Nonprofit Foundations and Grassroots Organizing: Reshaping Urban Governance

Collaborative urban governance has increased the role of community organizations in local decision-making processes. These organizations need financial resources in order to participate in urban governance. In this article, I examine the impact of foundation grants on the relationships and agendas of four community organizations in one neighborhood in St. Paul, Minnesota. Drawing on interviews, observations of organizations, and archival research, I demonstrate that in the 1990s, nonprofit foundations had a significant impact on the formation of new organizations and on their agendas in the neighborhood. Foundations are, therefore, an important player in urban governance, shaping a “neighborhood policy regime.”     

河西走廊西端灌丛沙丘发育过程及其对沙漠化的指示意义

在风沙活动强烈的荒漠地区开展环境变化研究常缺乏符合要求的地质测年材料。灌丛沙丘是干旱区发育的一种特殊生物地貌类型,具有计年和储存环境信息的功能,可以用来重建沙丘的发育过程和过去的环境变化。以河西走廊西端花海盆地发育的灌丛沙丘沉积剖面为研究对象,基于AMS¹⁴C年代学及沉积物粒度、碳酸盐含量、地球化学元素等代用指标的分析,与文献记载、沙漠化监测数据和近几十年的器测气象资料对比分析,试图揭示区域灌丛沙丘的发育过程及其环境指示意义。结果表明：花海盆地灌丛沙丘的发育时间已超过800 年;20世纪60年代中后期至70年代早期人类活动的干扰曾使灌丛沙丘的堆积过程中断,但丰富的物源随后又促使灌丛沙丘再次快速发育。沙丘物源曾发生过剧烈的变化,使得灌丛沙丘沉积物中的粗颗粒组分和中值粒径并不适于作为环境代用指标重建区域的风沙环境变化,而细颗粒组分（<63 μm和<10 μm）和碳酸盐含量的变化,则揭示了研究区在20世纪70-80年代（沙丘高度300~420 cm）时获得了丰富的物质来源。灌丛沙丘沉积物中的Zr/Rb比值,能够作为良好的环境代用指标指示1970-1988年（沙丘高度300~420 cm）区域处在风沙活动较强烈的环境;近几十年花海盆地土地沙漠化明显,尤其是20世纪70年代和80年代。灌丛沙丘可以作为有较高可信度的地质记录载体,在河西走廊西端重建较长时间尺度的、高分辨率的区域气候环境演变历史。     

Medium and small embankment dams on permafrost: A discussion of current concepts

This article discusses the current concepts of dam design and construction in permafrost regions. It is demonstrated that embankment dams often change their state from frozen to thawed and back during the operation period. It is shown that these transitions are not always attributable to observed climate warming. Where geotechnical, hydrogeological, and permafrost conditions are complicated, proper performance of embankment dams can only be provided by adhering to a selected thermal design for, as an example, a frozen state.     

汾河水库以上流域径流变化与洪水频率分析

根据1970—2004年的实测水文资料,采用水文学及统计方法分析了汾河水库控制流域的径流量变化及其原因,同时还计算了不同重现期的控制站的洪峰设计值。结果表明,入库控制站静乐和上静游站丰、平和枯水水平年不同步,在20世纪70和80年代发生丰水和平水年份比较多,在90年代后枯水年份比较多,多干旱年份。水库控制流域洪水主要集中在7月、8月,同时极端洪涝和干旱事件出现的频次增多。以静乐站为代表分析降水对径流变化的结果表明,高强度降水在量级和次数上存在波动变化的态势,年径流的时序变化主要是受年降水量的变化影响。     

Groundwater flow regime under natural conditions as inferred from past evidence and contemporary field observations in a semi-arid basin: Cuenca de la Independencia, Guanajuato, México

This study was carried out in the Cuenca de la Independencia, a semi-arid basin in Central Mexico. The objective is to describe the main features of a groundwater flow regime under natural conditions, based on groundwater discharge manifestations. Information obtained from paleoecological, paleontological, archaeological and historical data suggests that, prior to heavy development (starting in the 1950s), the hydrogeologic regime was characterized by a larger groundwater availability in a more humid and colder climate. Manifestations associated to groundwater discharges are springs, lagoons, wetlands, saline soils, chalcedony deposits, phreatophytes, thermalism, and artesianism. The different types of manifestations and their position in the basin indicate the influence of groundwater flow systems hierarchically nested, forming concentric zones at ground level. The groundwater flow regime corresponds to a classical gravity-induced flow system with generation of local, intermediate and regional patterns. Integrating several types of data to establish the flow geometry and its dynamics has proven a useful tool to increase understanding of the original groundwater regimes. This approach can also be applied in other over-exploited semi-arid basins.     

