Temporal stability of apparent soil electrical conductivity measured by electromagnetic induction techniques

Assessing and managing the spatial variability of hydropedological properties are important in environmental,agricultural,and geological sciences.The spatial variability of soil apparent electrical conductivity（ECa） measured by electromagnetic induction（EMI） techniques has been widely used to infer the spatial variability of hydrological and pedological properties.In this study,temporal stability analysis was conducted for measuring repeatedly soil ECa in an agricultural landscape in 2008.Such temporal stability was statistically compared with the soil moisture,terrain indices（slope,topographic wetness index（TWI）,and profile curvature）,and soil properties（particle size distribution,depth to bedrock,Mn mottle content,and soil type）.Locations with great and temporally unstable soil ECa were also associated with great and unstable soil moisture,respectively.Soil ECa were greater and more unstable in the areas with great TWI（TWI 〉 8）,gentle and concave slope（slope 〈 3%; profile curvature 〉 0.2）.Soil ECa exponentially increased with depth to bedrock,and soil profile silt and Mn mottle contents（R2= 0.57）,quadratically（R2 = 0.47）,and linearly（R 2 = 0.47）,respectively.Soil ECa was greater and more unstable in Gleysol and Nitosol soils,which were distributed in areas with low elevation（〈 380 m）,thick soil solum（〉 3 m）,and fluctuated water table（shallow in winter and spring but deep in summer and fall）.In contrast,Acrisol,Luvisol,and Cambisol soils,which are distributed in the upper slope areas,had lower and more stable soil ECa.Through these observations,we concluded that the temporal stability of soil ECa can be used to interpret the spatial and temporal variability of these hydropedological properties.     

Uptake and recovery of soil nitrogen by bryophytes and vascular plants in an alpine meadow

Due to their particular physiology and life history traits, bryophytes are critical in regulating biogeochemical cycles and functions in alpine ecosystem. Hence, it is crucial to investigate their nutrient utilization strategies in comparison with vascular plants and understand their responses to the variation of growing season caused by climate change. Firstly, this study testified whether or not bryophytes can absorb nitrogen(N) directly from soil through spiking three chemical forms of 15N stable isotope tracer. Secondly, with stronger ability of carbohydrates assimilation and photosynthesis, it is supposed that N utilization efficiency of vascular plants is significantly higher than that of bryophytes. However, the recovery of soil N by bryophytes can still compete with vascular plants due to their greater phytomass. Thirdly, resource acquisition may be varied from the change of growing season, during which N pulse can be manipulated with 15N tracer addition at different time. Both of bryophytes and vascular plants contain more N in a longer growing season, and prefer inorganic over organic N. Bryophytes assimilate more NH4+ than NO3– and amino acid, which can be indicated from the greater shoot excess 15N of bryophytes. However, vascular plants prefer to absorb NO3– for their developed root systems and vascular tissue. Concerning the uptake of three forms N by bryophytes, there is significant difference between two manipulated lengths of growing season. Furthermore, the capacity of bryophytes to tolerate N-pollution may be lower than currently appreciated, which indicates the effect of climate change on asynchronous variation of soil N pools with plant requirements.     

Improvement of pseudo-static method for slope stability analysis

traditional In this paper, two drawbacks pseudo-static method （vertical of the slice method） in the slope stability evaluation have been studied. First, the sliding mass is divided into vertical slices according to this method, which is irrational to some extent in the seismic design of slope. Second, only peak ground acceleration （PGA） is considered, and the effects of shaking frequency and duration on slope stability are neglected. And then, based on the theory of elastic wave and the summarized geological model, this paper put forwards an improved method of pseudo-method by using the theory of elastic wave and Hilbert-Huang transform. The improved pseudostatic method gives reasonable considerations to the time-frequency effects of seismic wave and its rationality has been verified by the shaking table test. This method can evaluate the safety of a slope, the happening time and the scale of landslides. At the same time, this method also can improve the high accuracy of the evaluation of the safety of the slope.     

