MODELING A RIGHTS‐BASED APPROACH FOR MANAGING HABITAT IMPACTS OF FISHERIES

ABSTRACT. Limiting adverse consequences of fishing on essential fish habitat has emerged as a key fishery management objective. The conventional approach to providing habitat protection is to create MPAs or marine reserves that prohibit all or certain types of fishing in specific areas. However, there may be more cost‐effective and flexible ways to provide habitat protection. We propose an individual habitat quota (IHQ) system for habitat conservation that would utilize economic incentives to achieve habitat conservation goals cost‐effectively. Individual quotas of habitat impact units (HIU) would be distributed to fishers with an aggregate quota set to maintain a target habitat “stock.” HIU use would be based on a proxy for marginal habitat damage. We use a dynamic, explicitly spatial fishery and habitat simulation model to explore how such a system might work. We examine how outcomes are affected by spatial heterogeneity in the fishery and the scale of habitat regulation. We find that the IHQ system is a highly cost‐effective means of ensuring a given level of habitat protection, but that spatial heterogeneity and the scale of regulation can have significant effects on the distribution of habitat protection.     

生境片段化对千岛湖次生马尾松林土壤理化性质的影响

土壤是森林生态系统的重要组成部分,对森林生物多样性和生态功能的维持具有不可替代的作用.据此,本研究以千岛湖地区大陆35个样方和29个不同大小和隔离度的陆桥岛屿次生马尾松林土壤为研究对象,分析了生境片段化对土壤理化性质的影响.研究发现,大陆马尾松林土壤厚度显著高于岛屿,而其土壤最大持水量显著低于岛屿;大陆土壤的全磷（P）显著低于岛屿,而土壤有效磷（AP）和硝态氮（NO₃-N）显著高于岛屿.在片段化的岛屿生境中,土壤C、N、P、NO₃-N、AP随与边缘距离的增大而降低;隔离度和地形对部分土壤理化因子有影响,而岛屿面积对土壤理化性质无影响.土壤理化因子和植物群落多样性存在显著相关性.生境片段化改变了千岛湖地区马尾松林的土壤条件,而边缘效应是影响片段化生境中土壤性质空间分布的主要过程之一.通过分析片段化景观中土壤理化性质的空间分布格局及其影响因素,深化了生境片段化对土壤条件影响的认识,对于片段化森林管理措施的制定具有重要意义.     

准噶尔盆地中部琵琶柴(Reaumuria soongorica)群落的生境研究

琵琶柴(Reaumuria soongorica)在我国荒漠区分布较广,是极为耐旱的群落类型之一,这一群落均见于干旱区低平地形,且均着生于淤积粘土中。调查证实:地表短期积水是琵琶柴幼体发生与建群过程的必要条件,但其成株生存环境,通常极为干燥,在其生活周期的不同发育阶段。生境呈现明显的异质现象。     

片段化森林中檵木幼苗种内叶经济性状变异及其驱动因子

在异质性生境中,种内功能性状变异有助于植物对环境的适应,进而影响种群更新、群落构建和生态系统过程。探讨了种内叶经济性状的变异及受生境异质性的塑造情况。以千岛湖片段化生境中的常见种檵木（Loropetalum chinense）的幼苗为研究对象,测定了200株檵木幼苗个体水平的7个叶经济性状（比叶面积SLA、叶全碳量C、叶全氮量N等）及其对应的生境因子（郁闭度、土壤全碳量、土壤全氮量等）,采用相关性检验、主成分分析和线性混合效应模型等方法探讨片段化森林中檵木幼苗的种内叶经济性状变异及生境异质性对该变异的驱动作用。结果显示：（1） 在7个叶经济性状所构成的21对相关性分析中,有12对显著相关。经主成分分析降维后,主成分1（PC1）占性状总变异的43.02%,主要与比叶面积、叶绿素浓度、叶全氮量呈正相关,与叶干物质质量分数和叶碳氮比呈负相关,体现了檵木的种内叶经济谱,可反映叶片的最大光合效率。（2）片段化对生境条件和叶经济性状均有影响。岛屿森林群落的郁闭度显著低于大陆。相对于大陆,岛屿中的檵木幼苗趋向于更小的PC1值（缓慢投资-收益策略）;大岛边缘较大岛内部偏向于更小的PC1值。（3）生境因子中,郁闭度对PC1具有显著正效应。研究表明,片段化生境中的檵木在幼苗阶段存在叶经济谱,生境片段化可通过影响生境条件进而改变檵木幼苗的叶经济性状。随着生境片段化程度的加剧,檵木幼苗的叶经济性状逐渐向缓慢投资-收益策略靠拢。     

Shape-Shifting Patchy Particles

A facile method to synthesize shape-shifting patchy particles on the colloidal scale is described. The design is based on the solvent-induced shifting of the patch shape between concave and convex features. The initial concave patchy particles were synthesized in a water suspension by a swelling-induced buckling process. Upon exposure to different solvents, the patches were tuned reversibly to be either concave or convex. These particles can be assembled into chained, branched, zigzag, and cyclic colloidal superstructures in a highly site-specific manner by surface–liquid capillary bridging. The biphasic nature of the particles also enables site-selective surface functionalization.     

