Problems associated with tourism development in Southern Africa: The case of Transfrontier Conservation Areas

Tourism in Southern Africa is synonymous with the wildlife safari. In the post-colonial era the establishment of so-called ‘peaceparks’ that straddle the borders of states has come to be seen as a key not only to increasing tourism in the Southern African region, but also to the modernizing of conservation policies and the development of rural economies. This paper focuses on the global and continental presence of transfrontier conservation areas, the link between conservation and tourism development, and the current factors that constrain and influence the realization of an ‘African Dream’ — ‘establishment of the greatest animal kingdom’. The unstable political situation in Zimbabwe and how this negatively affects wildlife conservation and tourism in the Gonarezhou part of the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Park, serves as a case study. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

东吴小筑园林植物应用评价

园林植物配置是园林植物应用的重要内容，对充分发挥园林功能和观赏特性具有重要作用。通过对东吴小筑入口、前庭小院、主景区、山林区、园路、出口等6个功能区园林植物水平配置的现状调查，分析了本景区园林植物的物种多样性、水平结构、垂直结构、色彩变化等特征。结果表明：东吴小筑园林景观营造中．植物配置显示出较高水准。在树种选择、树丛组合、层次搭配、空间组织、色彩表现、季相变化等方面的设计布局十分精细，对今后园林设计及园林绿化水平的提高具有较好的指导作用。     

葛洲坝至胭脂坝长江干流段江豚活动规律

长江江豚是我国一级保护野生动物,也是长江生态系统的指示性物种,其种群数量恢复情况及活动规律一直备受关注。本文选择长江宜昌段江豚活动频繁的葛洲坝下游至胭脂坝江段为研究区域,于2021年6月-2022年5月采用定点目测、水上流动监测与无人机监测相结合的方法分区监测长江江豚的游泳行为,分析长江江豚的活动规律,构建了长江江豚出水头次的零膨胀泊松回归模型,识别影响长江江豚出水头次的关键因素,建立长江江豚出水头次与各因素间的相关关系。结果表明:(1)葛洲坝至胭脂坝长江干流段监测到最大江豚出水头次为19头次,长江江豚集群规模以2~3头最为常见,占比达58.1%;长江江豚主要表现出4种行为特征,各行为占比从大到小依次为:玩耍＞休息＞摄食＞抚幼。(2)长江江豚在葛洲坝下游近坝区(A区,葛洲坝至至喜长江大桥)出水头次最多,且在秋冬季节累计出水头次多于春夏季节,冬季累计出水头次最高,达252头次。(3)长江江豚出水头次与电站下泄流量呈显著负相关;浊度增大,长江江豚出水的概率减小。本文研究结果对长江江豚生态保护策略及长江十年禁渔效果评估具有重要参考价值。     

Effects of Enclosure on Plant and Soil Nutrients in Different Types of Alpine Grassland

Enclosure is one of the most widely used management tools for degraded alpine grassland on the northern Tibetan Plateau, but the responses of different types of grassland to enclosure may vary, and research on these responses can provide a scientific basis for improving ecological conservation. This study took one site for each of three grassland types (alpine meadow, alpine steppe and alpine desert) on the northern Tibetan Plateau as examples, and explored the effects of enclosure on plant and soil nutrients by comparing differences in plant community biomass, leaf-soil nutrient content and their stoichiometry between samples from inside and outside the fence. The results showed that enclosure can significantly increase all aboveground biomass in these three grassland types, but it only increased the 10-20 cm underground biomass in the alpine desert. Enclosure also significantly increased the leaf nutrient content of the dominant plants and contents of total nitrogen (N), total potassium (K), and organic carbon (C) in 10-20 cm soil in alpine desert, thus changing the stoichiometry between C, N and P (phosphorus). However, enclosure significantly increased only the N content of dominant plant leaves in alpine steppe, while other nutrients and stoichiometries of both plant leaves and soil did not show significant differences in alpine meadow and alpine steppe. These results suggested that enclosure has differential effects on these three types of alpine grasslands on the northern Tibetan Plateau, and the alpine desert showed the most active ecological conservation in the responses of its soil and plant nutrients.     

Spatial Concentration in Australian Regional Development,Exogenous Shocks and Regional Demographic Outcomes: a South Australian case study

ABSTRACT

As a tribute to the massive contribution of our friend and colleague Graeme Hugo to the population and settlement geography of Australian rural areas, this paper presents a longitudinal study from his home State. It forms part of a wider study of the long-term demographic relationships between Australia’s rapidly growing regional cities and their surrounding functional regions. Of particular interest is the question of what effect the accelerating concentration of population and economic activity into a given regional city will have for the longer term demographic sustainability of its functional region as a whole. Taking the case of Port Lincoln, regional capital of most of South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, it examines the nature of change in the functional region over the period 1947–2011, and investigates the forces feeding, and partly counteracting, the population concentration process, informed by concepts of evolutionary economic geography. In particular it traces the demographic impact (particularly differential migration and ageing trends) of exogenous shocks to the region’s essentially primary productive economic base during the period of major change from 1981 to 2011.     

