Water Flows Toward Power: Socioecological Degradation of Lake Urmia,Iran

Water is an invaluable resource, and equitable access to it is a fundamental human right. Disenfranchised groups often lose access to water resources because their interests are not well represented by decision makers. Excluding these groups from resource management policy often results in myopic decisions that contribute to further ecosystem damage. We describe the ecological degradation of Lake Urmia in Iran, which has recently experienced increased salinity and declining water quantity. The lake is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and Ramsar site, and supports unique biodiversity in the region. The lake's decline is driven by the destruction of Zagros forests and the government's water policies, which diverted water to more politically connected agricultural land users, increasing social inequity and prompting more deforestation. The most straightforward restoration solution is to discontinue the diversions and allow critical inflows to recharge Lake Urmia, preserving the lake and wetlands for migratory birds, tourists, and local communities.     

海山区浮游生态学研究

本文综述了海山浮游生态学研究的现状。海山是大洋中常见的地形单元,在有的海山附近鱼类和底栖生物的生物量比周围大洋中要多,针对这些鱼类和底栖生物的饵料来源提出了三种假说,第一种假说认为海山区特殊的物理环境导致初级生产力较高(经典假说),第二种假说认为海山区的饵料不是本地生产的,地形和流场使得外来的浮游生物在海山区富集或通量加大(外来营养补充假说),第三种假说认为海山上部的颗粒有机物营养较高,是鱼类和底栖生物的营养来源之一(颗粒有机物补充假说)。对海山浮游生态学的研究基本围绕这几个假说进行。目前只在9座海山进行了浮游生态学研究,这些研究表明单个假说并不能解释海山附近鱼类生物量较大的现象,海山鱼类和底栖生物的营养来源可能有很多,这些假说阐述的机制并不互相矛盾,海山生物之间的营养关系也比原来想象的复杂得多。已有研究都是针对其中某个假说进行验证研究,建议我国即将进行的海山浮游生态学研究针对三种假说进行海上调查,以提供完备的数据支持。     

Trophic ecology of Pomatoschistus microps within an intertidal bay (Roscoff,France), investigated through gut content and stable isotope analyses

The diet of Pomatoschistus microps has been studied using both gut content and stable isotope analyses. In the Roscoff Aber Bay (Brittany, France), this fish is commonly found on sandy muddy intertidal flats. Gut content analyses were also interpreted using trophic indices. Owing to the large diversity of prey consumed, these indices emphasised the opportunistic feeding behaviour of P. microps. Here, this species fed mainly on endofauna with meiofauna being of high relative importance. The main biotic components of its trophic habitat, characterized by δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N, provided evidence of a major trophic pathway based on drift Enteromorpha sp. Trophic positions estimated by both diet analyses and isotopic analyses led to similar results. In this bay, P. microps is a first‐order predator with a low degree of omnivory. Despite a preferential consumption of the amphipod Corophium arenarium, we assumed that this goby behaves as a generalist feeding on a uniform variety of endofauna taxa.     

Trophic ecology and vertical patterns of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes in zooplankton from oxygen minimum zone regions

The unique physical and biogeochemical characteristics of oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) influence plankton ecology, including zooplankton trophic webs. Using carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes, this study examined zooplankton trophic webs in the Eastern Tropical North Pacific (ETNP) OMZ. δ¹³C values were used to indicate zooplankton food sources, and δ¹⁵N values were used to indicate zooplankton trophic position and nitrogen cycle pathways. Vertically stratified MOCNESS net tows collected zooplankton from 0 to 1000 m at two stations along a north-south transect in the ETNP during 2007 and 2008, the Tehuantepec Bowl and the Costa Rica Dome. Zooplankton samples were separated into four size fractions for stable isotope analyses. Particulate organic matter (POM), assumed to represent a primary food source for zooplankton, was collected with McLane large volume in situ pumps.The isotopic composition and trophic ecology of the ETNP zooplankton community had distinct spatial and vertical patterns influenced by OMZ structure. The most pronounced vertical isotope gradients occurred near the upper and lower OMZ oxyclines. Material with lower δ¹³C values was apparently produced in the upper oxycline, possibly by chemoautotrophic microbes, and was subsequently consumed by zooplankton. Between-station differences in δ¹⁵N values suggested that different nitrogen cycle processes were dominant at the two locations, which influenced the isotopic characteristics of the zooplankton community. A strong depth gradient in zooplankton δ¹⁵N values in the lower oxycline suggested an increase in trophic cycling just below the core of the OMZ. Shallow POM (0–110 m) was likely the most important food source for mixed layer, upper oxycline, and OMZ core zooplankton, while deep POM was an important food source for most lower oxycline zooplankton (except for samples dominated by the seasonally migrating copepod Eucalanus inermis). There was no consistent isotopic progression among the four zooplankton size classes for these bulk mixed assemblage samples, implying overlapping trophic webs within the total size range considered.     

