The Experts below are selected from a list of 19290 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Olin E Rhodes - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Carcasses of invasive species are predominantly utilized by invasive scavengers in an Island Ecosystem
Ecosphere, 2016Co-Authors: Erin F Abernethy, Kelsey L Turner, James C Beasley, Travis L Devault, William C Pitt, Olin E RhodesAbstract:Invasive species have significantly affected Ecosystems, particularly Islands, and species invasions continue with increasing globalization. Largely unstudied, the influence of invasive species on Island Ecosystem functions, especially scavenging and decomposition, could be substantive. Quantifying carcass utilization by different scavengers and shifts in community dynamics in the presence of invasive animals is of particular interest for understanding impacts on nutrient recycling. Invasive species could benefit greatly from carcass resources within highly invaded Island Ecosystems, through increased invasion success and population growth, subsequently exacerbating their impacts on native species. We quantified how experimentally placed invasive amphibian, reptile, small mammal, and bird carcasses were utilized by vertebrate and invertebrate scavengers on the Big Island of Hawai'i in three Island habitats: a barren lava field, a vegetated lava field, and a rainforest. We used camera traps to record vertebrate scavengers removing carcasses and elapsed time until removal. We evaluated differences in scavenging between vertebrates and invertebrates and within the vertebrate community across different habitats and carcass types. Despite the small carcass sizes (
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carcasses of invasive species are predominantly utilized by invasive scavengers in an Island Ecosystem
Ecosphere, 2016Co-Authors: Erin F Abernethy, Kelsey L Turner, James C Beasley, Travis L Devault, William C Pitt, Olin E RhodesAbstract:Invasive species have significantly affected Ecosystems, particularly Islands, and species invasions continue with increasing globalization. Largely unstudied, the influence of invasive species on Island Ecosystem functions, especially scavenging and decomposition, could be substantive. Quantifying carcass utilization by different scavengers and shifts in community dynamics in the presence of invasive animals is of particular interest for understanding impacts on nutrient recycling. Invasive species could benefit greatly from carcass resources within highly invaded Island Ecosystems, through increased invasion success and population growth, subsequently exacerbating their impacts on native species. We quantified how experimentally placed invasive amphibian, reptile, small mammal, and bird carcasses were utilized by vertebrate and invertebrate scavengers on the Big Island of Hawai'i in three Island habitats: a barren lava field, a vegetated lava field, and a rainforest. We used camera traps to record vertebrate scavengers removing carcasses and elapsed time until removal. We evaluated differences in scavenging between vertebrates and invertebrates and within the vertebrate community across different habitats and carcass types. Despite the small carcass sizes (<1 kg) used in this study, 55% of carcasses were removed by vertebrate scavengers, all invasive: mongoose, rodents, cats, pigs, and a common myna. Our data indicate that invasive vertebrate scavengers in this Island Ecosystem are highly efficient at assimilating a range of carrion resources across a variety of habitats. Carcasses of invasive animals could contribute substantially to energy budgets of other invasive vertebrate species. This may be a critical component contributing to successful invasions especially on Islands and subsequent impacts on Ecosystem function.
Xiumin Cai - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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impacts of land use and planning on Island Ecosystem service values a case study of dinghai district on zhoushan archipelago china
Ecological processes, 2017Co-Authors: Xiaoyun Shao, Changwei Jing, Jingang Jiang, Qiankun Liu, Xiumin CaiAbstract:Recently designated as a new special economic zone in China, Zhoushan Archipelago is going through a rapid land use change that is expected to have significant impacts on Ecosystem services. However, there is no baseline of Ecosystem service value (ESV) of the Zhoushan Archipelago up to date, making it impossible to assess any impacts of land use changes. In this study, we adopted the concept of “equivalent value per unit area of Ecosystem services in China” and computed the ESV for 2006, 2012, and 2020 of a representative district, Dinghai, on the Zhoushan Archipelago. We then analyzed the spatial and temporal patterns of land use changes and their impacts on ESV. The results indicated that the ESV of Dinghai District declined by 59.3 M Chinese yuan ($9.5 M US dollars) from 2006 to 2012 and would further decrease by an additional 30.9 M yuan ($5 M US dollars) by 2020 according to its planned land uses. These declines in ESV were primarily due to increases in buildup areas and losses in wetland, farmland, and water areas. The results imply that more attention should be paid to controlling urban growth and protecting coastal wetlands in order to preserve valuable Ecosystem services of the Archipelago.
