山岳型风景旅游区生态负荷与环境建设研究:泰山实证分析

运用旅游生态学原理和方法,提出了测算山岳型风景旅游区生态负荷综合分级指数的8项1级指标和6项2级指标及计算模式。以泰山风景旅游区为案例进行了应用研究,将13个地块单元(功能区)按生态负荷强度大小划分为3级,并依据可持续发展理论提出了强负荷区生态补偿的方案,为山岳型风景旅游区寻求环境与旅游经济活动的协调发展提供可借鉴的研究方案和具体措施.     

Toward the Ecological Footprint of the use and maintenance phase of buildings: Utility consumption and cleaning tasks

Due to poor design of buildings in terms of maintenance, there are a number of buildings today that remain extremely expensive to maintain, both economically and environmentally. In order to mitigate these overheads, the development of a cost database is needed with which the resources required to clean and maintain buildings can be estimated. This paper presents a methodology to estimate these costs and the environmental impact, in terms of Ecological Footprint (EF), associated to the utility consumption and to the cleaning tasks necessary during the service life of buildings. Given the numerous peculiarities identified for this type of activity compared to the construction of buildings, it is necessary to define a new methodology of calculation, with its own assumptions and formulae. This methodology is then applied to the case of a college hall of residence that houses up to 139 residents. The results show that the annual EF of cleaning tasks accounts for 11.42% of the EF of utility consumption. Together they total 67.334 global hectares per year (gha/yr), 88% of which corresponds to the carbon footprint. Within the EF of cleaning, about 71% is due to food consumed by labor, while 26% is due to the manufacture of cleaning products and tools, which are equally divided among the six categories of productive land. The development of this methodology is essential for the detailed quantification of the environmental impact of utility consumption and cleaning tasks that occur during the service life of buildings. The use of discount rates on results is included in terms of the EF of a baseline year, as an equivalent to the discount rate in economic terms.     

A quantitative method to assess the ecological indicator system's effectiveness: a case study of the Ecological Province Construction Indicators of China

The ecological indicator system (EIS) is widely used. It is vital to develop a scientific and rational EIS for practical application. Assessment of an EIS's effectiveness is important to understand the gaps between practical indicators and indicators that are considered theoretically ideal. In this paper we develop a conceptual method to quantitatively assess the effectiveness of a practical EIS by comparing it with the ideal EIS that is considered perfect by using three assessment indices: linkage, coverage and representation degrees. Linkage degree reveals the relevance of individual indicators to the ideal system. Coverage degree shows the integrity of the practical indicator system compared with the ideal system. Representation degree is the ultimate goal of the quantitative assessment and can detect the gap and overlap between the practical indicator system and the ideal one. Case study on the Ecological Province Construction Indicators (EPCI) proved that our conceptual method is useful to assess the effectiveness of a practical EIS. Compared with an ideal EIS, the EPCI has a high linkage and coverage degree but biased representation. Although the practical EIS covers most of the objectives detailed in the Fujian eco-province construction documents, many social development indicators are overlooked, including ecological culture and green consumption. Using the quantitative method will improve the practical application of an EIS by detecting its redundancy and weakness.     

A Procedure for Ecological Tiered Assessment of Risks (PETAR)

Several procedures for Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) have been suggested. The use of these existing procedures often relies on availability of existing data and/or on large resources for acquisition of new ones. This paper presents a three-tiered procedure for retrospective evaluation of risks adapted to limited resources and scarce background information of relevance for risk assessments, such as in developing countries. The tiers require successively more detailed investigations. The approach assures that resources available for site-specific investigations are directed towards well-formulated questions raised during previous stages of the assessment. The first tier, the preliminary assessment, is a qualitative evaluation of existing information on anthropogenic stressors, sources of stressors and expected ecological effects. The second tier is a regional risk assessment; a semi-quantitative evaluation of ecological risks, over large geographical areas, which results in a ranking of sources and stressors having the greatest potential for ecological impact and ranking of subareas inside the study area more likely to be impacted. The final tier is a site-specific and quantitative risk assessment, at a smaller scale and requiring more resources, that incorporates methodologies for establishing causality between exposure to multiple stressors and effects on specific endpoints of ecological and societal relevance.     

