Over recent decades, research has been directed to assessing the impacts of land uses on valuable natural assets, such as the Great Barrier Reef. Land managers in adjacent areas are expected to adopt practices to minimize any adverse affects on downstream environments. Conversely, researchers are being pressed to provide answers to the problems. In response, researchers and environmental managers are bombarding land managers with information regarding the potential environmental implications of their practices. Is this an effective mode to achieve on-ground change?
Collaboration between all groups – research, industry and extension – may be more effective in developing and implementing practical solutions to these more complex issues. A change from the research and extension models currently used may be needed to achieve positive resource management outcomes.
Research, development and extension initiatives underway in the Australian sugar industry to improve farm practice and reduce the potential for adverse impacts on downstream environments are discussed. Case studies provide some insights into how science and extension skills work best together and how an industry group can respond to a community concern. 相似文献
通过对广东省湛江市湖光岩玛珥湖晚全新世沉积物中叶蜡烷烃(n-C29,n-C31,n-C33)及其碳同位素(δ13C)进行分析,探讨该湖区约3.5 ka BP以来的植被变化历史,重点讨论了人类活动对该区域植被变化可能带来的影响。叶蜡烷烃δ13区C3植物占绝对优势,表现为典型的C在1.7 ka BP以前偏轻,例如长链烷烃碳同位素在1.78 ka BP为-33.27 ‰,表明湖C3型生态系统;在1.7 ka BP之后碳同位素明显快速偏重,在1.63 ka BP为-28.26‰,指示了C4植物出现和C4比例上升的过程。C4植物的出现通常指示气候的干旱化,但是烷烃Paq和ACL指数(平均链长)则显示湖区气候可能在1.7 ka BP后变湿润。通过与研究区甘蔗的同位素和ACL指数的比较分析,推测这一矛盾现象可能与湖区开始有一定规模的甘蔗种植活动有关。相似文献
Low‐energy gamma ray spectroscopy has been employed to estimate floodplain sedimentation rates using measurements of 210Pb in floodplain alluvium. The utility of the technique is assessed through the analysis of excess (unsupported) 210Pb profiles in three sediment cores taken from the floodplain of the Labasa River on Vanua Levu in northern Fiji. A low‐energy germanium spectrometer (LEGe) was used for the nondestructive determination of excess 210Pb in a region cultivated intensively with sugarcane. Measured average historical (c. 25 years) vertical accretion rates are between 2.2 and 4.4 cm yr?1. The findings are broadly comparable with published sedimentation rates from analyses of radionuclide profiles elsewhere in the tropical South Pacific Islands, but the rates are higher than those measured previously at the same Labasa River sites using 137Cs profiles. Accelerated soil erosion owing to cane burning and land tillage seems to be largely responsible for sediment production, although flood‐related effects such as channel accretion by coarse bedload and the emplacement of large organic debris also influence floodplain sedimentation. However, application of the 210Pb technique in Fiji (and perhaps neighbouring island countries) is found to have serious drawbacks compared to the more robust 137Cs method, owing principally to the low 210Pb concentrations in the sandy alluvial sediment tested. 相似文献