广西国有林场森林生物多样性变化评价

采用压力—状态—响应评价法对 1 990～ 2 0 0 1年广西国有林场森林生物多样性进行了研究 ,发现林场森林生物多样性十多年来呈下降趋势。导致森林生物多样性减少的主要根源是林场人口急剧增长和不当的森林经营方式。提出了控制人口增长、转变森林经营方式以遏制林场森林生物多样性减少、保护森林生物多样性的对策     

Developing a set of simulation-based indicators to assess harmfulness and contribution to biodiversity of weed communities in cropping systems

Weeds are both harmful for agricultural production and an essential component of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. Therefore, new cropping systems aiming at both maximising weed-related biodiversity and minimising weed harmfulness are needed. New cropping systems are now increasingly designed with weed dynamics models but these usually only consider weed densities or crop yield losses. The present paper proposed a set of indicators for assessing the impact on crop production and biodiversity of weed communities simulated with a cropping system model. Five harmfulness indicators were developed to take account of the criteria most frequently listed by farmers via an internet survey: (1) crop yield loss, (2) harvest pollution by weed seeds, stems and leaves, (3) harvesting problems due to green weed biomass blocking the combine, and (4) field infestation represented by weed biomass averaged over cropping seasons. A fifth indicator was added, i.e. (5) the increase in crop disease (i.e. take-all disease of cereals) in the presence of weeds. The biodiversity indicators were chosen in collaboration with ecologists. Two indicators reflect the weed contribution to vegetal biodiversity: (1) species richness and (2) Pielou's index for species equitability. Three other indicators were developed to assess weeds as a trophic resource for other organisms in the agro-ecosystems: (3) the number of weed seeds present on soil surface in autumn and winter to feed field birds, (4) lipid-rich seeds on soil surface in summer to feed insects such as carabids, and (5) weed flowers in spring and summer to feed domestic bees. These indicators were tested in a series of contrasted cropping systems identified in farm surveys and simulated with FlorSys. Analyses of variance showed that the cropping system and the crop sequence presented the highest impact on indicator values. Weather scenario and pedoclimate had little effect. Antagonisms and synergies between weed-related harmfulness and biodiversity were identified with Spearman correlations. Harmfulness indicators were all positively correlated, except for additional disease risk which was at best poorly correlated with other indicators. Most weed-related biodiversity indicators were also positively correlated, except species richness which was negatively correlated with species equitability, bird resource and insect resource. Weed harmfulness generally increased with increasing weed-related biodiversity. These correlations were though weak, and others were negative, showing that increased biodiversity could occur with decreased harmfulness (e.g. trophic resource for insects vs. yield loss or field infestation). Consequently, there are cropping systems that reconcile agricultural production and biodiversity.     

Shade trees preserve avian insectivore biodiversity on coffee farms in a warming climate

AimCoffee is an important export for many developing countries, with a global annual trade value of $100 billion, but it is threatened by a warming climate. Shade trees may mitigate the effects of climate change through temperature regulation that can aid in coffee growth, slow pest reproduction, and sustain avian insectivore diversity. The impact of shade on bird diversity and microclimate on coffee farms has been studied extensively in the Neotropics, but there is a dearth of research in the Paleotropics.LocationEast Africa.MethodsWe created current and future regional Maxent models for avian insectivores in East Africa using Worldclim temperature data and observations from the Global Biodiversity Information Database. We then adjusted current and future bioclimatic layers based on mean differences in temperature between shade and sun coffee farms and projected the models using these adjusted layers to predict the impact of shade tree removal on climatic suitability for avian insectivores.ResultsExisting Worldclim temperature layers more closely matched temperatures under shade trees than temperatures in the open. Removal of shade trees, through warmer temperatures alone, would result in reduction of avian insectivore species by over 25%, a loss equivalent to 50 years of climate change under the most optimistic emissions scenario. Under the most extreme climate scenario and removal of shade trees, insectivore richness is projected to decline from a mean of 38 to fewer than 8 avian insectivore species.Main conclusionsWe found that shade trees on coffee farms already provide important cooler microclimates for avian insectivores. Future temperatures will become a regionally limiting factor for bird distribution in East Africa, which could negatively impact control of coffee pests, but the effect of climate change can be potentially mediated through planting and maintaining shade trees on coffee farms.     

