Wetland mitigation and compensation: Canadian experience

Since Canada’s accession to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in 1981, the nation’s commitment to wetland conservation and management has increased significantly. This includes the adoption of one of the World’s first national wetland conservation policies by the Government of Canada, and the adoption of complementary policy and legislative initiatives by most of the 13 provincial and territorial jurisdictions. Numerous habitat ‘no net loss’ and environmental assessment policies, regulations and guidelines for incorporating mitigation processes into development decisions affecting wetland resources are used throughout Canada. The governments of Canada and six provinces have so far adopted wetland mitigation measures. These are in addition to comprehensive wetland fish and wildlife habitat initiatives, such as the species and habitat joint ventures delivered in Canada through the North American Waterfowl Management Plan by all jurisdictions and numerous non-government partners. This paper examines the current policies, regulations and programs, as well as past implementation experience with wetland mitigation and compensation in Canada.     

湿地资源保护经济学分析——以北京野鸭湖湿地为例

湿地资源保护是全球生态保护的核心问题之一。在分析湿地资源保护的经济属性的基础上,以北京市野鸭湖湿地为案例,运用经济学的理论和方法以及清晰的图表重点分析了野鸭湖湿地资源保护过程中的外部性以及资源利用中成本与收益两个问题。研究结果表明:(1)从正外部性分析,个人收益小于社会收益,个人保护的湿地资源小于社会最优量,会造成湿地资源保护的不足;从负外部性分析,个人成本小于社会成本,个人对湿地资源的利用水平大于社会最优利用水平,造成湿地资源的过度利用;(2)根据湿地资源利用的成本收益分析结果,"搭便车"行为会造成湿地资源的退化甚至恶化;(3)明晰产权有利于湿地资源配置效率的提高。研究结果可以为中国湿地保护过程中出现的资源利用矛盾提供有益的借鉴,特别是为保护北京野鸭湖湿地提供理论支撑和政策建议。     

Wetland drying indirectly influences plant community and seed bank diversity through soil pH

High altitude wetlands on the Tibetan Plateau have been shrinking due to anthropogenic disturbances and global climate change. However, the few studies that have been conducted on wetlands are inconclusive about the effect of soil moisture on seed banks and potential of seed banks in wetlands with different levels of soil moisture for regeneration of dried wetlands. We investigated seed banks and plant communities along a soil moisture gradient. A structural equation model was used to analyze the direct and indirect effects of soil moisture on seed banks, as well as the relationship between plant communities and seed banks. Although soil moisture had no direct effects on seed bank richness and density and indirect effects on seed banks through plant community, it had indirect effects on the seed bank through soil pH. Soil moisture also did not have direct effects on plant community richness, but it had indirect effects through soil pH. Plant community composition changed with soil moisture, but aboveground plant abundance and seed banks composition did not change. Low similarity exists between plant community and seed banks for all wetlands, and similarity decreased along the moisture gradient. The key factor determining plant community diversity was soil pH, while seed bank diversity was mainly affected by soil pH and plant community diversity with wetland drying. Although potential for regenerating the plant community from the seed bank decreased with an increase in soil moisture, drained wetlands still have enough residual seeds for successful restoration of species-rich alpine meadows.     

Rate of succession in restored wetlands and the role of site context

Question: Are changes in plant species composition, functional group composition and rates of species turnover consistent among early successional wetlands, and what is the role of landscape context in determining the rate of succession? Location: Twenty‐four restored wetlands in Illinois, USA. Methods: We use 4 years of vegetation sampling data from each site to describe successional trends and rates of species turnover in wetlands. We quantify: (1) the rate at which composition changes from early‐successional to late‐successional species and functional groups, as indicated by site movement in ordination space over time, and (2) the rate of change in the colonization and local extinction of individual species. We correlate the pace of succession to site area, isolation and surrounding land cover. Results: Some commonalities in successional trends were evident among sites. Annual species were replaced by clonal perennials, and colonization rates declined over time. However, differences among sites outweighed site age in determining species composition, and the pace of succession was influenced by a site's landscape setting. Rates of species turnover were higher in smaller wetlands. In addition, wetlands in agricultural landscapes underwent succession more rapidly, as indicated by a rapid increase in dominance by late‐successional plants. Conclusions: Although the outcome of plant community succession in restored wetlands was somewhat predictable, species composition and the pace of succession varied among sites. The ability of restoration practitioners to accelerate succession through active manipulation may be contingent upon landscape context.     

