Biodiversity Conservation Function Research Articles

Construction of Green Ecological Network in Qingdao (Shandong, China) Based on the Combination of Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis and Biodiversity Conservation Function Assessment

Building urban green ecological network systems and increasing urban and rural landscape connectivity are effective ways to improve urban biodiversity and landscape sustainability. The ecological sources in the main urban area of Qingdao City (Shandong, China) were identified based on morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) combined with a biodiversity conservation function assessment, with the ecological corridors established and the ecological network structure optimized. The results showed that (1) the study area lacked high-quality patches with strong landscape connectivity; (2) the potential green ecological network of the study area was composed of 38 ecological sources, 703 ecological corridors, and 284 ecological nodes, effectively connecting urban and suburban green spaces; (3) after optimization, the green ecological network contained a total of 223 important corridors and 61 key nodes, with significantly increased network connectivity; (4) the optimal ecological corridor width in Qingdao was determined to be 30 m. Our study provided important guidance for the construction of ecological security patterns and scientific evidence to support urban green space planning and sustainable development in Qingdao.

Use of legacy nitrogen as a resource: Unfertilized lotus fields contribute to water quality improvement and biodiversity conservation

Managing legacy nitrogen (N) that has accumulated over decades of intensive agriculture is necessary to balance agricultural production and environmental conservation. Using legacy N as a resource can reduce extant legacy N. The uplands of Japan's Lake Inba watershed are dominated by agroecosystems, and spring waters in the lowlands contain high NO3-N concentrations. We focused on an unfertilized, commercial lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) farm where paddy fields are irrigated with spring waters. We hypothesized that the lotus field could reduce the export of legacy N and provide habitat for fish (co-benefit). Dating of spring waters using sulfur hexafluoride revealed that the residence time of water at the study site was 12.5 years and suggested that the spring waters contained legacy N. We found large reductions of NO3-N and total nitrogen (TN) concentrations in water that passed through the lotus fields. A meta-analysis revealed that the reductions of NO3-N concentrations were highest in unfertilized lotus fields, and reductions of TN concentrations were higher in unfertilized paddy and lotus fields than in fertilized fields. The N removal by harvesting lotus roots 38.7 kg N/ha/year was smaller than the literature-based rate of N removal by denitrification. We used environmental DNA metabarcoding to identify the fish fauna in the lotus fields and an adjacent stream. The native fish richness was a little lower in the lotus fields than in the stream, but the presence of two endangered fish species in the lotus field suggested a moderate biodiversity conservation function. Our case study could be a good example of a nature-based solution to harness ecosystem functions to reduce legacy N.

Study of the Effects of Ten-Year Microclimate Regulation Based on Different Vegetation Type Combinations in a City Riparian Zone

Ecological engineering construction is the main method for urban riparian landscape restoration. Continuous ecological environmental monitoring can reflect the effects of engineering construction and can provide a scientific basis for the improvement of engineering technology. However, the evaluation of riparian ecological engineering mainly focuses on the water environmental function and biodiversity conservation function after the construction period. Studies on the long-term evaluation of regional microclimate regulation and human settlement improvement are limited. In this paper, an ecological restoration project along the Yitong River in northern China was selected as the research object. Temperature, relative humidity and wind speed under different vegetation type combinations were monitored in the riparian ecological engineering construction during the first, second, third and tenth years. The temperature–humidity index (THI) was selected to evaluate human comfort and the improvement effect of microclimate was assessed for different vegetation type combinations. The results showed that vegetation type combinations can play a good role in regulating the microclimate and human comfort. The riparian ecological restoration project achieved a stable function for microclimate regulation in the third year. There was no significant regulation difference between tree–shrub–herb and tree–herb combinations. To realize the optimization of ecological benefits, economic benefits and social benefits, the tree–herb combination can be appropriately increased, and the tree–shrub–herb can be reduced in the application of ecological engineering. Microclimate regulation is an important achievement in engineering construction effects and can be regarded as one of the indices to evaluate the effect of ecological restoration.