Understanding biodiversity effects on prey in multi-enemy systems

Biodiversity–ecosystem functioning theory would predict that increasing natural enemy richness should enhance prey consumption rate due to functional complementarity of enemy species. However, several studies show that ecological interactions among natural enemies may result in complex effects of enemy diversity on prey consumption. Therefore, the challenge in understanding natural enemy diversity effects is to predict consumption rates of multiple enemies taking into account effects arising from patterns of prey use together with species interactions. Here, we show how complementary and redundant prey use patterns result in additive and saturating effects, respectively, and how ecological interactions such as phenotypic niche shifts, synergy and intraguild predation enlarge the range of outcomes to include null, synergistic and antagonistic effects. This study provides a simple theoretical framework that can be applied to experimental studies to infer the biological mechanisms underlying natural enemy diversity effects on prey.     

Open-source based geo-platform to support management of wetlands and biodiversity in Quebec

Wetlands are one of the most productive environments in the world. Despite their importance for water and carbon cycle regulation, wildlife survival and economic value, human activities along with severe climate changes have led to critical loss and degradation of these ecosystems. In Canada, where these lands still occupy a notable percentage of the territory (~ 14%), efficient strategies and public awareness measures to protect them are required. The Open Government program fosters accessibility to a large amount of data for developing approaches and applications that contribute to this purpose. Web cartographic implementations represent a potential tool for integration and diffusion of diversified information that can support the protection of natural habitats.In this paper, we present an open-source geo-platform that supports multi-scale management of wetlands and biodiversity in Quebec. This friendly and dynamic prototype allows integration of multisource data, providing, as well, the possibility of geovisualization and correlation analysis of possible stressors impacting these ecosystems. This system proposes useful and easy-to-use functionalities that can facilitate identification of possible habitats in danger. The prototype proposed is flexible and can be adapted to assist other biodiversity studies as well as the practical needs of responsible groups such as planners, conservationists and landscape managers.     

2020年后生物多样性保护需要建立新的资金机制

《生物多样性公约》第十五次缔约方大会(COP15)将评估全球生物多样性保护已有进展, 审议并通过“2020年后全球生物多样性框架”, 后者是实现2050愿景“与自然和谐相处”的关键, 有助于达成联合国可持续发展的目标。生物多样性资金机制现在是将来也是实施全球生物多样性保护行动计划的重要保证。根据《生物多样性公约》信息交换所的数据, 目前各缔约方每年对本国生物多样性保护的投资额度占其当年国内生产总值(GDP)的比例比较小。中国作为发展中国家, 2015年时生物多样性保护资金投入占GDP比例为0.255%, 在世界各国中处于比较高的水平。近年中国对生物多样性保护的投入连年增加, 2019年时已经达约0.6%。有研究表明, 目前全球每年生物多样性保护资金的缺口至少500亿美元, 未来十年还有更大的资金缺口, 而且当前已有生物多样性资金渠道比较单一, 并存在一些短板, 远远不能满足生物多样性保护行动的要求, 急需建立新的资金机制, 调动更多资源, 推动2030年生物多样性保护任务和目标的实现。《生物多样性公约》的资金机制可以与包括《联合国气候变化框架公约》在内的其他相关环境公约协同增效, 比如基于自然的解决方案将生物多样性保护与气候变化减缓等环境目标联系起来。中国作为COP15的东道国, 有积极协调磋商的责任, 力求在大会上推动形成一个新的资金机制, 即全球生物多样性保护基金, 为“2020年后全球生物多样性框架”的实施保驾护航。新的生物多样性保护资金机制将独立于现有的生物多样性保护资金机制, 具有多样化投资渠道并引入绩效评估机制, 将经费与任务目标关联, 提高资金的使用效率, 支持发展中国家的生物多样性保护行动。     

Developing biodiversity indicator to design efficient agri-environmental schemes for extensively used grassland