Nitrogen and Phosphorus Budget of a Polyculture System of Sea Cucumber （Apostichopus japonicus）, Jellyfish （Rhopilema esculenta） and Shrimp （Fenneropenaeus chinensis）

The nitrogen(N) and phosphorus(P) budget and the ecological efficiency of a polyculture system of sea cucumber(Apostichopus japonicus), jellyfish(Rhopilema esculenta) and shrimp(Fenneropenaeus chinensis) were studied in a cofferdam, 120.2 ha in size. The nutrients were supplied by spring tide inflow. In total, 139600 kg N yr-1 and 9730 kg P yr-1 input to the system; while 118900 kg N yr-1 and 2840 kg P yr-1 outflowed from the system concurrently, thus the outflow was 85.7%(N) and 29.2%(P) of inflow. The production of N and P was 889.5 kg yr-1 and 49.28 kg yr-1(sea cucumber) and 204 kg yr-1 and 18.03 kg yr-1(jellyfish and shrimp), respectively. The utilization rate of N and P by polycultured animals was 7.8‰ and 6.9‰, respectively, 21.9% and 38% higher than that of monocultured sea cucumber. Our results indicated that the polyculture system was an efficient culture system of animals and a remediation system of coastal environment as well; it scavenged 14.3% and 70.8% of N and P, respectively. Such an ecological efficiency may be improved further by increasing either the stocking density or the size of sea cucumber or both.     

采用非线性决策树的学生课堂教学满意度研究

学生反馈是评估高等院校课堂教学质量的重要指标。目前,对学生反馈的问卷仅进行主观理解和简单统计,无法提供准确定量的分析和支持依据。使用非线性决策树,对近3年本科必修双语课程《数字图像处理》的学生评教问卷进行数据挖掘,首先将其分成3类和10个不同输入,然后通过数据预处理、模型选择和建模,最后构建树状模型对其进行分析。分析结果符合对于该课程学生反应和争议较大的问题预期,为课程设计提供定量有效的教学分析工具。     

库水载荷对水库触发地震的机制研究

利用有限元方法,研究库水载荷产生的应力场及其在断层面上引起的静态库仑破裂应力变化。通过计算发现,库水载荷的加载位置对地震的触发作用有重要的影响:当库水加载于断层正上方或断层上盘时,对正断层型的地震有促进作用,对逆断层型的地震有抑制作用。但是,当库水载荷作用于断层的下盘时,对于倾角较大的正断层与逆断层地震,库水都起抑制作用;而对倾角很小的断层起促进作用,但不会产生很强的水库地震。     

Community structure and seasonal variation of soil arthropods in the forest-steppe ecotone of the mountainous region in Northern Hebei,China

Soil fauna have been receiving more and more attention because they play an important role in nutrient cycling. However, there is a lack of information on soil arthropods in the forest-steppe ecotone in the mountainous region of northern Hebei, which makes it difficult to meet the need of protecting biodiversity in this area. Soil arthropod communities were investigated in the forest-steppe ecotone in northern Hebei province to provide basic information on changes in mountain soil fertility, which could promote the development of soil arthropod communities in mountain ecotones. From the preliminary identification, a total of 7994 individual soil arthropods were collected, which belonged to 25 groups, 6 classes and 24 orders. Acarina, Hymenoptera and Collembola were the dominant groups in the ecotone. The number of Acarina was higher than Collembola, and this phenomenon was obviously different from other areas in the same climate zone. The increased abundance of rare groups in the Forest zone with the richer vegetation, higher arthropod abundance and more substantial litter depth, could be interpreted as a reaction to the suitable soil environment and food supply. And these rare groups were sensitive to environmental changes, which could be regarded as biotic indicators for evaluating soil quality. The analysis of community diversity showed that the abundance index (d), the Shannon-Wiener index (H′), the evenness index (J) and the density-group index (DG) were significantly higher in the forest zone, lower in the forest-steppe zone, and lowest in the meadow-steppe zone. Seasonal variations in community composition correlated with changes in average air temperature and precipitation in this ecotone. Groups and individuals of soil arthropod communities in the three zones were present in greater numbers in the middle of the rainy season than in the early or late periods of the rainy season as a whole. At the same time, seasonal changes in soil arthropod communities from different plots were also influenced by habitat condition.     

