Quantitative models for reconstructing catchment ice-extent using physical-chemical characteristics of lake sediments

The physical characteristics of surface sediments from a suite of pristine lakes on Signy Island, maritime Antarctic, were used to develop a quantitative link between catchment ice-extent and lake-sediment response. Percentage dry weight, median particle size, percentage loss-on-ignition and wet density of the lakes' surface sediments were the most significant variables explaining contemporary catchment ice-extent. Two independent reconstruction models – Partial Least Squares (PLS) and a Modern Analog Technique (MAT) – were applied to dated sediment cores at two sites on Signy Island. The validity of the reconstructions was tested against historical information on catchment ice-extent. With sufficiently high sedimentation rates and sampling resolution, the models can predict sub-decadal changes in ice-extent. The model results are best regarded as indicators of erosion resulting from meltwater activity in the catchment. Comparison of results with Twentieth Century climate records affirms the hypothesis that climatic warming is the most likely cause for the ice retreat observed on Signy Island during the last 40 yrs. Similar reconstruction models using these simple sedimentary measures could be developed for analogous locations in the Antarctic and in Arctic and Alpine regions.     

萨拉乌苏河流域150 ka BP以来的粒度旋回

萨拉乌苏河流域米浪沟湾地层剖面150kaBP以来古流动砂丘砂与河湖相和古土壤在粒度上具有多次显著的粗细韵律交替变化，粒度参数-Mz、σ、Sk、Kg和SC/D亦随之响应为多波动峰谷交替的态势，同时，粒度特征值-φ5、φ16φ、φ25、φ50、φ84、φ9相应地表现为非常有节奏地跳动，据此，将米浪沟湾剖面划分为27个粒度粗细沉积旋回，并认为其是150kaBP以来在东亚冬夏古代季风交替影响下沙漠演变的一个颇为完整的气候-地质过程记录。     

西藏高原近40年的气温变化

利用西藏1961－2000年月平均气温、最高气温、最低气温资料，分析了近40年高原气温的变化趋势。结果发现，西藏大部分地区四季和年平均气温为升温趋势，尤其是秋、冬季；高原上普遍存在气温非对称变化现象，以Tmax、Tmin显著上升，但Tmin上升幅度大于Tmax为主要类型。Tmax上升主要表现在夏季，增暖以冬季最为明显，气温日较差降夏季外均显著减小。在各纬度带上均表现为升温，春、秋季升温最大，冬季次之。高海拔地区比低海拔地区升温强。近40年来西藏高原年平均气温以0.26℃/10a的增长率上升，明显高于全国和全球气温的增长率。20世纪60年代多异常偏冷年，90年代多异常偏暖年。     

东莞PC相关制造业地方产业群的发展演变

从地方产业群理论出发，探讨全球联系和本地联系对地方产业群内部企业网络发展的影响，并结合对东莞3镇的PC相关制造业的实地考察，指出随着中国沿海改革开放的不断深入，逐渐形成一些外向型制造业地方产业群，其发展过程中，本地生产网络与全球生产网络格局已经发生了转变，原来为“三来一补”的出口加工贸易服务的制度设计在实践中逐渐变成了地方产业群进一步发展的制度瓶颈。区域持续发展有赖于不断的制度创新，以充分发挥本地已经形成的产业集聚优势。     

川中丘陵区土地利用变化的生态环境效应——以中国科学院盐亭紫色土农业生态试验站集水区为例

通过长期的观测数据分析与土地利用现状的对比 ,研究四川盆地中部丘陵盐亭紫色土农业生态试验站集水区的土地利用变化及其环境效应。结果表明 ,截流村土地利用自 6 0年代以来发生了巨大变化 ,其中有林地增长约 30 % ,有林地分布在丘陵坡顶、陡坎和地边 ,与农田形成镶嵌格局 ,由此构成的农林复合系统有较好的水土保持能力 ,缓减了农村燃料、饲料、材料和肥料的不足 ,具有良好的生态、社会和经济效应 ,初步实现了生态系统的良性循环。     

Assessment of coastal vulnerability to environmental change in Jiangsu coastal plain

1 IntroductionCoastal areas, with dense population and high urbanization, are highly sensitive to global environmental change. The impacts of coastal environmental changes, such as sea level rise and related disasters exacerbation on socio-economic development of coastal areas, have become a matter of public concern. To study the vulnerable scope and degree of impacts of sea level rise and related exacerbating coastal hazards can provide a scientific basis for lessening the potential losses th…     

Sandy desertification trend in western Northeast China Plain in the past 10 years

The west sandy land of the Northeast China Plain is located in the eastern huge sandy belt of mid-latitude in Eurasia and the eastern fringe of desertified land with best bio-climatic conditions in China. Over-extensive regional development has made the desertified landscape very obvious, especially in Horqin Sandy Land where desertification is more serious than that in Hushandake Sandy Land with worse bio-climatic conditions. There were some researches on the desertification in western No…     

Land use change in Bohai Rim: a spatial-temporal analysis

Land use change is one of the important aspects of global change[1-3]. The Bohai Rim is a hot spot of economic development in China, where land use changes remarkably. Analyzing land use change in this area is significant to the research of global change and regional sustainable land use. Although there has been much work undertaken on regional land use change in China, it was mainly on urban land use change[4-11], and few researches integrated remote sensing and GIS method. Based on data f…     

On arable land changes in Shandong Province and their driving forces

IntroductionAlmost all the provinces and autonomous regions in China have experienced decrease of arable land in the processes of economic development, population growth and urbanization. The situation is more serious in Shandong Province because of the big population and being an agricultural province. From 1949 to 1999, the arable land was decreased by more than 2 million ha in this province accompanied by rapid population growth. The total population in the province in 1999 was twice of t…     

A darkling beetle population in West Texas during the 1997–1998 El Niño

We examined the abundance and distribution of Eleodes extricata (Tenebrionidae) in a semi-arid region of West Texas. During the 2-year study, climatic conditions were extreme but opposite, with 1997 being unusually wet and mild, and 1998 being unusually dry and hot. These conditions were associated with striking differences in the population structure of the beetles. Under identical pitfall-sampling efforts, we captured 1562 and 671 individuals in 1997 and 1998, respectively. Capture rates were lowest in grassland, and highest in sand shinnery oak, and within the latter, they were lowest in blowouts, intermediate along the edges of blowouts, and highest under vegetative cover. Sex ratios were consistently female-biased, and the degree of bias increased from spring through fall in both years. These increases were more pronounced in 1998, with the sex ratios of early and late sampling periods differing by over four-fold, from 1·15 to 5·00. Females were heavier than males, and the dry masses of both sexes increased from spring though fall in both years. As with sex ratios, these increases were more pronounced in 1998. Only the largest beetles survived the drought, illustrating how extreme conditions can exert especially strong directional selection, and affect sex ratios in populations with sexual size dimorphism.