IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSIS OF NATURAL CHANNEL NETWORKS FROM DIGITAL ELEVATION MODELS

The identification and analysis of natural channel networks from digital elevation models are discussed from the point of view of their environmental applications. An interactive, graphical software package that implements some of the most widely used techniques for the automatic recognition of channel networks and for the computation of some useful geomorphologic indices and functions is presented.     

Damage response of multistorey r/c buildings with different structural systems subjected to seismic motion of arbitrary orientation

In the present study the combined influence of seismic orientation and a number of parameters characterizing the structural system of Reinforced Concrete (R/C) buildings on the level of expected damages are examined. For the purposes of the above investigation eight medium‐rise buildings are designed on the basis of the current seismic codes. The structural characteristics examined are the ratio of the base shear received by the structural walls, the ratio of horizontal stiffness in two orthogonal directions and the structural eccentricity. Then, the buildings are analyzed by nonlinear time response analysis using 100 bidirectional earthquake ground motions. The two horizontal accelerograms of each ground motion are applied along horizontal orthogonal axes, forming 72 different angles with the structural axes. The structural damage is expressed in terms of the Park and Ang damage index. The results of the analyses revealed that the damage level of the buildings is strongly affected by the incident angle of the ground motion. The extent at which the orientation of the seismic records influences the damage response depends on the structural system and the distance of the record to the fault rupture. As a consequence, the common practice of applying the earthquake records along the structural axes can lead to significant underestimation of structural damage. Also, it was shown that the structural eccentricity can significantly differentiate the seismic damage level, as well as the impact of the earthquake orientation on the structural damage. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

宁夏农业综合开发战略转型区划研究

农业综合开发战略转型区划研究,是科学适应新形势下国家对农业综合开发提出的“坚持可持续、提升竞争力”要求的前提和基础。针对已有农业区划的单一目标和单一类型划分问题,以宁夏为例,基于农业相关的耕地、气候、水、地形、地貌、项目布局、生态规划等空间数据,采用地理学综合区划的方法,提出了动态与静态结合、定性与定量结合、农业与生态结合的13项多维指标体系,提出了合理且可操作的技术流程,科学划分了包含过渡类型的一级区划（7大类型：重点开发区、“重点+限制”开发区、保护性开发区、“保护+限制”开发区、“限制+重点”开发区、“限制+保护”开发区和限制性开发区）和二级区划（24个亚类）,实现了农业可持续和生态环境保护的双重目标。本文是国家财政部明确提出农业综合开发要科学划分重点开发区、保护性开发区和限制性开发区之后,首次实现在省（区）级以乡（镇）为单位的科学划分,可为今后农业综合开发战略转型项目的科学布局和精准投入提供重要依据,为宁夏农业综合开发战略转型工作的具体落地实施提供科学保障,同时也可为其他省份或地区的农业综合开发战略转型区划工作提供有益参考。     

黄土高原甘肃区降水变化与气候指数关系

基于黄土高原甘肃区34个气象站1961~2010年的逐日降水资料,结合线性趋势法、Mann-Kendall法和反距离加权插值等方法,对黄土高原甘肃区降水量时空变化进行分析,利用Morlet小波、交叉小波变换和小波相干谱分析其周期特征及其与太平洋年代际涛动（PDO）、厄尔尼诺/南方涛动（ENSO）指数相关关系。结果表明：研究区年降水量呈下降趋势,变化倾向率为-15.4 mm/10a,特别是20世纪90年代以来降水量下降趋势明显;就季节变化而言,降水量除冬季呈轻微增加外,其他各季均呈减少趋势,其中以秋季减少最为明显,其次为春、夏季。从空间分布来看,年降水量总体呈减少趋势,其东南地区降水量减少幅度高于西北部。研究区降水量存在2~3 a、4.3~5 a的年际振荡周期特征,呈现了同大尺度气候因子相似的变化特征;降水量与两大气候因子存在着多时间尺度的显著相关性,与PDO和ENSO存在5~5.6 a左右共振周期,位相谱月降水量变化位相比PDO和ENSO提前;低能量区降水量与PDO有3~3.5 a年的显著共振周期且接近同位相变化,与ENSO存在0~3 a和3~6 a呈负位相的共振周期。     

Sublethal effects of a chlorinated and heated effluent on the physiology of the mussel,Mytilus edulis L.: A reduction in fitness for survival?