Agri-environmental measures are among the most important instruments for the promotion of environmentally adapted agricultural land use. While their pertinence in Europe has been increasing for some years, evaluations of these measures have shown that their design is still lacking in both effectiveness and efficiency. This paper describes the derivation of indicator plant species that make it possible to implement result-oriented remuneration schemes in the grassland sector. In many ways, result-oriented agri-environmental schemes can be expected to prove superior to the measure-oriented schemes which are currently most widely used.It is demonstrated how a checklist of indicator species can be derived by using expert knowledge and statistical crosschecks with a database of pre-existing vegetation samples. These species are indicators for conservationally relevant, agriculturally usable grassland on moderately dry to moderately wet sites. The qualities that make a site eligible for remuneration are defined by societal demand as expressed through political objectives and guidelines. One of the challenges in deriving an indicator checklist was to represent quality through species that not only satisfy scientific criteria like validity, but are also operational within remuneration programmes. For example, operational indicator species have to be easily identifiable. The checklist of indicator species for result-oriented remuneration in the Land Brandenburg presented here covers the entire spectrum of site conditions and all types of usable grassland in Brandenburg.     

Optimizing mirid control on cocoa farms through complementary monitoring systems

Mirids (Sahlbergella singularis and Distantiella theobroma) are the most important insect pests affecting cocoa production across West Africa. Understanding the population dynamics of mirids is key to their management; however, the current recommended hand‐height assessment method is labour intensive. The objective of the study was to compare recently developed mirid sex pheromone trapping and visual hand‐height assessment methods as monitoring tools on cocoa farms and to consider implications for a decision support system. Ten farms from the Eastern and Ashanti regions of Ghana were used for the study. Mirid numbers and damage were assessed fortnightly on twenty trees per farm, using both methods, from January 2012 to April 2013. The mirid population increased rapidly in June, reached a peak in September and began to decline in October. There was a significant linear relationship between numbers of mirids sampled to hand‐height and mirid damage. High numbers of male mirids were recorded in pheromone traps between January and April 2012 after which there was a gradual decline. There was a significant inverse relationship between numbers of trapped adult mirids and mirids sampled to hand‐height (predominantly nymphs). Higher temperatures and lower relative humidities in the first half of the year were associated with fewer mirids at hand‐height, but larger numbers of adult males were caught in pheromone traps. The study showed that relying solely on one method is not sufficient to provide accurate information on mirid population dynamics and a combination of the two methods is necessary.     

Old rural parks support higher biodiversity than forest remnants

One of the main challenges in biodiversity conservation is to curb a further degradation and loss of high-quality habitats. In agricultural matrix landscapes, the detection of alternative habitats for habitat specialists may be a solution. Historic old parks or landscape gardens around manor houses and castles are cultural heritage of nobles, but their value in harbouring biodiversity is poorly acknowledged. Therefore we evaluated the potential of old rural parks to serve as a habitat for nemoral forest species. We recorded stand structure and the presence of forest biodiversity indicators in 74 closed-canopy stands of historic parks and compared them with 93 neighbouring mature forest remnants on ancient forest land. We estimated the importance of stand structure in relation to habitat type on biodiversity indicators. Finally we suggest single-value indicator-complexes for the cost-efficient assessment of the conservation value of forests and forest-like habitats. Park stands outclassed reference forests in several individual structural characteristics, and in combined indicators of habitat quality and biodiversity. Forests had higher estimates for the combined indicator of dead wood, but large-diameter dead wood types were more abundant in parks. Woodpeckers, several old-growth indicator epiphytes and forest herbs had successfully become established in planted forest-like park fragments. Old rural parks resemble high-conservation-value forests more than the best preserved contemporary forest remnants. After the century needed to overcome immigration delay, old parks do provide a refugium for temperate deciduous forest species. Consequently, biodiversity-targeted management should retain and enhance old-growth attributes in forests and on the peripheries of parks: e.g. preserving old trees to provide service for epiphytes, hollow trees and an understorey mosaic for birds and bats; dead wood elements for saproxylic insects and fungi; limited mowing frequency and increased cutting height for forest herbs. Forestry should enhance the recovery of mixed deciduous stands and avoid conifer plantations.     

