How much heat can we grow in our cities? Modelling UK urban biofuel production potential

Biofuel provides a globally significant opportunity to reduce fossil fuel dependence; however, its sustainability can only be meaningfully explored for individual cases. It depends on multiple considerations including: life cycle greenhouse gas emissions, air quality impacts, food versus fuel trade‐offs, biodiversity impacts of land use change and socio‐economic impacts of energy transitions. One solution that may address many of these issues is local production of biofuel on non‐agricultural land. Urban areas drive global change, for example, they are responsible for 70% of global energy use, but are largely ignored in their resource production potential; however, underused urban greenspaces could be utilized for biofuel production near the point of consumption. This could avoid food versus fuel land conflicts in agricultural land and long‐distance transport costs, provide ecosystem service benefits to urban dwellers and increase the sustainability and resilience of cities and towns. Here, we use a Geographic Information System to identify urban greenspaces suitable for biofuel production, using exclusion criteria, in 10 UK cities. We then model production potential of three different biofuels: Miscanthus grass, short rotation coppice (SRC) willow and SRC poplar, within the greenspaces identified and extrapolate up to a UK‐scale. We demonstrate that approximately 10% of urban greenspace (3% of built‐up land) is potentially suitable for biofuel production. We estimate the potential of this to meet energy demand through heat generation, electricity and combined heat and power (CHP) operations. Our findings show that, if fully utilized, urban biofuel production could meet nearly a fifth of demand for biomass in CHP systems in the United Kingdom's climate compatible energy scenarios by 2030, with potentially similar implications for other comparable countries and regions.     

Anthropogenic noise reduces avian feeding efficiency and increases vigilance along an urban–rural gradient regardless of species’ tolerances to urbanisation

Anthropogenic noise can adversely impact urban bird populations by interfering with vocal communication. Less research has addressed if anthropogenic noise masks the adventitious sounds that birds use to aid predator detection, which may lead to increased vigilance and reduced feeding efficiency. We test this hypothesis using a controlled playback experiment along an urban–rural gradient in Sheffield (UK). We also test the related predictions that anthropogenic noise has the greatest impacts on vigilance and feeding efficiency in rural populations, and on species that are more sensitive to urbanisation. We focus on six passerines, in order from most to least urbanised (based on how urbanisation influences population densities): blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus, robin Erithacus rubeculla, great tit Parus major, chaffinch Fringilla coelebs, coal tit Periparus ater and nuthatch Sitta europaea. We used play-back of anthropogenic urban noise and a control treatment at 46 feeding stations located along the urban–rural gradient. We assess impacts on willingness to visit feeders, feeding and vigilance rates. Exposure to anthropogenic noise reduced visit rates to supplementary feeding stations, reduced feeding rates and increased vigilance. Birds at more urban sites exhibit less marked treatment induced reductions in feeding rates, suggesting that urban populations may be partially habituated or adapted to noisy environments. There was no evidence, however, that more urbanised species were less sensitive to the impacts of noise on any response variable. Our results support the adventitious sound masking hypothesis. Urban noise may thus interfere with the ability of birds to detect predators, reducing their willingness to use food rich environments and increase vigilance rates resulting in reduced feeding rates. These adverse impacts may compromise the quality of otherwise suitable foraging habitats in noisy urban areas. They are likely to be widespread as they arise in a range of species including common urban birds.     

Inferring the sources of postglacial range expansion in two large European land snails

Exact locations of glacial refugia are relevant for the study of contemporary biodiversity, not only as places less disturbed during the climatic changes but also as sources of rapid expansion of the biota after the Last Glacial cycle. If continuously inhabited over several of the Quaternary glacial cycles, the refugia are readily identifiable by the accumulated genetic diversity. However, the sources of the Holocene range expansion, particularly important for the emergence of present-day bio- and phylogeographic patterns and for realistic estimation of species’ expansion rates, might have been located at the fringes of the glacial species ranges and lack unique lineages. This problem is pertinent when the variation is explored at slowly evolving genetic markers. We suggest that the location of such source refugia may be approximated by reconstructing the geographic location as a continuous trait evolving along the branches of a phylogenetic tree. We applied this approach, using the BEAST software, on two large southeast European land snail species: Caucasotachea vindobonensis and Helix thessalica. We found evidence for C. vindobonensis refugia in the western Balkans; notable is an apparently old refugium in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The plausible sources of the species’ Holocene range expansion, however, were located around the south-western end of the Carpathians. Although the source areas were likely similar in H. thessalica, some expansion sources suggested by the analyses (e.g., Podolia, Ukraine) appeared implausible and driven by sampling clustered in that area. The applied approach allows for additional exploitation of the mitochondrial data gathered during the past two decades of animal phylogeography studies.     