陕西省黄河湿地冬季鸟类群落初步研究

1998～2008年,采用直接计数法对陕西省黄河湿地冬季鸟类群落组成、鸟类物种多样性及数量变化进行了调查.在预先设置的5条调查样带中共记录到鸟类14目33科117种.观察结果表明,该地区鸟类多样性指数和均匀度指数分别为4.497和0.654.栖息地可分为人工渔塘、芦苇沼泽、滩涂湿地、农田和人工林5种类型.这些生境中鸟类组成及物种多样性差异均较大,其鸟类多样性指数分别为2.826、3.571、3.202、1.205、2.496,以芦苇沼泽中的鸟类多样性指数最高,滩涂湿地中鸟类数量最多,农田中鸟类优势度最高.通过对该地区鸟类群落组成及多样性分析研究以及黄河湿地冬季鸟类栖息地现状评价,为湿地鸟类资源的保护提供科学依据.     

Nutrient status and retention in pristine and disturbed wetlands in Uganda: management implications

Wetlands in Uganda experience different forms of human pressure ranging from drainage for agriculture and industrial development to over harvesting of wetland products. In order to develop sustainable management tools for wetland ecosystems in Uganda and the Lake Victoria Region, water quality analyses were carried out in a rural undisturbed (pristine) wetland (Nabugabo wetland in Masaka) and two urban wetlands that are experiencing human and urban development pressure (the Nakivubo wetland in Kampala and Kirinya wetland in Jinja). The former wetland forms the main inflow into Lake Nabugabo while the other two border the northern shore of Lake Victoria, Uganda. Nabugabo wetland buffers Lake Nabugabo against surface runoff from the catchment, while Nakivubo and Kirinya wetlands provides a water treatment function for wastewater from Kampala City and Jinja town respectively, in addition to buffering Lake Victoria against surface runoff. Water quality was assessed in all the wetland sites, and in addition nutrient content and storage was investigated in the main plant species (papyrus, Phragmites, Miscanthidium and cocoyam) in Nakivubo and Kirinya wetlands. A pilot experiment was also carried out to assess the wastewater treatment potential of both the papyrus vegetation and an important agricultural crop Colocasia esculenta (cocoyam). Low electrical conductivity, ammonium–nitrogen and ortho-phosphate concentrations were recorded at the inflow into Nabugabo wetland (41.5 μS/cm; 0.91 mg/l and 0.42 mg/l respectively) compared to the Nakivubo and Kirinya wetlands (335 μS/cm; 31.68 mg/l and 2.83 mg/l and 502 μS/cm; 10 mg/l and 1.87 mg/l respectively). The papyrus vegetation had higher biomass in Nakivubo and Kirinya wetlands (6.7 kg DW m⁻²; 7.2 kg DW m⁻² respectively), followed by Phragmites (6.5, 6.7), cocoyams (6.4, 6.6) and Miscanthidium (4.0, 4.2). The papyrus vegetation also exhibited a higher wastewater treatment potential than the agricultural crop (cocoyam) during the pilot experiment (maximum removal degree of ammonium–nitrogen being 95% and 67% for papyrus and yams). It was concluded that urbanisation pressure reduces natural wetland functioning either through the discharge of wastewater effluent or the degradation of natural wetland vegetation. It is recommended that wetland vegetation be restored to enhance wetland ecosystem functioning and for wetlands that are not yet under agricultural pressure, efforts should be made to halt any future encroachment.     