固沙林庇护区内降尘特征的初步观测

采用野外定位实测法,连续两年对科尔沁沙地24龄人工固沙杨树(Populussimonii)林庇护区内4～6月份及强沙尘暴事件中的降尘特征进行了观测研究。结果表明:(1)林地庇护区内4、5月份的降尘量较多,分别为273和437kg/hm2,6月份的降尘量较少,为171kg/hm2。(2)林地中央的滞尘效应在风蚀季节和强沙尘暴天气过程中十分显著。(3)林地庇护区内的降尘中粒径<0.02mm颗粒含量占60.7%,降尘中的全C、全N和速效P含量分别高达1.676%、0.163%和210.66mg/kg,这对风沙土表层土壤的细化和养分的积累具有重要的生态学意义。     

Flow and form in rehabilitation of large-river ecosystems: An example from the Lower Missouri River

On large, intensively engineered rivers like the Lower Missouri, the template of the physical habitat is determined by the nearly independent interaction of channel form and flow regime. We evaluated the interaction between flow and form by modeling four combinations of modern and historical channel form and modern and historical flow regimes. The analysis used shallow, slow water (shallow-water habitat, SWH, defined as depths between 0 and 1.5 m, and current velocities between 0 and 0.75 m/s) as an indicator of habitat that has been lost on many intensively engineered rivers and one that is thought to be especially important in rearing of young fishes. Two-dimensional hydrodynamic models for modern and historical channels of the Lower Missouri River at Hermann, Missouri, indicate substantial differences between the two channels in total availability and spatial characteristics of SWH. In the modern channel, SWH is maximized at extremely low flows and in overbank flows, whereas the historical channel had substantially more SWH at all discharges and SWH increased with increasing discharge. The historical channel form produced 3–7 times the SWH area of the modern channel regardless of flow regime. The effect of flow regime is evident in increased within-year SWH variability with the natural flow regime, including significant seasonal peaks of SWH associated with spring flooding. Comparison with other reaches along the Lower Missouri River indicates that a) channel form is the dominant control of the availability of habitat even in reaches where the hydrograph is more intensively altered, and b) rehabilitation projects that move toward the historical condition can be successful in increasing topographic diversity and thereby decreasing sensitivity of the availability of habitat to flow regime. The relative efficacy of managing flow and form in creating SWH is useful information toward achieving socially acceptable rehabilitation of the ecosystem in large river systems.     

Confronting the nitrogen challenge: Options for governance and target setting

The release of excessive anthropogenic nitrogen contributes to global climate change, biodiversity loss, and the degradation of ecosystem services. Despite being an urgent global problem, the excess nitrogen is not governed globally. This paper considers possible governance options for dealing with excessive nitrogen through target setting, which is an approach commonly adopted to address global environmental problems. The articulation of the nitrogen problem and the numerous international institutions dealing with it, provide evidence of a nitrogen regime characterised by limited coordination and targets covering sources and impacts only partially. This calls for improving the nitrogen governance in the direction of more integrated approaches at the global scale. In this vein, the paper investigates two opposite governance options – here labelled as ‘holistic’ and ‘origin-based’ – and evaluates them for their capability to define solutions and targets for human-induced nitrogen. From the analysis, it emerges that origin-based solutions can be preferable to holistic solutions as they can be more specific and potentially have greater immediate results. Independent from which governance arrangement is chosen, what matters most is the speed at which an arrangement can deploy solutions to combat (fast-growing) nitrogen pollution.     

川北山丘区地下水补给特征与定量研究

针对川北山丘区地下水资源和污染防护研究中地下水补给难以定量等问题,以川北典型山丘区平溪河北岸的山丘区子流域为研究对象,布设监测孔并对其地下水的水位和水温开展动态监测,并基于大气压监测数据校正地下水监测水位,分析了山丘区地下水水位及水温的年内动态变化特征;采用渗水试验和分段双栓塞水文地质试验获取含水层空间渗透系数;基于达西断面法定量计算了研究区内观测断面的地下水径流补给量,并建立了月降雨量与降水入渗系数的函数关系,结果显示:研究区多年平均大气降水入渗补给量为16.61mm,多年平均降水入渗系数为0.0182;月降雨量与降水入渗系数呈幂函数关系;此成果可为研究区地下水资源、地下水防污性能评价及地下水数值模拟等研究提供重要依据。     

Analysis of the impact of conservation measures on stream flow regime in catchments of the Loess Plateau,China

Catchments in the Loess Plateau have been under the influence of human activities for centuries. In the last four decades, soil conservation measures have accelerated and intensified. These measures were designed to reduce soil erosion, improve agricultural productivity, and enhance environmental quality. It is important to evaluate the effects of these measures on hydrology in order to develop sustainable catchment management plans in the region. This study evaluated changes in stream flow data for four selected catchments in the Loess Plateau following large‐scale soil conservation measures. The non‐parametric Mann–Kendall test was used to identify trends in annual stream flow and the results showed significant downward trends in three of the four catchments. The Pettitt test indicated that a change point occurred in 1978 in these three catchments. Annual precipitation in all the catchments showed no significant trend during the period of record. Comparison of daily flow duration curves for two 20‐year periods (1957–1978) and (1979–2003) showed significant changes in stream flow regime. Reduction in most percentile flows varied between 20 and 45%, and the reduction in low flows was greatest. Overall, the reductions in daily flow were increasing with time, with significant changes occurring in the 1990s. However, it is not clear whether these catchments have seen the full effects of the soil conservation measures, so the results of this study might underestimate the final impact of soil conservation on stream flow regime. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.