Coastal power stations entrain large volumes of cooling water, requiring biocidal treatment to prevent biological fouling. Discharged effluent is both heated and contaminated with residual traces of biocide and so it is necessary to quantify the impacts of this discharge. Cooling water from Heysham 2 nuclear power station, NW England, UK, is discharged to the intertidal area, via a culvert (to minimise erosion and maximise dilution and dispersion by directing the effluent into the receiving water at all states of the tide) within which the effluent is contained at low water. The culvert and surrounding coastal area support a population of blue mussels (Mytilus edulis). Mussel health was determined along a gradient of exposure, using three physiological indices: Scope for Growth, Gonad Mantle Index and Somatic Condition Index (K Factor). The Mussels within the culvert exhibited reduced physiological index values compared to an external site. A trend was identified down the length of the culvert, representing a gradient of exposure and indicating a potential negative effect on growth and reproductive output.     

A comparison of wetness indices for the prediction of observed connected saturated areas under contrasting conditions

For lack of other widely available spatial information, topography is often used to predict water fluxes and water quality in mesoscale watersheds. Such data have however proven to be misleading in many environments where large and flat valley bottoms and/or highly conducive soil covers determine water storage and water transport mechanisms. Also, the focus is generally on the prediction of saturation areas regardless of whether they are connected to the catchment hydrographic network or rather present in isolated topographic depressions. Here soil information was coupled with terrain data towards the targeted prediction of connected saturated areas. The focus was on the 30 km² Girnock catchment (Cairngorm Mountains, northeast Scotland) and its 3 km² sub‐catchment, Bruntland Burn in which seven field surveys were done to capture actual maps of connected saturated areas in both dry and humid conditions. The 1 km² resolution UK Hydrology of Soil Types (HOST) classification was used to extract relevant, spatially variable, soil parameters. Results show that connected saturated areas were fairly well predicted by wetness indices but only in wet conditions when they covered more than 30% of the whole catchment area. Geomorphic indices including information on terrain shape, steepness, aspect, soil texture and soil depth showed potential but generally performed poorly. Indices based on soil and topographic data did not have more predictive power than those based on topographic information only: this was attributed to the coarse resolution of the HOST classification. Nevertheless, analyses provided interesting insights into the scale‐dependent water storage and transport mechanisms in both study catchments. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

1961-2010年西北干旱区极端降水指数的时空变化分析

结合绝对阈值和百分位法定义极端降水事件的优点,提出了一种更灵敏的检测极端降水事件的方法. 该方法不仅能检测出常用降水指数无法检测到的降水量稀少地区尤其干旱区的极端降水事件,同时也能过滤掉其检测到的降水量丰富地区的虚假极端降水事件. 此方法首次被应用于统计1961年1月至2010年2月西北干旱区72个气象站点的年和季节的极端降水指数（大降水和强降水指数）,并分析了极端降水指数的时间变化趋势及其空间分布特征. 结果表明：西北干旱区春（3-5月）、秋（9-11月）、冬（12月至次年2月）三季极端降水指数无显著（P>0.05）变化趋势,夏季（6-8月）大降水的频率和降水量以及大降水降水量占总降水量的比重都显著增加;新疆地区极端降水指数为增加趋势的区域基本都分布在海拔较高（约海拔1 000 m以上）的地区;西北干旱区东部极端降水指数变化趋势的空间分布有明显的季节差异,表现为夏、秋季大部分地区为增加趋势,冬、春季大部分地区为减小趋势.     

