Quantitative evaluation of strategies for erosion control on a railway embankment batter

Strategies for erosion control on a railway embankment batter (side slope) are quantitatively evaluated in this paper. The strategies were centred on control (‘do nothing’ treatment), grass seeding, gypsum application, jute mat (an erosion control blanket) placement and planting hedgerows of Monto vetiver grass. Rainfall and runoff were monitored at 1 min intervals on 10 m wide embankment batter plots during 1998 and 1999. Total bedload and suspended sediment eroded from the plots were also measured but only for a group of storm events within sampling intervals. It has been demonstrated that vetiver grass is not cost‐effective in controlling erosion on railway batters within Central Queensland region. Seeding alone could cause 60% reduction in the erosion rate compared with the control treatment. Applying gypsum to the calcium‐deficient soil before seeding yielded an additional 25% reduction in the erosion rate. This is the result, primarily, of 100% grass cover establishment within seven months of sowing. Therefore, for railway embankment batter erosion control, the emphasis needs to be on rapid establishment of 100% grass cover. For rapid establishment of grass cover, irrigation is necessary during the initial stages of growth as the rainfall is unpredictable and the potential evaporation exceeds rainfall in the study region. The risk of seeds and fertilizers being washed out by short‐duration and high‐intensity rainfall events during the establishment phase may be reduced by the use of erosion control blankets on sections of the batters. Accidental burning of grasses on some plots caused serious erosion problems, resulting in very slow recovery of grass growth. It is therefore recommended that controlled burning of grasses on railway batters should be avoided to protect batters from being exposed to severe erosion. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Grassland coverage inter-annual variation and its coupling relation with hydrothermal factors in China during 1982-2010

GIMMS (Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies) NDVI (Normalised Difference Vegetation Index) from 1982 to 2006 and MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) NDVI from 2001 to 2010 were blended to extract the grass coverage and analyze its spatial pattern. The response of grass coverage to climatic variations at annual and monthly time scales was analyzed. Grass coverage distribution had increased from northwest to southeast across China. During 1982-2010, the mean nationwide grass coverage was 34% but exhibited apparent spatial heterogeneity, being the highest (61.4%) in slope grasslands and the lowest (17.1%) in desert grasslands. There was a slight increase of the grass coverage with a rate of 0.17% per year. Increase in slope grasslands coverage was as high as 0.27% per year, while in the plain grasslands and meadows the grass coverage increase was the lowest (being 0.11% per year and 0.1% per year, respectively). Across China, the grass coverage with extremely significant increase (P<0.01) and significant increase (P<0.05) accounted for 46.03% and 11% of the total grassland area, respectively, while those with extremely significant and significant decrease accounted for only 4.1% and 3.24%, respectively. At the annual time scale, there are no significant correlations between grass coverage and annual mean temperature and precipitation. However, the grass coverage was somewhat affected by temperature in alpine and sub-alpine grassland, alpine and sub-alpine meadow, slope grassland and meadow, while grass coverage in desert grassland and plain grassland was more affected by precipitation. At the monthly time-scale, there are significant correlations between grass coverage with both temperature and precipitation, indicating that the grass coverage is more affected by seasonal fluctuations of hydrothermal conditions. Additionally, there is one-month time lag-effect between grass coverage and climate factors for each grassland types.     

沂蒙山区域山水林田湖草一体化保护和修复工程规划实践

山水林田湖草一体化保护和修复是解决生态环境问题的重要途径,也是推进生态文明建设的必然要求。本研究在系统调查沂蒙山区域自然生态各个要素基础上,识别出生境破损,水生态系统质量下降,森林生态服务功能退化等三大区域生态安全问题和十项区域生态环境问题,构建了“三山三水”的生态保护修复格局,划分了沂山—沂河水生态、蒙山—汶河林草和基础环境、尼山—祊河基础环境和水生态保护3个主体修复区,规划了基础环境类、土地整治类、林草保护修复类、水生态保护修复类、污染防治类和监测监管预警类等6大类工程措施。工程实施将提升区域生态系统质量和服务功能,也将为类似区域山水林田湖草生态保护修复工程规划提供参考。     

Spatial non-stationary characteristics between grass yield and its influencing factors in the Ningxia temperate grasslands based on a mixed geographically weighted regression model

Spatial models are effective in obtaining local details on grassland biomass, and their accuracy has important practical significance for the stable management of grasses and livestock. To this end, the present study utilized measured quadrat data of grass yield across different regions in the main growing season of temperate grasslands in Ningxia of China (August 2020), combined with hydrometeorology, elevation, net primary productivity (NPP), and other auxiliary data over the same period. Accordingly, non-stationary characteristics of the spatial scale, and the effects of influencing factors on grass yield were analyzed using a mixed geographically weighted regression (MGWR) model. The results showed that the model was suitable for correlation analysis. The spatial scale of ratio resident-area index (PRI) was the largest, followed by the digital elevation model, NPP, distance from gully, distance from river, average July rainfall, and daily temperature range; whereas the spatial scales of night light, distance from roads, and relative humidity (RH) were the most limited. All influencing factors maintained positive and negative effects on grass yield, save for the strictly negative effect of RH. The regression results revealed a multiscale differential spatial response regularity of different influencing factors on grass yield. Regression parameters revealed that the results of Ordinary least squares (OLS) (Adjusted R² = 0.642) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) (Adjusted R² = 0.797) models were worse than those of MGWR (Adjusted R² = 0.889) models. Based on the results of the RMSE and radius index, the simulation effect also was MGWR > GWR > OLS models. Ultimately, the MGWR model held the strongest prediction performance (R² = 0.8306). Spatially, the grass yield was high in the south and west, and low in the north and east of the study area. The results of this study provide a new technical support for rapid and accurate estimation of grassland yield to dynamically adjust grazing decision in the semi-arid loess hilly region.     