How ecological indicators construction reveals social changes—The case of lakes and rivers in France

Social and scientific factors are deeply enmeshed in each other within the development and the use of ecological indicators (EI). Yet low research has assessed which factors contribute to selecting ecological indicators on the long-term. This article proposes to study the historical construction of EI by examining ecological, political, and social background of specific places where EI were developed, in France on lakes and rivers. Our major findings in France were that ecological indicators were never optimised for the present market or political arena. Instead EI development was typically recycling previous tools that were elaborated for other purposes by environmentally committed outsiders, without regular funding. We found that regular funding for monitoring an EI was only provided when it matched an institution's goal. Beyond the geographically limited relevance of the case studies, these results therefore improve the theoretical framework we deploy when constructing or relying on indicators.     

Application of surrogate measures of ecological quality assessment: The introduction of the Indicator of Ecological Landscape Quality (IELQ)

Despite the fact that many ecological landscape indicators have been applied so far, it is challenging to develop an indicator(s) which is easy and cheap to assess while at the same time reflecting the complexity of an ecosystem. The author aimed at the development of such an indicator: the Indicator of Ecological Landscape Quality (IELQ) which ranged from 0 to 2. This is based on the use of surrogate measures of assessing ecological quality (EQ) and a GIS approach. The employed measures include: landscape diversity, the degree of ecological significance of land cover forms, and the character of linear landscape structures. To verify the validity of the adopted measures, the indicator was calculated for areas under different conservation statuses and adjoining non-protected areas located in eastern Poland, 20 sites in total. The results showed that differences in mean IELQ values between areas under different protection regimes are significant (Tukey: p < 0.01). The highest mean values were obtained for nature reserves (0.86), and the lowest for non-protected areas (0.27). Explanatory factors for EQ included the proportion of natural and anthropogenic land cover forms, and the number of land cover forms. Surprisingly, the correlation between the latter factor and IELQ is negative (−0.704), indicating that the lower the landscape diversity, the higher the ecological values. From the protected area management point of view, the developed indicator proved its usefulness in terms of an assessment of ecological values and indicated changes in values over time.     

Ecological consequences of biological invasions: three invertebrate case studies in the north-eastern Baltic Sea

Population dynamics and ecological impacts of the cirriped Balanus improvisus, the polychaete Marenzelleria neglecta and the cladoceran Cercopagis pengoi were investigated in the north-eastern Baltic Sea. After an increase during the first decade of invasion, the density of M. neglecta and C. pengoi declined afterwards. The studied abiotic environmental variables did not explain the interannual variability in the seasonal cycles of M. neglecta and C. pengoi indicating that the species are at their initial phase of invasion. The population dynamics of B. improvisus was best described by water temperature. B. improvisus promoted the growth of the green alga Enteromorpha intestinalis. M. neglecta enhanced the content of sediment chlorophyll a and reduced growth and survival of the polychaete Hediste diversicolor and growth of the amphipod Monoporeia affinis. Concurrent with the invasion of C. pengoi the abundance of small-sized cladocerans declined, especially above the thermocline. C. pengoi had become an important food for nine-spined stickleback, bleak, herring and smelt.     

Spatial evaluation of the ecological importance based on GIS for environmental management: A case study in Xingguo county of China

How to assort with the relationship between the urban construction and the maintenance of ecological security is a hot issue during the process of urbanization. The purpose of this study is to identify the key ecological land maintaining ecological security and to put forward some measures for environmental management. Based on the GIS technology, from the view of water security, biodiversity conservation, disaster protection, natural recreation security, and human disturbance, an integrated index is put forward to evaluate the ecological importance of regional space. Then, a GIS-based approach for evaluating ecological importance was created, with Xingguo county of China as a case study. The results show that the area of core eco-space in the study area accounts for 30% of the total area. These areas mainly consist of the core areas of regional river systems, wetlands, nature reserves, forest parks, and scenic spots and the endangered and protected zone of geological hazards. According to the spatial characteristics of ecological importance for different regions, this study proposes some zoning regulations and measures for environmental management.     

新疆生态足迹与环境压力的时空分异

提高生态现代化总体水平是改善区域生态环境承载力的核心和关键。利用生态环境质量指数和生态现代化指数(EM I)对我国西部生态环境脆弱区的新疆维吾尔自治区生态足迹和环境压力的变动态势进行了系统分析。结果表明:2004年新疆生态现代化指数在全国排名为27位,仍然为我国生态现代化水平落后的地区之一。1980—2005年,新疆综合现代化水平远低于高收入国家、世界平均水平和中等发达国家。1998年新疆人均生态足迹由25957hm2增加到2007年的40551hm2,人均生态承载力由3.1270hm2减少到2.8266 hm2。区域环境水平呈下降趋势。资源转化率、生态保护指数呈明显上升态势。环境治理指数呈剧烈变动,1996-2003年呈N型变动态势,区域生态脆弱性没有明显逆转。     

