Are peatlands in different states with respect to their thermodynamic behaviour? A simple test of peatland energy and entropy budgets

Whilst all ecosystems must obey the second law of thermodynamics, these physical bounds and controls on ecosystem evolution and development are largely ignored across the ecohydrological literature. To unravel the importance of these underlying restraints on ecosystem form and function, and their power to inform our scientific understanding, we have calculated the entropy budget of a range of peat ecosystems. We hypothesize that less disturbed peatlands are ‘near equilibrium’ with respect to the second law of thermodynamics and thus respond to change by minimizing entropy production. This ‘near equilibrium’ state is best achieved by limiting evaporative losses. Alternatively, peatlands ‘far-from-equilibrium’ respond to a change in energy inputs by maximizing entropy production which is best achieved by increasing evapotranspiration. To test these alternatives this study examined the energy balance time series from seven peatlands across a disturbance gradient. We estimate the entropy budgets for each and determine how a change in net radiation (ΔR_n) was transferred to a change in latent heat flux (ΔλE). The study showed that: (i) The transfer of net radiation to latent heat differed significantly between peatlands. One group transferred up to 64% of the change in net radiation to a change in latent heat flux, while the second transferred as little as 27%. (ii) Sites that transferred the most energy to latent heat flux were those that produced the greatest entropy. The study shows that an ecosystem could be ‘near equilibrium’ rather than ‘far from equilibrium’.     

Flexible membranes anchored to the ground for slope stabilisation: Numerical modelling of soil slopes using SPH

An alternative modelling for flexible membranes anchored to the ground for soil slope stabilisation is presented using Smoothed-Particle Hydrodynamics to model the unstable ground mass in a soil slope, employing a dynamic solve engine. A regression model of pressure normal to the ground, q_sim, and also membrane deflection, f_sim, have been developed using Design of Experiment. Finally, a comparison between the pressure obtained from numerical simulation and from a limit equilibrium analysis considering infinite slope has been carried out, showing differences in the results, mainly due to the membrane stiffness.     

早白垩世泥炭地净初级生产力及其控制因素--来自二连盆地吉尔嘎郎图凹陷6号煤的证据

现代泥炭地中蕴藏着巨量的碳,泥炭地生产力的高低会影响全球碳循环及全球气候变化。前人对全新世以来泥炭地生产力做了大量研究,但对前第四纪的“深时”阶段的泥炭地生产力则极少涉及,其主要原因是缺少精确的定年方法。以二连盆地吉尔嘎郎图凹陷早白垩世6号煤为例,利用地球物理测井信号进行频谱分析并获得煤层中米兰科维奇旋回周期参数（123 ka（偏心率）:38.1 ka（斜率）:22.1 ka（岁差））,将米兰科维奇旋回作为“深时”地层时间的“度量”工具,计算出6号煤层碳的聚集速率为35.1~38.9 g C/（m2·a）,进一步推算出其所代表的泥炭地的碳聚集速率为46.2~51.2 g C/（m2·a）,净初级生产力（NPP）为231~256 g C/（m2·a）。将该计算结果与全新世同一纬度带泥炭地生产力水平比较,并结合前人研究成果综合分析影响因素,得出早白垩世泥炭地生产力水平主要受温度和大气中二氧化碳含量控制,而这两种因素又与气候相关联,则泥炭地生产力的研究可能对进一步了解古气候提供帮助。     

架子台沟低品位铅锌矿原生晕地球化学特征及深部矿产预测

对架子台沟一带1:50 000化探异常检查中,地表发现有铅锌矿化显示,经对激电测深异常深部钻探验证发现有低品位锌矿(化)体。通过系统采集0号勘探线上的2个钻孔中岩石、矿石样品,进行原生晕特征研究分析表明:矿体近矿元素为Ag、Pb、Zn、Cd,尾矿元素为W、Sn、Bi;轴向分带序列由上至下为:Pb-Au-Ag-Mo-Bi-Sn-Cu-Cd-W-Zn。对成矿元素与相关金属元素进行聚类分析、因子分析,并结合激电测深结果,认为在矿体的侧部、深部仍可能有盲矿体。     

