Global cotton and local environmental management: the political ecology of rich and poor small-hold farmers in southern Mali

This study examines the hypothesis that poor households engage in less sustainable soil management practices than rich households in a similar socioeconomic environment. This broad objective is explored in Mali's southern cotton belt through three specific research questions. First, is there empirical evidence to support the claim that poor households engage in less sustainable soil management practices than rich households? Second, what local and extra-local factors influence household agricultural management approaches in southern Mali? Third, what broader scale political and economic processes are linked to the factors that influence local-level agricultural management approaches? The author reports that soil quality measures on the farms of rich and poor households are not significantly different, refuting the conventional wisdom that the wealthy are better managers of the environment. A variety of environmentally deleterious practices are associated with export-oriented cotton production, an activity more vigorously pursued by wealthy than poor farmers. Finally, the focus on poverty in international environment and development discourse has allowed the government of Mali to avoid a serious debate on the sustainability of cotton production. The study's findings are based on household interviews describing agricultural management practices, an analysis of farm field soil measures, and discussions with donors and national policymakers.     

Land degradation in the source region of the Yellow River, northeast Qinghai-Xizang Plateau: classification and evaluation

Land degradation imposes a great threat to the world. It is not merely an environmental issue, but also a social and economic problem. Land desertification is among the main aspects of environment changes in the source region of the Yellow River. Previous studies focused on water resource utilization and soil erosion, but land degradation in the source region of the Yellow River even the whole Qinghai-Xizang Plateau received little attention. Based on the data obtained by field investigation and TM satellite images of 2000, this study provides the classification and evaluation information of the land degradation in the source region of the Yellow River. There are six types of land degradation in this region: water erosion in the northern mountains around the Gonghe Basin, sandy desertification in the Gonghe Basin and Upland Plain Area, aridization in the lower reaches, salinization in the Gonghe Basin, vegetation degradation in the intramontance basin and freezing and thawing erosion in the high mountains. The total degraded area is 34,429.6 km², making up 37.5% of the land in the study area. Finally, land degradation in the source region of the Yellow River was evaluated according to changes in the physical structure and chemical component of soils, land productivity, secondary soil salt and water conditions.     

SiO2-TiO2薄膜制备及其光催化性能研究

Sol-gel法制备SiO2-TiO2复合薄膜，进行甲醛的光催化降解实验，研究了SiO2掺杂量、薄膜焙烧温度、甲醛溶液pH值及初始浓度对光催化性能的影响。结果表明，500℃焙烧1h，掺杂质量SiO2：TiO2=12：100时，SiO2-TiO2薄膜的光催化活性最高，150min后甲醛降解率达76％，是单纯TiO2薄膜的1．3倍，该薄膜稳定性较好，经重复8次使用，最大降解率只下降4％。     

执行器退化的遥机器人系统量化反馈容错控制

针对遥机器人系统中存在执行器退化、控制输入量化,且编、解码端的量化灵敏度参数不匹配的问题,设计了遥机器人系统的鲁棒量化反馈容错控制系统.控制器结构的线性部分由线性矩阵不等式给出,旨在解决系统指标性能问题,非线性部分则用于处理量化参数不匹配问题.经稳定性理论证明,提出的鲁棒量化反馈容错控制方法能消除执行器退化及量化参数不匹配等的影响,并确保从机器人能渐近跟踪主机器人.最后,算例仿真验证了方法的有效性.     

Validation of MODIS Vegetation Continuous Fields for monitoring deforestation and forest degradation: two cases in Mexico

This study assesses whether MODIS Vegetation Continuous Fields percent tree cover (PTC) data can detect deforestation and forest degradation. To assess the usefulness of PTC for detecting deforestation, we used a data set consisting of eight forest and seven non-forest categories. To evaluate forest degradation, we used data from two temperate forest types in three conservation states: primary (dense), secondary (moderately degraded) and open (heavily degraded) forest. Our results show that PTC can differentiate temperate forest from non-forest categories (p = 0.05) and thus suggests PTC can adequately detect deforestation in temperate forests. In contrast, single-date PTC data does not appear to be adequate to detect forest degradation in temperate forests. As for tropical forest, PTC can partially discriminate between forest and non-forest categories.     

Shelf‐margin clinothem progradation,degradation and readjustment: Tanqua depocentre,Karoo Basin (South Africa)

Degradation of basin‐margin clinothems around the shelf‐edge rollover zone may lead to the generation of conduits through which gravity flows transport sediment downslope. Many studies from seismic‐reflection data sets show these features, but they lack small‐scale (centimetre to metre) sedimentary and stratigraphic observations on process interactions. Exhumed basin‐margin clinothems in the Tanqua depocentre (Karoo Basin) provide seismic‐reflection‐scale geometries and internal details of architecture with depositional dip and strike control. At the Geelhoek locality, clinothem parasequences comprise siltstone‐rich offshore deposits overlain by heterolithic prodelta facies and sandstone‐dominated deformed mouth bars. Three of these parasequences are truncated by a steep (6 to 22°), 100 m deep and 1·5 km wide asymmetrical composite erosion surface that delineates a shelf‐incised canyon. The fill, from base to top comprises: (i) thick‐bedded sandstone with intrabasinal clasts and multiple erosion surfaces; (ii) scour‐based interbedded sandstone and siltstone with tractional structures; and (iii) inverse‐graded to normal‐graded siltstone beds. An overlying 55 m thick coarsening‐upward parasequence fills the upper section of the canyon and extends across its interfluves. Younger parasequences display progressively shallower gradients during progradation and healing of the local accommodation. The incision surface resulted from initial oversteepening and high sediment supply triggering deformation and collapse at the shelf edge, enhanced by a relative sea‐level fall that did not result in subaerial exposure of the shelf edge. Previous work identified an underlying highly incised, sandstone‐rich shelf‐edge rollover zone across‐margin strike, suggesting that there was migration in the zone of shelf edge to upper‐slope incision over time. This study provides an unusual example of clinothem degradation and readjustment with three‐dimensional control in an exhumed basin‐margin succession. The work demonstrates that large‐scale erosion surfaces can develop and migrate due to a combination of factors at the shelf‐edge rollover zone and proposes additional criteria to predict clinothem incision and differential sediment bypass in consistently progradational systems.     

