Assessing natural and cultural influence on soil in remnant tropical woodlands

Rural Hong Kong contains culturally protected enclaves of remnant woodlands that provide sanctuary for vegetation, wildlife and soil. This study focuses on the influence of natural and cultural factors on soil properties in woodlands with different human activities. At each of the nine selected sites, two pits were dug to collect soil samples for analysis of 24 physical and chemical properties. Analyses of variance between soil attributes and site factors suggest the prominence of woodland size, and important contribution of topography, aspect and parent material. Soil indicators of human impacts and the tenacity of woodland soil towards anthropogenic disturbance were demonstrated.     

上海地区湿地水生维管束植物及其区系特征

在参照相关资料基础上，结合实地调查，得出上海地区湿地水生维管束植物共49科107属179种。从植物生态型和生活型等方面来划分，上海地区水生维管束植物可主要分为内陆河湖水生植物、河口海岸滩涂植物和湿生植物3种类型。从区系组成来看，包含5种以上的12个较大科构成了上海地区水生维管束植物的主体，其中禾本科和莎草科种类最多；区内各属种数都在10种以下，包含3种以上的属有19属，共79种，分别占总属数的17．8％和总种数的44．2％。从区系分布区类型来看，水生蕨类植物种主要有4种分布区类型，世界分布为主要类型；而水生种子植物属有13种分布区类型，其中6个热带分布类型共有39属，占总属数的61．9％，6个温带分布类型共有24属，占总属数的38．1％，表明上海地区水生种子植物区系具有偏热带性质。同时，讨论了水生维管束植物在湿地生态系统以及湿地生态恢复中的重要作用。     

应用高光谱遥感数据估算土壤表层水分的研究

土壤水分是土壤的重要组成部分，它在陆地表层和大气之间的物质和能量交换方面扮演着重要角色，寻求快速而准确的方法估算土壤水分具有重要意义。通常，从可见光一近红外对土壤表层水分的估计多是建立在土壤水分与反射率的关系之上的。而在土壤水分含量不高时，土壤水分的增加使土壤光谱反射率在整个波长范围内降低，尤其在760nm，970nm，1190nm，1450nm，1940nm和2950nm等水分吸收波段，而在土壤水分含量较高时，土壤水分的增加会使土壤光谱反射率在某些光谱波段升高。而土壤水分的估计往往是基于土壤水分与土壤水分吸收波段的吸收强度之间的线性关系上，虽然这些经验的方法对于估算某些土壤的表层水分含量是有效的，但这些关系应用于其它条件(如不同种类土壤、土壤湿度变化范围很大的情况)时却面临很多困难，这与土壤的光谱反射率是由土壤的组成成分(土壤水分、有机质、氧化铁和粘土矿物等)的含量和它们在土壤中的分布密切相关。微分技术处理“连续”的光谱是遥感中常用的数学方法，微分技术能部分消除低频光谱成分的影响。现在微分光谱已广泛地应用于研究植被的生物物理参数、矿物和有机质等。然而利用微分光谱对土壤水分反演的研究却鲜见报道。本文通过对实验室中多种不同类型的土壤进行光谱与土壤表层水分含量进行观测，探讨了通过土壤反射率与微分光谱对土壤表层水分的反演方法。4种类型的土壤光谱数据(反射率(R)，反射率倒数的对数(log(1／R))，反射率的一阶微分光谱(dR／dλ)，反射率倒数的对数的一阶微分光谱(d(log(1／R))／dλ))与土壤表层水分之间的关系在本文中得到分析，R与log(1／R)对于不同土壤类型与土壤表层水分都很敏感，说明通过R与log(1／R)反演土壤表层水分受土壤类型的影响很大，而dR／dλ，d(log(1／R))／dλ)对土壤类型却不敏感，对土壤表层水分较为敏感，说明dR／dλ和d(log(1／R))／dλ)对于反演不同类型土壤具有很大的潜力，微分光谱与土壤水分在某些波段具有显著的相关性。通过随机对9种土壤(各具有4个土壤水分)的数据建立反演土壤水分的模型，并其他9种土壤(各具有4个土壤水分)的数据进行验证模型，结果表明，dR／dλ和d(log(1／R))／dλ)能够显著提高R与log(1／R)对于不同土壤类型土壤表层水分的反演精度，由于吸收过程是非线性的，在四种类型的土壤光谱数据中，总体来说，d(log(1／R))／dλ)具有最好的能力预测不同类型土壤的表层水分含量。     