Belowground biodiversity effects of plant symbionts support aboveground productivity

Soil microbes play key roles in ecosystems, yet the impact of their diversity on plant communities is still poorly understood. Here we demonstrate that the diversity of belowground plant-associated soil fungi promotes plant productivity and plant coexistence. Using additive partitioning of biodiversity effects developed in plant biodiversity studies, we demonstrate that this positive relationship can be driven by complementarity effects among soil fungi in one soil type and by a selection effect resulting from the fungal species that stimulated plant productivity the most in another soil type. Selection and complementarity effects among fungal species contributed to improving plant productivity up to 82% and 85%, respectively, above the average of the respective fungal species monocultures depending on the soil in which they were grown. These results also indicate that belowground diversity may act as insurance for maintaining plant productivity under differing environmental conditions.     

Developing a forest biodiversity monitoring approach for New Zealand

There is a lack of comprehensive and consistent information to inform policy makers about the status of New Zealand’s forest biodiversity. Three reasons for collecting such information are: assessing the effectiveness of management, reporting on the status of biodiversity under national and international requirements, and improving our knowledge of ecosystem dynamics for designing effective management systems. The challenge is to design monitoring systems that address these multiple needs simultaneously, and at a range of spatial and temporal scales. This article first considers principles for designing enduring monitoring systems based on past experiences, assessing how effectively these principles were implemented in designing New Zealand’s Carbon Monitoring System (CMS), and finally, suggesting future directions for forest biodiversity monitoring in New Zealand. At a national scale we support an unbiased, systematic sample of forests as implemented in several countries (e.g. Austria and the U.S.A.). We consider it best practice to monitor shifts in the fundamental compositional, structural and functional characteristics of ecosystems and use these to derive indicators. We suggest forest biodiversity indicators should include forest area and spatial arrangement, tree mortality and recruitment, exotic weeds, introduced herbivore impacts, and woody debris. Principles discussed in this paper are relevant to biodiversity monitoring in a wider range of ecosystems than forests. Without spatially extensive, robustly designed, biodiversity monitoring systems, New Zealand will remain in a relatively weak position nationally, and internationally, to report on the effectiveness of biodiversity conservation.     

Indicators to support environmental sustainability of bioenergy systems

Indicators are needed to assess environmental sustainability of bioenergy systems. Effective indicators will help in the quantification of benefits and costs of bioenergy options and resource uses. We identify 19 measurable indicators for soil quality, water quality and quantity, greenhouse gases, biodiversity, air quality, and productivity, building on existing knowledge and on national and international programs that are seeking ways to assess sustainable bioenergy. Together, this suite of indicators is hypothesized to reflect major environmental effects of diverse feedstocks, management practices, and post-production processes. The importance of each indicator is identified. Future research relating to this indicator suite is discussed, including field testing, target establishment, and application to particular bioenergy systems. Coupled with such efforts, we envision that this indicator suite can serve as a basis for the practical evaluation of environmental sustainability in a variety of bioenergy systems.     

Developing an instrument to support oral care in the elderly

Background: The dramatic increase in the number of dependent elderly in developed countries has created a great need for their improved oral care. However, optimal oral care by caregivers is not possible because of time constraints, difficulty involved in brushing other individuals' teeth, lack of co‐operation, and the lack of perceived need. Therefore, the development of an effective instrument simplifying and supporting oral care to relieve the strain on caregivers is a matter of some urgency. Purpose: In order to clean the mouths of elderly dependent patients, we have developed a new oral care support instrument (an electric toothbrush in combination with an antibacterial‐agent supply and suction system). The purpose of the present study was to develop and evaluate a new oral care support instrument. Methods: a) Plaque removal study: The plaque‐ removing ability of this new instrument in 70 outpatients was compared with the Plak Control D9011 (Braun Gillette Japan Inc.) as a control by means of the Turesky modification of the Quigley and Hein plaque index, b) Clinical study: The subjects were 10 dependent elderly who received oral care using the new oral care support instrument for two weeks. The plaque and gingival indices were used for clinical evaluations. Results: a) Plaque removal study: Brushing with the new oral care support instrument removed significantly more plaque than with the Plak Control D9011. b) Clinical study: The new oral care support instrument allows a more effective removal of dental plaque and shows a significant improvement in the gingival indices in dependent elderly. Conclusion: It is concluded that the new oral care support instrument is effective and can be recommended for oral care in the dependent elderly.     

