Validation of MODIS Vegetation Continuous Fields for monitoring deforestation and forest degradation: two cases in Mexico

This study assesses whether MODIS Vegetation Continuous Fields percent tree cover (PTC) data can detect deforestation and forest degradation. To assess the usefulness of PTC for detecting deforestation, we used a data set consisting of eight forest and seven non-forest categories. To evaluate forest degradation, we used data from two temperate forest types in three conservation states: primary (dense), secondary (moderately degraded) and open (heavily degraded) forest. Our results show that PTC can differentiate temperate forest from non-forest categories (p = 0.05) and thus suggests PTC can adequately detect deforestation in temperate forests. In contrast, single-date PTC data does not appear to be adequate to detect forest degradation in temperate forests. As for tropical forest, PTC can partially discriminate between forest and non-forest categories.     

Ontogenic variation and effect of collection procedure on leaf biomechanical properties of Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile

Leaf mechanical traits are important to understand how aquatic plants fracture and deform when subjected to abiotic (currents or waves) or biotic (herbivory attack) mechanical forces. The likely occurrence of variation during leaf ontogeny in these traits may thus have implications for hydrodynamic performance and vulnerability to herbivory damage, and may be associated with changes in morphologic and chemical traits. Seagrasses, marine flowering plants, consist of shoot bundles holding several leaves with different developmental stages, in which outer older leaves protect inner younger leaves. In this study we examined the long‐lived seagrass Posidonia oceanica to determine ontogenic variation in mechanical traits across leaf position within a shoot, representing different developmental stages. Moreover, we investigated whether or not the collection procedure (classical uprooted shoot versus non‐destructive shoot method: cutting the shoot without a portion of rhizome) and time span after collection influence mechanical measurements. Neither collection procedure nor time elapsed within 48 h of collection affected measurements of leaf biomechanical traits when seagrass shoots were kept moist in dark cool conditions. Ontogenic variation in mechanical traits in P. oceanica leaves over intermediate and adult developmental stages was observed: leaves weakened and lost stiffness with aging, while mid‐aged leaves (the longest and thickest ones) were able to withstand higher breaking forces. In addition, younger leaves had higher nitrogen content and lower fiber content than older leaves. The observed patterns may explain fine‐scale within‐shoot ecological processes of leaves at different developmental stages, such as leaf shedding and herbivory consumption in P. oceanica.     

Numerical evaluation of mean-field homogenisation methods for predicting shale elastic response

Homogenisation techniques have been successfully used to estimate the mechanical response of synthetic composite materials, due to their ability to relate the macroscopic mechanical response to the material microstructure. The adoption of these mean-field techniques in geo-composites such as shales is attractive, partly because of the practical difficulties associated with the experimental characterisation of these highly heterogeneous materials. In this paper, numerical modelling has been undertaken to investigate the applicability of homogenisation methods in predicting the macroscopic, elastic response of clayey rocks. The rocks are considered as two-level composites consisting of a porous clay matrix at the first level and a matrix-inclusion morphology at the second level. The simulated microstructures ranged from a simple system of one inclusion/void embedded in a matrix to complex, random microstructures. The effectiveness and limitations of the different homogenisation schemes were demonstrated through a comparative evaluation of the macroscopic elastic response, illustrating the appropriate schemes for upscaling the microstructure of shales. Based on the numerical simulations and existing experimental observations, a randomly distributed pore system for the micro-structure of porous clay matrix has been proposed which can be used for the subsequent development and validation of shale constitutive models. Finally, the homogenisation techniques were used to predict the experimental measurements of elastic response of shale core samples. The developed methodology is proved to be a valuable tool for verifying the accuracy and performance of the homogenisation techniques.     

An integration-based estimation approach for the determination of slug test parameters under various flow geometries

A simple parameter estimation procedure, designated as integration-based estimation (IBE), was introduced to determine the hydraulic properties of an aquifer using slug test models subjected to certain flow geometries such as radial and spherical flows. The basic idea behind the proposed IBE approach is to link an integration value at pre-defined normalized head levels for field data with that of a theoretical type curve. The IBE method removes the need for the implementation of the classical graphical matching process which would be ineffective to acquire aquifer parameters for non-ideal aquifer conditions. As the second aspect of this study, a new decision tool was suggested to determine the suitable slug test model to be utilized for the site data since diagnosing the flow character properly is of crucial importance for following a convenient analysis procedure. The estimation performance and limitation of the proposed IBE method were tested for several slug test scenarios including radial and spherical flow models with a number of synthetically generated data sets as well as a field application. Results reveal that the IBE together with the identification methodology not only is able to retrieve aquifer parameters as reliable as the existing techniques in the literature but also diagnoses the flow character precisely as demonstrated in this study.     

Soil wettability in ground engineering: fundamentals,methods, and applications

Wettability is a fundamental property controlling the extent of wetting in flat and granular solids. In natural soils, wettability affects a wide variety of processes including infiltration, preferential flow and surface runoff. In mineral processing, wettability is paramount in enhancing the efficiency of separation of minerals from gangue. The manipulation of surface wettability is equally crucial in many industrial applications. For instance, superhydrophobic surfaces are those on which water drops roll off easily and as such are used for self-cleaning applications. Therefore, while wettability is strongly cross-disciplinary, its evolution has been discipline-specific with a direct extrapolation or transfer of concepts, approaches, and methods to ground engineering unlikely to remain valid. This paper synthesizes relevant aspects from surface chemistry, materials science, mining engineering, and soil science, and discusses their implications within the context of new granular materials that resist wetting, for use in barriers or ground improvement and, in unsaturated soils, where the effects of wettability have been documented.