Mushroom production as an alternative for rural development in a forested mountainous area

Wild mushrooms are recognized as important non-wood forest products in mountainous ecosystems, but their real potential for generating rural economies has not been fully evaluated due to the difficulties in obtaining reliable productivity data, minimizing their true potential as contributor to rural economies. Mushroom yield models based on large data series from Pinus forest ecosystems in the region of Catalonia(Spain), combined with data from the Spanish National Forest Inventory allow us to estimate the potential mushroom productivity by forest ecosystems. The results of 24,500 tons/yr of mushrooms of which 16,300 tons are classified as edible and 7,900 tons are commonly marketed demonstrate the importance of mushroom productions in Catalonian pine forests, mostly located in mountainous areas where the development of agricultural activities is limited. Economic mushroom value is estimated at 48 million € for the edible mushroom and 32 million € for those corresponding to marketable yields, confirming the potential of this non-wood forest product. These production results and corresponding economic values provide a basis for the incorporation of wild mushrooms as significant non-wood forest products in the development of forest policies in mountainous areas.     

Abundance and spatial dynamics of bacterioplankton in the Seven Rila Lakes, Bulgaria

In the high mountain oligotrophic Seven Rila Lakes (2 095–2 535 m a.s.l.) bacterial abundance was recorded in July and September 2006. In July, bacterial abundance (average (3.32±2.5)×10⁵ cell/ml) in the lakes correlated negatively with elevation, while in September (average (26.39±7.1)×10⁵ cell/ml) this pattern was altered and the greatest abundance of bacteria occurred at the highest ((39.05±1.5)×10⁵ cell/ml) and the lowest ((30.63±6.0)×10⁵ cell/ml) elevated lakes. Regression analyses suggested that the principal factor controlling bacterial abundance, in both July and September, was inorganic nitrogen (NO₃-N and NH₄-N; R ²=0.70, P<0.05). Other major regulating factors were temperature (R ²=0.66, P<0.03) in July and filter-feeding zooplankton (R ²=0.95, P<0.01) in September. All factors, except NO₃-N, had a positive effect on bacterial abundance.     

Assessments on slope instabilities triggered by engineering excavations near a small settlement (Turkey)

In this study, the mechanisms of slope instabilities triggered by engineering excavations at location of a planned tunnel portal in the northwest region of Turkey were assessed, and stability of the current slopes which has impacts on safety of a settlement (village) and agricultural fields was investigated. In the first stage of the study, in order to identify the geological units and structural properties of the sedimentary rocks in the area, to clarify the mechanisms of instabilities and to characterize discontinuity and rock mass properties field works were conducted. In this content, geotechnical boreholes, geophysical explorations between the boreholes, line surveys to explore discontinuity properties, preparation of slope profiles using topographical techniques and sampling of rock blocks and discontinuity planes were performed. In the second stage, laboratory tests were carried out on the samples to determine the geomechnical properties of the slope forming materials and discontinuities. Then, back analyses of the instabilities were made to assess the responsible shear strength parameters of the geological units during failures by considering laboratory shear test results too. Based on the backanalyses of the failures, the strength properties of the slope debris were estimated, and it has been clarified that the residual shear strength properties are the factors controlling slip mechanism along the beddings. Following the stability analyses, it is understood that a further instability along the mass or bedding planes in the failed and redesigned area are not expected, if the current slope geometry is not changed. However, safety factor calculated for the slope in the debris is 1.1 which is well below the recommended value in the literature. The minimum safety factor for currently stable slopes which were cut at the eastern part of the failed area is 1.22 which is also less than that suggested in literature. Some remedial measures such as mini-pile or slope flattening are suggested after analyses to increase the factor of safety for this part below the settlement.     

Dynamics of a satellite orbiting a planet with an inhomogeneous gravitational field

We study the dynamics of a satellite (artificial or natural) orbiting an Earth-like planet at low altitude from an analytical point of view. The perturbation considered takes into account the gravity attraction of the planet and in particular it is caused by its inhomogeneous potential. We begin by truncating the equations of motion at second order, that is, incorporating the zonal and the tesseral harmonics up to order two. The system is formulated as an autonomous Hamiltonian and has three degrees of freedom. After three successive Lie transformations, the system is normalised with respect to two angular co-ordinates up to order five in a suitable small parameter given by the quotient between the angular velocity of the planet and the mean motion of the satellite. Our treatment is free of power expansions of the eccentricity and of truncated Fourier series in the anomalies. Once these transformations are performed, the truncated Hamiltonian defines a system of one degree of freedom which is rewritten as a function of two variables which generate a phase space which takes into account all of the symmetries of the problem. Next an analysis of the system is achieved obtaining up to six relative equilibria and three types of bifurcations. The connection with the original system is established concluding the existence of various families of invariant 3-tori of it, as well as quasiperiodic and periodic trajectories. This is achieved by using KAM theory techniques.     