Biohydrogen from thermophilic co-fermentation of swine manure with fruit and vegetable waste: maximizing stable production without pH control

Hydrogen production by dark fermentation may suffer of inhibition or instability due to pH deviations from optimality. The co-fermentation of promptly degradable feedstock with alkali-rich materials, such as livestock wastes, may represent a feasible and easy to implement approach to avoid external adjustments of pH.Experiments were designed to investigate the effect of the mixing ratio of fruit-vegetable waste with swine manure with the aim of maximizing biohydrogen production while obtaining process stability through the endogenous alkalinity of manure.Fruit-vegetable/swine manure ratio of 35/65 and HRT of 2 d resulted to give the highest production rate of 3.27 ± 0.51 L_H2 L⁻¹ d⁻¹, with a corresponding hydrogen yield of 126 ± 22 mL_H2 g⁻¹_VS-added and H₂ content in the biogas of 42 ± 5%. At these operating conditions the process exhibited also one of the highest measured stability, with daily productions deviating for less than 14% from the average.     

Emergy-based indicators of regional environmental sustainability: A case study in Shanwei,Guangdong, China

Understanding which factors mainly affect the environmental sustainability of a Region is a very crucial concern for many Chinese planners and policy-makers. In this study, the emergy accounting method is applied to the production and consumption activities of the city of Shanwei, a seaside urban area in Guangdong region, China. The emergy method provides a comprehensive assessment of a system, by generating a consistent set of indicators capable to capture the dynamics of the system as a whole and its efficiency in converting resources into an economic product and welfare. At the same time, the approach is capable to provide details about a system's performance over time, its use of renewable versus nonrenewables sources, local versus imported, concentrated versus dispersed and finally labor intensive versus fuel intensive processes. The main local renewable and nonrenewable emergy flows supporting the investigated area were included in the accounting, together with the flows of imported energy, goods, machinery, labor and services. Coal plays a crucial role for electricity generation, industrial uses, but also gasoline and diesel for transport affect the overall sustainability to a non-negligible extent. An Emergy Sustainability Indicator (ESI) of the local economic and social system is calculated and compared with the average value of the Chinese economy, based on the assumption that a process or system is unsustainable if it contributes to lower the overall sustainability of the region or country. This is quantified by the requirement that always must be ESI_local ≧ ESI_country. Results confirm that the most crucial factor for this region sustainability is the use of coal as a non-renewable and imported energy source. The calculated emergy indicators translate into a set-aside buffer land demand capable to mitigate, dilute, and uptake the environmental impact of human-dominated activities. Unfortunately, such buffer land demand is much higher than the land actually available. As a result, both the ESI-based sustainability equation as well as the lack of support land make the city's production and consumption patterns unsustainable and call for different lifestyles and environmental policies.     

The Early-Middle Pleistocene environmental and climatic change and the human expansion in Western Europe: A case study with small vertebrates (Gran Dolina, Atapuerca, Spain)

The dispersal of hominins may have been favored by the opening of the landscape during the Early-Middle Pleistocene transition (EMP) in Western Europe. The structure of the small-vertebrate assemblages of the archaeo-paleontological karstic site of Gran Dolina in Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain) shows important environmental and climatic changes in the faunal succession, across the Matuyama-Brunhes boundary at 780 ka. These changes are interpreted to indicate impoverishment of the forests, along with an increase in dry meadows, and open lands in general that entailed a tendency towards the loss of diversity in small-vertebrate communities above the EMP. We evaluate variation in diversity of the faunal succession of Gran Dolina using Shannon’s Second Theorem as an index of ecosystem structure. The long cultural-stratigraphic sequence of Gran Dolina during the EMP is somewhat similar in its completeness and continuity to that in the locality of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov in the Upper Jordan Valley. We also evaluate related data including faunal and floral (pollen) succession. Both localities present cold, dry and humid, warm fluctuations at the transition between the Early and the Middle Pleistocene. Comparisons between these sites present opportunities to understand large-scale climatic changes.     

