Soil erosion susceptibility assessment and validation using a geostatistical multivariate approach: a test in Southern Sicily

A certain number of studies have been carried out in recent years that aim at developing and applying a model capable of assessing water erosion of soil. Some of these have tried to quantitatively evaluate the volumes of soil loss, while others have focused their efforts on the recognition of the areas most prone to water erosion processes. This article presents the results of a research whose objective was that of evaluating water erosion susceptibility in a Sicilian watershed: the Naro river basin. A geomorphological study was carried out to recognize the water erosion landforms and define a set of parameters expressing both the intensity of hydraulic forces and the resistance of rocks/soils. The landforms were mapped and classified according to the dominant process in landsurfaces affected by diffuse or linear water erosion. A GIS layer was obtained by combining six determining factors (bedrock lithology, land use, soil texture, plan curvature, stream power index and slope-length factor) in unique conditions units. A geostatistical multivariate approach was applied by analysing the relationships between the spatial distributions of the erosion landforms and the unique condition units. Particularly, the density of eroded area for each combination of determining factors has been calculated: such function corresponds, in fact, to the conditional probability of erosion landforms to develop, under the same geoenvironmental conditions. In light of the obtained results, a general geomorphologic model for water erosion in the Naro river basin can be depicted: cultivated areas in clayey slopes, having fine-medium soil texture, are the most prone to be eroded; linear or diffuse water erosion processes dominate where the topography is favourable to a convergent or divergent runoff, respectively. For each of the two erosion process types, a susceptibility map was produced and submitted to a validation procedure based on a spatial random partition strategy. Both the success of the validation procedure of the susceptibility models and the geomorphological coherence of the relationships between factors and process that such models suggest, confirm the reliability of the method and the goodness of the predictions.     

Field Measurement of Suction, Water Content, and Water Permeability

This paper presents a review of techniques for field measurement of suction, water content, and water hydraulic conductivity (permeability). Main problems in the use of field tensiometers are addressed and hints on how to improve tensiometer performance are given. Advantages and limitations of instruments for indirect measurement of suction including electrical conductivity sensors, thermal conductivity sensors, dielectric permittivity sensors, filter paper, and psychrometer are discussed. Techniques for water content measurement based on dielectric methods are then presented. These include time and amplitude domain reflectometry and capacitance. Finally, a brief overview of methods for measurement of water permeability in the field is presented.     

饱和软黏土动力学特性循环扭剪试验研究

以饱和软黏土的循环扭剪试验研究为基础,阐明不固结不排水条件下饱和软黏土的动力学特性。在循环扭剪和循环三轴两种不同试验应力状态下,通过研究不同围压和不同静、动应力组合下饱和软黏土的应力等效破坏关系和应变等效破坏关系,提出在循环荷载作用下饱和软黏土的循环破坏同样遵循Mises屈服准则,且在Mises屈服准则下,饱和软黏土的循环强度趋于不变量。循环破坏的过程可以等效为一种拟静力弹塑性循环蠕变,建立了饱和软黏土循环累积变形随静荷载、循环荷载以及循环破坏振次之间的关系式。上述结论分别从应力和变形两个方面阐述饱和软黏土的动力学特性,与试验应力状态和围压无关,可以推广到一般应力状态下。     

1998年夏、冬季南海水团分析

为了解南海水团的特征和分布 ,基于 1 998年夏季和冬季两个航次的实测资料 ,采用聚类分析、判别分析和模糊分析方法 ,对南海的水团进行了分析。结果表明 ,南海外海水可划分为 6个水团 ,即南海表层水团、南海次表层水团、南海次 中层混合水团、南海中层水团、南海深层水团和南海底盆水。越南附近夏季存在一个暖涡 ;1 998年夏季还可鉴别出黑潮表层水团和黑潮次表层水团 ,但在冬季观测期间无黑潮水越过 1 1 9.5°E经线进入南海 ;这些现象可能与厄尔尼诺现象有关联。夏季有苏禄海海水在 5 0— 75m层经由民都洛海峡侵入南海     

Pelagic-Benthic Coupling in the Nordic Seas: The Role of Episodic Events

Abstract. The consequences of the following episodic phenomena for the pelagic-benthic coupling in the Nordic Seas are illustrated: (1) Advection of water masses between fjords and shelf environments, (2) freshwater run-off and vertical stability, (3) dynamics of the marginal ice zone in the central and northern Barents Sea and the Polar Ocean, (4) drift patterns of sinking particles along the North Norwegian coast, (5) advection of zooplankton into subarctic fjords and the southern Barents Sea, zooplankton overwintering and composition, and (6) transport of organic particulate matter from the Barents Sea shelf. It is shown that physical processes in the north-eastern North Atlantic and Polar Ocean can be strongly variable on time scales of days to decades. They have a significant influence on the dynamics of pelagic-benthic coupling. The physical oceanography influences the vertical and horizontal particle flux not only directly (mixing, advection, up- and down-welling), but also indirectly through its impact on the biota (for example radiation, wind, ice cover, freshwater run-off and overwintering, advection and retention of zooplankton). Understanding pelagic-benthic coupling at high latitudes depends even more on a best possible understanding of the physical oceanography and the time scales involved than elsewhere.     

