Social capital and community preparation for urban flooding in China

Social capital can enhance community resilience to environmental change. Productive and trusted relations among social actors and effectual social norms can help local residents share resources, information and risks. The main objective of our study is to understand the ways in which social attributes and risk considerations influence adoption of resilient economic measures by individuals for reducing potential losses due to catastrophic rainstorm and flooding. This article provides evidence from China on how social capital contributes to anticipatory adaptation to environmental change. The inquiry is based on structured interviews with local residents of Tianjin, a flood-prone port city in China, and a standard regression analysis. Findings show that the intention to make preparation increases with the levels of social expectation, social relationship, and institutional trust. Perceived risk and damage experience, however, have no significant impacts. This suggests that building social capacity and trust will be more effective in enhancing community resilience than merely increasing awareness of hazard risks. We call for greater efforts on strengthening the capacity of formal and informal communal institutions. The structural changes required, however, are challenging.     

新疆县域农林牧渔业空间差异分析——基于ESDA与GIS方法

应用ESDA并结合标准差指数(S)、变异系数(V)等方法,从空间相关的视角分析新疆各县市农林牧渔业人均产值的空间差异。结果显示:以农林牧渔业人均产值来计算的新疆县域间的农林牧渔业人均产值呈现北疆高于东疆、南疆的空间差异。2003-2012年间:新疆县域农林牧渔业人均产值的空间自相关测度Moran's I呈曲线性增减态势,表明农林牧渔业人均产值的空间集聚性呈曲线性波动,但农林牧渔业人均产值的年增长率逐年上升。从局部自相关分析来看,区域间呈现两个极端化较为明显,说明新疆农林牧渔业人均产值在空间分布上具有不均衡性。     

哀牢山云南松林冬季鸟类群落与地理环境的关系

本文运用了群落相似系数、种间相遇机率指数、生态位分布型和食性研究,观测分析了同一山体两侧山坡八块样地冬季鸟类群落状况。在哀牢山西坡观测到鸟类44种,东坡观测到28种,其中13种为两坡共有。西坡除种多样性较高外,鸟类生态类型也与东坡有别。所有这些差别与哀牢山地理位置,西南季风影响所形成的东西坡植被和气候等环境因素有关。文章还分析了人类活动对森林演替和鸟类群落的影响。     

基于场域理论的城中村村民市民化研究——以广州猎德复建房社区为例

以广州市猎德复建房社区为案例,运用布迪厄的场域理论,剖析改造后村民市民化进程问题;并基于问卷调查数据和深度访谈资料,采用描述性统计和质性分析方法,从经济融合、社会文化适应、结构融合和身份认同4个维度探讨村民的市民化水平。结果表明,由于村社共同体这一特定场域的延续,村民经济资本转化不畅,村民的社会、文化和象征性资本相对匮乏以及村民既有惯习的固化和自我改变动力的缺失,尽管村民在改造后经济状况、行为方式、思想观念等均有一定程度的提升,但村民仍处于“半市民化”状态,在经济融合层面就业难题尚未解决,在社会文化适应层面老一辈村民的思维和行为方式固化,在结构融合层面社会网络拓展受阻,在身份认同层面对市民角色的认识不足。在城中村改造过程中,政府应当兼顾社会效益与经济效益,大力推进村社共同体转型,并将城中村村民市民化视作长期的社会系统工程,切实提升村民的人力与社会资本,促进村民融入城市社会。     

不同分辨率CCSM4对东亚和中国气候模拟能力分析

本文利用通用气候系统模式CCSM4在三种水平分辨率下的工业化革命前期气候模拟试验,结合观测和再分析资料,比较了各分辨率下模式对中国温度和降水、东亚海平面气压和850 hPa风场的模拟能力,综合评价了模式分辨率对东亚和中国气候模拟的影响.结果表明,三种分辨率对中国温度均具有很好的模拟能力,除春季外,低分辨率(T31,约3.75°×3.75°)对全年温度的模拟能力均要稍好于中(f19,约1.9°×2.5°)、高(f09,约0.9°×1.25°)分辨率;各分辨率对中国降水的模拟能力远不如温度,除冬季外全年都出现的中部地区虚假降水并未因为模式分辨率提高而得到本质改善;对于东亚海平面气压场,低分辨率在冬季模拟能力相对最好,中等分辨率在夏季相对较好,而高分辨率的模拟能力均表现最差;低分辨率对850 hPa东亚冬季风和夏季风的模拟能力均要好于中、高分辨率,而两种较高分辨率的模拟能力则比较接近.总的来说,低分辨率CCSM4在东亚和中国气候模拟中表现出了较大优势,加之其计算代价小,适合进行需要较长时间积分的气候模拟研究.     

