Atmospheric circulation and storminess derived from Royal Navy logbooks: 1685 to 1750

This paper is concerned with the use of Royal Navy ships’ logbooks for the period 1685 to 1750, thereby embracing the oldest members of this documentary series that extends to the present day. The geographic range of the undertaking is confined to the English Channel and its western approaches where the abundance of logbooks for this period allows for the abstraction of a daily series of wind force and direction data. These are verified and processed for inclusion in a database from which indices are derived for air circulation patterns based on the frequency of winds from north, east, south and west quarters, and of gale frequency, based on the contemporary terminology of wind force. The methods by which the data are abstracted and processed are described, as is the nature of the raw data and source material. The results provide a uniquely detailed insight into the changing patterns of air circulation over this critical period that marked the transition from the depths of the Little Ice Age in the late seventeenth century. Attention is also drawn to the changing nature of gale frequency, which revealed a notable decrease over the study period. Associations between changing circulation patterns and temperature regimes are also explored.     

克氏原鳌虾气象因子影响研究现状与展望

克氏原螯虾主要养殖在长江中下游地区,目前最主要的养殖模式为虾稻共作模式。大量研究结果表明,克氏原螯虾的生长发育与气象要素密切相关。水温在25-30℃时,克氏原螯虾生长较快;16-25℃水温范围内,温度越高,越有利于雌虾卵巢发育;20-30℃水温范围内,水温越高,受精卵孵化时间越短。光明和黑暗时间之比为16 h∶8 h时,最有利于雌虾性腺发育。与克氏原螯虾养殖有关的气象灾害主要有暴雨洪涝、高温热害、低温冷害。鉴于目前的养殖和气象因子影响研究及服务现状,建议气象部门开展虾-稻种养基地气象观测站网建设,开展气温与水温相关性和水温预报研究,以及气象要素对克氏原螯虾影响的定量化研究。     

PHYSICO‐GEOCHEMICAL AND MINERAL COMPOSITION OF NEEM TREE SOILS AND RELATION TO ORGANIC PROPERTIES

The Neem tree, the oil of which has a long history of pesticide, fertilizer and medicinal use in India, has been studied extensively for its organic compounds. Here we present a physical, mineralogical and geochemical database resulting from the analyses of two Neem soil profiles (epipedons) in India. Neem tree derivatives are used in the manufacture of a variety of products, from anti‐bacterial drugs and insecticides to fertilizers and animal feeds. A preliminary geochemical and mineralogical analysis of Neem soils is made to explore the potential for chemical links between Neem tree derivatives and soils. Physical soil characteristics, including colour, texture and clay mineralogy, suggest the two pedons formed under different hydrological regimes, and hence, are products of different leaching environments, one well‐drained site, the other poorly drained. Geochemically, the two Neem soils exhibit similarities, with elevated concentrations of Th and rare earth elements. These elements are of interest because of their association with phosphates, especially monazite and apatite, and the potential link to fertilizer derivatives. Higher concentrations of trace elements in the soils may be linked to nutritional derivatives and to cell growth in the Neem tree.     

Impact of copper smelting on lakes in the southern Ural Mountains,Russia, inferred from chironomids

Karabash (52°2 N, 60°10 E) is a copper smelting town in the southern Ural Mountains of Russia. The town is affected by sulphur dioxide emissions and deposition of metal-rich particulates from the smelter, acid drainage from old mine workings, and leachates from disused waste dumps and tailings dams. The close proximity of houses to these sources of pollution is of concern to human health and has devastated terrestrial vegetation in the environs. The environmental impact of the smelter on lakes in the area has been assessed using chironomids. Short sediment cores were taken from 16 lakes within a 50 km radius of the smelter and the composition of the chironomid fauna from the bottom of each core, representing conditions prior to the commissioning of the smelter in 1910, was compared with the present chironomid fauna in the surface sediments. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that changes in the chironomid fauna of most lakes were driven by trophic change, independent of the industrial activity. Lakes and ponds adjacent to the smelter and waste dumps, which directly receive contaminated waters were devoid of macro- and mesofauna and flora, but there is no evidence that other lakes have been severely impacted by smelter emissions. Local geology ensures that the lakes are well-buffered to the effects of acid deposition which will limit the bioavailability of metals in the water column and sediment.     

Dynamic modelling of passive margin salt tectonics: effects of water loading, sediment properties and sedimentation patterns

We investigate the evolution of passive continental margin sedimentary basins that contain salt through two‐dimensional (2D) analytical failure analysis and plane‐strain finite‐element modelling. We expand an earlier analytical failure analysis of a sedimentary basin/salt system at a passive continental margin to include the effects of submarine water loading and pore fluid pressure. Seaward thinning sediments above a weak salt layer produce a pressure gradient that induces Poiseuille flow in the viscous salt. We determine the circumstances under which failure at the head and toe of the frictional–plastic sediment wedge occurs, resulting in translation of the wedge, landward extension and seaward contraction, accompanied by Couette flow in the underlying salt. The effects of water: (i) increase solid and fluid pressures in the sediments; (ii) reduce the head to toe differential pressure in the salt and (iii) act as a buttress to oppose failure and translation of the sediment wedge. The magnitude of the translation velocity upon failure is reduced by the effects of water. The subsequent deformation is investigated using a 2D finite‐element model that includes the effects of the submarine setting and hydrostatic pore pressures. The model quantitatively simulates a 2D approximation of the evolution of natural sedimentary basins on continental margins that are formed above salt. Sediment progradation above a viscous salt layer results in formation of landward extensional basins and listric normal growth faults as well as seaward contraction. At a later stage, an allochthonous salt nappe overthrusts the autochthonous limit of the salt. The nature and distribution of major structures depends on the sediment properties and the sedimentation pattern. Strain weakening of sediment favours landward listric growth faults with formation of asymmetric extensional depocentres. Episodes of low sediment influx, with partial infill of depocentres, produce local pressure gradients in the salt that result in diapirism. Diapirs grow passively during sediment aggradation.     

Dynamics of mule deer forage in the Sonoran Desert

Forage availability for mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in the Sonoran Desert depends on plant biomass, which is influenced by rainfall. We determined how rainfall, temperature and plant characteristics affected biomass of deer forage. We measured forage biomass, rainfall and temperature every 3 months from April 2000 to December 2002. Quarterly rainfall ranged from <1 to 57 mm, and forage biomass in desert washes fluctuated between 6 and 34 g m⁻². There was a positive relationship between forage biomass and rainfall the previous six months (p<0.001), and a negative relationship between biomass and average temperature the previous 3 months (p<0.001). Quarterly forage growth was positively influenced by rainfall (p<0.001) and negatively influenced by forage biomass (p<0.001). The relationships between deer forage and environmental factors established here will be useful in understanding population ecology of mule deer as part of an interactive model of plant–herbivore dynamics in arid environments.     

Growth response of the saltbush Atriplex nummularia L. to inoculation with the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus intraradices

Plantlets of Atriplex nummularia were inoculated with the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi Glomus intraradices in a pot experiment. Plants were grown in a low P soil. Highly significant growth response of a Chenopodiaceae was recorded for the first time. Mycorrhizal colonization of roots was well developed, internal hyphae and vesicles were observed, but not arbuscules. These observations suggest that arbuscules are not necessary to obtain significant growth stimulation from mycorrhizal inoculation. Atriplex nummularia is already used as forage crops, its high mycorrhizal dependency offers possibilities to develop this production and revegetation strategies.