The role of social norms in climate adaptation: Mediating risk perception and flood insurance purchase

Flood insurance plays an important role in climate adaptation by recovering insured losses in the event of catastrophic flooding. Voluntary adoption of flood insurance has been seen as a function of risk perception that is shaped by social norms. This paper attempts to clarify the relationship between these factors. It is based on a household survey conducted in the eastern cities of Australia and involving a total of 501 randomly selected residents. Results of a path analysis show that the likelihood of having flood insurance cover was associated with perceived social norms, but not perceived flood risk. In addition, perceived norms and risk were statistically related to each other. It is concluded that social norms played a mediating role between insuring decision and risk perception. Risk perception might influence the insuring decision indirectly through shaping perception of social norms. This implies that adaptive behaviour is not necessarily a function of risk perception, but an outcome of its impacts upon the ways in which the individuals situate themselves in their social circles or the society. There is a feedback process in which individual perceptions of risk manifest as both a cause and effect, shaping and being shaped by the socio-cultural context.     

Dynamics and relationships of Ca, Mg, Fe in litter, soil fauna and soil in Pinus koraiensis-broadleaf mixed forest

The Liangshui Natural Reserve in Heilongjiang Province of China was selected as the study area. The authors collected the samples of forest litter （Tilia amurensis, Fraxinus mandshurica, Pinus koraiensis, Acer mono, Betula costata, and mixed litter）, soil in humus horizon （0--5cm） and soil horizon （5-20cm）, and soil macrofauna （Oligochaeta, Geophiloporpha and Juliformia） from 2001 to 2002. The role of soil macrofauna in the material cycle was analyzed through comparing the macro-element contents among various parts of the subsystems and using enrichment index （El）. The results indicate that dynamic changes of various litters are very complicated. The contents of Fe in each kind of litter increase firstly, and then decrease in the study period. The changes of macro-element contents are greater in the broad-leaf litter than in the coniferous litter, and the mixed litter is in the middle level, but the differences among them are not significant. The contents of Mg and Fe in humus are higher than those in soil, but the contents of Ca in soil are higher than that in humus. The dynamic changes of macro-element contents in soil and soil fauna are not consistent with those in litter. The diplopod presented obvious enrichment of Ca and Mg （E1〉1）, but it does not significantly enrich Fe. Earthworm has a stronger enrichment ability of Fe than diplopod and scolopendra, but E1〈1. Soil fauna can make great influences on the material cycle of the subsystems.     

野外科学观测研究台站（网络）和科学数据中心建设发展

中国科学院地理科学与资源研究所成立80年来,十分重视野外台站（网络）和科学数据中心的建设,取得了辉煌成就。研究所建立了4个野外观测研究网络,引领了中国生态系统研究网络的建设与发展;成立了2个国家级科学数据中心,1个中国科学院数据中心,1个数据出版系统并于2016年加入了世界数据系统;拥有2个国家级野外观测研究站,1个中国科学院野外研究站,形成了独具特色的野外观测研究平台和数据共享服务平台。本文回顾了中国生态系统研究网络、国家生态系统观测研究网络、中国通量观测研究网络、中国物候观测网和禹城站、拉萨站、千烟洲站以及地球系统科学数据中心、生态科学数据中心、资源环境科学数据中心和全球变化科学研究数据出版系统的发展历程。地理资源所台站（网络）从无到有,不断发展壮大,引领了中国野外观测研究事业的发展,支撑了地理学、生态学等重要科学成果产出,科技支撑能力和示范能力大幅提升,有力支撑了华北平原、青藏高原以及南方山地丘陵区的生态文明建设;成为中国地球系统科学、野外台站、资源环境等学科和领域最大的科学数据汇聚中心,数据共享服务成效显著,在国内外具有广泛影响力。在未来发展中,地理资源所将充分发挥野外台站（网络）综合中心作用,强化生态系统、碳水通量、物候等观测研究网络的能力建设,稳步提升野外观测研究站条件保障能力和科学数据中心的数据汇聚能力、分析挖掘能力以及共享服务能力,持续推动和引领中国科学数据的共享,在科学研究和支撑国家需求等方面做出更大贡献。     

Oil migration driven by exhumation of the Canol Formation oil shale: A new conceptual model for the Norman Wells oil field,northwestern Canada

Thermal history, petroleum system, structural, and tectonic constraints are reviewed and integrated in order to derive a new conceptual model for the Norman Wells oil field, and a new play type for tectonically active foreland regions. The thermal history recorded by Devonian rocks suggests that source rocks experienced peak thermal conditions in the Triassic–Jurassic, during which time oil was likely generated. After initial oil generation and expulsion, the Canol Formation oil shale retained a certain fraction of hydrocarbons. The shallow reservoir (650–350 m) is a Devonian carbonate bank overlain by the Canol Formation and resides within a hanging wall block of the Norman Range thrust fault. Both reservoir and source rocks are naturally fractured and have produced high API non-biodegraded oil. Thrust faults in the region formed after the Paleocene, and a structural cross-section of the field shows that the source and reservoir rocks at Norman Wells have been exhumed by over 1 km since then.The key proposition of the exhumation model is that as Canol Formation rocks underwent thrust-driven exhumation, they crossed a ductile–brittle transition zone and dip-oriented fractures formed sympathetic to the thrust fault. The combination of pore overpressure and new dip-directed subvertical fractures liberated oil from the Canol Formation and allowed for up-dip oil migration. Reservoir rocks were similarly fractured and improved permeability enhanced charging and pooling of oil. GPS and seismicity data indicate that strain transfer across the northern Cordillera is a response to accretion of the Yakutat terrane along the northern Pacific margin of North America, which is also the probable driving force for foreland shortening and rock exhumation at Norman Wells.     

