Pastoralists’ perceptions and realities of vegetation change and browse consumption in the northern Kalahari, Namibia

Pastoral production around artificial watering points in semi-arid environments affects the density and composition of plant communities. In the Kalahari desert of southwestern Africa, bush encroachment is often regarded as the major form of land degradation resulting from pastoral production around watering points. We investigated the OvaHerero pastoralists’ perceptions of the extent of vegetation change since the establishment of artificial watering points in the northern Kalahari desert of Namibia, and related this to ecological data on vegetation change. We determined the utility of woody vegetation to pastoralists’ livelihoods in terms of provision of construction material, fuel wood and browse. We quantified local knowledge of cattle browse consumption and correlated this with field data. We also assessed the purposes for which major livestock types were used. Our results showed that: (1) pastoral knowledge of bush encroachment and browse consumption was consistent with concurrently collected field data, (2) the current level of bush encroachment was perceived to be beneficial for pastoral production, and (3) cattle played an important role in the production of milk and milk by-products for domestic use, and served as a source of cash income, while sheep and goats were primarily kept for meat consumption. This result contrasts with historical studies that mainly portray cattle as a symbol of social status among OvaHerero pastoralists.     

干酪根化学降解产物的碳同位素组成研究

采用一系列温和的化学降解法对松辽盆地南部嫩江组烃源岩的干酪根进行连续的选择性化学降解，并对不同降解产物进行色谱—同位素比值质谱分析。研究表明碱性水解和脱硫产物以一元脂肪酸和正构烷烃为主，其中正构烷烃碳同位素分布曲线呈现一定的“负倾”（即随碳数增加呈现逐渐贫13C）趋势；一元脂肪酸以C16和C18为主，具有明显的偶碳优势，与同碳数的正构烷烃具有相似的碳同位素组成。氧化产物则以一元脂肪酸和α,ω 二元脂肪酸为主，一元脂肪酸低碳数部分呈现“负倾”趋势，高碳数部分则呈现“正倾”的趋势；α,ω 二元脂肪酸与低碳数的一元脂肪酸具有相似的分布，表明它们可能具有相同的母源。对比研究表明JL 30抽提物中正构烷烃可能存在混源的影响，其碳同位素组成是多源混合的结果。     

Spatial pattern of Karst rock desertification in the Middle of Guizhou Province,Southwestern China

Karst rocky desertification is a typical type of land degradation in the Southwestern China. It has great ecological and economical implications for the local people. Landsat images from the middle of Guizhou Province collected in 1974, 1993 and 2001 were used for change detection of the pattern of Karst rocky desertification. The results show the following findings: (1) Desertification area expanded drastically in 27 years, at an increasing rate about 116.2 km²/year. (2) High areas (900–1,500 m) are the most affected. (3) Areas with the slope <5° or >25° are also easily tend to be Karst rocky deserted. (4) The process of Karst rocky desertification is nearly irreversible. Few areas of Karst rocky desertification could be meliorated to non-desertification land. (5) Most of the degraded lands are located in the south and the central of the study region, and the meliorated land areas are sparsely located in the east and the west part of the region. All these findings would provide bases for the decision-making of the local government to improve the Karst rocky desertification     

An assessment of land degradation in the Save catchment of Zimbabwe

The lack of reliable baseline information on land degradation is a hindrance towards its monitoring and mitigation. Of particular interest is the identification of areas susceptible to degradation. In this study, remote sensing and GIS technologies were applied to detect and map susceptibility to land degradation in Buhera district, in Save catchment, Zimbabwe. Data used included Landsat TM and ETM imagery for 1992 and 2002, agro-ecological zones, vegetation cover and population density. The study identified five preliminary categories of degradation susceptibility ranging from very high to low.     

The stiffness degradation and damping ratio evolution of Taipei Silty Clay under cyclic straining

The non-linear behavior of Taipei Silty Clay under cyclic strain loading was investigated through a series of undrained cyclic strain-controlled tests. The Ramberg–Osgood equation was used with our proposed stiffness degradation model to calculate degraded secant moduli. The proposed degradation model is simple in that it has only one more component than Idriss's model, the modulus ratio for the first cycle, which reflects the effects of the previous cyclic strain history and the current level of the cyclic strain amplitude, and can be used to describe softening and hardening behavior under irregular cyclic straining. It was found that the Ramberg–Osgood equation successfully predicts the damping ratio for small to medium strains. However, it overestimates the damping ratio for larger strains, so we suggest it can be corrected with a damping ratio index. In addition, the proposed equation for describing the evolution of the damping ratio provides the means to assess the variation for Taipei Silty Clay in the measured damping ratio with both the number of cycles and the strain amplitude.     

