塔克拉玛干沙漠土壤沙化发生条件及对土壤性状影响

土壤沙化是土壤发育逆向演替恢复母质特性的过程，土壤沙化发生条件可以概括为４个方面：土壤干旱是沙化的根本条件、植被衰败为风沙活动创造了条件、土壤质地轻是沙化物质基础、大风和频繁起沙风是沙化的动力条件。土壤沙化结果使土壤粗粒化、贫瘠化，同时也使土壤含盐量降低。     

粒度分析在塔克拉玛干沙漠研究中的应用

本文重点探讨了塔克拉玛干沙漠的风成沙粒度组成特征及其与物源的关系，同时对沙丘的下伏地层沙、现代河流沙及丘间地沙的粒度组成也进行了对比。通过对该沙漠第四纪沉积物的粒度分析，证实了风成沙的粒度分布以极细沙为主，不含粗沙，粉沙含量极小；粒度组合、分选主要受营力和源区物质制约，结果使粒度空间分布形成格局。总之，通过粒度分析得到一系列量化指征，可为研究风沙流运动，探讨沉积环境和改造沙漠、发展沙产业提供理论依据。     

乌兰布和沙漠东北边缘植物群落物种多样性及其生态环境

应用群落多样性指数（Ｄ）、均匀度（Ｊ）、生态优势度（Ｃ）等指标，对乌兰布和沙漠东北边缘不同生境（荒漠区、绿洲外围、绿洲内）的天然植物群落进行了研究，结果表明这三种指标值能有效地表征群落的组成结构特征及生境的优劣；荒漠植物群落多样性指数（Ｄ＝０．６０３～２．９８４）和均匀度（Ｊ＝０．３３７～０．６９１）都较低，而生态优势度（Ｃ＝０．７２４～０．１９５）较高，说明荒漠植被生态环境的脆弱性，群落结构越复杂，多样性指数越高；多样性与生态环境关系密切，Ｄ和Ｊ随生境渐好而递增，Ｃ随生境渐好而递减，可作为环境评价指标；多样性在一定程度上体现了群落的发展阶段和稳定程度，越接近顶级阶段，多样性越高，且环境的改善有助于群落演替进程的加速；干旱区弃耕撩荒地次生演替植被，在弃耕初期多样性随弃耕年限增大而减小，后期处于一个较稳定的水平，且各演替阶段植物组成变化较大。     

梭梭荒漠生态系统：Ⅰ初级生产力及其群落结构的动态变化

通过对梭梭荒漠群落的种类组成、垂直结构、水平结构、季相及梭梭当年生绿色同化枝和草本层的地上植物量的研究，表明在以小半乔木梭梭占主导地位的群落中，丰富的短生植物及长营养期一年生植物均得到较好的发育，说明该群落具有由中亚荒漠向亚洲中部荒漠过渡的性质。而大量单种属或寡种属出现，反映出了梭梭群落具有干旱植物区系的明显特征，与整个新疆植被荒漠植物区系的特征相一致。梭梭群落中建群层片的种类单一，与北疆其它荒漠植被类型相似，而伴生植物的种类组成比其它类型丰富，特别是短生植物及长营养期一年生植物种类较多。初级生产力分别与梭梭当年生绿色同化枝的萌发、生长和脱落，短生植物的迅速生长和死亡，以及长营养期一年生植物的生长有密切关系，分别在５月下旬、６月下旬和８月上旬达到高峰。梭梭当年生绿色同化枝的植物量在其整个群落初级生产力的构成中作用明显。是整个群落初级生产力的７２．３％～８５．８％。     

Vegetation change,erosion risk and land management on the Nullarbor Plain,Australia

 Arid karst landscapes that have been degraded by human activities provide a challenge for rehabilitation and an opportunity to test ideas about the stability and resilience of limestone ecosystems. The Nullarbor Plain is the largest arid karst area in Australia (220 000 km²) and is divided into extensive closed karstic depressions separated by low rocky ridges, while the dominant vegetation is chenopod shrubland. Since European settlement there has been considerable change in the vegetation, with significant reduction in shrub and grass cover over large areas of the plain. These changes are related to a state and transition model of vegetation dynamics which incorporates climatic variability, fire history and grazing pressure from sheep, kangaroos and rabbits. A partial sediment budget using ¹³⁷Cs inventories reveals local and regional patterns of soil redistribution within this arid karst landscape. Rehabilitation of eroded soil in pastoral lands has been accomplished at several sites but is labour intensive and vulnerable to climatic fluctuations. Given the low stock numbers, limited number of people involved, and poor economic returns, it would be sensible to make pastoral activities on the Nullarbor secondary to conservation priorities. This would necessitate a change in land ethic to stewardship, with emphasis on rehabilitation and control of feral animals. Management of increased numbers of visitors to the caves and karst also requires that resource inventories and management plans for each area be drawn up and used. Received: 1 June 1995 · Accepted: 4 December 1995     

