Avian brood parasitism — a growing research area in behavioral ecology (part Ⅱ)

正We are pleased to publish the second special issue on avian brood parasitism and to be responsible guest editors for the two special issues of Chinese Birds (Vol. 3, No. 4, 2012 and Vol. 4, No. 1, 2013), entitled "Avian Brood Parasitism - A Growing Research Area in Behavioral Ecology". The first issue was published in December 2012. The goal of the two special issues is to publish accumulated knowledge and some of the recent developments

Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography established three new research departments

Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography（XJEG）,Chinese Academy of Science（CAS）,established three new research departments in 2011.They are Department of Geology Mineralization and Mineral Resources,Department of Environmental Pollution and Process Control, and Department of Central Asian Cooperation and Coordinated Development, respectively. Now, there are a total of eight research departments in XJEG, CAS.

Building African Ecosystem Research Network for Sustaining Local Ecosystem Goods and Services

A new form of producing and sharing knowledge has emerged as an international(United States of America,Asia,and Europe) research collaboration,known as the Long-Term Ecological Research(LTER) Network.Although Africa boasts rich biodiversity,including endemic species,it lacks the long-term initiatives to underpin sustainable biodiversity managements.At present,climate change may exacerbate hunger and poverty concerns in addition to resulting in ecosystem degradation,land use change,and other threats in Africa.Therefore,ecosystem monitoring was suggested to understanding the effects of climate change and setting strategies to mitigate these changes.This paper aimed to investigate ecosystem monitoring ground sites and address their coverage gaps in Africa to provide a foundation for optimizing the African Ecosystem Research Network(AERN) ground sites.The geographic coordinates and characteristics of ground sites-based ecosystem monitoring were collected from various networks aligned with the LTER implementation in Africa.Additionally,climatic data and biodiversity distribution maps were retrieved from various sources.These data were used to assess the size of existing ground sites and the gaps in description,ecosystems and biomes.The results reveal that there were 1089 sites established by various networks.Among these sites,30.5%,27.5%,and 28.8% had no information of area,year of establishment,current status,respectively.However,68.0% of them had an area equal to or greater than 1 km2.Sites were created progressively over the course of the years,with 68.9% being created from 2000 to 2005.To date,only 41.5% of the sites were operational.The sites were scattered across Africa,but they were concentrated in Eastern and Southern Africa.The unbalanced distribution pattern of the sites left Central and Northern Africa hardly covered,and many unique ecosystems in Central Africa were not included.To sustain these sites,the AERN should be based on operational sites,seeking secure funding by establishing multiple partnerships.

The Research Status of Chinese and Foreign Ecoliterature Study of the Recent 20 Years

Based on the core and CSSCI source documents from CNKI and American Web of Science＇s literature on ecoliterature as data source, this paper carries on CiteSpace visualization mapping analysis of Chinese and foreign ecoliterature study of the recent 20 years. By analyzing the lead author, research institute, high frequency keywords, highly cited literature etc., this paper discovers the core topics, research hotspots and frontiers in recent years and the new forms of ecoliterature, the change of international frontier, the new opportunities of ecoliterature research are found. The paper presents a direct view of the study on ecoliterature both in China and abroad. In the end, this paper offers guiding and expectation to Chinese scholars with regard to future research.

The Theory and Methods Research on Ecological Quality Control of Enterprises

So far, most theories of economics and management are under the same premisethat the natural resources are never exhausted and regenerated repeatedly. The magic of technologybrought by industrial revolution endowed human with power that they can do anything they want. Italso turns natural resources into industrial energy and enhances the development of human societyand civilization. Human uses direct comparison of input and output and the satisfaction degree ofdemands to measure the production activities, the economic benefit and management performance,regardless of the change of ecology that serves as the natural resources. However, since theecological environment has been changing worse recently and natural disaster happened frequentlyhuman's dream of conquering the nature has been broken. The nature implements reprisal against humanagain and again, and human is faced with the development limit because of the environmentalrestriction.