曹县梁堤头地区第四系地裂缝成因及防治

鲁豫交界的曹县黄河故道地区,地势较高的自然堤堤缘区是地裂缝等地质灾害的高发区。地裂缝主要由地表厚粘土层干湿胀缩产生,有一定的隐蔽性,并受地形和大气影响。地下水动态变化对地裂缝影响不大。地表裂隙张力的直接作用、建筑物的非均质土地基不均匀沉陷等因素的存在共同导致了该区民房开裂。可以采取加固地基和搬迁避让等方法进行防治。     

Natural disasters as the end of the insurance industry? Scalar competitive strategies, Alternative Risk Transfers, and the economic crisis

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has piqued interest in the insurance industry, and this scrutiny has led to assumptions that the industry has become unstable and unprofitable with the increased incidence of disasters in highly-insured regions of the world. This paper challenges that assumption by arguing that the insurance industry has responded by spreading risk through scaled and networked recovery schemes. We found that because of competitive strategies of risk-spreading and displacement arrangements, the industry has actually profited as a whole. Regional insurance companies have always relied on the higher financial scales of the reinsurance industry in Munich, Zurich, and London. But with claims reaching into the billions of dollars, the reinsurance industry itself has raised premiums, spread risk farther afield, and jumped scale by spreading risk to futures markets called Alternative Risk Transfers (ARTs). However, the recession beginning in 2008 has called into question the viability of using futures markets as insurance. It is shown through a media analysis of four major business publications (The Economist, The New York Times, The Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal) how the industry responded to the costs of the 2004, 2005, and 2006 hurricane seasons. Because geography is rather new to this literature, this paper also offers a broad review of the insurance industry.     

Paper trails: The Outdoor Recreation Resource Review Commission and the rationalization of recreational resources

This article examines the history of the Outdoor Recreation Resource Review Commission (ORRRC) in the United States between 1955 and 1963 and efforts to make recreational resources legible for federal governance. By drawing on insights from Critical Resource Geography, I highlight the ways that the ORRRC systematically accounted for and categorized recreational resources, creating a “patchwork landscape” that zoned outdoor recreational resources and promoted efficient use and rational resource conservation. I argue that these efforts required a negotiation between abstraction and an awareness of the situated nature of recreational landscapes.     

云南东川新山含金剪切带型金矿

新山金矿属构造剪切带控制的典型金矿床,产于中元古界昆阳群美党组(Pt2m)中部变质石英砂板岩中。规模大、品位富、易采易选。矿区构造——含金剪切带与土壤地球化学金异常,是寻找该类金矿的重要标志。     

Socio-economic drivers of deforestation in Roghani Valley,Hindu-Raj Mountains,Northern Pakistan

Deforestation and associated ecological disturbances are the issues of global concern.Researchers have investigated a number of driving forces which accelerate the rate of deforestation at local and regional levels.These include poverty,population growth,market demand and prices,political instability,agricultural expansion and changes in property right and ownership regimes.This paper seeks to explore the impacts of population growth,changing tenure system and other socioeconomic factors on the forest cover of Roghani Valley,located in Hindu Raj Mountains,Northern Pakistan.The present study is mainly based on information collected through participatory observation,selfadministered interviews and questionnaire survey.Geographical Information System（GIS） database is also used for mapping and quantification.The results reveal that in the past three to four decades the study area has been subjected to severe deforestation and about half of the forest area has been converted into barren land.Thus,the area under natural forests decreased from 2099 to 1444 hectares in four decades.This large-scale deforestation is attributed to both proximate and under lying causes particularly traditional land tenure system and demographic development.Consequently,forest resources have been degraded and a number of plant species have disappeared from the forests of the study area while several others are in the process of disappearance.     

迁徙季节水鸟对滨海不同类型湿地的利用——以广西山口红树林自然保护区为例

为了解迁徙季节水鸟在不同滨海湿地中的结构组成和行为特征,于2010年3月、4月、9月、11月和2011年3月,在山口自然保护区及其周边地区对不同滨海湿地类型的水鸟展开调查。结果显示:迁徙季节天然湿地共记录到水鸟6目8科39种,人工湿地有6目9科50种。天然湿地比人工湿地的物种数少,整体数量上,春季人工湿地大于天然湿地,秋季则为天然湿地水鸟数量更多。鹬鸻类在不同滨海湿地类型中觅食行为比例差异显著,在天然湿地中觅食比例达到76.67%,而在人工湿地中则以休息和睡眠等非觅食行为为主。天然湿地是鹬鸻类的重要觅食地,而人工湿地则是鹭类和鹬鸻类的主要休息地。鹭类在两种滨海湿地类型中觅食个体的数量不随潮汐的涨落而相应增减。鹬鸻类随潮汐高度上升,在两种滨海湿地类型中觅食的个体数量减少。山口地区的滨海人工湿地是水鸟在高潮期间天然湿地良好的替代栖息地。