黄土的独立物性指标及其与湿陷性参数的相关性分析

黄土的湿陷性是其重要的工程特性,常用一维压缩应力条件下的湿陷系数、自重湿陷系数和湿陷起始压力等指标定量评价。影响黄土湿陷性的因素较多,包括土的粒度、密度、湿度等基本物理性质指标,且各因素之间并非完全独立,存在一定相关性。采用因子分析法,通过对西安地铁4号线黄土高台地和宝鸡-兰州高速铁路隧道黄土塬湿陷性黄土场地地层物性质指标的统计分析和相关性分析,首先确定了相对独立的含水比（含水率与液限之比）和孔隙比3个物性指标反映的两个因子。然后,依据湿陷性黄土场地的试验资料,通过多元线性回归分析,分别得到了两个场地黄土的自重湿陷系数、湿陷起始压力以及压缩模量与含水比和孔隙比之间的相关关系。最后,比较分析了两个场地黄土自重湿陷系数、湿陷起始压力和压缩模量计算值与实测值,验证了利用因子分析法寻找影响黄土湿陷性的独立因子,建立黄土湿陷性参数与独立影响因子之间相关关系的合理性和准确性。针对两个地区两类地貌单元湿陷性黄土场地,建立的黄土湿陷性参数的相关关系具有快速、准确的评价黄土湿陷性和黄土地基湿陷变形的实际意义。     

Applicability and intercalibration of macrophyte quality indices to characterise the ecological status of Mediterranean transitional waters: the case of the Venice lagoon

In the framework of the WFD 2000/60/EC intercalibration process the updated versions of the EEI and R‐MaQI, proposed by Italy and Greece for the transitional waters, have been applied to the macrophytes of the Venice lagoon to test their comparability and relationships with the pressure gradients. Submerged macrophytes were collected during spring 2007 at 60 sites spread within the lagoon. At each site, five random samples were collected and the total coverage of benthic macrophytes in the field was estimated based on a number of tests of the bottom. To assess seagrass epiphytes, five shoots were collected for each replicate. Physico‐chemical data were collected in the water column at 14 sites selected to reflect the main hydro‐geomorphological and trophic gradients of the lagoon. The analyses performed indicated that the two metrics appeared to be weakly intercalibrated and only the 30% of the sampling sites displayed the same quality class. The main differences fell into the Moderate and Low classes and the two indices provided discordant results in the intermediate and confined areas of the lagoon. In contrast, the two indices showed good affinity in the marine areas of inlets, which are characterised by seagrass meadows and late‐successional macroalgae. Similar results were evidenced also in a redundancy analysis by the different relationships between quality classes and the physico‐chemical gradients. The main reason for this seems to be the heterogeneity of species–environment relationships inside the groups of species on which the indices are based. Critical aspects of methodological differences and applicability of the macrophyte indices proposed by Italy and Greece for the transitional waters of the Mediterranean eco‐region are discussed.     

Riparian vegetation dynamics across two different landscapes along the river Cauvery in the Kodagu region of Western Ghats

Decades of commercial planting and other anthropogenic processes are posing a threat to the riparian landscapes of the Cauvery river basin, which supports a high floral diversity. Despite this, the habitats in the upstream sections of the River Cauvery are still intact, as they are located in sacred groves. To understand the dynamism of riparian forests exposed to anthropogenic pressures, the upstream stretch of Cauvery extending from Kushalanagara to Talacauvery (~102 km) was categorized into two landscapes: agro ecosystem and sacred (i.e. preserved). The tree species were sampled using belt transects at 5 km intervals and the regeneration status of endemic species assessed using quadrats. A total of 128 species belonging to 47 families, and representing 1,590 individuals, was observed. Amongst them, 65% of unique species were exclusive to sacred landscapes. A rarefaction plot confirmed higher species richness for the sacred compared to the agro ecosystem landscapes, and diversity indices with more evenness in distribution were evident in sacred landscapes. A significant loss of endemic tree species in the agro ecosystem landscapes was found. Overall, this study demonstrates that an intense biotic pressure in terms of plantations and other anthropogenic activities have altered the species composition of the riparian zone in non-sacred areas. A permanent policy implication is required for the conservation of riparian buffers to avoid further ecosystem degradation and loss of biodiversity.