Securing African forests for future drier climates: applying ecophysiology in tree improvement

Increasing incidences of drought-induced tree mortality are being recorded worldwide, including Africa. African forests cover a significant proportion of the continent, which implies that African forest sustainability is threatened from a climate-change perspective. This is especially problematic in a developing nation context, because forest ecosystems such as plantation forestry provide important goods and services that sustain human well-being and economic growth. Disentangling the likely triggers of tree mortality (including those linked to drought) in landscapes would not only explain the mechanisms underlying local die-offs, but also better predict future mortality events. Methods applied in the field of ecophysiology are particularly useful to study in situ plant responses to an environment. We consider the status quo of global peer-reviewed publication outputs during the past century that have made use of key ecophysiological research approaches, specifically studies concerning ‘tree xylem anatomy’, ‘tree xylem cavitation’, ‘tree leaf gas-exchange’ and ‘tree xylem hydraulic conductivity’. We highlight the growth and applicability of this research field in understanding tree ecology. We also assess the role that the forestry sector has had in promoting such research to ensure future-proof forest products. Most importantly, we consider how Africa with its vast forested landscapes fits within this research spectrum. The last decade saw an increase of up to 60% in the total number of articles published, particularly with a focus on tree xylem cavitation and conductivity. Although forest research contributed greatly to the global tally of ecophysiological studies, and such studies in Africa have also increased by up to 88% in the past decade, there remains a general lack of this research topic in the continent. It is clear an optimisation of applied ecophysiological concepts and techniques will promote an improved understanding of tree mortality patterns. We argue that ecophysiological data will be crucial to future-proof tree improvement strategies in African commodity production landscapes, especially given future drier climates.     

基于可变模糊评价法的农业旱灾灾后恢复力评估研究——以河北省为例

在综合考虑河北自然条件、社会经济条件,并借鉴已有干旱灾害恢复力研究成果的基础上,依据数据的可取性和详尽程度,选取降水量、复种指数、单位面积粮食产量、人均粮食产量、有效灌溉率、劳动力比重、农民人均收入和农业产投比等八个指标,构建农业旱灾灾后恢复力评价指标体系。通过层次分析法确定各指标的权重,构建可变模糊评价模型,对河北省11个市干旱灾害灾后恢复力进行评估。结果表明,石家庄旱灾灾后恢复力最高,级别特征值为4.2329,其次是唐山市为4.0046,张家口市恢复力最低,级别特征值为1.8079,各地区旱灾灾后恢复力差异明显。而在影响恢复力高低的因素中,发现不同的因素对旱灾灾后恢复力的影响程度是不同的。降水量是影响农业干旱灾害灾后恢复力的最主要自然因素,有效灌溉率在农业干旱灾害灾后恢复力评价指标体系中占较大的权重,对灾后恢复力的影响较大,农民人均收入和人均粮食产量对灾后的救助及农民生活的恢复重建也具有较重要的调节作用。     

Balanced exploitation and coexistence of interacting,size‐structured,fish species

This paper examines some effects of exploitation on a simple ecosystem containing two interacting fish species, with life histories similar to mackerel (Scomber scombrus) and cod (Gadus morhua), using a dynamic, size‐spectrum model. Such models internalize body growth and mortality from predation, allowing bookkeeping of biomass at a detailed level of individual predation and growth and enabling scaling up to the mass balance of the ecosystem. Exploitation set independently for each species with knife‐edge, size‐at‐entry fishing can lead to collapse of cod. Exploitation to achieve a fixed ratio of yield to productivity across species can also lead to collapse of cod. However, harvesting balanced to the overall productivity of species in the exploited ecosystem exerts a strong force countering such collapse. If balancing across species is applied to a fishery with knife‐edge selection, size distributions are truncated, changing the structure of the system and reducing its resilience to perturbations. If balancing is applied on the basis of productivity at each body size as well as across species, there is less disruption to size‐structure, resilience is increased, and substantially greater biomass yields are possible. We note an identity between the body size at which productivity is maximized and the age at which cohort biomass is maximized. In our numerical results based on detailed bookkeeping of biomass, cohort biomass reaches its maximum at body masses <1 g, unlike standard yield‐per‐recruit models, where body growth and mortality are independent externalities, and cohort biomass is maximized at larger body sizes.     

区域农业水资源恢复力可变模糊评价模型

区域农业水资源系统是与自然及人类活动紧密联系的复杂适应系统,不断与周围环境发生物质、能量和信息因素方面的交换和作用。以黑龙江省农垦红兴隆管理局12个农场为研究基点,运用主成分-相关分析法筛选评价指标,构建农业水资源恢复力评价指标体系,采用CRITIC法确定指标权重,结合可变模糊模型评价方法对其农业水资源系统恢复力进行评价,并利用ArcGIS技术对其进行分区,结果表明:双鸭山、八五三、北兴和八五二农场的农业水资源恢复力为Ⅱ级,饶河、二九一、五九七、红旗岭、友谊、江川、宝山和曙光的农业水资源恢复力为Ⅲ级。研究成果揭示了当地农业水资源系统力恢复情况,为农业水资源系统恢复力研究提供了一种新的研究模式。     

