合考虑气候、水文条件变化和人类活动的影响,依据生态流量目标制定、水利水电工程调度、生态流量监测、流域制度法规建设等方面系统性完善生态流量管理与研究,实现流域水资源的高质量发展。     

Monitoring for conservation

Human-mediated environmental changes have resulted in appropriate concern for the conservation of ecological systems and have led to the development of many ecological monitoring programs worldwide. Many programs that are identified with the purpose of 'surveillance' represent an inefficient use of conservation funds and effort. Here, we revisit the 1964 paper by Platt and argue that his recommendations about the conduct of science are equally relevant to the conduct of ecological monitoring programs. In particular, we argue that monitoring should not be viewed as a stand-alone activity, but instead as a component of a larger process of either conservation-oriented science or management. Corresponding changes in monitoring focus and design would lead to substantial increases in the efficiency and usefulness of monitoring results in conservation.     

Can ants be used as ecological indicators of restoration progress in dynamic environments? A case study in a revegetated riparian zone

Ant assemblages are focal ecological indicators of progress in mine-site restoration, often showing increasing species richness with restoration age. Certain functional groups also behave in predictable ways in response to disturbance and changes in the environment. Whether these ant responses can be applied to other types of restoration and ecosystems is unknown, especially in dynamic environments and where gradients may not be as severe as in mine-site restoration. Ant assemblages would be expected to perform poorly as ecological indicators in dynamic environments because such environs are subject to periodic disturbance of important habitat features. Indeed, periodic disturbance may limit the predictive power of any ecological indicator. In this study, we trapped ants on two separate occasions to compare ant assemblages among four riparian habitat types (Unplanted grassland, Young revegetation, Older revegetation and Mature woodland). These habitat types were assumed to represent progressive stages of restoration. In contrast to the findings of others, species richness was variable among replicate locations of the same habitat type, and did not differ among the four habitat types. Also in contrast to what others have found for functional groups, dolichoderines were equally abundant in all habitat types and did not decrease in abundance with vegetation maturity. While generalized myrmicines and opportunists became more common with maturation of the vegetation, they did not replace dolichoderines as the most common ants. Surprisingly, the relative abundance of Subordinate Camponotini, a functional group considered to be of limited use in discriminating structural types, increased across the restoration gradient. There were also fairly distinct species assemblages associated with unplanted grassland and mature woodland. Communities in revegetated habitats were intermediate of these extremes, suggesting there is a level of predictiveness to their response to revegetation in this system. While species richness and a functional group approach would be of little use in this environment, species composition would provide a useful gauge of restoration progress. Ant species richness and functional group metrics have repeatedly been advocated as ecological indicators. Given our results, we caution against the blind application of metrics that have not been validated in the context in which they are to be applied.     

Selecting indicators of soil, microbial, and plant conditions to understand ecological changes in Georgia pine forests

Characterizing how resource use and management activities affect ecological conditions is necessary to document and understand anthropogenic changes in ecological systems. Resource managers on military installations have the delicate task of balancing the training needs of soldiers effectively with the need to maintain a high quality of ecological conditions. This study considers ways that ecological indicators can provide information on impacts that training has on environmental characteristics that occur at different scales and in different sectors of the environment. The characteristics examined include soil chemistry, soil microbes, and vegetation. A discriminant function analysis was conducted to determine whether ecological indicators could differentiate among different levels of military use. A combination of 10 indicators explained 90% of the variation among plots from five different military use levels. Results indicated that an appropriate suite of ecological indicators for military resource managers includes soil, microbial, and vegetation characteristics. Since many of these indicators are related, managers at this location potentially have freedom to choose indicators that are relatively easy to measure, without sacrificing information.     

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。     

白洋淀湿地生态功能评价及分区

白洋淀湿地在雄安新区建设过程中具有重要生态安全保障作用。开展白洋淀湿地生态功能评价及分区研究,为生态环境治理和保护提供科学依据,是当前普遍关切和急需解决的问题之一。面向白洋淀湿地生态保护和管理的需求,在明确白洋淀自然环境特征和主要生态环境问题的基础上,结合外业调查、遥感、综合评价等方法,从水产品供给功能、水生植物供给功能、气候调节功能、生物多样性维护功能、水质改善功能5个方面评价了白洋淀湿地生态系统服务功能重要性,从水污染敏感性、湿地变化敏感性、重要自然与文化价值敏感性3个方面评价了白洋淀湿地生态系统敏感性。基于评价结果,将白洋淀湿地初步划分为7个一级生态功能区和19个二级生态功能区。在分区方法方面体现了白洋淀湿地人地关系动态特征,分区结果注重现状与历史相结合,有助于服务未来淀区生态保护规划决策实施。建议在实施白洋淀生态环境治理和保护过程中,依据白洋淀湿地生态功能分区特征,实行分区管制,制定对应的生态环境治理和保护措施。     

城市生态风险评价研究进展

随着城市化发展和城市人居环境的恶化,城市生态风险越来越受到关注,但尚缺乏有关城市生态风险评价的深入系统研究.本文依据城市生态学原理及生态风险评价框架从驱动力、风险源、风险受体与评价终点,以及生态风险综合评价方法等方面对城市生态风险评价研究进行综述.指出城市经济社会活动类型与程度是城市生态风险产生的主要驱动力;城市生态系统不同等级功能实体和城市整体是城市生态风险评价中的风险受体;城市生态风险评价终点包括城市生态系统结构、过程、功能要素,以及城市整体水平的性质和功能变化;耦合了社会经济需求的生态系统模型是城市生态风险评价方法的发展方向.未来城市生态风险评价研究应明确生态风险管理具体目标,确定综合性评价终点,建立多指标评价体系和综合评价方法.     

