Sacred sites as habitats of culturally important plant species in an Indian megacity

Cultural ecosystem services related to urban green spaces contribute significantly to liveable cities. While previous studies highlight the intersection of cultural ecosystem services with societal values, spiritual or religious values associated with urban nature have received less attention. In India, as in other parts of the world, sacred sites are known for their biological richness, but analyses from urban sacred sites are largely missing. Based on a stratified random sampling approach, we analysed the cultivated and wild plant species assemblages of 69 sacred sites in the megacity of Bengaluru, India, in relation to biological and cultural features, and parameters related to the urban matrix and type of sacred sites (temple vs. katte). Unlike other urban studies, we found a dominance of native species in the cultivated and spontaneous species pools (121 species in total), with Ficus religiosa and Azadirachta indica as most frequently planted species. Culturally relevant species prevailed in the species pool (89%), with overlaps between religious (36%), medicinal (50%) and ornamental (62%) plants; only 11% of species were weeds. Urban matrix parameters (age of development, housing density) and size and type of sacred sites were related to differences in species assemblages. We identified key species for different classes of age and housing density, and for types of sacred sites. Our study demonstrates that urban sacred sites have an important potential in harbouring both native and culturally significant species that can support urban livelihoods in developing countries by a range of cultural and provisioning ecosystem services, including medicinal uses. As such sites are conserved by communities for spiritual or cultural beliefs, local biodiversity can be enhanced, e.g. by adapting management practices through community participation. This would strengthen the important contribution of sacred sites within the green infrastructure of rapidly growing megacities.     

The economic benefits and costs of trees in urban forest stewardship: A systematic review

Understanding the benefits provided by urban trees is important to justify investment and improve stewardship. Many studies have attempted to quantify the benefits of trees in monetary terms, though fewer have quantified the associated costs of planting and maintaining them. This systematic review examines the methods used to jointly analyse the costs and benefits of trees in the urban landscape, assesses the relative balance of benefits and costs, and attempts to understand the wide variation in economic values assigned in different studies. The benefits most frequently studied are those related to environmental regulation and property values, and the available data show that these usually outweigh the costs. Aesthetic, amenity, and shading benefits have also been shown to provide significant economic benefits, while benefits in terms of water regulation, carbon reduction and air quality are usually more modest. Variation in benefits and costs among studies is attributed largely to differences in the species composition and age structure of urban tree populations, though methodological differences also play a role. Comparison between studies is made difficult owing to differences in spatiotemporal scope, and in the way urban forest composition and demographic structure were reported. The overwhelming majority of studies concern deciduous trees in Northern America, and much less is known about urban forests in other regions, especially in the tropics. Future work should thus seek to fill these knowledge gaps, and standardise research protocols across cities. In light of ambitious goals in many cities to increase tree cover, ongoing advances in valuation methods need to provide a more comprehensive accounting of benefits and costs, and to better integrate economic assessment into the decision-making process.     

共享经济模式下重庆食用菌旅游资源发展趋势及创新路径

从共享旅游文化、共享食用菌历史文化的角度,讨论了发展食用菌个性化旅游和体验式旅游的思路;结合食用菌绿色、健康和生态的核心体验元素,给出了依托食用菌绿色、生态的品牌优势,打造食用菌旅游产业的具体方法。在此基础上,探讨了重庆食用菌旅游资源的共享经济模式,提出以重庆食用菌美食为龙头,利用多种共享经济新业态来带动重庆食用菌旅游产业的发展。     

Tracing regime influence on urban community gardening: How resource dependence causes barriers to garden longer term sustainability

This article explores how resource dependence leads to barriers to urban community gardening. Nine barriers to urban gardening were identified: finance, space, organizational structure, water, external damage, soil, communication, interpersonal issues, and participation issues. Using process tracing and grounded theory, we found that these barriers could be divided into three groups: primary, secondary, and participation barriers. Primary barriers are caused and directly influenced by the regime, whereas secondary barriers are the result of decisions and actions taken while addressing the primary barriers. All of these barriers cause frustration and affects the ability of the gardens to retain and acquire new members. This affects the longer term sustainability of the gardens and their potential to contribute to an urban governance transition.     

粤北地区食用菌产业及其循环经济发展概述

从食用菌种类及其分布、产值、食用菌企业、食用菌产业循环经济发展情况等方面介绍了粤北地区食用菌产业发展现状,总结食用菌产业发展中存在的问题,如菌种问题突出,品牌意识缺乏;食用菌产业标准化落后;产品质量参差不齐,食品质量安全无保障;资源浪费严重;精深加工不足等,并提出相应的对策。     

Can trail spatial attributes predict trail use level in urban forest park? An examination integrating GPS data and space syntax theory

Understanding users’ spatial distribution in forest park is crucial for providing visitors with quality recreation experiences and for park planning and management. Utilizing users’ spatial distribution data, this study aims at investigating associations between trail use level and trail spatial attributes, through examining two large urban forest parks (Gongqing forest park and Paotaiwan forest park) in Shanghai, China. Users’ spatial distribution was measured utilizing GPS trackers with the interval of 10 seconds. This study conceptualizes trail spatial attributes as trail metric attributes and trail configurational attributes. Trail metric attributes include trail mean distance to gates, length, width and level of enclosure, which are calculated based on park map and on-site observation. We computed trail configurational attributes utilizing space syntax theory, which comprise measures of global integration, control, and connectivity. Trail connection with features/facilities, visual connection with water and shading are included as covariate variables. In total, we obtained 134 valid samples in Gongqing forest park and 210 valid samples in Paotaiwan forest park for analysis. Multivariate regression analyses indicate that when involving covariate variables, consistently in both parks, a greater trail usage is significantly related to trail shorter mean distance to park gate, trail width wider than 3 meters, higher global integration and higher control values. Collectively, these four trail spatial attributes explained 31.7 % (p < 0.001) and 27.3 % (p < 0.001) of the variances in trail use level in Gongqing forest park and Paotaiwan forest park. These findings provide direct implications to park designers and managers for providing visitors with different desirable social conditions, and ultimately improve users’ experiences and satisfactions.     

政府渔业补助政策与博弈

渔业补助政策是政府为弥补市场经济缺陷而采取的重要措施，本文应用博弈论对政府与渔民的互动博弈展开研究，并确立了混合策略模型下的政府和渔民各自最佳选择概率，达到纳什均衡，这对于解释当前政府渔业补助政策内涵与指导修订补助政策有参考意义。     

长安区城市森林建设思路探讨

本文探讨了如何在西安市近郊长安区发展城市森林,以适应西安现代国际化大都市建设发展的需要。     

会计信息失真与公司治理结构

从会计信息失真的含义界定入手，分析了我国目前公司治理结构与会计信息失真之间的关系。从内部、外部治理结构两方面讨论了会计信息失真的影响因子，并提出了相应的治理对策。     

龙井市农村经济灰色关联度分析

利用灰色系统理论中灰色关联度分析的方法，龙井市近几年来农村经济分3个层次进行了系统、全面的分析。