单体分子放射性碳同位素分析在海洋科学及环境科学研究中的应用

单体分子放射性碳同位素分析(CSRA)是近十几年来发展起来的一项新兴的分析手段,将所需的单体分子(生物标志物)从复杂的环境样品基质中分离并富集,再进行加速质谱仪(AMS)的放射性碳(14C)测定。这种分子水平的放射性碳同位素测定技术能够揭示出总有机质同位素组成的异质性,为解释有机碳的来源、迁移和转化等提供了新型的手段。在海洋科学研究中,单体分子放射性碳同位素分析已应用于计算碳在全球各储库的逗留时间并揭示和定量估算化石源有机碳的输入、指示沉积物的搬运过程、示踪微生物的代谢途径、改进沉积物年代学等;在环境科学研究中,单体分子放射性碳同位素分析可用于有毒物质(如多环芳烃)的源解析,示踪有机污染环境中微生物的代谢途径等。伴随着单体分子分离技术的改进及AMS灵敏度的提高,CSRA技术的应用会更加广泛。     

The effects of seal-swim activities on the New Zealand fur seal (Arctophoca australis forsteri) in the Bay of Plenty,New Zealand,and recommendations for a sustainable tourism industry

Wildlife tourism (including pinniped tourism) offers people the opportunity to see wildlife in their natural environment. It can provide positive outcomes for the animals, through improved resources for conservation, or negative outcomes, such as inducing the animals to move away. This study assessed the impacts and sustainability of a novel but growing tourism industry, swimming with seals, based on interactions with New Zealand fur seals (Arctophoca australis forsteri) in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, between December 2011 and March 2012. The behaviour of all seals in the water (interaction, neutral, and avoidance) was monitored at 1 min intervals, during 16 seal-swim events. Seals mostly ignored the swimmers (54% of records), some interacted with swimmers (41%); seals rarely avoided the swimmers (5%). Interactions peaked in frequency at 6 min into the swims, then declined. They occurred most frequently during December, corresponding with the pupping period when juvenile seals—the age class most likely to interact—are excluded from breeding areas and so spend much of their time in the water. Compliance of tour operators to regulations was also monitored during seal-swim activities and the industry was found to be highly compliant. The results suggest the activities monitored had minimal impact on seals in the water, and are likely to be sustainable in relation to seal conservation. Tourism can be site and time specific, and it is recommended that approaches such as those trialled here be adopted to monitor other wildlife tourism activities to ensure their sustainability. Further research needs to examine potential impacts of the tours on seals ashore.     

Outstanding challenges for urban conservation research and action

Researchers, advocates and policymakers have proposed urban conservation as an emerging, integrative discipline that can contribute to sustainable cities by delivering co-benefits to human and non-human components of biodiversity. Given the recent growth in biodiversity-friendly designs and management schemes, there is an urgent need for a synthesis of this fragmented research base to inform planners and decision-makers. We conducted a systematic multidisciplinary literature review (787 papers) and found that the importance of urban areas for general conservation is not convincingly supported by empirical research. Only few studies demonstrated that cities can directly contribute to conservation efforts, by hosting viable populations of rare or endangered species, or by providing green corridors for the passage of natural populations. From a social perspective, while several studies demonstrated that green infrastructure could provide services for people (notably cultural services), only few studies explored the role of species diversity per se. Our review also shows strong geographical, location and taxonomic biases in urban biodiversity conservation research that make generalisations difficult. It is a disturbing paradox that while research in urban biodiversity conservation is rising exponentially, the main motivations for conserving urban biodiversity remain largely untested and unproven. We thus propose a framework for promoting integrative urban conservation research to bridge those gaps. Together, these findings warn against expanding cities under green planning and call for enhancing biodiversity experience by improving the quality of existing green spaces throughout the entire urban matrix. We provide a set of recommendations for practitioners and decision-makers to continue action.     

The adoption of sustainable innovations: Driven by symbolic and environmental motives

Critical to the environmental success of sustainable innovations is the adoption by consumers. The consensus is that instrumental shortcomings of sustainable innovations inhibit their adoption. However, we argue that the adoption of sustainable innovations does not exclusively depend on their instrumental attributes. In addition, people may be motivated to adopt sustainable innovations because of their positive environmental and symbolic attributes, that is, they benefit the environment and can be used to signal positive characteristics to oneself and others. We studied the significance of instrumental, environmental and symbolic attributes for the adoption of two sustainable innovations: electric cars (Study 1) and local renewable energy systems (Study 2), following two methods. Results showed that when asked directly, participants claimed that instrumental and environmental attributes are most important for their decision to adopt sustainable innovations, while symbolic attributes were rated as less important. Interestingly, evaluations of the symbolic and environmental attributes of sustainable innovations, but not evaluations of their instrumental attributes, predicted different indicators of adoption (i.e., interest in, the acceptability of, and intention to adopt these sustainable innovations), suggesting that the significance of symbolic motives for adopting sustainable innovations may not be recognized by consumers. Moreover, favorable evaluations of symbolic attributes particularly enhanced interest in and acceptability of sustainable innovation when participants evaluated the instrumental attributes more negatively, but not when instrumental attributes were evaluated relatively positively. This suggests that the instrumental drawbacks of sustainable innovations may sometimes strengthen their positive signal, which can promote interest in sustainable innovations.     

