The effects of agricultural fields and human settlements on the use of rivers by wildlife in the mid-Zambezi valley,Zimbabwe

After the eradication of the Tse-Tse fly in the Mid-Zambezi valley, human settlements and fields extended mainly along the main rivers. In order to investigate the consequences of this human development on wildlife diversity we monitored three rivers of the Mid-Zambezi valley in Zimbabwe: Angwa, Manyame and Kadzi. The rivers were divided in segments of 200 m which were checked for spoors in order to assess the number of species and the number of individuals that used the segments. Human settlements were also recorded. We used a GIS to define the spatial characteristics of the fields present along the rivers, and related them to the distribution and abundance of wild species spoors in the river beds and banks. Our results show that the number of species in one segment of the river decreased with the increasing size of the field area bordering the segment. For all the major ungulate species, the numbers of individuals recorded per segment decreased with increasing field area. A similar trend was observed for small and medium-sized carnivores, though they were in lower numbers when present. Our analyses thus confirm that the extension of human agriculture in wildlife areas has an impact on most wild species, but we also define some threshold value of field size above which there seem to be an acceleration of the decrease in wildlife density and diversity: 3.2 ha for medium and small herbivores and carnivores; only the elephant seem to tolerate larger field area with a threshold value of 32 ha.This revised version was published online in May 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The urbanization of wildlife management: Social science, conflict, and decision making

Increasing urbanization of rural landscapes has created new challenges for wildlife management. In addition to changes in the physical landscape, urbanization has also produced changes in the socio-cultural landscape. The greater distancing from direct interaction with wildlife in urbanized societies has led to the emergence of a culture whose meanings for wildlife are less grounded in the utilitarian/instrumental orientation of rural agrarian systems. Urban perspectives on wildlife are comprised of more highly individualized emotional/symbolic values. This shift creates two problems with respect to managing wildlife in an urbanizing landscape. First the increased diversity in values and meanings increases the likelihood for social conflicts regarding wildlife management while at the same time making socially acceptable resolutions more intractable. This in turn requires fundamental changes in decision-making paradigms and the research approaches used to inform decision making. Second, as remaining rural communities feel the pressures of urbanization, wildlife conflicts become conflicts not just over wildlife but conflict over larger socio-political concepts such as equity, tradition, private property rights, government control, power, and acceptable forms of knowledge. This paper examines the wildlife management implications of changes associated with increasing urbanization and employs two case studies to illustrate these issues. First a study of a controversy over urban deer management provides insights into how to map conflicting values and search for common ground in an urban culture with increasingly individualistic values for wildlife. Specifically, the analysis illustrates that common ground may, at times, be found even among people with conflicting value systems. The second case study examined a ranching community faced with predator reintroduction. This case study illustrates tensions that occur when the community of interest (i.e. a national public) is broader than the community of place in which the problem occurs. In this latter situation, the debate centers around more than just different views about the rights of animals. It also entailed the rights of individuals and communities to decide their future. The conclusion discusses the need for wildlife institutions to adapt their underlying decision making philosophy including the way science is integrated into decision making processes in light of the changes in social context caused by urbanization.     

与香蕉种质离体保存相关的几个遗传学问题

目前香蕉种质的离体保存主要有缓慢生长保存和超低温保存两种方法。综合有关文献综述和讨论了香蕉种质离体保存过程涉及的遗传多样性、遗传稳定性和完整性、适应等遗传学问题。在开展香蕉种质离体保存的过程中,对离体保存所带来的遗传学方面的影响加以重视并设法减少其影响十分重要:(1)香蕉的生物学特性决定了香蕉种质的离体保存主要以始于吸芽茎尖的培养物作为保存材料;为减少取样环节样本容量较小带来的影响,建议保存数量较大的种质份数。(2)离体保存尤其是缓慢生长保存会引起香蕉种质的遗传不稳定性,因此有必要进行定期的检测。目前香蕉种质遗传稳定性的检测方法主要有形态鉴别、超微结构的观察、同工酶分析和分子标记等。(3)与缓慢生长保存相比较,超低温保存除了在保存过程中香蕉种质遗传稳定性较高,在实现对香蕉种质的长期保存方面也具有明显的优越性。     

The re-emergence of indigenous forest in an urban environment, Christchurch, New Zealand

