The soil conservation campaigns that have been a prominent feature of Jamaican agricultural policy since the 1950s are frequently presented as having failed to ameliorate the problem of soil erosion in hillside agriculture. A case study of a small farming community in the Blue Mountains explores the development of the soil conservation practices currently employed by farmers. The use of trash barriers in carrot farming is described and the origins of this technology and its subsequent adaptation are considered. The study concludes that extension interventions and government policy have influenced the development of current soil conservation practices; practices which have their roots in indigenous techniques. Other factors such as the adaptation of trash barriers to suit local conditions and their importance in soil fertility management also play a role in their widespread use in the study area. The study demonstrates that to understand the process of technical change in farming communities, it is necessary to consider a range of factors, external and internal, technical and social, that have over time influenced farmers' decision making. 相似文献
The palaeoecological potential of fish scales was assessed by comparing contemporary population data with scale remains obtained from littoral (n = 10) and open water (n = 10) surface sediment samples in two English shallow lakes, Selbrigg Pond and Cockshoot Broad. Scales and/or scale fragments were present, in low numbers (<20 per 100 cm3 wet sediment) in 34 of 40 sediment samples. In accordance with fish population data, higher densities of scale remains were found in Selbrigg compared to Cockshoot, and in littoral compared to open water samples. Taxonomic difficulties, exacerbated by scale fragmentation, made it impossible to assign the majority of remains to individual species. Most remains could, however, be placed into one of two groups: (i) percids – represented by both scales and scale fragments; and (ii) cyprinids – largely represented by scale fragments. To allow comparison of fish population and sedimentary scale data, both were converted to percentages of the aggregate percid–cyprinid total. Whole scales recovered were almost exclusively percid (45 of 48), thus bore little resemblance to the contemporary fish data. Nevertheless, percentages of scale fragments (Selbrigg: 34 and 66%; Cockshoot: 13 and 87% percid and cyprinid, respectively) and of whole scales and fragments combined (Selbrigg: 54 and 46%; Cockshoot: 46 and 54% percid and cyprinid, respectively) reflected the presence of the numerically dominant fish groups and the broad inter-site differences in their relative abundance (Selbrigg: 36 and 64%; Cockshoot: 10 and 90% percid and cyprinid, respectively). A running mean of scales per sediment volume indicated that some 400 cm3 of sediment was required to accurately characterise the remains present. This study suggests that, with the appropriate methodological considerations (e.g., collection of large sediment samples), fish scale remains may be used to determine the past presence–absence and relative abundance of percid and cyprinid species. As such, this technique may be a valuable supplementary tool for establishing longer-term changes in the fish communities of shallow lakes. 相似文献
Individual based simulations of population dynamics require the availability of growth models with adequate complexity. For this purpose a simple-to-use model (non-linear multiple regression approach) is presented describing somatic growth and reproduction of Daphnia as a function of time, temperature and food quantity. The model showed a good agreement with published observations of somatic growth (r2 = 0.954, n = 88) and egg production (r2 = 0.898, n = 35). Temperature is the main determinant of initial somatic growth and food concentration is the main determinant of maximal body length and clutch size. An individual based simulation was used to demonstrate the simultaneous effects of food and temperature on the population level. Evidently, both temperature and food supply affected the population growth rate but at food concentrations above approximately 0.4 mg Cl−1Scenedesmus acutus temperature appeared as the main determinant of population growth.
Four simulation examples are given to show the wide applicability of the model: (1) analysis of the correlation between population birth rate and somatic growth rate, (2) contribution of egg development time and delayed somatic growth to temperature-effects on population growth, (3) comparison of population birth rate in simulations with constant vs. decreasing size at maturity with declining food concentrations and (4) costs of diel vertical migration. Due to its plausible behaviour over a broad range of temperature (2–20 °C) and food conditions (0.1–4 mg Cl−1) the model can be used as a module for more detailed simulations of Daphnia population dynamics under realistic environmental conditions. 相似文献