Exploring the factors affecting urban ecological risk: A case from an Indian mega metropolitan region

Assessment of ecological risk (ER) is a key approach to adapting and mitigating ecological deterioration in cities of developing countries. In developing countries, the ecological landscapes such as vegetation cover, water bodies, and wetlands are highly vulnerable due to rapid urban expansion. Therefore, urban ER (UER) assessment and its drivers are crucial to guide ecological protection as well as restoration. This study aims to explore the spatiotemporal pattern of UER and the impact of urban spatial form on UER in the Kolkata Megacity Region (KMR), India. This study developed a UER index and used spatial regression models across the urban centres. The ER has been assessed at city scale as well as grid-scale (2 km × 2 km and 5 km × 5 km) from 2000 to 2020. The results showed that ER has substantially increased over the last 20 years. The urban centres with very high and high ER substantially increased, i.e. from 21.95% in 2000 to 31.70% in 2020. Kolkata and its surrounding urban centres were mostly characterized by very high and high ER. ER was influenced by spatial variables (such as land use and landscapes pattern). However, remote sensing parameters were weakly related to ER. The spatial lag model (SLM) (R² = 0.8686) was found to be better fit model than spatial error model (SEM) (R² = 0.8661) and ordinary linear regression model (OLS) (R² = 0.8641). Thus, the findings of the study can improve research and a comprehensive framework for urban ecological resources and provide a scientific basis for urban ecosystem planning and restoration. In addition to this, it will guarantee the sustainable utilization of urban ecosystems.     

National indicators for observing ecosystem service change

Earth’s life-support systems are in rapid decline, yet we have few metrics or indicators with which to track these changes. The world’s governments are calling for biodiversity and ecosystem-service monitoring to guide and evaluate international conservation policy as well as to incorporate natural capital into their national accounts. The Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON) has been tasked with setting up this monitoring system. Here we explore the immediate feasibility of creating a global ecosystem-service monitoring platform under the GEO BON framework through combining data from national statistics, global vegetation models, and production function models. We found that nine ecosystem services could be annually reported at a national scale in the short term: carbon sequestration, water supply for hydropower, and non-fisheries marine products, crop, livestock, game meat, fisheries, mariculture, and timber production. Reported changes in service delivery over time reflected ecological shocks (e.g., droughts and disease outbreaks), highlighting the immediate utility of this monitoring system. Our work also identified three opportunities for creating a more comprehensive monitoring system. First, investing in input data for ecological process models (e.g., global land-use maps) would allow many more regulating services to be monitored. Currently, only 1 of 9 services that can be reported is a regulating service. Second, household surveys and censuses could help evaluate how nature affects people and provides non-monetary benefits. Finally, to forecast the sustainability of service delivery, research efforts could focus on calculating the total remaining biophysical stocks of provisioning services. Regardless, we demonstrated that a preliminary ecosystem-service monitoring platform is immediately feasible. With sufficient international investment, the platform could evolve further into a much-needed system to track changes in our planet's life-support systems.     

Assessing rapid environmental change using geoindicators

 Geoindicators are high-resolution measures of short-term (<100 years) surface or near-surface changes in earth processes, and phenomena that are significant for environmental monitoring and assessment. They are based on standard concepts and procedures and can be used to track changes in fluvial, coastal, desert, mountain, permafrost and other terrestrial areas. Geoindicators assess both catastrophic events and those that are more gradual, but evident within a human lifespan. Most deal with changes on the landscape (0.1–10 km) and meso-scales (10–100 km), but some, such as relative sea level and volcanic unrest, have regional and global dimensions. Some are complex and costly to measure, others are relatively simple and easy to apply. Geoindicators can also be used to unravel trends over the past few centuries and longer through paleoenvironmental research, thus providing the important baselines against which human-induced and natural stresses can be better understood. Geoindicators have been designed by the International Union of Geological Sciences as an aid to state-of-the-environment reporting and long-term ecological monitoring. Received: 26 July 1996 / Accepted: 1 November 1996     

Application of biomarkers for improving risk assessments of chemicals under the Water Framework Directive: a case study

To answer the requirement of the European Commission's Water Framework Directive (WFD) for biological-effects endpoints to classify the ecological health of aquatic ecosystems, we propose the biomarker response index (BRI). The BRI, based on a suite of biomarkers at different levels of biological response at the individual level, provides an integrated relative measure of the general health status of coastal invertebrates. Using the BRI, the health of mussels (Mytilus edulis) from 10 estuaries classified by the Environment Agency of England and Wales under the WFD was compared. Eight sites were healthier than predicted and two showed a similar health status to that of the predicted point-source pollution risk classification. Results indicate that the BRI offers a potential measure of organism health that can be used in monitoring under the WFD as an additional aid to reduce uncertainty in defining risk classification and to provide better evidence of existing impact.     

