Assessing spatial associations between perceptions of landscape value and climate change risk for use in climate change planning

This study examines spatially referenced perceived landscape values and climate change risks collected through public participation geographic information systems for potential use in climate change planning. Using survey data from the Southern Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia, we present a method for identifying perceived landscape values and climate change risks to describe and quantify their spatial associations. Two spatial data models??vector and raster??and two analytical methods??Jaccard coefficients and spatial cross-correlations were used to describe the spatial associations. Results indicate that perceptions of climate change risk are driven, in part, by the values people assign or hold for places on the landscape. Biodiversity and intrinsic landscape values have strong spatial association with biodiversity loss risk while recreation values have strong spatial association with riparian flooding, sea-level rise and wave action risks. Other landscape values show weak to no spatial association with perceived climate change risks. The methodology described in this research provides a mechanism for government agencies to develop place-based adaptation strategies based on these associations.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987111001290

The Three Gorges Dam(TGD) of the Yangtze River.China,is one of the largest irrigation and hydroelectric engineering projects in the world.The effects of huge man-made projects like TGD on fauna and macrophyte are obvious,mainly through changes of water dynamics and flow pattern;however, it is less clear how microorganisms respond to such changes.This research was aimed to examine differences in microbial diversity at different seasons and locations(in front of and behind the TGD).In addition, differences between particle-attached and free-living communities were also examined.The community structures of total and potentially active microorganisms in the water columns behind and in front of the TGD were analyzed with the DNA- and RNA-based 16S rRNA gene phylogenetic approaches over three different seasons.Clone libraries of 16S rRNA genes were prepared after amplification from extracted DNA and.for some samples,after preparing cDNA from extracted rRNA.Differences were observed between sites at different seasons and between free-living and particle-attached communities.Both bacterial and archaeal communities were more diverse in summer than in winter, due to higher nutrient levels and warmer temperature in summer than in winter.Particle-attached microorganisms were more diverse than free-living communities,possibly because of higher nutrient levels and heterogeneous geochemical micro-environments in particles.Spatial variations in bacterial community structure were observed,i.e..the water reservoir behind the TGD(upstream) hosted more diverse bacterial populations than in front of the dam(downstream),because of diverse sources of sediments and waters from upstream to the reservoir.These results have important implications for our understanding of responses of microbial communities to environmental changes in river ecosystems affected by dam construction.     

Using analytic element models to delineate drinking water source protection areas

Since 1999, Ohio EPA hydrogeologists have used two analytic element models (AEMs), the proprietary software GFLOW and U.S. EPA's WhAEM, to delineate protection areas for 535 public water systems. Both models now use the GFLOW2001 solution engine, integrate well with Geographic Information System (GIS) technology, have a user-friendly graphical interface, are capable of simulating a variety of complex hydrogeologic settings, and do not rely upon a model grid. These features simplify the modeling process and enable AEMs to bridge the gap between existing simplistic delineation methods and more complex numerical models. Ohio EPA hydrogeologists demonstrated that WhAEM2000 and GFLOW2000 were capable of producing capture zones similar to more widely accepted models by applying the AEMs to eight sites that had been previously delineated using other methods. After the Ohio EPA delineated protection areas using AEMs, more simplistic delineation methods used by other states (volumetric equation and arbitrary fixed radii) were applied to the same water systems to compare the differences between various methods. GIS software and two-tailed paired t-tests were used to quantify the differences in protection areas and analyze the data. The results of this analysis demonstrate that AEMs typically produce significantly different protection areas than the most simplistic delineation methods, in terms of total area and shape. If the volumetric equation had been used instead of AEMs, Ohio would not have protected 265 km2 of critical upgradient area and would have overprotected 269 km2 of primarily downgradient land. Since an increasing number of land-use restrictions are being tied to drinking water protection areas, this analysis has broad policy implications.     

Beyond the impasse: the power of political ecology in Third World environmental research

Summary In the context of a deepening impasse in Third World environmental research, this paper suggests that researchers should adopt a political ecology perspective to ensure that research addresses the political and economic issues that underlie the Third World's environmental problems. Since an understanding of unequal power relations is central to political ecology, the paper considers how questions of power influence human-environmental interaction, before assessing briefly how research of this kind might contribute to a resolution of the Third World's environmental problems.     

Impacts of Present and Future Climate Change and Climate Variability on Agriculture in the Temperate Regions: North America

The potential impact of climate variability and climate change on agricultural production in the United States and Canada varies generally by latitude. Largest reductions are projected in southern crop areas due to increased temperatures and reduced water availability. A longer growing season and projected increases in CO₂ may enhance crop yields in northern growing areas. Major factors in these scenarios analyzes are increased drought tendencies and more extreme weather events, both of which are detrimental to agriculture. Increasing competition for water between agriculture and non-agricultural users also focuses attention on water management issues. Agriculture also has impact on the greenhouse gas balance. Forests and soils are natural sinks for CO₂. Removal of forests and changes in land use, associated with the conversion from rural to urban domains, alters these natural sinks. Agricultural livestock and rice cultivation are leading contributors to methane emission into the atmosphere. The application of fertilizers is also a significant contributor to nitrous oxide emission into the atmosphere. Thus, efficient management strategies in agriculture can play an important role in managing the sources and sinks of greenhouse gases. Forest and land management can be effective tools in mitigating the greenhouse effect.     