四川省林草火险等级评价

把四川建设成为长江上游生态屏障是四川省的一项重大战略决策。森林和草地资源防火是生态屏障和生态安全保障体系建设的重要内容。林草火险等级的评价对森林和草地资源的防火具有重要的意义。本文利用遥感、GIS和层次分析法对四川省林草火险等级进行了评价。研究表明,就全省而言,火险等级为5级的占0.8%,为4级的占20.2%,为3级的占47.2%;极高火险区主要出现在甘孜州、凉山州、阿坝州、攀枝花市和雅安市,其所占面积百分比分别为49.2%、24.7%、15.7%、3.5%和3.4%;高火险区主要出现在甘孜州、凉山州和阿坝州,其所占面积百分比共达到了72.1%。建议将甘孜州、凉山州、阿坝州、攀枝花以及雅安市作为四川省林草防火的重点区域,在防火的人、财、物上给予优先考虑。     

RETENTION OF WATER AND SEDIMENT BY GRASS STRIPS

This paper discusses aspects of grass vegetation in relation to soil erosion control. By means of a literature research, four options for using grass vegetation were recognized, each having its own requirements concerning maintenance, vegetation characteristics and field layout. The main filter mechanisms, application in the field and effects on runoff and soil loss are discussed. Field experiments on filter strips were carried out to determine whether literature data for water and sediment retention by vegetation can be applied to sloping loess soils in South Limburg (The Netherlands). The field experiments simulated a situation in which surface runoff carrying loess sediment from an upslope field enters a grass strip. The retention of water and sediment by grass strips was determined by measuring runoff discharge and the sediment concentration at the inflow and outflow points from bordered plots. Two locations with different grass age and agricultural management were studied. Results show that grass strips are effective in filtering sediment from surface runoff as long as concentrated flow is absent. Outflow sediment concentrations could be described as a function of inflow concentrations and strip width. Reductions of sediment discharge varied between 50–60, 60–90 and 90–99% for strips of 1, 4–5 and 10 m width, respectively. Old grass, extensively used as pasture, is more effective in reducing erosion than the younger grass which was often accessed by tractors for mowing. Differences in water retention between both grass locations appear to be caused mainly by differences in grass density.     

Optimal season for discriminating C3 and C4 grass functional types using multi-date Sentinel 2 data

ABSTRACT

The ability of remote sensing systems to optimally discriminate and map C3 and C4 grass species varies over time, due to environmental changes, which influence their phenological, physiological and morphological characteristics. In this regard, the discrimination of C3 and C4 grasses is insufficient when using a single image acquired at a specific period. In this study, multi-date Sentinel 2A MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) data were explored to determine the optimal period for classifying and mapping Festuca costata, C3 and Themeda Triandra, C4 grasses in the montane grasslands of South Africa. The study further assessed how seasonal variations in species classification can be explained by climatic variability (rainfall and temperature). Results showed that image acquisition dates influence the discrimination accuracy, spatial representation of the two grass species, as well as the performance of spectral bands. The winter period also presents a better temporal window for discriminating C3 and C4 target grass species, with higher overall classification accuracies (between 91.8% and 95.3%), than summer (between 81.4% and 90.3%). Lower omission (between 2.8% and 11.6%) and commission (between 2.5% and 14.2%) errors were also observed when discriminating using winter images, as compared to those acquired in summer. Summer images showed large grass species areal coverage (e.g. in November and March, C3 and C4 covered ±25%), whereas in winter (mainly August), a notable decrease was observed. Overall, findings of the study have demonstrated the relevance of multi-date Sentinel data in discriminating C3 and C4 grass species. There is, however, a need to explore the classification ability of Sentinel 2 derivatives, especially during early summer and winter fall.     

应用LSF概念模型反演草冠层叶面温度的试验

试验在已知土壤表面温度的前提下，分别利用AVHRR卫星遥感资料和准同步地面观测数据，应用LSF概念模型成功反演了草冠层叶面温度。通过对星、地资料反演的草冠层叶面温度比较发现，二者反演结果相差小于0．2K，说明利用卫星遥感资料，应用LSF概念模型反演草场冠层叶面温度可获得比较满意的结果。假设其他参数不变，分别对不同叶面发射率和不同土壤表面发射率反演的叶面温度分析发现，组分发射率的估算精度对反演结果影响较小，而整层空气柱可降水量的估算精度对卫星资料反演草冠层叶面温度影响大，用探空资料和露点温度估算的整层空气柱可降水量可导致反演的叶面温度相差达1．1K。在水分供应充足条件下，晴天11：00-17：00时，即使太阳总辐射强，叶面温度的变化幅度比土壤表面温度、空气温度小。以1999年8月6日为例，叶面温度变化仅有1．22K，而同时土壤表面温度变化为9．5K，1．5m高的空气温度变化为6．0K，叶面温度变化幅度比土壤表面温度、空气温度平缓。试验结果还表明，采用Becker和李召良的分裂窗模型反演青藏高原东南缘地区的陆地表面温度效果较好。     

地温观测方法的研究

利用铂、铜、热敏３种电阻传感器的遥测地温仪与台站现用玻璃地温表，在不同天气条件下，用不同安置方法进行大量的对比试验，探讨地面、草面、地中不同深度温度的最佳观测方法。得出：地面温度应用体积小棒状传感器的多点采样平均来代替单点一次采样；地中温度表用直埋式与套管式无大差异；草温为农业服务有重要意义等结论。为遥测地温的观测方法提供科学依据。