西北太平洋海洋净初级生产力与柔鱼资源量变动关系的研究

海洋初级生产力在海洋生态中扮演重要角色,其变化影响了海洋渔业的潜在产量。本文根据2004-2013年中国鱿钓组提供的西北太平洋柔鱼(Ommastrephes bartramii)捕捞数据和海洋遥感净初级生产力数据,研究了柔鱼冬春生西部群体资源量变动与净初级生产力的关系。结果发现,柔鱼渔场范围内净初级生产力在经度方向上呈明显的季节性变化,冬春季低,夏秋季高。捕捞月份7-11月对应的适宜净初级生产力范围分别为500~700 mg/(m2·d)(以碳计),500~800 mg/(m2·d),500~1000 mg/(m2·d),500~800 mg/(m2·d)和300~500 mg/(m2·d),最适净初级生产力分别为700 mg/(m2·d),600 mg/(m2·d),700 mg/(m2·d),600 mg/(m2·d)和400 mg/(m2·d)。7-11各月最适净初级生产力平均纬度与捕捞努力量纬度重心呈显著正相关关系(P<0.05),说明了捕捞努力量位置在渔场中不是随机分布,可能受最适净初级生产力的纬度分布的影响。柔鱼年间资源丰度与各年3月份净初级生产力以及7-11月份平均净初级生产力大小显著正相关(P<0.05)。推测每年柔鱼资源量大小可能是由3月份产卵场海域和7-11月捕捞月份渔场净初级生产力水平交互作用的结果。研究表明,异常环境条件(厄尔尼诺和拉尼娜事件)对柔鱼产卵场和渔场的净初级生产力具有显著影响,但调控机制不同。     

Ecosystem services assessment and compensation costs for installing seaweed farms

In a global context of promotion and expansion of blue growth initiatives, the development of activities such as aquaculture calls for the assessment of the potential impacts on biodiversity at different levels and associated services. This paper presents an assessment of the potential impact of the installation of seaweed farms on ecosystem services and the induced compensation costs. Biophysical and socioeconomic indicators have been developed for helping decision makers to select the most suitable locations. The approach considers a multi-criteria approach based on Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Habitat Equivalency Analysis (HEA). The former is used to obtain biophysical ecosystem services and socioeconomic indicators and the latter to evaluate the costs required to compensate the loss of cultural and provisioning ecosystem services. A case-study in the Normand-Breton (Saint Malo) Gulf, France, illustrates this method through the analysis of hypothetical locations of seaweed farms. Results highlight the differences between alternative locations regarding biophysical constraints (in terms of distance and depth), potential risks of conflicts with existing uses, impacts on habitats and the ecosystem services delivered, and compensation costs. This case-study illustrates the flexibility of this approach which can be further adapted to include other indicators in order to deliver integrated information to coastal planners.     

Spatial Concentration in Australian Regional Development,Exogenous Shocks and Regional Demographic Outcomes: a South Australian case study

ABSTRACT

As a tribute to the massive contribution of our friend and colleague Graeme Hugo to the population and settlement geography of Australian rural areas, this paper presents a longitudinal study from his home State. It forms part of a wider study of the long-term demographic relationships between Australia’s rapidly growing regional cities and their surrounding functional regions. Of particular interest is the question of what effect the accelerating concentration of population and economic activity into a given regional city will have for the longer term demographic sustainability of its functional region as a whole. Taking the case of Port Lincoln, regional capital of most of South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, it examines the nature of change in the functional region over the period 1947–2011, and investigates the forces feeding, and partly counteracting, the population concentration process, informed by concepts of evolutionary economic geography. In particular it traces the demographic impact (particularly differential migration and ageing trends) of exogenous shocks to the region’s essentially primary productive economic base during the period of major change from 1981 to 2011.     