Highway stormwater ponds as islands of Odonata diversity in an agricultural landscape

Stormwater management ponds, which are constructed to retain excess runoff and pollutants from traffic, play an important role in the freshwater biodiversity in highly modified areas. However, their roles in agricultural and semi-natural landscapes remain largely unexplored. In this study, we used Odonata as a bioindicator to compare a set of highway stormwater ponds and surrounding ponds within an agricultural and semi-natural landscape to examine the extent to which stormwater ponds act as biodiversity refuges. We analyzed the differences in environmental parameters and the richness, compositions, and conservation values of the odonate communities of stormwater and surrounding ponds. We also examined the factors controlling the differences in the communities of both pond types. The stormwater ponds were smaller, less eutrophicated, less shaded by trees, less stocked with fish, and less connected with other waterbodies than the surrounding ponds. However, they had a higher plant diversity and pH values and were more densely overgrown with vegetation. Compared with surrounding ponds, stormwater ponds had a higher Odonata richness and β-diversity, but their taxonomic distinctness was significantly lower. Therefore, stormwater ponds hosted more variable communities but their assemblages were taxonomically similar. Indicator species were only identified in stormwater ponds. Furthermore, stormwater ponds harbored more species with higher conservation values. The most important factors affecting the differences between stormwater and surrounding ponds were the trophic state, relative tree shading, and fish stocking intensity. With their increase, the richness and rarity decreased. Our results highlight the potential of stormwater ponds to enhance the biodiversity outside urban areas by providing specific habitat conditions that are unique to the surrounding agricultural landscape. In addition, we suggest management practices that can be used to enhance their biodiversity conservation function.

天山北坡经济带关键性生态空间评价

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 天山北坡经济带关键性生态空间评价 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201912042636 作者: 作者单位: 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 国家自然基金项目（41461086，41761108） Evaluation on the critical ecological space of the economic belt of Tianshan northslope Author: Affiliation: Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:关键性生态空间在生态系统中所发挥的基础性和保障性功能尤为重要，其范围辨识及评价研究对于国土安全和区域可持续发展具有重要意义。以天山北坡经济带为研究区，构建适于西北寒旱区脆弱敏感环境的关键性生态空间评价体系，借助GIS和RS技术，从生态系统服务功能重要性和敏感性两方面对其空间范围进行辨识和分级评价，并进行土地利用生态安全冲突分析。研究结果表明：（1）底线型和危机型生态空间作为研究区的关键性生态空间，面积为45318km2，占比53%，主要分布于南部山区、农垦区西部及北部沙漠/荒漠区；（2）生态系统服务功能与植被显著相关，较重要、重要和极重要区域共占约20.9%，集中在南部山前草原及中部农垦区，生态系统服务功能整体较弱，主导因子为水源涵养和生物多样性保护功能；（3）研究区生态系统敏感性等级主要以中度敏感为主，敏感和极敏感区域面积占比37.7%，分布于高山区、荒漠戈壁区和低山与绿洲过渡区，主要体现为土地沙化和土地盐渍化。（4）全区土地利用生态安全冲突等级较高，有45%的城建用地与56.5%的耕地占用关键性生态空间。本研究可为区域国土空间布局和生态格局优化提供参考，并对相关理论和实证研究起到补充和借鉴作用。 Abstract:The basic and supporting functions of critical ecological space in the ecosystem are particularly important. It is of great significance for homeland security and regional sustainable development to identify and evaluate the scope of the critical ecological space. Taking the economic belt of Tianshan northslope as the research area, we constructed a critical ecological spatial evaluation system suitable for the fragile and sensitive environment in the northwest cold and dry area. With the help of GIS and RS, the spatial scope of the critical ecological space was identified and graded from the importance and sensitivity of the ecosystem service function, then analyzed the conflict of land use ecological security. The results showed that: (1) The critical ecological space generally consists of the bottom line type and crisis type ecological space with area 45318 km2, accounting for 53% of the total area, mainly distributed in mountainous, desert and the northwest of the agricultural reclamation area. (2) The ecosystem service function is significantly related to vegetation. The medium important, important and extremely important areas account for about 20.9%, which are concentrated in the southern piedmont grassland and the central agricultural reclamation region. The ecosystem service function are weak as a whole, and the dominant factors are water conservation and biodiversity conservation function. (3) The primary sensitivity level of the study area is medium sensitive. The sensitive and extremely sensitive areas account for about 37.7%, which are distributed in high mountain area, gobi desert terrain and the transition area between low mountain and oasis, principally reflected in desertification and salinization. (4) The conflict level of land use ecological security in this region is relatively high, there are urban construction land 45% and cultivated land 56.5%occupy the critical ecological space. This study can provide reference for the optimization of regional land spatial distribution and ecological pattern, and play a complementary and referential role for the relevant theoretical and empirical research. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Evaluation of the Biodiversity Conservation Function in Liaohe Delta Wetland, Northeastern China

