Groundwater Sustainability in Arid and Semi-arid Environments: A Review2

Groundwater is an important part of the global hydrological cycle. Sustainable utilization of groundwater is related to regional ecological security and food security, especially in arid and semi-arid environments. This paper reviewed the important achievements of the research on groundwater sustainability in arid and semi-arid environments during the past 30 years, and summarized the research progress in groundwater sustainability of arid and semi-arid environments from the conception evolution of groundwater sustainability, evaluation methods, influencing factors, sustainable management, and research frontiers. Our analysis suggests that groundwater in water limited environments around the world has shown unsustainable characteristics both in terms of quantity and quality. However, the existing research focuses more on the quantitative characteristics than the quality characteristics of groundwater, and thus the seriousness of the decline in groundwater sustainability is potentially underestimated. It is pointed out that more research efforts need to be done in the future in balancing the groundwater resources for human and nature, clarifying the impacts of human disturbance and climate change on groundwater sustainability, and strengthening groundwater sustainability through transboundary watershed management. We argued that the difficulty remains how to quantify the sustainable yield of a groundwater basin, and how to assess the groundwater sustainability. Further investigations are required in improving the theoretical framework of groundwater sustainability, modeling the impacts of the various alternative groundwater development scenarios, developing more flexible and efficient indicator frameworks for sustainability evaluation of groundwater system, and deploying more sophisticated groundwater monitoring network for real-time data acquisition. Finally, awareness should also be raised towards ground water sustainability both at the legal level and in the sphere of political action.     

On consumption patterns in oyster markets: The role of attitudes

Achieving a low-carbon and sustainable economy is a long-term goal that EU aims at achieving in the next few decades: the potential role of bioeconomy is likely to make the difference, and in particular, the EU aquaculture and the seafood processing industry has the potential to contribute substantially to the emergence of bioeconomies (for instance through new – niche - markets for bio-based products such as algae, etc). In this particular framework, understanding how to enhance cleaner and more sustainable consumption patterns is preliminary to the transition towards more equitable and sustainable markets. The present analysis investigates the role of consumers’ attitudes with respect to sustainable attributes (namely food safety and respect of the environment) in order to suggest on their potential role to catalyze the transition toward bioeconomies. Up to date, empirical investigations on this issue are limited to few markets, and studies on aquaculture are particularly scant. The gap is reduced by the present analysis: it has been implemented a survey on fish consumers to investigate how their attitudes toward food safety and environmental issues tend to influence consumption choices, and it is shown that those attitudes are important determinants of consumers choices. Put differently, a cleaner and more sustainable supply chain (i.e through a safer, and environmental friendly product) is likely to enhance consumption of oysters. To the extent that policy makers, producers, and taxpayers are interested in enhancing sustainable bioeconomies, understanding the relevance of attitudes toward food safety and environmental sustainability is an important and pressing goal. The analysis, novel in its application to a high quality product, speaks in this direction and will help understanding how to accelerate the transition to sustainable bioeconomies.     

Determining the degree of 'small-scaleness' using fisheries in British Columbia as an example

Small-scale fisheries have been estimated to contribute up to 30% of the global landed value, which is caught by approximately 22 million fishers, some of which can be attributed to developed countries. Socio-economic analysis of small-scale fisheries often focuses on developing countries and fails to recognize the presence and contribution of small-scale fisheries in the developed world. Fisheries in British Columbia are diverse and often regarded as being industrialized and large-scale when analyzed in a global context. This study aims to demonstrate that features of small-scale fisheries are present within British Columbia's fleets. A list of re-occurring features of small-scale fisheries is curated from the literature to capture physical, economic and social features of small-scale fisheries. These commonly identified features of small-scale fisheries are applied to Aboriginal Food, Social and Ceremonial fisheries and all commercial fisheries in British Columbia are analyzed to determine the presence or absence of each small-scale fishery feature. The results of this research create a gradient of fisheries from smallest to largest scale. This approach determines that Aboriginal Food, Social and Ceremonial fisheries are the most small-scale, while the sablefish fishery is the largest scale. The qualitative nature of this framework creates an opportunity for any group of fisheries in the world to be compared.     

基于大数据发现技术的国外地质信息服务跟踪

近年来,大数据越来越受到计算机、地质、生物、医学等诸多领域的关注且得到了广泛的应用。以世界主要发达国家地质信息服务跟踪为例,针对美、加、英、澳4国的主要地质调查网站及中国知网,运用地质大数据发现技术的网络爬虫方法,获取需求文本数据,进而分析文本内容,总结国外地质信息社会化服务现状。大数据发现技术在地质领域的合理运用,对快速、高效获取图片、文档等数据及降低信息获取成本具有一定的意义。     

地球系统科学数据共享研究与实践

分布式、异构科学数据的整合集成与"一站式"共享服务是科学数据共享的关键和难点。首先,提出"创建地球系统科学数据共享联盟,共建、共享"的分散数据资源整合理念和按"总中心-分中心-数据资源点"三个层次的整合架构,然后,在组织模式上保障分布式数据资源的有效整合。即通过"元数据集中管理,数据体分散存储"的策略,从技术上保障分布式数据资源的快速整合。针对地球系统科学不同学科数据资源的特性,设计了地球系统科学数据核心元数据标准及扩展方案,利用MVC(元数据标准模型-显示视图-操作函数)模式实现多标准地学元数据的统一管理和自适应显示。最终,研究面向SOA的分布式地球系统科学数据共享平台,通过"一个总中心,认证中心和若干个分中心",形成物理上分布、逻辑上统一的分布式服务网络,从而为用户提供"一站式"的数据共享服务。     

