Spray mechanism of crepidogastrine bombardier beetles (Carabidae; Crepidogastrini)

Summary.   The defensive glandular apparatus of primitive bombardier beetles of the tribe Crepidogastrini (Carabidae) is described for the first time. As exemplified by two African species (Crepidogaster ambreana and C. atrata), the apparatus conforms to the basic bombardier plan, in that the glands are bicompartmented and the secretion is quinonoid (it contains 1,4-benzoquinones and hydrocarbons), hot, and discharged audibly. In a number of morphological respects the crepidogastrine apparatus resembles that of the classical bombardiers of the tribe Brachinini (rather than that of bombardiers of the paussoid lineage), reinforcing the view, already held on taxonomic grounds, that the Crepidogastrini and Brachinini are closely related. That the Crepidogastrini may be primitive relative to Brachinini is underscored by the finding that, unlike brachinines, crepidogastrines do not pulse their secretory emissions. Moreover, they discharge their secretion as a mist, rather than forcibly in the form of jets. Received 22 May 2001; accepted 29 May 2001.     

Policy implementation of the Republic Act (RA) No. 9003 in the Philippines: A case study of Cebu city

Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) is considered to be one of the most serious environmental issues in the Philippines. The annual waste generation was estimated at 10.6 million tonnes in 2012 and this is expected to double in 2025. The Republic Act (RA) No. 9003, widely known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, provides the required policy framework, institutional mechanisms and mandate to the Local Government Units (LGUs) to achieve 25% waste reduction target through establishing an integrated solid waste management plan based on the 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycling). Although the initial impact of the LGUs is still very limited in implementing the national mandate, this article highlights the successful experiences of Cebu, the second largest city in the Philippines, in reducing its MSW generation by more than 30% in the past three years. This study also explores the implementation process, innovative actions taken by the Cebu City Government in implementing the national mandate at local level and identifies the factors that influence the policy implementation. The findings suggest that the impacts of the national mandate can be achieved if the LGUs have the high degree of political commitment, planning and development of effective local strategies in a collaborative manner to meet with local conditions, partnership building with other stakeholders, capacity development, adequate financing and incentives, and in the close monitoring and evaluation of performance.     

三峡库区中低产土壤重金属含量及其与小麦吸收的关系

三峡库区中低产土壤的Hg,As,Cr,Pb,Cu五个重金属含量（除渝北区外），均在国家土壤环境质量标准内，属自然背景值一级标准。Cd和Zn高于全国土壤中的平均含量和背景值含量，属二级标准。土壤的重金属含量与土壤母质类型，pH值，阳离子交换量，有机质，无定形铁和物理性粘粒有关，同时存在一定的地域分布。重庆近郊的土壤所有重金属含量相对较高。土壤重金属的可给态或有效性含量极低，锌和铜不是过量，而是不足。小麦籽粒中As,Cr,Pb,Zn,Cu含量低于国家食品对重金属限量标准和小麦籽粒背景值标准，Hg,Cd含量高于国家规定标准。籽粒中的Cu,Zn含量是小麦茎叶中的2.0-2.2倍，而茎叶中的Hg,Pb,As,Cr,Cd含量明显高于籽粒。     

Sustaining Economic Welfare: Estimating Changes in Total and Per Capita Wealth

Genuine saving measures the real change in0 total wealth, factoring in the depreciation of produced assets, depletion of natural resources, pollution damages, and expenditures on education. This paper presents a theoretical framework for measuring changes in wealth in total and per capita terms, establishes the link between savings measures and prospects for social welfare, and provides summary empirical estimates of the savings measures. China excepted, the majority of countries below median income are distinguished by apparent declines in total wealth per capita.     

Introduction: Natural Capital, Poverty and Development

Can development occur without running down natural resources in an unsustainable way? The concept of natural capital offers a way for those with divergent views (ecologists and economists for example) to discuss this difficult question. Four aspects are examined in detail. First, the role of institutions in facilitating sustainable development is discussed, with examples from forestry. Then examples from (eco)tourism illustrate the potential – and limits – of applicability of the concept. Measurement issues for natural capital are then considered in detail. Finally, the concept is applied to agricultural strategy in fragile lands, where the tradeoff between the environment and development is likely to be most severe. Some implications for future research and policy are developed.     