NRM engagement between remote dryland communities and government agencies: Success factors from Australia

The management of dryland environments involves the interaction of multiple government agencies and citizens, and is required to respond to a wide range of responsibilities and aspirations for a given region. This paper focuses on the characteristics of engagement between management agencies and citizens in a dryland region, presented here as a series of success factors. These factors are based on empirical research carried out in the Lake Eyre Basin in Australia, one of the world’s largest inwardly draining basins. The results reinforce generic and dryland-specific factors supporting successful community engagement. The former, such as building trust, working in partnership, supporting community champions, and maintaining transparency, are necessary but insufficient for achieving successful community engagement in the case study region. In addition, community engagement in the case study region also required respecting the extreme conditions and extraordinary variability of the Basin and committing to longer timeframes even if the outcomes of community engagement are slow to accrue, in order to take advantage of opportunities in more prosperous times.     

Market intermediaries and rural people in Bolivia's forest products sector: Are trusting partnerships possible?

Decentralization in access to and control of Bolivia's forest resources, coupled with a rising global demand for tropical hardwoods, raises important questions about whether increased trade and community forest management (CFM) initiatives can enable forms of market integration that have more favourable outcomes for rural communities. This paper assesses the prospects for such a transition through an examination of the relationships linking wood product market intermediaries (brokers and buyers) to rural suppliers and forest communities in Bolivia. The analysis centres on whether trust – conceptualized as a power‐laden sociospatial process driven by multiscalar factors – can evolve between buyers and suppliers such that more progressive (sustainable and mutually beneficial) partnerships devolop. Focusing on three types of buyer–supplier relationships in Bolivia – direct ties between wood brokers/buyers and suppliers, nongovernmental organization (NGO) mediated exchange relationships and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification of suppliers – our findings show how trust building initiatives that focus on one scale may fail if factors at other scales create obstacles to collaboration, Given these relational constraints, CFM strategies in Bolivia currently face limitation on their viability as economic development strategies.     

Ecological and functional roles of mycorrhizas in semi-arid ecosystems of Southeast Spain

Mycorrhizas are worldwide symbiotic associations established between certain soil fungi and most vascular plants and are fundamental in optimizing plant fitness and soil quality. Mycorrhizal symbioses improve the resilience of plant communities against environment stresses, including nutrient deficiency, drought and soil disturbance. Since these stresses are paramount in the degradation of semi-arid ecosystems in the SE Spain, a series of basic, strategic and applied studies have been made to ascertain how the activity and diversity of mycorrhizal fungi affect plant community composition, structure and dynamics in this region. These investigations are reviewed here in terms of: (i) analysing the diversity of mycorrhizal fungi; (ii) assessing the ecological and functional interactions among plant communities and their associated mycorrhizal fungal populations; and (iii) using mycorrhizal inoculation technology for the restoration of degraded semi-arid areas in Southeast Spain. Disturbance of the target semi-arid ecosystems decreases the density and diversity of mycorrhizal fungust populations. Nevertheless, the mycorrhizal propagules do not disappear completely suggesting a certain degree of stress adaptation, and these remaining, resilient ecotypes are being used as plant inoculants. Numerous field experiments, using plant species from the natural succession inoculated with a community of indigenous mycorrhizal fungi, have been carried out in revegetation projects in the semi-arid Iberian Southeast. This management strategy improved both plant development and soil quality, and is a successful biotechnological tool to aid the restoration of self-sustaining ecosystems. However, despite a 20-year history of this work, we lack a comprehensive view of the mycorrhizal potential to improve the composition, diversity, structure and functionality of drought-adapted plant communities in the Region.     

Effects of the 'Prestige' oil spill on macroalgal assemblages: large-scale comparison

An assessment of the effects of the 'Prestige' oil spill on intertidal, macroalgal assemblages was carried out comparing abundance data obtained before and after the spill. Four zones in the North and Northwest coast of Spain were sampled, one of them located at the immediate vicinity of the spill, the zone most heavily oiled. Macroalgal assemblages had similar structure between years. Neither critical decrease in abundance of the dominant macroalgae, nor increase in opportunistic species were found. Some differences in abundance were observed, but they did not show any pattern, being more likely the result of the natural variability of the assemblage. Extensive, but not intense fuel deposition on the shores and a limited use of aggressive cleanup methods are suggested as possible causes for the lack of the effects in these assemblages after the 'Prestige' oil spill.