Landscape planning for a rural ecosystem: case study of a resettlement area for residents from land submerged by the Three Gorges Reservoir,China

The goals of landscape planning are multiple for rural ecosystems of the resettlement area in the Hubei Province of China. They relate to the types, diversity and patterns of the ecosystems, and to the conservation of ecosystem functions and biodiversity. We were interested in the improvement of socio-economic conditions, and the promotion of the development of farmland ecosystems and natural forest ecosystems. The landscape planning took into account the conservation and the restoration of forestlands, and the reconstructions of farmlands, towns and villages. The areas of towns and villages were assigned by trade-off analysis balancing ecological, economic and social benefits. The spatial pattern of used lands was designed by a multi-criteria optimal spatial planning, resulting in the strengthening of some primary ecosystem functions. In the resettlement area forests will expand to a matrix, and cropland patches together with tree fences will form patch-corridor systems. Significant ecological, economic and social benefits can be derived from this landscape pattern.This revised version was published online in May 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

东北和西北春玉米氮磷钾养分吸收、积累特点比较

通过东北(吉林公主岭,JL-GZL)和西北(新疆伊犁71团,XJ-71)两个生态条件差异明显的大田试验,比较不同生态区春玉米植株养分吸收、积累差异。研究表明,西北试点的春玉米子粒产量、干物质积累量、氮磷钾等养分积累量均高于东北试点,其中,子粒产量、干物质积累量达极显著水平,叶片、茎秆、子粒氮、磷、钾养分积累量均达显著水平。东北春玉米叶片、茎秆氮含量较西北春玉米高,叶片、茎秆磷含量无显著差异,叶片、茎秆钾含量在整个生育期低于西北春玉米。西北春玉米每吸收1 kg氮所产生的子粒、干物质分别较东北春玉米高7.75%、7.11%,每吸收1 kg钾所产生的子粒、干物质分别较东北春玉米低9.12%、9.71%,每吸收1 kg磷所产生的子粒、干物质两个生态区无显著差异。氮磷钾收获指数与养分利用效率的变化趋势相同,西北试点氮收获指数高于东北试点,钾收获指数低于东北试点,磷收获指数无显著差异。     

Progress towards international targets for protected area coverage in mountains: A multi-scale assessment

Through the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the world’s governments recently adopted a target to protect “at least 17% of terrestrial and inland water areas” by 2020. One of the CBD’s thematic programmes of work focuses on mountains, given their importance for biodiversity and other ecosystem services, and their vulnerability to global change. We evaluated current levels of protection for mountains at multiple scales. Encouragingly, the CBD’s 17% target has already been almost met at a global scale: 16.9% of the world’s mountain areas outside Antarctica fall within protected areas. However, protection of mountain areas at finer scales remains uneven and is largely insufficient, with 63% (125) of countries, 57% (4) of realms, 67% (8) of biomes, 61% (437) of ecoregions and 53% (100) of Global 200 priority ecoregions falling short of the target. The target also calls for protected areas to be focussed “especially [at] areas of particular importance for biodiversity”. Important Bird Areas and Alliance for Zero Extinction sites represent existing global networks of such sites. It is therefore of major concern that 39% and 45% respectively of these sites in mountain areas remain entirely unprotected. Achievement of the 2020 CBD target in mountain regions will require more focused expansion of the protected area network in addition to enhanced management of individual sites and the wider countryside in order to ensure long term conservation of montane biodiversity and the other ecosystem services it provides.     

Expansion of the global terrestrial protected area system

Under the Convention on Biological Diversity, the world’s governments set a goal of protecting 10% of all ecological regions by 2010. We evaluated progress toward that goal for the world’s major terrestrial biomes, realms, and ecoregions. Total land area under any legal protection has increased from previous estimates to 12.9%, a notable achievement, although only 5.8% has strict protection for biodiversity. For biomes, protection ranges from 4% to 25%, with six of 14 biomes still below the 10% level. Geographic patterns of protection have a distinct bias, with higher rates of protection in New World realms than Old World realms. Of the world’s terrestrial ecoregions, half do not meet the 2010 Target and 76% have less than 10% of their area strictly protected. Approximately 13% of ecoregions have no strict protected areas. Recent years have seen an expansion of the protected area network, with an average of 0.13% of the global land area added per year. Most of the expansion since 2003 though has been in Brazil, particularly the Amazon. Without major investments in conservation, spread across the world’s ecosystems, the world will likely miss the 2010 target.     

Assessment of ecosystem services as an opportunity for the conservation and management of native forests in Chile

This paper quantifies two important native forest ecosystem services in southern Chile: water supply and recreational fishing opportunities. We analyzed streamflow in relation to forest cover in six watersheds located in the Valdivian Coastal Range (39°50′–40°05′S), the effect of forest management on streamflow in two watersheds in the Valdivian Andes (600–650 m of elevation; 39°37′S), and fish abundance as a function of forest cover in 17 watersheds located in the Coastal Range and the Central Depression (39°50′–42°30′S). We found that the annual direct runoff coefficient (quickflow/precipitation) and total streamflow/precipitation in the dry summer season were positively correlated with native forest cover in the watershed (R² = 0.67 and 0.76; ^*P = 0.045 and 0.027, respectively) during four years of observations. Conversely, a negative correlation was found between summer runoff coefficients (total streamflow/precipitation) and cover of Eucalyptus spp. and Pinusradiata plantations (R² = 0.84; ^*P = 0.010). We estimated a mean increase of 14.1% in total summer streamflow for every 10% increase in native forest cover in the watershed. The analysis of streamflow changes between two paired watersheds dominated by native secondary Nothofagus stands, one thinned with 35% of basal area removal and a control, showed that the former had a 40% increase during summer (four years of observations). The best correlation between fish abundance and forest cover was found between trout abundance (%) and secondary native forest area in 1000 m × 60 m stream buffers (R² = 0.65, ^***P < 0.0001). We estimated a 14.6% increase in trout abundance for every 10% increase of native forest cover in these buffers. Similar approaches to quantify forest ecosystem services could be used elsewhere and provide useful information for policy and decision-making regarding forest conservation and management.     