The scientific evaluation of the wetland biodiversity conservation function is the basis of balanced wetland protection and development. Our research sought to provide references for the protection of wetland ecological environments as well as the related planning and management policies. The study established a fitting model for evaluating the biodiversity conservation function in the Liaohe Delta, northeastern China. The new model, the Wetland Biodiversity Conservation Indicator (WBCI), was with four input factors, including the vegetation coverage (VC), habitat suitability index (HI), land use and land cover (LULC) index (LI), and threat factor index (TI) of the LULC type. The values assigned to HI and TI were based on Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) habitat quality models. The weights of all the factors in WBCI were valued with the Principal Component Analysis (PCA). We evaluated the wetland biodiversity conservation function of Panjin, Liaohe Delta, China, by using the WBCI model based on Gaofen-1 (GF-1) satellite data in 2018, and the result was verified with InVEST and other models. It showed that the output map was similar to that of InVEST, with the higher-quality habitat including the wetland, tidal flat, water body, and forest, as well as the lower-quality land use types including the paddy field, crop field, construction land, and land used by traffic. The wetland biodiversity conservation function was better in areas less affected by human disturbance, with very abundant species and good-quality habitat. It was poor in areas impacted by more frequent human activities such as the land cultivation, housing, and traffic, which led to the landscape fragmentation. The WBCI model provided a more accurate reflection of the bird distribution than the InVEST model. The WBCI model was able to reflect the difference in quality of each habitat grade, in contrast to the net primary productivity (NPP) method and species distribution models (SDMs). The new model was, therefore, simpler and suitable in reflecting the quality of wetland biodiversity function in the Liaohe Delta.

Evaluation of Biodiversity Conservation Function of Tea Tree Fields Using Organic Low-Pesticide Farming Method from The Viewpoint of Arthropod Community Structures

Evaluation of Biodiversity Conservation Function of Tea Tree Fields Using Organic Low-Pesticide Farming Method from The Viewpoint of Arthropod Community Structures

Impact of maintenance operations on the seasonal evolution of ditch properties and functions

Ditch networks were traditionally designed to protect fields from soil erosion or control waterlogging. They are still frequently managed by either mowing, chemical weeding, dredging or burning to ensure their optimal hydraulic capacity. Ditches were recently reported also to improve water quality and sustain biodiversity. These ditch functions are related to specific ditch properties. By contrastingly modifying ditch properties, maintenance operations were supposed to regulate these functions. There is, therefore, a need to re-examine the design and maintenance strategies of ditches to optimize the whole range of ecosystem services that they provide. In this study, we address the innovator question of how maintenance operations affect the yearly evolution of ditch properties, and in turn, the panel of functions that ditches support. During one year, we monitored the vegetation, litter, soil properties, and ash cover of five ditches that were being unmanaged, dredged, mowed, burned, and chemically weeded, respectively, with timing and frequency as generally operated by farmers in the study area. We then used indicators to evaluate the effect that the evolution of these properties has on the ditch water conveyance, herbicide retention and biodiversity conservation functions. We found that the evolution of these properties significantly contrasted among the 5 maintenance strategies. All the maintenance operations cleared the vegetation, which improves the hydraulic capacity by up to 3 times. The optimal hydraulic capacity is maintained longer after chemical weeding and dredging, but these operations have negative impacts on the herbicide retention and biodiversity conservation functions. The litter and ash layers generated by mowing and burning, respectively, improve the herbicide retention by up to 45%. Our results confirm that maintenance can be an efficient tool for optimizing ditch functions. The choice of maintenance operation and timing are key to successfully optimizing most of the functions that ditches can support.