Very high CO2 exchange fluxes at the peak of the rainy season in a West African grazed semi-arid savanna ecosystem

Africa is a sink of carbon, but there are large gaps in our knowledge regarding the CO₂ exchange fluxes for many African ecosystems. Here, we analyse multi-annual eddy covariance data of CO₂ exchange fluxes for a grazed Sahelian semi-arid savanna ecosystem in Senegal, West Africa. The aim of the study is to investigate the high CO₂ exchange fluxes measured at the peak of the rainy season at the Dahra field site: gross primary productivity and ecosystem respiration peaked at values up to ?48 μmol CO₂ m^?2 s^?1 and 20 μmol CO₂ m^?2 s^?1, respectively. Possible explanations for such high fluxes include a combination of moderately dense herbaceous C4 ground vegetation, high soil nutrient availability and a grazing pressure increasing the fluxes. Even though the peak net CO₂ uptake was high, the annual budget of ?229 ± 7 ± 49 g C m^?2 y^?1 (±random errors ± systematic errors) is comparable to that of other semi-arid savanna sites due the short length of the rainy season. An inter-comparison between the open-path and a closed-path infrared sensor indicated no systematic errors related to the instrumentation. An uncertainty analysis of long-term NEE budgets indicated that corrections for air density fluctuations were the largest error source (11.3% out of 24.3% uncertainty). Soil organic carbon data indicated a substantial increase in the soil organic carbon pool for the uppermost .20 m. These findings have large implications for the perception of the carbon sink/source of Sahelian ecosystems and its response to climate change.     

A seasonal comparison of prokaryote numbers,biomass and heterotrophic productivity in waters of the KwaZulu-Natal Bight,South Africa

The KwaZulu-Natal Bight is a shallow indentation of the eastern seaboard of South Africa, characterised by a narrow (45 km wide) extension of the continental shelf, with a shelf break at about 100 m. It has a complex hydrography: the waters of the bight are derived from the fast-flowing, southward-trending Agulhas Current, which is fed mostly by the tropical and subtropical surface waters of the South-West Indian Ocean subgyre, which are generally oligotrophic in nature, notably depleted in reduced nitrogen and phosphate except at river mouths and during periodic upwelling of deeper nutrient-rich water. Despite this, the bight is believed to be relatively productive, and it is suggested that efficient nutrient recycling by prokaryotes may sustain primary productivity efficiently, even in the absence of new nutrient inputs. Here we have measured bacterial numbers, biomass and heterotrophic productivity during summer and winter in conjunction with phytoplankton standing stock and factors that influence it. Bacterial distribution closely matched phytoplankton distribution in surface waters, and was highest close to the coast. Bacterial standing stocks were similar to those of oligotrophic systems elsewhere (0.5–5.0 × 10⁵ cells ml^–1; 1 × 10^–8 to 1.25 × 10^–7 g C ml^–1) and increased in association with the development of phytoplankton blooms offshore and with inputs of allochthonous material by rivers at the coast. Heterotrophic productivity in summer was lowest in the far south and north of the bight (0.5 × 10^–10 g C ml^–1 h^–1) but higher close to the shore, over shallow banks, and in association with increased phytoplankton abundance over the midshelf (1.0–3.5 × 10^–9 g C ml^–1 h^–1). There were marked seasonal differences with lower bacterial standing stocks (5 × 10⁴ to 2 × 10⁵ cells ml^–1; 4–5 × 10^–9 to 1–2 × 10^–8 g C ml^–1) and very low bacterial productivity (4 × 10^–11 to 1 × 10^–10 g C ml^–1 h^–1) in winter, probably resulting from lowered rates of primary productivity and dissolved organic matter release as well as reduced riverine allochthonous inputs during the winter drought.     

Paleoearthquakes in the Uimon basin (Gorny Altai)

Paleoseismological studies confirm that the Uimon basin is thrust by its northern mountain border along the active South Terekta fault. The latest motion along the fault in the 7-8th centuries AD induced an earthquake with a magnitude of M_w= 7.4-7.7 and a shaking intensity of I = 9-11 on the MSK-64 scale. The same fault generated another event (M > 7, I = 9-10), possibly, about 16 kyr ago, which triggered gravity sliding. The rockslide dammed the Uimon valley and produced a lake, where lacustrine deposition began about 14 ± 1 kyr ago, and a later M > 7 (I = 9-10) earthquake at ~ 6 ka caused the dam collapse and the lake drainage. Traces of much older earthquakes that occurred within the Uimon basin are detectable from secondary deformation structures (seismites) in soft sediments deposited during the drainage of a Late Pleistocene ice-dammed lake between 100 and 90 ka and in ~ 77 ka alluvium. The magnitude and intensity of these paleoearthquakes were at least M > 5.0-5.5 and I > 6-7.