国际水政治研究进展与政治地理学展望

国际河流因涉及国家间的资源归属和主权事务而具有强烈的政治属性。尽管国际水政治相关的权力和空间议题已成为国际学界的热点之一,但尚未在国内政治地理学者中得到充分关注。结合质性系统性综述与文献计量学方法,对1990—2020年Web of Science核心合集中235篇与CNKI数据库中158篇国际水政治文章进行回顾。结果表明,国际水政治研究呈现多学科介入的特点,中文研究侧重国际关系和国际法议题,英文研究则以政治地理学和政治生态学为主要理论基础。总体而言,在水冲突与合作、话语批判、水-社会关系三大研究主题下,既有研究不仅通过多元主体和话语建构回应“领域陷阱”的局限性,还从辩证和关系视角丰富水的本体论和认识论,从而推进了国际水政治的研究议程。本文认为,政治地理学者可从空间、领域、尺度等角度进一步深化国际水政治研究,为全球治理和可持续发展贡献地理学的理论和思考。     

基于GWR模型的道路网络对森林碳密度干扰的地理变异

以闽江上游地区为例,在分析三明市2007—2016年森林碳密度时空动态的基础上,采用常规的以及改进后的道路网络测度指标,应用缓冲区分析方法和地理加权回归（Geographically Weighted Regression,GWR）模型,从线上和面上分别探讨道路网络对森林碳密度干扰的地理变异规律。结果表明：① 碳密度受到道路网络的较大影响,路网影响域内外碳密度的大小排序为：路网影响域内＜整个研究区＜路网影响域外;多条道路影响域重叠区的碳密度(26.330 Mg/hm²)明显低于单条道路影响域的碳密度(37.406 Mg/hm²);不同等级道路影响域的碳密度由大到小依次为县道＞高速＞省道＞其它道路＞国道＞乡道。道路网络对2007—2016年碳密度的降低也有明显影响。② GWR模型的分析结果表明,路网对碳密度的影响程度随着样点的变化而变化,具有“空间非平稳性”。碳密度随着路网密度的增加而降低,而随着离道路距离的增加而增加。③ 研究区西北部和中部,GWR的回归系数及相关系数均较大,表明这2个区域道路对碳密度影响大且解释力皆较强。     

Thermal utility of desert vegetation for the Egyptian tortoise and its conservation implications

We examined the monthly shrub use and the thermal utility of the desert shrub, Artemisia monosperma, by the globally endangered Egyptian tortoise, Testudo kleinmanni, in Sinai, Egypt. A. monosperma is a common desert shrub that is often used by the Egyptian tortoise as a refuge. Egyptian tortoises had the highest mean carapace temperature and lowest carapace temperature range during summer months, which coincided with the aestivation period and the Egyptian tortoise's use of larger shrubs. Our results suggest that the thermal characteristics of larger shrubs are important to the microhabitat use of the Egyptian tortoise and likely long-term survival. Larger shrubs were effective as thermal refuges that ameliorated and stabilized micro-climatic variation. Smaller shrubs were not an adequate thermal refuge in the summer because the mean temperature, and its fluctuation range beneath them was too high to offer adequate refuge during aestivation. The tortoises used the smaller shrubs in the fall, winter, and spring seasons for basking, thermoregulation, and concealment and used shrubs with a cover diameter greater than one meter during the aestivation season. The future conservation of the Egyptian tortoise should focus on protecting and restoring existing habitat by maintaining large perennial shrubs for refuge and aestivation sites.     

Observations and model estimates of diurnal water temperature dynamics in mosquito breeding sites in western Kenya

Water temperature is an important determinant of the growth and development of malaria mosquito immatures. To gain a better understanding of the daily temperature dynamics of malaria mosquito breeding sites and of the relationships between meteorological variables and water temperature, three clear water pools (diameter × depth: 0·16 × 0·04, 0·32 × 0·16 and 0·96 × 0·32 m) were created in Kenya. Continuous water temperature measurements at various depths were combined with weather data collections from a meteorological station. The water pools were homothermic, but the top water layer differed by up to about 2 °C in temperature, depending on weather conditions. Although the daily mean temperature of all water pools was similar (27·4–28·1 °C), the average recorded difference between the daily minimum and maximum temperature was 14·4 °C in the smallest versus 7·1 °C in the largest water pool. Average water temperature corresponded well with various meteorological variables. The temperature of each water pool was continuously higher than the air temperature. A model was developed that predicts the diurnal water temperature dynamics accurately, based on the estimated energy budget components of these water pools. The air–water interface appeared the most important boundary for energy exchange processes and on average 82–89% of the total energy was gained and lost at this boundary. Besides energy loss to longwave radiation, loss due to evaporation was high; the average estimated daily evaporation ranged from 4·2 mm in the smallest to 3·7 mm in the largest water pool. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.