Gradients in coral reef communities exposed to muddy river discharge in Pohnpei,Micronesia

This study analyzed how coral communities change along a gradient of increasing exposure to a mud-discharging river in the Enipein Catchment, Pohnpei, Micronesia. Using video transects, we quantified benthic communities at five sites along a gradient moving away from the river mouth towards the barrier reef. The most river-impacted site was characterized by a high accumulation of mud, low coral cover and low coral diversity. Although coral cover leveled off at ∼400 m from the river mouth to values found at the outer-most sites, coral diversity continued to increase with increasing distance, suggesting that the most distant site was still impacted by the river discharges. Fungiidae, Pavona, Acropora, Pachyseris and Porites rus all significantly increased in cover with distance from the river, while Turbinaria decreased. The combined presence and abundance of these six species groups, together with coral species richness, may help to indicate the effects of terrestrial runoff in similar runoff-exposed settings around Micronesia, whereas coral cover is not a sensitive indicator for river impact. Coral reefs are important resources for the people of Pohnpei. To prevent further degradation of this important resource, an integrated watershed approach is needed to control terrestrial activities.     

天山南麓山前平原土壤盐分空间异质性对植物群落组成及结构的影响

将轮台天山南麓山前平原中下部自北至南分为4个地貌带:洪水剥蚀带、溢出带、三角洲带及两河交汇区带。并以土壤电导作为积盐程度的指标,分析了天山南麓山前平原4个地貌带土壤盐的分布特征:溢出带和三角洲带土壤盐分含量高,两端洪水剥蚀带和两河交汇区带盐分含量低。物种多样性及物种组成分析结果表明,自北至南物种多样性及物种数量都在下降,洪水剥蚀带主要为柽柳群落、琵琶柴群落,溢出带主要为柽柳群落、盐节木群落、盐角草群落,三角洲带及两河交汇区均为柽柳群落。通过相关性分析,土壤盐分与群落物种多样性相关性不显著。但是,土壤盐渍化的变化明显影响到植物群落物种组成的变化、群落类型的空间分布和演替。     

植物中单体烷烃碳同位素组成与其生长环境的关系

用色谱一同位素质谱议对青藏高原东北部高寒草甸生态系统中的两种高等模特一火绒草（Ｌｅｏｎｔｏｐｏｄｉｕｍ ｌｅｏｎｔｏｐｏｄｉｏｉｄｉｅｓ）和蒲公英（Ｔａｒａｘａｃｕｍ ｍｏｎｇｏｌｉｕｍ）的烷烃进行分析,讨论环境因素对植物单体烷烃碳同位素组成（δ＾１３Ｃｉａ）的影响。研究发现,两种植物奇碳数正构烷烃的δ＾１３Ｃｉａ值都比较小,且有随海拔高度的增加而增大的趋势,而偶碳数正构烷烃的δ＾１３Ｃｉａ值可能     

Middle Pleistocene temperate deposits at Dingé, Ille-et-Vilaine,northwest France: pollen,plant and insect macrofossil analysis

Nine cores were taken from a damp depression at Dingé, Ille-et-Vilaine, northwest France. Analyses of the pollen, plant macrofossil and Coleoptera remains preserved in the same organic samples of two profiles suggest a temperate vegetation characterised by a mixed deciduous forest with mesophilous taxa (Carpinus, Fagus, Quercus) followed by a coniferous forest with Pinus and Picea. The determination of plant taxa to species was made either directly through the identification of plant macrofossil remains and pollen or indirectly through the identification of phytophagous Coleoptera specifically related to certain plants. Stratigraphical information derived from pollen, plant macrofossil and insect data indicates that this sequence may be correlated with a temperate episode older than the Eemian and younger than the Holsteinian, possibly the Bouchet 2 (Oxygen Isotope Stage 7c) or Bouchet 3 (Oxygen Isotope Stage 7a) temperate periods or the Landos Interglacial (Oxygen Isotope Stage 9 pro parte). © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

煤古植物学:历史、现状与展望

据对５０年来的文献分析，简要评述了煤古植物学这一分支学科的产生背景，研究现状和未来发展趋势；并指出，煤古植物学尽管有广泛的应用前景，但由于受研究方法和研究手段的限制，它仍处于发展的初级阶段。