Yuan Chi - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Island Ecosystem health in the context of human activities with different types and intensities
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2021Co-Authors: Yuan Chi, Dahai Liu, Wenxiu Xing, Jing WangAbstract:Abstract Island Ecosystem health is the integrative reflection of the states of different components on an Island under multiple natural and anthropogenic influences. Evaluating Island Ecosystem health and identifying anthropogenic influences can provide important references for decision-makers in conserving the Island Ecosystem. In this study, Island Ecosystem health was evaluated by integrating three components (vegetation, soil, and landscape) using 12 factors sourced by field investigation and remote sensing. Baseline of the Island Ecosystem health was determined by ascertaining the natural area and context and eliminating the influences from natural factors. Then, the influences from each of the four typical types of Island human activities, namely, building construction, traffic development, farming, and plantation, and the comprehensive influences from all of the four types on Island Ecosystem health were identified. Twenty-five Islands in an important and typical archipelago in northern China were used as the study area. Results indicated that inhabited Islands with small areas and uninhabited Islands with large areas had good Island Ecosystem health, and the landscape component contributed most to the spatial variance. Traffic development, building construction, and farming generated negative influences and decreased the Island Ecosystem health by 28.56%, 23.38%, and 9.31%, respectively. By contrast, plantation increased the Island Ecosystem health by 17.14%. Overall, the four types of human activities increased the Island Ecosystem health by 2.74% and 5.91% for the inhabited and uninhabited Islands, respectively. Scenario analyses revealed that the quality promotion of each human activity could improve the Island Ecosystem health more than the scale changes among different human activities. The results can help guide the spatial optimization of Island human activities and the evaluation of Island carrying capacity.
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How human activities influence the Island Ecosystem through damaging the natural Ecosystem and supporting the social Ecosystem
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2020Co-Authors: Yuan Chi, Zhiwei Zhang, Zuolun Xie, Jing WangAbstract:Abstract Island human activities damage the natural Ecosystem with unique functions and support the social Ecosystem for human survival and living. Identifying, quantifying, and spatially exhibiting the damage and support generated by human activities are of great significance for comprehensively revealing the anthropogenic influences on the Island Ecosystem and reasonably providing references for Island development strategy. In this study, an evaluation model was established in perspectives of damage to the natural Ecosystem and support for the social Ecosystem. The damage involved geomorphology, landscape, habitat, and pollution, and the support included provision, accommodation, transportation, and recreation. The evaluation model was realized on the basis of the Island use types, size effects, utilization levels, and change processes. Two new indices, namely, natural Ecosystem damaged index (NEDI) and social Ecosystem supported index (SESI), were proposed to represent the damage and support, respectively. Thereafter, scenario analysis was adopted to simulate the variations of NEDI and SESI in different scenarios of human activities and to provide references for the Island development strategy. A total of ten Islands in the Dongtou Archipelago in South China were used as the study area to demonstrate the model. Results indicated that the high NEDI and SESI areas were distributed in building, industrial, road, and reclamation areas, whereas the low NEDI and SESI areas were mainly located in vegetation areas and bare land. In different scenarios, the expansions of the road and building land generated much more damage than support, and the improvement of the utilization level produced more support than damage. The prohibition and limitation of Island use types with low efficiency, the enhancement of vegetation restoration, the adequate use of reclamation area, the control of disordered exploitation expansion, and the improvement of utilization levels should be the strategies used by the Dongtou Archipelago for sustainable development. The application of the model validated its effectiveness and applicability in revealing the overall and spatial characteristics of the damage and support for Islands and other coastal areas with intensive human activities.
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Evaluation on Island ecological vulnerability and its spatial heterogeneity.
Marine pollution bulletin, 2017Co-Authors: Yuan Chi, Honghua Shi, Guo Zhen, Yuanyuan Wang, Enkang WangAbstract:The evaluation on Island ecological vulnerability (IEV) can help reveal the comprehensive characteristics of the Island Ecosystem and provide reference for controlling human activities on Islands. An IEV evaluation model which reflects the land-sea dual features, natural and anthropogenic attributes, and spatial heterogeneity of the Island Ecosystem was established, and the southern Islands of Miaodao Archipelago in North China were taken as the study area. The IEV, its spatial heterogeneity, and its sensitivities to the evaluation elements were analyzed. Results indicated that the IEV was in status of mild vulnerability in the archipelago scale, and population pressure, Ecosystem productivity, environmental quality, landscape pattern, and economic development were the sensitive elements. The IEV showed significant spatial heterogeneities both in land and surrounding waters sub-Ecosystems. Construction scale control, optimization of development allocation, improvement of exploitation methods, and reasonable ecological construction are important measures to control the IEV.