Landscape changes and ecological studies in agricultural regions,Québec,Canada

Most landscape definitions in the western world are based on soil, climatic, or physiographic features and do not integrate humans as an integral part of the landscape. We present an approach where landscape types have been delineated in southern Québec, Canada based on current land use where anthropogenic and agricultural activities are concentrated as a practical application of the holistic approach in landscape definition. Landsat-TM satellite images were classified and the 27 habitat classes were regrouped into 5 general land cover classes (cash crop, dairy farming, forest, anthropogenic, wetlands) and overlaid onto soil landscape polygons to characterize natural boundary units. Cluster analyses were used to aggregate these polygons into seven agricultural types of land scape forming a gradient from urban and high-intensity cash crop farming activities to landscapes dominated by a mosaic of agriculture and forested areas. Multivariate analyses of raw data and of socio-economic and farming practices variables were used to describe the defined types of landscape and these were projected over three established land classification systems of southern Québec (Canadian ecoregions, North American Bird Conservation Initiative regions and Corn Heat Unit regions) to compare their similarity in terms of land cover and for planning of future ecological studies. Because agricultural landscapes are highly dynamic, they are bound to undergo changes in the near future. Our landscape delineation may serve as an experimental setup where land scape dynamics and wildlife populations and community structures could be monitored. Because the information we used to delineate and characterize agricultural landscape types is readily available in other countries, our approach could easily be adapted to similar data sources under and a wide variety of landscape types. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A historical feeding ground for humpback whales in the eastern South Pacific revisited: the case of northern Patagonia,Chile

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Reconstruction of the historical distribution ranges of imperilled stream fishes from a global endemic hotspot based on molecular data: Implications for conservation of threatened taxa

1. Understanding historical distribution patterns of freshwater fishes prior to human impacts is crucial for informing effective strategies for biodiversity conservation. However, incomplete information on species occurrence records, the existence of cryptic species and sensitivity to small sample sizes limit the application of historical records in natural history collections as well as conventional species distribution modelling algorithms to infer past distributions of species.
2. This study used molecular data as an alternative and objective approach to reconstruct the historical distribution ranges of four stream fishes from the Breede River system in the Cape Fold Ecoregion, a global hotspot of imperilled endemic freshwater biodiversity in southern Africa.
3. The study used 249 occurrence records and 208 mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences to reconstruct the potential historical ranges of four taxa: Galaxias sp. ‘zebratus nebula', Galaxias sp. ‘zebratus Riviersonderend', Pseudobarbus sp. ‘burchelli Breede' and Pseudobarbus skeltoni.
4. All four taxa historically had broader distribution ranges across the Breede River system before human impacts, but they have suffered severe attrition as the main‐stem populations have been extirpated.
5. The severe decline in the historical ranges of these four taxa is a result of multiple impacts, particularly hydrological modification, habitat degradation and the introduction of non‐native species, which are also global challenges for freshwater ecosystems.
6. The approach presented in this study has great potential for reconstructing historical ranges of stream‐dwelling taxa from disparate regions where fragmentation has resulted from human‐mediated impacts. This information is crucial for identifying appropriate conservation strategies such as river rehabilitation and eradication of non‐native species, as well as guiding reintroductions and informing assisted gene flow where these are deemed necessary interventions.

     

植烟生态区、品种及其互作对烤烟多酚含量及品质的影响

为探究毕节烟区不同生态区（光照、降雨、温度等）对烤烟品种云烟105和云烟116多酚含量及品质的影响，采用二因素随机区组设计，分别在贵州省毕节地区威宁县和大方县植烟生态区种植云烟105和云烟116，并对中部烟叶多酚类物质及常规化学品质含量进行测定分析。结果表明，植烟生态区、品种及其互作对多酚含量的贡献不同，生态区对烤烟新绿原酸、绿原酸、隐绿原酸、莨菪亭、芸香苷及总酚的贡献率分别为22.68%、7.68%、9.67%、94.40%、9.48%和3.14%；品种的贡献率分别为68.53%、60.91%、82.39%、0.04%、63.10%和69.34%；生态区与品种互作的贡献率分别为8.79%、31.41%、7.94%、5.55%、27.42%和27.52%。云烟105在大方生态烟区的绿原酸、新绿原酸、隐绿原酸和芸香苷含量更高，而云烟116在威宁生态烟区的莨菪亭含量更高。烟叶多酚含量与磷、钾、还原糖及总糖含量呈显著正相关关系，与烟碱含量呈显著负相关关系。综合烟叶多酚及化学成分来看，毕节新引进的品种云烟105和云烟116更适宜种植在大方地区，且云烟105表现优于云烟116。