黄土区大型露天煤矿区生态承载力评价研究--以平朔安太堡露天煤矿为例

露天矿生态承载力的变化与矿区的污染控制、土地复垦与生态重建措施密切相关。本文根据矿区生态承载力内涵及层次特点,从生态系统弹性力、资源环境承载力及生态系统压力度3个方面提出对其进行量化的研究方法。结合高吉喜提出的生态承载力评价方法,构建了较完整的评价指标体系,利用AHP法求得各指标权重值,对矿区生态承载力状况进行静态和动态评价。研究结果表明:平朔安太堡矿区2007年的生态系统弹性力为46.836,中等稳定;资源环境承载力47.127,中等承载;生态系统压力度为1.396,承载超负荷。从动态变化趋势看,平朔安太堡矿区生态系统弹性力波动较强烈,说明矿区生态系统稳定性差,具有明显的脆弱特性;生态系统压力指数的变化说明,1999年前生态系统的压力对矿区生态系统弹性力和资源环境承载力影响较大,而1999年后影响逐渐减弱,矿区1987~2007年生态系统弹性力和资源环境承载力变化趋势相同;1997年后生态弹性力开始上升,资源环境承载力在1999年后也处于明显上升趋势。     

Reproductive resilience: a paradigm shift in understanding spawner‐recruit systems in exploited marine fish

A close relationship between adult abundance and stock productivity may not exist for many marine fish stocks, resulting in concern that the management goal of maximum sustainable yield is either inefficient or risky. Although reproductive success is tightly coupled with adult abundance and fecundity in many terrestrial animals, in exploited marine fish where and when fish spawn and consequent dispersal dynamics may have a greater impact. Here, we propose an eco‐evolutionary perspective, reproductive resilience, to understand connectivity and productivity in marine fish. Reproductive resilience is the capacity of a population to maintain the reproductive success needed to result in long‐term population stability despite disturbances. A stock's reproductive resilience is driven by the underlying traits in its spawner‐recruit system, selected for over evolutionary timescales, and the ecological context within which it is operating. Spawner‐recruit systems are species specific, have both density‐dependent and fitness feedback loops and are made up of fixed, behavioural and ecologically variable traits. They operate over multiple temporal, spatial and biological scales, with trait diversity affecting reproductive resilience at both the population and individual (i.e. portfolio) scales. Models of spawner‐recruit systems fall within three categories: (i) two‐dimensional models (i.e. spawner and recruit); (ii) process‐based biophysical dispersal models which integrate physical and environmental processes into understanding recruitment; and (iii) complex spatially explicit integrated life cycle models. We review these models and their underlying assumptions about reproductive success vs. our emerging mechanistic understanding. We conclude with practical guidelines for integrating reproductive resilience into assessments of population connectivity and stock productivity.     

Reconciling poverty alleviation with reduction in fisheries capacity: boat aid in post-tsunami Aceh, Indonesia

Abstract  The tremendous loss of life and assets resulting from the 2004 tsunami dealt a devastating blow to the coastal communities of Aceh Province, Indonesia. An assessment of the fishing fleet structure pre- and post-tsunami, including associated pattern in boat aid, in 15 coastal communities was conducted and compared with data on boat relief efforts over 17 districts of the Province. Aid was found to be not proportionally allocated to losses incurred by communities and was in many cases below what could be seen as a trend toward overcapacity. The distribution of aid appeared to be done without consideration of the former structure of the fleet, which changed significantly over time (pre- and post-tsunami), and resulted in a new fleet of reduced diversity with a strong focus on the smaller boat categories. If this situation perpetuates after the initial post-disaster period, it may further exacerbate the pre-existing economic and geographic marginalisation of some remote communities, and reduce the capacities of the fleets to diversify and develop multi-species harvesting strategies; thus, increasing the risk of ecologically unsustainable exploitation in near shore areas.     

Worlding aspirations and resilient futures: Framings of risk and contemporary city‐making in Metro Cebu,the Philippines

In the Philippines, calls for creating ‘global’, ‘sustainable’ and ‘resilient’ cities are placing urban poor communities in increasingly precarious positions. These communities have long been the targets of urban development and ‘modernisation’ efforts; more recently the erasure of informal settlements from Philippine cities is being bolstered at the behest of climate change adaptation and disaster risk management (DRM) agendas. In Metro Cebu, flood management has been at the heart of DRM and broader urban development discussions, and is serving as justification for the demolition and displacement of informal settler communities in areas classed as ‘danger zones’. Using Kusno's (2010) interpretation of the ‘exemplary centre’ as a point of departure, this paper interrogates the relationship between DRM, worlding aspirations (Roy and Ong, 2011) and market‐oriented urbanisation in Cebu, and considers the socio‐spatial implications of these intersecting processes for urban poor communities. Through analysing the contradictions inherent in framings of certain bodies and spaces as being ‘of risk’ or ‘at risk’ over others, I argue that the epistemologies of modernity, disaster risk and resilience endorsed and propagated by the state are facilitating processes of displacement and dispossession that serve elite commercial interests under the auspices of disaster resilience and pro‐poor development.     

基于生态弹性的北京市“二道绿隔”温榆河段郊野公园设计

生态弹性通过研究人与自然系统的关系,为缓解生态危机、建设美丽中国提供了新的视角。文章以北京市"二道绿隔"温榆河段的郊野公园组团为例探讨生态弹性导向下的郊野公园体系设计策略:一是从缓解河道行洪压力、形成区域海绵系统、公园水网循环建设3方面构建弹性水系统;二是通过推进适应性生态演替与设计旱雨两宜生境构建弹性生境系统;三是构建生态游览系统。