State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China; Yellow River Estuary Wetland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, Ministry of Education, Shandong, 257500, China.
Key Laboratory of Space Utilization, Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100094, China.
J Environ Manage. 2023 Nov 1;345:118647. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118647. Epub 2023 Jul 23.
In a large-scale region, governance for connectivity in an ecological system often conflicts with management boundaries, causing inefficiencies. Collaboration among management organizations in different areas can help overcome this problem. However, few studies quantified the collaborations' practical relationship with connectivity, considering that some potentially connected paths are easy to neglect by managers. In this paper, collaborations among government agencies in project application process were analyzed, and a multilevel social-ecological network analysis (SENA) approach was developed to identify the collaboration's effect on genetically connected coastal areas. The network framework and methods were shown in a case of coastal saltmarsh conservation and development in the Yellow River Delta, China. Collaboration patterns in conservation and development networks were analyzed and compared among local, subregional, and regional government agencies working in genetically connected coastal areas. Project information flow, reflecting communication frequency and decision-making chances among government agencies was quantified and correlated with ecological connectivity to inform governance effects. Results showed areas with the potential to realize social-ecological alignment, where collaborative networks were measured by network density (percentage of connected network edges). The current reveals that development has more significant potential than conservation at most levels to overcome the misalignment of the social-ecological system, also known as scale mismatch. Empirical evidence also showed a correlation between communication capacity in development networks and improved ecological conditions. The multilevel SENA advanced in this paper can be used for natural resource management when connectivity plays a major role.
在一个大规模区域内，生态系统的连通性治理常常与管理边界相冲突，导致效率低下。不同地区的管理组织之间的合作可以帮助解决这个问题。然而，很少有研究从定量的角度来衡量合作与连通性之间的实际关系，因为一些潜在的连通路径很容易被管理者忽视。本文分析了项目申请过程中政府机构之间的合作，并提出了一种多层次社会-生态网络分析（SENA）方法，以确定合作对基因连通的沿海地区的影响。该网络框架和方法在中国黄河三角洲沿海盐沼保护与开发的案例中得到了展示。分析并比较了在基因连通的沿海地区工作的地方、次区域和区域政府机构的保护和发展网络中的合作模式。项目信息流反映了政府机构之间的沟通频率和决策机会，对其进行了量化，并与生态连通性相关联，以提供治理效果的信息。结果表明，存在实现社会-生态一致性的潜力区域，通过网络密度（连通网络边缘的百分比）来衡量合作网络。目前的情况表明，在大多数情况下，发展比保护更有潜力克服社会-生态系统的错位，即尺度不匹配。实证证据还表明，发展网络中的沟通能力与生态条件的改善之间存在相关性。本文提出的多层次 SENA 可以用于在连通性起主要作用的自然资源管理中。