Christchurch, the second largest city in New Zealand is a planned city on a coastal plain on the east coast of the South Island. The birth of the city and the subsequent century of development was characterised by colonial values and tree and garden planting with familiar European species along with those from Australia, North America, and eventually all other continents. The image of an “English garden city” with classical parks of oaks and willow-lined rivers became the accepted norm and the way in which the city has been promoted to potential tourists. Gardening is one of the top two recreational activities and exotic species greatly outnumber native species in the flora and in gardens. This has had serious consequences for the highly fragmented and degraded indigenous vegetation and its co-adapted wildlife. A few hardy indigenous species continued to regenerate through this period, but since the 1970s, there has been a progressive change of attitude and interest in reclaiming the natural heritage of the city, manifest in widespread private and public planting of indigenous species and active habitat restoration. In this article we examine the indigenous and exotic shrub and tree components of the Christchurch flora as planted street trees, in domestic gardens, and in parks. We also present data on shrub and tree regeneration in parks and domestic gardens in the city. Indications are that the more sensitive, less intrusive management of urban environments, combined with the greater density of indigenous seed sources, has allowed regeneration of a wide range of indigenous species across a broad spectrum of habitats – from neglected gardens to pavement cracks to exotic plantations. This is despite the competition from the prodigious seed banks and density of exotic trees, shrubs, and ground covers and albeit minimal impacts of introduced browsing and seed eating mammals. If the present trends continue through appropriate management and facilitation, these tentative signs of native forest regeneration should eventually proliferate into a sustainable mixed origin urban forest that resurrects and preserves the natural character of the region.     

三江源区土壤侵蚀变化及驱动因素分析

采用修正通用土壤流失方程(revised universal soil loss equation, RUSLE)对三江源区1997-2012年的土壤侵蚀模数和土壤侵蚀量进行定量模拟,并对其生态工程实施前、后时空变化特征进行对比分析,采用空间叠加法分析降雨侵蚀力及植被覆盖度对土壤侵蚀状况的影响,利用模型参数控制法对气候变化和生态工程对土壤侵蚀变化的贡献率进行分析。结果表明:1)生态工程实施后,三江源区土壤侵蚀增加的趋势尚未得到遏制,多年平均年土壤侵蚀模数和侵蚀量较工程实施前增加6.5%,但局部地区土壤侵蚀状况有所好转,约占总面积的45%;2)长江流域在工程实施后的土壤侵蚀量与工程实施前基本持衡;黄河流域土壤侵蚀量增加明显,增幅超过45%;澜沧江流域土壤侵蚀量有所下降,降幅为9.8%;3)降水增强导致土壤侵蚀加剧的贡献率达到180%,植被恢复对土壤侵蚀变化的贡献率为-80%。全面遏制三江源区土壤侵蚀增加趋势,仍需持续努力。     

河南长江流域防护林工程水土保持效益评价

涵养水源和保育土壤是森林的主要生态功能。通过采用森林生态系统服务功能实物量、价值量评估方法对长防林工程实施区域森林的水土保持效益进行的评价,结果表明,长防林工程实施后林地可调节水量12.936亿m3,固土0.135亿t,林地的水土保持效益价值达126.247亿元。经过20年的长防林工程建设,项目区内森林资源快速增长,水土流失面积大幅度减少,工程建设对生态环境的改善起到了明显的作用。     

美国农业保护性耕作技术的启示

为了学习与引进先进的保护性耕作技术,阐述了美国保护性耕作的起源,说明了传统耕作给农业生产带来的毁灭性的打击,并通过以免耕为主的保护性耕作的论述,进一步说明了黑龙江省耕作制度改革的必要性。同时通过美国先进耕作制度的论述,提出了黑龙江省发展保护性耕作制度的必要性和具体措施。     

林地水土保持功能持续提高的机制及对策

通过对不同林地水土保持功能分析得出,其发展过程可分为成长期、成熟期和减退期,并定义成熟期为可持续发展期。分析了影响水土保持功能持续提高的环境分配系数r和环境利用系数k,认为r是林地中光、水、肥分配的参数,k为光、水、肥利用的参数。林地水土保持功能的持续提高,应通过调整r和k,即调控林地的树种组成、林分层次和林分密度,形成合理的林分结构,保持成熟期的持续发展。并在此基础上提出了林地水土保持功能持续提高的相应对策。     

探讨园林绿化的市场运作

将园林绿化的工作通过市场的运作,逐步实现市场管理,从无形到有形,从无序到有序的转变。