Mapping degraded grassland on the Eastern Tibetan Plateau with multi-temporal Landsat 8 data — where do the severely degraded areas occur?

The Tibetan Plateau in Western China is the world’s largest alpine landscape, sheltering a rich diversity of native flora and fauna. In the past few decades, the Tibetan Plateau was found to suffer from grassland degradation processes. Grassland degradation is assumed to not only endanger biodiversity but also to increase the risk for natural hazards in other parts of the country which are ecologically and hydrologically connected to the area. However, the mechanisms behind the degradation processes remain poorly understood due to scarce baseline data and insufficient scientific research.We argue that remote sensing data can help to better understand degradation processes and patterns by: (1) identifying the distribution of severely degraded areas and (2) comparing the patterns of key spatial attributes of the identified areas (altitude above sea level, aspect, slope, administrative districts) with existing theories on degradation drivers. Therefore, we applied four Landsat 8 images covering large portions of the three counties Jigzhi, Baima and Darlag in the Eastern Tibetan Plateau. The dates of the Landsat scenes were selected to cover differing phenological stages of the ecosystem. Reference data were collected with a remotely piloted aircraft and a standard consumer RGB camera. To exploit the phenological information in the Landsat data as well as deal with the problem of cloud cover in multiple images, we developed a straightforward PCA-based procedure to merge the Landsat scenes. The merged Landsat data served as input to a supervised support vector machine classification which was validated with an iterative bootstrap procedure and an additional independent validation set. The considered classes were “high-cover grassland”, “grassland (including several stages of grassland vitality)”, “(severely) degraded grassland”, “green shrubland”, “grey shrubland”, “urban areas” and “water bodies”. Kappa accuracies ranged between 0.84 and 0.93 in the iterative procedure, while the independent validation led to a kappa accuracy of 0.76. Mean producer’s and user’s accuracies for all classes were higher than 80%, and confusion mainly occurred between the two shrubland classes and between the three grassland classes.Analysis of the slope, aspect and altitude values of the vegetation classes revealed that the degraded areas mostly occurred at the higher altitudes of the study area (4300–4600 m), with no strong connection to any specific slope or aspect. High-cover grassland was mostly located on sunny slopes at lower altitudes (less than 4300 m), while shrubland preferred shady, relatively steep slopes across all altitudes. These observations proved to be stable across the examined counties, while the proportions of land-cover classes differed between the examined regions. Most counties showed 5–7% severely degraded land cover. Darlag, the county located at the edge of the permafrost zone, and featuring the highest average altitude and lowest annual temperature and precipitation, was found to suffer from larger areas of severe degradation (14%).Therefore, our findings support a strong connection between degradation patterns and climatic as well as altitudinal gradients, with an increased degradation risk for high altitude areas and areas in colder and drier climatic zones. This is relevant information for pastoral management to avoid further degradation of high altitude pastures.     

Effects of grazing by Daphnia on algal carotenoids: Implications for paleolimnology

Reverse-phase thin layer chromatography was used to quantify algal carotenoid degradation resulting from grazing by Daphnia magna in suspensions of lyophilized Oscillatoria utermöhlii, O. limnetica, Anabaena flos-aquae and Synechococcus sp. Three samples were removed every 24 h from 0 h to 144 h and the carotenoid, carbon and nitrogen content of the remaining algal-fecal mixture was determined. Grazing by Daphnia reduced carotenoid concentrations by 30%–80% after 144 h, with myxoxanthophyll being the most labile pigment in experiments with filamentous cyanophytes. However, as a group, the carotenoids were more resistant to the combined effects of grazing by Daphnia and bacterial action than were particulate algal carbon (78% to 82% lost by 144 h) or nitrogen (86%–90%) during the period in which easily digestible material remained. The maximal extent of carotenoid enrichment relative to particulate carbon ranged from 150% to 300% of initial pigment concentrations but declined with repeated coprophagy. On the basis of these results and published pigment budgets, we conclude both that fecal transportation of pigments may be an important determinant of carotenoid accumulation rates and that carotenoid stratigraphies should record predator-mediated changes in zooplankton community structure, especially in oligotrophic conditions.     

Causes of Forest Encroachment: An Analysis of Bangladesh

Deforestation is a major cause of environmental degradation. Tropical countries with huge population pressure and widespread poverty are main frontier of deforestation. Bangladesh, being one the most densely populated country with diminishing tropical forestland, supports lowest per capita forestland. The forests are depleting mainly due to illegal logging and conversion to non-forestry uses. In this paper encroachment of forestland by individuals has been dealt with. The socioeconomic causes and pattern of encroachment have been analyzed. Limited land availability and unemployment have been identified as the major proximate causes of encroachment and, if no measures are adopted within next three decades the existing natural forests might be encroached.Part of thesis of the first author submitted for the partial fulfillment of the Master of Science in Forestry in the Khulna University, Bangladesh in 2001 (Iftekhar, 2001). Some of the findings have been presented in the World Forestry Congress XIII, Canada, held from 21 to 28 September 2003 (Iftekhar et al., 2003).     

MULTIDISCIPLINARY INVESTIGATIONS ON THREE ROCK GLACIERS IN THE SWISS ALPS: LEGACIES AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES

This paper recognizes the contribution of Professor Wilfried Haeberli for his inspiration and leadership in the field of permafrost science and his generous encouragement, both direct and indirect, to the ETH Researchers who have, through him, endeavoured to contribute to this fascinating research area. The multidisciplinary investigations described in this paper have focused on three rock glaciers, Muragl, Murtèl‐Corvatsch and Furggwanghorn, all of which have been subject to a varying degree of prior study, and which are continuing to attract new generations of researchers to understand and explain the processes and predict future behaviour. This paper marks a stage at which it is possible to summarize some advances in the state of the art and associated innovations that can be attributed to early motivation by Wilfried Haeberli and offers a tribute as well as gratitude for his ongoing feedback and advice. Some thoughts on the development of thermokarst due to water ponding and flow, and a conceptual model of geotechnical mechanisms that aim to explain some aspects of rock glacier kinematics, are also introduced.     