灌溉后的黄土剪切特征变化

在中国甘肃省的黑方台阶地上从上世纪60年代开始出现人类定居和开垦活动,并自1968年发展为灌溉农业。随着灌溉的进行地面已出现沉陷和滑坡。地表沉陷是由灌溉水的充填引起黄土结构崩塌造成的。然而崩塌和湿润化对剪切特征的影响目前还不清楚。为了研究湿化后的黄土剪切特征的变化,进行了对马兰黄土未经扰动和重塑土样的直接剪切盒测试。结果显示未扰动土样的粘合力和内摩擦角在湿润化后都下降了,而所观察到的重塑土的弹度参数只有少许变化。未扰动土的不饱合粘合力,据认为其受胶结物质的影响,在饱合后消失了。经灌溉的土的不饱合强度参数与未灌溉土相比表现出差异,它们可能受土壤水分的强烈影响。     

Slow mass movement in the Kangchenjunga area, eastern Nepal Himalaya

Abstract   The rates of the accumulated and continuous displacement of solifluction lobes in the Kangchenjunga area, eastern Nepal Himalaya, were determined using glass fiber tubes and a strain probe. Ground temperature, precipitation and soil moisture were monitored at two sites, whose altitude differed by approximately 100 m, to understand the solifluction process. The average movement rate of the glass fiber tubes on a 31° slope at altitudes of 5412–5414 m a.s.l. was approximately 11 mm/year, being almost threefold greater than that observed on a 22° slope at 5322–5325 ma.s.l. There was no significant difference in the depth of displacement at these sites. The continuous displacement measurement near the ground surface at 5414 m showed permanent downslope movement from early July. Such movement may be attributed to additional moisture supply during the monsoon season. The amplitude of the displacement cycle was highest at the ground surface, and decreased to virtually zero at and below 20 cm in depth. Probable factors leading to the relatively slow rates of downslope displacement at the surface and depth at the studied altitudes are the lack of concurrence of the freeze–thaw cycles and the high moisture condition in the soil, and the low moisture retention capacity of the soil because of steep slopes and superficial desiccation. The rate of displacement may be more pronounced at altitudes above 5600 m because of the freeze–thaw cycles during the summer season.     

Seismic earth pressures on rigid and flexible retaining walls

While limiting-equilibrium Mononobe–Okabe type solutions are still widely used in designing rigid gravity and flexible cantilever retaining walls against earthquakes, elasticity-based solutions have been given a new impetus following the analytical work of Veletsos and Younan [23]. The present paper develops a more general finite-element method of solution, the results of which are shown to be in agreement with the available analytical results for the distribution of dynamic earth pressures on rigid and flexible walls. The method is then employed to further investigate parametrically the effects of flexural wall rigidity and the rocking base compliance. Both homogeneous and inhomogeneous retained soil is considered, while a second soil layer is introduced as the foundation of the retaining system. The results confirm the approximate convergence between Mononobe–Okabe and elasticity-based solutions for structurally or rotationally flexible walls. At the same time they show the beneficial effect of soil inhomogeneity and that wave propagation in the underlying foundation layer may have an effect that cannot be simply accounted for with an appropriate rocking spring at the base.     

Effects of spatially structured vegetation patterns on hillslope erosion in a semiarid Mediterranean environment: a simulation study