Seven Asteroids Studied from Modra Observatory in the Course of Binary Asteroid Photometric Campaign

We report lightcurves for five asteroids from the inner main belt—(1703) Barry, (2590) Mourão, (4022) Nonna, (5171) Augustesen, (23031) 1999 XX₇—and for two near-Earth asteroids—(100004) 1983 VA, (144922) 2005 CK₃₈—obtained at Modra Observatory as a part of binary asteroid photometric campaign. Estimated synodic rotational periods and amplitudes of their composite lightcurves were as follows: 107.1 ± 0.5 h, 0.5 mag for (1703) Barry; 15.59 ± 0.01 h, 0.49 mag for (2590) Mourão; 2.5877 ± 0.0005 h, 0.08 mag for (4022) Nonna; 474 ± 10 h, 0.8 mag for (5171) Augustesen; 3.075 ± 0.001 h, 0.43 mag for (23031) 1999 XX₇; 3.1643 ± 0.0009 h, 0.11 mag for (100004) 1983 VA; 4.7894 ± 0.0005 h, 0.27 mag for (144922) 2005 CK₃₈. The slow rotator (5171) Augustesen and possibly also (1703) Barry appear to be tumblers, though their precession periods can not be estimated from the available data.     

Lithium depletion in the brown dwarf binary GJ 569Bab

GJ 569Bab is the first brown dwarf binary for which the mass of each component has been derived by solving the astrometric and spectroscopic orbit of the pair, i.e., independently of any theoretical assumption. This allows us to test the predictions of the various evolutionary models available in the literature. Particularly interesting are the predictions of lithium depletion for the mass (0.08–0.05M_⊙) and likely age (300–800 Myr) of the substellar components. High‐resolution optical spectra of GJ 569B (the pair is not resolved) obtained with HIRES at the Keck telescope show that there has been significant lithium depletion in both components. We will compare these results to state‐of‐the‐art theoretical calculations. (© 2005 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

On The Origin of The High-Perihelion Scattered Disk: The Role of The Kozai Mechanism And Mean Motion Resonances

We study the transfer process from the scattered disk (SD) to the high-perihelion scattered disk (HPSD) (defined as the population with perihelion distances q > 40 AU and semimajor axes a>50 AU) by means of two different models. One model (Model 1) assumes that SD objects (SDOs) were formed closer to the Sun and driven outwards by resonant coupling with the accreting Neptune during the stage of outward migration (Gomes 2003b, Earth, Moon, Planets 92, 29–42.). The other model (Model 2) considers the observed population of SDOs plus clones that try to compensate for observational discovery bias (Fernández et al. 2004, Icarus , in press). We find that the Kozai mechanism (coupling between the argument of perihelion, eccentricity, and inclination), associated with a mean motion resonance (MMR), is the main responsible for raising both the perihelion distance and the inclination of SDOs. The highest perihelion distance for a body of our samples was found to be q = 69.2 AU. This shows that bodies can be temporarily detached from the planetary region by dynamical interactions with the planets. This phenomenon is temporary since the same coupling of Kozai with a MMR will at some point bring the bodies back to states of lower-q values. However, the dynamical time scale in high-q states may be very long, up to several Gyr. For Model 1, about 10% of the bodies driven away by Neptune get trapped into the HPSD when the resonant coupling Kozai-MMR is disrupted by Neptune’s migration. Therefore, Model 1 also supplies a fossil HPSD, whose bodies remain in non-resonant orbits and thus stable for the age of the solar system, in addition to the HPSD formed by temporary captures of SDOs after the giant planets reached their current orbits. We find that about 12 – 15% of the surviving bodies of our samples are incorporated into the HPSD after about 4 – 5 Gyr, and that a large fraction of the captures occur for up to the 1:8 MMR (a ⋍ 120 AU), although we record captures up to the 1:24 MMR (a ≃ 260 AU). Because of the Kozai mechanism, HPSD objects have on average inclinations about 25°–50°, which are higher than those of the classical Edgeworth–Kuiper (EK) belt or the SD. Our results suggest that Sedna belongs to a dynamically distinct population from the HPSD, possibly being a member of the inner core of the Oort cloud. As regards to 2000 CR₁₀₅ , it is marginally within the region occupied by HPSD objects in the parametric planes (q,a) and (a,i), so it is not ruled out that it might be a member of the HPSD, though it might as well belong to the inner core.