Application of Entropy Method in River Health Evaluation Based on Aquatic Ecological Function Regionalization

With the implementation of water environment management in key basins in China, the monitoring and evaluation system of basins are in urgent need of innovation and upgrading. In view of the heavy workload of existing evaluation methods and the cumbersome calculation of multi-factor weighting method, the idea of using entroy method to assess river health based on aquatic ecological function regionalization was put forward. According to the monitoring data of songhua river in the year of 2011-2015, the entropy weight method was used to calculate the weight of 9 evaluation factors of 29 monitoring sections, and the river health assessment was carried out. In the study area, the river health status of the biodiversity conservation function area (4.111 point) was good, the water conservation function area (3.371 point), the habitat maintenance functional area (3.262 point), the agricultural production maintenance functional area (3.695 point) and the urban supporting functional area (3.399 point) was light pollution.

三江平原湿地生态系统生物多样性保护价值趋势分析

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 三江平原湿地生态系统生物多样性保护价值 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201305301241 作者: 作者单位: 中国科学院东北地理与农业生态研究所,中国科学院东北地理与农业生态研究所,石家庄经济学院商学院,中国科学院东北地理与农业生态研究所 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 国家重点基础研究发展计划(2009CB421103) The biodiversity conservation value of wetland ecosystem in the Sanjiang Plain Author: Affiliation: Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Business school,Shijiazhuang University of Economics,Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology,Chinese Academy of Sciences Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:生物多样性保护是三江平原湿地生态系统提供的一项重要的生态服务功能,具有重要的经济价值。应用M. Hoel和T. Sterner提出的经济模型,分析了贴现率和边际价格变化综合影响下的三江平原湿地生态系统生物多样性保护价值变化过程,研究了收入边际效用弹性和替代弹性对贴现率和边际价格变化综合效应的影响,并通过对比传统贴现方法揭示了三江平原湿地生态系统生物多样性保护所蕴含的巨大经济价值。研究结果表明,在贴现率和边际价格变化的综合影响下,三江平原湿地生态系统生物多样性保护价值曲线呈现出先增长再下降的变化趋势,总经济价值为人均19438.9元;收入边际效用弹性和替代弹性的取值对价值评估结果的影响较大,不同参数条件下的价值评估结果将最终作用于湿地生态系统保护相关决策的制定;价值评估结果同样证明了在保持经济较快速度发展的同时提高三江平原湿地生态系统生物多样性保护功能的恢复速率对于促进地区经济协调发展和提高社会福祉状况具有重要的现实意义。 Abstract:Biodiversity conservation is one of the most important service functions of wetland ecosystem in the Sanjiang Plain, moreover, it shines an important economic value in providing people with a variety of materials and services such as plant products and by products, climate regulation, soil formation, water supply and conservation, education and scientific research, recreation and so on. There are numerous factors influence the biodiversity conservation valuation results such as the rate of economic development, the changing rate of biodiversity conservation function, the discount rate, and the marginal price change of the service, etc., but few studies focused on them in the past. This article tries to discuss some problems underlying the ecosystem service valuation by employing the economic model put forward by M. Hoel and T. Sterner, to analyze the value changing process of the biodiversity conversation under the combined effect of the discount rate and the marginal price change, to study the impacts of the marginal elasticity of utility to income and the elasticity of substitution on the discount rate and the marginal price change, and to reveal the huge economic value of the biodiversity protection by comparing to the traditional Ramsey discounting method. The results showed that the value curve using Ramsey discounting method displayed gradually declining trend and the total value of the biodiversity conservation was only 1000.2 yuan(RMB) per person, while the value curve using the economic model displayed increasing at first and then gradually declining under the combined effect of the discount rate and the marginal price change, and it turned out that the total economic value of the biodiversity conservation was about 19438.9 yuan(RMB) per person. The study not only suggested that the wetland ecosystem biodiversity conversation contains the huge economic value but also proved that immediate wetland protection and recovery actions are needed so as to avoid the ever-increasing cost of the continuous wetland ecosystem damage. As the parameter values in the model may bring somewhat of uncertainty and imprecision we put forward the potential value range of the parameters to improve the accuracy and reliability of the results. The impact analysis showed the marginal elasticity of utility to income and the elasticity of substitution greatly influenced the valuation results and related decision-making on the wetland conservation. The lower the marginal elasticity of utility to income and the elasticity of substitution, the lower the combined effect of the discount rate and the marginal price change, and the higher the economic value it reveals. It can be believed that the relatively lower value of marginal elasticity of utility to income and the elasticity of substitution may realize the reasonable results. Our results also proved that it is essential to speed up the recovery of biodiversity conversation function with the rapid economic development for the coordination development of regional economy and the improvement of human society welfare. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Heterogeneity of linear forest formations: differing potential for biodiversity conservation. A case study in Italy