论湿地生态系统服务的多维度价值评估方法

为了维系湿地生态系统的功能并制定合理的保护与开发规划,有必要量化湿地生态系统服务的价值。目前学术界尚未形成统一的湿地价值评估方法,而不同的选取方法、评估角度、评估对象等,会导致计算结果存在很大差异,尤其是在对时空差异性服务价值评估和湿地生态系统服务的总价值评估中存在难以量化和重复计算现象。针对上述问题,从湿地生态系统服务的定义、分类和受益人出发,提出了多维度价值评估方法,以定量计算时空差异性服务价值和系统的总服务价值,并探讨了该方法在淮河流域八里河湿地生态系统中的应用以及对其他类型生态系统服务研究的借鉴意义。     

基于中分辨率TM数据的湿地水生植被提取

利用湿地水生植被生长旺盛、光谱反射较强、光谱信息比较丰富的8月份中分辨率Landsat TM和ETM+多光谱遥感影像,采用面向对象的分类方法,进行野鸭湖湿地水生植被的提取。研究表明:在提取过程中,通过对原始影像进行主成分变换和穗帽变换,将主要信息与噪声分离,不仅减小了数据冗余和波段间的相关性,而且增大了影像上湿地水生植被与其他地物类型光谱和空间信息的差异性,并结合野外水生植被光谱特征分析,选择归一化植被指数NDVI与归一化水体指数NDWI辅助分类,构建特征波段或波段组合,然后,确定适当的隶属度函数和阈值范围,构建分类决策树,完成湿地水生植被的自动分类,提高了影像分割与面向对象分类的精度,取得了较为理想的湿地水生植被提取结果。2002年和2008年两景影像的总体分类精度分别达到86.5%和85.44%,表明中分辨率TM影像可以满足湿地水生植被提取的需要,又因为其具有较高的波谱分辨率、极为丰富的信息量、相对较低的价格、长时间序列,可以作为近20a湿地水生植被提取和动态变化监测的主要数据源。     

Plant communities along environmental gradients of high‐arctic mires in Sassendalen,Svalbard

Abstract. The wet to moist bryophyte‐dominated vegetation of Sassendalen, Svalbard, was classified into seven communities. These communities were grouped into (1) Cardamino nymanii‐Saxifragion foliolosae marsh; (2) Caricion stantis fen; (3) Luzulion nivalis snowbed – including manured vegetation corresponding to moss tundras. All communities have a basically arctic distribution. Marshes are developed in habitats with a water table above the bryophyte vegetation surface and fens on sites with a water table level high above the permafrost but below the bryophyte surface. Moss tundras normally have no standing water table, but in Sassendalen they have a low water table due to their development on less steep slopes than in their normal habitat near bird cliffs. CCA confirms that the standing water level is the prime differentiating factor between the alliances, while aspect favourability and permafrost depth differentiate between the fen communities and temporary desiccation is important for the Catoscopium nigritum community. Carex subspathacea is a characteristic fen species in the absence of other Carex species dominating elsewhere in the Arctic. Arctic marshes are linked to an extremely cold environment. They have a very low species diversity with a few species dominating; Arctophila fulva, Pseudocalliergon trifarium, Scorpidium scorpioides and Warnstorfia tundrae are character species. Moss tundra as defined here appears to be restricted to Svalbard and, probably, neighbouring Novaya Zemlya. This may be due to the absence of rodents and the high seabird density, which is related to the mild sea currents reaching further to the north here and which implies manuring of surrounding ecosystems. Manuring in a very cold environment produces moss carpets with a thin active layer and accumulation of thick peat layers without a standing water level. In Sassendalen the role of arctic seabirds is replaced by Svalbard reindeer which are nonmigratory and are concentrated to favourable grazing areas where their manuring effect is intense. Their long‐term manuring effect probably explains the occurrence of moss tundras in this weakly rolling landscape where seabird colonies are absent.     

河南石山口水库水鸟调查

石山口水库为河南水鸟种类与数量最多的典型湿地,位于大别山西北麓的浅山丘陵地域,属北亚热带向暖温带过渡的大陆性季风气候区,每年的秋末(11—12月)、初春(2—3月)及夏季(6—7月)湿地水鸟的种类与种群数量呈现明显的高峰期。本文共记录石山口水库湿地水鸟计8目、15科、85种,其中国家重点保护种类9种,《中日保护候鸟协定》指定种类55种,《濒危野生动植物种国际公约》(CITES)指定种类10种,省保护种类9种。