Past imperfect, future tense: Archaeology and development

Archaeological sites are valuable nonrenewable resources and they are being destroyed rapidly by modern development projects of all kinds, worldwide. The contextual information in these sites could tell surprising and valuable stories of human behavior over an enormous sweep of time and might contribute to a better future. Archaeologists’ experience of site destruction and their recent efforts to work with local communities toward alternatives to site destruction may offer examples for others concerned with the treatment of nonrenewable resources     

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。     

辽宁北票中侏罗世海房沟组水生生物群落

辽宁北票盆地中侏罗世海房沟组含丰富的生物化石，其中的水生昆虫、水生植物、叶肢介、水生软体动物和鱼类共同构成一个复杂的水生生物群落。根据其营养水平划分为生产者、消费者和分解者。这些生物通过捕食关系构成一个复杂的食物链     

Hydrological connectivity of soil pipes determined by ground‐penetrating radar tracer detection

Soil pipes are common and important features of many catchments, particularly in semi‐arid and humid areas, and can contribute a large proportion of runoff to river systems. They may also signi?cantly in?uence catchment sediment and solute yield. However, there are often problems in ?nding and de?ning soil pipe networks which are located deep below the surface. Ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) has been used for non‐destructive identi?cation and mapping of soil pipes in blanket peat catchments. While GPR can identify subsurface cavities, it cannot alone determine hydrological connectivity between one cavity and another. This paper presents results from an experiment to test the ability of GPR to establish hydrological connectivity between pipes through use of a tracer solution. Sodium chloride was injected into pipe cavities previously detected by the radar. The GPR was placed downslope of the injection points and positioned on the ground directly above detected soil pipes. The resultant radargrams showed signi?cant changes in re?ectance from some cavities and no change from others. Pipe waters were sampled in order to check the radar results. Changes in electrical conductivity of the pipe water could be detected by the GPR, without data post‐processing, when background levels were increased by more than approximately twofold. It was thus possible to rapidly determine hydrological connectivity of soil pipes within dense pipe networks across hillslopes without ground disturbance. It was also possible to remotely measure travel times through pipe systems; the passing of the salt wave below the GPR produced an easily detectable signal on the radargram which required no post‐processing. The technique should allow remote sensing of water sources and sinks for soil pipes below the surface. The improved understanding of ?owpath connectivity will be important for understanding water delivery, solutional and particulate denudation, and hydrological and geomorphological model development. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A hybrid method for size characterization of coarse subsurface fluvial sediments

This paper introduces and evaluates a novel method for ascertaining the grain‐size distribution of subsurface sediments that involves profoundly less sampling effort than standard methods. It is based on hybrid sampling principles previously applied to the construction of synthetic surface grain‐size distributions. The method is developed from an empirical demonstration of the approximate similarity of surface and subsurface grain‐size distributions when compared over a common range of sizes. Subsurface hybrid models are found to provide good facsimiles of grain‐size distributions de?ned using standard criteria and to yield distribution percentiles with millimetre accuracy. The technique is presented as an expedient alternative to standard methods for large, perennial gravel‐bed rivers. As this is a new technique, prudent application is advised in lieu of further investigation. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A furrow runs through it: An example of sustainable traditional irrigation in Western Cape Province,South Africa

Water and water related matters are important issues in water scarce countries like the Republic of South Africa. This is especially true for the agricultural sector that relies heavily on the availability of water for irrigation to ensure a secure food supply. In South Africa, present day irrigation projects rely on government subsidies and are usually large undertakings beyond the reach of individuals or small communities. The sustainability of such large irrigation projects is still a matter of debate. A 100 years ago a different set of rules applied. Irrigation could only be achieved by hand-dug furrows that supplied water in relatively small quantities to small farming communities. This paper investigated such a small community, the Leeukloof farming community in the Western Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa. For the past 93 years this community has maintained a furrow that supplies water not only to farms bordering the Perdeberg River, which supplies the furrow with water, but also to farms not bordering the river. The authors try to reconstruct the changes in agricultural practices brought about by the furrow, methods of water extraction during each phase, as well as the development and role of the furrow system. The perception by the community of the necessity of this method of water extraction from the river system is also investigated. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

宁夏香山荒漠草原区植物群落多样性时空特征

采用多个多样性指数对宁夏香山荒漠草原区植物群落多样性时间、空间动态进行分析。结果表明，该地区群落时、空动态特征不明显。长期过度放牧导致环境恶化，生境碎化，这些作用的长期性、循环性是造成物种、群落格局与原有时、空动态规律相悖的主要因素，这些因素消除了物种或群落在时间梯度上应有的变化规律。干旱山地物种在长期进化过程中成功的发展了对环境的适应机制，环境的波动性强烈导致了群落多样性在原来消长动态基础上的复杂化，也使多样性动态机制复杂化。应用多种指数数学模型对研究对象进行综合评价，能够真实地反映群落多样性动态。     

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…     

Biomineralization of Uranium: A Simulated Experiment and Its Significance

A simulated experimental reduction of U^v1 and the synthesis of uraninite by a sulfate-reducing bacteria,Desulfovibrio desulfuricans DSM 642, are first reported. The simulated physicochemical experimental conditions were:35℃, pH=7.0-7.4, corresponding to the environments of formation of the sandstone-hosted interlayer oxidation-zone type uranium deposits in Xinjiang, NW China. Uraninite was formed on the surface of the host bacteria after a one-week‘s incubation. Therefore, sulfate-reducing bacteria, which existed extensively in Jurassic sandstone-producing environments,might have participated in the biomineralization of this uranium deposit. There is an important difference in the orderdisorder of the crystalline structure between the uraninite produced by Desulfovibrio desulfuricans and naturally occurring uraninite. Long time and slow precipitation and growth of uraninite in the geological environment might have resulted in larger uraninite crystals, with uraninite nanocrystals arranged in order, whereas the experimentally produced uraninite is composed of unordered uraninite nanocrystals which, in contrast, result from the short time span of formation and rapid precipitation and growth of uraninite. The discovery has important implications for understanding genetic significance in mineralogy, and also indicates that in-situ bioremediation of U-contaminated environments and use of biotechnology in the treatment of radioactive liquid waste is being contemplated.     

‘Committing to Place’ at the Local Scale: the potential of youth education programs for promoting community participation in regional natural resource management

Emerging approaches to environmental governance require a greater level of community participation than did previous approaches in which these responsibilities largely rested with government agencies. There is consequently a need for increased engagement with NRM among a broad community sector. This paper examines initiatives by two prominent government agencies, the Murray–Darling Basin Commission (MDBC) and the National Museum of Australia (NMA), to engage school children from regional communities using education programs that focus on place and environmental health. We focus on the MDBC's International Riverhealth Conference held in Mildura in 2003 and the associated Murray–Darling Basin TalkBack Classroom sponsored by the NMA and the Parliamentary Education Office (PEO). We explore how key themes of local scale, place-based identities, youth voice and critical engagement are developed in these programs and consider how they relate to the environmental agency of children. We then reflect on the potential for the kinds of environmental agency promoted through these programs to help build the capacity of local communities to progress larger goals of environmental restoration and sustainability in the Murray–Darling Basin. The evaluation research reported here forms part of the Committing to Place research project, an Australian Research Council Linkage grant involving the University of Tasmania, the National Museum of Australia and the Murray–Darling Basin Commission.