生物防治利用生物多样性保护生物多样性

本文论述了生物防治与保护生物多样性的关系,提出生物多样性是生防作用物的必要来源,生物防治是保护生物多样性的重要措施。文中分析了自然界和农田生态系统中天敌的多样性和寄主专一性,并从外来种的治理、濒危物种和栖境的保护等几个方面探讨了生物防治对于保护生物多样性的作用。作者还强调应加强国际间天敌资源的交换,建立严格的天敌引种释放法规,以便开展更多的安全有效的生物防治项目。     

Synchronization of APIIS based farm animal biodiversity systems

One of the major problems in the management of farm animal and biodiversity information is the exchange of data and keeping it up-to-date, an issue that is very common with distributed information systems consisting of number of databases. This article describes the synchronization protocol developed in APIIS (adaptable platform independent information system) framework and reviews the basic considerations required when building distributed information system that has to exchange information in a network of APIIS based systems. The protocol is designed to synchronize a common part of different database structures. It is developed without any intended use of proprietary database engine and can work with a variety of RDBMS (relational database management system). The main targets of the protocol are animal biodiversity information systems without permanently connected nodes. The EFABIS (European farm animal biodiversity information system) is reviewed as an example of the implementation.

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Information needs to support environmental impact assessment of the effects of European marine offshore wind farms on birds

European legislation requires Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEAs) of national offshore wind farm (OWF) programmes and Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) for individual projects likely to affect birds. SEAs require extensive mapping of waterbird densities to define breeding and feeding areas of importance and sensitivity. Use of extensive large scale weather, military, and air traffic control surveillance radar is recommended, to define areas, routes and behaviour of migrating birds, and to determine avian migration corridors in three dimensions. EIAs for individual OWFs should define the key avian species present; as well as assess the hazards presented to birds in terms of avoidance behaviour, habitat change and collision risk. Such measures, however, are less helpful in assessing cumulative impacts. Using aerial survey, physical habitat loss, modification, or gain and effective habitat loss through avoidance behaviour can be measured using bird densities as a proxy measure of habitat availability. The energetic consequences of avoidance responses and habitat change should be modelled to estimate fitness costs and predict impacts at the population level. Our present ability to model collision risk remains poor due to lack of data on species-specific avoidance responses. There is therefore an urgent need to gather data on avoidance responses; energetic consequences of habitat modification and avoidance flights and demographic sensitivity of key species, most affected by OWFs. This analysis stresses the importance of common data collection protocols, sharing of information and experience, and accessibility of results at the international level to better improve our predictive abilities.     

Brown/biodiverse roofs: a conservation action for threatened brownfields to support urban biodiversity

Despite the need to restore urban green spaces, there are rarely enough open spaces due to urban densification. Thus, rooftops of buildings, which had not previously been regarded as spaces for planting of vegetation, have been utilised as a type of open space, and green roofing has become one of the rapidly developing fields of urban ecological engineering. However, current green roof approaches each have negative aspects in terms of enhancing urban biodiversity: intensive roofs in urban areas cannot contribute a large amount of green area, and extensive roofs cannot create high-quality green areas. In this report, we outline brown/biodiverse roofing in the UK, which is a relatively new type of extensive roofing used to provide brownfield wildlife with mimic brownfields. Brownfield refers to land that was previously developed for housing or industry but has since been abandoned and recolonised by different ecological assemblages. Brownfields provide habitat conditions similar to more natural habitats, and they can help maintain populations of some rare species. From the 1980s to the present day, the UK government has set a target of building 60% of new dwellings on brownfields. One of the most successful strategies that has been employed by the third constituency in its efforts to campaign for urban biodiversity and brownfield conservation has been to compromise with developers of brownfields and to persuade them to install wildlife-friendly mitigation technologies on roofs. This is the origin of brown/biodiverse roofs, which benefit from techniques that offer diverse habitats under severe conditions of thin substrate layer.