Phytometers are underutilised for evaluating ecological restoration

Ecological restoration increases, but evaluation of restoration efforts is inadequate because reliable performance indicators are lacking. As plants are important actors in ecological restoration, we suggest that they be used as metres, i.e. phytometers, of restoration success. Phytometer plants are transplanted to different conditions to integrate measures of the prevailing conditions. We analysed 109 studies for the use of phytometers and especially their applicability to evaluate ecological restoration. Most studies employed single species and life-stages and focused on habitat conditions and environmental impacts. Most experiments were conducted on grasslands in moist temperate regions. Growth was the dominant response variable, in long-term studies often combined with reproductive output and plant survival. Only five studies specifically evaluated ecological restoration, implying that its potential is not yet realised. We found phytometers promising in evaluating restoration outcomes given that they are easy to measure, can provide rapid results, and serve as integrative indicators of environmental conditions with the ability of covering many aspects of plant life and ecosystem processes. To evaluate restoration success with high resolution and generality, we suggest a combination of different phytometer species, life-forms and life-stages, and experimental periods >1 year to reduce effects of transplantation and between-year variation and to account for time lags in ecological processes and changes after restoration.     

生态政策学及其评价方法

生态政策学是研究国家机关、政党及其他政治团体在特定时期为实现或服务于一定社会政治、经济、文化、环境目标所采取的生态行为或规定的行为准则,是政策学与生态学交叉学科。生态政策是服务于生态建设与管理的一系列谋略、法令、措施、办法、方法和条例的总称,主要通过生态项目建设的形式来实施。生态政策可持续性评价不仅包括现状评价,更要研究政策变化的最佳动态效果,判断政策调整的最佳时间与调整内容。及时科学的调整是政策执行效果可持续性的保证前提。生态政策组合主要体现3个基本思想:利用政府的行政管理能力、利用市场机制和利用经济增长机遇造福环境。不管全球生态政策如何演变,其不懈努力的宗旨非常明确,理性利用资源,降低生态环境治理费用,加快生态环境达标速度。生态政策评价的主要方法包括生态健康评价、生态系统服务与评价、生态项目的经济分析(市场价值法、影子价格法、机会成本法和替代效益分析法等)、人文社会评价(项目对周围群众生计的影响、执行与受益群体对项目的判断等)等方法。     

Ecosystem, environmental quality and ecotechnology in the Taipei metropolitan region

The “self-design” capability of a natural environment is ignored in currently practiced environmental technology and urban planning professionals. Therefore, we propose an ecological engineering approach to conduct scenarios for environmental management in the metropolitan region of Taipei. Ecological energetic analysis is applied to assess the ecological economic status and the role and contribution of solid waste and water resources in the Taipei metropolitan region. The benefit of an ecological engineering approach to the environmental quality and sustainable development of the metropolitan region is evaluated using emergy synthesis. The results indicate that Taipei metropolitan region operates its activity mainly on the imported fuels and goods and services, which account for 90% of total emergy used. The treatment of waste as resources and the use of the self-design capability of the natural environment according to the ecological engineering approach can generate positive contribution and aid the environmental quality and productive potential of the ecological economic system. It is concluded that ecological sustainability should be used as a reference of environmental quality for urban development policy.     

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。     

陕西省生态恢复综合效益评估

开展区域内生态恢复综合效益评估工作,将为地区生态恢复成果梳理及生态系统管理提供决策支持,为未来生态恢复工作的开展提供理论依据。以陕西省为研究区,基于空间遥感数据和生态模型模拟,从生态系统结构、质量和服务3个方面综合评估区域内2000-2015年生态恢复效益。研究结果表明：1）近16年间陕西省土地利用类型呈现林地增加,耕地减少的态势,同时关中地区建设用地大量增加。陕西省87.95%和72.72%的区域分别呈现植被覆盖和生态系统服务总值增加的趋势,尽管区域内人类活动占地增加,但整体生态恢复效果明显。2）陕南地区植被覆盖及生态系统服务总值相对较高,特别是秦岭地区,生态环境较为优越。陕北地区植被覆盖及生态系统服务均值虽相对较低,但均呈现显著增加趋势,未来区域范围内生态环境有着较大的发展潜力。3）尽管不同生态工程基本覆盖了陕西省全境,但受气象因素影响,生态系统服务总值在关中及陕南地区仍呈现出了一定的下降趋势。在未来相关区域的生态恢复资源投入中,应注意干旱环境对生态恢复效果的影响,因地制宜地选取适宜生态工程措施,以保证生态恢复的有效性和持续性,将生态恢复资源的成效最大化。     

城市生态学长期监测的几个关键问题

伴随城市人口快速聚集及人类活动加剧,城市生态环境质量及其对人类社会经济发展的支撑能力正在受到严重挑战,城市生态系统及其变化的研究越来越受到重视,国内外涌现出大量城市生态学长期监测工作,但相关监测方法的讨论还很少。在分析城市生态学长期监测类型和实践经验基础上,从城市面临的环境胁迫和建设管理需求出发,构建了城市生态学长期监测的"胁迫+需求-生态系统响应"总体思路框架;从科学上最基本和社会上最关心的城市生态系统要素、格局和过程着眼,提出城市生态学长期监测的7项内容(土地覆盖与利用、人居环境质量、生物多样性、生物质生产、水文过程、生物地球化学循环和物质代谢);并分析了城市生态学长期监测的4种方法(遥感监测、仪器监测、调查监测、公众科学监测),分析了城市生态学长期监测单元及其空间布局及监测频率。这将为我国城市生态学长期监测工作开展提供方法论基础和实践参考。