珊瑚礁生态脆弱性评价--以泰国思仓岛为例

珊瑚礁生态系统受到环境变化、人类活动等各种因素的严重威胁,保护珊瑚礁生态系统是目前全球海洋生态保护的热点,对珊瑚礁开展定量的生态脆弱性评估能够为保护管理对策的制定提供重要科学依据。本研究选取泰国思仓岛作为研究区域,结合空间分析技术建立了具有通用性的珊瑚礁生态脆弱性评估方法。基于ESA模型构建了珊瑚礁生态脆弱性综合指数和评价指标体系,系统分析了思仓岛珊瑚礁脆弱性的来源、构成,并直观展现了脆弱性的区域空间分布。结果表明:思仓岛研究区东北侧的珊瑚礁生态脆弱性大于西南侧,当地珊瑚礁的关键影响因子分别为驳船排污、港口码头、水体透明度等。根据脆弱性评价的结果,提出了当地珊瑚礁保护与修复的空间分区管理对策。本研究为印度-太平洋区系珊瑚礁生态脆弱性评价提供了可行的示例,也为中国的珊瑚礁可持续管理研究提供了借鉴和参照。     

国家公园规划制度功能定位与空间属性

我国将构建统一的国土空间规划体系, 整体谋划国土空间开发保护格局, 强化对各类专项规划的指导约束, 这必将对国家公园保护制度产生重大影响。本文分析了国土空间规划视角下国家公园规划制度的定位, 阐述了国家公园规划承载空间规划与发展规划两大体系的基本属性, 应在国土空间规划体系中具有优先权和前置权; 重点分析了各国家公园总体规划在国家规划体系中的功能与属性特征, 作为空间规划应承接好上位空间规划对国家公园的控制指标和管控要求, 作为建设规划应承接好上位或同域国民经济发展规划等对国家公园的目标任务要求, 作为管理规划要明确国家公园顺畅运行的要求。国家公园应在分区规划、控制性详细规划等专项规划方面寻求创新, 探索国家公园用途管制的实现模式。     

1980—2018年祁连山南坡土地利用变化及其驱动力

祁连山是我国第一阶梯和第二阶梯的分界线,生态环境脆弱,对过渡地带土地利用变化及其驱动力研究具有重要的生态意义。本研究以祁连山南坡为研究区,基于1980—2018年遥感影像数据,运用空间自相关分析法、ArcGIS空间分析方法和主成分分析法分析了土地利用的时空变化特征及其驱动力。结果表明: 1980—2018年,草地是研究区土地利用类型的主体,建设用地所占比重最小,水域、草地表现为下降趋势,未利用土地、建设用地和耕地均呈现出增长态势,林地变化较小。不同地类单一土地利用动态度从大到小依次为:建设用地＞水域＞耕地＞未利用土地＞林地＞草地,综合土地利用动态度为0.9%。不同土地利用类型空间分布表现出空间集聚性特征。耕地增加的区域和林地、草地减少的区域主要分布在门源县城所处大通河谷地西北侧,天峻县东北部大通河上游地区存在工矿建设用地占用草地的现象。土地利用变化驱动力主要为人口数量、科技、城市化、经济发展水平和政策。本研究结果可为政府合理规划和利用土地资源提供依据,对祁连山南坡生态环境保护和社会经济可持续发展具有重大意义。     

