Impact of prescribed burning on Acacia nilotica seed banks and seedlings in the Astrebla grasslands of northern Australia

Acacia nilotica is a tree of international significance both as a beneficial plant and as a species prone to thicket formation and negative impacts on savannas throughout much of its range. While fire has been identified as a useful tool for controlling negative impacts of some Acacia species in Africa, A. nilotica adult trees are apparently fire tolerant. The effects of fire on seed bank mortality, viability and germination, and on juvenile plants of this species are unknown. We undertook a study to investigate the impacts of fire on seeds and first and second year seedlings in Australian Astrebla savannas. The primary objective was to determine the effects of control burns applied during the early stages of invasion and thicket formation. Because of high rates of seedling dessication post fire in 1997, supplementary watering was undertaken until fire mortality could be measured the following year. High seed mortality occurred for seeds located either in cattle dung (100%) or on the soil surface (c. 80%). Germination of those seeds that survived was enhanced following exposure to fire. Very high fire mortality (99%) was observed among first year seedlings and moderate mortality (60%) for second year seedlings even after a low intensity burn. Negative impacts on major pasture species were minimal. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to A. nilotica fire ecology and to the efficacy of fire as a tool for managing this species.     

Remote sensing-modelisation approach for diurnal estimation of burnt biomass in the Central African Republic Savanna

Experimental studies and mesoscale modeling of atmospheric chemistry require a good knowledge of the sources of the atmospheric constituent, at a temporal scale of about one hour and at a spatial scale corresponding to the model grid. A combined remote sensing/modeling approach for the estimation of the diurnal distribution of the amount of biomass burning in Central African Republic (C.A.R.) savanna fires is proposed. The fire propagation model (BEHAVE) developed by Rothermel was adapted to the fuel characteristics encountered in C.A.R. Ground and airborne measurements with satellite images (NOAA/AVHRR) were used to predict an accurate estimate of the burnt biomass. This combination allows the calculation of the distribution of the number of fires during the day providing an evaluation of the instantaneous fluxes of the compounds emitted in the atmosphere by these fires.     

粗糙神经网络在森林火灾预警中的应用

利用神经网络和粗糙集处理不确定性问题的优势，提出一种粗糙集结合神经网络进行森林火灾预测模型。通过与传统预测模型相比较，证明了该方法的有效性。     

森林火险气象指数及其构建方法回顾

森林火灾是威胁地球生态的主要灾害之一。为实现对林区起火可能性大小、火灾强度、火灾蔓延速度以及火灾扑救难易程度进行评估和预测，国内外专家学者利用森林火灾与气象条件之间的关系研制了诸多森林火险气象指数的构建方法。作者对近几十年来国内外森林火险气象指数的研究工作进行回顾和总结，得出广泛应用的火险指数可以归纳为指数查对法、综合指标法和统计回归法等3种类型，究其原理和使用效果，各有优缺点。在实际使用过程中，需要结合我国的气候和环境特点进行适用性修正和完善。     

陕北春季森林火灾气象条件分析

通过对1989~2004年间陕北春季森林火灾发生期气象资料进行研究分析,指出春季2~5月份林火期气候特征、森林火灾易发期天气环流特征,林火的发生与冷空气活动密切相关。在春季森林火灾期地面气象要素也呈现出一定的变化规律。     

磁法在煤火探测中的应用

对采自宁夏汝箕沟煤田上覆盖层的原岩样品在温度作用下的磁性变化进行了系统研究.通过分析煤火区不同燃烧阶段围岩的温度变化情况,对原岩样品进行了模拟“燃烧”试验,试验结果表明,岩石磁性在不同温度作用条件下存在明显差异,从而从岩石磁性的角度讨论了磁法勘探圈定煤田火烧区的可行性.最后,采用人机交互法对地面实测磁异常剖面进行反演,有效地圈定了煤火区着火点的位置及范围.     

地震次生火灾研究进展

由于双重灾种叠加，地震次生火灾曾经带来过巨大生命财产损失，并始终严重威胁人类社会。梳理历史上几次重大地震次生火灾情况，归纳地震次生火灾的成灾与蔓延研究成果，讨论现有研究成果中常用的分析手段和研究方法；从工程结构和装备设施，以及灾害区划单元两个层面总结分析了地震次生火灾的风险与损失评估研究成果；从民用建筑、油气化工设施、核电站、灾后安置点与林业等多个方面探讨地震次生火灾的预防和控制研究进展。采用文献计量学方法对近二十年以"地震次生火灾"为主题的中文文献进行统计，并分析研究热度与地震事件的联系。     

应用遥感图像提取煤层自燃信息时必须考虑的几个影响因素

煤层自燃是中国北方煤田中普遍存在的灾害现象,它不但烧掉了大量的煤炭资源,而且还污染了环境。实践证明,利用遥感影像判别火区位置、圈定火区范围和对火区进行动态监测,及时为灭火工程提供信息,是一项经济和社会意义很大的工作。由于受多种因素的制约,不同地区、不同波段、不同时相、不同空间分辨率的遥感图像,其影像特征（含与煤层自燃有关的热异常影像特征）都有较大的差异,因而从图像上分析和提取地物的热红外辐射特征时,需要考虑遥感图像类型、成像时间、地形条件、气象条件和岩性特征等因素的影响。本文着重讨论了地表辐射温度与上述各项因素之间的关系。     

High-resolution paleoecological analysis of recent disturbance in a southern Chilean Nothofagus forest

A 1600 year paleoecological record of environmental change is developed from a small lake in the Nothofagus forest of southern Chile (45.5°S, 72°W). High resolution fossil pollen, charcoal, sedimentological, and chrysophycean stomatocyst analyses are used to investigate the impacts of natural and anthropogenic disturbances on terrestrial and lacustrine environments. Chronological control is based on a combination of ²¹⁰Pb and ¹⁴C dating. Temporal resolution during the past 150–200 yr is ca. 8 yr/sample. The macroscopic charcoal record correlates very closely with historical and dendroecological records of 20th century anthropogenic burning in this region. The chrysophyte stratigraphy indicates that this burning had immediate impacts on the lake itself, while the pollen record provides evidence for a succession of vegetation changes lagging slightly behind the disturbance. These palynological changes are very similar to the pollen signal of European disturbance in northeastern North America. Pre-European shifts in chrysophyte assemblages may be due to the influence of earthquake activity on the lake, though there is no corroborative evidence in the pollen or charcoal records. This study demonstrates that high resolution paleoecological methods can be used to help bridge the temporal gap between traditional ecological and paleoecological studies of environmental change in the temperate forests of southern South America.     

Determination of the Platinum-Group Elements and Gold in Twenty Rock Reference Materials by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) after Pre-Concentration by Nickel Sulfide Fire Assay

The platinum-group elements (PGE) and gold have been determined in twenty international rock reference materials by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) after pre-concentration by a nickel sulfide fire assay. It was possible to achieve determination limits for a 50 g sample that ranged from 1 pg g^-1 (Rh) to 23 pg g^-1 (Au). Compared to published certified and recommended values for rock reference materials, the trueness of the method was found to be good. However, in some cases we observed large deviations for all elements in the sub 10 ng g^-1 range within individual reference sample splits. Our results show that the PGE and Au are inhomogeneously distributed in the reference materials analysed here, where they are present in low concentrations, using 50 g test portions.