东北多年冻土退化及环境效应研究现状与展望

东北多年冻土属中高纬度多年冻土,对气候变化非常敏感。数据模型模拟表明,21世纪东北多年冻土区气温会持续上升,显著的变暖将导致多年冻土退化。东北多年冻土呈现自南向北的区域性退化趋势,多年冻土区南部表现为南界的北移、融区的扩大和多年冻土的消失,而北部表现为多年冻土下限的上移、活动层厚度增大及地温升高等。多年冻土的退化会导致寒区生态环境的恶化,如兴安落叶松占绝对优势的天然林带锐减,林带北移,沼泽湿地萎缩等。随着多年冻土的迅速退缩和变薄,原多年冻土中蕴藏的碳将释放出来,对气候变化产生积极的正反馈,加速变暖,并影响全球碳循环。多年冻土退化导致其热状态失稳而造成寒区基础设施损坏,并且影响冻土微生物、碳循环、寒区生态和水文等,而它们是区域气候变化的重要因子,也将成为未来多年冻土研究的重点。而这些研究都需要长期的基础数据作支撑,因此需要进一步完善冻土参数监测网络,用模型厘清气候变化与多年冻土退化及其环境效应之间的关系。     

季节性低温胁迫下陇东黄土高原油污土壤环境因子对耐冷混合菌场地生态修复的响应

为了揭示季节性低温胁迫下陇东黄土高原油污土壤环境因子对耐冷混合菌场地生态修复的响应机制,利用自主筛选构建的耐冷石油降解混合菌在甘肃省庆阳市庆城县马岭镇长庆油田陇东油泥处理站开展了为期7个月的场地修复实验,采用常规方法测定了不同季节土壤理化特性、酶活性和微生物群落特性等环境指标。结果表明：（1）在季节性低温胁迫下（9-11月）M2组（耐冷混合菌处理组）月平均降解率明显增加（P<0.01）,JZJ+M1组（金盏菊联合常温混合菌处理组）和M2组累计TPH降解率分别为15.37%±3.51%和28.64%±4.12%。（2）M2组土壤脱氢酶和多酚氧化酶在低温季节（LT）活性最高,且温度和处理存在显著交互作用（P<0.01）。在土壤营养元素方面,无论何种处理方式（JZJ+M1和M2）二者含量均为RT（常温季节）高于LT（P<0.05）,同时明显高于CK组（P<0.05）。（3）M2组土壤微生物群落Shannon-Wiener指数和均匀度指数在LT高于RT（P<0.05）。（4）NMDS和Pearson相关性分析结果显示,M2组在低温季节具有较高TPH降解率主要与土壤多酚氧化酶、脱氢酶、单月TPH降解率（μ2）和Shannon-Wiener指数有关,且均呈极显著正相关关系。通过分析环境因子的季节响应,优化场地修复在低温环境的降解条件、加速低温期石油烃降解速率,以期为陇东地区低温耐冷混合菌场地生态修复技术的推广应用提供参考和基础数据资料。     

基于外部性理论的湿地退化成因分析及对策研究

基于生态经济学中的外部性原理,结合湿地生态系统的准公共物品属性、外部经济性、外部不经济性以及代际外部性等属性,分析湿地退化的成因.结果表明：湿地萎缩加剧、生态服务功能衰退主要是由于人类缺乏对湿地功能与效益的正确认识,以及不合理的利益分配机制导致的成本外溢现象,从事湿地保护的正外部性行为未得到应有的补偿,负外部性行为未付出应有的代价,并提出应建立因地制宜的多元化生态补偿机制.     

2017年冬季长沙一次重度霾污染天气过程气象成因分析

利用空气质量监测资料、常规气象资料,根据气象条件的水平和垂直扩散能力,以及地面湿度和动力条件等分析了2017年1月27—29日长沙地区这次严重空气污染事件的污染特征。结果表明:污染发生时段,南支槽不断加深东移,槽前势力强盛的西南气流将孟加拉湾一带的水汽向长沙地区输送,进一步增加了该地区的空气湿度。同时,持续东移的脊前暖平流对长沙中低层大气增温有显著影响,为稳定的大气层结创造了有利条件。长沙处于弱高压的底后部,受大范围的弱鞍型场及均压场控制,地面有暖倒槽发展,且由于高压较弱,导致地面和低空的风速较小,不利于污染物的水平扩散,同时有利于夜间地面的辐射降温。稳定的大气环流形势为霾天气和严重污染提供了持续稳定的大气环境场,逆温结构和稳定温度层结在一定程度上减弱了大气在垂直方向上的湍流交换和热力对流,大气中的污染颗粒不易扩散,为此次污染事件的维持、加剧提供了重要的气象条件。长沙地区处在罗霄山脉和雪峰山脉之间的湘江故地,受周边地形阻挡的影响,污染物在下沉气流的控制下聚集到长沙地区后,很难通过水平输送离开,这也是造成此次霾污染的原因之一。