基于熵权法的土地覆被动态遥感监测与评价——以新疆伊犁地区和博州为例

基于MODIS数据,选取植被净第一性生产力（NPP）、温度植被旱情指数（TVDI）、改进型土壤调整植被指数（MSAVI）、陆地表面温度（LST）4个对干旱地区地表覆被具有显著指示作用的指标,结合IGBP土地利用类型分类图,以新疆伊犁地区和博尔塔拉蒙古自治州（简称博州）为例,对研究区2003—2007年土地覆被动态进行监测,并利用熵权法确定各个指标的权重,在此基础上进行土地覆被动态的综合评价。结果表明,不同指标对不同的土地利用类型具有不同的适宜性和指示度;在新疆伊犁地区和博州,土地覆被动态地域差异性明显,土地覆被退化程度较大的土地类型为水体、草地、永久湿地、城镇,而森林、灌木林、荒漠草原和农田等土地类型有所改善,呈现出＂局部改善、总体退化＂的局面;引用熵权法将多个遥感指标综合起来进行土地覆被动态的监测与评价的途径是可行且有效的,可为干旱区土地覆被、荒漠化、土地退化、植被变化等工作的监测与评价提供可靠的技术方法与有价值的案例。     

三江源地区草地退化对中国区域气候影响的数值模拟研究

人类活动导致的土地利用变化是区域气候变化的一个重要驱动因素.位于青藏高原腹地的三江源地区,生态系统十分脆弱,其独特的地理位置决定了源区的生态环境对中国乃至全球的气候变化、生态环境均有十分重要的影响.该研究应用区域气候模式RegCM3,通过两组数值模拟试验结果的对比分析,探讨三江源地区的草地退化对中国区域气候的影响.模拟试验的区域模式水平分辨率为60 km,模拟区域中心位于35°N,105°E,水平格点数为92×82,相当于5520 km×4920 km的范围.研究结果表明:RegCM3对中国区域气候具有较好的模拟能力,能够用于定量研究土地利用变化对区域气候的影响.三江源地区的草地退化引起的气候变化在不同的地区是不一致的,变化最明显的地区是青藏高原地区.草地退化将会引起青藏高原地区的冬季降温和其他季节升温,气温变化最显著的季节是春季(0.46℃),冬季变化最小(0.03℃);三江源地区的草地退化对中国中、东部地区的气候影响较复杂,主要表现为夏季长江以北地区有不同程度的升、降温现象.由于青藏高原夏季热源作用的加强,导致夏季青藏高原低层大气的热低压有所加强,太平洋副热带高压向东退缩.降水量的变化主要表现在夏季降水的普遍减少.草地退化后,青藏高原地区的气候有向暖于方向发展的趋势.     

Soil erosion and sediment transport in Tanzania: Part II – sedimentological evidence of phased land degradation

Soil resources in parts of Tanzania are rapidly being depleted by increased rates of soil erosion and downstream sediment transport, threatening ecosystem health, water and livelihood security in the region. However, incomplete understanding to what effect the dynamics of soil erosion and sediment transport are responding to land-use changes and climatic variability are hindering the actions needed to future-proof Tanzanian land-use practices. Complementary environmental diagnostic tools were applied to reconstruct the rates and sources of sedimentation over time in three Tanzanian river systems that have experienced changing land use and climatic conditions. Detailed historical analysis of sediment deposits revealed drastic changes in sediment yield and source contributions. Quantitative sedimentation reconstruction using radionuclide dating showed a 20-fold increase in sediment yield over the past 120 years. The observed dramatic increase in sediment yield is most likely driven by increasing land-use pressures. Deforestation, cropland expansion and increasing grazing pressures resulted into accelerating rates of sheet erosion. A regime shift after years of progressive soil degradation and convergence of surface flows resulted into a highly incised landscape, where high amounts of eroded soil from throughout the catchment are rapidly transported downstream by strongly connected ephemeral drainage networks. By integrating complementary spatial and temporal evidence bases, this study demonstrated links between land-use change, increased soil erosion and downstream sedimentation. Such evidence can guide stakeholders and policy makers in the design of targeted management interventions to safeguard future soil health and water quality.     

爱沙尼亚干酪根催化降解生烃过程及动力学研究

以爱沙尼亚油页岩干酪根为对象,利用热模拟实验方法和化工催化原理,考察了不同介质对干酪根热解生烃过程的影响,从热解生烃量、生烃组成特征及生烃动力学等方面进行了探讨。结果表明:膏岩对干酪根的生烃具有明显催化作用,碳酸盐岩对干酪根的生烃具有一定反催化作用,各种盐类对干酪根的生烃量影响较小。干酪根热解动力学研究表明,生烃动力学参数表观活化能E与视频率因子A两者之间不是独立变化的,而是具有一定的关系,即:E与lnA之间服从直线关系(R=0.99),这些认识对于深入探讨爱沙尼亚油页岩干酪根的化学结构、建立热解动力学模型具有一定的参考价值。     

洱海沉积物中有机质和DNA的分布特征

测定了洱海沉积物中有机碳、氮,提取了沉积物中的DNA。有机碳氮呈现相同的变化趋势降解主要发生在表层10cm;7cm前后氧化-还原条件变化,微生物电子受体改变,所以有机质的降解方式不同,出现不同的特征。利用分子生物学和地球化学相结合的方法,能更全面的认识和理解早期成岩过程。