Dawn; the Vesta–HED connection; and the geologic context for eucrites,diogenites, and howardites

The Dawn mission has provided new evidence strengthening the identification of asteroid Vesta as the parent body of the howardite, eucrite, and diogenite (HED) meteorites. The evidence includes Vesta's petrologic complexity, detailed spectroscopic characteristics, unique space weathering, diagnostic geochemical abundances and neutron absorption characteristics, chronology of surface units and impact history, occurrence of exogenous carbonaceous chondritic materials in the regolith, and dimensions of the core, all of which are consistent with HED observations and constraints. Global mapping of the distributions of HED lithologies by Dawn cameras and spectrometers provides the missing geologic context for these meteorites, thereby allowing tests of petrogenetic models and increasing their scientific value.     

Lithologic mapping of HED terrains on Vesta using Dawn Framing Camera color data

The surface composition of Vesta, the most massive intact basaltic object in the asteroid belt, is interesting because it provides us with an insight into magmatic differentiation of planetesimals that eventually coalesced to form the terrestrial planets. The distribution of lithologic and compositional units on the surface of Vesta provides important constraints on its petrologic evolution, impact history, and its relationship with vestoids and howardite‐eucrite‐diogenite (HED) meteorites. Using color parameters (band tilt and band curvature) originally developed for analyzing lunar data, we have identified and mapped HED terrains on Vesta in Dawn Framing Camera (FC) color data. The average color spectrum of Vesta is identical to that of howardite regions, suggesting an extensive mixing of surface regolith due to impact gardening over the course of solar system history. Our results confirm the hemispherical dichotomy (east‐west and north‐south) in albedo/color/composition that has been observed by earlier studies. The presence of diogenite‐rich material in the southern hemisphere suggests that it was excavated during the formation of the Rheasilvia and Veneneia basins. Our lithologic mapping of HED regions provides direct evidence for magmatic evolution of Vesta with diogenite units in Rheasilvia forming the lower crust of a differentiated object.     

Formation of atoll garnets in the UHP eclogites of the Tso Morari Complex,Ladakh, Himalaya

The eclogites of the Tso Morari Complex, Ladakh, NW Himalayas preserve both garnets with spectacular atoll textures, as well as whole porphyroblastic garnets. Whole garnets are euhedral, idiomorphic and enclose inclusions of amphibole, phengite and zoisite within the cores, and omphacite and quartz/coesite towards the rims. Detailed electron microprobe analyses and back-scattered electron images show well-preserved prograde zoning in the whole garnets with an increase in Mg and decrease in Ca and Mn contents from the core to the rim. The atoll garnets commonly consist of euhedral ring over island/peninsular core containing inclusions of phengite, omphacite and rarely amphibole between the core and ring. Compositional profiles across the studied atoll grains show elemental variations with higher concentrations of Ca and Mn with low Mg at the peninsula/island cores; contrary to this low Ca, Mn and high Mg is observed at the outer rings. Temperature estimates yield higher values at the Mg-rich atoll garnet outer rings compared to the atoll cores. Atoll garnet formation was favoured by infiltration of fluid formed due to breakdown of hydrous phases, and/or the release of structurally bounded OH from nominally anhydrous minerals at the onset of exhumation. Infiltration of fluids along pre-existing fracture pathways and along mineral inclusion boundaries triggered breakdown of the original garnet cores and released elements which were subsequently incorporated into the newly-grown garnet rings. This breakdown of garnet cores and inward re-growth at the outer ring produced the atoll structure. Calibrated geo-thermobarometers and mineral equilibria reflect that the Tso Morari eclogites attain peak pressures prior to peak temperatures representing a clockwise path of evolution.     

A numerical response of the middle atmosphere to the 11-year solar cycle

A two-dimensional numerical model with coupled photochemistry and dynamics has been used to investigate the response of the middle atmosphere (16–116 km) to changes in solar activity over the 11-year solar cycle. Model inputs that vary with solar cycle include solar radiation, cosmic ray and auroral ionization rates and the flux of NO_x at the model's upper boundary.In this study, the results of model runs for solar cycle minimum and maximum conditions are compared. In the stratosphere, using currently accepted estimates of changes in solar radiation at wavelengths longer than 180 nm, only small responses in ozone, temperature and zonal winds are obtained. On the other hand, changes at shorter wavelengths, and the effects of particle precipitation, lead to large variations in the abundances of trace species in the thermosphere and upper mesosphere. In particular, very large abundances of NO_x are produced above 90 km by auroral particle precipitation. Considerable amounts of NO_x are transported subsequently to the stratosphere by the global mean meridional circulation. It is shown that this excess NO_x can lead to significant decreases in ozone concentrations at high latitudes and that it may explain observations of nitrate deposition in Antarctic snow.