Recent Progresses in Comparative Planetology——Summary of the Session of Comparative Planetology at the 3rd Conference of Earth System Sciences

Comparative planetology is an interdisciplinary science between Earth sciences and astronomy. It studies physical, chemical and dynamical properties of planets and satellites and their surface characteristics, interior structures and chemistry, magnetic field, climate and possible existence of life. Although the study of comparative planetary science is at its infancy stage in China, it is very encouraging to see that 25 papers were received by the session, which is much more than what we expected. It indicates that more and more scientists are interested in this research field. These papers can be classified into three categories: solar planets, extra-solar planets, and moon explorations. Scientists from both China and oversea reported their recent results.     

Disaster Risk Science Development and Disaster Risk Reduction Using Science and Technology

Based on a series of international conferences for establishing HFA2 framework, this paper analyzed key issues of frontier of disaster risk science, integrated disaster prevention and mitigation strategies and integrated disaster risk governance. The future direction of disaster risk science was comprehensively discussed according to the widely discussed Post 2015 Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA2). It was proposed to deepen the cognition of the complexity of disaster system in terms of recognizing the complexity of disaster system from the interaction among various elements of the system, recognizing the complexity of climate change risk from the regional characteristics and formation mechanism of the global climate change and recognizing the complexity of the catastrophe risk from the regional development levels and patterns. Furthermore, it was suggested to make integrated disaster risk reduction strategies and countermeasures from the perspective of the complexity of the disaster system, including the establishment of regional integrated disaster risk governance framework to face climate change, the establishment of integrated disaster risk governance system in multi-spatial scale, the establishment of disaster risk governance financial system integrating the insurance, bonds and lottery, the establishment of consilience mode in integrated risk governance considering multi-stakeholder and the establishment of modeling and simulation platform integrated disaster risk information services and disaster risk reduction strategies. Finally, it was pointed out that the assessment of disaster risk levels for different regions in multi spatial scale can provide robust scientific support for integrated disaster risk governance of the world and regions, industries and enterprises so as to improve response to global change and guarantee a global and regional sustainable development.     

以地理国情监测为契机改造地理科学专业——以滁州学院为例

在当前社会经济发展形势下,传统地理科学专业人才培养模式存在着诸多不足,实践能力弱、就业范围窄、学无所用等。结合当前学科发展趋势,对传统地理科学专业进行改造,以滁州学院为例,在充分分析总结地科专业发展现状的基础上,阐述了该专业应紧紧抓住地理国情监测这一契机确定专业改革方向,并对改革的可行性与发展目标进行了详细论述和讨论,认为以地理国情监测为契机改造地理科学专业是可行的。可为地方院校地理科学专业向地理国情监测方向转型提供参考。     

基于GIS的科普资源信息发布系统设计与实现

科普资源是进行科技普及的物质基础,是进行科技普及的先决条件。基于WebGIS的科普资源信息发布系统可以实现对科普资源的信息化管理,满足用户浏览科普资源信息、分析科普资源等全方位需求。本文分析了科普资源信息发布系统的需求,设计了系统的结构和功能,构建了系统数据库,实现了系统功能。     

海洋科技创新人才培养模式的探讨

根据海洋经济及海洋科技创新人才培养的目标 ,构建“通识教育 +专业教育 +创新教育”的人才     

国家自然科学基金资助体系下的地下水科学领域发展总结和分析

地下水属于基础性、战略性水资源,其科学开发利用和保护关系到人类社会与生态系统的协同健康发展。因此,地下水一直是自然科学关注的热点和焦点之一。笔者统计分析了1986~2022年期间国家自然科学基金委对地下水科学领域的资助情况,从受资助项目的学部学科分布、项目类型和主要研究方向入手,总结了地下水科学研究现状,揭示了目前存在的短板和瓶颈问题,并分析了地下水科学发展趋势。研究结果表明：①地下水科学领域资助项目的数量和类型均呈快速增长态势;②地下水科学领域与其他学科领域的交叉融合越来越频繁、紧密,涉及多个学部和学科,申报与资助均呈现“多点开花”态势;③地下水科学作为地球科学的分支学科,面临新的机遇和挑战,许多重大科学问题亟待解决,需进一步提高重大项目支持力度;④地下水科学研究具备与更多相关领域交叉渗透的潜力,如海洋学、化学、气象学和大气科学等,国家自然科学基金委可为地下水科学与其他学科交叉提供培育平台。