SINO-GERMAN COOPERATIVE RESEARCHES ON AQUATIC ECOTOXICOLOGY AND ECOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY

China has a huge population with relatively poor freshwater resources.With the development of industry and the explosion of its urban population,a great deal of industrial waste water containing various chemicals and untreated urban sewage has been discharged into rivers and lakes and caused severe contamination of many freshwater resources.The deterioration of the aquatic environment has affected the quality of drinking water, fishery and agricultural irrigation.It is estimated that by the 21st century,there will be a shortage of freshwater resources,which arc indispensable to human life, and the future shortage of freshwater

Integrating beneficiaries into assessment of ecosystem services from managed forests at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest,USA

Background：Forests contribute to human wellbeing through the provision of important ecosystem services.Methods：In this study,we investigated how the perceived importance of ecosystem services may impact the overall benefit provided by managed watersheds at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest over a 45-year period,using standardized measures of service capacity weighted by service importance weights derived from a survey of beneficiaries.Results：The capacity of watersheds to regulate water flow and quality was high in all watersheds throughout the study period,whereas cultural services such as scenic beauty declined after harvest.Impacts on greenhouse gas regulation depended on the efficiency with which harvested biomass was used.Surveys revealed that stakeholders placed high value on all ecosystem services,with regulating and cultural services seen as more important than provisioning services.When service metrics were weighted by survey responses and aggregated into a single measure,total service provision followed the same overall trend as greenhouse gas regulation.Where biomass use was less efficient in terms of greenhouse gas emissions,harvesting resulted in an overall ＂ecosystem service debt＂;where use was more efficient,this ＂ecosystem service debt＂ was reduced.Beneficiaries＇ educational backgrounds significantly affected overall assessment of service provision.Beneficiaries with college or university degrees incurred smaller ＂ecosystem service debts＂ and were less negatively affected by harvesting overall.Conclusions：This study highlights the importance of including empirical measures of beneficiary preference when attempting to quantify overall provision of ecosystem services to human beneficiaries over time.

Urgent need for a data sharing platform to promote ecological research in China

China has fallen behind in data sharing.A scientific data sharing platform is needed in China to create a big data pool for large-scale comprehensive ecological research by providing undisrupted flow and sharing of data resources.To meet the increasing demand for more data-intensive ecological research,the data sharing platform should improve the quality of both data and services and handle data heteroge-neity across disciplines at a higher level.As data transparency and insecurity have been major barriers to data sharing and exchange,data confidentiality and security have to be taken into consideration by gov-ernmental organizations for building a comprehensive data sharing platform.In addition,it is necessary to enhance the efficiency of data sharing among the field or laboratory ecologists in China and beyond.

Linking science and decision making to promote an ecology for the city:practices and opportunities

To promote urban sustainability and resilience,there is an increasing demand for actionable science that links science and decision making based on social-ecological knowledge.Approaches,frameworks,and practices for such actionable science are needed and have only begun to emerge.We propose that approaches based on the co-design and co-production of knowledge can play an essential role to meet this demand.Although the antecedents for approaches to the co-design and co-production of knowledge are decades old,the integration of science and practice to advance urban sustainability and resilience that we present is different in several ways.These differences include the disciplines needed,diversity and number of actors involved,and the technological infrastructures that facilitate local-to global connections.In this article,we discuss how the new requirements and possibilities for co-design,co-production,and practical use of social-ecological research can be used as an ecology for the city to promote urban sustainability and resilience.While new technologies are part of the solution,traditional approaches also remain important.Using our urban experiences with long-term,place-based research from several U.S.Long-Term Ecological Research sites and U.S.Department of Agriculture,Forest Service Urban Field Stations,we describe a dynamic framework for linking research with decisions.We posit that this framework,coupled with a user-defined,theory-based approach to science,is instrumental to advance both practice and science.Ultimately,cities are ideal places for integrating basic science and decision making,facilitating flows of information through networks,and developing sustainable and resilient solutions and futures.

Recognizing the Scientific Mission of Flux Tower Observation Networks——Lay the Solid Scientific Data Foundation for Solving Ecological Issues Related to Global Change

As the Earth entering into the Anthropocene, global sustainable development requires ecological research to evolve into the large-scale, quantitative, and predictive era. It necessitates a revolution of ecological observation technology and a long-term accumulation of scientific data. The ecosystem flux tower observation technology is the right one to meet this requirement. However, the unique advantages and potential values of global-scale flux tower observation are still not fully appreciated. Reviewing the development history of global meteorological observation and its scientific contributions to the society, we can get an important enlightenment to re-cognize the scientific mission of flux observation.