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A model to assess fundamental and realized carrying capacities of Island Ecosystem: A case study in the southern Miaodao Archipelago of China
Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2016Co-Authors: Honghua Shi, Yuan Chi, Chengcheng Shen, Wei Zheng, Xiaoli Wang, Guo Zhen, Mingyang Qiao, Gao Liyuan, Dewen DingAbstract:Research on carrying capacity, aiming at maintaining the limited ability of the Earth’s life supporting system to sustain human development, requires a comprehensive and Ecosystem-based approach to monitor and assess the localized sustainability of coupled social and ecological systems. A definition termed the Ecosystem-based carrying capacity of Island (EBCCI) was developed in this paper of which the indices of fundamental and realized carrying capacities of Island (FCCI and RCCI) were highlighted to emphasize the inter-dependencies between social systems and ecological systems. In order to avoid the difficulties and uncertainties of direct assessment, the related assessment model was established on the basis of synthetic evaluation of inherent and external factors affecting the EBCCI. The southern Miaodao Archipelago (SMA) located in the intersection of the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea, China, was taken as a typical example to acquire integrated recognition of the Island Ecosystem and its carrying capacity so as to discuss its sustainable development. The index scores of FCCI and RCCI in the SMA were 0.818 5 and 0.712 9 out of 1.0, respectively, with acceptable uncertainties. The results showed a relatively well capacity to sustain progress and relatively well realization of the carrying capacity of Island Ecosystem, owing to a well capacity of ecologically regulating, general performance of both ecologically supporting and resource provisioning, and a relatively high level of social supporting system. The study implied that it was critical to optimize the inter-dependencies and to sustain the relative balance between social systems and ecological systems so as to improve the RCCI and further facilitate the sustainability of SMA. The approach proposed in this paper provides a powerful tool which is well applicative to the regional level of an oceanic Island or archipelago to study the sustainable development and can be further popularized to the coastal zone.
Erin F Abernethy - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Carcasses of invasive species are predominantly utilized by invasive scavengers in an Island Ecosystem
Ecosphere, 2016Co-Authors: Erin F Abernethy, Kelsey L Turner, James C Beasley, Travis L Devault, William C Pitt, Olin E RhodesAbstract:Invasive species have significantly affected Ecosystems, particularly Islands, and species invasions continue with increasing globalization. Largely unstudied, the influence of invasive species on Island Ecosystem functions, especially scavenging and decomposition, could be substantive. Quantifying carcass utilization by different scavengers and shifts in community dynamics in the presence of invasive animals is of particular interest for understanding impacts on nutrient recycling. Invasive species could benefit greatly from carcass resources within highly invaded Island Ecosystems, through increased invasion success and population growth, subsequently exacerbating their impacts on native species. We quantified how experimentally placed invasive amphibian, reptile, small mammal, and bird carcasses were utilized by vertebrate and invertebrate scavengers on the Big Island of Hawai'i in three Island habitats: a barren lava field, a vegetated lava field, and a rainforest. We used camera traps to record vertebrate scavengers removing carcasses and elapsed time until removal. We evaluated differences in scavenging between vertebrates and invertebrates and within the vertebrate community across different habitats and carcass types. Despite the small carcass sizes (
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carcasses of invasive species are predominantly utilized by invasive scavengers in an Island Ecosystem
Ecosphere, 2016Co-Authors: Erin F Abernethy, Kelsey L Turner, James C Beasley, Travis L Devault, William C Pitt, Olin E RhodesAbstract:Invasive species have significantly affected Ecosystems, particularly Islands, and species invasions continue with increasing globalization. Largely unstudied, the influence of invasive species on Island Ecosystem functions, especially scavenging and decomposition, could be substantive. Quantifying carcass utilization by different scavengers and shifts in community dynamics in the presence of invasive animals is of particular interest for understanding impacts on nutrient recycling. Invasive species could benefit greatly from carcass resources within highly invaded Island Ecosystems, through increased invasion success and population growth, subsequently exacerbating their impacts on native species. We quantified how experimentally placed invasive amphibian, reptile, small mammal, and bird carcasses were utilized by vertebrate and invertebrate scavengers on the Big Island of Hawai'i in three Island habitats: a barren lava field, a vegetated lava field, and a rainforest. We used camera traps to record vertebrate scavengers removing carcasses and elapsed time until removal. We evaluated differences in scavenging between vertebrates and invertebrates and within the vertebrate community across different habitats and carcass types. Despite the small carcass sizes (<1 kg) used in this study, 55% of carcasses were removed by vertebrate scavengers, all invasive: mongoose, rodents, cats, pigs, and a common myna. Our data indicate that invasive vertebrate scavengers in this Island Ecosystem are highly efficient at assimilating a range of carrion resources across a variety of habitats. Carcasses of invasive animals could contribute substantially to energy budgets of other invasive vertebrate species. This may be a critical component contributing to successful invasions especially on Islands and subsequent impacts on Ecosystem function.