南黄海表层沉积物天然湿容重和含水量的分布及其与粒度之间的关系

本文论述了南黄海表层沉积物天然湿容重和含水量的分布,并利用回归分析的方法讨论了容重和含水量与粒度之间的关系。结果表明,容重和含水量与粘土粒级相关性最好,容重与粘土粒级含量(相似文献   

The Estimation of Secondary Production of the Marine Bivalve Spisula subtruncata (DA COSTA) in the Area of the Po River Delta

Abstract. The secondary production of Spisula subtruncata (somatic production) is calculated in the framework of a benthic monitoring study in a coastal area. The temporal trends of density, biomass and growth increments are examined in the three year-classes present. These are compared to certain physical and chemical parameters.     

Modelling and forecasting long-term dynamics of Western Baltic macrobenthic fauna in relation to climate signals and environmental change

Long-term macrobenthos data from Kiel Bight in the Western Baltic collected between 1968 and 2000 have been correlated with the winter NAO index (North Atlantic Oscillation Index) and other environmental data such as temperature, salinity and oxygen content in the bottom water in order to detect systematic patterns related to so far unexplained abiotic signals in the dynamics of zoobenthic species assemblages. The benthos data come from a cluster of five stations (Süderfahrt/ Millionenviertel) in Kiel Bay. Our investigations concentrated on the macrobenthic dynamics with a focus on the number of species m^− 2 (species richness). Using logarithms and the time series analysis approach of Box/Jenkins (ARIMA modelling, transfer function modelling) it was shown that species richness was strongly influenced by the winter NAO (adjusted for a linear time trend within the 1968-2000 period) and salinity (with a shift/lag of four years). Bootstrapping experiments (i.e. sampling from the error process) and analysis of prediction power (by means of the one- or more-years leaving-out method) showed that the parameter estimates behaved in a stable way, leading to a relatively robust model.     

用包埋脱水法冰冻保存海洋饵料金藻

用包埋脱水法冰冻保存绿色巴夫藻(Pavlova uiridis)、湛江等鞭金藻(Isochrysis zhanjiangensis)和球等鞭金藻(Isochrysis galbana 3011)等三种海洋饵料金藻，探讨了脱水速率、胶球含水量以及化冻后恢复方法对冰冻保存存活率的影响。结果表明，三种藻都在-0．9％含水量／h的平均脱水速率下获得最高存活率：各种藻在冰冻前的胶球最佳含水量不同，绿色巴夫藻为35％，湛江等鞭金藻和球等鞭金藻都为30％。化冻后，含绿色巴夫藻的胶球在培养基中22℃暗放置48h存活率最高；另两种藻在相对湿度为75％的气相中22℃暗放置12h存活率最高。在本实验条件下，绿色巴夫藻、湛江等鞭金藻和球等鞭金藻的冰冻保存的存活率可分别达到74％、15％和17％。     

Functional responses for zooplankton feeding on multiple resources: a review of assumptions and biological dynamics

Modelers often need to quantify the rates at which zooplankton consume a variety of species, size classes and trophic types. Implicit in the equations used to describe the multiple resource functional response (i.e. how nutritional intake varies with resource densities) are assumptions that are not often stated, let alone tested. This is problematic because models are sensitive to the details of these formulations. Here, we enable modelers to make more informed decisions by providing them with a new framework for considering zooplankton feeding on multiple resources. We define a new classification of multiple resource responses that is based on preference, selection and switching, and we develop a set of mathematical diagnostics that elucidate model assumptions. We use these tools to evaluate the assumptions and biological dynamics inherent in published multiple resource responses. These models are shown to simulate different resource preferences, implied single resource responses, changes in intake with changing resource densities, nutritional benefits of generalism, and nutritional costs of selection. Certain formulations are further shown to exhibit anomalous dynamics such as negative switching and sub-optimal feeding. Such varied responses can have vastly different ecological consequences for both zooplankton and their resources; inappropriate choices may incorrectly quantify biologically-mediated fluxes and predict spurious dynamics. We discuss how our classes and diagnostics can help constrain parameters, interpret behaviors, and identify limitations to a formulation's applicability for both regional (e.g. High-Nitrate-Low-Chlorophyll regions comprising large areas of the Pacific) and large-scale applications (e.g. global biogeochemical or climate change models). Strategies for assessing uncertainty and for using the mathematics to guide future experimental investigations are also discussed.