Exploring the marine biotic index (AMBI): variations on a theme by Ángel Borja

The results of manipulating the input data to AMBI are explored using various transformations of numerical species abundance (NAMBI), biomass (BAMBI) and production (PAMBI) from a variety of stations on the NE Atlantic shelf at which the pollution/disturbance status is known. There is a close agreement between the proportions of species in the five AMBI ecological groups and a phylum level meta-analysis axis of increasing environmental impact. All AMBI measures provide a better monotonic relationship with the impact axis than do traditional species diversity measures, which show higher diversity at intermediate levels of disturbance. A marginally better relationship with the impact axis of the meta-analysis is achieved by a moderate (square root) transformation of the data. ‘Production’ data (an appropriate combination of abundance and biomass information) provide only a marginal improvement on abundance data, but are ecologically and functionally much more relevant. Severe transformation of the data, culminating in presence/absence, degrades the relationship with the impact axis, but if only simple species lists are available then these may still be useable in making an environmental assessment.     

新疆地区县(市)地震应急能力指标体系的建立与区域差异初探

从新疆地区地震活动性、灾害背景及区域协同联动应急模式出发,在遵循科学性、系统优化和可操作性及区域特性等原则的基础上,采用层次分析法建立了县级行政单元的地震应急能力评价指标体系;继而建立了基于基础设施条件、基础人力物力财力、(县级)专项能力和专项经验及基础环境背景4个一类指标集的县(市)绝对地震应急能力综合评价模型,并根据新疆地区4类人员问卷调查资料,计算和分析了样本支持条件下各指标的权重及结果,将其应用在新疆地区县(市)地震应急能力等级划分中。结果表明,地震应急能力的空间分布格局的产生与区域经济发展水平和地理位置等方面所具备的优势是相适应的,安居富民工程对提升区域地震应急能力发挥了重要作用,少数民族聚集区应急能力有待加强,寒旱、高海拔地区等特殊地理因素影响不可忽视。     

基于植被状态指数的云南省农业干旱状况时空分析

本文首先计算了云南省2004-2013年农业干旱指数VCI,然后使用Pearson相关系数评价降水与VCI的相关性,基于VCI识别云南省2004-2013年农业干旱事件,最后,与SPEI气象干旱识别结果进行对比分析,在VCI农业干旱识别的基础上,使用干旱频率和干旱面积占比指标分析了云南省2004-2013年农业干旱时空特征。结果表明：降水只是影响VCI指数的关键因素之一;VCI和SPEI指数均能够较好对干旱进行监测并识别典型干旱,但两者的识别结果存在差异;云南省农业干旱频率在春冬两季较高,夏季较低,秋季介于夏季和春冬季之间;春夏冬三季农业干旱频率空间分布较为均匀,秋季农业干旱频率呈南低北高的分布态势,整体上北部干旱频率高于南部;2004-2013年云南省整体干旱面积占比呈现先减小后增加再波动的趋势,春冬两季整体干旱面积占比最高,分别为46.63%和47.18%,呈现下降趋势,夏季整体干旱面积占比最低,为43.81%,呈现上升趋势,秋季整体干旱面积占比介于冬春季和夏季之间,为45.74%,呈现下降趋势。总之,云南省农业干旱春冬易发性最高,影响范围最大,夏季易发性最低,影响范围最小。     

近30年中国中东部地区植物分布变化

在全球气候变暖背景下,某些植物分布范围会发生明显变化。但已有研究尚未对中国中东部地区近30年来的植物分布变化进行系统总结。采用荟萃分析方法（meta-analysis）,通过搜集已发表文献中关于植物引种、植被和物种分布及其变化等数据资料,得到近15年119个植物物种的251条分布变化证据,经与《中国木本植物分布图集》中记载的原分布记录（约20世纪80年代至90年代）对比,统计了不同物种的分布范围变化,并分析了变化原因。结果表明：近30年来,统计物种中80%在水平地带上发生北移,平均移动值约为3.37°;中东部地区植物分布响应气候变化的区域集中在北亚热带常绿阔叶林—暖温带落叶阔叶林过渡带以及中温带针阔叶混交林过渡带。分析发现20世纪50年代以来中国绝大多数地区有显著的增温趋势,升温导致温暖指数（Warmth Index）增加,满足植物生长的热量需求,是植物北移的重要原因。     