A general trend of decreasing soil loss rates with increasing vegetation cover fraction is widely accepted. Field observations and experimental work, however, show that the form of the cover‐erosion function can vary considerably, in particular for low cover conditions that prevail on arid and semiarid hillslopes. In this paper the structured spatial distribution of the vegetation cover and associated soil attributes is proposed as one of the possible causes of variation in cover–erosion relationships, in particular in dryland environments where patchy vegetation covers are common. A simulation approach was used to test the hypothesis that hillslope discharge and soil loss could be affected by variation in the spatial correlation structure of coupled vegetation cover and soil patterns alone. The Limburg Soil Erosion Model (LISEM) was parameterized and verified for a small catchment with discontinuous vegetation cover at Rambla Honda, SE Spain. Using the same parameter sets LISEM was subsequently used to simulate water and sediment fluxes on 1 ha hypothetical hillslopes with simulated spatial distributions of vegetation and soil parameters. Storms of constant rainfall intensity in the range of 30–70 mm h^?1 and 10–30 min duration were applied. To quantify the effect of the spatial correlation structure of the vegetation and soil patterns, predicted discharge and soil loss rates from hillslopes with spatially structured distributions of vegetation and soil parameters were compared with those from hillslopes with spatially uniform distributions. The results showed that the spatial organization of bare and vegetated surfaces alone can have a substantial impact on predicted storm discharge and erosion. In general, water and sediment yields from hillslopes with spatially structured distributions of vegetation and soil parameters were greater than from identical hillslopes with spatially uniform distributions. Within a storm the effect of spatially structured vegetation and soil patterns was observed to be highly dynamic, and to depend on rainfall intensity and slope gradient. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An automated salt‐tracing gauge for flow‐velocity measurement

This article introduces the SVG (salt‐velocity gauge), a novel automated technique for measuring flow velocity by means of salt tracing. SVG allows a high measuring rate (up to one every 2 seconds), short control section length (down to 10 cm), high accuracy (+[sol ]?1·5 cm s^?1), and unbiased calculation of the mean velocity in experimental conditions with turbulent, supercritical flow. A few cubic centimetres of saturated salt solution (NaCl) are injected into the flow at regular time intervals using a programmable solenoid valve. The tracer successively passes two conductivity probes placed a short distance downstream. The transformation of the signal between the two probes is modelled as a one‐dimensional diffusion wave equation. Model calibration gives an estimation of the mean velocity and the diffusion for each salt plume. Two implementations of the SVG technique are described. The first was an outdoors simulated rainfall experiment in Senegal (conductivity probes at 40 cm apart, 8 Hz measurement rate, salt injections at 10 second intervals). Mean velocity was estimated to range between 0·1 and 0·3 m s^?1. The second was a laboratory‐based flume experiment (conductivity probes at 10 cm apart, 32 Hz, salt injections at 2 second intervals). Another SVG with probes at 34 cm apart was used for comparison. An acoustic Doppler velocimeter (ADV) was also used to give an independent assessment of velocity. Using the 10 cm salt gauge, estimated mean velocity ranged from 0·6 to 0·9 m s^?1 with a standard deviation of 1·5 cm s^?1. Comparisons between ADV, 10 cm SVG and 34 cm SVG were consistent and demonstrated that the salt‐tracing results were unbiased and independent of distance between probes. Most peaks were modelled with r² > 90 per cent. The SVG technology offers an alternative to the dye‐tracing technique, which has been severely criticized in the literature because of the wide interval of recommended values for the correction factor α to be applied to the timings. This article demonstrates that a fixed value of α is inappropriate, since the correction factor varies with velocity, diffusion and the length of the control section. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Soil respiration in tropical seasonal rain forest in Xishuangbanna, SW China

With the static opaque chamber and gas chromatography technique, from January 2003 to January 2004 soil respiration was investigated in a tropical seasonal rain forest in Xishuangbanna, SW China. In this study three treatments were applied, each with three replicates: A (bare soil), B (soil+litter), and C (soil+litter+seedling). The results showed that soil respiration varied seasonally, low from December 2003 to February 2004, and high from June to July 2004. The annual average values of CO2 efflux from soil respiration differed among the treatments at 1% level, with the rank of C (14642 mgCO2· m-2. h-1)＞B (12807 mgCO2· m-2. h-1)＞A (9532 mgCO2· m-2. h-1). Diurnal variation in soil respiration was not apparent due to little diurnal temperate change in Xishuangbanna. There was a parabola relationship between soil respiration and soil moisture at 1% level. Soil respiration rates were higher when soil moisture ranged from 35% to 45%. There was an exponential relationship between soil respiration and soil temperature (at a depth of 5cm in mineral soil) at 1% level. The calculated Q1o values in this study,ranging from 2.03 to 2.36, were very near to those of tropical soil reported. The CO2 efflux in 2003was 5.34 kgCO2· m-2. a-1 from soil plus litter plus seedling, of them 3.48 kgCO2· m-2. a-1 from soil (accounting for 62.5%), 1.19 kgCO2· m-2. a-1 from litter (22.3%) and 0.67 kgCO2·m-2. a-1 from seedling (12.5%).