Indigenous knowledge of landscape–ecological zones among traditional herbalists: a case study in Keiyo District, Kenya

Object of study is the insight of traditional herbalists in the landscape-ecological factors wich control the growth of the plants they use for healing their patients. The extent of this insight determines their capacity to adapt to environmental changes such as deforestation and soil degradation. This paper deals with the landscape-ecological perception of herbalists who live in an area with sharp landscape contrasts and drastic changes in landuse: the Keiyo Escarpment in the Rift which links the cool and humid Uasin Gishu Plateau at a level of more than 2600 m above sea level, with the warm and semi-arid Kerio Valley at 1250 m. The landuse changes of the last 50 years are caused by growing population density, loss of traditional attitudes towards the value of the land, and changes in forest cover. Data on local knowledge are acquired through interviews and field visits. The corresponding western knowledge is derived from aerial photographs and existing reports and maps. Six landscape-ecological zones are recognized. They are named after topography (wareng, mosop, soin), vegetation (teguming, korget) or landuse (tumdo). These zones coincide with the units of the agro-climatic map of Kenya. Apart from geology, all the factors of the hierarchical model used in western-based landscape ecology (climate, geology, relief, water, soil, vegetation and fauna) are included in the indigenous perception of the landscape, but the hierarchical order is not necessarily the same: e.g. the herbalists assume that rock grows in the soil instead of the other way around, and that forests attract rain. From the herbalists' point of view, deforestation and the establishment of small-holder agriculture is less serious for their trade than the replacement of indigenous trees by plantations with exotic species. They adapt to the loss of the forest by travelling to areas with comparable landscape-ecological conditions or, especially in the case of women and older male herbalists, by planting the required species in the garden. According to the herbalists, good climate and fertile soil stimulate species diversity, but best medicinal performance give plants on soils which are periodically dry.     

环境水土对重要建筑材料的腐蚀作用

从建筑材料和水土中活跃成分的化学性质出发,讨论环境水土成分对重要建筑材料的腐蚀的机理及其评价的有关问题。     

环境污染及保护对策

环境保护中一个非常重要的工作,是广泛深入地开展环境地质工作。在赣南、江西乃至全国,环境地质工作的主要内容是防治水土流失,严禁废渣、废水随意排放,控制人口激增,保护有限耕地;为保护生态平衡,必须加强环境立法与执法,提高环境保护的重要性和必要性的认识,大规模切实地保护耕地,因地制宜植树造林。     

浅论马鞍山地区的膨胀土

膨胀土由于粘土矿物含量较多,在一定气候条件下其体积随含水量的增加而膨胀,随含水一的减少而收缩,以膨胀土为地基的低层建筑物常常成群开裂,笔者首次报道了马鞍山地区的膨胀土,并对该区膨胀土的分布,成因,评价方法和防治措施等提出了初步看法。     

土流变学研究现状与趋势

土流变学是研究土流变性的科学,包括宏观力学和微观结构两个研究方面。其中就这两方面阐述了国际土流变学的研究现状和我国土流变学研究水平,并对今后的研究趋势作了展望。     

香港大屿山残坡积土的残余强度试验研究

粘性土的残余强度是边坡稳定性评价、桩基与土的相互作用机理研究及填土边坡设计中的重要参数。本文在综述大量文献的基础上,结合香港大屿山火山岩风化残坡积土的残余强度试验研究,分析了残余强度的测试方法和影响残余强度的因素。研究结果表明,残余强度与有效法向应力间具有明显的非线性关系;与单剪测试结果相比,多级剪测试结果明显偏高。     

A source of bias in rates of surface soil movement as estimated from marked particles

When estimated from measurements of introduced tracer particles, the rate of surface soil movement tends to be greater than the natural rate for equivalent particles on the same site. This consistent overestimation is greatest in the period following tracer introduction and leads to a measurement bias that may be as high as 300 per cent. The magnitude of the bias decreases with time, as the tracer is incorporated into the surface material, but remains detectable statistically for more than a year on some low-angle sites.     

Dating of post-glacial landforms in the central howgills

Little is known of Holocene landform development in Upland Britain. This paper describes a site at Middle Langdale in the Howgill Fells of Cumbria where large, but now stabilized and inactive gullies cut through periglacial material. At the base of the gullies large debris cones have buried earlier alluvial sediments on the valley floor. On these sediments and buried by the debris cones is a well-developed organic soil from which two ¹⁴C dates have been obtained in an attempt to estimate the age range of the soil. These dates range from 2580±55 years BP for the fine particulate fraction from the base of the organic horizon to 940±95 years BP for fossil rootlets from the uppermost organic layer, immediately below the overlying debris cones. The pollen evidence suggests that the valley floor site was initially dominated by alder carr and later by a Juncus marsh with birch, alder and hazel nearby. The pollen, from the surrounding upland area suggests woodland on the valley sides, dominated by oak and elm that was later replaced by a more open environment rich in heath species and in which disturbed ground species were present. The magnetic evidence indicates a stable local environment during soil formation but shows a sudden inwash of unweathered debris at the top of the buried soil. The evidence suggests that the valley floor was geomorphologically stable throughout the period of soil formation, although there was a local change in valley floor vegetation and a reduction of woodland cover on the valley sides at sometime during the period. The evidence then points to major geomorphological changes; a wave of soil erosion, gully development and debris cone deposition, perhaps following the Scandinavian introduction of sheep farming in the tenth century A.D.     

农业气象试验站温室土壤温度控制系统

采用８０３１,８２７９,８２５５,ＡＤＣ０８０９,２８６４,６２６４等芯片组成一实用的温室土壤温度控制系统。由键盘输入温室土壤的上,下限温度,通过ＡＤＣ０８０９对温室土壤温度进行采样,并实时显示土壤温度。当土壤温度超越上,下限时,系统报警,并进行自动处理。     

陆面生态过程的一维数值模拟

建立了一个研究大气、植被、土壤相互作用的传播模式。模式是由多层大气模式、多层土壤模式和植被模式通过界面上能量、水汽传输平衡方程耦合而成。对植被和土壤的不同性质,进行了一系列的数值试验。结果表明,不同的植被覆盖以及降水等因子会对大气、植被、地表界面上能量、水汽传输以及热状态产生显著的影响。此模式还可以耦合进中尺度模式用以研究非均匀区域陆面过程和大气的相互作用。