佛坪自然保护区植物群落物种多样性与海拔梯度的关系

用多元统计分析方法研究了佛坪自然保护区植物群落多种性及群落各生长型多样性特征沿海拔梯度的变化。结果表明：1）植物群落的Shannon指数与Simpson指数及物种丰富度与海拔梯度均呈显著负相关关系;2）乔木层的物种多样性沿海拔梯度的变化则体现了“中国高度膨胀”的规律,即中等海拔高度上多样性高而低海拔和高海拔多样性较低;3）灌木层丰富度指数在1600-1700m之间有个很不明显的峰值,而其它4个指标沿海拔呈单调的下降趋势;4）草本层植物多样性呈先降后升的趋势,在中等海拔高度较低。     

A structural and geophysical approach to the study of fractured aquifers in the Scansano-Magliano in Toscana Ridge, southern Tuscany, Italy

Fresh water availability has recently become a serious concern in the Italian Apennines, as various activities rely on a predictable supply. Along the ridge between Scansano and Magliano in Toscana, in southern Tuscany, the situation is further complicated by contamination of the nearby alluvial aquifers. Aquifers locally consist of thin fractured reservoirs, generally within low-permeability formations, and it can be difficult to plan the exploitation of resources based on conventional techniques. An integrated study based on geological data investigated the link between tectonics and groundwater circulation, to better define the hydrological model. After the regional identification of fault and fracture patterns, a major structure was investigated in detail to accurately map its spatial position and to understand the geometry and properties of the associated aquifer and assess its exploitation potential. The subsurface around the fault zone was clearly imaged using ground probing radar, two-dimensional and three-dimensional resistivity tomography, and three-dimensional shallow seismic surveys. The vertical and horizontal contacts between the different geological units of the Ligurian and Tuscan series were resolved with a high degree of spatial accuracy. Three-dimensional high-resolution geophysical imaging proved to be a very effective means of characterising small-scale fractured reservoirs.     

西北五省(区)生态环境综合分区及其建设对策

本文以图像遥感解译为主 ,结合野外实际考察 ,并通过抽样验证完成。在对生态环境界定和赋予内涵的基础上 ,根据区划目的、原则和所选取的指标体系 ,从生态环境分类入手 ,经过从上向下续分和由下向上合并的反复磨合过程、专家集成模拟 ,对西北五省(区 )生态环境做了全面的综合分区研究 ,并针对所存在的生态环境问题 ,提出生态环境保护和建设的对策 ,为西北五省 (区 )实施西部大开发生态环境监测、治理、建设和规划提供科学依据。     

Total content and chemical speciation of arsenic in the polychaete Sabella spallanzanii

An unusual feature has been observed in polychaetes regarding their capacity to accumulate high levels of relatively toxic forms of arsenic in specific tissues. Basal levels of arsenic and distribution of its compounds were investigated in tissues of the Mediterranean polychaete Sabella spallanzanii. Particularly high concentrations were measured in the branchial crown (1036+/-136 microg/g d.w.) and chemical speciation revealed that the predominant form was the relatively toxic dimethylarsinate (DMA). These data suggest a potential role of As as anti-predatory strategy in polychaetes.     

Review: Urban groundwater issues and resource management,and their roles in the resilience of cities

The relationships between cities and underlying groundwater are reviewed, with the aim to highlight the importance of urban groundwater resources in terms of city resilience value. Examples of more than 70 cities worldwide are cited along with details of their groundwater-related issues, specific experiences, and settings. The groundwater-related issues are summarized, and a first groundwater-city classification is proposed in order to facilitate a more effective city-to-city comparison with respect to, for example, the best practices and solutions that have been put in practice by similar cities in terms of local groundwater resources management. The interdependences between some groundwater services and the cascading effects on city life in cases of shock (e.g., drought, heavy rain, pollution, energy demand) and chronic stress (e.g., climate change) are analyzed, and the ideal groundwater-resilient-city characteristics are proposed. The paper concludes that groundwater is a crucial resource for planning sustainability in every city and for implementing city resilience strategies from the climate change perspective.

     

Application of Compositional Techniques in the Field of Crystal Chemistry: A Case Study of Luzonite, a Sn-Bearing Mineral

