Studies on Marine Oil Spills and Their Ecological Damage

The sources of marine oil spills are mainly from accidents of marine oil tankers or freighters, marine oil-drilling platforms, marine oil pipelines, marine oilfields, terrestrial pollution, oil-bearing atmosphere, and offshore oil production equipment. It is concluded upon analysis that there are two main reasons for marine oil spills: (I) The motive for huge economic benefits of oil industry owners and oil shipping agents far surpasses their sense of ecological risks. (II) Marine ecological safety has not become the main concern of national security. Oil spills are disasters because humans spare no efforts to get economic benefits from oil. The present paper draws another conclusion that marine ecological damage caused by oil spills can be roughly divided into two categories: damage to marine resource value (direct value) and damage to marine ecosystem service value (indirect value). Marine oil spills cause damage to marine biological, fishery, seawater, tourism and mineral resources to various extents, which contributes to the lower quality and value of marine resources.

Measuring economic loss caused by ecological damages: a case study of China's forest ecosystem in 2005

At present about 60% of ecosystem has been damaged and degraded severely, resulting in enormous ecological loss globally. The essential cause is the irrational utilization of ecosystem by humankind, so it is tire key to changing improper environmental performance of humankind so as to prevent ecosystem from being damaged The quantitative valuation on the loss of ecological damage is an effective tool to guide human eco-environmental performance. In this paper, the concepts related to the valuation on ecological damage cost are introduced,＂ uncertainties that might arise in the valuation on the loss of ecological damage such as area coverage of valuation, ecological damage quantity, borders of ecological damage cost and data support are analyzed and the valuation approaches for the loss of ecological damage are also discussed As a case study, the economic losses of ecological damage of forest in 2005 in China are valuated.

Review on the Theory of Ecological Environment Damage Assessment

In the rapid industrialization and urbanization of China,the damage of ecological environment hinders the people's pursuit of good environmental quality.As a technical means of ecological environment protection,the assessment of ecological environment damage has been attached great importance by all walks of life.However,there are still some problems in the current practice of environmental damage assessment.Therefore,based on the understanding of ecological environment damage assessment and related concepts,this study systematically studies the theory of ecological environment damage assessment.Based on the research,it can be seen that the assessment of ecological environment damage is the inevitable product of social and economic development and the promotion of environmental protection awareness,and ecological environment damage belongs to the subordinate concept of"environmental damage".The assessment of ecological environment damage includes the assessment of ecological damage and environmental damage,paying attention to the interests of human society and the unclaimed pure environment and pure ecological damage.The assessment of ecological environmental damage determines the goal and direction for the construction of environmental damage compensation system.This study enriches the theory of environmental damage assessment and provides theoretical reference and method basis for environmental damage assessment.

Value evaluation of ecological risk of marine chemical spills

The environmental risk of chemical spills near coastal zones threatens abundant marine ecological resources. By appraising the ecological damage value of the environmental risk of marine chemical spills, we can facilitate decision-making for the development of a coastal zone and establishment of economic policy on coastal zone management. In this study, the ecological effect of the environmental risk of a chemical spill in the Haicang chemical industrial park in Xiamen was identified, after which its impact was forecasted and its ecological damage value was assessed. The information generated in this study will be useful in future studies evaluating marine ecological compensation based on environmental risk analysis.

Invasive sequence and ecological niche of main insect borers of Larix gmelinii forest in Aershan, Inner Mongolia

After the outbreak of Dendrolimus superans Buter in 2002, many insect borers quickly invaded larch （Larix gmelinii Rupr.） forests in the Aershan of Inner Mongolia. Methods involved included setting sample plots, collecting adults in iron traps and measuring areas of galleries to study the invasive sequence, their ecological niche and the extent of the different effects by the main insect borers to their hosts. The results showed that the damage of D. superans weakened L. gmelinii, first Ips subelongatus Motschulsky invaded, followed by Acanthocinus carinulatus Gebler, Monochamus urussovi Fisher and M. sutor L. After the outbreak of D. superans, the average density of longhorn beetles per L. gmelinii tree increased. The ecological niche of Ips subelongatus stretches almost from the base to the top of the trunk. The number of insects in older stands of L. gmelinii is larger than those in middle aged stands. They do not damage healthy trees of L. gmelinii. The ecological niche of A. carinulatus is higher in dead L. gmelinii trees than in weak ones. The degree of damage is directly proportional with age and depth of bark. M. urussovi mainly damages trunks below 4 m in weak trees; in dead trees they can do damage up to 6 m in height. M. sutor mainly damages trunks below 5 m in weak L. gmelinii trees; in dead trees they cause damage up to 7 m. Again, the degree of damage is directly proportional with age. None of the three species of longhorn beetles damage healthy L. gmelinii and younger trees. Among the main insect borers, the degree of damage caused by I. subelongatus is more serious than that of other insects.

Prosperity and Disappearance of Introduced Fishes in Xiangmoshan Reservoir

In order to enhance the resources, some fishes were introduced into Xiangmoshan reservoir. The introduced fishes consisted of different ecotypes such as silver carp （Hypophthahnichthys rnolitrix （Cuvier et Valenciennes））, big head （Aristichthys nobilis （Richardso）） and lake herring （Coregonus clupeaformis （Mitchill）） that were plankton feeders, common carp （Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus） and crucian carp （Carassius auratus gibelio） belonging to the polyphagia, and also the non-native predator Walleye （Stizostedion vitreum （Mitchill）） and big mouth （Silurus soldatovi rneridonalis Chen）, et al. Among there were not only the cool water fish Peled （Coregonus peled （Gmelin））, but also the warm water fish big mouth. The introduction of non-native fishes resulted in ecosystem changes of the reservoir and some native fishes had gone to decrease their population sizes or been in the condition of depopulation such as Opsariichthys uncirostris arnurensis （Berg）, Rhodeus sericeus （Pallas） and Silurus asotus （Linnaeus）. The native common carp had disappeared after the introduction of non-native species. Roach （Rutilus rutilus lacustris （Pallas） had been thriven for one or two generations after its introduction and immeidiatly disappeared. Silver fish （Protosalanx hyalocranius （Abbott））, Lake herring （Coregonus clupeaformis （Mitchill）） and Walleye （Stizostedion vitreum （Mitchill）） died several years after the introduction, so most of the introduced species has passed out of existence. Via many years introduction of different fishes, composition of species and the structure of the population in the reservoir had been changed obviously. It was necessary to further estimate whether the ecosystem of the reservoir had been damaged.