ECONOMICALLY OPTIMAL MARINE RESERVES WITHOUT SPATIAL HETEROGENEITY IN A SIMPLE TWO‐PATCH MODEL

Bioeconomic analyses of spatial fishery models have established that marine reserves can be economically optimal (i.e., maximize sustainable profit) when there is some type of spatial heterogeneity in the system. Analyses of spatially continuous models and models with more than two discrete patches have also demonstrated that marine reserves can be economically optimal even when the system is spatially homogeneous. In this note we analyze a spatially homogeneous two‐patch model and show that marine reserves can be economically optimal in this case as well. The model we study includes the possibility that fishing can damage habitat. In this model, marine reserves are necessary to maximize sustainable profit when dispersal between the patches is sufficiently high and habitat is especially vulnerable to damage.     

A Bayesian approach to seafloor classification using multi-beam echo-sounder backscatter data

Seafloor classification using acoustic remote sensing techniques is an attractive approach due to its high-coverage capabilities and limited costs. The multi-beam echo-sounder (MBES) system provides high-resolution bathymetry and backscatter information with 100% coverage. In this paper, we present a seafloor classification method that employs the MBES backscatter data. The method uses the averaged backscatter data per beam. It, therefore, is independent on the quality of the MBES calibration. Also, its performance is insensitive to seafloor type variation along the MBES swathe and corrections for the angular dependence of the backscatter are not needed. The method accounts for the ping-to-ping variability of the backscatter intensity. It estimates both the number of seafloor types present in the survey area and the probability density function for the backscatter strength at a certain angle for each of the seafloor types. Application of the method to MBES backscatter data acquired in a well-known test area in the North Sea shows very good agreement with available ground truth. The method’s discriminatory performance for this area is demonstrated to be comparable to that of taking samples of the sediment. All seafloor types known to be present in the area are resolved for. Application of the method to the Stanton bank data set shows clearly separable areas that differ in seafloor composition.     

Phytochemical Analysis and Habitat Suitability Mapping of Glycyrrhiza glabra L. Collected in the Hatay Region of Turkey

The growth and quality of licorice depend on various environmental factors, including the local climate and soil properties; therefore, its cultivation is often unsuccessful. The current study investigated the key factors that affect the contents of bioactive compounds of Glycyrrhiza glabra L. root and estimated suitable growth zones from collection sites in the Hatay region of Turkey. The contents of three bioactive compounds (glycyrrhizic acid, glabridin, and liquiritin), soil factors (pH, soil bearing capacity, and moisture content), and geographical information (slope, aspect, curvature, elevation, and hillshade) were measured. Meteorological data (temperature and precipitation) were also obtained. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) were performed on the data. The soil bearing capacity, moisture content, slope, aspect, curvature, and elevation of the study area showed statistically significant effects on the glycyrrhizic acid and liquiritin contents. A habitat suitability zone map was generated using a GIS-based frequency ratio (FR) model with spatial correlations to the soil, topographical, and meteorological data. The final map categorized the study area into four zones: very high (15.14%), high (31.50%), moderate (40.25%), and low suitability (13.11%). High suitability zones are recommended for further investigation and future cultivation of G. glabra.     

Dynamic adhesion behavior of micrometer-scale particles flowing over patchy surfaces with nanoscale electrostatic heterogeneity

The dynamic adhesion behavior of micrometer-scale silica particles is investigated numerically for a low Reynolds number shear flow over a planar collecting wall with randomly distributed electrostatic heterogeneity at the 10-nanometer scale. The hydrodynamic forces and torques on a particle are coupled to spatially varying colloidal interactions between the particle and wall. Contact and frictional forces are included in the force and torque balances to capture particle skipping, rolling, and arrest. These dynamic adhesion signatures are consistent with experimental results and are reminiscent of motion signatures observed in cell adhesion under flowing conditions, although for the synthetic system the particle–wall interactions are controlled by colloidal forces rather than physical bonds between cells and a functionalized surface. As the fraction of the surface (Θ) covered by the cationic patches is increased from zero, particle behavior sequentially transitions from no contact with the surface to skipping, rolling, and arrest, with the threshold patch density for adhesion (Θ_crit) always greater than zero and in quantitative agreement with experimental results. The ionic strength of the flowing solution determines the extent of the electrostatic interactions and can be used to tune selectively the dynamic adhesion behavior by modulating two competing effects. The extent of electrostatic interactions in the plane of the wall, or electrostatic zone of influence, governs the importance of spatial fluctuations in the cationic patch density and thus determines if flowing particles contact the wall. The distance these interactions extend into solution normal to the wall determines the strength of the particle–wall attraction, which governs the transition from skipping and rolling to arrest. The influence of Θ, particle size, Debye length, and shear rate is quantified through the construction of adhesion regime diagrams, which delineate the regions in parameter space that give rise to different dynamic adhesion signatures and illustrate selective adhesion based on particle size or curvature. The results of this study are suggestive of novel ways to control particle–wall interactions using randomly distributed surface heterogeneity.