Out-of-equilibrium crystallization often produces complex compositional variability in minerals, generating zoning and other mixing phenomena. The appropriate microchemical characterization of the resulting out-of-equilibrium patterns is of critical importance in understanding the overall physical and chemical properties of the host crystalline phases. In this framework, the modeling of compositional changes assumes a fundamental role. However, when compositional data are used, their management with standard exploratory, statistical, graphical, and numerical tools may give misleading results attributable to the phenomenon of induced correlations. To avoid these problems, methods able to extract compositional data from their constrained space (the simplex) in order to apply standard statistics, have to be adopted. As an alternative, the use of tools having properties able to work in the simplex geometry has to be considered. A luzonite single crystal (ideal composition, Cu₃AsS₄) exhibiting concentric and sector zoning was studied using electron probe microanalysis in order to understand the mechanisms which give rise to chemical variability and conditions in the developing environment. Compositional variations were determined by collecting data along three different transects. The major and minor elements (Cu, As, S, Fe, Sb, Sn) were analyzed with the aim of characterizing their patterns of association in the crystal and, hence, crystal evolution. The whole covariance structure as well as the chemical relationships between the successive zones was investigated by means of compositional methods, considering both data transformation and the stay in the simplex approach. Results indicate that the crystal grew under quiescent conditions, where chemical control was primarily exercised by the mineral’s surface and only minor effects were due to changes in the composition of the surrounding fluid. Consequently, an oscillatory uptake of chemical components occurred in which a competition between famatinite-like (Cu₃SbS₄) and kuramite-like (Cu₃SnS₄) domains characterized the As-poor zones.     

Far-infrared observations of main sequence stars surrounded by dust shells

We present 50 and 100µm photometry and size information for several main sequence stars surrounded by dust shells. The observations from NASA's Kuiper Airborne Observatory include the Vega-like stars, Beta Pic, Fomalhaut, as well as four stars suggested by Walker and Wolstencroft to belong possibly to the same class. The results of our observations are best interpreted as upper limits to the far-infrared sizes of the dust clouds around all of the stars except Fomalhaut and Beta Pic. We have also fit simple, optically thin models to the Beta Pic data to explore the range of shell parameters consistent with our limits and with previous observations.     

Erodibility of soft freshwater sediments in Markermeer: the role of bioturbation by meiobenthic fauna

The Markermeer is a large and shallow man-made freshwater lake in the Netherlands, characterized by its high turbidity. As part of a study aiming to mitigate this high turbidity, we studied the water–bed exchange processes of the lake’s muddy bed. The upper centimeter’s–decimeter’s of the lake bed sediments mainly consists of soft anoxic mud. Recent measurements have proved the existence of a thin oxic layer on top of this soft anoxic mud. This oxic layer, which is much easier to be eroded than the anoxic mud, is believed to be related with Markermeer’s high-turbidity levels. Our hypothesis is that the thin oxic layer develops from the anoxic mud, enhanced by bioturbation. Actually, we will demonstrate that it is the bioturbated state of the bed that increases its erodability, and not the oxidation state of the sediments. In particular, we will refer to bioturbation caused by meiobenthic fauna. The objective of this study is therefore to determine the influence of the development of the thin oxic layer on the water–bed exchange processes, as well as to establish the role of bioturbation on those processes. This is done by quantifying the erosion rate as a function of bed shear stresses, and at different stages of the development of the oxic layer. Our experiments show that bioturbation increases the rate at which Markermeer sediments are eroded by almost an order of magnitude. The short-term fine sediment dynamics in Markermeer are found to be driven by the complex and highly dynamic interactions between physics, chemistry, and biology. Finally, the long-term fine sediment dynamics are driven by the erosion of the historical deposits in the lake’s bed, which is only possible after bioturbation, and which leads to an increase of the stock of sediments in the lake’s muddy bed.     

Structural physical parameter identification based on evolutionary-simplex algorithm and structural dynamic response

Evolutionary computation based on the idea of biologic evolution is one type of global optimization algorithm that uses self-adaptation, self-organization and random searching to solve optimization problems. The evolutionary-simplex algorithm is introduced in this paper. It contains floating encoding which combines the evolutionary computation and the simplex algorithm to ovcrcomc the problems encountered in the genetic algorithm and evolutionary strategy methods.Numerical cxpcrimcnts arc performed using seven typical functions to verify the algorithm. An inverse analysis method to identify structural physical parameters based on incomplete dynamic responses obtained from the analysis in the time domain is prcscntcd by using the evolutionary-simplex algorithm. The modal evolutionary-simplex algorithm converted from the time domain to the modal domain is proposed to improve the inverse efficiency. Numerical calculations for a 50-DOF system show that whcn compared with other methods, the evolutionary-simplex algorithm offers advantages of high precision,cfficient searching ability, strong ability to resist noise, independence of initial value, and good adaptation to incomplete information conditions.     

A large class of non-zonal oceanic flows satisfying the arnold-blumen sufficient condition for stability

Abstract

Recently Andrews has discussed an example of a topographically-forced non-zonal now satisfying the Arnold-Blumen sufficient condition for stability. At large distances from the topographic centre this flow becomes purely zonal and westward. After underlining the richness of solutions of the Andrews model, the present paper goes on to show that Andrews' technique can be applied successfully to a model where the vertical profile of static stability resembles those found in the ocean. In particular we obtain a large class of hydrodynamic stable flows, forced by the bottom topography, for continuously stratified fluids (two layers each with uniform Brunt-Väisälä frequency).