Search for hidden pearl mussel populations at the Russian section of the Baltic Sea

The freshwater pearl mussel Margaritifera margaritifera (L., 1758) is considered to be a critically endangered species. It is important to obtain information on the distribution and status of the surviving populations of the species, but in Russia this work is still problematic due to the size of the country’s territory, combined with the insufficient number of available specialists. “Searching rules” have been proposed to remotely identify potential pearl mussel habitats in rivers. The most important criteria are relating to the lakes found at the rivers’ sources, as well as to the extent of the deforestation along river basins. About 200 watercourses of the Russian section of the Baltic Sea basin were evaluated using these “rules”. As a result, two previously unknown, viable populations were discovered (comprising about 53,000 specimens), while the absence of pearl mussels was made evident among some rivers which were traditionally believed to be their habitats. The obtained data provides an update on the status of pearl mussels in Russian territories located south of the 61 st degree of latitude. There are 10 populations of this species; 4 of them are almost extinct, 6 are relatively numerous but declining. The total number of pearl mussels hardly exceeds 90,000 individuals.     

地球系统动力学模式和模拟研究的进展

概述地球系统动力学模式的由来及国内外目前的研究和模拟进展。地球系统动力学模式是描述全球气候以及生态和环境系统的整体耦合演变的数学表达。利用他作大规模数值模拟,以便认识和预测全球和区域的气候和生态环境变化,有效应对防灾减灾和规划可持续发展等。目前国内外尚未完全研制出可供实用的地球系统模式,还须二三年时间。     

A complicated relationship: Stakeholder participation and the ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management

The relationship between stakeholder participation (SP) and the ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management (EBAFM) is often taken for granted, but is actually very complicated. The literature reveals five possible interpretations of this relationship: that they are (1) logically linked; (2) ethically linked; (3) instrumentally linked; (4) complementarily linked and (5) antagonistically linked. We examine these five formulations in the light of recent research on interactions between fisheries and their environment and conclude that the SP/EBAFM relationship manifests itself as predominantly instrumental in character.     

A prediction model for important mineral resources in China

Prediction models for mineral resources provide an analytical foundation and method to express the results of resource evaluations. The project “China National Mineral Resources Assessment Initiative” was conducted during 2006–2013, with the aim to determine the location, quantity, and quality of 25 important mineral resources occurring at depths of <1 km. There are currently 80 integrated prediction models on the scale of III–level metallogenic belts in use across China. The Huangshaping Pb–Zn polymetallic deposit, Hunan province, China, is used as a case study to establish methods and processes for developing a mineral resource prediction model that would be used for exploration targeting. The construction of prediction models requires the development of a classification scheme for the proposed prediction method appropriate for the prediction area. An initial metallogenic model is quantitatively transformed to a prospecting model, and then a prediction model. The incorporation of additional methodology, analysis of a comprehensive geological database, and correlation of asymmetric information between the well–explored typical deposit area and regional prediction area, yield an integrated prediction model. This paper also discusses the prediction modeling theory, and presents 12 models used for mineral assessments.     

太湖北岸太阳辐射的影响因子研究

利用2007—2021年上海莘庄太阳能辐射仪（型号：EKO-MS6020）接收到的逐月最大太阳辐射（MSR）资料,以水平0°角辐射仪观测值为参考,分析了0°—25°不同仰角观测的MSR差异,评估了台站观测、欧洲中期天气预报中心（ECMWF）大气再分析（ERA5）资料与太阳能辐射仪观测辐射的差别。在此基础上,讨论了MSR与天气要素的关系及发生的环流背景和天气尺度演变特征。结果显示,上海莘庄的MSR季节波动范围为800—1300 W/m²,峰值和谷值分别出现在5月和12月。观测的最大MSR值接近太阳常数,年际变化幅度约200 W/m²。相对于0°角观测,当太阳能板倾角为5°—20°时,平均每个月MSR可多获得50—250 W/m²辐射,最佳倾角为20°。ERA5相对于观测MSR存在明显低估,年平均低估约200 W/m²。虽然两者的季节变化相关系数高达0.88,但是在空间和时间上存在显著差异,年际变化相关并不显著。针对与MSR时间相差小于3 d的大气环流背景合成,春、夏、秋、冬四季的环流结构存在差异,但总体来看,偏北风加强、云量偏少、温度偏高的天气过程有利于MSR出现。

     

物元可拓法在地下水水质评价中的应用

可以从定性、定量两个角度解决问题的物元可拓法已被广泛应用于各个领域,本文对物元可拓法进行了改进,并应用于地下水水质评价,同时采用模糊综合评判方法进行了验证。Piper-三线图显示,研究区地下水主要为HCO3—Na和HCO3—Ca·Na型水,水质本底条件较好。水质评价结果表明,上第三系馆陶组地下水水质显著优于明化镇组,1984~1999年间明化镇组和馆陶组的地下水水质均有变坏趋势,前者趋势较为明显。物元可拓法采用综合关联度与可拓指数判断地下水水质级别,不仅能反映其相对性,也能反映绝对性,可延拓连续的特点使其更有说服力。