Trees outside forests (TOF) are important elements of the landscape and they supply goods and environmental services such as commercial production of timber and fibre, domestic production of food and firewood, carbon sequestration, conservation of habitats and species (plants and animals), erosion control and soil and water quality improvement. TOF include different types of landscape elements: small woodlands, trees along linear features such as property boundaries, roads, railways, rivers and canals, hedgerows or linear forest formations, groups of trees and isolated scattered trees, which have also different ecological functions. The article focuses on the importance and role of linear forest formations (LFF) in the rural context, with special reference to the biodiversity conservation function. It presents the results of research done in the Veneto region, north-eastern Italy. The authors have designed a sampling scheme for LFF based on the Italian National Forest Inventory and tested an indicator system in order to evaluate the quality and biodiversity of the LFF. The indicators used are: LFF type and tree species composition, vertical structure and canopy cover, naturalness, introduced species and deadwood (standing and lying). The main advantages and limitations of the applied method are discussed.

Evaluation of Environmental Functions of Tropical Forest in Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia Using GIS and Remote Sensing Techniques: Implications to Forest Conservation Planning

Environmental functions of tropical forest can serve as criteria for forest conservation planning in the tropics. The objective of this study is to evaluate the environmental functions of tropical forest in Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia, using GIS and remote sensing techniques. Field data, statistical data, including weather data with geographic localities, maps and satellite image are collected. Linear regression models are developed for forests of different geological substrates, based on the relationships between altitude and biodiversity (Fisher's alpha index). Biodiversity conservation function map is derived with the statistical models and a digital elevation model. Coupling with extensive literature review, an evaluation matrix for evaluating soil and water conservation functions including landslide prevention, flood prevention and drought prevention functions, is constructed. To evaluate the soil and water conservation functions, a weighted linear combination method is used with GIS layers of topography, geology, soil depth, rainfall and slope. Forest areas in Kinabalu Park are derived with land cover mapping using Landsat-TM image. Areas having high values of biodiversity conservation, flood and drought prevention functions are covered with mainly lowland rain forest. On the other hand, areas with high values of the landslide prevention function are covered with mainly subalpine forests. Using the environmental functions, a conservation index is computed to represent forests that are important to conservation. Based on theCI, the lowland rain forest receives highest priority in protection. In fact, it is located in the boundary areas of the park and thus exposed to illegal activities.