Streambank fish-shelter structures help stabilize tributary streams in Wisconsin

 A significant proportion of stream sediment yield in North America comes from stream channel and bank erosion. One method used for stream stabilization is the bank installation of timber and stone fish-shelter structures, but there is little evidence for their potential effectiveness. Nine to nineteen years of precise survey data from Coon Creek, Wisconsin, however, show that fish structures enhance sediment deposition along the stream and may retard lateral migration of channels. Such structures have greater utility for sediment control when streams are eroding away a high bank and replacing it with a lower bank. Received: 18 October 1996 · Accepted: 4 February 1997     

Doubtful Events Reported in Current Italian Earthquake Catalogues: The Medieval Earthquakes of Subiaco (Central Italy)

Within the framework of a study of the seismicity of the Aniene Valley (Central Italy), we analysed the medieval earthquakes of Subiaco (1216, 1227, 1299), the largest events reported for the area. Our main goal was to investigate some doubtful events reported in earthquake catalogues and, as such, currently utilised for seismic hazard estimates. A careful screening of the oldest available sources and their filiation pattern up to the present pointed out the uncertainty on the date and nature of these phenomena. A multidisciplinary approach based on the joint analysis of archaeological, geomorphologic and historical evidence allowed us to propose new interpretations concerning these events and their significance for the assessment of seismic hazard in the Aniene Valley. The main conclusion is that the dates of the 1216 and 1227 events are fairly unsupported. In particular, the 1216 earthquake could be dated back to between AD 1159 and 1181.     

Impact of habitat heterogeneity on plant community pattern in Gurbantunggut Desert

1IntroductionStudy on the interrelationship between vegetation patterns and their habitat heterogeneity is important to recover and rehabilitate the desert vegetation, stabilize the desert ecosystem and prevent desert expansion. Domestic and foreign researchers have carried out many studies on this topic (Archer etal., 2002; Bolling etal., 2000; Chen etal., 2003; Dasti etal., 1994; Gu etal., 2002, Li etal., 2001; Li etal., 2001; Liang etal., 2003), which have used and refined statistic tech…     

Resprout characteristics of creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) when subjected to repeated vehicle damage

Studies were conducted in the central Mojave Desert to quantify how creosote bushes (Larrea tridentata) respond to physical damage during large-scale military training exercises. Creosote bush possesses a resilient growth form that recovers from repeated physical damage via resprouts arising from meristems in stem bark below severed or crushed canopy units. At high levels of disturbance by heavy vehicles, nearly all individuals showed measurable breakage, but without additional damage each plant can regain a full canopy within 5 years under arid field conditions. Resprouts exhibited more vigorous growth and doubled the biomass accumulation stimulated by high rainfall of 1998, an El Niño year, vs. a normal year. New shoots of resprouted individuals were markedly different in morphological traits than canopy old growth and had slightly higher predawn shoot water potentials. The natural ability of this evergreen species to recover from cutting and crushing bodes well for re-establishment of creosote bush desert scrub communities following episodes of severe damage by vehicles.     

The development of talus slopes around Lord Howe island and implications for the history of island planation

Lord Howe Island is a small eroded remnant of a Late Miocene shield volcano. A fringing coral reef dissipates wave energy along a portion of the shoreline, but the remainder of the coast is rugged with spectacular high basaltic sea cliffs. This paper investigates the evolution of talus slopes that occur beneath the loftiest cliffs, and places this analysis within the context of a longer history of island planation that has resulted in a wide truncated shelf around the island. During the Last Glacial, when the sea level was lower than at present, talus slopes accumulated around the extent of the island's cliffed coast because material eroded from cliffs by subaerial processes could not be removed by marine processes. The survival of these slopes during the Holocene has depended on a balance achieved between rates of subaerial and marine erosion. This balance is fundamentally influenced by cliff height, as cliffs higher than 200 m are plunging or veneered by talus slopes, whereas lower cliffs have erosional shore platforms. On comparison with published erosion rates from inland basalt scarps it appears that marine processes may account for over 90 per cent of the total cliff retreat that has occurred at Lord Howe Island, yet contemporary coastal morphology attests to the significance of subaerial processes in recent times. It is likely that marine cliffing was very rapid soon after volcanism ceased, but rates of erosion decreased through time as wave energy became increasingly attenuated across a widening planation surface, and as increasing cliff heights yielded greater quantities of talus that provided protection from rapid marine erosion.