Production, Consumption and the World Summit on Sustainable Development

At the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), world leaders agreed that eliminating unsustainable production and consumption is one of the three overriding objectives of sustainable development. Achieving that objective should have been a major priority for the WSSD Plan of Implementation. Increases in consumption and production over the past decade were largely responsible for the worsening environmental and social trends. Unfortunately, the negotiators of the Plan paid insufficient attention to the lessons from 10 years of discussions about the concepts, the available policies and tools and their effectiveness, the impacts of those policies on developing countries, and the political commitment of countries in an era of globalization. Despite a promising proposal for a new ten-year work programme aimed at bridging the gap implementing the Agenda 21 commitments from Rio, Summit negotiators produced barely more than a muted echo of recommendations from the past which have yet to be taken seriously enough by the world's leaders in a comprehensive intergovernmental strategy. In the ten-year review of progress to achieve sustainable production and consumption (SPAC), governments quickly skipped past the critical work of examining why things are getting worse, avoiding the task of identifying the obstacles (which in some cases were themselves) and in turn avoiding the commitment to time-bound measurable targets. If nothing else, the WSSD demonstrated that a global strategy to achieve SPAC will come not from a UN consensus of world leaders but from a strategic alliance of responsible governments, civil society and others with a vision beyond the next election cycle.     

Sustainable Development in Small Island Developing States

This paper explores the status of sustainable development in small island developing states (SIDS), through the presentation of a case study on the Maldives, which is a typical small island developing state in the Central Indian Ocean. At the outset, a brief history of sustainable development as related to SIDS on the international agenda is outlined, starting from Rio to Barbados to Johannesburg. SIDS are expected to face many challenges and constraints in pursuing sustainable development due to their ecological fragility and economic vulnerability. It is the position of this paper that issues related to environmental vulnerability are of the greatest concern. A healthy environment is the basis of all life-support systems, including that of human well-being and socio-economic development. Priority environmental problems are: climate change and sea-level rise, threats to biodiversity, threats to freshwater resources, degradation of coastal environments, pollution, energy and tourism. Among these, climate change and its associated impacts are expected to pose the greatest threat to the environment and therefore to sustainable development. For small islands dependent on fragile marine ecosystems, in particular on coral reefs, for their livelihoods and living space, adverse effects of climate change such as increased frequency of extreme weather events and sea-level rise will exacerbate the challenges they already face. It is concluded that the paper path from Rio to Barbados to Johannesburg has made significant progress. However, much remains to be done at the practical level, particularly by the developed countries in terms of new and additional efforts at financial and technical assistance, to make sustainable development a reality for SIDS.     

Study on Assessing Economic Vulnerability of Small Island Regions

The main purpose of this study is to assess economic vulnerability of small island development regions as part of their sustainability constraints. By combining economic and environmental time series data, we assessed a composite index of economic vulnerability which is constructed from three exogenous variables, namely economic exposure, economic remoteness, and economic impact of environmental and natural disasters. We used the Amami Islands, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan as the case studies for this paper.The results indicated that using a gross island products based valuation index, Kikaijima is the most vulnerable island in the Amami Islands with a composite economic vulnerability index (CEVI) value of 0.678, while by using a per capita based index, Okinoerabujima is considered the most vulnerable island with a CEVI value of 0.680. From the results we also revealed that smaller islands have relative higher vulnerability than the bigger one, which also confirms some previous country-level vulnerability studies.However, it is matter of fact that some islands that have relatively high vulnerability also have good economic performance as shown by their per capita income. In this regard, it can be argued that the success of these small islands could have been achieved in spite of and not because of their inherent vulnerability conditions as an indicator of sustainability constraint. Regarding these findings, we also examined a comparison between vulnerability results and the preliminary concept of an island's resilience in order to capture another perspective on sustainability assessment in a small island region.     

小麦田中有机硫气体的释放

采用密闭箱法对不同施肥条件下小麦田中羰基硫(COS)、二硫化碳(CS₂)和二甲基硫(DMS)的释放情况进行了监测.结果表明,小麦生长过程对COS、CS₂和DMS释放影响显著,小麦对COS有明显吸收作用,DMS和CS₂是麦田中释放的主要含硫气体.COS和CS₂释放速率昼夜变化明显.仅施用有机肥的麦田,硫释放总量高于其它田块.不同施肥条件的田块,硫释放总量范围在-1.40～0.79mg·ml^-2之间.     

镉胁迫下大豆中镉的分布状况及其籽粒品质

溶液培养中0.5μmol·L-1镉胁迫浓度下,大豆表现出轻微受害症状,籽粒减产25 . 7%,而籽粒中粗脂肪和粗蛋白含量变化不大.镉在大豆中的积累分布状况为根>叶>籽>油,比例为32.100:1.690:1.000:0.003.大豆籽粒含镉4.89mg/kg,超过了国家环境标准规定的最高容许量.而大豆粗脂肪中含镉仅0.015mg/kg,远低于国家食品环境卫生标准.豆粕中含镉6.17mg/kg,表明大豆籽粒中的镉主要存在于粗蛋白和淀粉中.