Jing Wang - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Island Ecosystem health in the context of human activities with different types and intensities
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2021Co-Authors: Yuan Chi, Dahai Liu, Wenxiu Xing, Jing WangAbstract:Abstract Island Ecosystem health is the integrative reflection of the states of different components on an Island under multiple natural and anthropogenic influences. Evaluating Island Ecosystem health and identifying anthropogenic influences can provide important references for decision-makers in conserving the Island Ecosystem. In this study, Island Ecosystem health was evaluated by integrating three components (vegetation, soil, and landscape) using 12 factors sourced by field investigation and remote sensing. Baseline of the Island Ecosystem health was determined by ascertaining the natural area and context and eliminating the influences from natural factors. Then, the influences from each of the four typical types of Island human activities, namely, building construction, traffic development, farming, and plantation, and the comprehensive influences from all of the four types on Island Ecosystem health were identified. Twenty-five Islands in an important and typical archipelago in northern China were used as the study area. Results indicated that inhabited Islands with small areas and uninhabited Islands with large areas had good Island Ecosystem health, and the landscape component contributed most to the spatial variance. Traffic development, building construction, and farming generated negative influences and decreased the Island Ecosystem health by 28.56%, 23.38%, and 9.31%, respectively. By contrast, plantation increased the Island Ecosystem health by 17.14%. Overall, the four types of human activities increased the Island Ecosystem health by 2.74% and 5.91% for the inhabited and uninhabited Islands, respectively. Scenario analyses revealed that the quality promotion of each human activity could improve the Island Ecosystem health more than the scale changes among different human activities. The results can help guide the spatial optimization of Island human activities and the evaluation of Island carrying capacity.
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How human activities influence the Island Ecosystem through damaging the natural Ecosystem and supporting the social Ecosystem
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2020Co-Authors: Yuan Chi, Zhiwei Zhang, Zuolun Xie, Jing WangAbstract:Abstract Island human activities damage the natural Ecosystem with unique functions and support the social Ecosystem for human survival and living. Identifying, quantifying, and spatially exhibiting the damage and support generated by human activities are of great significance for comprehensively revealing the anthropogenic influences on the Island Ecosystem and reasonably providing references for Island development strategy. In this study, an evaluation model was established in perspectives of damage to the natural Ecosystem and support for the social Ecosystem. The damage involved geomorphology, landscape, habitat, and pollution, and the support included provision, accommodation, transportation, and recreation. The evaluation model was realized on the basis of the Island use types, size effects, utilization levels, and change processes. Two new indices, namely, natural Ecosystem damaged index (NEDI) and social Ecosystem supported index (SESI), were proposed to represent the damage and support, respectively. Thereafter, scenario analysis was adopted to simulate the variations of NEDI and SESI in different scenarios of human activities and to provide references for the Island development strategy. A total of ten Islands in the Dongtou Archipelago in South China were used as the study area to demonstrate the model. Results indicated that the high NEDI and SESI areas were distributed in building, industrial, road, and reclamation areas, whereas the low NEDI and SESI areas were mainly located in vegetation areas and bare land. In different scenarios, the expansions of the road and building land generated much more damage than support, and the improvement of the utilization level produced more support than damage. The prohibition and limitation of Island use types with low efficiency, the enhancement of vegetation restoration, the adequate use of reclamation area, the control of disordered exploitation expansion, and the improvement of utilization levels should be the strategies used by the Dongtou Archipelago for sustainable development. The application of the model validated its effectiveness and applicability in revealing the overall and spatial characteristics of the damage and support for Islands and other coastal areas with intensive human activities.