SPECIFIC DEGRADATION OF WATERSHEDS

An extensive database of reservoir sedimentation surveys throughout continental United States is compiled and analyzed to determine specific degradation SD relationships as function of mean annual rainfall R, drainage area A, and watershed slope S. The database contains 1463 field measurements and specific degradation relationships are defined as function of A, R and S. Weak trends and significant variability in the data are noticeable. Specific degradation measurements are log normally distributed with respect to R, A, and S and 95% confidence intervals are determined accordingly. The accuracy of the predictions does not significantly increase as more independent variables are added to the regression analyses.     

地下水有机污染的水文地球化学标志物探讨——以河南油田为例

经过野外现场调查和取样分析及室内研究得知南阳油田地下水已遭受不同程度的有机物污染，且污染范围可能进一步向油田南部扩散。根据近似地下水流线方向上地下水中总油质量浓度和Fe,Mn等无机组分的变化势态，结合含水介质化学分析结果，发现硫酸盐、Fe和Mn可作为地下水有机污染和地球化学标志物。在含水介质中Fe和Mn质量浓度较高的地方，地下水有机污染物降解速度快，含水介质中Fe和Mn的氧化物和氢氧化物的还原作用导致了含水层介质中Fe和Mn的缺乏和地下水中溶解Fe和Mn的积聚；在含水介质中Fe和Mn质量浓度低的地方，地下水中的有机物质量浓度并没有降低，相应地地下水中溶解Fe和Mn的质量浓度也很低。同时，由于有机污染物的存在使地下水中硫酸盐被还原，导致城下水中硫酸盐质量浓度偏低，且地下水中Fe对有机物污染的敏感性比Mn强。     

西南地区山地不同土地退化类型特征及调控途径

土地退化不仅是目前全还需性的重大环境问题之一，而且也是重大的社会和经济问题之一，西南地区的土地退化是以水力侵蚀为主要动力形成的，文中简述了西南地区的土地退化状况，选择了4个（楚雄市、遂宁市，毕节地区及元谋县）山地不同土地退化类型进行分析，讨论了土 退化过程，提出了土地退化调控途径。     

绿洲演化与自然和人为因素的关系初探——以克里雅河下游地区为例

以位于塔里木盆地的克里雅河下游地区绿洲为例 ,论述了自然环境要素演变及人类活动对绿洲发育的重要作用。克里雅河下游地区的现代绿洲包括沿河岸分布的带状绿色走廊和河流终端干三角洲上的扇形牧业绿洲。依据对河流沉积物及古河道分析得出的结论是 ,在末次冰期晚期时 ,由于来自昆仑山的大量消融水的出现 ,克里雅河的绿色走廊横穿塔克拉玛干沙漠。类似的情况在距今约2 0 0 0年和小冰期时都出现过。这种大的变化是自然环境演变的结果。但是 ,近百年来特别是近 5 0年克里雅河下游牧业绿洲的严重退化是中游地区集中发展农业绿洲而增加引水量及下游地区过度砍伐所造成的。     

小兴安岭黑大公路沿线多年冻土分布及退化状态

黑大公路沿线多年土主要分布于黑河－北安段，属小兴安岭岛状多年冻土区，该区存在的多年冻土是晚全新世寒冷时期的产物，现处于欧亚多年冰土南界边缘，多年冻土发育在低洼、地表积水、塔头草生长茂密、草炭和泥炭发育的沼泽化湿地当中，沼泽湿地独特的热交换特性决定了其中发育的多年冻土处于退化的最晚阶段，冻土的退化在自然条件下可能依赖于由于至上的地下热流。多年冻土的地温剖面表现为零梯度曲且冰土温度接近于0℃，由此决定了多年冻土对人为活动干扰的敏感性。