Temporal dynamics of phytoplankton communities in a semi-enclosed mariculture pond and their responses to environmental factors

Variations in physical-chemical factors, species composition, abundance and biomass of nano- and micro-phytoplankton assemblages, as well as their responses to environmental factors, were investigated over a complete cycle (6 months) in a semi-enclosed shrimp-farming pond near Qingdao, northern China. The aim was to establish the temporal patterns of phytoplankton communities and to evaluate protists as suitable bioindicators to water quality in mariculture systems. A total of 34 taxa with nine dominant species were identified, belonging to six taxonomic groups (dinoflagellates, diatoms, cryptophyceans, chlorophyceans, euglenophyceans and chrysophyceans). A single peak of protist abundance occurred in October, mainly due to chlorophyceans, diatoms and chrysophyceans. Two biomass peaks in July and October were primarily due to dinoflagellates and diatoms. Temporal patterns of the phytoplankton communities significantly correlated with the changes in nutrients, temperature and pH, especially phosphate, either alone or in combination with NO₃-N and NH₃-N. Species diversity, evenness and richness indices were clearly correlated with water temperature and/or salinity, whereas the biomass/abundance ratio showed a significant correlation with NO₃-N. The results suggest that phytoplankton are potentially useful bioindicators to water quality in semi-enclosed mariculture systems.     

Decomposition of algal lipids in clay-enriched marine sediment under oxic and anoxic conditions

A series of laboratory incubation experiments were conducted to examine the decomposition of algal organic matter in clay-enriched marine sediment under oxic and anoxic conditions. During the 245-day incubation period, changes in the concentrations of TOC, major algal fatty acid components (14:0, 16:0, 16:1, 18:1 and 20:5), and n-alkanes (C₁₆–C₂₃) were quantified in the samples. Our results indicate that the organic matters were degraded more rapidly in oxic than anoxic conditions. Adsorption of fatty acids onto clay minerals was a rapid and reversible process. Using a simple G model, we calculated the decomposition rate constants for TOC, n-alkanes and fatty acids which ranged from 0.017–0.024 d⁻¹, 0.049–0.103 d⁻¹ and 0.011 to 0.069 d⁻¹, respectively. Algal organic matter degraded in two stages characterized by a fast and a slow degradation processes. The addition of clay minerals montmorillonite and kaolinite to the sediments showed significant influence affecting the decomposition processes of algal TOC and fatty acids by adsorption and incorporation of the compounds with clay particles. Adsorption/association of fatty acids by clay minerals was rapid but appeared to be a slow reversible process. In addition to the sediment redox and clay influence, the structure of the compounds also played important roles in affecting their degradation dynamic in sediments.     

Effect of bis(tributyltin) oxide on reproduction and population growth rate of calanoid copepod Schmackeria poplesia

A full life-cycle toxicity test, combined with histology, on calanoid copepod Schmackeria poplesia was used to study the effect of bis(tributyltin) oxide (TBTO). The results indicate no sex-specific differences in TBTO toxicity. Long-term mortalities of the copepods exposed to concentrations higher than 20 ng TBTO L⁻¹ were significantly elevated compared with that of control, and larval development was inhibited when they were exposed to 40 and 60 ng TBTO L⁻¹. The percentages of ovigerous females were reduced compared with the control (P<0.01) after 24 days exposure to concentrations higher than 10 ng TBTO L⁻¹. Histological examinations suggest that exposure to TBTO might block the posterior end of the diverticula and inhibits the production of egg sacs. A modified Euler-Lotka equation was used to calculate a population-level endpoint, the intrinsic rate of natural increase (r _m), from individual life-table endpoints, i.e. mortality rate, time of release of first brood, sex ratio, the fraction of ovigerous females among all females as well as the number of nauplii per ovigerous female. Apart from the highest TBTO concentration (60 ng L⁻¹), where all females aborted their egg sacs, 20 ng TBTO L⁻¹ was the only concentration that significantly decreased r _m compared with that of control (an effect associated with decreased sex ratio). The results show that the S. poplesia is affected by prolonged exposure to low concentrations of TBTO. The full life-cycle toxicity test combined with histology experiments provides more integral understanding of the toxicity of endocrine disrupters.