勐兴铅锌矿区水文地质条件及水质有害性分析

矿区有独立的水文地质单元,地下水水质属较差一极差类,指出影响水质的有害因素,提出治理建议。     

The dynamics of tourist excursion ratios in Slovakia show caves from 2000 to 2014

Show caves are one of the most important targets in developing local ecotourism strategies. This work focuses on a tourism visit rate incidence through an Attractiveness Index concerning 12 selected show caves in Slovakia. Our study focuses on visitor counts published from 2000 to 2014. A set of eight criteria were selected in order to analyse and determine the appeal that each cave may have for visitors. Establishing the “degree” of appeal as an indicator of the tourism and geographic absolute attractiveness value is based on a principal components factor analysis; the resultant single factor was correlated with our selected criteria. We find a strong correlation between touristic cave attractiveness and cave locations, ease of cave passage access (vehicle and trail) infrastructures, cave location in main tourism regions, and the growth of urban areas as they encroach on show cave locations. Similar studies in valorization of show caves tourism have not been attempted in Slovakia or Eastern Europe. The data and result from this study are also clearly important from a managerial perspective. This general framework could be easily expanded to include additional attributes that might be relevant for other market segments or other vacation experiences.     

青藏高原植被覆盖变化及其与气候变化的关系

近几十年来,全球气候变化对青藏高原植被覆盖产生了重要影响。基于青藏高原1981—2005年遥感影像及同期气象数据,结合生态学模型,分析了青藏高原植被覆盖度变化趋势及其与气候变化的关系。结果显示,25 a间,青藏高原温度升高、降水量增加,植被覆盖度呈"整体升高、局部退化"趋势;地表植被改善区主要位于植被低覆盖区,退化区主要位于高覆盖区;从不同植被类型看,除针叶林、阔叶林受采伐影响覆盖度下降外,其他植被覆盖度均不同程度的上升;植被覆盖度变化与同期降水量变化、温度变化均呈正相关,且具有明显的区域差异。     

On the identification of ENSO-induced rainfall and runoff variability: a comparison of methods and indices

Abstract

It is known that the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon induces marked climate variability across many parts of the world. However, in seeking useful relationships between ENSO and climate, several indices are available. In addition to the choice of index, previous studies assessing ENSO effects have employed a range of different methods to classify periods as El Niño, La Niña or Neutral. It is therefore clear that significant subjectivity exists in the adoption of ENSO classification schemes. In this study, several ENSO classification methods are applied to a range of ENSO indices. Each method-index combination is investigated to determine which provides the strongest relationship with rainfall and runoff in the Williams River catchment, New South Wales, Australia. The results demonstrate substantial differences between the methods and indices. The Multivariate ENSO Index (or MEI) is found to provide the best classification irrespective of method. The potential for forecasting ENSO-related effects on rainfall, runoff and river abstractions is then investigated. A “rise rule” to account for dynamic ENSO trends is also assessed. Strong relationships were found to exist with runoff (rainfall) up to nine (eight) months in advance of the Summer/autumn period. Implications for improved forecasting of potential river abstractions are apparent.     

Combined analysis of precipitation and water deficit for drought hazard assessment

Abstract

The combined analysis of precipitation and water scarcity was done with the use of the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Standardized Runoff Index (SRI), developed as a monthly, two-variable SPI-SRI indicator to identify different classes of hydrometeorological conditions. Stochastic analysis of a long-term time series (1966–2005) of monthly SPI-SRI indicator values was performed using a first-order Markov chain model. This provided characteristics of regional features of drought formation, evolution and persistence, as well as tools for statistical long-term drought hazard prediction. The study was carried out on two subbasins of the Odra River (Poland) of different orography and land use: the mountainous Nysa K?odzka basin and the lowland, agricultural Prosna basin. Classification obtained with the SPI-SRI indicator was compared with the output from the NIZOWKA model that provided identification of hydrological drought events including drought duration and deficit volume. Severe and long-duration droughts corresponded to SPI-SRI Class 3 (dry meteorological and dry hydrological), while severe but short-term droughts (lasting less than 30 days) corresponded to SPI-SRI Class 4 (wet meteorological and dry hydrological). The results confirm that, in Poland, meteorologically dry conditions often shift to hydrologically dry conditions within the same month, droughts rarely last longer than 2 months and two separate drought events can be observed within the same year.