Variation in diet across an elevational gradient in the larvae of two Hydropsyche species (Trichoptera)

While specialized species are linked to a particular resource, omnivorous species may switch between food items according to the availability and the quality of resources. Here we use larvae of the omnivorous caddisfly genus Hydropsyche (Trichoptera) to analyse changes in diet composition across an elevational gradient. Periphyton and Hydropsyche larvae were sampled from 22 populations at stream orders from 2 to 5 on the German part of the Bohemian Forest. Elevations of sampling sites ranged between 300 m and 900 m a.s.l.. Diet composition was estimated by the analyses of the gut content of larvae as well as by stable nitrogen isotopes (δ¹⁵N). The δ¹⁵N values of the periphyton decreased and the C/N ratio of periphyton increased with increasing environmental harshness (decreasing water pH, temperature and conductivity with increasing elevation) indicating a decrease of periphyton food quality. Across individuals, the proportion of animals in the gut of Hydropsyche larvae was positively related to the difference of δ¹⁵N values between larvae and periphyton. The proportion of animals within the gut and (baseline corrected) δ¹⁵N values of Hydropsyche populations increased with increasing environmental harshness. We suggest that the (i) low primary production caused by shading, low temperatures and low nutrient levels, (ii) the low nutrient quality of periphyton and (iii) the availability of animal prey due to the input of allochthonous resources in headwaters caused the shift in the diet of Hydropsyche larvae along the river continuum.     

Microbial food web contributions to bottom water hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico

Nutrients from the Mississippi/Atchafalaya Rivers greatly stimulate biological production in the ‘classical’ food web on the inner shelf of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Portions of this production, especially large diatoms and zooplankton fecal pellets, sink and decompose in the bottom water, consuming oxygen and contributing to the annual development of an extensive zone of bottom water hypoxia, typically >15,000 km² since 1993. The microbial food web is also active in the Mississippi River plume, but consists of small organisms that sink slowly. This ‘recycling’ food web has not been considered as a significant contributor to vertical flux and hypoxia. However, gelatinous zooplankton, especially pelagic appendicularians such as Oikopleura dioica, mediate the conversion of microbial web organisms to organic particles with high sinking rates. When pelagic appendicularians are abundant in coastal regions of the northern Gulf of Mexico, they stimulate the rapid vertical transfer of microbial web productivity in the surface layer, which is only 5–15 m thick in the coastal hypoxic region, to the sub-pycnocline layer that becomes hypoxic each summer. In this paper we present results from two studies examining the significance of this pathway. In both 2002 and 2004, we observed high production rates of appendicularians in coastal waters. Discarded gelatinous houses and fecal pellets from the appendicularian populations often provided more than 1 g m⁻² d⁻¹ of organic carbon for the establishment and maintenance of hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico. This source of organic matter flux is especially important in regions far from the river plumes and during periods of low river discharge. Autotrophic elements of this food web are primarily supported by recycled inorganic nutrients originating in the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers. Sources of dissolved organic matter (DOM) supporting the heterotrophic components of this microbial food web may include in situ production, the Mississippi/Atchafalaya Rivers, and Louisiana's coastal wetlands. If significant, the latter source provides a possible link between Louisiana's high rates of coastal land loss and the large hypoxic zone observed along the coast during summer. Both of the latter DOM sources are independent of phytoplankton production stimulated by inputs of riverine inorganic nutrients.     

中国气象网站的现状与未来发展趋势

从气象网站建立的意义、我区气象网站的现状、网站存在的不足、市场需求等方面,结合公众在信息数字化时代背景下的接收网络气象产品需求、网络未来的发展趋势,分析气象网站的优势与不足,提出规范行业标准、完善激励机制、面对市场化、服务精细化等建议和改革发展措施.     

~(13)C/~(12)C比值作为海洋生态系统食物网示踪剂的研究──崂山湾水体生物食物网的营养关系

于1992年9月—1994年5月先后对快山湾海域作了7个航次调查。由实验室培养试验和现场采样分析两种方法得出食物链一个营养级的13C富集度分别为（1．6±0．2）×10-3和1．7×10’,两者几乎一致。由7个季度月的现场采集样品的同位素分析结果表明,从处在食物网底部的浮游植物到最高级的肉食性鱼类之间13C差值平均为6．9×10-3,相当于5个营养级;并由各类生物的碳同位素数据分别确定了它们在该食物网中的营养位置,其结果与食性分析方法所得结果基本吻合。同位素示踪方法研究的结果还表明,崂山湾水体生物食物网中碳的来源主要是浮游植物碳。     

FLASH MX 在海洋预报网站的应用研究

通过MACROMEDIA STUDIO MX的FLASH MX工具软件的分析和研究,针对海洋领域的相关信息数据的特性,根据相关的海洋监测预报业务的专业需求,在搭建网站平台的同时,探讨了如何深层次地对FLASH MX开发功能的挖掘,在海洋信息应用领域率先提出了在海洋相关业务网站中建立RIA的理念和FLASHWEB的应用案例,继而在对FLASH应用前景的分析研究中也充分表述FLASHWEB在海洋领域的商业利用价值。