Local ecological footprint using Principal Component Analysis: A case study of localities in Andalusia (Spain)

The quantity and quality of available information is one of the major constraints for the calculation of the ecological footprint, particularly for sub-national or sub-regional territorial levels. At the national or even regional level, the information that allows for computing the ecological footprint is generally available. However, when trying to calculate the footprint for lower-level territorial realities (e.g., cities or municipalities), this information is insufficient or non-existent. In this article, we propose an indirect method for calculating the ecological footprint of such territorial spaces through Principal Component Analysis. The case study utilises the ecological footprint of Andalusia (a Spanish region) as a starting point for footprint assignment to each of the 771 municipalities included in the Andalusian region. A set of variables related to the consumption levels in these municipalities has been utilised and is expressed in physical units. These variables make it possible to obtain a weighting factor to determine the ecological footprint of each municipality. This procedure also makes it possible to identify which variables or indicators have the greatest impact on the ecological footprint for a given territory. According to the results, the method also shows how inappropriate it is to consider the population as a way to distribute the ecological footprint; there are relevant differences between the weight of the population in municipalities and their generated footprint. There are also significant differences between the magnitude of economic indicators, such as GDP, and the estimated ecological footprint; for municipalities with higher income levels, the ecological impact is more than proportional to the weight of the monetary indicators.     

An interdisciplinary study on indicators: A comparative review of quality-of-life,macroeconomic, environmental,welfare and sustainability indicators

It is generally recognised that indicator-based research forms a substantial part both of the everyday practice and of the current theoretical pursuits in an extensive set of different scientific fields that relate to the socio-economic and the environmental sphere. However, the lack of an endogenous indicator's theory hinders the enhancement of indicator's research into an autonomous scientific field and subdues the indicators study to the broader ecological, social, or economic context. Thus, scientists are often bounded to the study of indicators within their specialisation area, as evidenced by the very limited number of interdisciplinary studies on the use of indicators that have been published. Based on this deficiency of the current literature, the paper elaborates on the use of indicators in the socio-economic and the environmental area, focusing on fields in which indicators are essential to their practice. Namely, the paper reviews quality-of-life, macroeconomic, environmental, welfare and sustainability indicators in order to detect similarities and differences, pertain to their practice and to the theoretical frameworks in which indicators are utilised. The study concludes that quality-of-life, welfare and sustainability indicators are supported by weak theoretical foundations, as a result to the choice of the respective fields to exploit the possible benefits of an empirical interdisciplinary perspective, a fact that leads the use of indicators to methodological inconsistencies. In contrast, macroeconomic and environmental indicators are supported by a coherent theoretical body, which is reflected in their well-organised structure and leads to their sound practice. Last but not least, the study suggests that the way the aforementioned two fields utilise indicators can provide useful guidance to the formation of future objectives in the quality-of-life, welfare and sustainability indicators’ research. Specifically, their corresponding fields should moderate their interest on composite indicators and, instead, their future research should be focused, so much on the identification of their field's key indicators that play a crucial role to the interpretation of the complex phenomena studied, as on the identification of the relationships that link these key indicators together.     

A new European Landscape Classification (LANMAP): A transparent, flexible and user-oriented methodology to distinguish landscapes

We have developed a new hierarchical European Landscape Classification that can be used as a framework for, e.g., indicator reporting and environmental sampling. Landscapes are ecological meaningful units where many processes and components interact. And as such, landscapes themselves have resulted from long-term interactions of natural abiotic, biotic and anthropogenic processes. A good understanding of landscapes is essential for its assessment, protection, management and planning. An internationally consistent approach is therefore obligatory and the production of landscape classifications and associated maps is an important tool in this context. Although intuitive maps are available there are no consistent quantitative maps of European landscapes. In this paper, landscapes are regarded as forming recognizable parts of the earth's surface and as showing a characteristic ordering of elements. The complex nature of the underlying scientific concepts, which sometimes overlap and conflict, requires an objective and consistent methodology, as described in the present paper. As there are many regional differences in landscape properties, it is crucial to strike the right balance between reducing the inherent complexity and maintaining an adequate level of detail. Against this background, a European Landscape Map (LANMAP) has been produced, making use of available segmentation and classification techniques on high-resolution spatial data sets. LANMAP is a landscape classification of Pan-Europe with four hierarchical levels; using digital data on climate, altitude, parent material and land use as determinant factors; and has 350 landscape types at the most detailed level. At this level there are 14,000 mapping units with a minimum mapping unit of 11 km². Thus far, LANMAP is limited to a biophysical approach, since there is a lack of consistent and European-wide data on cultural–historical factors. This paper describes the conceptual background of LANMAP, its methodology and results, and shows its potentials and limitations.     