土地流转背景下不同经营规模青田稻鱼共生系统的环境影响差异——基于碳足迹的实证研究

在快速工业化和城镇化的影响下,农业文化遗产的保护与管理正面临着适龄劳动力大量外流、土地抛荒、传统知识体系难以维持等诸多威胁与挑战。推动土地流转、进行适度规模经营,可在农业文化遗产的保护中产生积极作用。土地流转在给遗产地带来经济效益的同时,对当地生态环境产生的影响变化同样值得关注,但现有研究却少有涉及。本研究以全球重要农业文化遗产——浙江青田稻鱼共生系统为例,将不同经营规模的稻鱼共生系统分为小农户经营模式和规模化经营模式,运用生命周期法对两种模式的碳足迹进行核算。结果表明: 小农户经营模式和规模化经营模式的碳足迹分别为6510.80和5917.00 kg CO₂-eq·hm^-2,单位产值碳足迹分别为0.13和0.10 kg CO₂-eq·yuan^-1。与小农户经营模式相比,规模化经营模式温室气体排放更少,单位产值的环境影响更小。农户扩大经营规模后,当地温室气体排放减少了4097.20 kg CO₂-eq。农业生产过程中积累的CH₄在碳足迹中占比最大,农业生产资料中复合肥是仅次于CH₄的第二大温室气体排放来源。对于小农户经营模式,饲料中使用的玉米和小麦也对温室气体排放有重要的影响。因此,推动土地适度规模经营,有利于传统农业系统实现经济效益和环境效益的双赢,对于农业文化遗产保护具有重要作用。     

格网尺度下青海玛多县土地利用及生态系统服务价值空间自相关分析

开展黄河源区土地利用和生态系统服务价值空间量化评估,对于保障黄河流域生态安全具有重要意义。以黄河源区玛多县为例,基于3 km×3 km网格单元,应用空间自相关方法构建生态系统服务价值评价模型,定量评价了2015年玛多县土地利用/覆被空间自相关格局特征,可视化表达了玛多县生态系统服务价值空间信息。结果表明: 在3 km×3 km格网尺度下,不同覆盖度草地覆盖范围广阔;水域网格占总网格数的42.9%,在玛多县西北部分布密集;建设用地呈东北-西南走向的“线条式”分布;未利用土地体现为西南多、东北少的分布格局。在空间上,玛多县土地利用类型网格之间相互影响,表现为正相关性和聚集分布。水域的全局Moran I和局部Moran I值均最大,空间聚集性最强,局部连片度较高。建设用地的全局Moran I和局部Moran I值分别为0.293和0.127,空间自相关性最弱,在小范围内呈聚集特点。2015年,玛多县生态系统服务价值(ESV)为938.87亿元,网格的ESV平均值为3.20×10⁷元,最大值为19.96×10⁷元,水域分布网格是ESV的高值区。玛多县ESV分布格局整体上呈显著的空间正向自相关,ESV在网格之间为聚集分布。不同土地利用类型ESV网格总体呈高高、低低聚集,在局部零星为高低、低高聚集。可采取的国土空间规划与用途管制策略包括:水域、未利用土地采用强调生态溢出价值的“集中连片式”保护模式,高、中、低覆盖度草地采取主次分明、划区管理的“组团式”生态治理模式,建设用地在“廊道式”分布格局中采取小范围集约化开发利用模式。     

Beyond the landscape: Resistance modelling infers physical and behavioural gene flow barriers to a mobile carnivore across a metropolitan area

Urbanization affects key aspects of wildlife ecology. Dispersal in urban wildlife species may be impacted by geographical barriers but also by a species’ inherent behavioural variability. There are no functional connectivity analyses using continuous individual‐based sampling across an urban‐rural continuum that would allow a thorough assessment of the relative importance of physical and behavioural dispersal barriers. We used 16 microsatellite loci to genotype 374 red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) from the city of Berlin and surrounding rural regions in Brandenburg in order to study genetic structure and dispersal behaviour of a mobile carnivore across the urban‐rural landscape. We assessed functional connectivity by applying an individual‐based landscape genetic optimization procedure. Three commonly used genetic distance measures yielded different model selection results, with only the results of an eigenvector‐based multivariate analysis reasonably explaining genetic differentiation patterns. Genetic clustering methods and landscape resistance modelling supported the presence of an urban population with reduced dispersal across the city border. Artificial structures (railways, motorways) served as main dispersal corridors within the cityscape, yet urban foxes avoided densely built‐up areas. We show that despite their ubiquitous presence in urban areas, their mobility and behavioural plasticity, foxes were affected in their dispersal by anthropogenic presence. Distinguishing between man‐made structures and sites of human activity, rather than between natural and artificial structures, is thus essential for better understanding urban fox dispersal. This differentiation may also help to understand dispersal of other urban wildlife and to predict how behaviour can shape population genetic structure beyond physical barriers.