乡镇遥感生态指数时空变化及影响因子研究——以天津市蓟州区为例

进行乡镇生态环境质量评价和其空间分异性的影响因子分析,探讨其自身发展及对环境影响的机理,有助于相关部门有针对性地进行政策调整,对实现乡村生产生活与生态环境协调发展,实现乡村振兴的生态文明建设目标有重要意义。本文以天津市蓟州区乡镇为评估单元,利用遥感数据、统计数据和社会调查数据相结合的方法,使用遥感生态指数(RSEI)对其2000—2020年的生态环境质量进行评价,并选取四大类型共九个影响因子,通过地理探测器对蓟州区2020年乡镇生态环境质量的空间分异性影响因素进行了分析。结果表明,蓟州区2000年到2020年乡镇生态环境质量整体有所提升,生态环境质量等级为差和极差的区域明显减少,生态环境质量等级为好的区域面积增加;其变化趋势可分为持续上升型、波动上升型和波动下降型,除礼明庄镇外,其他评估单元生态环境质量都在向好的方向发展。在单因子探测中,地形因子的影响力大于社会因子和经济因子,即蓟州区乡镇生态环境质量的空间分布受海拔影响要大于其他社会经济因素的影响;在交互作用探测中,任意两个影响因子交互之后的作用强度都要大于单一影响因子,其中干度指数与绿度指数的交互作用解释力最高;说明土地利用变化和城...     

Ecological indicators for assessing management effectiveness: A case study of horse riding in an Alpine National Park

Recreation activities and visitor use often have deleterious ecological impacts in protected areas. Management agencies then face the difficult task of providing recreation and tourism opportunities without compromising environmental values. This study assessed the success of efforts aimed at conserving alpine vegetation along the Mt Bogong Massif in Victoria, Australia, through controlling the use of horses. Vegetation condition was assessed in 2001 to coinciding with restrictions on the use of horse riding on trails and then resurveyed 10 years later. Sampling was undertaken in track plots that included the trail and surrounding vegetation, and control plots located away from the trail. There were significant differences in the amount of bare ground, the height of shrubs and ground layer vegetation, and shrub cover between track and control plots in 2001. Ten years later, track plots were recovering with reductions in bare ground and changes in vegetation, with improved ground layer vegetation height. Results show that vegetation condition has improved with restrictions of horse numbers. The indicators selected were sensitive to changes in vegetation condition and hence should be used for ongoing assessment of the effectiveness of this and similar management interventions.     

基于能源代谢分析的南昌市能源消费碳排放综合生态效率研究

有关能源消费的代谢机理及生态效率研究是当前生态经济研究领域中的重点和难点,也是政府决策部门、相关行业及人群关注的热点。基于能源代谢分析理念,构建了基于相对变量的城市能源消费碳排放综合生态效率度量模型,对2000—2013年南昌市能源消费结构、碳排放量及其生态效率进行了测算与分析。结果表明:(1)南昌市在2000—2013年,能源消费量和碳排放量整体上呈"N"型曲线上升的一致性变化特征,主要经历了快速增长、短暂下降、恢复平稳增长3个阶段,且煤炭是南昌市能源消费和碳排放的主要来源,短时期内难以改变;(2)南昌市的能源消费效率和碳排放效率整体上在不断优化;(3)南昌市能源消费碳排放综合生态效率经历了较大的波动变化,整体上的生态效率分值并不高;仍需要加大节能减排力度,全面优化南昌市能源消费结构。     

Coffee and tea consumption during pregnancy and risk of childhood acute myeloid leukemia: A Childhood Leukemia International Consortium (CLIC) study

BackgroundDietary habits during pregnancy have been inconsistently linked to childhood acute myeloid leukemia (AML), given the putative intrauterine onset of the disease as a result of triggering events during the critical period of fetal hematopoiesis. We investigated the potential association of maternal coffee and tea consumption during pregnancy with childhood AML risk, pooling primary data from eight case-control studies participating in the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium.MethodsInformation on coffee and/or tea consumption was available for 444 cases and 1255 age- and sex-matched controls, on coffee consumption for 318 cases and 971 controls and on tea consumption for 388 cases and 932 controls. Categories for cups of daily coffee/tea consumption were created in order to explore potential dose-response associations. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using logistic regression.ResultsAssociations were found neither in the analysis on coffee or tea nor in the analysis on coffee only consumption (any versus no). A positive association with increasing coffee intake was observed (>1 cup per day; OR: 1.40, 95% CI: 1.03–1.92, increment of one cup per day; OR: 1.18, 95% CI: 1.01–1.39). No associations were observed with tea consumption. Interaction analyses showed non-significant associations between coffee/tea and smoking. Hyperdiploidy was inversely associated with tea consumption, with other cytogenetic markers having no association with coffee/tea.ConclusionGiven the widespread consumption of caffeinated beverages among pregnant women, our finding is of important public health relevance, suggesting adverse effects of maternal coffee consumption during pregnancy in the offspring.